SuperDave's Adventures in Eastern France's Wine Country

[SuperDave]

I mentioned writing about an sharing some photos from my recent trip to France about a week ago or so. Plus I gave a few updates when I was in France in May. We'll see how this goes. A number of you expressed interest in my photos and hearing about my trip, so I'll give it a shot. Spent quite a bit of time today, uploading all my photos to Photobucket. It was quite easy, but took some time to complete. I've never uploaded photos on to this site, so if I have trouble, I'm sure someone here can help me work through it.

The best way would be some background on my trip. I decided to take this trip, back in October, 2012. It had been over six years since I'd been to Europe and felt it was time. I basically waited this long as it's expensive to travel to Europe and the fact the one residing in the USA loses 30% on the exchange rate from the dollar to the euro. The last trip was on a Rick Steves tour called Village Italy. It was thirteen nights and covered a lot of the small towns of the country. It began in Padua and to a small in Umbria, then Orvieto, a stay at an agriturismo (basically a family farm, where you can stay), Lucca, Cinque Terre and ending in the lakes district in Lago Maggiore. It was a great trip with lots of great food, wine, sites and a good group of fellow travelers. There were about twenty of us. I actually began in Venice with a two night pre-stay to get over the jet lag and have some fun prior to my tour. I took the train from Venice to Padua, which was about 45 minutes. Well, enough on my last trip and time to concentrate on something more recent. Here's a link to it: http://tours.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/village-italy

I decided on France as I had been to Paris on a few occasions, but not anywhere else within the country and I really wanted to see other parts of France. As I had taken a Rick Steves tour before, I took a look to see what they offered for France. There are a number of itineraries for France and the Wine Regions of Eastern France appealed the most to me. Link to it: http://tours.ricksteves.com/tours/france-holland-belgium/village-france .

So after deciding on this I booked the tour.

[Strider]

Thanks Dave. Looking forward to reading the rest and seeing the photos. I usually travel on my own sans tour groups, so I had never heard of this Rick Steves thing before. You seemed to enjoy it and I was wondering if any others here have had good experiences with a Rick Steves tour?

[kenog]

Thanks for finally posting this SuperDave. It sounds like both your Italian and French trips have been great experiences for you. I wondered if you have sobered up yet . It's interesting that you did an organised tour, rather than going it alone. Could you give more of your opinion of the organised tour - for example, would you recommend it, or would you do it differently if you went again. I know some people who have gone down the organised trip route, and found it a bit regimented, restrictive etc.

[SuperDave]

One other thing I wanted to do was have a pre-stay like I did in Italy before the beginning of the tour. I decided on Paris as I was flying in there and the start of my tour is only a short train ride away. I checked various travel boards, including Rick Steves' to get some ideas of the area of Paris and possible hotels to stay at. Checked some Paris Hotel sites as well as Trip Advisor too. I set myself on the Saint Germain which is the 6th arrondisement near the left bank. It's great area with lots of good cafes and restaurnats and lots else to see and do.

I didn't want to spend too much on a hotel as I would basically be sleeping there. Paris isn't known for being cheap so I found one for around $160 a night. It's the Hotel Le Clement and is just off Blvd. Saint Germain and short walk to many cafes and restaurants, which I was looking for.

There was other planning I had to do. Just deciding what I wanted to do in Paris for my two nights there. I will fill you in on this once, I begin the actual travel portion of this thread.

I like the whole philosophy of a Rick Steves tour as opposed to these other tour companies. They encourage you to plan and do things on your own and be a traveler rather than a tourist as many of these other companies basically guide you by the hand, which is something I don't want. So I made my own transportation bookings getting to our first town on the tour and all my air travel as well. I'm pretty organized when it comes to this so I have no trouble doing this. Just need to know where to look for all of this.

His tour company did provide us with a few things such as one of his France guidebooks, France map and a French phrase book. As the tour got closer, they provided us info on all our hotels in France and suggestions for pre and post stays and best ways to get to our first hotel and names of all our tour members and leader. We had a small group of 14, which was ideal.We just had to do the work.

