My First Trip to Provence and Paris...Loved!!!
May 20th, 2013, 03:29 PM
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My First Trip to Provence and Paris...Loved!!!
Thanks to all who helped in the planning! I won't know how many pieces I'll do this in until I get going, so here goes...
The beginning had bumps and I don't mean turbulence. I of course came down with a bad cold the day before we left. Did some anticipatory panicking about ear pain on flight, and quickly researched how to prevent...the tip that worked best was very simple, Afrin nasal spray! Then our plane Sat. evening was delayed a full 3 hours so even tho' we'd left a 3 hr. window to get our high speed train from CDG to Provence on Sun., we missed it. Thank goodness I'd taken advice from people here to pay the extra to get the kind of tix that would allow us to switch to a later train. Unfortunately all they had left on the next train was first class (none of us had ever traveled first class in our lives!), so we did end up paying a lot extra, but it was well worth it. Train ride was very relaxing for us exhausted folks, and when we arrived in Avignon, we had no trouble finding our rental car place, Hertz, it was right across from the station. They had us in something much larger than we wanted, and they were perfectly accommodating in switching us to something smaller but big enough to fit all four of our luggage, with some in the backseat (we were only driving to St. Remy so this was fine).
No relatives or friends work for Hertz
It started to rain on that short drive and we had quite a bit of trouble finding our b and b, Le Mas Des Tourterelles. But once we arrived, the place was lovely, and while Carrie seemed a little put out by our late arrival, Richard was very kind and welcoming, and both were helpful with suggestions of simple places to go into town, just a 5 minute walk, for dinner once we rested. We went to Le Bar Tabac des Alpilles, and with the help of my French "menu master," managed to figure out what was what and communicate with our waiter who didn't speak much English. I was very glad I'd learned how to ask for tap water in French as we had no need for bottled water along with our wine. We all enjoyed our meals, nothing super special, but very fresh and enjoyable. It was our introduction to delicious Provencal salad dressings!
Next day we were still tired and I still had my cold, so we decided to just stay in St. Remy for most of the day, and at Richard's suggestion, head over to Les Baux around sunset when it would be less crowded. We walked up to the Glanum ruins, very interesting, along with the two larger sites by the parking area, we enjoyed the larger archeological site and the views of it and the Provencal valley, from the top. From there we spent some time wandering St. Paul d Mausolee, with its lovely cloister and gardens as well as seeing Van Gogh's room, of course. We then did that "Van Gogh walk" where you walk on a path that has pictures of his paintings at different intervals...that part didn't seem so worth it to us, in hindsight. By then, since we'd not gotten a real early start, we had what was probably our only early dinner the whole trip - we had crepes at a place I'm afraid I don't have the name of tho' my friend might if anyone wants it...and I had a delicious crepe of goat cheese, eggplant and fig jam, oh my! Others enjoyed their dishes as well.
We then took off for Les Baus, and what a wonderful tip Richard had given us when he said either go early or at sunset. There were very few other people there when we arrived, and it was just magical, walking all around that incredibly picturesque town at sunset time. One of my most memorable times of our trip.
Oh my goodness, am I only at the end of Monday?! Let me at least get Tues. in before I break, lol.
Tuesday was our day to explore the Luberon hilltowns. I fortunately was already feeling much better, healing happens more quickly on vacation, sometimes! We began by stopping at the Village des Bories on our way to Gordes, and saw the dry stone, no-mortar huts. They were interesting to see but I wouldn't necessarily recommend this stop unless that's a particular interest. We then went on to Gordes, where it turned out to be market day! We hadn't planned for that as we were planning to spend time at the St. Remy market on Wed., and it of course changed the ambience with all the people, and made parking more difficult. But I loved seeing Gordes, such a beautiful old village built into the base of the cliffs, with amazing views. I spent more time walking around the outer part and looking up in awe, while friends spent more time at the marked; so we were all content.
I think it was after that, that we stopped at Abbaye de Senanque. While enjoyable to see, I think with the lavender out it must be really incredible, we were too early for that. Then Rousillon...another favorite for me. Oh those colors!!! All shades of red, orange, yellow imaginable. We paid the very small fee to walk on the path that leads through the ochre canyon/park, and it was more than worth it. When done with that we picked up something delicious that we still don't know what it was, from a patisserie, and perched ourselves outside the place while eating and watching people go by. Lovely.
