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france is a place ofgentle beauty, where the play of light can turn theroutine into the exceptional. my name's steve smith, and for 25 yearsi've been introducing rick to my favorite french people, and teaching himthe art of french living, while he taught me the science of guidebook writing.together we've produced a variety of books, maps, phrasebooks, and travel tipsto help you negotiate this marvelous country. france is filled withiconic sights and mesmerizing views. my job today is to help you sort throughmany of those, so that you can organize your trip to be the bestexperience possible for you on your trip,

hopefully in 2015 or 2016. let's getoriented first. france is central in europe, in western europe, you'll noticeit just between spain, with atlantic to its west, the mediterranean to the south,and germany, austria, switzerland, to its east. it doesn't suffer from the extremeheat of the south, nor cold of the north, so it's a mild climate, things grow wellthere. food, wine, think that. it's about 700 miles across from east to west andnorth to south. were it a square, it would take about eleven hours to go to top to bottom orleft to right. what's astonishing about this country, is the variety of scenerythat is packed within a country eighty per cent the size of the state of texas. forthis country offers, from its northern

monumental city of paris, to the capitalof the riviera, nice, in the south, pastoral landscapes, like this in normandy, to rock sculptedvillages of provence hanging from cliff edges. two distinctly differentcoastlines dominate the coastal region in france, from the rugged atlantic tothe west, to the balmy, warm seas of the mediterranean to the south. wouldn't central european countries loveat least one coastline, france is blessed with two distinctly different ones. andif it's the highest peaks in europe that you must scale, you gotta go to france.france's-- europe's highest peaks are in

the alps, 15,700 foot mont blancis resting there between switzerland and france for youto visit. the alps are just one of the main mountain regions in france, there are twoothers. the pyrenees form the mountain range to the southwestern corner of thecountry, guarding the border to spain andportugal, and the massif central mountain range harbors great canyons to thesoutheastern part of france, surprising many americans as the destination foreuropean outdoor lovers and thrill-seekers. kayakers, whitewaterrafters, rock climbers love southern france for that reason. france has avariety of each culture. traveling between

the various regions in france, you'llexperience different cultures and cuisines, as well as different scenery.for one day you could be here, the northeastern corner of france, quaffingliters of beer next to these germanic fellows, hearing a language that soundsvery german, and eating sauerkraut smothered in ham, and potatoes, andsausage, in the alsace in the northwestern corner of the country. thenext day, maybe ten hours away by car, an hour flight away, you'd encounterlads like this who look more irish than french, and they are because this isbrittany, whose history and roots carry that history with them. andhere in this in this region of brittany,

their sauerkraut is crepes and galette for dinner everynight. i imagine that most of these kids have never even seen sauerkraut in theirlife. such is the cuisine so regional in france. to the southwestern corner, wherethe locals look "muy spanish" and paella is on most venues and the fiesta-- thesiesta is still respected, to the southeastern corner where the-- wherefrance inherited its italian heritage of "what me worry," "what's the hurry,"devil-may-care italian sort of love of life attitude. and you'll see this in the riviera andthe regions that border italy, and you find fresh pasta in most shops, andwindows, and in restaurants in this

corner. traveling through france thenis like experiencing a variety of different countries in europe withinthis small country, again smaller than the state of texas. but france is morethan just a beautiful place to eat well and drink well, for in many ways, the richheritage of this country's history is a yardstick of human achievement. for here,you can trace the whole of western civilization from mesmerizing cave art20,000 years old, to roman ruins that rival anything that italy has tooffer, to feudal fortresses that rival anything that the rest of the europeancountries have to offer, like here at carcassonne. all of this, in the countryof france. in the middle ages, france

gave birth to gothic architecture.stretching the-- this technique of designing churches to stretch its ceilingstaller and filling their windows with radiant windows of stained glass. in the 1500s and 1600s, engineers and architects design palaces by thehundreds like this, announcing france's emergence aseurope's first superpower, and richest country by far. becoming the envy of kings and queensthroughout europe, where palaces like this at vaux le vicomte, and certainly versailles justoutside the city of paris. in the 1800's, france gave birth to impressionist art,

and the foundation of modern art, and theway we think abstractly today, born in the roots of french soil. you cantrace the origins too on your trip to france, all of this history stayingwithin this one country, and maintaining that foundation. france today insists onremaining capital of art today, designing homes for contemporary artiststhroughout the country, and performing arts as well, like the pompidou centerhere in paris. for many people, this range, or this combination i wanna say, of richhistory, glorious scenery, great food and wine right sounds pretty tempting. andthey would have been long ago, many times, were it not for the french. waiters likethis can seem intimidating, until you

understand how this system works. understand that this waiters tip isincluded in the bill. you do not tip in french restaurants,maybe just a little bit if the person was nice to you, but you don't tip. histips are included in the bill so he's not working for a tip, he's paid to befast and efficient. if you understand how the system works and you slow down,you'll have that waiter eating out of your hand, by understanding the system andworking with that waiter. slow down, that's the first rule of travel in france tome, slow your itinerary down. see fewer regions, more time in fewer region forfrance rewards the traveler who slows down.

take time to sample the goat cheese from jerry garcia's farm. if you're moving too fast you won't even see that he'shanding with that lovely piece of goat cheese. connect with the locals. i offeropportunities throughout the book in france to make these connections. goon a wine tour with michelle in southern france, take a cooking class anywhere throughoutthe country, connect with the locals, with thesefluent english-speaking people, and understand what matters to them aboutculture and their country. and your trip will have an added dimension and becomemuch richer for it. traveling in france. getting around thecountry is really about as good as it

gets. france is home to europe's state of the artbullet train system connecting all the major cities. two hundred miles anhour whisking you from left to right, to up to down. and remember. the country'sonly 700 miles across any way. you can cover alot of territory thanks to this technology. that's the good news. the badnews is you have to reserve these high-speed trains in france and franklyanywhere in europe. it's about $10 for a reservation, that's no problem, but ifyou're traveling with a rail pass, which is generally a good value for americans,it's heavily subsidized by the french government. the problem is that theylimit the number of seats for pass

holders on these tgvs, which means youjust have to be on the ball. book your train well ahead if you're travelingwith a rail pass, otherwise you don't have to worry about it that much, or separate your rail pass from tgvtrains and buy those trips when you're in france. local trains takeover will thewhere the bullet trains leave off, getting you to smaller towns andmid-size towns, and this will be most of the train riding you'll do if you'retraveling by train in france. and minivans and regional buses take offwhere those trains leave you, allowing you to explore this marvelously,largely rural, country whether you're driving or not. these minivan tours thati'm showing you an example of here in the alsace

region are an opportunity, even if you'redriving, to spend a day with a local. with running commentary as you go, join otherpeople and pile into his minivan. it's anywhere from 40 to 80 dollars aday for this kind of service, you see, and if you don't have a car it's essentialto seeing the small villages, caves in the dordogne region or the d-day beaches forexample. france seems to me like it was made for driving. the country after paris, betweenparis and nice, is largely-- the highlights of this country are rural innature. you'll end up on a lot of small roadsjust like this. well maybe not quite this small, but thebeauty of driving in france is a big

-- they drive on the same side of the road thatwe do, obey largely the same traffic rules that we do, and so much the country'srural compared to italy, or spain for example, where cities dominate yoursightseeing menu. in france it's gonna be castles,vineyards, hill towns and the like. making the advantage of a car terrific. i thinka great way to go when traveling to france is to mix high-speed train travelwith car rental. a lot of people like to do that, why drive the eight hours fromparis to provence? take the two-hour bullet train, then rent a car from there,you see, unless you have things you wanna see on the way. there are a couple of keysigns i want to remind you of today

before you embark on your driving in france,and this is the most important one. this signed is found throughout smallroads and highways in france everywhere. it warns you that there is a radarcoming, a camera box, that the speed limit is 50 miles, and if you're going fasterthan that, in 130 meters where the camera is, you'll get a ticket.and you ask yourself, how could anybody screw that up? you won't believe howoften they happen, how easy it is to do. and if you're even going just 52 kilometers,two kilometers over the speed limit, that's like a mile and a half, you'll stillget a ticket, and the biggest part of the ticket is the ticket itself, not themileage above and beyond the speed limit.

