Belgium/France Trip Report
Nov 2nd, 2004, 10:31 AM
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Belgium/France Trip Report
Thanks to all of you who helped me plan this trip - for all the hotel and restaurant advice, for car rental and cell phone advice, and all the miscellaneous information (ATM usage and charges) as well. Don't know how people plan trips without this board!!! We had a wonderful trip, good weather most of the time, and many acts of kindness. I am separating the report into two parts: Hotels & Restaurants (Part 1) and Places (Part 2).
Hotels & Restaurants:
Brugge, Belgium
Hotel De Pauw http://www.hoteldepauw.be/ $75 E including breakfast. Very nice, small family run hotel - about 10 minute walk to center. Recently renovated. Lots of very steep stairs (we were on top floor). A good continental breakfast that included some meat and cheese. Thought this was a good value - the walk to the center was fine (that is, would have been fine if it hadn't been raining the whole time!) We enjoyed the neighborhood away from the tourists.
Restaurants:
Bistro De Schilder, 13 Jan Van Eyckplein - one of our best meals of trip - excellent food - had 3 course menu with wine - 68 E for two.
Cafe De Flandrien - inexpensive - good drinks - excellent onion soup - good view of square from upstairs dining area. Good place to take a break, have lunch, or snack.
Vence, France
Auberge-des-Seigneurs - http://www.karenbrown.com/franceinns...sso?RecID=9798 Tel: 04.93.58.04.24, Fax: 04.93.24.08.01 No website or e-mail. We paid 71E without breakfast. A very nice old hotel. Had a large room with a nice bathroom. Nice antique furniture and provencial bedding. Family owned for many years.
Cotignac, France (Var)
B & B - La Bastidane (70E including breakfast) http://www.sejour-en-provence.com/basti02.htm - great little B&B owned by Marc and Annette (He speaks great English.). Two very nicely decorated rooms with baths separate from house (also rooms in main house) overlooking gardens and pool. Lovely Pool House where they serve a delicious continental breakfast. They have great advice on area - they also served us drinks and snacks in the Pool House on arrival. They will serve dinner as well - need to order in advance.
Villeneuve lez Avignon, France
Hotel de l'Atelier - 69E without breakfast. www.hoteldelatelier.com - very nice old hotel - lots of stairs - nice sitting areas downstairs, nice garden area for breakfast in good weather. We had a large room - up several floors - with a nice bath. Very helpful with restaurant advice, etc. Very close to restaurants, etc., in old town.
Restaurant: La Maison - small, but elegant restaurant (need reservations), had excellent 20E menu. Food was very good.
Beaune, France
Hotel Grillon (***) http://www.hotel-grillon.fr/ 52E without breakfast. Lovely hotel - very nice rooms - small, but very nicely furnished. Continental breakfast (7.5E) was in a lovely glass enclosed dining room - very nice. Owners very nice and helpful - wife speaks good English, husband doesn't speak any. Very good value! Works best with car - drive to center and park.
Vezelay, France
Hotel Poste et Lion d'Or - 71E without breakfast (11E). Phone: 03-86-33-21-23 Fax: 03-86-32-30-92 This is a very good large old hotel - our 3rd stay here - they are in the process of refurbishing the hotel - our room was nice - smaller than previous stays - huge bath (as big as room!).
Restaurant: Auberge de la Coqville - had a great meal at a very reasonable price - very cute place.
Paris, France
Hotel St-Jacques - http://www.parisplanet.com/saintjacques/index.htm -( 5th) - 35, rue des Ecoles (85E without breakfast) - Very nice ** hotel - helpful staff - small rooms, nicely decorated. Elevator to 5th floor, walk up to 6th. Room small - typical Paris - bathroom very small. No electical plug in bathroom - had hair dryer with a shaver only plug in. This was a problem as I use a curling iron - no mirror in room - so would have preferred better bath situation. Possibly the 112E rooms have better baths. The breakfast room was nice, and the continental 7.5E breakfast was good - also could order eggs, etc. at reasonable prices. This is a great location, so close to metro, restaurants, major sights, etc.
Restaurants:
Restaurant Perraudin, 157 rue Saint Jacques, (5th), wonderful little restaurant, very good food, reasonable prices - good service - 3rd time here -very good value! Close to Hotel St-Jacques.
La Castafiore, 51, rue St. Louis en I'lle - great little Italian restaurant - good service - very fun place - wonderful food - 2nd time here.
Les Fetes Galantes - 17 rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique - small street behind rue des Ecoles and St-Jacques Hotel. Recommended on Slow Trav. Family run, very good food, very inexpensive, 14E menu.
