Back from my voyage fantastique in France!
May 21st, 2008, 03:44 AM
#21
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blh, I don't know the name of the roome we had. We had the one with the entry on the road. But I think all three are equally nice.
you'll have a great time there.
by the way, we ate lunch at a delightful crêperie in Figeac called La Chandeleur. Fantastic owners and great "cidre brut"! mmmmmmmmmm
you'll have a great time there.
by the way, we ate lunch at a delightful crêperie in Figeac called La Chandeleur. Fantastic owners and great "cidre brut"! mmmmmmmmmm
May 21st, 2008, 07:50 AM
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Our Paris coups de cœur
Since choosing only 5 things that we loved in Paris is impossible, here are a bunch of our coups de cœur (will update soon) :
Le Petit Palais – Since this was part of the free museums and was close to a Bateaubus stop, we visited on our first day. Fantastic museum. There were not many people and the art collection is high-quality and very diverse. I especially liked the Rodin statues, the huge painting on christianity overcoming pagans (yikes!), and the art deco rooms. The courtyard is also fabulous, but the café was overpriced for us.
Le Louvre – This was my 3rd visit to Paris and I still hadn’t come around to visit the Louvre. I must say that usually I prefer wandering around randomly than visiting museums, especially when the weather is nice. The huge waiting lines were also a turn-off for me. However, since the museum is open late on Wednesday nights, we dropped by around 7 pm, took 30 seconds to buy our tickets, and…. WOW! I was flat out impressed. I must have stayed at least 20 minutes in front of the painting Le radeau de la Méduse. We spent 2 hours there, narrowing down our must-sees. We enjoyed it immensely, and we had many rooms practically to ourselves. We came out just as the sun was setting between the arc de Triomphe. Pure Paris magic.
Musée Carnavalet – We also enjoyed this museum, being history buffs. The hôtel particulier is quite impressive, and we learned a whole lot on Paris history. An easy walk afterwards to the Place des Vosges for a nap.
Winding Montmartre streets BEHIND Sacré-Cœur – Since I had hated approaching the Sacré-Coeur from the front stairs last time (although seeing all the Japanese tourists dressed as Amélie Poulain taking picture in front of the carroussel was quite entertaining), we decided to wander the quaint, country-like streets leading to the Montmartre Vineyards. This area is amazing. You really don’t feel like you are in Paris anymore. The park just behind Sacré-Coeur is also really cute. Much less crowded than Place du Tertre which is too tacky for my taste.
Paris at night – What can I say. Walking hand in hand with my man by the Seine, watching Notre-Dame aglow in front of us… Je vois la vie en roooooooooose!
Since choosing only 5 things that we loved in Paris is impossible, here are a bunch of our coups de cœur (will update soon) :
Le Petit Palais – Since this was part of the free museums and was close to a Bateaubus stop, we visited on our first day. Fantastic museum. There were not many people and the art collection is high-quality and very diverse. I especially liked the Rodin statues, the huge painting on christianity overcoming pagans (yikes!), and the art deco rooms. The courtyard is also fabulous, but the café was overpriced for us.
Le Louvre – This was my 3rd visit to Paris and I still hadn’t come around to visit the Louvre. I must say that usually I prefer wandering around randomly than visiting museums, especially when the weather is nice. The huge waiting lines were also a turn-off for me. However, since the museum is open late on Wednesday nights, we dropped by around 7 pm, took 30 seconds to buy our tickets, and…. WOW! I was flat out impressed. I must have stayed at least 20 minutes in front of the painting Le radeau de la Méduse. We spent 2 hours there, narrowing down our must-sees. We enjoyed it immensely, and we had many rooms practically to ourselves. We came out just as the sun was setting between the arc de Triomphe. Pure Paris magic.
Musée Carnavalet – We also enjoyed this museum, being history buffs. The hôtel particulier is quite impressive, and we learned a whole lot on Paris history. An easy walk afterwards to the Place des Vosges for a nap.
Winding Montmartre streets BEHIND Sacré-Cœur – Since I had hated approaching the Sacré-Coeur from the front stairs last time (although seeing all the Japanese tourists dressed as Amélie Poulain taking picture in front of the carroussel was quite entertaining), we decided to wander the quaint, country-like streets leading to the Montmartre Vineyards. This area is amazing. You really don’t feel like you are in Paris anymore. The park just behind Sacré-Coeur is also really cute. Much less crowded than Place du Tertre which is too tacky for my taste.
Paris at night – What can I say. Walking hand in hand with my man by the Seine, watching Notre-Dame aglow in front of us… Je vois la vie en roooooooooose!
