General: France

I'm disabled and I wanted to go to Paris to see the sights. Easy ? Not as easy as I thought ! Since ending up in a wheelchair a few years ago, things have been a little bit trickier in just getting around. Not enough drop pavements, doors not wide enough, stuff left in the way in the isles in shops - it all adds up to a bit of a frustrating time. Beverly (my wife) & I had managed a few good holidays recently, including Barcelona, Jersey and a few ...
...a glowing report of Paris, I decided that would be our next short break. I did some internet research, found out roughly where we needed to stay to be close to all my sightseeing targets, and went to Expedia online to book. Piece of cake and quite low priced : just over 500 quid fully inclusive for 4 nights B&B in a Timhotel not far from the Louvre. I booked it, checked our passports, got the E111 ready and got the taxi on Saturday 11th Sept 2004 ...

g8ina 18.09.2004 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

South of Poitiers, near Limoges, stands the martyred WWII town of Oradour-sur-Glane. Whilst visiting my parents, my girlfriend and I took the hours drive from Rufec to see first hand the terrible work of the Nazis. On 10th June 1944, over two-hundred soldiers of the 2nd Waffen SS Panzar division were retreating East through France, when they encircled the small rural town of Oradour-sur-Glane. They rounded up all the residents, regardless of ethnic ...
...the women & children. The men were divided into groups and forced into various buildings in the town, while the women & children were ushered into the church. The SS commander then ordered the massacre of all the men by firing squad, while grenades were thrown into the church, through the windows, followed by gunfire to finish off the wounded. Over six hundred lost their lives, 450 of those being women and children. Although predominately French ...

Concrete_Donkey 23.12.2003 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

(For the more pedantic reader, please be aware that this review is for Paris only and not all of France. 'Paris in General' section refused to allow me to add this review, so here it is in this section!) February 2005 The OldGoth wanted to mark Valentine's weekend with a special treat having had an unexpected windfall some weeks ago. As he is now in possession of a passport, it seemed a very good opportunity for using the wonderful Eurostar and ...
...in a long weekend, so makes the perfect weekend break. **** Eurostar **** I have used the Eurostar once before and was amazed by the ease of boarding, the travel itself and the fact that it takes you right into the heart of Paris. This seemed like a good choice for this weekend too as time was limited. (I have not used it yet to Lille or Bruge, but will let you know when I do!). OldGoth checked on the net, and booked the Eurostar and the hotel ...

orlando 16.02.2005 (07.05.2006) · Read full review
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Review of General: France

This year, we spent two weeks of our summer vacation in France, in a club village of Pierre et Vacances. Pierre et Vacances is the largest company offering holiday apartments and holiday homes in France (if not in the whole of Europe) with more than 60 locations (residences, hotels and club villages). Most of the locations can be found at the French south coast (Provence, Côte d'Azur, Languedoc-Roussillon), but there is a large choice available ...
...as a few locations in Paris and in the French Alps. There are studios for two, apartments for four, six or eight, and houses for 10 persons, all built in the regional style, furnished appropriately and quite cosy. There are two-, three- and four-star locations (the stars are called suns at Pierre et Vacances). Depending on the location, there is an extensive offer for kids and juniors, games, sport, fun and outdoor activities for all the different ...

Michael-S 28.08.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

For our second camping trip abroad we used Carefree Camping from the Camping and Caravanning Club to book our stay as they offer good discounts on both ferry travel and pitch prices and it takes the hassle out of contacting the sites yourself if you're not a seasoned traveller. Having said that, every e-mail query I sent to Patrice (the site owner) was answered within a few hours in perfect English so it wouldn’t be a problem to organise your own ...
...last summer on our way further south, but liked it so much we took our main holiday there this year. Driving in France is great, 600 miles, (also drove to Brittany) no road works, no traffic and only two bumps in the road, for which there were apologetic ‘chaussee deformee’ warning signs! Only 40 minutes easy drive from Cherbourg and about 10 miles from the fantastic Normandy coastline where all the car parks are free (unbelievable after Cornwall), ...

