Paris - thoughts on planing for our trip & our blog

I get just as much of a thrill planning a trip as going on the trip. The local library was a great place for travel books, videos & DVDs and if something wasn't in they would order it for me. Rick Steves & Lonely Planet were my favorites, lots of information.  TipAdvisor is a website that I use all the time. In the forum section there are questions & answers. This site covers everything you would want to know about your destination. I was reading about scams in Paris & sure enough the 2nd day there I saw a young girl do the gold ring scam on 2 tourists. Two days later a young fellow tried it on Chris & I. We both burst out laughing & he took off running.
As for the blog I got the idea from a fellow hospice volunteer Shirley T. She had started a blog in 2006 when she was doing a pligrimage walk to Santiago de Compostela in Spain This is a 800 km trail starting on the French border & ending in Spain. She did this alone. In 2007 she added to her blog when she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro & her next entry will be in 2009 when she climbs to Machu Picchu. I thought this was such a great way to keep in touch. So I announced to Chris that we were going to do a blog. I think she's done a great job. I sat on the couch with my wine & threw ideas at her while she madly typed. I wouldn't let her have any wine till she was finished. Thank you everyone for sending your comments & emails to us. Every morning we looked forward to reading them. It was great having company.


Travel Tip:
Rick Steves has 4 podcast audio tours for Paris. These we downloaded & used in Versailles, Louvre, d'Orsay & on a walking tour of historic Paris. There are many other podcasts on the internet.

Paris - reflections about our trip

I have received complaints that there have been no postings for the last two days. Apologies, the web connection wasn't that great on the plane. We are home again and happy and sad to be here. We had a wonderful holiday and it was hard to see it end even though we were anxious to see our families and friends again.
A few reflections on the necessities of a holiday in Paris.