Heart of France tour

jenell in Paris if you want to see Versailles, Fountainbleu, or the Eiffel Tower you have to do that on your own, probably before the tour starts. Hopefully you are taking the advice to arrive at least one day early to adjust to time zone. On our tour, the visit to the Louvre segued into the time on your own so you could stay and see more, or not.

In Amboise, there is the home of Leonardo DaVinci, and a Chateau to visit, both right in town and walkable. In Bayeux, the Bayeux Tapestry and museum, also in town. Otherwise we used our free time to wander, shop, and enjoy the towns without a plan, or with or without your tour buddies.

I really enjoyed this tour last Fall!! There was not a whole lot of free time. As indicated, there was free time in Amboise where most of us found lunch at the market that was going on but then we met up with our guide who walked us up to Clos Luce (Leonardo da Vinci's home) and talked about the area and the cave homes on the way. We had a few hours in Bourges in the morning before we left there and again most shopped at the weekly market for picnic lunch stuff to eat after the wine tasting at Selles sur Cher. There were a few hours on Mont St-Michel. We did the Bayeux tapestry together. It was very easy to fill time just with suggestions from the guide.

There was a free afternoon in Paris but I always have a list a mile long for Paris so it's easy to pop something in there.

Do you have questions about particular blocks of time? It might be easier to remember something that way.

I usually do some prep for my RS tours but somehow I didn't for this one. I did it back to back with the Best of England and did prep for that trip, just not this one. I did not have any time on my hands and wow, I had a great time!

This is our 3rd Rick Steves tour (we have been on the Heart of Italy and Best of London). I have a BA in Italian Literature and Language and I have been studying British History for 30 years, so I had a substantial number of ideas on what to do with our free time in those countries. My mom was thrilled with some of my suggestions for our free time on those tours (she still regularly talks about our trip to the Borghese Gallery in Rome).

Apparently, I have set the bar a bit too high and I am struggling with finding really great side attractions for France, especially since my knowledge of France is weaker than Italy / London. As an aside, I have been to France before (but my mom has not) and I hated it a lot (I swore that I would never return). I really want to give France another shot.

I did buy tickets to the Eiffel Tower (I figured she would never forgive me if we missed that).

Jenell, we found France and the French just as nice and pleasant as Italy. Being on a RS tour helps. Our guide was extremely helpful in suggesting things to do in free time, and how to do it. Just a bit of French (or a sincere attempt) makes all the difference.

I agree with Stan about the French and in particular Parisians but their friendliness is different ( more formal) than what I found with Italians. My poor experience with Paris dated back to the 1970's, lol and with the help of RS guides I've completely changed my tune. I don't have much in the way of language skills but can do the polite phrases.

In thinking about the tour and in looking back at my pictures, I am thinking the free time on this tour might be more at the mercy of how the rest of the day goes than other tours. You could do some looking to see if your visit days fall on market days in Bourges and Amboise. Take a look at the info about Clos Luce which you will want to see whether your guide walks you up there or not. I am definitely a planner but it actually worked not to have planned much on this trip.

I know that is not much of a help to a planner!