February 2, 2025 • 57 mins
Have you ever dreamed of spending six weeks exploring France? In Unforgettable Six Weeks Across France: Travel Tips and Insights, Annie Sargent talks with Liz Van Monfort from Christchurch, New Zealand, about her incredible journey through France.
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Liz planned her trip around the Rugby World Cup but quickly turned it into a deep dive into French culture, food, and travel. From the bustling streets of Paris to the charming villages of Provence, she shares her experiences with home exchanges, navigating the metro, and road-tripping through the countryside. She also explores historic sites like the battlefields of World War I and enjoys unforgettable food and wine in different regions.
Annie and Liz discuss the pros and cons of using FlixBus, TGV trains, and rental cars. Liz shares insights on how to budget for a long trip, where to find great meals, and why the Navigo pass made getting around Paris so much easier. Plus, hear about her side trips to Reims, Dunkirk, and even a quick visit to Barcelona.
If you’re planning a trip to France, this episode is packed with real-world advice and inspiration. Listen now to learn from Liz’s adventures and get tips for making your own French travel dreams a reality!
Table of Contents for this Episode
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Annie (00:15):
This is Join Us in France, episode 531, cinq cent trente-et-un.
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 tripreport with Liz Van Monfort
from Christchurch, New Zealand.
(00:36):
Liz spent six weeks traveling acrossFrance, soaking in the local culture,
exploring historic landmarks, watchingmajor sports events, and navigating
the nuances of French daily life.
From the bustling streets of Paris tothe charming villages of Provence, Liz
shares her food adventures, transporttips and the joy of home exchanges.
(00:59):
Have you noticed that the podcast isgetting a little bit more international?
I love it.
This podcast is supported by donorsand listeners who buy my tours and
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.
(01:24):
There are only four spots left for theBootcamp 2025, explore the Southwest with
Annie and Elyse and a group of your fellowFrancophiles and make fantastic memories.
So you can browse all of that at theboutique: joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
And Patreon supporters get new episodesas soon as they are ready and ad-free.
(01:46):
If that sounds good to you, be likethem, follow the link in the show notes.
For the magazine part of the podcast,after my chat with Liz today,
I'll discuss Orlybus, cause thereare some big changes coming soon.
I'll also discuss my major update toone of my Voicemap tours, my week in
Paris, and most importantly for you, I'llexplain how lines and tickets work in
(02:11):
Paris, because if you know what to expect,you'll have a much better experience.
I'll also explain why 'skip the line'tickets are a complete rip off in Paris.
Bonjour Liz van Montfort, andwelcome to Join Us in France.
Liz (02:33):
Bonjour Annie.
Annie (02:35):
Lovely to have you all the way from New Zealand.
Liz (02:38):
Yes, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Annie (02:40):
Wonderful.
So, you spent six weeks inFrance, which is something
that very few people get to do.
So I want to hear all about that.
What motivated your trip?
Where did you go?
What did you love?
What did you not love?
All of that good stuff.
Liz (02:56):
All of that.
So we spent six weeks in France lastyear, in 2023, in September and October.
And we were there for the Rugby World Cup.
Annie (03:05):
And you were there for the whole thing?
Liz (03:07):
No, we missed... it was quite a long event, it went
for about eight or nine weeks.
So we missed the opening games, butwe had tickets to the pool games,
and to the quarterfinals, semifinalsand finals which were in Paris.
Annie (03:22):
Right, so that took you all over France.
There were rugby in many cities, right?
Liz (03:27):
There were, and my husband started booking tickets online about 18 months
before the event, and our trip wascompletely dictated around rugby games.
Annie (03:42):
Yes, well, in New Zealand, rugby is a big deal, right?
Liz (03:45):
It's a huge deal.
We were traveling with another couple andthe boys are totally obsessed with rugby.
Annie (03:54):
Well, you know, I'm from Toulouse, so I understand that.
Liz (03:59):
You had some rugby, I think, didn't you?
Annie (04:01):
Yes, we had some.
And really, I'm not sure the World Cupwas that huge a deal here, I mean, there
were some games, but what's a biggerdeal is the national championship.
I mean, when the national championship ison, oh, it's just a big, huge deal, yeah.
Everybody goes downtown, like thisyear, they had a lot of successes.
(04:22):
Everybody goes downtown, theyhave to have a lot of security,
although it usually goes reallyhappy-go-lucky kind of celebration.
So, we've been lucky that it'sbeen, it's been fine, really.
Liz (04:33):
Yeah.
Well, we had a great time.
We were in Paris for the end andthere was a lot of celebrations, and
a lot of craziness, and a lot of fun.
Annie (04:45):
That's wonderful.
All right.
So, from New Zealand, youflew through Singapore?
Liz (04:50):
That's correct.
From Christchurch toSingapore is 12 hours.
And we stopped over on the way through,for a night, because we just got our life
all sorted out for a six week holiday.
So we were still a little bit fatiguedby the time we got on the plane.
So we stopped in Singapore for a night andthen we travelled on and flew into Paris.
(05:11):
We've just sort of come out of that longlockdown period after COVID and we hadn't
travelled and all that sort of thing.
So we were a bit scared about the crowd.
And I booked a rural hotel in a littlevillage called Maureguard, which was
about 10 minutes from Charles de Gaulle.
We stayed there for two nights just to,you know, get over the jet lag and find
(05:34):
our feet again once we got to France.
Because Christchurch-Singapore was sortof 12, 12 and a half hours, and then
Singapore-Paris was about the same again.
Annie (05:44):
Right, it's a brutal flight.
Liz (05:47):
It's a long way.
Annie (05:49):
Yes, I, you know, when I go to the Western United States, it's, you know,
11-12 hours and that feels like forever,but then you have to do that again.
Liz (05:59):
Yeah, well, on the way home, we didn't stop over, we flew all the
way home just with the hour and ahalf to run through Singapore airport
to catch the connecting flight.
But luckily on the airlines, theysort of treat it like a day you
get on, you have your dinner, yougo to bed and then you wake up and
you're in another country, so...
It wasn't that bad.
Annie (06:19):
Have you done a lot of European trips, or not too many?
Liz (06:23):
My husband had, he's been over twice.
He did his big overseasthing when he left school.
And we did a holiday in 1997and then we had kids and our
life wasn't our own anymore.
So now they're all grown up and theWorld Cup was a chance to, you know,
get away and do some traveling again.
Annie (06:43):
So this was you, your husband, did any of your children come?
Liz (06:48):
No, no, our kids didn't come.
And we travelled with anothercouple who we've been friends with
for years, and years, and years.
And Paul and my husbandBrian, they love rugby.
And Lisa and I get on verywell, so the trip was fantastic.
We couldn't have asked for better.
Annie (07:06):
That's wonderful.
And how did you get aroundduring your time in France?
Liz (07:10):
Oh gosh, it was quite, we did everything.
We did, so we flew into France , thenour first pool games were down in
Lyon and we took a bus to Lyon.
Annie (07:21):
Oh.
Liz (07:22):
I know!
We stopped in Dijon for a night andthen took the bus the next day to Lyon.
It was just quite good, you know, to beable to see a bit of the countryside.
Often in the fast trains youdon't get to see everything.
Annie (07:35):
Yeah.
So was that a FlixBus or...?
Liz (07:38):
It was Flixbus.
Annie (07:39):
It was FlixBus.
So the big green buses, yeah.
Liz (07:42):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was an adventure.
Annie (07:45):
Give us some details of why it was an adventure.
Liz (07:48):
We were still getting our French shoes on, So we'd just arrived, we'd
had our two nights at Maureguard,and then the next day we took the
bus to Dijon, and that was fromBercy Seine bus station in Paris.
Which was a little bit,yeah, a little bit unsafe.
Annie (08:06):
Yeah, yeah, it's not the best part of town, yeah.
Liz (08:10):
No, no.
So that was interesting, butwe were really aware of our
surroundings and our security.
So, that was good.
Trying to find a few busstops was a bit challenging.
Trying to cope with the pace ofeverybody else knowing what was going on.
And we really didn't.
But it was good.
We got to see France from theroad and from a good perspective.
(08:30):
And it was really nice.
Annie (08:32):
Right, once you're in the bus, it's fine, the buses themselves are fine.
It's just the train station, thebus stations are sometimes, because
FlixBus it's not an expensive wayto travel, so sometimes you get...
you know, tickets for like 10 euros.
They can't afford a massive,beautiful terminal in central Paris,
it's a budget kind of operation.
Liz (08:54):
Yeah, and it was budget.
It cost us nine euro eachto go from Paris to Dijon.
And then Dijon to Lyonwas about 11 euro each.
So, you know, it was definitelybudget, but it was good.
Annie (09:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Liz (09:08):
And then after we were in Lyon for a couple of nights for two rugby games.
And after that we hired a car,and we drove down to Provence.
The boys were driving.
They had both bought their internationallicense with them, and they'd both
driven in Europe previously, so theywere okay with the, so down here in
(09:29):
New Zealand, the driver's seat is onthe right hand side of the car, and we
drive on the left hand side of the road.
And in Europe it's the opposite.
So things like roundabouts and mergingtraffic can get a wee bit challenging.
So the boys drove, I wasnavigator and it went really well.
Yeah, really well.
Annie (09:49):
Cool.
So you mentioned that they broughttheir international driver's licenses.
Did anybody ask to see that orwere they just happy with their
New Zealand driver's licenses?
Liz (09:59):
I think when we hired the car, like at check in, they asked
to see the international one.
They probably would have been finewith our normal one, because I
think as long as it's all written inEnglish, and they can cope with it.
Yeah.
Annie (10:13):
Yeah, as far as I know, the only time they ask for the
international driver's license, it'swhen you have a different alphabet.
If your original driver's license isn'tChinese characters or Japanese characters,
or Arabic, or Hebrew or something very,you know, unintelligible to Europeans,
(10:34):
then they need the international.
But otherwise, if it's the Romanalphabet, they are fine, yeah.
Liz (10:39):
Yeah, yeah.
So, when we were staying down in Provenceand we were driving, we had a few
day trips out, which was really nice.
We went to Cassis, up tothe castle at Les Baux.
Annie (10:51):
Les Baux, yes, yes, yes, Les Baux de Provence.
How did you like that?
Liz (10:55):
It was beautiful, oh, it was beautiful.
And just to have something, you know,that old, New Zealand's a relatively
new country, we've only been here for asort of couple of hundred years, so we
don't have a lot of ruins and things.
So that was amazing.
And the light show wasamazing at Les Baux.
Annie (11:13):
So yeah, that's Les Carrières de Lumière is what you meant,
what you're talking about, yeah.
Liz (11:18):
Yeah, that was incredible actually.
It was really mind blowing to justbe in the cave it was really good
. Annie: Yeah.
Right.
so this has come up a lot on the podcast,but I'll explain it briefly again.
This is an old quarry, so they'veextracted these big, beautiful,
white stones, and they now have allthese walls and ceilings, and they
(11:42):
project images, you know, it's alldigital stuff, but it's on a theme.
Typically, it's an artist or one or moreartists, and there's also some sound.
And it's very immersive.
They try to repeat the experience in otherplaces, in many cities in the world, you
(12:02):
can buy tickets, but you end up beingin a warehouse with light and sound.
And it's not the same as the originalin Les Baux de Provence, because
that is just a beautiful setting.
And you feel the coolness of the spaceand the sound is very rich in the cave.
(12:23):
And the grandeur as well, the grandeur of it was just incredible,
you know, I don't know how high thosewalls were, but it was incredible.
So yeah, that was... that was great.
And then the wee township ofLes Baux, and the castle, that
was a great day trip out for us.
Annie (12:39):
The town is very touristic in the summer, you know, there's a lot of people.
