Those of you who are regular travellers from Australia are very aware of the length of time it takes to get from Sydney to a central European city. In our case, flying via Singapore, with a 2hr layover, the total travelling time was 22hrs 20mins from Sydney to Paris. We stayed awake for the first leg and slept much of the second, making the trip relatively painless. My only criticism of Singapore Airlines, which is otherwise an excellent airline, is that the choice of food has not changed in the 4 times that we have flown to Europe with them over the past 14 months!
Having retrieved our luggage from the carousel in Paris, we congratulated ourselves on having made it thus far…but we didn't want to be over-confident knowing we still had a bus and train journey to contend with and 90kg of assorted suitcases, dunnage bags and carry on bags! We caught the airport bus to Gare de Montparnasse in Paris where we had a longer than usual wait for our train - not because of any delays, but actually the opposite! Our arrival date into Paris coincided with 08 May, VE Day in France is a major public holiday and there was NO traffic whatsoever, so we reached the train station in record time! Our train tickets were not changeable however, so we waited in the very comfortable waiting room at the station and I went shopping for some picnic goodies to enjoy during our journey.
Interestingly, many train stations in Europe seem to have done away with porterage services (although some places still have them), and we were lucky to find some baggage trolleys (similar to those you get at the airport) which enabled us to transfer our bags to the train quite easily. The train was packed with holiday makers and once on board, we settled back comfortably for the 3 1/2hr journey to La Rochelle.
Although the weather was rather overcast with a chill wind, our moods were bright as we anticipated our arrival at our final destination (for now). La Rochelle is one of those stations that no longer have either porterage or baggage trolleys, but we managed to find a side gate that was unlocked so that between Tad and myself we shuffled the bags two or three at a time to the taxi rank. Normally we would walk the 10 minutes to our hotel, but with the amount of baggage this was not going to be possible. I felt a little sorry for the poor taxi driver as her face fell when we told her our destination (a whole EUR 6 worth!).
The staff at the Hotel St Nicolas were welcoming and we were thrilled to discover that our favourite room (121 - one of only two with a lovely balcony, which we have yet to enjoy as the weather has never been co-operative!) was ready for us. Not only that but we had had some items sent to us care of the hotel and they had been placed in our room ready for our arrival.
Of course no sooner had we deposited our bags into our room but Tad was ready to make the 2km walk to where our boat was berthed! We found her quickly and easily but unfortunately she was all locked up with no key in any of the usual hiding places (probably a good thing). We shall have to wait for the 'official' handover on Saturday in order to gain complete access.
We then went in search of some fellow Aussies with whom we had been corresponding through various cruisers' forums, who were also in La Rochelle to collect their new vessels and found them together with an assortment of other Aussies and Americans partying aboard one of the yachts. In true 'yacht' style we were immediately welcomed to join in, handed a glass of red each and introduced all around. With the evenings staying deceptively light until quite late it was almost 9:30pm before we made our farewells with promises to catch up again the next day.
The weather was our first shock to the system - having left Shoal Bay and Sydney under balmy mid-20s skies, arriving into La Rochelle with highs of mid-teens and lows in the single digits was an unwelcome surprise! In addition, the winds were howling from the north east. Rainy drizzle greeted our first morning, however the benefit of the wind meant that the skies cleared for the afternoon.
Official handover was not until Saturday, so we spent our first full day in La Rochelle planning our strategy for collecting our goods from the storage unit, collecting our airfreight from Nantes (which arrived before we did!), and doing some shopping for large and heavy items (e.g. water and beer!).
The day would not have been complete without at least one trip out to the marina to check on "Bisou" and to greet our fellow Aussie friends!
Having retrieved our luggage from the carousel in Paris, we congratulated ourselves on having made it thus far…but we didn't want to be over-confident knowing we still had a bus and train journey to contend with and 90kg of assorted suitcases, dunnage bags and carry on bags! We caught the airport bus to Gare de Montparnasse in Paris where we had a longer than usual wait for our train - not because of any delays, but actually the opposite! Our arrival date into Paris coincided with 08 May, VE Day in France is a major public holiday and there was NO traffic whatsoever, so we reached the train station in record time! Our train tickets were not changeable however, so we waited in the very comfortable waiting room at the station and I went shopping for some picnic goodies to enjoy during our journey.
Interestingly, many train stations in Europe seem to have done away with porterage services (although some places still have them), and we were lucky to find some baggage trolleys (similar to those you get at the airport) which enabled us to transfer our bags to the train quite easily. The train was packed with holiday makers and once on board, we settled back comfortably for the 3 1/2hr journey to La Rochelle.
Although the weather was rather overcast with a chill wind, our moods were bright as we anticipated our arrival at our final destination (for now). La Rochelle is one of those stations that no longer have either porterage or baggage trolleys, but we managed to find a side gate that was unlocked so that between Tad and myself we shuffled the bags two or three at a time to the taxi rank. Normally we would walk the 10 minutes to our hotel, but with the amount of baggage this was not going to be possible. I felt a little sorry for the poor taxi driver as her face fell when we told her our destination (a whole EUR 6 worth!).
The staff at the Hotel St Nicolas were welcoming and we were thrilled to discover that our favourite room (121 - one of only two with a lovely balcony, which we have yet to enjoy as the weather has never been co-operative!) was ready for us. Not only that but we had had some items sent to us care of the hotel and they had been placed in our room ready for our arrival.
Of course no sooner had we deposited our bags into our room but Tad was ready to make the 2km walk to where our boat was berthed! We found her quickly and easily but unfortunately she was all locked up with no key in any of the usual hiding places (probably a good thing). We shall have to wait for the 'official' handover on Saturday in order to gain complete access.
We then went in search of some fellow Aussies with whom we had been corresponding through various cruisers' forums, who were also in La Rochelle to collect their new vessels and found them together with an assortment of other Aussies and Americans partying aboard one of the yachts. In true 'yacht' style we were immediately welcomed to join in, handed a glass of red each and introduced all around. With the evenings staying deceptively light until quite late it was almost 9:30pm before we made our farewells with promises to catch up again the next day.
The weather was our first shock to the system - having left Shoal Bay and Sydney under balmy mid-20s skies, arriving into La Rochelle with highs of mid-teens and lows in the single digits was an unwelcome surprise! In addition, the winds were howling from the north east. Rainy drizzle greeted our first morning, however the benefit of the wind meant that the skies cleared for the afternoon.
Official handover was not until Saturday, so we spent our first full day in La Rochelle planning our strategy for collecting our goods from the storage unit, collecting our airfreight from Nantes (which arrived before we did!), and doing some shopping for large and heavy items (e.g. water and beer!).
The day would not have been complete without at least one trip out to the marina to check on "Bisou" and to greet our fellow Aussie friends!
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