France Trip Report for 5 - 2 kids first time to Europe

Day 5 - We headed to the Bayeux Tapestry - WOW is what I have to say about that! I was so excited to see this and it didn't disappoint. It is an amazing piece of artistic embroidery and an oh so important historical document. Of course, it is Norman propaganda, but it was stunning! They are redoing the museum starting at the end of the summer, so... then we headed to Bayeux Cathedral and off to MSM. On the way we stopped at a German Cemetery you can see the Mont from. There were fresh flowers on some of the graves which told me that what happened in WWII is not forgotten, in Europe, at least. I think we'd do well to remember it. We stayed 1 night on the island (a request of our son) so we parked in our lot with the code that our hotel gave us and headed to the Mont. People were pouring out and we were coming in. Perfect! We checked in and headed to the Abbey. It is a good thing the tourist route is one way because that place is a maze! We had trouble with dinner as all of Rick's recommendations weren't open. We just got some food from whatever place we could find. Then we walked the walls. I wanted to get a picture from the causeway, but it was not lighting up until really late and with me being the driving I needed to get to bed. I waited until 11:15ish but it still wasn't lit.

Day 6 - This morning we headed to the Loire. This is also when the temperatures really started heating up from here on out. On our way to the hotel in Chinon we stopped at Chateau de Breze which is not in Rick's book. It was originally a troglodyte castle, which you can still see, and then a chateau with the deepest moat in Europe. It also has a winery. Then we stopped at Fontevraud Abbey, and made our way to Chinon. We stayed 2 nights at the Best Western Hotel France. We had a parking space and the attendant parked it for us because of the narrow nature of the spots. Thankfully, because I'm good, but that made me nervous. The rooms also had AC, which was appreciated as the temps were now in the 90s. We had dinner at a cafe right on the square outside our hotel. My son and I tried escargot and it was delicious!! He was trying unsuccessfully to get a snail in the holder thing they give you, and the table next door was smiling. One man got up and showed him how to do it properly, but then said you can also just use your fingers. It was a beautiful interaction with a local!

Day 7 - We headed first to Chenonceau - wow is that a wonderful Chateau! We then headed to Villandry where we walked in the shade to enjoy the gardens as it was pretty darn hot! After parking our car back in Chinon with the help of the valet we used the free elevator to get closer to Chinon Castle and had a gander around it. The histopads they give you helped a lot and were useful in understanding how it was used when Eleanor of Aquitane and Henry II used it.

Day 8 - We headed to the Dordogne with a stop along the way at Oradour- sur - Glane. Being a Holocaust Scholar I have seen this kind of thing before, but this town had walls still standing, cars rusted out, sewing machines, bedframes...It would have been a nice little town to live in. Such senseless violence. For our 3 nights in the Dordogne I booked a gite, Le Chevrefeuille. between the river and the center of prehistory Les Eyzies. On the way there we got groceries and enjoyed eating in our own kitchen. We were also able to do laundry and there was a pool to cool down with in the evenings as it was very hot! We also used their Pentanque court.

Day 9 - Our first activity was a tour of Rouffignac Cave known for their wooly mammoths and the one you ride on a little train for. Bear dens and scratches, mammoths, rhinos, horses and ibex all about 15,000 years old. Fascinating! We then did the Prehistory Museum, and finally took a Gabon boat ride on the Dordogne. Back to our gite and the pool!

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Day 10 - We started with a tour of Grotto du Faunt de Gaume! Our gite host said it was hard to get those, and I knew that so I started checking for tickets morning and evening about 2.5 months out so that when my date was suddenly there I got them! And it was totally worth it. It was supposed to be a French tour, but all of us in the group spoke English (American and Canadian) so he did it in English, which was really quite kind of him. We could tell he was passionate about the cave art and did an amazing job showing and explaining it to us. I can't recommend this experience enough if you can get tickets, and hopefully your guide will be as passionate as ours. We then took a tour of Abri du Cap Blanc, a carved rock shelter. A rock frieze was carved in it, and it was a dwelling while the caves weren't. They did find a 14,000 year old burial in the shelter, but her skeleton is now in the Field Museum in Chicago! Imagine our surprise. We will have to go back the museum and see her. We then headed to Beynac Castle. Ok, parking for this one. Rick mentions the options in his book, but we wanted the one closest to the castle as that is what we were there to see. The GPS took us up a small, supposed to be 2 way but really just on way, street to get up there. A woman coming down had to back up and move aside for us. We waved at her in thanks. And you will come across a lot that is parking diagonally along the road your driving upon. Don't park there. That is the 'middle' lot Rick describes. Further ahead, and without hardly any cars in it, is the lot right up next to the castle. It is a pay lot, you need to figure out the machine. Get it to English first, and proceed from there. You'll need to put the license plate of your rental car in and can pay by CC. Beynac Castle. We love a good castle and we just weren't sure how this was going to go, but we really enjoyed it, get the audioguide. It was high on a cliff with views of the countryside and Dordogne River, it had a 2nd level entry via a ladder in the initial tower. The first floor guard room was so cool. It had a stable, and then a rocky area within the guards table area I'm assuming to bring the mounts out that needed to be saddled each day. I've never seen that before. You rode your mount in and out of the actual tower. Then as time went on posh bits were added. When you see the loo on the outside of the castle that looks like its dropping into the castle courtyard remember that at first that would have been the outside of the castle. You get great views from the top, see Richard the Lionheart's Bedroom, and enjoy the unreal kitchens. I love a good kitchen and this one was fabulous so don't miss it! I guess Beynac is used in movies including Ever After with Drew Barrymore.

