"Paris and Ireland" Summer 2011

[jessus]

My mom has just announced that she's "going to Paris and Ireland this summer", and my sister and I are invited to come. I'm the de facto trip planner, so I get to figure out all the fun details.

About us: I'm 25, my sister is 20, and my mom's in her 50's. We all enjoy tea rooms, cafes & bistros, quaint shops, and markets. They also love to shop, but I don't do malls. My mom doesn't drink any alchohol, and my sister barely does either. I'm more into the historical stuff, and have a serious castle obsession. We all enjoy "French" things in general. We're of Irish descent (my sister and I are also half German), and we're Catholic (my mom is the only one who is by any stretch religious though).

We'd be flying from Canada, so I'm pushing for 10-14 days (I'm NOT letting us do only a week!), so maybe a week for France and a week for Ireland. We'll be travelling in either July or August, since my mom teaches.

In Ireland, we will certainly visit Bunclody in County Wexford where we have relatives. We'll also see Dublin, but perhaps not a super long stay since both me and my mom have been there. Both my mom and I have also done (separate) whirlwind tours around the Republic. Is there another place not too far from Dublin and County Wexford that we could spend a few days?

Also, I hope to do Paris AND somewhere else. I've been to Paris, part of Provence, and Carcassonne. I'd love to return to Provence with a rental car so we could hit some markets in the smaller towns (that were a huge pain to get to on public transportation when I went alone), or even somewhere I haven't been, like Burgundy or a wine region. Though my mom and sister don't drink wine, they appreciate wine region landscapes. I think.

Any other city recommendations, or within-city recommendations?

[madamtrashheap]

jessus, nice to see you're getting to travel back to Europe again!

To answer your question about Ireland, as you only have one week, you'll find that it goes quickly as you're spending time in Co. Wexford as well as Dublin. If you want to see some other parts of Ireland in easier reach of Dublin, you could go through Tully in Kildare which is on the way between Bunclody and Dublin and has a beautiful Japanese garden at the Irish National Horse Stud. The garden was put together early last century and also has the small St Fiachra's garden area, patron saint of gardeners. You could also stay the night, or even just a day trip from Bunclody, in Kilkenny and explore the castle, St Canice's cathedral and the small historic centre.

For Paris, as an additional city if you have the time, you could visit as a day trip Monet's gardens in Giverny which inspired the Water Lily series. It's easy to reach from Paris and a great day trip in the Spring or Summer. Otherwise, you could visit, especially if you have a car, the Burgundy region towns of Macon or Beaune. They are pretty medieval towns and the countryside surrounding has great scenery too. You could also visit Macon on the way to Provence if you're driving. I'm a fan of Lyon for the food side of things, but the old town, including the cathedral and a ride up the funicular to the cathedral on the hill (Notre-Dame) would be good for a day too if you can't decide.