501 - Join Us in France Travel Podcast

Table of Contents for this Episode

Discussed in this Episode

Here are all the places and attractions mentioned in the episode: Hotel Royal Saint Germain
Eiffel Tower
Louvre
Arc de Triomphe
Princess Diana Memorial
Alexander III Bridge
La Terrasse restaurant
Bo & Mie bakery
Seine River
Military Academy
Versailles
Tarare
Lyon
La Fourvière
Paul Bocuse restaurant
Cathedral Docks 40 Restaurant and live music
Saint John Baptiste
Chamonix Mont Blanc
Geneva
Annecy

[00:00:00] Annie Sargent: This is Join Us in France, episode 501, cinq cent un.

Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent, and Join Us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France.

Today on the podcast

[00:00:30] Annie Sargent: Today, I bring you a trip report with Kami Turner, where she shares her and her husband’s enchanting first trip to France.

From navigating Parisian metros to indulging in croissants, Kami recounts their adventures, a couple of mishaps, with warmth and humor.

Podcast supporters

[00:00:49] Annie Sargent: This podcast is supported by donors and listeners who buy my tours and services, including my Itinerary Consult Service, my GPS self-guided tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app, or share a day trip with me around the southwest of France in my electric car.

You can browse all of that at my boutique at joinusinfrance.com/boutique.

The Magazine segment

[00:01:12] Annie Sargent: For the magazine part of the podcast, after my chat with Kami today, I’ll discuss the result of the first round of elections, but I’ll keep it brief because by the time you listen to this, we’ll be voting for the second round, so I’ll take some guesses of what might happen, but we’ll soon know.

Kami and Annie

[00:01:38] Annie Sargent: Bonjour, Kami Turner, and welcome to Join Us in France.

[00:01:42] Kami Turner: Bonjour Annie, thank you for having me.

[00:01:44] Annie Sargent: Lovely to have you, thank you for your patience. This recording has been delayed a couple of times, so I appreciate your patience. And you’re so prepared, you have a microphone and everything.

[00:01:54] Kami Turner: Yeah, this is my first time using it, actually.

[00:01:56] Annie Sargent: Okay. Wonderful. So you and your husband took a trip to France, was it in September?

[00:02:04] Kami Turner: October.

[00:02:04] Annie Sargent: October. Okay. In October, 2023.

Planning for a trip in Paris

[00:02:08] Kami Turner: Yes, it was our first time in Europe I started planning it back in March just trying to figure outa good price, good prices to stay in places and then I wanted also to have good views of where we were staying. And just trying to figure out, you know, where to go and things to see, but not too much because we didn’t want to plan too much to where we didn’t leave room for spontaneity. So, it was really, really a great trip.

[00:02:33] Annie Sargent: It’s always like a juggling game. You want to plan, but not too much.

[00:02:38] Kami Turner: Yeah, and when we travel, we don’t like to be too touristy. We like to just take in where we are and not miss out on things, you know, cool moments that we can run into.

[00:02:48] Annie Sargent: Yeah, so tell us about the areas that you visited.

[00:02:52] Kami Turner: We visited in Paris first and we stayed in Hotel Royal Faire. I think it’s in the Sixth Arrondissement. There was a really, really great view of the Eiffel Tower from our room, and it was near a metro station, which I planned on that, too. We visited the Louvre, of course, because I wanted to definitely see that.

Arc de Triomphe Rooftop Tour

[00:03:12] Kami Turner: Some friends of ours told us to, instead of touring the Eiffel Tower, the top of that, go to the Arc de Triomphe Tower rooftop. So, I got that through Get Your Guide and that was really, really incredible to see and be. You can see all four sides, and see all of Paris, it seems, from there.

Goin Up the Arc de Triomphe

[00:03:31] Annie Sargent: Yeah, so you went up the Arc de Triomphe instead of up the Eiffel Tower.

[00:03:35] Kami Turner: Right. Mm hmm.

[00:03:36] Annie Sargent: You did it through Get Your Guide, but you don’t have to. You can just get a ticket to go up the Arc de Triomphe. It’s one of the few monuments that stays open late. So it’s a good one for visitors who are jet lagged and maybe awake at weird hours.

Cause you can go, I think they’re open till 11.

[00:03:56] Kami Turner: Okay. That’s mostly us. I like that too, because the Louvre was a timed thing, and I wanted to, the Arc de Triomphe was just open, so we could go at any time.

The Princess Diana Memorial

And I wanted to definitely visit the Princess Diana Memorial, that was really neat to see. And the locks on the gate near the Eiffel Tower. That was kind of cool.

[00:04:15] Annie Sargent: The Princess Diana Memorial is by the Alexander III Bridge, which is a beautiful area to visit anyway, because that bridge is so glorious.

[00:04:26] Kami Turner: Yes, it was incredible.

Locks on the Gate near Eiffel Tower

[00:04:29] Kami Turner: And there were locks on a gate near the Eiffel Tower too. I wasn’t really sure what those were for.

[00:04:35] Annie Sargent: Yeah, so people put locks everywhere and… I mean, I understand the feeling, okay, but I don’t think putting a lock anywhere ever stopped people from getting a divorce, I’m sorry, I’m just being, you know, silly, but I think it, you know, it’s just like….eh…

And the locks do create problems with weight, especially on bridges, but even on a fence, or on a gate or something, I mean, if everybody puts up a lock, there’s going to be thousands of pounds of just lock pounds that they didn’t count for.

[00:05:09] Kami Turner: That’s what I was wondering, when is this going to fall?

[00:05:11] Annie Sargent: Yeah.

La Terrasse Restaurant in the 7e arrondissement

[00:05:12] Kami Turner: Beside our hotel was a restaurant called

La Terrasse. I’m not saying that correctly, I think. That was, it was really good.

[00:05:24] Annie Sargent: And you liked it?

Beau and Me, The Bakery

[00:05:25] Kami Turner: Um, mm hmm, yeah. Before we went to the Louvre, we ate at Bo & Mie, the bakery. It’s right across the street from the Louvre.

It was really good.

And there were croissants everywhere, all over Paris and macarons, it was really good.

[00:05:42] Annie Sargent: Yes, you have them all over, don’t you?