Another thing is that being on the tour you have an option of having a roommate or paying extra for room onto your own for the entire trip. The supplement fee for a single room was $850. As I was already spending a lot on this trip, I decided to have roommate. As luck would have it no other solo traveler, did the same as me so I had a hotel room to myself for the trip, without paying extra.

One thing about tours is they are packages and cancelling them and getting a full refund if something should occur prior to the trip can be difficult and could lose a lot of loot by doing so. This would be something on your end and not the tour provider, so they recommend trip cancellation insurance, which I purchased. Gives you peace of mind and was around $150 or so.

[SuperDave]

Forgot to mention the itinerary for this tour. After my pre-stay in Paris I'd meet up with my tour in Reims (Champagne), Colmar (Alsace), Beaune (Burgundy), Chamonix (French Alps), Vaison La Romaine (Provence) and Marseille (port city in Provence on French Riviera). Marseilles is second in France in population to Paris at around 800,000. Just wish they had included Nice instead of Marseille as that's a much better destination. It would have made it easier flying home as well as there are no direct flights to New York from Marseilles as there are from Nice. This was the first year this tour went to Marseille intead of Nice and we were the first group to do so. We also had a number of days stops and visits to other towns during the course of the trip.

Thanks for finally posting this SuperDave. It sounds like both your Italian and French trips have been great experiences for you. I wondered if you have sobered up yet . It's interesting that you did an organised tour, rather than going it alone. Could you give more of your opinion of the organised tour - for example, would you recommend it, or would you do it differently if you went again. I know some people who have gone down the organised trip route, and found it a bit regimented, restrictive etc.

I'm almost sobered up, but not quite there yet! As far as tours being regimented, they can be. The tour I was on wasn't quite that way. Some meals with with our group and some weren't. I think half the dinners were and a couple of lunches. We had plenty of free time on our own. Any time we had to leave with the group for a site visit or next town to hotel, it wasn't too early. I think the earliest was about 8 am. There were times when we'd have a visit to something in one town with our group, given 1 1/2 hour for lunch on our own at a stop and then on the return, the rest was free time on our own. We even at full free days on our own. This is more of a relaxing pace, which I enjoy. That's why I chose a Rick Steves tour rather than others. You can also see and do a lot more on a tour as well. His company offers My Way tours in which they book your hotels and some of the touring for you as well as transportation from town to town. It's at your pace on how you want to do it.

[SuperDave]

The planning portion of this thread is over, now time to get on with the trip itself!

Thursday, 2 May

Had a friend of mine who used to drive for one of the airport transportation companies get me to JFK airport. He knows it well, so that was a good choice. He picked me up around 2:30 pm for my 7:30 pm flight. There was quite a bit of traffic and usually takes about 40 minutes to JFK from my house, but took just over an hour. Not too bad. I think I was at terminal 4 for my Air France flight. Checking in went well and got there in plenty of time.

I had a couple of hours to kill, so no better way than at one of the airport bars. Decided to go with some fine and some snacks as well. Didn't have French wine, but had a few glasses of the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. Always a good one. After an hour or so there, closer to two probably it was time for my favorite thing when taking a flight and I'm sure everyone's as well. That's of course security and our always reliable and competent TSA agents. Most not knowing what TSA stands for. The line wasn't too bad and went rather smoothly. Didn't get pulled aside as I have in the past.

Just waited to bard plain now. My flight was an Air France Airbus 380. One of those newer double decker jobs. It was different in that there were two different boarding areas for this flight, depending which deck you were on. I was on the second deck in row 91. I paid a little extra for an extra legroom seat. It was near the rear, but was so worth it. Could stretch out as far as I can as it was a bulkhead seat. Always good on a long flight.

These newer planes are quite cool and modern. Had my own TV screen and various movies and TV programs to choose from and various radio programs. I did find "Whole Lotta Love", at one point during the flight. The food wasn't bad and the drinks were free as it was an international flight. Had a couple of glasses of wine during the flight. It probably helped me sleep for a couple of hour, which is always good for a long flight.