Hotels & Restaurants:
Brugge, Belgium
Hotel De Pauw http://www.hoteldepauw.be/ $75 E including breakfast. Very nice, small family run hotel - about 10 minute walk to center. Recently renovated. Lots of very steep stairs (we were on top floor). A good continental breakfast that included some meat and cheese. Thought this was a good value - the walk to the center was fine (that is, would have been fine if it hadn't been raining the whole time!) We enjoyed the neighborhood away from the tourists.
Restaurants:
Bistro De Schilder, 13 Jan Van Eyckplein - one of our best meals of trip - excellent food - had 3 course menu with wine - 68 E for two.
Cafe De Flandrien - inexpensive - good drinks - excellent onion soup - good view of square from upstairs dining area. Good place to take a break, have lunch, or snack.
Vence, France
Auberge-des-Seigneurs - http://www.karenbrown.com/franceinns...sso?RecID=9798 Tel: 04.93.58.04.24, Fax: 04.93.24.08.01 No website or e-mail. We paid 71E without breakfast. A very nice old hotel. Had a large room with a nice bathroom. Nice antique furniture and provencial bedding. Family owned for many years.
Cotignac, France (Var)
B & B - La Bastidane (70E including breakfast) http://www.sejour-en-provence.com/basti02.htm - great little B&B owned by Marc and Annette (He speaks great English.). Two very nicely decorated rooms with baths separate from house (also rooms in main house) overlooking gardens and pool. Lovely Pool House where they serve a delicious continental breakfast. They have great advice on area - they also served us drinks and snacks in the Pool House on arrival. They will serve dinner as well - need to order in advance.
Villeneuve lez Avignon, France
Hotel de l'Atelier - 69E without breakfast. www.hoteldelatelier.com - very nice old hotel - lots of stairs - nice sitting areas downstairs, nice garden area for breakfast in good weather. We had a large room - up several floors - with a nice bath. Very helpful with restaurant advice, etc. Very close to restaurants, etc., in old town.
Restaurant: La Maison - small, but elegant restaurant (need reservations), had excellent 20E menu. Food was very good.
Beaune, France
Hotel Grillon (***) http://www.hotel-grillon.fr/ 52E without breakfast. Lovely hotel - very nice rooms - small, but very nicely furnished. Continental breakfast (7.5E) was in a lovely glass enclosed dining room - very nice. Owners very nice and helpful - wife speaks good English, husband doesn't speak any. Very good value! Works best with car - drive to center and park.
Vezelay, France
Hotel Poste et Lion d'Or - 71E without breakfast (11E). Phone: 03-86-33-21-23 Fax: 03-86-32-30-92 This is a very good large old hotel - our 3rd stay here - they are in the process of refurbishing the hotel - our room was nice - smaller than previous stays - huge bath (as big as room!).
Restaurant: Auberge de la Coqville - had a great meal at a very reasonable price - very cute place.
Paris, France
Hotel St-Jacques - http://www.parisplanet.com/saintjacques/index.htm -( 5th) - 35, rue des Ecoles (85E without breakfast) - Very nice ** hotel - helpful staff - small rooms, nicely decorated. Elevator to 5th floor, walk up to 6th. Room small - typical Paris - bathroom very small. No electical plug in bathroom - had hair dryer with a shaver only plug in. This was a problem as I use a curling iron - no mirror in room - so would have preferred better bath situation. Possibly the 112E rooms have better baths. The breakfast room was nice, and the continental 7.5E breakfast was good - also could order eggs, etc. at reasonable prices. This is a great location, so close to metro, restaurants, major sights, etc.
Restaurants:
Restaurant Perraudin, 157 rue Saint Jacques, (5th), wonderful little restaurant, very good food, reasonable prices - good service - 3rd time here -very good value! Close to Hotel St-Jacques.
La Castafiore, 51, rue St. Louis en I'lle - great little Italian restaurant - good service - very fun place - wonderful food - 2nd time here.
Les Fetes Galantes - 17 rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique - small street behind rue des Ecoles and St-Jacques Hotel. Recommended on Slow Trav. Family run, very good food, very inexpensive, 14E menu.
Nov 2nd, 2004, 05:51 PM
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PART TWO - PLACES
BRUGGE - We enjoyed seeing the beautiful city, however, it rained the whole time, so we were not able to do all that we had planned. We had looked forward to a canal ride, etc., and were not able to do some of these things. Maybe next time the weather will be better! We took the train from the airport in Brussells to Brugge and back. Then we flew on Virgin Express to Nice.