And I think people sometimes over plan this sort of experience, you know I want to have the best croissant, I want to have the best macaron. Well, try a few, you know, they’re not that different really, I mean…

[00:05:59] Kami Turner: To me, they were good everywhere, we loved them.

[00:06:01] Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah.

[00:06:02] Kami Turner:

French politeness

[00:06:02] Kami Turner: Everywhere we went, the food was good, always, and everybody was really nice. I was nervous about that because we don’t speak French, but we try, everywhere we go, we went, we would say, Bonjour, and Parlez vous Anglais, you know, kind of just trying the things that we knew.

When you’re nice, people are nice. It’s just, that’s just the way it is.

[00:06:23] Annie Sargent: Exactly. Isn’t that crazy? I mean, just be friendly and polite. And you’re from the South, right?

[00:06:30] Kami Turner: Yes.

[00:06:31] Annie Sargent: So, you know, use your Southern charm. It’ll work.

[00:06:34] Kami Turner: Right. Yeah. And it’s funny too, because when you asked me that question, I have a tendency to say, yes, ma’am. To even people younger than me but it’s like ingrained in us. Yes, ma’am. No, ma’am. Yes, sir. No, sir.

[00:06:44] Annie Sargent: The French idea of politeness is kind of strict, like you have to say Bonjour. And it’s the same with you say ‘yes ma’am’ to somebody who’s older than you or when you want to show deference, respect, whatever, you know, that’s what you do and it works.

[00:07:03] Kami Turner: Yeah. Everywhere we went, everybody was extremely nice. And we just loved it. If you’re in a different country, so you’re going to, you want to acclimate to the cultures there. So, I mean, it wasn’t very hard.

Why France for First Europe Trip?

[00:07:16] Annie Sargent: So why did you choose France for your first trip in Europe?

[00:07:19] Kami Turner: Well, we thought it was just really beautiful, and we talked about going to London first, but I don’t know, it just seemed a little touristy, and we just kind of wanted to dive in, to just see really Europe. And we’d always wanted to go to Paris anyway. And we just kind of chose there, and it was actually cheaper to fly into Paris than to London too, so that was another thing.

[00:07:44] Annie Sargent: Well, that helps, you know. And you’re both in your early 40s, just so people, because they can’t see you, you’re pretty young. So did you leave a bunch of kids and cats and dogs at home?

[00:07:55] Kami Turner: We left two cats. We don’t have any kids. We’ve been married, May will be 22 years, and I’ll be 44, but we left two cats, and our neighbors, you know, came over to watch them, so it wasn’t so bad, yeah.

[00:08:06] Annie Sargent: The cats didn’t ….

[00:08:08] Kami Turner: They didn’t miss us too much.

[00:08:09] Annie Sargent: Oh, that’s good. Cats, they usually, so long as you don’t move them, they do great.

[00:08:14] Kami Turner: Right. Yeah. We don’t want kids, and so, to have dogs it’s a little bit more work for that too, the cats are easy.

[00:08:21] Annie Sargent: Yes. Yes. Yes. Dogs do tie you down, I know, I take my dog everywhere I go. And sometimes it’s, you have to do a little bit of planning, a lot more planning around the dogs. Yeah.

All right. so you went to Paris, you mentioned the Eiffel Tower. You mentioned the Louvre.

What else did you do on your first time in Paris? Oh, the Arc de Triomphe, of course.

Jet lag, missing the Versailles booking

[00:08:45] Kami Turner: So we were going to go to Versailles, but we missed our. We landed at 6:30 AM. And so we were planning to sleep for a few hours and then wake up maybe at 10 o’clock, and go. Because our time was at two o’clock, I believe. Well, we missed our alarm and slept until two o’clock. And so, we needed that rest anyway.

So, but then we called and they said that we can come at any time during that day. So we tried to get there. The reason why they said it was fine is because during that week they had had to evacuate a lot of people because of terrorism, so they were letting people come even if it wasn’t their time to come.

So we got on the train near our hotel. And this was where, this was a learning curve for me because we got our tickets and they told, I think he told us to go down and to the left and I thought we did that, but we got on the wrong train. And so we, we were just thinking, okay, it’s late in the day, they close at six, so let’s just get off at the next stop and just walk until we find somewhere, you know, just look around Paris.

And so we missed Versailles, but we still had a good time. And I’m not really sure where we landed off of that train, but we stopped at a restaurant and it was really good. It wasn’t, there’s a Cafe Pouchkine, I think it’s closed, but the tables said that, but I’m not sure what the name of that restaurant was.

I’ve been trying to figure it out, but we walked around, yeah, it doesn’t matter. And it was, I mean, everywhere we went, there were just, we love the old buildings, because there’s nothing like that here in the US, and everywhere we walked, it was beautiful.

Advice for the Jetlagged: Power through on the first day!

[00:10:29] Annie Sargent: So if I may give you advice, or give advice to people who are doing this, typically I really, really recommend that people don’t nap at all once they arrive, but that they just power through and stay up. And also typically, your hotel room is not ready that early, yours probably was.

[00:10:52] Kami Turner: We had to actually book it a day before, so we landed on the 22nd, so we booked it for the 21.

[00:10:58] Annie Sargent: Okay. So you had, you had planned to take a nap. That was the plan the whole time.

[00:11:05] Kami Turner: Yeah, but now, looking back, I don’t think that we will do that again.

[00:11:09] Annie Sargent: Yeah, I think it’s, I think you’re better off if you don’t, if you just reserve your hotel for the day you arrive and drop off your bags at the hotel. They will hold on to your bags, but then you can’t come back until four or something like that.

And then, by then you’ve walked outside long enough that the worst of the tiredness has worn off. And the other thing I would recommend is that people don’t make any, like any timed visits, don’t reserve anything timed for your first day, because there are always situations where you’re going to get confused, you’re going to sleep in, you’re going to, you know, something, because it’s a brand new metro system.

It’s your first time, it might’ve been your first time taking this sort of public transportation as well.

[00:12:00] Kami Turner: We’ve done it in Chicago and New York, but it was definitely new, but now that we’ve done it, I will, next time just not nap and just power through.

[00:12:10] Annie Sargent: Yes. Yes.

