degas

Let’s dream a little and conjure up pleasant visions of an idyllic month spent at leisure in France. And before anyone berates me for being too vague, let’s establish a wish list of things we would like to have access to:

Very Important: good food, public transportation, daytrips, church bells, ice cream, tarts

Moderately Important: hiking, biking, parks & gardens, sidewalk cafes

Important: interesting old buildings & churches, markets, museums, art galleries, viewpoints, fountains/monuments/statues

Nice to have: Cooking and language school, nightlife, old bookstores, places to swim, a gym, forests, caves & mountains

Not important: fashion, shopping, modern art, poodle shows

Just to sweeten the deal, let’s assume we will have spent a month in Paris. So where do we stay?

Remember now, we want a nice, friendly place where we can wander on foot and chill a bit without being bored to tears. You know, a great place to rent a cozy little apartment, have sex in the afternoon, cook up some of the local culinary delights, and learn how those crazy frenchmen live.

I was thinking of Nice, Lyon, Dijon or Annecy…… .

Dave_in_Paris

Normandy in the winter, in a town with cobbled streets and half-timbered houses - with a large fireplace, plentiful oak and calvados, both well-aged, a biweekly food market, one reliable restaurant and two dozen books.

EmBee

Mmmmmm..... Sounds divine Dave in Paris.

francophile03

Lyon? I've read so many great things about this city. It's compared with Paris alot and the photos show many similarities.

kenderina

Avignon ? I love it And while it's not a big city..it has good transport to almost every place in the south of France, even the TGV works from there.

StCirq

Sounds exactly like St-Cirq to me

Betsy

What? You're going to miss the poodle shows?

cmt

Since (like me) you want or need to stay a place with good public transportation for daytrips, this sounds like a question IndyTravel can answer well if he sees it.

There's a thread that I'll try to find that compiles info on places in France that are easy to get around by public transportation. I'll try to find it. (If I can't, I can find it later at home where I bookmarked it.)

cmt

Here's the thread I referred to above: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34424767

degas

Hi folks - thanks for the inputs. Lyon has caught my eye recently. Nice seems to have the edge on daytrips.

SuzieC

Well! For all the "wish list" items...and I'd have a whole month...
I think I'd have to vote for Nice. Old Town. Any time of year would suit me...for some reason March "feels" right. May I please have a small apartment with a view of the water?
And can I rent an old Renault that can putter around for me?

degas

cmt - thanks for the link - great info.

Scarlett

I am hurt and so is Pup ((&amp) What is wrong with a Poodle show?

I would read over the trip reports of Cigalechanta and an old one called French Kissing in Avignon..they have inspired my wishes for my France trip .

amwosu

I dream of a summer month in the Old Town area of Annecy. I love eating ice cream while wandering beside the canals with swans slowly swimming by, watching the sailboats on the lake, people strolling and roller blading around the lake, riding my bike in the mountains. Ahhhh... heaven.

grandmere

Just a little shopping, please, when we happen upon handmade pottery, lovely fabrics, etc.? Certainly not go out of our way, but if fate puts them in front of us?

degas

Okay, okay - you got 20 minutes for shopping, but we are burning daylight here and we got bigger things to do!

Seriously, I like to roam in the open markets and explore old bookstores and such as well. But really, Walmart has all the fashion stuff you need to dazzle them in France.

Scarlett, "Pup" is an exception to my normal no poodles rule.

SuzieC

Some would think I was crazy while in Paris. Rue du Rivoli ... the road crew was digging a big hole. Clearly they have to retrofit their infrastructure as well. Anyway, I stood there curious to see how far down was asphalt...cement...cobbles...dirt.
So getting answers to my personal curiousities is one of my life's treasures...but others may have thought that a waste of valuable "traveler's" time.

winesipper

Annecy! I have to say amwosu was on the right track with that thread. It is a charming place in the summer, and you can even take in the French Alps in the process, or if that gets boring, head to Geneva for life in the big city.

winesipper

SuzieC - golly, I think I have found a sole mate! I loved your post on watching the hole being dug and all that time can reveal. Are there others like us who have just landed on earth too?

Peteralan

We had 5 weeks in France and,apart from lovely Paris, we liked Avignon, Albi, Lyon and Uzes as well as lots of Provencal villages. Have fun wherever your dream takes you.