Questions about France.

Hi. You don’t say how you are traveling, train, plane, bus or car. You also didn’t say how long your trip would be. These factors both change your options a lot.

If you just want to go from "Paris to Burgandy, Burgandy to Bordeaux, Bordeaux to Provence, then from Provence back to Paris?" you could easily take the train. I don’t think I’d like to attempt this unless I had at least two weeks or you won’t spend much time in any of these places. Another possibility is to use the very low-budget European airlines to hop between cities. The down side of this is that you don’t get to see the beautiful countryside between cities.

If you are spending two months, you should consider leasing a car. Both Peugeot and Renault have very good lease-back programs if your trip is 17 days or longer. This is what we do and we love it. The French roads are excellent, well marked and wander all over the country. The scenery is fabulous everywhere!

You can check the Peugeot Open Europe Plan (which we use) at http://www.peugeot-openeurope.com/html/fr/intro/default.htm

I don’t have the Renault web address because we’ve never used Renault.

If you are only visiting cities, don’t get a car because you don’t need one. Public transportation in France is exceptional; enjoy it. In Paris, we use the RER and Metro until we’re ready to drive to the next spot. Then we take the train out to the airport and pick up our leased Peugeot and drive off into the sunset. That way we don’t have to deal with a car in the city but we have it to drive around the countryside.

Paris and Bordeaux are cities and you can center a visit in them without a car. Burgundy and Provence are rather large regions. They each have major cities and you could visit those but it is fun to drive through the countryside and see all the lovely villages and visit wineries. If you do only cities, I can recommend Dijon in the Burgundy region. It is a really pleasant city and there is a lot to do there. Provence is a bit more difficult because you have a wide choice of cities, Nice, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence to mention just three. Train connections from Paris to Avignon are really good so that might be a consideration if you don’t have a car or don’t have much time.

If you lease a car, try to stay in small towns near the large cities. That way you can take the bus or train into town and use the city bus or Metro system while you’re there. You don’t have to worry about parking that way. If you ask at your hotel, they will usually be able to direct you to free parking near a train station. If you stay in town, check to be sure your hotel has parking. Many don’t.

In April and May you probably won’t see much lavender. It gets cold in many areas of Provence and the lavender goes dormant and starts regrowth in the spring. You may see some blooming near the Mediterranean but up in the hills where the huge fields are, it probably won’t be blooming yet. If I am wrong about this, I hope someone else on the forum will correct me. (You could visit my backyard. Ours blooms nearly all year!)

That’s a tiny start. Let us know how long you will be traveling in France and we can be more help. You might also mention how you feel about leasing or renting a car. Many people don’t like to do this which is fine since they have excellent train connections in France.

Is there anything you particularly would enjoy seeing, like gothic cathedrals, fine art, local farms, wineries, gardens, quaint villages, etc. Let us know and we can make suggestions.

tsusalis: It sounds like you have a month or two which is fantastic. I would start by leasing (as opposed to rent) a car from Peugeot or Rennault and do the trip by automobile. I would approach the trip in a counter-clockwise fashion from Paris. First the Loire then Bordeaux the across the Haute Mide Pyrenees then on to Provence and then up to Lyon/Dijon/Burgundy and then back to Paris. Immerse yourself into the regional Michelin Guidebooks or Lonely Planet guidebooks. You are in for a treat of your life. Donerail

Hi. I see you’ve edited it to a 10-day trip and cut the number of areas you plan to visit. That’s very wise for a ten-day trip. Your previous itinerary was a bit ambitious for ten days.

If you only have ten days, you can’t lease a car and I wouldn’t recommend that anyway for a ten-day trip. Assuming that you will fly into Paris, plan to spend a few days there enjoying yourself and getting over jet lag.

Take the train to Bordeaux and plan on using public transportation there. You might want to contract a tour to a nearby wine region like St. Emilion just for fun. Of the three places you are going, I would spend the least amount of time in Bordeaux. One day wandering the town and if you want, another touring the nearby wine country will about do it.

