A New Adventure Calls to Us- a Disneyland Paris TR extravaganza! COMPLETED 3/15

[dolewhipdreams]

Torn on renting a car to explore more of country as I suspect the kid will fall in love with Paris and want to spend majority of time there. And seems fairly straight forward to use trains/metro to get around, if we do explore Versailles. Hubs and I drove a stick shift for many years so that aspect doesn’t bother me.

We liked not having a car in/around Paris. The traffic can be confusing, even if the manual transmission isn't an issue. And like you say, trains/buses are so well-run (unless there's a strike) and much cheaper. Once you leave the Paris area, a rental would be a good idea!

Online dining back up and booked Chez Remy and Agrabah cafe for our days in DLP (Captain Jacks was closed ).

Great choices- we loved both. Make sure to have plenty of room for Agrabah!

You are going to have such a wonderful trip!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

A day looking at old stuff in the Alpilles

We spent one more day in Provence, this time in Les Alpilles. The main attraction of our day was an old ruined castle at Les Baux de Provence. The town is a very quaint tourist village set up around the chateau and everything is made out of the same gray rock.

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The castle itself was built starting in the early Middle Ages, but there are traces of human habitation from as far back as the Bronze Age. The castle is definitely what I would call a ruin, but there’s still lots of the structures standing to explore. We picked up an (English) audio guide and went on a little tour!

Before hitting up the main castle grounds we walked around at the top of the plateau, taking in the views. They were okay I guess.
Les Baux has really extensive grounds and aside from the main castle there’s also the chapel, the dungeons, the stables, the brewery, the kitchens, the servant’s quarters, etc. And if you climb to the very tip top you get some killer views.

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All that exploring made us hungry so we stopped for lunch in a tiny little café. Jon got a croque monsieur and I tried a ham and cheese panini.

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After we finished eating we explored the shops a bit and naturally also got some ice cream.

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That ended our time in Les Baux and we went off toward our second destination for the day.

Glanum is a Roman settlement that was built on an old Gaulish settlement. Current evidence shows it was settled sometime around 600 BC by the Gauls, then taken over by the Romans in 49 BC. This place is old. Really old.

And as such, I was in heaven.

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The level of detail that they’ve been able to uncover and preserve is astounding. With the help of some plaques scattered around, you can really picture what this place would have looked like 2000 years ago.

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We climbed to the top of a nearby hill to get a better view.

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One of my favorite parts of the whole thing was this shrine to Hercules.

[Honey you mean HUNKules]​

A little farther away from the main settlement are two monuments- a mausoleum and a trimuphal arch.

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As we were wrapping up to leave a bus dropped off a group of *ahem* mature travelers. Their guides even set up a little table to the side with some wine.

On our way back to Cavaillon we stopped in St Remy de Provence, one of the bigger towns in the area. There wasn’t anything we were super interested in (although we saw this poster for an event that looks...questionable) so we just walked around a bit then headed back toward the Airbnb for dinner.

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We found an Italian place that had yummy food but intentionally sold us a bottle of mineral water even though the server knew we wanted tap. But he brought it to our table, opened it up and poured it into our glasses before I really even knew what was going on. Oh well.

Then it was time to go pack up because the next day we were moving to our final location- the Riviera!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

A rainy travel day

Today was a little bit of a travel day and turned out to be the only rainy day of the trip.

After sleeping in, packing up, and tidying the Airbnb, we set off toward our final destination in France- Hyeres.

Hyeres is a town in the Cote d’Azur region of southern France. It’s actually the southernmost point of the French Riviera. We stayed way out at the end of the peninsula, where there was nothing between us and Africa except the Mediterranean.

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Like I said, it was a rainy day. It ended up raining pretty steadily all day. We checked into our hotel and went in search of lunch. We were a little peeved to find out many of the restaurants in walking distance were closed because of the rain.

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Finally we found a café that was open and we shared a charcuterie and I got some hot tea. Since we knew we wouldn’t be doing much exploring in all the rain we decided to make a trip to a grocery store for more provisions. We picked up a lot of random French junk food.

