Table of Contents for this Episode
Introduction and Overview
[00:00:15] Annie: This is Join Us in France, episode 530, cinq cent trente.
Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent, and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France.
Today on the podcast
[00:00:30] Annie: Today, I bring you a trip report with Steve Weaver, where we dive into the untapped beauty of France beyond Paris.
Discover the rustic charm of the Aveyron area, hear tales of a refurbished chateau, and find out why exploring the French countryside can offer a more relaxing and authentic experience.
This episode is a treasure trove of travel inspiration, especially if you’re looking to venture off the beaten track in France.
Tune in for insightful stories and tips on experiencing the serene landscapes, historical sites, and local flavors that you will not find in the typical tourist areas.
Podcast supporters
[00:01:13] Annie: This podcast is supported by donors and listeners who buy my tours and services, including my Itinerary Consult Service, my GPS self-guided tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app, or take a day trip with me around the Southwest of France in my electric car.
You can browse all of that at my boutique: joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
Patreon supporters get new episodes as soon as they are ready and ad-free. If that sounds good to you, be like them, follow the link in the show notes or browse to patreon.com/joinus.
No Magazine Segment
[00:01:53] Annie: There won’t be a magazine part of the podcast today because I was away in Paris all week and I’m on the TGV heading back right now, and I do not recommend trying to do anything important on the TGV Wi Fi.
But I do want to send my thanks to Alec Koo for his one time donation using any green button on joinusinfrance.com that says ‘Tip Your Guide’.
Enjoy my conversation with Steve and I’ll be back with more updates next Sunday.
Exploring the Aveyron Countryside
[00:02:35] Annie: Bonjour, Steve Weaver, and welcome to Join Us in France.
[00:02:38] Steve: Bonjour, Annie. This is great to be with you. I’m looking forward to talking with you today.
[00:02:44] Annie: Yes, we have a great conversation planned about, well, the topic you sent me, I liked it because it said: Enjoying the Fall in France, beyond Paris. Why did you pick that title?
[00:02:56] Steve: Well, we’ve been fortunate enough to travel to France three previous times and have stayed in Paris, and so we’ve seen all the famous sites, we’ve strolled the streets, we’ve done your Voicemaps of the Marais and so forth. And we really wanted to experience France itself. So we wanted to have an experience rather than seeing and visiting sites, so to speak.
And we were fortunate enough that we have friends that live out in the countryside, near the city of Rodez. And they’ve refurbished a chateau there and we really wanted to go out and see what they have accomplished and enjoy just the scenery, and the people, and the culture outside of Paris.
[00:03:46] Annie: Yeah.
Refurbishing a Chateaux
[00:03:47] Annie: Refurbishing a château. Now that’s a task, that’s a job! Did they survive the ordeal?
[00:03:55] Steve: Yeah, they, it’s funny because they had the impression that, Oh, we’ll get there, and they’ve donehome remodeling in the Bay Area, we’re from California here in the Bay Area, and they thought, Oh, it’ll take six months. Well, two years into it…
[00:04:14] Annie: Yeah.
[00:04:15] Steve: Maybe their estimate was a little off, but they’re fine and up and running now and they’ve been up and running for a few years, several years now.
So, but it was definitelya longer task than they thought.
[00:04:27] Annie: A challenge. Now, Rodez area, the Aveyron, is absolutely gorgeous. And we have talked about it some on the podcast, but not quite enough, I think. We need to bring more people to the Aveyron because if you want something bucolic, and gorgeous, and peaceful, I guess, it’s a peaceful vacation, isn’t it?
[00:04:47] Steve: Oh, it is. And it’s such a fun opportunity for people because they can go into Paris and kind of experience that. But it’s only an hour and 20 minute plane flight from Paris, from Orly. So you don’t even have to go through Charles de Gaulle to get to Rodez. And the airport there is so small that when you land the plane makes a u turn on the tarmac there it comes back to the terminal. But it has everything you’ll need there. Every rental car agency you’re used to in the States is there, Avis, Hertz, and so forth. And so they have all the facilities there, and it really is just a short trip from Paris to get there.
[00:05:32] Annie: I didn’t realize you could fly into Rodez. What company was this that was doing this? You remember?
[00:05:39] Steve: Yes, it was Amelia International. So not an airline I’ve ever heard of. But I believe that the government must subsidize them so that they’re, they ensure that there’s some flights coming in and out of Rodez. So it makes two flights a day, I think it starts in the morning in Rodez, flies to Paris, picks up passengers, flies back, and it might do an afternoon flight too.
