Navigating Markets and Scenic Routes in France, Episode 534

Episode Transcript
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Annie (00:15):
This is Join Us in France, episode 534, cinq cent trente quatre.
Bonjour, I'm Annie Sargent and Join usin France is the podcast where we take
a conversational journey through thebeauty, culture and flavors of France.
Today, I bring you a conversation withTheresa Watkins about her extensive

(00:37):
experiences traveling through France.
From her adventures in Paris to thepicturesque regions of Provence and
Normandy, Theresa shares valuableinsights and practical tips for
anyone planning a trip to France.
Whether you're curious aboutthe best local markets, ways to
explore historical sites, or howto navigate travel logistics,

(00:59):
this episode is packed with usefulinformation, and delightful anecdotes.
What makes her an expert is that she didit, she was there, feet on the ground.
And you'll also find out why Franceremains a top destination for travelers.
This podcast is supported by donorsand listeners who buy my tours and

(01:20):
services, including my ItineraryConsult 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 myboutique: joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
And remember, Patreon supportersget the episode ad-free, and as soon

(01:44):
as it's ready, click on the link inthe show notes to enjoy this Patreon
reward for as little as $3 a month.
For the magazine part of the podcast,after my chat with Theresa today,
I'll discuss something unusual,pink flamingos in the Camargue.
Because they are awesome, of course.

(02:05):
And I'll also talk about thefuture of the Paris Metro.
Bonjour, Theresa Watkins, andwelcome to Join Us in France.

Theresa (02:22):
Thank you.
Bonjour, Annie.

Annie (02:23):
How are you?

Theresa (02:24):
I am good.
I'm very good.

Annie (02:26):
Lovely to talk to you.
Okay, so you had a couple of trips toFrance, and we are going to talk about
both, but perhaps one of the firstthings we should discuss is the fact
that there is so much to do in Franceand that perhaps people don't realize.
So how do you feel about that topic?

Theresa (02:48):
I totally agree with that.
In fact, so much that we had to leave out.
One thing that I am learning as I go toEurope more is that like the first time
we went, I think we did three countries,maybe four in three weeks, too much.
And so I'm trying tolessen every time I go.
And even this last time, Ithought, Oh, I'm doing great.

(03:09):
I'm going to spend two weeks in Provence.
There should be plenty.
No, I had to cut out so much that Iwanted to do just by even limiting to that
small, I thought it was small, section.
It's incredible the amountof things that you can do.
Yeah, you could spend a monthin one area easily, I think.

Annie (03:25):
As a rule of thumb, I like to tell people that for Paris and
for Provence, they should never stayless than seven days, and for most
other regions of France, five days.
They might make do with fivedays, but they probably would
wish that they had more.
So like, if you went to the Dordognefor five days, you would get a feel

(03:49):
for it, but you would leave out a lotof very exciting things to do as well.
Same with the Basque country, same withNormandy, same with Strasbourg area.
But if you have at least five days, ifyou stay put at least five days, you
might get to see quite a few things.
And it's very hard, I mean I do thisevery day, I talk to people, as a

(04:11):
matter of fact, I had done an itineraryplanning with you, a Bonjour planning.

Theresa (04:16):
For both trips, actually.

Annie (04:17):
Okay.
And it's, one of my biggest thing is totell people, slow down, slow down, but
the message doesn't always come across.

Theresa (04:27):
No, it's because I think we all have limited vacation, and the
flight over there is so long, so youwant to try to cram in as much as you
can, but I would caution against it.
Even 12 days in Provence, wedid get a good feel for it,
but had to leave out so much.
And I would say that your adviceabout staying on the coast for like

(04:49):
seven days would be great becausethen you wouldn't have to rent a car.
Going up into the Provence area, I thinkyou really need a car, but I could have
probably spent 10 days in that whole area.
There was so much we didn't get todo just in that section of France.

Annie (05:04):
Yep.
All right.
So let's start.
So we need to make it very clear,the things we're going to talk
about today, you did over two trips.
So it's a total of how much timeyou spent over the two trips?

Theresa (05:15):
We did probably seven nights in between Paris, we did five nights in Paris
and a few nights over in the out of Paris.
And five nights was not enough.
I don't think in Paris, even thoughI thought it would be plenty.
And then we did 12 nights inProvence, which also was not enough.
And that was two different trips.

(05:36):
And I'll have to tell you thefunny thing, the whole reason
why we did the Provence trip.
I don't know if this is a goodtime to say it, but it was all
because of you and your podcast.
So what happened was we went to Paris.
And we went to Mont SaintMichel, and we loved it, and
we can talk about that later.
But, we got home, and I'm listening toyour podcast that Joe did on Provence.

(05:57):
And then, like two days later, it cameup a flight from Kansas City to Nice for
an amazing airfare, like 500 roundtrip.
I'm like, well, I thinkit seems like destiny.
So I immediately booked that, andbooked the same hotel that Joe booked.
Done.
And then when we arrived at thehotel that Joe had recommended in
your podcast, we meet who he wastalking about as we're checking in.

(06:21):
So it was just incredible.
It was amazing.
It was, it all seemed like destinyand it was, and we had a great time.
So it was good.

Annie (06:28):
Yeah.
So, yes, the podcast doesinspire people to do things.
But if you find a great airfare,I mean, come on, how often are
you going to be able to do that?
Like, so where is it that,where's home for you in the US?

Theresa (06:40):
Kansas City.

Annie (06:41):
Kansas City.
Okay.
So Kansas, you were able to doKansas to Nice, return for $500?

Theresa (06:46):
Yes.

Annie (06:47):
Oh.

Theresa (06:48):
Economy, but still, I mean, fantastic in September, which is
an amazing time to go to Provence.
I would probably sayit was, it was perfect.

Annie (06:57):
That's the other thing that you have to consider is the time of year.
Because there are better times andworse times for all of these areas.
September is great just aboutanywhere, really, I mean, you know.
But if it's January or Februarythat you find a really good fare,
you probably should go south.
You know, I mean, it's theweather is better in the south.

(07:21):
There's no guarantee that it won'train on you or whatever, but it's
going to be nicer generally, theBasque country or something like this.
So, excellent.
Okay, so let's go through all theplaces that you enjoyed the most.
And the one you put at thetop is the Mont Saint Michel.

Theresa (07:37):
Yes, mainly because we did decide, and I know this is maybe a
little against what most people say,but we did decide to stay on the Mont
site in the Hotel Le Mouton Blanc.

Annie (07:51):
Yeah, Le Mouton Blanc.

Theresa (07:53):
Yes, and I will not say it is a fancy hotel.
Go in there with appropriate expectations.
You know, it is not a fancy hotel.
It is in one of these very, very oldstone places, so it is not fancy.
But, the amazing experience we hadthere, and we all agreed, it was
my husband, my daughter, and mysister that were all there, and it

(08:13):
is just a different place at night.
There was probably 50 people there.
It was deserted streetsthat you walk through.
It was just, you got the feeling of howit felt so many years in the past and we
all love history and it was just gorgeous.
It was, we left at 11 o'clock the nextmorning, we checked out and you would
not, well you would believe becauseI'm sure you've been there, the amount
of crowds, you could hardly move.

