526 - Join Us in France Travel Podcast

Table of Contents for this Episode

Discussed in this Episode

Nice
Cannes
Disneyland Paris
Chambord
Bordeaux
San Sebastian
Zaragoza
Barcelona
Perpignan
Avignon
Puyloubier
Valensole
Tuileries Gardens
Luxembourg Gardens
Chateau de Chambord
Bordeaux Water Mirror
Saint Tropez
Ceret
Au Pied du Cochon
Lobster Paradise
Holiday Inn Perpignan
Galerie Lafayette Nice
PSG Stadium (Parc des Princes)
Green River Cruises
Marvel Hotel Disneyland
G7 Taxi App
Lavender fields
French Paralympics infrastructure

[00:00:00] Annie: This is Join Us in France, episode 526, cinq cent vingt-six.

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

[00:00:32] Annie: Today, I bring you a trip report with Suzy Klatt, and talk about her unforgettable family trip to France and a bit of Spain as well.

From enchanting horse carriage rides, to magical Disney experiences, discover tips, delights, and heartfelt stories that will inspire your next journey.

Stay tuned for an adventure packed episode.

This podcast is supported by donors and listeners who buy my tours and services, including my Itinerary Consult Service, my GPS self-guided tours of Paris on the VoiceMap app, or take a day trip with me around the Southwest of France in my electric car. You can browse all of that at my boutique joinusinfrance.com/boutique.

And Patreon supporters get new episodes as soon as they are ready and ad-free. If that sounds good to you, be like them, follow the link in the show notes.

Magazine Segment

[00:01:29] Annie: There won’t be a magazine part of the podcast today because this episode had to be banked early so Christian and family can get some well deserved time off over the holidays.

So sadly, no new patrons to thank this week.But wasn’t one of your New Year’s resolutions this year to make your favorite podcaster happy? Why thank you so much!

To join our wonderful community of Francophiles, go to patreon.com/joinus.

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

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s that magical time again, when we all convince ourselves that this year, for sure, we’ll go to the gym, eat more vegetables, and finally learn how to properly fold a fitted sheet.

Spoiler alert, we won’t. But hey, it’s the thought that counts, right? I just want to take a moment to say thank you for being here, for listening, and for laughing with me, or at me throughout the year. Your support means the world to me and honestly, you saved me a fortune in therapy pills. You are my people.

So here’s to 2025, may it be filled with big adventures. tiny victories, and the occasional pastry that’s just too good to share!

And remember, life is like French cheese. It’s better when you let it age and savor every bite. Cheers to a wonderful year ahead, and as always, let’s keep exploring, learning, and making the most of this wild ride.

Bonne année! Bonne santé! À bientôt!

Introduction and Trip Overview

[00:03:25] Annie: Bonjour, Suzy Klatt and welcome to Join Us in France.

[00:03:28] Suzie: Bonjour, Annie.

[00:03:30] Annie: Wonderful to see you. Your background is Paris, I love it!

All right. So you came to France, between early June and the middle of July, 2023.

[00:03:45] Suzie: Yes.

[00:03:45] Annie: Right? So it’s been a while, but you have, you took some good notes. I loved it when I read through your document because you suggest so many good things.

So it was you, your husband, your three children. You’re going to tell us in just a minute all the places that you went to.

First Impressions and Travel Challenges

[00:04:02] Annie: But this was your first time traveling, wasn’t it?

[00:04:06] Suzie: Correct. my husband had been overseas when he was in high school, but for myself, I’ve never left the country. So I’ve never left Australia.

[00:04:13] Annie: Wow. Wow. And you did this with three children, two, six, and nine at the time, which is, you know, that’s daring!

[00:04:21] Suzie: Yep. Yep. It was. We were actually meant to take the trip in 2020, but with COVID, we actually had to cancel a couple of months before our scheduled trip, and we canceled everything. So we tried to redo that trip, when we finally got our dream, which came true last year.

[00:04:36] Annie: Wonderful. Okay.

Exploring Paris and Disneyland

[00:04:37] Annie: So tell us all the places you went and how long you stayed, because this is unusual. You stayed a long time, overall. So do tell us about that.

[00:04:46] Suzie: Yes, so, we landed in Nice, but we spent six nights in Cannes at first. Then we went to Disneyland for six nights, then Paris for nine nights, Chambord for one night, Bordeaux just for a one nighter.We went to Spain for a little bit, so San Sebastian, Zaragoza, Barcelona, then Perpignan for one night. Avignon was a day trip on our way to Puyloubier in the Provence region. And then Valensole were for the lavender fields, was a day visit, and followed by five Nights in Nice before flying home.

[00:05:23] Annie: So you spent a good long time both in Paris and at Disneyland. What surprised me is six nights at Disneyland, although it does make sense. I mean, you have young children. How was that for you guys?

[00:05:34] Suzie: Magical, a dream come true, we look at the photos every day that come up on the iPad and photos on our phones and on our Apple Watches, all that sort of stuff, so it’s just, we get to relive that every day through the photos that we took.

[00:05:46] Annie: That’s wonderful. Yeah, because most people, you know, if people ask me how long should I spend at Disneyland, normally a day or two is sufficient, but it’s true that with three children, they probably wanted to do the same attractions over and over again.

[00:06:00] Suzie: With us, it was more to, we wanted to take our time. We actually booked a lot of character dining, so we had a full board meal plan, which turned out to be a bit too much for us, too much food, but we did spend a lot of time having meals at the princess restaurants, and at the character restaurants so that the children could have encounters with the characters, and take all the photos, and get the autographs, and so forth.

So there was actually on our last day that we were there, I was walking through lands of Disneyland that I hadn’t seen in the whole time that we’d been there. And I said to my husband, Oh, I didn’t go on that ride. I didn’t see this. Because sometimes I’d be back at the hotel with my little one napping.

So, you know, that’s how it panned out.

[00:06:38] Annie: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Little kids need rest.

[00:06:41] Suzie: Yes.

[00:06:42] Annie: Grown ups too, the kids really need the rest. All right.

Horse and Carriage ride in Paris

[00:06:46] Annie: So, you listed a lot of wonderful things that you enjoyed, and I’m just going to let you go through the list and reminisce about why you love this stuff.