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And of course stopped at a boulangerie for some bread and pastries. When we got back to the hotel we broke out the iPad and just watched a bunch of TV and ate snacks. We probably could have braved the elements to do some exploring, but it was nice to have a day off on such a long trip. Plus the snacks were really, really good.

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We finished off the night with dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was decent but limited. The farther south we got, the less likely there would be a menu in English. Not only that, but the menu would usually be written in chalk in cursive French at the far end of the restaurant. So we got used to gambling with our meals and praying that we didn’t order anything we couldn’t eat.

I don't remember exactly what we got (and apparently I forgot to take pictures, silly me) but I believe we started off with melon and prosciutto which is now one of my favorite combos.

 

[pkondz]

​

Another cool shot.

We picked up an (English) audio guide and went on a little tour!

Should've gotten the French one to practice! Sure you would've been lost, but still...

Like this shot.

Jon got a croque monsieur

Yum!

Glanum is a Roman settlement that was built on an old Gaulish settlement. Current evidence shows it was settled sometime around 600 BC by the Gauls, then taken over by the Romans in 49 BC. This place is old. Really old.

That's so cool! Love the columns.

And as such, I was in heaven.

One of my favorite parts of the whole thing was this shrine to Hercules.

Cool!

(although we saw this poster for an event that looks...questionable)

Erm… now it's posted and Disney will go after them!

We found an Italian place that had yummy food but intentionally sold us a bottle of mineral water even though the server knew we wanted tap.

We stayed way out at the end of the peninsula, where there was nothing between us and Africa except the Mediterranean.

That's cool. Interesting thought.

Like I said, it was a rainy day. It ended up raining pretty steadily all day.

Well... poop.

We were a little peeved to find out many of the restaurants in walking distance were closed because of the rain.

Wonder why? Because no one is venturing out?

When we got back to the hotel we broke out the iPad and just watched a bunch of TV and ate snacks. We probably could have braved the elements to do some exploring, but it was nice to have a day off on such a long trip.

Totally get that. Nice to relax too.

​

Bottom left. The Kinder maxi.... I discovered those in Germany years ago (where they were called Kinder Riegel)… Fell in love. I'd make my Dad bring me some back when he'd go. We have them here now, though.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear Speedos.

Okay I’m going to do the next few days of the TR out of order, because our activities make sense that way. We essentially had a beach day followed by an adventure day followed by another beach day, so I’ll talk about the adventure day first and then go to the beach days since they were pretty similar.

SO for the adventure day. This might be the single day I was looking forward to the most. Back when we thought we had to shorten our trip to France and only stay in Paris I was devastated to see this go. But as soon as we extended our trip again I booked this activity!
So what had me all giddy to get to the south of France?

These, my friends:

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These are the calanques. They’re narrow inlets carved into the rock by the combination of underground rivers and ocean tides. They are absolutely stunning in photographs and I promise they are 1000x MORE stunning in real life.

Our plan for the day was to first explore the calanques via kayak, then do some hiking around the national park surrounding them. It was an early day since we had to drive an hour to get to the starting point in the town of Cassis, but I’m so glad we did (and we got to see the sunrise from our balcony).

We shared a tandem kayak and were with a group of about 10-12 and one guide, who spoke really good English. The rest of the group was really mixed as far as nationality. There was one French couple, some Danes, a Scottish couple (we talked to them so much about Scotland, it was amazing), and I think an English couple.

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There were three calanques within a half day kayak, and one of them was our starting point. This one is for boats only and there’s no swimming. It was peaceful in the morning since there wasn’t a ton of boat traffic yet.

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Every now and then our guide would stop us as a group to share stories or information about our surroundings. When we did that we needed to get our kayaks side by side and hook up to become one big kayak blob.

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At one point one of the couples accidently tipped their kayak because they leaned over too far. Everyone was wearing life jackets and we had dry bags so it wasn’t a big issue and I didn’t feel bad laughing a little (but then again I’m heartless).

