DRIVING PARIS TO MILAN
 

HI ALL
WE ARE PICKING UP HIRE CAR FROM GARE DU NORD AND WOULD LIKE ADVICE ON BEST ROUTE OUT OF PARIS. HAVE ALSO HEARD THAT YOU CAN HIRE SOMEONE TO DRIVE YOU AND YR HIRE CAR OUT OF THE CITY WHERE THEY GET DROPPED AT A STATION AND YOU TAKE OVER THE DRIVING. ANYONE HAD EXPERIENCE OF THIS?

WE ARE THEN HEADING TO PROVENCE VIA AUXERRE & LYON AND SPENDING TIME AROUND AVIGNON. THEN MOVING OVER TO THE COTE D'AZUR AND DRIVING FROM NICE UP TO ITALIAN LAKES. CAN ANYONE ADVISE A GOOD ROUTE AND WHERE IT IS WORTH STAYING ON THE WAY. IS THE ROAD GOOD AND HOW LONG WOULD IT TAKE TO DRIVE FROM NICE/MENTON TO TURIN?

APPRECIATE ANY ADVICE.

CHEERS
JENNIW

With all the good manners I can convey here in cyberland, may I suggest that you quickly re-post this question without the use of ALL CAPS? From a practical standpoint, you'll find what typesetters learned 500 years ago, that it is much easier to read mixed upper/lower case letters.

And from a "netiquette" standpoint, some one is sure to jump in here soon and START YELLING at you. All upper case letters are used for emphasis, and "we" DO NOT LIKE YOU YELLING AT US!

Best wishes,

Rex

Rex

I hadn't realised everyone was so case sensitive on this forum. It was a simple mistake of caps being left on by mistake. I really am just asking for some advice not expecting to be reprimanded like a school child. I really would appreciate anyone's advice to my queries.

thanks again
jenniw

And my advice, reflecting five years' experience here... is to re-type the question, or you can anticipate more replies like mine, or ruder ones.

I have no ulterior motive besides hoping you find this forum as useful as thousands of others do.

Hiring someone to drive you out seems a waste of money to me. It's not that hard but you should get a good map of Paris.

To avoid the city center, from Gare du Nord I would head north to either Porte de la Chapelle or Porte de Villette and take the Periferique Interieure (the toll free highway that goes around Paris) until you see signs for Lyon (I believe it's the A10 freeway).

From Nice to Turin it should take between 2 and 2 1/2 hours. It's all freeway and in good condition. However there are many tunnels / bridges in the first half (until Savona), and in many stretches it's only 2 lanes, so drive carefully.

also, your message is confusing... are you going to Turin or Milan? You don't have to go through Turin to go to Milan. Nice - Milan should be about 3 1/2 hours.

... and yes, caps are annoying...

Why take a car from paris at all? Much simpler to take the TGV south to Dijon and pick up your car there, then head to Auxerre.

As for staying along the way, how much time will you have? What do you want to spend on lodgings?

I will be surprised if the o.p. comes back after being reprimanded for the all caps format. She said it was a mistake on her part!

Anyone who would take offense at the suggestion to NOT post in all caps, started out with "with all the good manners I can convey. . ." followed by a very kind and tactful explanation of why that should be done, doesn't need to be here. Geez. No one ATTACKED her or even "reprimanded" her as she suggests. If someone can't take a simple bit of advise in how to use the forum, then they really shouldn't be asking any advice from a group of total strangers.

Meanwhile, I'll accept it was a mistake, but do people really type an entire post and post it without looking at it? How could someone NOT notice their cap key was on? And the explanation of it being a mistake didn't come until after she was "reprimanded" as she would say.

I find it really sad when people can't take what was clearly meant as a helpful suggestion in how to post.

Having another bad day, Patrick?

We've ALL made mistakes and one of them is to declare that someone "shouldn't be here" just because you were a little miffed at their not so usual response.

Oh, please. Someone comes here and posts, obviously not knowing what they were doing (incidentally this person accidentally posted the question first on the US board). A regular poster offers them POLITE and helpful advice about how to more effectively post. The original person gets all ruffled and says he/she has been "reprimanded like a school child". Sorry, but I don't think someone who takes helpful advice as being "reprimanded like a school child" really understands what the internet and public forums are all about. The logical thing would have been to thank the person for the advice, or at the very minimum ignored it. But to scold someone who has tried to help is pretty brazen!

And by the way, I wasn't suggesting the poster didn't belong here and the "doesn't need to be here" referred to the comment made that this person might not come back after being reprimanded. I was only saying that IF this person doesn't come back because he/she can't tell the difference between helpful advice and reprimands then perhaps he/she doesn't belong here. I stand by that statement.
Where did those quotation marks around "shouldn't be here" come from? Talk about twisting words.

Of course, you can't see it as a reprimand because you agree with how the original poster was told not to capitalize. It wasn't a 'helpful' type of a reply at all by that other long-time Fodorite who just can't let typographical errors pass. And who is the one shouting now? Check out the caps you have typed.

OK. Thank you for explaining it to me. Now I get it. This isn't about what I said, or about what Rex said at all. It's about us being us. If the same comments had been made by someone else, it would have passed. But now I'm not even allowed to type all caps for a single word. You're really reaching to try to turn that into a comparison of an entire thread with cap lock on. And you have now explained how you feel about Rex (not about his post, but rather about him personally)-- all the "pleases" and "thank yous" in the world from him, and you'd still get upset every time he speaks. He WAS trying to be helpful and anyone who can't see THAT has a MAJOR problem. (and yes those words were shouted for a reason). francophile you've often shown yourself to be a rational and intelligent person. Your trying to insist that Rex's first post was a rude reprimand or that my use of a couple of words in caps is wrong will rapidly show that your personal feeling against some people can sometimes greatly cloud that intelligence and sense of reason. Come on now, re read his first post and TRY to open your mind. I know you're capable of doing that if you put your mind to it.

If you are not going for another 60 days, try getting a PREM ticket for any town along the Riviera. It shold cost 25€ per person, which is cheaper than the day's car rental, fuel and tolls.

I feel your pain about driving in Paris. Those people are nuts. The one time we did it I was on the floorboard.

Change your pick up location to Orly and take a taxi. It's much easier than trying to get out of the city.


We've driven Paris to NIce many times and usually stop in Burgundy and somewhere in upper Provence along the way.

From the Gare du Nord you can take the RER to Orly (change in Antony for the Orly direct train) if that is the option you choose.

Thanks to all who sent some really useful travel tips. It is much appreciated. I didn't realise what a hornets nest I had stepped on. I do have a sense of humour but coming from Australia rules me out of many of your assumptions. My theory is that the Europe questions end up on the United States forum because the U.S. forum is the default forum when I log in and I'm sure many, like me, are new posters and haven't worked it out yet. Anyway, I am most amused about the fact that I have had far more responses to my error than answers to the question. Thanks again for all the advice.

jenniw