[00:06:57] Suzie: So,my mom is actually French, she came to Australia when she was very young. And so my mémé, my grand mère, she looked after me when I was younger. And so I learnt to speak French then, and then I lost my language for a bit. So we love and fantasize about the idea of going to France. That’s why we had such a long stay.

Some of my, our favorite things we booked a horse and carriage ride in Paris.

We surprised our children. So we dressed them up, and got all of us dressed up and caught a taxi over. And we surprised them, you know, this big horse and cart, Cinderella carriage turns up, and our children said, oh, can we go on? And I said, well, yes we can. Yeah, so that was probably the highlight because it took us on a tour through Paris, and it was on our second day there, so it took us through and we got to see all the major landmarks via, you know, a horse and carriage ride for that lasted about an hour.

And, you know, my husband and I were drinking champagne, and the children were just enjoying Paris, and enjoying everyone looking at them, and waving and smiling, and so forth.

[00:07:58] Annie: Oh, that’s wonderful.

[00:07:59] Suzie: That was a top. Yeah.

[00:08:01] Annie: So you, you arranged that obviously ahead of time.

[00:08:04] Suzie: Yes, so that was something we organized months in advance here in Australia, just through the internet. You can find companies, reputable companies that have good reviews and things. My husband did all the trip planning and all the research. All he did was run things by me, like, Oh, where do you want to go? Is this hotel good? That sort of thing.

[00:08:19] Annie: So you mentioned your mémé, does she live in France?

[00:08:22] Suzie: My mémé passed away when I was 15. So, my mum came to Australia when she was quite young with her parents and then she went back when she was in high school, and they came back again to Australia. And my dad is Spanish so I’ve got that background as well, hence why we went to Spain.

[00:08:36] Annie: Oh wow. Yeah. So you have a lot of European roots.

[00:08:39] Suzie: Yeah, so we had some family that we visited there, but it was more extended family.

[00:08:43] Annie: Wonderful. Okay. So the horse and carriage, I don’t think anybody has mentioned the horse and carriage before, so I’m glad you did because that sounds like a lot of fun for a lot of people, they would love that.

Boat Ride on the Seine

[00:08:54] Suzie: Yes, and then we also organized a boat ride on the Seine, a private ride with the children, which we were very happy that we did because that was, you know, equally as magical as the carriage ride for us.

[00:09:07] Annie: So this was private. So this was a smaller boat, give me some more details.

[00:09:12] Suzie: Yes, yes, it was a company called Green River Cruises, and same thing, we just did some research and found a company that we wanted to go with, and booked it here from Australia. It was fairly easy and straightforward. And yeah, it was a private boat, it was just a small boat, it kind of probably would have fitted maybe 10 people on it or so. The driver was wonderful. He let the children drive the boat.He took photos of us, and he let us play our music as we’re cruising down the Seine. We’re listening to, you know, our music playing on the boat and it was just absolutely magical. So we, probably enjoyed seeing the major Paris landmarks from our carriage ride and from our boat ride because we were relatively contained, you know, in a vessel or in a carriage, and we were just able to enjoy and sit back and relax as somebody took care of the navigating.

[00:09:59] Annie: Right. So, if you don’t mind, what kind of budget are these sorts of events? Be it the horse and carriage or the boat, the private boat tour?

[00:10:08] Suzie: I think the, see, we converted things to Australian dollars, so it’s kind of,I’ll roll with that, but I think that the boat tour was probably around 800 Australian dollars, which is probably around maybe 400-500 Euro. But for us it was invaluable and it went for about an hour, an hour and a half.

And you could pick different time allotments and you could pick how far you wanted to go down the Seine, and so forth. And then the sun was, you know, kind of going down, so it was just absolutely magical. We had good weather.

[00:10:37] Annie: Yeah.

[00:10:37] Suzie: The horse and carriage was probably twice as much, so…

[00:10:40] Annie: Uh huh. Uh huh. All right. Well, you know, if it was that great an experience, why not? That’s great.

Disneyland

[00:10:47] Annie: The third thing you list is Disneyland, and you already mentioned meeting the princess, all the characters, and all of that. But you mentioned maybe it was a little too much having all, I mean, you know, I assume most of the dinners were similar.

[00:11:02] Suzie: Yeah, it was more having three, like, sit down meals a day was just a bit too much. One, it was eating into park time, and two, we just didn’t have the stomach for it. So the last couple of days, we didn’t bother and we didn’t use, like, some of them. And we kind of just came to a point where, that was okay, and we’ll just make this choice because it’s going to suit us better.

And, while we were over there, there were times where we kind of realized that we just had to sort of deviate from the plan sometimes.

[00:11:25] Annie: But you hadn’t done Disneyland anywhere else, right? Since this was your first international trip.

[00:11:31] Suzie: Yeah. And our daughter at the time, you know, she was six, almost seven, and we kind of wanted to, while she was still into the princesses and still at that young age, it was pretty important that we made sure it was pretty special. And that’s why we spent a lot of time there.

[00:11:45] Annie: That’s wonderful. And you stayed at the resort.

[00:11:48] Suzie: Yes, we stayed at the Marvel Hotel, which was the closest in proximity we could get at the time because the main one at the entrance was shut for renovations.

[00:11:57] Annie: Yeah, so I’ve seen all of those hotels, but I don’t remember exactly where Marvel is. But yeah, there’s resort hotels, and they’re usually quite good. I’ve stayed at one, I couldn’t tell you which one I stayed at because it didn’t really matter. They all seem the same, right?

[00:12:11] Suzie: Yeah, this one was Marvel themed. So it was quite good for our boys as well.

[00:12:16] Annie: Yes, yes, yes.

Cannes: Culinary Adventures in France

[00:12:19] Annie: And then number four, you take us to Cannes. You went to the market in Cannes. Tell us about that.

[00:12:26] Suzie: So I love to cook, and I could talk to you for hours and hours about recipes, and ingredients, and all sorts of things. So it was a dream come true to go to France and cook with real French produce, to go to the markets, to talk to the people. Such a, you know, simple encounter was just a massive dream come true for me.

So we did make sure that a lot of the accommodations we booked had kitchens, because we needed washers and dryers anyway for the children with, you know, washing and so forth. So we were able to cook, and in several places I did do that, and I would go to the markets if I could.

