missinform

My fiance bailed, I'm going on my honeymoon without him. I arrive in Venice 11/2, Venice to Paris 11/10, home 11/19. I can go anywhere by train. I've seen Venice, I've seen Paris--I'd like to go places I haven't seen yet. What would you do, and where would you go?

suze

Switzerland is beautiful and easy day or overnight train from Venice. Then an easy 4-ish hour train on to Paris. I'm partial to the area on Lac Leman outside Geneva (Montreux, Vevey, Lausanne).

missinform

Suze--that's a good idea; where in Switzerland?

missinform

Oh, dur--forgive me Suze, you answered my question about where after the part about Paris. Forgive me.

suze

These are towns along Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) outside of Geneva. Vevey is my most favorite but Montreux is fun too. They are only 10 mins apart by bus or train. You can continue on to Paris from either Lausanne or Geneva.

Certainly there are loads of other gorgeous places in Switzerland, I am familiar with this area because I have a friend who lives there and visit often. When I've stayed with her I've combine trips to Venice and Paris... is why I know it would fit in with your locations and timeline and be easy, fun train journeys.

Check it out:
www.vevey.ch
www.montreux.ch

elaine

this is my response on your duplicate thread

Author: elaine
Date: 10/21/2005, 12:20 pm
Hi
sorry about what happened, good for you! that you're still going.
Is the Venice to Paris part already booked, as in a plane ticket?
Or, could you meander other places from Venice, and just end up in Paris in order to fly home?

rex

As a dad of three daughters (one a newlywed of 350 days, one with an <i>ex</i>-fianc&eacute;, one with no plans on the horizon), my heart goes out to you and salutes your resiience. I hope it doesn't seem too mean-spirited to say that I hope he bought the plane ticket(s) and isn't quarreling with you over your plans to proceed ahead.

Given your (presumed) distress, I certainly don't want to give you any grief about how to post on an internet message board - - but I notice that you posted twice; this (double posting) is something that has been getting added attention recently... (see http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34693967 for example).

You... and other new registrants may be puzzled about how this happens or wondering if you &quot;did something wrong&quot;... some of &quot;us&quot; (regulars) think that the fault is with this web site, not you. There seems to be some kind of delay in the refresh of the left hand column (or some kind of &quot;caching&quot; problem perhaps?) which makes it hard to know, for sure, if a post &quot;took&quot;.

And it used to be that new registrants were quite perplexed at how to find your own previous posts. Hopefully, you got the message in that initial e-mail (the one tht confirms your rewgistration)... explaining &quot;click on your own name&quot;. It doesn't mention tht you may have to refresh (F5 in Windows) to get the lefthand column to display &quot;accurate&quot; (up-to-date) listings.

As for your original question, I think I would recommend Verona, and then the Aix-Arles-Avignon-Orange area. And of course, allow yourself some time to see one (or several) thing(s) at each end where you have never been... Burano? Chartres? Chantilly? just to name a few examples.

Welcome to the forum.

Best wishes,

Rex Bickers
Floyds Knobs, Indiana

TexasAggie

I'm so sorry to hear of what happened and a hearty good for you that you are going anyway. A couple interesting places very close to Venice are Verona (lots of ancient Roman ruins) and Ravenna (a little further away). Ravenna was the seat of the Byzantine Empire for a while and has some amazing architecture and mosaics from that period.

Another thought... Florence and Tuscany is only a short train ride away. I'm not positive, but I believe the olive harvest will be going on in mid-November.

missinform

Dear Rex--Thank you for the suggestions and the admonition. As a newbie, I got the idea from another post that re-posting was a good idea because regulars tended to post early in the morning and, presumably, later posts got lost. Your point is taken.

missinform

I'm still at a loss for the Paris part of the trip--France is so huge. How do y'all feel about Rouen, LeHavre, and Chambourg?

rex

&lt;&lt;I got the idea from another post that re-posting was a good idea because regulars tended to post early in the morning and, presumably, later posts got lost.&gt;&gt;

The customary &quot;solution&quot; to a post that get &quot;lost&quot; (on the &quot;second page&quot; or even further down) is &quot;topping&quot;... adding any little (even inconsequential message, such as &quot;to the top&quot to pop your message back up.

In fact, someyimes a message with one &quot;reply&quot; (even if it only says &quot;topping&quot, seems to get more people looking at it... than a mesage with zero replies.

suze

What the heck, I'll answer this one too. Paris and Venice are two perfect cities to do solo. I have, and LOVED every minute. Actually that would be a fantasy vacation for me... 1 week Venice, and 1 week Paris, just kicking around, drinking wine in cafes, like that. I don't see the problem (kidding, and meant most kindly).

starrsville

Good for you! I am so glad you are going on your own.

I REALLY enjoyed seeing Paris with Fat Tire Bike Tours. I loved the evening tour. They also do day trips out to Versaille and Giverney. Check out their website. It would be a fun way to get out of the city, see some sights you haven't seen and be around folks without being intruded upon.

The trips should be a blast. Everyone I've heard from who has taken them has loved them.

There was also something unique on this board last week - dinner with Michael Haynes? I'll see if I can find the link.

starrsville

http://www.fattirebiketoursparis.com...ght-tour.shtml

It looks like the V &amp; G tours end in October. The Paris tour should be fun!

starrsville

www.jim-haynes.com

Here's an excerpt from the trip report I just topped

We freshened up and took the metro from Odeon to Alesia where we had dinner with Jim Haynes. (www.jim-haynes.com). What a neat experience. We were a little nervous and shy, but we walked in to the booming voice &quot;Hi! Who are you?&quot;. We introduced ourselves and were then told who everyone was, who to talk to, etc. Too fun! We met people from all over the world and stayed for about three hours. It was quite a packed house and I don't know what they would have done without an outdoor space and nice weather, but we had a great time. As we left my husband praised Jim for what he's been doing all these years and Jim answered by saying &quot;Crazy, aren't I?&quot;.

starrsville

Also topped Dayne's solo Italy trip report.

You may be interested in taking the TGV to Avignon and visiting that walled city for a day or so - then picking up a rental car and drive around Provence for a few days. We did that last May and I would feel very comfortable doing that solo.