Getting to Montigny
Friday 4th of January: my year-long adventure started. After dropping off Regine at the railway station and filling up the car, I'm off to France. Although I visited France plenty of times and although I drove to Paris for a couple of times, the trip came with some unexpected surprises, especially when arriving in the Paris area.
You may know that generally driving through France is a pleasure. The roads are excellent, there are many rest areas (I heard 36 stops between Paris and Amsterdam) and you'll find sufficient decent gas stations, which often accept credit card payments. However... as soon as you enter the highway system around Paris, this completely changes: traffic becomes very busy, roads are less well maintained and worst of all - as I found out - there are no gas stations anymore. Yes: just after I passed the last gas station before Paris, the fuel warning signal started burning. Apparently my new car is not that efficient as my old car used to be, which is a good lesson, but became a challenge now: how to find a gas station in Paris?
Fortunately I'm blessed with a new navigation system that includes special interest points like gas stations. So I selected the first one, got off the highway and drove into the jungle of Paris' traffic (lanes are only a suggestion, especially on roundabouts). After a couple of kilometers driving I arrived at the gas station, but there another problem occured: it was an automated gas station that only accepted les Cartes Bleues, the French debit cards. Hmm... so, time to find another place to fill up my car: after waiting ages to get back into traffic, misunderstanding my good navigation friend -ending up in an "interesting" area- and finally finding another gas station I could refuel my car and continue my travels to Montigny. The good thing about all this: gas is much cheaper in the residential areas than on the highway (hey, I remain Dutch!).
Just before I left the Paris area I encountered another problem: my navigation system decided to stop because the battery died. Not so much of a problem normally - but it is a problem on the Boulevard Peripherique - when you do not know where to go, have no map and only a vague idea where to go. However, after a couple of good guesses I arrived at the highway that finally brought me to my new home for the coming six months: Montigny-sur-Loing.
During the night we (that is my Australian housemates and I) had an excellent housewarming diner - we'll have a good time together here!
