To france for the weekend with the cerbera!

[AlVal]

just booked it for tomorrow morning on a whim, since it turns out its only £59 to cross on the eurotunnel, which is really quick!

really cheap, huh?

just gotta work out what there is to do, where i should go, and whether theres any good premier inn type accommodation somewhere interesting for the night - so off to google (any suggestions welcome!) ill take some pictures if i come across anything scenic!

Going out
(local time) Day/Overnight Fare | Folkestone to Calais | Saturday 12 April 2008
Check-in closes 10:12Departure time 10:42Arrival time 12:17 £27

Coming back
(local time) Day/Overnight Fare | Calais to Folkestone | Sunday 13 April 2008
Check-in closes 15:13Departure time 15:43Arrival time 15:18 £32

[selwonk]

Are you interested in WWII at all? Next trip to Calais and environs will be in my mate's 911 to this place:

http://www.lacoupole-france.com/en/musee/coupole.a...

[AlVal]

thanks, good suggestion, my wife's grandfather has told me that he flew over in the war in some kind of glider thing, full respect due!

[Robscim]

I'm heading to France at the same time, but on the ferry, in the S4 with the family. If someone waves frantically from a yellow Audi, it'll be a cerb thing!!

Cheers

Rob

[RUSSELLM]

If you like champagne...... Reims.......

There's a couple of Holiday Inn's there, I stayed in the cheaper one (pauper) & it was perfectly acceptable

[billy no brakes]

might be too late but Arras is only 1-1/2 drive from calais and the town square is very nice and lots of good resturants plenty of war memorails near by and the theipval war memorial is only 15 minutes away you will be impressed with it 45m high

[Steve_T]

RUSSELLM said:

If you like champagne...... Reims.......

There's a couple of Holiday Inn's there, I stayed in the cheaper one (pauper) & it was perfectly acceptable

If you're really going for the champagne, carry on to Epernay and get out into some of the surrounding villages. Reims was disappointing for me. It's worth getting off at J22 in Reims though, to find the old GP circuit. Also worth noting that the police station is not far from one end of the straight! I always wondered how they popped up soon after the mandatory buzz through the grandstands.

[AlVal]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! In the end I played safe and went for Paris, since I haven't been before and I knew I'd definitely find something to do. The car got crazy attention over there

Its the first time I've really felt I've got the proper use out of the cerbera - it was the kind of trip it was made for! the ring road ("peripherique&quot around the city of paris has constant tunnels, which were totally super fun! Although this was a more couply event, I kept thinking how suited the trip would be for a group of tvrs!

total costs for myself and mrs v was about £500 as below (for anyone who might consider such a trip), which is a lot I guess for such a short trip, but I enjoyed every minute! the cruise accounts for a lot of money, but it was totally worth it, it gives you the traditional paris experience in a short timeframe which I had to work to:

chunnel : £59
gendarmerie (french police) speeding fine (171kph on 130kph motorway): £60
fuel: used 2 and a quarter tanks total from luton and back, so about £120
hotel: "mercure tour eiffel grenelle": £90
fancy luxury cruise on the seine with dinner on board etc for two (very expensive but good!): £190
breakfast for two at bistro near hotel: £18
lots of fresh bread and veg and stuff from sunday street market outside hotel: £10
various snacks etc for car trip: £10


hotel just a stone's throw from the eiffel tower, very nice hotel, perfect! biggest bonus of all, in a city where parking spaces are very hard to come by, this hotel had its own secure underground car park!
spotted this in the hotel car park:
http://album.alval.net/Paris%202008/IMG_3817.JPG

this was the cruise thing:
http://album.alval.net/Paris%202008/IMG_3758.JPG
http://album.alval.net/Paris%202008/IMG_3759.JPG

ill sift through the photos and resize etc later and post any i think may be of interest! should have made the time to park the car up somewhere outside the eiffel tower for a "car + eiffel tower" pic, but didnt get round to it!

Edited by AlVal on Sunday 13th April 18:29

[Dave 500]

AlVal said:

gendarmerie (french police) speeding fine (171kph on 130kph motorway): £60

[BCA]

Dave 500 said:

AlVal said:

gendarmerie (french police) speeding fine (171kph on 130kph motorway): £60

[Gazzab]

BCA said:

Dave 500 said:

AlVal said:

gendarmerie (french police) speeding fine (171kph on 130kph motorway): £60

No points???

[AlVal]

nope, there is no link between the uk's points system and that of other countries. glad they got me at cruising speed and not during a sporadic burst!

french parking seems a bit odd for my taste:





all the cars on the roads and even in the city over there seemed normal, luxury/sport etc cars seemed few and far between, spotted an alpine in the hotel car park, and in the uk on the way back (m25) two really sweet looking marcos manti

Edited by AlVal on Sunday 13th April 21:35

[Gazzab]

Cool - I thought they had now linked up the points systems etc

[JensenA]

Sounds like a good little trip you had, nice one .
If your ever mad enough to have to park in Paris, always leave your handbrake OFF, as it's normal practice for the driver who's parking to nudge the other cars backwards and forwards as he squeezes in

[dougc]

Gazzab said:

Cool - I thought they had now linked up the points systems etc

I think that applies to the cameras, not to getting stopped.

[Cerbdog]

Gazzab said:

BCA said:

Dave 500 said:

AlVal said:

gendarmerie (french police) speeding fine (171kph on 130kph motorway): £60

No points???

Shirley you must have killed someone as well??

[AlVal]

oh, also as soon as I saw foie gras on the menu, remembering this classic thread

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

had to try it!

(didnt like it , rest of the food was amazing!)

Edited by AlVal on Monday 14th April 21:51

Edited by AlVal on Monday 14th April 21:53

[Gazzab]

You took photographs of your food in a restaurant?
That foie gras doesnt look well presented.

[Gazzab]

You took photographs of your food in a restaurant?!
That foie gras doesnt look well presented.

[RUSSELLM]

Gazzab said:

You took photographs of your food in a restaurant? !

Beat me to it

You gotta love the English