The Night Train Experience

Way back earlier this Spring, when Brit and I were planning our glorious European Adventure, we called Rail Europe to ask some general questions about travelling by train, and discovered the existence of the "Night Train". The train that takes you from A to B whilst you slumber. What a genius idea!
We signed up for 3 long distance trips (Paris-Florence, Venice-Munich, Prague-Amsterdam) right then and there, agreeing that it was more economical for our wallets and timetables than booking hostels and taking long day trains.
In my mind these trips were going to be something like "Murder on the Orient Express", with the minor exception of the murder, and being in the Orient. Comfortable bunks in cozy compartments, interesting people from across the world, and beautiful scenery out the windows, were the main features of this particular flight of fancy.
Of course, the very small compartment in the dusty corner of my brain called "Practicality" was warning me that the reality would be a bit different, but as often happens...I paid it very little attention.
To begin with, our train from Paris was about an hour late to arrive.

While in France we ate a lot of these: fresh baguettes slathered in butter, and 1 or 2 toppings.

When it did arrive there was very little signage or staff to ask about whether we were in the right compartment or even on the right train (inexperienced backpackers that we were).
No one else appeared to speak English.
The booth sat 6 passengers, squeezed tight together like sardines in a hot, humid, tin can.
There was a bit of storage in a cubby above the door, and 2 shelves above our seats. We joined our companions in stuffing our bags wherever possible, and trusting that everyone was honest...after we fell asleep, there would be no way to keep an eye on our stuff!
By the time the last passenger squeezed their luggage and person into our wee compartment, I was feeling mildly claustrophobic and apprehensive about this whole idea.

Brit and I pulled out our crossword puzzles, and hunkered down.
It was going to be a very long trip!
(10-12 hours, I think...)

On a side note, Brit pays way more attention to that Practical part of her brain, and her expectations were much more reasonable. She was not at all phased by the way things were shaping up.

Brit looking eager for another train ride! (Venice-Munich trip)

This was not to say I wasn't at all excited about the idea of going on a long train ride...I just was dealing with some disappointment and serious misgivings!

The train was noisy, and the lurching was more violent than I expected, but the most troubling aspect for me was just the serious lack of knowing what was going on! There was little to no information given on where we were arriving next, or when, or what was available on the train, or what was expected of us as passengers. We took our usual stance at such times, and simply waited to see what would happen :)

Around 10pm, a fellow passenger realized we were all newbies and instructed us in the art of transforming the seats into bunks! It was quite ingenious, but you'll just have to experience it for yourself because I'm bad at explaining it. Brit took the very top, and I was sandwiched between her and an old French lady, who...smelled...very strongly...and to put it delicately, needed a bath quite urgently.

I had made peace with the train by this time! (Venice-Munich trip)

In my haste and inexperience, I had not realized I would not be able to access my backpack (easily) whilst on the train, so my earplugs and flashlight were out of reach for the duration of the trip. I curled up on the narrow bunk, wrapped in a sheet, topped with a small blanket, and nestled in a thin pillow, and hoped sleep would come quickly.

It was not to be.

Between the lurching, the strange noises, smells(!), and lights, I found it impossible to relax. I was also severely stressed about somehow sleeping through our stop (scheduled for 7am), and heading straight on down to Rome!
I was not the only one. Mdme Stinky was also very worried, and told everyone about it every five minutes. Even though she knew her stop was scheduled at 6:30am, she would get up every time the train slowed, opened our compartment door and asked, "Is this Bologna?"

I'm not sure I mentioned it before, but there is one golden rule in my life and that is, "Never come between Jill and her sleep". This woman violated that rule in a most displeasing manner. When she was not asking where we were, she was snoring loudly, and when she was not snoring loudly, she was grabbing my bunk to pull herself up and go outside to ask where we were.

Regis did not find the trains cramped in the least.

It was not long after I fell asleep that the entire cabin was rudely awakened by violent banging on our door, and he lights were flicked on, leaving us blinking in confusion.
"Passaporteh! Passaporteh!!" There were 2 men shouting at us, reaching out for our documents.
I couldn't believe it. A quick glance at my iPod told me it was 3-in-the-frickin-morning.
Everyone grudgingly dug out their passports, which were studied quickly and brusquely handed back. It was all over in a matter of minutes, but I knew sleep would be a much longer wait....

Once we hit about 6am, there were more frequent stops. Milan, Verona, Bologna...
Our cabin began to empty, and once it was light out we transformed our bunks back into seats so we could look out the window.

That's when things began to look up.

Italy is beautiful!
Stunning.
Picture perfect.
Things don't seem so bleak when you are about to arrive at a place that you have only read about, and suddenly you are right there in it.

We arrived in Florence an hour late, around 7:55am. The station was already bustling, we were haggard, sleep-deprived, and disorientated. And it was time to find our hostel...