(08:34):
But when we went, no one there.
We were the first ones in, in themorning to get into the Abbey area.
Because we were staying overnight there.
It was great.

Annie (08:42):
Yeah.
Now, you can have a similar experienceif you stay at a hotel off the Mont
and you do take the shuttle back andforth, to and from your hotel after
dark, after the abbey has closed,when there are very few people.
You can get the same experienceif you're not on the Mont.
The reason why I tend to recommendpeople don't stay on the Mont is

(09:03):
because of the cobblestone and draggingyour luggage up those cobblestone.
It's steep.

Theresa (09:09):
We did allow for that.
We took in your advice about that.
We just picked an overnight bagand we left the rest in the car.
And so we just had our backpacks withour overnight bag and that was it.

Annie (09:19):
Okay.
Yeah, that's a good way to do itbecause dragging suitcases of that
thing is not my idea of a good time.
And the car park is perfectly safe.
I mean, if you're reasonable, you don'tleave anything super valuable, you know,
but if you're reasonable, it's doable.

Theresa (09:34):
Yes.
And I, the reason why we thought it wasnice is because we wandered, my husband
wandered around really late that night.
Probably 11 o'clock at night.
He really, really enjoyed it.
It was very nice.

Annie (09:43):
Yeah, and sometimes people have, like, their imagination
runs wild in places like that.
They start imagining, you know,their action games, or their
action novels or, because you'rein the setting, you're right in it.

Theresa (09:57):
And one thing I will say after talking to you, one of my biggest
things I deliberated on was whetherto rent a car or take the train.
You would not believe howmuch I obsessed over this.
But I ended up going with rentingthe car and I'm glad we did that
because we ended up being able tostop at several different places.
One of the places we didn't getto go is the Bayeux Tapestry, so
that's on the list for next time.

(10:18):
But we did get to stop at severalplaces around there, which was nice.
We went to Normandy beach and things.
Yeah.

Annie (10:24):
So did you go directly to Bayeux or did you stay somewhere else?

Theresa (10:29):
No.
So we left Paris, werented the car at CDG.
I thought I would tell people thatbecause we were going to go and take
the train to Amsterdam when we got back.
So that just made sense to me.
The apartment, Du Louvre where we werestaying in Paris had free transportation
if you book directly through them,to give you one transportation back

(10:49):
and forth that they would pay for.
And so we used it to go toCDG and rented the car there.
And then I thought that was easierbecause we didn't have to drive in Paris.
And then also because we could return thecar there and then just take the train
right from CDG, which I thought was nice.

Annie (11:05):
Yes, if you're taking a train and you can do that directly from CDG,
if you have no reason to go into Paris,then avoid going into Paris completely.
Take the train, if available,from CDG to wherever you're going.
Now, this is something you shouldplan in adVence because they don't
have trains every hour from CDGto, say, Bordeaux or from CDG to

(11:28):
Strasbourg or places like that.
But, there are plenty.
You just need to know what timethey are and see if you can make
it work with your, the time youland in CDG or the time you arrive.
Whatever, however you're going to do it.

Theresa (11:43):
I was having a hard time trying to figure out how
to take the regional trains out.
That's why we ended up renting thecar just at CDG, but I put an alert
on my phone for the train to go toAmsterdam and that worked great.
I got notified the first day,bought great tickets for a very
reasonable price and that worked out.

Annie (11:59):
And you were good.
Yeah.
And driving from CDG to...

Theresa (12:04):
So we went directly to Monet Gardens, which was fantastic, as
everyone has said, and it wasn't reallythat crazy crowded there, and we had
lunch there, which was also fantastic.
It's a little cafe, Giverny Cafe,and then we went on to Le Havre
on the coast, mainly becausewe got a good deal of Hilton.
It was very windy and cold, butnice, nice view of the ocean.

(12:25):
That was good.
And then the next day, we went toNormandy Beach, and then we stopped
at a little town, which I cannot,it's escaping me the name of it.
I want to say it was like, anyway, Iguess it doesn't matter, but it was
a little town on the way down there.
And did some shopping and then wenton to Mont Saint Michel, and then
on the way back we stopped at Rouen.
But we really didn'tget to experience Rouen.

(12:47):
We didn't have enough timeby the time we got back.
So that was, I would notsay we visited Rouen.
We'd have to go back there again.

Annie (12:53):
Sometimes what works is if you need to stop somewhere for a meal,
you go to the near, you get off thefreeway at the biggest nearest town
and you park in the city center.
You normally have to pay for parking,but you pay for parking, you get
off, you walk around the city center,find a place to eat and go back.
Usually if you do that, it's going totake you two, two and a half hours,

(13:16):
but you've seen the city center ofRouen, which you wouldn't have seen
otherwise, you know, so why not?

Theresa (13:21):
Yes.
We probably didn't do that oneas well there, but that's okay.
We left the next morning togo to CGD and return the car.
It was confusing returning the car,I will say, at CDG, much different
than returning the car at Nice, but,you know, we found it and we did.

Annie (13:36):
It's a big airport.

Theresa (13:37):
Yes, it's big airport.

Annie (13:39):
It's a big airport.
Sometimes they give you thecoordinates, the GPS coordinates,
and if you know how to enter thatinto your phone, into Google maps,
then it's easier, you know, sometimesthey are more helpful than others.

Theresa (13:52):
Yeah, it was not helping us very much.
And even the signs weren'tthat helpful, but we made it.
So it was good.
We did it.

Annie (13:58):
Yeah, when you return a car and get on an airplane or a train, don't
make it too, don't try to do this atthe last minute, give it plenty of time.

Theresa (14:07):
Agreed.
Agreed,

Annie (14:09):
yeah.
So you really enjoyed yourstay at the Mont Saint Michel
was just one night, right?

Theresa (14:15):
And I thought that was fine.
I thought that was fineto get the experience.

Annie (14:19):
Yeah, I really think one night at the Mont Saint Michel is enough
unless you want to go on a hikethe next day and, you know, you can
hike the, on the beach, low tide.
If you're going to do that, do it with aguide because there are some complications
that people are not aware of.
But really, you just need one night atLe Mont Saint Michel, for most people.

Theresa (14:41):
I agree with that.

Annie (14:42):
Very good.
Then your second favoritething was your apartment.
It was called Du Louvre,appartementdulouvre.com

Theresa (14:51):
Well, that is where we stayed.
I would say my second favoritething was Monet Gardens, but it was,
that was where we stayed in Paris.
I really liked it.
I thought it was a great location.
It was right next to the Louvre andit was very close to your food walk.

Annie (15:04):
That's

Theresa (15:04):
good.
So that was nice.
The people there were great.
So I would recommend that one.