One of the coolest features of these Airbus 380's is that on the TV screen, you can watch the takeoff and landing. It was pretty cool to see. You can actually, select which view you want to see. They have three cameras mounted on the plane.

Once I begin the Paris portion of my trip, the photos will come.

[kenog]

Dave,

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. The single room supplement thing is a pain - you got lucky this time around!! Rick Steves does sound like a good tour operator.

[SuperDave]

Dave,

Thanks for sharing your trip with us. The single room supplement thing is a pain - you got lucky this time around!! Rick Steves does sound like a good tour operator.

I think something like over 12,000 travelers take his tours each year. He's built quite a business for himself with these tours, guidebooks, dvds of his PBS programs and various travel gear.

[paul carruthers]

Good reading so far Dave, can't wait for the pictures.

[SuperDave]

I spent a lot of time on this today. It will be an ongoing process over the next several weeks, so be patient. The photos will come as I start with Paris shortly, but will be easier to do this for me on the weekends. But, there will be updates during the week at times. The start of my trip in Paris will be next so it's something you can look forward to and myself as well. That's when the photos will begin as it's the start of my trip. Sorry, I didn't take any photos at JFK in NYC as quite often I do before a trip.

Feel free to contribute, say, add and critique as you wish. It's all good and can only help. Perhaps, it will be beneficial to this thread through those of you, whom may have traveled and experienced, not only Europe but these regions of France I visited. All is welcome and look forward to it!!!!

[SuperDave]

Friday, 3 May

I was fortunate enough to catch some much needed sleep on my New York to Paris flight. Not always easy as it's quite noisy with the sound of those jet engines. Woke up about an hour before landing and were served a bit of breakfast. The flight entered France in the Normandy area a bit east to Brittany and south to Paris. Landed at Aeroport Charles de Gaulle in Paris around 8 am local time. For me it was still 2 am. Well at least mentally and my body felt the same way.

With the Airbus 380 being such a large plane, it took some time to disembark all the passengers. I was near the rear of the plane, so I was one of the last to leave. After this it was off to baggage claim and passport control and why to this day, I continue to feel that CDG airport is my least favorite airport I've experienced and I've been to many. After making it into the terminal looked for the baggage claim signs. Saw them, kept walking for at least ten minutes and continued to see these. This was in Terminal 2, which is the international terminal here. Then made way down stairs, got on a monorail for a couple of stops and continued to see these baggage claim signs. Was this some sort of wild goose chase and does baggage claim actually exist. I starting to wonder this and being jet lagged didn't make it any easier. After a few more minutes arrived at Passport Control. The lines were enormous and this process took about a good forty minutes. Not exactly the way I wanted to begin my trip, but no way around it. Unfortunately, I don't have platinum status in Air France's frequent flyer club, otherwise I would have gone through that line in about a minute.

After going through Passport Control, I made it to Baggage Claim which I think was pretty close by. Due to the long wait in Passport Control, when I arrived in Baggage Claim, my bag had been taken off the belt and put with other passengers. Found it pretty quickly. Went outside a bit to check the weather. A bit cool and overcast, but not bad. Now I was off and follow more signs for the RER trains and ticket info. After all of this, I couldn't believe I had been in this airport nearly two hours already. JFK in New York can be bad at times for international arrivals, but not as slow as this.

[SuperDave]

The RER train area of the airport wasn't too far away from baggage claim and found it easy. The RER is basically the commuter railroad, like Metro North would be in the New York City area. There were several ticket kiosks, but the lines were really long, plus I didn't want to deal with this due to my jet lag. I went to the ticket office and waited in line there, which took only about ten minutes at most. I was taking the train to the Notre Dame-Saint Michel stop in Paris. This was the closest to my hotel. It's on the RER B line and they run about every 15 minutes. Got my ticket for an 1130 departure. The trains are rather old and not necessarily the cleanest I've been on. There were several stops in the northern suburbs of Paris. These aren't the safest areas of Paris, so I was careful to keep my bags secure.

