Transcript for Episode 232: The Smart Way to Visit Provence

Category: Provence

Discussed in this Episode

• Goult
• Gordes
• Ménerbes
• Roussillon
• Bonnieux
• Lourmarin
• L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue
• L'Atelier Cuisine de Mathilde
• Le Lubéron à vélo
• Villefranche-sur-Mer
• Èze
• Budget Hotel recommendation

THIS IS AN AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED TRANSCRIPT

0:00
This is join us in France Episode 232. Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent and I’m glad to be back with you today after nine a very busy days in Paris. While I was only supposed to be in Paris for eight days, but then France happened. I will tell you more about that after the interview. On today’s episode, a trip report with Tracy GSB. On the smart way to rent a house in Provence, we concentrate on the village of all CEO or CEO in the book cruiser and area also known as the Libyan who CO is a small village in Provence and it is popular and charming, important side villages like that it is easy to run into unscrupulous renters. Tracy knew she had to go about this the smart way. She did it, and she explains how In this episode, if you’re interested in the movie hall, you should also listen to Episode One hundred and 50 a slice of life in vivo Episode 54 called lavender fields and hidden Provence, and Episode Two of four called the best of the woo cruise in Provence. You won’t remember all of that, well you don’t worry. Just go to the show notes for this episode, they are on join us in france.com forward slash 232. The number two, three and two. And it will all be there. Join us in France is brought to you by Patreon supporters and my soon to be released GPS aware audio guides. Don’t miss the announcement. Join the email list by going to any page on join us in France. com. And by clicking on the green button that says extras. I haven’t been emailing for several months. But I’ll get back to it to announce the audio tools.

2:22
Boucher, Tracy and welcome to join us in France.

2:26
For sure. Annie, I am so thrilled to be on your podcast today. This is exciting. I am very happy to have you

2:34
too. Because we’re going to talk about a lovely part of France. You had a lovely visit to the Caribbean. And so I want to hear all about it.

2:45
Great. Well, yes, my husband and I actually visited the lubrano Valley in the summer of 2017. On around. We’re just there for three days and visited some of the villages loved it so much that we want to share with our children and their spouses. So we decided to rent a villa the summer of 2018 in the loop around Valley, and I wanted to talk about that process that we went through because it actually was a little more involved than I had anticipated. Ah, ok. Let’s hear about that then. Well, so the first thing we did was make a criteria of the type of village that we wanted to stay in. Happening visited the area briefly. I knew that there were some villages that were very popular with tourists. And then there were other villages that were more livable, and we really wanted an experience of living in Provence for a week. And so I researched all the different villages we have visited they included Galt goal board McNair but then also Russa and but you and lo Moran. And some of these towns are a little more touristy. And but I found that roosting on seem to have a good mix of history. And a unique setting you sound is built up on top of a hill. It is very historic. Some of the early buildings built like in the 1200s and 30 minutes. But it’s touristy at some of the other towns like gourd and fondue, right. And so we zero did an Uber car because it had this unique setting. But it had a big launch or it had various shops and restaurants. And it had a range of restaurants which was important to us,

5:09
right? Again, bigger than the others, right?

5:12
The idea? Yes, it is. It’s definitely bigger. It’s got a elementary school. I mean, people live in that town, they send their children to those schools. People gathered in the little marketplace and little town square

5:31
every day. So it really

5:37
the right selection for look for the town first. And then we had to find a villa. And there are a lot of villas on the RBO and home away. All of which could have been accommodated our family, we needed three bedrooms, three baths. But the important piece was being in the village. And so I actually used a combination of the stuff that was on home away, along with Google Maps, for example, trying to triangulate exactly where these villages were located. Because some of the villages that were in the town of Bruce town, but we’re seeing as built up on a hill and the villages were down at the bottom of this very steep hill.

6:33
important detail.

6:38
And so the idea of walking into town, all the way up yo with a bed a problem. Yeah. So we ended up finding a villa that we really love. And so and it was actually between this villa and another villa in a neighboring town that also has similar merits. So we set up Skype calls with the owners, and a kind of interview them about the town and the villa, and the, you know, restaurant accommodations, things like that. I think the important thing for us through this process was understanding what our family really wanted to do. Yes, for this week, I think people pick a villa and don’t really think through how they’re going to use that. Right. And that was a really important part. important part for us.

