Driving North Of Paris, France (Oise)

• published: 05 Dec 2011
• views: 689

A "département" is not something which translates into English. I think it could be considered close to the word "county," but since it's a different system over here, best to just leave it in French! The Greater Paris Region is known as "Ile-de-France," but that is a general term. Paris proper is surrounded by many départements, such as Val-de-Marne and where I live, which is Seine-Saint-Denis. Oise is a département North of Paris. There is a pretty good train network around much of France, but it's fun to drive in a car. We took The Dinkmobile, a 1995 ZX "Flash" for a Sunday out of town, despite the fact it needs new tires and a bunch of other work done on it. This clip was made around Raray, Chamant and La Roue Qui Tourne. I am sorry we were going too quickly for me to note the actual name of this village. I was looking for more mountains of discarded potatoes to find, but those are on other clips, and upon reviewing this I thought it showed kind of some nice scenery. See how there is one main road in this village? A "route nationale?" These are fun to take for travel in France. On the big autoroutes, which are toll roads, you'll get there quickly, but it's expensive, and you use more fuel by driving at a higher speed. I usually pack us a picnic, tissues, and drinking water when we take the less traveled roads. If you can find anything open in France, you'd better buy it Sunday morning, especially in villages! Everything shuts at noon. In some countries, such as parts of Germany, everything shuts by 6 pm Friday night and will not reopen until Monday morning, so if you want food, alcohol, tobacco, a movie to rent, whatever, you had better plan! Ditto for gasoline or diesel fuel! (The Dinkmobile is a diesel car. Many are, here, though the Japan situation is changing all that forever.) As you can see, December in this region is usually still pretty green, some leaves still on trees, and roses still bloom. January and February are dark, dreary times, but cheapest for travel. Epiphany is lovely here (around January 6, a more important time than Christmas) and it's fun to do "indoor" stuff, such as museums, restaurants and shopping the January sales! copyright 2011 Lisa B. Falour, B.S., M.B.A. all rights reserved LISA, INC. (EURL) cutecatfaith.com I am a private guide for business and tourism, and am a consultant in the arts and sciences. Easy to reach via my website, and I am listed in Paris Saint-Denis, France.