Posted by admin on December 27, 2007 under One stop travel guide to Paris | 
It’s one thing to read recipes for French cuisine, but what’s going to be served up on the tables this Christmas? I asked Huguette and Nathalie to give us the scoop on some of the best tables in town for ‘home cookin’ French style.
Champagne, naturally, to start things off, accompanied by puffed pastry appetizers.
Foie gras (goose liver).
Coquille St. Jacques (scallops).
Fish in butter sauce. (as opposed to the traditional turkey or capon).
Salad and cheese.
Log roll for dessert.
This will be served after Midnight Mass. Everyone will have already set out their shoe for Pere Noel to fill with goodies - this time Santa gets a mug of whisky, not hot chocolate - oh they really know how to treat Santa in this household. N’est-ce pas?
I’m also told that the scallops can be replaced with a dish of assorted shellfish, oysters, and for the main course, one can even prepare a white sausage! (boudin blanc). i.e. fix whatever you enjoy eating, but you might not have every day of the week.
Now that every one has happily gone to bed on a full stomach, it’s time to wake up and head out to see the rest of the family for Christmas day dinner which will start with:
Champagne, hot and cold appetizers.
Foie gras
Duck or fish
Salad, Cheese
Log Roll (Buche de Noel)
At another friend’s house, the Midnight Mass meal will be lighter fare with the main meal prepared on Christmas day. Here’s what will be on the table:
After the Midnight Mass, foie gras is served on toast along with appetizers like fresh shrimp, some chicken terrines, and desserts.
The Christmas day meal will be
Capon baked with chestnuts and potatoes.
Salad and Cheese
Log Roll (Buche de Noel)
Christmas night. Fall asleep by the fireplace.
Posted by admin on December 26, 2007 under One stop travel guide to Paris |
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2007
Musee du LouvrePlace du Pyramide, 1st Arrondissement
Metro: Palais Royale-Musee du Louvre
Bus :21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 76, 81, 95
tel :01 40 20 53 17
General Admission: 9 Euros
Free on first Sunday of each month and July 14th, Bastille Day.
Open Wednesday and Friday nights till 10 pm.
Closed Tuesdays.
Don’t take my word for it. The Smithsonian will tell you. It lists the Louvre Museum as one of the top 28 places in the world you need to go before you die (Smithsonian Magazine, January 2008).
Would people still go to the Louvre Museum - if the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samathrace and the Venus de Milo did not reside there? It would still be a great museum, but not quite as great.
Movie stars, singers, and a myriad of celebrities come and go. Our concept of talent and beauty tend to be as fickle as lap dancers, but Mona stays. So, this is why you must go to see Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa - at least once, in person. You may be disappointed. You may find her to be unattractive, but the old gal has staying power. She’s been around since the 1500s and that’s a hell of a track record. Of all his paintings, Leonardo chose to lug Mona along with him from Italy to King Francois I’s French court. Francois obviously liked the painting and kept it as the centerpiece of his collection. She’s been here ever since (except for one brief interlude of liberation when she was stolen not for money, but for love).
So, if you ever need any convincing about the importance of going to the Louvre, I hope this settles the issue. But there’s more, about 35,000 more reasons to visit the Louvre. This is the approximate number of works of art and artifacts that can be seen at the Louvre (the entire collection holds over 300,000 individual pieces) and its treasures are not limited to Western civilizations alone. You’ll find towering legacies to kingdoms long forgotten by Hollywood - the sculptures and freizework of ancient Assyria, Ninevah, Sargon and Khorsabah. Here is where you’ll find Hammarabi’s code (1792-1750 B.C.), and from Egypt, the Grand Sphinx.
History
Even if you chose never to set foot inside the museum, its walls alone are a living - and still evolving French history lesson. In recent years, excavations have unearthed some of the Louvre palace’s medieval foundations. In its earliest days (1200 A.D.), the Louvre existed as a castle built for defense (it was also much smaller than the building yo see today). Its medieval towers have long since been replaced by the more decorative and ornate facades of the Renaissance era when Francois I returned to this castle fortress which had been somewhat abandoned and left to ruin. Throughout French history, you’ll note how kings and rulers have had a curious love-hate relationship with Paris, having built great palaces, only to turn their backs on the city, fleeing for the serenity of the countryside. It’s what Parisians continue to do every weekend during the warmer months.
