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Post by Jody on Jan 8, 2011 15:57:55 GMT -5
Hopw our resident Dane is reading this threaad!
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kurgy
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by kurgy on Jan 9, 2011 23:39:27 GMT -5
Well, it looks like we are ditching Denmark, in favour of longer stays in places. Keeping Belgium for beer & the 1 week in the UK.
It will go London, Belgium then Paris.
Paris 2 days - pick up car, will stay with my aunt.
Paris to Annency - 2-3nights we thought it was a good halfway point to Lake Como
Annency to Lake Como - 1 week
Lake Como to Venice & surrounds - 1 week
Venice to Florence 3 days
Tuscany 1 week.
Tuscany - Nice 2 nights
Provence 7-10 days
Dordogne 3 days
Dordogne - Paris 1 nights drop off car
Paris to Amalfi fly coast 7 days
Paris 3 weeks
We are flying back to Amalfi at the end of the trip because its end of season and we wont have the car anymore which is apparently a nightmare to have in that area AND I'm dying to see it. But we'll see - may ditch that idea for another trip to the south of italy and just see a bit more of france. what do u think?
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Post by holger on Jan 10, 2011 9:25:12 GMT -5
Glad things are shaping up. You will need a car to do justice to the Amalfi Coast.Otherwise how will you see all the different small villages and towns. We drove that region in high season and it was slow but OK. Also you really cannot do justice to the Dordogne in three days. We spent over a week and still were able to see only a small amount. It would be better to do contiguous areas. We were also in Provence but in my humble opinion the week there was more than enough. I prefer the Loire and the Dordogne. I would do Provence for no more than 7 days and add the additional ones to the Dordogne.
As to London, a week is fine and you can use the trains for day trips. But belgium is certainly more than beer so hope that was a joke! These days you can get beers from all over the world, all over the world.
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Post by Jody on Jan 10, 2011 9:41:57 GMT -5
I totally agree , as usual , with Holger. I love Belgium, Antwerp being my very favorite. Brussels is wprth a day and Bruges and Ghent could make up some more. We have done almost all the WWI battlefields in Belgium and Northern France. I find the WWI sites so much more interestng than the WWII sites in Normandy. Ieper( Ypres) is a very interesting little town with an excellent museum
Lille is also most intersting place, it has the 2nd highest concentration of museums and fine art after Paris.
I'd also see if you could squeeze in Lyon, Dijon and /or Beaune.
Not to be a wet blanket but Provence holds very little interest for me. I would like to see the lavender fields though Maybe it becauseI live very near 2 coasts and can see the ocean anytime I feel like it!
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kurgy
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by kurgy on Jan 10, 2011 10:30:26 GMT -5
Holger & Jody - thanks for your advice. will definitely just keep provence at 7 days and add the 3 days to dordogne.
I think I will have to abandon my Amalfi coast dreams and keep it for our next trip to Italy. We are skipping Rome anyway, so it makes sense to just do the southern part of italy the next time, and when the 2 year old is older and less troublesome...(they do say it gets better....)! Then I have an extra week and can possibly fit in Lyon or Dijon or the Loire valley. Museums are not a must for us currently (to my husbands pleasure), again due to the 2 year old....HAS anyone been to roquefort? is it worth it? we love cheese!
The Belgium beer thing is a bit of an in joke with the DH. He is a bit obsessed. We went to czech republic in 2007 & he went on 3 brewery tours. I've only been to brussels and Leuven in Belgium - so going to Bruges & Antwerp is def on the cards.
thanks again for your input, it really has helped with my planning and timings.
holger - do u think u could share more about your amalfi trip during peak season? if u have a trip report or something?
thanks
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kurgy
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by kurgy on Jan 22, 2011 20:18:21 GMT -5
I just wanted to update that we've decided to bar Italy!
We are now spending 3 mths in France & 1 wk in London!
We thought it was a great time to see places in France that we may not seek out in the future, so we are back to the drawing board on the itinerary!
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Post by holger on Jan 23, 2011 10:08:57 GMT -5
Kurgy,
Give me some time and I will locate our scrapbook from the Amalfi Coast. This was many years ago and pre writing trip reports on line so I need to find our paper materials most packed in boxes.
