LOL, great report Sharon! My kind of gals, I love the declared shopping days. they are very important, I make sure to have at least one in every city. Love the lessons also. Totally agree with #1 in Paris. Was there once end of January 20 degrees and raining, didn't care a bit. Thanks for posting.

Sharon,

Really, really enjoyed your trip report – I have to say that I love reading trip reports that involve groups of friends. I actually remember your last trip report – did you guys also go to Italy, or am I just confusing you with someone else?

Your report really brought back a lot of memories on our recent trip in May(both good and bad) – I totally agree with separate rooms toward the end of the trip. We were on a budget, but I think separate rooms are a necessity for everyone to come back alive :) Also agree about not giving up when looking for something, no matter how frustrated you get. Your Amy seems like my DS when it comes to directions – although I called her Jason Bourne for her scary spy-like inherent sense of direction…she never needed to look at a map for more than 3 seconds, and then take off while leaving us running to catch up to her…don’t you love travel!

I never realized you could order a hot citron presse – learn new things everyday on Fodors!

LOL!!! What a delightful report, Sharon. I love it, and now, I must go back and reread your Le Clip story.

I wish I had the same knack for writing as you do.

Anna, you are right. We did Italy and Paris two years ago. We had to change planes on the way over to Rome in Amsterdam and that's what gave us the idea to go there. I think the three of us are planning to visit Prague and Vienna in 2009.

We are all good friends but it does help to be able to go back to your own little private room at the end of the day.

Fabulous -- and hilarious -- report! I want to start my own Women with Money tour next year.

I have a friend who is just like your pal Amy -- she refuses to take a taxi and wants to walk 10 miles back to the hotel, no matter how swollen/sore our feet may be. Repeat after me: *we can afford it!*

Sharon - forgot to ask you in my last post - did Amy end up taking the train with you and Saundra in Versailles or did she walk instead? Seems like it got tense, and I wanted to know how it was after with all three of you.

We had a few tense moments on our last trip, and I always like to get input from others who travel with friends.

Anna, since Amy is 20 years younger, she walked most of the way but did meet up with us at the last stop and got on the train. We never stay mad long and we just teased her and she was fine. We really love Amy. It is nice because I'm good friends with Amy and her mom Saundra who is more my age. Sometimes I do things with just one of them and it all works out fine.

Thanks Sharon,

I have to go back and find your last trip report - I'm positive it was just as hilariously funny as this one was!

I am at home alone tonight and sitting here at my computer laughing out loud hysterically. You must be Elvira reincarnated, and that's a definite compliment.

I'm sending this thread to my sister who lives in Nashville, who has not been to Europe, and claims she has no interest in going. How on earth could she pass up experiences like these?

<<after realizing we were too big to wear the clothes we hit the Food Hall where we knew we could find our size.>>

Well, that's just very, very funny.

Sharon, I'm quite sure it would be a kick to sit at the next table from y'all = I imagine the Belgians told their friends it was they who were entertained.

LOVED the "nothing would fit on our pinkies" comment. What a great trip report, Sharon!

This is my favorite part..."Saundra and I went across the street to Pescatore, an Italian restaurant that we would frequent for the remainder of the trip always arriving early enough to eat with the waitstaff,our new BFFs."

I didn't know you went back! Oh, I can't wait for all of this report! My favorite trip report writer!!!

Sharon, Thanks for a wonderful laugh! You write so beautifully. Please, Sharon or someone, take pity on me and help me find the Le Clip thread on the Trio's previous trip, to Italy and Paris. I have searched and searched and come up dry. Thanks for your help!

I think if you click on my name you will find the original report about Le Clip. I wrote that one in 3 parts so it is a little confusing.

Thanks Starrs but this is the end of the report!

Betsy, to be compared to Elvira is the highest praise!!!

Saundra and I are planning the Women With Money Tour next Spring so stay tuned.

Thank you Sharon. Thank you. You do write beautifully.

I'll go find LeClip again...

your doppleganger is Audrey Hepburn?

Well Suzie, maybe I stretched it a bit with Audrey. I like to think of myself as a young Elizabeth Taylor!

great report and thank you for the laughs and your wonderful sense of humor...i'm emailing it to my own daughter ......just some instances she will reltate to :)

SharonG: our upcoming trip to Amsterdam will never be the same.
Thank you! I laughed so hard, I cried.
We should be paying you to write this stuff, absoulutely wonderful.

When I read something like this I wonder why it is there aren't more movies made about the charm of travel and its inherent humor. Possibly the movie industry is not much interested in charm when it can keep so busy making stories filled with poo jokes or wholeslase slaughter. (The "travel" films of the past year or so have centered on partying students -is there any other kind today? - and the ease with which they fall into the hands of torturing sadist thrill-seekers. Special.)

Well, I still haven't seen Paris, je t'aime, so I better not complain too loudly. Still, and at the risk of being called a middle aged woman instead of a middle-aged man, some of my favorite movies are Summertime, Pane e Tulipani, Shirley Valentine. Also The Third Man, Our Man in Havana, Ronin, the Bourne films - my international spy/jewel thief mood.

Just saw L'auberge Espagnole, which should be required viewing for Fodorite Europe posters. Eight students from around Europe all share an apartment in Barcelona - occasionally it feels like the TN TRIO times 3. REcommended.