Corflu Part 1

Wednesday, 24 April

Here we are, sitting in a lovely self-catering apartment in the hotel district just outside Charles de Gaulle airport, watching the snooker from Sheffield with German commentary on World Sport. How’s that for a good representation of life in the Europen community. (Marco Fu is leading Matthew Stevens, if you’re interested, but by the time I’ve finished this post the whole world will know if this is in the slightest important.)

Tuesday, 23 April

What an enjoyable evening at Arques la Bataille with the Connect Club. (Connect Club is a group of people who are interested in meeting different nationalities who are living in France. It is the brilliant idea of an Englishwoman who has lived in Normandy for 20+ years, and a lot of the members are British, but there are lots of French who want to meet Brits. Christine arranges lots of activities - meals out, barbecues, trips to various interesting places - of which this was another one.) In fact, what a good day overall. Almost completely packed for the holiday, and just a little housework to do. To be honest, if it hadn’t been for this Connect meeting we might not be so well prepared. You know how it is, work takes as long as the time available.

Wine and cheese tasting, with a lot of education on the wines - who would have believed that a Frenchman would be recommending a white wine for cheese! They are usually so tied to tradition. And to top it all, I liked the white wine that was recommended to accompany the Stilton (another surprise to have a non-French cheese represented, but maybe it was just a nod towards the English President). Unfortunately my notes are back in Le Boug-Dun so you’ll have to wait with baited breath for the details. It was again a very continental night - French & English (of course), but also Dutch and Belgian. Not bad for a group of under 20.

Wednesday again

“I don’t fancy 4 hours in a taxi to get to Charles de Gaulle Airport”, said John. So here we are, staying in OnlySuites ’hotel’ for the night, having got a lift at 9am this morning to Dieppe railway station, a train from there to Rouen, from Rouen to Paris St Lazare, RER to Gare du Nord, and then another to the airport, and finally a courtesy bus to the hotel which arrived just before check-in started at 3pm. 4 hours too long John?

Still it’s all part of the ’experience’ as is sitting here listening to the English of the referee and the German commentary of the snooker match. And tomorrow we’ll start again on our voyage of discovery. In particular we will find out if there is any drawback to BA paying us to fly from Paris to London and on to Seattle. Yes, you read that right. The flight direct from Heathrow to Seattle was MORE expensive than starting off from Paris and changing at Heathrow for the same flight to Seattle!

 

Corflu here we come!