I got up and finished packing, ate breakfast, and headed over to the train station in the morning. My train was supposed to leave at 11:49am to take me to Le Mans, where I had my connection which would take me to Auray (and from there they have a bus which goes around to all the various towns in the area that aren’t served by the trains). Unfortunately, when I got to the train station, my train wasn’t listed anywhere. At all. So I went up to Information to ask them, and there was already a line of about ten people. I quickly found out that I wasn’t the only one wondering what to do since the train didn’t exist. Apparently it was one of the ones cancelled because of the train strike. Instead, they gave me a schedule of transfers and TGVs that basically meant I went back and forth a lot and would finally get to Auray three hours later than I had planned, but at least I would get there.
So I got on the TGV going to Paris Montparnasse, which was leaving at 12:02pm. The thing about the way they transfer people to other trains, though, is that they don’t give you a seat or print you a new ticket unless you pay to buy a new ticket. You’re not technically guaranteed a seat, unless there are open spots. I was fortunate enough that the spot I picked happened to stay empty the whole trip, but a lot of people around me where asked to move by the actual ticket-holders, and the train was so crowded there were people standing in the entryway by the doors because they didn’t have seats.
About an hour later, I got into Paris. Fortunately I didn’t have to change stations to catch my connection, since I was going right back out west. I had about forty-five minutes, so I bought a sandwich and a drink. Then I was off on another TGV heading to Rennes. This time, I was not so fortunate in seating; in the last few minutes before the train was about to leave, a guy showed up with his two sons, and they were supposed to have the spot that I had just randomly picked. Another guy had set my suitcase in the overhead area, so I just left it there and went to stand by the doorway. There are little fold-down seats there, so I was able to sit for the two-hour ride to Rennes, but that didn’t mean it was comfortable. When we got to the station, I had the guy hand me down my suitcase (the problem for me with putting things up there is that later I can’t reach them without climbing on the seats. >.>) and I was the first off the train, heading to find my last connecting train.
The last train was heading towards Quimper, with a stop at Auray along the way. Because they had changed my ticket, I had a sticker on it that stated which trains I was allowed to go on, and I was also technically allowed to sit in 1st class. On the other trains it had seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth, but on the way to Auray the 1st class compartment was the first one I saw, so I figured why not? It wasn’t really all that amazing, to be fair; the seat was slightly larger, and that was pretty much it. But no-one came wanting my seat (I don’t think that train even had assigned seating), so I was comfortable on my way to little Auray.
When I finally got there, I realized that Auray really is little. It was more like the little side-of-the-road train stations of Chenonceau and Amboise than anything. I went over to information, since although I knew there was a bus, I had no idea where to go or when it would come. I was half afraid it would be a limited-time deal, and I would’ve missed it. But fortunately the next bus was coming about a half hour after I got there, and the bus stop was just outside the train station. I went out to look at the map and schedule, and try to get some sense of it myself, with little success. Another guy came up and was also looking at the schedule; we shared our confusion, and I found out that he was going to a little town just past Carnac, so wanted the same bus that I did. He double-checked with the woman, and she confirmed the departure time, so we waited.
There was actually quite a crowd collected by the time the bus came; I had a hard time fitting my suitcase in the compartment under the bus. I also had no idea where I was supposed to get off, and wasn’t sure whether she would announce it, or how it worked. I ended up being confused, but the guy from before was sitting near me and I asked him, and then had to double check with the driver because she stopped at Carnac Plage (the beach part of the town) where I wanted Carnac Ville (the slightly more inland half of the town, which is closer to the standing stones). I successfully got off the bus at Carnac Ville, got my suitcase, and looked around for a map, since I had no real idea how to get from there to my hotel. It all worked out though, because there was one right nearby, and after scrutinizing it for a while and figuring out what direction to go in- I turned around and saw that my hotel was just across the street from the bus stop anyway. :P
I’m staying at l’Hôtel des Alignements, which basically means the Hotel of the Standing Stones. When I walked in, finally, between 7 and 8 in the afternoon (I had meant to be there by 4ish), the woman who seems to run the hotel was in the restaurant part. But she quickly came over, gave me my key, and I headed upstairs. My room is really big, again; the bed, especially, is nice. The bathroom has some kind of weird thing; I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be a bidet or if it’s for washing sand or whatever off your feet after going to the beach… I feel like I should probably avoid using it for either, just in case. The nicest thing, probably, is that I have a little balcony in the back looking out over the houses and the town.
After settling in a bit, I went out to wander the town a little and possibly find a restaurant. I quickly discovered, however, that Carnac apparently closes on Monday evenings, similar to Bruges. *sigh* I only looked around a little before I decided that it would just be easier to go back to the hotel restaurant and have dinner there. The woman who runs it appears to have a big soft spot for families; there were two families with kids, and she was joking and talking with them. I think they’ve been here for a bit, since she knew their names and what they’d been up to all day (the beach; to be fair, the sunburns would’ve probably given that away anyway). The food itself was fantastic; I had crab farsi for my entrée, which was served in the crab’s shell with a little salad. My main dish was a piece of some kind of white fish, with little (potato?) cakes, and this amazingly delicious buttery sauce. Then dessert was a pear tart, with a delicious creamy sauce around it, too. I had it all with a glass of rosé wine, which was very pleasant.
The one downside to this hotel so far is that I don’t have any internet, so I’m typing this up in Word so that I have it recorded and can transfer it over when I find an internet café or figure out a way to get my computer to one of the bars that apparently have internet. Oh, well; I’m sleepy from the wine and good food anyway, so I’ll probably go to bed early, wake up early, and tomorrow is the menhirs (standing stones)!
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