France - the beginnings of a new journey.
After a day of preparation at Uncle Nobbys, we shared a lovely last meal together, and then said our farewells. We were all really excited at what laid ahead, but also a little sad to be leaving after such a great time. I was also feeling a little nervous about driving on the other side of the road.
When we left Uncle Nobbys they drove ahead of us, and showed us the short cut to the Euro Tunnel. We waved them farewell, and continued on. Arrival at the Eurotunnel was smooth, we just had to enter the credit card that we used when booking our ticket, and then the booking number, and we were in. There were very few people there, almost everything was computerised. We went through customs without the car been swabbed- apparently they usually swab all of the door handles and steering wheelsfor drugs when people go across. Then to my surprise as we approached passport control we were just waved on through - they didnt even want to look at our passports! Following that we followed the markings and simply drove onto the train. Once we were on, we had to drive a few hundred yards more inside the train to reach our parking space. We were so excited. For the duration of the train ride, people mostly sat in their vehicles, except for the ones who walked the length of the train for the toilets. There was nothing else on board.
It wasnt long before we reached Calais. As we drove off of the train, we followed a brief road, and then we were on the motorway. Although the tomtom was on, I felt really disoriented. It was dark, it was raining, I had no idea where I was, or what route to follow, and i had to drive on the other side of the road . I gripped the steering wheel tightly, and drove, following the Tomtoms instructions. Back in Folkestone the boys and their cousins had changed the voice on the Tomtom, so the one that i had gotten used to in the last month was now different, so they spoke different words and had a different accent - just adding to my sense of disorientation. After about forty minutes of driving my disorientation eased somewhat. I had to learn not to turn my eyes to the left as we drove, as that meant staring directly into the lights of oncoming traffic. As we had chosen the route with tolls, we only travelled on the motorway. The toll road cost 31 Euros, but the sense of sanity and getting there in one piece was worth it. As it was late, we didnt go to a couch surfer for the night, instead we stayed in a truckstop 3km south of Parc Asterix. It wasnt the smoothest sleep ever- or the most comfortable- but by then we were tired so it didnt matter. When we woke in the morning, we discovered it wasnt the cleanest place either, it stunk of urine - lazy truckies. We drove to Parc Asterix before it opened, just so that we could eat breakfast in a nicer place.
At Parc Asterix we caught up with Kay and Mike who were returning from their honeymoon. It was nice to hang out with them at the Parc. The Parc was amazing. They had lots of runs, and shows going on. We watched a dolphin and seal display which left us wondering how do they train the dolphins to do such amazing things. At one point they were kicking balls with their tails and flipping them with their noses. When one of the bigger dolphins flipped a ball, it went up really high into the crowd, and hit Josh as he was videoing it. Added to the memories.
Another thing that really stood out here is the language. Funnily enough everyone talks French, and they talk it really fast. A few times i would forget where i was and start talking to them in English, then i would remember quickly that it is the wrong language here. We tried to speak in French, I knew how to say what i wanted when ordering food, but i could not remember how to ask for something. At one point i said "un hotdog sil vous plait" (it said hot dog on the board, and i knew that one was un, or une) but they didnt understand what i was saying. So i pointed to the picture and showed one finger - eventually we got there.
When we left the Parc I messaged our couchsurfing host and said that we would make a New Zealand dessert. We just needed to pop into the supermarket on the way. He laughed and said that I really did not know France as the supermarkets close at 8pm - oops.
It was an hour drive to Esbly from PArc ASterix - primarily because i got lost twice and didnt want to pay for tolls. It wasnt long before i wished i had taken the toll road. The road we took had intersections, and although i had coped with motorways and roundabouts so far, i hadnt had any intersections. I was tired, and knew i had to drive on the other side of the road, but for some reason my brain was thinking i had to take opposite directions to what the tomtom was saying- idiot..hahahha. At the intersection, i automatically wanted to turn into the lane that i am used to in NZ, so it was a little stressful, but we managed. After hearing the horrors of driving in Paris from Mike and Kay I am reluctant to drive into the city.
Eventually we arrived at our hosts in Esbly. They are a lovely French Family. Ettiene is 22 and our host, he lives with his parents, who are also lovely. They had cooked a lovely dinner and waited for our arrival (9pm). We ate French chicken, potatoes peas and salad. They laughed when we put the salad on our plate with the cooked food, and explained that in France, they eat the salad separately after they have eaten the cooked food. We talked and chatted over dinner. Of course dinner in France would not be dinner without bread and cheese and wine. They presented four different cheeses on the table, mmm they were really tasty. The wine was good, and the company was great. Thats what i love about couchsurfing, instead of being hauled up in a hotel, where you dont meet to many locals, we get to meet local families, eat and share stories together. They also gave us some tips for Paris.
Etienne has kindly offerred to drive us into central Paris in the morning, and then collect us from Disneyland the following day. We are able to leave our van in Esbly in their driveway, whilst we couchsurf with another host in the central city on Saturday night. So very kind of them.
When i awoke this morning i looked out and saw the sun rising over the hills - what a beautiful day. I am loving France so far!
went downstairs for breakfast in my socks, not a good idea on wooden stairs, fell down and have two lovely bruises forming.. it still lovely here nonetheless
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