With the airline and major lodging reservations out of the way the last four months have focused on a few of the remaining details, some large and some small.
The first thing we tackled was what to do after our arrival in Paris early Thursday morning until we checked in to our B&B in Vaison-la-Romaine on Saturday afternoon. We looked at several different options, including picking up our car in Paris and driving to Provence (with stops along the way) or taking a train with stops along the way as well. We posted questions to several of the forums (Rick Steves and Slow Travel) to get the opinions of other more experienced travelers. We received many good ideas and options to consider.
After looking at all of the options we decided the best thing to do was to go directly to Avignon from Paris via TGV (high-speed train) and spend the first two nights in the center of Avignon. This approach will allow us to not have to worry about the car for the first few days, will give us time to adjust to the time difference on Thursday and start at a slower pace in a city we had planned on visiting. Again we used the forums (as well as Trip Advisor) to find a great looking hotel in Avignon (Hotel Le Colbert - http://www.lecolbert-hotel.com/) that is close to the city center, as well as the shuttle from the TGV station to the city center. We look forward to exploring the city on Friday, going to the market Saturday morning and then heading northeast to start our first full week in Provence in Vaison-la-Romaine.
The next order of business was getting from Antibes to Paris on the day before we fly back to Portland. Rather than spend most of the day on the TGV we decided to fly from Nice (just a few miles from Antibes) to Paris early in the morning and spend the afternoon and evening in Paris before we fly out late Sunday morning. Since there are just a few airlines that serve the Nice airport it was pretty easy to choose an airline - easyJet. They are a discount airline but there are extra fees for baggage and weight limitations. Made the reservations on their website with no problems.
In order to maximize our time in Paris we are going to stay at a hotel that is right at the airport (Ibis CDG - http://www.ibishotel.com/gb/hotel-1404-ibis-charles-de-gaulle-aeroport-terminal/index.shtml). We will be able to get off of the flight from Nice, take the airport shuttle to the hotel, check-in and then head into the city on the RER. We hope to be in the city by 1PM and go to some areas that we missed back in 2007. We plan on watching the sun go down and the lights come on from the Sacre Coeur area. We have posted a question on several forums for a good restaurant in that area. We got one good suggestion from Americana in Parigi on Slow Travel that we will probably follow (le Grand 8 - http://legrand8.fr/) - good reviews and a view of the city. Hoping to see the Eiffel Tower after dark up close.
We have also reserved our lease car (a Peugeot 207 Diesel SW). We will pick up the car in Avignon and drop it off 29 days later in Nice the morning we fly to Paris.
The only reservation that still needs to be made is the TGV trip from Paris to Avignon. Those tickets should be available about 90 days before the travel date.
We are still doing research in regards to things to do while in Provence (the list is endless). In addition to some new versions of travel books (Rick Steves, Michelin and Rough Guides) we have purchased several hiking guide books. We are looking forward to taking several hikes during our stay. And hoping for more Kindle versions to cut down on the travel books we need to take.
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