Day 24 - With an early start to a warm and sunny day we decided, rather than battle the Paris tube at peak hour, that a cab to the station was a better option. We hopped on the TGV (don't know what it means) for a very fast trip to Mannheim. The monitor in our carriage showed a top speed of 321kph, and a cruising speed around 280kph. The brochure told us that this train holds a world speed record of 574.8kph which it set on 3/4/2007. The ride today was so smoo...

Day 23 - It was another fine day in Paris, so we decided to take an inter city train to Vernon, about a 40 minute ride out of Paris. It was then to a local bus for a 15 minute ride to the village of Givency. This village was the home to Claude Monet, a famous French artist. The main attraction in the village is his mansion and surrounding gardens. The bus dropped us at the end of the village and it was a short stroll to his address. The mansion was very well pr...

Day 22 - A late night meant a late morning. Our run of great weather continues in Paris. Our "hop on hop off" tour started with a trip to the Notre Dame situated on an island in the Seine River call the Ile de la Cite. Even though the island is not very large, there are 9 connecting bridges to get to it. Just about every street in Paris that runs down to the Seine has a connecting bridge over the river at the end of it. Today being Sunday we found some of the r...

Day 22 - A late night meant a late morning. Our run of great weather continues in Paris. Our "hop on hop off" tour started with a trip to the Notre Dame situated on an island in the Seine River call the Ile de la Cite. Even though the island is not very large, there are 9 connecting bridges to get to it. Just about every street in Paris that runs down to the Seine has a connecting bridge over the river at the end of it. Today being Sunday we found some of the r...