Finally here in my gite in Eichhoffen. Well, not actually the gite I booked. I cannot go into it until Thursday for some reason, but I am in a bigger one in the meantime. (There are several on the property). A Saturday of negotiating trains and platforms and stations, with luggage, ended well. Peggy and her son Louis hurtled up to the station at Eichhoffen to pick me up, in an open jeep buggy. They are very friendly, Louis is a high school student, and carried my bag, so obviously a very nice boy.
Eichhoffen is really tiny – only one boulangerie, and one restaurant, which was not open on Saturday evening. I will have to watch out and see when it is open! Apparently it is owned by an Englishman. But Andlau is 2 klms that way and Barr is 4 klms the other way, and they have supermarkets! Tomorrow I will go shopping.
I am luxuriating in having a washing machine – first time to wash in one for 8 weeks, and an iron, which my clothes have not seen at all since home. (You can get by without ironing, and No 1 son has been telling me for years).
And now, Fly has wheels! A major hurdle has been tackled OK. Back to the train station this morning, train to Entzheim Aeroport station, to pick up the car. I was at the Eichhoffen station early, and got chatting with the one other person waiting, a young French-Algerian man. I think he told me his life story, but I missed most of it. Later, he said he did not usually say that sort of thing, so I said, Don’t worry, I have not understood much of it! By the time we got to Entzheim we were good friends and had a hug before I got off the train.
There was some problem with the car. I don’t know what. I just smiled and nodded and looked confident, and eventually the young man produced a car for me. I did have to sit around and read my Kindle for a while, but that was OK. The paperwork was all in order, but I think someone had forgotten to actually deliver the car to the airport to be picked up. But they got cracking, and now I have a new Peugeot 207, in a silver grey colour. I drove round the airport parking area a couple of times, and found, as Maleny Girl had assured me, that sitting in the left of the car and using the gear stick with the right hand does just happen naturally. Then, to get out on the road and drive on the right. Well, there was no other choice. So just drifted along with the traffic, - they did all pass me – and eventually I was back at Eichhoffen. Whew! But it was lovely driving through vineyards, in perfect weather, with the Vosges on my right and passing the many villages which I will explore over the coming weeks.
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