We decided at that point we only wanted to visit one more town, not two, so we skipped Bonnieux and instead went to Menerbes. Loved that too, as well as the scenery on the way there. Enjoyed our café at a café, and just wandering around. Then went back to our place to rest up a bit, and off to a restaurant once again recommended by Richard at our B and B, Sous Les Miococouliers in Eygalieres. We literally dined outside under the micocoulier trees and the twinkling lights, it was again magical! For the first and only time in Provence, we dined next to other English speakers, and I must say, the raciness of their conversation alongside the ambience and good food, made for a memorable evening! We're still laughing and making reference to some of the things we heard that evening. Oo la la!
I'll be back to write about our Wed. and Thurs. in Provence, and then if it seems anyone's still reading, I'll do a part 3 and 4 for Paris (and yes, I now understand why so many people love Paris so much, with much gratitude and joy I add myself to the list!)
The beginning had bumps and I don't mean turbulence. I of course came down with a bad cold the day before we left. Did some anticipatory panicking about ear pain on flight, and quickly researched how to prevent...the tip that worked best was very simple, Afrin nasal spray! Then our plane Sat. evening was delayed a full 3 hours so even tho' we'd left a 3 hr. window to get our high speed train from CDG to Provence on Sun., we missed it. Thank goodness I'd taken advice from people here to pay the extra to get the kind of tix that would allow us to switch to a later train. Unfortunately all they had left on the next train was first class (none of us had ever traveled first class in our lives!), so we did end up paying a lot extra, but it was well worth it. Train ride was very relaxing for us exhausted folks, and when we arrived in Avignon, we had no trouble finding our rental car place, Hertz, it was right across from the station. They had us in something much larger than we wanted, and they were perfectly accommodating in switching us to something smaller but big enough to fit all four of our luggage, with some in the backseat (we were only driving to St. Remy so this was fine).
No relatives or friends work for Hertz
It started to rain on that short drive and we had quite a bit of trouble finding our b and b, Le Mas Des Tourterelles. But once we arrived, the place was lovely, and while Carrie seemed a little put out by our late arrival, Richard was very kind and welcoming, and both were helpful with suggestions of simple places to go into town, just a 5 minute walk, for dinner once we rested. We went to Le Bar Tabac des Alpilles, and with the help of my French "menu master," managed to figure out what was what and communicate with our waiter who didn't speak much English. I was very glad I'd learned how to ask for tap water in French as we had no need for bottled water along with our wine. We all enjoyed our meals, nothing super special, but very fresh and enjoyable. It was our introduction to delicious Provencal salad dressings!
Next day we were still tired and I still had my cold, so we decided to just stay in St. Remy for most of the day, and at Richard's suggestion, head over to Les Baux around sunset when it would be less crowded. We walked up to the Glanum ruins, very interesting, along with the two larger sites by the parking area, we enjoyed the larger archeological site and the views of it and the Provencal valley, from the top. From there we spent some time wandering St. Paul d Mausolee, with its lovely cloister and gardens as well as seeing Van Gogh's room, of course. We then did that "Van Gogh walk" where you walk on a path that has pictures of his paintings at different intervals...that part didn't seem so worth it to us, in hindsight. By then, since we'd not gotten a real early start, we had what was probably our only early dinner the whole trip - we had crepes at a place I'm afraid I don't have the name of tho' my friend might if anyone wants it...and I had a delicious crepe of goat cheese, eggplant and fig jam, oh my! Others enjoyed their dishes as well.
We then took off for Les Baus, and what a wonderful tip Richard had given us when he said either go early or at sunset. There were very few other people there when we arrived, and it was just magical, walking all around that incredibly picturesque town at sunset time. One of my most memorable times of our trip.
Oh my goodness, am I only at the end of Monday?! Let me at least get Tues. in before I break, lol.