The second calanque had people swimming in it. The water is the most gorgeous clear, bright blue and it actually sparkles in the sunlight. We got to paddle around this calanque a little (but not get out), and as we did we noticed some little jellyfish in the water. I had been filming underwater with the GoPro right before that and you better believe my hand came right on out of the water when we saw them.

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In the third calanque we got to get out and take a swim break. It was a bigger calanque and is more difficult to access so it wasn’t very crowded. The underground rivers make the water pretty cold, though, so the combination of the cold water and jellyfish meant we didn’t stay in the water very long. But we did enjoy sitting on the pebble beach and enjoying a beautiful day in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever laid eyes on.

[Do you see the jellyfish?]​

After about 30 minutes we gathered back into our kayaks and paddled straight back to our starting point. I think all in all it was about a 3 hour trip. Thankfully (for me, at least), our guide suggested that all of the men carry the kayaks back up to their place and the women could carry the paddles and other gear. It was about a 5-6 minute walk straight uphill and each pair of guys was carrying two kayaks between them. I was okay with the arrangement.

We got dried off and changed and went into town to find a place for lunch. We stopped and got more Italian food (a very common theme for us down here) at a place with a great view of the harbor. Then we spent about 20 minutes trying to find a parking spot. We realized too late that the best spot would have been where we parked for kayaking. We should have just left the car there and walked into town and back. Instead we ended up having to park in town and make the long trek back after our hike.

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Anyway, there are lots of trails through the calanques and we picked the scenic route. The ‘paths’ were really just a series of areas where the boulders were worn (and therefore smooth). I was glad I had my hiking shoes on and still almost wiped out on multiple occasions.

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We made it down to the second calanque that we had kayaked to- the one we didn’t get out in. After realizing we would have to hike another 1.5 hours (one way) to get to the next, we decided to just call it good at this one. We settled in to enjoy the calanque.

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Fun fact, I have to closely analyze every beach shot I want to post to make sure no one is topless in it. We saw it pretty often on the beaches in France and I don't want to be banned from the Dis for indecency.

Even though we knew there were jellyfish we got in the water for a little bit. There was one man who kept walking up to shore and then back out. Then up to shore and back out. Then up to shore…you get it.

After about the third trip I noticed he was carrying a big leaf. I looked closer and realized that on that leaf was a jellyfish. He was going out, collecting jellyfish, taking them onto shore, and smashing them with rocks. He did it to keep everyone safe. I looked at Jon and told him that not all heroes wear capes. This one is wearing a faded red Speedo.

Now looking back at it I’m kind of sad that all those jellyfish died for our sake. But in the moment I was glad they weren’t stinging me.
It took us about an hour and a half to get back to the car and we were sweaty and gross and exhausted. We didn’t feel like getting fancied up for dinner anywhere so we got some more supplies from the grocery store (and more treats from the boulangerie) and had a nice little meal in our room.

What better way to end a day that started with a sunrise view than with a sunset view?

​

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Another cool shot.

Those walkways in the towns were just begging for a photo

Should've gotten the French one to practice! Sure you would've been lost, but still...

HAHAHAHA


Nope

Like this shot.

Again- it was just begging! Those are all olive trees lined up in rows down there.

Wonder why? Because no one is venturing out?

Including the employees, apparently!

Bottom left. The Kinder maxi.... I discovered those in Germany years ago (where they were called Kinder Riegel)… Fell in love. I'd make my Dad bring me some back when he'd go. We have them here now, though.

We only ended up eating about 2 of those on the trip so the rest came home with us and we've been snacking on them.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I don't blame you for being sad at the idea of canceling this part of the trip! The pictures are gorgeous and sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

I don't blame you for being sad at the idea of canceling this part of the trip! The pictures are gorgeous and sounds like a lot of fun.

This was the thing Jon was most excited about so we booked it pretty much immediately after realizing we could have the full trip we originally planned. It was incredible! The photos really don’t do it justice.

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great last day in Provence!

Stinks that the next day was so rainy But sounds like it was much neede day of relaxation!

Your adventure day sounded very cool & fun! Beautiful sunset to end the day!