And again, just the tomatoes are amazing. The produce in Australia is lovely, but just the French produce is second to none. Some of the fruit we ate was like, we’d never eaten an apricot before in our life until we had tried the one from the market. So it’s pretty special.

[00:13:17] Annie: Yes, we do have very good apricots. They’re just ripe enough, but yet tangy enough, they’re very nice. I just love them as well. And I mean, you left by earliest July. After that, it’s all the cantaloupes. And now the cantaloupes, there are so many, they just give them away pretty much, you know, for a Euro, you can get a massive cantaloupe by the end of the summer.

Whereas at the beginning of the summer, you pay more like four or five . And if you can get stuff in season, it always tastes better, yeah.

Favourite French Dish to Cook

[00:13:47] Annie: So do you have a favorite French dish that you like to cook?

Here, well, I’ve started making Pissaladière, I don’t know if I’m pronouncing that correctly, but my children, oh, my children absolutely love that. Yeah, so that’s a bit of a winner in our household, they even take it for school lunches some days. Yeah. So Pissaladière, just for people who don’t know, it’s one that is in my cookbook ‘Join Us at the Table’ because it’s so easy to make. So you kind of, you caramel onions, which you have to do, it takes a long time, but it’s easy. You just put them in a pan, put it on medium heat and let it go for 30, 40 minutes.

And then on a pizza crust. And you just spread it nicely over the pizza crust and you put some black olives, and some anchovies if you eat anchovies. Or you could do something colorful. It could be like a slices of, you know, slices of pepper, or something pretty. Put that in the oven. Delicious.

[00:14:42] Suzie: Yes, yes, yes.

[00:14:44] Annie: Cool. All right. So that was your number five was cooking with French ingredients and you did that everywhere you went. Was there a store in particular that you said, oh, there’s one of these, I want to go to that one?

[00:14:57] Suzie: I think in Cannes, which was the very first markets we experienced, I just, the white asparagus, I’d not eaten white asparagus before. So there was some really big fat ones. And we grabbed a few of those, and lots of other things. And everywhere we’d go, you know, I’d arrange the veggies, and the fruit on the table, and the bread, and take some pictures just to remember.

And it’s just… yes.

[00:15:16] Annie: Yes, white asparagus is wonderful but you do have to peel it a little bit because the outside is a bit tough if you don’t.

Going to Supermarkets

[00:15:26] Annie: All right, number six was going to supermarkets. Did you have a favorite supermarket or are they all equally good?

[00:15:33] Suzie: Well, they were all equally good. I think our family just really found it fascinating going into a French supermarket and seeing what, you know, the cereals look like. And what the products look like. And there was some bubble gums that some family members had bought out many years ago when I was a child and Malabar

[00:15:50] Annie: Malabar, yes, les malabars.

[00:15:51] Suzie: Malabar. And, so we found some of those and we brought them back to Australia and I gave them to my brother and sister, and it was just reliving our childhood again, you know.

[00:16:01] Annie: Yes, yeah, these are massive pieces of bubblegum things that they fill up your mouth and you make big bubbles out of them.

[00:16:11] Suzie: Yeah, and our children actually learnt to make bubbles from those malabars in the car when we were driving around through France and Spain. So it was pretty special.

[00:16:20] Annie: Yes, yes. Well, hopefully they didn’t end up in anybody’s hair. That’s not quite as special. Obviously, your kids must not be very, like, picky eaters or very difficult to feed. They probably have a wide variety of things they enjoy.

[00:16:35] Suzie: Yeah, so our youngest at the time, he was only two, so he pretty much lived on the bread that they would bring out to the table. You know, any type of little potatoy things or, you know, he would eat from our plates mostly, meat, things like that. But the other two are very cultured and they have a very broad palate so they enjoyed all the food, and our children were trying, they were ordering moules frites, and you know, all the rest of it.

So, we had conversations before we left about trying new things, and things we haven’t tried before. And they rose to the challenge.

French Restaurant Experience

[00:17:03] Annie: What was the restaurant experience like with young children in France? Did you find that more or less difficult than in Australia or pretty much the same?

[00:17:12] Suzie: Much the same. Everywhere we went, we were just very well received. So, if the waiter came around and he put down, you know, five sets of cutlery, he got five ‘mercis’ or ‘merci beaucoups’. And our youngest would say ‘magoukou’, which they just laughed and thought was very charming, so… yeah, so I think actually having children traveling with us made us very well received everywhere we went because French people and even Spanish people, you know, they love children.

[00:17:38] Annie: Yes, yes. If anything, Spanish people are even more patient with children. I mean, Spanish people are very family orientated. Oriented?

[00:17:49] Suzie: Yeah, they’re very, very thoughtful and considerate we found, in Spain and even, you know, more well received in Spain.

So, it was really good.

[00:17:58] Annie: I’ve noticed that as well, because I spent a fair amount of time in Spain and yeah, it’s the same.

Swimming in Nice and Cannes

[00:18:03] Annie: Number six was swimming in Nice and Cannes.

[00:18:06] Suzie: So, you know, Australia’s renowned for beaches, and we always vacation at the beach, and we like to stay on the water and have, you know, the views so we could just go out and walk. And even when we’re in our apartments, we can see the water and hear the water and so forth.

So, to be able to do that in Nice and Cannes was amazing. And I think I mentioned in my notes that the sound of the waves, you know, like with the rocks in Nice, dragging in and out is just a sound we’ll never forget. We had never heard that before because in Australia we have all sand beaches. So, even some of that we’ve got a video that we watch on, you know, our home videos now from our trip and we can just hear the water and you just close your eyes and it takes you back, so…

[00:18:48] Annie: Yes. yes.

The rocks, the rocky beaches have, definitely have their charm. And of course, in the Mediterranean nothing can kill you.

[00:18:57] Suzie: Well, yes. Well we didn’t venture too far, but… And just the feeling of knowing where we were as well and having, you know, the water against our skin and just.. It was just… we love the beach.

[00:19:08] Annie: Last time I was in Spain, I was swimming and I thought some plastic hit my leg, and it wasn’t plastic because a few minutes later it started stinging, so it was obviously I had touched some sort of Medusa, or like a creepy crawly, whatever. And it was fine, it didn’t hurt that much. It was just a tingly sensation. But I thought, in Australia, those things can kill you.

[00:19:29] Suzie: Yes, and when you see the little blue ones floating, you get the kids out of the water really quick.

