Apr 30, 2013 - Euro tunnel

wake up Bethany time to get ready for the zoo mum said.I'm going with nana and grandad to the zoo where here I say. Let's see the monkeys first then the tigers.time to go on the tree top challenge and I was scared to deth you should have been there to see my face. The next day we went on the channel tunnel what got us to France .Did you know that it goes under the sea bed and takes ONLY 35mins to get to France!!! Also you just sit in your car.Dad then drove us to a town called Bolougne which is on the coast, it's very pretty. we got attack...

Nov 10, 2012 - Conflans...Next stop Paris

Conflans-Sainte Honorine is located at the confluence of Oise and Seine rivers. It was founded in the 6th century. John was our guide this morning. He is educated on the river and the boats. Here is where retired boatman come. They moor their boats with the engines removed and live along the river. They make a monthly payment of 45 euros to the town for electrical and water hookup and a mailbox. A mailbox gives them an address so they can pay taxes. There is no sewer system so it is all released back into the river. The local officials...

Nov 6, 2012 - We're not in Paris any more!

We arrived in Mantes la Jolie, our docking port for our trip to Auvers-sur-Oise. Mantes dates back to the 6th century ans was destroyed 3 times within a 40 year period. From here we took an hour bus trip through the hilly country side that is classified as a National Park. There were many farms...sugar beets (Do you know it takes 9 square meters to produce 1 kilogram of sugar?), winter wheat, field corn. Our Dutch guide was the guide for the 60 Minutes crew when they did a story on Van Gogh. She lives in Auvers. Auvers-sur-Oise is the city...

Nov 3, 2012 - Vincennes and the Metro

Rainy morning heading to Vincennes Castle via the metro. This started as a hunting lodge in the 12th century. A keep was started nearby that was completed in 1370. A protective wall and 9 towers were built around the keep and manor. A Holy Chapel was added. Monarchs took refuge here during the 16th & 17th centuries. Vincennes lost its status as a Royal residence in 1682 wLouis XIVsXIV settled in Versailles in 1682. Napoleon leveled the wall towers to adapt the site for artillery use. It was used as a prison until after WWII. The graffiti...

Aug 10, 2012 - A very sparkly birthday

I'm sitting in our apartment with about 20 minutes left of my birthday and I should be crawling into bed, but I can't quite let go of the "glow" of spending the day in a small suburban village with our friends the Sinzelles. I was not sure if I should tell them it was my birthday or not, and usually I am not one to even publicly acknowledge my birthday, but John and the kids really wanted me to tell them, so I did. Immediately they had everything planned out for us: Birthday lunch with champagne, driving around the countryside to see some...

Aug 6, 2012 - Fougeres; Mont St. Michel

Traveling through Brittany today where we see mainly stone houses (few stucco or half-timber). We had a 1 ½ hr. lunch stop/free time in the charming little community of Fougeres. Arnaud pointed out several creperies (town's specialty is crepes) but as it looked like rain, Ivan and I started our walking tour right away. Soon found the Tourist Office and got a great booklet and map of the town. Fougeres has one of, if not the largest, medieval castles in Europe [1000 – 1500]. We ducked inside St. Suplice's church (14th & 15th century...

Jun 6, 2012 - To Sartene in southern Corsica

We leave and drive through the mountains to southern Corsica. Still not sure what people do for a living - so far we have seen little industry or agriculture. Part of the way we follow the coast. Great beaches and not too crowded. Magnificent scenery, forests and mountains – the roads not as treacherous as our first days driving. We arrive at our destination at Sartene. A walk up to the village – the narrow lanes quite steep and the village very old. Many of the buildings built on rocks. Nice to just sit and people watch in the square...

May 21, 2012 - To France and Bennecourt

Arrived in Paris in the afternoon and after some delay finally got our hire car. There were some tricky bits when Mike realised that the connection for the GPS wasn't the correct one so we ran out of charge. However Pete had the foresight to have Yve write down some of the instructions before there was total blackout. This got us near to our destination (though we'd missed a turn so couldn't use Yves final few instructions.) But Pate remembered the name of the town, and suddenly there it was! By then we had a little bit of charge back....

Dec 9, 2011 - Road trip into the Pyrenees

Road trip today. Going to a small place in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains called Saint Jean Pied de Port. Its about 60km SE of Biarritz. Looks like it could be an interesting drive. According to the towns website Saint Jean Pied de Port was an important town along an ancient trade route from France to Spain. The road takes us along narrow valley SE from Biarritz. There are towering hills on both sides of the valley - I say hills because, although quite high, probably not high enough to class them as mountains (makes Castle Hill...

Dec 3, 2011 - Day 8 - Going Home

5am wake up call! We flew out of bed for showers and an early breakfast! We called the bellman to get our luggage and a taxi. Off to the airport we headed. What a good day to leave, it was puring rain! And we had 7 pieces of luggage. Oh boy! Let's just say we saw ever part of Orly airport there was. The taxi dropped us off at Sud (South) the terminal workers told us we were at the wrong place and needed to go to Ouest . So we trekked outside to get a cab to take us to the other side. That was no easy thing, but tammy convinced the man to do...

Dec 2, 2011 - Day 7 - The last full day

We woke up early and got ready to be sure we had a full day! We had breakfast at 9am. At breakfast we sat next to an older couple from Italy, who lived in Switzerland, and traveled the world. We chatted with them and learned some life lessons. They had been married 48 years and had 3 kids. It was so nice chatting with them. We started our adventure, as usual on the metro. Today we got to take a new line, the #2. We took the 1 to the 2 to the Sacre Couer. We didn't get lost at all today! When we got off the metro, Moulin Rouge was right in...

Nov 30, 2011 - Day 5 - Louvre

The day began with breakfast, what's new? :) Wanna know the attention getter in Paris? Tammy decided to wear her flip flops to breakfast.... You'd think they'd never seen toes before. Crazy American girls. Tammy didn't know better, someone forgot to tell her, feet are the first thing they look at. We went back to the room to get ready to begin our day. It was intended to be: Musee d'Orsay, Musee l'Orangerie, Quai Branly 'human zoo' exhibit, the Louvre, then dinner. Today was THE most beautiful day so far! Clear perfectly blue skies with...