 

[pkondz]

Okay I’m going to do the next few days of the TR out of order, because our activities make sense that way.

What? You can't do that!

Oh. Wait... You can.

So what had me all giddy to get to the south of France?

These, my friends:

Pretty.

These are the calanques. They’re narrow inlets carved into the rock by the combination of underground rivers and ocean tides. They are absolutely stunning in photographs and I promise they are 1000x MORE stunning in real life.

Oooohhhhhh….

(and we got to see the sunrise from our balcony).

Very nice.

We shared a tandem kayak

Love kayaking. Plan to do some this summer with my youngest DD.

were with a group of about 10-12 and one guide

How did you find the group size? Too big? Not bad?

This one is for boats only and there’s no swimming. It was peaceful in the morning since there wasn’t a ton of boat traffic yet.

Perfect!

When we did that we needed to get our kayaks side by side and hook up to become one big kayak blob.

At one point one of the couples accidently tipped their kayak because they leaned over too far. Everyone was wearing life jackets and we had dry bags so it wasn’t a big issue and I didn’t feel bad laughing a little (but then again I’m heartless).

I'd have laughed too. I've been on the wrong end of that stick once!

The second calanque had people swimming in it. The water is the most gorgeous clear, bright blue and it actually sparkles in the sunlight.

Gorgeous.

we did we noticed some little jellyfish in the water. I had been filming underwater with the GoPro right before that and you better believe my hand came right on out of the water when we saw them.

So... I assume from that (and Mr. Speedo) that they were stinging jellyfish.
Nope! Nopity nope!

But we did enjoy sitting on the pebble beach and enjoying a beautiful day in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever laid eyes on.

Absolute Heaven.

[Do you see the jellyfish?]​

I think so?

Thankfully (for me, at least), our guide suggested that all of the men carry the kayaks back up to their place and the women could carry the paddles and other gear.

No sexism here...

It was about a 5-6 minute walk straight uphill and each pair of guys was carrying two kayaks between them. I was okay with the arrangement.

Uh, huh....

We stopped and got more Italian food (a very common theme for us down here)

Sure! Next time, go to Italy to sample their fine French cuisine!

Then we spent about 20 minutes trying to find a parking spot. We realized too late that the best spot would have been where we parked for kayaking.

I was glad I had my hiking shoes on and still almost wiped out on multiple occasions.

Yikes! Glad you didn't turn an ankle!

Fun fact, I have to closely analyze every beach shot I want to post to make sure no one is topless in it. We saw it pretty often on the beaches in France and I don't want to be banned from the Dis for indecency.

That never occurred to me, but... sure! Southern France.

There was one man who kept walking up to shore and then back out. Then up to shore and back out. Then up to shore…you get it.

After about the third trip I noticed he was carrying a big leaf. I looked closer and realized that on that leaf was a jellyfish. He was going out, collecting jellyfish, taking them onto shore, and smashing them with rocks. He did it to keep everyone safe.

Huh! Would not have expected that... or for it to be effective. Just not that many around?

I looked at Jon and told him that not all heroes wear capes. This one is wearing a faded red Speedo.

What better way to end a day that started with a sunrise view than with a sunset view?

Those walkways in the towns were just begging for a photo

Definitely!

HAHAHAHA


Nope

Again- it was just begging! Those are all olive trees lined up in rows down there.

Oh! Cool!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Sounds like a great last day in Provence!

Stinks that the next day was so rainy But sounds like it was much neede day of relaxation!

Your adventure day sounded very cool & fun! Beautiful sunset to end the day!

Such an amazing day for sure!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Oh. Wait... You can.

That's RIGHT. Because this is MY corner of the Internet!

Love kayaking. Plan to do some this summer with my youngest DD.

We love it too! Although tandem kayaking sure does test your ability to communicate with your partner hahaha

How did you find the group size? Too big? Not bad?

I thought it was great! Smaller would have been fine but this didn't feel too big at all.

I've been on the wrong end of that stick once!

