Blogs from La Rochelle, Poitou-Charentes, France, Europe - page 2

We decided that Saint Nazaire is a lot larger in size than we had thought, after the day we spent here in 2013 while we waited for our Citroen to have some repair work done to a fault in the braking system. Then we had wandered what we thought was the main shopping area and a promenade that circled a bay near the entrance to the harbour. Last night’s arrival proved us wrong as the city stretches out a fair way and there is significant construction going on that is going to make the population larger in years to come. So we had to devise a plan to get ourselves to the beach, drive the promenade that we had walked around and then head south towards La Rochelle and our next accommodations. Over breakfast which included ... read more

Riding on the French rail system is quite different from the Spanish. If it’s just an ordinary train ( not an TVE i.e. fast train) since I have a Eurail pass I don’t have to boo...k a seat but just get on and find a vacant seat, and be ready to show my pass to the inspector by completing the information for that journey on the pass. It seems strange but it seems to work! I sat in a compartment with 7 other very hot people (the AC did not work) on the train from Bordeaux. It said on the departure board that the train would be 15 minutes late leaving. That then became 25 minutes and the people in the compartment indicated that this is normal for the French train system. 45 Minutes late and ... read more

Monday 17/09/12 La Rochelle K&O are going back home today but as they have a late flight out of Orly we had time to go up to Le Mans for a quick look. Marnie had recommended us to see the old town and as it was just 45 minutes up the road we were off. OK, it was worth a look but as Lyn and I were heading in the opposite direction I didn’t enjoy it as I probably should have if I had had more time. We walked around for an hour but then we said good bye to our friends and set our GPS for La Rochelle while they stayed for lunch and then drove up to Paris. In La Rochelle we went straight to the tourist info only to be told that there ... read more

The trip down to La Rochelle (which means "Little Rock") lasted three hours. Patricia arrived at the train station at the appointed time and it was then we discovered that the there were two other passengers in the small hatchback. Patricia was enroute to visit her grand daughter in La Rochelle and had numerous belated Christmas gifts strewn throughout the car. Jean-Claude, a French/African graduate of transport logistics was another passenger and France, a retired English teacher of Madagascan heritage, was the last fellow traveller. Of course, their luggage was crammed in as well. We repacked the car, organising luggage to maximise space and in order of who would be dropped at their destination first. There wasn't much space left for people despite out best efforts. Patricia was a master of the autoroutes, the French motorways. ... read more