A Wander Through France
Nov 4th, 2012, 05:49 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 27,868
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
A Wander Through France
We have just returned from a 6 week trip which started in Nice and ended in Paris. The idea of the trip began in December of 2011 when my niece announced that she was going to Paris in March. I gathered together info that I had amassed from our trip earlier that year to share with her. In doing so, I got very nostalgic and mentioned to DH that was should go back for another look-see. We had spent 8 days in Paris in May and loved it, but felt we had barely scratched the surface. What emerged was a trip that covered Nice, The Luberon area of Provence, Montpellier and finally Paris.
Through the help of folks here, on Tripadvisor and a lot of research on the Internet, we had an absolutely wonderful trip. I haven’t done a trip report in a long time, but wanted to do one as a way to journalize our trip as a reminder to me as well as to pass along any information that might be helpful to others. I am not the great raconteur so I hope that it will provide you with a bit of a look into our trip.
The <b>flights and transit </b>-
I wanted to try and take advantage of Optiontown’s low cost upgrades to Business class. We had used it last year when we flew on SAS to pick up our Volvo in Göteborg, Sweden as part of an Overseas Delivery Program . I began watching airfare in January and by March when the prices looked like they were going to go higher; I booked economy tickets on SAS from ORD to NCE [via ARN] and the return CDG to ORD [via CPH]. We flew from ABQ to MDW using points on Southwest. Of course, in mid-July, the airfare to Europe on all airlines dropped like a stone, but we weren’t able to rebook to take advantage of the savings. Oh well, what are you going to do?
We did get our upgrades and it was really nice to be able to stretch out [170°] and get some sleep. IF you are not familiar with Optiontown.com - you pay for upgrades at about 25% of the cost of what you would pay to airline. You pay optiontown and then wait to find out if you have gotten upgrades. You are notified between 4 days before departure and 4 hours. When we did it last year, it was pretty close to departure time when we found out [12 hours ahead on outbound and 6 hours on return]. This time we found out 4 days ahead on outbound and 3 days on return. IF you don’t get an upgrade, they refund your money. The biggest drawback is that they only deal with a limited number of airlines, mostly carriers in Asia. SAS is the only European airline they currently deal with so it really limits using them but we are more than pleased as we saved close to 50% of the cost of Business class tickets.
We took No Jet Lag on both transatlantic segments and we had no jet lag eastbound but are still having some since returning home. Having to deal with 2 different ends to Daylight Savings time hasn’t helped at all. {France went back last weekend}.
On the way to Europe, we spent the night at a friends’ house in Chicago and on the way home we also spent the night in Chicago at the Marriott Renaissance on West Bryn Mawr. I got it through Priceline and it worked out perfectly. We took the hotel shuttle from ORD to the hotel [a phone call to them and the shuttle picked us up right at Terminal 5], and in the morning, we took the “L” to Midway as we had lots of time till our flight to ABQ. The “L” station at Cumberland on the Blue Line was a 2 minute walk across the hotel parking lot. We switched to the Orange Line at Clark/Lake and arrived at Midway with plenty of time to spare.
More to come….
Through the help of folks here, on Tripadvisor and a lot of research on the Internet, we had an absolutely wonderful trip. I haven’t done a trip report in a long time, but wanted to do one as a way to journalize our trip as a reminder to me as well as to pass along any information that might be helpful to others. I am not the great raconteur so I hope that it will provide you with a bit of a look into our trip.
The <b>flights and transit </b>-
I wanted to try and take advantage of Optiontown’s low cost upgrades to Business class. We had used it last year when we flew on SAS to pick up our Volvo in Göteborg, Sweden as part of an Overseas Delivery Program . I began watching airfare in January and by March when the prices looked like they were going to go higher; I booked economy tickets on SAS from ORD to NCE [via ARN] and the return CDG to ORD [via CPH]. We flew from ABQ to MDW using points on Southwest. Of course, in mid-July, the airfare to Europe on all airlines dropped like a stone, but we weren’t able to rebook to take advantage of the savings. Oh well, what are you going to do?