[00:12:12] Kami Turner: When I planned it, I was thinking this might not be a good idea, but they were closed on Monday and we were leaving on Tuesday to go to Lyon.

So I was just, let’s just try it and see, but yeah…

[00:12:25] Annie Sargent: See if we get away with it.

[00:12:27] Kami Turner: Yeah, we did not. But it didn’t damper our spirit, because I mean, there were so many beautiful things that we saw when we were walking around and it was just, it was really cool.

From the Airport into Paris

[00:12:37] Annie Sargent: So how did you make your way from the airport into the city of Paris?

[00:12:41] Kami Turner: That is another Get Your Guide thing where I think from one of your podcasts, it was kind of recommended to get a private shuttle.

[00:12:50] Annie Sargent: No, not from my podcast, I don’t think I’ve ever recommended that.

[00:12:53] Kami Turner: Maybe not. Okay. I think somebody else, somebody else made a recommendation. I knew that if we’re going to travel that long, I didn’t want to be nervous about getting how to get there, like right when we landed with all of our luggage.

So I just planned to get private shuttle just to take, you know, it’s only like $100.

[00:13:10] Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The price is not really the issue. But this is another rookie mistake because in Paris, you really don’t need to worry about finding transportation. There are hundreds of taxis. They will keep coming until kingdom come, like they never stop. And it’s a set price.

So long as you’re going into Paris itself, so if the zip code is 750, whatever, whatever, then you’re in Paris proper, you get the set price. People who want to save some money and book accommodations just outside of Paris, then there’s a problem because the standard fee does not apply for those taxi rides, and then you’re going by the meter.

[00:14:00] Kami Turner: Yeah, I do remember. Yeah, I do remember hearing something about take the, from your podcast, take the correct taxi, not the ones…

[00:14:07] Annie Sargent: Right, right, so you follow the signs for the taxi stand and it will take you outside to the curb where there’s a Disneyland like line with a roof and whatever, and it moves fast and you get on the next taxi and you’re good to go. The only issue I have with getting a ride like you did, you know, I suppose somebody was standing there with your name on a placard.

Yeah, I mean, that’s fun. Okay. That’s itself is fun, but what if the guy, I don’t know, twists his ankle and doesn’t show up, then what do you do? You know, whereas taxis, there’s hundreds of them. So there’s always another taxi. There’s not always a private driver, but, nevermind that, sorry, since this is the first time, I hope you don’t mind me picking at your…

[00:14:56] Kami Turner: No, I don’t, I love it, because I’m learning, I learn from our trip, and I learn from you, and it’s, yeah, I definitely will save the money and take the taxi next time.

[00:15:07] Annie Sargent: Well, and if you paid a hundred for the private, the taxi would have been less, because a taxi into Paris is even, I mean, it depends where exactly, you know, what side of the river you’re going to, but it’s $65 is the most you would ever pay.

[00:15:22] Kami Turner: Okay, yeah, that’s good. Definitely a taxi next time.

[00:15:26] Annie Sargent: Yeah.

[00:15:27] Kami Turner: Taxis and no nap.

[00:15:28] Annie Sargent: Exactly. Taxi and no nap. We’re good.

Yeah. But the one thing you did get right, which is, I liked hearing that from you, is the fact of, you know, don’t stress about the food, there’s good food everywhere in Paris. I mean, some you’ll like better than others, obviously, that’s just life in America as well, but you’re not going to go hungry.

[00:15:52] Kami Turner: I’m telling you, everywhere we went, the food was really good.

[00:15:54] Annie Sargent: Excellent. That’s excellent. What else did you do in Paris?

[00:15:58] Kami Turner: Let’s see. We really just walked around a lot. There were so many things to see. We walked along this, is it the Seine River?

[00:16:07] Annie Sargent: Seine, yes.

[00:16:08] Kami Turner: Seine River. And saw some really amazing views from there, at night especially, and I didn’t know that the Eiffel Tower at night lit up, every five minutes, I think?

Fifteen minutes?

[00:16:22] Annie Sargent: No, it’s every hour on the hour for five minutes.

[00:16:26] Kami Turner: Okay, yes, that’s it. And we loved that.

And honestly, there was, everywhere we walked, it was just beautiful, and we tried to leave it open for, just not really plan anything, just kind of walk around and see all the sites and take pictures of all the buildings, and there’s nothing like that here.

[00:16:46] Annie Sargent: Yes, that’s true. That’s true.

[00:16:48] Kami Turner: I think we took pictures of the military academy as well.

That was really nice.

[00:16:52] Annie Sargent: Yep.

[00:16:52] Kami Turner: Mm

[00:16:53] Annie Sargent: It’s right by the Eiffel Tower. I mean, not right by, it’s like it’s maybe 300 yards away or something. 500 yards away.

[00:17:00] Kami Turner: Hmm. Yeah, we did use Uber a lot to get around.

[00:17:03] Annie Sargent: Did you?

[00:17:04] Kami Turner: Yes.

[00:17:04] Annie Sargent: How was that? Mm-Hmm.

[00:17:05] Kami Turner: We never drove in Paris. it was cool, but it was scary if we had been driving, but the way everybody drives there and where the Arc de Triomphe is, where the road is just open, I was like, there’s no way, there’s no way I could do that.

So I was really glad to be with a French driver.

[00:17:24] Annie Sargent: A lot of French people who don’t want to do that either.

[00:17:27] Kami Turner: Yeah. This guy, one guy was really confident. So I’ll just close my eyes and yeah…

[00:17:33] Annie Sargent: You have to be, if you’re not confident, don’t go there, it’s not going to go well. Yeah. That’s fun. That’s great.

You never had any problems with Uber drivers, not understanding what you wanted or…?

[00:17:47] Kami Turner: No, not at all. Not at all.

[00:17:49] Annie Sargent: That’s great.

[00:17:50] Kami Turner: We left Paris on a Tuesday and went to Lyon. That was beautiful.

[00:17:56] Annie Sargent: How many days in Paris?

[00:17:58] Kami Turner: Two and a half days in Paris.

[00:18:00] Annie Sargent: Oh, that was quick. That was really quick in Paris.

[00:18:02] Kami Turner: Yes. So we, we landed on Sunday and left on a Tuesday.