Oh, I didn't ask you what timeof year, but the Rugby World Cup
was in September, October, right?
Liz (12:48):
Yeah, September, October.
So it was the end of summer.
It was still quite warm down in Provence.
There wasn't the huge crowds, butthen we avoided them as well, so
we didn't go to any big cities.
Yeah.
Annie (13:01):
Yeah, wonderful.
And so, you also went to some games,obviously, in Provence, I assume.
Liz (13:08):
The boys went to rugby games in Lyon, so that was their
first two, or four pool games.
And so there was two on the firstweekend, like the Friday, Saturday,
and then we went back for maybe Friday,Saturday again for two more games.
Annie (13:26):
So do they paint their face, and bring a flag, and all of that?
Liz (13:29):
Oh yeah, they bring a flag and... yeah... yeah.
We were number one supporters.
Annie (13:37):
I love that.
We just got done with the regularOlympics as we record this, with the
Paralympics to follow, but plenty ofpeople with painted faces, and flags,
and hats, and all of that sort of stuff.
It's great fun.
Liz (13:53):
Yeah.
So, after we were down in Lyon,we had, again, it was one of
those sort of impulse things.
My husband decided that we should goto Barcelona because it was cheap.
Annie (14:04):
Okay.
Liz (14:05):
We flew to Barcelona just for a couple of days before going back up
to Paris for the quarterfinals andsemifinals and the final, of course.
So, we had our little time in Barcelona,which, it was okay, but it wasn't France.
We were, by then, we'd had a couple ofweeks in France, and we were just smitten.
(14:26):
And, so, we had our time in Barcelona,and then we flew back to Paris,
and we had three weeks in Paris.
And while we were staying in Paris,we had a home exchange apartment.
So we are part of the homeexchange.comwebsite, and by being members of
(14:47):
that for the last four years, we wereable to secure an apartment in Paris
for the whole time we were there.
And it didn't really cost usanything, which was fantastic.
So, yeah, and it was in the 17thArrondissement, so, nice and central
to, you know, that was ten minutes fromthe Arc de Triomphe, and we had a nice
(15:10):
little neighbourhood with a supermarketand our coffee shop, and we worked
out where our metro stations were.
And it was fantastic.
It was a two bedroom apartment,you know, in one of your beautiful
old buildings with a balcony.
Annie (15:23):
Nice.
Nice.
So how does that work?
Home Exchange?
We haven't talked about thatvery much on the podcast.
Tell me how that works.
Liz (15:29):
So, homeexchange.com is a website where you register to
exchange your home with the otherlike-minded travellers, I guess.
You pay an annual fee, which isabout probably a hundred and, maybe a
hundred, a hundred and fifty US a year.
Annie (15:50):
Mm hmm.
Liz (15:51):
And then, when you decide that you're going to go somewhere, through
the website, you just approach people.
We approached people who hadsecondary residences in Paris.
Because then we knew that we wouldn'thave to have a reciprocal, so we didn't
have to manage people coming to ourhouse when we weren't here, basically.
Annie (16:11):
Uh huh.
Liz (16:12):
Yeah, because not many people would probably want to come
to Christchurch for six weeks.
So, we got our apartment overthere for three weeks, and it
was a two bedroom apartment.
So, if you look at the fees we paidprobably for the four years, it might
have cost us $450, but it was still,you know, an absolute steal when
(16:35):
you're looking at hotel or AirBnB orpaying for accommodation in Paris.
Annie (16:39):
Right.
And so you don't have to have peoplein your own home, in exchange.
Liz (16:45):
No.
Eventually you do, because the currencyis in the website, so when people
come and stay in our home, we getguest points and then we use those
guest points to stay somewhere else.
Annie (17:01):
I see.
Liz (17:02):
Yeah, so it builds up the currency within the website.
Annie (17:06):
But at this point, you have never had anybody stay at your home.
Liz (17:10):
We have, we just didn't want to, yeah, we didn't want
to do it for that six weeks.
Well, we had a house sitter hereas well looking after the dog,
so it wasn't, doing a reciprocalwasn't really going to work for us.
Annie (17:22):
But it's true that it would work out well for people who have a
secondary residence because then you'renot there all the time by definition.
So you could probably let somebodyelse have it while and accrue
points for your own trips.
Liz (17:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, worked really well, reallywell for us, and like I said
it was in a great location andjust in an apartment building,
Annie (17:46):
Yeah, I assume there's like everything else you get, you get
to read reviews of people who'vebeen in that property before.
Liz (17:53):
Yeah, and reviews on, you know, you get reviewed, so people can
trust that you're okay, and you'regoing to look after their home.
And yeah, you get to see pictures, and nowwith, you know, Google Maps and that sort
of thing, you can just sort of zoom in andhave a look and know that it's all good.
Annie (18:11):
Right.
Liz (18:12):
We also stayed in a home exchange in Dijon, and we did another wee
side trip over to Europe and we gotto use it over there too in Windsor.
Annie (18:20):
And that was fine?
Liz (18:21):
Yeah, it was all good.
Annie (18:22):
Oh, that's good to know.
Because it's not something that'scome up a lot on the podcast.
I think a couple of people havementioned it though, but it's good
to know that it, that it works out.
And so while you were in Paris,you visited Paris, I assume.
Liz (18:36):
Oh, we visited Paris.
On our first day in Paris we got to votein the New Zealand general election.
So we had to... we had to findthe New Zealand embassy so we
could cast our absentee votes.
So that was quite kind of cool.
Annie (18:52):
And where is that?
Is that by the Eiffel Tower?
Liz (18:55):
No, it's down near Concord.
Annie (18:57):
Okay.
Okay.
Oh, so it's by the American embassy.
Liz (19:02):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it was down there.
And we went and did that on our first dayand then on the way back from there, there
was a lot of police blowing their whistlesand road closures and a lot of security.
And we later found out that thepresident of Mongolia was visiting
(19:23):
and so he got to have horses andbrass bands and all manner of things.
Yeah, so it was kind of cool to seebecause it was a whole lot of... a
whole lot of busyness for this guy.
Annie (19:38):
So you saw the Garde Republicaine, the French, you
know, kind of show off guard.
Liz (19:43):
Yeah, yeah, we did.
Yeah, yeah.
So that was cool.
And while we're in Paris also,so we were there for rugby games.
So basically we hadrugby games each weekend.
And during the weekdays, we coulddo some sightseeing and things.
So we, again, being a bit scaredof crowds, we took the double
(20:04):
decker bus to sort of have alook at all the sights of Paris.
We had been to Paris before, we'd beenup the Eiffel Tower, we'd been to the
Arc de Triomphe, I think we'd been outto Versailles even before, so we didn't
bother with a lot of those things.
We saw them all from the top of thedouble decker bus, which was fantastic.
But we didn't have to fightwith the thousands of people
(20:26):
on the ground to get close.
So, we did that for a day.
We did a day out to Reims.
to Veuve Clicquot, to the, we did the winetour out there, which was, again, amazing.
We took the train to go out there,the high speed train, was it the RER?
Annie (20:47):
The TGV.
Liz (20:48):
TGV, there we go!
Annie (20:50):
RER is the regional train around Paris.
Liz (20:53):
Oh, okay.
Yep.
It is a train, yeah, we took the TGV outto Reims, so we just did a day trip out
there to the, to Veuve Clicquot, and wealso did a couple of days to Northern
France And we visited the war graves fromWorld War I. So we stayed in Ypres, which
(21:17):
is in Belgium, just over the border,and we visited probably about, oh, maybe
six Commonwealth war grave cemeteries.
I have great great uncles buried intwo of them and Paul, who was traveling
with us, he had family membersburied as well at Passchendaele.
(21:38):
So, that was an amazing trip.
It completely blew me awayabout how well kept the graves
are, and how well respected thefallen soldiers have been, so...
Annie (21:52):
Yeah.
You didn't, you didn't go tosee the La Bataille d'Arras.
There's a big New Zealand kind ofmemorial, where they dug out tunnels.
They sent a group of folks fromNew Zealand to dig out tunnels.
Ah, let me, let me find that.
(22:12):
Keep, keep talking.
I'll find it.
Liz (22:14):
Yeah, yeah, we didn't... we didn't go there, I do know about it
because my daughter's a surveyor aland surveyor at Herb's Survey School,
they have mapped those tunnels again,and that, it must be around the Somme
somewhere.
Annie (22:30):
Right.
Right.
So it's, I think it's in Arras.
Let me find it.
It was one of the lastthings we did on our trip.
Liz (22:39):
Was it World War I?
Annie (22:40):
Yes.
Okay.
La Carrière Wellington.
So the Wellington monument.
And I can show you, I'llshow you some photos.
Obviously, people who are listeningto the episode can't see the
photos, but it'll probably jot yourmemory, if you have been there.
(23:02):
That's the entrance.
So you have this long, kind of, it's nota very nice looking entrance, but it's all
about the soldiers who liberated Arras,and there were a lot of tunnelers from New
Zealand who came and just dug up tunnels,and the whole point of digging up these
(23:27):
tunnels was to then explode them oncethey knew there were German troops above.
You know, it's a... it's a reallyinteresting part of history.
Liz (23:38):
It really is.
No, we didn't go there, unfortunately.
We only had, we had a coupleof nights in Ypres and...
Annie (23:44):
Yeah, there are so many, you can't see them all, that's the problem,
you know, there are many, many, andyou definitely cannot see them all.
So I'm going to, I'm going totell you exactly where it is,
just a sec. It's in Arras, it's inthe City of Arras, Rue Arthur de
l'Etoile, is where it is exactly.
(24:05):
But at any rate, people who wantto see the Carrière Wellington...
Liz (24:09):
That'll be next time.
Annie (24:11):
And it's a... it's a beautiful moving memorial as well, but there are
many, that's the problem with World War I,there were, it was such a big area, well
it's the same with World War II really,there's so many sites that you can visit.
Liz (24:24):
We went to Polygon Wood, and Hubertine Cemeteries.
We also went to the New ZealandMemorial again, which is just
over the border in Belgium.
The boys wanted to go toone of the graveyards where
there was a rugby boy buried.
(24:45):
And we also went up to Dunkirk.
So we came back over the borderand went up to Dunkirk Beach.
Annie (24:53):
What's that like?
Because I haven't been, Iwanted to go to Dunkirk, to the
beach and I, we didn't make it.
Liz (24:58):
It was good.
There's a little bitof memorabilia around.
There's not as much as Iimagine there is up at Normandy.
And again, more time next time.
Just, you know, just to reallybe able to find out a bit more
of the history around that.
Annie (25:18):
It's really hard to appreciate how long, or how
short, things are going to take.
One of the biases that people haveabout visiting France is that they
think that, for example, they think inProvence, you need a day per village,
and you really don't, you don't.
In Provence those villages, ifyou go on market day, perhaps
(25:42):
it'll take you four hours.
And if you don't go on marketday in two hours, you're done.
It's really hard for people who,visitors who don't know the area
to have an appreciation, but to seeWorld War I or World War II sites in
either Normandy, or in the Lille area,Somme, et cetera, it takes more time
(26:04):
because these sites are spread out.
And you need time toget there and to visit.
I mean, some of these visits willtake several hours, because there
are some, I mean, I haven't beento Ypres, but I assume it takes
some time to visit the sites.
Liz (26:22):
And Ypres is amazing.
They have a, they have an Anzacmemorial service every evening at 8
o'clock, and they have done since 1927.
Annie (26:32):
Wow.
Liz (26:33):
I know and every night they have a big crowd there and they, yeah,
they have a full ANZAC service withthe last post and yeah, it's amazing.
So we were really fortunate tobe able to spend some time there.
