Paris, Chartres, Champagne Country and Giverny 2019
Sep 24th, 2019, 10:37 AM
#62
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DH and I first visited Giverny on a weekend in August 1982 and there were barely a dozen people there... in June 2017 we decided against going as our only available slot was a Sunday around 1ish! Am now looking at the second week of May next year, on a weekday, want to get there first thing in the morning, fingers crossed...
Sep 24th, 2019, 01:38 PM
#63
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You do need to get to Musee Marmottan. We went to L'Orangerie the day after our visit to Giverny - would love to do that again after seeing water lillies at Giverny. Spring was lovely there but we do want to see Giverny in Summer and Fall.
Sep 25th, 2019, 07:11 AM
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Treesa – We were there on a Wednesday afternoon and it was not deserted but it did not feel crowded. We were in Amsterdam in August of 2018 and it was super crowded in many places. I guess anything less than the insane mob scenes we experienced there just doesn’t feel all that crowded to me anymore. BTW have you found a suitable sports car for us that will fit car seats for the grandkids? HA!
geetika – I would think early morning in midweek should not be too crowded. Good luck.
denisea – We wanted to go to the Marmottan either just before or just after visiting Giverny but it didn’t work out for us. For sure we will visit it the next time we are in Paris.
Karenwoo – thanks. If you like Monet and gorgeous gardens, you will love Giverny.
Nikki – I would think all the blooming flowers would be great in the spring. I’m not sure how early in the spring denisea was there but she said there were no waterlillies yet. I’m glad we were able to see them. They are such an iconic feature in some of Monet’s paintings – especially in some of the panels at the Orangerie.
geetika – I would think early morning in midweek should not be too crowded. Good luck.
denisea – We wanted to go to the Marmottan either just before or just after visiting Giverny but it didn’t work out for us. For sure we will visit it the next time we are in Paris.
Karenwoo – thanks. If you like Monet and gorgeous gardens, you will love Giverny.
Nikki – I would think all the blooming flowers would be great in the spring. I’m not sure how early in the spring denisea was there but she said there were no waterlillies yet. I’m glad we were able to see them. They are such an iconic feature in some of Monet’s paintings – especially in some of the panels at the Orangerie.
Sep 26th, 2019, 03:54 AM
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Giverny was lovely in Spring! It was not a disappointment at all...just different flowers in bloom. I think any season there is still going to be beautiful. While we were there daffodils, tulips, pansies and violas were the primary flowers in bloom. The gardens around the ponds were still beautiful just too early for the water lillies. We were there in April - I think early April.
Feb 28th, 2020, 12:02 PM
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This is the first trip report that I have included pictures in the report itself - and I think I like it. I don't know how to control the size of the pictures in the report (some of them are huge) so I also recently uploaded them to one of my shutterfly sites where I can view them in the slideshow mode.
https://jkitaly2001.shutterfly.com/pictures/760
https://jkitaly2001.shutterfly.com/pictures/760
Feb 29th, 2020, 01:12 PM
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Enjoyed all these pictures immensely, they encapsulate several of our trips to France -- once north to NormandyGiverny, once east to Champagne/Burgundy but there is always more to see in France! This Fall we'll finally get to: Promenade Plantee (4th arr), Musee Marmotton, the new Musee Resistance (14th arr), Viaduc des Arts (12 arr), and some of the many Passages in Paris when the weather has been too fine to spend indoors!
Mar 3rd, 2020, 03:23 PM
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I just read through this entire report again. Really nice report john183 I've done a lot of research so these towns are making more sense to me (what they are and where they are), as I have only been to Paris a few times thus far. I am still confused between Reims, Rouen and Rennes with regards to beautiful, charming cities, things to do, etc.
Mar 4th, 2020, 08:07 AM
#75
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lrice - Thanks. I have not spent any time in Rennes (but I have heard some good things about it). I have only spent a day each in Reims and Rouen - both were very enjoyable.
I saw a question about how people do and organize trip and travel research on another thread of yours. I really enjoy the planning and research part of trips so I know that I over analyze things compared to most people. I'm a computer guy so in my opinion you can't have too many spreadsheets, links to various web sites, copies of trip reports, google maps pdf files, checklists, tentative calendars etc etc etc. I create a folder for each trip and just fill it up with stuff. This trip popped up unexpectedly so I did not have my usual amount of time for research but still have 81 different files in my Paris 2019 folder. Our Italy 2014 trip has 295 files in 9 different folders. We also buy at least one guide book for each trip. I know. I'm crazy.
