03 – Leaving Paris

The start of the Journey ....

Mont Saint-Michel lies on the coast of France right on the border of Brittany and Normandy (more about that later), some 350 kilometres from Paris, making a one day visit from the city a real possibility. I had considered hiring a car and driving there myself but. remembering earlier experiences of driving in France (where, for me,  they drive on the wrong side of the road), I opted rather to join one of the daily guided bus excursions leaving the city in the very early morning, and returning later the same day to arrive back in Paris in the evening.

I also wanted to enjoy the scenery as we wended our way through the provincial countryside and villages, taking in some of the sights already familiar from watching televised coverage of the annual Tour de France cycle race. The trade off is of course that you cannot stop at will and explore these fascinating smaller towns and villages; but one bonus of the tour I selected was a stop en-route for breakfast at Carrouges, a family owned chateau in the Brittany countryside. (Although it will be sequentially incorrect I’ll cover Carrouges at the end of my journey’s record. Today’s image is therefore just a preview – the breakfast room awaiting our arrival at Carrouges).

And so it was that I left my hotel on the Boulevard Victor (chosen for its convenience to Porte de Versailles and the Paris Motor Show - see previous post) crossing the Boulevard to the nearby Métro station at around five o’clock in the morning. The metro train coaches were (unusually) almost empty even on arrival in the city centre. The bus was to leave from the Rue de Rivoli. It was already there, engine idling – the odour of it’s diesel fumes already contributing to the city’s smells. Gradually the coach filled with tourists, our guide boarded and we set out.

With my not being a morning person at all, it would take something very special to get my own engine started at this time of the day.

Indeed it turned out to be so.