? about the green Michelin Guides
 

I am getting worried about the weight restrictions and the number of tour books we are taking.

We are visiting Normandy, Brittany, the Loire (for a few days), Dordogne..Provence (and Carcassone), and finally Paris.

If I take a green guide for each area including Paris ...plus the Red Michelin Guide, I fear I will have no room for clothes, etc.

Any advice?... Maybe I can Xerox a few pages from the Loire?..is a Green Guide for Paris necessary?..

Help.Oh and I didn't mention all the maps.

Thanks

The France Green guide will contain enough on Loire highlights and Paris as well to cut down weight and maybe suffice for other areas - supplemented by xeroxing places you'll be in depth.

Take the guides that you'll need (and the maps), then mail them back home as you finish with a region.

Good ideas...another thought...the Red Michelin guide is in French. Is there a possibility I can buy it at our first stop..Rouen?..or Honfleur?...

thanks

I feel your pain. We just returned from a month in France. (my 20th trip to Europe) I don't understand how I can take so much literature and hardly ever consult it once I'm in Europe.I think it's best to copy specific pages and leave the book home. Horrors...I also RIP the book up and take those select pages. It is hard to depend on books in Europe...you spend alot of time looking for a bookstore and then you can't read the language well enough to use them.I think in the end I take all of the lit and then throw it away when we leave that place. I know I'll return and something REALLY special gets written down in my journal/notebook.

loisco,

You should be able to pick up a copy of the red Michelin in any town--look for a bookstore or, sometimes, a tourist office. We've bought several at hypermarkets, too.

As for photocopying materials, I did that one year and discovered all those pages weighed more than the guide--and they weren't nearly as easy to use.

You might even consider mailing the guides to yourself at your first hotel.

I do think having the green guide for Paris is essential, unless you know exactly what you want to see and how to get there.

Depending on how long you stay in each region, you might need only the Guide Vert for France, which does cover the essential for each region.

You are planning on extended stays in the Dordogne, Provence, and Paris. Take the green guides for those places. Perhaps copy the pages for Normandy, Brittany, & the Loire and then hope you don't pass something on the road that looks interesting, but is described in the pages you left at home (this will happen - I guarentee it). Like Underhill said, when I first tried copying pages, the copies weighed more than the book, but at least you can throw the copies away when you are finished. Also, the books contain an index, a section on opening & closing days & times for the sites, descriptions of architectural styles in the area, and historical facts about the region. Personally, the green guide is the first thing I pack in the suitcase and then I see if I have any room left over for clothes. I have mailed them back home on several occasions.

Don't get the general France green guide - it's too general. You can buy the Red Guide in Rouen, but it will be a big help getting you into Rouen and to your hotel. Perhaps copy the Rouen city map from the red guide, and then locate your hotel on the copied map.

Stu Dudley

Though Michelin reds are in French they're really language proof for what most folks want in that they use many symbols that are explained in several languages. My local library's used book sale always has many Michelin reds on sale for $1 - some just a few years old but at that price just tear out the maps and cities you want.

Welcome home Stu!

Well good ideas...as for copying map of Rouen I think i will get from library and do just that...along with the first few cities we go to. However, we will have a gps..won't that help????

I think since we end up in Paris maybe I will send a copy of the guide to the hotel in Paris to hold for me.

I think you can download Michelin maps at www.michelin.com; that's what i've been told but have not checked it out.

I just visited www.viamichelin.com and it will give route info for Europe - i checked Dordogne and it had about 12 detailed maps to download. Check out the site.