Kind of long, but narrative follows, below, for anyone interested.
Pics can be found here: http://twkfrancetrip.shutterfly.com/
DATES: June 9 - June 26
DESTINATIONS: Beynac-et-Cazenac, St.-Remy-de-Provence, Nice, and Paris
TRAVELERS: TWK (44 y/o male), Big Sis, Little Sis, Nephew (Little Sis’s son), Cousin and Cousin’s Wife
Big Sis, Nephew and I took a trip to the UK in 2007. The excuse for this trip was Nephew’s high school graduation present, and my cousin and his wife ended up coming along, too.
TRANSPORTATION:
Air - Big Sis, Little Sis, Nephew and I flew Air France out of IAH to TLS, via CDG. We upgraded from economy to “premium voyageur.” The seats are wider (8 across in a 2-4-2 configuration, instead of 10 across in a 3-4-3 configuration as in coach), and the same shell style as in business class, but the reclining is rather restrict. We paid an additional $400 for this upgrade on the outbound flight, and flew coach inbound. Air France monkeyed with the schedule and reseated us, but it worked out well for us on the return leg where we got the last row, which is 2 seats on either side of the galley. This put is next to the restrooms with no one behind us, either aisle or window seats, and a little extra room next to the window seats to store stuff. I think if I could have the choice between these seats and the “premium voyageur” seats, I’d opt for these instead, but as compared to most coach seats, the extra space was probably worth the money.
Cousin and wife flew out of DFW on American, meeting up with us at CDG for the connecting flight to TLS.
Car rental - we opted for a Renault Espace minivan from Auto Europe. 10 days for $1400 with a zero CDW deductible (people tell me that I could have gotten a better deal without the insurance from Auto Europe, but each time we got into a sticky situation, we’d just remind ourselves “zero deductible” – made things a lot less stressful). Each traveler had one legal carry-on size bag, and one smaller tote. On the 3 days that we had to travel with luggage, the Espace was able to handle four bags in the back; we wedged two between the back 2 seats, and stacked the totes in the middle seat of the middle row. It was tight, but, fortunately, we didn’t have to travel like that most of the time. We enjoyed the car a lot more once we figured out the electronic parking brake. This feature wasn’t explained to us by the rental folks at Europcar (in fact, they explained nothing whatsoever, and were unhelpful on returning the car–all in all a pretty lousy customer service experience), and I had to resort to digging out the owner’s manual and translating the key pages using babelfish to understand exactly how it worked.
I had planned to use my laptop as a GPS (using Microsoft Autoroute) as we did when we drove in Scotland in 2007. However, the Espace came with a TomTom GPS unit, and, after struggling in an attempt to find someone else to fill the navigator role, I eventually turned over the driving to Little Sis (who was better with the clutch than I was, having owned a standard shift car at times in the past) and having me do the navigation, instead of effectively having to do both the driving and the navigating.
A few observations on the subject of navigation–the TomTom unit was great for telling you where you were, but like any computer based GPS, it does not always take you on the most logical route. It also was a bit of chore trying to figure out how to use the unit on the fly, so I would highly advise bringing your own unit as opposed to using an unfamiliar rental unit. However, I used it rather than the computer because the driver could see the screen, and I was fairly confident in my ability to use my Michelin France atlas to keep us headed in the right direction. There were many occasions where I overruled the GPS based upon what I was seeing on the map, and only one or two of those turned out to probably be a mistake.
Train – I booked the TGV from Nice to Paris using the IdTGV site 90 days out. We booked first class tickets for €44. Could have gotten them for €36, but when I initially tried to book, the credit card I was using rejected the transaction as suspicious. Unfortunately, when this happens, the seats are not immediately put back into the pool for booking, and when I tried to book a few minutes later with another card (successfully), the first seats were no longer available, and the next six cost €6 more (I assume that as seats fill, the price goes up). Our train ended up being delayed for an hour in Antibes due to signal problems, and SNCF sent me emails for a 25% voucher because of the delay, but it appears to me that I can only use this on future bookings, and can’t convert it to cash. Since I won’t be going back to France any time soon, I guess the “refund” will not end up benefitting me.
Paris transport – we opted to buy the 3 day Paris Visite pass. Although the math on these passes suggests that they aren’t a great buy (you have to ride a lot to make them pay off), I think we came out ahead as we rode more than a lot of people would, and there is some benefit to just being able to hop on a bus or the metro whenever the spirit moves you, rather than having to calculate how many carnets of 10 tickets you need to buy, and how many trips you need to make.
LODGING:
Dordogne: My sisters and I booked a house in Beynac-et-Cazenac through VRBO, http://www.vrbo.com/255275, before my cousin and his wife got involved. The house was apparently built as the “fuor banal,” or common bread oven, for the village at the top of the hill outside the Chateau du Beynac, and was beautifully renovated by its current owners (an American couple from Seattle) in 2008. The house has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths (one bath, in the master suite on the top floor, is somewhat open to the master bedroom). It was great for four adults, but would have been tight for six, so, when my cousin decided to come along, he and his wife booked the self service apartment at the Hotel du Chateau down in the lower village. The rental house does not come with its own parking area–you park at a lot for residents of the village about 100 yards up the hill–but does come with wifi and a telephone service that includes free calls to the US and to French landlines (but, somewhat oddly, not to European cell phones). Unfortunately, while were there, they had to replace the internet box, which also controls the phone service. We had internet pretty much the entire time we were there, but only had phone service for a couple of days at the end. This feature is kind of important because cell phone service is spotty in the Dordogne, and all but non-existent at this house (it was a little better down in the lower village, but still not reliable). It was just bad timing for us on the phone–I would highly recommend this property to someone who wants to stay in a truly special property, provided they can mange a little uphill and downhill walking to and from their car (and if they can’t, they probably don’t want to do the Dordogne region, anyway).
Provence: We got 3 rooms at Mas des Carrassins in St. Remy-de-Provence, http://www.masdescarassins.com/anglais.php. We were required to do the demi-pension, which included breakfast everyday, and dinner 2 days out of 3. While the restaurant is quite good, our party didn’t really include any “foodies” who might have appreciated the meals more than we did. We had a couple of members of our party come down with some digestive issues–could have been the meal or the long drive, or something totally unrelated, we’ll never know–and it seemed to be the consensus that, if you had to be sick somewhere along the trip, this was probably the most comfortable place to do it. The only real knock I would have is that the wifi was very spotty. A very good place and I would not hesitate to return.
