Getting around and cashing out!

Getting a cab in Laives/Sennecey/Tournus
There is a cab service in Laives (where the dinner is on Friday) that operates seven days and all hours of the day and night. They have two cars, a regular one and one that can hold up to eight people and they will pick you up and drop you off wherever you need, including train stations and airports. We have reserved this cab service Saturday to shuttle guest back home from midnight to 6 am.
Phone:  03 85 46 20 83   or  06 11 37 19 28

Renting a car and driving one

Rental car locations

The car icons on this map show some rental car location places.

Driving licenses

From the France Tourism Site: “a valid driver’s license (permis de conduire) and passport are required to operate a motor vehicle. Minimum age for drivers is 18. Proof of insurance is necessary. Carry your identification, license, insurance certificate and vehicle registration (carte grise) with you. Seat belts must be worn in both the front and back seats of all automobiles. Children under 10 may not ride in the front seat.”

Some information about traffic signs.

Using credit cards

France and most other European countries use credit cards with micro chips aka “Smart Cards”. Many automated services are only available with smart cards, includes automated distributors of train tickets, metro tickets, phone booths, and urban bicycle share (Velib in Paris).

One can still use the US-type magnetic strip card to get cash from ATMs (“distributeurs automatiques de billets” or “distributeurs” for short - everybody will understand the meaning of the word “cash”). Also, US cards can be used to pay in most shops and restaurants that accept credit cards. You will sometimes have to swipe the card yourself if the waiter/cashier is not used to it.

Travelex offers an alternative with a Chip& PIN Cash Passport card that is like a cash card that you can re load with a credit card and that you can get here.

Compost it!

A note to the train riders!

When using a train ticket that is not one you printed yourself, you must "compost" the ticket before boarding the train. There are composting machines located in every train stations, usually on the way to the train platform. The composting machine will stamp your ticket with date and time, and sometimes punch a hole as well.

For proper composting technique, see Molly's illustration below.

People all over the world, join hands, start a love train, love train!

Here's the down low on the French train reservation system. French trains are run by the Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SNCF). The SNCF does not directly or easily provide train tickets to travelers outside of France. The easiest thing to do is to book tickets via the Rail Europe.

Unfortunately the Rail Europe is not very good at figuring out connections. So to book a travel from Paris to Sennecey, which has one or two connections, it is sometimes necessary to book legs individually.

For this reason, we have listed below a selection of train connections that connect Paris and the Paris CDG Airport to Sennecey-le-Grand and Tournus. There are generally more trains going to Tournus, which is a larger town 5.8 mi from Sennecey.

If the schedules shown do not work for you, let us know--there could be more options at other times or to other towns.

•  From Paris, week day

There are trains leaving at 7:54am and 8:28am that take 5 hours, and 4 hours and 40 minutes, respectively. Later trains have faster overall travel time. There are potentially more trains going to only Tournus.

• Total travel time: 3 hours 51 min

12h58 (pm) Paris (Gare de Lyon) => 14h37 Dijon

15h33 (Dijon) => 16h28 (Tournus)

16h43 (Tournus) => 16h49 (4:49pm) Sennecey le Grand

• Total travel time: 3 hours 24 min

14h26 (2:26pm) Paris (Gare de Lyon) => 16h05 Dijon

17h33 (Dijon) => 17h28 (Tournus)

17h44 (Tournus) => 17h50 (5:50pm) Sennecey le Grand

• Total travel time: 3 hours 08 min

15h58 (3:58pm) Paris (Gare de Lyon) => 17h35 Dijon

17h50 (Dijon) => 18h35 (Tournus)

18h56 (Tournus) => 19h06 (7:06pm) Sennecey le Grand

• From the Paris Airport, week day

• Total travel time: 5 h 24 min

7h26 (7:26 am) CDG => 9h31 Lyon, Part Dieu station

10h22 Lyon, Part Dieu station => 12h10 Macon

12h21 Macon => 12h50 (12:50pm) Sennecey le Grand (the stop prior is Tournus)