Annie (15:09):
Right, right, I was looking at the wrong thing.
Yes, the second thing youlisted is Monet's Garden.

Theresa (15:15):
And the other thing i would say we did buy the Monuments Pass when
we were in Paris, and that helped usget into Mont Saint Michel, the Sainte
Chapelle, the Conciergerie, I can'teven say that word, Conciergerie, thank
you, and then we used it again when wewent back, because it's good for a year,
so, I thought that was a good value.

Annie (15:34):
Right, so the Monument Pass is a pass you can buy, where did you buy it?
Because I bought mine online,it got shipped to my house.

Theresa (15:41):
I bought it online, and they just send it to me online.

Annie (15:44):
Okay, so it's called the Pass Monument and it includes maybe
30 or 40 monuments all throughFrance, not just in Paris, several,
a dozen in Paris, but also...

Theresa (15:55):
I think Arc de Triomphe is also on it, I believe.
So it was quite a few.
It was a very good value, I thought.

Annie (16:01):
Yeah.
And I've had mine for a while andI've used it mostly in Paris and
in Provence as a matter of fact.
But yeah, if you have that it's helpful.
I'll put the link in the show notesfor people who want to look at that.
Yep.

Theresa (16:13):
Okay.

Annie (16:14):
So you went to Monet Garden in April.
That was on your April trip.
And so it had not been reopenedfor very long, I assume,
because it opens late March.

Theresa (16:25):
Yes, that's true.
It had only been open forlike a week, which is probably
why it was not super crowded.
And we went, I would agree with that.
And the only other thing I wouldsay, as far as the, I might as well
jump down on my list to number six,just to keep all of it together.
But in Paris was the Seine River cruise.
I thought that was my otherfavorite thing in Paris.
It was really good.

(16:46):
I would recommend anyone do that.

Annie (16:48):
Was this a regular Canauxrama?
I have never done the one in Canauxrama.
Was it a normal one hour river cruise?

Theresa (16:54):
I think it was longer than that.
It felt longer than that.
And we got see, we booked it in timeto see the Eiffel Tower twinkling.
They offer like a charcuterie boardand some macarons and champagne.
Probably could have skipped all that, butthe cruise itself was very inexpensive
and very good, and we all loved it.
So that was really good.
And do it when, book it, and they tellyou when to book it to see the Eiffel

(17:16):
Tower twinkling, so that was nice.

Annie (17:18):
And it started from where?

Theresa (17:20):
That is a great question.
It was hard to get to, I know that,because we took an Uber, and the Uber
driver tried to, he really, it wasone of those ones that ripped you off,
he tried to pretend like he didn'tknow where we were and kept moving,
so we kept moving to try to find him.
So he wanted us just to say, youknow, we couldn't find him, so he
could get his money either, anyway.
But he ended up taking us and delaying it.

(17:42):
That was not good.
We ended up just telling himwe have to get out right now.
So, that was not good.
But the Uber on the way back, I thinkyou just run into that every once in
a while, you know, a bad Uber driver.
But I cannot remember the, where was that?

Annie (17:56):
So, I think these are the folks that do, because we had talked about it
on the podcast, but about my friend whohad done a Canal Saint Martin cruise.
So one of the ones that they offeris the one on Canal Saint Martin.
Then they do another one called Bistro surla Seine, Croisière Bistro sur la Seine.

(18:16):
Oh, I can, I can look at it in English.
Then it won't be so awkward.
Bistro Cruise on the Seine.
So this one is a two hour cruise, andit does include, it's from 30 Euros,
and it does include the charcuterie,the cheese platter blah blah blah.
So that's probably the one you did.

Theresa (18:32):
That is the one I did.

Annie (18:33):
Yes, and it goes from let's see....

Theresa (18:36):
The very cool thing was you got to see the locks going, like when
you came back in, they lowered the locksand everything while you're on the boat.
I thought that was cool.

Annie (18:43):
Oh, so it starts from the Port de L'arsenal which is
close to the Canal Saint Martin.
It's, as close as you canget without going to it.
So it goes from the Porte d'Arsenal.
So it's a little bit out of the way.
The starting point is not where, it'snot a place where most people will be.
Yeah.

Theresa (19:01):
I would agree with that.
It was a little bit hard to getto, but I thought it was a good
value and we really did enjoy it.

Annie (19:05):
Very good.
Okay.
All right.
So let's see.
That was, we skipped to numbersix, now we have to go back to
number three, the bull races andrunning of the bulls in Saint Rémy.
So this was on your Septembertrip where you went to Provence.
Do tell!.

Theresa (19:22):
Yeah, we talked about this when I met with you.
Because I told you this issomething I'd heard on your podcast
and it sounded so interesting.
I didn't want to do the oneswhere the bulls were killed.
I wanted to do the ones where theytake the things off their horns.
And I don't, I think you advised oron your podcast, to maybe look for
what was available a year from now,because they only announced these

(19:42):
festivals like a few months in adVence.
So it's hard to know when you're bookingin adVence where to be for the festival.
But through googling and figuringthings out, I think we figured out
that St. Remy had a festival that wasin conjunction with these bull races.
So that's why we picked there.
And the apartment that we stayed in,which I think I put a link to on there,

(20:02):
overlooked where they did the bullrace through town, which was very cool.
The running of the bulls throughtown, which was very cool.
Yes.
And then, the drawback of that, Iwill say, is that because it was so
great located and you could just lookout your window and see the running
of the bulls through the streets,they do block off the streets.

(20:23):
So wanting to get your car, or puttingyour car back is a little bit problematic,
when they're having festivals.
So I will note that, if you'reright in the middle of the
thing, so keep that in mind.
It was a very good place thatwe stayed and we absolutely
love the running of the bulls.
My husband went down where the bullswent rogue while we were there.
Very, very fun.

(20:43):
It was adrenaline rush.
And then we did the bull racesas well while we were there.
And loved it.
And it was probably where we regrettedthe most we didn't speak French.
Because no one that we encounteredspoke English at these bull races.
And so, this older gentleman wantedto talk to us so much and tell us

(21:03):
who his favorite people were andhow much he enjoyed the bull races.
And I speak some Spanish.
I do not speak French.
So that was regrettable.

Annie (21:12):
Yeah.
That's, that's...
Okay.
So I want to expound a littlebit on something you said
that was very interesting, howto find out about festivals.
If you know about a festival that youare really interested in, you have to
know the name, the exact same name,knowing the exact name if possible.
And then you look at whendid they have it last year.
Because the way Google works,Google ranks things by, one of the

(21:37):
things is how long has this websitebeen up, or this page been up.
And so it's more likely to show you thepage from last year than the page from
next year, even if that page exists,sometimes the page hasn't been put up yet.
So if you see when it was lastyear, probably it's going to be the
same time of year and if it's on aweekend, say the third weekend of

(22:00):
April, it's probably going to be thethird weekend of April next year.
So that's one good way to figure itout before there's much information
online about this, becausethat's how locals know about it.
They know that, you know, the thirdweekend of April is when we do this.

