Take a Vacation

[bluegoose]

Those of you most familiar with Paris - know of any issues with Hotel Prince de Conde or the area it's in? I guess the same question applies for those of you less familiar with Paris but still knowledgeable in that particular. Thanks.

That's a great area that you'll be staying in Paris. Close to a ton of cool spots. Really short walk to the Ile de la cite. One of our favorite family memories was watching the sunset from a bench on Pont Neuf. The point of the Ile is crazy popular and crowded at sunset, but we found the benches on the bridge were always available and just as cool to hang out at.

Two of our favorite breakfast spots are really close to there. Cafe de Flore is on Bd Saint Germaine just a few blocks from there, and Brasserie Les Deux Palais is on the Ile right across the street from Saint Chappelle.

Pro-tip - gotta catch the Eiffel Tower at night when the lights turn on. You can see it from the Louvre and the Tuileries, but it pretty underwhelming from that far away. Classic spot to watch is from across the river at the Trocodero, but there is some pre-Olympics construction happening over there, so the views may be impaired. But that may be done by the time you get there. The best view of the Tower at sunset and at night, imo, is a couple of hundred yards down river on the Pont de l'Alma (Shoutout BoM). Cool footbridge, relatively light crowds, and an incredible view.

[Pelado]

I caved. My wife was worried about the daily onslaught of news reports showing the strike, protests, garbage piling up, fires in the streets, and riot control forces. We decided to forego France for now, so I cancelled all of our France accommodations, rental car, etc. I was thinking to either get a refund on our Eurostar (Chunnel train) reservation, or switch it to Amsterdam or Brussels. When I looked into it, though, I found that cancelling it would not provide a refund and that while I could change the date/time of the journey, it wouldn't let me change the destination of Paris Gare du Nord.

Another complicating factor was that the new monarch in the UK decided that he wanted to be coronated right at the time we were planning to be in London, resulting in the closure of Westminster Abby from April 25th until May 8th. Kensington Palace, which my wife really wants to see, is also going to be closed around that time. We're also anticipating larger-than-usual crowds, which we were trying to avoid.

So we thought about just postponing the whole trip a couple of weeks, but instead are going to make it work with our existing time frame. So we're going to be spending a lot more time in the English and Welsh countryside before returning to London after the coronation. We're hoping Paris is less volatile by then so we can use our Eurostar tickets to spend some time in the French capital before flying home. No more Normandy or Loire Valley. Here's the new plan:

Arrive at London Heathrow

• 2 nights in Benson at a B&B that used to be a medieval abbey
• 2 nights at a cabin in Naunton, a small village in the northern Cotswolds (It's near Sudeley Castle, where former Queen Consort Catherine Parr lived briefly after Henry VIII died and she remarried. She died in childbirth shortly thereafter and supposedly now haunts the castle. Catherine is purportedly related to my wife somehow.)
• 3 nights in a B&B in Llysworney, Wales
• 2 nights at a Hyatt in Bath
• 2 nights at a flat near the coast in Portsmouth (mostly so we can go to the Royal Naval Museum and The D-Day Story - fka the D-Day Museum)
• 5 nights at a Hyatt in London
• 4 nights in Paris

The place in Paris (and most other places) has free cancellation until a day or two before check-in, so if things aren't going well, we can just cancel it and either:

• fly home out of London
• take the Eurostar to Paris and immediately board another train out of town - Brussels/Amsterdam/etc.
• use the Excursionist Perk with United to fly (for essentially free) from London to Zurich/Florence/Barcelona/wherever for a few days before flying back home

I'm disappointed that we won't be doing our previously planned French itinerary, but c'est la vie. Instead of breaking up the rural and urban experiences in each country, we're doing all the rural in the UK and then doing all the urban in both London and Paris. Hope we don't get too burned out on either.

This new itinerary does save me quite a bit of driving and time on the road, so I've got that going for me, which is nice. Even though I'll have a rental car a lot longer than originally planned, it will cost me less overall since it's all on one continuous reservation. Plus, I found that booking the rental car through United's website got me - in addition to MileagePlus miles - much more attractive daily rates, which surprised me.

And I might even get in some family history work while in Wales and some other parts of England. I'm actually really looking forward to the St Fagans National Museum of History.