7:40
I agree, it’s best to define as much as you can define what it is that you’re looking for. And then you have a good chance of finding it. But if you don’t know, you just want something you might be you know, you might like it and you might not.

7:56
Exactly. And so our criteria was to be able to be in a livable village walk to the monastery every morning, for example. We wanted a pool, because we understood that the area can get quite warm, yes. And June and July. We also wanted a home that was very well outfitted for cooking because we are a big cooking, eating, drinking family or drinking wine, we enjoy wine, yeah, and

8:34
come to the right place.

8:38
France it doesn’t like food and wine. So we wanted a kitchen that was going to be large enough that all six of us could cook simultaneously and be well stocked and and we found this villa that was extremely well stocked, and the owner was very accommodating with regard to make him sure everything was prepared. When we got there, the home had great local information. So told us about different markets, the various neighboring villages and the days that those markets are descent. And that was something I didn’t realize, were you familiar with the market days and provide

9:27
everywhere. It’s the same, you know, all over France, the market days, different towns will have market days on different days. And it’s typically the same vendors that go from one town to another. And so when people tell me, oh, I must go to the market at this place on this day. I usually I usually tell them relax, you know, these vendors, you’ll find them somewhere else as well. It’s not like they only work one day a week.

9:53
Yeah, that’s true.

9:56
Although we did find that there were some vendors that we saw, for example, in Gord. So one day, which sits up on a hill, and my husband and I had been there the prior summer. And we thought we do have to come into town. But I’ll turn on this road, I think it’ll be fine. So we come up into gourd but we came in what I would call the backside of gourd and all of a sudden we were on the main road going one way, and the market was straight in front of us. And so I said, Oh, well, we were at a dead end, we’re going to have to turn around and go back down the hill. And as we started to turn the car I shop came out from the shot that said no, no, no, don’t turn around, don’t turn around. Because if you do, then there’s a placement down the bottom of the hill. And he will give you a ticket and take your license away. Oh, wow. And you won’t be able to be able to track your rental cars the rest of the time. So we were like, Oh, well, then what do we do? And they said, we’ll just drive through the market. And we said, Really, we can do that? He said, Sure. Just go very slowly. And raise your hand as if you’re waving like the Queen of England. It’s not really a thing. He said, yes, this happens quite frequently. So the vendors are used to it, the tourists are not so just go slowly. So yeah, well, you know what, it’s probably a good idea that I hop out and kind of clear the tourists. So I got out in front of the car and just catch a few some wants to play and just kind of got people to move and then my son and drove the car through and everybody just everybody just wave their hands out the window. We made it to the other side of the market and and so that was an experience. And then we found some places to park. But we found some very interesting vendors there a woman that made beautiful lavender one. Have you ever seen these? They’re wrapped and ribbon?

12:33
No, I don’t think I’ve seen those. That sounds very whimsical.

12:38
Oh, they are beautiful. They’re there about eight inches, nine inches long. And they look like a handle with a ball on the end. And the ball is actually the lavender stocks and it’s all wrapped in a fancy ribbon. And you kind of roll the ball in your hand. And it sets off the fragrance. Oh, nice. Oh, oh, they’re beautiful. And so I’ll send you a link with a picture. I don’t remember the woman’s name. But she’s in gourd and we didn’t see her at any of the other markets. Right. So unique by

13:20
right sometimes they don’t always go to the same ones. You know, sometimes they have because you have to apply for permission to be in a market. And maybe she’s just making these specialty items and only sells them once or twice a week. You know, that’s that can happen as well. But some of the bigger professional, you know, like the cheese vendors and the meat vendors and the vegetable vendors, typically they work every day. And they will go to different markets, although they might go different ways. You know, they don’t have to follow the same route anyway. It’s a bit of a complicated system in France, like most things in France. Well, and

14:02
one One day, my daughter and I went to a market in his suit the sword.

