StCirq

We have wild boars here all the time. They are hardly "everywhere," though, and there are limits on how many any hunter can bag on any given weekend in season - 3. Few ever get that many. Our neighbor hunters bring us wild boar steaks from time to time - delicious if marinated for at least 4 days with lots of juniper berries and wild bay leaves and strong red wine and barbecued over fig logs.

They're mostly out at dusk, and mostly in the fall, and they mostly avoid humans, but if they're hungry, which they're not this season, they may come onto your property, or they will just stray onto it from time to time. They can be dangerous. There have been deaths, but very few. There have probably been more deaths from hunters accidentally shooting each other, or innocent passersby, than deaths from wild boars. Most of the deaths around here are from traffic accidents, most involving massive, oversized trucks and bad weather. There was one yesterday in which 6 students were killed on a schoolbus when a big truck went by it and its sidegate flipped down and sliced the bus almost in two.

We really don't spend a lot of time worrying about the wildlife. We live with it and respect it, and they do the same.

PalenQ

Thanks for taking time to explain all that - I did not mean everywhere but sangliers are all over France but not everywhere. No reason for the average tourist to fear these wild pigs but to respect them - chances of actually seeing one are remote I think unless tramping around woods or farms a lot.

emilya4

For an apartment, it's worth checking craigslist. You can also do Airbnb, but Airbnb tends to be way overpriced for longer stays (but it's good if you're staying a few nights somewhere).

StCirq

I would never in a million years check Craigslist, which is known far and away for scammers galore. Sorry, but that's a bad, bad idea. You'd be better off couchsurfing.

Pal, most people, you're right, won't run into wild boars (I was all over France for 30 years before I ever saw one), but I was once on one of those dotted-red (meaning, you shouldn't BE on this road) steep Michelin roads high up in the Auvergne in March and slipping down a muddy, treacherous unpaved road, at night, and suddenly about 100 wild boar came stampeding down the same road on both sides of the car, snorting and thundering and, well, scaring the crap out of us. They didn't mean us any harm, and I'm sure the presence of a large piece of moving metal on their path downhill put them off a bt, but apart from a few scratches on the car and one of those inevitable broken side mirrors, it was nothing more than 5 minutes of sheer terror on our part and probably something they laughed about around the fire later that night.

PalenQ

Wow StCirq sounds like a nightmare out of H... thanks for that story! Cheers!

PalenQ

Lol! I am from Seattle and have to have good caffeine!>

You'll be in heaven in The Netherlands - if you like STRONG STRONG java IME!

menachem

can I suggest: Latei, on Zeedijk. Very good coffee, good food, and an interior where you can buy anything that's there.

pftg

Great stories about the Dordogne and I love Seattle year round. I had yummy clam chowder inside the Space Needle's revolving restaurant years ago. Latei's interior looks like a hopscotch of interesting stuff thanks for the suggestion menachem.

I'm reluctant renting from Craigslist outside of the US too though I did find one of the best apartments I ever lived in from that site - high ceilings, panoramic views, way below market rate, very spacious but boy was it haunted. I could've used a doobie then! emilya4 I'll be looking at Airbnb for sure thanks.

So the plan is to fly to Amsterdam train to Brussels and Bruges - still figuring the Belgium portion out not sure if renting a car would be easier or more of a hassle but once I narrow down the cities it should bring clarity. Then from there fly to Nice to meet my mom then we head to Lourdes then to Paris. She will either train to London with me or fly back home from Paris.

When do you advice I buy the train tickets as it'll be my main mode of transpo? And can you recommend a restaurant or apartment hotel near the Louvre or with views of the Louvre? My mom and I love the glass pyramid! Maybe some walking tours? Open to all suggestions thank you so much.

StCirq

Every European national railway has its own schedule for cheap advance tockets. In France it's 3 months out from your date of travel (not 90 days, but 3 months). But there are exceptions - some summer train tickets can be purchased 120 days in advance, and some iDTGV tickets can be purchased way in advance also. Best thing to do is to consult www.capitainetrain.com (for countries other than France, too) and see what schedules and prices are showing, then keep checking.

pftg

Thanks StCirq! I started another thread for France.

PalenQ

So the plan is to fly to Amsterdam train to Brussels and Bruges - still figuring the Belgium portion out not sure if renting a car would be easier or more of a hassle but once I narrow down the cities it should bring clarity.>

If going to Bruges, Gent, Brussels,Antwerp no need for a car as trains are great and having biked between those cities umpteen times the countryside in this part of Belgium is not that exciting - trains are cheap and frequent.

Brussels or Bruges to Paris use www.thalys.com (from Bruges to Paris via Brussels get extra 5-euro or so ABS fare that allows you to go to Brussels on any train within 24 hours of your international Thalys trip to Paris - so you could also visit Brussels and pay about the same price as Bruges to Brussels to Paris - www.thalys.com is easy to book yourself on - way cheaper 90 days out often than 30 days before or certainly walk-up fares.