pay attention to those radar signs, andbuying gas is not as easy as it appears. understand i had this summer at ourhouse in burgundy where i hang my beret in research season, and friends cameto visit and rented a car and put the wrong gas in their diesel car. that's notcovered by insurance we found out, so i mean seriously understand that "gasoil" isdiesel, it comes in-- it's always black or yellow on the fuel handles. regular arethe other red and green handles that you see. diesel gas is far cheaper france,20 to 25% cheaper than regular gasoline. most for manual transmissions come withit. it's a good deal and the mileage is better, you want a diesel car if you candrive a manual transmission. if you

insist on an automatic car, probably it'sgoing to use regular gasoline. not the end of the world, the distances justaren't that great in france. even though they pay more than twice per gallon what we do, their carstypically get typically get twice the mileage, and again, the distance isn'tthat great. that's what i've realized years of researching by train-- car, pardon me.the problem of buying gas after hours is an example of theheadache of traveling with credit cards today in france for some americans,credit cards work brilliantly at restaurants, hotels, shops, as long asthere's a person in front of you it's

just like here, but if you want to useticket machines, pay toll booths because the toll roads in france aren't manned anymore, or youmight want to buy a train ticket from a ticket machine, or gas after hours. good luck, unless you have a chip on yourcredit card and a four digit pin associated with that, and even if youhave that as an american, don't count on it working everywhere. i don't understandwhy that's the case, but all of the researchers at rick steves have had thatexperience, so your best bet is to get that credit card, 'cause it will work much of the time,but also always have cash on hand to pay that toll road when you leave thefreeway, or to buy gas when you need it

and you're almost out, right. okay, sleeping in france. sleeping is-- aroundfrance accommodations are a remarkable range at reasonable prices. the mainstay hotels there are starred from oneto five stars. the hotels we recommend and focus on in our guidebook are two and threestar hotels. this is a two-star hotel in front of you in honfleur, downtown honfleur. also we look forcentrally located places, reasonably priced, family run whenever possible. twostar hotels are simple, comfortable places, always privatebathrooms. 80 to 100 dollars, outside the city of

paris, buys a two-star hotel on theaverage throughout the country of france. if you want a little bit more characterand sometimes more comfort, three-star hotels stay $150 a night for a doubleroom and it varies, more in paris, buys you that much more comfort, sometimes. iwant to warn you, three star hotels, i have listed many two star hotels that arebetter than three star hotels, trust the write-up in the guidebook. use a guidebook, use resources beforeyou go. and even if you find your accommodations on your own, through othersources, use our books to know what you should be paying. we update these booksevery year, these prices should be

accurate. that gives you a good handle onappropriate price to pay. the interior, three 3 star hotels is cozier, sometimeson rooms as well. four-star hotels are worth paying for, ithink, when you get to sleep in a seven hundred fifty year old castle like this,but not just 'cause you need four stars. trust me, three stars provides more thansufficient comfort for anybody in this room, and if you want to wake up feelinglike a king in the morning this is worth paying for. mix your hotel accommodations up.stay in one star, two star, three star, four star hotels. really don't insist on a certainlevel of comfort and your budget will be

pleased for that, and so will yourexperience. bed and breakfasts are marvelous optionsin france, and there are about 15,000 of them throughout the country. they're mostly in rural areas so you need a car to get to them. 80 to $100 for a double most, for most of these bed and breakfasts that i list, will buy a room and breakfast.this is a big deal because hotels in france do not include breakfast as apart of their room price. you'll save, because bed and breakfasts includebreakfast, 25 to 30 dollars on the average for a couple per day for breakfast, by stayingin bed and breakfasts, good value.

apartment rental and home rental, this isthe rage certainly in paris today. everybody wants to rent an apartment andeverybody wants to rent you an apartment. a apartment rental isrelatively easy to do, whether you go directly to the owner, or the way iprefer, using an organization to inspect these places, and i write them up in myguidebook, in our guidebook on paris to help you sift through the pros and cons.i can't know all of these apartments because they change all of the time,unlike a hotel where it stays where it is and there's 50 rooms 30 rooms, ican inspect that. i can't do that for apartments, so you're left to your owndevices or the

website reviews, client reviews to makethat decision. apartment rental won't save any money inparis, certainly, compared to a nice comfortable hotel. you'll get more space,a nice living room, and a kitchen, that's the big deal. you can savesome money on meals, certainly breakfast, by having your own cereal milk in the morning,or the advantage, i think, is you get to shop like a local, pretend that you're a local,and bring stuff back to your kitchen and have to function that way, and cook maybea few times. but it'd be a shame not even restaurants in france, don't cook inyour kitchen every night. home rental throughout france is a greatvalue, i think, compared to apartment

rental. they're called 'gite," g-i-t-e-s, and there home rental is generally saturday to friday night's,weekly only, and it's a good value. homes like this that you're seeing here in thecountryside are available throughout the country, but again its weeklyonly. here you'll spend about $1,500 on the average, and relatively high seasonfor a three-bedroom two-bathroom place so if there's three couples travelingtogether, that's 500 bucks per week per couple, good value, plus you geta kitchen and lot of space to relax. eating in france. france should besightseeing for your taste buds, that's the reason you came. this is not a placeto skimp on your sightseeing budget, and

bakeries like this should be a dailystop on anybody's itinerary. if you're staying at hotels and breakfast isn'tincluded, bakeries in cities often offer breakfastdeals for a fraction of the price. yeah sure it's a lot less than what you get atyour hotel, but a lot of times you only have the choice of $15 for the buffetbreakfast at hotel and that's too much for you. go to the neighborhood bakery, orcertainly to a cafe to order your breakfast, and save lots of money andbreakfast-- break your croissant with locals. lunches that bakeries like thisoffer, fresh sandwiches, if you look closely you'll see them there, and treatsthroughout the day. the fresh sandwiches

for $5 apiece make a great, cheap, on-the-go lunch formany people. cafes are the most flexible way to eatout in france. they're open late, their hours aregenerally longer than restaurants, and more flexible menus for you to orderfrom. and a cafe, perfect for bringing families and kids, you can order justsnails if that's all you want, or a salad or bowl of french onion soup, whereas ata restaurant or bistro, you must order at least a main course. you can split thefirst course or a dessert, that's no problem, but everybody must order a main course.you can-- this is the kind of place that i

look for naturally throughout thecountry places, where the chalkboard menu is brought to you by a waiter whosmiling. there are two ways of ordering food at a french restaurant, understandthis. the item, the object that he is showing you in french is called the "carte."ordering from "la carte" means "off the menu" to us it's a menu. if you order a menuin france, you've already ordered dinner. that's a fixed price: two, three, or fourcore sequence of items for a set price that you've ordered. and that's a greatdeal if you want that much food. today in france, this never used to exist, mostrestaurants specialize in two course menus for about $25, tax and tip included.that's a good deal. you typically, and

this is very common throughout almostall the restaurants, you can order a three-course. appetizer, main course,dessert. for two courses-- and that would be about say, $30, i'm close-- for twocourses, for maybe $25, you get a choice of entree, first course, i'm sorry, and maincourse or main course and dessert. when my wife and i travel together, she doesmain course and dessert, i do first course and main course, and we split thefirst and the third courses, you see. and the best deal going, i think, today, are"plat du jours" in french-- in france. most cafes and restaurants offer this, about$20, tax and tip included, that's your dinner. beautiful plates, garnished, that'swhat a "plat du jour" is. not part of a