[00:19:34] Annie: Yes, yes, yes. So we don’t have anything like that. It can be unpleasant, but it doesn’t, they can’t hurt you that badly.

Saint Tropez

[00:19:41] Annie: All right, you went to Saint Tropez. We don’t talk about Saint Tropez very much. What was that like?

[00:19:46] Suzie: Ah, beautiful. We would go back there again, definitely. And our next trip, if we find some time, we will. We found the boat ride over, it was fine, but getting on and off the boat, we had issues. People not being very considerate and kind of pushing in front. And we actually found other tourists, which just really, really rude in general.

But actually, once we were there in Saint Tropez it was beautiful. We went walking through the streets, you know, with beautiful yellow painted buildings, and hydrangeas, and vines and shutters. We don’t have anything like that here in Australia.

So it was very idyllic to see such a beautiful place that you could walk through, yeah.

Queing in France vs Spain

[00:20:23] Annie: Yeah. So, you know, this is another thing. This is another big difference between Spain and France, is that people queue up very nicely in Spain, and they do not in France. People in France will, if you leave an inch between you and the person in front of you, they will cut in front of you. And if you say anything, they say, well, there was a space, like… yeah, what do you think I’m doing here?

I’m waiting in line. This is a line. I’m waiting in line. But I do, I mean, I do tell people that if somebody cuts in front of me, I just, excuse me, back there. You’ll have to say something.

[00:20:53] Suzie: Yeah, excusez moi. Yeah.

[00:20:55] Annie: Otherwise it’s unbearable. Yeah.

[00:20:56] Suzie: But in all honesty though, we only experienced a few instances of that with the French people, but other foreigners, the tourists were, yeah… very argy bargy, very pushy.

Kids and French Kids in Parks

[00:21:05] Annie: Ah, interesting, interesting.Ah, your children mingled with French kids at parks. So that’s, how did that go? What was that like?

[00:21:14] Suzie: Just wonderful. As I said, like we very much romanticize France, and it’s beautiful, and you know, you can’t kind of go wrong. You can visit any village and it’s all beautiful, and should be on the list of most beautiful villages to visit. But we found that, yeah, when we went to the parks and things, our kids would be playing and other children would come up and play with them, and interact with them, and it was just really nice.

So this idea of our children playing with French children and eating French food, and cooking with French produce, it was all part of this, you know, fulfilling this dream.

[00:21:46] Annie: All new, all beautiful. Yeah.

[00:21:48] Suzie: Yeah. And the kids just loved it. If we saw a carousel, they would ride it, and, you know, just be normal child, in a park, in France.

The Tuileries Gardens

[00:21:57] Annie: Yeah, and speaking of the parks, you took them to the Tuileries Gardens and that you put that on number nine.

[00:22:05] Suzie: Yes. Early on in our time in Paris, we went to, actually on the Tuesday, we went to the Tuileries first, because we wanted to go to the Louvre when it was closed, so that we could actually take some photos outside of the pyramids without people being in them. Yeah, that went very well.

We actually saw another Australian couple that they saw us, you know, taking photos of our children and they came over and said, Hey, look, do you want us to take some photos of you? We thought you might feel comfortable because we’re Australian and they were really kind. And so we found a lot of strangers were kind and offered to take photos of us with our kids.

And that’s how we got full family photos.

[00:22:39] Annie: That’s wonderful. Yeah, typically people, you know, as a tourist, you can hand them your phone and they take good photos.

Yes. Some people do better than others, however. Some people take terrible photos, so just look at the photos before you give up.

[00:22:53] Suzie: We’re grateful for what we can get these days.

Luxembourg Gardens

[00:22:55] Annie: And then number 10 is the Luxembourg Gardens. So, they are pretty different gardens, why did you put one in front of the other or vice versa?

[00:23:06] Suzie: Well, apart from our top three being our top three after that, this is all wonderful and we just can’t pick. But yeah, we did prefer, I think the Tuileries was the first one we went to, so perhaps, you know, that’s why. But the Luxembourg, the kids had the little sailboats, we hired the little sailboats, which, again, was just, you know, a dream, magical. They love to play with the little boat and of course we had to get an Australia boat, so…

[00:23:30] Annie: Of course.

[00:23:31] Suzie: Yes.

[00:23:31] Annie: Yes, these are little sailboats that you push with a stick.

[00:23:35] Suzie: Yes.

[00:23:35] Annie: They’re not anything fancy. They’re really not anything fancy, but kids love them. And right now at the Tuileries Gardens, I’m going next week. I got tickets, free tickets, but you need tickets all the same, to see La Vasque, so that’s the Olympic flame.

And the latest tickets we could get was 6:30 PM, which is weird because La Vasque doesn’t light up and go up until nine or so, until it’s dark. So maybe we’ll just stick around until it goes up. I don’t know, we’ll see. But the whole idea of seeing the Olympic flame light up is going to be exciting.

And that’s in the Tuileries Gardens. Luxembourg has more things like little horse rides, Pétanque, you can play Pétanque there. There’s one corner where you have chess tables. And as a matter of fact, sometimes you, if you know your chess players, you will find some interesting people there that you’re like, Ooh, this guy, I’ve seen him at tournaments. So yeah, it’s quite, these are both lovely gardens to visit, especially with children. So you were going in good weather, but if you are going in the middle of the winter, it’s always better to go on a Wednesday afternoon, or a Saturday, or a Sunday, because there are going to be more children and families. That’s when the kids are off the school.

(Mid-roll ad spot)

Relaxing at Chateau de Chambord

[00:24:51] Annie: All right, now number 11, you went to Chambord, chateau de Chambord.

[00:24:58] Suzie: Yes, so many years ago, we saw you know, the travel agents have these little brochures and I saw this little picture of the chateau, and I said to my husband, Oh I’d really love to go there one day and I cut the picture out, put it in a little book. And so, you know, we definitely wanted to see a chateau and he made that dream come true.

[00:25:15] Annie: Oh, that’s very nice. So is this a day trip that you took to the Loire?

[00:25:20] Suzie: So we had left Paris, we hired a car, and we went to Chambord specifically, wanted to see the chateau. But we also needed somewhere to stay, to then head to Bordeaux. So we tended to, we didn’t want to drive probably more than about three hours with the children. So we made sure that the longest sort of, you know, trip we had before we stopped to stay the night was about three hours. And that allowed us time as well to, you know, meander or stop where we needed to and perhaps see some little extra things.

