We've only been home for 5 days and are ready to go back; actually before our flight home we were already trying to figure out how soon we could come back.

I will post a full trip report soon, but I wanted to thank everyone who offered advice and input on our itinerary. The plan for this trip was a slow pace so we could relax and enjoy a 'few' places versus a hurried pace in order to fit in many sights and towns. I think for once we accomplished this goal.

A few quick notes:

We stayed near Amboise in the Loire Valley. We found the area quiet, easy to drive around, peaceful and beautiful. A few days here are probably enough though. Unless you just absolutely love chateau's and need to see them all. Sadly the wind didn't cooperate so our balloon flight was canceled.

Riding the TGV trains is convenient, fast and easy. And the scenery is incredible.

Next stop was Provence, near St. Remy. We visited: St. Remy, Avignon, Isle-sur-la-Sorgue on a Sunday w/market, Lourmarin w/ Friday market, Bonnieux, Cassis. Our favorites were St. Remy and Isle-Sur-La-Sorgue. But we loved all the towns we visited and the countryside drives as well.

Paris was as magical as most people describe. This is our all time favorite European city now. Staying in the 6th was a good choice. The area is charming and jam packed with good restaurants, shops and cafes. The metro is incredibly easy to use, although pretty darn hot on some lines and crowded too. We never felt nervous or concerned for our safety or the security of our belongings on the metro or the streets, day or night.

The weather was a near perfect 72 degrees during the day in the Loire Valley and Provence. Light sweater in the evenings. Paris was very, very hot (90+) for our first day and a half. Then it cooled down to the mid-70's. We had expected cooler weather. So we had some clothing we never used, like jackets and light sweaters.

My observations on clothing: We live near San Francisco and I wore clothes similar to what I'd wear at home and felt perfectly comfortable and stylish.
Day time: Nice capri's or casual skirts w/ tanks or t's and comfortable sandals.
Evening: denim or white jeans w/ cute flat sandals or heels, a long linen skirt and a knee length dressier skirt. These pieces worked perfect for the Loire, Provence and Paris. I saw lots of women wearing white- pants, skirts, linen or otherwise. Also about as many wearing flat ballet type shoes as strappy heeled sandals.

My husband did not need his sports coat (possibly due to the heat)and we dined at several fine dinning restaurants. During the day in Provence he wore nice longer shorts with linen shirts or polos as did most of the other men we saw. Evenings he wore khaki pants or jeans w/ a nice shirt. In Paris he wore pants the first day, even though it was extremely hot. That was a mistake. He would have been fine in nice shorts then too. Evenings were always pants.

I'll post again soon with details on our hotels, restaurants, navigational errors, sights, etc. The trip was great!!!!

Sounds wonderful!
Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Suziem, so glad to read that you saw capris recently! Being from California (and I guess all over the USA), I have a closet full of 'em, denim and otherwise. They are just so comfy, and being only 5'3", the shorter hems work great-don't have to spend the time and $$ to hem up at least 6" of length that most jeans come with! I'm happy that now I can bring my capris in Sept, plus some skirts & shorts for daytime exercusions. Naturally jeans for the evenings. Do the French fret over whether or not we'll "make them" wear capris when they visit here? ha ha Try 'em, you'll like 'em!
Thanks for your teaser post; can't wait to read your entire report!

Glad you had a good trip. Will look forward to longer report because it sounds like you were at a lot of the same spots we visited in April/May 05. My husband had been told many negative things about France before our trip and he came home absolutely in love with both the place and the many helpful, friendly people.

Looking forward to the rest of your report

Sounds like you were in Paris when we were. It was definitely a heat wave! Still, Paris was wonderful as usual!. We had a friend of our daughter's with us. She had had the misconception of the French being rude. We set her straight before the trip and encouraged her to make up her own mind once we were there. (don't you hate it when people get their minds set because of what others say... usually others who have never been there themselves>>>?)

Anyway, she quickly admitted that she was wrong. The French were wonderful people. Everyone was very helpful, accommodating and nice. There were six in our party, me being the only one who speaks French. The others ventured out on their own quite a bit. They always started with a bonjour and s'il vous plaît and they were always received niceness and helpfulness in return.

I love Paris and the French people!! I'm glad you enjoyed it too.

I've returned home to a whirlwind of activity, but I hope to soon post at least the trip review portion detailing our hotels and dinning reviews.

In the meantime, a few other observations that come to mind:
-The French people we encountered were warm, friendly and eager to help. Often even apologetic for their poor English, which of course made us feel even worse for not speaking more French. So my advise would be to try to learn some French and use what little you can. Between my husband and I we only managed a dozen or so words and phrases but even that was much appreciated and always greeted with a warm smile. We left France embarassed by how little French we could speak, but never felt treated rudely because of it. We are now determined to do our best to improve our French before we return. On that note, our Rick Steves Phrase book and the French Food Glossary from Intimate France were invaluable.

-Make sure you schedule plenty of time to relax and people watch in cafes, especially in Paris. These are some of our fondest memories.

-French food is the best food we've had in Europe.

-Pack even lighter than you planned and bring an extra bag, or your Fedex shipper number and mail you dirty clothes home like we did. The markets in Provence are marvelous. We're glad we had the chance to visit a small one and a bigger one. These towns probably felt very different on non-market days though, so as I've read from other posts it might be nice to visit your favorite town on both a market and non-market day.

-Cassis was worth visiting even as a day trip. To us it seemed like the picture perfect beach town, just the right number of restaurants, cafes, shops, tourist, locals, and a sandy beach too. And just so pretty and clean.

More to follow soon.......

Thanks for the great information. DH and I are headed to Provence and Paris in August, and this is exactly the info we need for packing. He is also one of those who assumes the French are rude, and knows not one word of the language. I have ordered a slew of French language CDs from the library and hope to get him in a better frame of mind before we go.

Suziem - Glad you had a wonderful time and thank you for sharing as we will be heading to Paris in a couple of weeks and just the information that I need for packing and places to visit as we've never been there.

You luck duck! Sounds like a great trip - and eerily similar to one we have planned for next summer - may I ask where you stayed in the Loire Valley? We are looking at a place called Chateau des Ormeaux, near Amboise...good luck with your France withdrawal(the best remedy I've found is to start planning the next trip...)
msm4

msm4- You will enjoy the Chateau des Ormeaux, we certainly did. See my hotel/rest review for our trip that I just posted. Several other people from this board have posted positive experiences at Ch. des Ormeaux too. It is a very restful, beautiful place.

Katerbug-You will be fine in capri pants for daytime. Most women were waring skirts or pants, including jeans, at night. I find casual cotton skirts more comfortable than shorts. Seems to look less rumpled by the end of the day too.

CarolineM-Here's a rundown of my husbands packing:
-short slv polo shirts
-short slv button up cotton or linen shirts
-long slv button up shirts
-knee length cargo shorts
-khaki pants
-jeans
-1 pair of dress slacks (tan)
-2 pairs of shoes (1 lace up dress shoe, 1 slip-on boat type leather shoe
Things he took and DID NOT wear:
navy sports coat, light weight windbreaker, polo type long slv sweater.
He felt comfortable and looked very nice. We noticed many men wearing linen shirts and some pants too. Also, capri pants are popular with men too. They looked best on young men or boys and tall, slimmer guys. My husband wouldn't go for it, but he thought they'd look good on our teen boys.

wug- I couldn't agree with you more regarding how kind and friendly the French people were to us. We tried to be 'polite' tourists and think it paid off very well. We always used our meager French and usually that was all that was required to receive a smile & helpful service in return.