We had a couple of nights andthey've got a good museum, and
(26:54):
we had a car, you definitelyneed a car when you're up there.
Annie (26:58):
Oh yes.
Liz (26:58):
Otherwise, you can't get round.
Annie (27:01):
Right.
So, tell me more about your time in Paris.
How did you, because you were in Parisa while, so what did you do every day?
Liz (27:10):
On the days when we had rugby, the rugby started at 9 o'clock at night,
so we had to, we'd generally have abit of a rest during the afternoon,
and then have dinner, early dinner.
And we'd have to leave to takethe metro normally about 6-6:30.
And the metro was jammed with people.
(27:31):
There was one we wenton to the Irish game.
It was so cramped, I couldonly stand on one foot.
I couldn't... It was so cramped.
And then by the time you got thereand you got through the crowds and you
got through the security and then yougot into the stand, we were normally
(27:52):
sort of into our seats at about 8:30.
Then you had to, at the end of the game,at 11 o'clock when it finished, you
know, you were turning around and youwere doing the reverse, so we weren't
getting home until sort of 1-1:30.
So that kind of, the Friday and Saturdaynight games, that kind of took up
the full days and the next morning.
(28:13):
We just did some normal day trips.
We did the Wargraveswhich was an overnight.
We did a day trip to theChateau de Chantilly.
Annie (28:23):
Ah, yes, that's right.
Liz (28:25):
Yes, which I absolutely loved.
Annie (28:28):
Right, and so you took the train there, right?
Liz (28:30):
Well, that was actually at the end of our trip and we had a car.
So, on the last day we picked upa car from the airport and we did
that and we stayed out that way.
We went to one of the markets, thebig market, and I can't remember its
name, and I didn't put it in my notes.
Annie (28:49):
There's so many in Paris.
I mean, there's dozens of them, so...
Liz (28:53):
I know, I know.
That was really cool though.
We went and had lunch and wesort of met a few of the local
stallholders, and things like that.
So that was, it was, really nice.
Annie (29:04):
Did you go to any museums or took tours or anything like that?
Liz (29:08):
No, we didn't.
No, we had a talk.
We had a day down in, we went downto see how Notre Dame's coming
along and had lunch down there.
We just sort of generally went toareas and had lunch and had a bit of
a walk around, checked out some of theshops, and the markets and... No, we
didn't, we didn't go to any museums,didn't go to the Louvre, didn't...
Annie (29:31):
So, how are things different when, because I assume you cooked for
yourself since you had an apartment?
Right, so how was thatdifferent from cooking at home?
Like, did you find the same stuff atthe grocery store that you're used to?
Was it very different?
Somewhat similar?
How was it?
Liz (29:46):
No, so we went to the grocery store, every, we'd have breakfast at
home, and then we'd go out for coffee.
And we'd normally have lunch out, andthen we'd have dinner back at home.
So we would just buy from the supermarket,normally some sort of easy ready meals,
or pre made salads and that sort of thing.
(30:08):
Cheese, we'd have croissantsfor breakfast, we absolutely
loved all of the French food.
The baguettes were beautiful.
Everything from, you know, the patisserie,croissants every day with beautiful
cheeses and things like that, so yeah.
So, we might have gone out for dinnera couple of times, I think we mainly
(30:30):
went out when we weren't back inParis, well, we called Paris home,
while we were back at home, we just,we always just prepared a meal.
Annie (30:38):
Uhhuh.
How about prices?
Did you find pricesstartlingly low or high or...?
Liz (30:43):
Well, it doesn't pay to convert it back to the New Zealand dollar
because everything was double.
So whenever... yeah, I know...that meant my coffee cost $15.
So, basically we justdidn't think about that.
We kind of had a bit of a rule thatwe spent under 20 Euro on a meal.
(31:07):
And that was okay.
You can get, you know, crepes,and pizza, and burgers, and that
kind of food for under 20 Euro.
It was mainly lunch menus and coffee.
Everything else we ate at home.
Annie (31:19):
Did you like the coffee?
Or, some people say it's horrible,some people say they love it,
but where did you fall on that?
Liz (31:25):
Well, I really liked it, and a lot of the time it wasn't barista
made coffee, it was machine madecoffee, but yeah, it worked for us.
Annie (31:36):
It was fine.
Liz (31:37):
Yeah, it was fine.
Yeah, down in New Zealand we do alot more barista made as opposed to
barista machine made, you know, wherethey just push the button and the
cappuccino comes out kind of thing.
That's what we got a lot inFrance, it was really nice.
Annie (31:56):
Yeah, so it sounds like you did, like, you didn't do a lot
of research about the restaurantswhen you were eating out at lunch,
you just found a place you liked.
Liz (32:03):
Found a place we liked, at a time we liked, you know, we were generally a bit
later, but we could always find something.
Annie (32:12):
Mm hmm.
Mm hmm.
And in Paris to get aroundyou used the Navigo Pass.
Did you get a Navigo Easy,or a Navigo Weekly, or...?
Liz (32:21):
Navigo Weekly.
So we got that when we first arrived,and we just topped that up each week.
Annie (32:29):
Uh huh.
Liz (32:30):
We needed it for the rugby, a couple of nights a week and then just
getting around to, tootling aroundin the neighbourhoods and things.
We could use it for the buses as well.
Annie (32:40):
So I assume for the rugby, you mostly went to
Stade de France in Saint Denis?
Mm hmm.
Uh huh.
That area has changed a lot, by theway, because of the Olympics, because
that's where the Olympics village is, sothey've improved the area quite a bit.
And they use the Stade deFrance for a lot of rugby, rugby
(33:00):
seven, and also soccer, I think.
Liz (33:02):
Yeah.
We didn't feel unsafe at all.
The security was amazing.
The metro operation was amazing.
It was so well organized on game nightsthere was extra staff on, they were
helpful, there was extra security, therewas police on horses, they would, you
know, control the crowd when everybodyis leaving and there was just masses
(33:24):
and masses of people because it's...I think it's about 80,000 per game.
It was a lot of people to manage,you know, funneling into the metro.
As an area, that SaintDenis, it was really good.
It was nice, and it was safe,and it was really well managed.
Annie (33:41):
Mm hmm.
Mm hmm.
Did you find navigation inParis complicated, easy?
What apps did you use?
How did you get around that way?
Liz (33:50):
In Paris, we had an app, I think for transport, we had an app.
We walked a lot.
Annie (33:58):
Yeah.
Liz (33:59):
Good old Google Maps, you know.
We just walked, used the metro, used thebus if we ended up somewhere where we
kind of didn't really know where we were.
The bus is sometimes easier than themetro because, you know, you're above
ground and you can see where you're at.
We found it pretty easy just with pluggingthe information into Google and it would
tell us how long it was going to be towalk, how long, which metro to take.
Annie (34:22):
So how, do you speak French at all or a little bit or...?
Liz (34:26):
No, just a little bit.
We were good with our, we did aFrench word of the day to try and
elaborate on some of our conversations.
I had done a bit on Duolingoto prepare for the trip and it
wasn't helpful at all, really.
It didn't give me the stuff I neededto talk about, you know, as a tourist.
(34:48):
But we got by with our little bitof French and people were always,
you know, really, really helpful.
We'd let them know that we were fromNew Zealand and, you know, on game
day they could tell you were from NewZealand because, you know, you had your
jerseys on and everything like that.
Annie (35:05):
When you paint your face it's easy to tell.
Liz (35:08):
Ah, exactly, exactly.
Yeah.
So, no, the language, the only time thelanguage was truly a problem was with
our washing machine in the apartmentbecause it was a combo washer dryer,
and all of the instructions werein French and everything I googled
(35:28):
up online was in French as well,and it became a bit of a lottery.
You put your washing in, you didn't knowif it was going to get washed or dried, or
washed twice, or dried once, or whatever.
Annie (35:42):
It's surprising the number of people who report stories
like this, where the washersand dryers were just difficult.
They didn't, weren't surehow to make them run.
Liz (35:51):
No, no, but that's alright.
I spent a couple of hours sittingon the floor in the kitchen
trying to read a manual online anddidn't work, but that's alright.
Annie (36:02):
Yeah.
I never bought a washer dryer.
I have one of each.
Different machines, it's much simpler,you know, it's either on, or not.
Liz (36:12):
That's right.
Annie (36:14):
Yeah.
Liz (36:14):
That's right.
In Paris also, a couple of times wetook Ubers or Bolt cars, which was
a little bit of a problem becausewe were four adults, and four bags,
and our four carry on backpacks.
And we couldn't fit all ourluggage in a lot of the time.
So we had to split up and take two.
(36:35):
Yeah.
Annie (36:36):
Yeah, and besides with Uber, they don't let anybody sit by the driver.
So if there's four of you,you need a bigger car.
Liz (36:45):
Yeah, even taxis that we took, it was a bit of a problem with our
luggage, but they managed to, most ofthe time, they managed to squeeze us in.
And even with the hire car as well,when we were down in Provence and
we had the hire car, we had a largercar, we had an SUV, but it still
wouldn't take four bags, which... bitof a trick, trick for young players.
(37:09):
So we just smiled, we smiled andwaved and popped one in the car and...
because we were staying somewhere for along period of time we said is it right
we're only we're traveling there, we canput with put up with one in the back seat.
Annie (37:22):
Yeah.
Liz (37:23):
Yeah.
Annie (37:23):
So what did you learn about France on this trip?
Because six weeks, I mean, thisis really a long time to spend.
What did you learn about France?
Did you make memories?
Liz (37:33):
Oh my gosh.
We absolutely love France.
I'd visited France in the late 90s and Ididn't like it very much, I have to say.
But this time, I think with age, andmaturity, we just had a great time.
We want to go back.
We want to go back andspend a long period of time.
The people were so friendly.
(37:54):
They were so helpful.
We didn't come across anybodythat made our trip unpleasant.
Annie (38:01):
Mm-hmm
Liz (38:01):
Everybody was fantastic.
There were a couple of times we wereon the metro and we could clearly
see pickpocketers at work, and thatsort of stuff, but we looked after
ourselves and we had no problems at all.
Annie (38:15):
You mentioned that you use Wise card for payments.
Tell me a little bit more about that.
Liz (38:21):
So.
The WISE card worked really, really well.
It was contactless most ofthe time, just on our phones.
We did have a card as well for backup.
You can load up, I thinkup to 30 currencies on it.
And you can control it all by an app,you know, if you lose the card or you
lose your phone, you can hop onlineand you can cancel the card and you
(38:44):
can lock it so nobody can use it.
We had Euros on there, wehad our New Zealand money,
you know, Singapore dollars.
And you can just move it all around.
And because there was four of ustravelling, we also used an app
called Splitwise, where if we wereat a restaurant for lunch, then one
person would pay, because you can'tget separate bills a lot of the time.
(39:06):
And then at the end of the night, the boyswould just sit down and work out who paid
for what with tolls, and food and coffesand put it all into Splitwise and there'd
be a residual amount which they justtransferred between them on the Wise card.
So it worked really, really well.
Our finances, you know, theywere really easy to manage.
Annie (39:29):
Mm hmm.
When you had to buy train tickets, didyou do it at the train station or did
you use an app or... the SNCF Connect?
Liz (39:37):
Yeah, we used an app for all of that travel.
Annie (39:40):
Uh huh.
Liz (39:41):
There was a special one that the boys had got sorted out.
Yeah, it was the SNCF Connectapp for the trains and buses.
And, I think you can only book yourtrains about three months in advance?
Annie (39:56):
Right.
Right.
Liz (39:58):
Yeah.
Annie (39:58):
Some trains, it's six months in advance, but mostly
it's three months in advance.