14:09
Yes. Yeah. I saw Yeah.

14:12
Oh, and it was a beautiful market. You know, they have I think they call it the Venice. That area. It’s It’s beautiful canals and the market is built on. Like a set of falls. So there’s all these different canals around the market. And we thought two things that I wanted to mention. One was I never seen our kit. artichoke flowers before. Have you seen those?

14:50
Yeah, they look very prickly.

14:52
Oh, I I’ve only eaten artichokes. I’ve never seen that turn into a flower.

15:00
Yes, they are gorgeous. Oh, once you if you grow artichoke, you know? All my neighbor. I don’t I don’t grow artichokes because the plants are too big. And I don’t have very big vegetable garden. But I have a couple of neighbors that have huge vegetable gardens. And they grow artichokes. And yeah, we get to see that they’re beautiful.

15:22
Oh, they were stunning. And then the other thing that we found it at market was a woman that makes local table lemons by hand and beautiful, beautiful work. And she has a whole workshop and she sells just at the markets. And my advice to people is if you see it, go ahead and buy it. Because we did. I didn’t buy it the very first day I saw which was on the Sunday. And I went to every other market looking for her never found her. And then the very last day we were it. We went to the apt market on Saturday. And I had I was rushing around trying to find her and I given up and I turned the corner and there she was. So I was able to bring him some beautiful table linens very unique. So my advice is if you go to the markets, even though you might think there are our vendors, like you say every market sometimes they take days off,

16:29
right? Especially the smart the people who just produce unique items like that they don’t they have to make the items so they don’t go out to market every day they spend time at home making the you know the ones or the tablecloth or whatever they’re going to sell.

16:49
Yes, yes. So the market activity was particularly magical to us because we were not just buying things. Things to take home but also we are buying the provisions for cooking every day. Right so in our town every sale that we had a wonderful belong Sheree. And I’ve heard other people on your show talk about the fabulous French pizza. And I couldn’t believe it was true. That having had it at that belongs Yuri. Oh, it was amazing. So the French really know how to make pizza.

17:34
So what’s what’s the name of the blowsy you remember? It was just just wanting to see you. Just want just one. Okay, okay. Yeah, so then just go to the grocery in New Zealand have some pizza.

17:51
Oh, it was outstanding. So we would buy. In fact, every morning, my tradition is to get up and do a power walk. It’s a and so I was the first one up every morning I would power walk through town. And the you know, it was a big, beautiful sunny day, every day. And the town was just coming alive. The marketplace, people were just putting out their wares and their flowers and airy, nice sweet after a cup. If people knew who I was, they would say, Oh, yeah, it was just wonderful is great. Yeah. So I go to the market, I go to the laundry rather, and pick up our provisions for the day pizza and bread and pastries and thanks. And then we would go to the local markets and buy the provisions for the day the cheeses and produce and there was a butcher also in Brazil. So we bought roast chicken for him or other things to make. And so we would make a big meal every day, our Villa, and then eat out for the dinner or the lunch that we didn’t cook in. So we have great memories of just all the bounty that is and provides.

19:12
That’s a great way to do it because you get to taste both the restaurant food and to cook locally. So that’s wonderful.

19:20
Yes, it really was. And speaking of cooking, we actually went to a cooking school. Excellent. Wow.

19:32
And so I sent you a link to that her name is Matilda. And I found her on the internet, just googling cooking schools in Provence. But she does a very fine job highly recommend her. We met in exon Provence, which was a much bigger town than I had thought,

19:58
Oh, yeah, it’s a city. It’s a university. Yeah, they have a university. They have hospitals too big place.

20:04
It’s a very big place. And we didn’t quite realize that until we’re looking for a parking place. We eventually got several them and fat met with her and the town village or the town square. And we went to a market tour with her. And so she showed us some very local purveyors and gave us some very unique tips on how to spot a local purveyor versus somebody that’s more

20:46
kind of a reseller.

20:48
Right, right. Because you have you have the farmers who bring their own vegetables and fruits, and you have the ones who just buy stuff from Spain and resell.