menu, it's just "plat du jour," and often it'sbetter than the average item on the menu. every so often, much like hotels, allowyourself to splurge a little bit in a french restaurant scene and enjoy the ambiance of this kind of restaurant.i list places that, mostly thanks to my wife, she's a culinary expert, that she thinks areworth that kind of money. this is 48 euros by the way, for a four coursedinner at a place like this. and you have to be willing to go with the chefsdaring concoctions. sometimes i don't recognize what i'm eating but that'sokay, that's part of the deal, isn't it though. so mix it up with restaurants also.cafes, bistros, restaurants, and

elegant restaurants are a nice way to go.every so often do a picnic dinner, i think that's a great way to go as well.if you're traveling in the summertime, france is replete with vistas andbenches to have picnic dinners on. many people are perfect, love doing allof this-- they're perfect do it yourselfers. they look to be their ownguides, and all this organization makes total sense to them, and they love totake it on. others are a little bit overwhelmed by the task. my friend rickhere lying on the floor of the louvre museum, right. for them, going on a tour, sharing theirexperience, but not the headaches of

hotels, and, "how am i gonna get from pointa to point b," makes more sense. and we offer tours at rick steves, we offertours for people who-- for whom want to travel in the style, stay in thekind of hotels i've just described to you, and sharing their experience. our--it's 25 people on the average on a tour that we offer, in 48 passenger bus,traveling from region to region with a rick steves trained guide, matched with alocal expert everywhere. together their teaching brings you great learning,and that is the hallmark of our tours, the most-- the core to our toursthen is teaching, and you're learning. group time and free time, you can learnby experiencing these great works of

art on your own as well, can't you. sowe're leaving you free time to explore on your own, whether it's the art ofliving in "cafe au laits,"or art as i showed you before. we occupy about two--half of your time on our tours. the other half you're free to use our guidebooks and explore onyour own. our guide-- we also use group time to take advantage of french's cuisine,france's cuisine, doing potluck picnics whenever we can. and we offer options in the afternoon, ifyou want to join us for a special wine tasting with translation that would beimpossible, unless you spoke french, to do on your own, these are the advantagesof group travel, i think. we offer three-- four

primary itineraries to enjoy the countryof france. we have a week in paris tour that runs basically year 'round. people love the week in paris, you only unpack once, we stay in a cozy hotel in a great neighborhood.or my favorite, or the best if you've never been before, paris and the heart of france. 11 days,featuring burgundy, a corner of burgundy, the loire valley, mont st-michel, thed-day beaches in normandy, claude monet's gardens in giverny, and four nights inparis, as well. our western france tour is 13 days, starting outside of paris inchartres, running through the loire valley, the dordogne, languedoc, and provence, ending inthe french riviera. our west eastern

france tour highlights the east, startingin the champagne district, going through the alsace, burgundy, the french alps,provence, and ending in marseille. the average price of a tour is about $300 aday and it includes everything but a few meals, your sightseeing is included, wedon't allow tips to the driver or the guides, that’s nice, that's annoying, buteverything's included, there are no surprises, and that's critical to rick.all of the information about getting ready to go to france, that i have justexplained to you, is included in our france guidebook, and much more. all-- we evengive you a diagram of a roundabout, if you're driving, to show you how tomaneuver those in your car, and much more

detail and how to get frompoint a to point b. paris, world capital, paris, city of light, worldcapital of fashion, art, literature, food, and all things fine that civilizationhas to offer. this is the highlight of anybody's trip to france, probably, ifthey have never been before. notice the city that you're looking athere, the man-- the beauty is man-made. notice the height of the buildings, eightstories, it's a very human scale, and throughout the entire central part,city of paris. here pedestrians are treated to this sort ofhuman scale that makes them feel good about walking from point a to point b.the city works well in any season, and a

i'm not a big fan of travel in theoff-season to every place, but cities like paris, whether it's summertime and thewarmth of the summer in the city becomes like one big festival, and by the wayhotel rooms tend to go on sale in the month of august, because europeans don'ttravel that much to cities at that time of year. this time of year, paris lookslike this in the fall, it's beautiful. all the trees are deciduous,they all change. the parks. paris has-- the amount of space devoted to people isremarkable in the city, and in the wintertime, my favorite time to go andi'm not kidding, is when the city of light earns its name.

christmas in paris or anytime near orafter that, it's a lovely time to experience the city, it rarely snows, the moderate temperatures of travelingin paris can be compensated for with proper dress. cafes, you'll share them withthe locals, and museums will be much quieter, naturally, at this time ofyear. i like winter travel so much that i read a whole chapter about it in theguidebook to help you understand why, and where, and what to do about it in paris.consider that, flights are cheaper, hotel rooms commonly are cheaper in january,february, march, as well. hotel rooms in paris are smallerthan the average, get ready for it.

book your rooms early, don't wait. ilist places with great deals, 100 dollars for a comfortable double room, 125, are you kidding me? but you have to book those before other people get tothem, there are only so many of them. i list hotels in four differentneighborhoods because i-- only four different neighborhoods, because i'drather have average hotel in a really cool neighborhood than a really greathotel in a crummy neighborhood, think about that. so, the neighborhoodswe list in paris are the rue cler area, the pedestrian only shopping street thatyou see near the eiffel tower. the hip and trendy, if you're young youwant to stay out at night, marais district

near the ile saint-louis, we also listhotels on the ile saint-louis, as those areas are basically connected. the statelyluxembourg gardens area, surrounding this beautiful park, i think paris' mostbeautiful park on the edge, on the latin quarter for those who want to dabble inall things latin. to the budget neighborhood of montmartre. the further youget from the river, the cheaper hotels get in paris. and montmartre is a fifteen minutesubway ride from the river, where along the river most of paris' sights reside,you see. like about focusing on four neighborhoods is in each of those neighborhoodswe list restaurants, lots of them, cafes, travel tips, allowing you to comehome after a busy day of sightseeing and

not need to take a bus or subway to arestaurant, or to go do something. you're a temporary local in thatneighborhood, post offices, and all sorts of things like this so that you canfunction as a local. your learning is understanding what you're looking at andwhy it matters. this is why you came to paris. our books,i think, respect that by offering terrific information focused on yoursightseeing. our main guide to paris describes 21 different walking tours ofmuseums, neighborhoods, castles, and monuments, and 50 other sights with good descriptions, listed in thatguidebook. our paris, pocket paris book on

the other side, is for those with lesstime and shorter attention spans, it's abbreviated. if you want that information,the main, primary difference in these two books; if you want those walking toursyou need the main paris guide. if you have other ways of getting thatinformation or you're taking a guided tour, don't worry about it, buy the pocketparis book. either way, download our free audio tours in paristo your device, if it's a phone or any kind of application, or device, for free.you can do it on our website and you'll get rick's voice narrating you through thelouvre museum, the d'orsay, and the palace at versailles, and the historic walk incentral paris. i'm a big fan of local

guides for your learning, not all thetime, not every day, but they add a dimension to a tour that a book thatyou're reading and a self-guided tour just can't, you see. so in museums like thelouvre, where you'll have several english tours departing each day. theydo a credibly good job. or the d'orsay, or neighborhood walking tours likehere in montmartre, where neighborhood walking organizations, my favorite iscalled paris walks, they offer tours every day. meet at ten o'clock, virtually every daythey do the montmartre and the impressionist neighborhood, but they do many others.it's whoever shows up at ten o'clock

