Amazing Arles

Day Twelve: Monday, Sept. 29th, 2008

On our way to Arles today we stopped in St. Christol at a local winery (Chateau des Hospitaliers) for a tour, wine tasting and lunch. The winery is a family operation run by Serge and Sylvie and they were terrific hosts. They have built their winery from the ground up; truly, Serge did the building himself, and they are being environmentally friendly with everything in their operation, from the construction to the harvest.

The wines are marvellous and starting at €3 a bottle the price is definitely right. During the wine tasting we also got to sample their apple cider made from the apples grown in their orchard and it was the best apple cider I have ever tasted.

After the wine tasting Sylvie and Serge invited the group into their home on the winery property for a wonderful homemade lunch. There was a variety of salads, cheeses, and breads and fresh apple tart for dessert. It was a great meal in a lovely setting.

By 2:30pm we were back on the road and heading towards the Pont du Gard. What an amazing engineering structure. And we had perfect weather and by visiting late in the day the afternoon sun was illuminating the structure for more great photo opportunities! At 5:30pm we were on our way to Arles. We arrived at the cute Le Calendal Hotel. This hotel is in a perfect location. Just out the front door lies the Ancient Theater and to the right is the Roman Arena. If a central spot is what you are looking for in Arles this hotel is it. The room had ample room and the lobby and restaurant were bright and inviting. The breakfast offered at this hotel was by far the best of the whole trip. There was a really nice variety of pastry, meats, cheeses, eggs, juices and coffees.

After we freshened up we went on short walking tour with the group to get familiar with the town and then we had dinner on our own. I really wanted to try Le Cilantro, which was listed in the Pudlo book and conveniently located down the street from the hotel. But it was a Monday night and unfortunately it was closed…a good reason to go back to Arles!

We walked around the old town area for a bit and found a place listed in the Rick Steves’ guidebook that looked good, called La Pailotte, so we went in. This was another good pick. I really wanted to try the bull and it was on the menu and it was delicious, wrapped in phylo dough. Mom had the pork which was also very good. We both had the eggplant and tomato puree for the starter and for dessert we both had the blanc fromage with fruit and chocolate sauce. The whole meal was terrific.

We ended the night with a short walk back to the hotel looking forward to a full day exploring Arles tomorrow.

Day Thirteen: Tuesday, Sept. 30th, 2008

This morning we met our local guide, Jacqueline, for an hour and a half walking tour or Arles. We saw some of the spots were Van Gogh painted and several of the Roman ruins. At the end of the tour Patrick gave us our museum passes and we had the rest of the day on our own. Mom and I started at the Roman Arena which is still used today for bull fights. It is in remarkable condition and while we were there a portion of the outside of the structure was being cleaned; it was a big contrast to the un-cleaned portions. During our walking tour earlier in the day we found out there was an exhibit of Christian LaCroix dresses at the Reattu Museum and we decided to go and see it. Wow! Doesn’t even begin to describe these dresses which I thought were works of art on their own. Apparently LaCroix is a home town boy of Arles and many of the dresses in this exhibition were inspired by some of the artwork displayed there. It was a great exhibit.

We decide to take a brief coffee break at about 12:30pm and stopped at Café de la Major a cute little coffee place not far from the Reattu Museum. After getting sufficiently caffeinated we set out meandering along the streets and did some window shopping. We went back to the Van Gogh hospital for a look around and then took a walk to the Ancient History Museum. It was a bit of a walk to the Ancient History Museum from the old town area, but not more then 20 minutes. I really liked this museum, it was set up in a very user friendly way. From the outside this giant blue and glass building didn’t really impress, but inside the space was open and light and the exhibits were placed in an easy to follow order.

The descriptions were in French, but we were given an English translation book that helped us figure things out. I liked the mosaics and the models of the Roman ruins the most. I highly recommend a visit to this museum. We were able to see all we wanted in just over one hour.

From the museum we walked back to the old town along the river and found Soleilei. This is a little ice cream shop at 9, rue du Dr. Fanton. We each had a cone with one scoop of olive oil ice cream and one scoop of chocolate, it was a great combination! Who knew olive oil ice cream even existed…not me!

After our ice cream break, we walked to the Ancient Theater and had the place practically to ourselves. I must have been doing ok with my French at this point because when I said “Bonjour” to the woman in the ticket booth, she asked me (in French, of course) if I would like the brochure/guide to the site in French…I had to smile to myself, I guess I had mastered the correct pronunciation of Bonjour! But I asked for the English version.

We didn’t have to meet the group until 7:15pm for dinner, so we went to the Forum Plaza where there are several cafes and we had our evening aperitif.

For dinner we met the group for THE BEST group meal of the whole tour. The name of the restaurant was Corazon. Mom and I started with the eggplant and goat cheese starter, it was so good I don’t even remember what the other starter choice for the group was. I could have probably made that starter an entire meal, but it didn’t stop there! Both mom and I chose the lamb shank in orange and ginger glaze for our main dish. The lamb was “fall off the bone” tender, we didn’t even need to use a knife. It was served with sweet potatoes. As if that wasn’t perfect enough, I had the chocolate molten cake for dessert which was absolutely decadent and mom had the trio of sorbets which included peach, pear and I can’t remember the third flavour). This was another delicious meal and a great way to end our stay in Arles.

Tomorrow we are off to the Les Baux and the ochre cliffs of Rousillon.

Carcassonne...Cassoulet Capital!

Day Eleven: Sunday, Sept. 28th, 2008

We left Sarlat this morning in route to Carcassonne, it’s about a 4 hour drive and we made a stop along the way for lunch. We stopped at the Canal di Midi and Patrick brought a picnic lunch for all of us. We boarded a little boat for a one hour cruise and picnic lunch on the canal. We went through one lock on the canal and enjoyed being outside in the great weather. The hour long mini cruise went too quickly and before we knew it we were back at the dock and heading out on the road. After lunch it was a quick 45 minute ride to the town of Carcassonne. We checked into the hotel, which was just outside the city walls, at about 2pm and by 3pm we were at the city walls with the group for a one hour walking tour. Inside the walls it is very touristy, but if you look beyond that, the town has twisty little streets that are fun to explore. After walking around and poking into several shops and checking out restaurant options for dinner we decided to go to Bar A Vins for an aperitif. We spent a couple hours there and got to talking with a couple from Canada who were seated next to us. They were very interested in discussing American politics. After a while I saw some tapas plates going out to other tables and they looked really good. Since we didn’t have a big lunch we ordered the grilled vegetables (eggplant, peppers, and artichokes) and they were a delicious addition to our beverages.

At about 7pm we walked over to Chez Saskia (part of the Hotel de la Cite), it looked so cute, but unfortunately they were not open for dinner, another reason to return to Carcassonne! Instead we fell back on another Pudlo recommendation a place called Auberge Dame Carcas at 3, place du Chateau.

We were so glad we ate at this restaurant, everything was delicious. We decided to have the €15 menu and it was a lot of food. We both chose the pate with onion jam starter and since Carcassonne is known for cassoulet and since it would be our only chance for it, we both had the cassoulet for our main dish. It was excellent, served bubbling hot in a ceramic baking dish with duck, sausage, and white beans, it definitely tasted like a comfort food to me. To go along with the cassoulet we had a bottle of Rose. For dessert we both had the chocolate cake which was light and airy sponge cake but still very chocolaty. We finished the meal with 2 espressos. For all this the total was €45 we thought this was one of the best bargain meals we had the whole trip.

I really liked this restaurant. It was rustic looking inside and had an open kitchen. We sat inside but there was also outside seating.

I was a bit apprehensive when we walked in because there were not many people there, but within an hour every table inside and out was full. A couple of British gals were seated next to us and we had a very nice conversation with them during dinner. We walked back to the hotel and had an early night since we would be driving to Arles in the morning!

Spectacular Sarlat...

Day Eight: Thursday, Sept. 25th, 2008

Today we left Chinon and headed to Sarlat where we will spend 3 nights. Along the way we stopped in a little town and had a picnic lunch provided by Patrick.