If you are really spending three months in France with a small child, you can truly find three or maybe four locales and have home bases and tour from these. I am not sure whether you will still spend some time in Belgium. If so, Jody's suggestions were great. If you have a really good guide book to France, one of the DK ones perhaps, you can get a sense of the differences in the different areas. Then you and your husband can find ones you are both interested in. I adore the Dordogne for many reasons and also the Loire. Amboise in the Loire and Sarlat in the Dordogne are good bases. Burgundy is also fascinating and Lyon and Dijon are real favorites. Next Fall we hope to spend time in Normandy and Brittany postponed from last Fall. Sometime, I want to go to Champagne and Alsace- Lorraine and you may also want to see if they appeal. Also a whole month in Paris would get you great rates on an apartment as that is often where the bigger discounts are. There are many easy day trips from paris to Chantilly, Versailles, etc. You will not want a car in Paris so using trains and buses for day trips is great.
Jody, it is interesting to see how much we do agree about. Wish we would overlap next trip. I found some of Provence interesting but unlike many other places it just did not pull my heart and have no feelings of must go back. But St. Remy made a nice base.
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Post by Jody on Jan 23, 2011 10:54:45 GMT -5
We might make it yet, Holger! Right now I am trying to talk David into taking the QM2 to Southampton, spending a day in London then going on to France for about 2 weeks in late Oct -Nov. He keeps saying 5 days on a BOAT! I am trying to get him to think of the ship as a floating city. It sounds wonderful to me and the fare is not much more than a R/T flight would be and we have FF miles we could use for the flight home!
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Post by geordy on Jan 23, 2011 11:32:00 GMT -5
Ordinarily I'd be with David "5 days on a boat??!!", but this isn't a cruise and it is the QM2. Have either of you been on a transatlantic voyage before? If not I'd sell it as the glamorous, romantic, once in a lifetime thing! And you have the time.....(unlike those of us dealing with measly vac days!  ) If you have done it before it could be a tough sell.....  But if I were retired, and time and $ no problem..and traveling WITH my S/O I think it would be cool! And it is really only 3 days..the 1st you are leaving..the last getting there! ;D  |
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Post by holger on Jan 23, 2011 12:32:46 GMT -5
Jody,
We will be in Paris from September 22nd late in the afternoon at that and we fly back to the States on October 6. So it doesn't seem as if we will overlap. But if next winter is as miserable as this one, I may think of a Christmas trip to the South especially after reading an article on the Florida Panhandle.
As to the QM2 I had also looked into it as I am increasingly finding flying for any time longer than three hours to feel like torture. My first trip to Europe in 1957 was on a student ship that left NYC and returned to Quebec. Loved it. Restful, lots of bridge, cheap brandy to balance my seasickness. So we actually looked at boat travel last year but there are so few that go transatlantic anymore. Not like the good old days--wow am I becoming an old biddy!
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Post by Jody on Jan 23, 2011 13:10:40 GMT -5
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Post by mossie on Jan 23, 2011 15:10:54 GMT -5
Jody you just HAVE to go for it, and splash out on an "Oceanview" cabin. At least you will have a porthole to wave out of  . I clicked on the pic of the Piccadilly Underground and got a nice video of the boat leaving NY. Enjoy these things while you are able, as I was told some time ago "There are no pockets in a shroud" |
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Post by holger on Jan 23, 2011 15:59:13 GMT -5
Go for it, Jody. last I looked economy on U.S Air was over a thousand from Philadelphia and on American from NYC over nine hundred so if you can get a free trip back then given all the meals, etc. on the ship that is a steal. If we weren't locked into AF with the vouchers, I might well have pushed harder on the ship going over. Imagine arriving without any jet lag!
Mossie, I intend to use your shrouds have no pockets with my DH. Absolutely love the comment. Will wait till mid week as he is having surgery tomorrow and will find it funnier after that is over.
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Post by mossie on Jan 24, 2011 8:56:08 GMT -5
Holger, that was not meant to be funny but as a method of loosening the purse strings ;D ;D
Hope Mr Holgers surgery goes well and that he is in a receptive mood.