21:01
Yes. And so she told us to look for purveyors that had a limited quantity or, or limited variety rather, of produce those were most likely the local farmers. Absolutely. Yeah. And their stuff isn’t going to look quite as nice. And it’s not going to be displayed quite as well. But it is going to be local.

21:29
Oh, I’m glad. I’m glad you told you that because this is not you know, most people who are used to a gorgeous looking display would shun the not so nice looking display. But sometimes that’s where you get the tastiest stuff.

21:46
Yes. And so and in fact, she said there were two tables of jams side by side. And from two different purveyors. And one, they were beautifully wrapped. And the other not quite as pretty, but unique flavors. And we ended and she said that’s the local one right there. And here’s how you can tell. And we got the most fabulous jam it was Africa lap and dirt. And I have two tablespoons of it left in my refrigerator.

22:28
I’m rationing that.

22:31
So so we we loved the the market tour. And we bought the provisions for lunch. And then we brought it back to her cooking school and actually cooked us three course meal. There were six of us and then another family of four people. And she gave us all the recipes. And it was just a wonderful meal. I learned some things that I am I cook a lot. And so I thought oh, I I’m very familiar with various techniques. And I learned so much from that cooking class that I didn’t know. Hmm, that’s great. Yeah. So another place that we went to I wanted to mention is Chateau low cost, which is a winery an art installation. Not too far from axon Provence. And I sent you a link to that I highly recommend it. My my husband and I went through 2017 and we went back and took the kids 2018 and it’s probably one of the most unique winery setups I’ve ever been to. Are you familiar with it? Not that

23:53
one? Nope.

23:55
Ah, so this gentleman bought this wine or Yeah, when it was established, but not very commercialized. And he brought out the winery and and built some new vineyards and so forth. But then he also took all this extra land he had and invited artists from around the world to create unique art installations that are mostly sculpture. So they’re all outside. So it’s a giant walking tour. So you walk around the vineyards. And through these art installations. It could take about four hours to see it still like Yes, it is. There are called direct mo bills there. There are Argentinian sculptures of sculptors, fascinating stuff. There’s Japanese, Lou Gehrig that designed the museum in LA, he designed the there’s a music venue there that he signed. It is fascinating.

25:18
And we’ll see a good place for younger kids.

25:23
Yes, because the kids can run around. In fact, we saw a lot of families visiting, okay. local families, actually, we were there. I and I think on a Sunday, and there, it seems like a lot of local people were there on an outing. And yeah.

25:46
So is there a charge just to visit? Or do they just think you might buy some wine and that’s good enough.

25:54
There is a charge to visit and walk through the chance to let Okay, it’s maybe 1010 or 12 euros, okay? It’s not extreme. And they have several restaurants there. They have a very casual restaurant quite nice, like a little garden Bistro that you can get sandwiches and ice cream and so forth. And then they have a gourmet restaurant, which overlooks the reflecting pond and the vineyards. It’s just stunning. And Beautiful, beautiful luncheon menus. So I highly recommend it. It’s a special occasion type of launch. Right, but it’s

26:40
very, very, it sounds very, it sounds very posh.

26:46
It is very posh. I do have to say.

26:51
Yeah, because you know, I’m from the southwest where our wineries are like some of these places look like a garage that somebody made a you know, they built tables inside of a garage or something. I mean, some of them are truly they will open the doors to the public, but it’s truly truly nothing much to look at. This one sounds like it’s very nice. Very nice.

27:18
Yes. Well, and actually we had a very similar local winery down at the bottom of the hill in Russa. That’s so local bros days that were absolutely fabulous. But it was local. It was kind of a renovated garage. Right? So I know exactly what you’re talking. Yeah, we have those two. Yes. Yeah. So one other thing that my son in law did, he’s a big mountain bike or and road cyclist. And I know I’ve always heard of the road roads and Provence. You have to watch out for the cyclist. And so because it’s just so popular there. And he rented the bike and went cycling every morning about 4050 miles. And he said it was the best cycling he’s ever done. Of course, the trails were so well mark, that the motorists yielded to the cyclists. I mean, it really is a real culture there.

