France 1995

Our second day found us very adventurous and we took the train to Versailles. The town itself is lovely and we had a great lunch there. The Palace of Versailles is almost too overwhelming to imagine. It was a full day of opulence and history with some funny stories thrown in such as it was so cold in the dining room that the wine froze. We wandered on our own after our tour and just ogled the beautiful chandeliers and all the art. We were not surprised to find lots of highly armed soldiers there as we had been warned by USA news. We took the train back to Paris and spent the early evening wandering toward the Eiffel Tower. We got there at dusk and enjoyed seeing the beautiful lights of the city from the top. After dinner in a cute sidewalk cafe we made our way through Galaries de Lafayette the largest department store I think I have ever seen. We slowly made our way back to our hotel but decided to stop and climb to the top of the Arc de Triumph for the view. Wow, what a full day.

Our third and final day in Paris was spent at the museums. We visited the Louvre first and it was totally overwhelming. It would take weeks to see and we just chose one area to concentrate on. It was lunch time before we knew it and we availed ourselves of the restaurant conveniently located in the museum; very good choice. Our next stop was a stroll across the Jardin des Tuileries to the Musee d'Orsay and it was our favorite. This museum houses the world's most important collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings. The museum is housed in an old railway station which is very modern and art itself. After our museum time we walked the city for the last time. Included in our trip was the Place de Concorde, Montmartre, the Pont Neuf, Place de Bastille, and another nighttime trip to the Arc de Triumphe. After dinner we packed for our train trip to Montpellier the next day.

After breakfast at the hotel we took a taxi to the Gare du Nord and boarded our TGV bullet train to Montpellier. We had great seats and we had our first croque Monsieur sandwiches for lunch. We bought lunch for two young men who were backpacking through Europe when we saw them eating nothing but jellybeans. They said they had run our of French money and were on their way to Spain because they had Spanish money budgeted. They moved on when they ran out of the local currency. Our train made one stop in Lyon and our new friends got off to change trains. When we arrived in Montpellier we found that a lot less people knew English and navigating was more difficult. Our first night we were very intimidated at the first restaurant we found and we went to an English pub to eat; not very french but very good. Our hotel was well situated and we could walk around the town very easily.

On our first full day Hugh had a meeting and I had signed up for the Van Gogh tour of Arles and the surrounding. This was a fabulous tour and our guide was an art historian with so much to tell. We visited the yellow house, the Langlois bridge, La Espace, the hospital where he went, and Saint-Remy-de-Provence and the asylum where he convalesced for a year. We had some time to shop and we enjoyed lunch at a lovely little farmhouse restaurant near St. Remy. We made it back to Montpellier just as the fellows were finishing their meeting. Hugh and I walked to see the aqueducts near the city and then had a lovely dinner at a french bistro.

This morning we were up early preparing for our adventure. We signed up for a boat trip on the Rhone. We boarded a longboat for our tour and it was lovely. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery and before we knew it we were cruising toward the Chateauneuf-de-Pape. This chateau was built as the summer home of the Avignon Popes in 1320. It is known now for the Cotes de Rhone wine. We also visited a Muscat winery on our trip. The day we were there they had an exhibition of Picasso's art and it was hanging on the damp walls of the chateau. We enjoyed this very much as well as the wine tasting we were treated to. This area is definitely tourist oriented and is set up to sell wine. We boarded our boat and had a lovely 4 course lunch as we sailed toward Sete. We passed through locks and travelled canals as we made our way to this little fisherman's village. We visited oyster farms and sampled the goods and enjoyed walking around this unpretentious town on the Mediterranean. Our return trip was lovely and it was sad to be back on land. We had dinner in the older part of town and only had a little trouble with the language.

Hugh had meetings the next day and I just wandered around the town and shopped. It was a busy Saturday in Montpellier and there were lots of people about. The teenagers wanted to practice their English so I could easily get directions. On Sunday Hugh was off and we went to church at a lovely old church with a delightful woman we met at breakfast. It was all in French but we enjoyed it none the less. For lunch we ate hamburgers and fries and explored the area. That evening we packed for our trip home.

Up early and ready for our bus to the airport. It is back to the good old USA.
Click here to see Avignon & Rhone River pictures
Click here to see Montpellier pictures
Click here to see Paris pictures
Click here to see Sete pictures
Click here to see Versailles pictures
/Susan