Nice: 3 rooms, again, at Hotel Grimaldi (not to be confused with the Mercure Grimaldi nearby), http://www.le-grimaldi.com/. I was a little bit concerned about this booking as it seemed difficult to find lodging in Nice which fit our price range (I tried to stay around €80 per night, per person), as there seemed to be a real gulf between the affordable hotels, and the nicer hotels. While the rooms where somewhat dated, as observed by several reviewers on Trip Advisor, they were clean, offered decent space, good bathrooms, and a handy location (a little over 5 minutes walk to the beach, 10 minutes to the train station).
Paris: 3 rooms at Hotel Muguet, http://www.hotelparismuguet.com/. This hotel was a little more expensive, but offered air conditioning, updated rooms, and the location I preferred (I like the quiet of the 7th arrondisement). If you don’t like the quiet that you usually find in the 7th, and I know some folks don’t, then this obviously is not the place for you, but I found the location to be convenient, and just what I was looking for. As long as you can figure out how to ride the Metro (and anyone should be able to do that), you can be to any part of town in only a few minutes from this location.
I have to also give a special thanks to the night clerk from Saturday night. I was a little bit disappointed that the hotel would not arrange a shuttle for us, but they did provide a suggestion for a web site, and I used the computer in the lobby (they had the most reliable wifi of the 3 hotels that we stayed at) so that I could print out my confirmation. Of course, the computer has a French keyboard, and I was using the English version of the shuttle’s web site, but figured I had it all taken care of Saturday afternoon for our 7:00 a.m. departure Sunday morning to the airport. However, 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning, I had this sudden awful feeling that I might have screwed up the online booking and, sure enough, I had used the calendar function on the shuttle web site to book the shuttle for the first day of the week, which the French view as Monday rather than Sunday. So, I had booked a shuttle to arrive the day after we were due to return. I put my pants on, went downstairs, cancelled my internet booking (just a couple of hours before I would have forfeited the entire amount, rather than just a €5 booking fee), and the hotel clerk made a phone call to line up 2 taxis at 7 a.m, which ended up costing us about the same as the private shuttle.
COMMUNICATIONS: Because we were flying out of different airports, and wanted to have phone numbers lined up before we left the country, we opted to get 3 cell phones from Telestial, http://www.telestial.com/, under packages where you got a cheap cell phone and French SIM card, good for 2 weeks after activation with decent rates for calls and texts domestically and internationally for about $110 each, including shipping. Yes, if money is your prime concern, you can do better by simply buying a cell pre-paid phone once you get over to France (I figured that comparable phones and time would have run about $75 to $80), or perhaps have gotten a better phone by purchasing an unlocked phone on Ebay, but this was simple and reliable. We got exactly what we were expecting, and were able to stay in touch immediately upon arrival. This came in handy when we arrived at CDG (arriving on separate flights, this made meeting up easy), and the next morning, when we got the news of the death of a family member minutes after it happened, even though we were driving through Sarlat rather than at our lodging. I don’t think I’ll go back to Europe without one. I also had my notebook computer and wifi service everywhere we stayed, so I was able to keep up with things happening at the office (to the extent I absolutely had to) by email.
THE REST OF THE STORY...
Thursday, June 9/Friday, June 10: Since Little Sis and Nephew live in Houston, while Big Sis and I both live in Wichita Falls, someone had to travel to get to the airport, and with flights out of Houston being about $100 per person cheaper than flights out of DFW, Big Sis and I opted to go down to Houston to start the trip, as we did in 2007. This time, we thought we were going to make it a little easier by having another cousin of mine fly us down to Houston the night before in his Beech Bonanza. Unfortunately, a few minutes after we got airborne, his alternator started acting up, so we aborted the flight, and had to drive from Wichita Falls after all. Not that big an issue on the way down, but a real drag on the way back. The only consolation was that, with the heat wave we’re having now, flying back in that un-air-conditioned plane on Sunday would have been miserable (but it only would have lasted 2 hours, as opposed to the 6 hour drive).
After that, the flight over to CDG was pretty uneventful, but, Air France managed to get us to TLS an hour late. This was unfortunate because it put us trying to navigate around Toulouse in an unfamiliar vehicle at the height of rush hour, at the beginning of a bank holiday weekend. We chose Toulouse over Bordeaux as our connecting flight because TLS is on the same side of town as we were headed, whereas, flying into Bordeaux would have required us to navigate around or through town. Well, if this was the right move, I would have hated to have seen the traffic in Bordeaux that day. It was awful in Toulouse. Combine that with my navigator not really being up to the challenge of using Autoroute on my notebook, and not having any idea how to use the GPS that came with the vehicle, and I’d say that the only reason we aren’t still circling roundabouts trying to get out of Toulouse is that I had studied the route before hand and knew, generally, where we should be heading. As mentioned above, once we rearranged jobs, and put my sister behind the wheel with me only having to tell her where to go, things went much smoother. We arrived in Beynac (and I’ll call it Beynac rather than the full name of Beynac-et-Cazenac, just for simplicity, but don’t confuse it with the other “Beynac” located a long ways away from the Dordogne) rather later than I had hoped, but we made it and got to bed a little early, as you would expect for jet lagged passengers.
Saturday, June 11: We had originally intended to fly on a Friday in order to do what seems to be the customary Saturday to Saturday rental period, but the American owners of our house wisely do a Friday to Friday rental period just so that you can be in town and situated in time for market day in Sarlat. If you are only going to see one French market day in your life, this would probably be the one to see as the market is unbelievable, and in a truly stunning setting. Now, having said that, it can be overwhelming, but I’m very glad that I went (5 of us went there–Big Sis opted out, jet lag just being too much). We still hadn’t figured out the navigation issues, and I was really trying to drive and navigate, which didn’t work too well. We didn’t get an early enough start, only leaving for Sarlat at about 9:30, but we ended up circling around the center of town and lucking into a parking spot in front of a cemetery on the west side of the town center, which left us a pretty reasonable walk to the north end of the market, on the Rue de la Republic. After several hours of browsing the market, and a 2 hour lunch, we decided to call it a day.