28:32
Right? We were used to this we I mean, there’s a way the jerks who don’t pay attention and you know, almost run over the cyclists. But most drivers will be careful, because we have them all the time. And we have families going on little cycling trips together. I mean, and you definitely don’t want to run kids over I mean, you know, so yeah, we pay attention because they’re everywhere.

29:01
Well, and he said that the the markings on the roads were very clear. And he had researched everything including running the bike and the routes on the internet before he even arrived in France. So he said it was really quite easy to do the research from the United States. Yeah, so kudos to whoever is well he gave me the website love Luberon of that low.

29:31
Lulu, they are really the only low

29:37
a fellow so it’s okay to be available. Okay. Okay, I’ll find it. Okay. Yeah, though. Yes. And so he recommended that for the whole Luber on badly, but she remembered in the course of a week. Yes. So one last thing that my family recommended was one day, we did a rest day at the villa. So it’s very tempting to get up every morning, go say okay, where we going to go today? Let’s go here. Let’s go there. One day, we went to pump to guard based on your recommendation Yanni. And we did a podcast on that it was quite helpful. We loved it. But But go into the markets and to the winery and punted guard and all these different things. One day, we said, You know what, let’s just stay here and enjoy this villa. And we had such a magnificent view. And the days were so beautiful. We had that gorgeous pool, and that great pizza for luxury.

30:49
What else do you need?

30:51
And we bought a case of Rosie from the little winery down the hill. We had everything. And we spent the day at the villa. And everybody said that was one of their favorite days was just really enjoying that town.

31:09
Yeah, that sounds lovely. That sounds very French.

31:14
It was do

31:15
nothing once in a while.

31:18
Speaking of very French, I have to tell you two things that were complete surprises. And so Provence saw village. So the very first night we arrived in Busan, we were in our Villa, which was right in the middle of town, right below the clock tower, actually, and we heard all this music. And so we walked up the stairs outside our Villa and came to the town square. And they were having St. JOHN Baptist festival day, which is June 23. And I had heard about this prior to arriving but didn’t know that Busan had a festival. But it’s a on the feast day of St. john the baptist, which is June 23. Okay, some towns have a music festival. And so roots, they always have this music festival and they had a DJ, but then they also had people playing instruments with the DJ, you know, singers and guitar player and keyboard. And so they started playing about I don’t know, six or seven at night, and they played till midnight, and the whole town showed up. It was a little kids, local folks. The bars and restaurants were open. It was Matt this ascent.

32:50
That’s great. Yeah. Because typically we have fed to the music, but that’s on June 21. So they have an extra Festival on June 23. for social matched apparently. Okay. Yep. That’s great. That’s great.

33:06
And then the other thing was the next day, we were in our Villa, and we hear all this noise down below. There was a road, that little road that below our Villa, and here came a tractor parade.

33:25
And let me guess, let me get some Yes. So they had flat beds. And they had drunk guys on the flat beds who were serving drinks, to the to the people were looking at? No, no,

33:39
that would have been too fun.

33:45
So these were actual tractors, I’m anti, some of them were antique. Some of them were recent, and whole families were piled onto these tractors. And what we didn’t know was there was a a tractor, like a historic tractor convention. Oh, well, I’m at the bottom of the hill. And so they decided to have the parade through town. And there must have been 100 tractors that showed up and circled around the town. I sent you a couple of pictures that you can post.

34:24
Imagine the traffic jam. The traffic jam would be lovely. Oh, wow. Yeah, I’ve been highly juice where they have like a couple of tractors. But this is a bigger tractor thing. But a couple tracks, tractors, flat beds, some music, some music, local musical group on one of the flood beds, and on the other one people serving Rosie or something to anybody who comes out to sing with them or

34:49
whatever.

34:54
I wish we had found that one that would have been terrific.

34:59
Yeah, well, you know, these villages, nothing much happens, you have to make something happens.