Theresa (22:13):
Yes.
And then I also think this was in yourpodcast or maybe from you directly
that, I emailed once I found outwhen it kind of was held last year,
I emailed the tourism office in St.Remy and they were super helpful.
And then I even emailed the ladyas we got closer and she sent back
from our apartment, our Airbnb.

(22:35):
And said, Hey, I've gotthe program now for this.
If you want to plan on it, itwas all in French, I will say.
And so one thing, regrettably, that Ididn't understand was they start the
running of the bulls at a lake outsideof town and they had a free breakfast
and it was all, but I didn't understandthat's what it was in French, when I

(22:56):
do translation it made no sense to me.
But when we got there,that's what we understood.
So, if I would have understood that Iwould have went there at 9 in the morning
planned on being there at this lake.
We just enjoyed the festival so much.
We like festivals.
We did, we just happened uponone when we went to Barcelona.
Amazing.
Amazing.
So I just think that that's worthGoogling to try to find out if

(23:16):
you're going to be in the area.

Annie (23:18):
Yes.
If there's one that you've heard ofthat you really want to go to, figure
it out and then call the tourist office.
They always speak English.
They can help you.
They can even point youto the brochure, perhaps.
Maybe it's not in English because,I mean, honestly, you know... they
don't try to promote these thingsto English speaking visitors.
These are for locals.

Theresa (23:39):
Totally understandable.
That's why it's good.
Even the person in our Airbnbreally didn't speak English
very well, which is fine.
We did Google Translate.
It was fine.
But some of those things don'ttranslate word for word very well,
and it's hard to understand what itis, but now going back, I would go
to Saint Remy again just for that.
It was cool.
We saw the fireworks while we were there.
The closest I've ever been to fireworks.
Ash rained down on us.

(24:01):
It was crazy.

Annie (24:03):
So this Running of the Bulls in Saint Rémy was in September.
So if people want to look it up,that's what they should look up for.
Okay.
Number four with learningPétanque on the beach and dinner
with hosts in Italy, Menton.
Oh, okay.
Do tell.
What was that about?

Theresa (24:20):
Yes.
So I found, I think I did this one throughbooking.com, but she and her husband,
the host, when we checked in, she said,Oh, we're getting ready to go play
pétanque on the beach with my inlaws.
And I was like, Oh, I've always wanted todo it, like everywhere I go, we see them
playing pétanque and I just want to play.
We like games like that.
So I went to play.
She's like, come on down tothe beach, we'll show you.
So we spent like three hours onthe beach with them learning to

(24:44):
play pétanque . Had the best time.
She was from Toulouse originally, marriedan American, sounds very familiar.
And they were amazing.
So then she had recommended apizza place for us to go to, but we
thought it was closed, so we weregoing to go to a different one.
But she ended up texting me and said,Hey, I just saw that place was closed.
We are going to eat pizza inItaly, if you want to just

(25:06):
jump in the car and go with us.
I was like, Oh, my gosh, this is amazing.
So we went with them.
Very, very reasonableto go to Italy to eat.
So that was amazing.
And I just think it was inVentimiglia it's the name in Italy.

Annie (25:22):
Ventimiglia, yeah.

Theresa (25:24):
Okay, just right across the border from Menton.

Annie (25:26):
It's right on the other side.

Theresa (25:28):
Yes, and so that was just so amazing.
I think part of what makes vacationspecial, besides, we like history
and, you know, my husband really likesart and we love beautiful scenery and
nature and stuff, but just getting tomeet the people and finding people that
you can talk to, that welcome you inand include you was just so amazing.

(25:49):
So that, playing pétanqueon the beach was so amazing.
Getting to go to dinnerwith them was amazing.
If we could have spoken Frenchwith this gentleman at the bull
races, I would have loved that.
I love just even notbeing able to talk to him.
He was so fun.

Annie (26:02):
This is the great thing about... when you're friendly, when
you have a friendly attitude towardslife in general and open, then all
sorts of wonderful things can happen.
If you're dour and like, oh, want tospeak to the manager, blah, blah, blah.
Nothing good.
Not in France, not in France.
And I have to say, I have neverplayed pétanque on the beach.
I mean, isn't it too,isn't the sand too soft?

Theresa (26:24):
Well, you know, a lot of times on that, those beaches are
a little pebbly rock, kind of.
So it was, it was good, it was...I mean, I've never played pétanque
before, but it seems good.

Annie (26:34):
Oh, that's good.
And they probably had enough setsthat they could loan you some.

Theresa (26:40):
Yeah, we all played together.
We took turns playing teams.
It was great.
It was absolutely fantastic.
Yes, I would totally recommend that.
And I think I put the link to her soyou can book directly with her, if
you want, because she has several.

Annie (26:52):
And she was the owner of the Airbnb.
Yes, I will put that inthe show notes as well.
Fantastic.

Theresa (26:58):
And the only thing I would say is, if we were going again, we
left on Friday, wished we would haveleft on Saturday, even tried to change
my tickets, but I couldn't, becauseI found out once I got there, they
have a huge market in Ventimiglia...

Annie (27:10):
Ventimiglia.
Yeah.

Theresa (27:12):
...on Friday, yeah.
It's like one of the largest ones inItaly, I guess, and it goes all day long,
so I love markets, and wished I couldhave stayed for that, so I will be going
back to Menton, just to go to that.

Annie (27:23):
And that's on a Friday.
On a Friday or Saturday?
On Fridays.

Theresa (27:27):
So I think I'll go back to the Lemon Festival, I've already
talked to green who owns it.
I think we'll probably go backnext year and plan on going there.

Annie (27:35):
Yeah, I would like to go to the Lemon Festival.
I should plan on that.
Because that's just a fun event thatI haven't gone to, but knowing about
the market in Ventimiglia is good.
Yeah.
But you need a car to get, well,maybe there's a train that would
go from Menton to Ventimiglia,yeah, probably there's trains.

Theresa (27:51):
Yeah, I would probably ask her if I need to do that,
but we did rent a car there.
I will say the parking wasvery expensive in Menton.
So, do plan on that.

Annie (28:00):
Yeah, yeah, parking is not cheap on the Riviera, or in Paris,
or in big cities in general, youknow, it's just a fact of life.
Number five is market in Lourmarin.

Theresa (28:13):
We love that.
So we went to several markets.
The one in Roussillon waspretty small, cute Roussillon,
though, loved it, but small.

Annie (28:20):
Yeah, It's a teeny town, like, there's 500 people full
time, perhaps not even that many.

Theresa (28:24):
Very cute.
But yeah, a small market.

Annie (28:26):
Yeah.

Theresa (28:27):
Then, Bonnieu was small, but Lourmarin was huge.
And it took us quite a while just towalk through it, but we, I loved it.
In fact, this jacket I'mwearing is from there.
I bought so many clothes thereand don't regret one thing.
I loved it.
Loved it.
Loved it.
Loved it.
Yes.