Got a good view of the city as we approached from the north of Sacre Coeur Cathedrale. It was a perspective I have never seen before as I had been to Paris on four previous occasions and visited Sacre Coeur in the past. The trip only took about 30 minutes or so and arrived at Notre Dame-Saint Michel station. It's a pretty big station for the RER as well as for the Paris Metro (subway) too. Just had to find the correct exit I wanted, which I had checked upon before leaving on my trip and the route to take to my hotel. This was the left bank area near Ile de la Cite and a few minutes walk north will bring you into the heart of Paris across one of the many Ponts that line the Rive Seine.

I could have optioned to take the Metro for a couple of stops, but since it was a pretty nice day, I decided to walk it. I don't think it took more than ten minutes. I had a very detailed map of Paris, so I knew it would be easy to find my hotel. I would be staying in the Saint Germain area (arrondisement 6) and boasts some of the best cafes and restaurants in Paris. Also, close by are Luxembourg Gardens and La Sorbonne (University of Paris). It's a great area to stay in and quite lively.

After walking a couple of minutes I crossed on to Boulevard Saint Germain. That was good since my hotel is just one street off there. Shortly, I passed the Odeon Metro station as this is the station I would be using for the next two days. Just another minute or two, found Rue Clement and my hotel. It almost seems quite isolated here as it's only a block from the main boulevard in this part of Paris.

My hotel is Hotel Le Clement and is actually pretty nice. It's a small hotel, but very European. Took one of those very narrow elevators with a gate and a door that closes behind it. Very common in these old hotels in Europe. My room, which is a standard room is on the sixth floor. It's a bit small, but overall pretty nice.

[SuperDave]

I think this thread is getting a bit wordy as it would be better, if I didn't provide every minute detail of my trip. I think posting lots of photos and some descriptions below them would be best. This is a music forum and not a travel one and I think detailed travel reports are best over there. Plus I think it would create more interest. At times there will be longer descriptions, but for the most part. I'll try to make them brief. What do you think?

Saint Germain Boulevard, just a block north of my hotel.

The Paris Metro at the Odeon Station on Saint Germain Boulevard. Paris may have the best subway system in the world. Many have said this and it's certainly the best I've ever been on.

[SuperDave]

What would be the best way to ease my way into Paris and get over the jet lag. How about, going to a wine tasting and class. I actually booked this before my trip and this particular one was recommended in one of Rick Steves' books. It's located a bit north of the center of Paris sort of between The Louvre Museum and the Les Halles area. Only took about 5 minutes of so by Metro. I think it was about four stops.

It's at a wine bar named O-Chateau. It's sort of geared for the tourists and they have a number of wine classes and dinners. They try to take the snobbery out of wine tasting that the French are known for. They do attract a lot of the younger French crowd for the bar scene as they have quite a few varieties you can order at the bar by the glass.

http://www.o-chateau.com/

My wine class and tasting at O-Chateau. I think there were about twenty of us and lasted about an hour. I got there a bit early, so I had a glass at the before it started. They were from various locations around the world such as the U.S., Canada, India, Lebanon and Australia.

They also offered an optional cheese course for a fee and I thought that was the thing to do to accompany the various wines, plus I had yet to have lunch. The cheese were all quite good except for the Roquefort as I'm not much of a fan of blue cheese. Pretty much like all other varieties of cheese.

Just in case anyone is interested here are the wines we tasted:

1. Sancerre from Loire Valley, Domaine de la Garenne. A Sauvignon Blanc.

2. Coteaux Varois from Provence, Chateau d'Ollieres. A varietal of Grenache and Cinsault. In other words, it was a Rose.

3. Fronton from Sud Ouest (near Bordeaux), Chateau Coutinel. A varietal of Negrette, Syrah and Cabernet. It was a pretty hearty red.

Either the Sancerre or Fronton were my favorites.

They were not cheap on the wine and poured quite diplomatically. It was a good time and learned quite a bit about wines and process of tasting them. Before heading back to my hotel, decided to have another glass at the bar. I think it was a red wine from the Rhone area.