I saw a question about how people do and organize trip and travel research on another thread of yours. I really enjoy the planning and research part of trips so I know that I over analyze things compared to most people. I'm a computer guy so in my opinion you can't have too many spreadsheets, links to various web sites, copies of trip reports, google maps pdf files, checklists, tentative calendars etc etc etc. I create a folder for each trip and just fill it up with stuff. This trip popped up unexpectedly so I did not have my usual amount of time for research but still have 81 different files in my Paris 2019 folder. Our Italy 2014 trip has 295 files in 9 different folders. We also buy at least one guide book for each trip. I know. I'm crazy.
Mar 5th, 2020, 01:33 AM
#76
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Not at all. Although you may have me beat on sheer number of files, I do the same, including not having time for researching some trips and using info collected for the last one.
I used to do a Word doc full of notes, but now I just bookmark sites and put them in a folder on my phone. The only time I bring paper is when there are explicit instructions to print something.
I used to do a Word doc full of notes, but now I just bookmark sites and put them in a folder on my phone. The only time I bring paper is when there are explicit instructions to print something.
Mar 5th, 2020, 08:32 AM
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YankyGal - Thanks but I'm pretty sure I am a little crazy when it comes to researching trips. For example I have dozens of files on the Path of the Gods in the Italy 2014 folder. When we were in the Cinque Terre in 2012 we hiked the high trail (6d) from Manarola to Corniglia and loved it so we wanted to try hiking the Path of the Gods in 2014. We were all in our sixties at the time and I wanted to see if it was feasible for us to even try. A group of senior citizens hiking a trail with the name of the Path of the Gods seemed a little daunting.
As I meandered around the internet I saved links to anything I found about the Path of the Gods that I would look at in detail later. Surprisingly many of the links were not useful at all but others were very informative. I eventually determined we should try it. I'm so glad we did because it was just incredible - one of the most memorable things we have ever done on vacation. Jeez. I apologize for talking so much about Italy on a France thread.
As I meandered around the internet I saved links to anything I found about the Path of the Gods that I would look at in detail later. Surprisingly many of the links were not useful at all but others were very informative. I eventually determined we should try it. I'm so glad we did because it was just incredible - one of the most memorable things we have ever done on vacation. Jeez. I apologize for talking so much about Italy on a France thread.
Last edited by john183; Mar 5th, 2020 at 08:39 AM.
Mar 5th, 2020, 08:52 PM
#78
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I am the same way! I love to research and plan.
My issue is utilizing all I have read about during the actual trip. I make a pretty tight itinerary with several options to be flexible as we go. But if some family member says let’s go eat now, I can’t quickly pull up the 5 restaurants I had researched in the area because I had planned lunch in another neighborhood. So we fall into a horrible chain or mediocre pub. I need to figure out how to execute better on my research 😊
My issue is utilizing all I have read about during the actual trip. I make a pretty tight itinerary with several options to be flexible as we go. But if some family member says let’s go eat now, I can’t quickly pull up the 5 restaurants I had researched in the area because I had planned lunch in another neighborhood. So we fall into a horrible chain or mediocre pub. I need to figure out how to execute better on my research 😊
Mar 6th, 2020, 04:31 AM
#79
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lrice - I feel your pain. Dwight Eisenhower said that planning is everything, the plan is nothing. And Mike Tyson (of all people) said everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. When we are in the heat of the battle (otherwise known as sightseeing), like you I have a hard time utilizing the things I have researched.
Luckily for me, my traveling companions are fairly flexible. We have destinations in mind for the day but there are just so many variables (the biggest are weather and how we feel) that once we get started we tend to figure it out as we go using what we can of the research we have done. We usually eat where and when it is convenient or when we are hungry. We rarely research restaurants in advance. In all of our trips I can only remember a few meals that were really bad, most have been reasonably good if not quite good. Our approach would not work for everyone but it works for us.
Luckily for me, my traveling companions are fairly flexible. We have destinations in mind for the day but there are just so many variables (the biggest are weather and how we feel) that once we get started we tend to figure it out as we go using what we can of the research we have done. We usually eat where and when it is convenient or when we are hungry. We rarely research restaurants in advance. In all of our trips I can only remember a few meals that were really bad, most have been reasonably good if not quite good. Our approach would not work for everyone but it works for us.