Patrick did a great job with the picnic supplies. We had a variety of cheeses, pate (including rabbit pate which was excellent), fruit, salads, and wine.

After our picnic lunch we stopped at the village of Oradour Sur Glane. This village was attacked by Nazi troops during World War II. They killed all the villagers who were in the village at the time, including men, women and children, about 625 people. Then, they burned the village.
The surviving villagers (because they were in another town working) decided to leave the village exactly as it was the day after the Nazis came through. I could hardly believe what I was walking through, streets with burned out buildings including bakeries, hair salons, auto garages and the church, burned and rusted vehicles, bicycles, and sewing machines just to name some of the devastation. There were plaques on building walls listing the names and ages of those who had perished. Although there were many people in the village walking around this day it was almost completely silent.

When we were done visiting the village it was time to get back on the road and head towards my favourite town on the trip: Sarlat where we would spend the next 3 night.

We arrived in Sarlat at about 5pm and after checking into the hotel we did a quick walk around the old town. We had a group dinner this night at the hotel. The starter at this meal was pate and the main dish was fish (dorado), which tasted like nothing. The dessert was a walnut ice-cream which also wasn’t very impressive. But after the meal we had the night before we dealt with the less then spectacular group meal.

After dinner we did a short walking tour of the old town and got to experience Sarlat by street lamp light, which felt like it was right out of a child’s story book. The cobblestone streets, the flowers flowing out of window boxes and the soft lamp light on each street created a magical feeling.

When the walking tour ended we headed back to the hotel to get a good rest since the next day we would be seeing pre-historic caves and canoeing down the Dordogne River!

Day Nine: Friday, Sept. 26th, 2008

This morning the first stop we made was at the Grotte de Rouffignac, which is a pre-historic cave near Sarlat. This cave had a little train that we boarded and were taken down a small track into the cave. The guide who served double-duty as the train engineer gave a good commentary about the paintings and markings on the walls and ceilings, although is was sometimes difficult to hear her because of the acoustics in the cave. Do note there is no light in this cave except when the train is stopped to look at a particular section of wall, which is then illuminated by small lights and the guide uses a flash light to point out items of interest. It was pretty incredible to think these pre-historic people drew these pictures of animals in almost perfect proportion.

After we emerged from the cave we headed for the little village of Domme, perched high on a hill. It was such a picturesque little place. Mom and I bought duck pate sandwiches and sat in a park overlooking the Dordogne River, it was very scenic and a terrific photo opportunity. The sandwiches were absolutely delicious, and maybe it was the beautiful view that helped enhance the sandwich!

When we were finished with lunch it was time to Canoe! Mom decided to sit out the canoe ride, (she’s not to “into” water activities), and so I teamed up with our guide Patrick to canoe down the Dordogne. It was a great day to paddle, cool and a bit cloudy, so no hot sun to deal with.

As we paddled I took lots of pictures, no surprise there! And we made our way down the river passing picture perfect little villages. We paddled for just 11/2 hours and ended in the town of Beynac. Once we were all out of the water we piled back into the bus and went back to Sarlat. After a short rest at the hotel we set out to take a look at a couple restaurants for dinner potential. While meandering through the streets there was an artist’s studio that caught my eye, actually it was one of her pictures that caught my eye. The artist herself was there and she could not have been nicer. I began looking through her work and there were several prints that I was really drawn too, so I bought all 4 prints (at €10 each) Each print was a scene of Sarlat and they each had all the perfect colors that would go with the colors I have throughout my home.

We then found our first pick restaurant for dinner, the Presidial (a Pudlo pick), and made an 8pm reservation. It looked great from the outside and the menu looked even better. By now we were ready to have our usual pre-dinner aperitif, so we found a café in the town square and we had a few drinks while watching the sun go down and the street lights come on.

Just before 8pm we walked back over to the Presidial at 6, rue Landry. This was one of the larger restaurants we ate at; there were 2 dinning rooms, one rather large and then a smaller one that had only 6 tables. There was also ample covered outside dinning. When we arrived almost every table inside was full.

We both had the €42 menu. I started with the lobster ravioli and mom had the foie gras, both were excellent. My main was pan fried scallops, there were 6 huge scallops, and puree of broccoli surrounded by a wide peel of carrot. Mom had the tournad of beef with haricots and potatoes. My main dish was delicious, but mom definitely had the winner in this meal. The beef was done to perfection! We also had a bottle of Rose wine.

Next was the cheese course and we both had the goat cheese served with lettuce and a walnut dressing which was wonderful…well, let me be honest, there isn’t really any cheese that I wouldn’t like!

The best part of the meal for me was the dessert. We both had the same thing and it was called Emotion of Dark Chocolate. It was a base of dark chocolate cookie with chocolate mousse on top served in the form of a disk, it was chocolaty goodness! We capped it off with espresso.

A really delicious meal and the total for it all was €115. I would rate this meal our second best after L’Oceanic in Chinon. After our 3 hour meal we walked back to our hotel and ended the day happily satisfied.

Day Ten: Saturday, Sept. 27th, 2008

Today was market day in Sarlat and what a market it was…there was just about any item you could possibly want from food to clothing to soap and cutlery. The market began on the street right outside of our hotel…how convenient!

Since the whole day was on our own, we had a leisurely morning and went out to the market at about 10am. We perused through the food section of the market first picking up bread and cheese for a picnic lunch later in the day. As we made our way through the crowded streets of the market we came upon a little boutique. The scarves outside drew me in but what kept me there were some really great ponchos. We each bought one, mine green, mom’s black and grey, they are tres chic!

As we continued through the market I then came across a really “funky” purse and it was just too cool to pass up. It’s green and blue in color and triangular shaped and has a bunch of pockets in the front. My description is not doing it justice, I may have to take a picture of it and post it!

By 1:30pm we dropped off our purchases in our room and took our picnic supplies to the public garden for an outdoor lunch of cheese, bread and fruit. After relaxing at lunch we took another walk around the market and poked around in several of the town shops. After mailing our last few postcards we found a café in the town square for an aperitif before meeting up with the group for another group meal at the hotel.

Tonight’s group meal at the hotel was a step- up from 2 nights ago, but not the best of the trip. We started with a Roquefort salad with endive and walnuts, the main was duck confit with potatoes and chocolate cake for dessert.

We were ready to hit the hay early for our trip to Carcassonne in the morning.

The Lovely Loire Valley...

Day Six: Tuesday, Sept. 23rd, 2008

We were on the bus and ready to leave Paris by 8:30am today. It was another great weather day and by noon we stopped in the cute little town of Amboise. We had a couple hours here to poke around and have lunch. There is a chateau in the town, but we did not go into it. Instead we headed up the main pedestrian street in search of a place for lunch.

Since I didn’t know this would be the town we were stopping in and I didn’t bring the huge Pudlo book with me, we were left to our own devices when choosing a restaurant. We decided to walk the whole length of the street to figure out what our options were. We found an adorable little tea room on the main street and it was L’Ancree des Artistes. The menu was all in French and I tried out my limited language skills and managed to order 2 mouth-watering crepes, but I believe they called them galletes.

Mom had the Provencal version and I had the pays (or country) version which had ham, mushrooms, and cheese (I definitely had a pattern when it came to lunch crepes!). I can’t recall the ingredients in Mom’s crepe but they were presented beautifully on the plate. They were square shaped with the corners folded inward and a mixed green salad was served on the side, with the delicious vinaigrette dressing. With bottled water and coffee the total was €24.50.

The interior of L’Ancree des Artistes had maybe 10 tables and a couple tables outside. The exposed brick walls and sisal carpet with light wood tables and chairs and a variety of paintings on the walls made for a very inviting atmosphere. The street address is 35, rue Nationale, Amboise.

After lunch we were on our way to the Chateau de Chenonceau. The Chateau and surrounding grounds are very gorgeous. The interior of the chateau has beautiful furnishings and the gardens are well maintained. For us, the most interesting part of the chateau were the kitchens where the tools used back in the 16th century were displayed as they would have been used…think, knives, pots, pans, ovens, fireplace, bread oven.