Not Firenze Santa Monica Novello, but an Italian train station nonetheless!

But we were in Italy! (Tuscany, to be specific.That small detail was the source of much joy for Brit and I)

And I had survived my first night train! Only 2 more to go :)

Versailles Happens

I discovered a running theme during my Europe trip, and that was: "have no expectations, and you will never be disappointed". It  might seem cynical, but it was fairly accurate.

Versailles was a place I had high expectations for. I had heard from a co-worker that it was a "must-see", and there was a fairly large-ish section in our travel guide about it, so I figured it must be pretty fantastic. Worth a little out-of-the-way daytrip that would otherwise have been spent in the beautiful city of Paris...

Perhaps the rain had something to do with it. And the stress of knowing time was short because we had to be back in Paris to catch our first night train. Anyhow, our spirits were considerably dampened upon arriving in the town under a gray, drizzling sky, carrying our heavy packs and not totally sure if we would be able to store them somewhere.

It didn't take us too long to find the palace...I mean, it is a fairly obvious building, and the hordes of tourists that came with us off the train were all migrating in the same direction. This equaled horrendous lines to the ticket booth.

Not impressed with the rain, long lines, and non-budget-friendly prices.

As we shuffled closer every few minutes, we spoke with a friendly staff member about the different touring options. Should we visit the Chateau AND the Gardens? One or the other? Le Grand Trianon, and Marie Antoinette's Estate?

When faced with the prices, we were horrified. 15 EURO to see the Chateau alone, not including the gardens or anything else...our wallets wept bitterly. After much discussion we decided that we didn't really have time to see anything else anyway, so we bought the single tickets and then got in line to actually enter the building..

Hours of...fun...

.The line began at the far left there, in the distance, traveled up to where the pic is taken, and then continued up the right, and over to the left again at the top.

Brutal.

I don't remember exactly how long it took us to to actually get inside, but I'm fairly certain it was hours in the plural. Luckily, they did have a bag check, so our huge packs were not an issue.

Why is gold in Europe so yellow??

We were still excited to see the palace though. Determined to enjoy our hard-won experience, we quickly picked up a pair of FREE (hooray!) audio guides and started exploring.

Stunning.

Known as the Sun Palace, Versailles became the hub of political court during the reign of King Louis XIV in the 1600's, as a show of his wealth and power. It is a massive building with extensive gardens, and each room seems more elaborate than the last. Every ceiling is fresco ed, every door wrought with gold, paintings and statues line the walls.

This is the palace where Marie Antoinette threw wonderful parties, and allegedly gave the flippant command, "Let them eat cake."

Audio-guiding it.

The royal family was also forced to sell most of the furniture to cover debts, and eventually driven from the palace during the French Revolution.

Key holes large enough to peek into :)

There were a ton of people visiting the palace that day...I think it was probably a weekend or something. The further in we got, the narrower the halls became, and the closer the crowds were pressed together.

A photo with no people in it! 

About a half-hour in, I was getting severely hot and claustrophobic....but there was nothing I could do to get out. At a certain point, you are simply part of the herd, and you can only move where and when everyone else does. Unless your a snot-nosed French highschool kid who doesn't realize how lucky you've got it...then you're allowed to push and shove everyone out of your way. Not that I'm bitter or anything!

Longing for a breath of fresh air...

It was so hot and stuffy, I'm actually surprised no one passed out. It was almost impossible for me to enjoy that experience at all...I tried snapping pics so that I would be able to appreciate it later, but 99% of my photos didn't turn out because of dim lighting.

The Hall of Mirrors

Once we reached the end of the tour, we burst outside to breath the cool air...I think that was the best moment for me. I don't remember if it was then, or a little later, that we agreed that perhaps crowds and museums were not for us, and that we should be much more cautious about how we spend our time and money in the future!

This is not to say that Versailles is not a really amazing place. I think I would really enjoy walking around during the off-season, and I think I would especially like the quaint little buildings that make up Marie Antoinette's estate. But I simply have no patience for paying through the nose to be squashed and pressed and pushed through hundreds of people that are taller than me, so that I can catch a few glimpses of fancy furniture and portraits of people in white wigs.

We snapped a photo through the fence, so we could at least sort of look at the gardens...

When we got out of there, we wanted to grab a coffee at a cafe before our train arrived. Turns out, cafes are hard to come by in France. Who knew?
We wandered for another hour or so, grumpier by the minute, until stumbling across a Starbucks five minutes from the Chateau.
We settled down after we did a few crosswords and mutually agreed that Versailles was a let-down. .
And then we grabbed our bags and caught our train by the very. last. second.

