Hello, again, Blogonauts! I have just spent a day-and-a-half in the storybook-styled Alsatian city of Strasbourg, France. Although it sits a stone's throw from the German border, it is a million linguistic miles away. The city is truly a wondrous anachronism. If the Brothers Grimm had survived into the 21st century...well, first off, they would be miraculously old. We would have loads of questions, such as "How did granny survive in the belly of that wolf?" But...

I had some trouble uploading a few brief videos from my trip. The problem is now solved, so here are a video shot within Sainte-Chapelle and one taken during my sojourn to Versailles. I genuinely lack any movie-making prowess, and my camera is really designed for snapshots, not videos. Nonetheless, I hope these give some sense of the experience in these two awe-inspiring locations.

What would you do if you had could spend half the gross national product on your home? With such an unfettered budget, you could do worse than follow a path similar to France's King Louis XIV when he built Versailles (pronounced "ver-SIGH"). Overall, Versailles is an architectural and landscaping masterpiece. Restraint was not characteristic of the French royal family, and the building and grounds of the palace show what can happen when a whim is allowed to bec...

Hello again, Blogonauts! On Friday, I began to catch up on some of the Parisian sites necessarily omitted from last August's itinerary. First stop was Sainte-Chapelle, the remnant-chapel of a now demolished castle. King Louis IX built it to contain the souvenirs he brought back from the Crusades (hence "Sainte-Chapelle," which, if you believe Babelfish, means "Holy Vault"). First and foremost of these treasures was a relic they believed to be Jesus' crown of t...

Thursday held a fairly light agenda. I've been going nearly non-stop for a week, so today I allowed myself a later start. And the hotel seems to understand this: They continue to serve petit dejeuner until 10 AM. In the late morning I ventured out to buy a 2-day museum pass, which begins on Friday. And Sunday is the first Sunday of the month, when all the Paris museums are free. I then set about pursuing options on the tourist's a la carte menu. Hence, the subt...