This day started out wonderful and ended in disaster. The good part first.

After Mary returned from her walk, we packed up everything, including all the soaps, lotions, slippers, and fruit we could find in the room that we thought they wouldn't get to mad at us for stealing. We went on another walk into town. The hotel we are staying it Is obviously in the swankiest part of town.

We went to the Faberge Museum. A 19 euro a piece entry fee got us into a three floor museum of Faberge jewelry. But no eggs! The only eggs were in the gift shop.

After checking out, we headed for Strasbourg about an hour away, leaving around noon. We visited two churches after our arrival while walking around. The first was St. Pierre's, the second was Notre Dame Cathedral of Strasbourg. Notre Dame, finished in 1838, was probable the largest and most spectacular of all the churches we have visited so far. Pictures in the photo album. We lit candles for everyone before we left.

After coffee in a cafe near the Cathedral we headed for Verdun, leaving around 2:30. We expected to arrive in Verdun around 6:15 pm. We drove through the countryside past huge wind turbines. Yup, they are as ugly in France as they are back home.

This is when things started to go bad. In my own defense, I gassed up the diesel rental car two times before today without problems. It's pretty easy. In Germany, the Czech Republic, and the USA diesel hoses are green and gasoline hoses are black. Well, apparently the French have it exactly opposite. So, around Nancy I filled up half the tank in my diesel station wagon with regular gas. We didn't make it far before the car stopped on the autoroute. I got it started and limped into a town named Toul, where the car finally died in the parking lot of a tire store.

After two hours on the phone with AVIS it was apparent they would do nothing until morning. They had me on hold so long that my cell phone battery died. They did send a tow truck for the car but left us high and dry. With the help of an English speaking couple and the owners of the tire store, we got a taxi to take us to a local hotel for the night.

After dinner, we had a short walk to a local church and returned to our 2 star hotel. What a difference from last night's accommodations. What a difference 3 stars makes!

I did learn one thing today. Never, oh NEVER, put regular gas into a diesel automobile!

So as Mary and I climbed into bed on September 24th, we find ourselves in a small town in eastern France with six pieces of luggage and no car with five days to go before our plane leaves from Paris.

Will the Griswald's make it home? Stay tuned, the adventure will continue tomorrow.