Copenhagen to Paris to Lyon

Tuesday 11th September 2007 Odense to Copenhagen to Paris (CDG) to Fontainebleau

Had a typical Danish breakfast of rye bread, cheeses, pates, salami and coffee and, while we were having breakfast, a little man appeared and started cleaning the windows. There was a chorus of Pam and Paul commenting “we know, you have people to do that”! Britta dropped us at the station in Odense and we caught a train directly to Copenhagen airport. This only took an hour and a half as did the flight to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport in Paris. We had been warned about CDG terminals and we were very thankful that we had no time pressures as we could not find the exit (circular terminal and we needed gate 4). We exited at 20 and went to 19, then down to 10 where it ended due to construction. We should have gone the other way because it went 20 to 36 and then back to 1, 2, 3, 4. (everyone knows that). Picked up our car a brand new Peugot 207 and we drove to the nearest garage to fill up and as I pulled up in a “Carte only” and it would not accept my “Carte” so I had to move to another pump to fill up. So finally after 2 hours we were on our way in the Paris peak hour, driving on the wrong side of the road. Our satellite navigation was absolutely invaluable in getting out of the airport and Paris, with only one “re-calculating”. When you make an error the little Garman says “recalculating” – this simply means you stuffed up and it has to recalculate a new route for you. After an hour and a half on the road we arrived at Fontainbleu where we had booked at the Mercure Hotel for one night. Beautiful evening meal in the hotel. Only CNN and BBC news on the T.V. so an early night.
Wednesday 12th September Fontainbleu to Beaune

Had a good sleep and was looking forward to a lovely French breakfast. This was disappointing as the food was cold and had been sitting there since 6:30am. Probably half our fault as we did not come down for breakfast until 9:45am.Decided against eating here and walked into city (Centre-Ville). Our French teacher had told us that each village had a sign to the centre of town, (Centre-Ville) but we really did not believe him at all. As it has transpired he was quite correct. Could not face a baguette or ordinary croissant so Pam chose a chocolate croissant and a crepe. Quite palatable. In the centre of town was also a beautiful palace. After breakfast we drove to Sens then to Auxerre for coffee, then to Djon, via tollway, as we planned to spent the night in Djon. No hotels were easily accessible so we decided to drive to Beaune (Bone) where there was a Mecure hotel with a very nice room and meal.

Thursday 13th September 2007 Beaune to Lyon

Drove from Beaune via Macon (a little village with a carousel in the middle). Just lovely. We had a lovely salad for lunch. Paul has nicoise and I had one with fried goose liver (yummy!), then to our apartment in Lyon which is in the middle of town in a delightful square which our apartment overlooks. We are at the part of Lyon where there are many restaurants so finding somewhere to eat was not a problem. We had typical Spanish food – tapas and sangria! Went for a walk around the area – beautiful night. Ended up next to the Saone River where the buildings were illuminated and looked magnificent. Every time we turn a corner there seems to be something totally unexpected in Europe. The illuminated buildings were La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere, le Palais de Justice and the ?Church of St Jean. A cup of coffee cost us 5 euro each = $7:50 Australian. Well worth it. Still not happy with our camera but every place we have tried to buy a new one does not have an international guarantee so we are not happy to purchase. Opened the windows of our apartment to hear all the sounds and see all the sights of the people in the square below. Wonderful. All babbling in French, singing and laughing. When we closed the double windows (I guess this is like our double glazing) all the sound disappeared and off to our beds we went after watching BBC news. Pam had a sore back this evening which she was anxious would not hinder our trip. There was no where to park out car near our apartment so we had to leave the car parked in the street all night, which turned out to be fine. The other cars certainly hem themselves in. When we checked on our car in the morning, the car in front and behind, were actually bumper bar to bumper bar! There are a lot of Smart cars in Europe – very cute and they park them into the tiniest of spaces.