[00:06:05] Annie: Wow, that’s surprising. I’ve never heard of them either. Was it a teeny plane?
[00:06:12] Steve: It was a smaller Embraer jet.
[00:06:16] Annie: Birdjet, okay.
[00:06:17] Steve: Yeah. So not a prop plane. And full service. It was just fine. Much better than a Ryanair flight, that’s for sure.
[00:06:26] Annie: Anything is better than a Ryanair flight. That’s great. All right. Tell me about some of the things that you enjoyed the most on this vacation. I’m sure there are many, butonce you got there, you mentioned the car rental, you rented a car, right? Because you can’t do muchin the Aveyron without a car.
[00:06:42] Steve: That’s, that’s right. Yes. In fact, we picked up our rental car and then drove off to our friend’s chateau Balzac. We really enjoyed staying with them, they did a fantastic job remodeling, and they are out into the countryside.
The first thing that I enjoyed so much was just walking through the countryside there because it’s so peaceful and bucolic and you’ll see cows, and goats, and vineyards, and buildings made out of stone, and we just don’t have that in California, really.
[00:07:17] Annie: It’s very different from California. Yeah. Not the Bay Area anymore.
[00:07:21] Steve: Definitely, definitely not. You’re not going to see famous museums, although Rodez has a nice museum,but anyway.
[00:07:29] Annie: The Soulages Museum in Rodez.
[00:07:32] Steve: Thank you. They have a wonderful cathedral there with just beautiful stained glass. And you’ve talked about that before.
[00:07:39] Annie: Those stained glass in Rodez Cathedral, especially the modern one.
What am I saying? I prefer the modern stained glass to the old one. What’s wrong with me?
[00:07:49] Steve: We were just so surprised with that when we walked in there. So it’s not like any other cathedral you’ll see in France. But just that the beautiful scenery, and it’s so easy just to find an area to go and walk out into the countryside. So a much different walking experience than if you’re in Paris or any other major city.
And it’s very easy to navigate, you know, they’re smaller roads, you’re not going to encounter any freeways, but we didn’t have any trouble.
[00:08:21] Annie: There is one, the one that takes you to the Millau.
[00:08:24] Steve: Yes, yes, yes, exactly.
[00:08:27] Annie: Not many, there’s one, just that’s it.
[00:08:29] Steve: No. And I’m glad you brought up the Millau, because I’m kind of a architectural engineering nerd and I’ve seen pictures of the Millau, the Viaduct Millau and that was one of the bucket list things I wanted to see while we were there.
And we were able to go there and drive across that.
[00:08:50] Annie: Yeah. But before you get to Millau, you’ll tell me about this restored chateau, the 16th century chateau. What sort of a chateau is it?
[00:08:57] Steve: So, this chateau has actually, there’s actually been a form of a chateau since like the 11th century. And the main chateau that they live in and that they’ve refurbished it dates back to the 16th century. And so, you can imagine, kind of a castle setting where you walk up kind of a winding staircase up to your rooms, and they’ve fully furnished the rooms in modern style, I mean, modern accoutrements and decorations, and it’s just gorgeous.
But they’ve also left the natural wood beams and you’ll feel like you’re in a kind of a little, all in enchanted place.
[00:09:45] Annie: Yeah, I could, because you sent me some photos, it looks they also left the inside shutters. Which, is something they did a lot in chateaus because, well, you know, if you’re too high, it’s really hard to close the shutters. And this also, this particular chateau also had like, defensive grills in front of the windows, so the shutters are inside. It’s lovely. It’s a beautiful place.
[00:10:12] Steve: Oh, it is. And for us, it was just so much fun because you could step out and be greeted by their goats that they have roaming around the property, and my wife was out there with her staff, kind of herding the goats around. They have a little sheep dog that helps herd the goats around and so that was definitely an experience you won’t have in Paris, that’s for sure.
[00:10:36] Annie: Yeah, so because they are friends, you were eating with them, but does the chateau have a restaurant as well?
[00:10:42] Steve: They will set up breakfast for travelers, and then they can also cook meals there. They set up their kitchen so it’s more like a restaurant-style kitchen than just a regular home.
And in fact, throughout the year they’ll have like culinary events where they’ll have local chefs come in. And they’ll have people come stay for a week where they can learn how to cook in the French style.