Liz (40:02):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, we got a couple booked in advance,but some of them we didn't get really
good deals on because we were sort ofquite late notice, but that was all right.
Annie (40:13):
Yeah, with fast trains, with the TGVs, you need to book them in
advance, or you will pay very oftenmore than a plane, as a matter of fact.
If I try to book a train togo to Paris tomorrow, it would
be more expensive than flying.
Liz (40:27):
Right.
Annie (40:28):
You have to plan these things in advance.
The last question I asked is, wasyour trip restful or stressful?
And you say it was restful andif you had your time... oh, you
also took a side trip to London.
Liz (40:40):
Yeah, we did.
We popped over to London.
I had a old aunt that I was hoping to see.
Unfortunately, she passed away twomonths before her 100th birthday.
Annie (40:50):
Oh dear.
Wow.
Liz (40:51):
I know.
I know.
So, we carried on anyway and wepopped over to see family in London.
We went over on the Eurostar.
Annie (41:01):
How was that?
Liz (41:02):
It was great.
Yeah, it was great.
It was really, again, you know,your public transport is so well
organised and it's so efficientand it just, it just goes A to B.
Annie (41:14):
Yeah, that's good.
You also mentioned that youonly started listening to the
podcast after you had your trip.
Liz (41:21):
I know, how useless was that?
But now I'm at an absolute, like, Ithink I've listened, you've done over,
well over 500 now, and I think I'velistened to about 300 of them already.
Annie (41:33):
Wow.
Liz (41:35):
I know!
I know!
I listen to them everyday when I walk the dog.
Annie (41:39):
Wow.
And you managed just fine.
Like you were well prepared, and itsounds like you had a great time.
So good on you.
Liz (41:47):
Yeah, I know, but you see, you've given me so many more things
that I want to come back and do.
So our next trip is going to... it'sgoing to have to be more like six
months or a year to fit it all in.
Annie (41:59):
Wonderful.
All right.
Well, Liz, thank you somuch for talking to me.
I think we need to say goodbyebecause we've been talking a long
time, but thank you so very muchfor sharing all these experiences
and I hope you get to come back.
And like most people in NewZealand, Australia, most of
you come for a long time.
(42:19):
Like you don't stay aweek, you stay a month.
Liz (42:24):
Exactly.
So it will be a long time forthe next trip, definitely.
Annie (42:29):
Wonderful.
Merci beaucoup, Liz.
Liz (42:32):
Merci.
Au revoir.
Annie (42:33):
Au revoir!
Again, I want to thank my patrons forgiving back and supporting the show.
Patreon supporters get new episodesas soon as they are ready and ad-free.
Please be like them, followthe link in the show notes.
Patrons get exclusive rewards and you cansee all of them at patreon.com/joinus.
(42:58):
A special shout out this week to my new,one and only, Join us in France paid
champion, Neil Jaynert, who chose to beat the 'Groupie du Podcast' level yearly.
Thank you so much, Neil.
And to all my current patrons, it iswonderful to have you on board in the
community of travel enthusiasts andFrancophiles who keep this podcast going.
(43:23):
And to support Elyse, goto patreon.com/ElyseArt.
Thank you also Meris Ruzow foryour one time donation, although in
your case, it wasn't just one time.
You are a repeat donor.
Thank you.
Using any of the green buttons on JoinUs in France that say 'Tip your guide'.
Maris wrote (43:44):
Thank you for all your continuing help, Annie.
Well, thank you for your support, Meris.
Now, if you're thinking abouttaking a trip to France this year
or next, and you have a hard timedeciding what to do, I can help you
with my 1-1 consultation on Zoom.
I offer two levels of ItineraryConsultations on Zoom to
help you plan your trip.
(44:05):
Bonjour and VIP.
Of course, you get more for the VIP,but they're both really, really good.
Sometimes asking a local is the bestway to get all your questions answered.
And again, you can see the details andbook it at joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
Here's an update for anyone planning totravel to Orly airport in the near future.
(44:29):
Many of you flying in from NorthAmerica, or Australia, or New Zealand
arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Some of you flying in from Englandarrive at the other major airport, the
other international airport in Paris.
That's the Orly Airport.
And all domestic flights,pretty much, leave from Orly.
(44:53):
Île de France Mobilités, that's theregional transportation authority
for Paris, has announced thediscontinuation of the Orly bus
service starting March 3rd, 2025.
Why?
Well, it's all thanks to the hugelysuccessful extension of Metro Line 14,
which now serves the airport directly.
(45:15):
Since the Metro's expansion, ridership onthe Orly bus has dropped by over 80% with
some buses even running completely empty.
The Line 14 extension operated by theRATP has made getting to Orly a breeze.
The train runs every 95 secondsduring peak times, and soon
(45:38):
that'll be every 85 seconds.
It's a quick 25 minuteride from Châtelet to Orly.
It's no wonder passengers have switchedto this faster and more frequent option.
In comparison, the Orly bus takes 30minutes and only runs every 20 to 30
minutes, so it's just not as convenient.
By closing the Orly bus, thetransport authority aims to save
(46:00):
public money, reduce waste, andcut unnecessary air pollution.
That said, they'll still providesubstitute buses to the airport
if there's ever a disruptionon line 14, which can happen.
If you're planning a trip to Orly, nowis the time to get familiar with line 14.
It's efficient, quick, andan excellent way to travel.
(46:22):
And that's your transportationupdate for today.
I was in Paris last week to make amajor update to my Ile de la Cité tour.
The fire at Notre Dame happenedwhile I was putting the last
touches to that tour in 2019.
As a result, I had to go back to Parisin a hurry and completely change the
(46:44):
last third of the tour so you'd walkaround the cathedral and see it from a
distance, since nobody could get close.
Of course, that's not necessary anymore.
Access to the cathedral hasbeen completely restored.
Well, not a hundred percent, but mostly.
So, I decided to go back and modifythe tour the way I had originally
(47:04):
written it, but never released it.
The changes start right after theSainte Chapelle and go up until the end.
Many of you probably bought this tour.
And if you did, you can get the updatefor free, open the Voicemap app, tap
on the library at the bottom, thengo to the tours you've downloaded.
(47:27):
It says downloaded at the top,tap on the dot, dot, dot, and
then select to delete the tour.
Now go to the 'Ready to download'tab and download that tour again.
It's as simple as that.
Now, this original tour isabout the entire Ile de la Cité.
Walking the whole thing takes two hoursand I didn't want to make it any longer.
(47:51):
But, while I was working on it and with asmart suggestion from my friend, Patricia,
with whom I was staying, I realizedthat I also really needed to write a new
tour that is just about Notre Dame, theSainte Chapelle, and the Conciergerie.
And since 2019, the VoiceMap appitself has also been improved a
(48:13):
lot, and now I can use it to takeyou inside of buildings, which is
what I'll do with this new tour.
I plan to get back to Paris in March towork on the new tour and test it as many
times as it takes to make it just right.
For now, it's all in my head, but Ithink it's going to be very, very cool.
(48:34):
Paris in January was wet andcold, but as lovely as ever.
There were quite a few visitors, morethan I can remember in January's past.
I mean, I've been there inJanuary many times, but that
was a lot of people, I thought.
I got to try several newrestaurants around Notre Dame.
I always try several restaurants andrecommend my favorites in the tour.
(48:58):
And I was happilysurprised by one of them.
Another one is still great, but probably,only for folks who speak very good French.
The Saint Régis, which is the restaurantI was recommending in the original version
of the tour, is still a solid choice.
One was meh, and the other we walkedout on, so... I shared all the
(49:21):
details and photos with my patrons.
It's always tricky findinggood restaurants in a super
touristy area like Notre Dame.
But it can be done and Ido try as hard as I can.
Patricia, Jennifer, and I also took aday trip to Chartres on the train, and we
will record an episode about that soon.
So you'll get to hear allabout that in that episode.
(49:43):
Patricia has what she calls magic cards.
Those are wonderful.
I'm going to tell you alittle bit about them.
She purchases an annual pass for severalmuseums in Paris and that gives her
faster access because you jump towardsthe front of the security queue.
In Paris, what slows youdown is the security line.
(50:06):
Even in January.
And even if you have a museum passor a timed entry ticket you have to
suffer through the long security line.
I asked the man who was filtering atthe Grand Palais if he would have let
us in with a museum pass and he said no.
Only for VIP guests, I guess if you'recoming with the mayor, you're in.
(50:27):
And annual pass holders, okay?
Patricia knows a lot of people and lovesall the cultural offerings of Paris.
She goes to museums all the time.
It's worth it to her toget the annual pass.
And she's very generous andgets the card for two people.
But for regular people, for youlistening, even for people who plan
ahead and buy tickets in advance withtimed tickets, you know, count on 20
(50:52):
to 30 minutes in line for security.
Some places are worsethan others, of course.
I know some of you who go back toParis every year or perhaps twice a
year also get the annual pass becauseit gives you fast access, early
access, a discount at the gift shop.
(51:12):
You can go into the specialexhibits when they happen.
It's really good.
The annual membership is the onlyway to skip the line in Paris, okay?
Because it takes you to the frontof the security line and you
already have your waltz in ticket.
Because with an annual pass,you can go whenever you want.
No need to reserve, you can just go.
(51:32):
So I'm sorry to say all the companiesthat sell 'skip the line' tickets
are American travel companies thatyou've all heard of, and you've all
used, and they're ripping you off.
They charge 50 bucks or more for atimed entry ticket that you could
have bought by yourself by going tothe official website of the venue
and paid the normal entry fee.
(51:54):
There are even scammers sellingtickets to skip the line at Notre
Dame when entrance is free... free!
And the only way to get infaster is to be going to Mass.
So, people will try to scam youout of money every which way.
And there are people who knowabsolutely nothing about Paris, but
they do know how to make a websiterank on Google, and that's what
(52:17):
they use to get money from you.
So security at the San Chapelle isparticularly slow because there is one
airport, like full body scanner, youknow, like when you lift your hands and,
you know, and the thing goes around you.
There's one of those in there andeveryone has to go through it.
And it's the one access for boththe St. Chapelle and the courthouse.
(52:40):
And the reason why it's afull body scanner is because
it's a courthouse, of course.
There to jump the queue, you would, youwould have to be with a live tour guide
or be a VIP or have the annual pass.
Or have a letter asking youto report to the courthouse
specific day, specific time.
But once you get through security,you get to the ticket line and it's
(53:01):
trivial by comparison because they havemore than one person selling tickets
and you know, there's nobody there.
There's other placeswhere it's easy peasy.
We went to Les Invalides soMusée de l'armée des Invalides
where... Napoleon's tomb.
Okay?
We went on Sunday morningand there was no line.
And by the way, Les Invalides, it'sreally cool because you can get into
(53:22):
the beautiful courtyard, into thebeautiful church, without a ticket.
They only ask for a ticket when you enterspecific museum areas within the complex.
And they have more than one place to buythe ticket once you get past security.
So, Les Invalides is really easy.
I'm not telling you all of this to talkyou out of going to Paris, of course,
(53:43):
but I would like you to understand howthis works so you don't end up with a
useless, skip the line ticket in Paris.
Perhaps get an annual membership at yourfavorite Paris museum, because that's
where the magic card is, you know.
And be prepared to be in linefor security just about anywhere
you want to visit in Paris.
(54:04):
And by the way, the securitychecks at Notre Dame has
gotten very good and very fast.
They have new airport like portals,you know, you walk through that.
I'm sure it's scanning for metal,you know, but they hardly ever
go off and it's really fast.
It's much faster than the fullbody scan at the St. Chapelle
(54:25):
and the courthouse, of course.
Now, Paris is worth it, of course,but I figured you'd want to know about
these things because I definitelydon't want you getting ripped off.
