Back from May-June Europe Trip - mostly France.

[audreyh1]

Funny...I've never encountered a problem......perhaps because I always initiate conversations in my appalling French, and they jump at the chance to switch languages?

Me neither - but I always start the conversation in French, asking first if they speak English - after the obligatory greeting of course.

In general I found the French very accommodating and easy to interact with. In the smaller cities if we seemed to be lost, strangers would volunteer assistance immediately. We'll definitely visit again - great country, and still so much to see!

 

[Peter]

My experience is the same as Audrey's and Nemo2's. Even when I would rather continue in French, people often want to practice their English! Quite a change from my visits to France 50 years ago.

We had a nice experience at a winery on our recent visit. The lady at reception told us that she really appreciated it when visitors try to communicate in French. In her view it showed respect for the country and the language.

 

[Meadbh]

My experience is the same as Audrey's and Nemo2's. Even when I would rather continue in French, people often want to practice their English! Quite a change from my visits to France 50 years ago.

We had a nice experience at a winery on our recent visit. The lady at reception told us that she really appreciated it when visitors try to communicate in French. In her view it showed respect for the country and the language.

+1

 

[Nemo2]

In her view it showed respect for the country and the language.

A few words go a long way - about twelve years ago I used to bike on trails in Toronto, and would encounter the same group of Sikhs walking........we'd say "Hi" to each other, but one day I stopped a solitary Sikh and asked him to teach me a greeting in Punjabi.....it went over well.

A few years later, in Ottawa, we were looking to buy some curry powder and wandered into a little bodega........Sikh behind the counter, talking to another...they looked over at us with borderline disinterest.......until I uttered 'the phrase'......then he was Mr Helpful to the extreme.

 

[LitGal]

Actually, September is still considered peak season and the hotel rates are high.

I've not been to Versailles in over 20 years. But I did some legwork to prepare.

Supposedly if you can time it to arrive at 8 AM, the crowds inside the palace isn't suppose to be bad.

That means leaving from Paris around 7 AM though.

Paris Visite Museum pass is a good way to save money on museums but has to be used on consecutive days after the first entry. So to maximize the value, that means going to a lot of museums over a short period of time.

Versailles is included in the pass so if you go to Versailles and the big museums like the Louvre, Orsay, Pompidou, Orangerie, it will pay for itself.

The pass lets you skip the queues or at least use the shorter queues to enter the museums. Will be a big time saver.

Guess I misspoke. By "off-season," I meant being there when it seemed like most of the other Americans had gone home. I found the contrast stark, between the crowds of July and the lack thereof in Sept.

 

[LitGal]

Yes!

Here's an alternative. Wander over to the Printemps department store. Enjoy the building itself which is very interesting from an asthetic point of view. Go to the top of the department store where these is a very good cafeteria. Have lunch there, while enjoying a great view of Paris that includes the Eiffel Tower. Much more tasty and far less crowded.



Note: if you and or your spouse are shopping oriented this could be a very expensive option.

+1 It's a leisurely way to eat lunch, with great views. Personally, I found that browsing Printemps (as well as Galeries Lafayette and Bon Marche) could have easily been just another museum tour. The prices were so outrageous that it was also fun to observe the patrons who were actually making purchases. (They didn't seem to be folks in sensible sandals, toting Rick Steves guides or fumbling with their French.)

 

[Nunthewiser]

Me neither - but I always start the conversation in French, asking first if they speak English - after the obligatory greeting of course.

My French is poor even after 3 years of college courses. The French really expect you to at least attempt it. I recall some emergency in "le Metro " when my ticket worked but hers didn't. I complained in English to the attendant and he didn't respond until I started with "Bonjour"...

 

[marko]

Funny...I've never encountered a problem......perhaps because I always initiate conversations in my appalling French, and they jump at the chance to switch languages?

My French is poor even after 3 years of college courses. The French really expect you to at least attempt it. I recall some emergency in "le Metro " when my ticket worked but hers didn't. I complained in English to the attendant and he didn't respond until I started with "Bonjour"...

Having lived in France (Paris) off and on for over 25 years, I can say that this is one of the more important points.

If you walk in and just say "bonjour" and/or try in fractured French, they'll pick up on your accent and (almost always) switch to English. ("Stop hurting my language")

If you don't say bonjour, or walk in with English right off the bat, they're guaranteed to forget any English they know.

It's viewed as a sign of respect to try first in French.