Sunday, June 12: Another market day, this one in St.-Cyprien, and, again, we were short a member of our party (Little Sis opted out this time). While the market in Sarlat is a sight not to be missed, I think the one in St.-Cyprien may be more enjoyable. It’s about 1/10th the scale, but still pretty big, and offering just about everything that you would find in Sarlat, only there would be one or two stalls offering any given item, rather than 10 or 20. As suggested by some forum users, we sought out the rotisserie chicken vendor and bought chicken and potatoes, along with some other side items, for our Sunday meal, which we had back at our house in Beynac. It was really nice to sit down and have a meal at our house, but not have to do any real cooking. Some members of our party opted to tour the adjoining Chateau of Beynac in the afternoon, while others opted to rest.
Monday, June 13: Those who didn’t do the Chateau on Sunday did the tour on Monday morning, while cousin and his wife took a gabarre round trip from Beynac to La Roque-Gageac. In the afternoon, the entire party went to Castelnaud. As between the two, Castelnaud is clearly the better tour, offering a lot of history and medieval warfare information that is simply lacking at Beynac, although the Beynac experience is probably much better for Francophones who can follow the French speaking tour. After Castelnaud, we proceeded upriver to Vitrac Port in order to let Little Sis and Nephew do the Copayroe Canoe trip to Beynac. The rest of us drove downstream to La Roque, and, in the finest tradition of Marlin Perkins sipping a banana daiquiri with the local chieftain while Jim Fowler wrestled with an alligator, we found a bar with a shaded patio and indulged in some libations while waiting for the intrepid canoers to pass by so that we could give them some “encouragement.”
Tuesday, June 14: This was the day that we had reserved for seeing prehistoric cave art. Our plan was to go to Les Eyzies, see the museum, then take the 1:00 p.m. English speaking tour (which we had reserved a month in advance). Alas, since Monday had been a bank holiday (and, apparently, the museum had been open on a day that it was usually closed), the museum was closed on this Tuesday, a day that it is normally opened. So, we had some time to kill, and went over to Font de Gaume really early. Nevertheless, it was worth it. While I’m not overly interested in prehistoric cave art, even a casual observer would find this site worthwhile. After we got back, I finally went all the way down the hill, and back up again, in order to see most of Beynac, which is very picturesque in its own right. After chuckling at all the tourists who huffed and puffed as they passed by our house, I finally felt obliged to do the same thing so that I could see the whole town. It was quite an effort coming back up hill, but worth it.
Wednesday, June 15: Nephew enjoyed the canoe trip so much that he wanted to do it again, and this time, cousin opted to go with him (while cousin’s wife took the day off, and stayed close to the hotel). So, my sisters and I took the sailors down to the port, and then went on to Domme. Driving through the streets of Domme is not for the feint of heart. This is where our change in driving/navigating duties really paid off and Little Sis just trusted me that if she kept going where told her, we’d eventually find a parking space near our desired destination. Sure enough, we made it to the parking lot on the very edge of this bastide, allowing us to see the town with minimal walking. We tried to look out for Nephew and cousin on the river down below, but it wasn’t quite the same as doing it from the riverside in La Roque. Had our best view for a meal here, eating at the bar opposite the Esplanade (sorry to disappoint the foodies–no food porn in this report, although we did try to partake of the requisite amount of foie gras and other local specialities, particularly during the Dordogne portion of the trip). After our short stay in Domme, we went back to Sarlat so that Little Sis and I could see it without the market, and Big Sis could see it for the first time.
Thursday, June 16: The morning activity was a trip to Marqueyssac for the gardens. If you go, be prepared to make the hike to the belvedere–by far, the best view in the Dordogne, as you can see Domme, La Roque, Castelnaud, Fayrac, and Beynac, all in one panorama. The gardens were nice, but for me, this view was the highlight. In the afternoon, we went to Les Milandes and thoroughly enjoyed the falconry demonstration. The chateau was only OK, but the demonstration made it worth the trip.
Friday, June 17: This was our travel day from Beynac to St. Remy. Probably the most taxing day on the trip as it meant spending about five hours in the car. Unpleasant, but really, unavoidable, unless you’re going to spend a night in Carcassonne to break it up, and we decided that it just didn’t work for us to do that if we were doing to do Paris (originally, had not planned to do Paris, but since our return flight would have involved a 6:30 flight from Nice, with a somewhat close connection time in Paris, we opted to play it safe and spend some time in Paris). Along the way, we partook of French truck stop fare (very good, compared to what you see along the road in the USA) and stopped for a couple of hours at Pont du Gard. This is where I started to really see the limitations of the GPS as it took us down a series of narrow side roads on our way to Mas des Carassins in St. Remy, an adventure that was totally unnecessary, and could have been avoided simply by sticking to the main road out of Tarascon. We arrived at the hotel around 6 p.m., and had dinner at 7:30 (sea bass–don’t know if it was the fish, the truck stop food, or something else that waylaid two of our party, but it dampened their enjoyment of Provence).
Saturday, June 18: With a number of our party under the weather, we stuck close to home in the morning, going to Les Baux. In the afternoon, we were down to three for a trip to see the Luberon hill towns. We drove through Menerbes, bypassed LaCoste, and stopped for a snack and pit stop in Bonnieux. Really an impressive area and the place I would like to go back and explore more if I ever get back to Provence.
Sunday, June 19: Still not a full strength, four of us made the short hop in town to the Saint Paul de Mausole asylum, where Van Gogh spent 53 weeks and did so much painting and drawing. Really a neat little site, and enhanced by the fact that the lavender was blooming, providing us our best look at lavender on the trip (I understand we were a little early for the peak season, which doesn’t start until July, and might have missed it altogether in a more typical season, rather than the dry one that they are experiencing). With digestive issues bothering several members, we finally gave up on the idea of making it to some wineries and instead, simply opted to drive up to Mont Ventoux. What a view! What a drive! Glad I was just navigating. Probably the most educational experience on the trip was when we got to show Little Sis and nephew a Turkish toilet in the men’s room at the summit restaurant (last saw one of those on my post-high school trip in 1985).