Annie (28:45):
So Lourmarin is not a huge city, but you really enjoyed the market.
Do you remember whatday of the week it was?

Theresa (28:51):
It was the day after we got there.
I can tell you becauseI made a note of it.

Annie (28:55):
Well, I can find it and put it in the show notes as well.

Theresa (28:57):
I think it was on a Wednesday, but I can, because we went to Roussillon's
market, which I think was on Tuesday,and then maybe that went on Wednesday.
I would have to look it to makesure, but I think that's right.

Annie (29:08):
Right.
So these markets in Provence,they're not all created equal.
Some of them attract a lotof vendors and some don't.
It just depends.
I mean, the one, they will want togo to the places where they sell,
you know, that's like business.
Nobody wants to be in a teeny marketwhere five people come an hour.
It's not a good use of your time, so...

Theresa (29:28):
Yeah, Vence, we went to Vence, and it was very small market,
but Lourmarin was amazingly big,and I guess Apt is even bigger.

Annie (29:35):
Yes, Apt for a big market, yes.
Lourmarin, I didn't realize the marketwas big, so that's good to know.
That's very good to know.

Theresa (29:43):
It was good.

Annie (29:44):
So number six is Canauxrama, which we already mentioned.
Number seven, the RothschildGardens and Villa near Nice.
And that was in your September visit.

Theresa (29:55):
Which I know many people have mentioned before, but I will just say
ditto to that because it was amazing.
My husband really did notenjoy driving there from Vence.
That was not a pleasant experience.
It was on our 1st dayafter, I think, no sleep.
So, no, it was the 2nd day, buthe, he said that was probably
the worst driving experience hehad, because it was very busy.

(30:15):
But I knew that going in, and he didokay, he was fine, and we really enjoyed
everything about the Villa Rothschild.
It was good.

Annie (30:23):
Yeah, was parking difficult there?

Theresa (30:25):
The parking was fine.
We're in September.
Yeah, it was just the driving.

Annie (30:30):
Yeah, but this was in September.
He had already driven in France in April.

Theresa (30:36):
Well, you know, my daughter drove in April.
He drove in Amsterdam though, so hewas a little used to it, but he had not
driven in France before, but he did fine.
He did fine.
He said it was, I will say they,people had said how many tolls
there were on your podcast.
I'm going to say it was a lotmore than I was expecting,

(30:56):
like annoying amount of tolls.
Like, can't we just buy somethingso we can just go through these?
That would be nice,which I'm sure you can.
I don't know how expensive it wouldbe, but yeah, it's an annoying
amount of starting and stopping.

Annie (31:08):
Yeah.
Yeah, so yes, so every time youchange freeway company you have to
pay and get a ticket for the next one.
So it's a bit annoying.
I have, I don't know what you call it,it's a little box that gets, it just
gets charged my credit card once a month.
I can just go anywhere.

Theresa (31:29):
Like a fast pass.
So I will say, just to give peoplean idea, for the two weeks or 12 days
we stayed in Provence, I would say wespent about 800 between the car, which
I got through Costco or Sam's, and thenthe parking and the tolls, so if they
want to plan on something like that.

Annie (31:47):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But you're including the rental,the price for the rental.

Theresa (31:51):
Yeah, which was about 350, I think, for 12 nights,
which I didn't think was bad.

Annie (31:55):
No, that's not too bad.
That's not bad.
So you paid a lot of tolls.
You must have gone back andforth, back and forth a few times.
And parking.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's expensive.
I mean, the Riviera is expensive.

Theresa (32:06):
Right.
But we had a great time, soit was worth it, I think.

Annie (32:09):
Yeah, you're worth it.

Theresa (32:13):
It was good.

Annie (32:13):
Number eight is Roman Ruins.
The Pont du Gard and Glanum.
Yeah.

Theresa (32:17):
Yes, you know, I heard Elyse talk about these, At least Glanum and Les
Bories and I really didn't know what toexpect because she always downplays it.
She's like, well, you know, somepeople don't like this, but my
husband and I, we really enjoyed it.
I guess we could envision it.
We really liked the history of it.
I thought it was very cool.
We really enjoyed Glanum.
Pont du Gard is gorgeous.

(32:37):
The only thing I regret about thatis that we didn't get there in
time to do the tour, because wewent to the... the luminary thing.
How do you?
Carrières de Lumiéres.
We went to that first and because it madesense, but 2020 hindsight probably would
have went to Pont to Guard first andthen came back through there because...

Annie (32:54):
I didn't even realize there were tours at the Pont du Gard.

Theresa (32:57):
Yes, and the last one was at 2 o'clock.
And so I really wished we wouldhave made it in time for that.
But we did.
That was we'll go back becauseI would go back to that.

Annie (33:08):
Oh, yeah.
It's very pleasant togo to the Pont du Gard.
So if you want to see, I mean, I can puta link in the show notes to their website,
they probably list the times for thesetours, it's probably the same most days.

Theresa (33:19):
Yeah, I bet it is too.
And she did say, I asked the lady,and I guess it does depend on the
days, but you know, there are twodifferent sides, which I didn't realize.
They probably heard that in thepodcast, but didn't register that
there's one side with the museum andone side that doesn't have the museum.
So you probably want to go tothe side with the museum so
you can do the tour from there.

Annie (33:39):
Yeah, yeah.
The other side is where locals go more.
But I, I go to either one.
All it is is, the Pont du Gard is overa river, of course, it's a bridge and
you can arrive from one side of theriver or the other side of the river.
And I don't remember off thetop of my head which one is
which, so I couldn't tell you.

Theresa (33:58):
I do know that they did want you to pay parking at both because we
realized we were on the wrong side,but they did validate it when we got
to the other when they credited, so...

Annie (34:06):
Yes, yes, yes.
You pay for parking.
And there you pay for the day.
So whether you stay for 10 minutesor a day, you pay the same.
And it's about, what, 9 eurosor 10 euros or something?

Theresa (34:15):
I think that's right.

Annie (34:16):
Yeah, it's not that much.
Very good.
Villa Rothschild, yousaid you really liked it.
Roman Ruins, you liked it.
Glanum, you liked.
How long did you spend at Glanum?

Theresa (34:26):
Probably not more than an hour.
We walked through the wholething, maybe an hour and a half.
It wasn't that long because wedid that before we went to Cassis.
Then we went to the Les Boriesa different day and that was
also, we really enjoyed that too.
Totally different timeperiods, but very enjoyable.

Annie (34:41):
So, Les Bories, you mean the little hut?

Theresa (34:44):
Yes.

Annie (34:44):
Yes.
Okay.
Did you go to the Van Gogh, themausoleum across the street from Glanum?
There's a hospice, the place wherehe was, where they took care of
him after he cut his ear off.

Theresa (34:58):
No, we didn't do that, so that's been on the list for next time.
I had read about it, butwe didn't get that done.
We were going to try to get to CalanqueTour in Cassis, that's what I'm saying,
there's just way too much to do.
There was so much to do,I couldn't get it all in.

