Frugal France - Trip Highlights
 

We are two grandmothers in our mid 60's. We travel as cheaply as possible so that we can go every year. This year we visited France in early March.

Flight - Air France JFK to CDG, uneventful, enjoyed the included wine. Used Bee Shuttle which was economical but they delayed us at the airport for over an hour.

Paris Hotel - Hotel Leveque in the 7th. We find the neighborhood very comfortable and reasonable. We ate breakfast here, a roll, a croissant, OJ, fruit cocktail from a can and coffee.

This was our third trip so our interests reflected that. We visited the Marmottan Museum (loved it), Cluny (stained glass and tapestries were the highlights for us), Museum Jacquemart-Andre (wonderful little museum) and the Louvre (said "Hi" to Mona, Venus, and the Winged Victory but spent the most time looking at the history of the Louvre). We ducked into any church we were near including Notre Dame, St. Sulpice, St. Germain de Pres, Sacre Coeur and several others.

Restaurants: Ulysee en Gaule (convenient to our hotel, delicious Greek food and they always something that suited our appetites including a big bowl of soup), Berthillon (the chocolate was fabulous), Angelina's (hot chocolate like no other), Bistro "B" (had the steak but it was too thin, too well-done and too tough), and Café Constant (the Quenelles were fabulous and the atmosphere fun with good service).

Several evenings we walked to the Champ du Mars to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle.

Next stop: Dijon

We traveled to Dijon on the TGV which we bought two days before we intended to travel. It cost us just under $50 per person.

Dijon Hotel - Hotel Jacquemart (48 Euro) Clean, safe and well located on the Owl Trail which made it easy to find our way back. We ate the included breakfast, the usual roll, croissant, OJ and coffee.

We were there on a Sunday and a Monday which were closing days for some attractions. We purchased the guide and did the Owl walking tour. We spent about an hour at the Beaux Art Museum which is a lovely art museum for a small city. We completed the Owl trail on Monday, stopping in all the churches. We especially liked St. Benigne and its baptismal font nearly the size of a Jaccuzi and with a lovely angel to lift off the top.

Restaurants - Maison Milliere (loved the building and Sunday afternoon dinner, not quite $25 each), L'escargot (recommended by hotel, escargot, chicken in mustard sauce, and ice cream in cassis coulis plus wine and $28 each).

Beaune - traveled by local train.

Hotel: Hotel Henri II (Best Western) located just outside the town wall near Porte Nicholas, $80 per night.

Visited Hotel Dieu (the large room for charity cases is memorable). Wandered through the town window shopping.

Restaurants: Le Bleu Note (coffee shop style, had Croque Monsieur, salad and a glass of wine) and Relais de la Madeleine (escargot, lamb, white cheese and chocolate mousse along with Kir and a glass of red wine all for $27.

Next stop: Lyon

We took the train from Beaune to Lyon ($25 each).

Hotel(s) - we had reservations at La Residence (right on the main walking street, Rue Victor Hugo). They had recorded our reservation in their 'book' incorrectly and didn't have a room available. They booked us, two blocks away, at La Resideal which was a lovely, newly renovated hotel with a small kitchenette. In both hotels, the rooms and bathrooms were nice size and both had friendly and accomodating staff. Both hotels were 85 Euro per night although Hotel Resideal had a much higher rack rate on the door.

We rode the funicular to Basillica de Fourvier. Certainly one of the most decorated churches I've ever seen. There were stained glass windows over mosaics along with carved and decorated marble columns. These people were clearly relieved to have been spared from the Prussians which must have been the Al Quaida of their time. We walked Rue St Jean, ducking in and out of covered passages. The next day we walked across the river to the Resistance and Deportation Museum. It was an extremely interesting museum about a part of World War II that we knew very little about. Our audiophone died before we finished. In the afternoon we visited the Museum of Gallo-Roman Civilizations and walked around the Place Bellecour.

Restaurants: Le Petit Gluton (delicious salads, interesting mains and crepes for dessert, $20 each including a glass of wine), Chez Abel (a bouchon, supposedly the oldest continually operating restaurant in Lyon, $39 each for fabulous quennelles, salad Lyonnaise, chocolate mousse and a carafe of red wine. It was one of our best meals of the trip.)

Next stop is Switerland in a separate post.

Sounds lovely.

Hi B,

Thanks for sharing.

I've marked your hotels and restos in Dijon and Beaune for our upcoming trip.

((I))

Hi Barbara, what a great trip you had! How many days was it in total? What was your feeling on your choices of your stops in France? If you had it all to do over would you pick the same towns? Did you enjoy taking the train from town to town? I'm interested in any further impressions you care to share. Thanks....lynda