France next week.
 

Hi all. My husband and I leave Australia next week for ou 4 week trip to France. I thought you might like to see our itinerary. Any suggestions/advice would be appreciated.
We will fly into Lyon, pick up our car and stay for 3 nights. Been to Lyon before and loved it. We will drive north to the Beaujolais area and south to the Rhone Valley. Next, 3 nights in Sarlat seeing the prehistoric sights and Cahors for more wine drinking. By the way, we are wine buffs. Bordeaux and surroundings for 5 nights, 3 nights in Saumur, Vannes for 2 nights and another 2 nights in Dinan. We will spend 2 nights in Bayeux, 4 in Paris and London for 2 nights before heading back downunder. What do you think?

Sounds great. Where are you staying?

Hi MD,

Lovely trip.

You might want to go from Sarlat to Cahors via Bonaguil and the Lot River, or via Figeac and the Cele River.

In any event,do try to get to the Grotte du Peche Merle near Cabrerets, and St Cirq-Lapopie.

See http://www.quercy.net/pechmerle/
http://www.quercy-tourisme.com/st-ci...x_english.html

((I))

Check out the wine tasting in the shops near the Opera in Bordeaux. And of something un-PC, there is an incredible tobacconist in that area (on the street between the Opera and the fountain).

Hi, Miriam:

Sounds like a wonderful trip! With only 3 days in the Sarlat area, I would not bee-bop off to St-Cirq-Lapopie and Figeac and Célé, etc. You'll barely have time for what's around Sarlat as it is. And you can get innumerable varieties of St-EMilion wine right there in Sarlat - you don't even need to take the time to travel south to Cahors itself if you don't want to. There are all kinds of fabulous wine stores in and around Sarlat.

Bonne route!

Thanks RonZ, Ira, Michael and stCirq for your advice and good wishes.
Ronz, did you mean which hotels we are staying at or which part of town we'll be in?
Michael, excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by "un-PC" ?
Will let you all know about our trip on our return in early April. Miriam

&quot;un-PC&quot; means &quot;not <i>politically correct</i>&quot;, (or implicitly, one might say &quot;<i>no longer</i> politically correct, as if to hint formerly it <i>was</i> &quot;proper&quot;)...

... referring to the fact that by endorsing a tobacconist, one is - - by extension - - recommending the use of the tobacco products sold there.

Best wishes,

Rex

Thanks Rex for clearing that up. However, I must show my ignorance again and ask: why recommend a tobacconist to me? In my original message, I claimed to be a &quot;wine buff&quot; not a &quot;tobacco puff&quot;. Do tobacconists also offer wine tasting and wine sales?

Hi miriam,

&gt;.. why recommend a tobacconist to me?&lt;

You never know when you might need a good tobacconist. :)

((I))

Our petsitter smokes a pipe - we bring him a 'thank you' gift of a house blend if we see a special place.

The store is amazing for what it is. I can appreciate various types of stores without necessarily being interested in their products. I would recommend even a non-wine buff to walk into l'Intendance (I believe that is the name of the wine shop across the square from the Opera) just to see it's layout and how it adapted the given architecture.

Thanks Michael, I'll check out that tobacconist - I'm curious now. Leaving for France in two days.

Will you write a trip report afterwards for us? I've never been to some of the places you're going to and would be so interested in your impressions. Especially of the beautiful area where Sarlat is. Merci!

Mermaid, I will write a report on my return, however, you will have to wait until April.

Hi

just a practical note : bring some warm clothes !

France is currently suffering Northern winds from the arctic bringing snow &amp; freezing conditions. Local TV has had pictures of snow on the beaches near Nice.

Current temp in Lyon (13.00) is -1C . Forecast for Saturday is &quot;risk of snow&quot;.

You can check real time conditions here : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/la...eather-now.htm

Peter
http://www.the-languedoc-page.com

Oh, Peter after another 10-12 inches of snow (after a prediction of 2-4 inches) the last thing I need to hear is that there is snow in Nice too. We arriving on the 16th of March. Any chance it will be warmer? The weather report is saying 50 degrees F which would be a vast improvement over 31!!

Hi

I used to live in Sweden, so, I'm used to -25C.

But I thought it was worth pointing out to visitors from Australia ?

Peter

Peter, thanks for the info. Leaving in a couple of hours and we have just had a week of 30 - 36 degrees Celcius weather, so, yes I will freeze ny little behind off especially as I don't have appropriate clothing - we don't need it here. Miriam.

It is not as if I am not use to cold weather especially after getting something like 6 feet of snow this winter. We were exceptionally lucky to have warm weather during our visit to Provence last March. I am afraid we used up a lifetime of weather luck on that trip. I will pack for cold weather. Thanks for the heads up.