[00:25:49] Annie: So, where did you stay between Bordeaux and Chambord?

[00:25:54] Suzie: We stayed nearby, I can’t, wasn’t too far, it was probably about 20 minutes or so from the chateau. And then I do remember we went to dinner that night, also another 15 minute drive away in Blois, I think it was called. Oh, Blois, sorry,

[00:26:09] Annie: Yeah. Fine. That’s great. Yeah. So, Chambord, what did you like, I mean, Chambord is a big place, big, big place.

[00:26:16] Suzie: Yes, well, we were kind of those people that, we don’t necessarily need to go into the big monument, we’re happy just to appreciate it, you know, from the outside. Being with children, you know, we can’t afford to be going into museums and things because it’s just not, they’re not old enough for that, yet.

So,we actually, we did go in to the chateau, but we preferred afterwards, we kind of went at the back, there’s a little garden and there’s like a little place where they sell cold drinks. And there’s some chairs under some beautiful trees. So we… we just sat there for a little while, got some cold drinks and we just were able to sit and appreciate and look up at the chateau. And that was actually, we probably enjoyed that more than going into it.

And they had some police horses there. There were some police horses that reside there, so they were being groomed, etc. So we got to go over by the barn door and check out the, you know, the beautiful police horses and the kids took some photos there. So that, and we’re animal people as well. So that was probably, we appreciated that more than actually going into the chateau.

[00:27:15] Annie: Yeah, Chateau de Chambord is very large and does not have a lot of furniture in it. The view from the top is very nice, and you can see the staircase, the double helix staircase, which is very impressive indeed. A lot about it is impressive, but yeah, you can totally just spend a few hours outside.

The gardens are beautiful. And you know, in June, July, they are starting to, everything’s waking up, you have flowers already and things like that. So yeah, it’s a good time of year to visit that sort of place.

Exploring Bordeaux’s Water Mirror

[00:27:46] Annie: Then you went to Bordeaux and you enjoyed the water mirror in Bordeaux.

[00:27:50] Suzie: Yes. So we pretty well just checked into our accommodation, which again was an apartment and then we went out, headed out, sort of scoping places to have dinner. And we were able to go down to the water mirror just as it was getting dark. So we kind of got that, you know, just before it was getting dark to when it went dark. And we got some really beautiful photos with the reflection of the building behind it and the lights and so forth.

[00:28:13] Annie: The Golden Hour, yeah.

[00:28:15] Suzie: Yes.

[00:28:15] Annie: Yes, and you shared that with me. It is, you did catch it at a good time, at a beautiful time, because I’ve been there many times, but you have to go at the right time to get that sort of sight.

Accommodation Preferences and Experiences

[00:28:28] Annie: So, typically, did you look for apartments in the city centers, or outside of city centers?

Did you have a preference?

[00:28:36] Suzie: Pretty much, well, within but maybe sort of on the outer skirts.We were a little bit fussy with our criteria because we knew it was going to be hot. You know, coming from Australia, it’s also hot here, we wanted air conditioning. We didn’t want to find ourselves uncomfortable.

In Australia, we have fans sort of in every room of our house, whereas in France, it’s not really a common thing to us. So we wanted to make sure we had air conditioning and we wanted to have a washing machine dryer, you know, for clothing and a kitchen preferably. So we tended to do our searches based on that criteria.

And then we were restricted to what fell under that banner. But we did stay in really safe neighborhoods, secure buildings, with pin code access, that sort of thing. An elevator as well, because we had a stroller and all of our luggage.

So that was kind of, a bit of a necessity for us, being a family for the first time as well. So we were very, very careful and we booked everything. We had pretty much dotted every single i, just to make sure that we’d have the easiest time possible with the kids.

[00:29:33] Annie: And were people good about reaching out to you? Like the people you had rented from, were they good about reaching out, giving you a way to contact them directly? Did you rent through Airbnb or booking or some other way?

[00:29:45] Suzie: Yeah, so we had a lot of different companies. Airbnb was one, I think we only booked one place through them. Booking.com was the same thing, I think it was just one place, and then a lot of them were actually French rental agencies that managed properties, so there was different places that we went to had different companies. And we would sort of filter through our searches and try and find the place that suited us the most.

So yeah, a lot of the time they were actually rental agencies and they were quite good, the only thing was, you know, we had phone numbers and things like that, but sometimes we’d walk up to a place and there’d be nobody, and we’re waiting, and we’re waiting and, you know, we’re fully loaded with all of our luggage, and our children, and our stroller. And we’re on the side of the road, kind of in a foreign country, so they did turn up, but there were a couple of times where we had to wait and we were a bit panicked. When we first landed as well in Nice, we had a private transfer take us to our accommodation in Cannes, and we’re waiting, waiting, and we’re texting and there’s no response, and messaging through WhatsApp and there’s no response. But eventually, they did turn up, and we kind of learned that, yeah, you’ve just got to wait a bit and they were quite good with their communication.

I don’t think we had too many, I don’t think we had too many issues.

[00:30:51] Annie: Mm hmm.

Navigating Transportation in France

[00:30:52] Annie: You mentioned a private transfer. Did you mostly do that rather than taxi? You also mentioned the taxi at the beginning. So you did both?

[00:30:59] Suzie: We probably used every single mode of transportation. The things we could book in advance from Australia, we did. So the private transfers from the airport to our accommodation, we didn’t want to muck around. So we wanted somebody waiting there for us so that we could get in, have sort of like a safe passage, I guess, and not have to worry.

So, I will interrupt you for a second. Yes, I understand the feeling, but you don’t need to do that. You can totally just, in Nice, the tramway is very good, and there are taxis as well, and they’re very good. For people who, if you are worried about it, you know, oh, I never take taxis places, taxis in France are pretty reliable, and if you go to the official taxi stands, you’ll be treated well.

Yes. So we did learn that, and then sort of, we built our confidence up when we were there and we were using the G7 app in Paris. We did use the Metro, we used the trams, taxis, the ferry. We tried it all. And the longer we were there, the greater our confidence sort of…

[00:31:58] Annie: Yeah, it makes sense. It makes sense. It’s your first time out of the country. You don’t know France. I mean, you’ve heard about it your whole life because your mom’s French, but that’s not the same as spending time there yourself. And the G7, the G7 app in Paris is very helpful because you can say, like in your case, since there were five of you with luggage, you can specify how big of a car you need.

