Table of Contents for this Episode
Category: France How To
Discussed in this Episode
- Here is the list based **only on episode 592 content** (no additions
- no assumptions)
- pulled from the transcript: Paris
- Sarlat
- Dordogne
- Provence
- Lourmarin
- Aix-en-Provence
- Avignon
- Gardon River
- Pont du Gard
- Toulouse
- Albi
- Canal du Midi
- Carcassonne
- Minerve
- Olive grove
- Winery
- Abbey
- Market
- Canal barge cruise
- Kayaking at Pont du Gard
- Pétanque
- National park along the Gardon River
[00:00:00]
Annie Sargent: This is Join Us in France, episode 592, cinq cent quatre-vingt-douze.
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
Annie Sargent: Today, I bring you a conversation with Nancy and Michael Armstrong, who are seasoned travelers and longtime Francophiles, about what keeps drawing them back to France.
We talk about planning trips, traveling lighter, hmm…
I’m learning!
…embracing flexibility, and why slowing down makes all the difference. Plus their favorite regions, memorable experiences, and practical tips for [00:01:00] making the most of every visit.
Podcast supporters
Annie Sargent: This podcast runs on chocolatine, coffee, and the generosity of listeners like you.
Whether you book an itinerary consult, take one of my VoiceMap tours, join me for a day trip in my electric car around the southwest of France, or support the show on Patreon, you keep this whole adventure going, and I’m deeply grateful. And I’m doing two day trips in the southwest this week, so I’m very excited about that, and I look forward to meeting you guys.
If you’d like to support the podcast and skip the ads, you’ll find a link for that in the show notes, and all my tours and services are at joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
Magazine segment
Annie Sargent: For the magazine part of the podcast, after my chat with Nancy and Michael today, I’ll discuss two topics, some stats about the extraordinary number of visitors that Paris got last year, as a matter of fact, and about the result of mayoral elections that we just had a couple of weeks ago.
Annie Sargent: This is actually a Patreon [00:02:00] reward I shared the day after the election, but it’s important enough that I wanted to share here as well.
If you want to explore more France with Join Us in France, browse all of our episodes at joinusinfrance.com/episodes. There are full transcripts just in case I say things that you don’t understand what I just said.
You can read it, they’re fully edited transcripts. And don’t forget to grab your free weekly recap of the best stories, tips, and gems at the newsletter.
You can sign up at joinusinfrance.com/newsletters. It’s like getting a postcard from France. It’s just that it’s about the podcast. Although having been away and even more busy than normal the last couple of weeks, I didn’t send… I skipped a few of these newsletters. Forgive me. I’m back, and you’ll get new ones soon.
[00:03:00]
Meet the Armstrongs
Annie Sargent: Bonjour, Nancy and Michael Armstrong, and welcome to Join Us in France.
Nancy Armstrong: Bonjour.
Michael Armstrong: Bonjour, Annie.
Annie Sargent: Wonderful to talk to you today. We are going to talk about your trip to France. You had so much fun, I think it’s going to be a great episode.
And you have done many, many, many visits to France, so we’re not going to go into all of them, obviously, we don’t have time. But I would like to learn from you, what have you learned about French people and French culture over these many visits?
Is there something that sticks out in your mind?
French Friendliness
Nancy Armstrong: We’ve found that the French are very friendly. They get, I think, often a bad rap. We’ve often found them… Now, maybe that’s because Michael speaks French, but even when I’m out on my own, if I’m, you know, at least trying, we find them they’re very friendly. And the culture is wonderful. We love France. It just has so much to offer.
Michael Armstrong: Our first trip to France, we were much younger, it was 50 years ago. And the French had a reputation then of being, you know, not liking [00:04:00] Americans, being snobbish and everything. And over time, I mean, maybe there’s been generational changes and everything, but we don’t find any of that anymore. I mean, it’s totally… totally opposite of that. Just a warm… I mean, you know, big city people tend to be big city people anywhere, but we’ve found everybody to be warm, helpful.
Why Michael Speaks French
Annie Sargent: How come you speak French, Michael?
Michael Armstrong: Oh, that’s a whole separate episode. To try to shorten it, my family moved to Louisiana when I was young for the military. We were sent there in the military, and I ended up growing up there. Many of my friends spoke French, the Cajun French, but it’s real French, and it’s just archaic French. That started me on a long, long path, and I’ve been studying it ever since, and actually taught it a little bit in university, so.
Annie Sargent: Oh, wonderful. So that’s… Okay, so if you taught university level, you’re probably C1 or something like that.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah. Well, I mean, I would say that I speak French well, but it’s not my native language, you know? So, you know, there’s no… You’ve lived in the United States long enough that you speak English as well as [00:05:00] a native, but you know, it’s…
Annie Sargent: Yeah. I make mistakes. I make mistakes. I hide them. Yeah, if you… I mean, when we record an episode and I fumble a word, I will restate it, and then I remove the bit where I fumbled. So you don’t hear my mistakes very often when you listen to the episodes, but since we’re recording together, you’ll hear it. You’ll hear it.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: And I understand a lot of French. I don’t speak it very well, but I understand a lot and I can get by.
Michael Armstrong: She works at it.
Translation Apps and AI
Annie Sargent: It’s helpful if you speak French, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
Michael Armstrong: Nowadays especially. Now, I mean… you know, 50 years ago was different. And of course, all you had then was your Berlitz phrase book and no Google Translate or anything.
Nowadays, there are so many tools that can help you, and it’s just, yeah, not at all necessary to speak French nowadays.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we haven’t mentioned this much on the podcast, but if you point your phone camera… Yeah.
Michael Armstrong: Yep, yep.
Annie Sargent: With Google Lens, [00:06:00] you… It will translate whatever your phone is looking at, which is quite impressive.
Nancy Armstrong: In real time.
Annie Sargent: It’s not perfect.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
Annie Sargent: In real time. Yes, it’s not perfect, but… I mean, I was a professional translator for the first half of my career, and it’s a good thing I got sick of it because it’s… I think AI has definitely eliminated the need for translators.
You know, I mean, not 100% but 90%. A lot of the translation work you do now…
Michael Armstrong: When Google Translate first came out, it made a lot of mistakes. I mean, it would just… It didn’t, it wasn’t idiomatic. It understood, you know, word for word substitution, but it wasn’t idiomatic. But as it’s progressed, you’re quite right. I mean, is a very capable translator. Yeah.
Annie Sargent: It’s very good. I was just having this conversation at lunch with my husband, saying, "ChatGPT is so stupid." Like, I will feed it a specific document that’s got 10,000 words or something, so a long document, and I say, "Write me the bullet points from this [00:07:00] document," and it will write whatever it feels like. It has nothing to do with the document, or very little to do with the document.
And then I say, "Okay, let’s try this again." And again, it just… It likes to write, I think. It just likes to write things, but it doesn’t pay any attention to what you say. Anyway, but the translation bits, when I say, "Correct my spelling," even in French sometimes, it will just correct it, and it will just make suggestions. And I’m like, "Dang, it came up with, like, five ways to say this," and they’re all correct.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah. That’s amazing.
Michael Armstrong: It’s pretty astounding sometimes, yeah.
