Back from vacation

[jziegler]

I haven't posted too much recently, I was on vacation in France last week (celebrating my 5th wedding anniversary a few days late). I got back on Monday afternoon, and am just getting around to checking in here. We had a good trip, and I have a preview of our trip photography up on my site (actually, uploaded while over there, but don't have anything from the last day). Take a look if you'd care to:

http://jziegler.smugmug.com/travel/france/france-2009

Even though it was a good trip, it is always good to be back home, and the dogs were so happy to see come to the dog sitters to pick them up.

Jim

[JR]

Nice tour of the Chateaux de France! Good thinking to spend a little time in Paris, then head for the countryside. Double good thinking for taking the back roads.

Happy anniversary!

JR

[cabinetman]

That's a real travel gloat. Some great pictures and narrative.
.

[cgallery]

Great photos, reminds me a lot of Milwaukee.

Okay, not really.

But it looks like it was a great trip.

[Rand]

Fantastic pictures. What make/model camera did you use?

[herb fellows]

Very nice! Must get back there, it's been over 10 years!

[jziegler]

Nice tour of the Chateaux de France! Good thinking to spend a little time in Paris, then head for the countryside. Double good thinking for taking the back roads.

Happy anniversary!

JR

Well, the back roads were not always intentional. We didn't plot out route beforehand, but were relying on a GPS. GPS units are funny things, one time they will keep you on the highway as long as possible, the next, roads that are so tiny that you sometimes think that they are a driveway. But, it certainly gave us a good view of the countryside.

That's a real travel gloat. Some great pictures and narrative.
.

I wasn't trying to gloat. The real gloat was how low airfares were this summer, which is the reason that we decided to go. Every other trip we have made to Europe has been in the winter. This airfare was almost as low as many of the winter ones.

Great photos, reminds me a lot of Milwaukee.

Okay, not really.

But it looks like it was a great trip.

Darn, if I had know that, we could have visited Milwaukee. Less time on the plane is always a good thing.

Fantastic pictures. What make/model camera did you use?

Thanks. First, I'll say the common statement, that the camera doesn't make the photo (although, it does help). I have a Nikon D60 and three of their cheapest lenses. The key is in learning how to use it.

Very nice! Must get back there, it's been over 10 years!

You should look into it. As I mentioned above, the summer (and now fall) airfares are very good this year. But even winter trips are very nice.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Jim

[HarmsWay]

Great photos! Brings back some good memories. We did a quick trip a couple of years ago that hit a few of same spots (Paris and Amboise). We were there in September so the lineups at places like the Louvre weren't that bad. We decided to go straight to Mona to get that out of the way. She was the least impressive part of the Louvre but everyone asks if we saw her. I enjoyed Amboise. That trip we didn't have a car and found it quite limiting, although not in Paris - I had no desire to drive in Paris. We went back last year for all of June and stayed in the south except for flying in and out of CDG. We rented a little diesel Renault with a GPS and saw a lot.

This year we went to Regina. Not that there is anything wrong with Regina but...

Bob

[jziegler]

Great photos! Brings back some good memories. We did a quick trip a couple of years ago that hit a few of same spots (Paris and Amboise). We were there in September so the lineups at places like the Louvre weren't that bad. We decided to go straight to Mona to get that out of the way. She was the least impressive part of the Louvre but everyone asks if we saw her. I enjoyed Amboise. That trip we didn't have a car and found it quite limiting, although not in Paris - I had no desire to drive in Paris. We went back last year for all of June and stayed in the south except for flying in and out of CDG. We rented a little diesel Renault with a GPS and saw a lot.

This year we went to Regina. Not that there is anything wrong with Regina but...

Bob

Sounds like you did a good bit of the same stuff then. We skipped the Mona Lisa, both having seen it before, and agreeing, it is overrated. Not saying it's not a good painting, but there is lots in the Louvre that I like better. A few years ago we went to the Loire and rather than renting a car, we took a van tour of the area (1 1/2 days). It was a great intro to the area, but this time we wanted to go to some of the less visited castles, and skip a couple of the big ones. So we rented a car. And renting an automatic in Europe isn't cheap.

I'll admit, I had to look up Regina. It looks like a nice place to go, but I'll take Europe.

I'd just like to add that I uploaded a few photos from day 6 last night. They are in part two:

http://jziegler.smugmug.com/travel/f...-2009-part-two

The final (much larger) galleries will take a while. There are about 3000 photos to sort through.

Jim

[jaybee]

This year we went to Regina. Not that there is anything wrong with Regina but...

Bob

Nuff Said. We went to Regina too. That means going out the door and stopping. SWMBO is threatening to book a houseboat excursion at Shuswap. I'm thinking that now would be a good time to get that soon to be mandatory boating licence.