Driving In Paris by Paul Howlett
Some twenty or so years ago, I
decided to travel to Europe. I commenced learning French at a night school
class once a week. Subsequently to that,
I started up some private lessons, and by the time I was ready to fly to
Europe, I could make myself understood in French. At least as a tourist!
I decided to go French all the way
and took a French Airlines flight from Sydney to Paris. I ordered a French car
rental to be picked up at Charles de Gaulle Airport. I had three months to tour
France and Britain, and I was looking forward to a grand holiday!
The first problem arose due to
President Bush. He ordered the invasion of Iraq and the First Gulf War was in
full swing. This resulted that the
French Airplane had to fly away from the Middle East, thus adding a couple of
hours onto the flight time. I did not
sleep on the plane. I was excited to be going to Europe and I do not sleep well
on planes, as the engine noise seems to permeate every part of the plane
together with my body.
This resulted in a terrible case of Jet Lag, my
body ached and I had a pounding headache that would just not go away. I had not
slept for two days!
I exited the plane and walked through
customs. Then I looked for the car
rental desk of the company from which I had ordered my little 1000cc Citroen
car. It took me half an hour to find the
desk. Most international airports seem
to neglect the desk space for car rentals companies. I finally found this car rental desk under
some stairs, almost out of the building.
I selected a little red colored
Citroen, with stick shift. The car was
brand new to the point of having a “stiff” gear box. I had a great deal of trouble finding second
gear! I drove around the parking lot (carpark) about
four times then headed out on the motorway, heading, I hoped, for Paris.
I had booked a hotel near the gates
of the Palaces of Versailles. I thought that I could drive around Paris to find
my hotel. What a joke. I became hopelessly lost. At one stage I found
that I was heading for the coast!
My headache increased from bad to
very bad. I can still remember the first time I proceeded to make a left hand
turn, across traffic. One part of my brain was screaming that everything was
wrong, while my conscience brain was driving according to the French rules of
the road!
I made three circumnavigations of the
centre of Paris on the Peripherique. This
is the main ring road that goes completely around the old centre of Paris. I just could not find a sign that pointed me
on the way to Versailles.
I was so tired; I had such a bad
headache I almost screamed with the frustration of not finding a way to drive
to Versailles. Remember in those days
there was no such thing as a GPS navigator, and as I was on my own, I could not
read my very good Michelin Road Map and drive at the same time!
Finally on my third circuit of the
city, I had a “light bulb” moment. I would follow the signs to the old airport
in the Paris suburbs, which is situated on the south side of Paris. Orly Airport is the original airport of
Paris, and still in use, and as Versailles is on the same side of Paris, I
figured that there just may be signage from Orly to Versailles.
I drove into the main “put down and
pick up” part of Orly airport and sure enough there was a sign showing me the
way to Versailles. I followed all those
signs as if they were leading me to the Holy Grail! Finally, I arrived at Versailles, parked the
car almost next to the gates of Versailles and found my room in the Hotel. I
was so happy to get out of my sweat stained travelling clothes, take a shower
and then head out of foot to explore some of the township of Versailles.
Yes, headache of not, I was going to
keep right on going!
I paid for that, as I ended up with a
headache for three days, but I did get to see the Palace of Versailles a couple
of times. Now that was very enjoyable!