We were kayak surfing in Hawaii once and got tipped. That was actually a little scary because the waves were probably about 10-12 feet and one of them smashed the kayak into the back of my head.

I prefer staying in my watercraft, thank you very much.

So... I assume from that (and Mr. Speedo) that they were stinging jellyfish.
Nope! Nopity nope!

Yes indeed! Once the guide spotted them he let us know to keep a lookout.

I think so?

It's the giant blob of snot looking thing

No sexism here...

It's not sexism, it's carefully assigned responsibilities based on inherent physical ability.

That never occurred to me, but... sure! Southern France.

I know I only think it's weird because it's not part of my culture but even after a handful of days down there I never got used to someone being covered and then all of sudden...not.

Would not have expected that... or for it to be effective. Just not that many around?

The way I look at it, that's X many less jellyfish around to sting me.

 

[pkondz]

That's RIGHT. Because this is MY corner of the Internet!

We love it too! Although tandem kayaking sure does test your ability to communicate with your partner hahaha

Oh, that's easy. Just stand up and turn around. Easy peasy!

We were kayak surfing in Hawaii once and got tipped. That was actually a little scary because the waves were probably about 10-12 feet and one of them smashed the kayak into the back of my head.

Holy crap!!! Were you okay???

It's the giant blob of snot looking thing

Very... descriptive.

It's not sexism, it's carefully assigned responsibilities based on inherent physical ability.

Makes perfect sense.

​

I know I only think it's weird because it's not part of my culture but even after a handful of days down there I never got used to someone being covered and then all of sudden...not.

I'm sure it'd seem odd to me too. Different cultural mores, I guess.

The way I look at it, that's X many less jellyfish around to sting me.

Good point!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Holy crap!!! Were you okay???

Yeah although I had a nasty headache and a bump on my head after

Makes perfect sense.

 

[pkondz]

Yeah although I had a nasty headache and a bump on my head after

Poor thing.

 

[missjackiemcg]

I got 4 pages behind somehow?!!?

Your last Disney day wrapped up perfectly with a couple of final visits to your favorites from the trip! I do wish they would bring the awesome Jungle Book show you mentioned to WDW. My son loves that movie and it is certainly under-represented!

Loved reading and looking at all the pictures of villages, markets, and all!! WOW. You are so very talented, and the scenery truly is like nothing I've ever seen before.

Also enjoyed how you made a meal out of all the snacks!! My kind of dinner, too! Especially with that most perfect sunset!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

I do wish they would bring the awesome Jungle Book show you mentioned to WDW. My son loves that movie and it is certainly under-represented!

It really is underrepresented! And that show was amazing, I hope they look to bring something of that caliber to WDW soon!

You are so very talented, and the scenery truly is like nothing I've ever seen before.

Honestly when something is that beautiful it doesn't take much skill to grab a great photo!

Also enjoyed how you made a meal out of all the snacks!! My kind of dinner, too! Especially with that most perfect sunset!

Our room wasn't super fancy but man that view was incredible for sure.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Beaches and dreams- wrapping up our time in the French Riviera

Alright so now back to a little bit about what we did while we relaxed in the Riviera. We spent a fair amount of time at our hotel pool and ‘beach’ area (it’s not really a beach, it’s just rocks). And this is why:

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The pool is filled with water from the sea and is refreshed every few days. When we first got in it was super cold, probably from the big rainstorm. We figured the ocean would be the same temperature, but at least it would be the ocean. So we went for it and dove (literally) right in!

I’m not scared of much but diving boards make me pause. Eventually I ponied up and went off but it took a few back and forths to get there. We jumped in and out a couple times, but then a kind Dutch woman came up to us and let us know she had seen a lot of jellyfish in the water and she didn’t recommend the diving board since you couldn’t really see if there were any around you before you jumped in.

That ended our ocean time near the hotel for that day, but we went back on our last day when the water was calmer and warmer and it was lovely. We got some GoPro shots from the diving board and I caught this picture of Jon the Giant.

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This pool and sea area is one of the reasons we picked this hotel. I mean, who can argue with a diving board into the Mediterranean? The room itself was very basic (and didn’t have AC), but this made up for it all.