May 21st, 2008, 08:46 AM
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Jojo:
Sounds like a fabulous trip..
I have also spent time in and around Figeac, Sarlat, Cahors, Rocamadour. All are delightful towns, especially Figeac and Cahors which are not overly touristy.
The food is in the SW of France is about as good as it gets. I often find myself trolling around Perigord and the surrounding area for the Foie Gras, Confit de Canard, and Cassoulet. The wines of the region, particularly Cahors and Pecharmant are superb accompaniments to the cuisine.
I am slowly starting to plan my trip this fall, hopefully right in time for the vendange in Sept/Oct.
When I am near Cahors, I stay at Claude Marco: www.restaurantmarco.com. It is a restaurant/inn in Lamagdaleine, about 5 miles NE of Cahors. Fabulous food along with 4 poolside rooms in the midst of the Cahors vineyards.
Sounds like a fabulous trip..
I have also spent time in and around Figeac, Sarlat, Cahors, Rocamadour. All are delightful towns, especially Figeac and Cahors which are not overly touristy.
The food is in the SW of France is about as good as it gets. I often find myself trolling around Perigord and the surrounding area for the Foie Gras, Confit de Canard, and Cassoulet. The wines of the region, particularly Cahors and Pecharmant are superb accompaniments to the cuisine.
I am slowly starting to plan my trip this fall, hopefully right in time for the vendange in Sept/Oct.
When I am near Cahors, I stay at Claude Marco: www.restaurantmarco.com. It is a restaurant/inn in Lamagdaleine, about 5 miles NE of Cahors. Fabulous food along with 4 poolside rooms in the midst of the Cahors vineyards.
May 21st, 2008, 09:00 AM
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Loved reading your report, Jojonana, as it brought back memories of previous travels to France. I totally agree with your Dordogne experience -- we actually did a 2-person kayak for our river ride. Absolutely awesome scenery -- castles on both sides. Montmarte is one of my favorite places to go in Paris; I'd add the Museum d'Orssey to your list next time you go (French impressionist gallery is magnificent) -- actually prefer it over the Louvre. There is NO bad food in France. I'm salivating as you talk about it. One last suggestion for future travel to France: the Lake Annecy area. Along with 3 other couples, my wife & I rented a farmhouse in that area for a week in 2001 with a magnificent view of Annecy from our hilltop perch. We paraglided, took a day trip to Geneva, hiked in the Mt. Blanc area of the French alps, had picnic lunches along the lake, & enjoyed the French cuisine/wine from the many local restaurants.
May 21st, 2008, 11:36 AM
#26
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Our Paris faves, the sequel :
Eating a glace Berthillon on Île Saint-Louis – On Saturday, the lines were too long, so we returned mid-afternoon on a Tuesday. The glace à l’orange sanguine was fabulous and roaming the streets of île st-louis without throngs of tourists was nice. I also loved the almond milk ice cream from the Tuileries.
Going to the movies at St-Germain-des-Prés
Monoprix – Since returning, my grocery store seems sooo bland. Where are the Petit Marseillais soaps, the 3 euro wines, the lardons, the speculoos and the delicious French yogourts?
Our daily apéro – Around 4 pm, we always stopped somewhere for an apéro. Our favourite spots were our neighborhood café just in front of Arts et Métiers métro, Bistrot les Petits Carreaux, and a great place to have fruit rhum on rue Vieille du Temple, forgot the name.
Zone piétonnière past Les Halles, near Étienne Marcel Metro – We explored this area because a friend of ours always stays in Hotel Tiquetonne (http://www.fra.cityvox.fr/hotels_par...47/Profil-Lieu). Looked like a very cute, simple and low-budget hotel. We had a wonderful meal at Le Tir-Bouchon on rue Tiquetonne. Great to wander on St-Denis up to Réaumur.
Marché des enfants rouges and stores in this area – This is where we mostly bought our food while in Paris. We loved the fromager right beside the entrance of the marché. We discovered Chaource cheese and ate it every day during our Paris stay (burp!). The park on rue de Bretagne is real cute and we loved to drop by to watch kids plying soccer after supper. http://www.linternaute.com/paris/mag...rouges/1.shtml
Sunday pic-nic at Jardin du Luxembourg – We walked to the Jardin on Sunday morning with our blanket and our lunch, dropped by the entrance of the park to buy some macarons and had the best picnic ever. We argued over which macaron tasted best. My favourite was Earl Grey macaron, DH preferred the macaron au caramel salé. You know you are having a great trip when this is the only argument you have! ;-)
Tindersticks show at Folies Bergères – We always try to catch a show during our trips. This time, one of DH’s favourite bands were playing at Folies Bergère of all places. We bought tickets on Internet in advance, which was a good call since the place was jam-packed. The show was outstanding, and we will remember it as one of our all-time favourites.
