France – The Chicken Scratches

Lyon, France (06-16 May 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeMay 16, 2018June 5, 20220

On Sunday, May 6, Drew, Drake, Pat and I boarded the train in Nice for our ride to Lyon. The train was comfortable and fast, hitting 181 mph at some point. We were in the first-class section in the upstairs observation deck, with a table between us. There was a single car between us and the dinning car where we went to pickup snacks to last us until we got to Lyon. Being in the upper deck was great, allowing us to really see the passing countryside. Once at the Lyon Part-Dieu train station, we picked up sandwiches to take …

Cap Ferrat and Around (22 April – 05 May 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeMay 5, 2018June 5, 20220

We drove from Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer to the Nice airport. It was a beautiful drive through the countryside, hugging the coastline. Jenny and the boys picked us up at the airport and we all headed to the house we would share for a few weeks in Cap Ferrat. This is a peninsula, jutting out into the Mediterranean, located between Nice and Monaco. As with many, if not most, of the towns and cities in France, the roads are narrow, and in the rental car we drove from Toulouse, and the car Jenny picked us up in, too narrow! These roads were not …

France – Driving to Nice (20-22 April 2018)

by Pat & Ray WhydeApril 22, 2018June 5, 20220

The bus trip from Andorra to Toulouse airport took a little over 3 hours and passed through some beautiful mountain scenery. In Toulouse, the rental car company, SixT, upgraded us to a bigger car with no drop-off charge because they needed the car in Nice. Turns out a bigger car is not necessarily a good thing in a country with narrow roads designed for smaller cars. Fortunately, we made it to Nice without any dents or scratches (there may have been a few indentation in the interior from us occasionally gripping too hard). We had decide to drive to Bezier …

Paris (7-25 July 2017)

by Pat & Ray WhydeJuly 24, 2017October 9, 2022

Continuing our adventure that started in Singapore, moved to Copenhagen, on to Hamburg and now, on to Paris… Our AirBnB was located about halfway between Sacre-Coeur and the Louvre. Great location. Observations on Paris: Rue Cadet was a good place to stay, as it was about equidistant from many of the sites we want to see. Pastries are wonderful A large cup of coffee isn’t (see photo below). If you want a large coffee, order an Americano or better still go to Starbucks or McDonalds Good city for walking Crowded with tourists Most French beer is bland People speak English …