[00:18:08] Annie Sargent: And this is the other piece of advice, if we were doing a, an itinerary consult, as I do almost every day, I would have told you with that shorter time in Paris, don’t try to go to Versailles. It’s too far away for the short time you have, you know.

[00:18:25] Kami Turner: Yeah.

In Lyon

[00:18:25] Annie Sargent: Why did you pick Lyon next? What motivated you to go to Lyon?

[00:18:30] Kami Turner: So I had planned all of the trip, but my husband saw this manor in Tarare, I believe that’s how you say it.

[00:18:39] Annie Sargent: Tarare. Yes. T-A-R-A-R-E. Tarare.

[00:18:45] Kami Turner: And, I kind of built around that, and Lyon was the next closest bigger city, so that place was really cool. It was five rooms, and you eat breakfast and dinner with the people that are staying there.

And apparently, there were some people that come through a lot, and there was one man from England, two French ladies and they spoke really good English and then a couple of people there spoke French and very little English. And it, I spoke through Google Translate a lot, which was really neat.

[00:19:17] Annie Sargent: That’s cool.

[00:19:19] Kami Turner: But it was just, it was kind of cool to be there and talk with them and get their experience, and just sit at the table with all these people from all over the world. And it was a very beautiful, older place, and there were peacocks there that apparently are there all the time.

And the little town of Tarare is very small, but very vibrant.

There aren’t many Americans that go there apparently because when they saw us and heard us speak they were like, oh wow.

[00:19:48] Annie Sargent: Yeah.

[00:19:49] Kami Turner: And we saw ruins in Lyon.

That was kind of like Roman ruins, it looked like, they were called… La Fourvière.

Yes, that was one of my things my husband really wanted to see, so that was another thing.

And I had also found the Paul Bocuse restaurant.

[00:20:07] Annie Sargent: Sure.

[00:20:07] Kami Turner: I think he was the inspiration for Ratatouille, maybe. But that was an incredible, I would go back to France just to go there.

[00:20:20] Annie Sargent: You liked it, huh?

[00:20:21] Kami Turner: To Lyon, just to go there because it was so really, it was so good. We didn’t know that there was another version of Notre Dame in Lyon, too.

[00:20:30] Annie Sargent: Oh, sure, sure. Almost every French city has a cathedral and many of them are called Notre Dame de something or other. So yes, we have them all over the place.

[00:20:41] Kami Turner: Yeah, there’s nothing like that here, so we always love to see the cathedrals. Cathedral Saint John Baptiste, well there’s one kind of in New York, but Cathedral Saint John Baptiste was another beautiful place that we saw in Lyon.

And we did get rent a car there.

Taking the train in France

[00:20:59] Annie Sargent: Okay. Yes. Good. So how did you make your way to Lyon? Did you fly or did you take the train?

[00:21:06] Kami Turner: We took the train.

[00:21:07] Annie Sargent: You took the train. How was that?

[00:21:08] Kami Turner: Oh it was awesome, I booked that, I think it’s Nui and we went from Paris to Lyon on Part Dieu and rented a car there, but the train ride was perfect. I mean, the seats were very comfortable. I think I booked for first class in that just to make sure we were…

[00:21:25] Annie Sargent: Yeah.

[00:21:26] Kami Turner: And it wasn’t expensive at all.

It was really a lot cheaper than I thought it would be.

[00:21:30] Annie Sargent: Yes, so first class in an airplane is very expensive. First class in a train is a little more but doable for most mortals.

[00:21:39] Kami Turner: Yeah, my husband said it was really exceptionally romantic to take the train, and to see the countryside, and we don’t have a train here in South Carolina like that, so we loved, it was only a couple hours to get there.

[00:21:55] Annie Sargent: It’s fast. Yes. Yes. Because the train goes pretty fast. I mean, it doesn’t go as fast as a plane. You know, it’s booking it. It’s very often 360 kilometers per hour, which is in miles, what, 250? 300? 250 more or less. Yeah.

[00:22:13] Kami Turner: And when another train comes right besides you really fast, it scared me a couple of times.

[00:22:20] Annie Sargent: You’re like, ah, what is that?

[00:22:23] Kami Turner: It scared me a couple times, but it was, it was perfect.

Renting a car in France

[00:22:26] Kami Turner: We rented our car. Another thing, the mistake I made was, I rented a car, but I rented it for the wrong day. I thought we could just Uber to our hotel, but it was farther than I thought from Lyon.

So they were very helpful in getting us another car and, you know, figuring that out.

[00:22:43] Annie Sargent: That’s cool. What company did you use?

[00:22:45] Kami Turner: I think it was Avis. I don’t remember. Should have had that up. Let me see if I can tell you.

[00:22:52] Annie Sargent: Yeah, I’m looking the distance so between Tarare and La Part Dieu the train station in Lyon, the big train station in Lyon, it is 54 minutes. It’s 45 kilometers. So yeah, that’s, getting an Uber that far.

[00:23:09] Kami Turner: No, yeah. So we just rented another car and canceled the one we had and it was no problem. They really, they had something available and we got on our way.

Driving in France

[00:23:19] Annie Sargent: Wonderful, wonderful. How did you find driving in France?

[00:23:23] Kami Turner: We were so glad that we’re driving on the right side of the road like we do here. I don’t know that we could have taken another curveball. Riding on the left side of the road would have been not good. I was worried about that, but I was glad to see that it was the right side of the road.

[00:23:40] Annie Sargent: Did you get a ticket?

[00:23:42] Kami Turner: We did not.

I remember from your podcast about having to drive, yes, about having to drive the speed limit. And it wasn’t that hard to know what the signs were saying. And we measure here in miles, so different, you know, learn about kilometers. Yeah. Driving in France was perfect. It was kind of like driving here and you just go to the speed limit.

We did get our, we already had our international driver’s licenses just in case, but we never had to use them. I knew we didn’t, but I’d rather have them and not need them than.

[00:24:13] Annie Sargent: Sure, lots of people get them just in case, but honestly, the international driver’s license is just for people whose driver’s license is written in another alphabet. So in Arabic, or in Chinese, or in Greek or, you know, but if it’s written in the same alphabet as French, which English definitely is, then you don’t need it.