Muddy250 20.08.2003 (23.01.2004) · Read full review
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Review of General: France

Last Friday afternoon I was in the office, sitting at my desk board to death, looking out over the grey Manchester skyline thinking to myself there really must be more to life than this. I started thinking along the lines of what I should do this weekend and from somewhere popped the idea that I should go away for the weekend. This thought gnawed away at me all afternoon and before I knew what was happening I was scanning the internet for inspiration. ...
...Web site and looked at the destinations. Mmmmm, so much choice. I fancied Paris but it was a bit on the pricey side so I started looking around and found a good deal with Air France through the expedia web site. That was it, decision made! I booked there and then. I was leaving Manchester airport at 06.30 the following morning returning at 21.45 on Sunday all for the princely sum of £121.50 including tax and £9.00 insurance, which was optional. ...

Looby5 17.08.2004 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

Our remaining Euros from our last trip to Calais were burning a hole in our pockets, so we decided to take advantage of the excellent 24-hour return ferry from Dover to Calais. It cost 40 pounds sterling - about euro 64 for a car and 4 passengers from the UK to France, leaving at 12:30 and returning the same time on the next day. Plus P&O Ferries give you a voucher for 3 bottles of wine - just be sure to get them on the WAY OVER to France, as the ...
...be able to talk them into giving you the wine, on the way back to the UK). Instead of stopping in Calais, we drove on down the coast of Normandy. We decided to save Dunkirque for another day, so headed west. We took the slow route, and stayed off the A16 toll road on the way there, so we passed through several towns, including Boulogne, which has a magnificent Bascillica and an old walled town. We felt like Goldilocks, as this town was TOO BIG, ...

Reynarda 23.11.2002 (26.11.2003) · Read full review
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Review of General: France

Ask anyone to name some famous artists and the chances are that Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh would be mentioned so having the chance to see some of their work as well as the places where they did their work couldn’t be missed. My week long trip was to be mainly based on discovering the worlds of Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh but would include the sites of Paris and the museum in Paris dedicated to Picasso’s work. ...
...Senlis is a very picturesque town, full of cobbled streets and a wonderful church and train station. It is a very nice place to walk around with fabulous back alleys and quaint shops. I stayed on the cheap, in a youth hostel here, which was adequate, as I would only be sleeping there and from here planed my trips around northern France and Paris. As I had never been to Paris before, I decided to use my first day trying to discover the fabulous city ...

ncostall 18.03.2002 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

I'm gonna tell you mainly about "la pointe du Cap-Ferret", a place, to my own opinion, that's really worth and beautiful, where the ocean turns into "le bassin d'Arcachon". This place is in the south-west of France. It is about 80 kilometers south-west of Bordeaux, in the departement of Gironde. The famous régions surrounding this area are "les Landes" and "le Médoc". I really adore this place where you can walk quietly on the beach next to the ...
...walk along the rough waves of the ocean, and go surfing if you like. The famous surfers' area Lacanau is something like 30 kilometers northern. This is a really magical place, with those two types of water that are complementary, this great fresh air coming from the ocean and this wonderful feeling of freedom ... The small town of Cap-Ferret is worth visiting for its typical "parcs à huîtres" (oysters culture), and a really special nice looking ...

diehia 05.11.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

Verdun, a ten-month battle that claimed close to a million German and French lives, was as far as I can gather the most brutal of battles, in the most terrible of wars. Verdun was the Great War battle with the highest density of dead per square meter, and to this day some 12 million (yes, this mind-boggling figure has been confirmed) unexploded shells still lie buried in the soil around the town. Appallingly, the suffering is still not entirely over ...
...attempting to exhume unexploded shells still left over from three-quarters of a century previously. Verdun itself was never taken during the battle, which lasted from February to December, 1916. Thus, apart from the Cathedral, which was hit by a stray German shell at some point during the battle, the rest of Verdun is much like any French town. Close to the youth hostel, I ran into the Victory Monument, a massive construction built in the 1920s, ...

