Road Trip – Paris to Normandy

French pasture - the first sign we are really leaving Paris

I really didn’t know what to expect when we turned up at our car rental company (Europcar) in Champs Elysees, Paris. As things turned out, our traveling companion for this summer’s Europe road trip would turn out to be a Peugeot 807. None of the 4 Asians are familiar or have driven this French beauty (in fact it took us a while to figure out how to engage the Reverse gear too…Ha!) but well, when driving in France, I guess nothing would be more appropriate than getting behind the wheels of a French automobile.

Beacuse I’ve never taken the French babe on a ride before and I didn’t know what to expect how it would handle the road, turns and stops of our trip. 10am together with F, we took the train from Saint Lazare to Champ Elysees to pick up our ride while J and C made a last minute spree at Galerie Lafayette which is 5 minutes from our apartment. The Galerie is a massive shopping arcade, similiar in scale to Harrods London and Isetan Shinjuku – lots of food and yummy treats. And of course every sane tourist must buy something from one of the French luxury designers’ brand when in Paris. L.V? It’s packed with Asian tourists! There are definitely no sign of the current economic crisis here at the Galerie. Everyone is in the mood to spend and ready to spend big.

Getting to the rental car office is the easy part – It was a short train ride. (See detailed driving map )

My French Babe in Europe

Because the stick-shift vehicle did not come with a GPS nor do we have a detailed road map. It is then required of yours truly to figure out how to navigate local roads back to District 9 – depending on how you see it that could be the challenge or that could be “driving by intuition”. I happened to be around the area last night when we took a walk to take a night view of Eiffel Tower. We took a bus back and we went around the Arc de Triumph roundabout and took a right to get back on Haussmann Blvd which is where the Galerie is. Well, something like that. Intuition kicks in.

Of course It doesn’t help none of us can speak a complete sentence in French if we needed help.

A bug that decided to take a ride from us in the French countryside

As we drive up to the Arc, I tried to dig deep into my newfound French memory to see if I can recognize any of the turnings coming up but woe to me because we found out there were 12 main turns from the roundabout at de Arc. You see the Arc leads directly into the city, standing from the Arc you can catch part of the city view from every intersection, the Arc is built on a slightly elevated ground so you get a pretty good view looking over every intersection. I know I cannot be going towards the city cos our apt is on the 9th district, so it must be the 3rd or 4th turn but I wouldn’t bet my money on it so the Asian driver ended going a few more rounds at the Arc before deciding to just turn out when it sort of feels right! It was kind of fun to be viewing the Arc in 360 degrees view. Hey, most people won’t even get to do that. After 2 rounds at the roundabout, I was just too confused to make up my mind. Haha..intuition forsaken me, so we ended up making a few turns here and there with a few stops as I get off to check bus maps at bus stops and bicyle street maps at bike rental stations found all over the city. Even though we did not make the right turn at the Arc (which I found out later) but were actually making good progress without even realizing it.

Bon jour - a look into the babe

When we got back at the apartment it was already about 11a.m we packed our stuff, the girls finished their final round of shopping, we loaded our luggages and set off for Normandy. We were ready finally. We got half a dozen bottles of mineral water from the French Alps, tons of snacks and candies to keep us busy and I have my google map driving directions that’ve helped me plan out my route so again I thought we should find our way there with relatively ease.

I know we need to get on Charles De Gaulle Freeway (N13) and following road signs to the city of Caen. The whole drive should not take longer than 3 hours max. But as things turn out, we got lost half way on google maps directions because my laptop went flat (haha) and in Paris everywhere kinda looked the same, the buildings , roads, roundabouts after roundabouts. At some point we had to stop for lunch before continuing, so we found a ready parking space (hard to come by in Paris) and pulled over.

See detailed driving directions

The 4 Asians got help from an Europcar rental office opposite our restaurant and viola! Guess what? Some times I think the must be some divine GPS guiding us because N13 is simply about 500m straight ahead. After all these we went through it’s a relief to know that once we get N13, things should get very simple and straightforward. Or I thought?It is quite unimaginable the 4 Asians can get themselves lost just within Paris for about 2 hours including time for our lunch, so much for our 3-hours drive but I’m just glad we are finally on our way to Normandy D-Day Beach. Yeppie!

There are quite a few tolls (5 or 6) on the way to Caen – anything from 1 euro to 7 euro each time, it is quite a relief to know we are slowly getting away from the city and into the countryside. The cool summer air brings respite to the 4 lost Parisan visitors.

Breathing in the cool summer air - the peugeot crew taking a break

One of the few French villages we passed in the countryside

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