jo ann

further notes on driving in Paris: <BR>we were there this summer. Upon leaving we were heading south towards Provence. I've done several trips where I was the one who did the driving (my friends seemed to figure that since I spoke and read French, I must be best for the avenues or something) but this time my husband (a retired Navy pilot, usually a fearless driver, but a trifle intimidated by Paris traffic) 2 things made it a painless departure: Our travel agent had lined us up with AutoEurope (which for us used Avis) and importantly, something I had never known on other trips, rather than hoof it somehow to the rental location for avis, for a mere $21 they delivered the car right to our hotel. It was great! (minimized the schlepping of bags and since we were on the left bank we were 1/2way out. <BR>The second thing that was important is that I love maps and love finding routes and navigating. The teamwork was great!

Barry

In my opinion, if you can drive comfortably in NY, Boston, Chicago then Europe presents no hindrances which should cause one to consider not driving if so inclined. <BR>Rome, Paris, Florence, London....slightly different rules but it's part of tasting the local lifestyle.

jim

i did the same thing witih my parents--rent a car from gare de lyon (from budget, through auto europe) after staying three days in paris, and then drove to the "peripherique" to the main road toward the loire valley. it was absolutely no problem at all getting out of paris, and we actually first drove the car back to the hotel (near the pantheaon) to pick up my mom and then headed out of town at around 11:30AM. it was fine. i dont't think i'd want to drive around paris downtown at rush hour, or around some of the circles like place de la concorde, for example, but we had no trouble getting out of town really at all. missed one exit on the perpherlique, but that wasn't a big deal. <BR> <BR>too bad you don't drive stick. prices are much less otherwise. i rented through autoeurope, and there was no drop fee, even to drop in belgium. if you drive in a citiy at all, and are used to that kind of driving (i live in DC) you won't find paris too daunting at all. i was really worried after reading all the cautions here, but i just decided to just get the car in paris, and get out of dodge right away, and it was fine!

jim

also saw in your message you're looking directions/routes for the trip to loire. i think we took the A-11 from paris (a spoke off the peripherique) towrd chartres (which you absolutely can't miss if you're going to the loire) and then on toward blois on the back roads. also note that the big roads in france have an "E" designation as well as the local country designation, such as A. the E is the european route #. you also might want to check this web site, which gives you driving directions. it was pretty accurate, and at least gives you a start from which you can check a map: http://www.cwlease.fr/cwlint/selection.html