Hi From Paris, France

[DonTraver]

Got to Paris around 1530 today and put the RS America in the hotels underground parking, that was real important to me that it be underground and out of sight. When I was in Granada, Spain for New Years I read a article online that they were thinking of not letting anyone buy any gas in Paris starting a couple of days before New Years, they thought it would cut down on the number of cars that would get torched on New Years. Yeah, that really made me want to visit Paris. Anyway, it took me a couple months to find a hotel with Secured Underground Parking, entry into the garage is controlled by the Front Desk, pricy, but much cheaper than replacing a RS America.

Since I last posted I've been to D'Orleans, Tours, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon, Carcassonne, Avignon, Bourges, and now Paris. There have also been quite a few days trips when I'd go out castle hunting. I found some really incredible castles outside of Carcassonne.

I'll be in Paris for 10 days. I've already gone for a walk around the neighborhood and found the Metro and markets. I'm only a couple of stops on the Metro from Notre Dame and the Louvre and I don't have to change trains so thats on the agenda for tomorrow.

I've been keeping a Excel file of everyplace I've been to and a Journal (+300 pages). I did a count the other night. I've traveled over 38,000 miles, visited over 170 Cities, towns, and villages, +200 castles, +400 museums, 100 laps on the Nurburgring (going back after Reims), and +100 Cathedrals and I've still got 3 months before I ship the RS America home. Planning on spending October in Ireland. If I combine both the 2010 tour and the 2011-2012 tour I will have spent 2 years out of the last 2 1/2 years touring Europe, how cool is that, wow.

Pictures are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/2010-2011_ ... tour/sets/

Later, Don Traver

[Kim Crosser]

If you haven't visited them before, a couple of out-of-the-way Paris places we like to visit are the Catacombs (~5 million skeletons artfully arranged in a long underground set of caverns - always cool, even in the heat of summer), and the Musee Jacquemart-Andre (a mansion owned by a couple who frequently outbid the Louvre for art in the 1800's). Monet's gardens in Giverny are worth visiting, but the crowds in August are probably ridiculous there.