We spent a couple hours at Chateau de Chenonceau and in late afternoon we made our way to our hotel in Chinon where we would spend the next 2 nights. After a quick walk around the lower part of the town we decided to go have a glass of wine at one of the cafes in the square next to our hotel. We each had one glass of white wine for the wine and a pleasant evening setting we paid a total of €5. I had to double check the bill…what a pleasant surprise!

Tonight was our second group meal and it was in the hotel’s dining room. I wasn’t quite sure how the meal would measure up, but it was pretty good. We started with a salad with ham and poached egg on mixed greens, actually the salad was the highlight of the whole meal, it was delicious. The main was guinea hen with vegetables, and potatoes, it was ok, but some people mentioned their guinea hen was a bit dry, I lucked out and mine was fine, but that’s what happens when cooking for a group of 25. The dessert was a charlotte caramel that was light and not too sweet. We didn’t have far to go after dinner, upstairs and to our room to get a good night’s sleep for exploring more chateaus the next day.

Day Seven: Wednesday, Sept. 24th, 2008

This morning started out cloudy and rainy but as the day progressed the weather got better. The first chateau of the day would be Villandry and we did not go into the chateau, but we did spend about an hour and half in the remarkable gardens there. I could have spent much more time there taking pictures. I took well over 100 pictures here alone and it was a drizzly cloudy day, I can only imagine how long I would have stayed if the weather was better. Honestly I think the pictures I did take during our time there were some of the best of the whole trip!

As we left Villandry the rain was stopping and we made our way to the next chateau which was Azay le Rideau. This was a fairytale looking chateau in a beautiful setting. The rooms have been restored to look as they did in the 16th century. We did the audio guide of the chateau and grounds and it was put together very nicely.

By the time we finished touring the inside of the chateau the sun had come out and it was a great opportunity to walk around the grounds and the little pond. The audio tour lasted about 1 hour. When we were finished we walked up the street to the small town square that was full of pretty flowers.

We found a little café where we had a quick bite to eat. I had my first croquet monsieur and mom had a crepe. With a coffee and carafe of water the total came to €18.90. Unfortunately I didn’t take down the name of this café. And, since we had walked around the town a bit before eating we were pressed for time and it was probably the fastest lunch we ever ate. We were in and out of the place in 30 minutes.

We were back in Chinon by mid-afternoon and I decided to climb up to the Chateau of Chinon to check out of the views of the Loire River. It was €3 entrance fee and there was some renovation going on of the royal apartments so they weren’t accessible, but the views from the towers on the grounds were as spectacular as I thought they would be.

I met mom back at the hotel and took a short rest before we meet with the group for a historic tour of the medieval part of town. Patrick pointed out some interesting points about Joan of Arc and that the town of Chinon is a UNESCO heritage site.

After the tour we all walked to the Hotel Diderot at 4, rue Buffon et 7, rue Diderot (www.hoteldiderot.com) for a wine tasting. The hotel is owned by 2 brothers and a sister and one of the brothers, Laurent, welcomed us into this adorable hotel and led us in a terrific wine tasting. We had 5 wines to taste, 3 white and 2 red all from Chinon. We learned a bit about how French wines are classified (by region rather than by grape type…I know nothing about wines so this was new for me).

Laurent has quite funny and entertaining as well as being very knowledgeable about wines, well; with my limited wine familiarity I thought he was very knowledgeable! I regret that I did not write down any of the names of the wines, but I liked the first white which was a sparkling wine and the third white which was a sweet wine but was not overly sweet.

After the wine tasting ended mom and I decided to go to dinner at L’Oceanic at 12, rue Rabelais in Chinon. This restaurant was listed in Pudlo and we had checked out the menu earlier in the day and liked what we saw. When we arrived we were greeted immediately but did not have a reservation. This was not a problem and we were seated in the small dining room with the bar. There was a second dinning room that looked to fit more people then the one we were in.

We both decided to have the €24 menu which was 4 courses, and yes, this was THE MOST MEMORABLE MEAL of the trip.

We started with a raspberry Kir aperitif that was the best Kir I had during the whole trip. I really liked the raspberry flavour. We were served an amuse bouche trio of lobster mousse with paprika, onion tarte and tiny crepe topped with salmon and cheese spread. All were excellent. I chose the melon starter which was another trio, a melon sorbet, frothy melon drink, and melon cubes wrapped in proscuitto. Mom had the sardine mousse starter. Both were delicious and a lovely presentation.

For our main dishes we both had the salmon. Not only was this salmon delicious, the presentation was phenomenal. The salmon was on a bed of pureed potatoes colored green (strange until I tell you what’s next). The salmon itself was shaped like a rose! I have absolutely no idea how this was done, was it shaped into a rose before cooking or after? I don’t know, but never in my life have I ever seen such a beautiful presentation. There were also tiny cubes of eggplant and sautéed cabbage on the plate. I am now kicking myself for not taking a picture of this dish, but the tables around us were full and I didn’t want to make a big deal and whip out my camera. I will never make that mistake again! And the meal wasn’t even done yet, there were still 2 courses left!

The next course was the cheese course and we both had the herb cheese served in a bowl, like a thick cold cheese soup with a toasted round of bread. The only way I can describe the taste of these cheese is fresh.

The finale (or so we thought) for me was an apple in pastry, think a square apple turnover in puff pastry with caramel ice-cream that tasted just like my favourite Starbucks coffee drink a caramel macchiato. Mom’s dessert was a pistachio ice-cream and chocolate mousse. Both desserts were terrific.

We wanted to finish (like all that food already wasn’t enough!) with espresso. We thought we simply would request two cafes, but the server asked what type of coffee we wanted and after describing the 3 choices to us we chose the Jamaican coffee. Oh My God…this coffee was served like another dessert. Each cup was served on a plate that resembled an artist’s pallet with about 10 different miniature sweets! My eyes must have gotten as big as saucers because the couple at the table next to us just smiled and laughed when they saw my reaction!

Now for the cost of this memorable meal…€74. We waddled back to the hotel after this meal and fell into bed with full stomachs.

Trip Report: " Je suis desole, je ne parle pas francais, parlez vous anglais?” helped get me a long way during my 3 weeks in France.

By no stretch of the imagination am I fluent in French, but I did mastered the “big” 4 French words…Hello, Goodbye, Please and Thank You.

While planning this trip to France, as usual, I did lots of research and a good portion of that research was on the Fodors message boards. One of the posters on Fodors listed the phrase in this trip report title, “I’m sorry, I don’t speak French, do you speak English?” That phrase was extremely helpful to me. Usually when I uttered that phrase, even if I got the shoulder shrug, immediately after the shrug a smile came out and I muddled through with basic communication skills. And it was such fun!

I am giving fair warning now that this trip report may sometimes get a little long-winded and may come in multiple posts here on my blog. This particular trip was somewhat of a “gastronomic adventure” as I tend to consider myself a “budding” foodie,(well maybe more of a “really good eater”), so there may be several descriptions of (what I think) were great meals. Feel free to skip over the culinary ramblings if so inclined.

My hope is that you will be able to cull useful information from this report and maybe get a laugh or two along the way.

Since I was embarking on a “gastronomic adventure” with my mom (who by the way, is a terrific cook, unlike myself, I can’t cook, but I am a VERY appreciative eater!) I wanted to have lots of restaurant/food choices lined up for each city and town we would be staying in. So, last spring I pre-ordered the latest English edition of Pudlo France, not realizing the book that would be delivered to my door in June would be 1000+ pages…silly me, the book covers the entire country, I should have read the description on Amazon more closely…but I am really digressing here! To sum up my thoughts on the Pudlo France book…"Thank you Mr. Pudlo" was muttered a number of times during strolls back to our hotels after several very satisfying meals!