Before becoming a museum, the Louvre had several purposes. First, as I’ve mentioned it defended Paris from its position overlooking the Seine River. It didn’t actually become a residential palace until the 1300s during the reign of Charles V. Charles lived here but he also created a huge library in one of its towers. When Francois I moved in 150 years later, he decided to give the Louvre a totally new look. The facade took on the design of the day - borrowing the less austere, and much more ornate features of Italy’s burgeoning Renaissance style.
Still what you see on the facade of today’s Louvre, particularly in the Cour Caree (that’s the square enclosure of the Louvre which you can reach by walking past the pyramid and through the arches to the westernmost end of the the museum) retains only a small segment from Francois I’s era. Catherine de Medici added the wing facing the Seine River. Even though Louis XIV ended up spending most of his time at Versailles, he brought in a crew of architects and artists to work on the Louvre palace, from the inside out. Napoleon couldn’t resist adding an addition, followed by Napoleon III as late as the 19th century. And even 20th-century French presidents felt inclined to leave their fingerprint on the Louvre, witnessed by the IM Pei pyramid installed during President Francois Mitterand’s term. Is it possible that the Louvre as we know it today should have started with a Francois and ended its restorations with a Francois? Probably not. It is far too tempting a prospect to link one’s place in history to one of the most famous museums in the world.
Visiting Hours
The museum is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Tuesday and the following holidays: January 1st, May 1st, May 8 and December 25, 2007.
The permanent collections and temporary exhibitions will close at 5:00 pm on December 24 and 31, 2007 (Mondays).
It is open until 10 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday evenings except on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 (open until 6 p.m.).
Admission Fees
Tickets for the Permanent Collections
€9
This ticket provides full-day access to the Louvre, except for temporary exhibitions in the Hall NapolГ©on. It is also valid for the MusГ©e EugГЁne Delacroix.
Free admission to the museum on July 14, 2007 (Saturday).
€6
(from 6 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.)
This ticket provides access to the Louvre, except for temporary exhibitions in the Hall NapolГ©on, on Wednesday and Friday evenings.
If you haven’t yet read Rick Steve’s section on the Louvre in his Paris 2007 guidebook, I would definitely recommend it for a very informative and highly readable introduction to the Louvre. Even though I’ve visited the Louvre a number of times, I’ve learned a great deal from his descriptions (particularly regarding the museum’s sculpture department). ‘Experts’ may scoff, but I’m not an art expert so I appreciate Rick’s simple but amusing descriptions and illustrations.
Parislogue’s Tips
Tip #1 Remember the closed day is Tuesday.
Tip #2 Buy your ticket online through FNAC or Ticketnet or buy your ticket from any of the automated ticket machines in the main lobby under the pyramid.
Tip #3 Go for free on the first Sunday of the month and on July 14th, Bastille Day. Or go for a reduced evening rate on Wednesday and Friday nights.
Tip #4 Make sure that the department you plan to visit will be open because some departments such as the French paintings collection is closed on certain days of the week.
Tip #5 Check out the various entrances to the museum to find the quickest access. (The main entrance through the glass pyramid is the most spectacular, but also the most crowded. You can gain access from beneath the Carrousel arch (at the entrance to the Tuileries gardens), underground from the Metro stop: Palais Royal, from the Lion’s entrance (in the wing which borders the Seine River
Tip #6 Visit the museum during evening hours (Wednesday and Friday nights) thus saving your days for outdoor activities (make sure that the wings you want to visit are open during evening hours).
Planning your visit
Tip #1 Pace yourself. The path to three ‘biggies’ Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, and Victory at Samathrace is well indicated. Nevertheless the Louvre is huge. The Grand Gallery (where you’ll find Mona Lisa) is almost equal in length to three football fields lined up end to end. If you stop at every painting before you get to the Mona Lisa - well - you get the picture. Grab the ball and run.
Tip #2 Take some time to visit the Louvre website and get familiar with the layout of the museum. Do you have a favorite painting or favorite artist? Check to see if his or her work is included in the vast collection. You’ll want to note the name of the wing i.e. Denon is the ‘Mona Lisa’ wing, Richelieu, etc. and the Floor.