Tuesday was our day to explore the Luberon hilltowns. I fortunately was already feeling much better, healing happens more quickly on vacation, sometimes! We began by stopping at the Village des Bories on our way to Gordes, and saw the dry stone, no-mortar huts. They were interesting to see but I wouldn't necessarily recommend this stop unless that's a particular interest. We then went on to Gordes, where it turned out to be market day! We hadn't planned for that as we were planning to spend time at the St. Remy market on Wed., and it of course changed the ambience with all the people, and made parking more difficult. But I loved seeing Gordes, such a beautiful old village built into the base of the cliffs, with amazing views. I spent more time walking around the outer part and looking up in awe, while friends spent more time at the marked; so we were all content.
I think it was after that, that we stopped at Abbaye de Senanque. While enjoyable to see, I think with the lavender out it must be really incredible, we were too early for that. Then Rousillon...another favorite for me. Oh those colors!!! All shades of red, orange, yellow imaginable. We paid the very small fee to walk on the path that leads through the ochre canyon/park, and it was more than worth it. When done with that we picked up something delicious that we still don't know what it was, from a patisserie, and perched ourselves outside the place while eating and watching people go by. Lovely.
We decided at that point we only wanted to visit one more town, not two, so we skipped Bonnieux and instead went to Menerbes. Loved that too, as well as the scenery on the way there. Enjoyed our café at a café, and just wandering around. Then went back to our place to rest up a bit, and off to a restaurant once again recommended by Richard at our B and B, Sous Les Miococouliers in Eygalieres. We literally dined outside under the micocoulier trees and the twinkling lights, it was again magical! For the first and only time in Provence, we dined next to other English speakers, and I must say, the raciness of their conversation alongside the ambience and good food, made for a memorable evening! We're still laughing and making reference to some of the things we heard that evening. Oo la la!
I'll be back to write about our Wed. and Thurs. in Provence, and then if it seems anyone's still reading, I'll do a part 3 and 4 for Paris (and yes, I now understand why so many people love Paris so much, with much gratitude and joy I add myself to the list!)
May 20th, 2013, 06:17 PM
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Thanks, rhon.
Wed. was market day in St. Remy, so we walked into town to enjoy that, and despite the crowds, enjoy we did! It was also there that I realized my not-fluent but not-bad Spanish was more helpful than my twenty or so words of French, with many people. I just loved the various musicians, the colors, the voices, the soaps and scarves, etc... I did have someone in the crowd try to distract me, in attempt to pickpocket I'm sure, but having read more warnings than were even necessary I was plenty wise to it and it wasn't a problem. We picked up baguettes, cheese, olives, and apricots (and I'm sure things I'm forgetting) for picnic lunch back at our b and b, as our rooms opened up to nice terrace areas with little tables and chairs, and enjoyed that very much.
For the afternoon we drove out to see Pont du Gard and Uzes. Not much to add to what anyone would read in any tourist guide. Back in St. Remy, had unpleasant experience at Bistro Marie, and left and went to Pizzeria Aldo instead. I know, I know...pizza in Provence?! But it was late and we were tired and hungry...and actually, the pizza was quite different than what we have in the States, a whole different kind of cheese, AND the place was packed with locals, and we enjoyed watching the interactions between the wait staff and patrons. One fun moment was as we were watching the good-byes from what we thought was a table with a party of about a dozen people breaking up, only to realize all the standing up and hugs and kisses and extra conversation and laughter were just for one person who had to leave early, everyone else was staying We developed a kidding relationship with the owner in our halting French too, and later when we ran into him, he remembered us and invited to us to have breakfast with him somewhere the next morning, but unfortunately we were to be on our way by then.
Thursday we went to Avignon, and it turned out the Palais des Papes was having some sort of event of roses going on (unless this happens frequently?) and the roses were absolutely beautiful, all colors and arrangements filling the courtyard and a couple of the other areas as well. We toured the Palais and then just walked around Avignon taking it all in, and spent a fair amount of time café sitting and people watching as well. I ordered some alcoholic blue drink that the menu said was a common drink in Provence, it was strong and I'm not a big drinker but it was just fun to order something without knowing what it would be. I had some sips and that was that! Dinner that night was back in St. Remy at Le Café de la Place right in the center of town, it was surprisingly good. Got a kick out of the blackboard menus in many places such as this one, felt assured that fresh ingredients were being used when the items could be erased and added so easily and nothing was in English.
Friday we were to say goodbye to Provence and head to Paris...took some pictures of the poppies right across the road, as we left. I hope to go back someday. But now, Paris! I'm back to work tomorrow but will do my best to get to the Paris part, within the next few days.
