We are taking the Loire Valley/South of France tour that starts on May 6th. We will be spending five nights in Paris before the tour starts, then traveling to Chartres on Sunday May 6th for the start of the tour. After the tour, we will spend two extra nights in Nice, then travel by train on May 20th to Paris for two nights. Finally, we will fly from Paris to Dublin on May 22nd, stay overnight in Dun Laoghaire, and fly home on May 23rd.
The usual hourly train service from Paris Montparnasse to Chartres is suspended on May 5th and May 6th because they are doing some construction work. Apparently, the alternate train service is from the Austerlitz train station, and involves a long er journey with a change of trains. The Rick Steve tour folks will be letting us know about travel options travel for getting to Chartres.
Also, French train workers will be striking (see the following)
The strike does not affect our train travel plans.
Has anybody been on this tour?