The bus arrived on the edge of Venice around 6pm, leaving us a bit of a distance out of Venice proper. It is a short walk over to the People-Mover where you buy a transit ticket from a machine, then climb stairs or use the elevator up to the platform to board the mini rapid-transit. This takes you from Tronchetta Island, where the cars and buses park, to a stop at the cruise ship terminal, then on to Venice. Our walking route took us over the large and busy bridge towards the front of the train station and into the crowds. Luckily our small and lightweight High Sierra rolling backpacks served us well, making it much easier this year to walk a distance with our luggage. The sights and sounds of Venice immediately and overwhelmingly assaulted ... read more

We left Salzburg by train, after a 7:00AM taxi ride which our hosts graciously arranged for us. The Salzburg train station is easy to find your way around in and we had purchased our tickets for Hallstatt there a few days earlier. The short train journey of less than 3 hours, including one quick train change around halfway, was through beautiful countryside and into the mountains dotted with small towns and the occasional castle. It was just starting to rain as we got off at the Hallstatt stop. There is a small building here in the wilderness at the side of the track and a path leads down to a small walk-on ferry to take you on a 15 minute ride across the lake to the town of Hallstatt. I remembered that our hotel was on ... read more

40 minutes on two metro lines north of our home base in the 2nd arrondissement, is the district of St. Denis. We made the trip out here on Sunday to see the Saint Denis Basilica Cathedral and a necropolis, and the huge market nearby that is on every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. The market has hundreds of stalls across a large square and spilling out down the streets running off in every direction. Most of them are outdoors with clothing, shoes, luggage, lingerie, scarves, cell phones and electronics, a variety of produce and Moroccan ethnic foods. This is the sort of crowded, sketchy market where you do not keep anything in your pockets and you hold your bag close. The indoor market was nearly as large with numerous butchers, bakeries, fish merchants, cheeses, ... read more

The medieval town of Provins, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001. Existing since the early Middle Ages, Provins was a wealthy commercial town. On the ancient lands of the Earls of Champagne, Provins is located on the crossroads of the European trade roads. Although a busy tourist attraction, this is a real town, with citizens, schools, and regular businesses. Streets and walkways are rough and cobble-stoned, buildings are surrounded by high walls, gardens and huge old trees. Walking through the townsite really is like stepping back in time. There are a lot of interesting things to explore here and our visit stretched into several hours. Our Metro Navigo Pass covered our SNCF Transilien train fare from Paris Gare de l'est to Provins, as well as a PROCARS small sh... read more

When planning a trip to see the house and gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny, it is definitely best to buy the 10.50€ tickets online a day or more ahead of time. http://giverny.org/gardens/fcm/ticket/. You can print them yourself, or if you don't have a printer available like us, you can pick them up at any fnac outlet. http://www.fnactickets.com/listePointVenteEdito.do. With advance tickets you can ignore the 1 to 2 hour lineup and walk straight in through the Advance Ticket and Group Entry. You can reach Giverny from Paris by train for 14.70€ from the Gare St Lazare station. We rode on the 8:19AM train, choosing forward-facing seats upstairs on the right side for the best views, arriving in Vernon at 9:05. Right outside the station door you will have various shuttle servic... read more