PROVENCE AND COTE D'AZUR - We stayed in Vence and enjoyed the village very much. When we arrived in Vence, we couldn't find our hotel. We finally stopped and asked directions - a wonderful lady (or angel) said, "I'm going that way, let me take you." She proceeded to get in the car with us (two couples), and took us to our hotel! We were amazed at her kindness! Then that evening we stopped at small crepe restaurant for desert. We enjoyed it and decided to go back the next evening. When we walked in the door, the lady who had waited on us the night before, came running up and handed me my driver's license that I had dropped from my purse (I hadn't even missed it!). How nice was that!
We enjoyed several villages - St Paul, Eze, Villafranche. We drove up to the Gorge du Verdon - such a beautiful drive even though we had fog part of the time. We almost cancelled because of the fog, but were glad we went. The fog cleared enough for us to see the gorge. A very beautiful scenic drive. We had lunch in Moustiers and enjoyed the village.
Also, saw several villages in the Var, the Luberon, and the Gard. We enjoyed Provence with all the fall colors and had very good weather. We were able to eat outside most of the time - very pleasant time of year.
BURGUNDY - We were traveling north on the autoroute toward Beaune, exited close to Brancion and had lunch in the old hotel there. The countryside is just beautiful around Brancion. The little village is so quaint. We happened on a harpist playing in the old church - this was so beautiful and moving. We drove on to Beaune on the back roads - just magnificient. From Beaune we took day trips to several places. We loved the Abbaye de Fontenay - such beautiful grounds and buildings. Well worth the time to see. The day was a perfect fall day - sun was shining. We also stopped at Flavigny-sur-Ozerain (Chocolat movie fame) and enjoyed having lunch and looking around the village. Also stopped at Chateauneuf en Auxois which is a very pretty place and had a lot of fall color - flowers, etc. The drive on the back roads was terrific. Our last stop in Burgandy was in Vezelay which is one of our favorite places. The little village has a very steep road that winds up to the Basilica at the top. The view from the top is wonderful. The Basilica is just amazing. We would have to say that Burgundy is our favorite part of France because of the scenery.
PARIS - We were fortunate to have good weather (rain had been forecast). We liked staying in the 5th - very convenient - close to the Metro - lots of restaurants, etc. The city was very crowded for the end of October. There were fall school holidays, also a huge European religious gathering "Paris Tossaint 2004". All the churches were having concerts, etc. So we got to enjoy all kinds of free concerts which were great. Our most enjoyable major attraction this trip was the Opera Garnier - such a beautiful building - a restoration just completed this year - and it was outstanding! We did lots of walks in different areas - enjoyed the crepes, chocolates, macaroons, pasteries, etc. We ate our way through Paris!!! Also, had fun at Printemps, Galeries Lafeyette, and Samaritaine. We loved the rooftop views at the department stores. Would recommend the Galeries Lafeyette for the beautiful dome.
We saw an exhibition of jewelry of Napoleon and his wives put on by the jeweler Chaumet called "Napoleon in Love" - at Chamet's gilded private salons, 12 Place Verdome in the 1st - runs through Dec. 2nd. Admission is free. Very amazing! It opens at 11 am daily. It took about 1-l/2 hours to stand in line, then view the exhibits. Well worth the time - recommend going early as the lines get longer throughout the day.
We had a very busy and enjoyable trip - lots of good food - beautiful scenery - mostly good weather. So many people were kind - stopping to help us in the metros - one day when my carte orange ticket didn't work, the lady behind me took me through the turnstyle with her and then showed me that my ticket had somehow demagnitized. She didn't even speak English, but showed me the problem! One day when we were at the Galeries Lafeyette, a young lady took us to a different floor and showed us how to get to the roof top. These are just some of the many kind and helpful things that the French people did to help us on our travels.
BRUGGE - We enjoyed seeing the beautiful city, however, it rained the whole time, so we were not able to do all that we had planned. We had looked forward to a canal ride, etc., and were not able to do some of these things. Maybe next time the weather will be better! We took the train from the airport in Brussells to Brugge and back. Then we flew on Virgin Express to Nice.
PROVENCE AND COTE D'AZUR - We stayed in Vence and enjoyed the village very much. When we arrived in Vence, we couldn't find our hotel. We finally stopped and asked directions - a wonderful lady (or angel) said, "I'm going that way, let me take you." She proceeded to get in the car with us (two couples), and took us to our hotel! We were amazed at her kindness! Then that evening we stopped at small crepe restaurant for desert. We enjoyed it and decided to go back the next evening. When we walked in the door, the lady who had waited on us the night before, came running up and handed me my driver's license that I had dropped from my purse (I hadn't even missed it!). How nice was that!
