A Trip to France

 With a mixture of apprehension and anticipation A.T. Lane and Queen Victoria set out from their apartment on the long delayed because of Covid trip to France.

 Arrival in Paris

    They had a reservation at Château Alizés which was originally booked in late 2019.  It was to be part their Paris based niece's wedding plans that along with many other events that got re-arranged because of Covid. The reservation time was pushed far into the future, the 3-8 October 2022.

   Apprehension about airline lost baggage led them to minimize packing and use carry on alone.  It was an uneventful flight from Montreal to Aéroport Charles de Gaulle landing early the next morning.  Certain signs that the apprehension may have been warranted appeared when the plane did not pull up to a gate but instead we disembarked from a parking space on the runway.

After a rather long walk through the airport, we came upon the train station into Paris.

A.T. had done his research on buying Paris metro / train tickets.  They planned to buy Navigo Easy cards (similar to the Montreal OPUS card) at the SNCF (French Train System) ticket office at CDG airport.  However, the airport is a busy place, and at the train station there were various long lines for the different types of services.  The SNCF has an employee that directs lost tourists such as ourselves to the proper line.  She was insistent that in order to buy a Navigo Easy card we would first need photographs to attach to the cards.  Fortunately there is a photo stall nearby where can buy the required pictures.  A.T. was dubious that the photos were really required, but the photo stall did not have a cue line so what the hell, better safe than sorry.

 Of course the pictures were not required for the card, so now we have souvenir photo stand pictures in addition to the Navigo and metro maps we picked up at the SNCF counter.

A short rest after checking into the hotel, then we went out to dinner with our niece who lives in Paris.

The Hotel Prince Eugene, is near the Nation Metro station in the eastern part of Paris Right Bank.  It is very convenient location that we were quite happy with.

1 October - Day spent walking about in Paris

  Still somewhat jet-lagged they tried out the newly acquired Navigo cards to go to the Jardin des Plantes.

Later that day we met with our Paris relatives and did a walk through the Cimetière du Père Lachaise.  

  We noticed some famous musicians....

Of course this was followed by dinner together.

2 October - Musée Marmottan Monet

   The Nation Metro Station hosts 4 different metro lines as well as one RER line.  This can make for a rather long walk within the station getting to the proper platform.  In order to avoid this we took the line 9 metro from Rue des Boulets, a much less complex station.

We went to the  Musée Marmottan Monet, in order to see the permanent Monet collection.  The building is a former 3 story stately home.   The upper two floors were mostly Napoleonic era art pieces and by the time we reached the gift shop we had not seen a single Monet.  Ahhhh...we had missed the sign pointing the lower level and relieved, we explored that level as well....

A.T. headed for the "Conversation with a Table" while Queen Victoria concentrated on the Monet's.

 

 

After the visit we searched out a place for lunch.

The weather started rain and we made a quick stop by the The Arc de Triomphe in order to pose for a few photos.

Back at the hotel room that night, we watched a demonstration regarding the death of  Mahsa Amini's in Iran that was taking place on the street below us.

 3 October - Arrival at Château Alizé

  We took a high speed train from Paris to Bordeaux, followed  a quick connection to a local train to Mussidan where we were met by the Nathan of Trade Winds who took us to the the Château Alizé.

The grounds were fabulous...

 

 

4 October - Visit to the Nut Oil Mill, Biking along the river & Dinner

The Nut Oil Mill is a working version of the former water powered mill at Ile de la Visitation, a much visited MBC site.

 

 

Bike ride along the river....

After a short lunch back at the Chateau, A.T. went for a bike ride along the river with some fellow travelers.

 

Returning to the Chateau, they waved to other visitors who were trying out the kayaks.

That evening, after the cheese tasting .... another blow out dinner...then planning the next day's visit to Périgueux's Roman and medieval  sections.

5 October -Visit to Périgueux

Périgueux is a nearby town that has a pedestrianizCmedieval center which is pleasant to visit.

After visiting the town,we returned to the chateau and  A.T. went for a bike ride along the river in the opposite direction than the previous day.

6 October - Wine tasting at Saint-Émilion

That evening, we had a musician to entertain us during dinner.

7 October - Caviar tasting at the Sturgeon Farm

Water intake and outlet to fish farm....

Browsing about on the fish farm...

Caviar Tasting.....

Final blow out dinner at the Chateau....

8 October - Train back to Paris

  Mussidan to Bordeaux

Bordeaux train station

Back to Paris...

 

 

9 October - Musée Carnavalet & Musée d'Orsay

 

   We set out to visit two museums that day, the first was the Carnavalet.....which has a free permanent collection on the history of Paris.

 

 

 

After lunch (and the musical show) we hurried off on the metro to  Musée d'Orsay.  There is a  Musée d'Orsay stop on the "C" line of the RER.  Unfortunately when we transferred from the metro to the "C" line there was a problem on that train line and we missed our 1:30 appointment to see the Edvard Munch special exhibit.  We ended up strolling back to the hotel alongside an extensive flea market.

 

10 October - Claude Monet's Home in Giverny

 

  We took a train to Varnon (a town near Giverny), there is a shuttle bus that takes you from the train station to Monet's house in Giverny. The SCNF ticket inspectors are more strict than their EXO counterparts we were fined 49 euros each for sitting in the orange premier class seats rather than the blue second calls seats.

 

  I assumed that, being near the end of the season there would not be many people waiting for the shuttle bus to the Giverny garden.  I was wrong, a second bus was required. 

 

 

   The Monet House and garden is a real treat.....highly recommended.

 

The Garden 

 

 

Monet's House

 

  

Post Tour Cafe and Trip back to Paris

 

11-12 October - Last Day in Paris and Back to Montreal

 We still had tickets to the Edvard Munch special exhibit at the Musée d'Orsay so on our last day in Paris we headed out again to that ill fated museum.    Unfortunately Queen Victoria encountered a group of professional pickpockets on the Metro trip there.  They were so good at their craft, they returned her wallet to her after removing all the cash.  Once we arrived at the Musée d'Orsay, we were in no mood to wait in line to enter.

Instead we walked over the Siene and strolled along the Jardines des Tuileries looking for the Musée de l'Orangerie.  Little did we know it was closed on Tuesdays.

 

 

That was pretty much it for the day, we went back to the Musée Carnavalet and rested our feet in outdoor restaurant.

The next day we took the train to Aéroport Charles de Gaulle.  During the pat down in the security line up Queen Victoria's wallet (less the cash that was taken the day before) was stolen from the conveyor belt.   Montreal was looking pretty inviting.

Camera P.S.

 

 My canon pocket camera's battery had held up without the need for recharging up to the last photo above.  Not to leave the impression that we left France on a sour note, I did take a few photos of our last dinner in Paris with my cell phone.  This has a different mood.