Travelling to France
 

Hi, my husband is going to Angers, France for two weeks for work. I was thinking of going along but what can I do while he's in courses all day?

Angers is a nice city. But you could, in fact, do day trips by train from there if you wanted, it's right on the high-speed rail line.

I won't tell you what to do in Angers, I'm sure you can find that out from any guidebook -- several interesting museums and churches, etc.

But you can actually get to Paris by TGV in only 1.5 hours from Angers, you could easily go there or other cities for the day if you wanted.

Definitely go!

Angers is at the western end of the Loire valley castle region. If you have a car, they are easily accessible. If using a train, there are several easy to reach ones: Amboise, Clos Lucé, Chenonceau, and Blois. There are also local mini bus tours to visit popular ones not reachable by trains.

If you are ambitious, you can also visit Mont St-Michel if you are not already thinking of visiting it together.

If you are heading there in summer, look up Son et lumière shows held at various castles in the valley.

It would help if your profile let us know more about you. Where you live, your interests, etc. If you live in Australia or London makes a difference in making such a decision, for example.

Sorry, I just updated my profile. I live in Canada. I'm debating going with my husband or possibly meeting up with him afterwards and touring together. I've never traveled alone so I'm a little skeptical?!

What are you skeptical about traveling alone? It's easy to do, and you are thinking about an area that offers lots of easy options for you to go places alone. Not knowing your interests or your husband's, I'd still guess that there are places you'd like to see that hold little interest for him. Having some time alone in a location give you an opportunity to do some of these things. You can also explore for places that both of you would enjoy.

This is also an opportunity for you to build your confidence as a traveler.

Thanks Kathie, I come from a very small town, so travelling to a big city is intimidating and I can't speak any French so that alone makes me nervous. My husband loves History and Museums. I'm more of a lay on the beach type person but love travelling to different places so hate to miss out on France?! We are not sure when he will have to go but they told us likely "first quarter" so Jan/Feb or March.

You don't have to speak French to travel in France but a few phrases will build your confidence and make the people you meet feel like you are making an effort.

Have you traveled to big cities in Canada?

I have but usually with a friend or family.

Don't miss the opportunity - it may not happen again.

We spend 2 months in France every year. Easy to get around. We stayed for a week just outside of Angers - don't miss the tapestry in the Chateau. The town of Angers is quite nice. Our best meal was at Le Favre d'Anne.

Stu Dudley

In our experience French is handy but not necessary in touristy parts of the country. A few polite phrases in French will have them responding in English or finding someone who will tell you where the toilet is. Even if you feel a bit timid at first you will find that almost any place you visit regularly will begin to treat you with recognition and courtesy.

You will kick yourself forever if you do not go, and I'm sure that folks on this Forum will be more than happy to give you advise on any sticky bits that may come up along the way.

I venture to guess that you will come home from this trip s stronger, wiser, more confident person.

There are always problems in travel, always, and solving these, even minor ones, prepares us to handle the harder ones more easily. You will have memories to share with your husband from times together on evenings and weekends, and you will have time to learn about yourself during the days and on day trips.

I could write a lot more, but only if you want to hear it.

Going would be a great idea, IMO. The centre of Angers is not that big and you will soon get the feel of the town, find a nice cafe that suits you for your morning cafe au lait, how to get to and from the railway station, your favourite bar for your evening de-brief with your DH, etc.

and you've got time to learn a bit of french - try the library or e-Bay for a language CD. the Muchel Thomas ones are very good, and even a few basic phrases will help.

that should be "Michel Thomas" of course.

I would love to hear it Ackislander :)

It isn't just the French, but I don't belittle the idea that all these day trips and navigating the French TGV system and Paris would be a bit much for someone from a small town who has never traveled. My sister is like that and that would be a disaster.

Perhaps a small train trip to a nearby town would be possible.

So other than stuff in Angers, I bet you can find some day tour companies from there, if you want. Just go to the main tourism office, they usually have brochures of that kind of stuff.

This will be dead out of the tourist season so some of the suggestions above won't apply, like minibus tours through the local tourist office, which I would otherwise join in recommending. But the tourist office can help you sort out how to find local and regional attractions, how to buy bus and train tickets, and the like.

But there will be markets and churches and chilly damp walks in the country and the joy of seeing unexpected things every time you turn around, and riding the bus to the nearest town and back is an adventure if you haven't been there.

