Betty1

plus a few days in Paris. This was my third group trip to France and the best so far. I never got around to doing a trip report on trip #2, so I hope this one will be good enough to earn me your forgiveness for that lapse.

We were only 5 this time, though we were meant to be 7. Unfortunately one couple had to drop out a few weeks prior to departure due to the wife’s back problems. American Airlines was kind enough to refund their “non-refundable” tickets and we’re still waiting to hear from TravelGuard about the rest.

Of the 5 of us, Jan, Richard and I left Charlotte, NC May 24, Deborah was already in Europe visiting a friend in Belgium (joined us on the 25th in Paris) and Nancy flew in from Texas on the 26th. All in our 60’s or 70’s (well, I’ll turn 60 next month) but managed to do quite a lot for a bunch of geezers. I won’t attempt a day by day account but will hit the highlights with details where I think they’re warranted. Will be happy to answer any questions you may have. At the end I’ll talk about money and give you my experience with my “bête noire” …cell phones.

Paris – May 25-28: Hot, hot, hot! Probably low 90’s but when you’re out walking around in it, it feels even hotter. Thank goodness we were at the Hotel Muguet which has AC. D, N and I in a triple (room 51) and J & R in a double (room 53), both roomy enough and with nice views of the Tour Eiffel (lovely at night with the sparkling lights.) We did the Open-Tour bus the first day, saw Notre-Dame and Sainte Chapelle. The other days we hit other major sights: the Louvre, the Tuileries, the Musée Marmottan, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Invalides. We split up one day: while others were at the Musée d’Orsay, N and I went to see a couple of friends of mine who were staying at the Grand Hotel des Balcons. (I wanted to see what it was like: nice enough, but I was glad to be at the Muguet with AC.) We then went to St. Sulpice to find the Rose Line. (N is a big DaVinci Code fan!) Funny thing: a new underground parking lot near the church is called the “Vinci” parking lot. This in contrast to all the disclaimers posted in the church.

Dinners at Le Maupertu (good food, good price, friendly waiter), Le Bistrot de Breteuil (also good and a very good deal with everything included) and La Fontaine de Mars. About the latter I am sorry to say that this was the second time I’ve been disappointed. Not bad, just not good enough to justify the higher prices. All of us thought the other two places were better and they were about half the price. I’m afraid the FdeM is off my list
for the future. (I’m sure they’ll be crushed!)

Languedoc-Roussillon – May 28-June 4: On the morning of the 28th, we took a taxi to Orly (the Muguet called one for us that would seat 5) and flew EasyJet to Toulouse. Nice flight, very easy. Picked up our cars from Europcar (arranged through AutoEurope) and set off for Carcassonne. I was pleasantly surprised that we got the exact cars we had asked for: a Renault Scenic and a Renault Laguna, both very comfortable and roomy, but not sure we would have had enough luggage room if the other two people had been with us. I had a small argument with the person at the Europcar desk who said that when we turned in our cars, the remainder of what we owed would be charged in dollars. When I insisted that that was not what we wanted and that we had the right to be charged in euros, she said that we could just pay cash. I decided to leave that argument for later. (More on this below.)

I had rented a house just outside of Carcassonne, near the small town of Trèbes. After a few wrong turns getting out of Toulouse and a stop for lunch, we finally found our house. I was a bit fearful about this house as we got it for a very good price (just over $1000 for the week, including bank transfer costs), but it was quite nice: 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, living room, dining room, kitchen and swimming pool. We didn’t use the pool as it was a bit chilly in the mornings and evenings when we were there and we were out touring during most of the day. Our “house” was actually one end of a much larger house and we had some British neighbors in the other side. Not a problem as they were nice people.

This part of our trip was primarily to visit Cathar sites, which was Nancy’s great interest, but we did a few other things as well. We spent one day in Carcassonne and went back there one evening for dinner. We had planned to do the English tour of the ramparts but discovered when we showed up at the appointed time that it was full. As this was late May I hadn’t considered that possibility and the young lady at the tourist office didn’t mention it either. In the future I will buy tickets at least a half-hour in advance, although I’m not sure it would have been worth the price anyway.

