We're BACK!
Thanks again for all the comments ...they were helpful, and while we didn't see everything and everywhere mentioned in your posts ... it was still great.
Below is my payback to everyone for all the comments and help!
Biggest downer first - TERRIBLE April weather for Amsterdam and France ...patterns increasingly disturbed these days. Snowed at the Eiffel Tower on 26 Apr!
Flew to Amsterdam, took train to Centraal Station and walked three blocks to Renaissance Hotel. Good location for downtown with easy access and had great concierge lounge. Did the canals, the Anne Frank house, people watching, "killer bike" watching, tour to cheese, harbor, windmills, Keukenhof Gardens, a classical concert at Concertgeboew. Three nights.
Five minute walk back to Centraal Station and caught the Thalys high speed train to Paris. First Class tickets (not really much difference, but did have light lunch and drink service) were $85E each. Arrived at Paris du Nord and grabbed the subway to Tuileries with transfer at Chatelet (taxi drivers at Nord were criminals wanting $60E to go 3 km with no traffic - about 5-8 minutes). Subway easy and accessible with some occasional climbing of stairs.
Met friends for Seine dinner cruise on Le Calife (great food, staff, wine, etc). Then did usual Paris stuff like Eiffel Tower (we did lunch in the ET, but I found this to be both overrated and irritatingly touristy), Arch, Louvre, St Chappel, Versailles ... cold and wet but still fun. Also did evening concert at Notre Dame .. way cool. Food incredible. Best food was not at the usual recommended restaurants. Incredible lunch at a little place at 6 Saint Place Michel - just a quick bite turned into two hours of gastro fun. The husbands even did an after sojourn to Jim Morrison's grave - yeah, pretty weird, but was easy and fun ...we took an iPad with Doors music and bourbon ... found out from the very angry Gendarme there are three rules at
Père Lachaise Cemetery ... (1) No music, (2) No Alcohol, and (3) No sitting on the vault next to Morrison's grave ... yeah, we did all three ... AND, one is obviously not supposed to take photos of the angry gendarme under any circumstance.
Jumped the SNCF TGV train after four days in Paris to Perpignan (on the south coast just north of the Spanish border ... four first class tickets for $140E total!!) ... no service on the train, but we always brought bagette, fromage and wine!
Rented car from Europcar (brand new Renault Scenic that held all of us with about 6 suitcases for about $400E for five days ... 30+ MPG turbo diesel). Stayed three nights at the Les Mouettes hotel in Argeles sur Mer in Collioure ... family run with beautiful big views from balconies north and south on the coast, great breakfasts (we usually did big breakfast in hotels and skipped lunch), pool, bar, etc ...hit all the local wineries, several incredibly good restaurants, bought snacks and prepared foods in local markets, drove to Spain to say we did, stopped at some more wineries, etc). Great dinner in Saint Cypriene at Le Aquarium, where "martini" did not translate, but it was so great it didn't matter!
Cruised up coast as well as major highways taking detours here and there ... spent night in Sete ... not as fun as we thought, but was still cool and rainy).
Left Sete headed for Avignon where we would spend night, visit the old city and drop car before boarding TGV for Paris Charles de Gaulle. On the way took detour to Vers Pont du Gard to see the Roman built aqueduct , had an astonishing lunch at tiny, local Bar de Le Fountaine in Valliguires with a fountain (duh) and centuries old church to explore just behind it.
Arrived at the hotel across the river to the west of Avignon ... great location with easy in and out of the walled city. I thought the old walled city simply another version of a mall with lots of stores and shops. Also pseudo-thugs hanging around in some of the corners. We drove through it - small car is necessary - and then back out.
Big breakfast at hotel the next morning and headed out into the countryside to the east of Avignon the next morning ... ended up at a small town on the river - Fontaine de Vaucluse with cute cafes and ducks and shops ... very relaxing ... my last two glasses of rose (way more common there than in US) sitting outside by the river ... sigh.
Back in car to TGV station on the south side of Avignan ... did I mention Waze works perfectly in France? ... dropped the car, grabbed the train to Charles de Gaulle where we snagged the courtesy shuttle to the local airport Marriott (no concierge lounge, but at $135E inclusive of two very good, but overpriced breakfasts at $29E each was a good deal). Great bar (we should have eaten in the bar vice the restaurant - restaurant had terrible service, not mean, just badly managed).
Snagged shuttle back to the airport next morning and made it back to Washington Dulles.
Summary - easy trip, very nice people, be careful of the killer bikes in Amsterdam, French is easy and fun and should study and practice before going, food is really incredible in France, roads are very easy to navigate, Waze works great, make sure you get at least one Chip/Pin credit card, just get money from ATMs (Chip/Pin card debit/credit card required), exchange rate is pretty good, go before the crowds during summer, take the Paris metro vice cabs, don't be too worried about getting sick (we drank the water at hotels and restaurants), use
www.captaintrain.com for train tickets, make reservations far in advance for great rates, travel light (don't check bags and don't forget you will need to carry everything) ... we missed 99.9% of France ... we're going back! (PS - one can live in southern France for about the same as living in Florida)