Monday, June 20: A reasonable drive to Nice, via La Turbie and Eze, started out OK, but ran into some problems. For the final time, our TomTom failed to get us to where we wanted to go, getting us in the neighborhood of La Turbie, but onto the Moyenne Corniche and headed to Eze without seeing the Trophy of the Alps. With Little Sis being a little fatigued from the driving, and the prospect of Eze lying ahead, we opted to just proceed on. However, when we got to Eze, there was no parking to be had. Rather than drive up and down hilly streets looking for parking, I decided that we would simply make do with driving the corniche into Nice, and allowing anyone that wanted to see the views from Eze to take the bus. We were hoping to fill up on the way to the hotel, but after passing up on a gas station in Villefranche which probably would have been close enough to satisfy the rental company on the full tank requirement, we ended up not seeing a single open gas station on the correct side of the road the rest of the way to our hotel in Nice. We stopped on Rue Grimaldi, and, because we were blocking a couple of cars, looked like a NASCAR pit crew unloading the van in about 90 seconds, leaving Big Sis, nephew, and cousin’s wife to check into the hotel, while Little Sis, cousin, and I first located a gas station, then took the car back to the rental office at the train station. The GPS did find us a gas station, but a construction fence made getting in and out of this place an adventure.
Then we proceeded to the train station, located the sign for Europcar, and discovered that we would have to return the van by driving it to the 6th (top) level of the parking garage. This garage was ill-suited for driving a vehicle the size of our van, having one of those rare circular ramps that requires you to turn your car at an angle and hold it for an interminably long time as you slowly circle higher and higher. All the time, you appear to be driving into the wall, and the ramp really wasn’t meant for a vehicle of this size. But, we made it, and with absolutely no help from the attendant at the top, parked the car and make the long trip back down to the rental office where we were told that in order to get a receipt, we need to have gotten the mileage and some other information from the guy who just took the keys and told us to get our receipt at the office. We left without the receipt and took a taxi back to the hotel. I wish I would have opted to return the car at the Europcar office on the promenade, but I opted for the station since it had later hours. Having ditched the car, from this point forward, the group tended to fragment a lot, and I don’t even have details on what everyone one did at this point. But, Little Sis and I went with nephew down to the rocky beach. He got into the water a bit, and after 45 minutes or so down there, we went back to the hotel and later, out to eat.
Tuesday, June 21: All of us took the train to Monaco today. Getting tickets at the Nice station was a real pain as they only had two ticket windows open, and we had a hard time scrounging up enough change to use the automatic machines. Upon arrival in Monaco, we split up, with cousin and his wife opting to go to Monaco Ville, while we took the elevator at the station to the top of the hill, then walked down hill to Monte Carlo and the casino, then to the port for lunch at a seaside outdoor bar, and finally, back to the train station via the underground passage. Really liked our route as this meant we were going downhill or level all the way, and having seen a whole bunch of castles and the like on the trip already, we didn’t feel that we missed anything by passing up the old part of town. In the afternoon, Little Sis, nephew, and I went down to the beach and rented spaces at one of the private beach clubs. While it costs some money, this is definitely the way to go to the beach in Nice, as it makes the rocks bearable. Although I’m not a beach person, the blue water was warmer than I expected, and I enjoyed the view and the scenery–watching boats go by and planes take off and land from the airport.
Wednesday, June 22: Big Sis and I took the bus to Eze in the morning, then, in the afternoon, Big Sis, nephew and I once again went to the beach.
Thursday, June 23: Our hotel arranged a shuttle to pick us up at 6:00 a.m. to take us to the train station to catch the 6:35 TGV to Paris. We stopped in Antibes for an hour (my limited French led me to believe that they announced we were having signal problems, but I could be wrong about that), and arrived in Paris one hour late. At Gare de Lyon, we got lucky in the taxi rank, in that just after we had turned the corner for the “home stretch” of the tax line, a big van taxi pulled up looking for 5 or 6 passengers, and we were the first party that filled the bill. After checking into the hotel, and finding a Starbucks to mollify Little Sis, we took the RER to St. Michel, then walked around Notre Dame (line was too long to go in), Ile St. Louis, and some of the adjoining neighborhood on the Left Bank. Big Sis, Little Sis, nephew and I grabbed a quick bite to eat on Rue Cler, then went to the Eiffel Tour. We arrived around 7:30, and were on the elevator up shortly after 8:00. We opted to simply do the second level, then called it a night.
Friday, June 24: Having passed on Norte Dame the night before, Little Sis, nephew and I went back this morning to see the interior. After lunch, we walked over to the Rodin Museum, then went to Les Invalides, seeing the tombs and the portion of the army museum from Louis XIV to Napoleon III. That evening, we took the metro to Pont Neuf to catch the boat tour at 9:00. We got back to the neighborhood of our hotel just after 10:30, so my sisters and I opted to stay out a few minutes longer, walk a few blocks over in front of Ecole Militaire, and watch the Eiffel Tower light display from there at 11:00.
Saturday, June 25: In the morning, four of us opted to go to the Louvre (much easier to get in than I would have thought) while cousin and his wife went to Versailles. In the afternoon, Little Sis and I went to the Orsay Museum (where the pass really saved us a lot of standing in line). Sisters, nephew, and I then opted to have what has kind of become a traditional end of trip meal for us–wherever we are, we like to see what passes for “Tex-Mex” in the local market–and believe me, you’d be hard pressed in a major city not to find some place that claims to serve this food. We ended up going to a place in the 4th arrondisement, on Rue du Temple, called the Studio (it’s in a courtyard that is overlooked by a large dance studio), and enjoyed what, in Texas, would be pretty mediocre Tex-Mex, but, given the difficulty in getting proper ingredients in Paris, I’d give the folks an A for effort. Afterwards, we took the metro to Etoille and used our museum pass, and my sister’s bum knee, to take the elevator to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
Sunday, June 26: Already documented the screw up with the shuttle transfer, above. Otherwise, the return trip was uneventful.
[This message has been edited by twk (edited 6/30/2011 11:09a).]