Betty1

One of the highlights of the week (at least for Nancy) was our trip to Rennes-le-Chateau and the Cathar castles. On the same day we went to RLC (interesting museum in Abbé Sauniére’s villa), Peyrepertuse and J & R went to Quéribus as well. I did not climb to the top of either of those, but J & R did. Deborah also climbed Peyrepertuse and upon returning declared, “That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done!” According to her the path was narrow and rocky with nothing to hold on to. There was also a lot of wind that day. Nancy & I were glad we didn’t try it. Quéribus apparently was not quite as bad. While J & R went to Quéribus, the rest of us set out for home. A slight navigational error put us accidentally on the route through the Gorges de Galamus. I had thought about doing this but decided it might be a bit too hairy. I was right! Gorgeous scenery, at least that’s what my passengers told me. I was too busy watching the curvy, narrow road. It was a two-way road but had signs posted that said at certain points it was too narrow for two cars to pass. There were small pull-overs near these points. I assume that if we had met a car coming the other way one of us would have had to back to the nearest pull-over. Thank God that did not happen. (I’m not real good at backing!) Scariest 20 minutes or so of the whole trip!

Another day we went to Montségur which was something of a pilgrimage for Nancy. The drive up to the car park was enough to let me know that I would not be climbing this peak either. Deborah and I went as far as the monument to the martyred Cathars and Nancy, trailing a bit behind Jan and Richard, said she would just go as far as she could.
Deborah and I waited a few minutes, thinking that Nancy would return shortly. When she didn’t, we went down to the village to get something to drink. (We had let the others know that’s where we’d be.) An hour and a half later, I was more than a bit worried, but soon the three others appeared. Nancy, at age 72, had made it all the way to the top! She was so proud of herself as were we all.

On other days of this week we took a 2-hour boat ride on the Canal du Midi starting at the oddly-named town of Homps, went to the town of Minerve (interesting museum there on the history of the Cathars), visited the Abbaye de Fontfroide (beautiful!) and did a day trip to Les-Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and the Camargue.

We had three dinners out in restaurants that I can all recommend: Le Moulin de Trèbes, just beside the canal in Trèbes, Le Chateau St. Martin in Montredon (a bit hard to find, but well worth the trek) and Chez Saskia in Carcassonne (one of the less-expensive restaurants associated with the Hotel de la Cit&eacute. We had the best cassoulet of the trip at the Moulin de Trèbes. The other nights we cooked at “home” and ate well there, too. Richard, bless him, took on the role of cleaning the kitchen after meals as he did not do any cooking.

This was a wonderful week in a beautiful area of France, some of which I had not seen before. I loved driving the curvy roads (except for the Gorges de Galamus!) with the majestic, still snow-covered Pyrenees in the background.

Next installment: a week in the Dordogne

grandmere

Good to hear from you again, Betty1! (Betty C., right?) Sounds like a wonderful trip; eager to hear more!

progol

Nice trip report and great title for your post!

cigalechanta

Thanks Betty, a great start. I've been to those Castles in Cathars country.
Having been a runner before an accident. I made the climbs easily but there are so many places there with such great views that IMHO, they are better looking from the distance.

Betty1

Oui, grandmere, c'est moi! I've been around, just haven't posted much. Thanks, progol and Mimi. More tomorrow.

ira

thanks for sharing, Betty

laverendrye

Nice report, Betty. I'm looking forward to hearing about the Dordogne.

For anyone interested in the Cathars, Stephen O'Shea's "The Perfect Heresy, the Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval Cathars" is a fascinating history.

Intrepid1

Thanks for posting. I'm particularly interested in the "charging in dollars" issue as well as your fun with a cell phone.

hopingtotravel

This was interesting reading for me because it sounds like a bit different area than most Americans go to. Will be looking for next installment.

Betty1

Thanks for mentioning The Perfect Heresy, Laverendrye. I had meant to do that myself. I checked it out of the local library a couple of weeks before leaving, took it with me on the trip and am still reading it! (I'm a slow reader!) By the time I finish it I will owe more in late fees than the book would have cost. It really is excellent - very detailed and well-written. I second your recommendation.

And now, on to...