Trip Planning with Apps
Annie Sargent: So how do you plan your trips now? Do you just go by, "Oh, I know these places, we can just go wherever"?
Michael Armstrong: Oh, well, because we have so many apps nowadays, we just rely on those so much, and they’re so helpful for transportation, accommodation, sightseeing.
Annie Sargent: What are your favorites?
Michael Armstrong: Well, Airbnb. If we’re going to stay in a place for more than a few days, we will try to stay in [00:08:00] Airbnb or Gîtes de France or, you know, something like that. If we’re going to stay in a hotel, we’ll start with booking.com, but then we’ll probably go to the hotel site sometimes. It depends. Trainline. One of your previous guestsmentioned Trainline, and that was the first time I had, was familiar with it. I’d always used the individual SNCF InOUI
But Trainline is wonderful, and, you know, for trains in any country. Google Flights, starting place for flights. There, there are so many. There are G7 for taxis in Paris, FreeNow for taxis in many large cities, including Toulouse. Viator or Tripadvisor for day trips ideas.
Nancy Armstrong: And how do we decide where we’re going to go? We kind of keep a list, a wish list, a travel wish list.
Michael Armstrong: Oh, a bucket list. Yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: And we just, kind of craft it around. If we’re going to go on a tour, sometimes we say, "Well, we just need to pop into France." Some place that we haven’t seen. Some place in France we haven’t been to, or that we’ve been to before that we want to go again. And, you know, we just kind of keep a list and then, depending on the [00:09:00] circumstances, depending on the time of year, we just kind of build the trip from there.
Michael Armstrong: We get ideas from various places, including you.
Yeah. We have gotten a lot of ideas from your podcast.
And the planning, the planning’s half the fun or at least a large part of the fun, you know, putting it all together.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah, so start early. Start early planning.
Annie Sargent: Listen to the episodes and make notes.
Nancy Armstrong: Exactly, exactly.
Annie Sargent: Other people are going to tell you places that they liked.
Aging Travel Tips
Annie Sargent: What are some challenges that you’ve faced as you’ve gotten older coming to France? Have some things gotten harder? Have you seen other older travelers struggle with specific things?
Michael Armstrong: I’ve gotten older. Nancy hasn’t gotten older.
Annie Sargent: Of course. I should have mentioned that, yes.
Nancy Armstrong: Oh, wow. If that were only true.
Michael Armstrong: Well, we don’t… you know, we don’t go on long, strenuous hikes as we would have done when we were… we still like to go for walks, and even walks on hiking trails, but they’re going to… We’ll go for the easy ones instead of the hard ones. [00:10:00] Plan breaks during the day, you know, we’ll stop at a cafe or a pub or whatever and…
Nancy Armstrong: Which adds to the fun.
Michael Armstrong: Well, exactly. And I don’t go up to the top of 300-foot towers anymore. Nancy always does.
Nancy Armstrong: I do.
Michael Armstrong: I don’t have to see every view from every bell tower.
Annie Sargent: Yes.
Michael Armstrong: But yeah, you know, so you make accommodations. We’ve been very, very fortunate to have good health so far.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah, we haven’t really had too much. We have gone on several tours, you know, either river tours or whatever. And there are some people that, you know, do struggle.
Michael Armstrong: Really have to struggle with mobility.
Nancy Armstrong: And you do need to be careful. I mean, if you do get to be our age, you have to be careful about cobblestones and, you know…
Michael Armstrong: Yeah, slick streets.
Nancy Armstrong: … Slick streets and things like that. So you just, you know, you just have to kind of be aware, make sure you’re wearing good shoes and…
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Michael Armstrong: Good shoes, for sure.
Travel Insurance Essentials
Annie Sargent: Do you get travel insurance when you visit?
Michael Armstrong: Every time. Every time.
Annie Sargent: Okay. Do you have a favorite travel insurance?
Michael Armstrong: If we’re doing something like a river cruise, we might book it with whatever company they use, but we’ll compare [00:11:00] prices.
Annie Sargent: Right.
Michael Armstrong: Allianz, which is, I think, a German-based company, we’ve used a couple times. Travel Insured is one we’ve used a number of times. And particularly for the medical, you want to be able to cover your costs if you have to cancel too, but primarily for the medical.
Nancy Armstrong: And it’s just peace the mind.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah, peace of mind.
Nancy Armstrong: I mean, you know, if you’re going to spend that much money, you want to make sure that you’re going to protect your investment so that, you know, if something should happen, not only to us, but to family.
Michael Armstrong: Although you’re always out the cost of the insurance. I mean, if you do cancel, you’ll get your refund back, but not the cost of the insurance. But yeah.
Annie Sargent: That’s true. Yeah, I recommend… I mean, I don’t, this is not an affiliate kind of recommendation. I have no bones in this business. You can choose whatever travel insurance you like. But I think it’s wise to get that because, if you need to cancel for medical reason or a family reason, like you mentioned,
Travel Can Reveal Mobility Difficulties You Didn’t Know You Had
Annie Sargent: I have seen older travelers, I think sometimes [00:12:00] travel reveals difficulties in older age.
Because at home, you’re comfortable. You can get in and out of your own car. You can get in and out of your own house and do the things, the daily things that you have to do every day. But as soon as you’re in a different environment, it reveals things you weren’t aware that were going to be difficult.
Michael Armstrong: Limitations, yeah.
Pack Light and Do Laundry
Nancy Armstrong: Well, and to that point, another thing that, that we have changed and learned through the years is we travel really light. Because, you know, the heavy suitcases and many places, even you aren’t aware of it, you have to go upstairs.
Michael Armstrong: Oh, yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: You know, not all of them have elevators, actually.
Michael Armstrong: Or the escalator in the metro.
Nancy Armstrong: Or the escalator doesn’t work or whatever.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: So we always travel very light. We never… We always travel with a carry-on and a tote or a backpack, anymore. And if we’re taking long trips, we just plan on a place to either go to a laundromat or wash clothes at the Airbnb because, you know, those suitcases get very heavy and you have to, even on the plane, you have to, you know, a [00:13:00] carry-on, you have to lift it up into the bin above. So we just really make a focus on, on traveling light.
Michael Armstrong: That’s where your Google Translate comes in when you’re in an Italian laundromat and, you know, they may have, there may be some English there, but there are some things that are not clear. You can hold that Google camera up and, "Oh, that’s what it says." yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: But it’s a cultural experience, going to the laundromat in a foreign country.
Annie Sargent: Yes, yes. In other countries, it’s all a bit different, isn’t it?
Michael Armstrong: And on the laundry, too, I mean, Americans need to know that even if you have a washing machine in your Airbnb or your gîte, you’re probably not going to have a dryer. Almost certainly not going to have a dryer. You’ll have a… If you’re lucky, you’ll have an outside clothesline, or you’ll have a drying rack inside or something. So just need to be aware and plan on that.
Nancy Armstrong: Takes a little bit more time to dry.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
I always take a coat hanger and a few clothes pins, because it doesn’t weigh very much. And even if you’re in a hotel, if you can put it on a clothes hanger and hang it up, and put it on a doorknob or something, [00:14:00] it will help.
