DougElliott

A good friend told me he's spent weeks in Paris and only scratched the surface. We knew that 6-7 days was only going to wet our appetite, and it's done that - ten fold. This is an amazing city. It's ties to a distant past, married with where the city is going today gives it a truely unique vibe. We spent a few days in Rome on our last venture, and didn't get anywhere near the same feeling from that city. Parisians know they have a special place, and while they don't brag about it, you know they know it. We got up late today - I think we are really starting to get worn out. We had our reservation at Breizh Cafe set for noon (since Sunday), and we weren't going to miss the best ... read more

A pretty good nights sleep, and a late morning breakfast in the apartment got us prepared for another day of sights. We took our time getting ready (we are on vacation after all) and didn't get out until after noon. Bruce had the route all planned out, so we headed for the Chemin Vert metro station (closest to our apartment off the 8 line), transferred at Bastille to the 1, then again at Charles de Gaulle Etoile to the 6, and 5 stops later we were within sight of the Eiffel tower. The walk to the tower from this stop is probably still another 1/2 mile, and you need to weave through the sea of peddlers trying to sell trinkets of the Eiffel tower. Brandee hit the very first one, and bought a dozen key chains ... read more

After a long day with LOTS of walking you would think that you'd get a solid nights sleep. Well our apartment (more specifically the front bedroom) offers some challenges for a solid 8 hours of sleep. Even though we are on a small side street, we are challenged with the echos of sounds up and down the street. Late last night a truck pulled up and parked outside the front bedroom, and guys started unloading building material. They worked on the shop below us throughout the night. It wasn't so much hammers banging and saws whirling, but they were making just enough noise to keep us awake. I got enough sleep, but Charlene was up all night. By early morning, I just got out of bed and tried to leave Charlene resting. Brandee and Bruce got ... read more

OK, so the months of planning (almost entirely by Charlene and Brandee) are over, and time to stop watching the Euro, terrorists threats, and National Strikes. Time to embark on our next adventure - France, or more specifically, Paris. We plan to spend 8 days (plus/minus - the time change always throws everything out of sorts) taking in as much of the city as we can. Previous travels have told us there is so much to see in this City that we are only planning a single day trip beyond it's boundries - Versailles. Trying to coordinate the travel within the city, coupled with museum passes, and other events has us on a semi-planned schedule, but we are on vacation - so we may just play this as it goes... We left Sacramento about 11:00am on ... read more

My brother had this crazy idea about a year and a half ago. Lets go climb Mt. Whitney! Having not a clue what was involved with this kind of venture, we started doing research. Well, as luck would have it, actually "climbing" Mt. Whitney is more like a hike than a climb. No ropes & harnesses (good, because neither of us had any real exposure to climbing in the true sense of the word), but the 'hike' does start at an elevation of about 8,400 feet, and rises to the summit (11 miles later) at an altitude of 14,497 feet. That's over 6,000 feet in elevation gain over 11 miles (for those that are reaching for the calculator). Prior to this venture, the highest either of us had hiked was Baldy Mountain in New Mexico (12,441 ... read more