goes on the tour, about $20 a personfor two and half hours of a walking tour. pepper your trip with with walking tourslike this when you're in paris. the paris museum pass makes sightseeing a breeze forninety percent of any of the museums that you're interested in, are covered inthis pass. over 60 different sites covered with a museum. it comes in two, four,and six day increments, it averages about $15 a day, cost-wise. you'll save money, noquestion. the average site in paris is 11 or $12, all you have to do is go to two sites,that day and that's pretty easy to do and you've saved money. but the realreason to buy this pass is because you own it, and you have this pass, and you'lldart into simple other museums that, well,

steve or rick or gene described in thebook, but i don't know if it's not great, but i wouldn't pay $10 for it, but i gotthe pass so why not, and you'll be astonished at what you, what you discover in some of thoselesser-known museums. the pass also saves you waiting time in line for ticketlines, but not for security lines, like this. this reminds me that the travelersgreatest challenge today in paris are the crowds at the key monuments, likeversailles or the louvre. thanks to growing economies in various parts ofthe world, more and more people want to see this grand city, and if you don't payattention, if you don't read your guide

book, you'll end up here at versailles ona tuesday, when all the big museums in paris are closed. "hey, good idea, let's go totheir side at 10 in the morning." not an original brainstorm, read yourbook, arrive after two, there's no line. that's not that hard to do, but if you'rethere at ten o'clock what you gonna do? tour the gardens first, rick saidthat in his guidebooks. the gardens don't get crowds, and then come back later totour the inside of the palace. trust us and our guidebooks, really the best,probably, service we provide you with, how to avoid lines these days in paris.getting around this city works just really well, it's a walker's paradise, ithink. it's a flat city with the river

running through the center of it, right. east to west to send river runs, anythingto the right, if you're on a boat, as the current goes as the right bank. to theleft, is the left bank. it's a flat city, if you remember. walking and human scalewith these eight-story buildings, you don't have these wind tunnels as we do in ourhigh skyscraper cities, and it works well. just to give you a sense of scale,walking from the eiffel tower all the way to the louvre museum is a little bitover an hour along the river. most of those sites that you want to see arealso within a 10 or 15 minute walk of the river. you could walk a heck of a lotof the city, but you have to remember

that once you get to the sight. you haveto keep walking. so the subway system, europe's greatest subway system, itcovers you everywhere you go in paris. when you're exhausted, there will be a subway stop somewhere nearby learnthe words, "ou est le metro, monsieur, si'l vous plait?" and "where is the nearestmetro stop?" and you'll be whisked home on a subway line. the subway in paris works logically, it's easy to figure out, andhonestly gets you everywhere you want to go. but it seems a shame to me tobe underground in this beautiful city, so i'm a big fan of using the buses when itmakes sense.

bus 69 that you're seeing here is one ofthose examples. you get beautiful views, and this bus connects the eiffel tower andthe rue cler neighborhood with the rodin museum, the d'orsay museum, the louvre, the ile de la cite, and notre dame, the marais district, and the pã¨re lachaise cemetery. thisbus gets you to many of the sites that you wanna see in paris. we liked it somuch we wrote a self-guided tour. start at the eiffel tower, hop on the bus andyou'll see when you cross the street, look to your left, now when you cross thestreet look to your right. for $2, for the price of the bus ticket, you get aself-guided tour through the heart of paris. only rick would agree to thatcrazy idea of mine, and i know we've had

happy readers that use that. the best wayto buy tickets is a "carnet" of 10. it's really the easiest, most flexible way togo. they work on buses and on subways, thoughyou can't transfer between the two. you can transfer between buses. you can splitthose ten tickets between two travelers or three travelers, children get acheaper version of the "carnet." "carnet" means 10 of something in french. thereare bus-- transit passes, pardon me, that work on a weekly basis or on a monthlybasis, but they are harder to use and to fit into your travel schedule. so formost people that is the best way to go. the latest rage in paris today isbiking. 15,000 bikes are at your disposal

in over 1000 different, not 1000, i don't know howmany different bike stands, allowing you to pick them up at one point and dropping them atanother. the french, the parisians have embraced this big time. it's used mostlyby locals, but tourists can now take advantage of those bikes, even if theircredit cards don't work on them, by booking on the website or, and the reason to dothis really isn't a sight-- to use this is a sightseeing instrument, if you feellike just getting out one day and taking advantage of all the bike lanes thathave been built now for bikers, because of thispoint-to-point bike, it's called velib, built for locals. we can take advantage of it, renta bike through one of the bike rental

agencies agencies i recommend in the book,it's easier that way, and go for a two hour ride if you want to. ride betweennotre dame and the eiffel tower and loop back on the other side, easy to do in a couple of hours. historicparis. i've decided to organize my sight seeing for you today around my favorite fourdays in paris, because of this way i can describe to you an example to organizingyour sightseeing ahead of time, not just running out, "let's go to the louvremuseum, oh, oh, oh, the orsay museum's close by let's go there too." premeditatedsightseeing, organizing your sightseeing plans ahead of time makes so much sense.let's go, and you'll see how i do this. start

with the city of paris, historic paris,right, its grandest gothic monument, recently cleaned, it looks just like thistoday, it's glorious, as it stands. started in the year 1163, taking over 200 yearsto complete. imagine the medieval mindset then, itdidn't matter to them. the community built a cathedral like this, time was notimportant. all that mattered was contributing tothe construction of this grand edifice of which they were so proud.today, if mychild doesn't get on the internet in 10 seconds, we're screaming. our patiencecompared to medieval times is dramatically changed, isn't it. put yourselfin a medieval mood then, when you're

going to cities in europe and paris likethis, and understand how different things were then, and try to grasp, oh, pardon me,try to grasp how differently they thought. you can climb, rarely does this-- is thisever a possibility in europe, climb to the top of the gothic cathedral, yes you canit's covered in the museum pass. the entry for the church itself, thecathedral, is free but i think this is the greatest view you have over paris.if you have a museum pass it's free, be careful, lines are long because thefour hundred steps up naturally are winding and slow. strategize when youchoose to go up the tower, the south tower of notre dame. then tour the, dropdown to the inside of this beautiful

cathedral. our walking tour and our audio tour take, self-guided tours takeyou through it. a stone's throw away, a long stone's throwwith a good arm, lies the chapel of sainte-chapelle, still on the island ofthe cite where the city of paris was founded, between a split in the river seine.this chapel that we're looking at here today, almost smothered by the law courtsof paris, is the greatest example of gothic architecture, if indeed thepurpose of gothic architecture is to stretch the church taller andto raise the windows using buttresses, and to fill the windows, pardon me, with stainedglass to tell stories of the bible. this

has got to be the ultimateaccomplishment. for here, at the sainte-chapelle, built by king louis xi, theonly sainted king of france. because he found the crown of thorns, he wanted anappropriate place to house them, that's motivation. took only six years to buildthis, compared to the two hundred years it took for notre dame, thanks to the king'senergy. here, over 1,000 panels will tell you the history of christiancivilization, from the beginning of the world to the end of the world. designedso, because when it was built in the 1200s, most people couldn't read, they wereilliterate. but they did understand symbolism, through those stained glasswindows, you see. get out, get off the

island after this, after notre dame and saint-chapelle, wander into the latin quarter, ties in perfectly, see the beautifulviews of the flying buttresses of notre dame from the left bank. wanderdeep into the latin quarter, so called because some of europe's firstuniversities are located here, and the professors taught in the latin languageonly and students lived here, this is still a student ghetto. today the latinquarter is in paris, check the pulse of your lost generation compatriotshere at shakespeare and company. in the early 1900s, thanks to wwi,the lost generation of people of ernest hemingway, scott fitzgerald, james joyce,and more, aldous huxley, gertrude stein,