And if you go to a taxi stand, they can see how many of you there are and we’ll have the right taxi pull up for you. But G7 is good. That’s G7. Sorry, I keep saying it in French. G7. Very good. So, Bordeaux, you love the Water Mirror. You weren’t there very long, were you?

Just one night?

[00:32:38] Suzie: Yeah. We would have liked to stay longer, but our trip was just growing and growing as we were planning it in days. So, you know, ideally we’d move there and get to see a different place every weekend.

[00:32:49] Annie: Yeah.

Family Visits

[00:32:49] Annie: Where was your mom from, originally?

[00:32:52] Suzie: So, they lived in different places in the time that they were there.

So they were a little while in Dijon. I’ve got a couple of aunts that were born in Dijon. And, Ceret?

Ceret, she said to me, oh, you must visit Ceret.

[00:33:06] Annie: CERET is near Perpignan. C-E-R-E-T.

[00:33:09] Suzie: Yes, and that’s why we, yeah, so we had a, one of my mum’s cousins who we had met before because she’d come out to Australia.

She met us for dinner in, we stayed in Perpignan, she lived in Ceret, and she met us out for dinner. So we caught up with a couple of family members there, which was nice.

[00:33:24] Annie: That’s wonderful. That’s actually very special, if you still have contact with family, that’s fantastic. Yeah. Fantastic.

All right. So you mentioned, actually it’s number 13, that we were getting to seeing family in Perpignan and Tourve. Don’t know where Tourve is. Small place somewhere near Perpignan.

[00:33:42] Suzie: Yeah, it actually, we stopped in when we left Boulobière, which was down in, near the Lavender Fields. We veered through there to visit my mum’s aunt, who I had never met before. So that was a, we definitely, that was a special thing that we did. We made sure that we talked to her nursing home and they had some drinks there for us in the garden and they made a bit of a deal that their family from Australia had came.

And she sat there, and she talked to me about my grandfather. He used to teach her English when he went over, in his later years, he would talk to her in English and she loved Hollywood movies. So, it was pretty special to have that conversation with her, and to meet her.

[00:34:18] Annie: Yeah. Especially since she’s in a nursing home, she’s an elderly, yeah, you have to go while you can. That’s fantastic that they arranged for a good family visit for that.

Visiting the Lavender Fields

[00:34:27] Annie: Number 14 is visiting the lavender fields.

[00:34:31] Suzie: Yes, we spent a whole day, we spent two nights in Puyloubier, I think that’s the pronunciation, which was a really beautiful house that we rented.

[00:34:39] Annie: Puyloubier. P-U-Y-L-O-U-B-I-E-R. Yeah. Puyloubier. That’s a convoluted name.

[00:34:49] Suzie: Yeah, it is, and we still like, yeah, we do the best we can with pronouncing it, butyeah. That was probably the only house that we rented. And they were very, they were so lovely. The gentleman that managed the property, he was so lovely. He came on the morning that we were checking out and he’s like, oh, use the pool, use the pool, I’ve cleaned the pool for you.

And then when he found out that I could speak some French and my history, you know, we got talking because he’d spent time in Australia, he was wonderful. He said to me, you must speak French, he said to me, you must speak French. And I said, I have been, I have been.

But, yeah, the people we encountered were lovely and in the small towns, even more so.

[00:35:23] Annie: Yeah.

[00:35:24] Suzie: Yeah. But sorry, back to the lavender fields. That was also something we really wanted to see. And we got to stop at little farmhouses. We drove up some dirt tracks. There was a little shed with, you know, some ladies in there with all their little products, and their little bottles of lavender, and their little bags.

And of course, the mother, the elderly lady, she was telling me the story and she was telling me about their family and how they make the product, you know. package it and so forth. And just having those interactions with people, those are the things that we probably cherished, you know, the most as well.

That’s great. Yeah. And you were there at the right time. And if you go to Provence and you have a car, you can drive around Valensole. You can drive around that whole area and you will see, I mean, you can’t miss them. It’s a major agricultural crop, so you can’t really miss it.

[00:36:09] Annie: But if you go in the wrong time of year, nope, nothing left. Very good.

Shopping and Dining in France

[00:36:14] Annie: Shopping in Nice was number 15. So you went to the Galerie Lafayette in Nice. I don’t think I’ve been to that one.

[00:36:20] Suzie: Yes. It probably was handy because it was the last place, you know, we were before we flew home. We bought an extra suitcase and we did some shopping. Again, just that affinity with, you know, going to French shops and getting French things and bringing things home, wearing hats, and jumpers, and things. And, you know, people saying to us, oh, I like your jacket.

Oh, well, I got that in Saint Sébastien and they’re like, oh, and just telling the stories and reliving it all, you know.

[00:36:44] Annie: Yeah.

PSG Stadium Tour

[00:36:47] Annie: Ah, and you went to the PSG Stadium. So back to Paris here, you took the kids to the big Stade de… non le Parc des Princes.

[00:36:55] Suzie: So our elders too, they play football, they play soccer, football, whatever you want to call it, and my husband, you know, coaches, and they’re very much into that. So that was something pretty special and we’re really glad we did that as well.

[00:37:09] Annie: That’s not hard to arrange. You just buy tickets online and make your way there, and it’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

[00:37:16] Suzie: And my husband actually, that was one of the things we didn’t pre book from Australia. Everything else we did, but we remember booking the stadium tour perhaps a few days before and it was quite easy to get into.

[00:37:27] Annie: Yeah. That’s interesting. The team, the PSG, they were very mad, oh, what’s the name of this French player who went to play for Madrid now?

[00:37:34] Suzie: I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t follow.

[00:37:36] Annie: Mbappé left the PSG and he’s playing withMadrid, and they were mad at him for leaving. And now that he’s left they keep saying, oh, we play better without him anyway.

[00:37:46] Suzie: My husband, since we’ve been to France now, they’re always watching the highlights here, you know, all the French games and the French leagues, and so they, you know, we’ve really embraced France, even through sport.

