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Heart of France Tour

I will begin this with a quote from Charles Dickens “ It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.” The tour guide was excellent, knowledgeable and a lot of fun to be with. The first three days in Paris where exciting except for the crowds, we have been to Paris several times in the past and this time the crowds were literally shoulder to shoulder in the Notre Dame, The Louve, Saint Chapelle and The D’Orsay museum. To make things even more of a challenge, Air France lost my wife’s bag and assured us it was coming later that day and they would deliver it to our Hotel. We always only travel with “carry on “ over the last 12 years but this one time she thought that it would be nice to have some room to bring a few things back with us. Well, the bag did not show up we found trying to get through to Air France via telephone and e-mail an exercise in futility. So, we spent our free time one afternoon buying new clothes for my wife, I think she actually enjoyed it!!

It was a relief to leave Paris and head to the Chateau country. The Chambord Chateau was huge and almost overwhelming when you consider it was just a “hunting lodge”! The Chateau Chenonceau truly a wonderful experience, period furniture was present and it looked as if you could move in and start living there today. We enjoyed the Castle that is being built at Bourges (living museum), it was very interesting and the guide made it come alive.

We were feeling better now even though the bag was still stuck at the CDG airport. Mount St. Michel is majestic and we loved arriving and getting settled in our hotel and having a great supper, but when we went to bed we had to leave the window open due to the heat and no air conditioning and the seagulls cried all night long, I mean they never stopped! We didn’t get any sleep and the next morning we climbed to the top to see the church and ended up walking up or down a total of 1000 steps that morning. Between the lost bag, heat and lack of sleep we still managed to have a good experience. We next visited Normandy and the guide was excellent, we saw both Utah and Omaha landing beaches and the American cemetery ( Very emotionally moving to experience).

We headed back to Paris with a stop at Monet’s garden in Giverny, France but again the crowds where enormous, even the guides from different tours were getting testy with each other, we did a quick run through the garden and left and found a great hotel with a a shaded patio and had an excellent lunch at our leisure.

On returning to Paris we found that our Hotel’s air conditioning had broken down and our room on the 6th floor was an oven and the overall condition of the hotel was poor so we opted to book a room at the airport Sheraton and we called a taxi. We hated to miss the final group tour dinner but we were exhausted by then. On the way to the airport our taxi ran out of gas but we were able to coast down hill to a gas station (I know this sounds like a National Lampoon movie). After filling up we made it to the airport hotel and since we had a few hours before bedtime, we went over to Air France baggage and asked if they would help us with the lost bag and one lady came to our rescue and spent an hour tracking the bag down and we finally got it!!

Now some of you probably think that this was the trip from hell and at times we didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but
I want you all to know that the group of people we were with was wonderful and they kept our spirits up and we look back now and can say it was a great experience!

PS: Delta lost my wife’s bag at Atlanta on the way home and it was finally delivered to our house this morning! We are back to carry on only from now on!!!

Posted by
943 posts

Donald, thanks for sharing your report. Sorry for all the inconveniences. I had to laugh when your taxi ran out of gas.

What great sports you and your wife are. It speaks volumes that you can say the trip was a great experience in spite of all the mishaps.

Posted by
12 posts

Wow..what a trip. Hopefully you’ve used up all your bad luck!

Bummer about the seagulls at Mont St. Michel

Re that last hotel in Paris..and it’s poor condition (aside from broken AC), can you please elaborate? What is hotel name? I assume it is different than the starting hotel? I am thinking of taking this tour in the Spring and just want to be mentally prepared.

Thanks

Posted by
6547 posts

As I think we all realize, the quality of SOME hotels used by RS can be questionable. We have been on two RS Tours, and the Swiss hotels were wonderful, but I would never return to the Rome hotel used on the VFR tour. So overall, the RS average is good, but a few sleepless nights can ruin that segment of the trip.
I have stayed in some RS recommended hotels, not on a tour, and I feel many of the recommendations need to be updated. Hotels have been sold, younger family members have taken over, etc, but it wasn't the "family" experience that the guidebook described. And some of the hotels are just getting old and need a refresh. I also think RS needs to accept that as a result of climate change, AC is needed in the summers. It is not easy to sleep in a hotel with open windows, and no screens. Even if you can tolerate street noise, mosquitos are hard to ignore. And one needs hotels rooms with an abundance of outlets , as technology is becoming a necessary travel tool.

I'm a RS fan, and think his guide books are exceptional high quality, and give practical advice. And- he's given us this ad-free Forum.

Donald, thanks for taking the time to write a Trip Report, and for your humorous approach. I wish you a next trip that's all butterflies and great chocolate.

Posted by
7315 posts

Curious to what the reaction of the Rick Steves guide and the company to the Paris hotel? It didn't sound like it was very pleasant way to end a tour.