We did get our upgrades and it was really nice to be able to stretch out [170°] and get some sleep. IF you are not familiar with Optiontown.com - you pay for upgrades at about 25% of the cost of what you would pay to airline. You pay optiontown and then wait to find out if you have gotten upgrades. You are notified between 4 days before departure and 4 hours. When we did it last year, it was pretty close to departure time when we found out [12 hours ahead on outbound and 6 hours on return]. This time we found out 4 days ahead on outbound and 3 days on return. IF you don’t get an upgrade, they refund your money. The biggest drawback is that they only deal with a limited number of airlines, mostly carriers in Asia. SAS is the only European airline they currently deal with so it really limits using them but we are more than pleased as we saved close to 50% of the cost of Business class tickets.
We took No Jet Lag on both transatlantic segments and we had no jet lag eastbound but are still having some since returning home. Having to deal with 2 different ends to Daylight Savings time hasn’t helped at all. {France went back last weekend}.
On the way to Europe, we spent the night at a friends’ house in Chicago and on the way home we also spent the night in Chicago at the Marriott Renaissance on West Bryn Mawr. I got it through Priceline and it worked out perfectly. We took the hotel shuttle from ORD to the hotel [a phone call to them and the shuttle picked us up right at Terminal 5], and in the morning, we took the “L” to Midway as we had lots of time till our flight to ABQ. The “L” station at Cumberland on the Blue Line was a 2 minute walk across the hotel parking lot. We switched to the Orange Line at Clark/Lake and arrived at Midway with plenty of time to spare.
More to come….
Nov 4th, 2012, 02:47 PM
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 27,868
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
<b>The Itinerary</b>:
5 days in Nice
14 days in the Luberon
4 days in Montpellier
14 days in Paris.
<b> The Accomodations</b>:
*Nice - A residential unit in the Hotel Negresco. www.vrbo.com/174633 The unit was ok, no view and a bit dark. We didn't spend any time there other than to sleep, have a quick breakfast.
*Saint Saturnin les Apts - A gite in Saint Saturnin les Apts
www.accommodationinprovence.com/. This was perfect! More about it later.
*Montpellier - Courtyard [we had enough points for 4 nights]
Paris - Apartment - www.vrbo.com/339804 This is our second stay at this apartment. Great location, great owner. More later.
<b>Local Transportation</b>:
*We used buses and the train in Nice.
*We rented a car using Kemwel and got the car through Europcar.
[We picked it up when we left Nice, drove to Saint Saturnin
les Apts and then turned it in when we left Montpellier.
More about this later.]
*We took the iDTGV from Montpellier to Paris.
*In Paris, we arrived on Wednesday, so we bought a carnet to last us until Monday when we recharged our Navigo Découverte. We had to buy another carnet for the last 5 days. [I will plan better next time to arrive and depart on Monday to maximize using the ND.] We really love having the flexibility to just hop onto public transit when we are tired or have a distance to go. We used buses a lot more this trip, as we wanted to see where we were going rather than being in the metro. And we walked - a lot!
5 days in Nice
14 days in the Luberon
4 days in Montpellier
14 days in Paris.
<b> The Accomodations</b>:
*Nice - A residential unit in the Hotel Negresco. www.vrbo.com/174633 The unit was ok, no view and a bit dark. We didn't spend any time there other than to sleep, have a quick breakfast.
*Saint Saturnin les Apts - A gite in Saint Saturnin les Apts
www.accommodationinprovence.com/. This was perfect! More about it later.
*Montpellier - Courtyard [we had enough points for 4 nights]
Paris - Apartment - www.vrbo.com/339804 This is our second stay at this apartment. Great location, great owner. More later.
<b>Local Transportation</b>:
*We used buses and the train in Nice.
*We rented a car using Kemwel and got the car through Europcar.
[We picked it up when we left Nice, drove to Saint Saturnin
les Apts and then turned it in when we left Montpellier.
More about this later.]
*We took the iDTGV from Montpellier to Paris.