Wed. was market day in St. Remy, so we walked into town to enjoy that, and despite the crowds, enjoy we did! It was also there that I realized my not-fluent but not-bad Spanish was more helpful than my twenty or so words of French, with many people. I just loved the various musicians, the colors, the voices, the soaps and scarves, etc... I did have someone in the crowd try to distract me, in attempt to pickpocket I'm sure, but having read more warnings than were even necessary I was plenty wise to it and it wasn't a problem. We picked up baguettes, cheese, olives, and apricots (and I'm sure things I'm forgetting) for picnic lunch back at our b and b, as our rooms opened up to nice terrace areas with little tables and chairs, and enjoyed that very much.
For the afternoon we drove out to see Pont du Gard and Uzes. Not much to add to what anyone would read in any tourist guide. Back in St. Remy, had unpleasant experience at Bistro Marie, and left and went to Pizzeria Aldo instead. I know, I know...pizza in Provence?! But it was late and we were tired and hungry...and actually, the pizza was quite different than what we have in the States, a whole different kind of cheese, AND the place was packed with locals, and we enjoyed watching the interactions between the wait staff and patrons. One fun moment was as we were watching the good-byes from what we thought was a table with a party of about a dozen people breaking up, only to realize all the standing up and hugs and kisses and extra conversation and laughter were just for one person who had to leave early, everyone else was staying
We developed a kidding relationship with the owner in our halting French too, and later when we ran into him, he remembered us and invited to us to have breakfast with him somewhere the next morning, but unfortunately we were to be on our way by then. Thursday we went to Avignon, and it turned out the Palais des Papes was having some sort of event of roses going on (unless this happens frequently?) and the roses were absolutely beautiful, all colors and arrangements filling the courtyard and a couple of the other areas as well. We toured the Palais and then just walked around Avignon taking it all in, and spent a fair amount of time café sitting and people watching as well. I ordered some alcoholic blue drink that the menu said was a common drink in Provence, it was strong and I'm not a big drinker but it was just fun to order something without knowing what it would be. I had some sips and that was that! Dinner that night was back in St. Remy at Le Café de la Place right in the center of town, it was surprisingly good. Got a kick out of the blackboard menus in many places such as this one, felt assured that fresh ingredients were being used when the items could be erased and added so easily and nothing was in English.
Friday we were to say goodbye to Provence and head to Paris...took some pictures of the poppies right across the road, as we left. I hope to go back someday. But now, Paris! I'm back to work tomorrow but will do my best to get to the Paris part, within the next few days.
May 21st, 2013, 05:37 PM
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Caroline, that's soon, have a wonderful time! Basingstoke2, we just returned, our trip was May 5-18. Some street construction but not too bad. When we were in St. Remy we were always walking, so truthfully just walked around it and barely noticed.
So, Paris! We took the high speed train again, and after dealing with a crazy taxi driver who knew absolutely nothing about where anything was (we came to appreciate how little she knew even more as the week went on) we arrived at our Hotel, Le Clement in the 6th arrondissement. I loved it there! I was completely charmed by the small elevator and how it worked, everyone at the desk was friendly and helpful (one or two people especially so, but all were fine), we were walking distance to so much, and to three metro stations to boot. There were some down sides to the hotel too, but for the price, I'd stay there again in a heartbeat.
After resting a bit, we ambled down for a simple dinner, and stumbled onto City Crepe Café on rue de Seine. French feel to the atmosphere of this bar/restaurant, everyone there speaking French, yet New York themed names for the crepes, pretty funny. We all enjoyed our food. I should say right now that as one of the people we were with is not very adventurous with food, unlike on the Rome trip dh and I took about 10 yrs. ago, this trip report will not be filled with culinary adventures (with one major and very special exception...stay tuned!).
After dinner we headed down to the Seine, and saw a HUGE building across the river! What WAS that, we wondered as we quickly pulled out our maps. And then started laughing as we realized we were looking at the Louvre. Somehow all the pictures we'd ever seen had not done it justice, and we just didn't recognize it when we saw it. We were slightly ashamed of ourselves for this! But I have to say, I don't think I'll ever forget that first glimpse.
