Day 2 started early and included Steve’s first experience on the TGV, as well as a trip down another sweet sweet memory lane for Annie for the next few days. It didn’t come without its complications however…. We’ll get into that later. First, let me tell you that this is when I had my second croque-monsieur. Definitely not as good as the one in Montmartre but it looked more cool.
Traveling by train is fairly easy in France but can be tricky for the inexperienced (like us). First thing to note is that it’s a stupid idea to book a top deck seat on a double deck TGV when you have a lot of luggage because…. that’s right…. you have to carry that 70 lb suitcase and 40 lb carry-on up a very narrow flight of stairs, then find a spot for it in the luggage area; you better be one of the first ones on the train. I followed this advice I read online: Ask for an upper deck seat for the best views. Stairs to the upper deck are wide and easy so not a problem. WRONG.
Second, don’t expect to see your “voie” (track) number to be announced much before 10 or 15 minutes of your departure. Third, make sure you get on the right car, and be aware that they don’t mark them until you’re just about to board so if you have anxiety, take a xanax. It gets very messy if you get on the wrong car with your 140 lb luggages and you have to double back against the flow of passengers (not admitting we did this).
Once you get settled, riding the TGV is pretty relaxing and very efficient. There aren’t that many interesting views traveling from Paris to the South (although that could be because I fell asleep); I’m not sure about other itineraries…. maybe? I plan to find out at some point!
We used SNCF-Connect to purchase the tickets and the trip took about 3 hours, which is not bad timing for 400 miles (around 642 km). The gare in Aix-en-Provence is not too big, and it is convenient with onsite car rental… which takes me to the complications:
I requested an automatic car knowing that many people drive stick in France and many rentals default to stick. Not the right time for me to learn to drive stick. I get to the counter and they give us an automatic as expected but an electric car. I protest, as I’ve never used electric cars and didn’t really want to fuss with the unknown, but am told it’s either that or a stick shift. I checked every other rental agency at the train station and it was the same issue. No automatic gas cars…. Reluctantly we take the Peugeot 2008 which shows to be charged for about 350 km. While the car got us to our destination that day, the search for a charging station and our attempt to charge the car was a complete disaster. Over the next day, we desperately searched for charging station using maps, apps and the car’s gps, never being able to find them.
Finally, with the help of a nice French guy who was impressed with my French when I told him I was traveling from the US, we found a fast charger in St. Maximin. It was a pain to get to because it was located on a one way street through a mall parking lot, and because we had to back the car into the spot for the charger to reach, it took us forever to even park. But, after a while, first hurdle passed: we have the car positioned correctly to charge.
Next hurdle: hooking up the charger. Took about 5 minutes, then we couldn’t figure out how to get the charging station to take our money. Another nice French man assisted and explained that we needed to first download the app “ChargePoint”, so that we could connect and pay that way.
Ok. I find the app and I download it and enter all of my information. It then asks me to verify my account via the SMS text they just sent. Problem: I had to buy a French SIM card the previous day because stupid MINT mobile lied to me about my being able to use their service in France. Yes, I paid $20 for the benefit of not being able to use internet or get texts overseas. I was not able to receive or send a single text or get onto the internet for even 30 seconds. Hence, the purchase of a prepaid French SIM with an unknown phone number. This meant that I never received the SMS to confirm my account because it was sent to my US number. I had no idea what my French SIM number was….. so…. we were hooked up but nowhere to go….
It took us another 5 minutes to unhook everything because everything locks in and it’s not intuitive on how to get the charger to release. At this point we had about 200km left on the car after all the driving from Aix and to just find a charging station. We gave up and decided to try to find another charging station at some point, which we did, after much soul searching on this whole electric rental car push fiasco during a road trip in a foreign country. The French SIM gps guided us to an unknown small town with a charging station which did not require any app to pay for the charge. yay! ….
We hook up the car — we’re pros by this time. We scan the card. And….. this:
Finally, I call the car rental company back and I insist that they must give us another car that isn’t electric. They sound doubtful but tell us we can stop by the following day and they might have some in stock. Long story short, we ended up back at the Aix-en-Provence train station the next day with about 40km left on the charge. On this day, the clerk on duty was very accommodating and immediately gave us another car which was hybrid and which made us very happy — what a disaster for them to think that an electric rental car for a road trip through Provence is a good idea.
We found out from the clerk that they get lots of complaints about the electric cars but that the Enterprise CEO met with Macron and agreed to push electric so the fleets are more and more electric.
So car renters beware! Unless you know how to drive stick shift, in which case you’re probably okay. Otherwise, you may likely end up with an electric car with no easy way to get a full charge.
Please, please, someone, teach me how to drive a stick shift!!
Despite that hiccup, we were able to accomplish everything we set out to do on our itinerary, starting with our stay at my childhood home which the new owner is renovating and renting out as a gîte.
I have fond memories of growing up in France, in both Paris where I was born, but especially in Brue-Auriac in the Var region of Provence where I spent sweet and memorable moments of my childhood. We lived in a large house that was perpetually under construction and despite the size, only had limited livable space. While the official name was La Procureuse, my mother decided to rename it Les Agates, which gave the children, especially my sister and me, great hope of finding actual agates, and we spent many afternoons breaking open stones in anticipation of treasure-finding (alas, we never found the sought-after agates).
It was with great anticipation that Steve and I pulled up into the long driveway, 40 years after we moved out of Les Agates.
Below is a before and after shot of Les Agates. Bottom: Les Agates in my childhood days. Top: Les Agates (La Procureuse) today.
The property is filled with wild thyme, laurel, rosemary, olive trees, almond trees and everything you would ever need to live on, including a handicapped goat, guard dogs, cute dogs, sweet cats, a couple chickens, but also wild boars so be aware when taking a stroll (childhood fear: activated).
The new owner Pauline, was delightful. She welcomed us so warmly and generously, and gave us a tour of the updated house. She’s been working very hard to get the property up to speed to welcome guests (we were the first!).
Ok, just a few words on my video reference of “les fouillettes”: A made up word between me and my grams that was used to reference one of my favorite rainy day pastimes which was to be in my grandmother’s bedroom looking through her junk dresser drawer that she would purposely fill with random things for me to search through: sample lipsticks, small mirrors, old jewelry, pens, notepads. I could spend hours riffling through that bottom dresser drawer hunting for treasures. Great fun! I’m glad I didn’t become a hoarder.
Besides the main house, there are also 2 other small houses on the property that Pauline is rehabbing, each with 2 bedrooms, as well as a small studio that needs a total redo — stay tuned for future posts to see more of the property.
Once the work is complete, La Procureuse will be the perfect location for a family reunion!
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