Pics can be found here: http://twkfrancetrip.shutterfly.com/
DATES: June 9 - June 26
DESTINATIONS: Beynac-et-Cazenac, St.-Remy-de-Provence, Nice, and Paris
TRAVELERS: TWK (44 y/o male), Big Sis, Little Sis, Nephew (Little Sis’s son), Cousin and Cousin’s Wife
Big Sis, Nephew and I took a trip to the UK in 2007. The excuse for this trip was Nephew’s high school graduation present, and my cousin and his wife ended up coming along, too.
TRANSPORTATION:
Air - Big Sis, Little Sis, Nephew and I flew Air France out of IAH to TLS, via CDG. We upgraded from economy to “premium voyageur.” The seats are wider (8 across in a 2-4-2 configuration, instead of 10 across in a 3-4-3 configuration as in coach), and the same shell style as in business class, but the reclining is rather restrict. We paid an additional $400 for this upgrade on the outbound flight, and flew coach inbound. Air France monkeyed with the schedule and reseated us, but it worked out well for us on the return leg where we got the last row, which is 2 seats on either side of the galley. This put is next to the restrooms with no one behind us, either aisle or window seats, and a little extra room next to the window seats to store stuff. I think if I could have the choice between these seats and the “premium voyageur” seats, I’d opt for these instead, but as compared to most coach seats, the extra space was probably worth the money.
Cousin and wife flew out of DFW on American, meeting up with us at CDG for the connecting flight to TLS.
Car rental - we opted for a Renault Espace minivan from Auto Europe. 10 days for $1400 with a zero CDW deductible (people tell me that I could have gotten a better deal without the insurance from Auto Europe, but each time we got into a sticky situation, we’d just remind ourselves “zero deductible” – made things a lot less stressful). Each traveler had one legal carry-on size bag, and one smaller tote. On the 3 days that we had to travel with luggage, the Espace was able to handle four bags in the back; we wedged two between the back 2 seats, and stacked the totes in the middle seat of the middle row. It was tight, but, fortunately, we didn’t have to travel like that most of the time. We enjoyed the car a lot more once we figured out the electronic parking brake. This feature wasn’t explained to us by the rental folks at Europcar (in fact, they explained nothing whatsoever, and were unhelpful on returning the car–all in all a pretty lousy customer service experience), and I had to resort to digging out the owner’s manual and translating the key pages using babelfish to understand exactly how it worked.
I had planned to use my laptop as a GPS (using Microsoft Autoroute) as we did when we drove in Scotland in 2007. However, the Espace came with a TomTom GPS unit, and, after struggling in an attempt to find someone else to fill the navigator role, I eventually turned over the driving to Little Sis (who was better with the clutch than I was, having owned a standard shift car at times in the past) and having me do the navigation, instead of effectively having to do both the driving and the navigating.
A few observations on the subject of navigation–the TomTom unit was great for telling you where you were, but like any computer based GPS, it does not always take you on the most logical route. It also was a bit of chore trying to figure out how to use the unit on the fly, so I would highly advise bringing your own unit as opposed to using an unfamiliar rental unit. However, I used it rather than the computer because the driver could see the screen, and I was fairly confident in my ability to use my Michelin France atlas to keep us headed in the right direction. There were many occasions where I overruled the GPS based upon what I was seeing on the map, and only one or two of those turned out to probably be a mistake.
Train – I booked the TGV from Nice to Paris using the IdTGV site 90 days out. We booked first class tickets for €44. Could have gotten them for €36, but when I initially tried to book, the credit card I was using rejected the transaction as suspicious. Unfortunately, when this happens, the seats are not immediately put back into the pool for booking, and when I tried to book a few minutes later with another card (successfully), the first seats were no longer available, and the next six cost €6 more (I assume that as seats fill, the price goes up). Our train ended up being delayed for an hour in Antibes due to signal problems, and SNCF sent me emails for a 25% voucher because of the delay, but it appears to me that I can only use this on future bookings, and can’t convert it to cash. Since I won’t be going back to France any time soon, I guess the “refund” will not end up benefitting me.
Paris transport – we opted to buy the 3 day Paris Visite pass. Although the math on these passes suggests that they aren’t a great buy (you have to ride a lot to make them pay off), I think we came out ahead as we rode more than a lot of people would, and there is some benefit to just being able to hop on a bus or the metro whenever the spirit moves you, rather than having to calculate how many carnets of 10 tickets you need to buy, and how many trips you need to make.
LODGING:
Dordogne: My sisters and I booked a house in Beynac-et-Cazenac through VRBO, http://www.vrbo.com/255275, before my cousin and his wife got involved. The house was apparently built as the “fuor banal,” or common bread oven, for the village at the top of the hill outside the Chateau du Beynac, and was beautifully renovated by its current owners (an American couple from Seattle) in 2008. The house has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths (one bath, in the master suite on the top floor, is somewhat open to the master bedroom). It was great for four adults, but would have been tight for six, so, when my cousin decided to come along, he and his wife booked the self service apartment at the Hotel du Chateau down in the lower village. The rental house does not come with its own parking area–you park at a lot for residents of the village about 100 yards up the hill–but does come with wifi and a telephone service that includes free calls to the US and to French landlines (but, somewhat oddly, not to European cell phones). Unfortunately, while were there, they had to replace the internet box, which also controls the phone service. We had internet pretty much the entire time we were there, but only had phone service for a couple of days at the end. This feature is kind of important because cell phone service is spotty in the Dordogne, and all but non-existent at this house (it was a little better down in the lower village, but still not reliable). It was just bad timing for us on the phone–I would highly recommend this property to someone who wants to stay in a truly special property, provided they can mange a little uphill and downhill walking to and from their car (and if they can’t, they probably don’t want to do the Dordogne region, anyway).
Provence: We got 3 rooms at Mas des Carrassins in St. Remy-de-Provence, http://www.masdescarassins.com/anglais.php. We were required to do the demi-pension, which included breakfast everyday, and dinner 2 days out of 3. While the restaurant is quite good, our party didn’t really include any “foodies” who might have appreciated the meals more than we did. We had a couple of members of our party come down with some digestive issues–could have been the meal or the long drive, or something totally unrelated, we’ll never know–and it seemed to be the consensus that, if you had to be sick somewhere along the trip, this was probably the most comfortable place to do it. The only real knock I would have is that the wifi was very spotty. A very good place and I would not hesitate to return.