Yet another change. United had a one-stop flight open up from Boise to London (coach from Boise to Chicago, business class from Chicago to London), so I switched to that one. Of course, it was four days later than our original itinerary, so I had to shift/modify/cancel some of our stays:

• Boise - Chicago - London Heathrow on United
• Rental car from Heathrow
• 2 nights in B&B in Benson
• 2 nights at the Greenway Hotel & Spa in Shurdington (western edge of the Cotswolds) - part of Hyatt's SLH collection, was able to reserve on the cheap with Hyatt points
• 3 nights in a B&B in Llysworney, Wales
• 2 nights in flat near the coast in Portsmouth
• Return rental car
• 5 nights in London at a Hyatt (points again)
• Eurostar to Paris
• 5 nights in Paris - first four at Hotel Prince de Conde in the 6th arrondissement - looks to be within walking distance of the Louvre and Île de la Cité. Last night at the Hyatt (just 3,500 points!) by CDG airport for the early morning flight home.
• Paris - Zurich - Chicago on United and then Chicago - Denver - Boise on Southwest

This keeps us out of London before, during, and well after the coronation. Hoping that there are no issues in Paris/France by the time we're scheduled to go there. Otherwise, the same contingencies still apply. And I'll keep my eye on the Paris - Boise route home. Hoping better business class award pricing opens up so we don't have to switch to Southwest on the return trip.

Those of you most familiar with Paris - know of any issues with Hotel Prince de Conde or the area it's in? I guess the same question applies for those of you less familiar with Paris but still knowledgeable in that particular. Thanks.

[Pelado]

That's too bad about Normandy but you'll still have an awesome trip. I can guarantee you that the strikes aren't really going to affect anything outside of the Paris area, so Normandy is probably the better place to be, but I also still think you'l be fine in Paris. I haven't heard much about the protests and honestly I doubt much of it is taking place near the tourist areas now. Most of that stuff takes place in northern Paris (north of Montmartre). four days in Paris will be enough to see the highlights and give you a full day in Versailles. Good luck and I hope it all goes well.

If not for the video of fires in the streets and police in riot gear accompanied by reports of the Eiffel Tower and other attractions being closed because of the protests, we probably wouldn't have cancelled Paris. Cancelling Paris led to cancelling France entirely because even if we spent all our France time in Normandy, we'd still have to take the train into Paris to get our rental car and then have to return the rental car in Paris and make our way to CDG airport.

Once I realized I couldn't re-route our Eurostar Chunnel train tickets to Brussels/Amsterdam without buying new tickets, then we figured we may as well see if Paris calms down between now and then.

My parents live in Versailles and they wouldn't have even noticed there were protests if it weren't for the news.

Old people can be so oblivious. But seriously, that's good to hear.

FWIW my sister just got back from Paris, with a high school group (she is a teacher), and had an awesome time.

Also good to hear.

[bluegoose]

My parents live in Versailles and they wouldn't have even noticed there were protests if it weren't for the news.

[Clark Addison]

FWIW my sister just got back from Paris, with a high school group (she is a teacher), and had an awesome time.

[Moliere]

I caved. My wife was worried about the daily onslaught of news reports showing the strike, protests, garbage piling up, fires in the streets, and riot control forces. We decided to forego France for now, so I cancelled all of our France accommodations, rental car, etc. I was thinking to either get a refund on our Eurostar (Chunnel train) reservation, or switch it to Amsterdam or Brussels. When I looked into it, though, I found that cancelling it would not provide a refund and that while I could change the date/time of the journey, it wouldn't let me change the destination of Paris Gare du Nord.

Another complicating factor was that the new monarch in the UK decided that he wanted to be coronated right at the time we were planning to be in London, resulting in the closure of Westminster Abby from April 25th until May 8th. Kensington Palace, which my wife really wants to see, is also going to be closed around that time. We're also anticipating larger-than-usual crowds, which we were trying to avoid.

So we thought about just postponing the whole trip a couple of weeks, but instead are going to make it work with our existing time frame. So we're going to be spending a lot more time in the English and Welsh countryside before returning to London after the coronation. We're hoping Paris is less volatile by then so we can use our Eurostar tickets to spend some time in the French capital before flying home. No more Normandy or Loire Valley. Here's the new plan:

Arrive at London Heathrow

• 2 nights in Benson at a B&B that used to be a medieval abbey
• 2 nights at a cabin in Naunton, a small village in the northern Cotswolds (It's near Sudeley Castle, where former Queen Consort Catherine Parr lived briefly after Henry VIII died and she remarried. She died in childbirth shortly thereafter and supposedly now haunts the castle. Catherine is purportedly related to my wife somehow.)
• 3 nights in a B&B in Llysworney, Wales
• 2 nights at a Hyatt in Bath
• 2 nights at a flat near the coast in Portsmouth (mostly so we can go to the Royal Naval Museum and The D-Day Story - fka the D-Day Museum)
• 5 nights at a Hyatt in London
• 4 nights in Paris

The place in Paris (and most other places) has free cancellation until a day or two before check-in, so if things aren't going well, we can just cancel it and either:

• fly home out of London
• take the Eurostar to Paris and immediately board another train out of town - Brussels/Amsterdam/etc.
• use the Excursionist Perk with United to fly (for essentially free) from London to Zurich/Florence/Barcelona/wherever for a few days before flying back home

I'm disappointed that we won't be doing our previously planned French itinerary, but c'est la vie. Instead of breaking up the rural and urban experiences in each country, we're doing all the rural in the UK and then doing all the urban in both London and Paris. Hope we don't get too burned out on either.

