France Here We Come!

 France the 6th go round!  France Magnifique through Collette is a trip with a history.  Hubby and I first scheduled this tour for the Fall of 2021.  Covid hit, it was postponed until The Spring of 2022, then again postponed until the fall of 2022.  As Covid was still a problem it was postponed yet again for the Spring of 2023; but things were not yet really safe........so it was scheduled for the Fall of 2023.  We did actually arrive in Paris a day early as we always like to give ourself a buffer due to travel and time to settle in due to jet lag.  

However, on the day we arrived; hubby came down with Covid.  So, we sat in our hotel room for 5 days for isolation and the tour went on without us.  We then had to scramble to find flights home, as our previously scheduled flight was slated for the end of tour.

Feeling like this tour was jinxed, I decided we could not book it again the next year in 2024.  We needed to take a different tour to break up the bad mojo.  We went to Sicily in the fall of 2024.

AND drum roll

Here's hubby in the airport lounge as we depart for Paris France to take the same Collette Tour, France Magnifique.  It's Billed as a 12 day tour, includes 16 meals.  10 Breakfasts, 1 Lunch, and 5 Dinners.  We  did our own airfair, so that's not included in the tour price, nor is the travel insurance that one really needs to get.  We did manage to get our funds back from the ill-fated attempt in the fall of 2023.

I rarely do selfies, because I'm not good at it; but here's one of me once we got on board our flight to France.  We did opt for business class seats which for a long flight, an overnight flight to Europe is certainly more comfortable.

Hubby took one of me, you can see the seating arrangement a bit more,

And I took one of hubby.  We scheduled 2 additional days at both the front and back end of this tour.  As we age, the travel seems a bit more tiring; so we wanted extra time.  And, we wanted to spend more time in Paris then the tour allotted.  

The tour has you fly in and out of Paris, but the tour actually starts in Versailles.  So we booked 2 nights in Paris on our own.  At this point we're still holding our breathe that we will get there and both remain healthy and get to actually take the scheduled tour.

We started our with our glass of Champagne and as we hit altitude the dinner preceding's began.  We both had a good meal with wine, watched a movie; then reclined our lay flat seats to get some sleep.  And while doing that is nice, you really only get a few hours because of the difference in time zones and they have to wake you for breakfast before landing.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit.

France, The Tour That Wasn't

A round about just half a block away from our hotel, Novotel Chateau de Versailles.  We didn't make it across the street to read the inscription to know what the momument is.  But it was quite large and intresting.  We took a quick snap with our phones in between car traffic.

One view of Versailles.  On day one of our arrival to Versailles after a 45 minute car ride from the airport (Charles De Gaulle) in Paris, we went walking just to explore.  Versaille was just a couple of blocks from our hotel.  We arrived just as they were locking the gate as the inside tours were done for the day.  We were ok with that as we would be touring this with the tour group later.  We arrived a day earlier than the tour to have extra time to adjust, and recoup after the long flight.  So we were able to see the outside.  Even in this one picture, you can tell how large and grande it is, and that rehad is in process.  After all, it was re-built by King Louis XIII, back in 1631...or at least that's when he started with his grand plan.

We continued to walk around and explore looking for a little cafe for an early dinner.  The little patio area where the green awning is attracted us.  We had a couple of glasses of wine and a lovely light dinner as we enjoyed the good weather.  We chatted about what we would do the next day before meeting up with the tour director and the group.  We planned an early dinner, walk back to the hotel and have a nightcap at the hotel bar before calling it a night.

Covid had other plans for us!  Had we met up with the tour group the next day we would have had wine and gotten to know the group and director, and then headed to our first savory French dinner.  The following day we would tour the private apartments of King Louis XIV, The Sun King.  We would have seen the Hall of Mirrors and opulent bedchamber of the queen.  That evening we would have viewed the Royal Gardens of Versailles with a twilight promenade and enjoyed the Baroque fountains.

As the tour group continued on their merry way, we spent 5 days of isolation in a hotel room, scrambling to make alternative flight arrangements to return home once the isolation period was over.

The tour was through Collette, a 12 day tour, "France Magnifique" using Marriott Vacation Club Points.  We added a day in front of the tour and 2 days after.  Now we wait to hear back from the travel insurance folks in hopes of getting our money back.  I might add this tour was apparently doomed from the start, as it had been scheduled 5 different times thanks to Covid.

PLEASE leave me a comment when you come visit, so I know you were here. Your visits and comments are very special to me. AND remember, leave your name and url and not your google+ profile link or your blogger profile link. Name and url takes me right to your blog post so I can reciprocate the visit. Profile pages do not.