Paris and its surroundings
So much to do, so much to see, so much to enjoy in and around Paris!
Having “done” Paris why not take a day or more visiting the further famous sights just outside Paris?
Versailles , the huge and magnificent château built by the will of Louis the XIV with the taxes of the poor, the accountancy skills of Colbert, the architectural skills of Mansart, the fine painting of Lebrun and others, the gardening genius of LeNotre
Just half an hour out of Paris … the day could also include a visit to Giverny with the famous gardens created by the father of the Impressionist movement Monet.
Fontainebleau, South of Paris
A beautiful historical château built during the reigns of many French kings and several of their wives with the final imprint being those of the Napoleons : it was from here that Napoleon 1st signed his abdication after Waterloo. Today it has one of the best Napoleonic Museums (Napoleon III lived more at Compiegne).
The day can be further filled by a visit to Vaux le Vicomte, the château, the precursor of Versailles, built buy Fouquets and which led to his ruin when it raised the jealousy of Luis XIV ( Colbert also had much to do with spreading false rumours about Fouquets sources of income).
Champagne : why not take a day to visit the Champagne growing region of France some 2 hours east of Paris? Let me take you to some famous champagne producers such as Moet and Chandon, Piper Heidsick, Veuve Clicquot – better still, trust me when I take you to some small independent producers who make these glorious sparkling wines at unbeatable prices!
World War I Battlefields
The Somme, Picardy, le Chemin des Dames, the Australians, New Zealanders, the British, the French, the American, the Moroccans and the Africans – WWI Memorials and Cemeteries : a very moving and incomprehensible and reprehensible war. (Ypres is in Belgium – you would need to spend the night up there to cover the main Flanders Battlefields).
Interested? If so, please call us to book to take you any or all of theses fabulous places. Telephone: 0033 2 54 70 20 or email: office@france-tours.net