Since arriving in Paris, we have experienced several different modes of transportation, including the initial plane into the city, the metro, the RER, and walking. This weekend, I was able to experience some new types of travel within France on a trip to Normandie with my family.
To get to Rouen where our Airbnb was located, my mom and I took a SNCF train from Paris’ Saint-Lazare station. Finding the correct track number and getting on the train was slightly confusing, as they do not give you the number until about 15 minutes before the train is set to depart which creates an added layer of stress. We were on a very long train, likely because it was a Friday afternoon on a holiday weekend, which meant that it was a long walk from the front of the train to our seats in coach 15. However, once we found our seats and the train took off, the ride was quite pleasant and included some good views of the French countryside.
Upon our arrival at the Rouen train station, we were met by my brothers and dad, who had picked up a rental car for us to use over the next few days. While having a car to drive to places that were less accessible by train or other public transportation was really nice, it did create a new challenge- requiring us to find parking in crowded towns. This taught me several things about French culture regarding parking, at least outside of Paris. One, parking spots are apparently a suggestion and people will just park on the sidewalk so that there’s no room for pedestrians. Two, paid street parking seems to be a joke that only applies to tourists and most French people will park there without paying.
Having a car also allowed me to see some of what roads in France are like outside of Paris. We spent a little bit of time on highways, and for the most part they seem pretty similar to those in America, except that the speed limit signs are in kilometers. Our main drive outside of the city of Rouen took us to Étretat, then Honfleur, then back to Rouen, which was quite a scenic drive through the French countryside (with lots of cows). One interesting thing I noticed during this drive is that there are no stoplights outside of towns. Rather, they use traffic circles for each intersection, which wasn’t great for my motion sickness, but I think is a really good idea for road design as it allows you to keep moving if no other traffic is coming.
During this drive, we paid one toll (in coins) to cross the Pont de Normandie from Le Havre to Honfleur. This was a somewhat chaotic experience as many of the cars were weaving back and forth to find the fastest lane, while we were trying to interpret what the various pictures on the toll signs meant. Thankfully, Google was able to tell us the price of the toll so we were prepared with the proper coins when we finally made it to the tollbooth.
It was really fun to experience some new kinds of travel in France this past weekend. The train system and available public transportation even outside of Paris continues to put America to shame. It will definitely be hard to go back to taking the Amtrak after this!