Additional Comments
France Trip 2014
with Darrell & India Mount
1. The Pullman Hotel was fantastic! It was especially nice to have
croissants for the early departure to the airport on our last day. Patricia
2. Agree - the Pullman was a fabulous hotel as was the setting of the
hotel in Tours.
Also the tour guide was so kind, sweet, and knowledgeable - taking us to some
out the way places and knowing about them in such detail. Rebecca
3. The Libourne hotel
was not the greatest! But the Chateau Belmont was ***********.
4. Bill agrees with #3. And: Pullman
was very nice. Chateau Belmont
was fantastic. Best meal was at Chateau Belmont. Don't go to
Chennonceau on a weekend - crowded. Don't go to Louvre or Orsay on Mon or
Tues - too crowded. Free Louvre on Thurs night was great. Instead of 200,
there were 20 people in the room to see the Mona Lisa. Hotel Mercure had
crowded rooms. Others were okay. Chezanne's workshop was mediocre.
We should have included the Matisse
Museum near Nice.
ALL IN ALL AN EXCELLENT TOUR.
5. Good chaperone -
Marie Claire. Good museum guides - Xenia?
Good drivers - Guiseppi and Rafaello. We were very well escorted.
Thank you. Sharon
Dear
Darrell and India,
Merci, merci for the
most wonderful trip through France!
You prepared us so well with your fabulous classes on the history and art of France before
we ever left.
When we arrived in
Nice there you were at the airport to welcome us. From there you guided us for the next
fourteen days through wonderful marche’s in
Nice (oh the flowers), and Mougins, with its white tents and the home to
Picasso for 11 years, to Aix-en-Provence
(oh the lavender), and Sarlat (oh the chocolate!) There were the museums –Marc Chagall’s
whimsical paintings of the Old Testament, so full of joy; the Toulouse Lautrec Musee in Albi; the
mind-blowing impressionistic art at the Musee d’Orsay, and of course the Louvre
with its “Winged Victory” and “Venus de Milo” and the “Mona Lisa” and 35,000
other works of art.
On we went, with you shepherding us through
castles and chapels and cathedrals, like the Matisse Chapel in Vence, with its
brilliant stained glass windows; and the Sainte Cecile Cathedral in Albi, with
its massive rounded buttresses, to the Chartres Cathedral where the famous
Malcolm Miller opened our eyes to the symbolism, history, and architecture of
this amazing place. A metro ride from
our Hotel Pullman to Sacre Coeur at the top of Montmartre, with crowds of
people outside on the steps listening to a man play his guitar and sing songs
of John Denver in English, a little “Rocky Mountain High” in Paris. The cathedral of all cathedrals might be
Notre Dame on Ile de la Cite. We can’t
forget our visits to the “maisons” of Renoir in Cagnes sur Mer, and Cezanne in
Aix, and Arles, the town of Van Gogh. Even though the
Yellow House is no longer there, we did see the famous café that he painted and
a first-century Roman amphitheater.
Speaking of homes, we
stayed in our own Chateau Belmont in Tours and visited the Chateau de
Chenonceau, built by King Henry II for his wife, Catherine de Medici, and –oh
yes- for his beautiful sweet smelling mistress, Diane de Poitier. Along the way we visited the colorful town of
Cassis and took a boat ride on the Mediterranean
to view the cliffs, the amazing Caves of Lascaux, the walled city of Carcassonne, and a float down the Dordogne River.
And oh, the food and the wine were tres
magnifique. As it is said, “A day
without wine is like a day without sunshine!” We had sunshine every day! :-) We even toured the winery and vineyards of
Chateau Soutard in the St. Emilion region. There was the delicious dinner in
Eze, lunch on the benches in Albi that we bought at the large covered market, a
gourmet lunch at La Petite Tonnelle in the hill town of Beynac,
and who will forget our festive farewell dinner in Paris.
Oh, Paris, Paris, the
city of light, with its Eiffel Tower right outside our hotel, and the parks,
gardens, Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, and the romantic Seine River that
runs through the heart of the city.
So, Darrell and India, for all
of this and so much more, a thousand thanks. It was TRES BIEN from beginning to
end!!! May all your days be blessed
with sunshine (and a little wine) and if rain should come your way, may it be
like April in Paris!
With love from all
your French amis, 2014.
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