From there one of our foursome really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower on our first night, and we decided to walk. It was a little farther than we'd thought, but how fun to walk and just look at everything around us, including passing by the Musee D'Orsay, which was a high priority for all of us, to get back to. We enjoyed the partial glimpses of the ET before it came into full view, and then there it was in all its glory. Yes, we'd made it to Paris!
Three out of four of us had decided ahead we didn't need to go to the top, we'd go other places for the views, during the week. And the fourth who was more interested in it, and might have persuaded us, was dissuaded by the long line. So after hanging out for a bit, we headed to our first metro ride of what would be many, during our week's stay. What an easy system to use! And in case anyone's reading this who's been scared off by all the pickpocket warnings here or elsewhere, we did not have one problem all week. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but there are a lot of alarmists out there, which I always think is a shame, especially for people not used to large urban areas who might get scared off more easily.
I feel like I must be forgetting something because we went to bed very late each night, including that one, and this doesn't seem like it would have taken us all evening, but maybe all the stopping to ooh and aahh slowed us down!
So, Paris! We took the high speed train again, and after dealing with a crazy taxi driver who knew absolutely nothing about where anything was (we came to appreciate how little she knew even more as the week went on) we arrived at our Hotel, Le Clement in the 6th arrondissement. I loved it there! I was completely charmed by the small elevator and how it worked, everyone at the desk was friendly and helpful (one or two people especially so, but all were fine), we were walking distance to so much, and to three metro stations to boot. There were some down sides to the hotel too, but for the price, I'd stay there again in a heartbeat.
After resting a bit, we ambled down for a simple dinner, and stumbled onto City Crepe Café on rue de Seine. French feel to the atmosphere of this bar/restaurant, everyone there speaking French, yet New York themed names for the crepes, pretty funny. We all enjoyed our food. I should say right now that as one of the people we were with is not very adventurous with food, unlike on the Rome trip dh and I took about 10 yrs. ago, this trip report will not be filled with culinary adventures (with one major and very special exception...stay tuned!).
After dinner we headed down to the Seine, and saw a HUGE building across the river! What WAS that, we wondered as we quickly pulled out our maps. And then started laughing as we realized we were looking at the Louvre. Somehow all the pictures we'd ever seen had not done it justice, and we just didn't recognize it when we saw it. We were slightly ashamed of ourselves for this! But I have to say, I don't think I'll ever forget that first glimpse.
From there one of our foursome really wanted to see the Eiffel Tower on our first night, and we decided to walk. It was a little farther than we'd thought, but how fun to walk and just look at everything around us, including passing by the Musee D'Orsay, which was a high priority for all of us, to get back to. We enjoyed the partial glimpses of the ET before it came into full view, and then there it was in all its glory. Yes, we'd made it to Paris!
Three out of four of us had decided ahead we didn't need to go to the top, we'd go other places for the views, during the week. And the fourth who was more interested in it, and might have persuaded us, was dissuaded by the long line. So after hanging out for a bit, we headed to our first metro ride of what would be many, during our week's stay. What an easy system to use! And in case anyone's reading this who's been scared off by all the pickpocket warnings here or elsewhere, we did not have one problem all week. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but there are a lot of alarmists out there, which I always think is a shame, especially for people not used to large urban areas who might get scared off more easily.
I feel like I must be forgetting something because we went to bed very late each night, including that one, and this doesn't seem like it would have taken us all evening, but maybe all the stopping to ooh and aahh slowed us down!