Even after you’ve carefully, noted all this information, you may still get lost - or sometimes the work of art gets temporarily lost. In June, 2007, the Venus de Milo had been moved to the the Sully wing, room 7 ground floor. Those of us who saw Venus languishing in her temporary quarters - we shared her pain. Hopefully, at this writing, she is sitting pretty again.
Tip #3 Take a flashlight (or torch). You’ll need this for the Egyptian wing. I’m not kidding. And I’m not kidding that there’s pickpockets lurking in dimly lit corners.
Tip #5 Make your way to the upper level dining area of the Richelieu wing for a snack or lunch break.
Tip #6 DO NOT TRY TO SEE IT ALL. This is impossible. You will never see it all. Better to spend your morning or afternoon in the company of one or two works of art. You don’t make a work of art your own by acquiring it. No one really can own art. Spend enough time with one painting and it will be yours forever.
So, please, do this for me if you go to the Louvre. Find one painting, one sculpture, one art object - and make it yours. Better yet, share your choice and comments with other Parislogue readers.
Posted by admin on December 25, 2007 under One stop travel guide to Paris |
“Gimme Shelter!”
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2007
Even as much as one loves being in Paris, when you’re a student and far from home during Christmas vacation, the prospect of being alone in Paris for Christmas day may not be cheery. That’s why another student, Kathy, and I decided to hop on a train with our Eurail passes for Spain. We’d take a break from French lessons and try to practice our high school Spanish for two weeks.
Kathy had found this hotel castle in Jaen, in south-central Spain. She read the hotel description in a guidebook. The thought of staying in a real medieval castle thilled us both. We planned to get as far south as Granada where it was sure to be warmer and sunnier than Paris at this time of year.
We were able to book train tickets to Barcelona with no problem, but we couldn’t get reserved seats from Barcelona to Madrid and then on to Granada. We figured, it didn’t matter we were traveling light. However finding seats turned out to be big problem. All the soldiers in Spain were taking the train home for their Christmas holiday.
Once we found a seat, we noticed that we seemed to be the only two American women on the train - and aside from us there were practically no civilians. Kathy’s Spanish was pretty good, but I could see she was slightly nervous. She didn’t want to even leave the seat to go to the WC. “I have to tell you something,” she confided. “I’ve never even kissed a man.”
Soon the news traveled through the train that there were two American women on the train and one of them was a blonde! Soldiers came by to practice their English, share Christmas cookies and cigarettes (!). By the end of the trip Kathy had fallen in love. This is the truth. But that is only the beginning of this story.
We arrived in Granada - and it was snowing. So much for avoiding Paris’s cold weather. It was so cold in the hostel, we almost wished we had stayed in Paris, until we saw the Alhambra bereft of tourists, with a light dusting of new fallen snow. We hopped on a train for Jaen on Christmas Eve morning, sure to make Jaen in time to check into our hotel in the castle. We exited the train station and asked for directions to the castle. Jaen was a small town so it would be easy to find. The first person Kathy asked for directions looked at her askance - “It’s over there, but why do you want to go? It’s closed for renovations.”
Here it was. Christmas Eve - and we had no place to sleep. There wasn’t another place in town - so we did the only thing we could think of, hop on the train, and head for Cordoba. At Cordoba, the first hotel we went to was completely booked. They directed us to another hotel where we were fortunate enough to find a place to sleep for the night. Not knowing that people dine late in Spain - we went about to eat at 9 pm and found the cafes and restaurants deserted - so we had nothing to eat but a sandwich. At midnight we could hear the shrieks of delight as kids in the neighborhood opened their gifts. Christmas Day the streets of Cordoba were deserted.
We wandered around town until we found the Cordoba cathedral - the one place in town that’s sure to be open to all on Christmas Day.
Why am I telling you this story?
Book your hotel reservations in advance, ESPECIALLY FOR CHRISTMAS EVE and CHISTMAS DAY.
I love to travel spontaneously and wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, but this is one time of the year when you don’t want to end up sleeping in a manger - especially when it’s snowing in Spain.
Posted by admin on December 22, 2007 under One stop travel guide to Paris |
Talking about French heroes, Louis Pasteur is one who deserves special recognition for finding a cure for RABIES.