It annoys me every time I think about it.
My thank to podcast editors, Anneand Christian Cotovan, who produced
the transcript, and remember patronsget a ad-free version of this
(54:46):
episode, as well as many other perks.
Click on the link in the show notesof this episode to be like them.
Next week on the podcast, an episodewhere we discover the bold world of
Niki de Saint Phalle, artist, rebel,and creator of iconic Nana sculptures.
And it'll be an episode with Elyse.
(55:06):
Thank you so much for listening.
And I hope you join me next timeso 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,
(55:27):
no derivatives license.
This is Join Us in France, episode 531, cinq cent trente-et-un.
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 tripreport with Liz Van Monfort
from Christchurch, New Zealand.
(00:36):
Liz spent six weeks traveling acrossFrance, soaking in the local culture,
exploring historic landmarks, watchingmajor sports events, and navigating
the nuances of French daily life.
From the bustling streets of Paris tothe charming villages of Provence, Liz
shares her food adventures, transporttips and the joy of home exchanges.
(00:59):
Have you noticed that the podcast isgetting a little bit more international?
I love it.
This podcast is supported by donorsand listeners who buy my tours and
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.
(01:24):
There are only four spots left for theBootcamp 2025, explore the Southwest with
Annie and Elyse and a group of your fellowFrancophiles and make fantastic memories.
So you can browse all of that at theboutique: joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
And Patreon supporters get new episodesas soon as they are ready and ad-free.
(01:46):
If that sounds good to you, be likethem, follow the link in the show notes.
For the magazine part of the podcast,after my chat with Liz today,
I'll discuss Orlybus, cause thereare some big changes coming soon.
I'll also discuss my major update toone of my Voicemap tours, my week in
Paris, and most importantly for you, I'llexplain how lines and tickets work in
(02:11):
Paris, because if you know what to expect,you'll have a much better experience.
I'll also explain why 'skip the line'tickets are a complete rip off in Paris.
Bonjour Liz van Montfort, andwelcome to Join Us in France.
Liz (02:33):
Bonjour Annie.
Annie (02:35):
Lovely to have you all the way from New Zealand.
Liz (02:38):
Yes, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Annie (02:40):
Wonderful.
So, you spent six weeks inFrance, which is something
that very few people get to do.
So I want to hear all about that.
What motivated your trip?
Where did you go?
What did you love?
What did you not love?
All of that good stuff.
Liz (02:56):
All of that.
So we spent six weeks in France lastyear, in 2023, in September and October.
And we were there for the Rugby World Cup.
Annie (03:05):
And you were there for the whole thing?
Liz (03:07):
No, we missed... it was quite a long event, it went
for about eight or nine weeks.
So we missed the opening games, butwe had tickets to the pool games,
and to the quarterfinals, semifinalsand finals which were in Paris.
Annie (03:22):
Right, so that took you all over France.
There were rugby in many cities, right?
Liz (03:27):
There were, and my husband started booking tickets online about 18 months
before the event, and our trip wascompletely dictated around rugby games.
Annie (03:42):
Yes, well, in New Zealand, rugby is a big deal, right?
Liz (03:45):
It's a huge deal.
We were traveling with another couple andthe boys are totally obsessed with rugby.
Annie (03:54):
Well, you know, I'm from Toulouse, so I understand that.
Liz (03:59):
You had some rugby, I think, didn't you?
Annie (04:01):
Yes, we had some.
And really, I'm not sure the World Cupwas that huge a deal here, I mean, there
were some games, but what's a biggerdeal is the national championship.
I mean, when the national championship ison, oh, it's just a big, huge deal, yeah.
Everybody goes downtown, like thisyear, they had a lot of successes.
(04:22):
Everybody goes downtown, theyhave to have a lot of security,
although it usually goes reallyhappy-go-lucky kind of celebration.
So, we've been lucky that it'sbeen, it's been fine, really.
Liz (04:33):
Yeah.
Well, we had a great time.
We were in Paris for the end andthere was a lot of celebrations, and
a lot of craziness, and a lot of fun.
Annie (04:45):
That's wonderful.
All right.
So, from New Zealand, youflew through Singapore?
Liz (04:50):
That's correct.
From Christchurch toSingapore is 12 hours.
And we stopped over on the way through,for a night, because we just got our life
all sorted out for a six week holiday.
So we were still a little bit fatiguedby the time we got on the plane.
So we stopped in Singapore for a night andthen we travelled on and flew into Paris.
(05:11):
We've just sort of come out of that longlockdown period after COVID and we hadn't
travelled and all that sort of thing.
So we were a bit scared about the crowd.
And I booked a rural hotel in a littlevillage called Maureguard, which was
about 10 minutes from Charles de Gaulle.
We stayed there for two nights just to,you know, get over the jet lag and find
(05:34):
our feet again once we got to France.
Because Christchurch-Singapore was sortof 12, 12 and a half hours, and then
Singapore-Paris was about the same again.
Annie (05:44):
Right, it's a brutal flight.
Liz (05:47):
It's a long way.
Annie (05:49):
Yes, I, you know, when I go to the Western United States, it's, you know,
11-12 hours and that feels like forever,but then you have to do that again.
Liz (05:59):
Yeah, well, on the way home, we didn't stop over, we flew all the
way home just with the hour and ahalf to run through Singapore airport
to catch the connecting flight.
But luckily on the airlines, theysort of treat it like a day you
get on, you have your dinner, yougo to bed and then you wake up and
you're in another country, so...
It wasn't that bad.
Annie (06:19):
Have you done a lot of European trips, or not too many?
Liz (06:23):
My husband had, he's been over twice.
He did his big overseasthing when he left school.
And we did a holiday in 1997and then we had kids and our
life wasn't our own anymore.
So now they're all grown up and theWorld Cup was a chance to, you know,
get away and do some traveling again.
Annie (06:43):
So this was you, your husband, did any of your children come?
Liz (06:48):
No, no, our kids didn't come.
And we travelled with anothercouple who we've been friends with
for years, and years, and years.
And Paul and my husbandBrian, they love rugby.
And Lisa and I get on verywell, so the trip was fantastic.
We couldn't have asked for better.
Annie (07:06):
That's wonderful.
And how did you get aroundduring your time in France?
Liz (07:10):
Oh gosh, it was quite, we did everything.
We did, so we flew into France , thenour first pool games were down in
Lyon and we took a bus to Lyon.
Annie (07:21):
Oh.
Liz (07:22):
I know!
We stopped in Dijon for a night andthen took the bus the next day to Lyon.
It was just quite good, you know, to beable to see a bit of the countryside.
Often in the fast trains youdon't get to see everything.
Annie (07:35):
Yeah.
So was that a FlixBus or...?
Liz (07:38):
It was Flixbus.
Annie (07:39):
It was FlixBus.
So the big green buses, yeah.
Liz (07:42):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was an adventure.
Annie (07:45):
Give us some details of why it was an adventure.
Liz (07:48):
We were still getting our French shoes on, So we'd just arrived, we'd
had our two nights at Maureguard,and then the next day we took the
bus to Dijon, and that was fromBercy Seine bus station in Paris.
Which was a little bit,yeah, a little bit unsafe.
Annie (08:06):
Yeah, yeah, it's not the best part of town, yeah.
Liz (08:10):
No, no.
So that was interesting, butwe were really aware of our
surroundings and our security.
So, that was good.
Trying to find a few busstops was a bit challenging.
Trying to cope with the pace ofeverybody else knowing what was going on.
And we really didn't.
But it was good.
We got to see France from theroad and from a good perspective.
(08:30):
And it was really nice.
Annie (08:32):
Right, once you're in the bus, it's fine, the buses themselves are fine.
It's just the train station, thebus stations are sometimes, because
FlixBus it's not an expensive wayto travel, so sometimes you get...
you know, tickets for like 10 euros.
They can't afford a massive,beautiful terminal in central Paris,
it's a budget kind of operation.
Liz (08:54):
Yeah, and it was budget.
It cost us nine euro eachto go from Paris to Dijon.
And then Dijon to Lyonwas about 11 euro each.
So, you know, it was definitelybudget, but it was good.
Annie (09:05):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Liz (09:08):
And then after we were in Lyon for a couple of nights for two rugby games.
And after that we hired a car,and we drove down to Provence.
The boys were driving.
They had both bought their internationallicense with them, and they'd both
driven in Europe previously, so theywere okay with the, so down here in
(09:29):
New Zealand, the driver's seat is onthe right hand side of the car, and we
drive on the left hand side of the road.
And in Europe it's the opposite.
So things like roundabouts and mergingtraffic can get a wee bit challenging.
So the boys drove, I wasnavigator and it went really well.
Yeah, really well.
Annie (09:49):
Cool.
So you mentioned that they broughttheir international driver's licenses.
Did anybody ask to see that orwere they just happy with their
New Zealand driver's licenses?
Liz (09:59):
I think when we hired the car, like at check in, they asked
to see the international one.
They probably would have been finewith our normal one, because I
think as long as it's all written inEnglish, and they can cope with it.
Yeah.
Annie (10:13):
Yeah, as far as I know, the only time they ask for the
international driver's license, it'swhen you have a different alphabet.
If your original driver's license isn'tChinese characters or Japanese characters,
or Arabic, or Hebrew or something very,you know, unintelligible to Europeans,
(10:34):
then they need the international.
But otherwise, if it's the Romanalphabet, they are fine, yeah.
Liz (10:39):
Yeah, yeah.
So, when we were staying down in Provenceand we were driving, we had a few
day trips out, which was really nice.
We went to Cassis, up tothe castle at Les Baux.
Annie (10:51):
Les Baux, yes, yes, yes, Les Baux de Provence.
How did you like that?
Liz (10:55):
It was beautiful, oh, it was beautiful.
And just to have something, you know,that old, New Zealand's a relatively
new country, we've only been here for asort of couple of hundred years, so we
don't have a lot of ruins and things.
So that was amazing.
And the light show wasamazing at Les Baux.
Annie (11:13):
So yeah, that's Les Carrières de Lumière is what you meant,
what you're talking about, yeah.
Liz (11:18):
Yeah, that was incredible actually.
It was really mind blowing to justbe in the cave it was really good
. Annie: Yeah.
Right.
so this has come up a lot on the podcast,but I'll explain it briefly again.
This is an old quarry, so they'veextracted these big, beautiful,
white stones, and they now have allthese walls and ceilings, and they
(11:42):
project images, you know, it's alldigital stuff, but it's on a theme.
Typically, it's an artist or one or moreartists, and there's also some sound.
And it's very immersive.
They try to repeat the experience in otherplaces, in many cities in the world, you
(12:02):
can buy tickets, but you end up beingin a warehouse with light and sound.
And it's not the same as the originalin Les Baux de Provence, because
that is just a beautiful setting.
And you feel the coolness of the spaceand the sound is very rich in the cave.
(12:23):
And the grandeur as well, the grandeur of it was just incredible,
you know, I don't know how high thosewalls were, but it was incredible.
So yeah, that was... that was great.
And then the wee township ofLes Baux, and the castle, that
was a great day trip out for us.
Annie (12:39):
The town is very touristic in the summer, you know, there's a lot of people.
Oh, I didn't ask you what timeof year, but the Rugby World Cup
was in September, October, right?
Liz (12:48):
Yeah, September, October.
So it was the end of summer.
It was still quite warm down in Provence.
There wasn't the huge crowds, butthen we avoided them as well, so
we didn't go to any big cities.
Yeah.
Annie (13:01):
Yeah, wonderful.
And so, you also went to some games,obviously, in Provence, I assume.
Liz (13:08):
The boys went to rugby games in Lyon, so that was their
first two, or four pool games.