Nice: 3 rooms, again, at Hotel Grimaldi (not to be confused with the Mercure Grimaldi nearby), http://www.le-grimaldi.com/. I was a little bit concerned about this booking as it seemed difficult to find lodging in Nice which fit our price range (I tried to stay around €80 per night, per person), as there seemed to be a real gulf between the affordable hotels, and the nicer hotels. While the rooms where somewhat dated, as observed by several reviewers on Trip Advisor, they were clean, offered decent space, good bathrooms, and a handy location (a little over 5 minutes walk to the beach, 10 minutes to the train station).
Paris: 3 rooms at Hotel Muguet, http://www.hotelparismuguet.com/. This hotel was a little more expensive, but offered air conditioning, updated rooms, and the location I preferred (I like the quiet of the 7th arrondisement). If you don’t like the quiet that you usually find in the 7th, and I know some folks don’t, then this obviously is not the place for you, but I found the location to be convenient, and just what I was looking for. As long as you can figure out how to ride the Metro (and anyone should be able to do that), you can be to any part of town in only a few minutes from this location.
I have to also give a special thanks to the night clerk from Saturday night. I was a little bit disappointed that the hotel would not arrange a shuttle for us, but they did provide a suggestion for a web site, and I used the computer in the lobby (they had the most reliable wifi of the 3 hotels that we stayed at) so that I could print out my confirmation. Of course, the computer has a French keyboard, and I was using the English version of the shuttle’s web site, but figured I had it all taken care of Saturday afternoon for our 7:00 a.m. departure Sunday morning to the airport. However, 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning, I had this sudden awful feeling that I might have screwed up the online booking and, sure enough, I had used the calendar function on the shuttle web site to book the shuttle for the first day of the week, which the French view as Monday rather than Sunday. So, I had booked a shuttle to arrive the day after we were due to return. I put my pants on, went downstairs, cancelled my internet booking (just a couple of hours before I would have forfeited the entire amount, rather than just a €5 booking fee), and the hotel clerk made a phone call to line up 2 taxis at 7 a.m, which ended up costing us about the same as the private shuttle.
COMMUNICATIONS: Because we were flying out of different airports, and wanted to have phone numbers lined up before we left the country, we opted to get 3 cell phones from Telestial, http://www.telestial.com/, under packages where you got a cheap cell phone and French SIM card, good for 2 weeks after activation with decent rates for calls and texts domestically and internationally for about $110 each, including shipping. Yes, if money is your prime concern, you can do better by simply buying a cell pre-paid phone once you get over to France (I figured that comparable phones and time would have run about $75 to $80), or perhaps have gotten a better phone by purchasing an unlocked phone on Ebay, but this was simple and reliable. We got exactly what we were expecting, and were able to stay in touch immediately upon arrival. This came in handy when we arrived at CDG (arriving on separate flights, this made meeting up easy), and the next morning, when we got the news of the death of a family member minutes after it happened, even though we were driving through Sarlat rather than at our lodging. I don’t think I’ll go back to Europe without one. I also had my notebook computer and wifi service everywhere we stayed, so I was able to keep up with things happening at the office (to the extent I absolutely had to) by email.
THE REST OF THE STORY...
Thursday, June 9/Friday, June 10: Since Little Sis and Nephew live in Houston, while Big Sis and I both live in Wichita Falls, someone had to travel to get to the airport, and with flights out of Houston being about $100 per person cheaper than flights out of DFW, Big Sis and I opted to go down to Houston to start the trip, as we did in 2007. This time, we thought we were going to make it a little easier by having another cousin of mine fly us down to Houston the night before in his Beech Bonanza. Unfortunately, a few minutes after we got airborne, his alternator started acting up, so we aborted the flight, and had to drive from Wichita Falls after all. Not that big an issue on the way down, but a real drag on the way back. The only consolation was that, with the heat wave we’re having now, flying back in that un-air-conditioned plane on Sunday would have been miserable (but it only would have lasted 2 hours, as opposed to the 6 hour drive).
After that, the flight over to CDG was pretty uneventful, but, Air France managed to get us to TLS an hour late. This was unfortunate because it put us trying to navigate around Toulouse in an unfamiliar vehicle at the height of rush hour, at the beginning of a bank holiday weekend. We chose Toulouse over Bordeaux as our connecting flight because TLS is on the same side of town as we were headed, whereas, flying into Bordeaux would have required us to navigate around or through town. Well, if this was the right move, I would have hated to have seen the traffic in Bordeaux that day. It was awful in Toulouse. Combine that with my navigator not really being up to the challenge of using Autoroute on my notebook, and not having any idea how to use the GPS that came with the vehicle, and I’d say that the only reason we aren’t still circling roundabouts trying to get out of Toulouse is that I had studied the route before hand and knew, generally, where we should be heading. As mentioned above, once we rearranged jobs, and put my sister behind the wheel with me only having to tell her where to go, things went much smoother. We arrived in Beynac (and I’ll call it Beynac rather than the full name of Beynac-et-Cazenac, just for simplicity, but don’t confuse it with the other “Beynac” located a long ways away from the Dordogne) rather later than I had hoped, but we made it and got to bed a little early, as you would expect for jet lagged passengers.
Saturday, June 11: We had originally intended to fly on a Friday in order to do what seems to be the customary Saturday to Saturday rental period, but the American owners of our house wisely do a Friday to Friday rental period just so that you can be in town and situated in time for market day in Sarlat. If you are only going to see one French market day in your life, this would probably be the one to see as the market is unbelievable, and in a truly stunning setting. Now, having said that, it can be overwhelming, but I’m very glad that I went (5 of us went there–Big Sis opted out, jet lag just being too much). We still hadn’t figured out the navigation issues, and I was really trying to drive and navigate, which didn’t work too well. We didn’t get an early enough start, only leaving for Sarlat at about 9:30, but we ended up circling around the center of town and lucking into a parking spot in front of a cemetery on the west side of the town center, which left us a pretty reasonable walk to the north end of the market, on the Rue de la Republic. After several hours of browsing the market, and a 2 hour lunch, we decided to call it a day.
