These two books are indeed excellent - I have done most of her trips.

Thanks for the book recommendation, Bill and Cindy. I ordered it from Amazon & will get it tomorrow. It looks like it will be very helpful! We leave in just 4 weeks!

Day trip to Champagne. Train to Reims is 2 hours and the scenery (and champagne!) is well worth it.

We are now home after a wonderful 10 days in Paris! We kept busy everyday & ended up having just 1 day to leave the city. We decided to go to Reims, a short train ride. We found it to be just the right town to get out of the crazy crowds of Paris. We enjoyed wandering the town & visiting the basilica & cathedral, both were lovely. We’re not champagne lovers, but decided to go to a champagne vineyard. It was a perfect day to sit & drink champagne & wander around. Enjoyed some very good gelato before hoping the train back to the city. Next time we’ll plan to visit more of the towns recommended. Thanks for all your suggestions!

Thanks for returning to tell us how the trip went! I wish everyone would do that.

So good to hear!

This trip was a little different for us. We rented an air b&b in the Marias district for 10 days. Normally we train from town to town. Last year we were in Spain & Portugal for 25 days. 4 locations in Spain & 2 in Portugal; mostly 3 & 4 nts in each location with exception of 2 nts in Codoba. By the time we got to our last location of Lisbon, we were beat. So, staying 10 days in 1 location was wonderful. Now we’re looking at possibly going to Germany next year. We’ll need to do lots of research on that. It would be nice if we could select 1 or 2 locations to use as a home base & do day trips to small towns from there. Does anyone have any experience traveling Germany?

fluff224,

I've enjoyed reading your post and all your plans! I loved getting ideas for day-trips for my next trip to Paris, so thanks!

I live in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and travel a lot by train around Bavaria, the rest of Germany, and Switzerland. I'm happy to help you plan. But of course, it will be best if you start a new thread, as there are many knowledgeable folks who may not be reading this!

Have fun as you plan!

s

You need a new thread for useful responses about Germany. A Paris thread won't do well.