Two Weeks in France, reposting TR

Old Nov 13th, 2014, 02:38 PM
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Two Weeks in France, reposting TR

This will be a brief report on the highlights of our trip to France at the end of September, beginning of October 2014. Hopefully I can get the editors to remove my other post, which I forgot to mark as a trip report.

Because we were on award tickets, the trip was planned long ago. At the time, it seemed reasonable to drive from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia to fly to Paris, but I have now realised, after doing this several times, that I’m just too old and somewhat unwell to add a 6 hour road trip to either end of Transatlantic flying.

Flights on US Airways were fine as usual, and I slept a little. The Air France strike had me worried and the three of us (DH, myself and our friend who travelled with us) made a quick decision upon landing at CDG to change our flights to and from Nice. Air France had posted that they would allow changes between certain dates, and our flight to NIce landed squarely in those dates.

So instead of training to Reims, driving to Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte, then flying to Nice, we cancelled the Orly > Nice leg of our trip and decided to drive all the way to Nice from Reims.

It seems crazy, and it was, but it eliminated all the worry of getting to our expensive Riviera rental on time. We actually had an extra day at the front of our weekly rental that we weren’t going to use, and we got to St Jean Cap Ferrat a day earlier than originally planned. This was wonderful because we loved every minute of our Cote d’Azur stay. We also saved a few hundred dollars by changing our car rental. AutoEurope was terrific, even long distance from France.

The trip:
From CDG we trained to Reims where we stayed at Les Telliers Bed and Breakfast. We wanted triple accommodations with separate bedrooms, and this was about our only choice. It was well located and fine for our purposes. I’m not a B&B lover but I would recommend this place as friendly , comfortable and reasonable. http://telliers.fr/

In Reims, we walked and walked, explored all over the city, churches, cathedral, mansions, ruins, market, shopping streets, and my favorite, the Church of St Remi. This was gorgeous and surrounded by ruins and a lovely small park. Our friend visited a champagne house while DH and I went to St. Remi, but we don’t drink, and I think she envied us our visit to St Remi. She wasn’t thrilled with her champagne visit, and we were completely bowled over by our visit to the ancient cathedral of St Remi. I visit a lot of European cathedrals and St Remi is at the top of my list of favorites. It was practically empty while we were there. If you’re in Reims, please go and see for yourself.

After Reims, the long trek south, driving and driving and driving. The best part of this was our stop in Beaune. I would never have even heard about Beaune if it wasn’t for our B&B hosts in Reims, who recommended it for our sightseeing stop on our road south. The Hotel de Dieu was one of the greatest, best preserved and most beautiful sites I’ve ever visited. I just spent a bunch of time looking for a good website to show here, and came up short.

http://www.hospices-de-beaune.com/in...-Dieu/Le-Musee

Beaune was a sweet town with too many wine and tourist shops but still quite nice

After a long day of driving and our stop in Beaune, we spent the night on the road and got to St Jean Cap Ferrat at check in time. I want to say that St Jean Cap Ferrat is heaven.

We chose it because we found a nice two bedroom apartment at a reasonable cost with parking and AC and a view. We had no idea of how wonderful the choice would be. Fodorites helped with this decision and I’m grateful. St Jean Cap Ferrat is incredibly beautiful

https://www.flipkey.com/saintjeancap...ntals/p313040/

While there we explored the entire promontory, went to Antibes, Nice, Monaco, Eze and Ste. Agnes.. In Nice, my favorite visit was to Cimiez. I loved the museums, church, park, ruins, etc.

After our week, we flew from Nice to Orly, then cabbed to our apartment. http://www.vacationinparis.com/listi...is-two-bedroom

Mixed feeling on this: when we chose it, someone here said “tourist central” which it was. Crowded streets and stores; a bit much. The apartment however was quiet. One bedroom was huge and the other was miniscule, but since our friend chose this herself from among the two bedrooms on our short list she had to make the best of it. Bathroom was great and huge, but there was a broken bidet (looked permanently broken to us). Living room and dining room and hallway were roomy, the views were gorgeous, but the kitchen was a waste of very little space. No toaster, a few glasses, no room and not much in the drawers or cupboards. I don’t expect much but the ability to make toast would be nice.

VIP makes it clear that they dont provide any reservations help so I guess that was OK, but I prefer an agency that will help a little.

While in Paris, we went to the ballet, a great museum show of 50s fashion, spent a too long day in the Louvre with French and Dutch paintings, revisited Pere la Chaise and a lot more.

We used shuttleinter.com for our trip to CDG. We were happy. I actually don’t like their pick up service, but use them for departures and have always been satisfied.

A brief note about traveling with a third person: it wasn’t awful, we had many laughs, but I’m a loner and don’t want to do it again soon. My husband is my perfect travel companion and I guess I’m only really comfortable with him. But we’re still friends with our third, so it’s OK.

Our friend is not a food lover, and that became a problem for me. I feel like I missed out on most of the food aspects of our trip, and I usually enjoy restaurants a lot more than I did on this trip. But she is an art lover, and a game spirit, so we had lots of adventures and took in some wonderful art.

We were barely unpacked when it was time to head to Disney World for a long weekend with DD, SIL and the grandkids. Now we’re still barely unpacked.
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Old Nov 13th, 2014, 03:43 PM
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Love that area around Cap Ferrat. Your TR has tempted us to revisitt and catch the places we missed.
Love the idea of the ballet in Paris.