Now for a little background:

My mom and I traveled to France for 20 days in late September/early October. We decided to make this trip a combination of a group tour and independent travel. We’ve used this combination in the past and it works well for us.

This group tour was with Rick Steves’ Europe through the Back Door (http://www.ricksteves.com/), which I have used in the past and like how they operate. We chose the 15 day Paris and the South of France tour because it offered a nice combination of cities (Paris and Nice) and smaller towns (Chinon, Sarlat, Carcassonne, Arles, and Roussillon). The tour began in Paris and ended in Nice.

We arrived in Paris a day before the group tour started to help get over jet-lag and have a little (and it was just a little!) extra time in Paris. We stayed in Nice four additional days after the tour ended.

Here is a list of the hotels we stayed at with the address and website information. I will give more detailed information and thoughts on the hotels as this report unfolds.

Hotels:

The hotels we stayed at with the tour were centrally located in each town. For the extra days in Nice we changed to a hotel I found recommended here on Fodors. The hotels were:

Paris - Hotel Castex at 5, Rue Castex in the Marais (bordering on the Bastille area)
http://www.castexhotel.com/

Chinon – Hotel de la France at 47-49, place du General de Gaulle
http://www.hotel-france-chinon.federal-hotel.com/

Sarlat – Hotel de la Couleuvrine 1, place de la Bouquerie
http://www.la-couleuvrine.com/

Carcassonne – Hotel Montmorency 2, Rue Camille Saint-Saens
http://www.lemontmorency.com/

Arles – Hotel Calendal 5, Rue Porte de Laure
http://www.lecalendal.com/

Roussillon – Hotel Reves d’Ocres, Route de Gordes
http://www.hotel-revesdocres.com/

Nice – Nice Marche aux Fleurs, 91 quai des Etats Unis
http://www.accor-hotels/

Nice – Hotel Le Grimaldi, 15 Rue Grimaldi
http://www.le-grimaldi.com/

Day One: Thursday, Sept. 18th, 2008

The trip started with our departure from the Savannah airport with a connection in Atlanta and the final destination Paris. We flew Delta and had an uneventful journey. We pushed back from the gate in Atlanta 2 minutes after our scheduled departure and we were lucky enough to get the exit row seats…as we called it “ a little bit of first class in coach” since we had a bit of extra room to stretch out.

Day Two: Friday, Sept. 19th, 2008

We landed in Paris 45 minutes early! But after waiting for a gate to clear we didn’t deplane until just after 8am. We whizzed through passport control and didn’t need to stop at baggage claim because we did all carry-on.

The driver from Shuttle-Inter walked into the arrivals area just as we were emerging through the doorway…perfect timing. The website for this car service is http://www.shuttle-inter.com/homepage.htm I found this company through a recommendation on Fodors. The price of the service was €55.

It took about an hour to get to our hotel in the Marais, bordering on the Bastille area. It was still a bit early to check into our room, I tried to get an early check-in but that wasn’t happening. I put our backup plan to use and headed out for a short walk and a late morning breakfast. I had a recommendation for a place called Le Loir dans La Theire in the Marais. With my trusty Paris Knopf Mapguide we were able to find the little café and they were just opening.

This little café was as adorable as I had read it was. It is an eclectic mishmash of tables, chairs, and sofas. It felt like we were walking into an old friend’s really big and comfortable living area. We each had our first Parisian café crème. I had a mushroom & cheese quiche and mom had the tomato & onion tarte. Both were very good, but the sweet cakes and pies they had there looked wonderfully delicious, I will have to wait for another trip to try them! Our coffees and quiches totalled €25.

When we were finished we were ready for a nap so we walked back to the hotel and checked into our room. The Hotel Castex is in a terrific location on a quiet street with a post office at the end of the street and a Metro stop a couple blocks away in the Place de la Bastille. Our room was on the small side, but that was not a surprise, it was typical of other European hotels I’ve stayed in.

We slept for a few hours and woke up in the late afternoon, just in time for a walk, a cruise on the Seine and dinner at Le Petit Bofinger!


After a few hours of shut-eye we were refreshed and ready to set out and explore Paris in the evening. The Hotel Castex is only about a 10 minute walk to the Il de la Cite so we took a leisurely walk in that direction, peeking in shop windows along Ile St. Louis. We passed Notre Dame Cathedral on our way to the Pont Neuf. It was just past 7:30pm when we arrived at Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf (http://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/) . We bought tickets for the 8pm cruise which was good timing because as we boarded the boat the sun was just starting to set so we got to see some sights in dusky light and some lit up for the night. I thought it was brilliant seeing Paris from this perspective, and we certainly had luck on our side with the terrific weather we had that evening. One note about Les Vedettes du Pont Neuf, prior to leaving home I checked out their website and printed off a coupon for €2 off, so the price was €9 each instead of €11. You can also make a reservation for a specific time on their website and get €4 off the price, but since I wasn’t sure what time we wanted to go on the cruise I chose the €2 option.

The cruise was about an hour long and by the time we disembarked we were ready for something to eat. On Fodors and in the Pudlo book I had read good things about Le Petit Bofinger at 6, rue de la Bastille. I also had a personal recommendation of this bistro from a co-worker who travels to Paris regularly and she said it was very near our hotel.

With my trusty Knopf Mapguide in hand we set out from Pont Neuf in the direction back towards our hotel. We ultimately found the bistro, but not without a bit of a long detour down a dark and empty street and a large boulevard that I thought was the street the bistro was on. It turned out I needed Rue de la Bastille and I was on Boulevard de la Bastille, but we were persistent and were very happy I got my sense of direction back to find Le Petit Bofinger. I kept telling myself, “but Betsy said it was right near the hotel”. If it hadn’t been for Betsy telling me that I may still be aimlessly walking around the Bastille looking for it!

When we entered the door to Le Petit Bofinger at just after 10pm there was not an empty table in the place (always a good sign in my book!). The maitre d’ let us know it would be about a 10-15 minute wait, no problem, there were a few other diners waiting to be seated too, so we stood at the bar. While waiting we figured out that the Opera, which is just across the Place de la Bastille, that we had passed in our quest to find the bistro, had a performance which just finished and the whole area was teeming with people.

The minute we walked into this bistro the wonderful smells from the very tiny kitchen washed over us. The front area of the bistro had maybe 15 tables and the back area (where we were seated) also had about 15 tables. When I say small kitchen I am not exaggerating. It was a small closed off area between the front section and back section of the bistro and the “window” was a portable cart placed in the doorway to the kitchen that could maybe hold 4-5 prepared dishes. With a front and center view of all this from the small bar area it was like watching a well oiled machine in operation.

True to his word, the maitre d’ seated us about 15 minutes after we arrived. The menu here was all in French, but we managed very well with the little bit of “culinary French” my mom knows. We decided to each have the €20.50 which included a glass of wine, main, and choice of starter or dessert. Mom had the foie gras starter and fish main dish, we don’t know the name of the fish but it was very light and tasty and every other person in the bistro seemed to have it on their plate. I chose the pork main dish served with roasted rosemary potatoes and the crème brulee for dessert. With an extra glass of wine and 2 espresso the total was €55.

By now it was close to mid-night and we were ready for the short walk back to the hotel and a good night’s sleep so we would be bright eyed and ready for the Context Paris walking tour of the Montmartre neighborhood the next morning.

Day Three: Saturday, Sept. 20th, 2008

Today dawned a beautifully clear and sunny day and more importantly it stayed that way all day! Breakfast was included in the price of our hotel so we enjoyed croissants, jam, cheeses,juice and coffee in the breakfast room in the cellar of the Hotel Castex. A variety of yogurts and fruit was also available.

Since the group tour didn’t start until later this afternoon I booked a Context Paris (http://www.contexttravel.com/paris/) walking tour of the Montmartre neighbourhood. I had read about Context on Fodors and based on the glowing reviews decided to give it a try and since the Rick Steves’ tour would not be going to Montmartre I thought it would be nice to see another area of Paris.