35:05
Well, I think that is true. And so I would highly recommend the little village over Sam and or any of the other villages and globe, Ron ballet I, we just thought it was a magical trip. We all converge there for eight days, we had some travel before the trip, or the stay in the villa and afterwards because our children are never been to France before. So they went to Paris first and then the loop Iran. And then they both went down to as afterwards and we went to battle front some air, which we absolutely love. Yeah, they looked as

35:47
they’re both very nice for different reasons. But they’re both very nice.

35:51
Absolutely. And so it was a wonderful two, three week trip for my husband and myself and my kids a little bit shorter. But

36:01
it’s great that

36:02
you travel is yes,

36:04
it’s great that you travel with your adult kids. I I dig that I hope I get to do that when you know, when my daughter gets a little bit older and moves around the house and all of that. It’ll be fun, I think to reconnect with your children that way.

36:18
Oh, we have been traveling with our children since they were small. And so I think what was really special was them bringing their spouses and to Yeah, the the travel, the family travel experience. And yes, it’s a wonderful way to have a holiday, we were just together for the Easter holiday. And we once again relived this experience of being then we’re say on. So it’s a memory that will last all of us a lifetime, guess what we hope? hope to find another place to go to?

36:57
Oh, there’s many places like that you should try to do you. Because if you want to come back to France, though Daniel also has a lot of the villages like that that are just lovely. And great for family things because you can you can canoe you can do all sorts of fun things. Lots of cycling, you can do. Yeah, we would all be also pretty nice. I recommend Oh,

37:25
yeah. So you need to do a podcast on that.

37:29
I’ve done several we have that. Maybe not? Well, let’s put it this way. Several people have mentioned it, because it’s it’s a great place, especially for families with younger kids, because there’s so many activities you can do.

37:47
So

37:48
yeah.

37:50
But we will continue to produce episodes to try and tempt people to come. Have fun in France.

37:57
Well, you’re doing a fabulous job, because I started listening to your podcast. I think maybe when you were about number 75 or 85. Oh, yeah, that’s a long time. Yeah. And

38:15
now you’re up to two to 25. No to 30. I’m working on to 31 this week. It’s Time flies when you’re having fun.

38:28
While you’re doing a great job and a great service to all of us that love to travel and France and you are going home? Well, because it’s become so familiar. So thank you for that.

38:43
That’s good. That’s good. And one of the things that you did that not all people do, but is available Is that you, you became a patron at the $50 level, which means you’re entitled to spending some time with me in private over the phone to plan your trip. And it was a great pleasure doing that some people choose to do French conversation. People want to do trip planning, but it is available and it’s it’s it’s very fun for me to do.

39:15
Well and it was extremely helpful to my husband and myself as we were thinking about timing. Across biggest we’re going to so many places we went to Lamar Bergen de Russa and then feel forest somewhere. Yeah, so we your advice about how long it really took and how much time you really want to spend in these places was very helpful. And then my daughter and her husband, Abby, and Ben, also got some time with you, because they were going to plan their trip up to show money after us. Right. And so they really appreciate that that time, and we tried to schedule Andrew and Amanda. But we didn’t have enough time we ran out of time before the trip. So to the folks that are listening, everybody really enjoyed having the opportunity to speak with you directly. It’s well worth the financial commitment.

40:15
Well, thank you very much. Well, thank you so much for coming on the show today. Do you have any last words of wisdom? Or did we cover everything?

40:26
I think the last word of wisdom is if you’re going to run a house or a villa, particularly in Provence, think about what you want to do there and pick some home that is going to reflect your family’s needs. I think that was the number one thing that I spent a lot of time doing, and that really paid off in spades. So that’s what I would recommend

40:51
driving the difficulty of driving yourselves around. Would you say that was like, you know, on a scale of one to 10? One being easy to being very difficult. What would you say?

41:03
One? Okay. Very, very. Which leads me to one criteria in these villas. If you’re going to get a villa in town, make sure you get parking sufficient for the number of cars you have. We had two cars and the garage only helped one. So we had to get a parking pass from the owner to park in the village slot. That was very important.

41:28
Yeah, you need to Yeah, you need to know these things. Yeah, because parking in Provence can be a very, very difficult, especially if you’re in the village, you know?

