Tons of Luggage

Sometimes it is better if you don't get a bright idea.

Yesterday, the light bulb lit above the head and I sat down and listed each time I had to lift the TWO 70 pound suitcases that we took to France. Since they both weighed 80 pounds on the return, I used an average weight of 75 pounds each and multiplied by the 18 times I remembered lifting them and came up with 2700 pounds.

If you add in the hefting of the two 25 pound hand luggages, the heavy camera bag, the insulated drink bag (and there were many more times that I lifted them), I probably lifted over 2 tons (!!) of stuff during my vacation.

No wonder I am tired this week.

Driving in France

I am an unusual American; I love to drive in France.

The French drive fast, but safely (well, er, for the most part anyway). They are very predictable in what they are about to do. They use turn signals to change lanes. They stay on the right, if they can. That means that traffic doesn't bunch up on the autoroutes like it does on our interstates.

I reserved a Renault Scenic wagon, but ended up with "an equivalent" Opel Zafira. The Opel is about the size of an American minivan. It worked out perfectly for those two heavy, large luggages. I just opened the back hatch (up) and slid the luggages in side-by-side. Then I tossed the hand luggage on top.

It was a 5-speed straight stick (the automatic would have been an extra $300) with air conditioning. Thank God for the a/c! BTW, car rental in France in tourist season is expensive. My 3-week rental without the a/c was a little over $800. Not including $1 a liter (that's about $4 a gallon) gas. Nor did it include our expensive autoroute tolls.

My left leg got a lot of exercise since we did a lot of two-lane mountain driving and bumper-to-bumper (hmmm, around the Etoile at the Arc de Triumph you could say bumper-to-door) driving. Since I wear my Frenchman hat when I drive over there, that means I did all of the shifting necessary to try and keep up with traffic. (Hell, the truth is that I tried to out-race them! And succeeded some of the time.)

Up shift, down shift, up shift. You know... 2 - 3 - 2 - 3 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 3. Damn rare to make it to gear 5 in the mountains.

It had a 1.8 liter, 16 valve engine. Strong car. With the European gearing, that meant it would go faster than 160 km/hr (that's 100 mph!) easily. Even fully loaded. And... it did! Several times!

I actually got compliments, not complaints, from the french passengers that rode with me. Nary a gasp from 'em. Do any of you know of a grand prix racing team that needs an aging driver?

We're back from France!

The wife and I got back home at 2 a.m. on Sunday after three weeks visiting her relatives and the various sights in France. The weather was hot and air conditioning was not often available, but we had a great time.

Here's a thumbnail sketch of the trip...

Spent the first week in Nice with bed and board furnished by a cousin, who lived just four blocks from the Med beaches. Yes, we saw a few topless sunbathers. *grin*

Managed to make trips to Cannes and Monaco. Yes, we gambled there. A little. At the cheap casino, not the one where the cost of admission was arriving in a Ferrari, Lambergini, or stretch Mercedes. And with the minimum bet at blackjack 200 french francs, we limited our gambling to 1 ff electronic slots. :-)

We stopped by St. Tropez for half a day on our way to Digne to spend three nights with the wife's sister. It is an interesting town, but the traffic jams we had to endure to get there made it not one of our favorite stops.

We took two days to go from Digne to the wife's mother's place 40 miles south of Paris. Spent our only night in a hotel in Beaune (just south of Djon). Was a Novotel. Almost a clone of a Holiday Inn. The wife enjoyed the pool and we both enjoyed a night of sleep in a/c.

During our last week at the mother-in-law's place in Boutigny Sur Essonne -- a typical French village, we managed to make three trips up to Paris. The highlight of the trip was the Sunday, July 29, journey to Champs Elysees to see the end of the Tour de France. American Lance Armstrong won the world's most famous bike race for the third time.

I survived 2400 km of French driving. Rented an Opel Zafira wagon. Nice car. And it did 160 km/hr (that's 100 mph!) easily on the autoroutes.

We ate well. We walked a lot. We had fun. We spent less than we budgeted. I'm ready to go again.