Hello everybody.

We have just returned from our 2 week vacation in parts of Northern France and wanted to give you a brief (although it may seem long) trip summary. I'll also mention in retrospect what we loved and what we would have done differently now that we have some experience.

First, thank you all for your contributions that helped make this a wonderful trip of which it was!

France Summary:

Paris: 4 Nights

Day 1: Arrived early, at CDG, driven to the hotel via a taxi from a previously arranged ride from the hotel.

Stayed at the Hotel Pas De Calais in the Saint Germain Neighborhood. Excellent hotel and location.

While we were waiting for our room we took a long scenic walk along the Seine, visited

Different neighborhoods, Luxembourg Gardens, and visited Notre Dame.

Dinner at Les Antiquaires. - Excellent

Day 2: Montmartre, Sacre Coeur, Galeries Lafayette, Touileries Gardens, Place de la Concorde,

Eiffel Tower

Dinner at Le Procope. - Good

Day 3: Louvre, Neighborhoods, Seine Sunset Cruise

Dinner at Café Louise - Very Good

Day 4: Champs Elysees & Arc de Triomphe, Pantheon

Dinner at L’Oliveto - Excellent

Paris was amazing. Most everybody was extremely friendly and spoke some English although we tried our best to speak as much French as possible. The hotel was outstanding. Outstanding location; walkable to everything except we did choose to take the subway to Montmartre because that was the furthest away and we wanted to get a good start on things. I rated the restaurants above. We love to walk so every day we walked throughout different neighborhoods and along the Seine stopping for lunch along the way. Had purchased the Louvre tickets ahead of time. This is a must. We did a self-guided tour because all the other Discovery tours were sold out but it worked out great. Saw all the major highlights plus much more. Originally thought we would only spend 2 hours there but end up spending 4.

What stood out: everything! The ambience of the city, being walkable, and the historic sites. We love to walk and covered a lot of ground each day. A night cruise on the Seine is a must with all the lights and bridges.

What would we do differently: well I passed on Versailles thinking that would cram to much in but in retrospect we could have fit all the other activities in 3 full days and possibly could have gone to Versailles. However, it was nice not being rushed and having time to just explore.

The strike caused a hiccup and be prepared that these happen often from what I am told. Our previously booked train to Normandy was cancelled the day before. The original plan was to take the train to Normandy and then rent a car for the remainder of the trip. So, we managed to rent a car from within walking distance of our hotel and drove to Normandy. This was a blessing in disguise because we were then able to stop in the charming seaside town of Honfleur, Normandy on the way to Bayeux, Normandy where we would be staying.

Normandy: 3 Nights

Day 1: Stopped at Honfleur on the way and had lunch.

Stayed in Bayeux; Domaine de Bayeux. Excellent hotel and location

Explored Bayeux by foot.

Dinner at La Bonbonne. - Excellent

Day 2: Mont St. Michel

Dinner at ACT2 - Excellent

Day 3: DDAY Beaches: Saint-Mere-Eglise, Airborne Museum, German Cemetery, Point du Hoc,

Omaha Beach

Dinner at La Normandie - Excellent

Day 4: On our way to Loire Valley we went to the American Cemetery

Normandy was likewise amazing. A car is a must. We found as we went further from Paris we would run into some snobby not so pleasant locals. However, we also found some very friendly locals as well. If you are not a history buff like me you will soon become one.

What stood out: well this will be repetitive but everything. Honfleur is beautiful. The DDAY locations our amazing. You could spend a day in the Airborne museum alone! Mont Michel is a must. Preferably during high tide.

What would we do differently: stayed an additional night. There is so much to see. We had originally thought it would be nice to visit Etratat, although far away, for the cliffs if the weather was nice but time didn't allow for that. Just as well because you will find that you do a lot of driving from Region to Region.

Loire Valley: 3 Nights

Day 1: Stayed in Amboise: Le Manoir de Maison Blanche. Excellent location and hotel.

Walked around Amboise

Dinner at Le Parvis - Fair

Day 2: Visited Chateau’s Chambord and Chenonceau

Dinner at Les Mille Pates - Very Good

Day 3: Visited Chateau Clos Luce

Dinner at Via Roma - Excellent except the hostess was somewhat of a snob.

