Our Vacation to France, June-July 2010

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Our Trip to France in June-July 2010

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Phyllis and Jim's family photos

Slide Show France 2010 - Long Version

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We spent 3 weeks in France, from 17-Jun-2010 through 7-Jul-2010 (we left from MSP on 16-Jun-2010 at 3 in the

afternoon, arriving the next morning in Paris at about 7:30.) The service from MSP to CDG was excellent on the

airline formerly known as Northwest (Delta): We had a direct flight which was worth every extra penny. Just 8:40

to Paris and 9:30 home, with no plane changes, extra trips through security, or lost bags.

We spent Thursday stumbling tired around the neighborhood near our hotel, the Hotel Kensington, next to the

Champs de Mars. We were very tired but we managed to stay up until after 7pm, which made getting over the

jet lag much easier. We then spent Friday seeing Paris. Saturday, we schlepped our bags through the Metro

to the Gare de Lyon and caught the TGV to Avignon.

We picked up a car in Avignon at the new TGV rail station (much easier than the old downtown station; I've had

excellent service and price from Avis in France and Italy). The on to our first Gites* in Sarrians. After a little

trouble finding it (reading directions from the owner in French) we found that it was a wonderful place. I got

only "trois epis" (i.e. three-star in a 0-3 star grading system) Gites this time and I was glad. They were both

spacious, homey, had three bedrooms, nice kitchens and terraces, and clothes and dish washing machines.

(* The Gites Rureau system rents furnished houses and apartments by the week in rural France. They are

a great and cost-effective way to stay in the countryside.)

From the Gites at Sarrians, we visited the Domaine La Garrigue winery (many times) and the following places: Seguret,

Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Mt. Ventoux, Malaucene, Vaison la Romaine, Cassis, the Pont du Gard, Chateauneuf du Pape,

Roaix, and many other villages. Everyone had to get used to the narrow French roads and the much-

wilder-than-the-US driving style. The Sarrians Gites had the advantage of being really close to services (which

was why I picked it for the first stop) but the disadvantage of being more in town and therefore busier and

noisier.

After a week in Sarrians, we drove to the tiny village of Murs, to our second Gites. This Gites had the advantage

of quiet, being far from any city, and higher altitude, which we appreciated as the temperatures rose to 35°C

(95°F) in the plains of the Cotes du Rhone but had the disadvantage of being much too far from services. We had

to drive a minimum of 30 minutes to buy anything. From this Gites, we visited: Gordes and the Village of Borries

and the Abby de Senanque, nearby, the Pont Julien and Bonnieux, the market at Sault, and many other villages.

We heard cuckoos and lots of cicadas here and I saw a pair of Hoopoes, which unfortunately never returned and

no one else got to see.

We of course, the entire time in France, enjoyed wine, cheeses, bread, sausages, olives, cherries, and many other

wonderful local foods. We picnic-ed almost every lunch (and several dinners too). We went to small local

restaurants in Paris (there are so many in the Champs de Mars / Rue Cler area) which should not be missed.

In the Gites, the big advantage is being able to eat in almost all the time. We only ate on dinner out (Les Florets!)

and one lunch out while in the Gites. In these ways, a vacation in France is made much more affordable.

After two wonderful weeks in Provence, we drove back to Avignon to drop off the car and catch the TGV

back to Paris (easy trip). Then we had three more full days in Paris: Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. We

saw the Musee d'Orsay, the cathedral of Notre Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle chapel, Les Invalides and parts of

its Musee de la Armee, and the Chateau and gardens of Versailles. Then back to CDG on Wednesday morning

and the flight back home. What a great trip.

		Videos:
At MSP and the flight out	Hotel Kensington, what a relief	Coffee!	On the Rue Cler, an amazing market street	And there it is! No mistaking where you are. Hotel Kensington is right across the street from the Champs de Mars, the Eiffel Tower, and just around the corner from the Rue Cler, Les Invalides, and the Rodin museum.