Next, take the train to Avignon and base yourself there. You can get excellent tours to the Pont du Gard and/or Arles and the Camargue including Aigues-Morts which is a wonderful little walled city where you can walk the ramparts. Great views. As far as lavender fields, I’m not sure you will have lavender blooming even in May although I suppose it’s possible where it doesn’t get too cold. Mine blooms nearly all year so along the sea coast in France it must bloom most of the time. The large fields are in the mountains. You could ask at your hotel in Avignon and see what they recommend. They have tours for everything so there must be lavender tours.

Take the train back to Paris. Then spend any time you have left enjoying Paris. It should work well and be a great introduction to France.

Donerail- Actually, my first posting was a bit misleading, our trip is only 10 days. I have heard of those 2 guides and will most certainly invest. Thank you for all of your suggestions.

SalB- Your recommendations for travelling are great and we are thinking about driving at some point, to really experience the country and to have the freedom to stop as we wish. I spent a few days in Paris a couple of years ago and you’re right, public transportation is a pleasure. So unlike NYC, where it’s disasterous…even for native New Yorkers.

In Bordeaux we’d really like to see 2 wineries and experience the city itself before moving on to Provence for 2 days. We were thinking of Aix-de-Provence, Marseilles or Avignon as you suggested. How do you pronounce Aix? Is it "ex" or "ayz"? I will be extremely sad if I can’t see my lavender fields, will remain hopeful.

I am trying desperately to learn French, have been studying on and off for the past few years. If I could find work there…I’d move tomorrow. Merci beaucoup!

If you want to do some driving, I still recommend taking the trains. However, when you get to Avignon, rent a car there at the train station. Provence really deserves to be discovered by car. It’s a vast area and much of it is not accessible by train. You could easily do a day trip to the Pont du Gard (and possibly see some lavender fields) on one day with the car. A trip to Arles and the Camargue would be another auto adventure that is pretty easy to do. (You will not see lavender fields on that trip.)

There are so many things to see in Provence, you could spend a lifetime, but the area directly around Avignon is pretty central and certainly has enough for the amount of time you’re spending.

Aix is usually pronounced ex by Americans. The French seem to understand it so I think you can use it safely. It’s a beautiful city but we don’t like it as well as Avignon. It seems to date from a different period from Avignon, much later. We like the older places better. Many would disagree with us and prefer Aix.

Marseilles is a very interesting place but I wouldn’t recommend it for either your first trip or such a short trip. Parts of it are spectacular and parts are very seedy. Acquaintances from Seattle did a day trip to Marseilles via train from Nice last November and they were very disappointed. With the time they had to spend and not knowing the city transportation system well, they ended up spending most of their time in a "dirty" (their word, not mine) section of town and wished they had spent the day at Antibes or even remained in Nice where they were spending the week.

Obviously, they could have done more research and enjoyed their trip more. If they had checked into the public transportation before they left and if they had checked into Marseilles tourist offerings before they left, they might have had a much better time. On the other hand, you can get off the Train at Avignon, Aix or Nice and have a lovely day after just a few quick questions at the train station. No research necessary!

I must say, though, donerail’s suggestion to check a couple guide books is excellent. You always enjoy a place more if you know what to expect. It’s not much fun to get home and read about something of great personal interest you missed because you didn’t know about it when you were there.

We use the Michelin Green Guide always and then various other guides depending on where we’re going and what we want to do. The "Access" books are useful; the "Lonely Planet" books are sort of offbeat in a very fun way. There are so many books and I don’t know your tastes. It might be a good idea to visit a local bookstore and look through all the books and see what appeals to your interests and your tastes.

In Bordeaux, see if you can get to St. Emilion. It’s a town near Bordeaux and is famous for its wines. It is a beautiful "typical" French village (as in the pictures you always see) and there are wine tastings around every corner. The views of the country surrounding it are not to be missed. You could book a tour or rent a car but it really would be worth the effort. (Yes, it is touristy.)

When you get there, try your French. People will automatically answer you in English but if you persist, they will humor you and speak French with explanations and translations. You’ll learn more there in one week than you probably have in two years at home. We’ve had plenty of conversations with us speaking French and them replying in English. They want to practice their English. It works well and everyone helps everyone else.

Sounds like you have a good idea of what is possible.

