France: Some Notes

Arriving at Charles de Gaulle at its best is an exercise in frustration. Arriving in the middle of a heatwave with a ten year old the morning the automated passport control system crashed is a journey through despair. We waited nearly still for three hours in an endless line of exasperated tourists. Our driver tried twice, then left after his hour was up, leaving us to run the gauntlet of unlicensed taxi drivers trolling for business.

Our room at the Môm'Art Hotel in Montmartre was ready, and the air conditioning was icy.¹ If you find yourself in Paris, the Môm'Art is a lovely place to stay — accommodating, friendly, English-speaking staff, a small lobby bar, elevators, and the best hotel breakfast of the trip.

Five days covered the usual sites — the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Cœur, a Seine cruise — all perfectly wonderful in that awesome French way. We wandered Montmartre, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and the Marais, admired the cafes and the Haussmann style. My favorite museum was the Rodin, where you can trace his career from a figure painter learning his craft to the monumental sculptor he became. Best walk: the 19th century covered passages. Standout exhibit: Cave du Pont Neuf, which we caught on its last day.

We took two baking classes and one jewelry-making class. Recommend the baking, especially — the results were delicious, and knowing how hard the pastries are to make only increases the joy of eating them. Guillaume, who taught our croissant class at Maison Fleuret, was outstanding — joyful, funny, and made a long, exacting process feel attainable. Chloe loved every moment except waiting for the croissants to cool. Next time, another of their classes goes on the itinerary.

Versailles was an excellent reprieve from the density of Paris's streets. We arrived at 11 AM and didn't get into the museum until 3:30. The grounds were the highlight — we rented bikes for an hour, and I could have gone for several more if it hadn't been so hot. The Grand and Petit Trianon are a half-hour walk from the main château and well worth it. Even with six hours, we never made it to Marie Antoinette's estate. Next trip.

Traveling with a ten-year-old with the palate of, well, a ten-year-old meant my restaurant choices came down to pasta with butter or decent fries. Nothing inspired, but my favorite croissant in Paris was at the Môm'Art breakfast buffet, my favorite fries were at Cafe Les Fistons in Montmartre, and the best steak frites — steak perfect, fries a close second — was at La Grille Montorgueil.

From Paris we trained to Tours and rented a car.² I'd never driven a Renault; the electric SUV was peppy and easy to drive, if a bit large for Loire country roads and parking lots. Glad I made the last-minute call to buy full insurance.

We split four nights between two hotels, Château de Pray and Hotel Clos d'Amboise.³ One location would have been more convenient, but the mix of an out-of-town château and a walkable central base worked well. Both had pools, which were essential after long days rambling from castle to castle.

After ten castles they start to blur — except Château de Chambord, which never did. The grounds go on forever, three floors, an excellent guided iPad tour, and a genuinely thrilling equestrian show.⁴ The standout experience, though, was the sunrise balloon flight in Amboise: driven to a random field, up before the light, skimming over rivers with a bird's-eye view of castles and countryside as the sun filled the sky. A special peace emerges when you are floating through clouds surveying the earth as it passes in front of you like a movie.

I planned the trip around Chloe's interests but did get her to a wine cave in Vouvray, Caves Cathelineau — small, family-run for ten generations, free tour, pleasant easy-drinking whites, and a winemaker whose pleasure in his family and his work is infectious.

Low point: a "canoe class" that was really just a scam to separate tourists from their money. I got taken. Still mad about it. Lesson: read all the reviews, trust your instincts, and if you get a text saying they're not doing what they promised, cancel immediately.

A slow train from Amboise got us to Bayeux just in time for the last afternoon of its medieval festival — essentially a citywide LARPing event. I couldn't stop photographing the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, and wandering the ancient streets was a pleasure. The famous tapestry is on loan to the UK while the museum renovates, so that's a reason to come back.

We stayed at the Belle Normandy, a comfortable hotel ten minutes' walk from the center, chosen for its air conditioning and a room spacious enough to include a separate space for my niece.⁵ The breakfast buffet was well-reviewed but largely uninspiring, and I was underwhelmed by Normandy's food generally — restaurant service ranged from disappointing to poor. The exception was The Phil Rouge, a charming cafe on the main street run by the delightful Philippe, with the best croissants of the trip.

Two day trips stood out. Mont Saint-Michel scythes up from its bay, spectacular from a distance and increasingly ridiculous up close — abbey, stairs, crowds, souvenir shops, more stairs. Still worth it. First established in the 700s, its three or four abbeys stacked into one, a patchwork of medieval, Romanesque, and Gothic architecture.

And the American D-Day sites — Omaha and Utah Beach. Even without any particular interest in WWII history, standing on those beaches and hearing the stories brings a profound sense of awe and respect for what was sacrificed there. Chloe had her first introduction to D-Day standing on Omaha Beach. I doubt she'll ever  forget it.