Michael Armstrong: We try to take clothes that we can… a lot of clothes that we can wash out in the sink if we need to, you know, to get through.
Nancy Armstrong: And, you know, versatile clothing. And it’s also related to the traveling light and just using a carry-on and a tote is, you know, we don’t want to take up valuable vacation time if we lose our luggage.
One, if we lose our luggage, we got to go start searching for luggage and for clothes. And also, we often have trips where we’re just going from place to place every two or three days, and it would never catch up with us.
Annie Sargent: And you find that moving on every two or three days is okay for you at this time?
Michael Armstrong: Well, it is. It’s okay. We don’t like to stay anywhere shorter than that unless it’s just necessary. But we definitely prefer to stay longer. When we were in Toulouse, I think we had four nights in Toulouse, and we could have used another night. There are other things to see outside the town and all, but we prefer to do that and then take day trips out if we can.
Nancy Armstrong: Mm-hmm. If we’re going to stay longer, we really try to make sure it’s a place that’s fairly centrally located where we can take some day trips [00:15:00] and get around to see things.
Train vs Car Day Trips
Annie Sargent: And when you do take day trips, do you do it by train or do you rent a car?
Michael Armstrong: Preferably by train. it-
Nancy Armstrong: But both.
Michael Armstrong: But both. Yeah, it depends on where we are. Several years ago we spentseveral days in Sarlat, which is, you know, small but wonderful, but you really have to have a car in a place like that if you’re going to go around. You got to go to the caves at Lascaux, and see the Dordogne.
Nancy Armstrong: And even in the Loire,
it’s much easier getting around to the châteaux if you have a car.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah, traveling to the different châteaux with a car.
Annie Sargent: Yeah. So around Toulouse, if you have four or five days, you can do enough day trips on the train. It’s not a big deal. But Sarlat is definitely a place where you need a car to do most anything.
Nancy Armstrong: Right. And Provence. Provence is that way too.
Annie Sargent: Provence, if you’re in the inland part, if you’re on the Riviera, then you do not want a car.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah, yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: Right.
Michael Armstrong: You could go across, yeah, you can go across.
Nancy Armstrong: Right, right.
Annie Sargent: So it just depends exactly, but Loire, I would agree that it’s best if you have a car. I did a whole episode, I think, about how [00:16:00] to visit the Loire Valley without, you know, using public transportation.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah, you did. You did. I remember.
Annie Sargent: … can be done, but it limits you. It really limits you. Normandy is another place.
Normandy and Brittany, you need a car.
And the Atlantic Coast as well, places like Strasbourg and all that, if you want to do the wine routes.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah.
Annie Sargent: Very often, I mean, you can hire someone to drive you around, a tour guide to drive you around and take you to all these places or… or rent a car. There are regional buses, but you have to be good at finding the regional buses because they all have funky names. Each department, each region does its own thing, and if you’re good at finding them, then it will work for some places. But not everybody’s good at finding those sorts of things.
Nancy Armstrong: And it’s not hard driving a car in France. The problem though, another reason why we like to do trains and buses and all, is the driver doesn’t get to just relax and enjoy the experience. You know, [00:17:00] you’re always trying to watch the road, watch what’s going on. So, you know, we try not to do that too often.
Renting Cars in France
Michael Armstrong: Could I mention three things about cars, and renting cars in Europe, and especially in France, or particularly in France? Probably better to rent it in a larger city. Like the trip to Sarlat, we waited till the last minute and rented the car in Sarlat. That was probably a mistake. We should’ve got it in Bordeaux instead of taking the train over and just… But secondly, you’re going to probably have to, at some point, go into European parking garages, which are about half the size of American parking garages.
Nancy Armstrong: And tight turns.
Michael Armstrong: Tight turns and narrow parking spaces, it’s a challenge for Americans, I think. Probably all. And the third thing would be really familiarize yourself with French traffic signs. And I would highlight know when you don’t have the right of way. Coming up to a roundabout, I think roundabouts are wonderful. I think they’re a much better way to handle intersections than traffic lights. But you need to know which direction the traffic’s coming from, so always look left in France, and yield to whoever’s [00:18:00] in the traffic circle. You know, they have the right of way. The second thing is if you’re going to be driving, particularly through any villages or old places, you’re going to have constrictions where you’re going to have a one-lane bridge and two-way traffic, or you’re going to have buildings very close together and it’s going to be a constriction and you got two-way traffic. But there’s got to be a sign there, that’s going to indicate with arrows who has the priority. If you have the white arrow, you know, you have the priority. But if you have the black arrow, you need to stop and let the people, all the people coming from the other direction go through first.
Annie Sargent: You have a thicker white arrow when you have priority, and a smaller red arrow when you don’t.
Michael Armstrong: Right.
Annie Sargent: And it’s on a triangular type of sign. Yes, that’s an important one to know.
Michael Armstrong: It is.
Nancy Armstrong: Yes. But generally, we just kind of structure our transportation depending on where we’re going to be, you know, to determine what’s the best mode of transportation.
Michael Armstrong: Love, love, love the train. So the [00:19:00] trains are just wonderful.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah. Yeah.
(Mid-roll ad spot)
Favorite Regions and Seasons
Annie Sargent: Do you have a favorite part of France? Like, if you, if somehow I gave you,you know, you get to move to France for six months…
Michael Armstrong: Oh, that’d be nice!
Annie Sargent: … But one place.
Nancy Armstrong: Thanks Annie!
Annie Sargent: One place, where would you go?
Nancy Armstrong: Oh, that’s so hard to decide. Well, one, I guess it would depend a little bit on the time of year, but we do love Paris, and Paris just has so much to offer. It’s such a big city, and there are so many places just outside of Paris that you can go to that are small villages that are, you know, interesting to go to. We loved Toulouse, we really did. It was just a really nice visit, and there are so many places, you know, nearby that you can go see. We do love Provence. Haven’t been there for years and years, but we do love Provence.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah, if not a Paris suburb, I would say probably, and of course from there you can go so many places, you just take the train wherever you want.
Annie Sargent: That’s true. If you’re in Paris for six months, you [00:20:00] can take the train and go places.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
If you have a long-term rental, it doesn’t, you don’t mind even if you take, stay in a hotel for a couple days someplace else. But if not there, probably the Southwest, but close to at least a moderately sized city where we could take the train then, and then make connections from there.
Because off-season, it is hard to find, you know, a lot of restaurants, shops that are open, and also, you know, people…
Michael Armstrong: As you have noted many times.
Nancy Armstrong: … six months, you’re going to be there off-season, and so, you know, be aware of that.
Annie Sargent: Do you have a favorite time of year to come to France?
Michael Armstrong: Shoulder season.
You know, April’s not too early to go.
Nancy Armstrong: No. We were in Paris in April, and it’s gorgeous.
Michael Armstrong: Oh, it’s gorgeous.
Nancy Armstrong: You know, all the flowers are coming out.
Michael Armstrong: April, May is lovely.
Nancy Armstrong: It’s really beautiful.
Michael Armstrong: And same with September, October. it’s just lovely. Summer’s busy and hot.
Nancy Armstrong: Way too busy.
