France Educational - Nicole

France Educational Trip - travel with Peregrine and Emirates


Emirates
I love flying Emirates – they are always a pleasure to fly with!
Whilst their seat pitch in Economy Class is not as much as you’d get on some other other airlines (Virgin Australia for example), the food, entertainment and service does make up for it.
The staff are always lovely and on hand to give you another little bottle of scotch, make you your Bloody Mary just the way you like it ... or serve you glass upon glass of French Champagne whilst you are playing some very funny games travelling from Nice to Dubai in Business Class!
The Business Class product is good – the aircraft we travelled in on the way home did not have full flat beds… the seats did however recline 90% of the way.
There was way too much food in Business Class! Entrée, Main Course, Dessert, and after dessert…thank God for the bigger seats!


Accommodation and Places Visited

Paris –We stayed at the Brittany Hotel located in the Montmarte. The room was very, very small but warm and cosy. It was about a 15-20 minute walk to the Moulin Rouge.
We had hardly any time in Paris at all … a few hours to explore the night we arrived ... took a walk past the Moulin Rouge then up to Sacre Coeur which provides fantastic views to see the Eiffel Tower.
We had a “feature stay” at Chateau Demessey – a lovely Chateau located in Ozenay.
The property has a lake at the front of it, surrounded by farms and gardens … the rooms were lovely and big – very homely! The hosts cooked an amazing Beef Burgundy – it was fantastic!

Aix en Provence
The normal Peregrine Hotel used in this city is the St Christoph, however it was fully booked at the time so we stayed at Hotel Artea (www.hotel-artea-aix-en-provence.com).
The Hotel was very well located, close to the main attractions in the city, good shopping, bars and places to eat close by. Aix has a very high population of students due to a number of schools and universities in the city. We spent 2 nights here. One day was spent doing a 2.5 hour walk on St Victoire mountain – very hard work! There was free time to shop (or have a nanna nap).
A lovely city – worth a visit!

Villefranche
Located 5 minutes from Nice by train – this town was amazing! It’s very small, but very, very pretty with the most relaxed vibe about it – it’s very Europe and very much an IT place to be in the Summer.
We stayed at the Hotel Provencal – a nice but basic hotel over-looking the water.
We spent a few hours walking around St Jean Cap Ferrat, a peninsula dotted with some of the biggest and most expensive houses I’ve seen….before arriving into Villefranche.
It was a very windy day and quite cold next to the water...but very much a walk worth taking.
We walked up to Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, a villa with a really beautiful garden, water features and views overlooking Villefranche.

Dubai
A city with no center ... there’s really no one place to be ... to be in the middle of it all! You either want Deira or Jumeriah Beach, allowing at least 30-45 minutes to get between the 2 areas during the day.
We stayed at the Marco Polo Hotel located in Deira – about 15 minutes from the airport and 15 minutes from Deria City Centre Shopping Mall (with 300 shops … more than enough!)
I don’t find Dubai to be the most exciting city during the day … much better at night!
Great bars and clubs! We went to the 360 Bar – it’s located at the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. It’s an open air bar overlooking the water, city and the Burj – a great place to have a few drinks but at $30.00 per cocktail it’s not somewhere you’d stay all night.

French Train Travel
We did a bit of rail travel…
TGV from Paris to Dijon and regional to Beaune and Nice.
On the TGV we travelled in second class and it was more than comfy enough to spend 2.5 hours onboard.
It was a great way to travel, it’s fast and you see some great landscapes!
Luggage storage is limited … for the bigger suitcases you have luggage racks at both ends of the carriages (can be a bit of a worry as it’s easy for someone to pick up your bags if they wanted to or you can put the smaller bags overhead).
The inclusions, destinations and hotels on this famil were fantastic.
As for the walking side of it – did 3 lots of 2.5 hour walks “Medium level”… 2 of those walks consisted of steep hills and rugged areas ... I’d be reluctant to put any “Mature” (I’m not saying my normal “mature” of 40 plus…..it’s “mature” 60 plus) clients on this level of walking tour unless I was sure they were fit and can deal with the distances and conditions.

Nicole Hursey (07-15 APRIL 2009)

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