I’ve never met anyone who was asked for one in France, so…

[00:24:39] Kami Turner: Yeah, we probably we won’t get one again if, when we come back, but…

(Mid-roll Ad Spot)

Manor Stay in Tarare

[00:24:43] Annie Sargent: So this, this manor that you stayed at in Tarare, you liked it a lot? Was it restful?

[00:24:51] Kami Turner: It was very peaceful. So they give you a key. We got there kind of late, but the man was still awake. So he gave us a key because you have the, it’s like a gate to get in the parking lot and it’s locked at night or it’s locked every time you go in. So they give you a little key fob for that. And a key to your room looks like the old keys.

It’s very peaceful. It’s quiet over there and there’s like a fountain in the back and the room was huge and very restful and we like to open the windows. I love the fact that you can open all the windows in every where we stayed. And we just opened the windows and the air was perfect and cool and it was just really, really peaceful.

[00:25:36] Annie Sargent: Wonderful.

It was a beautiful place, yeah.

And though from there, did you, so you went back into Lyon to visit, right? The city. Right. And where did you park when you did that?

[00:25:47] Kami Turner: We found street parking.

There was really never any issue, well, it was an issue to find parking first, but we’ve parked on the street and the roads are tiny.

[00:25:57] Annie Sargent: Yes.

[00:25:58] Kami Turner: But we didn’t have to pay to park anywhere.

[00:26:00] Annie Sargent: Yes, yes, I like to tell people that, I mean, in the US, not every state, but a lot of places in the US, even residential streets, I mean, they’re wide enough to land an airplane. They’re massive. Well, in France, it’s not like that at all. They’re like barely wide enough for a car, perhaps two.

[00:26:22] Kami Turner: Especially here in South Carolina, big trucks.

[00:26:24] Annie Sargent: Yeah, and so you should plan. Did you hit anything while you were driving? Did you hit the curb, hit a post, anything like that?

[00:26:32] Kami Turner: I, well, one time my husband was backing out and we were, he was looking at all the cameras, but he didn’t see like this pole that was sitting there. So it bent back the mirror, but it’s supposed to bend back anyway. So it wasn’t a problem, but that we didn’t hit anything else. I thought many times that we were going to, but…

[00:26:54] Annie Sargent: Did you drive as well or was it just him?

[00:26:57] Kami Turner: I did. I did.

Yeah. Good for you!

Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to, I was just like, I want to drive in France.

It’s the simple things for us because that was our first time there.

[00:27:06] Annie Sargent: Yeah. It’s wonderful that you tried it. You did a lot of daring things like going on the train, renting a car, there’s plenty of people listening to you who’ve been to France many times who haven’t done those things. So good on you.

[00:27:19] Kami Turner: I don’t know, I was just, I planned it, just, researched and tried, and tried to go over it, and go over it many times. I even printed out all of our tickets and everything to just have paper versions. I think I heard that from you too, but just in case, you know, our phones didn’t work or were stolen or something.

[00:27:34] Annie Sargent: Right, so you had a phone, you had a data plan with your phones, right?

[00:27:39] Kami Turner: Right. We called before we left to get the international.

[00:27:43] Annie Sargent: Yeah, and it was, it worked fine.

[00:27:46] Kami Turner: It did. Yep. Everything was good. It was just, kind of turn it off and then turn it back on. And you’re in France now.

[00:27:52] Annie Sargent: Yeah, that’s perfect, yeah.

Now, the other thing people worry about is paying for tolls, paying for gas, because sometimes American credit cards used to be very prickly, not so much anymore, but how was your experience with that?

[00:28:08] Kami Turner: Right. We had to, every time that we went, we went to Chamonix Mont Blanc and we paid a toll to get through there and we used our credit cards every time and our debit cards just held it up to the thing and it just dinged and we were good.

[00:28:21] Annie Sargent: Contactless. You use contactless. Yeah.

[00:28:24] Kami Turner: Yes, it was perfect, because I was nervous about having to write, having to pick out the right change for that, and how to know, and when I found out they took credit card, I was very glad to know that.

[00:28:34] Annie Sargent: Yeah. They take your credit card. And contactless is better than swiping your card. And what’s even better is if you use Apple Pay or Google Pay at home, then use that in France. It works perfectly well.

[00:28:51] Kami Turner: I was able to use that too, and I had my Apple watch on, so I just used that in case, you know, I didn’t have my phone out.

[00:28:58] Annie Sargent: Yes. And the Apple watch is really very handy when you, like at a toll, because you can, you know, usually you can reach your arm long enough.

[00:29:07] Kami Turner: Right?

[00:29:08] Annie Sargent: Those dang things are too far. My arm is short.

[00:29:13] Kami Turner: Yes. I totally agree.

[00:29:16] Annie Sargent: Because I don’t want to scrape the side of my car, so I’m like carefully, you know, pulling in slowly. So now I have one of those things where it just debits my card automatically. I don’t even, I have to slow down a little bit, but that’s it.

[00:29:29] Kami Turner: Yeah. We have one of those here. Our toll road.

[00:29:33] Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah.

It’s very handy, but you can only do that if you live here. You have to have a local address or it’s not going to work, so, yeah.

What else did you do in Lyon that you enjoyed?

[00:29:45] Kami Turner: We found this place called Doc’s 40 restaurant. And when we went in there, there was a guy playing, he was playing the keyboard and singing. And a lot of the songs were, you know, American songs, and it was really, yeah, neat to hear him singing those. My husband and I are both singers, too, so we were really watching, you know, really focused in on him, because it was really cool to see those.

Oh, that was really cool to be at a restaurant here and have music live, so…

[00:30:14] Annie Sargent: That’s great.

[00:30:16] Kami Turner: Yeah, and people were there, and then they sang La Vie en Rose, and that was, that’s one of my favorites. And the people that were in there started singing too.

[00:30:24] Annie Sargent: Sure. That’s great.

[00:30:26] Kami Turner: Mm hmm. We found, you know, the ruins in Lyon and driving around Lyon, we really liked that city a lot. It was kind of like one of our cities here, maybe like Charlotte. And so, we just like to be in the city driving around and walking around there.