If you’ve caught Will Smith in the blockbuster I AM LEGEND, don’t think that rabies turns humans into quite the fiends you’ll encounter in the film. Nevertheless, rabies, when its contracted by humans, is fatal.
Here is what Dr. William O’Gorman, a 19th century physician said about Pasteur in a NY Times article of the period:
” I have such confidence in the preventive forces of inoculation by mitigated virus that were it my misfortune to be bitten by a rabid dog, I would board the first Atlantic steamer, go straight to Paris and, full of hope, place myself immediately in the hands of Pasteur…. If the parents be poor, I appeal to the medical profession and to the humane of all classes to help send these poor children where there is almost a certainty of prevention and cure. Let us prove to the world that we are intelligent enough to appreciate the advance of science and liberal and humane enough to help those who cannot help themselves..”
- New York Herald Tribune, December 4, 1885.
You’ll read on the Pasteur site, how in fact four kids from New Jersey were sent to Paris to be treated - and cured for rabies by Louis Pasteur. That may be another reason why Pasteur is so respected, especially in America.
Pictures of the four New Jersey boys treated by Louis Pasteur can be seen on the Pasteur Foundation site.
BTW, if you’re planning to see I AM LEGEND, this is not a Christmas movie for the kids - it is VERY scary even for some adults. On the other hand, Will Smith is an excellent actor and deserves credit for an excellent portrayal of the last man left in New York City. The ending is anything but Hollywood, but definitely goes well with the film’s title.
Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
SNCF is offering FREE transit on its Transilien rapid transit network for December 23 and December 24th, 2007.
This is SNCF’s ‘Christmas present’ to all its passengers who endured the recent strike, this past November.
In order to use the Transilien lines for free, just step up to the ticket window and ask for your ticket gratruit! For more information you can visit the SNCF Transilien site.
Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
Photo by Chris Card Fuller ©2007
Now that so many chimneys in Paris have been blocked, Santa Claus or Pere Noel has to find new and inventive ways to make his way to the l’Arbre de Noel or Christmas tree where he can drop off his Christmas presents. As you can see, Santa is doing some trial runs to make sure that he can scale the walls of some of the hotels in Montparnasse. So don’t get too worried if you see a man with a white beard, wearing a red suit climbing past your hotel window.
Air France is offering a Special Christmas ‘07 package starting $899 (Not Euros) for four days in Paris (excluding taxes). Sounds like a good excuse for spontaneous travel.
Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
Christmas is almost here and even before New Year’s Eve approaches, you may already be thinking about champagne. Wondering how to choose a good French champagne?
Finding a good champagne at a reasonable price is something that every champagne fan needs to know - even if you only break out the bubbly once a year - for that very special occasion.
During 2007, 300 million bottles of champagne were sold - meaning champagne coming from the ‘Champagne region’ in France. There are hundreds of vineyards throughout the Champagne region. That makes for plenty of choices. Luckily, the folks at L’Express Magazine have taken it upon themselves to taste 400 labels from various vineyards. What they’ve discovered is that the labels destined for bigger distribution tend to be ‘dosee.’
What does ‘dosee’ mean?
Dosee means that sugar has been added, often to mask an immature wine. A champagne’s merit lies surprisingly in its acidity, rather than its sweetness. That’s the element that gives a champagne it’s fresh feel and titillates the tastebuds.
Needless to say, you can’t fool too many French tastebuds, which is why some smaller champagne vineyards are getting bigger play.
L’Express has separated their champagne choices into several categories: aperatif, champagne for the main course, desert champagne, and champagne for any old time of day.
The one that caught my eye was a Rose Brut champagne from the Denis Salomon winery - at 13.50 Euros per bottle, for a wine promised to be ‘a marvel with your dessert’, this sounds just too good to pass up. Already I’m salivating for champagne and a gateau au chocolat fondant even though I’ve renunciated both. Surely by New Year’s Eve, I will have broken this resolution.
The trend in France, according to L’Express, is to go straight for the ‘brut’ champagnes from small vineyards (thereby avoiding the risk of added sugar). You’ll find on their list of champagnes names that may be totally unfamiliar to you - as they are to me. And there’s the fun of discovering a small vintner. Considering that half the people in France have either an uncle or a friend of a friend who has a vineyard in the champagne region, you’re bound to try any number of champagnes - if you stay in France long enough.