Day 11 - We headed further south to Carcassonne and even more heat! First we took a tour of Peche Merle cave and that was great too! The geology of the cave was astounding! I've never seen some of those geological formations before. We saw more bear scratches, disc formations, cave pearls, and Cro-Magnon footprints along with the spotted horses, simply breathtaking. I could have stood and looked at them for an hour, and negative handprints which really do bring you closer to the people that made them 29,000 years ago. WOW! Then off to Carcassonne. We got there at 4 pm, Hotel Montmorency, and should have been able to check in, but one of our rooms wasn't ready yet. My MIL's, who was in a classic double, was and it had AC so we brought our luggage there, the kids and Brett went to use the pool (boutique pool and everyone else was laying on chairs reading) and I waited to be able to get in to our 4 person room. It took them 2 more hours to get our room done. So, beware on that front. Otherwise it worked well. We had dinner and walked the city after dark.

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Day 12 - The hottest day of the trip at 104. We were supposed to do the 2 hour drive one way loop of the Cathar Castles further away, but decided against it. Instead we did the Castles of Lastours. The TI is not by the bottom lot anymore, but further up the hill with the visitor center. There is very little parking but we snagged a spot. BEWARE - it is still a 20 minute climb to the top! We did this first thing so it wasn't as hot yet. Bring plenty of water, hat, sunscreen and take as many breaks as you need. If you do this you, like my 74 year old MIL, you can also do it! We looked at the first and last castles of the 4 and then headed back down. The views are amazing! Then we headed to an 8th century Abbey in a nearby village that Rick mentions in his book goes well with touring wineries. Can't remember the name of it off the top of my head but we figured it should be cooler than other places and would do on the fly. It was cooler than being outside, had the 8th century foundations, herringbone work on later renovations, an old and beautiful nave with Carrera marble statues and a WWI memorial that was sobering in how many names were on it. We then headed back for more pool time and dinner once the sun was below the wall of La Cite.

Day 13 - We headed to Arles for 3 nights and along the way stopped at the Pont du Garde. Wow what a piece of engineering! The kids waded in and got some cooling off time just ankle deep. The museum did a great job in telling how it was built. I am not an engineer so this kind of thing always astounds me. We then stopped at the Ancient Roman Museum on the outskirts of Arles. It is all wonderful, but the Roman boat was amazing! I was just fascinated by it and studied it from every angle. It was huge! Way bigger than I thought it was going to be! Take your time with this and really learn about it. We parked the car at the garage on the outskirts as Rick suggests because you REALLY don't want to be driving in Arles and hoofed it, not far, to our hotel - Hotel de la Muette. Yeah for AC again as it was hot!

Day 14 - Our last day with the car was spent doing some outlying sites. First we walked to the Alycamps Roman Cemetery with a resident stray cat (that is taken care of) and some surviving sarcophagi. Then, to the Aqueduct of Barbegal. We saw a model of this in the museum the previous day, and you could tell in person how the mill would have worked to grind the grain to make bread for the Roman city of Arles. Then we headed to the Abbey of Montmajour. The rock cut graves were very interesting, and it was amazing to think that Van Gogh used to walk there from Arles hauling all his stuff to paint. We then returned our car to Europcar in Arles. I had a picture of the big scratch on the side our car came with so we wouldn't be charged, and were were out of there really quite fast. We then walked back to Arles. Not bad. The afternoon was spent after a refresh in the hotel seeing the Roman stuff in Arles. We started at St. Trophime, then went to the Theatre, and finished with the Arena. Definitely go to the top of the tower for the views. We ended up for dinner at Le Boheme. We didn't have reservations but they got us in. They had a tour group so were quite full. We loved it so much we made reservations for the following evening.

