Above: It's a cold, gray day in Paris, but our family is all smiles. Taken on Meghan's 17th Birthday.
Allons-y! Beaune, France
Where we laid our heads| Le Relais du Vieux Beaune
How long we stayed| 7 nights The Verdict: Fabulous for wine, food & biking! Were glad to have a car to explore a bit further into the countryside. Where we ate: Beaune, in the heart of the noted Cote de Or and Cote de Beaune Bourgogne wine region, boasts fantastic restaurants. We carefully budgeted to splurge here! At many of these gems, reservations are a must. As soon as you know your travel dates, make reservations at the places you know you'll want to dine. Sadly, we saw many travelers turned away from full dining rooms. Our choices:
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BEAUNE HIGHLIGHTS
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TRAINER TRAVEL TIPS | trains, planes & automobiles
Airplane Carry-on Luggage. YIKES! We had planned to carry our luggage on the plane with us. However, when we arrived, the airline informed us that for security reasons all of our luggage had to be checked. Total bummer. A bit of a scramble ensued while we re-arranged our suitcases on the floor in front of the check-in counter (awkward!) in order to keep our valuables with us. Note-to-self for next time: don't assume carry-ons will be allowed, check first!
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Pre-Purchase Train Tickets. We pre-purchased all our Italy, Switzerland and France train tickets through Rick Steves' Rail Europe. And, we got a great tip from the agent who recommended that we have all of our "Print at Station" Rail Italia tickets printed at the Rome Termini Station. While this took a bit of time waiting in line at the front end as Termini is a major hub, in the end it was a great suggestion. Not only did we have English speaking assistance, but having tickets for the rest of our trip already in hand made navigating the smaller country stations much easier. (But, don't forget you still have to validate your pre-printed tickets before you get on the train!)
Our most embarrassing moment of the whole summer occurred on an Italian train from Sestri Levanti to Milano. (You can read about it on the Italy page.) Bottom line, it was a lesson learned the hard way. Carefully check to see if your train tickets indicate specific cars and seats! Rental Cars. Be sure you have plenty of change on hand for Auto Route tolls. Even with a chip-n-pin card we found several toll stations wouldn't accept them and were glad for our handy coin purse full of Euros! |
Paris, FranceWhere we laid our heads | Le Passage du Marais, Cobblestone Paris Rentals
How long we stayed | 10 nights The Verdict: Oui! We were so happy to have 10 whole days to explore Paris; it allowed us a slower-than-breakneck pace in which to cover many of Paris' offerings for first-time travelers. The Marais made a fantastic home base. PARIS HIGHLIGHTS We covered many of Paris' must-sees for first-time visitors (Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, Luxembourg Gardens, Orangerie, Orsay, etc.) These are activities we especially enjoyed and highly recommend:
Places we ate:
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"Come quickly!
I am tasting the stars!" -Dom Perignon |
TRAINER KIDS' JOKE TIME |