And, in order to recognize a good champagne, with so many labels, it will take a lot of tasting to become wise.
Buying Champagne on Home Turf
Here is a listing of four champagnes that can be found in the ‘grands surfaces’ i.e. supermarkets and have received good quality/price ratings:
Besseret de Bellefor
Mumm Cordon Rouge
Jacquart (1997)
Veuve Emile
If You Splurge
Moet & Chandon
Veuve Cliquot Grand Dame
Dom Perignon
Dom Ruinart (1990, 1998)
Cristal de Roederer (Roederer rose is even better if you can find it!)
Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle
Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Francaises (if you can find it!)
Bollinger (1996)
Krug (1996)
Billecart-Salmon
Pink champagne or rose champagne has made a great comeback in the last few years. I’m really happy about that. It adds a festive touch. And it’s just plain fun.
Here’s some champagne tips:
You don’t want to serve champagne ICE COLD. It should be served chilled, but still at a temperature where the subtle flavors can dance over the tongue.
Some people say that the smaller the bubbles, the better the champagne.
Some people say that if the cork pops out with a bang, the champagne might not be as good as champagne can be. Whether or not any of this is true, I am certain, that if you are drinking a bottle of champagne among friends, no matter what the label, each sip will taste better and better. Cheers!
Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
The city that normally earns its label as the “City of Lights” goes at it in a big way during the Christmas season. Each neighborhood competes to have bigger and better light displays as you’ll see from the Paris Tourism Office’s guide to Holiday illuminations throughout Paris. Clearlly, no matter where you pick a hotel in Paris during the holiday season, you are bound to be bathed in all the colors of the rainbow.
Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
Sad to say, I’ve just been informed that the 4-day, Air France Christmas package to Paris is totally sold out. Okay, maybe next year! Still, the winter season is a good time of year to start checking for those fabulous last minute deals. Be sure to check out all the international airfares for the best price to make a wise choice - and watch out for those added taxes!!!
Posted by admin on under One stop travel guide to Paris |
It wasn’t totally spontaneous because we had talked about taking off for Europe during the previous summer - my next door neighbor and me.
But talk is cheap. I moved out of my sublet and moved to the East Side. He stayed on the West Side. We fell out of touch. I found a new job and was finally making some money that put me above the poverty line. So about two weeks before Christmas, I called A. and said, “Hey, you want to go to Paris and Venice for Christmas, and he said ‘Sure’.
A. had a big family, lots of aunts and uncles and cousins and siblings and he just wanted to get away. And I just wanted to get away from New York. No one knows their neighbors in New York, unless you meet them on the roof in the summer. And then you bond. You share your bad fiction.
I was supposed to be back in New York for a New Year’s Eve date. But for some reason, I never quite got this numbers thing right when booking train and plane reservations: December 31st IS New Year’s Eve. In my mind, New Year’s Eve is kind of like ground Zero. New Year’s Eve has no number. It’s no man’s land, fireworks and noisemakers and an endless sea of champagne. So I booked our return flight for December 31st, thinking that had to be the DAY before New Year’s Eve Day which has no number. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
We would be spending several days in Paris before renting a car and driving down to Venice. I had stayed once on the Lido and dreamed of seeing Venice and the Lido in the winter. A. wanted to see Versailles. Did we go to any museums while in Paris? Let me rack my brain. Not a one that I recall. So don’t be a bit ashamed if you go to Paris and never once set foot in a museum. What did we do? We hung out in cafes, we shopped, we hung out in cafes some more, - and we went to Versailles to see my friend Angie and try to convince her to do what we had just done - drop everything, hop in the car and run off to Venice. We almost had Angie convinced - but not quite. She had family commitments.
So we headed for Venice, via Dijon and Milan. We got lost in Milan. We arrived in Venice on Christmas Eve but there were no hotel rooms available - so we kept on driving to a summer beach resort called Lido - but it wasn’t anything like THE Lido, the island, that is. The town was deserted. We wondered how we ended up spending Christmas Eve in a town we had never heard of until that very day. In the morning we made our way back to Venice and hopped onto a boat that carried us through the mist - the whole city seemed to fall in and out of focus. Black gondolas emerged from the fog. The air was crisp and its dampness seeped in.
