My last day in the City of Lights was filled with spectacular colors and views. We once again ventured out en masse, and began at Notre Dame Cathedral. The light, filtered through stained-glass windows and emitted by candles, along with the consequent shadows, were in many ways illuminating. The cathedral's construction dates from the 12th century, an undeniably more brutal and gruesome time. Thus, many of the representations still maintained both outside and wi...

We must face facts: Toby walks briskly. He celebrates a palindromic, middle-aged birthday in only a few days (I leave it to you to figure out which one), and yet he has the springy steps of a man half his age. Usually, anyway. At present he is tethered to 5 men of similar age, but whose sip from the Fountain of Youth might be a tad overdue. And since Toby knows Paris better than all of us put together, he has continuously beckoned us forward on our walking tour ...

Yesterday, we faced our longest and most complicated drive in France. In the end, it amounted to nothing more than a trip up Interstate 91 or a trek into Boston, albeit with French-language roadsigns. We checked out of Chateau Guerinet after our final breakfast there (which each day had consisted of croissants, baguettes, fruit and cheese). Our first destination was Fontainebleau, an extraordinary chateau that served as a hunting palace for kings and a primary r...

Chateaux abound in the Loir-et-Cher. The chateaux of which I speak are large, stately palaces and castles that date from as early as the 11th century. Most have played major roles in French and European history. (As recently as World War II, Chenonceau served as an escape route between occupied and controlled but free France, and Chambord held many of the Louvre's masterpieces safe from Nazi pilfering.) This week we have skittered about several of them, but by ...

In America, if you ask for directions to the town's railway station, most likely you will hear one of two answers: (1) a possible route to get there, or (2) an indication that it closed decades ago, and why would you want to go to that part of town, anyway. In Europe, when you ask the same question, you are more likely to be greeted with another question: "Which one?" Americans are spoiled by our cars, but we are comparatively deprived in our rail service. For ...