I suggested we rent a car for the day, so we Gina quickly made a call to Avis to reserve it. We reserved it at Gare Montparnasse, a large train station in the 15 Arrondissement. We chose that location because they are open until 10:30 pm, and we were not sure of our itinerary.
Pro-tip, when it is 90 degrees out, don't assume that the car you are renting has air conditioning. At least check before you are 20 kilometers outside of town. This car, a Peugeot, was about as no frills as they come. Because of our tardy reservation, it was about all we were willing to spend. To get a lower rate, they require 3 hours of lead time.
It is an easy drive once you get out of the city, about 71 kilometers (44 miles). I must say that the GPS on my iPhone (and my navigator, Gina) has been a godsend on our trips (except for Germany, where it did not work), it really has gotten us where we need to go. Especially for exiting and entering the city. It is very hard to see street signs in Paris, since they are on the buildings and not on the streets.
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It took us about an hour to get there. Our first destination was the Fontainebleau Golf Club. We just wanted to get a feel for it, to see if I would be comfortable playing there. It reminded us of Otterkill. One thing we noticed, and liked, was that we didn't see anyone using a cart, everyone was walking the course.
The clubhouse looked comfortable, though we were a little skittish about getting too close. It looked like a large crowd of members were eating outside. Here are a couple of pictures.
From there we found a little central parking place and walked to a restaurant, Antica Trattoria Italiana that we ate at last year. The waitress was nice enough to let us in, the kitchen was closing in a couple of minutes. We were welcome to eat as long as we made a quick choice. We noticed that Fontainebleau seemed to have a siesta happening in the afternoon, many of the stores were closed.
We both got a pizza. If I had a couple of more minutes to order, I probably wouldn't have chosen the pizza with egg on it (very big in France). But it really did add a flavor to the pizza. I know our favorite Jersey Food Blogger enjoys this as well. Gina contends that this was the best pizza we had in France. You may be asking yourself, you are in France, how many times did you have pizza? More than I care to say. As much as Gina loves France, a two week vacation would be difficult without some old reliable staples.
From here we took a quick walk around the beautiful grounds of the Fontainebleau Chateau. It was just as beautiful as we remembered.
We drove back to Paris, stopping off at a shopping mall that was really nothing special.
We got really lucky on the drive back, it was rush hour, but we were not held up by any traffic. Finding the parking garage to return the car was very easy. We then walked the 2 miles back to our apartment.
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