 

[ElizabethT]

Can you tell me what day of the week you visited Versailles? It's closed on Mondays, and according to Rick Steve's guide, we should avoid Versailles on Tuesdays because the Louvre is closed, so the crowds choose the next most popular spot to go.

Note - based on those two facts I think I'll start my museum pass on Wednesday and get at least 2 days worth.

Believe it or not, we ended up going on a Tuesday because of scheduling conflicts on other days. We went expecting the worse, but that early start saved the day.

 

[LitGal]

Having lived in France (Paris) off and on for over 25 years, I can say that this is one of the more important points.

If you walk in and just say "bonjour" and/or try in fractured French, they'll pick up on your accent and (almost always) switch to English. ("Stop hurting my language")

If you don't say bonjour, or walk in with English right off the bat, they're guaranteed to forget any English they know.

It's viewed as a sign of respect to try first in French.

+1 I took R. Steves' advice re. the importance of formal salutations: "Bonjour, Madame," and "Bonjour, Monsieur." Then I would follow up with an apology (in French) for my fractured French. It was heartwarming to enjoy their patience and accommodation of my attempts at communicating needs or questions. Sometimes, after our interchange, they would encourage me that my French was "quite good." (Which they would say in English.) Again, even though I had butchered the grammar and struggled to find vocab. from 35-40 years ago, their kindness was truly a treat. And it motivated me to go back to the hotel room and spend some more time with the phrase book!

 

[NoiseBoy]

+1 I took R. Steves' advice re. the importance of formal salutations: "Bonjour, Madame," and "Bonjour, Monsieur."

I just read that tip last night in my copy of Rick's Paris guide (checked out from the library natch!) My college language was German, so I'll have to try to get by with just the basic greetings, but I will do my best to use them and to be polite.

I think I'll take the bus trip to Normandy on Tuesday and then activate my museum pass on Wednesday. That leaves Sunday afternoon and Monday to visit "free" sites in Paris. I do tend to get worn out with museums, so if I burn out in Paris, I'll see about a trip to Chartres to wrap up my trip.

 

[explanade]

You can save a lot of money by researching trains to do day trips on your own instead of going on a coach tour.

Sometimes, tour makes sense, other times, you can DIY it for a lot less.

Versailles is one of those cases, though sometimes the clients of tour operators get to skip to a shorter line.

Giverny is suppose to be nice too, if you're really into Monet.

 

[marko]

+1 I took R. Steves' advice re. the importance of formal salutations: "Bonjour, Madame," and "Bonjour, Monsieur."

I actually had a cop scold me when I walked up to him asking directions.

I had just walked up and said: "Ou est XYZ? " without the "Bonjour"
He just looked at me and said, mockingly: "Bonjour, Monsieur Gendarme, ou est XYZ?" showing me that is how I should have addressed him.

It is really important.

 

[tulak]

You can save a lot of money by researching trains to do day trips on your own instead of going on a coach tour.

Sometimes, tour makes sense, other times, you can DIY it for a lot less.

Versailles is one of those cases, though sometimes the clients of tour operators get to skip to a shorter line.

Giverny is suppose to be nice too, if you're really into Monet.

This is what we did when we visited Versailles 15 years ago. It wouldn't have occurred to me to do a tour back then and even now, I still prefer DIY. I also don't recall it being too crowded, but we were visiting in May, so maybe that's why.

 

[explanade]

Sometimes you see sales, on sites like Viator, so for instance, you find out that a tour will be about $30 more over half a day or full day than it would cost you to DIY on public transportation. In that case, I go for the tour.

Another example was a London tour to Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge on one tour. Probably can't do it as easily as on trains, because as I understood it, those destinations did not all line up to a single train line so it might not have been possible to cover in a day.

 

[audreyh1]

From what I've read, touring the WWII Sites in Normandy from Paris - you definitely need a tour as the logistics are complex. It's a long way there, and the sites aren't easy to get to using public transportation.

 

[audreyh1]

I actually had a cop scold me when I walked up to him asking directions.

I had just walked up and said: "Ou est XYZ? " without the "Bonjour"
He just looked at me and said, mockingly: "Bonjour, Monsieur Gendarme, ou est XYZ?" showing me that is how I should have addressed him.

It is really important.

This was very amusing!!!

I imagine they were often scolded like that as children whenever they forgot the "protocol".

 

[anethum]

From what I've read, touring the WWII Sites in Normandy from Paris - you definitely need a tour as the logistics are complex. It's a long way there, and the sites aren't easy to get to using public transportation.