Dordogne – June 4-11: We left our house in Trèbes early on Saturday morning so that we could make a stop in Albi for lunch. If Montségur was a pilgrimage for Nancy, this was one for me. I spent a school year 1968-69 in Albi as an “assistante d’anglais,” (ostensibly) teaching English conversation to French kids. It was one of the life-changing events of my life and Albi will forever hold a special place in my heart.

In spite of our early start, it was nearing 11:30 by the time we reached Albi and, knowing that the Toulouse-Lautrec museum would close at noon, I headed straight there. As bad luck would have it, they are doing a lot of street construction around the cathedral and museum and parking near there seemed impossible. So Richard and I let our passengers out so they could at least get a brief view of the museum before it closed. We wound up parking on the other side of the river Tarn and by the time we walked back the museum was closing for lunch. I am sorry that Richard did not get to go in but he didn’t seem to mind too much. The others said they were able to see the highlights.
We then went into the Basilique Sainte-Cécile and were lucky enough to be able to hear a Russian choir practicing. Beautiful!

For lunch we went to the Café Pontié on the Place du Vigan, my old hangout when I was there over 35 years ago. I found out that Jean Martin, one of our group of friends, was still living in Albi and owned a photography studio very nearby. So, of course, I had to stop by. When I arrived he was not there and I talked to a young lady. But, just as I was about to leave, he arrived and it was just like old times with kisses and hugs and immediate tutoyer-ing. It turned out that the young lady I was talking with was Jean’s 21-year-old daughter! It was bittersweet, though, as I had to leave very quickly. We were due in the Dordogne by 5:00 pm.

Our house in the Dordogne was a few miles north of Sarlat just off the D704 near the village of La Chapelle-Aubareil. Following the directions of the owner (“follow the signs for Foie Gras Mercier”), we turned on to ever smaller roads and had begun to think we were totally lost, when we finally saw the sign for “Le Cheyssignaguet.” (We later found a more direct, though slightly longer, route.) I knew the house looked nice on the website, but the pictures did not do it justice. It is actually an old “corps-de-ferme” that includes three gites that have been refurbished to a very high degree of comfort. Our gite was called “Les Lauzes,” named for it’s flat roofing stones. We had 4 bedrooms, 2 downstairs and 2 upstairs, each with its own bathroom; a large living-dining-kitchen area downstairs and a swimming pool with access from the upstairs across a wooden bridge. The interior was nicely decorated and very well equipped with modern appliances (we never did figure out how to use the dryer part of our combination washer-dryer machine!) We also had a nice graveled courtyard with table and chairs where we often had our evening drinks. Our hosts invited us to their house just up the hill on Sunday night for aperitifs along with the French folks renting the smaller house on their property. There is also a 6-bedroom house (the back of it faced our courtyard) but it was not rented for this week. The whole complex could accommodate 26 or so people. My group was very happy with the accommodations!

If the week in Languedoc was Nancy’s favorite, this was Deborah’s. She is a college art history teacher and was thrilled to be able to see all the cave art here. We had reservations for Font-de-Gaume, Pech-Merle and Lascaux II. We made them all, though we cut it close for the last two. I think Pech-Merle is still my favorite because it combines cave art with natural formations. The painting of the “spotted horses,” where the prehistoric artists used the natural contours of the rock to supplement their painting and then “signed” their work with negative handprints, is breath-taking. Our guide at P-M was not the best, there were too many people and the tour was in French only, but I was able to do a bit of translation for my folks and some other English speakers in our group. (There were printed guides in English but they did not cover everything the guide was saying.) At FdeG and at Lascaux we were able to get an English tour. Both these guides were very passionate about their subjects and they explained in detail the history of the caves and theories as to purpose and meaning of the paintings.

We also visited the National Museum of Prehistory in Les Eyzies, which has been totally redone since I was there 2 years ago. It presents all the artifacts beautifully and now has TV screens that show how stone tools were made and how the paintings were done. Fascinating!

Betty1

On Sunday we went to the big market at St-Cyprien (a few fresh veggies for dinner) and then took a boat ride on the Dordogne (Garbares Norbert) which left from La Roque-Gageac. (Unbelievable views!) On the way home, we spent a couple of hours in Sarlat.