Prior to leaving home Context Paris sent directions on where to meet for the walking tour. We were to meet at the Abbesses metro stop, so we hopped on the metro at La Bastille and rode to Abbesses. While doing my trip research I found the RATP website (http://www.ratp.com/) and under the finding your way tab you can type in a starting and ending address and the best public transport route comes up…really handy!

We got off the metro and proceeded to walk up the 200+ stairs at this metro stop…it’s not called “Mont”martre for nothing! Big Hint…we later found out from our Context guide there is an elevator. We arrived a few minutes early so had a seat in the park area surrounding the metro stop. Our guide Lilly arrived right on time and we had good fortune on our side, we were the only ones signed up for this tour, so we got a private tour! Lilly started the tour with a brief overview and history of the area and explained that the Abbesses metro stop in only 1 of 2 stops that still has the original canopy over the metro entrance. Really quite beautiful.

Lilly was an excellent guide, an artist herself, who lives in the neighbourhood (we even passed her apartment) was a fountain of knowledge about the area. We got to see some of the nooks and crannies of Montmartre including where some former and current artist’s studios are located, the St. Denis statue and several very interesting residential streets. The tour lasted about 3 hours and we ended at Sacre-Coeur.

Lilly was full of personality and really listened to our questions and comments and even gave us a great recommendation for a café in the neighbourhood for lunch. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the café, but it was in the area at the bottom of the first set of stairs coming down from Sacre-Coeur. Mom had her first croquet monsieur and I had a buckwheat pancake filled with ham and mushrooms. With 2 oranginas the total was €25.

After lunch we made our way through the throng of people at the bottom of Montmartre to the Anvers metro stop. From there we were just minutes away from the Champs Elysees. We emerged from the metro and there it was in all its glory…the Arc di Triomphe. After taking probably way too many pictures we started our stroll down this famous boulevard. Our goal: Lauduree.

I had heard so much about the Lauduree macaroons that I was a woman on a mission to try one of these incredible little wonders. Our original plan was to go in and sit down for tea and macaroons, but the tea room was fairly crowded and we needed to be back to meet our group by 5pm, so we chose to get a box from the carry-out area and enjoy them back at our hotel.

I will be the first to admit that I have an incredible sweet tooth and to see these absolutely beautiful looking macaroons I almost swooned…ok, maybe not swoon, but was bowled over at how pretty these sweet little morsels were…would they taste as good as they looked? We’d soon find out. I decided to get a variety of flavours and asked the young man behind the counter to put mixture of 15 into a box. These are most likely the most expensive macaroons I will ever have but once I took the first bite, I am quite sure I will never taste a macaroon like Lauduree again. The flavours were vibrant and the macaroon delicate. I’m salivating just writing about them!

After our afternoon splurge on Lauduree macaroons (and, yes, I did savour them over the next few days) it was time to meet our Rick Steves guide and the rest of our group. We spent the next 2 hours getting to know Patrick, our guide, and the other 23 tour members. By 7pm it was time for our first group meal and we walked around the corner to La Petit Maison de la Bastoche at 7, Rue Saint Antoine.

I can honestly say that I was really pleasantly surprised. Sometimes you just never really what your going to get at a group meal, but as far as they go, this one was pretty good (not the best, that will come later). The starter was a beet root salad, which was excellent and I thought I would never say that about beets! The main dish was roasted tarragon chicken with mashed potatoes and for dessert the best profiteroles I’ve ever had. Since there wasn’t coffee served at the end of the meal, once we said our goodbyes to the group for the night we found a little café on Place de la Bastille to have our evening espresso…a perfect end to a terrific day.

Day Four: Sunday, Sept. 21st, 2008

We started today with a group walking tour. We took a short metro ride to the Hotel de Ville and Patrick began the tour there. From the Hotel de Ville we walked to Notre Dame, all the way Patrick giving us the history of the island and the cathedral. Once we arrived at Notre Dame and after Patrick oriented us we had time on our own to go into the cathedral. We re-grouped after our visit to the cathedral and headed to the Latin Quarter for lunch.

We had about an hour before we had to meet with the group again so mom and I found a little creperie and ordered very tasty ham, cheese and mushroom crepes. We decided to take our crepes and eat al fresco on benches in front of Notre Dame. It was a picture perfect day with a great view and a lip-smacking crepe.

After our laid back lunch we took the RER train to the Musee d’Orsay. Included in the price of the tour was a 2 day museum pass, so after a short orientation about the museum we were on our own for the rest of the day.

We spent about 2 hours wandering through the museum. I don’t consider myself much of a museum person, but I enjoyed the Orsay, and thought the impressionist paintings were spectacular. When we were done at the museum we decided to take a walk through the Jardin des Tuileries and take the metro back to the hotel.

After a short rest I decided I wanted to get some pictures from the top of the Arc de Triomphe so headed back out on the metro and spent some time taking pictures from this great vantage point. I arrived back at the hotel right around 8pm and we decided to try a café/wine bar I had found via a recommendation on Fodors. The café/wine bar was La Tartine at 24, Rue de Rivoli, in the Marais, metro stop St. Paul, but only about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We LOVED this place. At first I was a bit concerned because there were only a handful of diners, maybe only 3 other tables, but the place was so inviting with the wood bar and tile floor, we had a good feeling about it.

As we walked in we were immediately greeted and asked if we would prefer to sit inside or outside. Since it was a bit chilly we decided inside and were shown to a table at the rear of the café. It turns out the café has entrances on Rue de Rivoli and the street running parallel (I believe it’s Rue du Roi-De-Sicile) to Rue de Rivoli.

I started with a Kir, my new favourite aperitif, which I continued to enjoy throughout the remainder of our trip, and mom had white wine. We decided we didn’t want anything too heavy, so mom had the salmon pave with basmati rice which looked wonderful and according to mom’s report tasted as good as it looked. I had the Roma salad which included 4 slices of buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes, salad greens, Parma ham, and an eggplant puree on toasted bread (so much for a light meal!). It was delicious and the vinaigrette dressing served with it was the perfect touch. We ended the meal with our usual espresso. The total for this meal was €54.50.

We had a nice walk back to the hotel and got excited about tomorrow morning when it would be time for the Louvre.

Day Five: Monday, Sept. 22nd, 2008

Today was our day to explore the Louvre. We walked around the corner to the metro and being a weekday morning you can imagine what the metro cars looked like, sardines in a can have more room. Not only were the metro cars jam-packed but the platform looked like a line to get free tickets to a rock concert! We had to let a few trains go by before we could even get to the front of the platform, fortunately at that time of the morning the trains are very frequent. My advice to anyone riding the metro while visiting Paris…go after rush hour! (or walk)

We only had to ride the metro a few stops to the Palais Royale stop and exited via a shopping mall to the entrance to the Louvre, no crowd at this entrance at all, but we did go through the security check point. We met our Louvre guide (Janice) at this entrance and donned our whisper system.

Janice was an absolutely great guide, a British gal who has lived in Paris for 25 years she admitted she came to Paris for the man but stays for the food…ahhh…my kind of lady! She had quite a funny sense of humour and was not a very tall woman; in fact she described herself as the size of a “garden gnome” at 5’2” but with the whisper system we had no trouble hearing her commentary and keep track of where we were.

In 2 hours we certainly only scratched the surface of the Louvre, but Janice was a wealth of information and she barely took a breath in those 2 hours! She definitely had a plan of attack and we made a beeline for the 3 “biggies”. The Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, and the Mona Lisa. All quite stunning in their own right, but I have to say Winged Victory is probably my favourite of them all.

Janice herded us through the museum like a captain leading her ship and we ended in a really interesting room. The Louvre has a room for the blind, with small replicas of several of the pieces that are displayed throughout the museum, so a blind person can touch the sculptures to get a sense of what it looks like.

By noon Janice had completed our tour and we were free for the afternoon until 4pm. Needing a little coffee pick me up, we decided to stop at the Starbucks in the Louvre entrance area for a quick coffee.