After consuming quite a bit of wine, when I got back I was quite tired from too much wine and jet lag. Decided to nap a bit before my dinner reservation tonight, which is close by. Unfortunately, I overslept my dinner reservation, but went to that restaurant any way. They had some open tables, so it wasn't a problem.

So, instead of a 7:30 dinner at Le Petite Coeur, I got there at around 9pm. It was only a block from my hotel and found this online and was highly recommended. Well, I certainly dived into some good French cuisine. Had marinated and pickled pigs feet (trotters) on a baguette and cliced duck breast in a red wine and chocolate sauce. Both were quite good and was a first for me having pigs feet. Also wine to go along with it as well. Finished off the meal with a trio of sorbets and an expresso.

Stopped at one of the famous cafes nearby, Cafe de Deux Magots for an after dinner drink. This was where Hemingway used to go to in his day. Had a Grand Marnier. Not cheap at 11.50 Euros. About 15 U.S. dollars. Not cheap in any way and you pay for the view outside as drinks are cheaper inside. Met up with someone from San Francisco. We hung out for quite a while and had a few drinks here and went to one of these tabac shops nearby, where you can get pretty cheap beer on tap. Even better was the guy was on business with an expense account, so I didn't have to buy the drinks. But I did offer. Nothing wrong with that, especially in an expensive city like Paris.

[ebk]

Thanks for this, Dave. I'm loving your detailed descriptions of your trip! Appreciate you taking the time to do it, and looking forward to the next installment!

[SuperDave]

Thanks for this, Dave. I'm loving your detailed descriptions of your trip! Appreciate you taking the time to do it, and looking forward to the next installment!

Glad your liking it. I'm also glad I took detailed notes on my trip as it would be tough to remember things like different wines and meals.

[Stargroves Tangie]

Hi Dave

Love reading about your trip so far (and love all the details- that's what makes it so interesting!)

Thanks for sharing with us!

[kenog]

Dave,

thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. I am hugely impressed with the photographs, and I love your descriptions of the meals and wines.

Glad your liking. I'm also glad I took detailed notes on my trip as it would be tough to remember things like different wines and meals.

[SuperDave]

Dave,

thank you so much for sharing your trip with us. I am hugely impressed with the photographs, and I love your descriptions of the meals and wines.

Hi Dave

Love reading about your trip so far (and love all the details- that's what makes it so interesting!)

Thanks for sharing with us!

Much obliged and just warming up!

[SuperDave]

Saturday, May 4

Well, after being out to around 2 in the morning, I slept in a bit today. Surprised, I was able to do that with the jet lag. I got up around 1030. Actually, felt pretty good. My hotel has a breakfast but they charge about 12 euros for a simple continental breakfast, so skipped that. Went to a cafe near by and had a croissant, coffee and a glass of water. I think this was about 3 Euros.

One thing I forgot to pack for my trip was an extra set of rechargeable batteries for my camera, so I got these at one of those FNAC stores in the area. They weren't cheap either for about 4AAs at around 15 euros.

There was nothing concrete in my plans today except for dinner, so I'd just decided to explore the city center in the Champs-Elysees area in the 8th arrondisement by metro and on foot. This is the largest boulevard in Paris, with a number of sites and many restaurants and cafes located here or just off of it.

Took the metro from Odeon to Rue Rivoli and began here for the day.

Jardins Tuilleries

Jardins Tuilleries. Nice view with I think the Musee d'Orsay in the background. The weather was absolutely perfect in Paris for my two day stay with temps in the low to mid 70's and sunny.

Not sure what this green column with the statue on it is. It was near Jardins Tuilleries. Perhaps one of you knows.

[SuperDave]

Thought this was a pretty cool photo with the obelisque at the Place de la Concorde with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

The Hotel de la Marine (French Navy headquarters) and Hotel Crillon at the Place de la Concorde. The latter being one of the most luxurious hotels in Paris.

The Arc de Triomphe at the top of the Champs-Elysees from just outside Place de la Concorde. You don't realize that the Champs goes uphill and does quite dramatically. The Arc de Triomphe is situated at Place d'Etoile where twelve avenues flow in and out of this busy area. You should see the traffic and how drivers are able to cross this area onto one of the twelve avenues.

