Today we made another late-morning start with the goal of visiting the Louvre, the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, and some other sights along the way. In an effort to bypass the local transportation bottlenecks, which will continue through the weekend, we decided to use the metro instead of the buses. But we were soon to find ourselves stymied yet again! The metro line we rode from the École Militaire station blew right by our intended stop at Place de la Concorde, and the next one as well, before making its regular stop at the Place de l'Opera. As a result, Ashley got some unexpected glimpses of the ornate Opéra de Paris, the "bling-bling" on display in the shop windows along the rue de la Paix, and the world famous Hôtel Ritz on the Place Vendôme as we ... read more

The scorching heat wave that has been plaguing Paris continued today, with temperatures soaring into the mid-to-upper 90s. Quite ironic that we're having Florida-like weather during our stay, but as the French say, C'est la vie! Thankfully, the weather forecasts are predicting cooler 80-degree-temps for the next several days, so perhaps the worst is over. Time is now becoming a precious commodity, as we have only a few more days to show Ashley the sights before our long odyssey comes to an end. Today we had made arrangements with Serge, our trusty chauffeur and comrade, to make an afternoon trip to visit the Château de Sceaux, located about 6 miles south of Paris. But first, we made a short stop at a small communal cemetery in the suburb of Kremlin-Bicetre, where we hoped to find a ... read more

When one of our tour participants, aka 'Sleeping Beauty', decided to stay in bed until 11 o'clock this morning, today's schedule took a bit of a hit. Truth be told, however, the rest of the group were dragging their derrières after yesterday's struggles with the heat and humidity. High temperatures in Paris are now reaching the low-to-mid-90s, and our energy reserves are just about depleted after 67 days on the road! However, by noontime, we summoned enough ambition to do some window shopping along rue Cler, and then walk to the nearby Hôtel National des Invalides where the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte is located. After we munched on panini sandwiches the girls bought from a bakery around the corner, we set course for rue Cler. Although we ate lunch on this market street on the Sunday ... read more

We said a fond farewell to Nice and the French Riviera this morning before winging our way to Paris on an Air France jetliner. The 90-minute flight was a smooth one, but our experience at the Nice airport was not so nice. We've experienced many security checks, at many different airports, on our journey around the world. Inexplicably, Nice was the worst! For reasons unknown, the protocol required me to remove the toiletry items I had packed in a zip-lock bag, and then re-pack the items in one of the bags they provided that was half the size of mine. It was like trying to cram 5-pounds of dirt into a 3-pound bag, and I ended up tossing some items just to be done with it. Overall, it was the most time-consuming and frustrating security screening ... read more