May 22nd, 2013, 06:23 PM
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Continuing...our first full day in Paris, Sat., the sun was out! We decided to head for the Marais neighborhood, by way of winding our way up and over to Isle St. Louis, stopping on the bridge across to listen to some darn good jazz musicians. Walked around the charming Isle for a bit, and then back over to the Marais, by which time we were ready for something to eat. As the men tried to determine from the maps which way we should head for a falafel, I ducked into an almost empty optical store, and used the very little French I know, saying "s'il vous plait, falafel?" The salesman looked a little puzzled, and I repeated, "falafel?" with a big question mark in my voice, and he said "Ah!" and pointed me to where we needed to go. For the rest of our trip, that was my favored method of figuring anything out, and it always worked just fine! We enjoyed falafel from Mi Va Mi, at a table indoors which we were ready for by then, needing to rest our feet. After lunch, our friends went to a small museum in the area (sorry, forget which one), while we took advantage of the weather and wandered over to Place de Vosges. After sitting on a bench for a while and just enjoying, we noticed a tour group coming out of the far corner, so walked over to investigate, and enjoyed the courtyards of Hotel Sully. Our friends then joined back up with us, and after hanging out a bit more, we all decided to walk over to the Center Pompidou. They walked straight down, we like to always take a path we haven't taken before, so we wound our way again, and passed by a little park/playground that had a ping pong table set up in it, with kids playing, fun to watch for a couple moments. I'm not a huge modern art person and my feet were getting tired, so can't say CP was a highlight for me. We took the metro back to our hotel to rest for a bit. Ended up eating Italian again, at Alfredo Positano in our neighborhood, seemed all there were locals, which was fun, and I have to say, the food was delicious!
Nevertheless, I woke up VERY sick in the middle of the night, and let's just say any concerns about weight gain went away. I was worried that I'd be sick for the rest of our vacation week in Paris, because I haven't been that sick in years. But after sleeping in, I felt ready to do some easy-going activity and see how it went. So we went to the Luxembourg Gardens just down the road from our hotel, the perfect choice at that point. I wasn't feeling my very best, but I was ok enough to do some wandering thru the Latin Quarter, and over to look for Shakespeare and Company. On the way, we happened upon the Eglise St. Severin and saw an open door, so went in. How beautiful!! I hadn't thought I was one to love looking at old churches so much, but I enjoyed that stop so much that we ended up going into quite a few other churches during the week as well, which I'll be mentioning later. Did go to Shakespeare and Co. afterward, and although I'm a total book addict, my stomach still wasn't so great so I started feeling a need to go back and rest...but not before picking out a book and getting it stamped. Some touristy things are just fine with me, I admit it with no shame! After our rest, we headed for a concert at St. Chappelle, which we'd seen an advertisement for on a poster, and I'd told everyone I wanted to do. Unfortunately one side of the church's renowned stained glass windows were under cover for repair, but of course it was beautiful anyway. Dinner afterward felt a little challenging, since I wasn't sure what I could eat yet, but we just went to a local creperie on the way "home," and I got a plain crepe with just an egg in it, and it settled fine, which built my confidence that I was going to be ok after all! And sure enough, I was...by next day, as you will hear, I was eating plenty fine.
Nevertheless, I woke up VERY sick in the middle of the night, and let's just say any concerns about weight gain went away. I was worried that I'd be sick for the rest of our vacation week in Paris, because I haven't been that sick in years. But after sleeping in, I felt ready to do some easy-going activity and see how it went. So we went to the Luxembourg Gardens just down the road from our hotel, the perfect choice at that point. I wasn't feeling my very best, but I was ok enough to do some wandering thru the Latin Quarter, and over to look for Shakespeare and Company. On the way, we happened upon the Eglise St. Severin and saw an open door, so went in. How beautiful!! I hadn't thought I was one to love looking at old churches so much, but I enjoyed that stop so much that we ended up going into quite a few other churches during the week as well, which I'll be mentioning later. Did go to Shakespeare and Co. afterward, and although I'm a total book addict, my stomach still wasn't so great so I started feeling a need to go back and rest...but not before picking out a book and getting it stamped. Some touristy things are just fine with me, I admit it with no shame!
After our rest, we headed for a concert at St. Chappelle, which we'd seen an advertisement for on a poster, and I'd told everyone I wanted to do. Unfortunately one side of the church's renowned stained glass windows were under cover for repair, but of course it was beautiful anyway. Dinner afterward felt a little challenging, since I wasn't sure what I could eat yet, but we just went to a local creperie on the way "home," and I got a plain crepe with just an egg in it, and it settled fine, which built my confidence that I was going to be ok after all! And sure enough, I was...by next day, as you will hear, I was eating plenty fine.
May 23rd, 2013, 09:07 AM
#11
Sometimes these stomach upsets are just due to a change of diet and water, but there is never any way to know ahead of time if you will be subject to such a problem (unless you <b>always</b> are). Good news: the more you travel, the less this happens!
