Friday evening we finished packing and tidying up the house in Villers-la-Faye, in anticipation of a quick getaway to Paris Saturday morning. How do you pack a full-size bicycle for airplane travel, you say? EASY if your bike is fitted with aerospace tubing couplers, allowing you to break the bike frame in two, then stack all the frame parts, wheels, handlebars and seat in a square airline-legal suitcase! I used the workbench in our basement to get the job done, then stuffed my bike clothes and shoes in all the empty spaces before locking the bike case down for flight. We packed all the other suitcases in our rental car, ready to go.
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| Shuttered up tight, adieu Maison de Chaumes |
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| Break the bike frame apart, stuff all the pieces in the case, and fly it home! |
Next morning we had our last fresh croissants and French hot chocolate for breakfast, Lynn shuttered all the doors and windows on the house, we locked up and stored the key for the landlords, then hit the road. First stop: our FAVORITE overlook just outside VLF, with a heartachingly beautiful view over a valley full of vineyards and plowed fields. This is the place we saw the hot air balloons trying to land last week. It is also, oddly enough, the location for VLF’s recycle-trash cans! We stopped to insert our recyclables, and bid adieu to the awesome scenery in this valley.
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| What a place for a recycle dump: our beautiful valley view is on the other side of these trees! |
Paris was about 3 1/2 hours away. Our appointment with the owner of our AirB&B room was for later that evening, so we took our time on the drive. We headed for the A-roads to Paris: you pay a toll, but the drive is akin to our Interstate super highways, and well worth the cost. While driving, there is plenty of rural scenery. Occasionally there is an “Arie”, which is a rest stop for motorists and truckers. They’re like a box of chocolates, to quote Forest Gump, because you never know what you’re going to get! Some Arie’s have minimal facilities, including only a parking area and a picnic table and unisex “squatty potty”. Other Aires have a filling station, plus a store selling drinks, snack food, sandwiches, maps and souvenirs, with conventional restroom facilities, almost always very clean. Top-flight Aires have all that, PLUS a small restaurant with chefs preparing actual good food in view, with nice tables for dining, and sometimes a motel nearby. You watch the road signs to try to figure what kind of Aire you’re going to get, but there’s never a guarantee!
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| McD's electronic ordering kiosk at an Aire on the way to Paris |
One of our Aire stops included a McDonalds! It was in a separate building from the filling station store, so we walked over out of curiosity. Decor was very modern-McDonald’s-ish, and this one had several kiosk ordering sites. The customer approaches the kiosk screen, chooses a language for the transaction by pressing the screen buttons, reviews the menu in that language, then presses screen buttons to order the food and drink desired. The order is then prepared by humans behind the counter, and the order number is called. At that point, you pay for your food, pick it up, and and eat! This is a first for me, although I hear these kiosks are being installed at some McD’s in the USA already. Let’s see how that goes.
The busy traffic in Paris on the ring road going around the city was a bit unnerving after our relaxed and happy driving all over Burgundy. Motorcyclists were particularly scary…while you are driving in crowded stop-and-go 5 lane-wide traffic on the highway, Paris motorcyclists race at high speed right up the space between cars, as though that space was a valid traffic lane. Think of someone riding their motorcycle atop the broken white lines separating lanes of the highway,and the cars using those lanes…that is exactly what these riders routinely do. Freaked me out for awhile!
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| Beautiful interior courtyard and home, after getting past the gate and outer wall! |
We eventually made it to our target: Roessy-en-France, a small town adjoining Paris, right next to Charles DeGaulle airport. Using excellent GPS navigation, and Lynn’s sharp eye for turns while I watched for marauding suicidal motorcyclists, we found the street where our room for the night was located. Lynn found our hostess, Maude, and they directed me where to park for the night. Maude took us into her home, which was another of those French surprises, hidden behind a boring beige wall and a locking gate. Inside the gate we found a glorious courtyard, beautifully landscaped and open to the sun. We walked up a tight circular stairway to get to our room, dubbed the “New York” room. What a beautiful surprise, everything was perfect, and Maude was a delight. She spoke almost no English, so Lynn had a last opportunity to have some French conversation. Maude’s brother stopped by for a visit, so I had someone to talk to in English! We had a love of Cajun music in common: he’d just returned from visiting his Louisiana girlfriend, so was full of enthusiasm.
Maude recommended a fine pizza shop a few blocks away for a quick supper so we could go to bed early. Walking there, we passed the town’s “Marie”, just before finding the restaurant. It was perfect: small, intimate, pizza oven sticking out into the tiny dining area, with cafe tables and customers seated outside enjoying the early evening. They served Peroni beer, in a proper engraved Peroni glass, so I was super-happy. Lynn had a rose wine, we toasted the end of our trip, and dug into our pizza. Parfait! Seated behind us the entire time were two guys who were having an early pizza and some wine too. Eventually, they uncased two guitars, tuned up, sat back down in the tiny restaurant, and started playing the most amazing versions of Django Reinhardt classic guitar jazz I’ve ever seen/heard! We stayed for several songs, and would’ve stayed late into the night but for needing to fly EARLY tomorrow morning. We left a tip for the music, and got their card: “DALLAS” is the band’s name, and they were quite the unexpected Paris treat.
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| "Dallas" duo, incredible surprise musicians at our pizza place |
We walked back to the New York room, had a great sleep, woke up at 3:00 a.m., and drove to the rental car return at CDG airport..what a riot! NO traffic that early, we will do this again! We dumped the car with no damage, which was like having a huge load lifted from our shoulders, and searched out our Alitalia gate after a little drama. Once on the plane, we had a not-nice flight home, but got here safely after 10 1/2 hours in the air. All trips eventually end, including THIS one!
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| New York room! |
Homecoming was fun: the dogs missed Lynn greatly and were happy she came back to them. We’ve been busy getting our Florida lives back in order. Time to start planning our next adventure! Thank you for reading about our trip.
Here is a link to ALL the photos of this trip if you'd like to see more:
John, I hadn't seen these final post of your France trip. It sounds like you had a blissful final evening in France (except for the McDonalds). Great plan to return the car at 3 a.m. and avoid the traffic. Your sleep was going to be disrupted anyway. Thanks for playing along with Dreaming of France. I've posted another one for Sunday night/Monday.
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