Annie (35:11):
Right, there's so many, and Cassis is not that far, but it's an hour drive,
you know, again, in a different direction.
So yeah.
Yeah.

Theresa (35:19):
We made the full tour, because we did Nice, Vence, then down to
Roussillon, St. Remy, and then back toCassis, then Toulon, then up to Menton.

Annie (35:29):
Yeah.

Theresa (35:29):
We did a full tour.

Annie (35:31):
You went a lot of places.
That's cool.
Oh, and then you like thespice store at J'ai De Tout.

Theresa (35:38):
Oh, yes.
So this was in Paris, too.
And this we owe all to you, because thisyou had on your food tour and I even told
the guy, I was like, you guys are goingto be getting visited because she has
this on her food tour and we loved it.
We would go back.
My daughter and I lovecooking and food so much.
I think anytime we go to Paris,we will go to those two stores,

(35:58):
the G DETOU and Dehillerin.
It was, they were amazing.

Annie (36:01):
Yeah, Dehillerin is, it's an exotic.
So both of those are my LesHalles self-guided food tour.
I say it every time becausepeople tell me, Oh, the food
part doesn't start fast enough.
But yes, at first you go to throughlike some history, some restaurants,
blah, blah, blah, blah, and thenyou get to the food at the end.

(36:22):
Because I did this on purpose, I didn'twant you to be carrying a lot of food
that you bought in those places foran hour doing the rest of the tour.
So I just thought, Oh, we'll finishwith the food and then it's fresh
and then they can go back and eat it.
Anyway.

Theresa (36:35):
Which we did do it probably wrong.
We had started to go, I think,on Sunday morning, I want to say.
Whatever day we started, a lot of thefood shops were closed because we ended up
doing it on Monday and a lot of the foodshops were closed, but these were open.
And we just enjoyed that.
I think we went back, we probablyspent an hour in the G Detou.

(36:57):
probably that long in the other one.

Annie (36:58):
Yeah, so this is a spice and specialty cooking items
store, but it's, they sell food.
Dehillerin sells knives and potsand pans and things like that.
But G Detou sells spices, allsorts of delicious things.
And if you like cooking, you willlove that place because it's like

(37:20):
paradise for a specialty cook.

Theresa (37:22):
It's like a candy store for things that you might not be able to
find other places, and they were so nice.
Their little meat store wasn't even open,but I said, Oh, we'd like to see that.
So we went and opened it so wecould go over there and see it.
I mean, they were very nice.

Annie (37:37):
Yes, so Sunday afternoon and Monday are not the best two days to do this.
And it says that in the tour, as a matterof fact, because some things are closed.
Fantastic.
But overall you enjoyed the food tour?

Theresa (37:49):
Oh, it was good.
Yes.
Very good.
Totally worthwhile.
I would do it.
I will say, I listened to almost all,well, I did listen to all of yours,
even probably multiple times, allof your tours before we ever went.
And I probably annoyed everyone with howmuch I said, Oh, Annie says, Oh, Annie
says, Annie says to do this, because wewent on that little tour through Tours

(38:10):
by Locals with David Blanc that hadbeen on your podcast, on the first day
we were in Paris, and I think I musthave said Annie, probably 40 times.
And he is like, oh, I'm going tohave to tell Annie you mentioned it.

Annie (38:23):
That's funny.
Did you like the rats in the food tour?

Theresa (38:27):
The rat?

Annie (38:27):
The

Theresa (38:27):
rats, do you

Annie (38:28):
remember the rats?

Theresa (38:29):
No.
What was the rat?

Annie (38:31):
Oh, I take you to a rat store at the beginning.

Theresa (38:34):
Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
That's right.
That, like with the stuffed animals,and I mean, not stuffed animals.
Yeah, stuffed animals, right.
Taxidermy things.
Yeah.

Annie (38:44):
Taxidermy.

Theresa (38:45):
I'm sorry.
I was totally not on that same page.
Yes.
Yes.

Annie (38:50):
Very good.
All right.
Now we're still stayingwith your April visit.
You went to the little villageand gardens in Versailles.
What do you mean the little village?

Theresa (39:01):
The Queen's Hamlet.
The Hamlet.
We got in at like 5:30 inthe morning into Paris.
So we had some time by thetime we got to Versailles.
They let us check in early and leaveour luggage there, which was nice.
But we went out immediately to Versailles.
We got in before 9am and got it free.
So that was nice.
But we really enjoyed the gardensthere and the little Queens Village.

(39:25):
I don't know why it was just cute.
It was so cute.
And we were almost the only people there.
So it was just fun to wanderaround and pretend like we were
from this time period that we werehaving our own little village.

Annie (39:36):
So Marie Antoinette was not crazy, she knew she was not a farm
girl, but she just enjoyed the puttingon the..., you know, just... it
was just a performance for her andshe enjoyed her animals and things.
And it's... it's very cute.
It's very adorable.
And they they haveanimals and things today.

Theresa (39:54):
Yes.

Annie (39:55):
probably.
I don't know if they wereout when you went, but...

Theresa (39:57):
No, I don't think, although we did see wildlife while we were there.
I know the ducks we tookpictures of and things.
But it was just adorableand so picturesque.
If you want an Instagrammable photos.
Super cute.

Annie (40:10):
Very very true, very true.
And your number 11 is the Calanque cruise.
So now we're back to your Septembervisit down in the south, did you do
it from Marseille or from Cassis?

Theresa (40:20):
Cassis.
Cassis.

Annie (40:22):
Okay.

Theresa (40:22):
And I will say, I debated on trying to buy these
in advance, so I wanted to saysomething to let people know.
That we just walked up, which didwork out, because I didn't know what
time we were going to get there.
And that's always the painwith buying them in advance.
Is that you don't know ifyou're going to make the right
time tickets or not, you know.
So, that one worked out great.
We just walked up, you can buy them 30minutes in advance before they leave.

(40:45):
And tell them which one you want,how many columns you want to see.
And I thought it was reasonable.
I think it was 30 euroor something per person.
And I think we saw eight columns.
So I thought that was very reasonable.
Water was beautiful.
Yeah.

Annie (40:57):
Yeah.

Theresa (40:58):
It was nice.

Annie (40:59):
So this is another very good point that you're making, you
know, don't expect..., sometimessome things you just buy that day.

Theresa (41:06):
Mm hmm.

Annie (41:07):
I know when you're coming from far away, you're probably worried that you
may, maybe it'll be sold out or something.
And it is possible.
When you're visiting, and it's a specialweekend, it's a long weekend, which we
have many of those in April, May, andsometimes even in June we have some.
Those weekends, yes, things will sell out.
But if it's not one of those, thenprobably the boat cruises will be fine.

(41:33):
You can buy a ticket, you might notget on, I mean, maybe the boat that's
leaving right this minute is full,but you can get another one in half
an hour or in an hour or whatever.

