Trip Report: Paris, Loire Valley, Ile de Re, Bourges, Beaune
 

This was our first trip to Europe. And not our last. We were in France from 9/13-30. Though the time it took to plan it was extraordinary, the result were worth it. At the airport before leaving, we met a woman who had been to Paris four times; and this time was going to use the metro to get from the airport to the city so we joined her so we could all experiment together. I was amazed at how efficient a system it was. We did have trouble using the machine to get our tickets but with patience, we beat them. The only problem we had was then having to schlep some luggage up stairs where escalators did not exist - to get to a changeover -- and then up more to get to the street and to our hotel. But all is all, it worked. We had reserved at Regent's Hotel - in a mostly residential neighborhood -- 6th A -- quiet, comfortable, convenient to the metro (close to Luxemborg Gardens and StSuplice) - $95 nightly for a grand lit. I would recommend it. The first night we were so tired we just wanted a quick dinner nearby and lucked into a small non-touristy place called Le Petit Luxembourg - frequented mostly by local Parisian - and run by a wonderful couple - she cooked and he served. Great food. We ended up eating there two nights we liked it so much. Being first time Paris visitors, we do all the usual -- Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Versailles, D'Orsay, and others. But not well --- another trip is definitely in order. Leaving Paris we picked up a rental car and were upgraded as we were dropping the car in Germany at the end of our trip -- and they just happened to have a large car with automatic transmission that had to be returned to Germany. As another post has mentioned, signage is difficult till you get used to it. And you have to experience it for that. Signs that appear to point to the next road, actually point to the one you are approaching and such. Lots of roundabouts. Lots of them. In the Loire Valley we stayed at Chateau dePray in Amboise -- a splurge for us. Very elegant. Two days for seeing castles -- Chemonceau, Chambord. Then on to Ile de Re (an island off the Atlantic coast) where we had done a house swap. Wonderful little seaside villages dating to the 700s -- walls around everything. To get to our house it was down a small alley, through a door into a courtyard, and then into the house. It was nice to be able to go to markets, cook some of our own meals and have space to spread out. Wonderful history here as the British fought for this land many years ago. One of the towns has a moat built around the whole town. From there we were ultimately heading for Germany where we stayed with a friend, but on the way, we stopped at Bourges -- I would say to put this on your list of places to see in France. A truly unspoiled medieval city -- fantastic cathedral with some of the most interesting art I've seen anywhere -- we stayed at Hotel de Bourbon which was very nice. On to Beaune (Burgundy country) for another two days -- tasting wine, touring the Hotel Dieu (a hospital built in 1400s by the local duke for victims of famine)-- here we stayed at Hotel de la Paix -- fairly basic but fine. We had good luck just stopping and finding accomodations in this area.
General impressions --everything is so old it makes our historical towns here look like modern day!! The metro in Paris was great and I would encourage anyone to use it -- we are not public transit people normally but the system is so good there. We loved eating sausage, bread and cheese for breakfast and good thing as often that is what is offered. My husband hated the coffee. Weather was great -- cooler than we're used to but most days were in the high 60s, low 70s and this is fine. Probably we lucked out on weather as it seemed to turn much cooler right after we left. French men do relieve themselves whenever and wherever. The highlight for us was a morning we were stopped in traffic in a construction area -- a police car was two cars ahead of us - the policeman got out of the driver's side (we thought to check to see how long he'd have to wait) and went to the other side of the car and let it go. Forget going behind a tree. You just have to love it!! The wine, cheese and bread are wonderful and wine is very inexpensive to buy in the supermarkets. In fact, go to the supermarkets to buy souvenirs -- same as sold in the shops sometimes and cheaper. Also we brought back wine, figuring we'd be charged duties on it -- but no, they just whisked us through - no charge. The people are wonderful and it's clean. Before leaving friends questioned our sanity -- are you crazy, the French are rude and it is so dirty there. I really don't know where this comes from. Everywhere we went it was clean -- even out in the countryside - no litter. And the people could not have been nicer. We were in many situations where no one spoke a word of English and with my broken French and some sign language we did just fine. You MUST know some of the language. It is France; they do speak French and really should not be expected to speak English. We talked with people over lunch at a nearby table. We talked with shopkeepers. Everyone was friendly. Once after asking directions in a small town and being led there by a sweet couple, they invited us to their home -- they could not speak a word of English.
Next Italy -----

Hi sea,

Very nice report. Glad you liked your visit to France.

Please be so kind as to provide spaces between paragraphs. My eyes go out of focus from all the letters.

Searose, don't be discouraged--the report is interesting enough to keep reading despite paragraphing. I think it's amazingly neat that on a first trip you'd visit an offcoastal island. Liked the description.

Love the Ile de Ré, their beer, "Blanche de Ré"is surprisingly good,brought an empty flip top bottle home our waiter gave us. loved sitting along the quai, have photos that remind me and bought a canvas shoulder sac bag, that friends always borrow for week-end trips. We stayed in Beaune at a B%B called "Home" vey nice and could walk to the restaurants. I can tell you will be back :)

Great trip report! Glad you had a nice time. Great idea to do a house swap.

We've done two trips combining Loire valley and Ile de Re. Think it's a real winner. Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the report.

Great report and wonderfully detailed..isn't the place super????

Unfortunately, our current climate in the US seems to be based on an absolute need to "demonize" anyone, anywhere who has any sort of disagreements with us and I continue to maintain that the French have been far, FAR more "understanding" of this "situation" than some of our "it's either black or white" brethren on this side of the Atlantic.

Keep your wonderful outlook...travel does tend to enlighten those who are recpetive.