Looking to hear from someone who has taken the "Normandy, Brittany and Chateaux" trip offered by Globus

Question

My husband and I are planning this trip for late October and are interested in hearing from anyone who has taken this trip.

Answer 1

EDIT: It's very easy to get to the Normandy from Paris.

There are a plenty of regularly scheduled trains from Paris to Caen in Normandy that will get you there in 1 hour 46 minutes. Traveling second class you can pay as little as 15 euros each way.

Make Caen your base for exploring Normandy.

There is an excellant public bus system that will take you to most of the Normandy Landing sites, the cemeteries, memorials and museums. A one day bus pass can be purchased for 17.70 euros

Free bus timetables can be acquired from the main tourist office in Caen on the Place St Pierre and a map of the bus routes can be found here: http://www.busverts.fr/_hiver/plan.asp

Instead of being hustled around by a tour operator your husband can take the time to explore the area at his leisure. If this isn't your interest then you have the city of Caen to explore. Caen is itself an ancient city with well preserved architecture and an important place in French history. The city has a good tourist website (in english) here: http://www.ville-caen.fr/GB/

Now, are you wedded to the schedule of the tour i.e. 7 actual days?

EDIT 2: 12 days is certainly more reasonable for both Paris and Normandy.

I should mention that October will likely be a bit cool and there is likely to be rain. The average temperature with be 55 F with lows in the 40's and hi's in the low 60's.

Since your husband will be tramping about the beaches he's going to need something warm and water repellant and a good pair of shoes. You'll also need to pack accordingly.

I would think the best plan would be to spend 3 or 4 days in Paris getting over your jet lag, getting oriented to the city and hitting some of the more obvious tourist sights. Then by morning train to Caen for at least two nights and another morning train back to Paris for the remainder of your visit. This time you could take on some of the sights that take a bit more attention like the Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay. Do some longer walks to discover the neighborhoods of Paris such as the Marais and Montmartre. and, if you're not too exhausted, enjoy some of the nightlife.

Some further questions for you on which to base suggestions What interests, if any, do you have in art, architecture, or other cultural matters? How about French history? What type of music do you like? Do you enjoy dancing? if so, what style? Do you have strong food preferences?