Strike hell!

June 6th 2003

Hey Everybody! As you can guess we have a story or two to tell, so i better get started... On our day bound for La Rochelle from Saintes, we headed to the train station to see if our train was still running (stike problems). Fortunatly, it seemed to be still on the screens so we headed to our platform to wait. After an over hour we began to worry that our late train may not be turning up at all. So, Rich ventured out into the Storms from our (luckily covered) platform to see if he could find someone who may know more about the train times. He was told that no trains were running at all today! - Why didnt anyone tell us? We had been standing there for ages and plenty of staff had seen us? Why was there no notices or signs? And the screens told us they were all running today! Frustrated, we exited the station. After asking the hotel, where we had been previously staying, to hold our bags for us so we can sort out the problem more easily, we headed bound for the town centre. The tourist office gave us bus timetables which we used to calculate a route using to buses to get to La Rochelle, via Rochfort - Great! We we're going to get there. After walking back to the train station and back into town with our cases to the 'Gare Routie' (bus station), we were not amused to find that the station appeared to be completly abandoned and shut down. Followed by a brief call to the bus company concerned, we were alerted that there were no buses running today! There was no way we were getting out of here today! As our previous hotel was now full we found another hotel 'Au Bleu Nuit' to crash in for the night. After leaving our cases we found a phone box to let our hotel in La Rochelle know that we wouldn't be there today. They were thankful that we had let them know, however told us that they would have to charge us for tonight even through we wouldnt be able to get there - what a waste! We contacted our insurance company also as strike problems were listed in our policy, but there was nothing they could do! The next morning we headed early to the station to get our early train as we were told that the trains would be back to normal. They Were not. Only 2 trains that day were running, one going our direction at 11:45. So we waited for 6 hours, including confrontation with a scary man who tried to summon us down in the underground passage with him, and appeared to be a little crazy, our train arrived at 1pm. We were extatic to have left. Finally, we arrived in La Rochelle. The town itself is extremely charming, the old harbour entrance is guarded by a large fortress and a lighthouse on the other side of the entrance. Cafès line the quay, and everyone here is very relaxed. Our hotel is also gorgeous, lucky considering the difficulties we faced to get us here; at worst we could have been stuck in Saintes (again) and fully lose our deposit in our hotel reserved here. We trundled past the old port, and past the modern contempory sheek of the Aquarium, and then we headed off to our hotel through an impressive gatehouse leading into the old town. The old town is equally lovely; more cobbled streets and timber houses here. Our hotel was just off the main shopping street, and we were pleased to find that it was as lovely and welcoming as we could have hoped for (we were only a little sad that we couldn't have stayed there two nights!) After all of our troubles related to the strikes, we thought we were out of danger now. It was only by chance that we realised, to our dismay, that there were "no trains going until the end of the week"! This message was passed on to us from a rather harassed SNCF P.R. guy, who said that the few trains that were going were basically full. We spent the rest of our day in this gorgeous place not wandering through its medieval streets, but instead flicking between the Gare Routiere (bus station), the SNCF Station, and the tourist office. Ultimately we were to discover that no buses went to Tours from La Rochelle, and no trains were scheduled, so we faced losing more money from hotels we had already prebooked in Tours and Paris possibly. In the end, we resulted to Ryanair.co.uk to look for flights home!! But, strikes had affected these too, and the next flight was a fez days away so we vowed to get back to our hotel for some rest and to get up as early as possible the next day. We woke early and walked 20 minutes to the station, where to our suprise (and joy!) we found a TGV that was leaving for Paris via Tours at 11.00!! We reserved some of the last few seats and excitedly went back to our hotel for our cases -- we were on our way again!! Picking up our cases and checking out; we suddenly realised just what we had done: we no longer would have to come back early, and we would also be able to get to Tours on time too! It felt really good, especially since the last few days had proved to be so horrendous for travel. As our train rolled into Tours, we disembarked and caught a bus into this elegant town centre. Our train had stopped at the TGV station 8 minutes from the centre. We stopped outside the Tourist office, just opposite from the recent 'Vinci' centre which houses a great number of musical and cultural events, and is a shining (literally - it's mostly glass...) example of modern architecture in Tours. Next, we would walk north to Rue de la Prefecture, and to the imaginatively-titled 'Hotel Mon Hotel' (*) and a similarly uninspiring room: it was a little dingy, but at least was comfortable and clean. (who wallpapers ceilings anyway?!!!!) After dumping our bags, we headed ( minutes on foot into the main square near the hotel de ville, and then up Rue Nationale, the main (and very impressive) shopping street here. We were once again going to encounter protesters here, however, as they carried out a protest march right up the street, banging drums, chanting and lighting flares... good job we could duck out of the way into some funky shops, really! From here, we walked into the historic old town, and into the luscious Place Plumereau, complete with its medieval look, and bustling social life. It was really fabulous! At this point, we were exhausted, and so we headed back to 'Mon Hotel', and got some sleep! Today, we woke early after a long and deep sleep, and headed south to the Tourist office. For the afternoon today (1.30pm) we have tentatively booked ourselves onto a tour of several Chateauxs in the region, including Chenonceau, Amboise and finally wine tqsting at Vouvray... we just hope it is going to let us explore these places individually, rather than as a guided tour, but we will have to see! Either way, it will be nice to see some Loire greenery :) Well that's just about it for now, I hope you have enjoyed this update, and no doubt you will hear from us again soon :) Love to eveyrone!! Katie and Rich xx

Listed by : Katie

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