would gather here and try to figure outwhat sense of the world there was, and meet to discuss their writing.further deep into the latin quarter, a few blocks away, you can dart into, withyour museum pass, my favorite, one of my favorite, museums in paris. this is thecluny museum, it's the museum to medieval times in paris. here, because you'll seestiffer examples, lots of medieval relics gathered from monuments throughout paris,like the heads here that you're seeing here, were chopped off on the facade of notre dame, during the french revolution. they are gathered here and on display for youto see today. you see, this is our historic paris tour, celebrating themiddle ages. the highlights though, of the

cluny museum, are the several panels oforiginal stained glass from the sainte chapelle church that i just showed you.these are original, 800 years old, posted about five and a half feet highso you can see them very closely. you see, normally when you see stained glass, it'sso far away, "how could i possibly, without binoculars, understand and appreciate thedetail?" well you can at the cluny museum, you canactually reach out and touch these things, and see how heavy that lead isthat they used in stained glass windows. the highlight for many is theseries of six tapestries called the, "lady and the unicorn," where a noble lady teachesunicorns about the senses of human touch,

sight, smell, and taste. guided tour,self-guided tours, one of our self-guided tours in our guidebooks, city of paris,cluny museum. end your day going local. hangout at this park, theluxembourg garden. this will be a highlight that you haven't anticipated.enjoy watching parisians at play. rent a little sailboat if you have kids, andeven if you are a kid yourself, rent one at this point right here, andlet it race with other people's sailboats. there's no shortage of activities forchildren in the luxembourg gardens, but mostly i just like to sit at one ofthose chairs and watch what parisians do in a park, in the afternoon. you see, thisis a perfect blend of heavyweight

sightseeing sights, museums, neighborhoodwalks in parks, blended into one day. day two, we're going to tackle the louvre museumand then sashay up the champs-ã‰lysã©es to the arc de triomphe. the louvre museum. the louvre isthe palace of the kings and queens of france over the centuries. come therevolution in late 1700's when the museum was closed to kings andqueens, it was turned into europe's first public art museum. and today it remainsas such, it's though not designed as an art museum in the least bit, so thatpyramid that you see, the glass pyramid was added in 1985 to rationalize theentry, and boy did that work. it's a grand entry to a grand art museum that makessense of getting between the various

wings, you can't imagine improvementunless you had seen it beforehand. with over 30,000 works of art, the louvremuseum is a full inventory of western civilization. from mesopotamian artifacts5,000 years old egyptian mummies, to classical greek sculpture, to renaissanceart, to napoleonic art in the early 1800's where the museum stopschronologically. here we're seeing the crowning of napoleon byhimself. no small ego there. this museum, to remind you we provideself-guided tours in our guidebooks, the audio tour that you can download onto yourphone or tablet works very well for the louvre. there are local guides as well, andcrowds can be an issue here. if you want

to get closer to the mona lisa, you wantto strategize when you enter this museum. and yes, the mona lisa does look a bitsmaller than people realize she's going to be when they see her in person.go at night if crowds are a problem. it all depends on the time of year you're going.i would go at night even if there weren't crowds, because the museum onwednesday and fridays is open till 9:30 at night. so go about six. everybodyelse is tired, they're going home, they're done, they're going to cafes, they're done. enter the museum then, then exit when it looks likethis. it's glorious at night. i'm not making this up, and even ifyou don't go to see the museum on the

inside, make sure to pass by the louvre tosee the glistening, glimmering pyramid from the outside, glimmering from the inside. then spendthe rest of your day going a couple stops up the champs-ã‰lysã©es, world'smost famous boulevard, climb up the 420 steps covered in the museum pass toeurope's grandest triumphal arch, the arc de triomphe. yes, built by napoleon, twotimes larger than anything in rome, and sashay your way back down, crossingside-by-side, using our self-guided tour of the camps-ã‰lysã©es as you do. passing by over-the-top, opulent shoppingstores like this,

some of which you need an appointment toenter. how about that, you want to buy a dress, "i'm sorry, do you have an appointment?" i'mnot kidding. and stop to enjoy a cafe at this grandest of europe's boulevards,paying more than you ever should for a cup of espresso, 10 euros. $10.00,call it. that's crazy, on one hand, on the other, how many times do you have achance to sit and watch the conveyor belt of european traffic go by. and knowalso that the waiter won't bring your bill until you ask for it, so bring postcards,or write in your journal. two hours later that 10 euros is a pretty good investmentof your time. he or she who comes home with the most money doesn't win. allowyourself some silly expenses once in

awhile. the champs-ã‰lysã©es isbrilliant at night. if you have to choose and you only have one time you can go,go at night. you can still-- the arc de triomphe is open till 10:30 or 11:00 atnight, depending on the time of the year, and it truly does glisten any time ofthe year at night. my third-- day three is my favorite day in paris,impressionist paris day. we're gonna explore the hill town where theartists gathered during the late 1800's, and then visit the three art museumsthat house their collective genius. this is a cool day to put together, and youshould think this way. wandering up then to this hill town here, thatuntil 1870 was not paris, but its own city.

a wall separated that hill town from thecity of paris, and behind that wall laws were different. rents were cheaper, taxwas not booed, people were happier. buildings like sacrã©-cå“ur were built, bythe way, not so interesting on the inside, you can tour it, our book walks youthrough it, but beautiful views from the steps in front of this neo-byzantinechurch. but the neighborhood behind it feels distinctly apart from the rest ofparis, and the artistic heritage, cheaper rents that drew the likes of augusterenoir to paint the spirited people here. again, drinking, dancing, having fun,because it wasn't that much fun down on the flatlands of paris. and dazzling,symbolic, "ooh, la, la," red windmill. in

late 1800's this was more scary, anddaunting to the french, and the eiffel tower built in about the same time was,because they had never seen the can-can done before. it drew the attention ofcertain artists that you know, toulouse-lautrec, for example, and this was earth-shattering,and pushed i think it pushed art to another level. imentioned before we do a self-guided tour of the montmartre neighborhood in our book, butparis walks does a brilliant-- this is one of the ones i would highlight of theirs,or anybody give you a walking tour because it really brings it to life, somany of the stories come to life of that hill town. then spend your afternoontouring the great museums, again, that

house their art. the orsay museum is aconverted train station, brilliant home. now it is right on the seine river,housing all the great, the greatest collection of impressionist art, frommonet to manet, manet to monet, pardon me, i reversed that. to paul cezanne, vincentvan gogh, toulouse lautrec, and everybody in between. across the river you'll enjoythe-- fans of claude monet can make their pilgrimage to theorangerie, built precisely to hold the panels, eight panels, of his water lilies.painted at an elderly age when he had cataracts and could barely see, these areremarkable accomplishment of this artist. 15 minutes, the other direction from theorsay museum, you can pay respects to the

man who did for sculpture whatclaude monetdid for painted art. auguste rodin. his works are thoughtful and romantic. eachone of them. this is typical of impressionist art. the greatest sculptorsince michelangelo. again, walking tour in our guidebook. this museumseldom gets too crowded, and you can tour just its gardens if you want tofor a couple of euros, or spend ten, or your museum pass to get into theinterior. day four, the marais district. this is cool, backdoor, hip, trendy parisexample of seeing paris it's trendy finest. this is medieval paris at itsbest, with stone walkways all centered around paris' greatest square, ithink, the place des vosges. the oldest

square in paris as well, in the heart ofthe marais district. it's also the center for jewish culture, jewish people.until wwii, the center, the largest concentration, in fact, of jewishpeople, lived in paris. monuments, then, to their deportation during wwii,when 76,000 jews would be deported from the city of paris to concentration camps,is well commemorated at the mã©morial de la shoah.as well as, there's a brilliant, relatively new history museum to jewishculture, and it highlights their contributions to western europeanculture. many people come to the marais district though for the modern art that'spossible to see here. and here, at the