This new itinerary does save me quite a bit of driving and time on the road, so I've got that going for me, which is nice. Even though I'll have a rental car a lot longer than originally planned, it will cost me less overall since it's all on one continuous reservation. Plus, I found that booking the rental car through United's website got me - in addition to MileagePlus miles - much more attractive daily rates, which surprised me.

And I might even get in some family history work while in Wales and some other parts of England. I'm actually really looking forward to the St Fagans National Museum of History.

That's too bad about Normandy but you'll still have an awesome trip. I can guarantee you that the strikes aren't really going to affect anything outside of the Paris area, so Normandy is probably the better place to be, but I also still think you'l be fine in Paris. I haven't heard much about the protests and honestly I doubt much of it is taking place near the tourist areas now. Most of that stuff takes place in northern Paris (north of Montmartre). four days in Paris will be enough to see the highlights and give you a full day in Versailles. Good luck and I hope it all goes well.

[Clark Addison]

Sounds fun NWC. One of the things I like about living where I do is the easy access to Charleston and Savannah, both of which I love. Not to mention the entirety of the Carolina coast, which is awesome.

[Moliere]

Hey, when did this thread get moved from the Foyer?

Mrs. NWC and I just got back from a Charleston and a Savannah trip. We had a companion fare expiring and she had her sights set on the South. Charleston is pretty interesting and steeped in history. I didn't realize it was as old as it is (1670). Lots of great architecture. Spent an afternoon at Folly Beach (wow, this is what a warm coast feels like ) and then drove to Savannah. What a beautiful downtown. Not as old as Charleston but still a ton of history. Loved all the city squares and old trees. I think we missed the magnolia blossoms by a couple of weeks. The Bonaventure Cemetery is gorgeous, and it lives up to the 'most beautiful cemetery in the nation' hype.

Both cities had great food and sights but I'd go back to Savannah. Just a more laid back vibe IMO. As this was Mrs. NWC's first visit to the south and pretty ignorant of Civil War-era history, it was pretty eye-opening to her. Seems like the battle of how to frame everything related to slavery is never-ending. A tour guide at Fort Sumter noticed a group of people reading a commemorative plaque from the Daughters of the Confederacy and said out loud, 'Don't believe everything you read'. For the most part, I felt that all the tours and museums we saw gave a healthy context to the history. I even felt I had a more nuanced opinion of the war, previously reacting harshly to anything giving the slightest sympathetic nod to the South. Most of those confederate soldiers came from families just a generation or two removed from patriots fighting for the Union. And I realized that the union gave only a cursory disapproval of slavery when it was founded, and that were the economies reversed the North would have condoned it for a lot longer than it did. I'm glad to have learned of honorable people risking everything to fight against slavery. I wondered what I would do if I was a Southerner in that era. I hope I would have been an abolitionist, but I worry I would have just ducked my head.

Anyways, don't worry about me building a garden with statues of Lee and Davis in there. But I felt I understood some of the complexities better. And we stayed woke enough by not visiting any plantations, so that's a win.

Sounds like a great trip. I’ve been to savannah and agree on everything you said. I need to visit Charleston.

[Northwestcoug]

Hey, when did this thread get moved from the Foyer?

Mrs. NWC and I just got back from a Charleston and a Savannah trip. We had a companion fare expiring and she had her sights set on the South. Charleston is pretty interesting and steeped in history. I didn't realize it was as old as it is (1670). Lots of great architecture. Spent an afternoon at Folly Beach (wow, this is what a warm coast feels like ) and then drove to Savannah. What a beautiful downtown. Not as old as Charleston but still a ton of history. Loved all the city squares and old trees. I think we missed the magnolia blossoms by a couple of weeks. The Bonaventure Cemetery is gorgeous, and it lives up to the 'most beautiful cemetery in the nation' hype.