• Total travel time: 3 hours and 48 min

13h01 (1:01 pm) CDG => 15h01 Lyon, Part Dieu station

15h22 Lyon, Part Dieu station => 16h28 Tournus

16h43 Tournus => 16h49 (4:49pm) Sennecey le Grand

• Total travel time: 3 hours and 58 min

13h52 (1:52 pm) CDG => 16h01 Lyon, Part Dieu station

16h22 Lyon, Part Dieu station => 17h29 Tournus

17h44 Tournus => 17h50 (5:50pm) Sennecey le Grand

• Total travel time: 3 hours and 27 min, to Tournus

16h02 (4:02 pm) CDG => 18h01 Lyon, Part Dieu station

18h22 Lyon, Part Dieu station => 19h29 Tournus

• Total travel time: 3 hours and 31 min, to Tournus
  

16h57 (4:57 pm) CDG => 19h01 Lyon, Part Dieu station

19h22 Lyon, Part Dieu station => 20h28 Tournus

• To Paris, leaving Sunday

There are trains leaving from Tournus every hour that take between three and three and half hours. Here are the trains leaving from Sennecey:

Total travel time: 3 hours and 52 min

13h07 (1:07pm) Sennecey le Grand => 13h14 Tournus

13h30 Tournus => 14h35 Lyon, Part Dieu station

15h00 Lyon, Part Dieu station => 16h59 (4:59pm) Paris, Gare de Lyon

Total travel time 3 hours 7 min

17h50 (5:50pm) Sennecey le Grand => 18h00 Chalon

18h38 Chalon => 20h57 (8:57pm) Paris, Gare de Lyon

Total travel time 3 hours 52 min

18h07 (6:07pm) Sennecey le Grand => 18h14 Tournus

18h29 Tournus => 19h24 Dijon

20h20 Dijon => 21h59 (9:59pm) Paris, Gare de Lyon

=== To the Paris CDG airport, leaving Sunday

There is only one option connecting Sennecey le Grand to CDG

Total travel time: 4 hours 58 min

13h07 Sennecey le Grand => 13h14 Tournus

13h30 Tournus => 14h35 Lyon, Part Dieu station

15h56 Lyon, Part Dieu station => 18h05 CDG

There are several options connecting Tournus to CDG (all have one connection in Lyon Part Dieu):

7:30 am Tournus => 10:57 am CDG

9:30 am Tournus => 1:28 pm CDG

11:30 am Tournus => 3:57 pm CDG

1:30pm Tournus => 18:05 pm CDG

5:30pm Tournus => 8:57 pm CDG

Le Timing

Hi,

An update on the timing of events.

Friday June 17: Petanque and dinner at L'Auberge des Lacs in Laives


If you drive, the best place to park is at the nearby church. See the red line connecting the parking area to the Auberge des lacs on this map.

The evening will start around 5:30pm (to be confirmed) at l'Auberge with refreshments and a petanque tournament, also known as bocce ball in the US. There is nothing like a beer and a cochonnet to make new friends on an hopefully-hot summer evening. Then we'll have dinner at the Auberge around 7:30pm (to be confirmed as well).

Saturday June 18
The ceremony starts at 4:30pm at the church St Julien, the main church of Sennecey, which happens to have another church of the same name on the outskirts of the town. At the end of the ceremony, we will take a stroll to the Clos des Tourelles, where the reception will take place. 

We are expecting the reception to start at 6pm and dinner at 8pm; the place is ours for the whole night.


Sunday June 19
Brunch will be served in the "later part of the morning". We have the Clos area reserved for the day. You can stay and enjoy the gardens all afternoon, so bring your frisbees and games.