If you go to their website, you can find out information about that. And they also do, in the past they’ve also had photographers come in, and so you have like a week long photo sessions withprofessional photographers to…
[00:11:26] Annie: To work on your photography skills. Oh, I should talk to them about the bootcamp. We could do an outing on the bootcamp, for the bootcamp there.
[00:11:34] Steve: Oh, yeah, that would be perfect.
[00:11:35] Annie: But do they, how many rooms do they have?
[00:11:37] Steve: They also have a gîte, too.
[00:11:40] Annie: Okay.
[00:11:41] Steve: So that they can accommodate large families. And it’s not as, you know, modern, but it’s definitely functional.
[00:11:49] Annie: Very nice. Very nice.
Wine Tasting Adventures in Clairvaux
[00:11:52] Annie: Okay, let’s move on to the next thing you listed, which is wine tasting. You went
to Clairvaux d’Aveyron. I am not familiar with this wine, tell me more about that.
[00:12:04] Steve: Yes, and, you know, we’re Californians, so we look for a wine experience, and what was really nice is that we were able to walk from the chateau and take a hike, and came into town to the little village there. Wine Taste in California, they’ll have people there to kind of help you through the tasting, but when we went there, we were with the winemaker. And Jean-Luc Matha, he’s the winemaker at one of the wineries that we went to, and he was just so accommodating for us. Because we didn’t plan ahead and call, we just kind of at the spur of the moment decided let’s walk in and see what they have to offer.
And it was like we were instant friends. And he brought us in, and it’s a really interesting winery in that, it’s kind of like a cave when you walk into their tasting room, but decorated modern, so you’re not going to find bats or anything like that. But, it’s just… ok, sans bats. Yes.
So, you’ll walk in and do a tasting there. And they have interesting wines that we’ve never experienced in California.
They’re all local and kind of biodynamic. They try to grow and treat their vineyard withkind of biodynamic process. Yes, processes and so forth.
[00:13:31] Annie: Right.
[00:13:32] Steve: And then we walked from there into town and went to another winery and it was the same thing where it was the local winemaker giving you the tasting experience and not just some, one of the workers or something like that.
So, that was truly a memorable experience for us.
[00:13:52] Annie: Yeah, so this is one of the things that’s wonderful about doing wine touring in the Southwest. It’s, whether it’s this winery or many others, this is not a super famous wine. I mean, Aveyron has an AOC, but it’s not the sort of wine that you will find in the US. It doesn’t export, it’s not big productions. And so when you go, I mean, obviously it’s better to call and make an appointment, you know, but they are very available and very open to discussing their work and what they do and, you know, do a tasting with you, and most of them, they just, they hope to sell a few bottles and get a little notoriety.
You know, that’s what’s in it for them, I guess.
[00:14:37] Steve: And it worked because we did come home with some bottles, and unfortunately we left them at the chateau, but that’s okay, our friends were able to enjoy them.
[00:14:47] Annie: Right. right. I do day trips now with some customers, and I did one to Gaillac and we did find one chateau where they were willing to ship some wine, six bottles to, but the guy said, okay, I’m going to get a bid, I won’t sell you the bottles right now. He took his email address.
He’s going to bid it with UPS and then send him a proposal. And if he’s okay with that, he’ll pay and off they go. So it’s not a fast process, but you can get some shipped. And also most people will, are able to take a couple of bottles in their suitcase, I guess.
And there are suitcases made just for wine.
They are very, very heavy.
[00:15:33] Steve: It’s definitely a great experience. So I would recommend that to anyone traveling in this area to find a little winery to visit.
[00:15:42] Annie: Yeah. With a couple of phone calls, you can find some really interesting people, you know, the locals know them, I’m sure your friends, is it your friends that recommended this one?
Yeah.
[00:15:53] Steve: They did.
Dining and Stargazing in Rural France
[00:15:53] Annie: The fourth thing that you list is sitting under the stars in the chateau’s hot tub.
Ha Ha!
[00:15:59] Steve: That was amazing. And it’s definitely an experience that you won’t have in Paris, that’s for sure. And sitting in the hot tub out in the rural France was just such a wonderful experience. You know, they provided the bathrobes, and the slippers, and we were able to just sit under the stars there. And luckily, we were traveling in October, it was warm enough to go out there and the scenery with the trees, and the moonlight, and the stars was just exceptional.
[00:16:32] Annie: Yeah.
[00:16:33] Steve: I will definitely remember that for sure.
[00:16:36] Annie: One of the nice things about being in rural areas is that, you know, you have experiences like that. That’s fantastic.
