Day 33 A Trip Down Memory Lane

The whole reason that we chose the route we did to get to Venice was so that we could pass through the town that I spent part of a summer in when I was 17 years old…so only 20 years ago…wink wink!  There is danger in revisiting places that are firmly locked in your memory…what if it is nothing like you remembered it to be??  I realize that almost 30 years have passed since I have been there… but in some ways it feels like it was just a couple of years ago. Looking back on the experience, I really wish I would have appreciated it more…really taken the time to enjoy where I was and what I was doing.  What is the old saying (yes I know when you quote “old sayings” it means that you are old) “Youth is wasted on the...

Day 32…Mustard Anyone?

Day 32- November 5th- Paris to Dijon…So again we pack our things and get ready to head out of town…but oh my it was the getting out of town that was crazy!!  Let’s just say that you must be aggressive to drive in Europe…really aggressive…and apparently lane lines are merely a suggestion.  We almost got into 2 severe accidents trying to make our way out of town…tense times for Jacques Le Lumiere and his crew…he almost had his cute little orange skin scalped by several cars! Finally we hit the road are in the French countryside.  It is so picturesque and beautiful.  In Europe they have such great signs on the freeway (or motorway as our English GPS calls it) that show you a town and a picture of an important sight in the...

Day 30 Paris…again!

Day 30- November 3rd- So we left Sacy-le-Petit yesterday and got into Paris last night!  We are staying again in Montmartre…just about a block from where we stayed last time!  I LOVE Paris!!  What a great city!  We are actually making a pit-stop here to meet up with Russ’ sister Stacey and our niece Baillee!  It is also going to be nice to spend time again in a city that we are familiar with and like so much! The great part about this trip was that Stacey and Baillee’s apartment was very close to our apartment!  We were able to spend a lot of time with them!  We had some time to wind down after running around a bit too! Today we met up with Baillee and Stacey and headed off to the Eiffel Tower and Rick Steves’ Bus 69 Paris tour.  Although...

Day 29 The Chateau and A.J’s Doppelganger

Day 29- November 2nd- Belfort to Sacy-le-Petit and then Paris…. Okay so we left the IBIS Budget ASAP and hit the road towards Sacy-le-Petit where the chateau is.  Now to say that I was nervous is an understatement!  Yet again, this trip has forced us to step out of our comfort zone…and this was stepping out BIGTIME!  The way that we discovered this chateau was on the WOOFing website.  We wanted to do a farm-stay in France in December.  When it came down to it we had two choices…a farm north of Nice with an 11 year old boy…or an historic chateau 45 north of Paris.  Of course I wanted to stay at the chateau…but I knew deep down that the farm with an 11 year old boy would be the best for Reid! So we chose the farm in Nice and I let the...

Day 28 Innsbruck beauty to IBIS icky…

Day 28…November 1st- This day is a huge holiday in Europe…so lots of things are closed.  One of the things that was not closed was the train and gondola to the mountain right above the city.  I know that my words cannot do justice to this amazing trip…but it was so incredible!  You start the trip in the old city on what appears to be a subway train…it soon appears outside and starts to climb up the mountainside.  The subway car changes into levels (I can’t begin to explain) as you make you way up the mountain.  You stop midway and then have to transfer to a cable car.  Now actually this was not too bad (considering I am scared of heights…because I was staring at the mountain in front of us as we climbed…it was when I...

Time to try to Catch up Day 26…

This post is a bit difficult for me… the fact of the matter is I have already written it….but we were having difficulty with the internet and bye-bye everything I write disappeared and I haven’t had the heart to write it all over again…but since I need to catch up at some point…here we go! I think I will post a day at a time…so that if the computer loses things again…worst case it is only a day! Day 26- October 31st- We left Slovenia and headed towards Innsbruck, Austria.  This was one of those places that we just kind of picked on our way back to Paris…and boy am I glad we did!  Innsbruck was beautiful….like an alpine dream!  The hotel we stayed at was 500 years old…yes even Mozart stayed here!  It was...