Back from Germany and France

We just returned from our second European adventure in France and Germany. The Finnish Maple League of American football was on a two week hiatus due to the European championships in Frankfurt, so we decided to do some more exploring. We spent our first break back in June touring around Scandinavia in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark along with visiting Estonia and Latvia. This time we decided to head to western Europe and take a road trip to Paris, and then continue on to the Normandy and Brittany regions of northern France. We had all been to France and Germany on prior occasions, but we decided to do things a little differently on this trip. We booked accomodations in a variety of settings including budget chain hotels, a French countryside Gîte and a farmhouse. There will be more on these experiences on a later posting. Things didn't start off so well for us upon flying into Frankfurt, Germany last Thursday. We decided to rent a GPS system since we would be traveling to many small towns and villages along the way, but we struck out with both systems that were given to us. I say both because the first one was faulty and we had to backtrack some 30 kilometers to trade it in after realizing it wasn't working properly. The second one seemed fine until it ran out of charge somewhere east of Paris around 1 am in the morning on our first day of traveling. We couldn't get it to recharge, so we spent a few hours driving in circles around Paris (see also Chevy Chase in the film European vacation) until arriving at our hotel around 3:30 am. There was no parking at the hotel because the garage was full, so we spent the next 45 minutes driving around the place looking for a place to park. Finally, we parked illegally on a side street in front of the hotel with the blessing of the night front desk person. We had already had our picture taken earlier in the day by a German traffic attendant who was threatening to give us a ticket because we were parked in a zone that was off limits. The fact that the rental car company told us to park there didn't seem to matter to him, so we'll leave it at that. After getting settled in around 4:30 am, we finally went to sleep with great anticipation for our time in Paris. Here are some photos from the first leg of the trip.

The Eiffel Tower-- just over 1,000 feet tall

The River Seine and the Eiffel tower go together like love and Paris

Kamryn and Kodie on their way up

Keep going guys

Looking down onto the green lawns of the Champ de Mars

The tower offers great views of the Panthéon-- which contains the remains of distinguished French citizens like the scientist Marie Curie and Louis Braille

Beautiful views of Paris in all directions

Looking down on the bridges that span the Seine

Estalita and I celebrating our 15th anniversary in Paris-- The Arc de Triomphe looms in the background

The Tour De France festivities were in full swing

These guys work to keep the Eiffel tower sparkling and shiny-- the tower is painted every seven years requiring more than 50 tons of paint to do the job

This car has really gone "Green"

Part of the Renault "future cars show" in Paris

Some interesting looking boats navigate the waters of the Seine

A Grand Entry Way

Strolling the Champs de Elysees-- this avenue is world famous and full of cafes, bars, and designer shops and boutiques.-- This one and a quarter mile stretch is still considered the most expensive strip of real estate in Paris

Taking a short time-out from our long day of walking

the Palace of Versailles-- about a one mile walk from our hotel-- The treaty of Versailles was signed here in 1919, essentially bringing World War I to an end. Germany was held accountable for her actions in the conflict and many believe this treaty set the stage for the second World conflict which began only 20 years later. Italy, England, France, and the U.S. had many disagreements while hammering out the details of the treaty. It is said that President Wilson had to step in between the French and English leaders to keep them from throwing punches!

Lights out.