And so there was two on the firstweekend, like the Friday, Saturday,
and then we went back for maybe Friday,Saturday again for two more games.
Annie (13:26):
So do they paint their face, and bring a flag, and all of that?
Liz (13:29):
Oh yeah, they bring a flag and... yeah... yeah.
We were number one supporters.
Annie (13:37):
I love that.
We just got done with the regularOlympics as we record this, with the
Paralympics to follow, but plenty ofpeople with painted faces, and flags,
and hats, and all of that sort of stuff.
It's great fun.
Liz (13:53):
Yeah.
So, after we were down in Lyon,we had, again, it was one of
those sort of impulse things.
My husband decided that we should goto Barcelona because it was cheap.
Annie (14:04):
Okay.
Liz (14:05):
We flew to Barcelona just for a couple of days before going back up
to Paris for the quarterfinals andsemifinals and the final, of course.
So, we had our little time in Barcelona,which, it was okay, but it wasn't France.
We were, by then, we'd had a couple ofweeks in France, and we were just smitten.
(14:26):
And, so, we had our time in Barcelona,and then we flew back to Paris,
and we had three weeks in Paris.
And while we were staying in Paris,we had a home exchange apartment.
So we are part of the homeexchange.comwebsite, and by being members of
(14:47):
that for the last four years, we wereable to secure an apartment in Paris
for the whole time we were there.
And it didn't really cost usanything, which was fantastic.
So, yeah, and it was in the 17thArrondissement, so, nice and central
to, you know, that was ten minutes fromthe Arc de Triomphe, and we had a nice
(15:10):
little neighbourhood with a supermarketand our coffee shop, and we worked
out where our metro stations were.
And it was fantastic.
It was a two bedroom apartment,you know, in one of your beautiful
old buildings with a balcony.
Annie (15:23):
Nice.
Nice.
So how does that work?
Home Exchange?
We haven't talked about thatvery much on the podcast.
Tell me how that works.
Liz (15:29):
So, homeexchange.com is a website where you register to
exchange your home with the otherlike-minded travellers, I guess.
You pay an annual fee, which isabout probably a hundred and, maybe a
hundred, a hundred and fifty US a year.
Annie (15:50):
Mm hmm.
Liz (15:51):
And then, when you decide that you're going to go somewhere, through
the website, you just approach people.
We approached people who hadsecondary residences in Paris.
Because then we knew that we wouldn'thave to have a reciprocal, so we didn't
have to manage people coming to ourhouse when we weren't here, basically.
Annie (16:11):
Uh huh.
Liz (16:12):
Yeah, because not many people would probably want to come
to Christchurch for six weeks.
So, we got our apartment overthere for three weeks, and it
was a two bedroom apartment.
So, if you look at the fees we paidprobably for the four years, it might
have cost us $450, but it was still,you know, an absolute steal when
(16:35):
you're looking at hotel or AirBnB orpaying for accommodation in Paris.
Annie (16:39):
Right.
And so you don't have to have peoplein your own home, in exchange.
Liz (16:45):
No.
Eventually you do, because the currencyis in the website, so when people
come and stay in our home, we getguest points and then we use those
guest points to stay somewhere else.
Annie (17:01):
I see.
Liz (17:02):
Yeah, so it builds up the currency within the website.
Annie (17:06):
But at this point, you have never had anybody stay at your home.
Liz (17:10):
We have, we just didn't want to, yeah, we didn't want
to do it for that six weeks.
Well, we had a house sitter hereas well looking after the dog,
so it wasn't, doing a reciprocalwasn't really going to work for us.
Annie (17:22):
But it's true that it would work out well for people who have a
secondary residence because then you'renot there all the time by definition.
So you could probably let somebodyelse have it while and accrue
points for your own trips.
Liz (17:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, worked really well, reallywell for us, and like I said
it was in a great location andjust in an apartment building,
Annie (17:46):
Yeah, I assume there's like everything else you get, you get
to read reviews of people who'vebeen in that property before.
Liz (17:53):
Yeah, and reviews on, you know, you get reviewed, so people can
trust that you're okay, and you'regoing to look after their home.
And yeah, you get to see pictures, and nowwith, you know, Google Maps and that sort
of thing, you can just sort of zoom in andhave a look and know that it's all good.
Annie (18:11):
Right.
Liz (18:12):
We also stayed in a home exchange in Dijon, and we did another wee
side trip over to Europe and we gotto use it over there too in Windsor.
Annie (18:20):
And that was fine?
Liz (18:21):
Yeah, it was all good.
Annie (18:22):
Oh, that's good to know.
Because it's not something that'scome up a lot on the podcast.
I think a couple of people havementioned it though, but it's good
to know that it, that it works out.
And so while you were in Paris,you visited Paris, I assume.
Liz (18:36):
Oh, we visited Paris.
On our first day in Paris we got to votein the New Zealand general election.
So we had to... we had to findthe New Zealand embassy so we
could cast our absentee votes.
So that was quite kind of cool.
Annie (18:52):
And where is that?
Is that by the Eiffel Tower?
Liz (18:55):
No, it's down near Concord.
Annie (18:57):
Okay.
Okay.
Oh, so it's by the American embassy.
Liz (19:02):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it was down there.
And we went and did that on our first dayand then on the way back from there, there
was a lot of police blowing their whistlesand road closures and a lot of security.
And we later found out that thepresident of Mongolia was visiting
(19:23):
and so he got to have horses andbrass bands and all manner of things.
Yeah, so it was kind of cool to seebecause it was a whole lot of... a
whole lot of busyness for this guy.
Annie (19:38):
So you saw the Garde Republicaine, the French, you
know, kind of show off guard.
Liz (19:43):
Yeah, yeah, we did.
Yeah, yeah.
So that was cool.
And while we're in Paris also,so we were there for rugby games.
So basically we hadrugby games each weekend.
And during the weekdays, we coulddo some sightseeing and things.
So we, again, being a bit scaredof crowds, we took the double
(20:04):
decker bus to sort of have alook at all the sights of Paris.
We had been to Paris before, we'd beenup the Eiffel Tower, we'd been to the
Arc de Triomphe, I think we'd been outto Versailles even before, so we didn't
bother with a lot of those things.
We saw them all from the top of thedouble decker bus, which was fantastic.
But we didn't have to fightwith the thousands of people
(20:26):
on the ground to get close.
So, we did that for a day.
We did a day out to Reims.
to Veuve Clicquot, to the, we did the winetour out there, which was, again, amazing.
We took the train to go out there,the high speed train, was it the RER?
Annie (20:47):
The TGV.
Liz (20:48):
TGV, there we go!
Annie (20:50):
RER is the regional train around Paris.
Liz (20:53):
Oh, okay.
Yep.
It is a train, yeah, we took the TGV outto Reims, so we just did a day trip out
there to the, to Veuve Clicquot, and wealso did a couple of days to Northern
France And we visited the war graves fromWorld War I. So we stayed in Ypres, which
(21:17):
is in Belgium, just over the border,and we visited probably about, oh, maybe
six Commonwealth war grave cemeteries.
I have great great uncles buried intwo of them and Paul, who was traveling
with us, he had family membersburied as well at Passchendaele.
(21:38):
So, that was an amazing trip.
It completely blew me awayabout how well kept the graves
are, and how well respected thefallen soldiers have been, so...
Annie (21:52):
Yeah.
You didn't, you didn't go tosee the La Bataille d'Arras.
There's a big New Zealand kind ofmemorial, where they dug out tunnels.
They sent a group of folks fromNew Zealand to dig out tunnels.
Ah, let me, let me find that.
(22:12):
Keep, keep talking.
I'll find it.
Liz (22:14):
Yeah, yeah, we didn't... we didn't go there, I do know about it
because my daughter's a surveyor aland surveyor at Herb's Survey School,
they have mapped those tunnels again,and that, it must be around the Somme
somewhere.
Annie (22:30):
Right.
Right.
So it's, I think it's in Arras.
Let me find it.
It was one of the lastthings we did on our trip.
Liz (22:39):
Was it World War I?
Annie (22:40):
Yes.
Okay.
La Carrière Wellington.
So the Wellington monument.
And I can show you, I'llshow you some photos.
Obviously, people who are listeningto the episode can't see the
photos, but it'll probably jot yourmemory, if you have been there.
(23:02):
That's the entrance.
So you have this long, kind of, it's nota very nice looking entrance, but it's all
about the soldiers who liberated Arras,and there were a lot of tunnelers from New
Zealand who came and just dug up tunnels,and the whole point of digging up these
(23:27):
tunnels was to then explode them oncethey knew there were German troops above.
You know, it's a... it's a reallyinteresting part of history.
Liz (23:38):
It really is.
No, we didn't go there, unfortunately.
We only had, we had a coupleof nights in Ypres and...
Annie (23:44):
Yeah, there are so many, you can't see them all, that's the problem,
you know, there are many, many, andyou definitely cannot see them all.
So I'm going to, I'm going totell you exactly where it is,
just a sec. It's in Arras, it's inthe City of Arras, Rue Arthur de
l'Etoile, is where it is exactly.
(24:05):
But at any rate, people who wantto see the Carrière Wellington...
Liz (24:09):
That'll be next time.
Annie (24:11):
And it's a... it's a beautiful moving memorial as well, but there are
many, that's the problem with World War I,there were, it was such a big area, well
it's the same with World War II really,there's so many sites that you can visit.
Liz (24:24):
We went to Polygon Wood, and Hubertine Cemeteries.
We also went to the New ZealandMemorial again, which is just
over the border in Belgium.
The boys wanted to go toone of the graveyards where
there was a rugby boy buried.
(24:45):
And we also went up to Dunkirk.
So we came back over the borderand went up to Dunkirk Beach.
Annie (24:53):
What's that like?
Because I haven't been, Iwanted to go to Dunkirk, to the
beach and I, we didn't make it.
Liz (24:58):
It was good.
There's a little bitof memorabilia around.
There's not as much as Iimagine there is up at Normandy.
And again, more time next time.
Just, you know, just to reallybe able to find out a bit more
of the history around that.
Annie (25:18):
It's really hard to appreciate how long, or how
short, things are going to take.
One of the biases that people haveabout visiting France is that they
think that, for example, they think inProvence, you need a day per village,
and you really don't, you don't.
In Provence those villages, ifyou go on market day, perhaps
(25:42):
it'll take you four hours.
And if you don't go on marketday in two hours, you're done.
It's really hard for people who,visitors who don't know the area
to have an appreciation, but to seeWorld War I or World War II sites in
either Normandy, or in the Lille area,Somme, et cetera, it takes more time
(26:04):
because these sites are spread out.
And you need time toget there and to visit.
I mean, some of these visits willtake several hours, because there
are some, I mean, I haven't beento Ypres, but I assume it takes
some time to visit the sites.
Liz (26:22):
And Ypres is amazing.
They have a, they have an Anzacmemorial service every evening at 8
o'clock, and they have done since 1927.
Annie (26:32):
Wow.
Liz (26:33):
I know and every night they have a big crowd there and they, yeah,
they have a full ANZAC service withthe last post and yeah, it's amazing.
So we were really fortunate tobe able to spend some time there.
We had a couple of nights andthey've got a good museum, and
(26:54):
we had a car, you definitelyneed a car when you're up there.
Annie (26:58):
Oh yes.
Liz (26:58):
Otherwise, you can't get round.
Annie (27:01):
Right.
So, tell me more about your time in Paris.
How did you, because you were in Parisa while, so what did you do every day?
Liz (27:10):
On the days when we had rugby, the rugby started at 9 o'clock at night,
so we had to, we'd generally have abit of a rest during the afternoon,
and then have dinner, early dinner.
And we'd have to leave to takethe metro normally about 6-6:30.