[00:37:56] Annie: That’s great. That’s great.

Paralympics and Accessibility

[00:37:58] Annie: So yes, last night was the opening ceremony and probably this podcast is not going to be released for several months, but I want to mention that last night was the opening ceremonies for the Paralympics. And I hope that it’s going to inspire a lot of people to have their kids do sports, even if they have a physical impairment of some sort, because there’s a lot they can do. And we have a lot of infrastructure in France, and having the Paralympics is going to help us develop that, which is good for all children. I mean, really, we need more kids’ things happening. Wonderful.

Sitting on the Balcony

[00:38:32] Annie: Number 17, sitting on the balcony. People ask me, you know, this is a common question. Should I get a place with a balcony? And you would say yes, right?

[00:38:42] Suzie: Yeah, because we are a family traveling with small children, we can’t afford to sort of be out all day, sightseeing until we drop. So we were mindful of that as well, that we would need some downtime. Some nights we might go out for dinner, or other times we may have been out all day, but then come home for, you know, had something simple to eat or I cooked dinner, and then the kids would go to bed.

And so because we stayed on the water in Cannes and in Nice we had that, you know, that premium view. And so we were able to sit there and enjoy the view, and kind of people watch from our balcony. And we had a nightclub across the road in Nice. And it was just, we were found it fascinating.

And at the time I think they had some sort of curfew on or something, because at 11 o’clock the police would come with their siren, you know, they’d come down and they’d enter and then they’d be kicking all these people out of the nightclub. We were enjoying the music, and the sights and everything.

And then the police would come and it would get a show there too. So, we enjoyed even that.

[00:39:39] Annie: Yeah, yeah, that’s fun.

So, in your write up, which I’m going to publish as guest notes for this episode, you mentioned all the hotels where you stayed, and you liked the Holiday Inn in Perpignan.

[00:39:54] Suzie: Well, that was probably the cheapest and the simplest, the smallest room we stayed in, but it was just a one night stop, as I said, just to, yeah, get somewhere else.

[00:40:03] Annie: So, if you want to see where all they stayed, I’m going to put that in the show notes. And you also mentioned your favorite restaurants. I don’t know most of them. The one I do know is Au Pied du Cochon, in Paris. What did you like about that one?

[00:40:17] Suzie: I mean, for me it was fine, but my husband really enjoyed, he had some sausage dish. And our children had the Moules Frite there. I think my, actually my daughter had the ribs. My son had, you know, the mussels. And they brought out the little piggy, you know, the little piggy dessert things they give out to the children at the end.

And we were fortunate enough that when we went, there were some workers that were on their lunch break, and they were sort of sitting next to us at the table next to us and sort of smiling at the kids. And we had a bit of an interaction there. So I think we just, it was nice to feel like, you know, we were fitting in and blending in, in a French restaurant with French people.

Raclette Wrap

[00:40:53] Annie: So, you mentioned your favorite foods and you said raclette wrap in Paris. I have had raclette, but I have not had a raclette wrap.

[00:41:01] Suzie: Well, this place makes a very good one. I don’t eat meat and it had ham on it. So, I very kindly asked if they, because they had them sort of in the window pre made and then they toasted them. And I asked them very kindly, you know, if they could make one without it, and they especially did, they said, come back in about 15 minutes, and then sure enough, as we were walking back up the street, he says, the gentleman is standing outside the cheese shop with the raclettes in his hand, so the wrap, the wraps. And to be honest, Annie, I would say that I preferred the street foodie type things more than the restaurants, the taste, the flavor. Some of the nicest things that I had were from, you know, something like that, that wasn’t from a proper sit down restaurant.

[00:41:42] Annie: Right. So, I mean, a raclette wrap, I would think, was that a French taco?

[00:41:47] Suzie: Yeah. It was kind of like a tortilla type thing that they had put some sliced potatoes, some cream, some onion, the cheese, and that was mine, but Mark and the kids had ham in theirs as well. And then they toasted it. So it was all gooey and delicious.

[00:42:02] Annie: That sounds like a French taco.

[00:42:04] Suzie: It was good, whatever it was.

[00:42:05] Annie: Yes, yes, that’s great. So you had something about lobster roll and lobster pasta from Lobster Paradise in the 16th Arrondissement. Nice.

[00:42:16] Suzie: Yeah. So he was actually about 20 meters from our, 20-30 meters from our apartment. And yeah, so our first night in Paris, we went to a really terrible restaurant and we had a really terrible experience.

[00:42:28] Annie: And what was it called? We got to know what was it called, the bad one.

[00:42:31] Suzie: I think it was Le Marceau, something to that effect.

[00:42:35] Annie: Le Marceau. Okay.

[00:42:36] Suzie: But if you have a look, they’ll have a very poor review from me on their Google reviews.

[00:42:40] Annie: What made it so bad? The food was bad? They were nasty?

[00:42:44] Suzie: It was one of those pretty places, you know, that looks like, it’s got the flowers all outside, and you went in and it was really, it had the nice lights and you went in and it had pretty flowers and everything. And so we were taking photos and we thought, oh, isn’t this wonderful? But the food was pretty terrible.

My daughter had ordered some kind of like fish and chips, and the fish was like burnt, overcooked, hard. And when I asked them if they could, you know, cook another piece, maybe not so much, you know, about 10-15 minutes later, I saw them in the kitchen, kind of like piecing it back together, the one that she had cut into, piecing it back together.

And they bought the same one out. It was terrible. And you know, I was quite upset about that. And then the waiter was just blaming the kitchen and… you know, we just, I said, give us a bill. We’re going, type thing. But then we found this lovely lobster place, Lobster Paradise. And I would go there many times, went to see him several times throughout our stay.

And he just said to me towards the end, just yell out your order from the balcony.

[00:43:44] Annie: That’s good. You like the framboise macaron, you like the profiterole, who does not like profiterole, I mean, honestly, crème brûlée, of course, and the galettes, the various galettes. Crêperie is great with kids because, you know, if you want the ham, you have the ham. If you don’t want the ham, don’t have the ham.

You know, it’s easy. It’s made to order, it’s great. Oh, but you didn’t like the natural cider. Ha ha ha!

[00:44:09] Suzie: My husband ordered a bottle and then he felt obligated to drink it. And it was, oh, I can’t quite describe, but it was the most awful thing.