Except for half-assembled bleachers, Piazza San Marco was deserted. We had missed Christmas. It had all happened Christmas Eve. Everyone was sleeping or at home preparing another family meal. We had no family. We had nothing but the two of us, feeling a little silly. Why were we here, not doing what everyone is supposed to be doing on Christmas day? So we went to Church, not a church in Venice but a small church back in the beach town. It wasn’t any special church - and no one was there either. A. lit a candle and it felt right being there. This is why we had come so far - to find a little church that we would never see again and light a candle.
It wasn’t totally spontaneous because we had talked about taking off for Europe during the previous summer - my next door neighbor and me.
But talk is cheap. I moved out of my sublet and moved to the East Side. He stayed on the West Side. We fell out of touch. I found a new job and was finally making some money that put me above the poverty line. So about two weeks before Christmas, I called A. and said, “Hey, you want to go to Paris and Venice for Christmas, and he said ‘Sure’.
A. had a big family, lots of aunts and uncles and cousins and siblings and he just wanted to get away. And I just wanted to get away from New York. No one knows their neighbors in New York, unless you meet them on the roof in the summer. And then you bond. You share your bad fiction.
I was supposed to be back in New York for a New Year’s Eve date. But for some reason, I never quite got this numbers thing right when booking train and plane reservations: December 31st IS New Year’s Eve. In my mind, New Year’s Eve is kind of like ground Zero. New Year’s Eve has no number. It’s no man’s land, fireworks and noisemakers and an endless sea of champagne. So I booked our return flight for December 31st, thinking that had to be the DAY before New Year’s Eve Day which has no number. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
We would be spending several days in Paris before renting a car and driving down to Venice. I had stayed once on the Lido and dreamed of seeing Venice and the Lido in the winter. A. wanted to see Versailles. Did we go to any museums while in Paris? Let me rack my brain. Not a one that I recall. So don’t be a bit ashamed if you go to Paris and never once set foot in a museum. What did we do? We hung out in cafes, we shopped, we hung out in cafes some more, - and we went to Versailles to see my friend Angie and try to convince her to do what we had just done - drop everything, hop in the car and run off to Venice. We almost had Angie convinced - but not quite. She had family commitments.
So we headed for Venice, via Dijon and Milan. We got lost in Milan. We arrived in Venice on Christmas Eve but there were no hotel rooms available - so we kept on driving to a summer beach resort called Lido - but it wasn’t anything like THE Lido, the island, that is. The town was deserted. We wondered how we ended up spending Christmas Eve in a town we had never heard of until that very day. In the morning we made our way back to Venice and hopped onto a boat that carried us through the mist - the whole city seemed to fall in and out of focus. Black gondolas emerged from the fog. The air was crisp and its dampness seeped in.
Except for half-assembled bleachers, Piazza San Marco was deserted. We had missed Christmas. It had all happened Christmas Eve. Everyone was sleeping or at home preparing another family meal. We had no family. We had nothing but the two of us, feeling a little silly. Why were we here, not doing what everyone is supposed to be doing on Christmas day? So we went to Church, not a church in Venice but a small church back in the beach town. It wasn’t any special church - and no one was there either. A. lit a candle and it felt right being there. This is why we had come so far - to find a little church that we would never see again and light a candle.
Then we headed back for Paris via Versailles.
“I just want to walk around Versailles. It doesn’t matter if the Chateau is closed,” A. said. So we walked through the empty gardens - because nobody was there either. Just us, the statues, and bare branches.
Then we called up Angie and said, “Want to go out for New Year’s Eve? Our plane doesn’t leave until 6 am from Brussels. I went to Monoprix and bought a dress to wear for a night out on the town. We headed for Montmartre to spend the last few moments of New Year’s Eve Day and New Year’s Eve.
And I missed my New Year’s Eve date in New York which was December 31st.
The reason I’m telling you this story is that when you book train or plane tickets, you really need to get the details straight.
But, when you want to have a memorable trip, be spontaneous.
Everything will work out in the end.
Driving trivia:
If you drive from Paris to Venice, the distance is 712 miles. You can do an overnight in Dijon (and Milan if you can find your way to a hotel).