41:39
Yes. Yeah.

41:41
Yes, that can be a pub that that

41:43
they had specific parking just for our village residents. Right. And it was separated from the tourist parking. If we had to rely on tourist parking, it would have been a night, man.

41:55
Well, it’s awful, because you have to go back every two hours to feed the meter. And it’s actually expensive and just unlivable. Whereas if you if you are local, well you get your pass, and then you can be a couple of euros for the day or something like that. I mean, that’s how I’ve experienced it in other villages. Provence might be a bit more expensive than that, but it’s not unreasonable.

42:16
Well, actually, our Villa came with a local parking pass that was included in the price of the villa. Oh,

42:23
there you go. Even better.

42:26
Yeah. So yeah, so a terrific setup for us. Thank you so much, Tracy. Well, thank you, me for having me here. today. We’re, I was thrilled to be asked, and I look forward to another French adventure. So I can come back and talk about that wonderful.

42:46
I couldn’t keep up the good work. Thank you. I couldn’t do it without people like you who support the show, and talk and help and do all these good things and come on the podcast because it is a bit of work, right? Putting it up. So together, I put a lot of work in your hands, you have to come up with photos, you have to come up with an outline. So there are I mean, I have asked people and sometimes I asked somebody and they say oh yeah, I’ll do it. And then when I send the list of things that they need to do, I never hear back from them. So appreciate the follow through and actually do it. Thank you so much, Tracy.

43:23
Absolutely, Annie.

43:25
All right.

43:31
Thank you Slayton, Anthony, Brad Comber Catherine national Kim white, Anita summers and Maria Colyer for pledging to support the show on Patreon this week. And my thanks to all the other patrons who support the show month after month. Thank you so much for giving back. Would you buy me a coffee if we met in real life, you can do that by supporting the show on Patreon for as little as $2 per month, visit patreon.com forward slash join us that’s p@reon.com forward slash join us no spaces or dashes to see the different reward tiers. And thank you so much for giving back. And thank you also Stephanie Western minor couple key. We’re hope I’m saying that correctly. Leslie Morris, and Michael Robinson for your one time donation using the green tip your guide button on join us in France. com. I had a great time in Paris leading tours and meeting listeners. It’s always wonderful for me to meet you. Because you’re not your average tourist. You want to visit France the smart way. You want to experience it to the fullest and you want to learn about what makes my country different. I love that about you. The weather in Paris wasn’t great. We had a glorious month of February, March this year in France, with quite a bit less rain and more sun than normal. But may hasn’t turned out like that. So two members and I got totally drenched visiting parishes. Because there is nowhere to hide from a downpour in a cemetery. And that afternoon, we were in more math with another group. And we barely had time to hide under a restaurant awning before it started healing. And it was coming down so hard, like just crazy. So so people asked how should I plan to dress for Paris? Well, you should check the weather report the day before you get on your plane and pack accordingly. Weather in Paris can be changing and it changes fast. If the weather report shows rain and thunderstorms for several days in a row. Pack, not just a raincoat. But a good one thing that can take an inch of rain in 10 minutes. None of that Disneyland plastic Poncho thing that doesn’t work. You have you need a raincoat for Paris and be flexible. Some days you better off going into a museum or visiting a church than being outside. So but this was a tour, I had planned months in advance. So you know, I thought the early May would be good weather, but I was wrong.