pompidou center, at the end of theeastern, well the western end of the marais district, wandering through, you can tour europe's greatest collection of modern art. the museum itself is fun, escalate to the top, it's all glass windows, and you have brilliantviews over the city of paris, while "wham, bam," you get a sample of the greatestmodern artists today, in one floor of one museum. thanks to the brilliance of theco-author, who is sometimes silent, gene openshaw, we have a guided tour tothis, and many other museums in paris, to help make sense of this abstraction inart. just a few blocks away, covered in the museum pass by the way, isthe recently reopened museum dedicated

to pablo picasso. 400 works of his, inthe greatest single collection anywhere in paris are now-- is now open again,covered with the museum pass, and ready for you to visit. end your day with thecapital, in my opinion, the greatest monument to the belle ã‰poque in france, theopulent opera house. paris' opera house, built and finished in 1875, where onceyou enter, you can tour on your own or with a tour, a couple times a day theyoffer guided tours. you will find, right away, that the point of thistheater was to impress you, and it was more about being seen than seeingwhatever the play was when you came, or the opera. it was all about how youlooked, how you appeared, and its

surroundings that you got to enter andand have your intermission in. if you're not properly dressed, "oh, go today," if it'sopera season when you're there, it's well worth attending one and beingable to sit in this auditorium where only 2000 seats are. and it's easy, it's notthat hard to get tickets. if you're not properly dressed, why you can go right nextdoor to the galleries lafayette, built at the same generation that feels like anextension of opera house, another belle ã‰poque structure, and enjoy its grandperfume floor, the greatest i've ever seen in a department store, and shop foryour own gown. also, what i like about the galeries lafayette, in many departmentstores in paris, they leave their top

floors open for free with rooftop viewterraces. this is the back of the opera house right there, you're staring point blank at it. andcafeterias to provide cheap meals for people in those departments stores. the eiffeltower. you can't leave paris without seeing the eiffel tower, there's no way. i save itfor the end, before we head to normandy. europe's tallest structure for a longtime, that 1,000 foot, 1,063 foot eiffel tower, the greatest view from it is theplace du trocadã©ro here, and here's a tip, if you read your guide book, there's alittle museum off to the left side dedicated to the architecture andmonuments of france. i love the museum, included in the museum pass, you neverpay the 11 euros or dollars to get in,

but with the museum pass maybe you'll go.what's cool about it is there's a cafe right here on the outside that nobodyknows about, with this view of the eiffel tower. it's called the cafe carlu. now youknow. the greatest view from the place du trocadã©ro of the eiffel tower, and it's acrowded site. this is not the line waiting to get the tower, this is waitingfor the fireworks to explode on the 14th of july, when they were lit off from theeiffel tower. but the eiffel tower is europe's, oh no-- france's most difficult siteto get into, if you don't come prepared to wait an hour and a half in line, whichis a lot of time out of a day in your time, book ahead. you can reserve yourelevator up to the top three months

ahead of time. the problem with bookingahead, that far ahead, is you don't know what the weather's gonna be, do you. you may goon a rainy day, bummer, but at least you'll get up the tower. my advice isthat you can climb-- that you can stand in line, there are certain times a daythat are quieter, or walk the stairs up to the first floor. it will take you about 10minutes, you've got to have energy to do so, you can also climb to the secondfloor. those are the two greatest viewing platforms anyway, for a fractionof the price of getting up or booking a reservation. and then from there you cantake an elevator all the way to the top if you want, you have to buy your way from there.but go late in the day whenever you go,

go late in the day watch as the sun goesdown, and the city sparkles below, then exit the eiffel tower when it'sglimmering at its best. without question, whether you go up the eiffel tower ornot matters little to me, because there's othergreat views of the city of paris, but there's nothing like seeing thismonument lit at night, every night of the year, looking this way. all the informationi've just given you, and a lot more is provided in our guidebooks, the parisbook or the pocket paris guidebook. normandy and the loire. if you've never been to france before,these two regions are the second-most, and third-most important to see after paris. andthey loop into a perfect route, combining

with the city of paris. for about 10 days,you can combine paris, and the normandy area, loire, and maybe even a corner of burgundy if youwant, but i'd dart back to paris probably after that, traveling on my own. let's travel west of paris, following theseine river then, and get into the normandy countryside. both of theregions, normandy and loire, are actually very close to the city of paris,and easy to access. following the seine river west about an hour, takes you to the"camp david" of impressionist art, or claude monet's home, where he spent the last 40years of his life cultivating his art and his garden. it's a remarkably beautifulplace to be, and it's open until november.

it's gorgeous anytime of the yearthat it's open, seven days a week now, it's easily daytrip-able from paris. train to ashort shuttle bus, or bicycle rental, if you want to, for the four kilometer laststretch done by bike or bus to get to these gardens. it's crowded, its popular,so strategize your sightseeing when you go. it's about also halfway to the coastof normandy, and my favorite first night stop outside of the city of paris, in theseafaring town of honfleur. with over a thousand years of seafaring history,sailors sailed from here to discover canada, quebec, and the st. lawrencewaterway for example, all from this little tiny town of honfleur. whichtoday just seems like an adorable place

to hang out, and enjoy its cute buildings,and see its principal site of 100% wood gothic church, where if you turn it upside downit looks like it would float on the on the ceiling because it was built fromshipwrights, remember the history of the city. honfleur isalso a favorite of impressionist artists, who loved to paint the beaches nearby.remember you're on the coast of normandy, where the seine meets the atlantic.luminous light drew their attention, and eugã¨ne boudin, favorite son of thecity honfleur, has a museum dedicated to him today. lovely, easy, sample of theimpressionist art inspired by this town, but mostly honfleur is a lovely place just tohang out, just to get over jet lag if you

just recently arrived. have a crepe,remember, you're in normandy, brittany. crepes, anything with apples, cider, calvados,cream sauces, or seafood makes sense. an hour and a half south of honfleur, the gorgeous cliff of normandy line the d-daybeaches that looked entirely different seventy-two years ago. here, museums, monuments, cemeteries litter thelandscape, paying homage to the british, canadian, and american soldiers whosecourage landed successfully the greatest amphibian invasion of history. it's aremarkable accomplishment. the great news is the museums that exist in the sightsdescribe this so beautifully well to

travelers, particularly we americans.here's a point of time where we're involved in europe's history, in a veryfavorable way. museums dot the landscape. this is my favorite. the largest is inthe city of caen, it's a great wwii museum, no question about it, but i'd rather behere, right on the beaches, at utah beach. this is the utah landing museum, onlyreopened two years ago. built over a german bunker, you pop out,it does a brilliant job explaining the strategy that had to happen forparatroopers, the line behind the lines, for ships to do their work, for landingsto happen, just all had to happen just right on time. it's a gripping event thatthese museums describe to you

beautifully. all of the equipment you'llsee, depending on the museum that you're looking at, from all the airplanes, i don'tcare if it's a b-52 or a duck, they have a lot of ducks, the floating duck ships thatwe use today, tanks, jeeps, they're all on display somewhere for you to see, along this fifty-mile stretch of the d-day beaches. it's such an important sight thati highly recommend hiring a local guide. and this is not a cheap event, if you'retraveling on your own, join a group minivan tour for about $100 for theday. private guides run 400 to 500dollars for the day, right, for your family and you, yes. but if you're gonna ever spend that kind of money, here