For information, there is a train leaving the Sennecey train station at 1:07pm that can take you, via connections, to Paris or the Paris airport (CDG). There are later trains with connections to Paris but not the airport:
1:07pm: Sennecey => Tournus => Lyon => either Paris (4 hours total) or the Paris CDG airport (5 hours total)
5:50pm: Sennecey => Chalon sur Saone => Paris (3 hours total)

We will show how to reserve train tickets on a later post; it is unfortunately not as straightforward as we had hoped, Vive le French System!


Let us know if you have any questions. Pressure and excitement are on the rise!

Molly & Julien

Registry

For those who have asked:

• Amazon.com
• Crate and Barrel
• Bed Bath and Beyond

RSVP

Greetings!

Hopefully you have received your invitations. To RSVP, please use this link: http://www.mollyandjulien.com/rsvp.php.

More details to come...
Hope to see you in June!

But where will I stay??

There are several lodging options near Sennecey-le-Grand. The nearest "big" town is Tournus --9 km/6 mi down the road (Route Nationale 6). In Tournus, among local cheese markets, ancient churches, and tasty restaurants, you will find:

• Hotels--same as hotels in the US, these range from functional accommodations to four-star hotels. Information and ratings can be found on Trip Advisor. Reservations should be made through the hotel.
• Hotel-Restaurants--as the names suggests, these are a combination hotel and restaurant. These tend to be higher-end (Hotel Le Rampart and Hotel Restaurant Greuze are 4 star hotels serving haute-cuisine) and are sometimes "demi-pension", meaning the accomodation includes a meal, lunch, or dinner. Info on Trip Advisor and reservations made through the hotel. 
• Chambres d'hotes--like bed-and-breakfasts in the US. Information can be found and reservations can be made here.
• Gites--same as chambres d'hotes, but with a minimum stay typically of 3-4 nights.  Info and reservations here.

Many of the options are shown on this map. Please make your reservations early as hotels in Tournus may fill up. We have a hold for a few months on a nice hotel just outside of Tournus (Hotel Kolibri) that would be a good fit for people traveling by car (parking may be a challenge in "downtown" Tournus).  You can make your reservations here for Hotel Kolibri. We are looking into shuttle service options between Sennecey-le-Grand and Tournus (including the hotel just out of town) for the night of the wedding and we'll keep you posted. 

There are also some chambres d'hotes and a small hotel in Laives, the small village 3 km from Sennecey. Laives is small (if you stay there, YOU will probably be the most exciting thing happening in town that night) but is very convenient for the weekend's festivities. Dinner Friday is in Laives and the ceremony and reception on Saturday are only a few km away. Please let us know if you are interested. 

Chalon-sur-Saone is the next largest town (about 20 km/12 mi away) and there are plenty of options there as well. 

If you have any questions, want help navigating the crazy French reservation system, or just want to chat, drop us a line at mollymcguire@gmail.com.

Wedding Weekend Schedule

For those already making travel plans, here is some general information regarding the schedule for the weekend. Festivities will kick off Friday evening with a rehearsal dinner for everyone coming from out of town (which includes you, unless you are planning to move to Sennecey-le-Grand in the next 6 months). Dinner will be in Laives (a village about 3 km from Sennecey). Saturday, the church service in Sennecey will be in the late afternoon and the night will unfold from there, with a reception next door at the Clos des Tourelles. Sunday morning, we will have a light brunch at the Clos before we kiss you all and say goodbye.

P.S. For those planning to be in the region earlier in the week, we are planning to rent bikes in Beaune on Wednesday the 15th for a day of riding in the countryside and tasting wine. Everyone is welcome--let us know if you are interested.

About French Beds

There does not seem to be a set standard for bed sizes; in general French beds are "cozier" than American beds. The best approach is to check bed sizes with the hotels you will be making reservations at. We will try to find out bed sizes for the hotels we list on this blog.

A French double bed is larger than a US twin but smaller than a US double. A wikipedia page on bed sizes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_size

Some information gleaned from the web:
The most common length is 190 cm.
Several width sizes:

• 90 cm for one person;
  
• 140 or 160cm are the most common for two persons but there are also 190 cm or 200 cm