We explored some of the beach areas around Hyeres, which was interesting. Half are pebble beaches and half are sand so we had to do some research to find the sand ones. Some were really dirty, with lots of sticks and seaweed and other debris washing up on shore. But some were fine. It was amazing to end the trip with just relaxing and soaking up some of the late summer sun.

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The beaches in Hyeres aren’t as well known as others near Nice or St Tropez, but they were fine and we didn’t want to drive too far each day. There were lots of people wind surfing, which we had never seen in person before. It looks like so much fun but I can’t imagine how stressful it would be if the wind picked up and you lost control.

Hyeres is surrounded by old salt marshes, which are the habitat for wild flamingos! One day we went on a hunt to see them, but we could never get close enough for a good photo. I did happen to capture this one as proof that they existed.

[See the birds out there in the water??]​

The day we arrived in the rain there were so many flamingos out, but when we went back over the next couple days there weren’t nearly as many

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We also ate lots of yummy food, including this Quattro fromagio pizza. I love the one at Via Napoli and honestly that one is better than this one was, but it was still yummy. Then one night we ate near a harbor and it was beautiful and peaceful.

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Then on our last night in the Riviera we ate at a place called Le Marais right on the water and the full moon was out and sparkling and it was absolutely stunning. The food was also really delicious. It was the perfect, peaceful final French dinner.
​

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And here are a few photos from the Riviera that didn't fit in anywhere else:​

[The view from our room never got old]







​

 

[dolewhipdreams]

C'est fini!

And now it’s time for the saddest part of the TR, the travel home. Our last day in the Riviera was a half travel day. After lunch in Hyeres (which was at a place where no one spoke English and the menu was once again in cursive French) we packed up the car and drove back to Avignon, where we boarded another train to take us back to Paris.

[A delicious lunch and one last gelato stop before heading to Avignon]​

The train ride was uneventful and it dropped us off at CDG. We had a night booked at the nearby Hilton, which ended up being our favorite hotel of the entire trip because it had the trifecta: An actual shower, an adequate number of outlets, and AC. So far no hotel we stayed at in France had all three.

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(But seriously, what’s up with not mounting the shower head up high??)

Our flight wasn’t too early the next morning so we had time to get enough sleep and calmly get to the airport. Multiple people warned us about how long it takes to get through CDG so we got there 3 hours before our flight. And I’m thankful we did!

The line to drop off checked bags was really long and took forever. When it was our turn, we found out why. They were basically treating it like customs where they asked us a bunch of questions about our trip and whatnot. They also asked Jon what he does for a living which I thought was strange.

Then when we got to actual customs it was super quick, they just stamped our passports and let us through. No questions or anything.

Once to our boarding area I went to Starbucks to get us breakfast and we also used up what Euros we had left at the vending machine for candy and snacks. We made a stop at one of the massive duty-free stores for some goodies as well.

When we got to our gate there was hardly anyone there (it was still more than an hour until our departure) so I thought they weren’t boarding yet and I went to look around some shops. I came back and they made an announcement that our boarding group was loading and we realized that our jetway wasn’t connected to a plane. We had to get on a bus and then get taken to our plane.

Except of course I got randomly selected for an extra screening. I had to take out all of my electronics (which were plentiful) and take off all of my layers (also plentiful) and it took probably an extra 15 minutes.

When we got on the plane I had the sinking realization that they had indeed already started boarding way back when and we were some of the last people on the plane. Oops.

We were also in the second to last row so we had to do the walk of shame past everyone who was already comfortably settled. The plane still left on time so it’s not like we were late, I’m just usually early for those kinds of things and I didn’t enjoy this feeling.

The plane ride home was uneventful. I watched a lot of movies and read some. And before long we were back in the US!

​

Thanks everyone for tuning in to this TR. It’s been a blast to relive the trip and take you on our little French adventure. As always, if you have any questions about DLP or France in general, just let me know!

 

[Sully321]

Really enjoyed the report. Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to your next one.