We really don’t enjoy traveling mid-season. Someday I’d like to get to France at Christmastime.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, but you probably have family or whatever to spend Christmas with, so it’s kind of hard to do that.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah, it is [00:21:00] hard.
Michael Armstrong: Lots of grandkids.
Nancy Armstrong: Although I did also realized, I took a trip to London last year, and realized, you know, they have Christmas all the month of December. So you can go, you can go enjoy Christmas early December and still be home for Christmas with family.
Annie Sargent: That is very true. The thing is with people from the US, you have Thanksgiving and Christmas. Which one are you going to miss? So you’d have to leave right after Thanksgiving…
Nancy Armstrong: Right.
Michael Armstrong: Right.
Annie Sargent: … to be back before Christmas, right?
Nancy Armstrong: Right.
Michael Armstrong: And that’s what we did.
Annie Sargent: You have to time it right.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
Podcast Tips and Metro Updates
Annie Sargent: How long have you been listening to the podcast? Does it influence where you travel or are you like, "Eh, whatever"?
Michael Armstrong: No, very much. Yeah. And I’d say about four, five, five years more.
Nancy Armstrong: Four, four years probably…
Michael Armstrong: Yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: … I think.
Annie Sargent: Oh, wow.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah, for quite a while. And oh, definitely has influenced us. Yeah.
Michael Armstrong: So many useful suggestions. Like you said, with our bucket list, which keeps growing, we’ve had a number of things that you and Elyse have suggested, things to see, things to avoid.
Helpful app, like I mentioned Trainline, but a number of them. Every time you [00:22:00] give an update about,you know, here’s how to handle the Metro in Paris now. You know, you don’t need little tickets anymore. You’re going to do the Carte Navigo or whatever is it.
Nancy Armstrong: Or your phone.
Michael Armstrong: Or your phone.
Annie Sargent: Or your phone, eh? Yeah, I think anymore the phone. You got to go to the phone.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah, it’s very easy.
Annie Sargent: … Sorry, I have some Navigo cards left, the Navigo Easy, and I’m going to use up the tickets that I have on those. But then after that I’m going to just use my phone.
Nancy Armstrong: I must say, however, though, when we were, I guess it was when we were in Paris, maybe it was, anyway, somewhere. I did actually have a card, and I did find it easy because I could just stick it in my back pocket, and pull it out of my back pocket and use it. Whereas my phone, you know, you’re keeping it, I normally have that tucked in my purse to protect it. And if you’re pulling it out, you’ve got to, you know, out available. So in some ways I kind of like just having the card.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah. The only downside of the card is, well, of course you have to carry it with you, but you need to add money to it as you go.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
Michael Armstrong: But that’s a minor thing.
Nancy Armstrong: So easy.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Safety and Pickpocket Smarts
Annie Sargent: Have you ever had issues with being [00:23:00] robbed or feeling unsafe or anything like that in France?
Michael Armstrong: No.
Nancy Armstrong: Not really
Michael Armstrong: No. The only… No. And I think, everything we’ve heard from almost anybody is crime is very low. It’s pickpockets are the main thing. And then you just don’t put stuff in your back pocket and make it easy for them, you know?
Nancy Armstrong: Right. Take all the precautions.
We did have one situation when we took our three granddaughters to Par-
Michael Armstrong: Oh, okay
Nancy Armstrong: … we were in Paris with them, and we were in the Eiffel Tower. And we were on the second level getting ready to go up another level, and our middle granddaughter decided she wanted to go to, she needed to go to the bathroom. So she went into the bathroom, and we get ready to get on the elevator to go up to the next level. She goes, "Oh my God, I left my purse in the bathroom."
Michael Armstrong: With her phone and everything.
Nancy Armstrong: With her phone and everything. And so-
Michael Armstrong: She was 15, I think.
Nancy Armstrong: … so we ended up, you know, ditching the next level, of course, and went down to lost and found, long story short, somebody had turned it in.
Michael Armstrong: … everybody was great. The security, the lady that was in charge of security, queried [00:24:00] my granddaughter, to make sure this was her. She says, you know, make sure this is actually her purse and everything. But everybody was really wonderful about it, so that worked out.
Nancy Armstrong: But no, we haven’t had any, knock on wood, we haven’t had any, you know, major issues about things being stolen. You just take the precautions. You know, I wear a cross body bag and keep things in and, you know, you just got to…
And that’s another way where, you know, the podcast is helpful I’m sure for people who haven’t ever traveled a lot, or haven’t traveled to… And you know, you just, you just share that information and let them know.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah.
VoiceMap Tours and History
Michael Armstrong: The other thing about the podcast, I think, I would like to note is the VoiceMaps. We were not familiar with VoiceMaps before.
Nancy Armstrong: Oh, they are wonderful!
Michael Armstrong: The one that Elyse did, and, I mean, we listened to some of yours in Paris, and some of yours back home. Which is nice, because it’s like being there. And we listened, we used Elyse’s when we were in Toulouse this year, and they’re just excellent. They’re… Go ahead, honey.
Nancy Armstrong: Well, and we are such, we really enjoy history. And y’all provide so much culture and so much history and all of those. And interesting little stories that go with the [00:25:00] VoiceMaps too about, you know, just anecdotes about the area. And it just brings it all alive. And the great thing about it is you can just, you know, if it’s lunchtime and you need to pop into a restaurant or you want to stop in a little store or whatever-
Michael Armstrong: Right.
Nancy Armstrong: … you just go do that and come back and you’re there again. So it’s really a wonderful way to get familiar with an area and get something more over and above what you would know just walking around yourself.
Annie Sargent: I agree. I agree. It enhances whatever it is that you’re doing, it… And it’s, you know, it’s a good thing.
Nancy Armstrong: And what a great job you guys do. I mean, that’s a lot of work to put that all together.
Annie Sargent: Yes. Yes.
Future Voice Maps
Annie Sargent: This year is probably the first time I haven’t put out, I did one in 2025, I’m not sure I’ll do one in 2026. I might do some in the southwest, though. I’m intrigued with doing a VoiceMap of Sarlat, because it’s such a pretty place.
Nancy Armstrong: It is beautiful.
Annie Sargent: And so you can just enjoy [00:26:00] just looking around. It’s great that way. But there’s a lot of nice stories about Sarlat that are worth telling, that are not very well known. And so perhaps, perhaps I will do that.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
Sarlat Food History
Nancy Armstrong: And it’s such a charming little place. That is a place we would recommend people going. It is just a charming little village, and the market’s wonderful.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: And you’ve got so much medieval history.
Michael Armstrong: Foie gras.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
Michael Armstrong: The Dordogne.
Annie Sargent: Yes. A little foie gras is always nice.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah. The, you know, get parades of geese coming down the, down the main… The Dordogne river itself, Lascaux. Yeah, there’s just so much around there to do.
It’s great.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
First Trip France Tips
Annie Sargent: If one of your grandchildren was coming to visit France for the first time, what would you tell them? Like, you have two minutes, tell them the most important things to know. Where to go, things like that.
Nancy Armstrong: Oh, my God. Oh, that’s way too hard.
