Monday March 6
Well we've made it to Roissy-en France, a village next door to (well, across the highway from) Charles DeGaulle airport.
The decision we made to cut short our La Rochelle stay, and get here before the strike day of March 7 was a good one. The threat of turning a one day general strike in France into a rolling strike appears to be taking shape. SNCF and the Paris transport network are now saying Wednesday and beyond is going to be disrupted.
We cancelled our Paris apartment, and booked here in Roissy-En-France because getting out of Paris to CDG would have been extremely problematic.
The TGV Train this morning was comfortable and on time. I researched luggage storage options and while there are lots of little stores around the station that would store, I found the best option was right at Montparnasse station. A Large locker took all our luggage for 9.50 euro.
By the time we walked out the station it was about 10am, and we decided to just meander down to the seine and back. We've walked these streets many times but it's always enjoyable just to see Paris, it's architecture, and parisiens and parisiennes (France cares about genders) living their lives .
Paris today seemed calm, almost quiet, traffic subdued, relatively clear of dog droppings, they are getting very good at picking up.
We made it to the arche de triomphe, had a reasonable lunch in a friendly cafe and walked back to Montparnasse. 12.6 kms in total, round trip! Good exercise.
The Uber pick up to take us to roissy, at about 2.15pm was fast, less than a minute from hitting the request button. Last trip we made the mistake of getting picked up at a station and our Uber got caught in the taxi jams around the station, so this time we walked down the street, saw an ibis hotel and decided that would be a simple landmark for Uber.
Unlike the streets in Paris, the road traffic on the Paris périphérie (ring road) to roissy was brutal. Took 90 minutes, we've done it in 45 minutes on better days. For some obscure reason Uber offered me a discount. Fortunately uber fare is fixed price calculated when you hit the reserve button so I didn't need fuss about the slow moving traffic
The Airbnb owner met us where the cab stopped and walked us back. It's a new building quite unlike our last . So everything is updated, the heating, the appliances. It's quite adequate for our short stay.
We walked into the village to find the supermarket for supplies for tonight. We'll explore the whole village tomorrow.
Here's the route map. Fast TGV, 2.5 hours, on time, very comfortable seats. If only airlines used tgv seating. And Imagine if you could catch a train beteeen Toronto and Montreal, or Winnipeg to Calgary that attains speeds of 317kms and hour.
317kms!
The lockers, fast and easy once I figured out how to tap the credit card. There are small entrepreneurial baggage drops around all European stations, i checked some out online but this was way easier. It was clean, safe with airport security scanning of luggage before you get to the lock up area and airlock type entrance and exit, doors must close behind you before the next door opens. And soldiers with rifles walking past periodically.
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That old metal tower, from Montparnasse station.
Beautiful distinctive buildings, no idea what they are but interesting to walk by
I think this is the gold tower of the invalids, the building Napoleon built for as a hospital for soldiers.
That tower, as a table.
Tourists standing in the middle of the road to get an instagram-able, or TikTok-able, or maybe blog-able and podcast-able, photo op with that rusty old metal cell phone tower in the background. (I'm just being silly, it's very impressive, just not worth testing out our travel health insurance coverage on, standing in the middle of a bridge.
Champs Élysée to the right
What else would you display in a Parisian restaurant.
Not our Uber taxi ride. It is Fashion week in Paris, attractive automobiles, and attractive female models on the streets, I didn't take photos, (of the models outside the convention buildings) but quite a few were..
Our building on the right
Balconies all around the living room and bedroom
Nice door
We had to buy little bag packets of coffee in the supermarket. First apartment in France where we never had a French press or a drip coffee option. But these are very popular here. Learning to drink from small cups.
The rail system settling in for a longer strike. And air traffic controllers are also striking so Air France press release is saying they anticipate disruptions until Friday morning (our flight is Friday morning!) but they are hoping to maintain 80% of their flights and all international long haul flights so we are still optimistic.
Tuesday March 7
Lynda did laundry and we went for a tour of the little village. Turns out our building is next to a large park around the town hall next door. Supper was at a Chinese restaurant right next door. Reasonable food and prices.