Donerail, SalB….HELP! I’m still planning my May trip to France and I’m finding the travelling within France to be very overwhelming. How do I get from Bordeaux to Aix-en-Provence? It seems like the TGV is the way to go, but it doesn’t stop in Aix. By the looks of it, I would have to stop in Marseilles then travel north to Aix. I want to be clear on all directions, my goal is to spend little time travelling from point A to B so that I can spend more time enjoying my destinations. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!

Planning a trip from Bordeaux to Aix by train or air is as easy and as relevant as planning a trip from San Francisco CA to Chattanooga TN. Therefore, I highly recommend you did it by car, especially if you have ten days. Any route you decide to take, the ride should be beautiful, and will take you less than a day. I don’t have a map right now so I’m not sure, but you might even get a chance to take the Viaduc de Millau.

CRC

crc95- thank you so much for your recommendations. we are considering a nice drive and the viaduc de millau looks beautiful!

tsusalis: I agree wholeheartedly with crc95. Drive the route from Bordeaux to Aix. Part of the great joy in traveling within France is going from Point A to Point B. The Millau viaduct is quite a feat of construction. I can only imagine what the toll ("peage&quot must be. We will be in the Bordeaux area shortly and we definately want to track down the Cellars of Chateaux Yquem. Donerail

If you take the time to drive from Bordeaux to Aix en Provence, try the N (national) roads instead of the Autoroutes. We did the drive a coupl years ago and it was fabulous. We stopped for the night at Rodez. It’s not the most beautiful place we’ve every seen (although attractive) but it was the friendliest place we’ve visited in a long time. All the people there seemed very happy. It was fun and they illuminate the cathedral at 10 PM . . . very dramatic!

I just checked my journal to see how we went and I carefully drew up an itinerary and we quickly abandoned it and simply followed the road signs. Here is one entry: "At Concots we stopped at Les Voyageurs for a very nice lunch on the balcony terrace. (Excellent duck) After lunch the gentleman who brought my coffee noticed I gave my chocolate to Ed. In a few minutes he returned with two chocolates in a little dish. I thanked him profusely . . . and ate one of the chocolates."

The next day "We stopped at the lovely Logis le Mas de la Prairie in le Vigan for dinner." was my journal entry. The duck at Concots was fabulous. I don’t remember what we had at le Vigan, but I remember it was served on a lovely patio under a huge plane tree. Both places are very reasonable.

N roads will take longer than the Autoroute, but you see so much more of France. The Autoroute reminds me of the Interstates here in the US and I can see those any time. Seeing the beautiful (if scary, to me) new viaduct at Millau would be pretty exciting too. I’m sure you’d have to get on the Autoroute to take it . . . although I would prefer to drive under it and just admire the engineering feat! I hate heights.

Hi SalB! Thank you for your reply.
Your trip seemed lovely, I can almost taste the duck and chocolates…and I’m getting hungry, teehee! Everyone is recommending the drive. After tonight’s planning session, we are considering flying from Bordeaux to Marseille, and driving between Aix and Marseille. We do realize that we may be shorting ourselves the beauty of a scenic drive. Do you think our plan is a good idea?

Aix – Marseille by car is a depressing 45-minute drive through the worst suburbs of Marseille. Why do you keep on picking up the worst plans ??

CRC

Hey CRC. Be nice, I’m on this board because we don’t know. You guys know best.

Keeping in mind that I still prefer Avignon to Aix, you might take a roundabout way to Aix that is slightly more scenic. (I’m not sure rides from airports to hotels are necessarily expected to be scenic, but that’s neither here nor there!)

You could leave the Marseilles airport and go north toward Salon de Provence on the A7-E-714 (even though I told you to avoid Autoroutes). Then catch the Autoroute du Soleil (A7-E80-E714) east to Aix en Provence. (It’s not ideal and the D-9 would be more direct to Aix from the airport but it’s a more confusing road to drive. Once you leave Marseilles, it’s a quite pretty drive for a few miles though.)

Once you are in Aix and settled, you can explore the region which is absolutely beautiful. You could also consider staying in Salon de Provence or St. Remy although they are much smaller towns. I think my second choice in the area (after Avignon) would be Arles which has everything from Roman ruins (very big ones) to quaint architecture to really fun shopping. Weds. morning there is a really large weekly market in Arles you might enjoy.