Michael Armstrong: Well, it’s got to be Paris. I mean, you have to… Paris, there are must-sees. For anybody, if this is your first trip to France, there are [00:27:00] must-sees. You know, you have to see the Arc de Triomphe, you have to see the Louvre, and you need to get up the Sacré-Cœur. You need to da, da, da, da, da. Because I mean, that would fill up just about, you know, anybody’s, at least, you know, first week or whatever, however long they’re going to be there.
Yeah, so that would have to be the first thing. And I would tell them, you know, you’re… Just use your common sense. You’ll be safe. Relax, relax, enjoy it.
Learn a few basic phrases and learn how to pronounce them correctly. Even if you can only say a few things, learn to pronounce it correctly. And what I have found, so I can’t remember who suggested this, but it’s, it really is very, very true.
Bonjour French Manners
Michael Armstrong: If you need to ask where are the toilets or, you know, how do I get to the Gare du Nord or whatever, start with "excusez-moi de vous déranger. Excusez-moi, madame, de vous déranger," or, "Monsieur, de vous déranger."
Annie Sargent: "Bonjour. Excusez-moi de vous déranger."
Michael Armstrong: Oh, Bonjour!
Sorry!
Always, always, always start with bonjour!
Always, always.We’ve had situations where we’d be in, way back, and we’d be in a restaurant and we’d just say, you know, [00:28:00] trying to say in French, "I’d like to get this," and the waiter would say, "Bonjour. Bonjour."
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
Michael Armstrong: We’d start with bonjour.
Annie Sargent: They still do that.
Michael Armstrong: They still do that.
Annie Sargent: Oh, yeah. If I forget, for whatever reason, they will look at me like…
Nancy Armstrong: Yes!
Annie Sargent: … Bonjour!
Michael Armstrong: Exactly.
Nancy Armstrong: That’s what happened to us, even on this last trip too.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah, you’re distracted by what you’re looking for, and you forget, you know?
And, what a nice custom that is.
Michael Armstrong: French manners. It’s important in France.
Slow Down Plan Less
Nancy Armstrong: But I guess, I guess the overall recommendation to anybody who’s traveling is there is so much to see and do, but don’t overbook. Don’t try to pack too much in. Just enjoy the moment, be able to just walk down the street and…
Michael Armstrong: Sit at a cafe.
Nancy Armstrong: … Absorb all the architecture, absorb the culture, the… you know, sit down at a cafe. Just really try not to pack too much in, because you lose a lot that way.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah. And there’s only so much museum [00:29:00] that you can do in a day, you know? I mean, there are innumerable museums in Paris, that are wonderful, beyond the most popular ones.
But, you know, you can only do so much of that a day. Take time out to just sit at a cafe and have a croissant and a…
Museum Timing Tickets
Annie Sargent: What I like to do is I look at the weather for the next day, and then I just go, "Okay, it might rain late afternoon, so perhaps I’ll plan to go to a museum late afternoon."
Nancy Armstrong: There you go.
Annie Sargent: There are many, many, many places in France where… There’s only a few museums in France where you must absolutely reserve in advance or you won’t get in.
If you’re going to a special exhibit at the Louvre or at the Orsay or any of the new museums that just opened, there’s a new Cartier museum that’s opened on the Rue de Rivoli.
They moved the Cartier museum from Boulevard Raspail to Rue de Rivoli. Beautiful renovated building across from the Louvre, wonderful. You need to buy a ticket in advance. You’ll [00:30:00] never get in because it just opened recently. But most museums in Paris, including in Paris, you can just go and wait for 15 minutes to buy your ticket, you know?
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
Annie Sargent: Right.
Nancy Armstrong: Right.
Annie Sargent: Don’t feel like you have to schedule everything so far in advance. And if you also arrive at a propitious time,arriving at opening hour is not always a good idea. Usually it’s… The lull is at 12:00, 12:30, because that’s when people go to lunch.
Nancy Armstrong: Or late in the afternoon.
Annie Sargent: Or late in the afternoon when people are tired and they’ve gone back to their hotel to rest.
Nancy Armstrong: Right.
Annie Sargent: So you just need to understand the kind of the way travel happens for most people and just take it easy. Just don’t rush, rush, rush.
Nancy Armstrong: Right.
Albi Train Surprise
Nancy Armstrong: And speaking of museums and opening and closing times, when we were in Toulouse this last trip, we were, we had extended, we had made some adjustments to our trip, [00:31:00] and we added a day. And so we thought, "Well, we’ll just take a little trip to Albi, from Toulouse." So, you know, we’re walking around on Sunday, because we were going to do it on Monday, and we’re thinking, "Oh, oops. Maybe the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum is closed on Monday." Did some research, found out yes indeed, it is closed. And so we all of a sudden just decided, all right, we checked this train schedule. We’re just going to go ahead and head over to Albi. And so we did that. Fortunately, the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum and the cathedral are right next to each other.
So we were proud of ourselves for, you know, just jumping on and heading over there when we needed to. But then when we got back to the train station to head back to Toulouse, the clerk said, "All of the trains are booked solid. They are packed for four hours."
Annie Sargent: Wow.
Nancy Armstrong: We got back there at 5:00, there was not going to be a ticket available until 11:00. And we thought, [00:32:00] "Oh, my goodness." And so we’re, now we’re thinking, "All right. We’re going to call an Uber. It’ll cost us an arm and a leg to get an Uber back to Toulouse." But she said, "Well, you can try to get on if you want to. You know, just stay up for the next train and try to get on if you want to." Said, "Okay. We’ll try the one at first train, otherwise we’re going to just go with the Uber." It was… We got on easily.
Annie Sargent: They had sold all the tickets because there was a special deal going on for the regional train line there around Toulouse, one euro.
Oh.
Michael Armstrong: That weekend it was a special
one euro deal, so a lot of people just bought tickets.
We got back for two euros, which was nice.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah. But so do try. I mean, even if they tell you they’re all booked, you know, just try to get on.
Annie Sargent: It’s not like somebody’s counting the number of people entering the train. It might be very busy and you might not find a place to sit.
Michael Armstrong: Exactly.
Annie Sargent: But Toulouse to Albi is what? 40 minutes on the train?
Michael Armstrong: Yeah, 45, 50 minutes, something like that.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, not super long.
Stay Flexible Try Anyway
Michael Armstrong: That’s [00:33:00] another big idea is, you know, when you travel, things are going to happen. You just have to be flexible to kind of roll with it, figure out a plan B.
Take a deep breath, you know?
Annie Sargent: And if a French person tells you something is impossible, I would, especially if that person is a little bit older, I would not take their word for it necessarily, because French people tend to just say, "Oh, no, no, no, c’est pas possible. C’est, c’est plein. C’est, c’est fini."
They just will tell you things like that to discourage you from even trying, and then you go try it and you’re like, "Well, it wasn’t so bad."
When I lived in the US, I learned very quickly that if they told you, "No, it’s full," it’s full. Like, there’s nothing you can do about this. You’re not getting in. But in France, very often it’s like, eh. I’ve had parking garages where it says it’s full, and I, you know, if the barrier goes up, I’m like, "Ah, I’ll try it anyway," and usually there’s a spot. Like, you know.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah. You just have to [00:34:00] try. You know, what do you have to lose by trying?
Annie Sargent: Right. Right. Right. Right.
