What to do???

[arrowcapet]

I'm going to have a few days on my upcoming trip that I can use to exit the city for most of the day, so I thought I'd turn myself into an investigative reporter for the board, and let you all decide where I should go for one of the days. My rep in Ohio (where my resto is) for the company that imports Krug Champagne has set up a dandy of a tour for me at the Champagne Krug house, so one of the days I'm heading to Reims. But I have no plans for another day, so I'm going to put it up to a vote, and then I'll report back my findings here. Where should I go? What do you want to hear about? The only rules are that it can't be so far away that I can't go and come back in the same day, I need to be able to get there by train, and it needs to be a trip that would fall under the heading that this thread is posted under: Major Sites. I'll take lots of pictures and post a mini trip report. What do you think??

[annettecinca]

Woohoo! That's cool, Arrow! I'll put on my thinking cap...

[Anne]

Well, my first impulse of course would be to tell you to continue your trip further on than Reims on the same TGV line until Strasbourg ;D . But that would reasonably mean spending the night Strasbourg, visiting Strasbourg the next day and going back to Paris in the evening of that next day...

[iank9]

Hi Arrow,

How about Tours in the Loire Valley (1 hr by TGV). The old city around Place Plumereau is very pretty, very old buildings, cobbled streets, nice restaurants. Also a good shopping area (apparently ) with boutiques etc. Pleasant walks along the river. You could possibly fit in a Chateau tour or two. There is an excellent kitchen accessory shop at the top of Rue Nationale

More info and excursion booking at

www.ligeris.com/index_us.html

[trechic]

Hi Ian...Thank you for this information - it sounds like something I may add to my upcomming trip...as long as I do not need to rent a car and navigate my way. I wouldn't ... would I???

[holger]

;D

If you haven't been to Dijon, it is an easy TGV trip. The old town is exceptionally well preserved with amazing and varied architecture. Almost every street has a delightful surprise.

[luckyluc]

About 50 km from Reims is the incredible chateau de Fère en Tardenois where we spend a wonderful day, doing nothing! Sometimes one does need that type of day in order to appreciate the rest of the trip. The more recent part of the chateau is a hotel where you can have lunch and then visit the XIII century castle. You will need to rent a car but from Reims the directions are really easy.

www.ila-chateau.com/fere/

[iank9]

Hi Trechic,

No you won't need to drive, although it can be quite fun

If you check the web site they have an excursion link with several companies listed but I know that the first on the list has had good reviews on the Loire TA board. They do half and full days with wine tastings as well!

[sandy]

What about Mont Saint Michelle? According to the official web site, it is 2 hours from Paris by TGV to Rennes+ bus.

www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/accueil_gb.htm

See also:

voyage-webguides.com/en/en-Mont-Saint-Michel.html

wikitravel.org/en/Mont_Saint-Michel

[arrowcapet]

Sorry Anne...no overnighters...although I haven't been through Strasbourg in 20 years, and it does sound fun...it doesn't meet the requirements. Part of what I want to do is to be able to create and then report back on a trip that others will be able to do, from Paris in a day, by public transport.

Luc...same thing...no car rentals allowed, although that place is "right up my alley" as we say in these parts.

So...so far, we have Tours (the Loire), Le Mont St Michel, and Dijon (although I'm still on the fence about whether Dijon fits into the Major Sites category, since it pretty much has plenty of major sites all on its own. Once I get a good solid list of your ideas and what you want me to do, I'll create a poll and then everyone can vote....and I'll go where you tell me too....majority rules. Keep 'em coming.

[annettecinca]

Arrow, I rather like the Loire idea and was going to suggest that myself. We want to head in that direction on our next trip just for a day, but I don't know for sure how to do it and how much we could see, so I'd love to hear how you structure a daytrip there. I know there are lots of tours from Paris, but we'd rather do it by train on our own.

[Anne]

The problem with the Loire is that, if you go by train instead of renting a car or going with a tour company, then you'll be stuck in Tours (or other towns) .
Tours is no doubt a very nice town (haven't visited it yet), but the idea that everyone has in mind about the Loire Valley is the castles, many of them really amazing . But you cannot go to the castles by train, except for those located in towns like Blois or Amboise, and these are not the best ones .

[annettecinca]

How about renting a car for the day once you get to Tours?

[iank9]

On the Tours tourist (I'm a poet and I don't know it) ;D website

www.ligeris.com/index_us.html

They have half day excursions to Amboise, Azay etc with wine tastings along the way. They leave from o/s the Gare in Tours where the main tourist office is located. You could take an early train from Paris have an escorted Chateau tour and then some time in the old city before a later train back to Paris.

(Note that not all TGV's call at Tours Central but stop at the TGV station at St Pierre des Corps)

Alternatively, take a full day tour, a couple of more Chateaux, and lunch in Amboise or Chinon or somewhere similar, with more wine tastings!

We usually spend part of each summer in this area but because of illness to one of my "girls" who needs regular (every 5 days) veterinary treatment at the moment we have had to cancel

A fortnight in northern England awaits. - Will it ever stop raining!

[luckyluc]

Ok, so no car and an easy train one day destination.

You might be the only tourist there but how about Verneuil-sur-Avre, a 57 minutes train ride from Gare Montparnasse. The station is a ten minutes walk from the town center. You can get an audiotour that cover the city main monuments from the Office du tourisme on Place de la Madeleine.

A bit of history: In order to protect Normandy from France, the third son of Guillaume the Conqueror founded Verneuil in 1120. A fortified town for the hundred years war (guerre de Cent Ans) you will find a lot of XV and XVI century houses that are very well preserved, l’Eglise de la Madeleine is from the 15th century and still have the original stained glasses. There is also a Tour Grise, donjon from the 13th century.

The town has about 7,000 habitants, full of history but very peaceful, it is always a nice break from Paris brouhaha.

[luckyluc]

An other pic, to raise your interest

[Anne]

Annette - Yes, you can rent a car in Tour or do one of Ian's tours . Some of them look nice indeed .
If you visit only one or two castles, the must-not-be-missed is Chenonceaux . The first year that we went to the Loire valley, we made the mistake of visiting Chenonceaux first, and the following days we went to Azay, Villandry, Amboise and Clos-Lucé . And at each castle, children would look disappointed and say "yes it is nice, but not half as nice as Chenonceau ..."

[Anne]

Arrow - If you are interested in the Middle-Ages, why not going to Provins ? It is a mediaeval town, maybe 1 hour (?) by train from Paris .
www.provins.net
OK, the mediaeval shows are a bit too much, but the town is beautiful indeed .

[greyghost1]

Wonderful topic! Not sure it fits your requirement of "major" but the Valley of Cherveuse, reachable by RER -about 40 min. But I don't know how you would get to Chateau de Breteuil. You can hike up to Castle Madeleine. It is a charming village with some super bio-farms with wonderful things for sale.

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Wow, without this forum I never would have known about some of these places! This is great, thanks all!