France Tour In Luxury -

March 2011 - As a travel advisor with a Virtuoso agency I was invited on a short tour through France to visit many of the five star hotels that I refer my clients to.  This blog is a  day by day description of my trip and the experiences I had.

Day 1 - arrived Nice - stayed in a charming central city hotel, The Hotel Le Grimaldi.  This is a small gem in the the middle of town. Reasonable rates, small comfortable rooms, and decent size bath.  They have a very welcoming staff and greet guests with candy and a bottle of Rose' wine from Provence in the room. I enjoyed my day in Nice walking through the city in the rain. (which continued almost my entire stay)

Day 2 - We drove from Nice to Cap Estel - our group of four agents were escorted to a four bedroom villa.  I opened my patio door and looked over the Mediterranean Sea - I had to pinch myself.  the villa was fabulous, and we were able to tour the other rooms and villas.  Each is decorated a little differently,but all were beautiful.  This is a great resort for families as well as couples or singles.  That evening we met for champagne and hors d'oeuvres in the lobby with the general manager, Bernard, (a very charming English gentleman).  Then it was off to Chateau de La Chevre d'Or for dinner.  We were greeted by two lovely ladies from the sales team, Isabelle and Florence. Florence had actually attended college here in Florida. We began our evening in the lounge with more champagne and hors d'oeuvres, then to the dining room for an eight-course meal.  The chef had prepared a very special meal for us with wine pairing, which was incredible.

MENU:
Gillardeau's Potato artichoke and cauliflower, whipped cream and caviar
Green Asparagus of Provence in a fine velvety Gamberonie veiled with Colonnata's bacon
Turbot from Birttany, small local vegetables with oysters and watercress
Supreme Bresse' pigeon,caramelized spices, Medina's couscous,T'Faya onions with lavender honey
Cheese Course (there must have been 30 different cheeses on the tray)
Finger cake with Strawberries
Guana Chocolate Palet
Wines - Bellet Domaine de la Source 2008 and Clos Saint Joseph 2008

This was my first time tasting pigeon, which I loved, and the two deserts both were decorated with spun sugars.  We ended the meal with chocolates and coffee.  Then waddled out the door.