Canal du Midi Cruise
Annie Sargent: Oh, yes, you went on the Canal du Midi. Tell me about your Canal du Midi trip.
Nancy Armstrong: That was a lovely trip.
Michael Armstrong: Wonderful trip.
Nancy Armstrong: It really was. We went with two of, my husband’s in the Navy and he has two Navy buddies, and their wives. And so there were six of us, on this little canal barge, and it was a lovely, beautiful little canal barge.
So there were six of us and four crew. The captain and his wife and a cook and a…
Michael Armstrong: Hostess.
Nancy Armstrong: … hostess, concierge, whatever. And it was just lovely. You know, you don’t go very fast. You just, it’s such a relaxing little trip. In the morning you know, you get off, we went to a market with the chef to go pick out stuff for dinner, and we went to an olive grove and…
Michael Armstrong: A winery and an abbey…
Nancy Armstrong: … and a winery. And then you get back on the boat, and you have this nice little lovely leisurely lunch up top side, as you’re, you know, cruising down the canal. And [00:35:00] we got so much history. I mean, that canal is just amazing how it was built. It was just a fascinating story. The locks are so charming, you know. The lock keepers that are there, you know, opening and closing the locks, there’s like 13 of them, so there’s a lot of waiting and watching…
Michael Armstrong: Depends on how far you go, yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: … while they traverse the locks.
It was an indulgence, because, you know, it is more on the expensive side, but…
Michael Armstrong: Six people and four crew, that was the indulgence.
Lovely, lovely trip. And we had beautiful weather. It really was. And we got to a real fun thing is, as we were getting close to Carcassonne, the captain said, "Well, would you all like to learn how to play pétanque?" And so we all got off and he taught us how to play pétanque, that was so much fun.
That was great fun.
Annie Sargent: Yeah, that’s great. So did they have cars waiting for you to pick you up to, to take you to excursions or?
Michael Armstrong: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, they did. Yeah, they did.
What they would do is where we would stop in a particular place, there would be a local guide. They would have it arranged with a van. Since there were only six of us, there’d be a [00:36:00] van usually and a local guide. And one day, you know, one morning we’d go to an abbey, another day to an olive mill or a winery.
And then, Minerve, I think it was Minerve. We did a day going to Minerve.
Canal History And Locks
Michael Armstrong: But, I guess a couple thoughts about that. And you can do the Canal du Midi a number of ways. You can rent your own boat, and do it if you, you know, it’s really pretty easy. But if you’re going to do it in this kind of situation, you need to go with family or good friends, because, you know, you really, it is, it’s pretty tight quarters.
Nancy Armstrong: It is. It is.
Annie Sargent: Yes.
Nancy Armstrong: Although our room in Paris, at a hotel in Paris, was about the same size as our room on this barge.
Michael Armstrong: Where we stay, yeah. That’s fair.
But it’s a wonderful balance of experiences and relaxation. And like Nancy said, the history is just, is fascinating. This was built under Louis XIV.
So the last half of the 17th century.
Nancy Armstrong: He was way ahead of his time.
Michael Armstrong: And it connected the, I mean, by connecting to the rivers there, Garonne and the Garonne, I guess, right?
Nancy Armstrong: Right.
Michael Armstrong: He connected the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, which is the [00:37:00] reason they built it. And another, an interesting thing, as it has tunnels and it has locks and all that, mostly built by women.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
Michael Armstrong: And the men were off, you know, fighting wars and stuff like this, so a lot of it was actually constructed by women and run by women for years. Yeah.
Annie Sargent: It was good employment for the locals at the time.
And it was a huge disruption to the way commerce took place. There are some towns in the southwest that lost a lot of business that used to come through their town, but because of the canal, now they went through the canal, and those towns died off.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
Michael Armstrong: Oh, yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: Like, like the trains in the United States and all.
Annie Sargent: It has repercussions because it was a true disruptive kind of technology, I guess, for the time. And it’s beautiful, and all these little towns are along there are just charming.
Michael Armstrong: Very charming.
Annie Sargent: But very, very slow. It’s very, very slow.
Michael Armstrong: Very slow.
Nancy Armstrong: It is. It’s a relaxing trip.
Michael Armstrong: They had bicycles [00:38:00] aboard the barge,
… so, you can take off in the afternoon and ride on the towpath, up along the canal. Beautiful.
Annie Sargent: And meet the barge later.
Michael Armstrong: Meet the barge later, exactly. Yeah.
Annie Sargent: Yeah.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
(Mid-roll ad spot)
Loire Balloon Adventure
Nancy Armstrong: And another wonderful trip we had was, when we were in the Loire, we did a hot air balloon ride.
Michael Armstrong: Oh, that was our 30th anniversary.
Nancy Armstrong: It’s really, that was really a treat. We were with almost all French people. There were two, two balloons. It was all French people. And we’d, you know, get up there, and it’s so peaceful and so quiet up there. And you know, we’d see the children down there, and they’d be waving at us… and the dogs barking. It was so much fun. And then we got to, you know, they bring it down, and we get to help fold up the balloon. And so yeah, that was a real treat.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah. It started right beside Chenonceau, so you take off and you’re floating over Chenonceau and all along the Loire. It was fantastic.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah. So that was a real treat.
Annie Sargent: Fantastic.
Traveling With Family
Annie Sargent: Sounds like you had, you made lots of wonderful [00:39:00] memories traveling in France. Have you ever come with your own kids, or do you just usually come by yourself, the two of you, or with…?
Michael Armstrong: We have kids and grandkids. When our kids were I guess 7-10, it was about then, this was years ago, because they’re in their 40s now. But yeah, we took them to, it was part of a bigger trip, Paris and then the Netherlands,
and Germany. Well, all the way to Salzburg, I guess, Austria. And that was good. And then a couple years ago, we took our three granddaughters. Our three oldest granddaughters.
Nancy Armstrong: Our three oldest granddaughters to, we started in London, we were in London for five days, in Paris, and five days in Amsterdam, and five days, so, you know. So that, it’s a real treat, just sharing Europe.
We really want them to develop a love of travel, and best way to do that is to take them.
Michael Armstrong: And then the oldest one, who’s now 21, when she was graduated high school, we took her for a week to Paris, and took her outside of town a little bit. Well, she wanted to go to Normandy. And this is not a normal way you would do it, but we actually just took the train to Bayeux, [00:40:00] two-hour train ride to Bayeux, and took a taxi from there to Omaha Beach. This was very, very moving for her. She studied every detail on the every placard in themuseum there before we got to the cemetery.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah.
Michael Armstrong: And then she wanted to actually go down to the beach, and the taxi driver was very accommodating. I think it cost us $50 to do that. But it was a real peak experience for her. And then back to Paris by dinner time, you can do that.
Nancy Armstrong: That worked out well. Yeah.
Annie Sargent: Well, it sounds like you, I mean, you seem to be ready for an adventure. Like, "Oh, let’s try this," or, "Let’s try that," you know?
Nancy Armstrong: You do, and at this age, we don’t know how many more years we have available to travel easily, and-
Annie Sargent: You’re not that old. People can’t see you, but-
Nancy Armstrong: No, we’re not, but-
Michael Armstrong: 80.