Seeing those Roman ruins was really like a highlight. We stayed there a good bit. We didn’t get there in time to go to the museum inside, and it was raining that day too, so…

[00:30:52] Annie Sargent: Mmm.

[00:30:52] Kami Turner: But it was, Lyon is a beautiful city.

[00:30:55] Annie Sargent: Yeah, and the food, did you try any of the local specialties? They do this quenelle thing. It’s like a white sausage. It’s usually served with a creamy something or other. No, you don’t remember?

[00:31:09] Kami Turner: I didn’t, no, I don’t remember

[00:31:12] Annie Sargent: Well, they also have this salad, Salade Lyonnaise, so it’s like a lettuce base, but then they put croutons and bacon and an egg on top, like a fried egg.

[00:31:26] Kami Turner: I think I did have that.

[00:31:27] Annie Sargent: Yeah. You had that?

[00:31:28] Kami Turner: Yeah, I think I did have that and that was really good. I mean, I can’t remember where. There was a restaurant in Tarare, and we were the only ones in there because it was really late. A lot of the restaurants, in the smaller towns, they’re not open. I do remember hearing you say that too.

They’re not open at times that aren’t specified for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

[00:31:48] Annie Sargent: Yeah. So it was very hard finding somewhere open late.

Yeah. The tiny towns are, I mean, it’s very rural. It’s not a party town. Everybody’s at home watching TV.

[00:32:03] Kami Turner: I did see they were getting ready for the, what is it? The game, not the Olympics, but the other game that was there.

[00:32:09] Annie Sargent: The Rugby World Cup.

The Rugby Cup. Yes.

That was fun, right?

That was really cool to see. I mean, it’s not really popular here to me, but it was really cool to see that everywhere. And we were in a restaurant and people were watching it and we just started watching it with them.

It was, it was awesome.

Yeah, yeah, rugby is fun. I would much rather watch rugby than soccer, personally.

It’s just more action, more points. I don’t think you ever have a rugby game where it’s 0-0 at the end.

I have problem with that. Like, 0-0 at the end? No. No. That’s not going to do.

[00:32:47] Kami Turner: No, that’s what they do at soccer game I went to and it was 0-0 and I was like, oh, so they’re not going to try to get a point? You know?

[00:32:56] Annie Sargent: Nobody wins.

That’s it. Nobody wins. I’m like, well that’s disappointing.

I would like a clear winner at the end.

[00:33:06] Kami Turner: Right.

[00:33:08] Annie Sargent: That’s why I like basketball, volleyball, all of these games where they, point they yes, March Madness. Yes. Yes. Where, you know, there’s a lot of points and it’s, it’s more fun to watch.

Anyway, so being in France during the rugby game was fun. The rugby cup.

[00:33:25] Kami Turner: Yes. It wasn’t crowded to where it was hard to get around. I don’t think.

[00:33:29] Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah. Did you hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth when we lost the final? Urgh. It was terrible. Oh!

[00:33:41] Kami Turner: I’m sorry!

[00:33:42] Annie Sargent: Oh well, what are you going to do? What are you going to do?

General Advice When Visiting France

[00:33:45] Annie Sargent: Do you have general advice for people coming to France? Like things that you learned that you would like people to know about?

[00:33:53] Kami Turner: Oh, it’s interesting what you said. At the end of the document, I asked you, what did you learn about France on this trip? And I like your response: how to maneuver around better for the next time.

Yes.

[00:34:04] Annie Sargent: That everyone was very nice. The value of the euros. What do you mean the value of the euros?

[00:34:10] Kami Turner: I just learned, I think that it’s gone above the US Dollar now.

[00:34:15] Annie Sargent: Oh, it goes up and down. You know, sometimes it’s above, sometimes it’s below.

[00:34:19] Kami Turner: I think it was just how to use the Euros, because we’d never used them before, and how to count out change and things, and tips. I remember your podcast on tips, and so that helped a lot, and that was really interesting to learn how to not spend too much or how to spend the correct amount.

Mm hmm. You also mentioned that churches aren’t really split up in denominations like in the USA.

That’s true.

Yes, so you don’t find, you know, Baptist, Methodist. We’ve done too many things over here with religion, and I just like that church is very respectful and meaningful, and it’s huge and high, you know, very high church, I guess you’d say,

And it’s just kind of all in one. There’s too many splits here in the US.

[00:35:12] Annie Sargent: Yeah. You do have a lot of denominations in the US. Yes. We have a few, but mostly, you know, there’s Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Jews. We have other flavors of religions, but they are very small compared to in the US.

[00:35:27] Kami Turner: And we love that.

[00:35:29] Annie Sargent: Yeah, yeah, yeah,

[00:35:30] Kami Turner: I think next time, too, we’ll not plan too many timed things and we’ll pay more attention to where we are and take in where we are instead of trying to get to the next thing. And maybe spend more time in Paris. More time in one city than going from a few days in Paris and then a few days in Lyon to go to Switzerland or, you know, things like that.

[00:35:54] Annie Sargent: So you went to Switzerland as well?

[00:35:56] Kami Turner: We stayed more days in Lyon, I think three nights, four days in Lyon, and then drove to Geneva.

[00:36:02] Annie Sargent: Mm hmm. How did you like that?

[00:36:04] Kami Turner: It was really cool. It was neat to see, you know, driving through. We wanted to stop in, I think it’s Annecy? Annecy? I planned on doing that, but we didn’t have time before we got to…

[00:36:17] Annie Sargent: That’s a really pretty town. That’s too bad that you didn’t have time. It’s a really, really pretty town.

[00:36:22] Kami Turner: Really, really want to go there next time.

[00:36:24] Annie Sargent: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:36:25] Kami Turner: So next time I plan to stay in one place longer instead of trying to hit three different huge cities.

[00:36:32] Annie Sargent: Yes. A lot of people say this on trip reports, you know, less is more. There are some towns where there’s like in Tarare, you probably wouldn’t want to spend a whole week there. There’s probably not enough to do there, but there are plenty of cities in France where a week will go fast because it’s just a lot to do, a lot to visit, a lot to, you know, a lot to experience there.