Audio guides: a shining light in a dark place

It might seem odd, wrong, or even simply ungrateful to think that while traveling you can have a bad day. I mean, I am SO lucky to have had this opportunity, and see these great historical buildings...
But the fact of the matter is that I am still me, and I still get frustrated, tired, and disappointed, and that is going to happen whether I am working at home, or visiting Versailles in France. Sometimes things just don't work out how you want them to...and that's ok.
We were able to laugh about it later, albeit a little grimly. And on our bad days (there was really only 1 other one I can think of) we just dubbed them, "A Versailles Day", and moved on.

For more information on Versailles:
http://en.chateauversailles.fr/homepage

Rennes

Our time in Rennes was brief, but I do have pleasant memories of it. An early morning visit to a bakery for a fresh loaf of hazelnut and apricot bread, still warm from the oven...laughing and gesturing with our hotel receptionist, trying to make ourselves understood since neither of us spoke the other's language...wandering the streets, admiring the quaint charm of European architecture...

And our dinner, at a tiny sidestreet bistro. That was a funny time! We had searched long and hard for a place we could afford that looked yummy. We finally found this place, but the staff did not speak English and while culinary school had given me a tiny bit of "menu French", at best I was guessing. Luckily our waiter was a good sport and tried his best to make us understand what everything was...for my pork he even did the whole turned up nose "snort, snort" thing!!! I almost died. I love the French. 

. 
I had no idea what kind of wine to have, so our server chose the "Pamplemousse" for us, and we liked it. I guess he knew we were not connoisseurs ;)

Edit: I tracked it down! The bistro is called Le Mandrill, located at 1 Rue Vasselot, 35000 Rennes, and is run by a father/son team. Regis and I highly recommend it! . 

Mont Saint Michel

Leaving Paris became a bit of a debacle, including showing up at the wrong station, rail staff who did not know anything about validating our Eurail passes (and nearly rendering them invalid!), and long waits. However, eventually we did get onto a train and sail away into the French countryside. And OH MY, is it ever beautiful!
Seriously. Beautiful.
In fact, it is just exactly what you would imagine quaint little French towns to look like. I nearly jumped out the window, I just want to go and walk down those awesome little roads and explore the lovely gardens! And this village called Pontorson...I need to go there. I would go back to France just to visit that place. I'm pretty sure its like Disney movie, where the birds and mice are your friends and everyone sings and dances because life is a musical.
Pretty sure.
Moving on.
We arrived in the town of Rennes (pronounced, "Ren") late at night, and it had begun to rain. We didn't know exactly the location of our hotel, as the directions read something like, "Not far from the train station". We were slightly worried, but shouldn't have been because the proprietors had not lied to us. Citotel le Bretagne is indeed located just across the street from the station!
We spent a very comfortable night there, and were ready from some adventuring in the morning.
Our purpose in straying so far from Paris was based on a picture I saw in a travel guide while we were planning the trip. It looked something like this:

Photo credit: www.tripadvisor.ca

Most of my friends are aware of my deep and abiding love and obsession with all things medieval. When I saw that picture, my heart said, "You must go there."
And, as Disney has instructed, I always follow my heart. SO, I did everything in my power to convince Brit that we needed to take this long and out-of-the-way trip to see Mont Saint Michel.
It wasn't too hard, seeing as she really wanted to visit her namesake province, where the monastery was conveniently located!
We hopped on a bus in the morning and enjoyed a scenic drive listening to the local radio which was playing some classic tunes...the likes of both Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey were heard.

Regis is pretty stoked.

It was a cold, wet day, but I couldn't have been more excited! This was a huge thing for me.
And then...there it was.

What a lucky monkey!

I almost didn't know what to do with myself. This place is huge! There was so much to explore. So much to see!

Hmm...the French Diagon Alley?

As you enter through the front gates you come into a narrow, steeply inclined street lined with shops and eateries of all kinds (lots of cheesy souvenirs and postcards available!).

The tidal island was first used as a stronghold in the 6th and 7th centuries. The construction of the village and abbey came later, but it has been an important place throughout history. Now it is a tourist attraction with a small segment reserved for a monastic commune. The population of the island sits at 41. I'm tempted to make it 42.

This is me...REALLY excited!

Now I can die happy.

Its sort of ridiculous how great this day was for me. I mean, I think it was one of my favorite days of the whole entire trip. Looking at these photos again is bringing back so much of the sheer delight I felt while we wandered around, climbing old stone staircases, passing under archways, sitting in quiet courtyards...it felt like being in a fairytale, as cheesy as that sounds. Well, that is, it did if you blocked out the fact there were hundreds of other tourists there as well. Funny thing is that the crowds didn't spoil Mt St Michel for me, like other places were.

There were SO many winding sidestreets and intriguing nooks and crannies to explore. I could spend a week just walking around.

We ditched the crowds and spent some time laughing on the deserted beach.

Caught a few ZZZZ's. 

Mont Saint Michel is not to be overlooked. You really need to go there. Seriously.