Finally buying my Repetto shoes - After salivating (and saving) for months, I finally bought my Repetto shoes, at the Repetto store no less. I felt like a prima ballerina, and was such a groupie that I got my picture taken in front of the vitrine! Now my only problem is to wear them. They look sooooo beautiful in their black and pink satin box! ;-)
My Paris pictures are up at : http://picasaweb.google.com/lefermier70
Thanks to all for your great comments!
Eating a glace Berthillon on Île Saint-Louis – On Saturday, the lines were too long, so we returned mid-afternoon on a Tuesday. The glace à l’orange sanguine was fabulous and roaming the streets of île st-louis without throngs of tourists was nice. I also loved the almond milk ice cream from the Tuileries.
Going to the movies at St-Germain-des-Prés
Monoprix – Since returning, my grocery store seems sooo bland. Where are the Petit Marseillais soaps, the 3 euro wines, the lardons, the speculoos and the delicious French yogourts?
Our daily apéro – Around 4 pm, we always stopped somewhere for an apéro. Our favourite spots were our neighborhood café just in front of Arts et Métiers métro, Bistrot les Petits Carreaux, and a great place to have fruit rhum on rue Vieille du Temple, forgot the name.
Zone piétonnière past Les Halles, near Étienne Marcel Metro – We explored this area because a friend of ours always stays in Hotel Tiquetonne (http://www.fra.cityvox.fr/hotels_par...47/Profil-Lieu). Looked like a very cute, simple and low-budget hotel. We had a wonderful meal at Le Tir-Bouchon on rue Tiquetonne. Great to wander on St-Denis up to Réaumur.
Marché des enfants rouges and stores in this area – This is where we mostly bought our food while in Paris. We loved the fromager right beside the entrance of the marché. We discovered Chaource cheese and ate it every day during our Paris stay (burp!). The park on rue de Bretagne is real cute and we loved to drop by to watch kids plying soccer after supper. http://www.linternaute.com/paris/mag...rouges/1.shtml
Sunday pic-nic at Jardin du Luxembourg – We walked to the Jardin on Sunday morning with our blanket and our lunch, dropped by the entrance of the park to buy some macarons and had the best picnic ever. We argued over which macaron tasted best. My favourite was Earl Grey macaron, DH preferred the macaron au caramel salé. You know you are having a great trip when this is the only argument you have! ;-)
Tindersticks show at Folies Bergères – We always try to catch a show during our trips. This time, one of DH’s favourite bands were playing at Folies Bergère of all places. We bought tickets on Internet in advance, which was a good call since the place was jam-packed. The show was outstanding, and we will remember it as one of our all-time favourites.
Finally buying my Repetto shoes - After salivating (and saving) for months, I finally bought my Repetto shoes, at the Repetto store no less. I felt like a prima ballerina, and was such a groupie that I got my picture taken in front of the vitrine! Now my only problem is to wear them. They look sooooo beautiful in their black and pink satin box! ;-)
My Paris pictures are up at : http://picasaweb.google.com/lefermier70
Thanks to all for your great comments!
May 31st, 2008, 09:29 PM
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Jojonana, Surely this is just the teaser?? We are going to Paris and Dordogne next May and need far more detail please!!!!! Great report but keep going.
Langcraft, thanks for that link to Restaurant Marco. We are staying near Cahors for one night only and were considering Chateau Mercues where we have stayed before, but I do like the look of the Marco as well.
Schnauzer
Langcraft, thanks for that link to Restaurant Marco. We are staying near Cahors for one night only and were considering Chateau Mercues where we have stayed before, but I do like the look of the Marco as well.
Schnauzer
Jun 1st, 2008, 02:48 AM
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Hi There
Me and my wife has just been to a wedding in the Lorraine region in France.
The fantastic wedding reception was held at this old castle, Hattonchatel Chateau, partly from the 9.th century and partly from the 16th century.
My wife loved the bridalsuite so much that she wants to get married again.
You can find the castle at www.ritz-resorts.com
We will certainly be back to stay at one of this company's properties later.
Me and my wife has just been to a wedding in the Lorraine region in France.
The fantastic wedding reception was held at this old castle, Hattonchatel Chateau, partly from the 9.th century and partly from the 16th century.
My wife loved the bridalsuite so much that she wants to get married again.
You can find the castle at www.ritz-resorts.com
We will certainly be back to stay at one of this company's properties later.
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