GERMANY AND FRANCE 2019

+ This trip was one of 3 wonderful trips during 2019 as we celebrated our 50th year of marriage.  The other 2 are HAWAII and NEVADA.  

+ We flew from Pittsburgh where we had been with the extended Wilde Family (and one Knight) for a few days celebrating both our 50th and the 50th of my sister Jeanette and her husband Stewart. They got married 2 weeks before we did, June 28, 1969. Our wedding was on July 12, 1969.

Our flight to Frankfurt was delayed so we remained in Pittsburgh for a night and had to cancel our reservation for a hotel in Bingen on the Rhine. But it all worked out. When we got to Germany we found our way to our rental car at the Frankfort Airport and after a struggle trying to figure out how to use a fancy car (a manual in German was not at all helpful), we drove to Bingen on the Rhine. The hotel we had booked for the previous night was not available but we easily found a hotel right on the river, Hotel NH Bingen, and right next to the museum I wanted to visit there, the Museum am Strom which features a fascinating exhibit on the life and work of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, a nun who was a great spiritual teacher, leader, artist, gardener, mystic and scientist of the 12th century. 

Our trip began in Germany and ended in Germany.  In between we went over the border to Alsace.  

After our one night stay in Bingen we went on a delightful roundtrip boat trip on Der Mittelrhein from Bacharach to St. Goar before driving to Alsace. It was Sharon's birthday and it was memorable for all of us with a great breakfast at the hotel in a dining area overlooking the Rhine, that boat trip, and a great dinner in Eguisheim, our Alsace base for a few days. Dining there was a first for Derrick who has enjoyed learning French in High School but had never been in France or anywhere else outside the USA. 

We spent several days in Alsace, a part of France which has a history of being German much of the time for many centuries. We stayed in Eguisheim which is surrounded by vineyards and has many of the storybook village features of the region. Once again Rick Steves guided us to a wonderful place, Eguisheim where we stayed at a wonderful hotel which now has a different name. We drove to storybook villages and towns, vineyards, wineries and a partially restored castle with a view from a high point in the Vosges Mountains. Before we left we stopped for lunch in one of the most popular storybook villages of Europe: Kaysersberg.

When we returned from Alsace we visited friends in Brühl.  We had a wonderful time and we enjoyed going to a park on the Rhine in Mannheim and visiting the Maulbronn Monastery and a short stop in Heidelberg.

Here are links to photos from that trip:

Germany 2019

France 2019

JET LAG REPORT

We're back. What a fantastic trip! I will share the best of about 600 photos when I get a chance.

Standing in a queu for an hour and a half at Charles DeGaulle airport yesterday was not pleasing to say the least. The line was not for security or customs but for getting a boarding pass and baggage checked. I will complain to Northwest Airlines. The security and customs lines were not too long. The lines in Detroit were not too long either.

I know I said the food was expensive in France last week but I have reconsidered. The quality of the cuisine is excellent and similar quality here in the USA would cost a similar amount of dollars as we paid in France. Hotel costs were not unreasonable either even when measured in dollars rather than euros.

And it's simply wonderful being in France!

So, it was totally worth the cost.

The drive from the airport in Syracuse to our home (about 50 miles) was challenging since it was at 11 to 12pm in New York and 5am to 6am in Paris. I had to work at keeping my eyes open and staying focused on driving.

I had a good night's sleep. Maybe I will be lucky and not feel too much more fatigue. The trip was exhilarating. It's good to be home, re-united with family and friends and our poodle.

REPORTING FROM PARIS (2)

I heard a clarinet solo on one metro ride and a violin solo on another ride!

My search for the world's best parkbench continues. I found a great one near the Seine with a view of a statue of a Greek God or something like that, the river, a nice garden, and the Eifel Tower. I took several photos there. I walked along the river and took way too many photos of le tour Eifel. I also took photos of l'arc de triomphe and the vista from Sacre Cour Church on Mont Martre.

It is a little cool in Paris.

Food is very expensive.

Mary is getting a lot of work done at conference which ends today. Now she can relax and enjoy Aquitaine and Paris for next 6 days.

Today, very soon, we will take TGV to Bordeaux. Tomorrow, I attempt to drive in Aquitaine! We will be there for 3 days. Then we will be back in Paris for our 39th anniversary July 12 and for Bastille Day July 14.

Last night I figured out how to use an International Calling Card. We called Sharon when we returned from the gala conference dinner. It was 1 am here and 7pm in NY when we reached her.

The Parisians don't have dinner until 9 or 10 pm.

