7/4/17
Amboise
to Paris
Caught the 11:40 train out of Amboise after saying au revoir to Gloria and Bob at the La
Vieux Manior. I felt sufficiently appreciative the travel guidance, the nudges
to rent a car and visit Chenonceau and Loches and to the great restaurant
L’Alliance in Amboise and for their remarkably comfortable and tastefully done
Bed and Breakfast, to want to connect to them. Reed said we owed a euro or two
in taxes and had some euro coins in my pocket. I jumped at the chance to exit
the rented car to say goodbye and thank the couple. The couple, advancing years
and all, added energy to the closing stages of our trip with their admirable… shall
I say… joie de vivre. I better end
this diary soon before I sound like a word-dropping, Francophile schmuck, the
guy who barely made a C+ in high school French. Actually I only lasted about a
week in high school French class—and this trip gave me a little sliver of
exposure to French language and culture.
The Amboise train station felt sunny and cheerful
as we waited for the train to Paris. Reed checked out the Amboise side of the
station while I crossed to the opposite side. He reported finding a vending
machine that dispensed high quality baguettes! The contrast of a French
baguette vending machine to the candy and potato chip options we usually get in
the US made a big impression.
We rode with 2nd class train tickets to
the Paris Austerlitz train station, a huge train station in the midst of a
construction refurbish from the looks of it. The Austerlitz train station in
Paris, like many European train hubs, possesses an old world grace and dignity.
Something about the wide-open quality with fresh air spaces flowing throughout
the stations amidst the crowds getting on-and-off the train, combines the past
and present. Trains have worked for 100 years or more and they still perform a
great service. Trains move people in a democratic way and are unfettered by the
automobile’s problems: pollution, ostentation, danger and death. The quietly
powerful architectural grandeur of the Parisian train stations does not force
itself on you. A kind of living museum, the traditional big-city European train
station subtly presents a sight to behold and offers a feeling of timelessness
in your bones. Very magical.
Paris, more familiar after our week’s visit, looked
extraordinary in the bright summer light. Amboise temperature felt a bit 10-15
degrees cooler. Paris women strut around with great style and panache. There I go again… with the French
lingo, or is that lingua franca… And
this from a guy who can hardly convey a significant meaning vowel or syllable
to the natives.
We got Room #31 in the quirky Hotel Beaubourg,
overlooking a slim street, or a fat alley, that leads out in the direction of
Pompidou Centre. The Beaubourg made me anxious at first, a vest pocket hotel,
wedged between other buildings close to the city center, but I came to
appreciate the place. I liked the window to the alleyway and, most unique, the
Edgar Allen Poe, crypt-style dining room at the hotel’s basement. I would even
consider a return to the Beaubourg to experience the dining room with the
ancient stonewalls, domed ceilings, and claustrophobic intensity. The breakfast
staff was nice and the continental breakfast decent. The Beaubourg sits not far
from Roi Falafel, falafel king, my favorite sidewalk restaurant with the
Israeli plate: a fantastic humus, cabbage, eggplant, and falafel mix served
with pita bread.
We never made it to the Pompidou exhibits as we
caught the museum on its closed day. I crashed hard at the Beaubourg with a 2
hour nap, the open window, just a few feet from my bed. The open window
provided some street noise and relatively fresh air. Not sure about Parisian
air quality, but Europeans seem less car dependent than U.S.—something I
appreciate.
We only did 1 day of car travel—our final day in
Amboise, with the rental of the Renault Twingo. Twingo, the model name, does
not translate well to the American ear. Maybe it sounds energetic or light-hearted
in French? Comes across as a term for slightly mentally deranged in English,
worse than neurotic, not quite psychopath… just twingo. We brought the car back to Renault agency on the morning of
our departure and one of their employees carried us to the Amboise train
station—which is where this day began with the arrival of the 11:40 to Paris
Austerlitz.
travel day—7/4/17
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