In the background are some of the modern office buildings of La Defense. They look closer than they seem and are actually a couple of miles from the Arc de Triomphe.

[SuperDave]

Another one of the most upscale hotels in Paris.

Different view of Eiffel Tower from Chez Francis on Avenue George V, where I had lunch. It was so nice out, I had to eat outside. Paris may be the best city to do this as there is so much to see, while dining or having a glass of wine or coffee. It's great for people watching.

The food was quite good here, even though quite expensive as it is Paris. They provided some rolls and olives before my main course arrived. Over these two weeks, I never had so much bread in my life. If you're on a low carb diet than I think you should go somewhere else. Like going from firecrackers to dynamite!

I went for the steak tartare, which was excellent. Sort of one of those chiches of French Cuisine like French Onions Soup and Escargots. I had two glasses of red wine from the Bourgogne region to wash it down.

[SuperDave]

Well the rest of the afternoon, just did more walking in the city center. Mainly along the River Seine and the Left Bank. I wasn't on any schedule and was just taking it slow and seeing the city at my own pace. I didn't visit any museums or take any tours, but I had a great time doing it this way. Especially, on such a sunny day.

Pont Alexandre III. Love the gold statues on this bridge.

Hotel des Invalides, which houses the Musee de l'Armee and the tomb of Napoleon. Everything in Paris seems to be done on a grand scale.

View along the River Seine of Musee du Louvre and one of those tourist boats. Not sure which one it is. So many different companies with Baton Mouche and Bateaux Parisiens among a couple.

Pont des Arts along Seine. Always thought this was cool with all the locks. The entire bridge on both sides is completely covered with them. It's pretty close to Musee du Louvre.

[SuperDave]

Arrived back at my hotel around 6 pm after a long walking day in Paris. I have a 8pm reservation for a wine dinner at O-Chateau, where I had the wine class yesterday. I was a bit hesitant in making another reservation at the same place, but this one is a bit different than the other.

Had some time to kill, when I got there so, no better way to have a glass of wine, while I wait. I think it was a Chardonnay.

This is the wine bar at O-Chateau. Quite an interesting set up as I've never seen wines on tap before. Quite a few of them as you can see.

The dinner began at around 8 pm and there were about 10-12 of us. Mostly Americans and a few Canadians. There were four wines and each paired with each course. We started off with a glass of Champagne which was accompanied by a small appetizer. Can't remember what it was.

Salmon Tartare with a mixed salad. I've had this a number of times and unfortunately this wasn't that great. Something was missing as it wasn't that flavorful. It was paired with a Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley produced by Domaine ded Guyons. The wine was certainly better than the salmon.

Next was a beef filet with green beans and potato puree. This was much better than the salmon Forgot to take a photo of this one. The beef was paired with Cabernet Sauvignon in the Bordeaux region and more specifically Haut-Medoc from Chateau Belgrave. This was a great wine.

Now it was dessert time and we were served a chocolate molten cake with vanilla ice cream. That was excellent and paired with a mucat type wine from Languedoc and Saint Chinian. It's produced by Mas Champart with three types of grape varieties (Grenache, Carignan and Syrah. It's a dessert wine and was sweet of course and enjoyable.

The sommelier was very generous with the wine and kept coming around and pouring whatever we wanted more of. We all had several glasses of wine after 2 1/2 hours at this dinner. It was well worth it and had a great time. Just wish the salmon had been better.

[SuperDave]

Returned to the Saint Germain area by Metro to the Odeon station around 11 pm. Went to the same cafe as last night Cafe des Deux Magots. Another famous cafe is across the street being Cafe Flore. Went to the former as the person I hung out with last night was there with his girlfriend from London. He works in London.

So she only stayed for a little while and we had a couple of cognacs and went to an Irish pub close by for a few beers. I did buy a round this time as I insisted, but he put the rest of the drinks on his expense account. Stayed out to after 2 am and would find out the next day that this was a mistake on two consecutive nights.

Saint Germain area in the early hours of Sunday morning.