Day 28 – It was a hurry up and wait kind of day.

It’s Friday, October 3rd and we are on the move. We woke up early to take our showers, get dressed and finish packing. We have to check out by 10:00 am, then drive to Auxerre to drop off the vehicle before catching our train to Paris. We have a lot of time. We just have to coordinate the steps.

We started with a battle against my old nemesis – the gate. This time…I won !

Even with two cars parked across the street from the gate, I was able to back out and make the turn without any drama. It was sweet. It was also the last time.

Sue hopped in and we were on our way to Auxerre. There wasn’t much traffic at all. In fact, we arrived about fifteen minutes earlier than anticipated. We pulled into the driveway of the car rental location and the counterman looked surprised to see us.

The original time to drop the car off was at 2:30 pm. However, our train was scheduled to leave at 1:34 pm. Since they close for lunch at 12:00 noon, we had to be there in time for them to check us out before lunch. Bottom line is that we now had a little over two hours to kill in the train station.

There is usually an 11:34 am train, but for some reason it wasn’t running today. So, we just waited there with our train just parked on the tracks.

While we were settling in to some seats, Sue caught the back of her shoe on a bolted chair and somehow twisted her leg. She was in a bit of pain and was hobbling around quite a bit. Some people might have panicked and some might have been upset. However, I looked at the luggage and then at Sue and started humming “Kind of a Drag”.

While we waited, there was only one other train that came through, followed by four buses. When the time finally neared for our train, many more people arrived at the station. As most people seem to just try to rush on to the closest train car, we strategically walked/limped up near the front of the train and when the doors opened, we were able to calmly walk on and store our bags in an empty luggage rack.

The train was not a TVG, so our travel time to Paris was one hour and 51 minutes. Our car was not overly crowded, so it was pretty quiet and the time passed by quickly. There were three stops along the way and we seemed to follow the path of a river and canal on the journey. Soon we approached our final destination of Paris Bercy Station.

We took our time getting off and walking out of the station. Besides our train, it appeared that one other train had recently arrived and there were plenty of people waiting to board.

Magically, right after we arrived, it started to rain. How’s that for timing!

Luckily, there was a taxi pulling in and we were able to hop right in. Our driver was a quintessential French guy. He didn’t speak English, but he maneuvered the streets like a pro and got us to the hotel while avoiding some traffic backups along the way. Sue complimented his driving in French and I paid the bill including a tip…he finally smiled!

The woman at the reception desk welcomed us back and with only a quick copy of the passports and a signature, she handed us our room key. We are on the third floor and the elevator is working just fine. She also informed us that since we booked directly through the hotel website, we could get breakfast each morning for only five euros. Since they have breakfast from 7:00 – 11:00 am, we’ll probably make it down – especially at that price. Normally, a juice and croissant would cost us more than that at a nearby cafe.

When we were here in December, they were remodeling the breakfast area. The remodel turned out very nice and they even added a small lounge area that looks very comfortable

We just relaxed and let Sue put her leg up for a while before going to dinner. Tonight we are practically walking next door to Cafe Louise.

We had a lovely meal…nothing lavish, just really good! After having so many awesome meals in Chablis, I had a hankering for a hamburger and tonight, I found it. It was exactly what I was craving and it hit the spot.

Our waitress not only served us our food and drinks, but I received a lesson in pronunciation. All done with a smile, as the American couple across from us were definitely causing her to roll her eyes. She was a delight and seemed to appreciate our efforts.

It was still lightly raining when we left. That whopping thirty feet to our hotel barely gave the raindrops time to hit us.

While it was a long day of travels, it was a good day. Tomorrow is forecasted to be a rainy day, so we’ll just play it by ear.