For more information on Mont Saint Michel: 

http://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/

Hostel Review: Citotel Le Bretagne**

Citotel Le Bretagne**
Rennes, France

Where we heard about it: I'm not quite sure. I think Brit just came across it on some website, but I'm fairly certain it wasn't hostelbookers.com.

What sealed the deal: Close proximity to the Rennes train station.

First impressions: WOW. They weren't kidding when they said it was close. Literally across the street.

What we paid: the first night was 23.51 EURO/$35 (we figured it must be some kind of weekend special), the second night was 36.65EURO/$53.99. Both were private double beds, with ensuite.

What we liked: The location was so close and convenient to both the train and bus stations, it was perfect for us, since we were using Rennes as a base to daytrip to Mt. Saint Michel. The staff were extremely friendly, even though they spoke next to no English! They certainly made the effort, and were very patient with us. Our first night we stayed in a beautiful room that seemed like it had been recently renovated. Breakfast was available for 7.50EUR (we didn't take them up on it).

What we didn't like: We were very confused about our rooms changing on the second night, if there was internet available, breakfast, etc and it was hard to communicate this to the staff. The second room was quite a lot older and more dated, and somehow I don't think there was anyone moving into our first room. I still don't know why we had to move!

Internet Availability: I think we did have free WiFi but I can't remember. The website says there is WiFi and Internet Access, so we'll go with that.

Would we stay there again? 
Ya, but I'd ask for the nice room we had the first night!


Disclaimer: this is not a paid advertisement! The opinions expressed here belong only to Regis and I. The prices were those recorded on my bank statement, circa June 2011.

Montparnasse & The Paris Catacombs

(Is it just me, or does that sound like an Indie band name?)

Our third day in Paris consisted of 2 parts: a morning spent in Montparnasse, and the rest of it on a train heading away from the city.

We had read about the Catacombs in our travel guide, "Let's Go: Europe!", and had heard a general buzz that they were an interesting thing to visit. From what I could tell, they were creepy underground tunnels with lots of history. And visiting a new part of Paris would no doubt be interesting, since each neighborhood seemed to have a unique flavor all its own!

Montparnasse didn't disappoint, and neither did the catacombs.

We thought we had arrived early (probably 9AM-ish) so that we would be one of the first in line to get in, but there was already a huge trail of people wrapped around the little park in which the catacomb entrance stood.
We quickly got in line, and sighed at the thought of how long we would have to wait. Luckily, we met a very entertaining Londoner in line ahead of us, so we passed the time chatting with him and comparing toenails (don't ask, it won't make sense).

Warning: grimness and morbidity ahead!

Once we got inside and paid for our entrance (4EUR/$6) and audio guides (3.30EUR/$4.95), we descended into the cold, dank, darkness of the old Paris mines. 130 steps down. I don't remember exactly how deep it is, only that it is much further down than the subway!

We were greeted by this:

It reads, "Stop! This is the Empire of Death"

As it turns out, the old mines were used as a cemetery in the late 1700's, because Paris had run out of places to put its dead. The burial grounds were overflowing, and the quarries were empty and unused.

They filled these tunnels with the remains of over 6 million Parisians! Some creep had the great idea of going down there and organizing it all...turning it into a grisly piece of art and architecture.

The whole tour took about 45 minutes, and was very interesting...though, I would have been lost (figuratively) without my audio guide, which explained everything and gave a lot of background information.

It was pretty creepy and weird, walking down these long, silent, passageways lined with bones. Strange to think that these cold hard remains were actually people once.

In addition to the bones, there were tombstones, poems, epitaphs, and more.

There were even some miniature models of buildings...I don't remember exactly why. You'll just have to go there and listen to the audio guide yourself. My memory is like a sieve.

There was even a well, which was used to quench the thirst of the men who worked on the walls.

I'm not sure how I'd feel about drinking out of there, though...

Even with the amount of visitors waiting outside, and the line moving steadily, it didn't feel crowded inside at all! In fact, we hardly saw anyone else...I think a lot of people get wigged out and cruise through as fast as they can. Also, if you don't have the audio guide, it gets pretty redundant. "Oh look! More bones..."

When we emerged, if felt good to breathe fresh air, and squint into the sun, but I would recommend it to those interested in history, or a creepy thrill. It is really unlike anything else I've ever seen!

For more information: http://www.catacombes-de-paris.fr/english.htm

But before we part for the day, let me make one more recommendation. If you are going to visit the Catacombs, take a short walk down to la rue Daguerre to visit the wonderful farmers market (but beware the little Frenchman who will flatter you and then make you pay 8 EUR for a little box of strawberries) and the most adorable garden creperie, La Belle Ronde. You will love its setting, its gnome,  and its delicious crepes (strawberries, lemon curd, and whip cream for me) that are unlike any crepe I have ever eaten before or since.

Nutella & Banana, I believe.