Driving over the Millau Viaduc
[00:16:43] Annie: Driving over the Millau viaduct bridge. Okay, we got to talk about the bridge. We both love it.
[00:16:49] Steve: Yes, yes. yes. And I would say, if you’re traveling with a family, I think going to the little visitor center with the models, and they have some interactive displays, it would be a fun little outing. And then just, you know, to the go into the observation area where you can get some beautiful pictures of the span.
[00:17:13] Annie: It’s definitely worthwhile. And you know, the Eiffel Tower is a masterpiece of engineering, but this is a masterpiece of the, you know, the 21st century engineering. And I was just thrilled driving across it.So did you drive it going south or going north?
[00:17:32] Steve: From the visitor center going south, I believe.
[00:17:35] Annie: Yeah, the visitor center is on the North end.
[00:17:38] Steve: Yes, yes. And from there, we went to kind of like a templar village out in the countryside.
[00:17:47] Annie: La Couvertoirade.
[00:17:49] Steve: Thank you for saying that.
[00:17:52] Annie: I think that’s what it is. I think that’s what it is. Let me look again. La Couvertoirade, I think.
[00:17:57] Steve: Yes, exactly.
I know you’ve done episodes on the Templars and to see this in person, and see how they built these defensible castles was just amazing. And again, I think, if you were making this a family trip, the kids would just love climbing around an ancient castle.
We were traveling in the fall, so there was hardly anyone there, but they did have a little cafe there, so you could have lunch. And it’s not a very big location, and so it’s something that you can do, you know, in an hour or two.
[00:18:39] Annie: I intend to do an episode about this because it’s very different. It’s out of the way, you know, it’s not something that you can easily go to unless you plan to. But they do have events every now and then. I need to keep an eye on the events, see if they have any events going on soon and go when there’s an event going on. Because I’ve, I was there kind of late afternoon, it was getting windy and chilly and it was dead.
I mean, it was, there was nobody there. But it was still beautiful. Like even empty, it’s interesting.
[00:19:10] Steve: It is. And we were fortunate in that they had a local craftsman still had a shop open and he was kind of a person that dealt with metal and making things out of metal and we ended up coming home with a couple little sheep that he made, just to have a memory of, of going there.
Yeah.
Yes. And it fit in our luggage too.
So.
[00:19:32] Annie: That’s good. Yeah, La Couvertoirade, it’s a small town that the Templars used a lot, it’s a medieval place and it’s still walled in, you know.
[00:19:44] Steve: Yes.
[00:19:45] Annie: It’s a Plus Beau Village de France, but it’s walled in. And outside of it, there’s not much, there’s nothing much. So sometimes these walled cities have outgrown themselves, but this one really hasn’t.
It’s just sitting there in the middle of the landscape by itself, much like it would have, you know, it has for centuries, for you know, since the, they probably built it in the 1300s or the 1400s.
[00:20:12] Steve: Right.
[00:20:12] Annie: Yeah, it just transport you back in time when you’re walking through there so you can really visualize history. And again, if you have kids, they can run around. There’s, there’s not going to be people telling you don’t touch this or don’t touch that type of thing.
No, it’s great. Beautiful place. La Couvertoirade. If you can say it, you get extra points.
(Mid-roll ad spot)
Dinner at Émilie et Thomas
[00:20:36] Annie: You had dinner at Émilie et Thomas, oh, Michelin star, just outside of Conques. Oh, do tell! I haven’t tried that one.
[00:20:49] Steve: Yes. And so, what’s really unique, it’s right along the river. And I think they also have a little small place that you can stay overnight too. And so, as you leave Conques and head towards Rodez, you can stop there. They have sittings where you have multiple courses, they can also pair wines with that too, depending on what you choose to do.
The food was all local, whatever’s in season, food. So, it’s not going to be the same, I think, depending on the time of year you go there. And they’re just very friendly, we ended up going back into the kitchen. And we were late at night, or we had the later seating and it was also the fall, so it wasn’t very busy.
So, they brought us back into the kitchen to see the kitchen. But I would imagine it would be beautiful if you were there during the daytime, so, I just thought it was a great experience.
[00:21:50] Annie: Beautiful. I’m looking at the photos while you’re talking about it.
It’s a gorgeous building, gorgeous river running by it. It looks like it’s an old property.
[00:22:01] Steve: Yeah, so it’s Moulin…
[00:22:03] Annie: Moulin de Cambelong.
[00:22:06] Steve: So, it must have been a mill at some point.