Theresa (41:43):
Right.
And I will say that's part of whatmade, I think, the Provence trip very
nice is that I had tentative plans.
Every day, I probably had sixthings that I kind of wanted
to do, but I put them in order.
If we had time to do it we did it.
If we didn't have time,we cut it off the list.
Maybe moved it to the next day,or maybe we just cut it out.
And I do think that wasa nice way to do it.

(42:05):
I wish we had a month, and we couldhave just done one thing a day, but
we didn't, My husband felt like weprobably squeezed in too many things on
one day a few times, but for the mostpart, we just cut it out if we were
feeling too tired and just didn't do it.

Annie (42:19):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My husband's getting to that point too.
He's like, you want to do what next?

Theresa (42:25):
Right.
Well, I will say, we did on the secondday we were there, I think we did the
market, the Matisse Chapel, ate lunch,went to Nice, did Villa Rothschild,
went to Eze, and then back to theplace to have dinner at the hotel.
That was probably a little much.

Annie (42:42):
That's too much.

Theresa (42:44):
Yeah, that was, that was one of those days that my husband
said, yeah, that was too much.

Annie (42:47):
Don't do that again.

Theresa (42:48):
But, we enjoyed everything.

Annie (42:50):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we're going to hook itback to where we started.
There is lots to do, lots to do in France.
You will not run out.
You will not get bored.
The only place that people talkabout where you can get bored is the
Plus Beau Village de France, becausethose only have lots of things to

(43:14):
do on specific days of the year.
The rest of the time, they are dead.
If your plan is to go through allthe Plus beau Village de France, then
you could run out of things to do.
But if you are in a major area, themajor touristy areas of France, and

(43:36):
touristy in my opinion is not a badword, it's actually a compliment.
It means that people go alot because it's lovely.
But if you're in Provence, in Paris,in the Dordogne, in Strasbourg, in the
Normandy beaches places, if you're inthe Basque country, there is a lot to do.

(43:57):
There's probably more todo than you have time for.
If you're in the middle of the Aveyron,which, I love the Aveyron, but... but
it's not as, it's not a happening place.
We mentioned that on the podcastfrequently, like just time it right, go
to the right places at the right time.
And I think both April andSeptember are really, really good

(44:17):
times to visit France, really.

Theresa (44:19):
Right.
Yeah, we got good prices and it wasgood weather and, you know, a little
bit of rain in April, but not bad.
And, I will say, I didn'teven talk about Arles.
We went to Arles and we happenedto be at Arles from St. Remy.
That it was ended up being afree day of historic passes.
So even though I had the MonumentPass, which would've got us in free
most places, I think we went tothe Coliseum, the Amphitheater, and

(44:42):
the Cloister all for free anyway.
That was nice.

Annie (44:45):
Nice.
Yeah.

Theresa (44:46):
That worked out well.

Annie (44:47):
Yeah, and because it's a free day, there were probably quite a few
people there just enjoying it as well.
So you mentioned that you had greatfood, is there anything specific
that you learned that you didn'tlike, or that you particularly
like, that you want to mention?

Theresa (45:05):
One thing that my husband, he's had a few good steaks, especially
in Paris, that I mentioned a couple ofthe restaurants where he had steaks.
But a lot of them when we were inProvence, they were not very good.
We had much better luck with porkor Italian food, actually, to
tell you the truth than steak.
We finally just gearedtotally away from steak.

Annie (45:22):
Yeah, don't have steak in France.
It's not good.

Theresa (45:24):
No.

Annie (45:25):
I've said that a million times on the podcast.
How did you miss it?

Theresa (45:27):
I know!
I, well, I did hear it, butI guess I didn't absorb it.
And he really liked steak,so he kept trying it.
But yeah, not, not, not good.
So avoid that because he hadmany other foods that we love.
So just don't get that there.

Annie (45:41):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
Keep it in.
So one thing you say that youdidn't like was the virtual
experience at the Orsay Museum.

Theresa (45:50):
Yeah, we did not like that at all.
Nobody liked that.
Because it was totally different.
We did one in Rome at, oh,that, it was underneath Rome,
I can't even think of the name.
But anyway, we were sitting down and itwas cool and there was like a cave and
they just projected things around you.
It was very cool.
So I was thinking it was the same thing.
Well, the one in the Orsay, you put onthe VR headset and then you walk around.

(46:12):
It was super hot.
You ran into people.
It was very disorienting and kindof made you dizzy and feel sick.
So I would not recommend that.
I would guide people towards VRexperiences where they're sitting
down versus walking around.

Annie (46:26):
The one where we walked around was the Eternelle Notre Dame, Eternal Notre
Dame, but I didn't run into anybody.

Theresa (46:33):
You didn't.

Annie (46:34):
No, I didn't, and it wasn't hot.
So, yeah, if it's hot, and uncomfortable,and too crowded, it wouldn't be fun.

Theresa (46:40):
That was on my list to do with that Eternal Notre
Dame, and we didn't get to do it.
So that's good to know that itis, is not that way, because
it kind of turned me off.

Annie (46:49):
It's not that, you don't move that much, you take a few steps, but
you don't move that much really, it's.
And you're just with whoever you wentwith, and you can see that person,
you can see an avatar of that person,and you can see avatars of other
people as well, but I didn't run intoanybody, which would have been creepy.

Theresa (47:05):
Yeah, it was probably just too crowded at the Orsay is what I'm guessing.
They just had too many people in there.
But, so that was something.
And then my daughter didn't reallycare for the water taxis in Paris.
But that's mainly because ittook too long, she thought, to
get from where we were going.
It wasn't like a leisurely experience.
The tide was high, so they only hadthree stops on it, for one thing,

(47:26):
or the water level was too high,so they could only do three stops.

Annie (47:29):
By water taxi you mean the Batobus?

Theresa (47:31):
Yeah, and I was really looking forward to those, so I was
the one that said we should do them.
But they were like, no, weshould have just taken a taxi.
You would have had to end up walking.
And we had already done the rivercruise, so they'd had that experience.
So she was like, no, skip that next time.
I was like, alright, fair.

Annie (47:46):
Because of high water and they couldn't stop everywhere?

Theresa (47:49):
Yeah, and because it was such a far walk, like where it dropped us off
to get back to our hotel, the closestone was such a far walk, we almost needed
to take a taxi anyway to get back there.
So I was like, we should have justtaken a taxi to begin with, you
know, but that was live and learn.
Not a huge deal.
Nothing that we experiencedwas a huge deal anywhere.
I would say that we had agreat time in both places.

Annie (48:10):
Yeah.
You had a good time, overall youhad a good time, which is fantastic.

Theresa (48:15):
Yes.
And the podcast did help meand was really responsible for
the second trip in general.

Annie (48:21):
Well, I do what I can.

Theresa (48:22):
Yes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Annie.

Annie (48:26):
All right, Teresa, thank you so much for talking to me.
This has been delightful and I hope youhave many more fantastic trips to France.
Do you think you will come back orare you moving on to other countries?