You can learn ten polite phrases a week, and because the French have in general extremely formal manners, this will get you a long way. Learn to order coffee, a meal, and ask simple directions, and you will be fine. I have traveled a lot in France and Italy with Canadian friends, and their only problems have revolved around things not being as, well, predictable as they are at home. Jumping queues is a norm, but so is always greeting the ticket seller, shopkeeper, or desk clerk, even if you have greeted them three minutes before. It is disconcerting, like not being able to get coffee with dessert in France or cappuccino after 11AM in less touristy parts of Italy, but learning how other people do things is what I love about travel.

If he is there for two weeks, I would let him get established by himself the first week, spend the second week learning things on your own, and then have him take a vacation week after the work is done for you to do things (Paris?) together.

He may have to do evening work, dinners, etc to which you won't be invited. A friend had the experience of going on a business trip of her husband's to a one hotel town in Switzerland, where she had dinner on one side of the dining room and her husband and colleagues had their working dinner on the other side! I occasionally joined my wife at the end of one of her many business trips to the UK, and I had to amuse myself while she was working or being wined and dined. But I had done a lot of business travel on my own and could rely on my own company!

Go, learn, enjoy!

Thanks Christina! I have travelled a lot ... Just never alone :) I will most likely stick with Angers until the Hubby can join me!!!!

Thanks Everyone

Angers is a nice little town (used to travel to the area on business and wine buying) the old centre is great, try to ensure Hubby gets rooms in the centre not out at the industrial estates around it.

If the whole car hire thing is a bit worrying look at a bus/tain route up and down the Loire. You can have a day out to Saumur or Nantes. You can buy the train tickets at the station from the machine (or on line) and apart from stamping the tickets at the yellow machine before you board all you have to do is show them to the conductor (billet "bi-yah" si vous plait) so days out are easy (Saumur is another pretty town with a cavalry regiment based there). Lots of other trips.

Being the Loire in the slow season will be perfect to get to buy lunch in a cheap restaurant or cake etc, as the place will be enlivened by a foreign visitor. Easy-Peasy.

seat61.com explains how the trains work. Mainly you will want the local trains which you can stroll up to but if going longer distances you need the TGV.

http://www.ot-saumur.fr/LE-GRAND-SAU...el_a26018.html

https://www.capitainetrain.com/en

crazy - perhaps you feel now that you won't want to venture far, but when you get there you may feel more confident after a few days or so.

I've usually found the people in the tourist offices in France very helpful and it is highly likely that someone there will speak english.

As bilbo says, Saumur is a great place for a day trip from Angers.

>>Saumur is a great place for a day trip from Angers.<<

and Nantes is only 40 mins away by train.

Stu Dudley

crazy.. I am from Victoria.. not exactly the bright lights big city.. and I have visited Europe solo and alone with my children.. and I am not particularily worldly or brave and only have most basic hs French,, so don't worry so much about being overwhelmed..

I would never miss a chance to go .. and you are not even going to be really alone ,, just during the day,, and you are a grown up., you can certainly sightseee and do some easy daytrips from Angers.

Remember most tourists do not in fact speak French( other then the basics,hello, goodbye, please and thank you) . Bring a small translator if you must.. but don't worry about it too much.

Go and have a wonderful time. Lucky you !

and Nantes is only 40 mins away by train.>>

I don't really get the point you are trying to make, Stu; Saumur is only 20 mins away from Angers by train. I don't know if that makes it a better or worse option for a day trip than Nantes.

in 2 weeks, the OP could probably do both!

>>in 2 weeks, the OP could probably do both!<<

Yep - visit both Saumur & Nantes. Quite different cities.

Stu Dudley

Don't miss the famous Tapestry of the Apocalypse in Angers.

I'm definately going to go ... But I'm thinking I will meet up with hubby after he's been there for abit and after his work is done we can enjoy paris together and possibly London ?!

AGAIN - don't pass up the opportunity and don't try to do too much (Paris & London). Go over with your hubby, relax & sightsee and make Angers "your home". Visit a few Chateaux and a few other close-by cities. France is not a "strange" country.

Stu Dudley

Well whatever, I personally would want to spend as much time there as possible and not just go after hubby was free to accompany me everywhere, but I guess some folks are just not good going on their own to do things, even in their hometowns. Just don't worry about it because its France , that has little to do with it, if you are capable and independent at home then go for it in France, if you know yourself well enough to understand you are not comfortable sightseeing in the day on your own then that is fair .