We enjoyed several villages - St Paul, Eze, Villafranche. We drove up to the Gorge du Verdon - such a beautiful drive even though we had fog part of the time. We almost cancelled because of the fog, but were glad we went. The fog cleared enough for us to see the gorge. A very beautiful scenic drive. We had lunch in Moustiers and enjoyed the village.
Also, saw several villages in the Var, the Luberon, and the Gard. We enjoyed Provence with all the fall colors and had very good weather. We were able to eat outside most of the time - very pleasant time of year.
BURGUNDY - We were traveling north on the autoroute toward Beaune, exited close to Brancion and had lunch in the old hotel there. The countryside is just beautiful around Brancion. The little village is so quaint. We happened on a harpist playing in the old church - this was so beautiful and moving. We drove on to Beaune on the back roads - just magnificient. From Beaune we took day trips to several places. We loved the Abbaye de Fontenay - such beautiful grounds and buildings. Well worth the time to see. The day was a perfect fall day - sun was shining. We also stopped at Flavigny-sur-Ozerain (Chocolat movie fame) and enjoyed having lunch and looking around the village. Also stopped at Chateauneuf en Auxois which is a very pretty place and had a lot of fall color - flowers, etc. The drive on the back roads was terrific. Our last stop in Burgandy was in Vezelay which is one of our favorite places. The little village has a very steep road that winds up to the Basilica at the top. The view from the top is wonderful. The Basilica is just amazing. We would have to say that Burgundy is our favorite part of France because of the scenery.
PARIS - We were fortunate to have good weather (rain had been forecast). We liked staying in the 5th - very convenient - close to the Metro - lots of restaurants, etc. The city was very crowded for the end of October. There were fall school holidays, also a huge European religious gathering "Paris Tossaint 2004". All the churches were having concerts, etc. So we got to enjoy all kinds of free concerts which were great. Our most enjoyable major attraction this trip was the Opera Garnier - such a beautiful building - a restoration just completed this year - and it was outstanding! We did lots of walks in different areas - enjoyed the crepes, chocolates, macaroons, pasteries, etc. We ate our way through Paris!!! Also, had fun at Printemps, Galeries Lafeyette, and Samaritaine. We loved the rooftop views at the department stores. Would recommend the Galeries Lafeyette for the beautiful dome.
We saw an exhibition of jewelry of Napoleon and his wives put on by the jeweler Chaumet called "Napoleon in Love" - at Chamet's gilded private salons, 12 Place Verdome in the 1st - runs through Dec. 2nd. Admission is free. Very amazing! It opens at 11 am daily. It took about 1-l/2 hours to stand in line, then view the exhibits. Well worth the time - recommend going early as the lines get longer throughout the day.
We had a very busy and enjoyable trip - lots of good food - beautiful scenery - mostly good weather. So many people were kind - stopping to help us in the metros - one day when my carte orange ticket didn't work, the lady behind me took me through the turnstyle with her and then showed me that my ticket had somehow demagnitized. She didn't even speak English, but showed me the problem! One day when we were at the Galeries Lafeyette, a young lady took us to a different floor and showed us how to get to the roof top. These are just some of the many kind and helpful things that the French people did to help us on our travels.
Nov 2nd, 2004, 07:01 PM
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Thanks for such a nicely laid out report! You did many of the same things we did. Isn't the Gorge of Verdon beautiful? We got lost in a town in Provence, and like you, some good-hearted soul showed us the way. Except that he drove one of those ancient Deux Chevaux cars...on two wheels all the way. Now that was one hairy ride keeping up with him, though we did get there in one piece (only just)! Isn't travel great?
Nov 3rd, 2004, 05:54 AM
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Hi, blh..thanks for giving us a report.
I have questions about Hotel Grillon:
1. do they have parking space for your car on premises?
2. is it a reasonable walk to Beaune-centre if one wanted to do so?
thanks..
I have questions about Hotel Grillon:
1. do they have parking space for your car on premises?
2. is it a reasonable walk to Beaune-centre if one wanted to do so?
thanks..
Nov 3rd, 2004, 06:54 AM
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Travelnut, I thought it was a very reasonable walk from the Hotel Grillon into Beaune at 15 minutes. Here's the trip report where I discussed it:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34498288
The Grillon also had a large area for parking cars on the property.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34498288
The Grillon also had a large area for parking cars on the property.
Nov 3rd, 2004, 11:43 AM
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Travelnut - I believe Indytravel has answered your questions about Hotel Grillon. I would add that the parking is protected by a gate that is closed at night. There was no additional charge for the parking. We didn't walk as we had a car, but as Indytravel indicated it would be a good walk from the center, but not impossible. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Grillon. Thought it was the best value of any of the hotels where we stayed. If I can answer any other quetions, I'll be glad to try.
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