46:27
That’s one definite advantage to taking me in your pocket with a GPS aware audio tour. You can do the tour whenever you want full flexibility. So why did I spend nine days in Paris instead of the eight I had planned, because my flight got canceled. And not just my flight, but 90% of flights going to lose. This was a national strike of government workers. And guess who works for the government air traffic controllers. And it’s only happened that introduced almost all of them went on strike. So when I got to the airport, my flight was not listed. And there were other flights listed to other cities. They made sure to keep the international flights going, but nothing to lose. And there are normally lots of flights between Paris and to lose. So didn’t this did not make sense. So I went to the EasyJet desk and I was told the flight was canceled. Not that they did not put that information on the display on the boards, you have to go to the desk to find out so EasyJet put me up in a cheap hotel in the 13th only small. Add that to the hotel list. You know, we have a list of hotels that I recommend. And people often ask about budget hotels, I haven’t stayed in many of those. But this was one, if you go to join us in france.com forward slash resource for a slash Paris dash hotels, it will be on that list. And I’ll link to it occasionally on the on Facebook anyway. But so this hotel, it was fine. You know, it was his budget hotel, but but it was fine. They had everything you needed. It was safe, it was not too difficult to get to the center of the city since I had an extra day, I went to visit another museum. But it’s a big hotel that takes tour buses of European retirees that are going on tour. So they probably run promotions all the time, because they have a lot of rooms to fill. But I was so glad to get home and see my city have to lose from the air to lose this small and quaint compared to Paris, the Paris metro area has over 7 million people. The to lose metro area has it’s under a million. It’s like 800,000 or something, the feeling is completely different. And it would make total sense for me to move to Paris since so many people asked me for two since I started doing this podcast. But you know what? I don’t want to I love to explore Paris, I love to take people around Paris and show off this gorgeous capital. You can’t beat Paris when it comes to the number of activities available. So many great things going on so many great restaurants, such beautiful, beautiful places. But I am a girl from to lose. This is where I was born and raised. I love my medium sized city. I love the little village where my houses. That’s where I thrive. And so I would love to show you Paris, but it’ll have to be with a GPS aware tour instead of in person. Now, I’m not saying that I will never do in person tours again. If you come to me with a family group or friends group or something and we can come to some arrangement. Yes, I will do that. Because I love hanging out with two members. One of the ladies on the tour TZV honey, she was part of a friends group. She wasn’t a podcast listener. This was her first time meeting me. She said you’re the tour guide who hangs out as one of the girls. And she said it as a compliment. We have a great time together. And you know I do all the things that a tour guide does. I arranged for the car, I drove the car, I picked them up at their Airbnb, we talked about money and money. We got into some details about Monet and his life as it relates to what’s happening in France going on, you know, around him in his day. But it was a conversation. It wasn’t me spitting out a memorized text, which is what most French tour guides do. I you know, I had picked out a good restaurant, I made sure everybody was comfortable along the way. But I do things in a personable way. And Giovanni is as turning as ever. By the way all this rain is good for blends. So very, very good for players. It’s not so good for me, but it’s good for the blinds. But I think can’t guide every day because I don’t live in Paris and I don’t want to move to Paris. And so technology to the rescue. And I’ll put as much of my personality in the audio guides as I do in real life. Anyway, as you know, because you’re listening to me right now you can hear join us in France anywhere you get your podcasts. But if you want to help other people listen to the show to prepare their own trip to France. Tell them that they can listen on Pandora, Spotify, Alexa, Google Home, YouTube, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and of course on join us in France. com as well. And something that makes it really easy to share a specific episode of the podcast. For instance, if you know someone is about to visit Torvalds, go to the join us in France Facebook page. Now that’s the page, not the group and share that episode. You can’t share anything from a group close group. But the page you can share whatever want. And speaking of the join us in France, close group on Facebook that is growing like crazy. Lots of new people. And I’m very glad to see that I would have killed for that when I first started the podcast. But the problem is that it’s Facebook sending them to the group. I don’t advertise I don’t do anything is Facebook deciding all this and they must have changed their algorithm or something. And 90% of the newcomers don’t know about the podcast. So when they ask a question about something that has been answered on the show that we discussed on the show at length, I would really appreciate your help in telling them that there’s an episode about that and maybe give them a link to the website. Join us in France. com is the easiest entry point for someone who doesn’t normally listen to podcasts because they can read the summary of the episode. And then they can decide if they want to click on the Play button. All right. That’s going to do it for me today. Same question. Are feedback to Annie at join us in France. com Have a great week of trip learning have a great vacation. If you’re in France and I will talk to you next Sunday over the join us in France travel podcast is written and produced by Annie Sargent and copyright 2019 by addicted to France. It is released under Creative Commons Attribution non commercial no derivatives license

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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Category: Provence