Nancy Armstrong: Are you 80, really?
Michael Armstrong: I’m 79, 80 in April, yeah.
Annie Sargent: Oh, wow.
Nancy Armstrong: I’ll be 74 this coming year.
Annie Sargent: Wow.
Nancy Armstrong: But you just never know. You know, we could fall and break our leg, or, you know, any ailments could crop up.
Annie Sargent: You never know.
Nancy Armstrong: So, you know, we just want to enjoy it [00:41:00] while we can.
Annie Sargent: Absolutely.
Then Versus Now Travel
Nancy Armstrong: One of your questions was any changes from our first trips to more recent trips. It’s just like the first time that Michael and I went to Paris, almost all the hotels in Paris, the bathroom was down the hall.
Annie Sargent: Oh, wow.
Michael Armstrong: No bathrooms in rooms, and we took this huge Converter
Nancy Armstrong: … converter when we’d, you know, just to use a hairdryer. There was no Google. There was no mobile telephones.
Michael Armstrong: You had to study paper maps.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah. I navigate all the way around paper maps, and we’d drove our little Carmen Ghia over there, and you know, it was just such a different experience then than it is now, but…
Annie Sargent: The other day, I was thinking about this, I’m going to be taking a trip all around France. And I was thinking: If I had tried to do this when I was first starting to drive, when it was just maps and whatever, would I have ever really embarked on a thing like this?" Would have been very intimidating. And now I’m like, "Well, I’ll just put in the GPS, and I’ll [00:42:00] find it."
Michael Armstrong: Yeah. Right. Exactly.
Annie Sargent: I never wonder if I’m going to find a place. Of course I’m going to find a place, you know?
Nancy Armstrong: There was also one trip we did, when we were driving, and we were down around Sarlat, I don’t remember. Anyway, we were driving the car, and that was back with Garmin.
Michael Armstrong: Oh, that wa- that was, that was, uh, remember, I say it was in Luberon.
Nancy Armstrong: And we were driving around, and, you know, ended up making various turns, and I’m thinking to myself, "Wow, this thing knows exactly where we are, and I have no clue where we are." Yeah. And you know, you’d make a turn and it’d say, "Recalculating. Recalculating." And that’s just like…
Kayaking Pont du Gard
Michael Armstrong: Can I mention one more, you know, kind of peak experience was, you and Elyse were talking about the Pont du Gard the other day. I can’t remember what the episode was, and we did, when we were, we were staying in Provence, we had an apartment, a small apartment in Lourmarin, which is a wonderful little town.
Annie Sargent: Where? I didn’t catch the name.
Michael Armstrong: [00:43:00] Lourmarin.
Nancy Armstrong: Ah, Lourmarin. Yes, yes, yes.
Michael Armstrong: Lourmarin. It’s right north of Aix-en- Provence.
We had a car, so we could go, you know, go travel around. We went through Avignon over to the Gardon River to rent a kayak, two kayaks. And because that whole stretch of the river there, like a two-hour trip we took down there is all national park, and it’s just gorgeous. There was only two other kayaks on the river. It was two French couples, and I remember she was like eight months pregnant.
And every once in a while somebody’d be sunbathing on the rocks. But other than that, you, I mean, you’re just going down this beautiful river, and then you go under the Pont du Gard. And you can pull over and spend as much time right there with it as you want to and everything, and what a neat thing and way to do it, you know?
Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah, it’s a lovely way to visit that part of the country, for sure.
Nancy Armstrong: The great thing about France is that there’s just so much there. There’s so much history, so much architecture, so much variety of different natural areas, differentareas of the country that just have wonderful [00:44:00] culture. And it just has so much to offer. I guess that’s what keeps us bringing us back to France, even though we’ve traveled, you know, all over the world, keeps bringing us back to France, because there’s just so much there to see and do. We love the language, so-
Off Season Closures
Annie Sargent: The one thing you have to take to be mindful of is that a lot of things close between November and, you know, early March.
And so if you’re not in big cities, between November and early March, you’re going to find a lot of attractions are going to be closed. But besides that, really, there is so much to do.
We’re very lucky.
Nancy Armstrong: And I guess that’s where, you know, if you’re going to be there off-season, you know, being near Paris, or near somewhere around there is really helpful.
Michael Armstrong: Yeah, definitely cities
Nancy Armstrong: You know, they never close. There’s always restaurants. There’s always museums, all kinds of things.
Annie Sargent: Right. Off-season, just go to Paris, really. Or a big city, or any big city in France. But we only have five or six of those, so…
Michael Armstrong: I know, no, that’s right, yeah.
Why Toulouse Stands Out
Michael Armstrong: Can I emphasize how much we enjoyed Toulouse? [00:45:00] And we’re really, a little plug here for Toulouse. It was… We enjoyed it greatly. And we were fortunate, we stayed at a hotel really right next door to Saint-Sernin. Is Saint-Sernin a cathedral or église? I don’t…
Annie Sargent: It’s basilica
Michael Armstrong: It’s a basilica, but we were right next to Saint-Sernin, which is remarkable.
The whole story of it, but the architecture of Saint-Sernin and the Capitole, you know, the way it’s built in a very Romanesque style, these things, with the flat red bricks and the Roman arches. And then you have a section of Toulouse also that was very much influenced by Haussmann’s Paris, you know, and it looks like-
Annie Sargent: A few, yeah.
Michael Armstrong: Parisian boulevards.
Nancy Armstrong: Yeah, and the parks were wonderful…
Michael Armstrong: Parks were wonderful.
Nancy Armstrong: And the river’s there, and we were very pleasantly surprised by Toulouse.
Michael Armstrong: And the number of day trips you could take from there to very, very interesting places. So great place.
Annie Sargent: Well, that’s a great place to end because you are correct. I’m not going to, I’m not going to argue with you on that one. Toulouse is a [00:46:00] beautiful city, but so are many others, so that’s, that’s okay.
Farewell And Thanks
Annie Sargent: Well, you have been delightful.
Thank you so much, Nancy and Michael. I wish you many, many more wonderful trips to France.
Nancy Armstrong: Thank you. Thank you.
Michael Armstrong: Merci beaucoup. Au revoir.
Nancy Armstrong: We plan on having many more.
Annie Sargent: Merci. Au revoir.
Nancy Armstrong: Merci. Au revoir.
Patreon Thanks and Perks
Annie Sargent: Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. Patrons get several exclusive rewards for doing that. You can see them at patreon.com/joinus.
And a special shout-out this week to my new Join Us in France champions, Julie M. and Will and Erin Schaefer.
I received an email from Nicole Segura, who was a twenty twenty-five bootcamper, with her nephew Wyatt, and has been a patron for a long time as well. Hello to both of you. She increased her Patreon [00:47:00] support, and she says she would love it if more people followed her good example. And you know, she’s not the only one, so I’m reading this.
She wrote, "I get so much enjoyment from listening to you and Elyse and your guests that I can’t imagine a week without it, and there hasn’t been a week without it for a very, very long time. 12 years".
Well, I used to skip at the beginning, but I don’t do that anymore.
