My Recent Trip to Southern France

I never really had a bucket list, but from the time I was a very young child, I romanticized France. Who knows why? French Poodles? The Eiffel Tower? I have no idea. I’ve traveled to Africa 5 times, but didn’t get to France (except to change planes, when I was a U. N. volunteer in Bosnia) until about 4 years ago—just before COVID.

A good friend and I took advantage of a Gate 1 self-guided trip to Paris just before COVID. Hotel and airfare from New York was $799. We were in a Holiday inn just across from the Gard l’este train station, and took the Big Bus around and saw all the sites. My friend spent about 1/2 an hour in the Louvre (we got there late—after 6:p.m.), but we also go to the Musee d”Orsey (extremely crowded), Notre Dame (before it burned), l’Orangerie, and the Rodan museum. We got to ride the metro. I got to the top of the Eiffel Tower—and that sort of was on my ‘bucket list;—but even with a ‘skip the line’ ticket, it took over an hour to get to the front of the line, That’s how things are these days,

I wanted to see the south of France. A friend owned a garage in Nice, where she said that she wanted to retire, and I wanted to see Monaco, and this Gate 1 trip included that: Paris to Avignon on the high speed rail, and a bus tour along the coast.

There were 33 people on this tour. There were only 2 other singles besides me. A couple in their early 30’s, and another couple late 230’s. and everyone else over the age of 60—including several 85+

I wish we could have spent a bit more time in Paris, I probably could have gotten to the Louvre, but tickets are expensive and the wait to get in is long, Indeed, everything you want to see in Paris involves crowds & long lines. As it was, we took a bus tour that ended at Luxenbourg Gardens, and the guide gave us directions on how to get here & there,and back to the hotel. I could have taken a cab back to our hotel (a quaint place in the Latin Quarter, which would have been more quaint if we hadn’t been without water for 7 hours & had the elevator worked), but the park was right across the street from the metro stop, so I decided to take the metro.

Unfortunately, the direct route ended at a particular stop, and the information people told me to get back on and go around the long way—or—-go out of the Metro, “cross the bridge” & get on at another stop. This was confusing, I did go up, but there were several bridges and a lot of construction around them, so I wandered in several directions looking for another metro stop for over an hour. Finally, I went to a bus stop, which indicated 1 stop was at the Bastille, 2 stops from the hotel. When I asked some people waiting for the bus, they told me I could walk to the Bastille, and I knew that, but I was going 2 stops beyond. In the end, I DID walk to the Bastille—over a mile, in the rain, but got on and went back to the hotel.

Some people chose to go to Versailles. I didn’t. It’s overwhelmingly gaudy, and I was told, crowded. It was also an extra $100 or so.

Dinner was included at what was a typical French Bistro. Choices were limited. I don’t remember what the other options were for appetizers. I chose a shrimp cocktail, and for the main course, prawns, A prawn is larger than a shrimp, but what I got was more shrimp. It was fine. Some people got escargot (rubbery snails—not my thing) & some got frogs legs—-stringy greasy things. Dessert was ice cream with a caramel sauce.

The next day, we took the high speed rail to southern France. You go through beautiful countryside, and we got off near Avignon. From there, we went to the ‘Palace of the Popes’. This is a huge castle, built in the 1300s. The reason there were popes in France (Clement V moved the papacy there) was strife within the Catholic church. You have to realize that the popes were liars, cheaters, adulterers, had many illegitimate children, and were generally scoundrels. For the life of me, I can’t understand why people continue to be devotees of the Catholic church and all their bs rituals. …except that they believe they’re sinners, want to continue sinning, & want to or have to believe in heaven. No thanks, Not interested. Not for an extra $60 The town, also a major market of lavender products, is quaint and interesting. While walking around, I saw 2 Miniature Schnauzers, several French Bulldogs, an English Bulldog, a Bearded Collie, and several Lagotto Romagnolo (looks like a cockapoo, except purebred).

From Avignon, we rode to Nimes (the place where denim originated). Nimes is also historical. A lot of Roman ruins including an ampitheatre. We took a morning trip to view the old Roman aqueduct at Point du Gard.. It’s in a park, & is a UNESCO world heritage site.

We then drove back to Nimes. The hotel was fine, but the dinner—included—gave limited options. & how they set up a breakfast buffet—in the middle of a long hall, which was awkward, and lots of cake and pasties, but no cheese, and they didn’t know how to cook bacon or eggs, or coffee…

The next day, we drove through the beautiful French countryside, through olive groves & vineyards, and stayed in Arles. It was extremely windy. Very historical because van Gogh painted a lot there. It was interesting to be in the spots he had painted. We also got to see the mental hospital he had checked himself into. One has to keep in mind that mental illness was not understood in the late 1800s. Arles is a nice town, lots of boutiques, and of course you can get lots of lavender.

On the way to Nice, we stopped at what in America we’d call a truck stop. Posters of van Gogh paintings were displayed, but what really impressed me more than anything, they serve FOOD. Not plastic wrapped ‘God-knows-what’ or hot dogs that you’d find in America, who knows how long ago it was wrapped. They were making fresh pizza, baguette sandwiches, and pastries. Just awesome.

We drove through the city of Cannes. You know immediately that you don’t belong there. Lots of upscale condos, and they have a beach—a long beach.

We were supposed to stop in a town called Grasse to visit a perfumery, but instead went to Frangonard, a factory on an outcrop on the way to Monaco. Since I had been to a perfumery in Dubai, this was nothing new. They manufactured perfume, argon oil hair conditioner, cologne, and soap, I ended up buying a very expensive bar of rose scented soap (6 euro), but I have to say, after 2 weeks, the scent is still strong.

We backtracked to our hotel in Nice—-a really nice, charming city, especially the ‘old town’, but a ‘highlight’ should have been spending the evening at the casino in Monaco. BTW—Monte Carlo is a ‘neighborhood’ in Monaco. Not knowing what dinner would cost, and not feeling that spending $50+ on a surprise dinner would be worth it, I couldn’t go into the casino—but you can see in—& except for people dressing better (there’s a dress code), it looks like any other casino anywhere. The people who paid for dinner enjoyed it. A few of us walked around—-but there’s nothing open after 7:p.m. The town was setting up for a Formula 1 race, so —it seemed to me—there were a lot of teenagers milling around. Also, Monaco is built on a mountain. The sidewalks are either ceramic tile or marble, and I can imagine how treacherous they are when wet. In any case, lots of cars you never see: Lamborghinis, Maseratis, whatever. We returned to Nice around 10.

The next day, our guide took us through the old town and to the market. Charming, really. I ended up buying a boatload of fancy soap. I could have gone to St. Paul de Vence, but it was an additional $45, and I’d had enough walking around quaint.

it was a quick and lovely trip, and I’ve noticed that Gate 1 seems to have revised or totally changed this trip as offered.

Tags: health, integrity, people, Robyn Michaels