[00:22:08] Annie: Yes, yes, yes, it was a mill.
[00:22:11] Steve: Mm hmm.
[00:22:12] Annie: Lovely place, lovely place. Just really scenic and the food looks good. Was it a one star?
[00:22:18] Steve: I think so. I think so. I didn’t, I’m sorry I’m not that big a foodie.
[00:22:23] Annie:
Exploring the Quaint Village of Conques
[00:22:23] Annie: So one of the other things you did is that you also went to Conques. You didn’t just go to the restaurant, did you? You also went to the beautiful village.
[00:22:31] Steve: Yes. And I know you’ve done an episode on Conques, but it’s just magical when you go to this little village and it looks like Walt Disneyvillage, where you would find Belle running around. It’s just so, so quaint, and because we were there in the fall, there wasn’t any crowds, there wasn’t any tour buses, and we could just stroll the streets, and not have to bump into people or anything like that.
I don’t think it gets, you know, extremely busy there.
[00:23:06] Annie: Some days, probably, but most days it’s very pleasant. You know, if it’s a holiday weekend, if there’s something special going on, it’s going to be very busy. There are always some people in Conques because you know, it’s gorgeous, it has a lot of stories. It’s a major pilgrimage site, so there are always people, but yeah. So the church is Romanesque and has been there for a long time.
And there’s a beautiful story about how one of their monks stole a relic and brought it back to make Conques more popular and it worked.
[00:23:41] Steve: We have kind of a funny story in that we were standing in front of the church and the priest had just finished, I think, given a little tour to some people, and there’s a little cafe right out in front and we were sitting down. And he just decided to sit down with us and we had a conversation and I asked, you know, can we buy you something?
And he said, Oh, I’ll take a whiskey.
[00:24:06] Annie: Wow.
[00:24:11] Steve: And so it turned out that he was kind of an Irish priest from England, and he comes there and spends the summer in Conques as the local priest, and then he returns home in the fall and winter.
[00:24:26] Annie: And charms the tourists in the summer and the fall.
That’s cute.
[00:24:32] Steve: So he was quite the character.
[00:24:34] Annie: That’s great. We lovea priest with a personality. You know, we kind of like them better than the ones who are mumbly and sad.
[00:24:43] Steve: Right. He definitely was not that.
[00:24:47] Annie: That’s great. Yeah. I highly recommend Conques. If you’re in the area, that’s a must see. And it doesn’t take very long, you know, you can see it in two hours.
[00:24:55] Steve: Oh, it’s a perfect day trip. You know, Rodez is such a great base just to go out every day. You can go each direction on the compass and find something interesting.
[00:25:07] Annie: Yes, when I did this last year, actually, no, it was this year, it was earlier this year, we decided to stay in Rodez and we rented a modern apartment, and it was very handy. But in any direction you go, it’s going to, you know, it’s a big area, you usually can’t put three or four things in the same day.
You usually, maybe one or two and that’s it, or the day is too long.
[00:25:31] Steve: Yeah.
And that’s good because you’re not packing things in and rushing, you can just experience it and enjoy the scenery too.
[00:25:39] Annie: Yes.
A Memorable Lunch in Toulouse
[00:25:40] Annie: Your number eight is having lunch with me and my husband, David. And yes, that was lovely. You invited us to lunch when you were on this trip and we got to meet you and have lunch with you and Diane. It was lovely. Thank you very much. I really, you know, I often get asked, but I can rarely say yes, but that time it worked out.
You know, we were available, both of us.
[00:26:01] Steve: Oh, and it was just a wonderful experience for the both of us. And the brasserie that we had lunch at was just wonderful. The waiter was kind of a character and, it’s so nice to be with a local too. So I really appreciate you and David making the time to have lunch with us.
[00:26:20] Annie: Yeah, it was great. So we went to Le Pyrénéen, in the city center of Toulouse, a great brasserie where they do fish. And then we had a walk through the Jardin des Plantes and I have a few photos of us that day. I’m going to have to look through my photos, but it was a very enjoyable encounter.
I always enjoy spending a couple of hours with listeners when I can.
[00:26:42] Steve: Yes, and the gardens were just lovely. There was some fountains in the gardens, and we probably would have missed it if we hadn’t been walking with you.
[00:26:53] Annie: Well, yeah, because I mean, I don’t guide in Toulouse like Elyse does, but I do know the city. I mean, I’ve been here my whole life pretty much, except for the 16 years in the US, but the rest of the time I was in Toulouse. That’s great.
