Ann Grundy's European Adventure.
Our Journey to Nice!
Our nine day tour in September 2005 had some unexpected experiences, and was a journey
we were not likely to forget in a hurry. However well planned one thinks their holidays are,
there is always the possibility that it could come apart at any given time. With having the
disadvantage of not understanding the way the country you're in does business to not
speaking the language. So, expect the unexpected.
After spending a couple of nights in Paris, my husband Ralph and I, travelled down by train to
La Rochelle. We would be picked up by Ralph's family and spend a few days at their cottage
in the Vendee. Their cottage is nestled in the country's beautiful farmland, and mutual plans
had been made by phone prior to us leaving our home in Canada. Our family offered to
drive us down to Bordeaux a few days later. We would stay overnight in Bordeaux and then
we would take the train to our next stop in Nice. We would spend two nights in Nice,
beginning our planned loop towards Florence where we would spend two nights, then onto
Venice for two nights, next would be Milan for one night and Switzerland for one night. Lastly
Paris and then back down to La Rochelle, where our family would meet us again and take us
back to the Vendee. All this would happen in nine days, so everything needed to flow!
We would catch our train to Nice, and the family would do some exploring on their way back
to the Vendee. Quite simple really. We stopped for lunch, at a rest area on the way down to
Bordeaux, coming across many toll booths but still having time to spare before having our
supper. I suggested it might be a good idea to visit the train station across from our hotel
on the pretence we had all the right information we needed in our Euro train package.
Upon some investigation in finding where we needed to catch our train and where the
platform was located, we picked up a ticket to get more info at one of the information
booths and were fortunate enough to have a young lady who was able to speak some
English, as only one of us could speak French. After giving her our information she left to
check the computer to see if the train was to leave at the time stated in our package. Upon
her return, she informed us that there was no train running Saturday morning as they were
working on the rail line, so we would have to wait until Monday morning for a train to go to
Nice.
We had already booked and paid for two nights at the hotel in Nice, which would mean we
would lose our payment. Feeling somewhat stunned at the news, we sat down to gather
our thoughts as well as weigh up our options. We had booked everything in advance and
some hotels had asked for the full amount prior to our arrival. The Nice hotel was one we
had paid in full. Options open to us were: stay until Monday, try to book a flight out as soon
as we could or drive down. Our family had wandered outside the station so we could think
things through. When we caught up with them they both had talked it over between
themselves about our dilemma and decided to drive us the next morning; all 800 km to Nice.
We were so taken back with their decision knowing they had made their own plans, we
didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Saturday morning the sun was up and so were we. After a good breakfast we were on our
way. We stopped twice on our 800 km journey down to the south of France, filling up with
petrol, coffee, lunch items, etc. We were on our way again, the roads were good, the toll
booths were man, and the country interesting from a distance. As we started to drop down
towards the coast we drove through a nasty storm, with thunder and lightening and
torrential rain, making driving conditions very difficult for our driver. I crossed my fingers and
toes for my brother in law, who was doing his best under the circumstances. When we came
out the other side the sun was shining as if nothing had happened.
We found out later that afternoon at our beautiful hotel in Nice that it was theses storms
that had been in the area for a few days, stopping the trains to Nice and causing damage
to the railway lines. This explained the reasons behind our dilemma. We were just so
thankful to our family for getting us there safely!
Ann lives in British Columbia, Canada and designs and makes Italian masks.
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