Back from our 4 week trip to France

We are back from our 4 week trip to France. We spent 6 nights in Paris (2nd trip), 8 nights in Provence, 5 nights in Nice and 7 nights in Annecy (plus a final night in Paris before we left). Our interests (in no particular order) are water (oceans, seas, lakes), and mountains, and Impressionism, and Roman ruins. I’ve broken up this “triplog” into categories which I’ll offer over several posts. Merci!

GEMS:

--Giverny. Not often you get to see the inspiration of a great artist. We were the first individuals through the door, yet the tour groups still beat us to the lily ponds! But it was peaceful, even (maybe especially) in the mist. A group of pre-schoolers came in, maybe 4 years old. Where we were sitting at one end of the lily pond, they were each given a clipboard and a piece of paper, and chose a crayon, and began to interpret their “impressions” of the great impressionist. It was the most charming thing I witnessed in France.

--Attending the Ballet at the Opera Garnier.

--Seeing both the 2000 year old Pont du Gard and the 21st Century sleek Millau Viaduc in a span (pardon the pun) of 24 hours. Mr. Siouxxie, an engineer, was impressed with how straight the Pont du Gard still is, and he is quite certain the Viaduc will not still be standing in 2000 years!

--The Renoir Museum in Cagnes sur Mer—his home/studio in his last years. Beautiful property, serene.

--Several times we came upon groups of motorcyclists, big Harley types, all leather-clad, stopped along the side of the roads, taking pictures of poppies (perched villages, mountain vistas, etc)

--Watching dozens of hang- and para-gliders soar over the heights at the Col de la Forclaz (Lac Annecy)

--First glimpse of the Cote d’Azur where l’Esteral meet(s) the sea. One of the most stunning coasts I’ve ever seen.

--The drive from Nice to Annecy through Entrevaux and Grenoble (after a while the words beautiful and stunning and gorgeous sounded like clichés)

--I do not like heights, or the cold, thin air (it excites my asthma), and enclosed places. So of course we took the crowded cable car up to the top of l’Aguille du Midi. Oh my! Terrifying for me, but seeing Mont Blanc up close and personal (as “up close” as we were going to get) was quite exhilarating. (the trip down is a story for another post!)

--Compeed.

--The full moon over the Med, seen from our balcony on the Promenade des Anglais—it was as if we ordered it off a menu and it appeared as the plat du nuit! Trés romantique!

--The classical music station in Nice, FM 201.7, I believe. Best classical station I’ve ever heard! And the signal carried quite far and even through the mountains. We were sorry when we finally lost it.

--The Corniches above the Cote d’Azur. We drove them all (and even the A8 from Cagnes sur Mer to Menton) I could tell you how extraordinarily beautiful the scenery was, but at this point it might sound like insincere gushing!

--Cap St. Jean Ferrat. We drove out to the end of the road and took the walk around the tip. Gusty winds and crashing waves. Loved it!

--Towns we particularly liked:

-Cassis. Loved this little “working port” town; we took the 8-Calanque boat ride, which only whet our appetites for further exploration. And the Route des Cretes was quite a drive!

-Malaucene. Gateway to Mont Ventaux. What a pretty little town!

-Goult. Every inch was spotless and charming.

-Menton. Very Italian in flavor, nice people, beautiful waterfront. Wish we could have stayed longer.

-Tourette sur Loup. Unscheduled stop here for lunch, and we liked it better than either Eze (waaay too touristy) and St. Paul (only slightly less touristy). The tiny little medieval section was almost devoid of people and felt more “real” than Eze or St. Paul. We had one of our best meals here (more on meals and accommodations in a separate post)

-La Turbia and Orange, both for their unusual Roman ruins.

-Yvoire on Lac Leman. Charming medieval village overrun by flowers and tourists. For some reason I kept thinking “Disneyland.” But its location on the lake can’t be beat.

-Annecy. It has the mountains, the lake, a nice old town, raclette…what’s not to like?

Next up, some observations.

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Sounds wonderful. We are going in a few weeks and spending time in Paris then down to Province. Did you use a car for the whole trip?

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We did not have a car in Paris, of course, but when we flew down south, we picked up a car and used it for the remaining three weeks. We then turned it in our last day in Annecy and took the TGV back to Paris for last night before the trip home.

I know it is highly recommended not to drive on the French Riviera, and we almost didn%26#39;t, but we would have missed so much! And I knew there was no way Mr Siouxxie would take a bus when he was paying for a car. Plus, he likes to drive. We did get lost on the freeway at rush hour in Nice, and twice on the tangle of tollways merging in Aix (made us feel like we should turn in our CA driving credentials!) but otherwise, it was fine.

You will have a great time!

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Wht a nice trip report: highlights and opinions without a lot of verbiage (mea culpa!). Driving in France is fun if the driver enjoys driving, and California driving is excellent conditioning.

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That%26#39;s kind of our plans. Get down to the south by train and rent a car. One last question, did you use a gps or maps or just wander? Thanks!

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GPS would have been too much like asking for directions! lol

However, we did have the Michelin spiral map, and regional Green Guides. The only problem we ever had was that the %26quot;numbers%26quot; of some roads have changed since the map (newly bought) was compiled, and they had warned us about that when we picked up our car. So there were moments of confusion, but what would a road trip be without moments of confusion?

The rural roads in Provence were lightly traveled and well-marked, for the most part. We did use the tollway upon occasion (when we wanted to get someplace fast) and they are very nice, but expensive.

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Nice report Siouxxie, I like your spotlights; thanks for posting!

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I keep finding new posts of yours, like little gems and I think you are my American doppleganger. Yes to the two %26quot;ducts%26quot; via and aqua, what wonderful things they are. As is Compeed, the best product of Europe in my opinion.

Our moment with kids was at Glanum where there were pre-schoolers all holding hands and all dressed in togas and suchlike to explore the ancient Roman and Greek ruins. So sweet and such well behaved little kids. Don%26#39;t you love the French schools tucked away as shopfronts right in the middle of the village or street. Ours are so %26quot;set aside%26quot; and large.

Keep writing. It quite makes my day.

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Merci, Lynn (and others!) I am an unpublished novel-writer. Anyone know any publishers?

;-)

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Thanks for posting your trip reports - I%26#39;m really glad you had a great time