Part 2 Buying Antiques in France

Car Insurance~
Check your credit card, many have the car rental insurance covered on the card.
I use Visa Platinum card and it is already on the card.
This came in handy on a trip in the south of France. We were in L’Isle Sur La Sorgue travelling to an early morning Brocante. On the way to the Brocante we were hit by another driver at an intersection. The front bumper was ripped off our car, (my first thought was; darn now we will be late to the brocante and miss all the best stuff, how funny is that???)
however it was drivable and after exchanging the pertinent information with the other driver (yes, in our Best French), we proceeded to the local gendarmerie (police station) We went inside to file the police report and the officer at the desk looked like Claude Raines from one of those old Black and White movies you see on late night television. A rather handsome and distinguished older gentleman and very nice. When we start giving him the information and he discovered we were from California, he stopped short, began waving his hands in the air and said, “Ah, California, land of Movie Stars, sunshine, oranges” ……luckily he knew some English and was a sweetheart…...it was such a crack up, we finished filing the report, called the Hertz agent and waited outside for our rental car replacement.

It was a beautiful day and we were anxious to get to the brocante. The next thing we know…we see a flatbed truck coming down the lane with a Mercedes Benz on it. We looked at each other and thought, NO WAY, however as the truck stopped in front of the police station and asked if I was Lynn Konrad, you can imagine the broad grin that spread over my face. Yes, only in France do you crack up a rental car and get not only a Mercedes Benz for a replacement, but also a BRAND NEW Mercedes Benz for a replacement. It only had about 10 kilometers on it!!!
You can imagine our joy and delight that this chariot would glide us through France for the rest of our journey on the hunt for gorgeous antiques in France.
Also, it was a good thing we had already secured the large metal daybeds and rather dirty bronze piece, urns and other items we had acquired and were already set to ship!!
Not that that stopped us from picking up a few more items on our travels that probably should not have ridden inside a Brand New Mercedes!!!!
AH… the pleasures of traveling in France with the luck of the Irish…yes I am really a bit o’ the Irish, even though I am FRENCH-at-HEART!!