I've been to the WWII Normandy sites twice, both times by bicycle, including last year. I believe that none of the 5 landing beaches are accessible by train. Sword Beach and Juno Beach are essentially beach holiday towns today. They might have bus service from Caen. Gold Beach is somewhat more isolated. The 2 American landing beaches are the most isolated, especially Utah Beach, the westernmost of the 5 landing sites. Pointe du Hoc is near Omaha Beach and is even more isolated.

Both of my visits were during early June, and there are lots of special events around the anniversary of D-Day. I was taken aback by how many town streets, shop windows, and private homes were displaying flags of the Allied countries.

It's a wonderful area to visit if you have your own transportation (a car would be fine), because there are loads of things to see in the middle of nowhere. There are tiny British war cemeteries literally in the middle of farm fields, one had both British and German graves. We frequently came across monuments to specific battles or events on tiny country roads. We saw numerous re-enactment camps. Old US Army Jeeps were all over the place. I happened upon a wreath-laying ceremony at Utah Beach. We saw a new monument being erected at Omaha Beach. I came across a ceremony at Ranville and I spoke with a British veteran of the Normandy liberation, and I met an American Normandy veteran at the Airborne Museum at Sainte-Mere-Eglise. I spoke with a young British soldier in the Ranville cemetery last year who was parachuting in ceremonies at both Ranville and Sainte-Mere-Eglise. He explained things about the British headstones that my friend and I couldn't figure out. He was very funny and told me that he's scared to death to jump out of airplanes, but that the only reason he does it is because they pay him extra!

Both times that I passed through Sainte-Mere-Eglise there were big celebrations taking place. Last year, there was a stage erected and bands playing music of the 1940s. The tourist office was staffed by women wearing 1940s-era dresses and all had 1940s-era hairstyles. The atmosphere was wonderful.

There are some great museums there. My favorites were the Pegasus Bridge Museum and the museum at Utah Beach. The American Cemetery has a good museum, too. The war museum in Bayeux is supposed to be excellent but I ran out of time when I was there. Bayeux is a lovely town, and both the famous Tapestry and the large British War Cemetery (the largest in Normandy) are worth seeing. The American War Cemetery is remarkable, on a perfectly manicured site overlooking the English Channel and Omaha Beach.

 

[tulak]

From what I've read, touring the WWII Sites in Normandy from Paris - you definitely need a tour as the logistics are complex. It's a long way there, and the sites aren't easy to get to using public transportation.

In this case I'd usually rent a car. This way I have flexibility to move around freely. The downside is that you have to know where to go and you don't get the knowledge of a tour guide. But many individual sites usually have tours, audio or such, that it's not a big problem.

I'm glad this topic came up, since know I'll at least think to look at yours. Before I'd just assume to go it alone (habit).

 

[marko]

In this case I'd usually rent a car. This way I have flexibility to move around freely. The downside is that you have to know where to go and you don't get the knowledge of a tour guide. But many individual sites usually have tours, audio or such, that it's not a big problem.

I'm glad this topic came up, since know I'll at least think to look at yours. Before I'd just assume to go it alone (habit).

That's what we'd usually do when taking friends to Normandy.

The hardest part is getting out of Paris traffic! Once you got that done, it's a nice drive through the countryside. About a two hour drive. Be sure to get a rental with GPS!!!!!

 

[explanade]

I've not had much interest in WWII sites so I've never been to Normandy.

I'd think I'd go back to Provence before going to Normandy though.

 

[audreyh1]

We may visit Normandy one of these days. We're not interested in the WWII sites, but rather the coastal towns such as Honfleur, cities like Rouen and Caen, the Bayeux Tapestry, and Mont St. Michel. And sampling the local cuisine and cider (and calvados) of course.

I figure we'll have to rent a car. We'd try picking it up in one of the towns a train ride away from Paris.

Some neighbors drove all over Brittany looking for menhirs (large upright standing stones from prehistoric times). Their blog was quite amusing.

 

[FIREd]

Ah hum, please allow me a shameless plug for eastern France as well. Alsace, Burgundy, and Savoy have a lot to offer too and they are easily accessed by TGV from Paris. Lyon is considered to be France's food capital and it is beautiful in its own right.

 

[audreyh1]

We really enjoyed Alsace.

 

[LitGal]

From what I've read, touring the WWII Sites in Normandy from Paris - you definitely need a tour as the logistics are complex. It's a long way there, and the sites aren't easy to get to using public transportation.

Yes-- and the bus tour makes it very simple. It's a long day (about 14 hours), but we were able to see everything that was pertinent. Truly a good use of time and $.