It’s really good when they, like you, when you dare, you know, go out of your comfort zone and go out and see the world and experience things, that’s fantastic, but there are too many people who just want to, they think perhaps that this is my one and only chance and they, they put in too much, you know.

[00:37:16] Kami Turner: Yes. The only time we had a bad time on the train was when you get there, you need to know which number train you’re on. We were supposed to be on one on our last train ride and the guy was kind of, you know, in a hurry that told us where he told us to go to the last one. So I was headed to the front and he had told us to go to the last one.

Well, we had to get on whether it was the right or not. So we jumped on. It was the very last train. So we had to take all of our luggage and go through all of the trains until we got to ours.

[00:37:53] Annie Sargent: Yeah, so that’s, that’s easily done. But with trains on your ticket, it will tell you the car number and sometimes people, so you see a big number one and a big number two on the train, that’s first class, second class. You have to look for the smaller number that gives you the car number. And you want to go to your right car number and you can even plan that in advance because there’s always a place in the train station where it says that, it kind of aligns, the train has to stop in a specific spot.

And so they know, they put markers on the platform. And so marker Y, they know that it’s going to be more or less car number 12. Or something like that. So if you’re in car number 12, you go looking for Y. But that’s, that comes with experience. I wouldn’t expect people on their first trip get that right, because that’s a bit much to ask.

[00:38:57] Kami Turner: Yes, I did learn that very quickly.

[00:39:00] Annie Sargent: Yeah, there are French people who take the train all the time. They still haven’t noticed that they can actually tell exactly where their car is going to be if they pay attention to the signs. Fantastic.

Will There Be Another Visit to France?

[00:39:12] Annie Sargent: So do you think you’ll come back to France, or to Europe?

[00:39:15] Kami Turner: Definitely. I mean, we got back, we, before I left, I’d planned on getting global entry, and so we had gotten approved for that and everything, so when we came back through customs in Atlanta. The attendant told us, oh, you’re approved for global entry, just go over to the officer to get your cards or, you know, get the interview.

And we got our cards in a week and now we can just go anywhere.

Yeah, so we’re definitely, yes, we definitely want to come back. I mean, we keep looking through our pictures and every time we talk about it, we just talk about how awesome it was and how, what a great trip and what, how beautiful everything is.

And we’re excited to come back one day.

[00:39:54] Annie Sargent: Wonderful. Well, Kami, thank you so much for being generous and sharing your experience with everybody because, and especially putting up with my hectic uh,

[00:40:03] Kami Turner: Oh, no, that was fine. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:40:07] Annie Sargent: It’s wonderful to have you and thank you for helping everybody out because the perspective of the first time visitor is invaluable.

[00:40:16] Kami Turner: I hope it helps somebody.

[00:40:19] Annie Sargent: Oh, I’m sure it will. I’m sure it will. Because there are a lot of people who just go on their misconceptions, but there are a lot of people who go looking for information from this podcast.

It’s going to get listened to thousands and thousands of times.

[00:40:33] Kami Turner: If I can make it and I’m from South Carolina, then I think anybody can do it.

[00:40:40] Annie Sargent: Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you so much, Kami.

[00:40:44] Kami Turner: Thank you. Merci.

Thank you, Patrons

[00:40:52] Annie Sargent: Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. Patrons get several exclusive rewards for doing so. You can see them at patreon.com/joinus. Thank you all for supporting this podcast. Some of you have been doing it for many years. You are fantastic!

And a shout out this week to new patrons, Alisha Avril, Jay Hardcastle, Lisa Levenson and Patricia Rand.

Wonderful to have you on board in the community of francophiles who keep this podcast going. And thank you Pat Bader for upgrading your support to Groupie du Podcast, and to Shelly Rorer for upgrading to Ambassadeur du Podcast and yearly support to boot, that’s really generous of you. Thank you, Shelley.

And my current patrons, if you would like to, it would really be helpful if you would switch your membership to one of the newer Patreon rewards, even if you just stay at the same level of support, because that way I could close down the old ones and just get rid of them.

Right now I can’t get rid of them because I’d be getting rid of you. And I don’t want to do that, do I? So to join this wonderful community of francophiles go to patreon.com/joinus.

And to support Elyse, go to patreon.com/ElysArt.

Itinerary Consultations with Annie

[00:42:24] Annie Sargent: If you’re planning a trip to France and have questions that didn’t get answered in an episode of the podcast, you can hire me to be your itinerary consultant. I offer two levels of itinerary consultations. The Bonjour service gives you an hour long conversation on Zoom to ask your questions and get some tailored recommendations.

And for those wanting a more detailed guide, the VIP service offers also an hour long consultation on Zoom, but it includes a follow up document that outlines everything we discussed, plus a roundup of the best advice featured on this podcast.

To begin, visit joinusinfrance.com/boutique and follow the instructions.

Self-Guided GPS tours on the VoiceMap app

[00:43:07] Annie Sargent: And of course, you can take me in your pocket with my self-guided GPS tours on the VoiceMap app. I have lots of tours, Eiffel Tower, Le Marais, Montmartre, Latin Quarter, Ile de la Cité, Saint Germain des Prés, and the new food tour around Les Halles.

With a VoiceMap tour, you can explore Paris at your own leisure, giving you complete control of your time and experience.

And they’re pretty cheap. I mean, come on, it’s an amazing value.

Reviews for the Ile de la Cité Tour

[00:43:39] Annie Sargent: Here are a few reviews of my tours from this week about my Ile de la Cité tour.

Someone wrote: ‘My first tour, completed it with my 12 year old daughter, one earpiece each’, which is totally something you can do, you don’t have to buy two if there’s two of you.

‘And we really enjoyed the tour. Great to hear the history and easy to follow. Even the brasserie recommendation at the end was good.’

Perfect. Thanks.

Food Tour review

[00:44:03] Annie Sargent: And about my food tour: ‘Fantastic tour, even from my home in Michigan.’ Ah, that’s another thing you can do with my VoiceMap tours is you can listen to them ahead of time, it’s the virtual tour is what they call it. And this person says: ‘we’ll definitely follow the tour next time I’m in Paris. Your tours are the best. Merci beaucoup.’

Thank you so much.