"I continue to enjoy your podcast and look forward to seeing you again in France." Thank you, Nicole. Thank you, Wyatt. "And also my best wishes on your journey to regain some command of French as your ancestors did. That was wonderful.
If you want to skip the ads and join our live Zooms or get any other of the Patreon rewards, there’s lots of them, check out all the fun perks at patreon.com/joinus.
Merci for keeping the adventure alive.
And to support Elyse, of course, go to patreon.com/elysart.
Please join them as well. [00:48:00] You can do it for as little as $3 a month, but if you can afford it, I would love to have you pledge more so you can have access to more of the rewards.
VoiceMap Tours and Discounts
Annie Sargent: I went looking for a VoiceMap tour of Marseille and again in Lyon, because I was in both of those places the last couple of weeks, and I didn’t find any.
And I thought, "What a shame." VoiceMap would be perfect to explore those cities. And although I know why, Emilie at the Marseille tourist office, you’ll hear her on the podcast soon, spilled the beans. She said local guys do not want any GPS self-guided tours because it would cut into their business model.
I understand, but they make life so much easier.
So, the tourist office will still hand you a map and wish you good luck and tell you to book one of the in-person guided tours, which is a good thing to do, honestly. That’s what I ended up doing. But VoiceMap does such a nice job as well.
I wrote eight VoiceMap tours of [00:49:00] Paris, and they are just like having your own private tour guide in your pocket.
You can pause whenever you want. You can grab a coffee. You can explore a side street. And the tour will pick right back up when you’re done doing that side thing you wanted to do. No rushing, no schedule to follow. I love those things, and podcast listeners who take those tours love them too.
And as a podcast listener, you can get an exclusive discount when you buy those tours directly from my website. That’s also the best way to support the show because it means more of what you pay comes straight to me instead of going through Apple or Google.
And again, you’ll find all of these goodies at joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
Paris Region Tourism Trends
Annie Sargent: Let’s talk about tourism and the Île-de-France region, because the latest numbers are in, and they are interesting.
In 2025, the region welcomed forty-nine million visitors. That’s slightly up compared to the previous year, but still a tiny bit below 2019 before COVID.
So tourism is strong, but not [00:50:00] quite back to peak levels yet, and that is hard for me to believe because it feels like Paris is so packed with people.
But apparently we forget.
Now, here’s the key point. It’s international visitors who are driving the growth. The number of French visitors actually went down a little while international tourists increased.
And more importantly, they’re the ones spending the most money when they go to Paris. Out of roughly twenty-four billion euros in tourism revenue, about two-thirds came from international visitors, and that’s a big deal.
So who’s coming? No surprise really. Americans are number one with about two point eight million visitors, then the British, then the Italians, the Germans, and the Spaniards.
So if you feel like you hear a lot of English in Paris, you’re not imagining things.
Another interesting trend, areas outside of Paris are seeing growth.
Yes. Places like Essonne, Yvelines, [00:51:00] Val-de-Marne are attracting more visitors than before. People are spreading it over a little bit, which is wonderful. Looking ahead to 2026, projections are slightly up again, but there’s more of a caution. There are geopolitical tensions, and they affect long-haul flights from Asia.
That could impact travel patterns. Flights might be rerouted, more expensive, delayed… you know, it could cause visitors to postpone their trips.
So overall, tourism in the Paris region is doing really, really well, especially thanks to international travelers. But there are a few uncertainties on the horizon.
Paris Elects New Mayor
Annie Sargent: And I think the big takeaway is this: Paris is still incredibly popular, but who is visiting and how they visit is changing a little bit.
Paris has elected a new mayor, Emmanuel Grégoire, who’s a member of the Socialist Party, who so was the previous mayor, Anne Hidalgo.
And he did not just squeak by, he won by over 50% [00:52:00] of the vote, so that’s a clear, decisive victory, and it confirms something we’ve seen for a while now. Paris remains firmly on the left politically.
After the results were announced, Grégoire did something very symbolic. Instead of getting into a car, he rode a Vélib across Paris to City Hall.
That’s not just a fun detail, it’s a clear signal that the city’s policies around bikes, reduced car use, and urban transformation are going to continue, and I say yes, please.
At City Hall, Anne Hidalgo, who I mentioned before, she’s also a socialist, handed him the symbolic keys to the city at the end of the bike ride.
Now, not everyone is celebrating. Supporters see this as continuity, like the direction Paris has taken over the last 20 to 25 years, greener spaces, more bike lanes, less emphasis on cars. But critics are worried about exactly those same things. They’re [00:53:00] talking about ongoing construction, difficult traffic, and especially the cost of housing, which remains a huge issue, not just in Paris, but… it’s a biggie, it’s a big deal in Paris.
Annie Sargent: So the divide is not just political, it’s also about how people experience the city day to day. Grégoire is calling this a historic victory, and in terms of the number, that’s fair. But the real challenge starts now. How do you govern a city where a significant number of people feel like the current direction doesn’t work for them?
That’s going to be the story to watch in Paris over the next six years.
France Election Results Roundup
Annie Sargent: Elsewhere in France, big cities stay left-wing. Paris, Marseille, Lyon remain on the left. Benoit Payan is reelected in Marseille, and Grégory Doucet narrowly holds Lyon. Toulouse reelected Moudenc, who is a moderate right-winger.
Ecologists [00:54:00] lost ground overall. While they kept Lyon, they lost several key cities like Bordeaux, Poitiers, and Besançon. The green wave from 2020 has clearly weakened. There are political shifts in traditional strongholds, some historically left-wing cities switch to the right, I mean, like from extreme– like from communist to Front National.
I mean, it’s like, what? That includes Brest and Tulle. François Bayrou, who was one of our prime ministers, lost in Pau by a narrow margin. He was a popular mayor, but not a popular prime minister, and had been involved in a lot of scandals.
The RN, that’s the Rassemblement National, fails in major cities, but won several mid-sized cities around 10,000 to 20,000.
And they gain Nice, although through an [00:55:00] ally, Eric Ciotti, who’s not a member of the RN, but he’s an allies of theirs, so…
And that was a… that was a big upset. Nice was an upset.
LFI, that’s the far left, won a few cities. They’re not dominant overall, but it took places like Roubaix and Vénissieux.
The voter turnout was around 57%, similar to the first round, higher than in 2020, but lower than in 2014.
So overall, the results are kind of encouraging to me, but there are changes afoot.
Tour Montparnasse Closure
Annie Sargent: And one last thing, the Tour Montparnasse closed this week for four years of renovation. That’s just a FYI.
It’s not a place that’s been popular for quite some time. I think they hope the Tour Montparnasse will get a second breath after the renovations. You know, time will tell.
Credits and Next Episode
Annie Sargent: My thanks to podcast editors Anne and Christian Cotovan, who produced the transcripts.
Next week on the podcast
Annie Sargent: Next week on the podcast, [00:56:00] an episode about Wow destinations in France with Elyse and I.
I wonder if you’ll agree with us on the places we picked.
Hopefully, you’ll tell us either on YouTube or on Facebook.
Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together.
Au revoir.
Copyright
Annie Sargent: The join us in France Travel Podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent and copyright 2026 by Addicted to France. It is released under a Creative Comments, attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.[00:57:00] [00:58:00]
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