And the metro was jammed with people.
(27:31):
There was one we wenton to the Irish game.
It was so cramped, I couldonly stand on one foot.
I couldn't... It was so cramped.
And then by the time you got thereand you got through the crowds and you
got through the security and then yougot into the stand, we were normally
(27:52):
sort of into our seats at about 8:30.
Then you had to, at the end of the game,at 11 o'clock when it finished, you
know, you were turning around and youwere doing the reverse, so we weren't
getting home until sort of 1-1:30.
So that kind of, the Friday and Saturdaynight games, that kind of took up
the full days and the next morning.
(28:13):
We just did some normal day trips.
We did the Wargraveswhich was an overnight.
We did a day trip to theChateau de Chantilly.
Annie (28:23):
Ah, yes, that's right.
Liz (28:25):
Yes, which I absolutely loved.
Annie (28:28):
Right, and so you took the train there, right?
Liz (28:30):
Well, that was actually at the end of our trip and we had a car.
So, on the last day we picked upa car from the airport and we did
that and we stayed out that way.
We went to one of the markets, thebig market, and I can't remember its
name, and I didn't put it in my notes.
Annie (28:49):
There's so many in Paris.
I mean, there's dozens of them, so...
Liz (28:53):
I know, I know.
That was really cool though.
We went and had lunch and wesort of met a few of the local
stallholders, and things like that.
So that was, it was, really nice.
Annie (29:04):
Did you go to any museums or took tours or anything like that?
Liz (29:08):
No, we didn't.
No, we had a talk.
We had a day down in, we went downto see how Notre Dame's coming
along and had lunch down there.
We just sort of generally went toareas and had lunch and had a bit of
a walk around, checked out some of theshops, and the markets and... No, we
didn't, we didn't go to any museums,didn't go to the Louvre, didn't...
Annie (29:31):
So, how are things different when, because I assume you cooked for
yourself since you had an apartment?
Right, so how was thatdifferent from cooking at home?
Like, did you find the same stuff atthe grocery store that you're used to?
Was it very different?
Somewhat similar?
How was it?
Liz (29:46):
No, so we went to the grocery store, every, we'd have breakfast at
home, and then we'd go out for coffee.
And we'd normally have lunch out, andthen we'd have dinner back at home.
So we would just buy from the supermarket,normally some sort of easy ready meals,
or pre made salads and that sort of thing.
(30:08):
Cheese, we'd have croissantsfor breakfast, we absolutely
loved all of the French food.
The baguettes were beautiful.
Everything from, you know, the patisserie,croissants every day with beautiful
cheeses and things like that, so yeah.
So, we might have gone out for dinnera couple of times, I think we mainly
(30:30):
went out when we weren't back inParis, well, we called Paris home,
while we were back at home, we just,we always just prepared a meal.
Annie (30:38):
Uhhuh.
How about prices?
Did you find pricesstartlingly low or high or...?
Liz (30:43):
Well, it doesn't pay to convert it back to the New Zealand dollar
because everything was double.
So whenever... yeah, I know...that meant my coffee cost $15.
So, basically we justdidn't think about that.
We kind of had a bit of a rule thatwe spent under 20 Euro on a meal.
(31:07):
And that was okay.
You can get, you know, crepes,and pizza, and burgers, and that
kind of food for under 20 Euro.
It was mainly lunch menus and coffee.
Everything else we ate at home.
Annie (31:19):
Did you like the coffee?
Or, some people say it's horrible,some people say they love it,
but where did you fall on that?
Liz (31:25):
Well, I really liked it, and a lot of the time it wasn't barista
made coffee, it was machine madecoffee, but yeah, it worked for us.
Annie (31:36):
It was fine.
Liz (31:37):
Yeah, it was fine.
Yeah, down in New Zealand we do alot more barista made as opposed to
barista machine made, you know, wherethey just push the button and the
cappuccino comes out kind of thing.
That's what we got a lot inFrance, it was really nice.
Annie (31:56):
Yeah, so it sounds like you did, like, you didn't do a lot
of research about the restaurantswhen you were eating out at lunch,
you just found a place you liked.
Liz (32:03):
Found a place we liked, at a time we liked, you know, we were generally a bit
later, but we could always find something.
Annie (32:12):
Mm hmm.
Mm hmm.
And in Paris to get aroundyou used the Navigo Pass.
Did you get a Navigo Easy,or a Navigo Weekly, or...?
Liz (32:21):
Navigo Weekly.
So we got that when we first arrived,and we just topped that up each week.
Annie (32:29):
Uh huh.
Liz (32:30):
We needed it for the rugby, a couple of nights a week and then just
getting around to, tootling aroundin the neighbourhoods and things.
We could use it for the buses as well.
Annie (32:40):
So I assume for the rugby, you mostly went to
Stade de France in Saint Denis?
Mm hmm.
Uh huh.
That area has changed a lot, by theway, because of the Olympics, because
that's where the Olympics village is, sothey've improved the area quite a bit.
And they use the Stade deFrance for a lot of rugby, rugby
(33:00):
seven, and also soccer, I think.
Liz (33:02):
Yeah.
We didn't feel unsafe at all.
The security was amazing.
The metro operation was amazing.
It was so well organized on game nightsthere was extra staff on, they were
helpful, there was extra security, therewas police on horses, they would, you
know, control the crowd when everybodyis leaving and there was just masses
(33:24):
and masses of people because it's...I think it's about 80,000 per game.
It was a lot of people to manage,you know, funneling into the metro.
As an area, that SaintDenis, it was really good.
It was nice, and it was safe,and it was really well managed.
Annie (33:41):
Mm hmm.
Mm hmm.
Did you find navigation inParis complicated, easy?
What apps did you use?
How did you get around that way?
Liz (33:50):
In Paris, we had an app, I think for transport, we had an app.
We walked a lot.
Annie (33:58):
Yeah.
Liz (33:59):
Good old Google Maps, you know.
We just walked, used the metro, used thebus if we ended up somewhere where we
kind of didn't really know where we were.
The bus is sometimes easier than themetro because, you know, you're above
ground and you can see where you're at.
We found it pretty easy just with pluggingthe information into Google and it would
tell us how long it was going to be towalk, how long, which metro to take.
Annie (34:22):
So how, do you speak French at all or a little bit or...?
Liz (34:26):
No, just a little bit.
We were good with our, we did aFrench word of the day to try and
elaborate on some of our conversations.
I had done a bit on Duolingoto prepare for the trip and it
wasn't helpful at all, really.
It didn't give me the stuff I neededto talk about, you know, as a tourist.
(34:48):
But we got by with our little bitof French and people were always,
you know, really, really helpful.
We'd let them know that we were fromNew Zealand and, you know, on game
day they could tell you were from NewZealand because, you know, you had your
jerseys on and everything like that.
Annie (35:05):
When you paint your face it's easy to tell.
Liz (35:08):
Ah, exactly, exactly.
Yeah.
So, no, the language, the only time thelanguage was truly a problem was with
our washing machine in the apartmentbecause it was a combo washer dryer,
and all of the instructions werein French and everything I googled
(35:28):
up online was in French as well,and it became a bit of a lottery.
You put your washing in, you didn't knowif it was going to get washed or dried, or
washed twice, or dried once, or whatever.
Annie (35:42):
It's surprising the number of people who report stories
like this, where the washersand dryers were just difficult.
They didn't, weren't surehow to make them run.
Liz (35:51):
No, no, but that's alright.
I spent a couple of hours sittingon the floor in the kitchen
trying to read a manual online anddidn't work, but that's alright.
Annie (36:02):
Yeah.
I never bought a washer dryer.
I have one of each.
Different machines, it's much simpler,you know, it's either on, or not.
Liz (36:12):
That's right.
Annie (36:14):
Yeah.
Liz (36:14):
That's right.
In Paris also, a couple of times wetook Ubers or Bolt cars, which was
a little bit of a problem becausewe were four adults, and four bags,
and our four carry on backpacks.
And we couldn't fit all ourluggage in a lot of the time.
So we had to split up and take two.
(36:35):
Yeah.
Annie (36:36):
Yeah, and besides with Uber, they don't let anybody sit by the driver.
So if there's four of you,you need a bigger car.
Liz (36:45):
Yeah, even taxis that we took, it was a bit of a problem with our
luggage, but they managed to, most ofthe time, they managed to squeeze us in.
And even with the hire car as well,when we were down in Provence and
we had the hire car, we had a largercar, we had an SUV, but it still
wouldn't take four bags, which... bitof a trick, trick for young players.
(37:09):
So we just smiled, we smiled andwaved and popped one in the car and...
because we were staying somewhere for along period of time we said is it right
we're only we're traveling there, we canput with put up with one in the back seat.
Annie (37:22):
Yeah.
Liz (37:23):
Yeah.
Annie (37:23):
So what did you learn about France on this trip?
Because six weeks, I mean, thisis really a long time to spend.
What did you learn about France?
Did you make memories?
Liz (37:33):
Oh my gosh.
We absolutely love France.
I'd visited France in the late 90s and Ididn't like it very much, I have to say.
But this time, I think with age, andmaturity, we just had a great time.
We want to go back.
We want to go back andspend a long period of time.
The people were so friendly.
(37:54):
They were so helpful.
We didn't come across anybodythat made our trip unpleasant.
Annie (38:01):
Mm-hmm
Liz (38:01):
Everybody was fantastic.
There were a couple of times we wereon the metro and we could clearly
see pickpocketers at work, and thatsort of stuff, but we looked after
ourselves and we had no problems at all.
Annie (38:15):
You mentioned that you use Wise card for payments.
Tell me a little bit more about that.
Liz (38:21):
So.
The WISE card worked really, really well.
It was contactless most ofthe time, just on our phones.
We did have a card as well for backup.
You can load up, I thinkup to 30 currencies on it.
And you can control it all by an app,you know, if you lose the card or you
lose your phone, you can hop onlineand you can cancel the card and you
(38:44):
can lock it so nobody can use it.
We had Euros on there, wehad our New Zealand money,
you know, Singapore dollars.
And you can just move it all around.
And because there was four of ustravelling, we also used an app
called Splitwise, where if we wereat a restaurant for lunch, then one
person would pay, because you can'tget separate bills a lot of the time.
(39:06):
And then at the end of the night, the boyswould just sit down and work out who paid
for what with tolls, and food and coffesand put it all into Splitwise and there'd
be a residual amount which they justtransferred between them on the Wise card.
So it worked really, really well.
Our finances, you know, theywere really easy to manage.
Annie (39:29):
Mm hmm.
When you had to buy train tickets, didyou do it at the train station or did
you use an app or... the SNCF Connect?
Liz (39:37):
Yeah, we used an app for all of that travel.
Annie (39:40):
Uh huh.
Liz (39:41):
There was a special one that the boys had got sorted out.
Yeah, it was the SNCF Connectapp for the trains and buses.
And, I think you can only book yourtrains about three months in advance?
Annie (39:56):
Right.
Right.
Liz (39:58):
Yeah.
Annie (39:58):
Some trains, it's six months in advance, but mostly
it's three months in advance.
Liz (40:02):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, we got a couple booked in advance,but some of them we didn't get really
good deals on because we were sort ofquite late notice, but that was all right.
Annie (40:13):
Yeah, with fast trains, with the TGVs, you need to book them in
advance, or you will pay very oftenmore than a plane, as a matter of fact.
If I try to book a train togo to Paris tomorrow, it would
be more expensive than flying.
Liz (40:27):
Right.
Annie (40:28):
You have to plan these things in advance.
The last question I asked is, wasyour trip restful or stressful?
And you say it was restful andif you had your time... oh, you
also took a side trip to London.
Liz (40:40):
Yeah, we did.
