Cancelled train, a rental car adventure, and caneles - 25 Oct 19

We decided to return to France for our first vacation of 2019. Instead of Paris though, we decided to get out into the countryside a bit. Week 1 will be wine tasting in Bordeaux and week two will be spent in Brittany. It should be a good break for a year with a lot of change.

We left for France today. We decided to take extra precautions before we left this time, so we shut the water off to the house. Since this was the first time we've tried this, I of course had a 'Aw crud' moment halfway to the airport when I realized that I hadn't also shut off the gas to water heater. So, back to the house we went. Fortunately, we had planned on getting the to the airport fairly early so the unexpected detour didn't create a panic.

Check in at CVG was smooth and enjoyed an uneventful flight to Atlanta. Once we arrived, we headed to concourse E for a leisurely lunch at One Flew South in concourse E. We then picked our way to concourse F and prepared to board for Paris. While standing in line, I decided to check my email and found, much to my dismay, a notification from SNCF France letting me know that they'd cancelled our train tickets for CDG to Bordeaux. A little quick Googling uncovered that the maintenance workers were on strike.

So, cue standing in line to board a trans-continental flight, knowing that we're supposed to be in Bordeaux the next evening and having no way to actually get there. I pull out my Sapphire card and call the Chase travel concierge, hoping they could help. My first clue that this was going to go poorly was when my 'travel specialist' asked several times what a bore-ducks was and then where it was. He found a single flight with 2 tickets available, but at 900 euro each, that seemed like the last case offer. We had boarded the plane and were sitting in our seats when I was exclaimed 'So, you're telling me there are absolutely NO cars available to rent in ALL of Paris tomorrow?'

Fortunately, Kris pulled out his phone at this stage and started searching. With in 2 minutes he found a car for a one-way rental and reserved it shortly before they closed the boarding doors. So now all we had to worry about was whether or not the rental agency would honor the pre-paid reservation. Just what you want to think about during an 8 hour flight!

When we land in Paris, we decided to skip the arrivals lounge for a shower and change of clothes and head straight for the rental counter. After collecting our wine bag (now featuring a brand new 2" cut on the front pocket,) we headed to the Budget counter. The counter agent couldn't have been nicer; not only did he have our car, but he also offered us a life saving cafe.

We loaded our bags into our grey Peugeot 200S, and after a scant few hours of sleep on the plane, headed off in the pre-dawn dark for our 5.5 hour drive to Bordeaux. I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to get out of CDG. We ended up circling the rental lot twice before we figured out the correct turns (And this is with GPS.) Once on the highway though, it was smooth sailing.

We stopped at a rest area about 3.5 hours in for a snack and a quick nap and still managed to arrive in Bordeaux proper earlier than we would have had we taken the train. The downside was that finding the car drop off was 10x harder than getting out of CDG. I'm pretty sure I drove us around the Saint Jean train station 6 times (again with the help of GPS) before Kris spotted a sign no bigger than a sheet of A4 that pointed to the car return. We ended up on a gutted stone warehouse 2 blocks from the train station with a less than amused lot agent. Apparently he did not find comments about how difficult the lot was to find and that the GPS directed one to the wrong spot 'helpful.' Ah well.

Kris brilliantly booked a hotel mere blocks from the train station. So once we handed over the keys and collected our belongings, we stumbled to our hotel and collapsed for an hour of quiet relaxation. Realizing if we went to bed at 5pm, we'd be really screwed up time-wise, we decided to walk into downtown. It turns out that Bordeaux is the birthplace of one of my favorite confections - caneles. We stopped by Auguste K and picked up an assortment of flavors to try later.

We headed down the back streets to a square ringed in restaurants. A couple looked okay, but I spied a bistro down a side road that looked promising. We arrived at Le Michele a little early for dinner. So in the French style, we grabbed a table and a glass of wine each and collected ourselves. The people watching was excellent and despite our fatigue, time flew. We split a lovely onion soup; Kris had an entrecote and I had a duck confit. All three were excellent!

While it wasn't the first day in France that we had anticipated, everything ended up just fine. Hopefully tonight, we'll both sleep well so we can quickly get on local time. Tomorrow, we pick up another car and head for Saint Emilion.