At any rate, it’s a consideration. Have you checked driving distances and routes at Mappy? You can select either "fastest" or "scenic" routes. You might do both and compare from Bordeaux to Aix (or Arles). The web site is http://www.mappy.fr/

You may want to reconsider the airplane. You really would be missing a gorgeous part of France.

Just a thought.

Hello again! I hope that I’m not bothering all of you with my questions.
I really do appreciate your help. We have also considered not going to Bordeaux, but going to Champagne and Burgundy then travel down to Aix.
Avignon is right along the way, and SalB, since you speak so highly of it, I will bring it up at yet another planning session. I would really love to drive and so far Provence seems like the most logical place to do so.

Hi. Your latest idea is terrific. Burgundy is absolutely wonderful . . . all of it! It’s a very scenic drive too.

I’m not a good person to ask. I’m not sure there is a region of France I don’t like. It’s all so beautiful. This would be a much easier drive for you too.

Burgundy has much going for it, including wines! You should visit both Beaune and Dijon. Beaune is a quaint walled town (fairly small) and Dijon is a large city with excellent museums, especially the Beaux Arts. Do not get the special museum pass for 7 museums in one day. We discovered the hard way that you can’t possibly visit 7 museums in one day. I think we got to four of them and literally ran through the last one. Another didn’t even ask for our pass, just let us right in.

In Beaune, we stay at Hotel Grillon. It’s a Logis de France and is very nice. M. & Mme. Grillon are pleasant people and the hotel is lovely, especially the newer part. It’s quite reasonable. You can access them at http://www.hotel-grillon.fr/ directly or if you prefer, at the Logis de France web site http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/. We usually use the Logis web site. Mme. Grillon speaks English very well. I’m told her husband does too, but he’s never spoken anything but French to us so I can’t verify that.

If you left Paris and went southeast, you could visit Provins. It’s a beautiful walled medieval town. Then on to Troyes and Dijon. You would go through Beaune after that. BTW, there is a really fun place in Nuits St. Georges (north of Beaune). It is the Cassissium and it is a museum of cassis, a black current liquor. (Cassis is the basis for the French aperitif called a Kir. A Kir is white wine and cassis. A Kir Royale is champagne and cassis.) At any rate, after the movie and the tour, they have a tasting. It is really fun and the people there are incredibly friendly. It’s not earth shattering, but it is a lot of fun.

You go on south through Macon and Lyon. Crc95 (on this forum) will tell you all about Lyon. It really is worth visiting and I can’t give you any information because we’ve never been there. Sorry, but I know it is fantastic. Everyone who goes there raves about it.

You would continue south to Orange, also well worth a stop and then to Avignon and Aix. It is a gorgeous drive, even on the Autoroute. I think you would be delighted. Give it serious consideration. Hopefully, crc95 will tell you all about Lyon.

SalB : champagne and cassis ??? What is wrong with you ?? Champagne is not to be mixed with anything. A Kir royal is made from cassis and either Crémant de Bourgogne or maybe Blanc de Blancs. There is not Champagne in Burgundy and you know that !! I’m very disappointed with you.

Tsusalis : yeah, Lyon is the greatest. It’s all of France in one big town. Best French food (and cheap), nice architecture (Europe’s largest Renaissance district), friendly people, and most of all, best soccer team. But, if you’re really into avoinding the best places to go to the worst places, you could go to Saint-Etienne instead, I don’t know, it’s your call.

CRC

crc95, You are starting to read as well as some other unnamed forum members. I said, "A Kir is made with cassis and white wine; a Kir Royale is made with cassis and champagne." You can get as upset as you want to but I’ve had cassis in champagne; it was called Kir Royale on the menu . . . and I’ve had it in Burgundy. You may not like to mix things in champagne but this prejudice is not shared by all your countrymen.

You are allowed to order champagne in Burgundy whether it is produced there or not. (I have no idea if anyone in Burgundy produces champagne but I bet someone does!)

Perhaps you should take a day and visit the Cassissium in Nuits St. Georges. If you don’t get a Kir education, at least you’ll have a few excellent drinks!

I’m surprised at you. We’ve seen both Kir and Kir Royale all over France. Doesn’t your wife let you out of the house?!