[00:44:18] Annie: Well, I don’t know why they called it natural. Was it bio or something? Was it organic cider?

[00:44:23] Suzie: It was, I think they said that it’s something that they make or that they, it was one of those chain ones, I can’t quite recall the name of it, but it’s, yeah, they had said something about they make it, it’s their house one or something.

[00:44:36] Annie: Yeah.

[00:44:37] Suzie: But you know, you live and you learn.

Transportation and Getting Around

[00:44:39] Annie: Of course, of course. And then, okay, then you mentioned all of the different ways you got to get around, and you mentioned that you were reluctant to use the metro, but you did and it was okay.

[00:44:51] Suzie: Yeah, one afternoon, our bus got cancelled, the bus that was going to take us home. There was an event on and it got cancelled, so we were waiting, waiting, and trying to figure out why it hadn’t come. And you know, a really lovely lady who spoke French and Spanish, you know, she explained to us and what was going on, and she offered to even travel with us on the metro to our place.

And she was genuine. She wasn’t a dodgy, shady character. And eventually, we just built up the courage and we came up with a system, you know, because we had the stroller, we had the kids and our bags and things. So we kind of came up with a system and, we kind of realized really quickly as we were going through the turnstiles that we’d have to, one of us would have to swipe the ticket and go first and then wait for the children, swipe the tickets for the children through and then the other would kind of go behind and once you do it once and you come up with a system, you kind of just roll with it the next time and the next time.

[00:45:36] Annie: Yeah, the metro is really not that bad. I mean, it’s not my favorite, but it’s not that bad. And once you figure it out, it’s very handy to travel by metro. But again, because of the Paralympics, they have realized that Paris metro stations are not very accessible or not accessible at all, which means, to strollers as well as wheelchairs, and so they have vowed to make it better. We’ll see, but they say it’ll take 20 years, so don’t hold your breath. Yes, don’t hold your breath.

Packing Tips and Skincare Discoveries

[00:46:08] Annie: You mentioned that you don’t need to pack so much next time that you were worried about bringing all of the things. Tell me about that.

[00:46:17] Suzie: Well, even here, I’m always, one of those mums that carries around, you know, paracetamol and, you know, things, band aids and all those sorts of things. So, with going to the lavender fields, we even got EpiPens for our children, even though they don’t have allergies or anything like that. But I would still do that again, because in a foreign country, you don’t want to be waiting for an ambulance and trying to figure that out, you know, I would still take that.

But, yeah, I just, I think, being the first timers again, like, we just, you know, weren’t sure, but after going to the supermarkets and pharmacies and realising how easy it is to buy things, I would go with much less next time.

In fact, we retired a suitcase after Paris and we kind of just left it in the car and didn’t really use it, anything from there again. But we did take diapers and formula at the time, whereas next time, you know, our son doesn’t need those things anymore.

[00:47:02] Annie: Right. Yes, he was two. He’s going to be done with that stuff by the time he goes again. And you mentioned that skincare products, you liked them in France.

[00:47:11] Suzie: Yes. I didn’t realize the range and the quality, it’s exceptional. So, actually when I was at Disneyland one evening I tripped and I actually hurt myself. And I had a big, massive, you know, big ball above my arm, my eyebrow. Then we went to Paris straight after and I had this massive egg on my eye basically.

So I was forced into, go into the supermarket to try and get some makeup to cover it up type thing. And that was when we sort of, I got exposed to it. And so I bought home some French makeup, you know, and also just skincare products. So, face washes and hand soaps and all sorts of beautiful perfume, which now I order straight from France.

[00:47:50] Annie: You’re sold. You’re sold. They gotcha. They hooked ya. That’s wonderful. All right.

Experiences in Spain

[00:47:56] Annie: The last question I want to ask you is, because a lot of people do also visit Spain as well as France. Tell us a little bit about your experience in Barcelona and you went to the other side, you went to the Basque country as well.

[00:48:10] Suzie: Saint Sebastián, so my abuelo is originally from the Basque country, so that was why we chose to go there. And obviously being in the north of Spain, it’s very luscious and very green. We did spend four nights there. We fell in love with it, the whole tapas scene, which is something, you know, we just relished in it. We were able to walk from our accommodation, you know, out every night to go and have binchels and, we loved being food lovers, that was something that we really were looking forward to and that we loved.

And since then they make the, I don’t know what they call it, but like a burnt Basque cheesecake. So now I make that here in Australia.

Barcelona

[00:48:44] Annie: Nice, nice. And Barcelona, how was that for you?

[00:48:48] Suzie: Yeah, we enjoyed Barcelona. We only spent about three nights there, so that only gave us a couple of days of sightseeing. We sadly couldn’t go to the stadium because it was closed for renovations. So we just pretty much went down to the beach, you know, ate in some restaurants. We went to the markets there as well, one of the indoor, undercover markets. And we just found the people in Spain were very welcoming, very warm towards us, particularly with the children. There was one time in Saint Sebastián that we got some ice creams and we came out of the store and there was some seats there and everything.

And one of our children had spilt built ice cream on themselves. One of the abuelas there, one of the grandmothers, was passing me napkins and saying, you know, you can sit here, you know, trying to help us. So even strangers on the street were very loving, looking lovingly at the children and saying hello and smiling.

We really loved French people, but the Spanish people we found were even warmer.

[00:49:41] Annie: Yeah, I often think that France is prettier, but Spain is happier. Yeah. All right. Thank you so, so very much for talking to me. You’ve done, you’ve given some great tips. Do you think you will do this again when your children are a little older, perhaps?

[00:49:58] Suzie: We’ve already booked our flights for next year, so we’re going back for, we’re going back for a few days more, actually, so a few days longer.

[00:50:05] Annie: Wow!

[00:50:06] Suzie: Already started booking things there, so…

[00:50:09] Annie: Fantastic. Well, thank you very, very much. And, have a wonderful second trip to France. I’m glad to hear that the first one went so well, Suzie!

[00:50:19] Suzie: Thank you, Annie.

[00:50:20] Annie: Merci beaucoup.

[00:50:21] Suzie: Merci, au revoir.

[00:50:23] Annie: Au revoir.

Copyright

[00:50:31] 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.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Apple Google Spotify RSS

Support the Show

Tip Your Guides Extras Patreon Audio Tours