Later in the week we visited Castelnaud with its machines of war museum (learned the difference between a “catapulte” and a “trébuchet”) and Les Milandes, the castle once owned and occupied by Josephine Baker and all her adopted children. The castle is now a museum dedicated to her life. (Did you know that she was decorated by the French government for her work with the Resistance?) We also went to the “spectacle de rapaces,” the birds of prey show at les Milandes. I had thought it might be a bit “lame,” but it was actually very interesting. I had a large bird (a falcon?) sit on my arm! Wish I had had someone take a picture!

Here, too, we did three dinners out and four dinners at home. Seems to be a good balance. Our first dinner out was at La Table du Terroir (thanks for the recommendation, St. Cirq!) and was very good. Our waiter reminded us of the Spanish waiter on Fawlty Towers (Manuel?) running about the room! Our second dinner was at the Hotel Bonnet in Beynac. I really wanted to return here even though it was a bit of a drive from our place, because it had always been such a good deal: very good food for very reasonable prices. I am sorry to report that things have changed! We ate very well but the only menu offered was 38€ and à la carte was as much or more. Luckily, by this time, I knew we could afford a bit of a splurge. The total bill here for 5 was about 200€, not a fortune, I know, but not the bargain I had anticipated.

Our third dinner was at a ferme-auberge, recommended by our gite owners, called Le Bareil, on the same road as La Table du Terroir. They had warned us that we’d better start slowly and not try to eat everything they brought us and they were right! No menus here; you just eat what they bring you. As soon as we were seated the waiter brought a big bottle of red wine (no label) and a big bottle of water. The first course was a “soupe paysanne,” delicious vegetable soup with bread in it. (I could have made an entire dinner of this!) Then they brought a “salade de gésiers” (yes, gizzards) which was also wonderful. I don’t know how they make gizzards so tender and sweet, but they do. Next was a big bowl of homemade pâté. Then the waiter asked what we would like for our main dish: magret de canard, aiguillettes de canard or confit de canard. (Duck, duck or duck?) We ordered the first two which came with two kinds of sautéed mushrooms and sautéed potatoes. (Sautéed in duck fat, no doubt!) This was then followed by a huge cheese platter (4-5 kinds) and dessert (I had fresh strawberries with vanilla ice cream – yum!). The others joked that maybe we would have duck ice cream for dessert! All of this for 22€ each! Nothing fancy, mind you, but delicious nonetheless.

Saturday came all too quickly and we had to return to Toulouse for our flight back to Paris. We opted to take an alternate route to the airport to avoid city traffic and, unfortunately, this turned out to be a mistake: road construction and, worse, no gas stations to top up our tanks as required. We nevertheless got to the airport about an hour and a half before our flight time which was fine. When we turned in the cars, we were given a bill showing how much more we would be charged in euros. I asked if our cards would be charged in euros and was told “of course.” When I told the young woman what the other had told me when we picked up the cars about charging in dollars, her response was something to the effect “Why would we do that?” I replied that I didn’t know but they should instruct their personnel better so that they would not say such “bêtises” to customers! (I have now seen the charges on my credit card and they tacked on another 39.73€ that included 22 liters of gas at 1.51€/liter! We had previously paid from about 0.96 to 1.08/liter. Lesson learned: fill up that tank before you turn in your car!)

Back to the Hotel Muguet for one last night, this time in room 41 (same configuration and view as 51) and 14, which was a bit smaller and with no view of ET. We used our last day to shop and/or see one or two things we missed before. (Deborah and Jan went to the Notre-Dame crypt.) Next morning, Deborah left first for the Gare du Nord, returning to Belgium for a couple of more days with her friend before flying home. Then the other four of us got a taxi to CDG. A little excitement there: some idiot had left a bag unattended and we had to evacuate the airport! The AA guy I spoke to said it happens all the time. We lost about 30-45 minutes but got to our gate in plenty of time. Loooong trip home with a 3.5-hour layover in Chicago before returning to Charlotte. (Nancy had a flight to Boston and then on to Dallas.) Since we arrived in Charlotte around midnight I was very glad we had arranged to spend the night there. (We had left our cars at the hotel.) Richard, Jan and I said our good-byes the night before and left the next morning without seeing each other.