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Post by Shoesy on Jan 24, 2011 11:20:09 GMT -5
Best wishes to Mr. Holger on his surgery.
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Post by Penny on Jan 24, 2011 14:43:17 GMT -5
Jody
my nephew and his family took the QM2 two years ago in the spring and absolutely loved it.
their trip was similar to what you mentioned except longer in London.
The only way he would go as he hates to fly.
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Post by Jody on Jan 24, 2011 16:51:45 GMT -5
I'm always up for longer in London!
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Post by Darcy on Jan 24, 2011 20:14:29 GMT -5
I think transatlantic cruises are fantastic! We have done it four times, always leaving from Lisbon and arriving in either St Thomas, VI, or Barbados 14 days later. We have used the small ship line, Windstar, each time and the total # of passengers has never been more than 120. There's always been more crew than passengers. We loved it!!
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Post by Shoesy on Jan 24, 2011 22:50:37 GMT -5
I've never been on a cruise (in this life), and it sounds like a great idea to me, Jody.
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kurgy
Junior Member
Posts: 67
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Post by kurgy on Jan 26, 2011 1:14:06 GMT -5
holger - i hope your DH's surgery went well..
the cruise sounds fab - but my friend just went on one Norwegian Epic through the carribean & was a bit disappointed with all the extra costs on what was meant to be an all inclusive package. we were actually thinking of a transatlantic cruise ourselves, but decided that 5 days in open sea might be too much for us & the 2 year old!
I do have the Eyewitness (DK) France guide, but have also bought the Michelin Green guide which we are finding that way more helpful..we are having trouble actually staying put for the first half of the trip...AND we are going to spend 2 weeks in provence...I know...but my fascination with the area was from when I was a teenager & watched Manon de Sources/Jean de Florette...
So this is our rough 4th draft!!
Honfleur - 4 nights
MSM - 2 nights
Amboise - 4 nights - no child friendly activites in the area - we think he'll lose it after the 2nd chateau! 1st draft was 1 week
Futuroscope - 1 night stop- theme park for kidlet
Bordeaux - 1 week - plan to do beaches & St Emilion, not sure where to base ourselves yet. Bergerac enroute to Sarlat
Dordogne - 1 week -
Carcasonne -5 nights
Montpellier - 1 week - Pyrennes - there is a steam train (for the kidlet), Carmague
Provence - 2 weeks - currently thinking of Lourmarin as a base, but maybe split the weeks in 2 different towns?
Cote d'azur - 4 nights - Grasse?
6 nights to get back to Paris - tossing up between Annecy, Dijon or Burgundy...
we were going to go to Brittany - but chopped it due to lack of child oriented activities - found this site called France for Families & it was a good way to target some areas.
Not so sure about the 5 nights in Carcassone - we had to stretch things out so that we'd get to Provence at the end of the season to get wider accommodation options. what do you think?
Day trips from Paris
Reims/Champagne - my hubby will go for the champagne house tours & I will see the cathedral with the little one...
Giverny
Versailles
Chartres
Eurodisney
Chantilly
Its a lot more intensive than the original trip with Italy, but as i said we've found it hard to have 4-5 bases. so any opinions on this would be great. The 2 year old looooves holidays! he always asks to go on them! He seems to cope well with the changes though - we took him to argentina/brazil last year & a 3 week New England roadtrip which he loved...at the moment we are in the Bahamas for 4 days. I am really not liking Nassau at all. It seems everyone is trying to make a buck off you & everything is really expensive! Were here just to get our visas renewed, so the disappointment isnt that great since we are here on official business really...but would not recommend Nassau! Anyway, i have babbled randomly...sorry.
We'll be in Paris at the same time as you, so if you are planning any GTG's I'd love to come sans bebe! where will you be staying?
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hahahha
Dec 28, 2015 10:42:56 GMT -5
Let the riot begin! LOL - bit.do/proboards This forum is not safe anymore!!! Download file and kill it 
hahahha
Dec 28, 2015 10:42:56 GMT -5