France Retrospective #2: Overview of our Trip

Planning for our second trip began shortly after the first one ended. We had an opportunity for a timeshare "bonus week" which had to be used by April 30, 2007. On a whim, we asked if they had anything in France. We were told they had the last week of April, 2007 at Antibes. This was perfect: as far out in time as possible, and as near to Cagnes-sur-mer as any resort in our network; clearly it was meant to be. We immediately booked the week at Les Jardíns d'Ulysse.

We decided to fly an open-jaw itinerary, arriving in Paris and departing from Nice, to give us both regions while cutting down on the travel time within France. Having a full week in Paris opened up opportunities for "vacation rentals" which usually discourage short stays.

After comparing a lot of rentals, we selected a Left Bank studio apartment listed with VacationInParis.com for a 6-night stay. This gave us the opportunity to sneak in an overnight in another part of France before arriving in Antibes. But where?

I was intrigued by the restored medieval town of Carcassone but it was evident that we'd be too rushed if we travelled so far off our main route. Michael suggested Nimes and the more I looked into it the better it sounded. I wanted a sense of ancient history; where better than in a town with 2,000 year old structures still in routine use?

While Nimes is not directly on the route from Paris to Antibes, it looked as if we could have one action-packed day there, arriving around noon and leaving about noon the next day. This led to another dilemma: while there was plenty to see and do within the town, how could we possibly be so near to the ancient Roman bridge, Le Pont du Gard, without spending some time there? While it's possible to get there from Nimes by bus, the thought of all the logistics was getting very daunting. And that got me thinking about rental cars.


Knowing that there was no way I was going to be comfortable driving in the legendary high-speed traffic jam of the French Mediterranean, I knew I had to win Michael over to this notion. It took a lot of earnest thought and investigation, but in the end it made better financial sense to rent a car and drive to Antibes than to take the train. My intrepid driver was willing to take on the challenge, so the basic framework of the trip was complete.

And what about all those details? The famous sights, the museums, the day trips? We expected to spend our time in Antibes visiting my aunt, relaxing, and playing at being French, so there was little to arrange. Nimes is small enough to tackle ad hoc, and we knew we wanted a leisurely picnic at the Pont du Gard before driving to Antibes.

That left Paris, and Paris is certainly a challenge. A week there is really a very short time. We nixed day trips (Versailles, for example) because it made no sense to us to spend hours on trains getting out of Paris and back in again. Our planning came down to deciding what things we most wanted to do, figuring out the hours of the museums we wanted to visit (or re-visit), and prioritizing the top twenty or so other things we hoped to fit in if the opportunity arose.