BTW, You can get a great Kir at the Hotel Grillon in Beaune so you might stay there on your trip to Nuits St. Georges. (I don’t know if they offer Kir Royale because we’ve never ordered one there.)

crc95 . . . Just for you I Googled the Cassissium web site. You can visit it at http://www.cassissium.com/fr

There is a recipe section from which I have copied the following. I assume you can read French.

[Copied from the web site below]

ROYAL CASSIS
Enfin, avec du crémant ou du champagne, vous obtiendrez un royal breuvage, très frais et élégant, à servir en flûte de préférence : 1/5 crème de cassis, 4/5 crémant ou champagne.

La télévision allemande, durant les années 80, diffusa pendant quelques années un feuilleton à forte audience baptisé : « KIR ROYAL »

SalB, in response to your post :

1) the guy who proposes Kir Royal made with Champagne either tricks tourists who don’t know much into buying his homemade stuff, or simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

2) Nobody in Burgundy makes Champagne, for Champagne is an AOC with the AOC criterias, and if you really want to be familiar with France I highly recommend you got familiar with the whole AOC concept.

3) I have no wife

4) You don’t need to fly all the way to Nuits St Georges to get yourself a nice Kir. Ask LVB !!!

CRC

PS : is Palm Beach in CA or in FL, I am confused ?

crc95, I know about AOC and I also know you can buy Champagne in Burgundy (even if you can’t make it there). You can also make "sparkling" wine anywhere and those of us who don’t take wine terribly seriously call sparkling wine, champagne (with a lower case c).

I’ve seen an awful lot of Frenchmen drinking Kir Royales and I’ve seen them doing it in very out of the way restaurants where there are no other Americans and quite likely no tourists. We heard about them from a "real" Frenchman. If you don’t like your Champagne mixed with cassis, don’t mix it . . . and if you do, use champagne, not Champagne.

I understand why you have no wife. Women prefer men who are sympatico.

I can have a very nice Kir on my back patio . . . and often do (using Calfornia champagne, not Champagne). Actually, we usually use white wine. I’m not a big fan of either Champagne or champagne.

Palm Beach is in Florida. Palm Springs is in California. It’s a little confusing but there is no beach in Palm Springs. It’s in the desert and there are natural springs in the area; hence, the name.

ABC News tonight had a segment about Bordeaux wines. It seems they had a bumper crop and there is a glut of Bordeaux on the market. Since that brings down the price, the vintners asked for government support. The government didn’t give them enough (in their opinion) so they are dumping zillions of gallons of Bordeaux wine to bring the price up. Do you suppose there’s any way they could be persuaded to dump some where we could bottle it?!

crc95, Why don’t you tell us what to see in Lyon. You used to live there didn’t you? You mentioned good restaurants and nice architecture. What are these restaurants and where are they found? What buildings and where?

You have some knowledge that could be very helpful. Why not share it?!

Thanks.

donerail, why is it that you have to turn every single forum entry into your own personal opportunity to make fun of people (me, this time; others in the past)? Someone asks a legitimate question and you jump in to start a fight that has nothing do do with the subject nor is any help to the person requesting information. It is a stupid childish game. What kind of person enjoys belittling others.

I don’t drink Charles Shaw but I often see the Harley riders, like you, walking out with it by the case. My discussion, such as it was, was with crc95 and I knew you would manaqe to insert yourself into the conversation and be as denigrating as possible. You just can’t resist an opportunity to take sides against someone. You seem to think it makes you a more important person if you can belittle or make fun of others. I know you aren’t in junior high, but could never tell by your posts.

TPWIAO: I guess you didn’t notice my post was addressed to crc95. It sure is entertaining seeing you try to pontificate to a Frenchman over the nuances of vinoculture. Keep whinning, it is also very entertaining. I hope the administrator lets this message get thru as he or she deleted my first response. The Forum would have loved it. Donerail

hello all!

