Well, it looks like people are starting to think about visiting us (see our Hall of Fame to see who has already visited). So, here is a page dedicated to finding our town, ways to get here and what to do when you’re here.

For starters, Agen is here. It’s about halfway between Bordeaux and Toulouse (only a couple of hours drive/train to either of them). By the way, the stop is just “Agen” – Nothing else. Valence d’Agen is 40km away and not many trains stop there. If you do get off here we’ll probably have to drive out and rescue you. Don’t get off there (like Ed did)!

The trains from Toulouse and Bordeaux run several times per day, and there are plenty of trains from Paris to Bordeaux daily. Train travel is cheaper if you buy passes via Eurail when you’re not in France.

The SNCF website is all in French, but it’s easy to navigate. You can pick tickets up from any French train station. If you’re using an Australian credit card you’ll need to pick up the tickets when there’s someone available in a booth to print it out for you (normal working hours + some).

By the way, when you catch the train you need to stamp your ticket in the yellow machines which say “Composter Votre Billet” (all over train stations). This has to be done before every trip, because they’ll fine you the cost of your ticket again if you forget.

When you get here, there are buses in Agen which run fairly regularly during the day, but don’t run at all on Sundays or at night. We’re actually a little out of town and don’t have a car yet, so this is worth knowing. I’m not going to put the actual location of our house on the website, but make sure you get it before setting out to come here as it’s a new area. It’s not on most maps and most car GPS can’t find it yet.

The train to Paris isn’t too long (4.5 hours?), plus there’s a flight direct to Paris once a day. The plane from Paris to Agen is 60 € each way (if you book well in advance). Also, car hire is cheap (especially if you book through Avis England) and there are lots of pretty towns nearby that are worth visiting.

If you’re driving around France, note that there’s ALWAYS huge traffic jams (even on the highways) near Lyon and Paris. If you do wind up driving past either city I’d recommend detouring onto B roads for an hour or so either side. It’s more scenic and will probably take you the same amount of time.

Agen has a tourist site which is worth a look if you want to see some stuff while you’re here. It’s fairly self-explanatory even in French – and the French version has more content than the English version. Let us know what you want to do and we’ll try to plan some stuff (so you’re not just hanging about).

Agen’s a sleepy sort of place, but it’s very pretty. One of the best things to see is the canal crossing the river. There’s not a lot of them in the world and they’re cool. There are lots of nice walks to do. The centre of the town is very old and awesome. There’s some great cafes and restaurants. Plus, hanging out in our house is GREAT.

If you’re here a while, we could head to Bordeaux or Toulouse for a day or so. We can do a few daytrips around the place too. We’re still tourists here. :)

Let me know about dietary requirements and/or things you really want to try (Mouldy cheese?) because we have to plan ahead a little. Shops aren’t open all the time and markets are irregular. And give us lots of warning about when you plan to be here so we can try to make sure Bruce is around.

Take a look at our pictures of Agen and our house, too.

If you’re wanting more ideas for places to see while you’re in France, we have a few links that might help.

Also, if you’re heading to Europe and can’t make it to our place this time then we’ll just see you another time. Don’t stress! Maybe we could arrange a joint trip to somewhere else – that’s what we’re doing with other UK-based people. :)

Might see you soon!