This morning I left Le Creusot and drove to Geneva. On the way I stopped at Chalon-sur-Saone. They had a tourist information center near where I parked and they gave me a nice map for a short walking tour of the city. The city even had markers on the sidewalk to help guide you on…
Category: France
Europe Trip – Day 4 [Mancion, France]
This afternoon I drive through the French countryside to Mancion, which is a medieval city. It wasn’t as impressive as Perouges, but still interesting, and the drive was fun. The castle doesn’t open until April….
Europe Trip – Day 3 [Lyon to Le Creusot, France]
This morning I checked out of the hotel and drove up the hill to Croix Rousseau. I joined another free walking tour by the same tour guide as yesterday. We walked through a street market and then down the hill. There were a few nice viewpoints along the way. Near the end we started to…
Europe Trip – Day 2 [Lyon, France]
This morning I started with a free walking tour of View Lyon. It rained for most of it, but I learned quite a bit despite the guide being Dutch. In the afternoon I drive to Perouges. It was a small, but beautiful medieval town. It was about a 30 minute drive from my hotel.
Europe Trip – Day 1 [Lyon, France]
This morning I arrived in Geneva, Switzerland. I managed to get a rental car with a manual transmission. I drove to Lyon, stopping at a petrol station along the way for breakfast. I was unable to check in to the hotel, so I continued to Lyon and walked around Vieux Lyon and up to Fourviere….
NCL Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona – Day 7 – Post # 8 (Marseille, France)
In attempt to use some of the $150 of onboard credit I decided to take a tour arranged by the ship to Avignon, the Palace of the Popes and Les Baux. There were 25 people on my bus. Luckily it was cold, windy and out of season, so there were not many other groups…
NCL Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona – Day 6 – Post # 7 (Cannes, France – French Riviera and Monaco)
I organized a private tour in an 8 passenger minivan. Our driver guide Benjamin was excellent. Our tour started by driving along the waterfront in Cannes. We got a few photos of the red carpet in Cannes and the ship. We then drove along the waterfront of Nice. We then drove up to a…
Day 3 of Rhine River Cruise – Strasbourg, France
Today we docked in Strasbourg, France. We got on the bus at 9 AM for the tour. They took us by bus for a panoramic tour and dropped us in the city for a walking tour. The walking tour took us to the most scenic areas of the city. We entered the Cathedral and watched…
Day 2 of Rhine River Cruise – Breisach Germany and Colmar France
This morning we arrived at the dock in Breisach, Germany much earlier than expected. The ships did have to rearrange themselves in the morning before we disembarked. Our morning walking tour of Breisach, Germany started at 9:30 AM. We walked up a hill to a nice cathedral and the town hall. The cathedral…
Paris Summary
So, to set the record straight. I never encountered any French people being rude to me (despite the rumors). I do tend to blend in – and caught many people attempting to speak to me in French. The areas I visited were much cleaner than Italy. It can be done on a budget….
Departing Paris
Departing flight scheduled for 11:00 AM. Left the hotel at around 7:00 to the local metro station. Just a few stops to get to a RER B station. I used the ‘Moovit’ app to know the RER schedule. Once at the RER the first train to CDG was a direct train (no stops between Gare…
Day 6 in Paris – the Louvre again
Purchased another timed ticket for 9:00 AM and printed it at the hotel the night before. There seemed to be significantly less people this morning (Friday) than on Wednesday. This was a successful attempt to visit the remaining open areas of the museum. The Americas and Oceania section was closed as well as a…
Day 5 in Paris
Started the day at Palais Garnier, the opera House. It was quite amazing. Unfortunately the auditorium portion was closed, so I didn’t get to see all of it… Saved 3€ by showing my ticket for Musee d’Orsay. Below is a picture from the Palais Garnier. From there walked across the…
Day 4 in Paris – the Louvre
The Louvre… 12 hours of the Louvre and didn’t even see half of it. 1. Visit on Wednesday and Friday for bonus hours (open late) 2. Buy tickets in advance directly from the Louvre’s website. (Must be printed) 3. If you can not buy them from their website then there is a Tabac shop…
Day 3 in Paris
Today will sound less productive, but the first stop Musee d’Orsay is quite large. Once again the early bird gets the worm (which isn’t too early because the Musee d’Orsay doesn’t open until 9:30 AM) and I arrived around 8:35 (my app misinformed me of the opening time of 9:00). Was nearly the first…
Day 2 in Paris
Started the day at the Notre Dame Cathedral… Got there early enough to avoid any queue. After visiting inside the queue for the bell tower was massive and it had not yet opened so I went to Sainte-Chapelle. Again no queue, but there was a significant one when I left. This was much…
Day 1 in Paris (not including Versailles)
Eiffel Tower…. There’s two ways to visit. 1. Purchase a lift ticket far in advance (and still wait in queues), however there is no way of knowing the weather on the day you choose. http://ticket.toureiffel.fr/index-css5-sete-pg1-lgen.html or 2. Purchase tickets the day you visit. You can either purchase a lift ticket to…
Le Havre -> Versailles -> CDG -> Paris
Early drive from Le Havre to Versailles. Spent the entire day at the palace. On weekends in the summer (this was the last weekend for the year) they have musical fountain shows at specific times. The Neptune fountain only operated once between 1720 and 1728. All the other fountains were operating from 1530-1700. With the…
Omaha has a beach…
Well not Omaha the state… But France has a beach in Normandy that was given the code name Omaha… Unfortunately I was not able to arrive before the cemetery closed at 1700. Above is a monument on the beach. Above is a monument just at the edge of the beach. Some of the German…
Deauville and Trouville (Normandy, France)
In the evening I was given a short tour of Deauville and Trouville. Definately a wondeful place to visit if you are in the Normandy region. Below are pictures from Deauville. Had a nice French dinner in Honfleur. As you can see I started with escargot. First time I had them in their shells, and first…