The villa we stayed at was beautiful. Check it out on their website. Breakfast was included which consisted of coffee/tea, juice, homemade jams, breads, pastries, and cheese. Walked into town each night for dinner. About a mile but scenic. The Chateau's were amazing and I believe we hit the top three. Chambord is gigantic but Chenonceau was our favorite being on the river. Chateau de Clos Luce is also a must since this where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last years.

What stood out: the hotel we stayed at and of course the Chateau's.

What we would have done differently: spent only 2 nights in Loire and added that other night to Normandy. Unless you are a big Chateau fan, you could visit 2 - 4 in 2 days and still have time to walk around Bayeux. We met several tourists who said they were "chateau’d out".

Burgundy: 3 Nights

Day 1: Stayed in Beaune: Villa Louise - Excellent

Walked around Beaune

Dinner at 21 Boulevard - Very Good

Day 2: Bike ride Voie des Vignes (Beaune to Meursault)

Dinner at Wine Not – Excellent. – This and Les Antiquaires were my favorite!

Day 3: Drove the Cote des Nuits to Dijon

Walked part of Dijon

Wine tasting at Philippe LeClerc Winery in Gevrey-Chambertin.

Dinner at Caves Madeleine - Very Good

Day 4: On our way to CDG stopped at Fontainebleau

I wasn't sure what to expect from Burgundy besides the wines of course. However the landscape was amazing. Felt people here were as friendly as Paris.

What stood out: as mentioned, the landscape. The wines were fantastic. Renting bikes for the wine bike routes is a must. Strongly suggest electric bikes. Can enjoy the bike ride to Meursault and back to Beane with stops at the beautiful villages in just a few hours if you wish. You could also bike further if your time permits.

What we would have done differently: Possibly have started our day earlier and went for a longer bike ride than we did.

Regarding Fontainebleau, this is another must see. Enormous grounds to take walks around the castle. The town is fantastic to walk around and find your cafe or bistro of choice.

CDG: Stayed at the Sheraton. Excellent location. Right in terminal 2 of the International section so just a 2 minute walk to your terminal. But beware of their food prices. Very high. $45 euros for a burger with fries and $19 euros for two 6ox cups of coffee. And that’s in euros. I plan on writing to Marriott regarding their prices but regardless, the location is ideal for departing flights.

11:45am flight back to Boston

So overall you may see that it was a wonderful trip. I'm happy to have a private reply with anyone who wants more details.

Some other minor notes and tips:

Food:

In general, with a few exceptions, we found the food and wine to be very good.

We found the meals to be reasonable priced, with a few exceptions (like the burger).

Service for the most part was great in Paris, and hit or miss in the other Regions.

You should make dinner reservations. Most restaurants fill up. Also most restaurants will offer you your choice of a la carte or a set meal of your select choice of a Starter + Main Plate or Starter + Main Plate + Dessert or a Main Plate + Dessert. We found it better to always do A La Carte.

The restaurants expect you to order right away as opposed to back home where you typically start with a drink then after several minutes you order your meal. In France, once seated, after several minutes they ask if you are ready to order your drink, meal, and dessert. It's not customary to order just the drink first but we broke their custom on many occasions.

We found that many restaurants did not offer a side green salad.

The bread was outstanding everywhere! But if you want butter, you must ask for it. Same applies to salt and pepper with few exceptions.

No, you do not have to get dressed up for the restaurants unless of course you are dining at one of the 5 star Michelin rated restaurants.

Breakfast at our hotels were additional except the Domaine de Bayeux which was included. We chose not to include breakfast at the others so that we could explore the different choices of other local café’s or Boulangeries.

Metro:

Very convenient. We only used it once. Wasn't that hard to figure out but the train attendant spoke little to no English.

Driving:

Beware of the Speed monitoring poles throughout. The speeds are tricky. Sometimes well posted, sometimes not. Whenever you approach a village, the speeds drop to 70km then to 50km and then 30km.