When we left the Louvre we decided to walk back to the hotel, it was a nice sunny day and we wanted to stop in a children’s shop we had seen the other day to pick up some things for the children of a friend. We made our way back to Il St. Louis and stopped for gelato at Amorano. We went back to the hotel for a short rest and while there we checked out the Italian restaurant across the street from the hotel.

Now, I know, it seems like I’m having way too much Italian influenced food here in Paris, however this particular Italian place I had read about on trip advisor when reading a review of the Hotel Castex and then to my surprise when I found the same restaurant listed in Pudlo as a good value my interested was piqued! Mom popped across the street and the owner was in the restaurant and through hand gestures, limited French and a little Italian thrown in there we managed to make a reservation for later in the evening.

At 4pm we went as a group to Sainte Chapelle. What magnificence stained glass windows. Since we were there later in the day and the sun was starting to sink in the sky the room was a bit dark, but I am sure that in the morning and early afternoon it must look very striking to see the windows in full light.

We spent some time walking along the Seine and went back to the hotel. We had made an 8pm reservation and it took all of 30 seconds to walk across the street to Cucina Neopolitana at 6, Rue Castex.

We hit the jackpot with this place! It’s a tiny place that seats maybe 20 and the kitchen is miniscule. Mom and I started with the antipasti platter of marinated vegetables, carrots, broccoli, eggplant, peppers, and a huge ball of mozzarella. We had a bottle of red wine and all was excellent so far.

The way this restaurant worked is there is a list of pasta dishes they would serve that night and the table selects which pasta they want, the chef prepares enough for the number of people at the table. Mom and I had rigatoni in a creamy sauce with asparagus and ham. It was served in the pan it was cooked in and we each helped ourselves. We had no trouble finishing the entire dish. It was absolutely delicious. We ended the meal with espresso. For all this (and a convenient location) the total was €75.

After the meal we walked back across the street and up to our room to prepare for our departure in the morning for the Loire Valley.

Trip Photos sorted NOW, where is THAT trip report!

Good grief..it only took me 2 weeks of every night uploading 1478 pictures to my Kodak Gallery album. That's what I get for using my fancy-schmancy new 8 mega pixel camera. The photos turned out great, but the files are ginormous! It takes forever and day to upload. At least they are all labeled so I will know what the heck I'm looking at! :)

Now that the pictures are squared away it's time to start my trip report...yet another daunting task. Who knows how long that will take...probably another 2 weeks...scratch that, better make it 3 weeks. Since I've got a long weekend trip to NYC in early November, I'll lose 4 days of trip report writing, but hey, it's the "Mega-Musical" weekend to NYC...3 musicals in 3.5 days!

And thanks to a friend at work I have now been "turned on to" Facebook...good grief that thing can suck you into the black vortex...as if I don't have enough distractions with trip reports looming, online photo albums and trips to plan. Oh, yes and of course there is that little thing called work, that occupies 7.5 hours of each weekday...Thank God for weekends.

My goal is to get the start of my trip report posted in the next day or 2...wish me luck!

Back to Reality...

Bummer! :)

We arrived back home last Thursday night, after a brief 24 hour "rest" in NYC and yesterday it was back to the office and the old grind. Surprisingly I didn't have a mountain of mail to wade through or thousands of emails. Only 142 emails and those were mostly junk.

So now it's time to get back into the swing of things, get my trip photos uploaded to the Kodak website, transcribe my journal into a trip report for Fodors and this blog and "re-adjust" to real life.

Fortunately I haven't been badly effected by jet-lag this time around. Maybe because we got into NYC on Wednesday at a very civilized 1:45pm, had dinner and were asleep before 10pm. Or maybe it was because the (direct) flight from NYC to Savannah was also at a very civilized 2pm and we were able to get back into a regular sleep pattern that thwarted the jet-lag, or maybe it was the 3 days I had at home before going back to work that helped.

Whatever it was, I'm glad I'm not lumbering around like a zombie! Now the fun part of sorting all 1600+ pictures begins! And I get to re-live the trip via those pictures!

Stay tuned for a trip report and pictures and updates on my November NYC trip and December Rome trip...just call me Travel Girl!

The "Farkles" Go On Vacation....

I haven't even zipped shut my suitcase for the final time and the "excitement" has already started!

As I walked out of the office this afternoon to go to lunch there was something different about my car...something just wasn't right. I suddenly stopped in my tracks when I realized what the "something different" was...I had a flat tire on my car. As the man walking behind me said, "That doesn't look good"...boy did he hit the nail on the head...some way to begin a vacation! :)

Fortunately for me a very helpful co-worker got my little air compressor hooked up and it pumped the tire up enough for me to be able to drive a couple blocks to the tire store. Thank goodness my office is less then a mile from a tire store!

Of course, since it was just after 12noon, all the tire technicians were at lunch and I was 3rd in line. I was told my car would be worked on sometime around 1:15-1:30. Not too terribly long, but let's face it, that probably really means it wouldn't be ready until sometime after 2pm. Again, this wouldn't be such a big deal, except I have a meeting at 2pm and I specifically changed my schedule around today so that instead of leaving and starting my vacation at noon (like I wanted) I decided to stay for the meeting and leave at 3pm. Again, not a life altering situation, just a bit of a pain in the neck, since I did want to do a few things before picking up mom and going home to do laundry and the final pack!

This was not a major catastrophe, just a little annoyance, and a funny story to kick off a vacation. Let's hope this is the only major "event" that occurs!

And 24 hours from now I will be boarding a plane and taking off into the wild blue yonder!

I'm Having Trouble Containing My Excitement!

My trip to France is just around the corner and no matter how old I am, when a vacation is this close I can't help but get excited.

All the planning and research I've done over the last year is culminating in such great anticipation... that first Laudree macaroon...the first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower (well, the first glimpse in 19 years!)...a stroll down the Champs Elysee...the sight of my first French Chateau...a canoe ride down the Dordogne River...meandering along the Promenade Anglais in Nice...and the taste of goat cheese and chocolate crepes (not together of course, but maybe I'm onto a new flavor combination here!)

I know I have said this before and I am sure I will say it again, but there is just something I love about traveling....and I mean everything involved with travel. The preparation for the trip and gaining new knowledge of a place. The actual transit...how I love sitting in airports watching people rush off to parts unknown and wondering where they are going and why. Then there is the actual experience of seeing a place I've read about for the first time, or better yet, experiencing a place a second time around because the joy it brought the first time!

I like to think my expectations will be met, but I know better than to expect perfection, so I will hope the trip goes smoothly and if there is a bump or two in the travel road that is what will make for an adventurous journey!

This is eerie!

This is great but at the same time weird and I am just waiting for "hell to break loose"! Let's hope it doesn't! :)

All my ducks are in a row at work and now it's just the, truly, little things that await...changing my voicemail and email reply, going to a last minute meeting on Wednesday and sending a few emails out tomorrow.

If feels really weird to have everything under control when in the past couple years it seems I was flitting around at the last minute coordinating things before leaving for vacation. Maybe that wasn't the case and my mind is not remembering correctly! But this is a good weird feeling to have.

Packing is done...

...well almost!

The "major" part of the packing is done. Now it's just the last minute stuff like my phone charger, and make-up...what a combination! :)

It took me longer today to organize everything and I even had to unpack a few things to fit all the "necessary" stuff. With my new camera and it's bag taking up more room in my carry-on pack I was thrown off kilter with what could be put into my carry-on pack. But with some re-arranging and getting rid of some stuff I think all will work out.

Of course the true test will be Thursday morning as we head out the door to the airport and do the final touches of organizing the suitcase! And as I know from experience as soon as I open the suitcase the first time in Paris it will never be as organized as it is right now.

And as I said to mom tonight, if we need something while we are there, we certainly won't have trouble finding it...after all, France is not a third world country! We will have no trouble finding Clinique make-up there if we need it! We may end up paying an extraordinary price for it with the exchange rate, but we will find it! :)

Now just getting through the next 2 and one half days at work will be the hardest part. I am absolutely ready to begin this vacation right now!

One week from TODAY!