No reason to be embarrassed about eating a pizza anywhere in France. The United States is the #1 pizza country in the world and France is #2. The French eat 4 times more pizza than the Italians, so I can't even begin to imagine how much more the Americans eat. In any case, the pizzas are different in each country, which makes them local dishes. The most popular pizzas in France are 'goat cheese' and 'smoked salmon' which you probably did not order since you aren't French.
No reason to be embarrassed about eating a pizza anywhere in France. The United States is the #1 pizza country in the world and France is #2. The French eat 4 times more pizza than the Italians, so I can't even begin to imagine how much more the Americans eat. In any case, the pizzas are different in each country, which makes them local dishes. The most popular pizzas in France are 'goat cheese' and 'smoked salmon' which you probably did not order since you aren't French.
May 23rd, 2013, 09:52 AM
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I'm enjoying your report, go_laura. Thanks for posting it.
kerouac, I'm guessing in Lazio and Campania the per capita amount of pizza consumed in Italy is much, much higher than the rest of the country? It sure seemed like one of their staple foods to me in Rome when I was there, but not as much in Tuscany. I'm curious, what is your source for that information?
kerouac, I'm guessing in Lazio and Campania the per capita amount of pizza consumed in Italy is much, much higher than the rest of the country? It sure seemed like one of their staple foods to me in Rome when I was there, but not as much in Tuscany. I'm curious, what is your source for that information?
May 23rd, 2013, 10:09 AM
#15
Blaise, pizza is indeed very regional in Italy. One interesting factoid that I found was that the first pizzeria in Paris opened in 1950, but the first pizzeria in Milan did not open until 1960.
Meanwhile, the first "pizza towns" outside of Italy were Marseille, followed by New York.
Meanwhile, the first "pizza towns" outside of Italy were Marseille, followed by New York.
May 23rd, 2013, 05:40 PM
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wow, thanks for all the responses, it's very encouraging and motivating me to continue!
Day 3 in Paris: Feeling fine, hurray. Breakfast was at a Paul's down the block from hotel, as our friends seemed to prefer going there each day we were together. I must say that while I typically try to avoid chains no matter the country, this one was quite charming, so I didn't mind at all. We were doing so much new all day and night, that there was something nice about establishing a bit of a routine for some mornings. Oh, I love being a little older and not feeling the pressure I used to to do things the way others think I should!
We then took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe, where we all walked up the 280+ winding stairs to get to the top. It was well worth it, plus on the way up I dumped any guilt about the amount of bread I was eating. Have I said how much I loved the bread everywhere, absolutely everywhere, in Paris? No butter needed, tho' I had some a couple times anyway. While the others were preferring the croissants and pastries, having had a croissant each day in Provence had sated me, and I was finding I preferred a plain (if you could call something that delicious, plain) tartine.
But I digress. The Arc de Triomphe...terrific views, and there'd been no line at all. Whoever advised that, thank you! I think we stayed up top about an hour just looking at the city from all directions, figuring out what we were looking at. Such a feeling of being right in the center of everything. And the floor had some kind of camera/video built in where we could watch the people milling around the bottom, so if you plan to stand around at the bottom, don't pick your nose ;-) Don't mean to be too irreverent tho', I think we all truly felt the solemnity, sorrow and joy of thinking of the historical events that had taken place where we were standing.
We then left to walk up the Champs Elysees, wanting to just see/do that, heading to visit the Musee Orangerie. We did stop at Laduree for the requisite macarons, little ones for me, big ones for dh. They were indeed delicious, but since it was only fair to compare, I had to have some more at a couple other places as the week went on, and dare I say those were equally delicious (and the ones from Gerard Mulot, maybe even preferred). I surprised myself with my favorite flavors being coffee and plum.
We didn't go in to the Grand Palais or anywhere else, just gawked at the outer buildings. But, myself having been raised a Philadelphian and dh having really adopted the city for his own these last seven years we've lived here again, we got VERY excited when we got to the Place de la Concorde and saw the buildings that our Philly Free Library and court buildings had been designed after, by French architects. With the fountains too...and then even turning to look back down the ave. at the Arc de Triomphe, we could so clearly see how they brought the Paris vision to the design of the whole Benjamin Franklin Parkway with the Art Museum at the crown. Now believe me, I'm in no way claiming that Philly comes anywhere close to Paris as it absolutely does not, but still it was great fun to see the Parisian influence on our city, up front and personal.