Sunday, June 12: Another market day, this one in St.-Cyprien, and, again, we were short a member of our party (Little Sis opted out this time). While the market in Sarlat is a sight not to be missed, I think the one in St.-Cyprien may be more enjoyable. It’s about 1/10th the scale, but still pretty big, and offering just about everything that you would find in Sarlat, only there would be one or two stalls offering any given item, rather than 10 or 20. As suggested by some forum users, we sought out the rotisserie chicken vendor and bought chicken and potatoes, along with some other side items, for our Sunday meal, which we had back at our house in Beynac. It was really nice to sit down and have a meal at our house, but not have to do any real cooking. Some members of our party opted to tour the adjoining Chateau of Beynac in the afternoon, while others opted to rest.
Monday, June 13: Those who didn’t do the Chateau on Sunday did the tour on Monday morning, while cousin and his wife took a gabarre round trip from Beynac to La Roque-Gageac. In the afternoon, the entire party went to Castelnaud. As between the two, Castelnaud is clearly the better tour, offering a lot of history and medieval warfare information that is simply lacking at Beynac, although the Beynac experience is probably much better for Francophones who can follow the French speaking tour. After Castelnaud, we proceeded upriver to Vitrac Port in order to let Little Sis and Nephew do the Copayroe Canoe trip to Beynac. The rest of us drove downstream to La Roque, and, in the finest tradition of Marlin Perkins sipping a banana daiquiri with the local chieftain while Jim Fowler wrestled with an alligator, we found a bar with a shaded patio and indulged in some libations while waiting for the intrepid canoers to pass by so that we could give them some “encouragement.”
Tuesday, June 14: This was the day that we had reserved for seeing prehistoric cave art. Our plan was to go to Les Eyzies, see the museum, then take the 1:00 p.m. English speaking tour (which we had reserved a month in advance). Alas, since Monday had been a bank holiday (and, apparently, the museum had been open on a day that it was usually closed), the museum was closed on this Tuesday, a day that it is normally opened. So, we had some time to kill, and went over to Font de Gaume really early. Nevertheless, it was worth it. While I’m not overly interested in prehistoric cave art, even a casual observer would find this site worthwhile. After we got back, I finally went all the way down the hill, and back up again, in order to see most of Beynac, which is very picturesque in its own right. After chuckling at all the tourists who huffed and puffed as they passed by our house, I finally felt obliged to do the same thing so that I could see the whole town. It was quite an effort coming back up hill, but worth it.
Wednesday, June 15: Nephew enjoyed the canoe trip so much that he wanted to do it again, and this time, cousin opted to go with him (while cousin’s wife took the day off, and stayed close to the hotel). So, my sisters and I took the sailors down to the port, and then went on to Domme. Driving through the streets of Domme is not for the feint of heart. This is where our change in driving/navigating duties really paid off and Little Sis just trusted me that if she kept going where told her, we’d eventually find a parking space near our desired destination. Sure enough, we made it to the parking lot on the very edge of this bastide, allowing us to see the town with minimal walking. We tried to look out for Nephew and cousin on the river down below, but it wasn’t quite the same as doing it from the riverside in La Roque. Had our best view for a meal here, eating at the bar opposite the Esplanade (sorry to disappoint the foodies–no food porn in this report, although we did try to partake of the requisite amount of foie gras and other local specialities, particularly during the Dordogne portion of the trip). After our short stay in Domme, we went back to Sarlat so that Little Sis and I could see it without the market, and Big Sis could see it for the first time.
Thursday, June 16: The morning activity was a trip to Marqueyssac for the gardens. If you go, be prepared to make the hike to the belvedere–by far, the best view in the Dordogne, as you can see Domme, La Roque, Castelnaud, Fayrac, and Beynac, all in one panorama. The gardens were nice, but for me, this view was the highlight. In the afternoon, we went to Les Milandes and thoroughly enjoyed the falconry demonstration. The chateau was only OK, but the demonstration made it worth the trip.
Friday, June 17: This was our travel day from Beynac to St. Remy. Probably the most taxing day on the trip as it meant spending about five hours in the car. Unpleasant, but really, unavoidable, unless you’re going to spend a night in Carcassonne to break it up, and we decided that it just didn’t work for us to do that if we were doing to do Paris (originally, had not planned to do Paris, but since our return flight would have involved a 6:30 flight from Nice, with a somewhat close connection time in Paris, we opted to play it safe and spend some time in Paris). Along the way, we partook of French truck stop fare (very good, compared to what you see along the road in the USA) and stopped for a couple of hours at Pont du Gard. This is where I started to really see the limitations of the GPS as it took us down a series of narrow side roads on our way to Mas des Carassins in St. Remy, an adventure that was totally unnecessary, and could have been avoided simply by sticking to the main road out of Tarascon. We arrived at the hotel around 6 p.m., and had dinner at 7:30 (sea bass–don’t know if it was the fish, the truck stop food, or something else that waylaid two of our party, but it dampened their enjoyment of Provence).
Saturday, June 18: With a number of our party under the weather, we stuck close to home in the morning, going to Les Baux. In the afternoon, we were down to three for a trip to see the Luberon hill towns. We drove through Menerbes, bypassed LaCoste, and stopped for a snack and pit stop in Bonnieux. Really an impressive area and the place I would like to go back and explore more if I ever get back to Provence.
Sunday, June 19: Still not a full strength, four of us made the short hop in town to the Saint Paul de Mausole asylum, where Van Gogh spent 53 weeks and did so much painting and drawing. Really a neat little site, and enhanced by the fact that the lavender was blooming, providing us our best look at lavender on the trip (I understand we were a little early for the peak season, which doesn’t start until July, and might have missed it altogether in a more typical season, rather than the dry one that they are experiencing). With digestive issues bothering several members, we finally gave up on the idea of making it to some wineries and instead, simply opted to drive up to Mont Ventoux. What a view! What a drive! Glad I was just navigating. Probably the most educational experience on the trip was when we got to show Little Sis and nephew a Turkish toilet in the men’s room at the summit restaurant (last saw one of those on my post-high school trip in 1985).
