Itinerary
Sunday, March 10: Arrival at Paris CDG. Main Group: 8:15 on American from Chicago; Huskeys at 7:05 from Dulles on United; Edmundsons at 8:40 on Delta from Cincinnati. I will meet the American Airlines flights with a chartered coach. Directions to hotel from Chatalet/Les Halles RER/Metro station. After exiting the train area, follow signs to Rue du Rivoli. Keep your ticket handy because you have to go through one set of gates. After a l-o-n-g moving sidewalk, angle left to escalator and take second right after you get to the top. This is Rue St. Denis. Continue in the same direction to the corner and then turn right. You will see The Hotel Violet, 7, rue Jean Lantier, (011331) 42 33 45 38 on your left. Your rooms may not be ready, so prepare to be a bit uncomfortable. After we check in and have time to shower, stretch out for a bit, and put on some fresh clothes, I will lead us on a short walking tour around our neighborhood, assuming nice weather. During this time I’ll provide you with a metro pass (do NOT use this pass until Monday) for the week and museum passes that will get you into more museums than you can imagine, including the Louvre, D’Orsay and Versailles. Every evening we will meet in the hotel lobby at 7:15 to walk to a nearby restaurant. Tonight it will be Cote Seine.
Monday, March 11: Dinner at Au Chien qui Fume.
Tuesday, March 12: Dinner at Le Bistro des Lavandieres.
Wednesday, March 13: Dinner plans TBA. Some people may want to go to a night club such as Moulin Rouge tonight. I will subsidize this excursion up to the amount that I would pay for dinner. The rest of the group will choose which restaurant to visit.
Thursday, March 14: See Carnac Option. For those of you staying in Paris: Dinner at Le Bistro des Lavandieres.
Friday, March 15: Paris: Dinner at Au Chien qui Fume.
Saturday, March 16: Carnac people return to Paris. Dinner at Cote Seine.
Sunday, March 17: Everyone is continuing on to Amsterdam. Our departure from Gare du Nord is at 9:55. We will need to leave the hotel by 8:45 to take the RER to Gare du Nord.
AMSTERDAM OPTION
Sunday, March 17: (Continued) Arrive Amsterdam Centraal at 14:07. We will transfer by taxis to the Museum Hotel (Hoofstraat 2, 1071 BX Amsterdam / Holland, +31 (0)20 66214 02). After checking in, I recommend that we take the Museum Boat for a hop on, hop off leisurely tour around the central area. Dinner tonight in the nearby Indonesian restaurant, Srikandi.
Monday, March 18: I have secured tickets for us for the Van Gogh/Gaugin Exhibition. The ticket also gets you into the Van Gogh Museum so you may want to plan to spend most of the day inside. Dinner TBA but I think I will take us to the famed Red Light district. (Excellent restaurants abound).
Tuesday, March 19: Free day in Amsterdam. Rent a bike and pedal around. Or take the #20 tram line that circles the town and you can hop on, hop off to reach your destination. Or simply walk from the hotel. Dinner TBA.
Wednesday, March 20: After breakfast, take airport shuttle to Shiphol for return flights to USA.
Carnac Option
Thursday, March 14: After breakfast, check out of Hotel Violet. (Leave what you won’t need at the hotel. They have a storage place for luggage near the reception.) 8:30 a.m. departure. We will take the #4 line to Porte d’Orleans, the end of the line. There we will be met by a Grand Tourisme coach LOISEL for transfer to Carnac. Lunch (independent) en route. Arriving in Carnac, we will meet our guide at the hotel and visit the famous menhir alignments, nearly 3 000 standing stones erected by men more than 5 000 years ago. Coach tour and on site commentaries at Le Menec, Kercado, Kermario, Kerlescan. We will then return to the Novotel Thalasso Carnac Plage, 6 Avenue de l”antlantique 56342 Carnac-Plage (01133) (0)2 97 52 53 00) for check in. Dinner at the Hotel.
Friday, March 15: Morning excursion to the peninsula of Quiberon, a famous seaside resort.. We will pass by the Conguel Point, where the “seawater–health Institute” of Louison Bobet is located. Also Port Haliguen, and St. Julien, an old fishing village. We will continue on to Locmariaquer and visit “la Table des Marchand” and “le Grand Menhir brisé.” After lunch (included) we will take a short boat trip to the island of Gavrinis. Stop and visit the Gavrinis Cairn, an astonishing and mysterious achievement at the entrance of the Golfe of Morbihan. Late afternoon return to Carnac and the Novotel. Since lunch was included, you may have dinner at any number of restaurants in Carnac.
Saturday, March 16: Check out of hotel after breakfast. On route to the Rennes train station (to drop off Mark and Carol), we will travel through the “Magic Forest of Broceliande” a high place of imaginary of the King Arthur legend. Evocation of the “Graal”, where druid and Christian mysteries join.. We then continue towards the chateau of Trecesson, the Gold Tree, and “Valley of No Return”. After lunch (independent) we will return by coach to Porte d’Orleans and then by Metro line #4 to the Hotel Violet. Dinner at Cote Seine.
Paris & Amsterdam
Richard & Ann Adams
Chuck & Lynne Huskey
Dale Fleishman & Ron Jenkins
Molly Cundari & Victor Carrillo
Paris-Carnac
Carol Benge & Mark Johnson
Paris-Carnac-Amsterdam
Jay & Evelyn Rogers
Joe Di Dio & Bob Terhune
David & Beth Donnellan
Careylin Dryden & Carrol Smith
John Pace & Antoinette Acone-Pace
John & Linda Edmundson
Larry Richards & David Dooley
Mary Rose Walls & Gwynneth Larned
Laurence Barker & Daniela Bicová (From Wednesday)