is the place in france to do so, becauseno matter how good i think my description is in the guide book tothese d-day beaches, there's no way that i can do justice like dale booth does, or paulwoodadge, or stuart robertson. these guys are writing books about it, and you canask them any questions you have, and you can't imagine what your questions areuntil you go. there are three key sights that you must see along this fifty-milestretch. arromanches, the epicenter of the attack, where the allies figured that wecouldn't-- they couldn't take an existing port because they were so fortified bythe germans and protected, that they built their own port overnight. towing, at arromanches, 17 old ships, 115 huge, football-

sized blocks of concrete across tosurprise the germans, and arrange them in an arcing-fashion in the harbor to be abreakwater. they were supposed to last a few years, they're still there today. thisis the view from last year that i took. a remarkable accomplishment. imagine boatswith floating pontoons coming to the shore, and within one week, the port winston, named for the genius ofwinston churchill whose idea it was, offloaded over 3,000 troops, 100,000 tonsof material, and 60,000 vehicles to support the inland invasion. we had afoothold, finally, in western europe. remarkable accomplishment,there's a cool little museum right there to

tell you the history of that particularevent, and that harbor. the pointe du hoc is another important sight, the number twofor you to see on the d-day beaches. for here, this cliff separating utah fromomaha beach on the d-day beaches, juts out far into the cliffs and housed six155-millimeter guns. i'm not a military expert, but i know that theycould range 13 miles out into the sea. in order for safe landings to occur, andfor this successful invasion, they had to run the germans off that cliff with sixguns like this. and so, backing up, the rangers scaled those cliffs, the us rangers, 200 ofthem, imagine at low tide, because they had to using ladders and grappling hooksfrom london fire departments, in one of

the most gripping events in normandy d-dayinvasion history. that's after we bombed the smithereens at the top of the site,hoping to destroy those guns in any case, but the rangers had no idea whatthey would find when they got to the top. it is a gripping sight to see. and theamerican cemetery, where 10,000 almost americans lie today. crowning white crosses and stars ofdavid, crowning a beautiful bluff above omaha beach, the eye of the storm ofthe d-day invasions. and the visitor center today presents travelers with agreat-- different than the museums, it has artifacts, personal possessions of thefellows who lie in the cemetery,

establishing for you, as a visitor, apersonal connection to these people. their names, the state they're from, whatmattered to them, letters to their parents, and this kind of thing. theamerican cemetery is a powerful sight for us to visit. just six miles inland of thed-day beaches, the city of bayeux lies in perfect state of repair because it wasthe first to be liberated, it wasn't bombed in the war. and in that church, thegrand cathedral of bayeux, "notre dame de bayeux," this tapestry hung for along period of time, commemorating an entirely differentinvasion. 70 yards long, about a meter high, a yard high, the tapestry of bayeux told thestory of a reverse invasion across the

atlantic, of william the conqueror'svictory in 1066 over harold in england at the battle of hastings, just off thed-day beaches. oh and it's-- the museum where it's located today, presents thistapestry, one of the greatest documents we have from the middle ages, in a beautiful fashion for you to visit today. allocatea whole day to the d-day beaches at least, then your morning and earlyafternoon to bayeux, then head out for an hour and a half south, down here tothe mont saint-michel. a headache to get to unless you have a car but it's doable. readthe book, it is doable if you don't have a car, it's manageable, but you needto plan ahead here. and that europe's

greatest tidal change region. this islandabbey, for a long time an island abbey, sits as a reclusive place for monks toget away from the madding crowd, but in the 1800's, it was no longer an island.this causeway was built to allow us to come and access the island, so they didn'thave to muddy their feet in the mud waters when it was low tide. 10 years ofplanning and work have destroyed that causeway, and created an entirely newbridge, which today is done. this was two years ago when i took this image. that'sgone, that bus over here is on this bridge, allowing the water to circulate aroundthe island again, re-creating its island fashion. that's aremarkable accomplishment, and for me, as a

guide book writer who sees it all thetime, it's thrilling. i think so many sights in france are getting better every yearbecause of the investment of the government. half of the height of the island abbey at montsaint-michel is man-made. when you see it, it's a remarkable accomplishment. 1200years old, one civilization built on top of the other, higher and higher theybuilt. arrive after five, or you'll run headlong into this group of people. don't arrivebefore five, simple, it rhymes. arrive after five, and you'll have the city to yourself,the island abbey, all the streets, pardon me, to yourself. spend the night, five different hotels areavailable at reasonable prices on the

island, or where the shuttle buses leavefrom on the mainland to get you across. the shuttle buses run to the island, i shouldtell you, every couple of minutes, so staying on the mainland works just as easily. butthe key is to see this beautiful abbey late in the day with no crowds, orfirst thing in the morning when it opens. it's also open late at night in thesummer months, with logs, and fires, and classical music playing if you wantto tour it, but the idea of spending the night is so you see it looking like this. every day ofthe year, this beautiful monument is illuminatedlike this. if you came between ten and three, imagine what you would havemissed. that's normandy too.

it's about a four to five hour car-- call it fivehours car, six hour train ride, to connect mont sainte-michel in with the heart of the loirevalley, then a couple hours right back up to paris, by the way. this is the happyhunting grounds of kings and queens of france. because of its strategiclocation, in the middle ages and 1400s and 1500s, over 1,000 castles arebuilt in this region. it's crazy. hunting was the sport of the day andage, the king, this is the king's palace, hunting palace of chambord, we'llget you more detail in a moment. it's popular because so many people wanted torub shoulders with a king. because of all those castles, many of them have beenturned into hotels 'cause they can't

all be open to tourists forvisiting, so here's your chance to stay at a chã¢teau and eat goat cheese. this is the-- if you love goat cheese, the loire valley is probably the greatest region for goatcheese. it's also popular for trout and "pate de pork," kind of a pate of pork.bike riding is a romantic notion in the loire valley, it sounds great totravel, to ride your bike between castle to castle, until you get on that bicycleseat, if you haven't ridden for a while, and realize it's an hour and half ride from this castle to that castle. go ahead, if youwant to, but my advice is to take it easy, take a minivan tour if you don't have acar, they work very well.

trains work well in the loire valley,believe it or not, mixing in with buses to get you to the chã¢teaux and stay inamboise or take a car, rent a car. many people rent a car just for the day. amboise is on theloire river, on the loire river, the largest river in the area, is the best basefor, i think, for seeing the chat-- the greatest of the chã¢teaux. this isthe king's palace, and it's a lovely little town with lots of hotels andrestaurants that we recommend, and the highlight for most sightseers in thelittle town of amboise is the home of leonardo da vinci. few people know heended the last several years of his life here, brought up by the renaissance kingof france, francois i, just to

be smart for him. that's pretty cool, "justbe smart for me." i'd like somebody do that with me someday. you can-- the clos lucã© is the nameof his home, and that's nice to visit, and memories of leonardo da vinci areinteresting, but what really matters is that in the basement, and in the hugepark around, they have reconstructed the inventions of this genius who diedover 500 years ago. and you'll see tanks in the background, helicopters, the invention of the helicopter, airplaneflight, as you wander through this museum and you wonder, "how did he come upwith these ideas?" it's a remarkable

understanding of the genius of leonardoda vinci. with a full day outside of amboise, two, maybe three, chã¢teaux for big people isthe recommended dosage. start with chenonceau. arrive beforenine, leave amboise at 8:30, arrive about quarter of nine here, and beat the crowds. this isthe full package, this is the grandest of the loire valley chã¢teaux: chenonceau.it has beautiful gardens, gorgeous interior with good audio guided toursfor you, we also cover it in our guidebook, it has the whole package of the sights of alivable chã¢teau. by the way, in the summertime the gardens are open tilllate at night. consider having dinner at one of therestaurants i recommended in chenonceau,