Long time no see! Ahhhhhhh, beautiful France, on Friday I will catch an evening flight to CDG after work to spend one week in France relaxing, eating and drinking. Life is good

SalB: to a Frenchman, the word Champagne or champagne designates that sparkling stuff maded in the Champagne region. Any other type of sparkling wine is called mousseux or cremant. Wjhen I make kirs, I will use either a white wine or an inexpensive mousseux/cremant that i buy locally. It’s French made, and well suited for kirs. While in Paris, I will also have some kirs made with peach or black raspberry liqueur, too. They are delicious. There is also a kir aligote, make wiht aligote wine. It is also a very tasty beverage

Now that y’all had your kir lessons, you have a nice day

LVB, Welcome back. Hope you enjoy your trip to France. We’ll be going next month. Any favorite restaurants in or near Strasbourg?

donerail, Unfortunately, I saw your extremely rude reply to me before it was removed. My reply told you that it is not "whinning" that it is correctly spelled whining. Since you still aren’t spelling it correctly, it’s obvious my reply was removed before you had a chance to read it.

You may use viniculture or viticulture. Your invented word of vinoculture is incorrect.

As far as the forum enjoying your previous response, in case you haven’t noticed, there is no forum any more. You are the forum. Enjoy yourself.

SalB:

Here is a site you might find useful: http://www.strasbourg.fr This site has a search engine in which you can find most anything about Strasbourg or Alsace. I strongly suggest you go to Colmar or Turckheim. It is a 30 minute train ride from Strasbourg. Turckheim has a wonderful wine shop called Louis Greuner (spelling?). Their wines are all good quality. They recently added a little wine bar/sitting area where you can relax and enjoy what you purchased. I always get my Alsacian wines there and bring them back to the USA. Their vendages tardives are heavenly!

Besides the wines, Colmar and Turckheim are beautiful towns with lots of history. Turckheim is a tiny walled town. I have photos posted in my online photo album, if you want to check it out before you go.

As for Strasbourg restaurants, a good one for traditional Alsacian specialties is http://www.baeckeoffe.com/ They were closed down for renovations 2 years ago when I was there. Get the choucroute/baeckeoffe. It’s a traditional Alsacian meal.

STAY AWAY FROM FLAM’S!!!! This is a chain restaurant with locations all over France. They have Alsacian food, however, it’s just average quality. You do NOT want to go to Flam’s!! Go to Le Baeckeoffe and I guarantee you won’t be dissapointed. The locals all go there for Saturday or Sunday dinners. You never see American tourists in there, so it has to be good. You will see Germans in there, though. I always went there for a traditional Alsacian meal when I was in Strasbourg. Their wines are good quality, too (My Alsacian cousins in Turckheim also sent me to Le Baeckeoffe, they said it was good.)

Don’t forget to climb by foot the Strasbourg Cathedrale! I did, several times. It is a hike up those stairs, but the view from the top is beautiful! It’s definately worth the climb. Just don’t climb it after going to Le Baeckeoffe! climb first, enjoy the views, read the names/dates of the graffiti carved into the stone (some are from the 1700’s), take your photos and THEN go to Le Baeckeoffe.

I’m at work here, thinking of their choucroute royale and getting hungry now

LVB, Thank you so much. I’ll check the web site and be sure to find Le Baeckeoffe’s restaurant. I’ve never heard of Flam’s but will avoid it. The only total disaster we’ve noted is Q, the French answer to McDonalds. We’ve studiously avoided those also.

We’ve been to Strasbourg a few times and really like it. We’re staying in Barr where we usually stay and they have a nice restaurant. Haven’t seen any Americans there but quite a few Germans and French. We love the area. Usually park at Etoile in Strasbourg and take the trolley into town.

We’ve been to Colmar and like it also. We probably won’t get there until we return from Germany, but will try to look up your wine shop.

Thank you so much for the suggestions. We really appreciate it. Hope you enjoy your trip!

LVB: You will arrive in LaFrance about 24 hours before me. The weather is supposed to pretty good – to start off with anyway. Have a nice trip.