REPORTING FROM PARIS (1)

Bon Jour

It just took me 15 minutes of my one hour for 2 euros to figure out how to use this keyboard!

You have to use shift for numbers and you have to use the alt gr key and the 0 key for the @ symbol which is required for Yahoo! signing in here in Paris.

I went to Chartres yesterday. The catheral definitely lives up to its reputation. WOW! I took photos of some of the famous stained glass windows. The cathedral was built in the 13th century after a fire took down an earlier cathedral. The town is quaint. It is an easy one hour train ride from Gare Montparnasse. Allez retour second class cost 26 euros. Even though it was not hot outside, the train was a lttle too hot for this Norwegian-American!

I have walked around the city a lot. Mary is quite busy at the conference until tomorrow noon.

Galleries Lafayette is quite an impressive department store. Mary found a nice raincoat on sale.

WHAT WILL WE DO IN PARIS (1)

+ On Monday the seventh of July we will be at the gala dinner of the International Consultation on Incontinence at Le Pavillon Dauphine in Paris.

+ On Monday the fourteenth of July we will be back in Paris after a few says in Aquitaine. 14 July is Bastille Day, The big French national day.

WHAT WILL WE DO IN AQUITAINE (1)

+ Maybe we will go to a recommended Restaurant in Bordeaux: le Bistro du 20.
+ Maybe we will go canoeing on the Dordogne.
+ Maybe we will vist St. Emilion, a famous wine capital.
+ I'm sure we will visit Sarlat.
+ I'm sure we will visit the Beynac Chateau

WHAT WILL I DO IN PARIS (3)

+ Maybe I will walk through the Square des Bastignolles near our hotel in the seventeenth arrondisement.

+ The Tour de France will be happening during our stay in France. But we probably won't get close enough to the route to see it.

PARIS BUS ROUTES

5 days to go so I'm now on a steep learning curve. I found maps of all of the Paris bus routes. Busses stopping at the Louvre are 21,24,27,39,48,68,69,72,81 and 95. 69 is one of the most popular since it goes near the Seine, the Eiffel Tower, Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame and more. Just change the number in the URL to see other bus routes.

It's a little later now and I'm adding to this post the bus routes which go to L'Opera: 20,21,22,27,29,42,52,53,66,68,81,95. I now know we can get a bus from Charles DeGaulle Aiport (CDG) to L'Opera at a reasonable price thanks to Tom's Guide to Paris. From L'Opera, we can take a bus or metro or taxi to our hotel on our arrival day, this Friday, July 4.

I also found an interactive map of the Paris Metro and an interactive map of the Paris Bus System.

WHAT WILL I DO IN PARIS? (1)

I will have some time to roam around Paris while Mary is busy at a conference. July 4-8. So, I'm looking for lots of ideas. Here are some websites I'm exploring:

http://www.bugeurope.com/paris/info.html

http://www.understandfrance.org/Paris/AmericanCommunity.html

http://www.paris-anglo.com/

http://troi.cc.rochester.edu/~tdip/tomsguidetoparis.htm

RAIL TRAVEL IN FRANCE (1)

One of the seasoned travelers posting on the Rick Steves Helpline forum introduced me to a comprehensive Beginners Guide to Train Travel in France which has been quite helpful.

BUYING TRAIN TICKETS IN FRANCE

In the past I have always bought a Eurail pass and thought I saved lots of money. That was definitely the case years ago. Thanks to some expert travellers on the Rick Steves Travel Forum, I now know that this is no longer the case. The way to buy tickets for French trains and save money is to go directly to the French Railway website and keep it in French. Fortunately, I know a little French and my daughter who lives nearby knows a lot of French. And an online French-English dictionary can help. So, I'm almost ready to purchase tickets for 3 train trips in July: Paris-Bordeaux on July 8; Bordeaux-Libourne on July 9; Libourne-Paris on July 12. I intend to rent a car in Libourne and drive to Beynac from there. We are staying in beautiful Beynac for 3 nights.

SHOULD I GO BICYCLING IN PARIS?

I met another travel blogger at a Presbyterian Seminary Support Network meeting named Dana. Check out The Traveling McMahons. I responded to a post she wrote recently: Paris on two wheels. I need to get into better shape so I can do what she did if it is offered on a day when Mary is attending a Nursing Research Conference this July.

WE'RE GOING TO FRANCE IN JULY

I am in the process of switching from one blog format to another. You can find posts and many links and photos related to this trip at http://www.abundancetrek.com/travelblog2008.