Before we went to Breisach we stopped at the Maginot line named after Andre Maginot in 1930's, built to keep out the Germans - which didn't work so well.. and of course, in the inimitable way of the French, this is Saturday, and the museum is closed, because it's the French shopping day and the employees don't want to work on Saturday. So we took pictures, exterior, and moved on. This city, Breisach, was also known as breakwater in early Celtic times until the ri...

Yet another beautiful day in Europe - the expected high was 71 with no rain. We took a bus tour around Strasbourg, the official seat of the European Parliament and is now a symbol of European unity. We learned that 60,000 people go to germany and Switzerland to work; shop in Germany - Kehl - due to it being 40 percent cheaper in Germany than France. Strasbourg changed nationality 5 times in 75 years. The national bird is the stork and they leave in august ever ye...

Almost as if the carpenters had been to Cherbourg! Happy international workers day to those of you who remember .... So. Not only is it raining like crazy, the downtown area is shut down tight for the holiday. We heard that the maritime museum was the only thing open, and it was pretty much true! The hall upon entering was open and colorful but the line for tickets was long and once purchased we would have had to go outside in the rain to traverse between buildin...

Today is a travel day, from Paris to Rome to Civitavecchia. I had enough time at the airport for a - finally - manicure !! Two hours later we arrived in Rome, got our car service to drive us to civitavecchia. He wasn't completely familiar with the city, so After few starts and stops, we found the place. We were shown around, grabbed my coat, and walked out to the plaza by the water. we had dinner at a tourist place so it wasn't very special. We'll see what we com...

We woke up bright and early today, at least bright and early for us, had breakfast and made our way to the Musée D'orsay. The line was short and we entered paid and headed up to the sixth floor. Our guide yesterday, Georgi, who took us through the Louvre, told us when we went to the d'orsay that we should start at the top and wend our way down. He said people are so tired by the time they get up to the fifth floor they have no energy left for the Impressioni...