Reims vs. Tours

[Bux]

I've enjoyed myself and eaten well even in the wasteland of the Nord. It's all relative of course. For all that I've championed the Loire, Toulouse is a good choice and the food may be more distinctly different from what you've already experienced in Burgundy and Lyon. Perhaps less distinct than it was ten years ago and perhaps more distinct than it will be ten years from now. France is becoming all too homogenized.

Bordeaux is an interesting enough town, but still of limited interest and not as interesting gastronomically as when Amat was in the kitchen at the St. James across the river. Were he still there I would have recommended that as a base of operations. C'est la vie. With the understanding that these are very subjective decisions, I might suggest spending two or three days in Toulouse and three or four days touring the southwest by car. You could easily reach Laguiole for a memorable night at Michel Bras, or perhaps a more budget minded stay at le Vieux Pont in Belcastel near Rodez. The latter is one of our favorite small hotel restaurants in all of France, and others have found it equally as charming and compelling for the food. Needless to say, we enjoy the charm of being in the country cosseted in an rural inn with an outstanding dining room.

[vigna]

Toulouse as a base for touring, is a great idea, actually. Even if one accepts Marcus' 90 minute criterion, one can visit an amazing number of interesting places, using Toulouse as a base. Here are some, with the one way traveling times, as calculated on the Michelin web site:

Carcassonne (58 minutes)

Narbonne (85 minutes)

Albi (50 minutes)

Moissac (45 minutes)

Montauban (36 minutes)

Cahors (71 minutes), and not much further to the spectacular Grotte de Peche Merle

Foix (56 minutes), and not much further to the interesting Grotte de Niaux and Grotte de Bedeilhac

[bleudauvergne]

I've found people's advice very interesting in this thread! I'm taking notes here!

[Bux]

the Michelin web site

The Michelin web site is an invaluable aid in planning a trip to France, expecially on the road.

http://www.viamichelin.com/

In addition to hotel and restaurant recommendations it has good driving instructions. Mrs. B will frequently print out several alternate routes for us when we leave and have them at our disposal when our itinerary is flexible.

[menton1]

The Michelin web site is an invaluable aid in planning a trip to France, expecially on the road.

I find the yellow Michelin Maps, roughly dividing France into 16 sections, are of the best help on the road. They show every little small road and sub-road. When you are in the car, this is much easier than using a PC. It also gives you a perspective that you cannot get on a computer monitor. If you buy them in France they are only about €4 at a newsstand or librarie (Bookshop).

I' m not a big fan of the Michelin hotel or restaurant listings; I think the descriptions are too brief, and it is basically little more than just a phone and address directory. And, in light of the recent revelations about the haughtiness and lack of coverage by the Michelin reviewers, I think my views are particularly justified. In the bookshops there are usually some much better (albeit in French only) subjective guides to hotels and restaurants available. Pudlo is now in many areas of France, the Gantié is good for the Southeast, and there are several others offering much more complete information by which to base a decision on rather than the symbols in Michelin. For me, Michelin is just a French Zagat; little more info than a Pages Jaunes!

[marcus]

For me, Michelin is just a French Zagat; little more info than a Pages Jaunes!

A personal view, yes, and one that I don't believe is correct or broadly shared.

Edited May 19, 2004 by marcus (log)

[Bux]

I've always preferred the old two number series of yellow Michelin maps to the old three number series beginning with 2. Both were at 1:200,000, but the smaller area of the two number series made them easier for me to handle in a car. The newer the letter series beginning with 3 is, for us, the best yet as it increases the scale to 1:150,000. There are 45 of these maps covering Metropolitan France including Corsica, but one need only buy the ones pertinent to one's trip.

I'd be the first to agree that using a PC in the car is not an easy task, that's why Mrs. B prints out alternate routes. We can then choose the one that suits our need or mood. The advantage of the route descriptions are several, although they are still only an auxiliary to the maps which I consider a necessity. When asking Michelin for a route suggestion there are some options which I believe include the shortest route, the fastest route and the most scenic route. The fastest route is not necessarily the shortest route and a web based served is going to be more up to date in terms of road repair and blockages than a printed map that may be a year old or more. In fact a good argument for a wireless online connection in the car would be to allow the navigator to get the latest road conditions.

I'm a big fan of the Guide Rouge for France as a whole. There are better guides, but not one I know of that covers all of France as concisely as Michelin. To get more information, you will pay the price of lugging several possibly larger guides, which we sometimes do. I strenuously object to any comparison with Zagat. The latter is a compendium of institutionalized unprofessional opinion. My faith in Michelin has been shaken, but it's always been a reasonable source of information, and as reasonable as other guides, if not always absolutely reliable. If there is a Zagat that would let me find an inexpensive lunch in a small region of France, or a hotel in the same area, I doubt I'd have any confidence on its recommendations. I have found the NYC Zagat Survey a farce and understand why.

[menton1]

Yes, I agree, I was a little hasty in analogizing Michelin to Zagat; But I have always found the Michelin so brief that I really don't have a good idea in my mind of what to expect in a hotel or restaurant. But I suppose as a baseline, it can be somewhat useful; Our lengthy discussion here when that exposé came out a few months ago was very uncomplimentary to Michelin as well.

P.S. I have had some issues when using online directions from ViaMichelin-- In France, rather than follow road numbers, you must look for destinations. I have found those directions to often be confusing as to what destination sign to follow at a crossroads!