Back on the road in France! Petrol challenges...

September 26th:

After a wonderful and busy summer "vacation" to the Pacific Northwest, we are back in SAM and on our way to Paris! In two days I will take the next step towards becoming a Dutch citizen: the Netherlands  "inburgering" exam. This is a 3.5 hour 5 part test of Dutch language and knowledge of all things Dutch a good citizen should be familiar with. The test will be at the Dutch Embassy in the 5th arrondissement. We decided it would be wisest to book a hotel within walking distance from the embassy in order to make sure I arrive on time. Our plan is to park SAM outside Paris and take the metro to the hotel tomorrow afternoon. 


What an unexpected challenge... We just crossed over the border between Belgium and France when SAM's "empty gas" yellow light flashes on. Herman was driving, so I opened my phone to search for the nearest petrol station. No internet service on my phone. We are not yet too concerned as we drive through a busy town without seeing any signs of a gas station. Back on the highway we take the very next exit and stop to look up where the nearest gas station is...the low gas light is flashing as we pull up to a deserted gas station with caution tape around all the pumps. We continue on our way and drive another couple of kilometers to a second petrol station in the area. At this one, the illuminated price sign has hyphens instead of numbers. There are loads of cars queued, so we pull in. On our turn we try three different payment methods and none work. Another car nearby is having the same trouble. It turns out, this second station has no gas! The third and fourth stations we try are only for trucks. At this point I am trying to be very calm as I imagine us running out of gas on a Sunday in an unfamiliar industry area in France...The sixth station we found was also only for diesel trucks, but luckily after trying three different cards we could pay an astronomical 1.94 euros/liter. Back on the original highway now and if we hadn't gotten off, only 4.3 km further there was a petrol station with diesel for 1.65 euros (twenty euros savings!). 

A week later: October 2nd
We eventually made it into Paris. The train/metro combination took an hour. The metro is truly timeless. It sounds and smells the same as in 1986 when I was last living in Paris as a student! The Dutch test went well and just today I received a notice that I passed! One step closer to becoming a Dutch citizen. 

We spent the past week traveling to a couple of areas in France where we have not previously been:
Fontainebleau, Avillon, Beaune (Wine capital of Burgundy), Vezelay...just to name a few better known highlights. France is an amazing country with incredible living history and so much beauty. You can easily search any of these places on the internet and the photos would be better than mine, so instead I share below a random hobbit house I came across this morning while running in the woods near Saulieu. 



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