deja vu...all over again

I don't always understand directions

     Maybe it's a guy thing.  But tell me how to get somewhere and I will stop listening after the first time I hear, "Turn at the ....."
     Was thinking about that today.  We booked tickets for our visit to Julia and part of the plan involves renting a car.
    I have rented cars in Europe.  They drive on the same side of the road as us, the signs are pretty similar.  You just have to get used to the round-a-bouts.
     Jackie and I were in Caen, which is near the Normandy beaches.  We rented a car through Avis, which was located close to the train station.
    After talking with the people, they gave us the keys.  I asked how we got out of town to head toward the Normandy beaches.
     I followed the directions exactly.  Well, considering she had a thick French accent, it was as exact as I understood.
     We pulled out of the driveway, turned right, went two blocks, turned left.....and drove down a residential street that dead ended.
     There were some kids playing soccer in the street, and they waited for me to pass.  Some little girls were jumping rope on the sidewalk. We turned around and went back.
     Determined to follow the directions, I made the opposite turns, and ended up on the same street!            Again, we interrupted the soccer game, drove to the end, turned around and headed back to the main drag.
     I would like to say that was the end of it.  I would like to say I went back to the rental agency and asked for directions again.  I would like to say we didn't end up going down that same street a third time.  This time the soccer boys waved, the little girls waved, some of the residents stopped and waved.....we figured we had been down the street so many times, we were almost friends.
    We eventually found the right turn, got on the right road, and reached our destination.
     We saw a brochure about a castle open for viewing.  We asked directions.  We started out.
At some point, I was on a one lane road, surrounded by hedgerows.  If you read anything about WW II, you know the hedgerows were scenes of terrific fighting.  They made it hard for the allies to advance.  We could tell why while driving down this lane at 10 mph.
     Why were we driving down the lane?  Because when I pulled in the lane to turn around, a postal vehicle also turned, right behind me.  He may have honked.  A few times.  So I had no choice but to pull ahead.
     The castle was about 40 minutes from our hotel.  After nearly 3 hours on the road we finally pulled up to its gates.  It looked beautiful.  It looked ancient.  It looked majestic.  It looked closed.
     It opened for tours July 1.  We were there June 29.
     On the positive side, we saw a lot of the French countryside!  And maybe almost made some new friends in the process.