Jamie found a playground with a big sandbox (fenced off from the dogs!) He made friends and I practiced my French (tough when you are wasted from jet-lag.)	Second day, felling much better! The Tuileries Gardens	Tuileries and Place de la Concorde	The L'Orangerie museum	The L'Orangerie museum

Walking the roads along the banks for the Seine through central Paris	Banks of the Seine	Banks of the Seine	Banks of the Seine	Banks of the Seine

In the Champs de Mars	Riding the Metro	Riding the Metro	Phyllis on the streets of Paris	Friday afternoon we took a boat tour on the Seine (highly recommended)

Seine boat tour	Seine boat tour	Seine boat tour	Seine boat tour	Seine boat tour

Seine boat tour	Seine boat tour	Waiters, hanging out before the dinner rush begins.	Our first dinner out in Paris: L'Auberge de Champs de Mars We loved it so much that it was the only repeat dinner spot for us in Paris this trip.	L'Auberge de Champs de Mars
	Videos:
Gare de Lyon, waiting for the TGV to take us to Provence	On the TGV from Paris to Avignon. It's a very comfortable way to travel.	At Domaine La Garrigue at Vacqueyras	At the Gites at Sarrians	At the Gites at Sarrians

At the Gites at Sarrians	At the Gites at Sarrians	At the Gites at Sarrians, and a tunnel of plane trees at nearby Aubignon	Jamie with his mechanical bird	Our first stop: The hillside village of Seguret, on Sunday

Views of Seguret	Views of Seguret	Views of Seguret	Views of Seguret	Views of Seguret

Views of Seguret	Views of Seguret (The bottom photo is of a passion flower)	Top: Views of Gigondas (L) and Sablet (R) from near Seguret Bottom: Gigondas	Views of Vaison la Romaine. The bridge was built by the Romans in the 1st century AD and is still in use (we drove over it.)	Views from near Crestet, south and east of Vaison la Romaine
			Video of the butterflies:
Back at the gites at supper time	And a game of boules to end the evening	Boules de petanque	On the third day in Sarrians (Monday) we went up Mt. Ventoux, which I had never been able to do in May in the past (always snowed-in in May)	Lunch on Mt. Ventoux

A panorama looking off the north side of Mt. Ventoux, from its West Ridge

A panorama looking off the south side of Mt. Ventoux, at the summit

A panorama on the north side of Mt. Ventoux, at the summit

Panorama of scene near Crestet

Malaucene, at the base of Ventoux	Olives in the Malaucene Market		Plane trees	Cassis, on the Mediterranean, Tuesday

A panorama from the "beach" in Cassis, Tuesday
				Video:
Supper time	Sunset at Aubignan	Sunset at Aubignan	Wednesday: The Market at Malaucene	The Market at Malaucene

The Market at Malaucene	The Market at Malaucene	The Market at Malaucene	Phyllis, my Mom and I also went to Orange to the Roman Theater and the Roman triumphal arch The theater	The theater

and the square across from the theater	The Roman triumphal arch	The Roman triumphal arch	Vineyards near Orange	I found a nice spot on the Ouveze River where Jamie could throw rocks in. They have a lifetime supply of rocks for him.
		Video, with frogs croaking:
Rock throwing on the Ouveze at sunset	Sunset near Sarrians. End of a long Wednesday!	Thursday was Pont du Gard, Roman Acqueduct	Pont du Gard	Pont du Gard

And then, to Les Florets for our special dinner out! Les Florets was wonderful as always.	Les Florets	Les Florets and: Moonrise over Gigondas	Friday: Chateauneuf du Pape, Vaison la Romaine, and Roaix Chateauneuf du Pape	Chateauneuf du Pape At the ruined castle

Chateauneuf du Pape At the ruined castle	Chateauneuf du Pape	Chateauneuf du Pape	Chateauneuf du Pape	The Roman ruins at Vaison la Romaine

The Roman ruins at Vaison la Romaine	The Roman ruins at Vaison la Romaine	The Roman ruins at Vaison la Romaine	The Roman ruins at Vaison la Romaine	The Roman ruins at Vaison la Romaine

Lunch at a beautiful shady spot in the center of the tiny village of Roaix, near Vaison	Roaix Wine with lunch (every day): Very civilized.	In the Cotes du Rhone vineyards	In the Cotes du Rhone vineyards	In the Cotes du Rhone vineyards Head-trained vines
	Video:
After dinner, Jamie and I went back to the Ouveze for more rock-throwing	At the Ouveze	Sunset near Sarrians, last evening at the Gites	Moonrise at the gites	Venasque, our lunch stop village on the way to Murs

Venasque	La Toilette a la Turque at Venasque	On to our next gites: Coming into the village of Murs	The gites (last house on the road)	Inside
				Video: Cuckoo in the morning:
Mom's bedroom	Inside	Inside	Outside, very rural and peaceful	Outside

A panorama of the back side of our gites from across the little valley it sits in.