Ok, so now are feet were tired and we were hungry, and when we realized there was no café at the Orangerie we thought we'd really screwed up by not stopping somewhere earlier,as were too tired to imagine enjoying the museum without a feet-break first. But thankfully someone overheard us saying that out loud, and told us that just a few steps past the Orangerie we'd find a café. So we had a late lite lunch there, and then very much enjoyed the Monet water lilies and all else with feet that were restored.
Back to hotel to rest, something else I forgot to write down apparently, and then dinner that night was at Deux Olivieres, which we all thought was good but not great (great comes on Thurs. and this was only Monday, I can not believe how long I'm taking with this trip report but I'm having fun!)
Day 3 in Paris: Feeling fine, hurray. Breakfast was at a Paul's down the block from hotel, as our friends seemed to prefer going there each day we were together. I must say that while I typically try to avoid chains no matter the country, this one was quite charming, so I didn't mind at all. We were doing so much new all day and night, that there was something nice about establishing a bit of a routine for some mornings. Oh, I love being a little older and not feeling the pressure I used to to do things the way others think I should!
We then took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe, where we all walked up the 280+ winding stairs to get to the top. It was well worth it, plus on the way up I dumped any guilt about the amount of bread I was eating. Have I said how much I loved the bread everywhere, absolutely everywhere, in Paris? No butter needed, tho' I had some a couple times anyway. While the others were preferring the croissants and pastries, having had a croissant each day in Provence had sated me, and I was finding I preferred a plain (if you could call something that delicious, plain) tartine.
But I digress. The Arc de Triomphe...terrific views, and there'd been no line at all. Whoever advised that, thank you! I think we stayed up top about an hour just looking at the city from all directions, figuring out what we were looking at. Such a feeling of being right in the center of everything. And the floor had some kind of camera/video built in where we could watch the people milling around the bottom, so if you plan to stand around at the bottom, don't pick your nose ;-) Don't mean to be too irreverent tho', I think we all truly felt the solemnity, sorrow and joy of thinking of the historical events that had taken place where we were standing.
We then left to walk up the Champs Elysees, wanting to just see/do that, heading to visit the Musee Orangerie. We did stop at Laduree for the requisite macarons, little ones for me, big ones for dh. They were indeed delicious, but since it was only fair to compare, I had to have some more at a couple other places as the week went on, and dare I say those were equally delicious (and the ones from Gerard Mulot, maybe even preferred). I surprised myself with my favorite flavors being coffee and plum.
We didn't go in to the Grand Palais or anywhere else, just gawked at the outer buildings. But, myself having been raised a Philadelphian and dh having really adopted the city for his own these last seven years we've lived here again, we got VERY excited when we got to the Place de la Concorde and saw the buildings that our Philly Free Library and court buildings had been designed after, by French architects. With the fountains too...and then even turning to look back down the ave. at the Arc de Triomphe, we could so clearly see how they brought the Paris vision to the design of the whole Benjamin Franklin Parkway with the Art Museum at the crown. Now believe me, I'm in no way claiming that Philly comes anywhere close to Paris as it absolutely does not, but still it was great fun to see the Parisian influence on our city, up front and personal.
Ok, so now are feet were tired and we were hungry, and when we realized there was no café at the Orangerie we thought we'd really screwed up by not stopping somewhere earlier,as were too tired to imagine enjoying the museum without a feet-break first. But thankfully someone overheard us saying that out loud, and told us that just a few steps past the Orangerie we'd find a café. So we had a late lite lunch there, and then very much enjoyed the Monet water lilies and all else with feet that were restored.
Back to hotel to rest, something else I forgot to write down apparently, and then dinner that night was at Deux Olivieres, which we all thought was good but not great (great comes on Thurs. and this was only Monday, I can not believe how long I'm taking with this trip report but I'm having fun!)
May 23rd, 2013, 08:56 PM
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go_laura -- Wonderful report! I've been most of the places you saw in Provence, and will be visiting Les Baux for the first time, in Sept. I'm wondering what the "down sides" of the Clement were, as I'm considering booking a room there.