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Day 15 - This day was the one day that didn't quite go as planned. We took a train to Nimes that was an hour delayed. Ok, fine. I had no reservations in Nimes. We started with the Castellum, explaining to the kids how this is where the aqueduct that included the Pont du Gard ended. It was cool to see multiple parts of it. It was a holding tank with holes for pipes to take water to different drinking fountains of the city and if water was plentiful to homes and such as well. It also has 2 resident cats. Then we strolled in the gardens, seeing the Temple of Diana, which I think along with others looks more like a library, relaxing there for quite some time. Then the Maison Carre, and finally the Archeology Museum across from the Arena. It is bigger than you think. Use the audioguide. Then we headed for the train station to go back to Arles and our dinner reservation. The train back to Arles was almost an hour delayed. We had just enough time to freshen up and walk over to the restaurant.

Day 16 - Fast train to Paris, and it was on time, though was delayed a little along the way with stops. No big deal. We got to Paris ending in Gare de Lyon. We needed metro tickets for 1 ride 2 stops. Be warned, you now HAVE to buy the Navigo pass card, 2 euros each. We couldn't just buy 5 tickets. We taught the kids how to navigate a metro system, and made it to our hotel, Hotel Nice in the Marais. We just stored our bags as it was early and headed back out. First, the deportation memorial. We then wanted to go to Notre Dame. I had tried to get tickets but it didn't happen so we were just going to sit in line. Well, there was an ordination that day so no tickets whatsoever. It wasn't just me not being able to get them. There were none. You simply couldn't get in. We had tickets for Saint Chapelle and the Conciergerie. Conciergerie first and they didn't care that we were early. We used a histopad again to bring it to life and there is more than you think. A lot of course to do with Charles V and the Revolution. We then tried to get in Saint Chapelle, but you couldn't before your time. So we sat in the shade with a snack looking at Notre Dame while we waited. The lines are divided into 3 times. Ours was 4:30 so we stood in that one and on the dot they let 10 or so of us in at a time to go through security. Then they would go to the 5 pm, then back to the :30 line for 5:30 and the line on the other side for 6pm. So, pay attention to which line you should be in, and you don't need to arrive too incredibly early. They won't let you in anyway. It was totally worth it as that is one beautiful church! The stained glass is amazing! Then back to the hotel for check in, yeah for AC again. We ran into the Pride parade! It was on our street, so we joined in the fun and celebrations supporting that community and stepped out when we got to our hotel. For the last night in France I booked a dinner river cruise with Le Calife and it really was a fantastic finish to France! The food was good, the scenery as the lights came on was fantastic as we had windows and a glass roof and we really enjoyed ourselves. I recommend it. The kids would excuse themselves between courses to go take pictures and enjoy, a great memory! We were greeted with Champagne and plenty of wine (and water) for the adults.

Home - They've redone CDG (olympics) since I was last there. Our flight was delayed but we still got back to Chicago within an hour of our original landing time. United both ways since a hub for them is Chicago. As I mentioned at the beginning we got through O'Hare fast and back to our car fast thanks to BlueSky. Back to Madison around 5:30, dinner, and crash.

All in all a great trip and not much I would change. We had four 1 nighters, two 3 nighters, and three 2 nighters. Worked well for us. Any questions let me know. Hope this helps you for your trip!

Wow, what a trip you had, and what excellent planning! This was so fun to read. Bookmarking this to emulate your excellent travel skills when we are able to. Great memories for you and your kids. Well done, you!

Tell us about some of your favorite meals, please :-)

I'm envious over the gite with the pool :-)

That street the Hotel de Nice is on, the rue de Rivoli, is the edge of the lgbtqia neighborhood, so it makes sense that the parade goes by there.

If you search the National Geographic archives online you'll find a cover story about the boat in Arles that goes into some more detail. 2012, maybe? 2014?

Hmm, favorite meals. Cafe Bleu in Charters we had the menu and it was cool enough for onion soup, my son tried steak tartar, and the creme brulee was divine all with a view of the cathedral. I already mentioned the man in Chinon helping my son with the escargots, such a wonderful moment! Our B&B in Bayeux had amazing breakfast, the Camabert he had was my son's favorite cheese of the trip. In Carcassonne we ate at a restaurant in a quiet lane, Auberge?, whose gaspacho was amazing! It's in Rick's book. Le Boheme in Arles was fantastic! My daughter could get veg or fish as is her preference. We had menus and the beef carpaccio, seared tuna, Iberico pork with mustard sauce, veal, and apricots with lavender dessert were all amazing! We went twice. The lemon dessert on the boat ride our last night in France was the best I've had.

We were in the Dordogne last Fall for a week and it's my favourite part of France so far. I know the one-way road in Beynac you went up. One thing I learned in the Dordogne is not to trust your GPS. Several times it lead us astray on one-way roads.

Oh, I would say the opposite. To trust the GPS. For the most part it was spot on. A few times we also had our Google maps on to make sure, but I'd say the worse of the 2 was the Google maps.