CDG and Chartres

Arrive CDG then to Chartres
In all my trapsing about the internet, as well as on the RS site, nowhere did I find “America no longer has currency exchanges at the airports”. But lo and behold, except for perhaps a few is this truer. Even the famed Philadelphia Airport no longer has any exchange service. It’s the byproduct of COVID.

PS. You will need to make your currency exchange at CDG where they will charge you about 15%.
My Flight from Philadelphia was on a American Airlines 787. The food and service were good, as I was in Economy premium. This is the only way to fly besides business or first class.
We departed on time and arrived on time at 1155 the following day. CDG is chaotic at best, but with boots on the ground one must dive straight in and gone the crowd.
All seemed right till hundreds, and I mean hundreds of passengers reached the Border and Immigration area and we came to a dead stop. For almost an hour after being directed into one of the standing lines, we waited to see what was happening. There appeared as best as I could see only three immigration officers.
As you might know, Americans are most antsy when not getting their ways, and this proved to be one of those times. Anyway, evidently the automatic passport controls opened, and we began to move our way to the front.
Fortunately for me, I only had carry-on as directed emphatically by RS, so I wisped through to the exit where I found the humorous craziness of the maddening crowd, looking for their car, amongst the sea of taxis and car transfers.
I was like the later, since I opted for a shuttle instead of getting off a plane only to get on another mode of transportation to then transfer yet again to another etc.
After much research again on how to get to Chartres, I ended using a company called “Shuttle-Inter”.
I saw that between taxi to Gare Montparnasse and then the train to Chartres I would spend about one-quarter the amount I spent on my shuttle, but that time wish I would spend around the same amount of time getting to Chartres. The major difference would be not having to deal with all the continued chaos.
In the end, it costs me 230 Euro vs about 70 Euro or so, but I felt that it was well worth it.
The Hotel Campanile is basic and fine, but after walking around town, through endless alleyways and streets to find a place to eat, and as RS suggested, I found myself back at the top of the corner where our hotel is looking at “Tomate & Piment”.
I saw the sign that said open at 1900 and walked back to the hotel to see what it was all about.
The web site says, “Book my Time”, so I clicked the bottom on my pone and sent my request via email. I opted for 1900, as I was quite hungry from the long day, and shortly after I had sent the email I received a response from Louis, the owner stating that I was all set.
The restaurant is based on places that Louis has traveled. So, the food has various “takes” on normal dishes which in my opinion makes these plates so fabulous.
The only regret is that I will only be able to eat there once as we leave on Tuesday for our next stop and the restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
My recommendation is to have RS place this in his guidebook, since it’s so close to the hotel and inexpensive. My meal less the wine only cost 25 Euro, this included dessert.