To rent a car or no?

Ok, our initial plan was to take public transportation around France - then we don't have to deal with driving at all- muchess worrying about being intoxicated and driving. However, I'm reconsidering it for one reason - while public transportation is a-plenty within the country, its a-plenty to cities/towns, not always within cities towns. So while I know how I'm getting to St. Emilion, I'm unable to find how I'm going to get around St. Emilion- from our Chateau to the town center, for example.

Well the pros with having a car is that we're in charge of our own schedule and would have no problems getting to and from where we're going without waiting on someone else. Cons are worries about knowing the driving rules, paying for insurance, high gas prices, finding parking, and of course, the doozy of worrying about drinking and driving. Without a car we have to pay for train tickets and then find and pay for transportation around within the areas we visit. Some prices aren't horribly bad - one taxi company off the St. Emilion had a half day tour advertised for 25 Euros per person, however a Chateau told me a taxi from the train station to the Chateau (which is maybe 15km away, or so I thought) is 30Euros (total).

Even with rental, insurance, and gas, I'm sure we'd spend more on doing the train/bus/taxi route, even with trying to save as much as we could. I suppose there's also a possibility of someone at our Chateaux taking us to a destination, whether it be the owner or another guest or if the owners know someone who is starting out in that business, etc, and who knows, it might end up costing less than I think. I like the idea of not driving, but I don't want to be stuck unable to get where we need to go.

See why I'm torn? What are your thoughts?



What are your thoughts?

St. Emilion - update

A few posts ago I told you that we were eliminating CDP and staying in Bordeaux and St. Emilion for 4 nights and that I wasn't sure if Chateau Monlot had a room available for all three nights. They do - unfortunately after many exchanges (hate the language and time difference barriers) - we booked our chosen room for 2 nights at 98Euros and a suite for 130 Euros. Ouch. (yes, that means we have to switch rooms) But, at this point, we're talking about a Saturday night stay and everything is booked so rather than search, I just took the hit on the one night stay. Its done and its a Grand Cru vineyard, there could be worse things!

I've still not booked Burdundy yet - I didn't get responses from all the places I emailed and so I sent a few more out yesterday. Hopefully we can get that hammered out in the next day or two. Then I just need to pick out the wineries we're going to visit.

Paris - booked!

We have booked Paris. We had a hard time picking out a location – of course we want to see the Eiffel Tower, however, we probably want to go up the Montparnasse Tower- we’ve read that although its not pretty to see itself, the lines are less, the cost is less, and the view of Paris is the same as Eiffel, if not better as you can see the Eiffel Tower (good for pictures. :) Mr. Lush also wants to see the Pere Lechaise Cemetery (where Jim Morrison and others are buried), and that’s in the east part of the city (which is close to where we’re staying.) Here’s a quick glance map of major attractions and their districts (Arrondissement).

Basically, we couldn’t find one spot that was close to everything we wanted to see, so I poured over reviews and decided on the Hotel le Relais du Marais. Its 125 E per night, includes wi-fi in the room. Its reviews were that it was clean, the hotel staff is friendly, and its really close to a Metro station so it makes everyplace in Paris seem close. Negatives were the room size (as with nearly all under 200 E per night hotels in Paris) and that its so close to the Metro that sometimes it’s a bit loud and you may not be able to sleep with your window open. I must note that the pictures online do make the room seem a bit bigger – the ones on Trip Advisor show it’s a bit smaller, but it was the top rated hotel under 150 Euros per night and hardly anyone had anything negative to say about it- which is impressive as there is always SOMEONE on Trip Advisor who dislikes a place.

Its in the Marais district (in the north part of the 3rd Arrondissement - close to the 11th) – we opted against the oh so popular Rue Cler – right by the Republique and down the street from the Centre Pompidu, which honestly I might want to see more than the Louvre, which is also a 5 minute metro ride away. (well, that might not be true- I do want to see the Louvre, but I’ve heard the lines are soooo long (6+ hours) that we’re going to be armed with alternatives – because I don’t want to see the Louvre enough to wait that long in line.)

Here’s the map from the hotel’s website:

We had our eye on another hotel in Marais, which of course was booked, as it was quite a bit cheaper – the Hotel Jeanne d’Arc.

For your reading pleasure, here’s some info on the 3rd Arrondissement from Frommers website: 3rd Arrondissement (Le Marais) This district embraces much of Le Marais (the swamp), one of the best-loved Right Bank neighborhoods. (It extends into the 4th as well.) After decades of decay, Le Marais recently made a comeback, though it may never again enjoy the prosperity of its 17th-century aristocratic heyday; today it contains Paris's gay neighborhood, with lots of gay/lesbian restaurants, bars, and stores, as well as the remains of the old Jewish quarter, centered on rue des Rosiers. Two of the chief attractions are the Musée Picasso, a kind of pirate's ransom of painting and sculpture, which the Picasso estate had to turn over to the French government in lieu of the artist's astronomical death duties, and the Musée Carnavalet, which brings to life the history of Paris from prehistoric times to the present.