Theresa (48:38):
No, what's so funny is my husband said, first of all, when I booked all
these trips to France, he was like, weneed to stop going to France so much.
But then after we got back toFrance, he was like, ah, we could
go back a couple more times.
So he was sold because there's so muchmore to do, you know, I mean, really.
So yes, we will definitely be back.
In fact, I wanted to do bootcamp, butwe already had another trip booked.
So I don't think I can make a pick.

Annie (48:59):
Another year.

Theresa (49:00):
I know another year, so...

Annie (49:02):
Merci beaucoup, Theresa!

Theresa (49:04):
Merci, Annie.
Thank you!

Annie (49:06):
Au revoir!
Again, I want to thank my patrons forgiving back and supporting the show.
Patrons get several exclusiverewards for doing that.
You can see them at patreon.com/joinus.

(49:29):
And a special shout out thisweek to my new Join Us in France
champions, Diana, who didn't shareher last name, and Elizabeth Keller.
And thank you also Ellen Konnertfor increasing your pledge.
Would you join them too?
You can do it for as little as $3 amonth, but if you can afford it, I
would love to have you pledge more, soyou have more access to more rewards.

(49:55):
And to support Elyse, goto patreon.com/ElysArt
If you're planning a trip to France andyou need personalized advice, you can
hire me as your itinerary consultant.
Choose the Bonjour service for aone hour Zoom call with tailored
recommendations, or go to VIP for thesame call plus a detailed follow up guide.

(50:22):
Ready to start?
Visit joinusinfrance.com/boutique andfollow the simple email instructions.
Joinusinfrance.com/boutique is also whereyou can buy a bundle of my Voicemap tours
at a discounted price or reserve yourspot for the bootcamp, and there aren't
a lot of spots left by now, or you couldalso hire me to be your private driver

(50:45):
on a day around the Southwest of France.
Let's talk about the fascinating worldof the pink flamingos of Camargue.
When you think of the Camargue,and I hope you do, you probably
picture wild horses, black bulls,and of course, the pink flamingos.
These graceful pink birds are aniconic symbol of the region, and they

(51:07):
have an incredible story to tell.
Flamingos are surprisingly long lived.
Some wild flamingos in the Camarguehave been tracked for over 40
years, thanks to a scientificbanding program started in 1977.
The oldest known wild flamingo in theregion, tagged as Ann, has been regularly

(51:31):
seen at locations like the Salinsd’Aigues-Mortes and Étang d’Ingril.
In captivity, flamingos can live evenlonger with records reaching 83 years.
One of the most fascinating aspects offlamingos is their distinctive beak.
It functions like a built infilter, much like a whale's baleen.

(51:54):
They use it to sift through saltwater for tiny invertebrates,
algae, and crustaceans.
Unlike most birds, flamingos thrivein extremely saline environments,
thanks to a special gland that expelsexcess salt through their nostrils.
Some people do that too.

(52:16):
And what about that famous pink color?
Well, flamingos aren't bornpink, they start out grey.
Over time, their diet, rich incarotenoid pigments, transform their
feathers into the stunning shades ofpink and orange that we see today.
It takes about four to seven yearsfor a flamingo to develop its

(52:39):
full adult coloring, so if yousee the gray ones, they're babies.
Flamingos are highly social birds.
They live in large colonies thatcan number in the thousands.
They also raise their chickscollectively, forming nursery groups
that protect them from predators.
Nesting sites are carefully chosen,typically small islands surrounded

(53:01):
by saltwater lagoons, making themdifficult for predators to reach.
Since 1977, the Tour du Valat ResearchCenter has been monitoring flamingo
populations, helping scientists understandmigration patterns and population
dynamics across the Mediterranean region.

(53:21):
Their work has been crucial inensuring the survival of these birds.
However, flamingos remain vulnerable.
The wetlands they depend on arethreatened by pollution, habitat
destruction, and human activity,such as boating and tourism.
Yes, tourism!
Protecting these unique birds requiresactive conservation efforts, not

(53:43):
just in the Camargue, but acrosstheir entire migratory range.
The flamingos of the Camargueare a true success story, proving
that with scientific research andconservation, even very delicate
birds and ecosystems can thrive.
So, next time you visit southernFrance, be sure to take a moment

(54:03):
to appreciate these magnificentcreatures in their natural habitat.
And I have to say thank you tomy husband, who, for Valentine's
Day, gifted me a donation to theconservation of pink flamingo.
The group that does this is called 'Adoptun Flamant', so adopt a flamingo, and
you can visit them at MonFlamant.com.

(54:27):
So, M O N F L A M A NT in French, of course.
And it's a wonderful initiative,I absolutely love it.
And now about the futureof the Paris Metro.
You know, a city's public infrastructurematters a lot, and this is particularly
important in Paris, which has one ofthe best metro systems in the world.
And it's about to get better!

(54:48):
The city is about to welcome theMF19, a brand new train model
designed for greater comfort,accessibility and eco-friendliness.
It's manufactured by Alstom, that's aFrench metro and train company, and 410 of
these modern trains will gradually replaceaging metro cars across 8 lines by 2033.

(55:14):
And that includes the busy lines 8 and 13.
I take the line 8 when I'mstaying at Patricia's, so, yay!
So this MF19 train comes with USBports, ergonomic seating, better
ventilation, and a sleek LED lit design.
It has an open gangway or boa style.

(55:37):
That means there are no barriersbetween cars so passengers
can move around more freely.
Now, the problem is thatthey will have slightly fewer
seats than the older models.
They are prioritizing space forstrollers, wheelchairs and luggage,
which in Paris is a good idea.
One of the biggest upgrades is thenew braking system, which reduces

(55:59):
energy use by 25 percent and emitsfar fewer fine particles, making it
a cleaner, more sustainable choice.
Before full deployment, the MF19is undergoing extensive testing on
line 10, ensuring that it adaptsto the network's infrastructure.

(56:20):
The first batch of trains havearrived late 2024 and most
will be in operation by 2029.
So, exciting times for Parisiancommuters and visitors alike.
So let me know, do you thinkthese upgrades will improve
the Paris Metro experience?
I sure hope they do.

(56:40):
My thanks to podcast editors,Anne and Christian Cotovan,
who produced the transcripts.
Next week on the podcast, an episodeabout an anniversary adventure
exploring Normandy, Saint Maloand Paris with Gianna Angelillo.
Lots of wonderful things toexplore in that part of France.
Thank you so much for listening,and I hope you join me next time so

(57:02):
we can look around France together.
Au revoir!
The Join Us in France travelpodcast is written, hosted, and
produced by Annie Sargent, andCopyright 2025 by AddictedToFrance.
It is released under a CreativeCommons attribution, non-commercial,
no derivatives license.

(59:11):
The Join Us in France travelpodcast is written, hosted, and
produced by Annie Sargent, andCopyright 2025 by AddictedToFrance.
It is released under a CreativeCommons attribution, non-commercial,
no derivatives license.

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