Travel to Upper Normandy

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By Bus and by Train

This day, Tuesday, was a travel day. I left the Hotel Chopin after breakfast and traveled by a single city bus--no transfer--directly to the Gare St.-Lazare. From there I caught a train to Vernon, about an hour away in Upper Normandy. A fellow passenger on the train who was coming from Paris to visit his family offered me a lift to the Avis car rental office, saving me the long walk with luggage bumping along behind.

4 Wheels

Things had gone so smoothly until now, I was not surprised when there was a bit of difficulty with the rental car. I'd reserved a 5-door vehicle large enough for 5 adults so there would be room to stow a bicycle in the back. However the vehicle waiting for me at the Avis office (a repair garage, really, with just a few rental cars) did not meet these specifications. At first, they said a larger car was not available, that a single person did not need a large car, and I should be able to put the bike on the back seat of the smaller one. However, after sustained-but-polite insistence on my part, and some discussion among the rental agents and the mechanic in the back, a sufficiently large vehicle was produced.

2 Wheels

My biggest worry about the trip had been the bicycle: would it be suitable for my needs? Some weeks earlier I'd arranged the rental over the phone with Les Amis de Monet, a cafe across the street from the train station that also rents bikes, but with my French and their English, I wasn't sure what awaited me. It turned out to be a hulking contraption with fat tires, fenders, and only five gears. Brand new, though, and seemed sturdy enough...I just hoped there would be few hills to negotiate.

La Roseraie

From Vernon it was just a few miles over the Seine River to Ste.-Genevieve les Gasny and La Roseraie, where I had reserved a room with kitchenette. My hostesss, Mme. L., showed me the room, on the upper floor of a two-story building next to the main house where her family lived.

Their property, about 2 acres, is surrounded by a stone wall and lies next to a small chapel. To get in and out of the grounds, one must remove the bar closing two halves of a heavy wooden gate, secure each part open, drive through, then repeat the process in reverse to close and secure the gate. I don't mind such security: it makes me feel safe.

The grounds are messy arrangement of rose bushes and other flowering plants and trees, not particularly well-tended. Mme. L. tells me that her husband has been unwell, and I observe that her family also includes a young daughter as well as an elderly father. She gives the impression of a woman trying very hard to keep things going.

My room is clean and pleasant enough, but the promised wireless connection is weak-to-non-existent, so my connection is often dropped. I mention this issue here, because this is the second time staying in the French countryside when I've been assured of wireless internet but found it to be inadequate. A better question than "do you have a wireless connection?" is "Will I be able to reliably access the internet from my room at all times during my stay?"

Marketing

With the transfer to Normandy out of the way, I headed for a supermarket to provision my kitchenette. Shopping in a French grocery store, with its abundance of dairy products-- cheeses and yogurts in flavors we don't have at home (kiwi, grapefruit, plum)--is my favorite traveling chore. Along with the dairy things, I picked up salad ingredients, some good bread, and a bottle of Alsatian Riesling.

No chocolate bars on this trip: chocolate and I are still friends, but it's been over between us for quite a while.

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Comments

[Ginny]

I feel I'm with you.
Your blog is so interesting and descriptive that I feel I'm where you are. Thank you!