Tuesday 11 June 2013

A lil apartment to call our own

Paris - June 10

 

Itinerary:

  • Regards to D'artagnon
  • Orleans = Or-Lee-Ons = Two train stations in close proximity
  • Paris - Ahhhhhh

 

 

 

Chateau Rancay

To break up the journey from Fumel to Paris, we had a night in Chateauroux staying at Chateau Rancay which used to be a Barons Chateau but is now owned by a German guy called Stefan who has refurbished it to its former grandeur - and grand it was!

 

 

 

 

 

All hotels have their own charm but never have I had so much joy from a driveway. Rain was falling quite heavily as we arrived with mist making visibility quite low. We had left the motorway and were driving down a country road with green fields on both sides of the road interspersed with forrest / woods. Immediately after some thick woods on the left a small driveway entrance appeared and as you turn into the white small pebbled drive, you are greeted to a long, wide driveway with old (I think) oaktrees on both sides with thick foliage that forms an arc over the length of the driveway. At the end of the drive looms the large chateau. It felt like we should all be on horseback, galloping toward the house with D'Artagnon at our side, and shouting loud daring cries in an outrageious French accent. Sensational, and immediately voted best ever driveway entrance to a hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking back down the driveway

 

 

 

ANybody home?

 

 

 

The interior was tres elegant. Large wooden stairs, a guest salon with period furniture, art, immense windows, a chandelier wherever you looked up and of course, every Chateau must have its own Chapelle. There were grounds a plenty and a feeling of old world opulence Twas good to be the king (or the Baron).

 

There were two wings on the second floor. Our rooms took over one wing but there were no other guests on the floor so it was like having a massive castle floor to ourselves. More bathrooms than you could ask for, the odd chaise lounge, on which to lounge and enjoy our rosé as we discussed and came to decide that although money buys no happiness, being idle rich would beat the heck out of being idle poor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Le (or la) Biblioteque aka "the library"

 

 

 

The Chapelle

 

 

 

The stairs to "Our Floor"

 

 

 

Bedroom furniture

 

 

 

We ate breakfast in a large dining hall on a beautiful old wooden table. We dined with silver cutlery with enough food to keep us and the population of Chatouroux all well satiated. The mix of fresh pastries, bread, fruit, cereal, coffee, tea and of course, more pastries was greeted by all with the casual nods of those now accepting of their lot as travelers who sleep in luxury.

 

 

 

The real owner of the Chateau - super sweet dog who would wonder up the stairs to check things out and meander through our legs at breakfst time, giving a little lick on the fingers to any whose hands dropped to chair level or below.

 

 

 

Pretty standard Perth wooden floorboards

 

 

 

I wasn't keen on driving in Paris so we dropped the cars off at Orleans and took the train to Paris Gare De Austerlitz. All would have been simple but for

  • Everything shuts at 12 for siesta so even though our train only left a bit later, we had to get the rental cars back before 12 or else miss our train. Highway construction and slow traffic through Orleans meant that I got ours back at 11:58 as Hertz was closing its shutters - tad stressful. (As an aside, the deal we got for car hire was interesting in that as a hertz member, the best deal i could get was 630 Euros for the week. As a non-member, ie just dont log in as yourself, the best deal was 270 Euros for a week. Now thats a club you may not want to belong to)!
  • With both families and all baggage dropped off at the station, it was with some surprise that while returning the rental cars, the call came through to say that families and kids were now in a cab going to the correct train station! Turns out that there are two train stations in Orleans about 5 minutes apart. Who knew!

 

Arrived in Paris and headed for the taxi line. Once on arraving in Brisbane on a Friday night, i waited 2 hours for a cab at the airport. I guess Parisian taxi drivers also go for lunch because the line was long and the trickle of one cab per 3 to 5 minutes did not increase until well after 2pm. Anyways, life in the big city. Great cab driver - Didnt kill or amazingly even bump into the Chinese dude who, diligently looking the incorrect direction, stepped off a busy Paris road right in front of our moving cab.

 

 

Ahh Saint Germaine:

Our apartement is lovely. Fantastic location and so nice to have a place to call home for a week. A bit of space, a washing machine and a sofa (which is also our bed).

The time, effort and research put into finding each place we have stayed has so far really paid off with no duds and good value wins wherever we stay. The downside of the internet is that its hard to see the wood from the trees and sort the real bad reviews from the spiteful, the fake and the just plain dumb reviews while at the same time, finding good value, great location accomodation that accomodates four people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zozo checking out the Nespresso machine

 

 

 

Oh yeah baby, wee-fee

 

 

 

Pretty much dropped off the bags and went for a stroll (as one does in Paris). We walked up to the river and then across the Pont Royal and into the quadrangle of the Louvre before heading into the Tuileries gardens for a play, a stroll and a slurp of Paris vibe.

 

 

Drew and Grady spend some time in "the box" Paris style

 

 

 

Porcelain cabbages - fascinating......to some

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ree and Emily studiously ignoring a Hawker

 

 

 

No crepes today, its dinner time

 

 

 

 

The small sachet of café sugar relay.

 

 

 

 

 

Crepes tomorrow for sure

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drew's truest love - the 1kg Nutella jar

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow, the Eiffel Tower, the Science Museum and perhaps a Crepe. Loving being back in a big city with history and class. Our pathetic French is improving daily.

 

 

 

 

 

Enough

 

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