Discovering Paris with VoiceMap Tours
[00:27:08] Annie: Then you enjoyed the VoiceMap tour of the Marais. That’s one of my VoiceMap tours of Paris.
What did you think? Was it your first time using the technology?
[00:27:18] Steve: It was. And it was so interesting in that we have been in Paris before, but a lot of times you walk through and you’re on your way to go see something. And this really helped us to just follow along your tour and get the history of so many different places, and we would have walked by so many different places and not had an appreciation for them.
And then the history and the background of it too. We really enjoyed the VoiceMaps. In fact, wherever we go traveling through Europe now, we’re trying to find, oh, is there a VoiceMap for this city? You know, we’ve been to Verona, Italy, and there was one for that.
But I would definitely recommend anybody going to Paris using your VoiceMaps because it just brings the city alive. And as I said, you would walk by something and not really have an appreciation for it.
[00:28:15] Annie: Yeah, and it’s different things, so I’m going to put in a little bit of about the food culture, a little bit about the religious heritage, you know, about famous houses, famous museums. There’s some of everything. And I really think that you get a lot out of them just because you don’t have to think about where am I going next?
[00:28:35] Steve: Exactly. It’s so easy to follow along.
[00:28:38] Annie: Yeah, you just follow along. Just go this way now.
Elyse’s Tour – The Glory of Occitania, Toulouse
[00:28:42] Steve: And, I have to put a plug in for Elyse’s tour in Toulouse, we were using it and then about halfway through the rain came down. And so we had to stop and pause it there, and then we just came back the next day and continued on. You know, if we had done a, like a traditional tour, we might not have been able to complete it.
[00:29:06] Annie: Yeah. Yeah. No, Elyse wrote a fabulous tour of Toulouse, it’s called the Glory of Occitania. And you can find it on the VoiceMap app the same way.
I keep, because I wrote six tours, well, actually, I have seven tours because one of them I translated into French, the Eiffel Tower one you could do either in French or in English, this is full speed French, it’s not like French for visitors, so don’t get that one if you don’t really speak French. But Elyse, I’ve told Elyse, come on, make some more. Because she knows, she could doso many themes like Albi, she would be perfect, Carcassonne, she would be perfect. She just needs to do them. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. ha. ha. Yes. Yes. I really like, and like you, whenever I go somewhere I look for the VoiceMap. Because if there is one, sometimes I follow a voice map and I think, Oh, come on, that was a bit like light. But I tend to do mine a bit more in depth, you know, like I will talk about a lot of things that other people will just not even mention.
But if it interests me, I think it should interest you as well. That’s my problem in life, I think everybody has the same interest I do.
[00:30:19] Steve: Right. And you know, when your vacation’s over and few months down the line you can just replay it and it brings back all those memories, too. And I’ve done that before with your Marais tour where it’s like deep December and I’m wishing I was traveling again, and I could put that on. Yes.
[00:30:39] Annie: That’s great, that’s fantastic.
Paris Without the Famous Sights
[00:30:41] Annie: Another thing you list isenjoying Paris without having to see the famous sites, because this was your third visit.
[00:30:48] Steve: Yes, yes. I know when you’re a tourist and you maybe you only get one trip to Paris, you want to see all the famous sites, and you feel like you have to see something. But on this trip we’ve already done, you know, the Louvre, we’ve already seen the Eiffel Tower, we’ve already gone to, you know, this and that.
So we just walked and kind of followed wherever we thought was interesting. So when we first landed, we walked down the middle of Ile Saint Louis and just strolled and not had a care in the world.
And so it’s just nice to be able to experience Paris that way because that’s the way everybody else does it.
You know, if they’re living there, they’re not running to go see the Moulin Rouge or something like that.
[00:31:40] Annie: Yeah, you’re right. You’re right. And there are neighborhoods of Paris that where you can definitely do this. There are some neighborhoods where there is so much of interest that you’re bound to run into something that’s going to catch your interest.
There’s some neighborhoods of Paris where I wouldn’t do that, you know.
[00:31:59] Steve: I must say, we took your advice when we landed, we went ahead and took a taxi to get into town because we’re, you know, when you’re jet lagged you don’t want to necessarily want to do public transportation and it’s worth the extra euros to do that. And also staying in the city center, particularly like in the Marais, there’s not, like big hotel chains there, and so your accommodations are going to be simple, but it’s great to walk out the door and you’re right in the middle of everything.
[00:32:35] Annie: You are in the Marais, definitely.