Old village wall and gate next to our building
Beautiful little church from 13th century. And it was actually heated! In the middle of the weekday morning. Could be the first in all the churches we've visited in France over the years that is not bone chilling cold inside
An old chateau. Hope it's going to be renovated.
Little square, facing post office, carrefour supermarket on one side, casino supermarket on the other
We watched the protests in Paris in the afternoon. Fires, cars over turned, cops in riot gear, tear gas, so, business as usual
Our Chinese spring roll. (Nemes in France)
Noodles and beef with onion
Wednesday March 8
Quiet day, we walked into the village for wine, pasta sauce for our last meal on Thursday and a baguette for lunch today .
Everyone is friendly, one store owner was chatting with a customer's little boy about football cards who standing right beside him at the cash and talking constantly, while he continued to serve a line of 8 other customers. Very entertaining. In the little Carrefour supermarket the cashier handed lynda a rose for international woman's day.
Todays Air France flight to Vancouver left CDG. The Vancouver flight is every other day so we are more confident Friday's flight for us will be ok. National Trains and Paris is still severely impacted and deliveries from all the oil refineries in the country are being blocked so gas supplies will be low soon...
Had a memorable supper at a brand new restaurant that opened just this week, a minute away from the apartment. Our host Yann ran into us on our way back from the Chinese restaurant last night and and took us in to meet the owner who is a friend.
This evening we were treated extremely well. Free champagne when we walked in, a little amuse bouche appetizer. The owner (patron) and the server made us feel very welcome. The restaurant is called The Ardoise, which is an area in central France and served the regional cuisine
Talking with the young lady serving us, we commented on the freshness of the baguettes, turns out she is the daughter of the owner of the boulangerie which we've been frequenting and she brings the baguettes up when she comes on shift. Again, a nice little village experience.
We shared a pate fois gras (but no picture we dived into it before I could think to photograph it) Lynda chose an Italian salad with baratta and a side of gratin potatoes.
I had a lamb shank with tarbais beans, a French bean that we are going to have to try and source on the island, they are so flavourful.
Thursday March 8
Checked in Online for the flight.
Completed the Arrivecan app detail. Yes, it still exists. Enter your customs declaration and avoid the line ups at the terminals when you get off the plane. Benefit should be to get in fast track line on arrivals,we'll see.
Went for a walk to the boulangerie for quiches for lunch and walked around the village. In a different direction. Change is good.
Packed, relaxed watched our current bbc show Silent Witness, on the iPad
Martin and juni's flight from Toronto to Amsterdam arrived on time this morning and onward to Montpellier. Our friends Hubert and Christiane kindly picked them up at the airport. So one Crawford goes, another one comes.
Air France looms on the horizon down this street in Roissy.
Lynda cooked our final evening meal at the apartment
Friday
Ordered the Uber at 6.15, and we were at CDG by 6.30. Again, the fare was reduced from 10 euros to 5 euros, not at all sure why.
We were through all checks and security in about 30 mins. Bought croissants at a Prêt a Manger and took them to Starbucks to have with our lattes. Benefit of arriving at the airport 3.5 hours early, no line ups at Starbucks.
The Plane was already waiting at gate. We boarded on time and it looked like we were going to leave on time too, but they held the plane for other connecting passengers so we actually left 35 minutes late but then magically arrived in Vancouver on schedule. I had looked at the jet flow charts this morning and the west-east jet stream over North American was way to the south which meant that it did really not affect our flight path.
Canadian border Customs was quick, the Arrivecan app did save time! There was a fast track line. We called an Uber to get to the ferry terminal, very organized pick up area by the hotel shuttle spot. We're now in the BC Ferries lounge with a two hour wait until the next ferry. Oh well, it's given me time to complete my blog posting.
So, that's all for now. Thanks for following along!
A Final croissant
Cat hogging all the seats
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All good things must end some day…but home sweet home is also good. Happy to know that’s where you now are!
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