If you take a guided tour, the usual time for a stop is about an hour. If you drive yourself, you make up your own limits. My wife and I took a train from Paris to Chartres in July 2008. Our car was waiting at the train station. We rode down the Loire Valley and across to Normandy. We dropped…
The coast of Normandy is a two and half-hour train ride from Paris. There are a number of car rental agencies around the Caen train station. You will need to take a tour or rent a car to see Normandy. This region became famous for the allied invasion on June 6th, 1944. It was the largest seaborne invasion in history.…
Anytime! There is so much to see and do. If you ever get the opportunity and time, though, we would highly recommend seeing Paris when the Tour de France comes into town. Most every year it is the last Sunday in July. Due to Covid19, the race started for the first time in September of 2020. The Tour de France…
We arrived to Mont Saint Michel midday. It was crowded, but still fascinating nevertheless. I was here in 2006 with students, and again with Kathie in 2008. Kathie and I had a night’s stay on Mont Saint Michel at the pricy Auberge Saint-Pierre hotel. We tried to take a nap, but nearly impossible with all the people walking about. We could…
It was very easy picking up the Avis car (a Ford Fiesta, soon to be introduced in the U.S.) from the Chartres railroad station (called ‘GARE.’) The roads are excellent and well-marked. No mountains like there are in Greece. Kathie remarked how the country-side looked like Kansas! There were a lot of farm lands being tilled. Every so often you came across these…
Chartres, France, July 2008 Blog I would never attempt to drive in Paris. We took a Air-France bus from the Charles De Gaulle airport into Paris to get to a train station. They warned you on putting the seat-belt on. I didn’t and almost flew across the seat as the driver hit the brakes hard several times going through Paris traffic. Our first major stop was Chartres (about…
Walking through the Luxemburg Gardens was just beautiful and going to a real French market is an experience. We can still smell the fresh strawberries. Our highlight was to attend the ‘Le Tour de France’ on our last full day in Paris. We were right along a street near the Concorde for two and half hours waiting. Luckily, we picked the shady…