Outside	We went to a local cherry orchard and got the best cherries I've ever tasteed, perfectly ripe and fantastic cherry juice. Mmmmm.	We'd been going pretty hard for over a week, so the next day we took a day off and just took a walk near the gites. (Sunday)	On the walk	On the walk

There were two olive trees blooming in the yard and there were hordes of large green shiny beetles eating the flowers.	Beetles	Suppertime and Hoegaarden White Bier	Monday we went to the village of the borries, which are dry-stone (no mortar) houses that were inhabited into the early 20th century.	Village of borries

Village of borries	Village of borries	Village of borries	Village of borries	On Monday, we also went to the Abby de Senanque, famous for its lavender

The lavender wasn't quite in bloom yet	Abby de Senanque	On Tuesday, we visited the Pont Julien (another intact Roman bridge) on our way to Bonnieux.	Pont Julien	Pont Julien
Video:
Bonnieux scenes	Bonnieux scenes	Bonnieux scenes	Bonnieux scenes	Lunch at a street cafe in Bonnieux

Bonnieux lunch	Scenes near Murs	On a wine run to Dom. La Garrigue	A serious bag of pasta	Jamie with his new favorite drink: Orangina

Cherries and cherry cocktails	Rose wine	The boys playing cards	Wednesday, we went to the market at Sault, at the foot of Mt. Ventoux Early morning scenes at the gites	Gorge de la Nesque on the way to Sault

A panorama from the Sault market, looking towards Mont Ventoux

The Sault market	The Sault market	The Sault market	The Sault market	The Sault market

In Sault, the classic Deux Cheveaux	Suppertime	In the evening, we had a thundershower and then the escargot emerged in huge numbers	Thursday, we visited Roussillon and Gordes and stopped at a large field of lavender.	Provencale lavender
Video:	Video:
Provencale lavender	Provencale lavender	Provencale lavender	Provencale lavender	Near Roussillon. We coudln't go through Roussillon this day because it was market day.

Gordes	Panorama of Gordes			Lunch at the gites

Friday was a day of cleaning because we needed to get up early on Saturday, drop off the car in Avignon and catch the TGV	At the Murs gites	At the Murs gites	At the Murs gites	Sending off with a game of boules

Boules	Saturday, the Avignon TGV Station	TGV to Paris	TGV to Paris	Back in Paris

29 Avenue Rapp, a famous Art Nouveau house just around the corner from our hotel.	On the way to dinner	Dinner at P'tit Troquet	Dinner at P'tit Troquet	Dinner at P'tit Troquet

The Metro stations, on the way to The Orsay, Notre Dame, and Sainte Chapelle, Sunday	And a (very good) busker in the Metro tunnels	Under the chestnut trees	Outside the Musee d'Orsay (no cameras inside)	Outside the Orsay

Outside the Orsay	Near Notre Dame	Notre Dame de Paris	Notre Dame de Paris	Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris	Notre Dame de Paris	Notre Dame de Paris	Notre Dame de Paris	Notre Dame de Paris

We found a shady, dog-free sandbox next to Notre Dame for lunch and a place for Jamie to play	Sandbox	Waiting for security at Ste-Chapelle	Sainte-Chapelle with its amazing stained glass windows	Sainte-Chapelle and the Palais de Justice

Our neighborhood		Near our hotel	Making the bread run	Monday: we toured Les Invalides and the Musee de la Armee

Les Invalides	A tiny bit of the Musee de la Armee	Inside the dome: Napoleon's tomb	Inside the dome	Inside the dome

Inside the dome	Inside the dome	On the steps of the dome	Monday dinner: At La Varange	La Varange

At La Varange, Jamie and the owner Philippe	Tuesday, our last day (full) in France, we went to Versailles The RER train to Versailles	At 9:15 or so, there weren't many crowds	The palace is almost overwhelming in its scale and the sheer amount of artwork it contains	Inside the palace

The Hall of Mirrors	The Hall of Mirrors	The Hall of Mirrors	The king's bedroom and council room	Views of the gardens from the palace windows

Inside the palace	Inside the palace	Inside the palace	J. L. David's painting of Napoleon crowning himself. (A second painting, identical to the one in the Louvre, painted by the artist.)	Inside the palace

Inside the palace	Inside the palace	Out to the gardens	Outside	Outside

Outside	Panorama of the orange garden at Versailles

A complete 360-degree+ panorama of the front gate of Versailles. My recommendation: Arrive early!

Waiting in CDG for our homeward flight	CDG