Driving in France

 We had our first experience driving in Europe and we had mixed results. It began at the train station in Lille at about 5:00pm. The good things about renting here: it was convenient and the French drive on the same side as the road as we do. The not so good things: we found ourselves in the middle of a strange city, it was rush hour, it was dark, it was raining, and we only had a vague idea where we were going. After about an hour we did make it to our hotel. What a relief. Then we found out we needed to drive to a restaurant for supper. At least  this time we knew exactly where we were going.

Day 2 we tried our luck driving in the French country side as we headed to Beaumont-Hamel. In the daylight, away from the heavy traffic of the city, and with good driving instructions we managed to find our way without much trouble. By this time we had figured out how French road signs and traffic circles worked. In fact it was very pleasant driving in the country side. Unfortunately, things did not stay that way. On our return trip back to Lille, we again found ourselves in rush hour traffic and in the dark. (Apparently rush hour goes from 4:00pm to 7:30pm.) Very quickly I took another wrong turn and we found ourselves lost. It took us another hour to get back to the hotel. One of the challenges we had was finding a place to stop to ask for directions. Here in France driving seems to be all about keeping the traffic moving. Once in the flow there are few places to stop and pull over and ask for directions. Next time I will rent a GPS.

By day 3 we finally figured out it is best to avoid rush hour traffic and driving in the dark and all was good. We knew eventually we would have to return the car back to the train station. Given our track record of driving in the city, on day 4 we had a practice run to the train station where we made our train reservations and also acquainted ourselves with downtown Lille by walking and not driving.

In the end we got the car back on time, undamaged, and in the correct parking space. During the course of 4 days of driving, I only got honked at 3 times, didn't get pulled over by the Gendarmes, and it only took a couple of days for Susan's and my nerves to recover.



Driving in the French country side - excellent. Driving in French cities - avoid. French drivers - excellent.
Susan's patience and asking of directions - priceless.

These photos are taken in Sancerre as we couldn't stop to take pictures when we had the car!!