Saturday, June 16th (Drive to Paris, France)

We decided to start this blog with a picture of a Total Service Station which populate the French highways to help share two facts and a story about driving here. In our boredom, we calculated that gas in Europe costs us $0.25 / mile versus about $0.10 in the US. This makes us feel like we are throwing a quarter out the window every mile we drive (a frightening thought). Second, there are more tolls in France than anywhere (with the possible exception of Italy). We paid over….

Finally, the story. So Carla and I decided to play a little Bonnie and Clyde today and not pay for fuel after filling up at the Total Service Station between Dijon and Paris. I thought Carla had paid and she thought I had paid and neither of us realized it until Carla asked if they had taken our Visa card (which we’ve had a few probs with) 16 km up the road. We briefly considered continuing on to Paris anyway with the hope that we could get our car out of the country before the French Police had a clue (in legitimate protest of the ridiculous tolls and high gas prices of course) but our ethics got the better of us and we turned back. As we passed the station going south (there are no exits on French freeways) we already saw Police cars in front. I pulled in and began with “Pardon, je suis desole, je pense que elle paye pour le gasoline” which translated means, “I’m sorry, its all my wife’s fault” The cops just laughed and pointed us inside to pay, it seems they had bigger fish to fry. They had just apprehended a suspect who stood in handcuffs outside the station while they were searching his car. As a result, I believe we went from being outlaws to good civil servants by helping draw law enforcement to this den of thieves. We apologized again inside, paid (with Visa) and were on our way (48 miles, $12 in gas and $12 in tolls later). (Jim usually pays for gas so who’s fault is this J )

But we must go back to the beginning of today…

Because our hotel in Lyon was oh so charming, we motivated to wake up pretty early and get on the road towards Paris. Carla couldn’t wait to settle down into a comfortable place for a WEEK after 3 weeks on the road. We wanted to grab a yummy French breakfast before we took off but TomTom guided us right to the highway. Though we had both heard great things about Lyon, we decided we would stop along the way and grab some lunch on the way to Paris.

We stopped in Dijon for lunch. We were lucky enough to hit the Saturday market when we arrived. What a site to see – everyone in town was out. They even served Carla’s favorite meal at the local butcher shop – PIGEON! We enjoyed a traditional French lunch of cheese, ham, beef bourguignon, and red wine before heading off to Paris (and the gas station story above).

On our way to Paris! YEAH!

We arrived just outside of Paris to the Marriott place Carla’s parents just stayed a week ago at. It is BEAUTIFUL and so nice to have a little 2 bedroom place with a kitchen, washer/dryer etc. It is great and a wonderful start to the last week of our trip!