Anymore details of your daily activities would be appreciated.
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Old Nov 14th, 2014, 01:11 AM
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I always told my daughters to take a long trip with a boyfriend before deciding whether they wanted to marry him.
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Old Nov 14th, 2014, 06:28 AM
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TPAYT: a wonderful day was one we spent at Villa Ephrussi Rothschild, touring the gardens, house and having lunch. Best gardens I've been to in a long time. The rest of that day was spent visiting the various viewing spots above the Cap Ferrat beaches, the little town of Cap Ferrat, the port, and the beautiful church, cemetery and walking paths at the tip of the promontory.

I'll try to write more.

bvlenci: I think we've grown into this travel companionship over the years. When dating we broke up after our first trip together!
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Old Nov 17th, 2014, 03:34 PM
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Sounds like a great trip, Deb! It's been a long time since I have been to that eastern part of the southern coast, and it makes me want to go back!
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Old Nov 17th, 2014, 05:15 PM
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Hi Sue! I'm glad you hit my report.

It was a good trip and the eastern Riviera was my favorite part.

I was a little sick and worn out by the time we hit Paris, but as I said in the report, we did a couple of great things there.

Here is the ballet we saw at the Opera Garnier

http://www.operadeparis.fr/en/saison...rsythe?genre=2

And this is the wonderful museum show we visited at the Palais Galliera:

http://www.palaisgalliera.paris.fr/en/exhibitions/50s
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 01:49 AM
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tuscanlifeedit, I saw the ballet and the 50s fashions.....loved them both! Your trip sounds wonderful.
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 04:33 AM
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just joining in...

more please!
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 10:25 AM
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Judy: those were the absolute highlights of our time in Paris.

annhig: I can say a bit more about our trip up to Ste. Agnes.

I had been really intrigued when reading about this perched village and pushed for a drive there. It was a long drive! We started in Monte Carlo, after we had left the old town/palace quarter in Monaco, thinking that parking elsewhere would be as easy as it was in old Monaco. Not so.

We were stuck in crowds near the casino in Monte Carlo and actually drove through a big underground parking lot without finding a space. The streets were jammed.

So at my suggestion, we headed toward Menton and then Ste. Agnes.

On the way up the very long and steep mountain, clouds and rain set in. The drive was winding and the road was narrow. I was feeling horribly guilty because it was my idea to take this drive, my husband had already driven pretty much the entire length of France, and all over the Cote d'Azur, and now we were heading up a mountain in a cloud.

By the way, this was the only bad weather we had; of course it would happen on the side of a mountain. To add to my discomfort, our traveling companion is a completely confident woman who never questions herself and who expressed surprise that I constantly question myself, which made me doubt myself all the more! ;-)

We we finally arrived at the top, the town was deadly quiet, and many or most of the little shops and studios were closed. But weirdly, it was really charming, if a little wet and cold. It felt remote and quiet after the bustle of the coast.

All the locals seemed to be gathered for the afternoon in a cafe, and they looked happy and comfortable. We found a little shop or two to browse, and I bought some flavored oils and soaps, and we toured the WWII installations at the top of the mountain. We spent about an hour wandering the tiny steep stone streets, and rarely saw another human, but there were a few cats and dogs.

Ste. Agnes was just as described in the guidebooks I'd read, and a total contrast to Eze, which it looked like, but the feel was completely different. It was so quiet and we could really feel the mountains around us. The town was small and surrounded by woods. The rustic feel was appealing to me.

All in all, I enjoyed the trip up there, and the weather cleared on the way down, which made the trip home to St Jean Cap Ferrat a lot more relexing the trip up to Ste. Agnes.

Our computer recently crashed but at some point, I will try to add pictures here. We're working on repairs.
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 02:52 PM
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Excellent information. Trip reports involving a third person are always interesting to read.
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 02:56 PM
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Great trip Deb! Thank you for sharing it! I have not been to Paris since Christmas of 2008..made me miss it!!
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 03:06 PM
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I loved Cannes and Nice but now want to go back and stay in St Jean Cap Ferrat. I want to go back to Paris just about every day. Thanks for the great TR!
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 03:28 PM
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That was one very tiny bed for the guest in your apartment in Paris. Glad she picked it. We have a friend that likes to travel with us. Last trip there were four so we would split up and meet back for dinner or a night out. We all did one day together but as far as dining we are all on the same page. I will not travel with someone that doesn't like to eat or try new things. We have done that and learned our lesson.
My Dad talked about Nice and someday would love to visit. The ride heading up a mountain in a cloud would have me gripping the steering wheel!
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 04:02 PM
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It sounds as if you had fun and the third person wasn't as much as a drag as she could have been. We did something similar a year and a half ago, flying into Paris and then taking a train to Provence where we picked up our rental car. It is a beautiful part of the world
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 04:38 PM
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Good Trip Report

colduphere, who is the "third person" ?? !!
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 04:43 PM
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Percy all I know is that she was an unhappy champagne drinker, which seems hard to believe.
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 04:49 PM
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In Nice, we spent time at the market on Cours Saleya, walked about Old Nice a bit, spent a good deal of time climbing up and down the Castle Rock and walking along the Promenade Anglais, and a little visit to the port.

But really, my favorite part of Nice was Cimiez.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimiez
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 04:51 PM
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She was only unhappy with her champagne tour. She was really happy with herself.
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 05:58 PM
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This is a very nice trip report. Late september must be a wonderful time to be there.
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Old Nov 18th, 2014, 07:09 PM
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Nice report. We stayed in La Brigue [ in the Roya valley north of Nice ] in 2010 and visited St Agnes and several other wonderful villages such as Peille and Peillon.

We have not travelled with others, but understand how you feel. My husband and I are ' in tune ' and having to consider a third party would be interesting. I always think of budget as being an issue because most people we know have more money to spend than us!!!
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