Hopefully I won't be receiving any letters from their highway division saying I was speeding. If so, it was because the speed limits were not always well displayed. The cars display actually says the speed limit except we found several discrepancies of what the car display said vs the actual speed limit so be careful.

Overall, driving was not bad at all.

Sights:

When possible, avoid lines by pre-purchasing your timed entries to the sights in Paris especially the Louvre.

However, we found that the lines moved quickly wherever there was one like Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur.

Misc:

Paris is a very walkable city. The other Regions we visited required a car.

Base yourself at an ideal location for each Region as we did.

Don't let anybody fool you, everybody loves a tip!

We found that we took more euro's than we needed. Aside from tipping (you can't include an additional tip on your credit card) the only other time we used Euros was at the wine tasting which was their preference and since it was very inexpensive, we gladly obliged.

There are many choices for wine tasting. Suggest you find a small locally owned winery. Our hotel recommended the one in Burgundy. We learned that some of the big wineries were actually owned by Americans so not the true French experience if that is what you want.

Many of the Boulangeries don't have seating inside so if the weather is cold or rainy you need to look further for one that does if all you want is a hot drink and a pastry or quiche or baguette etc.

Cheese is everywhere. Make sure you have some.

Yes, wear comfortable walking shoes.

Watch out for pickpockets but I will say that it didn't appear as bad as what I read it was going to be. Just be smart.

Would we go back? Absolutely but with so many places to see I would limit it to Paris and Burgundy. Normandy was wonderful for the history but the ambience of both Paris and Burgundy stood out to me

Well, I have to say, this was much longer than I intended but as I kept writing about our experiences, I kept thinking of adding more. I'm sure I have forgotten much.

Hope this wasn't boring and hope it is helpful to some who are planning a trip,

Next trip: either River Cruise Danube, or England/Ireland. Maybe see some of you in those forums.

Thanks again for all of your help.

W

We moved your latest post to create this stand-alone trip report.

WarrenWST,
I wanted to make sure you got a comment after Moderator 1 moved your post. I'm so happy you reported back. Wow, what a journey from your very first post in April that was centered on France, Belgium and the Netherlands. You had a lot of us worried there for a bit.

Thanks for commenting.

I wasn't sure anybody would see my reply once it was moved. I'm still not familiar with all the ins and outs of using the forums.

Yes, it was quite a change from the first post. That is exactly why I post so that I may receive the great feedback that you all gave.

Thanks so much. I'll be planning a Southern France trip in the future and will be reaching out.

W

"Don't let anybody fool you, everybody loves a tip"

you miss the point, the culture is no, or low tip. If you distort the culture you have been like the tourist who kills penguins. Please don't, some of us live here and like it the way it is

Great write up by the way.

Thanks for the feedback.

Sorry, didn't mean to distort the true meaning. Yes, our experience was that our hosts, on the most part, were very satisfied in simply providing a service. They were all very gracious when an additional tip was provided. We only extended additional tips when we felt they truly deserved more. We are guilty at home as well, e.g., when the gratuity is included in say the transportation by a limo service to the airport yet we still extend an additional tip as our way of saying special thanks for engaging and not simply performing your job.

You are right, if we force it, it will become an expectation and affects the locals. We (I especially) need to be more aware of the true outcome.

Thanks again, W

Glad you enjoyed you vastly modified trip
I hope you will find time to come and explore the Netherlands, hopefully off the tourist trail, sometime.

Thanks Warren, very well put

take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints is a good moto

I noticed that renting a car right from Paris instead of taking the train first was a 'blessing in disguise' for you. Of course! There are great things to see all over France. If you are going to rent a car anyway, taking the train first is a waste.

I know some people are jittery about the prospect of driving in Paris, but the truth is that you don't have to drive through the middle of Paris. You can rent a car at a train station in Paris and there is a fast way out of town from there.

.

Warren, I really like the way that you have organized your report here. So easy to read, so clear.
What a great idea to cycle the Voie des Vignes. We once rented in Meursault.

We leave for the Loire tomorrow and will check out your Les Mille Pates recco.
cheers
I am done. The NF TR

Thank you for this succinct, helpful report. I may adapt your style for my next trip report! (Although I do enjoy reading all the daily ins and outs of most trip reports!)