[00:32:37] Steve: Yes.
[00:32:38] Annie: It’s very lively. It’s a very lively neighborhood and a very pleasant neighborhood. Yeah.
Okay. We already talked about the Cathedral of Rodez and the modern stained glass windows. Yeah. If you’re in Rodez, if you’re in the Aveyron, stop, go in the Cathedral. Spend, I don’t know, an hour, just look around, it’s beautiful.
Toulouse
[00:32:58] Annie: You like Toulouse as well. I was going to say it in French. You’d like Toulouse aussi. I’m just franglaying my way through this conversation. So you also enjoyed Toulouse.
[00:33:09] Steve: We really did. And, you know, Toulouse kind of reminded me of my hometown, San Jose, California, where, you know, everybody in California or visitors want to go to either LA or San Francisco and totally miss anything in between. And Toulouse is just, it’s a city where people live and go about their business.
And so you get a real sense of what France and French culture and people are like, it’s very easy to navigate. There’s a great train station and you can take the metro into town. Lots of places to walk around, eating there. I don’t know, maybe we got lucky, but every place we went to, the staff was very friendly and accommodating.
We were not French speakers and people were kind and gave us their best interpretation of what, you know, we thought we would like to eat.
[00:34:07] Annie: Yeah, you’re not picky eaters, are you?
[00:34:09] Steve: We’re not, not at all.
[00:34:11] Annie: Yeah, the only time this might be a problem is if you know, you absolutely do not want this, or you like this on the side, or whatever, then that’s a bit more difficult. But when you…
[00:34:20] Steve: Yeah, and we tended to go for whatever the meal of the day was. And so I think you can’t really go wrong. And the other thing, too, is that take advice from your hotel staff there, because they’ll know the area and they won’t steer you wrong.
So, it’s always good to ask, you know, what’s good around here?
Staying in Toulouse and Paris
[00:34:42] Annie: So you stayed, so let’s talk about the places where you stayed. You stayed at two hotels one chateau and one B&B.
[00:34:49] Steve: Right. So the hotel in Toulouse, the Balcon.
[00:34:55] Annie: Yeah l’Hôtel des Grand Balcon.
What a great find that was. The rooms are nice and modern and you’re like steps away from the city center. Nice, modern rooms, and the price was, I thought, very reasonable, friendly staff.And the location is fabulous there.
[00:35:17] Steve: Yes, and you’re steps away from like, the major site in Toulouse, the capitol?
[00:35:23] Annie: Yeah, la Place du Capitole. Yeah.
[00:35:26] Steve: You’re right, we didn’t eat dinner, but we sat there in the square and had an Aperitivo in the square.
And it was just a beautiful evening. And so, I would recommend doing that while you are in Toulouse.
[00:35:38] Annie: Yeah, people like to chill. People like to just hang out on that plaza and have a drink or, you know, a meal sometimes, but it’s beautiful, yeah, it’s a beautiful, pleasant place.
[00:35:49] Steve: Yeah. And then in Paris, as I mentioned, we stayed in the Marais, at the…
[00:35:54] Annie: Le Compostelle is what I see.
[00:35:57] Steve: Yes. yes. Very small hotel. There’s somebody on staff there, they know the area, they were super friendly, gave us some great recommendations for restaurants close by. But it’s not a fancy place, the rooms aren’t going to be big. In fact, our room had two twin beds, but the bathroom was totally refurbished to modern standards. And so, I would say, you know, if you’re going to want to experience the Marais or Paris, you know, you don’t want to necessarily stay at the chain hotels outside on the periphery, you know, a little boutique place was just perfect.
[00:36:39] Annie: Right, and sometimes some of these small hotels, sometimes they are very fancy and very expensive, but you can find some that are not as expensive, you know.
[00:36:48] Steve: And this was not. We thought it was really reasonable. So would definitely recommend it, but don’t expect like, you know, the top of the line linens or, you know, fancy things.
[00:37:01] Annie: Yeah. You rarely get top of the line linens in France, honestly, unless you pay a premium.
Travel Tips and Reflections
[00:37:06] Annie: How did you find driving, and also using trains in France since you did both?
[00:37:11] Steve: Yes. So I love the trains in France. Everywhere you can get on the trains. And we’ve made multiple trips to France and gone in different directions from Paris and so forth, and we’ve always found it very convenient. For this trip, we wanted to get to Rodez as quickly as possible, so we didn’t take the train there.