I have to say that, other than the sad part about the couple who had to cancel, this was a very smooth and enjoyable trip. I think I’ve finally learned that you can’t see and do everything. You have to give people a little down time.

Next and final installment: A few words about how we handled our money, how much things cost and my latest round with cell phones.

Betty1

Money matters:

Since I started doing these trips three years ago I have had a separate “travel” bank account that I use. It is in my name and the name of one other person going on the trip. And we each have a debit/ATM card attached to it. I also use my NEA MBNA Visa card (1% Visa fee only) to pay for most things and then pay my Visa bill from this account. In the past I have used the debit ATM card to pay hotel and restaurant bills but got hit with a 3% “conversion” charge. This year I used my Visa CC and then paid that bill on line from our travel account. That seems to have worked well. I only used our group ATM card twice to get cash to pay for things like small purchases in grocery stores, tips, tolls, etc. Using the CC and banking online gives me a good record for expenditures so that I can account for almost every penny spent. None of us had any trouble using ATM’s in Paris or elsewhere. I had to use an out-of-network ATM (i. e. not affiliated with BofA) once and had to pay a $5 fee. Other than that I used BNP Paribas and paid no extra fee.

As soon as we have a group formed (this year that was in November) I ask each one for a non-refundable deposit of $300 and then other payments periodically as needed to cover house rentals, car rentals, etc. They all understand that once money is spent or contracted for I cannot reimburse anyone who drops out. I strongly suggest that they take out trip cancellation insurance in case that should happen. Thank goodness the couple who had to cancel this year took my advice.

So, how much did we spend? We got a pretty good deal on airline tickets: Charlotte to Paris for $615.24. (Nancy & Deborah used FF miles.) Other expenses (per person – exchange rate varies depending on when item was paid from a low of about $1.23 to a high of about $1.35 to the euro):

Hotel (Paris) $350
House rentals (2 weeks) $450
Car rental (2 cars, 2 weeks) $250
Gas & tolls $60
10 restaurant dinners $425
Groceries $80
EasyJet $95
Taxis (to & from CDG, Orly) $65
Metro tickets $13
Open-Tour $30
Museum pass $45
Misc. (parking, tips, etc.) $50

For a total of $1900 +/- (not counting airfare) which I think is pretty good for 18-19 days. The only things not included were lunches, entry fees other than those covered by the museum card in Paris and incidentals.

Betty1

About cell phones: Cell phones and I do not get along well. I don’t use them much even here. (I have an old $15.00 mo. 15 minute rollover plan with Cingular and have several hundred minutes accrued.) About 4 years ago I bought a Siemens S40 World phone and it worked fine both sides of the Atlantic for about a year. Then the battery went dead and I could not buy another. (Was eventually told they no longer make that model, so no batteries available for it.) Two years ago I bought a Nokia 3100 (I think) that I was told would work in Europe. Discovered later that it was a tri-band and did not have both frequencies (900 & 1800) needed in France so it worked some of the time.

This year, thanks to the Fodors Forum, I purchased the $29 Mobal phone and used it 4-5 times in France. (Did not bother to try to unlock it.) So far, I have been charged $8.95. If that is my total bill, I will be happy with that. Earlier I found a source online where I could order a battery for my old Siemens and did so. It worked fine here for a month or so and for a few days in France (was using my Cingular SIM). Then, at the worst possible moment, (I was trying to get directions for the Chateau St. Martin near Carcassonne, which wasn’t easy to find) it died. (Did not have the Mobal phone with me.) I had only had the new battery for a bit over a month.

When I got back to Paris after our 2 weeks down south, I went to The Phone House on rue Cler to see if I could get a new battery for the Siemens phone. No dice. However, they did have a neat little Motorola for only 39€ that came with a 10€ SIM. If I traded in my old phone, the price was only 29€. I went for it. I was glad to be rid of the old Siemens. Unfortunately, the 10€ SIM is useless for me as I left France the next day and probably will not go back soon enough to keep it valid. (Anyone interested in using it? As I understand it, you’d have to already have a GSM 900/1800 phone to use it in. Maybe we could keep it alive and then just top it up. That would be less expensive than buying a new SIM, right? Or am I totally confused?)