Monday, June 20: A reasonable drive to Nice, via La Turbie and Eze, started out OK, but ran into some problems. For the final time, our TomTom failed to get us to where we wanted to go, getting us in the neighborhood of La Turbie, but onto the Moyenne Corniche and headed to Eze without seeing the Trophy of the Alps. With Little Sis being a little fatigued from the driving, and the prospect of Eze lying ahead, we opted to just proceed on. However, when we got to Eze, there was no parking to be had. Rather than drive up and down hilly streets looking for parking, I decided that we would simply make do with driving the corniche into Nice, and allowing anyone that wanted to see the views from Eze to take the bus. We were hoping to fill up on the way to the hotel, but after passing up on a gas station in Villefranche which probably would have been close enough to satisfy the rental company on the full tank requirement, we ended up not seeing a single open gas station on the correct side of the road the rest of the way to our hotel in Nice. We stopped on Rue Grimaldi, and, because we were blocking a couple of cars, looked like a NASCAR pit crew unloading the van in about 90 seconds, leaving Big Sis, nephew, and cousin’s wife to check into the hotel, while Little Sis, cousin, and I first located a gas station, then took the car back to the rental office at the train station. The GPS did find us a gas station, but a construction fence made getting in and out of this place an adventure.
Then we proceeded to the train station, located the sign for Europcar, and discovered that we would have to return the van by driving it to the 6th (top) level of the parking garage. This garage was ill-suited for driving a vehicle the size of our van, having one of those rare circular ramps that requires you to turn your car at an angle and hold it for an interminably long time as you slowly circle higher and higher. All the time, you appear to be driving into the wall, and the ramp really wasn’t meant for a vehicle of this size. But, we made it, and with absolutely no help from the attendant at the top, parked the car and make the long trip back down to the rental office where we were told that in order to get a receipt, we need to have gotten the mileage and some other information from the guy who just took the keys and told us to get our receipt at the office. We left without the receipt and took a taxi back to the hotel. I wish I would have opted to return the car at the Europcar office on the promenade, but I opted for the station since it had later hours. Having ditched the car, from this point forward, the group tended to fragment a lot, and I don’t even have details on what everyone one did at this point. But, Little Sis and I went with nephew down to the rocky beach. He got into the water a bit, and after 45 minutes or so down there, we went back to the hotel and later, out to eat.
Tuesday, June 21: All of us took the train to Monaco today. Getting tickets at the Nice station was a real pain as they only had two ticket windows open, and we had a hard time scrounging up enough change to use the automatic machines. Upon arrival in Monaco, we split up, with cousin and his wife opting to go to Monaco Ville, while we took the elevator at the station to the top of the hill, then walked down hill to Monte Carlo and the casino, then to the port for lunch at a seaside outdoor bar, and finally, back to the train station via the underground passage. Really liked our route as this meant we were going downhill or level all the way, and having seen a whole bunch of castles and the like on the trip already, we didn’t feel that we missed anything by passing up the old part of town. In the afternoon, Little Sis, nephew, and I went down to the beach and rented spaces at one of the private beach clubs. While it costs some money, this is definitely the way to go to the beach in Nice, as it makes the rocks bearable. Although I’m not a beach person, the blue water was warmer than I expected, and I enjoyed the view and the scenery–watching boats go by and planes take off and land from the airport.
Wednesday, June 22: Big Sis and I took the bus to Eze in the morning, then, in the afternoon, Big Sis, nephew and I once again went to the beach.
Thursday, June 23: Our hotel arranged a shuttle to pick us up at 6:00 a.m. to take us to the train station to catch the 6:35 TGV to Paris. We stopped in Antibes for an hour (my limited French led me to believe that they announced we were having signal problems, but I could be wrong about that), and arrived in Paris one hour late. At Gare de Lyon, we got lucky in the taxi rank, in that just after we had turned the corner for the “home stretch” of the tax line, a big van taxi pulled up looking for 5 or 6 passengers, and we were the first party that filled the bill. After checking into the hotel, and finding a Starbucks to mollify Little Sis, we took the RER to St. Michel, then walked around Notre Dame (line was too long to go in), Ile St. Louis, and some of the adjoining neighborhood on the Left Bank. Big Sis, Little Sis, nephew and I grabbed a quick bite to eat on Rue Cler, then went to the Eiffel Tour. We arrived around 7:30, and were on the elevator up shortly after 8:00. We opted to simply do the second level, then called it a night.
Friday, June 24: Having passed on Norte Dame the night before, Little Sis, nephew and I went back this morning to see the interior. After lunch, we walked over to the Rodin Museum, then went to Les Invalides, seeing the tombs and the portion of the army museum from Louis XIV to Napoleon III. That evening, we took the metro to Pont Neuf to catch the boat tour at 9:00. We got back to the neighborhood of our hotel just after 10:30, so my sisters and I opted to stay out a few minutes longer, walk a few blocks over in front of Ecole Militaire, and watch the Eiffel Tower light display from there at 11:00.
Saturday, June 25: In the morning, four of us opted to go to the Louvre (much easier to get in than I would have thought) while cousin and his wife went to Versailles. In the afternoon, Little Sis and I went to the Orsay Museum (where the pass really saved us a lot of standing in line). Sisters, nephew, and I then opted to have what has kind of become a traditional end of trip meal for us–wherever we are, we like to see what passes for “Tex-Mex” in the local market–and believe me, you’d be hard pressed in a major city not to find some place that claims to serve this food. We ended up going to a place in the 4th arrondisement, on Rue du Temple, called the Studio (it’s in a courtyard that is overlooked by a large dance studio), and enjoyed what, in Texas, would be pretty mediocre Tex-Mex, but, given the difficulty in getting proper ingredients in Paris, I’d give the folks an A for effort. Afterwards, we took the metro to Etoille and used our museum pass, and my sister’s bum knee, to take the elevator to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
Sunday, June 26: Already documented the screw up with the shuttle transfer, above. Otherwise, the return trip was uneventful.
[This message has been edited by twk (edited 6/30/2011 11:09a).]