Snap Election Time

[00:44:24] Annie Sargent: All right, let’s talk about this snap election. The only good thing about this snap election is that it’s not going to go on and on.

We’ll know the result by July 7th at 8pm, and the general release for this episode is July 7th at 6pm. There may be a few recounts, but the voting system in France is so simple that recounts don’t take very long.

I think President Emmanuel Macron messed up big time. This is not just scoring against your own camp, which he did. It’s doing it when all he had to do was read the research, see why people were so unhappy with him, and make the biggest improvements that he could before the next regularly scheduled election, which was almost three years away. He thought he could shock people into returning to the safe, centrist candidates by just forcing them to vote again quickly, and it did not work.

I cannot say that it didn’t work at all, because Macron’s party got 7 more percent votes than they had at the European election, and voter participation was much, much higher, but it wasn’t enough. Because while more centrist voters went to the polls when they had skipped the European election, Le Pen’s voters also went to the poll in high numbers. Those people never miss an election and her party held steady at around 40% of the votes.

And the brand new left wing coalition did much better than Macron’s party as well. This doesn’t mean that Le Pen’s party did great all over France. In my district, the left wing candidate came in first by a lot, next was Macron’s party, and then right behind Macron was Le Pen’s party.

All three got enough votes to be on the second round of voting in my district. That means I’ll get to vote for Macron’s party but because it’s pretty safe to say that the left wing representative is going to win in my district anyway. It’s like in the US, you know how some states are going to vote no matter what, right? Well, it’s the same in France.

The only question that is left at this point is, will Le Pen’s party get a simple majority, or perhaps will just be short of a simple majority of votes in parliament, or will they get a super majority?

They are going to rake in the seats, okay? They probably will double their numbers in parliament. There is zero doubt about that. But will it be enough for a super majority? In all but three districts in France, and we have something like 570, we’re having more than one candidate against Le Pen would have resulted in a win for the Le Pen’s party, one candidate dropped out, either from the centrist party or the left wing party. They’ve made all sorts of strange arrangements that nobody would have thought possible three weeks ago. Today, I heard Macron’s Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, call on his voters to vote for the left wing party, if there is no centrist candidate in their district, which is going to be a lot of places. Maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t.

There are a lot of centrists like me who are going to need to hold their noses to vote for the left wing. Will they do that or will they just not vote at all? I don’t know. But I doubt turnout will be as good as it was for the first round because there are going to be people who just can’t do this. Okay?

In my district, we still have running left wing way ahead, centrist and right wing right close to each other. And I will vote centrist because, it’s a given that the left wing candidate is going to win in my district but that is not clear at all in most places in France.

We will know soon. I think that no matter what happens, not much is going to change in France as a result of this election. I’ve told you a million times, French people hate change. That’s one of the reasons why Macron is losing big. He implemented too many really unpopular changes, but will a new government be able to change back or change anything at all?

I doubt it. Politicians talk big and then when it’s time to make the changes, they just go quiet, you know, they just don’t talk anymore.

And I’m pretty sure I said on the podcast that Macron would have to implement tough immigration policies after he lost a lot of seats already in 2022 for the Parliamentary Elections of 2022.

But implementing tough immigration policies in France is seen as a right wing thing, and he said he would, and he didn’t do it. But you know who did? Countries like the Netherlands where they have a left wing government and that government became very tough on immigration because they could see the writing on the wall.

Somehow in France the only party who can talk law and order is Le Pen and so there you have it. Two of the biggest grievances that French people have, is that there’s too much immigration and too much permissiveness towards immigrants who break the law.

That’s what we hear from people. Is that based on reality or just perception? I don’t know. I’m not as, you know, I don’t study these things, but my family members are not fascists. And they complain about irritating experiences when going about their daily lives in Toulouse. And they live in the city center.

I live just outside of Toulouse in a village, nothing ever happens here. But I had my own grating experience with a couple of immigrants just a few days ago, not in my village, but you know, I’m not going to let that decide how to vote, but lots of people, that’s all it takes is, you know, somebody gets on their nerves and they’re like, okay, we got to get tough on these people.

The other thing is, and that’s just as big, is that prices are out of control in France. Prices for commodities are, electricity prices have doubled in two years. Sure, power is even more expensive in England, Belgium, and Germany, but French people don’t live there, so they care about the prices here, right?

Food prices are still going up. Not as fast as they were two years ago, but they are still going up. Lots of people are struggling. And they’re sick and tired of hearing promises that sound good, but nothing happens. You know, it’s just promises. And yes, it is easier to find a job right now in France than it was when Macron started his first term.

But you know, people take that for granted at this point, they’re like, oh yeah, this is how it is now. So there you have it. I don’t know if Le Pen is going to get a simple majority or just short of a simple majority, or if she’s going to get a super majority, which is entirely possible still, but she’ll have close to a majority. Okay?

She will not be the prime minister, no matter what. She’s looking to become the first female French president in three years, and she has her right wing, her guy, surprisingly popular, that would be going for the prime minister.

Now it’s possible that the center and left wing parties will find it in them to govern together.

It’s possible, but that’s not how French politics work. Even if they have the numbers, they won’t get much done. But they could stop Le Pen from doing things that are egregious, that they already say they want to pass. So, you know, that would be better than nothing. What I’m going to do on Sunday is vote first thing in the morning, get in my car and drive to Spain for a few days in the sun.

It will help me clear my head and realize that life goes on no matter what happens in the elections. I’ve been through elections in the US that I was not happy about, and yet life moved on.

I don’t think I’ll discuss this much more on the podcast because this is a travel podcast, but I’ll probably start a chat with my patrons about this just to see if they are interested in talking it over some more.

My thanks to podcast editors Anne and Cristian Cotovan who produced the transcripts. Next week on the podcast, an episode to be released on July 14th, about becoming French with Ignacio Martinez.

And his was an inspiring story of immigration done right, which I really enjoyed chatting with Ignacio.

Thank you so much for listening, and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together. Au revoir.

Copyright

[00:53:26] Annie Sargent: The Join Us in France travel podcast is written, hosted, and produced by Annie Sargent and Copyright 2024 by AddictedToFrance. It is released under a Creative Commons, attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives license.

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Transcript for Episode 501: Discovering France: A First-Time Adventure