Lost in France - remember that song?

....and we were only 2 minutes out of the train station at Rennes! This afternoon was a bit of a catastrophe. The train trip on Eurostar and then TGV was all very smooth, easy and comfortable but once we arrived in Rennes, the wheels started to fall off! Firstly the hire car (a Renault Espace) had had its back seats removed by the previous clients. One was sitting smack bang in the midddle of the rear space and the other was just folded up loose taking up heaps of room - so just where were we going to put the luggage and one of the children? The girl at the EuropeCar desk just shrugged her shoulders and said she did not know how to fix it and there was no-one else to help, being a Saturday afternoon. As there was another Espace in the yard, with its seats in the proper confirmation, we demanded to take that one. She reluctantly agreed saying that it was promised for a client on the following day - not our problem was the Viney response! For once we decided not to roll over! Mind you, karma has a way of biting you on the backside when you least expect it.

We were hoping for an automatic car as it was our first attempt at continental driving, but oh no, we get a manual. After a couple of practice spins around the car park we headed out onto the road and within 2 minutes were somewhere completely different from the written instructions we had downloaded from Google Maps the night before! We took a lovely tour of the housing estates of Rennes, getting into progressively seedier areas when we finally found a place to pull over and make a new plan of attack. Rod and Papa headed off to ask directions and buy maps, Mum and the kids and I stayed in the car. Unfortunately for us we had parked in front of a garage door, which suddenly opened and ejected a car complete with driver. What now, I thought! (well, that's not really what I thought, but it is the only thing I can write as this is a family blog!) I scuttled into the driver's seat to move the car. but could I get it started? Of course not! I got out of the car to talk to the driver and explain our predicament. Could I explain in French? Of course not! Could he speak any English? Of course not! In the end I smiled my sweetest smile and gestured to him that he should move our car. "Moi?" he said. "Oui" I firmly replied...and if you want to steal a Renault complete with granny and two tired children you are welcome to it! (I only thought that bit). He looked a bit surprised but did move the car and I pulloed myself together enough to thank him 'en francais'. He had been quite gallant about it all really.

At about that time Rod and Papa got back with direction on to the ring road and a couple of maps so we set off on our trip to Dinan, take two. The trip was fairly uneventful after that except for one moment of panic when the right lane had to go right and we did not want to go right  Needless to say, we were all very relieved when we finally arrived at our destination...but that is another story.