June 28, 2008 SANTANDER, Spain A few hours on the road through S.W. France and into northern Spain and we arrived at Santander, Spain on the North coast of Spain on the Atlantic Ocean. Another nice drive on good roads and a great variety of scenery from farmland to mountain passes. Santander is a very nice resort area with a huge, very nice, beach and at this time of year it is getting busy as expected. We took a short walk to the beach and stopped at the local Casino to donate a few euros to the local economy. This is [View Full Entry]

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June 26, 27, 2008 BORDEAUX, France We arrived in Bordeaux in time on Thursday to take the local tram to the center of town to have a look around. Turns out our timing was perfect for me. The annual “Bordeaux Fete Le Vin” ( Wine Festival ) was just getting started and the promenade along the Garonne River was set up for wine tasting from all the areas producing “ Bordeaux “wine. This is a very well organized affair. With the purchase of a wine glass ( with carry case ) and a coupon book you get to try about 10 [View Full Entry]

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June 25, 26, 2008 AUVERGNE REGION, France Our journey from Geneva took us across a small mountain range through some very beautiful countryside to Clermont-Ferrand. We were pleasantly surprised. This is a very nice city known as the geographic center of France. The city is in some very nice farmland and crops of all kinds are grown here. We took our usual “walk about” from our hotel to the town center. Bad idea !! The start of a major summer SALE had begun and every store had everything ( almost ) at 50% off ( off what we don’t know, but [View Full Entry]

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June 23, 24, 2008 GENEVA, Switzerland Our travels took us from Bern along the lakes to Geneva which is surrounded by rolling hills and farmland. Grain, Grapes and fruit trees. Geneva sits on the southern most lakeshore of Lake Le Leman, the biggest fresh water lake in Europe. Geneva is a few kilometers from France ( in fact our room was in France ) and less than a 100 Km via the Mont Blanc tunnel to Italy. This is a very political center with the United Nations, Red Cross and every NGO you can imagine all centered here. There are currently [View Full Entry]

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June 21, 22, 2008 BERN / INTERLAKEN, Switzerland Our first day in Bern was Sunday. A perfect day to visit downtown and all the shops. They are nearly all closed on Sundays !!! We did a good walk about the old city center and visited the park where they keep the city mascots, bears. Bern is a very nice city. Not a lot of real touristy things to do in the city but a very nice old city that has been well restored and maintained. Bern sits on the edge of The Alps with some very nice views of the mountains [View Full Entry]

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June 20, 21, 2008 BLACK FOREST REGION, Germany The drive from Dijon, France to Baden-Baden, Germany is a few hours of more varied scenery as you travel from farmland into a more rolling hills and forested area. We were pleasantly surprised with Baden-Baden. This is a very nice, very clean, small city with a very tourist friendly city center with limited vehicle traffic and lots of good restaurants. Nice place to take a break after Paris. Baden-Baden is at the top end of the Black Forest Region of western Germany and a favorite stop for tourists exploring the region. We had [View Full Entry]

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June 18, 19, 2008 CHATEAU REGION, France Back on the road again for a few hour drive to Vierzon via Tours. This is very nice country and the home to hundreds of “Chateaus” that were the homes of the rich and famous for a few hundred years. This part of the country has some ancient history and many medieval and Roman Empire ruins. It seems that every town has something “famous” from the “olden” days. There must have been a contest or something to see who could build the biggest and most churches in these small towns and cities. If you [View Full Entry]

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June 14 - 17, 2008 PARIS, France Nice drive from Brussels and arrived at our hotel on the outskirts of Paris. Spent Saturday afternoon in the center of the city with a very good connection, on the very good, local Metro system. Anyone traveling to Paris would be wise to consider a room out of the very expensive center of town ( with hotels with very small rooms ) and looking at a suburbs hotel as long as it is close to the many metro stops. We have been in Paris before and it is as nice as we remembered. A [View Full Entry]

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June 12, 13, 2008 BRUSSELS, Belgium Another 3 hour drive and we are in Belgium. This is the first real “rain out “day we have had. ( double header tomorrow I guess ). Awoke to clouds and drizzle and drove through rain most of the drive. Maybe better tomorrow. We have been In Brussels before and liked it very much. Very civilized, great food with lots of variety, and a relatively safe city and of course lots and lots of chocolate. Not such a big problem for Alice but I have a real weakness for all things chocolate. ( and they [View Full Entry]

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June 11, 2008 Dusseldorf, Germany Nice city !!! We travelled a few hours today through some more great countryside and arrived in Dusseldorf in time to spend the afternoon and evening exploring this great city. Dusseldorf is a lot different from Berlin. Very clean, a lot of the “old character” that we enjoy and a very beautiful location on the Rhine River. Dusseldorf is a favorite place to visit due to it's location on the Rhine and many river cruises come here as well as day trips from coastal ports. In hindsight we wish we had another day here but we [View Full Entry]

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