Both cities had great food and sights but I'd go back to Savannah. Just a more laid back vibe IMO. As this was Mrs. NWC's first visit to the south and pretty ignorant of Civil War-era history, it was pretty eye-opening to her. Seems like the battle of how to frame everything related to slavery is never-ending. A tour guide at Fort Sumter noticed a group of people reading a commemorative plaque from the Daughters of the Confederacy and said out loud, 'Don't believe everything you read'. For the most part, I felt that all the tours and museums we saw gave a healthy context to the history. I even felt I had a more nuanced opinion of the war, previously reacting harshly to anything giving the slightest sympathetic nod to the South. Most of those confederate soldiers came from families just a generation or two removed from patriots fighting for the Union. And I realized that the union gave only a cursory disapproval of slavery when it was founded, and that were the economies reversed the North would have condoned it for a lot longer than it did. I'm glad to have learned of honorable people risking everything to fight against slavery. I wondered what I would do if I was a Southerner in that era. I hope I would have been an abolitionist, but I worry I would have just ducked my head.

Anyways, don't worry about me building a garden with statues of Lee and Davis in there. But I felt I understood some of the complexities better. And we stayed woke enough by not visiting any plantations, so that's a win.

[BigPiney]

The imperial war museum is one of my favorites. Also, the Churchill war rooms are worth the visit as well. If you can get there, i recommend it.

[Northwestcoug]

Was the topless sunbather breastfeeding? I was pretty surprised the first time I saw someone whip out a breast and start feeding mid-discussion.

If you can swing Oxford I say go for it. Walking around the canals and the college are really cool. Getting a walking tour of the campus is recommended.

The Roman baths are cool but busy. Lots of gratuitous nudity in the videos they show.

Be sure to try faggots in Wales. I’m sure your ancestors ate them.

[Pelado]

I've only been there once. We did splits with another companionship, and the Elder I was with took us down to the beach. I remember walking on a boardwalk, and looking over had my first experience with topless female sunbather.

When I was looking into making that a stop on our last trip, Quarr Abbey was the most interesting historical stop. The Needles on the West end of the island looked pretty cool as well.

Was the topless sunbather breastfeeding? I was pretty surprised the first time I saw someone whip out a breast and start feeding mid-discussion.

[Bo Diddley]

Here's the website for the B&B in Benson, in case you want to check it out on your next visit across the pond: https://www.fyfieldmanor.co.uk/

Definitely planning to tour the HMS Victory and other ships.

Isle of Wight looks nice on the map. It apparently has really nice beaches, though I'm guessing their value will be more picturesque than utilitarian during our visit in early May. Any particular activities/attractions you recommend on the Isle?

I've only been there once. We did splits with another companionship, and the Elder I was with took us down to the beach. I remember walking on a boardwalk, and looking over had my first experience with topless female sunbather.

When I was looking into making that a stop on our last trip, Quarr Abbey was the most interesting historical stop. The Needles on the West end of the island looked pretty cool as well.

[Pelado]

That B&B in Benson sounds cool. HMS Victory is a must see in Pompey. You could also take a quick trip out to the Isle of Wight. I'm very interested in a report of your trip.

I was in Portsmouth for three or four months. The Victory was getting extensive renovation, so I only saw it from the road.

Here's the website for the B&B in Benson, in case you want to check it out on your next visit across the pond: https://www.fyfieldmanor.co.uk/

Definitely planning to tour the HMS Victory and other ships.

Isle of Wight looks nice on the map. It apparently has really nice beaches, though I'm guessing their value will be more picturesque than utilitarian during our visit in early May. Any particular activities/attractions you recommend on the Isle?

[Bo Diddley]

Yes, I was thinking to see the Mary Rose in conjunction with the Royal Navy Museum. Glad to hear it's worth the time. I'm open to other suggestions for Portsmouth, too.

We're planning to visit Hampton Court and Windsor Castle - probably either on our way to Benson or on our way back to London from Portsmouth.

I'm not sure that we have a lot planned for when we're in Benson, but we might at least venture over to Oxford and check things out there. On the way to Naunton, we were thinking to stop by the Diddley Squat Farm Shop. From Naunton, we'll check out a bunch of the Cotswold villages in addition to Sudeley Castle.

In Wales, we'll do the aforementioned Museum of National History as well as visit a few castles (Cardiff, Castell Coch, maybe Raglan, Margaret, or Caerphilly). I was also thinking to visit one or two of the villages in which my ancestors lived.

In Bath, the main items on the itinerary are the Roman baths and, if it's re-opened by then, there's a museum of fashion my wife wants to see.

In London, we're going to some of the classics - Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Kensington Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, British Museum, maybe the National Gallery, etc. Might also try to sneak in the Imperial War Museum/Churchill War Room.

If Paris works out, then we'll use our nonrefundable tickets for the Eiffel Tower, visit the Louvre, Musee de l'Orangerie, Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame. I'd like to see Versailles, too. And I'll probably frequent the boulangeries, in spite of my dietician's advice.

That sounds like a crappy place to visit. I really liked Oxford, but we did a ton of walking. Lots of cool places to see. Pro tip. Make sure you don't drive in the bus lane in Oxford. You might get a ticket sent to your rental car agency.