A Campground in Paris
Rick Steves and "le camping"
Rick Steves, my favorite travel writer, tells of the campgrounds strewn throughout europe, at which many european families spend their holidays. Camping was popular in the states as well, when I was a child, as the GI's returning from the war took their families to the great outdoors, to explore the world, and enjoy the fresh air and travel on a budget.
Rick tells us that almost every town town in Europe has a campground nearby, generally known to the locals by the universal name of the "camping".
On another website, we heard of a campground in the Bois de Bologne, a huge forest-like park near central paris. Like central park in New York, or Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, the Bois de Bologne is miles long, and deep in the interior is a campground. So, we decided to give it a go.
Bus 244 in and shuttle out
Getting there proved something of a challenge. We had read somewhere that there was a shuttle to the campground that left from near to the Port de Maillot metro station, and that the stop was hard to find. "Hard to find" proved to be a euphamism for "unmarked and completely hidden". After asking about 10 locals, consulting a dozen maps, asking local police, and finally the driver of the wrong bus, we "discovered" that the bus to the campground was the bus #244 which stops at an obscure stop marked only by a post saying "244".
Now, all the other buses stop at well marked bus stops, and each has a covered waiting area, a bench, a map, and a big sign saying the route and major destinations. The ol' 244 has no such thing. The stop is on the inside of the traffic circle, not on the outside where you woud expect, and it is not indicated on any maps posted in the area.
There is also a shuttle bus directly to the campground, but we has zero idea of where to find it, so we waited for and got on the 244 bus when it came.
Note that later, when we came back to town on the campground shuttle, it stopped immediately in front of the 244 stop, at an otherwise unmarked taxi stand. They don't tell you that to take the shuttle from the campground, you need a ticket available only in the campground office. We waited for the shuttle almost 20 minutes, and then when it came to pick us up, only then were we told we needed a ticket. Gratefully, the shuttle driver waited for us while we went back to the office to buy two tickets. We never took the shuttle back to the campground from town, because we didn't want to find out we needed to buy tickets in advance, etc. So this is still an unresolved issue, perhaps someone else can comment.
So, in summary, once we figured out the system, we took the 244 to the campground, and took the shuttle from the campground. In both cases, we were dropped off or caught the bus at the Port de Maillot, as shown below.
If you can, save this schematic of the Port de Maillot to your cell phone or iPad, etc. That way, when you get there, you can more likely find the 244 bus stop (marked only by a lone "244" on a single pole stuck in what looks an unlikely place).
Mary is pointing to the place to catch the 244 bus that takes you near the campground.
Once on the 244, ask the driver to let you out at "le Camping". They are pretty good at letting you know, but just in case, keep your eye out on the left side of the bus for the windmill and the adjacent caretaker's cottage. Your stop is the next one.
Follow the way to the campground
There is a trail that you follow to the campground. Every time we got off, there were others getting off also. We just followed them until we got to know which way to go.
Internet, sort of
The campsite information says it has internet access, but that doesn't mean you will have internet access for your laptop, cell phone, or tablet. What they do have is a couple of computers in the campground office that you can use to browse, make reservations, etc. You won't be able to upload pictures, or download anything, but you can browse. I noticed a couple of people who had transferred pictures from their camera onto a keychain flash drive, and did manage to upload pictures to Flickr or similar sites.
When I wanted to use the internet, I wound up waiting behind a bunch of other people, and finally realized that I could come back the next morning early, and spend some time before the late-night party crowd had awakened.
We wound up finding a Starbucks, stalking an electric outlet, and finally settling in to send pictures/blogs home from there.
Electrical connection, sort of
On a similar note, there was no electricity available to recharge phones, but we did find that we could recharge in the office, by leaving our phone or laptop plugged in behind their counter.
We also found electric outlets in the sink areas of the restrooms, intended for shavers one presumes, that could give a partial recharge quickly when needed.
All the comforts of home… and a few more
We set up our tent, took any valuables with us, and spent three days in Paris, at around $20 a night for the campsite fees. Not bad, as a first step toward becoming frugal pilgrims.
The campground came with a lot of the comforts of home. Private showers, toilets, and sinks in the bathrooms, all kept very clean. Outside each bathroom building was a row of laundry sinks, all clean, and with plenty of hot water. The tent areas had a fence-enclosed clothesline area, perfect for letting your laundry dry while you take the shuttle/bus to the metro station at Port Maillot and into the city for sightseeing.
There was even a small store, where we were able to get champagne, bread, and fruit for lunch, total around $6 euros.
One thing did catch my eye…. the men's restroom had a row of urinals, all "exposed" by a large window onto the grounds. There seemed to always be lots of people socializing outside the restrooms, waiting for a friend, doing laundry, etc. I never saw ANYBODY use these, instead everybody uses the enclosed toilet stalls. Still, I found it amusing.
A cold night in May
On our last night in the Bois de Bologne campground, the temperature got down pretty close to freezing (it was the first week of May and we thought we'd be able to avoid such cold weather). We bundled up in our long underwear, all our shirts and pants, all our jackets and coats, and tucked into our sleeping bags.
We practically froze. It was cold, our feet were numb, our hands like icicles. But we made it though the night, and as this was our last night, we figured it was a good experience.
Soaking wet
When we woke up and started to pack up our things, we had a pool of cold water almost an inch deep in our tent. We had spread down a plastic tarp and set the tent up over it, but none of that helped stem the river of water that flowed all around us. Not being experienced campers, we weren't ready, I suppose, and perhaps this could have been avoided. But the take-home message was that nothing prevented flowing water and heavy rain from soaking our tent and all our gear.
Tomorrow, we are off to Sceaux, a few miles south of Paris.
Until then,
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