Wooo Hooo! At this very moment in one week I will be jetting across the Atlantic in blissful slumber. Well the "blissful slumber" part may be a bit of an exaggeration! But I did pick the exit row seats for the flight to Paris and that should provide more leg room which may help in trying to get a little shut eye! :)

Only a few more days at work and things are looking good for having loose ends tied up before I go on vacation...LOVE THAT!

This weekend is dedicated to packing and finishing all the last minute "to do's". Now if the weather in France will be perfect all will be well!

Post Number 200!!!

Wow! I can hardly believe I've managed to keep this blog going, albeit with sporadic posts, for 3 years! And this is post # 200. I know that may not seem like alot to those "big time" bloggers out there, but for me, it's an accomplishment!

Now, just when I thought my work responsibilities were in order for my vacation, and I could walk out of the office next Wednesday at noon without a second thought, a meeting for 2pm that Wednesday popped up on my radar. Technically there are a couple people who can handle it for me, but I do feel that if I can be there I should. So it looks like instead of zipping out of the office at noon it will be more like 3pm. In the grand scheme of things that's not too bad!

On the positive side of work, it looks like, at least for now, that all my other work things are falling into place nicely and I should be able to get on the plane next week without worrying too much! :)

Now for news on the arrival in Paris front. I originally was just going to catch a taxi at CDG and go to our hotel. But after some more thinking and reading more posts on Fodors I decided to book a private car service to meet us at the airport and take us to the hotel. It is costing 55Euro, which is about what a taxi would cost. In fact a taxi may have cost a bit more, depending on the traffic situation and the running meter. This way the car service is one flat fee and a tip to the driver.

Tonight I contacted Sprint to get my cell phone set up for international data (aka internet) service while in France and it will only be an extra $40 for a month of unlimited data access. I figure that's a pretty decent deal since I will mostly be using the phone for emailing anyway. Calls are extra at $1.29 per minute, but that's what I would have paid for calls on my other international phone. I'm interested to see how my new phone will work on this trip.

In just 9 days we will be exploring the city of light and cruising down the Seine!

Playing Tourist in Atlanta...

Over the Labor Day weekend we took off for Atlanta. In the past year we've been to Hot-Lanta a few times. Most of the visits have revolved around shopping or just visiting friends.

What made this trip different? We decided to play tourist for a day. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and met Regi in the cute little town square in Decatur.

Yay MARTA! As we like to stay in the Sandy Springs/Dunwoody area of Atlanta I found a super rate at the Sheraton on Hammond Drive, just down the street from the Dunwoody MARTA stop. After checking in on Saturday afternoon we headed over to the MARTA stop to take the train to Decatur.

Little did we know there was a Clemson-Alabama football game and every Clemson and Alabama fan on earth would be riding in the same MARTA car with us! :)

We survived and made it to Decatur and walked around the town for a bit waiting for Regi to meet us. It really is a cute little town! We stumbled upon a Starbucks...how convenient! And stopped for a coffee. While there Reg called and said he had arrived and a few minutes later he was walking in the door.

The ultimate goal was to have dinner at a Thai place Regi and Scott had found a couple weeks ago. It's named Siam and the food was terrific! And the portions huge. I couldn't even finish my Pad Thai.

Regi was kind enough to drive us back to my car at the MARTA stop and we called it a night. I've got to say the beds at the Sheraton were fantastic! Really comfortable!

We were in no rush the next morning, so got moving and out the door around 10:30. We stopped at the Einstein Bagels place down the street from the hotel for some breakfast since we had never tried this place. It's a bagel shop/restaurant chain and the bagels were great.

Just after 11am we were back on MARTA heading down to CNN Center to catch the Inside CNN tour. The tour was very interesting. It was neat to see some of the behind the scenes stuff. The tour lasted about an hour and then we were off and walking through Centennial Park.

We were headed for the World of Coke, which was somewhat interesting but filled with masses of people and mostly children running around. We did get to taste several Coke products that are sold all over the world and the unanimous favorite was called Smart from China. It's an apple flavored soda and it was a pleasant surprise. I didn't think I would like it but I did. The second runner up was called Beverly from Italy and it a bit of a lime/lemon flavor. I did not like any of the flavors from Africa...way too sweet...and I have a sweet tooth!

One of the highlights of the weekend was Sunday night dinner. Through the OpenTable website I found a restaurant in the Inman Park neighborhood of Atlanta called Wisteria. And a bonus was for a Sunday early evening reservation via OpenTable I could get 1000 points! So I booked the reservation.

I am so glad I found this little gem! The food was delicious and the restaurant had a "rustic" atmosphere with exposed brick walls. It was casual and was fairly crowded for a Sunday night and it seemed to have a good local clientele, which was confirmed by our waitress.

We had 2 appetizers, the calamari which had an Asian twist because it was served with a wasabi mayonnaise and an apricot dipping sauce...it was the best calamari I have had in a really long time! The second starter was fried green tomato fries. A unique way to serve this southern classic...french fry style with an absolutely decadent blue cheese dipping sauce.

We would have been happy with the starters but forged ahead with entrees too! Mom had the skate wing fish with grits so creamy I almost didn't believe they were grits! Really, really good. I had the special which was a veal and pork meatloaf with mashed potatoes. The meatloaf was so tender there was no need for me to use a knife. Mom had a couple glasses of wine and I tried the signature Wisteria Blossom which is a martini with chambord and I can't remember what else, but it was very smooth!

We ended dinner with espresso that really hit the spot! I would give Wisteria very high marks and would definitely return.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel for an early night. The next morning we took our time getting started, went back to Einstein Brothers for a bagel breakfast and then to Trader Joe's to stock up on $2 Chuck!

We were on the road just after 10:30 and back home by 3:30. Just enough time to get organized for the work week!

It was another fun filled weekend to one of my favorite cities!

2 More Weeks Mes Amis!

Not one, not two, but THREE tropical storms/potential hurricanes are brewing in the Atlantic and I am in vacation countdown mode! Does this sound familiar???

I should have remembered several years ago when prior to going to Prague there was a major storm that also slipped by us.

For a few days Tropical Storm Hanna was forecasted to hit between Savannah and Charleston. It's a bit disconcerting when the weather channel meteorologists continually announce the eye of the storm will make landfall in your own town. Thankfully (for us) the storm is now forecasted to hit land in the Myrtle Beach area. We will most likely get lots of wind and rain on Saturday, but not much more then that.

That would be good news if it weren't for the fact that Hurricane Ike and Tropical Storm Josephine are right on the heels of Hanna. In monitoring these storms, right now it looks like we may be out of harms way for them too. But there is still 2 weeks until lift-off to France and alot can happen in that time.

With just 2 weeks left before taking off for France this upcoming weekend is filled with lots of "to do's"...haircut, packing, and general organizing! I can say that I am REALLY ready for this vacation! I am coping rather well with my workload and taking the attitude that it will all get done, or someone else will step in to handle it!

Just 3 More Weeks!

In 3 weeks time I will be sitting in a corner cafe in the city of lights sipping a cafe au lait and eating pane au chocolat! At least that's the plan! Strike that cafe au lait, maybe I need to make it a pastis, or a kir royale or some terrific French wine!

What a week it has been. I'm not even on vacation yet and it seems my workload is exploding! Not that it has ever really exploded before while I was on vacation, mostly in part due to my running around the 2 or 3 weeks before I leave making sure all my "stuff" is taken care of.

I guess you could say that I am right on target this year too! I really am trying to remain calm. Heck if something comes up while I am on vacation one of 2 things will happen (like always). Either someone will figure out how to handle it, or someone will not figure out how to handle it and leave it for me to take care of when I get back! :)

I'm really looking forward to this long weekend...it's another Atlanta weekend for me. I know, not my usual style. Going out of town a few weeks before a "big" vacation. But I really like going to Atlanta, even if nothing is planned. I just like being in a city.

