An early morning start in the rain to catch the 7.31 train from Annecy to Paris. The weather seemed to be the same over most of France; I only saw a five minute patch of sunshine all morning. An hour to Chambery stopping in Aix-les-Bains, then another hour on slow lines going through regular stations, and then we were on the high-speed tracks. For the first time our TGV went VERY FAST! Trains coming the opposite way whizzed past in less than a second. The scenery was very pretty – mostly paddocks of wheat, canola and fallow. Not too many cows, and I didn’t see any sheep. Unfortunately, we ended up with backward facing seats, so photos were difficult, especially as we were going VERY FAST! (Phil liked going VERY FAST!)
We arrived in Paris with one hour to make the connection to
our next train, but the catch was we had to get across Paris from Gare de Lyon
to Gare Montparnasse. After some
problems getting tickets (which ate up 15 minutes), we caught the RER (local
train) to Chatelet-les-Halles, the biggest train/metro station in Paris. After what seemed like several kilometres
(and losing our guiding number a couple of times), we finally found Metro Line
4. Seven stops later we were at
Montparnasse, the metro station. Several
kilometres of very fast walking (and luggage dragging!) and we finally arrived
at Gare Montparnasse. Phew! Three minutes to spare!
We arrived at St-Pierre-des-Corps on time at 13.15. That made four trips on TGVs, and only once
(this morning) that our ticket has been checked. It wasn’t checked on the 10 minute journey to
Amboise, either – and yes – I validated both tickets today!
At Amboise, we walked from the station. Crossing the Loire took ages as the bridge is
really long, then it’s really long again as the first one only gets you onto
the island in the middle of the river!
We were met by Mireille at our
B&B. (It was interesting because
Mireille’s English is worse than my French, but we managed, mostly in
French. Fun, actually!) The apartment is
fantastic! It’s called Au Petit Troglo
(at the little troglo) and is basically a cave cut into the cliff.
We have been getting lots of
interest from passersby, some of whom walk up the steps to get a closer look. Inside, the apartment has a bedroom area,
a sitting room area with couch
and TV, a kitchen/dining area complete with everything you need to cook,
and a very colourful bathroom.
Mireille also provided fresh bread,
butter, homemade rhubarb jam (yum!), milk, tea, coffee, hot chocolate –
wow! This is actually one of our
cheapest accommodations. The only
downside is that there is no internet access. Following Mireille’s suggestion,
we climbed the nearby stairs above our troglo to get a beautiful view of
Amboise.
Off for a walk down toward the
river. The flowers here, too, are
lovely, although these are all in garden beds (unlike Annecy which had many
basket/window box arrangements as well).
Notice Chateau d’Amboise in the background.
The Loire is the longest river in
France (at over 1000km long), and they must have recently had a lot of rain
because it’s currently running a banker!
Really, really wide, very swift flowing with the odd log speeding downstream,
and the walking path beside the river half underwater.
Had a quick look at the Church of
St Denis, which has some lovely stained glass windows.
We bought some stuff at the
supermarket this evening and I cooked.
Nice to be able to do that. Even
nicer that Phil did the dishes!
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