TPWIAO: I am so happy you were able to see my censored post. I feel much better now. Thanks also for the spelling corrections. I’ll have to add "whinning" to the half dozen or so words that I habitually mis-spell. I am not so sure about "vinoculture" – I actually saw the word in an issue of Wine Spectator – which I will agree doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a correct word. I hope you have a nice vacation as well. Maybe a month in LaFrance will get you to lighten up a bit and also give you an opportunity to work on your defensiveness. Oops, I just realized that you are going to Germany. That may be more suited to your temperment. Have a good time anyway.
Donerail

SalB: When you go to Le Baeckeoffe, be sure to share a tarte flambee (with your husband) to start, or a salad, then order a good choucroute, and for dessert a nice baeckeoffe of fruits. I can personally vouch for the quality of the food AND – order at least a half carafe of good Alsacian wine. Or, order more!!! It makes the meal so much more enjoyable when you can have traditional foods with traditional complementary wines. Have a nice vendages tardives as an aperitif. A bit expensive, but worth every wonderful golden drop I never skimp on good food when at Le Baeckeoffe. It can get pricy, remember, I’m a teacher, however the quality of traditional food is excellent and how many times will you be in Strasbourg? I like the location in La Petite France. During the summer, you can sit outside on their little terrasse and watch the locals walk by. You are right near the river and after dinner, you can take a nice stroll along the canals/river with your husband. Such a beautiful place! )

You might want to go to Galeries Lafayette in Strasbourg. In their housewares/glassware section they sell traditional green stemmed Alsacian wine glasses. Over several trips, I purchased a set of long stems, short stems and the eau-de-vie green stemmed Alsacian traditional glasses. I carried them all in a BIG carry-on, so nothing would break. It was fragile, but the best thing to do, as I now have beautiful wine glasses for special occassion when I open a wonderful bottle of good Alsacian wine.

My regular wine glasses are from Dijon, "Le Grand Hotel de la Cloche." The owner gave them to my father in the early 1950’s, when he stayed there while doing his PhD in physics and electrochemistry at the University of Dijon. With the passing of time, these glasses are now more than 100 years old (they were at least 50 years old when she gave them to Dad). I use them for drinking kirs I think that hotel is now part of Sofihotel….too bad….my father was friends with the owner, she survived WW2 and had hidden her vast selection of wines and glasses from the Germans by putting it in a part of her wine cellar, and walling it up, so the Germans would never find it. Et voila, a dozen of her glasses are here in NJ

donerail: We should try to meet up in Paris one night for dinner. You and Mrs. Donerail, me and my French boyfriend. I know some wonderful little restaurants in the student quartier that I’ve been going to for YEARS. And you can finally meet my French boyfriend, you know, the one whom you commented on in all those emails last year Don’t you worry, I saved those emails for posterity

I’ll be flying out of Newark on a late evening flight, me and my French boyfriend. Will pack a decent meal, as Continental food is lousy and the wines aren’t free any more 🙁

My lodgings in France will be free, so I’ll have lots of extra cash for shopping. A little French couture, maybe?

SalB: I forgot…you might want to reserve a table at le Baeckeoffe. It can get busy sometimes. You can reserve a table that morning, it’s not a problem there at all to reserve. . The web site will gave you photos and phone numbers, etc…

I also forgot…if you’re a beer drinker, ask for a picon biere while in Strasbourg. It’s little type of liqueur they put into beers. I’m not a beer drinker, but I can drink pale amber beer with picon in it. It’s cheap in Alsace. If you order a picon biere in a Paris cafe, you’ll pay a fortune for it, in comparison to Strasbourg. When in a new area, I like to try the local foods. If you like picon, you can go to Monoprix and get a bottle and bring it back to the USA. It’s not at all expensive. I have a bottle in my wine cellar.

Ya know, we all love France. Maybe we could all try to get along. Kflouler5 is gone. So are the other losers who were here to slander everything the French have given the world.

Let’s all try to be nice or at least, have a good bottle of French wine together

Hello Everyone! I’m back (unfortunately)!
Our trip was a complete success, I tried pastis, a Kir Royal Violette, escargo, lamb, raw mussels…the list can go on! We started in Paris, TGV-ed it down to Aix for a few days and took the most incredible drive to Chateauneuf de Pape, stopping in Avignon on the way back to Aix and ending our trip back in Paris.
We had a fantastic time, and the French people are by far the most beautiful people I have ever encountered. I’m still trying to figure out ways to move to Paris. Thank you all for your wonderful advice.

Tracie

tsusalis: I knew you would love La France and I am glad you had a good time. Key question: When are you going back? Donerail

Hi Donerail! I’m a freelancer, my plan is to work through the summer and go back in the fall to spend a month, HOPEFULLY it will work out. I’ll be all alone though, never done a vacation alone before.