*In Paris, we arrived on Wednesday, so we bought a carnet to last us until Monday when we recharged our Navigo Découverte. We had to buy another carnet for the last 5 days. [I will plan better next time to arrive and depart on Monday to maximize using the ND.] We really love having the flexibility to just hop onto public transit when we are tired or have a distance to go. We used buses a lot more this trip, as we wanted to see where we were going rather than being in the metro. And we walked - a lot!
Nov 4th, 2012, 02:51 PM
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 27,868
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
@HappyCheeseHead - we added it in to the mix [which threw off my plans for arriving in Paris close to Monday for ND purposes, see above] because we had enough points for 4 nights [15,000 per night]. We really didn't have much idea what it was going to be like [the city] other than knowing it was a university town and that Stu Dudley liked it!
We actually really enjoyed our time there and felt it was a good transition between the very quiet times in Provence and the big city time that was Paris.
I will go into more about Montpellier later in the report.
We actually really enjoyed our time there and felt it was a good transition between the very quiet times in Provence and the big city time that was Paris.
I will go into more about Montpellier later in the report.
Nov 4th, 2012, 03:06 PM
#9
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,292
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Looking forward to the rest of the report and the Montpellier portion as well. We will be in the south of France during the Cannes Film Festival and are trying to decide between the JW in Cannes (which would probably be insane) and being over in Montpellier, or staying at the Marriott property in Nice, an AC property.
Nov 5th, 2012, 03:06 AM
#11
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,556
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Very happy to read of your trip Deb. I'm sorry that we didn't get to meet up in Paris. I didn't forget about contacting you, but the 6 days that I was there were jammed packed with business and personal commitments and I had little time for anything else. Hopefully some other time.
In the meanwhile, I shall enjoy reading about what looks to have been an awesome trip.
M.
In the meanwhile, I shall enjoy reading about what looks to have been an awesome trip.
M.
Nov 8th, 2012, 07:47 AM
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 27,868
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
<b> Stops along the way</b>
Paris:
* A walk along the Canal St. Martin. [We did the boat last trip; thought it would be fun to walk the route]
* A concert at Saint Chapelle [Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"]
* Trip by train, bike to Giverny
* Jazz at 38Riv
* Edward Hopper exhibit at Grand Palais
* Sunday Mass at Notre Dame [and I was able to follow along!]
* "Paris Vu Par Hollywood" at Hôtel de Ville [free and excellent]
* Musée d'Orsay to see the Impressionism and Fashion exhibit
* Musée de l'Orangerie [we missed it last trip]
* A bit of a rest in Jardin du Louxembourg to people watch
* L'Opera Garnier
* Musée Marmotton
* Tour Montparnass
* Château de Vincennes
* Promenade Plantee
* Cimetière du Père-Lachaise
* Opéra Garnier
* Musée Cognac-Jay
* Bois de Boulogne
We did 3 walking tours:
- Hemingway's Paris
- Montmartre
- Architecture of the 16 Arrondissment.
Up next:
Stops in Montpellier
Stops in The Luberon
Stops in Nice
Paris:
* A walk along the Canal St. Martin. [We did the boat last trip; thought it would be fun to walk the route]
* A concert at Saint Chapelle [Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"]
* Trip by train, bike to Giverny
* Jazz at 38Riv
* Edward Hopper exhibit at Grand Palais
* Sunday Mass at Notre Dame [and I was able to follow along!]
* "Paris Vu Par Hollywood" at Hôtel de Ville [free and excellent]
* Musée d'Orsay to see the Impressionism and Fashion exhibit
* Musée de l'Orangerie [we missed it last trip]
* A bit of a rest in Jardin du Louxembourg to people watch
* L'Opera Garnier
* Musée Marmotton
* Tour Montparnass
* Château de Vincennes
* Promenade Plantee
* Cimetière du Père-Lachaise
* Opéra Garnier
* Musée Cognac-Jay
* Bois de Boulogne
We did 3 walking tours:
- Hemingway's Paris
- Montmartre
- Architecture of the 16 Arrondissment.
Up next:
Stops in Montpellier
Stops in The Luberon
Stops in Nice