But there are plans! Dinner tomorrow night with Regi and Darlene in Decatur at a Thai restaurant. As Regi has mentioned in the last couple visits, Decatur is a really cute little town with a nice town square, and it's right on the MARTA line. So we will meet them at the Decatur MARTA stop and stroll around the square checking out the shops and then have dinner and most importantly "adult beverages"!

Sunday is shaping up to be "tourist" day in Atlanta. Maybe the CNN Center tour and World of Coca Cola then dinner at a restaurant I found on OpenTable that gives 1,000 points for a Sunday night reservation! It's called Wisteria and it's in the Inman Park section of Atlanta the reviews I've read so far have all been outstanding...should be fun!

Monday is the designated Trader Joe's day and then the drive home. Then it's time to switch gears into packing mode for the France trip....Yay!

Why does August feel Never-Ending???

It seems to me that the month of August is never going to end! Probably because my trip is only a month away and the excitement is building!

When I got home tonight there it was in the mail...the list of all the hotels we will be staying at in France along with the list of the other tour members and the tour guide. I'm happy to say the tour guide listed is one that I have heard terrific review about. I couldn't have gotten better news today!

Now the fun of checking out the hotels we will be staying at! Fortunately they all have websites so I will be spending the next few days taking a look at where we will be staying!

30 Day Countdown and Trying Not to Have a Meltdown....

Just 30 days until jetting off to the city of light and true to form, just before going on vacation work is getting chaotic! I know things will be fine, but getting everything coordinated is always a challenge!

But I am really looking forward to spending 21 days in France!!! All the planning and research is done and now it's just packing and the last-minute "to do's" that will need to get done. All that can be done a couple weeks before the trip so that's why with the 3 day Labor Day weekend coming up it's a great reason to go to Atlanta!

This upcoming trip to Atlanta we have decided to play "tourist" and give the CNN Center tour and World of Coke a try...it should be lots of fun!

The Dollar is getting STONGER!

After months of wondering how much more the dollar would sink against the Euro there is a glimmer of hope this week.

I don't check the currency values regularly, it was getting too depressing seeing the British Pound at $2 to 1 and the Euro reaching $1.60 to 1. So I stopped looking several months ago. This week I saw a post on the Fodors website saying the Euro is starting to decline, so I read the post with great interest since in 5 weeks time I will be in France. I was thrilled to see the Euro rate down to $1.49!

Months ago I said I would be happy if the value was around $1.50...I got my wish, now lets hope in the next 5 weeks it will either stay there or go down! That may be wishful thinking, but I will keep the positive outlook. It really doesn't matter either way, I am going no matter what the value is! :)

Theater Mania and another trip to Atlanta

The November NYC trip is starting to shape up with theater plans! This past week discount tickets to Billy Elliott and Gypsy were available and we snatched them up fast!

Billy Elliott is a new musical based on the movie. Elton John wrote the music and the show has been running in London for the last 4 years. It opens on Broadway in October with the "official" opening happening the second week in November. Lucky us we got tickets for the second weekend in November, just before the "Big" opening. The show is getting lots of good buzz and I'm psyched to see it! I loved the movie, so I have high hopes for the musical.

And...we were able to get discount tickets to Gypsy with Patti Lupone! I'm having flashbacks to seeing her in Evita in the 80's!

Gotta love the discount theater ticket websites...playbill.com and theatermania.com!

Now that I have the major planning structure done I can coast with the rest of the NYC trip planning until I get back from France in mid-October.

And I am fitting in another long weekend trip to Atlanta at the end of August...have to get in one more trip to Trader Joe's! This time we may even venture out and do the CNN studio tour and check out the World of Coke...see Atlanta as a tourist! :)

Another Bite out of the Big Apple!

NYC here we come...our next adventure!

How could I pass up a terrific airfare to NYC??? I couldn't! So in November between returning home from France and going to Rome for Christmas I'm off to the Big Apple for a long 4 day weekend for more great restaurants and theater!

On Monday the flights were booked and by Friday hotel reservations were made and tickets to Billy Elliott the musical were purchased!

I'm on a travel mission!

As of right now my travel plans look like this:
3 weeks in France in September
possibly a weekend in October in Atlanta
a weekend in NYC in November
a week in Rome for Christmas/New Years
another trip sometime in the fall to Atlanta to see the Terra Cotta Warriors at the High Museum
a week in Italy on the 10th anniversary trip in April/May 2009
and Tallinn, Helsinki and Russia in August 2009

My Gosh...I really do need to plant that money tree in my backyard!

At least I have plenty of research to keep me busy! :)

The new countdown begins...France 2008!

9 weeks from today I will be jetting of to gay Paree!!! The City of Light!

I can hardly believe my 3 week French odyssey is just a few months away. As usual, when I started planning this trip back in October 2007 it seemed like the trip was so far away. Now as I look at my trip planning checklist and see the only thing left to do is book either a shuttle or car service to pick us up at the Charles De Gaul airport in Paris and take us to our hotel I can hardly contain my excitement! Of course I've started to debate wether I really need to book a car in advance or just hop in a taxi at the airport.

The benefit of booking a shuttle or car service is that I know the price in advance, it's one flat rate. With a taxi if there is traffic going into Paris, the meter keeps ticking while standing in traffic and what I think may be a 50Euro taxi ride could turn into much more. Ahhhh...Deciscions, Decisions.

I spent the last weekend refining my travel research and cleaning up the document I created when I was cutting and pasting information I wanted to keep for this trip. I now have a 25 page document with a ton of restaurant recommendations and helpful hints for Paris and Nice and everywhere in between where we will be seeing!

Now the fun part...since I bought a new smartphone (Samsung ACE) that can be used internationally...yay...only one cell phone to bring with me! I will be saving this 25 page "travel guide" I created to my phone and (hopefully) have access to it, instead of printing the guide and bringing all that paper with me. BUT...just to be on the safe side I also emailed the guide to myself at my email account I access while traveling so if for some reason I can't get to the information on my phone I can pop into any internet cafe along the way and get the information I need...I'm trying to cover all my bases!

Stay tuned for my French updates and the status of Rome Christmas 2008! I haven't done much planning for Rome yet...just basic plans right now, but I still have all my research from last year, and I will definitely be using that again!

Au Revoir!

Context Paris Montmartre Tour Booked!

Since we'll be arriving in Paris a day before our group tour starts and the Montmartre area of Pairs is not part of the tour and there are glowing recommendations for Context Travel, I booked the Montmartre Context Paris walking tour.

I'm excited to take this tour because from what I have read this is an interesting area of the city, and it has spectacular views of Paris!! Of course, I will have to keep my fingers crossed that we get blessed with good weather that day! :)

Can it be??? More 2009 Travel Plans!!!

A couple weeks without any quick trips and my blog entries go by the wayside!

A few weeks ago Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door released their line-up of 2009 tours and far be it from me to not jump on the band wagon!

You guessed it....I've now got the workings of a 2009 trip in the works. Well, beside the Tuscany trip, which I may have to re-think because in late August/early September 2009 I am going to....DRUM ROLL PLEASE....Estonia, Finland and Russia!

How excited am I! I haven't even left for France yet (about 10 more weeks until that trip!).

The plan is to do the Rick Steves 9 day Tallinn (Estonia), Helsinki (Finland) and St. Petersburg (Russia). This is a brand new tour in 2009! And since the RS tours really don't start until the late afternoon on day one and are finished at breakfast on day 9, I'm really looking at the tour as 7 days. But, as the norm I will arrive a day before the tour starts in Tallinn and since I will be in Russia...how could I not go to Moscow!! So after the tour ends in St. Petersburg I can hop a one and a half hour flight to Moscow and stay there a few days. And...Delta has direct flights from Moscow to Atlanta for the return home!

A little preliminary research shows that the process to get a Russian tourist visa takes some paper shuffling...but shouldn't be too difficult once all the right forms are complete. However the killer is the price of the airfare and hotel rates in Moscow are astromonical! It may be time to really splurge in the hotel category...afterall...how often am I going to be in Moscow!

And now I am looking forward to this 3 day holiday weekend!