Anyway, I think I now have two phones that will work in France, which is what I wanted all along. (Thinking of traveling in two cars, maybe getting accidentally separated, etc. or just separating on purpose and being able to talk to each other.)

So, there’s my trip report. Hope it helps someone. Thanks to all who posted about various and sundry topics that helped me plan this trip. A special thanks to Stu Dudley who sent me his very detailed itineraries for both Languedoc and the Dordogne. A special mention also to St. Cirq, our resident expert on the Dordogne. I’ve always found your advice to be “spot on.”

Any other questions or comments?

Gardyloo

Wow, a comprehensive and very well done set of reports about our fave parts of France.

We rented a house late one March that sat next to the Canal du Midi a few klicks out of Narbonne, and used it as a base for exploring the Cathar country as well as French Catalonia and some parts of the Camargue we hadn't visited. On the way back to Paris we stopped in Sarlat one night (many roads flooded out) and had one of the top one memorable nights of food and champagne in a spectacular restaurant in a cute hotel. Fell in love with the Dordogne then and there, and go back whenever we can, subject to the big world/little time conundrum.

Great posts, guess we gotta head back pretty soon. Thanks.

travginny

Hi Betty,

I read with great interest your detailed report. My upcoming September trip to the sud-ouest of France will be similar to the first week of your trip: Flight to Toulouse from Paris with Easy Jet and rental house in Limoux to visit Cathar country. My second week will be in St-Guilhem-le Désert, not too far from Montpellier.

I'm glad everything went well for you.

Ginny

StCirq

Hi, Betty:

I'm glad you enjoyed the Table du Terroir. I recommend it often, but of course most people don't end up being easily accessible to it. Lucky for you that your gîte was nearby.
I laughed about your duck, duck, duck dinner. One of the first summers we owned our house in France we were told we should have dinner at a nearby goose farm that did a small restaurant business on the side. We had a five-course goose dinner, all the while with huge gaggles of geese running about just outside the windows of the dining room of the owners' house, where they served dinner, and when the chef/man of the house announced that we were to be served glâce à l'oie for dessert, we all actually believed him! Fortunately, there was a delicious strawberry tarte instead.

Betty1

Thanks, Gardyloo! I know what you mean; there are some places like the Dordogne that keep calling us back. Provence does that for me, as well.

Thanks, Ginny. Hope your trip goes as well as mine did. We drove through Limoux a couple of times but never stopped. Looks like a nice town, though. I'll be envying you come September.

And thanks to you,too, St. Cirq. I thought of you when we went to the market at St. Cyprien, remembering your talking about going there and wondering if you were at home just up the road a bit. We did enjoy the Table du Terroir though our gite owner said that the quality depends on who is in the kitchen when you go. I guess we got lucky. Enjoyed your goose farm story. It sounds a lot like our ferme-auberge. Love those kinds of places! Thanks again for your help.

tedgale

travginny: If you are heading to St Guilhem and are willing to drive 25 km, try dinner at the very soigne La Pastourelle, in a garden-setting on the edge of St Martin de Londres.

La Pastourelle 350 chemin prairie 34380 Saint Martin de Londres tél : 04.67.55.72.78

Sum of Hrs Your itinerary

0 m 0H00 Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert (34150, France)

Exit from Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert [960m]
960 m 0H02 Take the D4 [2.9km]
3 Km 0H05 Turn left on the D27 [410m]
4 Km Turn left on the D27.e1 [5.6km]
10 Km 0H11 Turn left on the D32 [14.2km]
18 Km via Viols-le-Fort
24 Km 0H24 Enter into Saint-Martin-de-Londres [970m]

25 Km 0H26 Saint-Martin-de-Londres (34380, France)

Or for a pricey Michelin-starred experience, Les Muscardins:

19 rte Cévennes, St Martin de Londres, 04 67 55 75 90

ira

Thanx for a very interesting and useful report, Betty.