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France & Switzerland - May/June, 1999

Eiffel Tower and from top of Tower   

Started in Paris for a week of touring, sightseeing, eating and drinking.  Cool weather in Paris in late May & Early June (not Tee Shirt and Shorts weather).  Overcastted and rained a bit - needed a Jacket through-out the stay.

Food was excellent and reasonable.  Tremendously easy to get around on the Metro - extensive, but easy to navigate.

Strasbourg on the River - many nice restaurants along the water

Took the train from Paris to Strasbourg, a four hour trip, but nice scenery along the way.  Strasbourg is a wonderful city, close to the German border, so the food tends to be more German in nature (and the beer too!).  Not as much for sightseeing, but nice areas to walk around and spend time in, particularly in City Centre.  Along the River, Petite France, was great and worth spending time in (good restaurants and outdoor cafes).

Flower Clock in Geneva

Picked up a rental car in Strasbourg, and drove to Geneva, stopping in Colmar, France for lunch (a nice small town with a great city centre for browsing and shopping).  Geneva was nice and the flower clock was notable.  A nice day drive around Lake Geneva produces some great sights including a stop in Evian (of the water!)

Lake Annecy in Annecy, France

From Geneva, on to Annecy for a night - a great city on Lake Annecy - wish I had spent more time there - Good food and compact area for sightseeing.

Lyon, France from Fourviere Cathedral

Drove on to Lyon, France.  A more blue collar city with much less sightseeing then the previous cities, but nice to see.  Good restaurants and food was excellent.

 Took "Bullet Train" from Lyon to Paris - a 390 miles trip that took 2 hours!  Nice smooth ride and fast!  All in all, a great trip and the highway systems in France and Switzerland are great and easy to navigate through - but, be warned, they do drive fast!