Posted by
1525 posts

After 12 RS tours, I tend to agree with Pat, as our weather is getting warmer earlier and the cooler shoulder seasons seem to be shortening, having a hotel with a/c is becoming more important. And because opening windows is necessary for fresh air, I always carry my Loop ear plugs (not those ineffective orange things they give away) and packets of OFF insect repellant. And yes, carryon going over, check the bags, extended with a couple bottles of good wine, coming back….lessons learned the hard way :-)

Posted by
1086 posts

I noticed that some of you requested the name of our last hotel, it was Hotel Dauphine Saint Germaine. We may have just been unlucky and got the one really bad room, non working air conditioning, the carpet was threadbare and the night stands looked like they needed to be cleaned with some good soapy water, etc. We opened the window and it just made it even hotter.

I am not angry at our guide (he isn’t the one who picks the hotels), or even the Rick Steves Tours, this is our 9th RS tour and we’ve had great hotels 97% of the time. It’s just getting hotter and more crowded in parts of Europe these days.

Posted by
2625 posts

Donald,
This was my first RS tour in mid-October, 2014 and I brought clothes for cooler fall weather. It was too warm for long sleeved or 3/4 sleeved tops- not heavy weight mind you. All the women were in the same situation, it was warm all throughout the tour. I remember being amazed at how warm it was then. I just finished my 14th tour early June, the Best of Switzerland, and temperatures weren’t too warm then. In the cities it was getting into the mid-80’s.
I do try to choose my trips with warm temperatures in mind. Sometimes it can’t be helped, for example, I’m booked for the Heart of Scotland tour in August 2026 because the Military Tattoo and Edinburgh Fringe Festival occur then. Fingers crossed that it’s not too warm. I have found wearing technical clothing helps.
I agree with the others you have a great attitude! You can’t make up the taxi running out of gas! Just saying, I would love buying new clothes in Paris. But I’m glad your bags finally caught up with you.

Posted by
8644 posts

Wow, what an experience! You both should be commended for keeping the positive attitude through the trip. A taxi running out of gas is a new one - LOL!

I hope your wife is enjoying her new Parisian clothes. : )

Posted by
2 posts

Hello Donald,
I was on the Heart of France tour at the beginning of May, our last hotel was the Tourisme Avenue Hotel which was quite nice so I was curious to hear your last one was different. I have to say although we didn't have trouble with heat, (Normandy was pouring rain with strong wind gusts) the crowds were still intense, trying to view the Monet gardens was like being in a conga line. All the museums were extremely crowded and the fact that employees would decide to strike for a few hours didn't help matters.

Piggy backing on some of the other replies, when I signed up for the trip I was told all the hotels had Wifi. I presumed (incorrectly) they would all have USB ports to recharge phones, etc and so did not bring an adapter. Only a couple of the hotels we stayed in had USB ports and I had to borrow adapters from the reception desks. I agree that the RS guide should be updated regarding how up to date technology is in the hotels booked for tours. My overall experience with the hotels in France though was good, beds were clean and comfortable and I always bring my noise cancelling headphones for those times when walls are thin or street noise too loud.

Posted by
1 posts

Hello Donald,
We are going on the Heart of France tour in September and have an itinerary question. On the third day of the tour in Paris, the activity is a walking tour through a Parisian neighborhood and the Louvre. Which neighborhood did you tour? When did the tour of the Louvre end approximately? We will be in Paris a few days prior to the tour start and don't want to plan to see the same neighborhood that will be covered in the tour. Also when the 'afternoon' is described as 'free' approximately when does that time start - again seeing if it makes sense to plan other activities (or not) depending on the timing. Thank you!

Posted by
59 posts

I had this very question a couple of years ago when we took the tour. At that time, it was always Les Halles.

Donald…omg! Sounds like you will able to ride the wave and still manage to enjoy yourselves. It does sound like a “Vacation” movie!

Posted by
753 posts

have an itinerary question. On the third day of the tour in Paris, the activity is a walking tour through a Parisian neighborhood and the Louvre. Which neighborhood did you tour? When did the tour of the Louvre end approximately?

When we did this tour a few years ago, we walked in the 2nd Arrondissement. Through Les Halles, past the Eglise Saint Eustache, to the garden du Palais Royale and then to the Louvre. But that was our tour. Yours may be different. I did email the RS Office and did ask specifically if our tour would visit the Montmartre area, and when they said no, I booked a third party tour in the late afternoon on a free day to visit that neighborhood.
The walk tour ended at the Louvre around 11:30 am. RS will facilitate your entrance with tickets, but then you are let loose on your own in the Louvre. The Louvre is so big and crowded that I would do the Highlights tour and I think Rick has an audio tour covering that.
As we had been to the Louvre before and it was so crowded and the maintenance crew decided to close and clean all the bathrooms at the same time, except for one, it was for us, a hellhole experience and we left and went over the Orangerie and walked the Tulieres garden. This free time would be a good time to visit the D'Orsay museum instead (we had already been there)

Posted by
7315 posts

I think your attitude was quite commendable. I have only done one Rick Steves tour (Rome) and we enjoyed it. As someone that might consider doing another RS tour, I'm still left wondering how your situation was handled by RS company. To miss the last meal and end of the tour would be disappointing as would shelling out for another hotel room when your room was supposed to have been included in the tour.