>>But I'm thinking I will meet up with hubby after he's been there for abit and after his work is done we can enjoy paris together and possibly London ?!<<

Ah - don't be a wimp ;)

What will you be doing at home that is more fun than enjoying France?

You will be giving up a chance to see a lot of great places on your own . . . and THEN you and hubby can head to Paris (and London IF you have enough time)

Ok! I think with all the great advise and encouragement I will travel with hubby for the whole two weeks...I will venture out during the day!! Evenings and weekend will be spent with hubby!!

It's really quite easy to travel by train in France and if you want to explore the Loire then you should learn which places can be accessed by train. If you look at the link below you'll see a map of places that can be reached by train in that area with the names of all the towns/stops highlighted:

http://cdn.ter.sncf.com/medias/PDF/c...cm56-27689.pdf

The above link shows only places east of Angers (in the Centre region) since Angers is in a different region (Pays de la Loire region) so check out the below link to see Angers and how you'd connect with places east (and west) of there:

http://cdn.ter.sncf.com/medias/PDF/p...cm67-19903.pdf

In the above link the red lines indicate bus routes.

Most of your local train travel would be on TER trains and these trains require no reservations and have fixed prices so you can buy those tickets on the day you travel right at the train station. If you want to use TGV trains or possibly Intercités trains then you need to buy tickets for those trains up to 3 months in advance to get the cheapest prices. Last minute ticket purchase for TGV trains and many Intercités trains will be the most expensive.

You can use the above websites to plan your routes and find prices but they are in French only so for route planning, schedules and pricing in English use www.capitainetrain.com. I noticed bilboburgler already provided this link as well as www.seat61.com and the latter is a great site to learn about train travel in Europe.

For anyplace you want to visit you should always look at the tourist office website as they will tell you everything there is to see and do and also have info about wine, food, hiking, biking etc. The thread below has links to all the major tourist office websites in the Loire as well as info about castles, food, wine, biking etc.:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-de-france.cfm

There is a lot of nice, easy biking in that area and well marked bike routes and cycle paths so you could rent a bike in Angers and have a nice ride along the river or nearby. Check out the link below for more info about that:

http://www.cycling-loire.com/

You can also go walking/hiking on any of these trails. When you get to Angers visit the tourist office and they'll have maps of the town (probably free) that will outline the tourist trail and the highlights of town. They will also have loads of other info (maps, brochures pamphlets etc.) about things to see/do/visit not only in town but in the whole region. Your first stop in any town you visit should always be the tourist office to get your map and other needed info to help you explore.

If you do a bit of research before you go then I don't think you'll have any major problems trying to get around that region on your own while your husband is working. Have a great trip. :)

but I guess some folks are just not good going on their own to do things, even in their hometowns. Just don't worry about it because its France , that has little to do with it, if you are capable and independent at home then go for it in France, >>

I don't think some of you understand this issue. If you have never ridden a train in your life, nor used a city bus or metro system, this isn't "quite easy." My sister is perfectly comfortable doing things on her own in the small New England town she's lived in for at least 30 years, but is not in any large city as she rarely is in one, let alone ones in foreign countries with different customs and languages. I'm not sure she's taken the train hardly at all in the US. Being comfortable in your small hometown you've lived in your whole life and everybody mostly knows you and there isn't much to do anyway, isn't the same thing as going to a foreign country and navigating large cities.

From an earlier post by the OP:

>>Thanks Christina! I have travelled a lot ... Just never alone<<

A "rare" trip to France seems to be the right opportunity to try something new. "Yah gotta start sometime" to enjoy the pleasures/experiences of traveling "somewhere else". If crazy4 doesn't enjoy it, or gets "wigged out" - then at least she knows it's not for her!!

Stu Dudley

go for it, crazy. I'm glad that you've been persuaded to go Angers with your DH for the whole 2 weeks, and i'm sure you won't regret it.

you can start with baby steps, get the hang of Angers and then branch out when you feel more comfortable.

and if you take your tablet or computer, you can always nip back to ask your fodors' friends for a spot of advice!

Have fun the people are "small town" in the Loire, no city slickers, crank up the courtesy (old world style) and you'll love it. :-) as Ann says come back for more advice.

Now that I've decided to go (hubby's work said he'd be going first quarter so jan, February or March) what are some suggestions for evenings in Angers once DH) he loves history and museums - do any of the attractions have evening hours etc ?!?!

Check the tourist office website:

http://www.angersloiretourisme.com/en