Marechal_Grouchy 18.01.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

...over and over again. General: If you've never been to Paris and you just heard of it as the City of love, you are probably disappointed with your first visit. It is a city and the smog there certainly is extreme. Different to all the other cities I visited, when you go out of your Hotel in Paris for five minutes and then come back to have a shower, you will be shocked. Black dirt will run down from your body and even if you just clean your ears, ...
...about Paris is, that it is very touristy. A romantic date next to the Eiffeltower doesn't exactly work out if five hundred people share the experience with you. However, if you visit more often, you get to now special places and times where the attractions aren't that busy and you start seeing the charm of the city of Love. Driving: If you intend to drive in Paris, don't. The traffic in this City is as bad as in New York or London. You can easily ...

Shanon 24.04.2005 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

In June 1999 my wife and I went to Amsterdam and Paris. This is the trip report from Paris :-) I wonder how they check all the people that come to Paris by train. After all we came from a different country and no one checked our passports when we left Amsterdam. We were stopped by customs officers right after we came off the train and they were a bit shocked when they looked at my Norwegian passport and my girlfriend Nikki’s South African passport. ...
...The first thing we did when we got to Paris was to get a Carte Orange which is a card that gives you access to the Metro and the buses in Paris. I love the Metro by the way. Such a great way to get around town. Here is the link to the Metro operators: www.ratp.fr . In order to get a Carte Orange they required a picture. And it turned out that I had a picture of Nikki, and Nikki had a picture of me and then we got the cards and could travel as much ...

gard 01.07.2003 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

Deciding that we needed a well earned break myself and a friend decided on a short trip to Paris. We booked ourselves online - very easy to use and efficient service - onto Eurostar direct from Waterloo to Paris for a very reasonable £50 return and after overcoming train delays on the UK side jumped on with about 3 minutes to spare (to the dismay of Eurostar staff who advise a check-in time of at least 30 mintues before travel). Though cutting it ...
...lengthy waits in the departure lounge. (Although I wouldn't advise it if you're of a slightly nervous disposition). We arrived in Paris at the Gare Du Nord, and had booked ourselves into what was described as Paris' cheapest hotel, the Grand Hotel Magenta, situated around 5 minutes walk from the station. First impressions were cheap and cheerful, it was 18 Euros per person per night for a twin room with basin but no shower or toilet. I'd recommend ...

ktwar1892 16.11.2004 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

How many expressions do we have in our language that originate from France? And how many do we actually use that are not in our language but are so common so that almost everyone knows them? We do not really realise how much the French language has influenced ours until we carefully think about it. But after going to France, did I have a 'deja vu' perspective from my first ever trip there or was there something unique that made it a 'bon voyage'? ...
...voyage' and the country was quite distinctive from others. I had a two week travelling holiday around the north of the country, where I visited Paris (see my review on Paris and Eurodisney specifically), Rouen, Boulogne, Caen and Bayeux. I will not talk about Paris again, just to say that it did not appeal to me as much as the other places I visited. Rouen and Caen were my favourite towns. I think this is because I live in a small town and while ...

paulruegg 08.04.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: France

We have just returned from a perfect weekend in one of our favourite parts of France - Le Touquet. An hour’s drive from Calais (slightly less from the tunnel) finds you in a chic and elegant town. Le Touquet became popular at the turn of the century. It is also known as Paris-Plage, a beach resort for the Parisians. The town’s reputation was founded on its casinos, boutiques, championship golf courses, beautiful beaches and race track. ...
...across the channel from England to dine at Le Touquet’s fine restaurants. It is still possible to fly to Le Touquet from Lydd in Kent on the delightfully-named “Love Air”. Le Touquet has retained much of the charm it had 100 years ago. Walking around the town, you can marvel at its architecture. The town hall, built in 1911 is worth seeking out, especially in the summer when its grounds are planted with a marvellous display of flowers. ...

mandyhaley 18.08.2001 · Read full review
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Review of General: France