But we did take the train to Toulouse from Rodez. Absolutely, no problems at all. And it’s great to be able to watch the countryside as you’re going along. My wife loves to read and it’s just so comfortable to be able to do that. And then, as far as driving, we used your episode from driving and I think David contributed to that episode.
[00:38:02] Annie: Yes, episode 16.
[00:38:03] Steve: And that’s definitely a must. It’s different enough, you know, California, we’re used to drivingon freeways and so forth, but it’s a little bit different driving in kind of rural France, you do have some freeways.
But it was, I would say beyond the advice you gave, my piece of advice would be to have a navigator, because my wife did a great job of keeping track of the different changes in the speed limits. Because they do have the speed cameras throughout France, and I think that saved us from getting any tickets or fines, becauseshe was, you know, letting me know, okay, the speed is now gone down or it’s back up and so forth.
And then getting used to roundabouts. I think they’re wonderful. I wish we had more here in the States. But just, you know, getting through the roundabouts and then the toll roads, it’s good to know if your credit card is going to be accepted before you drive up to them.
So that was, I know the very first one I went to my heart was racing just a little bit because it isn’t going to work? But no problems at all.
[00:39:14] Annie: Yeah. Yeah. And if you can do contactless, it’s more likely to work. Sometimes for some reason… I don’t understand how credit cards get away with this, but if you insert it, it’s one method, if you tap it, it’s another method, if you use Apple Pay or Google Pay, it’s another method again. So, I have found that tapping your credit cards, if you can do contactless… since the pandemic, that’s what everybody does.
[00:39:41] Steve: Yes. Yes. And that was helpful too, when we were going out, most restaurants, no problem at all.
Anything Not Enjoyed?
[00:39:50] Annie: Is there anything you did on this trip that you did not enjoy, that you would recommend people stay away from?
[00:39:55] Steve: I think, probably, and this isn’t a knock on the restaurants along the capitol there in Toulouse.We had breakfast there and the croissants weren’t very good, you know. But it’s, you know, it’s kind of one of those things where you’re in a tourist area and, you know, it’s not going to be the freshest.
[00:40:17] Annie: It wasn’t your favorite.
[00:40:19] Steve: Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, don’t eat in the tourist zone, I guess would be the one thing that I would not recommend.
And then I think one of the places that we had planned to go to was Albi, and it was too bad, it was kind of a rainy day when we were transferring from Rodez to Toulouse, and we didn’t want to drag our luggage off the train into Albi to go to the Toulouse Lautrec Museum, but that was our call to not do that.
You always have to leave something to go back to anyway.
[00:40:55] Annie: Yeah, it’s difficult to stop somewhere when you have your luggage with you. Like, what are you going to do with the luggage? And especially if it’s raining, I can, I probably would have made the same call. Although the Albi Cathedral and Toulouse Lautrec Museum are very well worth it.
So… for another trip, I guess.
[00:41:13] Steve: That’s it. Yes. Yes.
[00:41:15] Annie: So, do you recommend people go visit the Aveyron? I would really like to go stay at the chateau where your friends are, and I might try and have them on the podcast. You had suggested it, but it never happened. But I would like to go and try it and then we can have them on the podcast.
[00:41:32] Steve: Yes. Yes. I absolutely recommend that. And for all your listeners, you know, please do go to Paris and enjoy that, but go out into the… to the rest of France. The Aveyron, absolutely is gorgeous, there’s lots of day trips you can do, very family friendly place, and you’re not going to run into, to the huge crowds and you can actually relax on a vacation there.
[00:42:01] Annie: What a thought, actually relax on a vacation.
[00:42:05] Steve: Yes, yes.
[00:42:07] Annie: Thank you so much, Steve. It’s been a delight to talk to you and well, my regards to Diane and I know you guys have a anniversary coming up, so happy anniversary to you.
[00:42:17] Steve: Oh, thank you so much, Annie. This has been such a pleasure. I’ve listened to you and El yse for so many years now, and I’m always drawn to France, and you make it so accommodating.
[00:42:30] Annie: Thank you. Thank you. Pretty soon, you’ll get to hear you, yourself, on the podcast as well.
[00:42:35] Steve: Yes! Yes!
[00:42:37] Annie: Thank you, Steve.
I hope to see you soon.
[00:42:40] Steve: Au revoir, Annie.
Thank you so much.
Copyright
[00:42:49] Annie: The Join Us in France travel podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent, and Copyright 2025 by AddictedToFrance. It is released under a Creative Commons attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.