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Three seasons of France


France... It´s just so... How do you say?... French?!



Beautiful Dole

We entered the country a total of four times during our journey, mainly in transit. We hadn't planned on spending much time there. We were extremely happy that we made time for it.





Stories of French people disliking English speaking people had filled us with anxiety prior to our trip. Whenever we had to utter the words, 'parlez-vouz anglais' we would wince in anticipation of the disapproving looks that would surely follow.


With great relief, we found the French to be EXTREMELY helpful and tolerant. One night at a campsite the owners could see us struggling away to get the flimsy tent pegs into the rock hard ground and lent us their hammer AND strong pegs. Another night we were struggling to find a campsite and out of desperation asked the guy at the petrol station who spent the next twenty minutes googling campsites for us (in between serving customers).

Seriously confused with the Paris train network, we were assisted day after day by one very patient attendant who explained everything to us. Then there was the lady who welcomed us to camp at their site even though it had closed a week ago and the water/electricity had been switched off!




Macaron, Paris














Of course Paris was amazing & we had the opportunity to stay with a local; a Parisian artist who drank wine, smoked cigarettes, ate cheese & drank coffee out of a bowl. It was everything I had ever imagined a Parisian apartment to be and more.

On set, Paris
Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

Quasimodo, sighted at Notre Dame Cathedral Paris

We also visited smaller towns: Bordeux, Nice, Dole, Lyon, Bergerac, Epernay, Metz and Aix En Province.


Nice
Dole



One night in the Dordogne region we couldn't find a camp site that was open (we learnt the French word for closed that day). We rocked up to a random B&B and were not disappointed (well, we were a BIT disappointed when the owner got his numbers confused and told us it was 57€/night when it was really 75€).








We were surrounded by green hills, views of the old stone town nearby, horses in the nearby paddocks, chickens running around, walnuts drying outside our window... We enjoyed traditional French breakfasts and even homemade red wine with our dinner - which had been made by the owners in their spare time...



I told you France was really... French. Didn't I?



Euro Disney was of course a highlight, along with the Moet & Chandon cellars in Epernay. The tour guide's beautiful French accent was hypnotic and the complimentary glass of champagne at the end made it a pretty amazing day!




The Blessed Tickets
All of my dreams coming true at once




Of course we had to say goodbye to our pack horse, our noble steed, our kitchen/convertible bedroom and our pantry. We returned Penny Peugot to Paris Airport with great sadness (and hoped the guys wouldn't notice the scratch on the front right fender (said scratch ¨mysteriously¨ appeared while Brad was driving)).

And so it was back to lugging our bags around on public transport.




Penny Puegot
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