Pre-Trip Planning and Retirement Party

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Europe » France
May 17th 2010 by Steve and Donnas Great Adventure

Since we decided on a trip to France to celebrate Donna's retirement from 37 years of teaching at Carmel River School we have been obsessed with finding the right place to stay on our adventure.

We settled on a very general itinerary that included a week in Paris, a few days in Normandy, the Loire Valley, Bordeaux, and the a week at a villa in Provence. Then taking 4 or 5 days to travel through the Rhone Valley while returning to Paris for our flight home. That was the easy part.

The hard part was deciding on exactly where to stay and how long would we stay in each region. We decide to start with selecting a villa in Provence. The choices were amazing. We wanted to be close to the sea, within easy driving distance to the coast for day trips. We also wanted a swimming pool and enough bedrooms so that our daughters, Nicole and Sarah, could join us there for a week

As we began exploring the internet we discovered that it was almost impossible to choose between the multitude of options. We started using VBRO (Vacation Rentals By Owers) but soon learned that there are a number "villa rental" web sites. We spent hours pouring over different villas, bookmarking them, reading the "testimonials" and reviews. After literally weeks of agonizing over dozens of villas we decided on "Vivre au Sud" near Salernes.

The villa appears beautiful and is centrally located so we will able to travel to the coast and as well as to interesting villages nearby.

With that settled, we started focusing on an apartment in Paris. Believe it or not, this was even more difficult that the villa. There are literally hundreds of apartments for rent in Paris, from studios to palaces, and, of course we had to look at the all. We learned a great deal about the different districts of Paris. The websites made them all look fabulous. And many were fabulous. Since it was just going to be the two of us we felt that a one bedroom place with a small kitchen would be best. We also got hung up on having a balcony or terrace in which to sit outside and enjoy or morning coffee and pastry. I could envision enjoying a glass (maybe a bottle) of Chateau L'Ecuyer while enjoying the sites and smells of Paris from my private terrace overlooking a lively Parisian neighborhood. We found that apartments with terraces or balconies were usually 200 to 300 euros more expensive than those without. It took us a long time to decide to "bite the bullet" and pay the extra euros and enjoy the added outside space. I hope it was the right decision. We'll see.

After that was settled we started working on the details of the itinerary. We decided to start with Normandy and after studying maps we decided to stay in the small village of Hebecrevon west of Caen. The location seemed good, near enough to the Normandy beaches as well as other sites of interest to us both. Donna's father, Bill Boone, flew support missions in a B-26 during the invasion in June of 1944. While he was never on the ground we do feel a duty to honor his involvement in the invasion. We selected a place called Chateau de la Roque which is described as an "intimate castle manor built in the 17th century, a little treasure hidden away at the very end of a long, elegant pathway lined by superb secular poplar trees, that lead the enchanted visitor down to the welcoming doors of the Château." Sounds pretty romantic. http://www.icastelli.net/location-326-5-chteau_de_la_roque.html. After a week in Paris this should be a nice change.

From Chateau de la Roque we will be traveling south the the Loire Valley. We selected Manoir du Parc in the royal city of Amboise. Amboise is located about 15 km east of Tours, more or less in the center of the Loire Valley. The Loire Valley is known as the "garden of France and the cradle of French language and culture. The city is famous for the Clos Lucé manor house where Leonardo da Vinci lived (and ultimately died) at the invitation of King Francis I of France, whose Château d'Amboise, which dominates the town. This should be a great place to learn about French history and culture. The web site for Manoir du Parc is http://www.manoirparc.com/welcome/index.html.

From Amboise we travel south again to a beautiful castle in Biron which is south and west of Bordeaux. Its actually in the Dordogne where history runs deep. http://www.semitour.com/pages.php?p=Biron&SID=457b11d1404ad1c6c53766d71621553a. It appears that Biron is close enough to Bordeaux to enjoy the fine wines of the region.

I am beginning to see a pattern here. City - country - city - country. Paris - Hebecrevon - Amboise - Biron. So what do you think is next.

From Biron we will travel east to the village of St. Thibery which is in Languedoc. We are staying in a Bed and Breakfast described as a large maison de maître, originally built and occupied by a wealthy vigneron & his family who spared no expense on the original building and decoration of the house; it contains no less than nine marble fireplaces! http://www.le-guide.com/stthibery/index.html This village is only 15 minutes from the Mediterranean and near many interesting towns and villages in Lanquedoc including Cap D'agde . Named in honour of Saint Thibéry in the 9th Century by the Benedictines, the village dates back to Roman times, when it was called Cessero, which gives its name to the local wine. The present abbey and church date from the 14th Century. A Roman day takes place in August with Gladiators, Son et Lumière and and a banquet in the market square for over 300 people! Sounds like an interesting and exciting place.

From St. Thibery we travel east for one night in Avignon. We actually had a difficult time finding a hotel in Avignon. We wanted to stay close to the city center and were able to book a Friday night at the Hotel Le Magnan near the center of the historical city of Avignon. Since we'll only be in Avignon for one night we will try to do all the site seeing that we can do and probably spend little time at the Hotel Le Magnan. We are still researching Avignon as to what we will want to see there.

On Saturday, we will going to the villa early in the afternoon.

We have been spending a great deal of time planning and preparing.

Next time I'll write about the next phase of the trip.

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