We popped over to London.
I had a old aunt that I was hoping to see.
Unfortunately, she passed away twomonths before her 100th birthday.
Annie (40:50):
Oh dear.
Wow.
Liz (40:51):
I know.
I know.
So, we carried on anyway and wepopped over to see family in London.
We went over on the Eurostar.
Annie (41:01):
How was that?
Liz (41:02):
It was great.
Yeah, it was great.
It was really, again, you know,your public transport is so well
organised and it's so efficientand it just, it just goes A to B.
Annie (41:14):
Yeah, that's good.
You also mentioned that youonly started listening to the
podcast after you had your trip.
Liz (41:21):
I know, how useless was that?
But now I'm at an absolute, like, Ithink I've listened, you've done over,
well over 500 now, and I think I'velistened to about 300 of them already.
Annie (41:33):
Wow.
Liz (41:35):
I know!
I know!
I listen to them everyday when I walk the dog.
Annie (41:39):
Wow.
And you managed just fine.
Like you were well prepared, and itsounds like you had a great time.
So good on you.
Liz (41:47):
Yeah, I know, but you see, you've given me so many more things
that I want to come back and do.
So our next trip is going to... it'sgoing to have to be more like six
months or a year to fit it all in.
Annie (41:59):
Wonderful.
All right.
Well, Liz, thank you somuch for talking to me.
I think we need to say goodbyebecause we've been talking a long
time, but thank you so very muchfor sharing all these experiences
and I hope you get to come back.
And like most people in NewZealand, Australia, most of
you come for a long time.
(42:19):
Like you don't stay aweek, you stay a month.
Liz (42:24):
Exactly.
So it will be a long time forthe next trip, definitely.
Annie (42:29):
Wonderful.
Merci beaucoup, Liz.
Liz (42:32):
Merci.
Au revoir.
Annie (42:33):
Au revoir!
Again, I want to thank my patrons forgiving back and supporting the show.
Patreon supporters get new episodesas soon as they are ready and ad-free.
Please be like them, followthe link in the show notes.
Patrons get exclusive rewards and you cansee all of them at patreon.com/joinus.
(42:58):
A special shout out this week to my new,one and only, Join us in France paid
champion, Neil Jaynert, who chose to beat the 'Groupie du Podcast' level yearly.
Thank you so much, Neil.
And to all my current patrons, it iswonderful to have you on board in the
community of travel enthusiasts andFrancophiles who keep this podcast going.
(43:23):
And to support Elyse, goto patreon.com/ElyseArt.
Thank you also Meris Ruzow foryour one time donation, although in
your case, it wasn't just one time.
You are a repeat donor.
Thank you.
Using any of the green buttons on JoinUs in France that say 'Tip your guide'.
Maris wrote (43:44):
Thank you for all your continuing help, Annie.
Well, thank you for your support, Meris.
Now, if you're thinking abouttaking a trip to France this year
or next, and you have a hard timedeciding what to do, I can help you
with my 1-1 consultation on Zoom.
I offer two levels of ItineraryConsultations on Zoom to
help you plan your trip.
(44:05):
Bonjour and VIP.
Of course, you get more for the VIP,but they're both really, really good.
Sometimes asking a local is the bestway to get all your questions answered.
And again, you can see the details andbook it at joinusinfrance.com/boutique.
Here's an update for anyone planning totravel to Orly airport in the near future.
(44:29):
Many of you flying in from NorthAmerica, or Australia, or New Zealand
arrive at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Some of you flying in from Englandarrive at the other major airport, the
other international airport in Paris.
That's the Orly Airport.
And all domestic flights,pretty much, leave from Orly.
(44:53):
Île de France Mobilités, that's theregional transportation authority
for Paris, has announced thediscontinuation of the Orly bus
service starting March 3rd, 2025.
Why?
Well, it's all thanks to the hugelysuccessful extension of Metro Line 14,
which now serves the airport directly.
(45:15):
Since the Metro's expansion, ridership onthe Orly bus has dropped by over 80% with
some buses even running completely empty.
The Line 14 extension operated by theRATP has made getting to Orly a breeze.
The train runs every 95 secondsduring peak times, and soon
(45:38):
that'll be every 85 seconds.
It's a quick 25 minuteride from Châtelet to Orly.
It's no wonder passengers have switchedto this faster and more frequent option.
In comparison, the Orly bus takes 30minutes and only runs every 20 to 30
minutes, so it's just not as convenient.
By closing the Orly bus, thetransport authority aims to save
(46:00):
public money, reduce waste, andcut unnecessary air pollution.
That said, they'll still providesubstitute buses to the airport
if there's ever a disruptionon line 14, which can happen.
If you're planning a trip to Orly, nowis the time to get familiar with line 14.
It's efficient, quick, andan excellent way to travel.
(46:22):
And that's your transportationupdate for today.
I was in Paris last week to make amajor update to my Ile de la Cité tour.
The fire at Notre Dame happenedwhile I was putting the last
touches to that tour in 2019.
As a result, I had to go back to Parisin a hurry and completely change the
(46:44):
last third of the tour so you'd walkaround the cathedral and see it from a
distance, since nobody could get close.
Of course, that's not necessary anymore.
Access to the cathedral hasbeen completely restored.
Well, not a hundred percent, but mostly.
So, I decided to go back and modifythe tour the way I had originally
(47:04):
written it, but never released it.
The changes start right after theSainte Chapelle and go up until the end.
Many of you probably bought this tour.
And if you did, you can get the updatefor free, open the Voicemap app, tap
on the library at the bottom, thengo to the tours you've downloaded.
(47:27):
It says downloaded at the top,tap on the dot, dot, dot, and
then select to delete the tour.
Now go to the 'Ready to download'tab and download that tour again.
It's as simple as that.
Now, this original tour isabout the entire Ile de la Cité.
Walking the whole thing takes two hoursand I didn't want to make it any longer.
(47:51):
But, while I was working on it and with asmart suggestion from my friend, Patricia,
with whom I was staying, I realizedthat I also really needed to write a new
tour that is just about Notre Dame, theSainte Chapelle, and the Conciergerie.
And since 2019, the VoiceMap appitself has also been improved a
(48:13):
lot, and now I can use it to takeyou inside of buildings, which is
what I'll do with this new tour.
I plan to get back to Paris in March towork on the new tour and test it as many
times as it takes to make it just right.
For now, it's all in my head, but Ithink it's going to be very, very cool.
(48:34):
Paris in January was wet andcold, but as lovely as ever.
There were quite a few visitors, morethan I can remember in January's past.
I mean, I've been there inJanuary many times, but that
was a lot of people, I thought.
I got to try several newrestaurants around Notre Dame.
I always try several restaurants andrecommend my favorites in the tour.
(48:58):
And I was happilysurprised by one of them.
Another one is still great, but probably,only for folks who speak very good French.
The Saint Régis, which is the restaurantI was recommending in the original version
of the tour, is still a solid choice.
One was meh, and the other we walkedout on, so... I shared all the
(49:21):
details and photos with my patrons.
It's always tricky findinggood restaurants in a super
touristy area like Notre Dame.
But it can be done and Ido try as hard as I can.
Patricia, Jennifer, and I also took aday trip to Chartres on the train, and we
will record an episode about that soon.
So you'll get to hear allabout that in that episode.
(49:43):
Patricia has what she calls magic cards.
Those are wonderful.
I'm going to tell you alittle bit about them.
She purchases an annual pass for severalmuseums in Paris and that gives her
faster access because you jump towardsthe front of the security queue.
In Paris, what slows youdown is the security line.
(50:06):
Even in January.
And even if you have a museum passor a timed entry ticket you have to
suffer through the long security line.
I asked the man who was filtering atthe Grand Palais if he would have let
us in with a museum pass and he said no.
Only for VIP guests, I guess if you'recoming with the mayor, you're in.
(50:27):
And annual pass holders, okay?
Patricia knows a lot of people and lovesall the cultural offerings of Paris.
She goes to museums all the time.
It's worth it to her toget the annual pass.
And she's very generous andgets the card for two people.
But for regular people, for youlistening, even for people who plan
ahead and buy tickets in advance withtimed tickets, you know, count on 20
(50:52):
to 30 minutes in line for security.
Some places are worsethan others, of course.
I know some of you who go back toParis every year or perhaps twice a
year also get the annual pass becauseit gives you fast access, early
access, a discount at the gift shop.
(51:12):
You can go into the specialexhibits when they happen.
It's really good.
The annual membership is the onlyway to skip the line in Paris, okay?
Because it takes you to the frontof the security line and you
already have your waltz in ticket.
Because with an annual pass,you can go whenever you want.
No need to reserve, you can just go.
(51:32):
So I'm sorry to say all the companiesthat sell 'skip the line' tickets
are American travel companies thatyou've all heard of, and you've all
used, and they're ripping you off.
They charge 50 bucks or more for atimed entry ticket that you could
have bought by yourself by going tothe official website of the venue
and paid the normal entry fee.
(51:54):
There are even scammers sellingtickets to skip the line at Notre
Dame when entrance is free... free!
And the only way to get infaster is to be going to Mass.
So, people will try to scam youout of money every which way.
And there are people who knowabsolutely nothing about Paris, but
they do know how to make a websiterank on Google, and that's what
(52:17):
they use to get money from you.
So security at the San Chapelle isparticularly slow because there is one
airport, like full body scanner, youknow, like when you lift your hands and,
you know, and the thing goes around you.
There's one of those in there andeveryone has to go through it.
And it's the one access for boththe St. Chapelle and the courthouse.
(52:40):
And the reason why it's afull body scanner is because
it's a courthouse, of course.
There to jump the queue, you would, youwould have to be with a live tour guide
or be a VIP or have the annual pass.
Or have a letter asking youto report to the courthouse
specific day, specific time.
But once you get through security,you get to the ticket line and it's
(53:01):
trivial by comparison because they havemore than one person selling tickets
and you know, there's nobody there.
There's other placeswhere it's easy peasy.
We went to Les Invalides soMusée de l'armée des Invalides
where... Napoleon's tomb.
Okay?
We went on Sunday morningand there was no line.
And by the way, Les Invalides, it'sreally cool because you can get into
(53:22):
the beautiful courtyard, into thebeautiful church, without a ticket.
They only ask for a ticket when you enterspecific museum areas within the complex.
And they have more than one place to buythe ticket once you get past security.
So, Les Invalides is really easy.
I'm not telling you all of this to talkyou out of going to Paris, of course,
(53:43):
but I would like you to understand howthis works so you don't end up with a
useless, skip the line ticket in Paris.
Perhaps get an annual membership at yourfavorite Paris museum, because that's
where the magic card is, you know.
And be prepared to be in linefor security just about anywhere
you want to visit in Paris.
(54:04):
And by the way, the securitychecks at Notre Dame has
gotten very good and very fast.
They have new airport like portals,you know, you walk through that.
I'm sure it's scanning for metal,you know, but they hardly ever
go off and it's really fast.
It's much faster than the fullbody scan at the St. Chapelle
(54:25):
and the courthouse, of course.
Now, Paris is worth it, of course,but I figured you'd want to know about
these things because I definitelydon't want you getting ripped off.
It annoys me every time I think about it.
My thank to podcast editors, Anneand Christian Cotovan, who produced
the transcript, and remember patronsget a ad-free version of this
(54:46):
episode, as well as many other perks.
Click on the link in the show notesof this episode to be like them.
Next week on the podcast, an episodewhere we discover the bold world of
Niki de Saint Phalle, artist, rebel,and creator of iconic Nana sculptures.
And it'll be an episode with Elyse.
(55:06):
Thank you so much for listening.
And I hope you join me next timeso 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,
(55:27):
no derivatives license.
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