then wander in for $5 and enjoy just thegardens, and the reflected light of chenonceau at night. the king's palace,chã¢teau chambord, is about 45 minutes away, only way to get here isreally a minivan tour, or your car, or scheduled buses from the city of blois.anyway, 440 rooms, 365 chimneys. you could have a fireplace in a different room every dayof the year. this is the king's castle, it's his hunting palace. he never spentvery much time here. the rooms are big, the place is big, so the crowds aren't aproblem. doesn't matter when you go. make sure, whatever you do, get to the top rooftop, and explore those chimneys thatreceived 365--

spires, pardon me, chimneys' worth of fire, andunderstand why they were there. plan your own hunting attack. hunting isa winter sport, the trees are deciduous. it's a loteasier to see those animals when the trees are empty of leaves, isn't it. thus, peoplecome and hunt in the winter time, and they need heat, and they need tapestriesguarding their walls to make it worthwhile for them to go. end your day,maybe, at the chã¢teau de cheverny, a lovely, intimate castle where the duke-- the countstill lives on the corner right side, and still today you can tour the bottomtwo floors. and get the best sense of the french hunt by visiting in the afternoon,and seeing the feeding of the 80 french

blood hound dogs, every afternoon of theyear at cheverny. that adds a dimension and a statement to your sightseeing of theloire valley, and understand the importance of the hunt. ninety minutesaway, if you have another day for your sightseeing in the loire valley, thebeautiful city of chinon lies on the vienne river. feudal castle, eleanor of aquitaine, henry ii,ruled a swath of europe not seen from england to southern france,southwestern part of france in the 1200s. joan of arc, in the 1400s, would come andstay at this castle in chinon, to encourage charles vii to rallythe french against the english, and

kick them out of france for once and forall, and the feudal fortresses is there for you to visit today. there's really not alot to see there, unless you like just the memories of those two powerful women, eleanorof aquitaine and joan of arc. the city below is a lovely town just to spendtime in and i like it as a base for touring chã¢teaux on this side of the loireregion. it's also a good base for nearby visiting chã¢teaux of the garden varietal.here at villandry, if you're into gardens and even if you're not into gardens,you gotta see this-- i mean this place is remarkable. herbal plants planted according to medievalmonks ideas, and vegetables, and ornamental gardens at the chã¢teau of villandry here, give the traveler a lovely

example of another aspect of chã¢teau life.the chã¢teau of azay-le-rideau floats gorgeously in a reflecting pond, and is open most nightsof the year, many nights, i should say, in high season until late, with the sound and light show,and its remind-- that's also close to chinon. this reminds me that many chã¢teaux-- several chã¢teaux dothe sound and light shows for you, and they're interesting, they're notoverwhelming, but they're interesting, but they certainly extend the traveler's day.this information for the loire and the normandy region is all covered in my-- inour guidebook on france, and again, these two regions coupled together withparis make for an ideal 10-day trip,

particularly if you've never been before. the dordogne, and the languedoc. seven hours south of paris,the city of sarlat is the heart of the dordogne region, another threehours south from there, carcassonne is the capital site for the languedoc area,taking us all the way to the border of spain. the dordogne, the lazydordogne river is often, this region, american's favorite place that they hadnever heard of, or been to in france, when they go, for it's simply beautiful. stonepalaces, stone fortresses, pardon me, guard above the lazy river. walnut orchards,tobacco fields, and sunflowers carpet the valleys below. traditions run deep here.walking-- passing your neighbor walking his

geese in the evening is not an unusualevent in the dordogne region. and remember, this is the land of stuffedgeese and duck liver, foie gras, and confit de canard, or magret de canard, duck andgoose, are very present on your menus at night in this region. sarlat, 10,000,15,000 person town makes a great base, this is a largely very rural area. onlyrecently was there a freeway that led to the dordogne region. sarlat is aseductive tangle of cobblestone alleys and gold stone buildings. entirely freeof cars, except for one main street that intersects the city. you'll find, two daysa week, it's europe-- france's greatest market day, and it covers and fills allof the pedestrian-only lanes, it seems,

and squares in the town of sarlat,making it lovely. there's no important sight to see in the town of sarlat, it'sjust a beautiful place to be and to base yourself for great sightseeing. we likethe market day so much there, if you've seen the tv show that i've done withrick, we take you through, and in our guidebook, we do a self-guided tourthrough a market day, wednesdays and saturdays in sarlat.arrive on a tuesday night or friday night, andwake up to the sounds of the market being established. anythingyou see in the market should be fresh, you should be looking for it on yourmenu that dinner, at night. and again, sarlat

makes a lovely place to stay. i'd recommend three nights here for allthere is to do within a short distance of the town. if you don't have a car, aminivan tour is essential. there's no way public transit's gonna getyou to the great sites around, unless you choose to take a canoe trip down thelazy river. this is one of rick's favorite things to do. whenever i travel with himwe always make time to canoe down the dordogne river. for here, you canspend two hours, four hours, all day if you want to, sauntering down different parts.they'll drop you-- pick you up in sarlat, if you don't have a car, and thendrop you at the river and

allow you, and it's a fat, very slow-movingriver, to sight-see from a canoe. stop at castelnaud, here. wander to the top throughthe village and check out one of france's greatest monuments to thethe hundred years war. the castles in the dordogne, then, have a lot ofhistory related to the hundred years war. every room in the castelnaud castle has war--military inventions, and crossbows, and such from the middle ages. it's a greateducation if you're into warfare, and the catapults are the capping part from thetop of the castle. then continue on your canoe to the town of beynac. slide your canoeinto this town, wander the top of this castle. that castelnaud castle was britishfor a long time, beynac here was french,

and they fight each other for a longtime. and climb to the top that castlefor grand views. we list the chateau of-- the castle of beynac. this region of france isfamous for having more artifacts from prehistoric times than anywhere else inthe world, and nowhere else is it accessible as well as it is inthe dordogne valley to see this incredible concept of art from 20,000 years ago. when woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers were prowlingthe earth, cavemen were painting inside caves. and we can see four of thoseoriginal caves today, if we plan our time well. first i'd start at the museum ofprehistory in the town of les eyzies. over

400,000 years of historyare covered pretty well in english, they do a good job translating inenglish. with eighteen thousand artifacts, this is a good basis of understandingprehistoric art. and if you can't get to this museum, read the exceptionalpassage and introduction to this form of art that gene openshaw wrote for thefrance book. that gives you an understanding and a sympathetic view tothese people. and, as you approach the caves, understand that they painted deepinside a cave. in limestone caves you needed this kind of rock for this tooccur, often prowling in six miles 15,000 to 20,000 years agowith lamps made of animal fat, i guess, i

understand, to paint on the walls.there are four caves i mentioned before where you can see the original thing and you haveto be organized and on the ball to do so. this is the entry to the font-de-gaume cave, the greatest of them all, and the hardest to get into. i won't pretendthat it's going to be easy for you to get into this, but, by the internet, if youdo well ahead, you might get lucky and find a spot, or show up very early in themorning, and i mean six o'clock early for nine o'clock opening, and hope for thefirst spot available in line that day. i think that's crazy. because, nearby, thecaves of the rouffignac, where a train takes you three miles in the cave, passing ice agebear scratches on the walls as you go,

and seeing black outlines of woollymammoths like this. it's a gripping site, and easy to get into is the cave at rouffignac. pech merle, about 45minutes to the south, add color to what rouffignac did with black andwhite, and paintings of horses. you have to imagine all these different animalspainted. and imagine this, this is one of a kind, where a man blew with a straw,probably, paint around his hand or her hand, incredible. pech merle, this cavewith original cave art, can be booked rather easily, 500, 600 peopleare allowed in on a daily basis, that's pretty good. most of these caves have verylimited numbers of people who are allowed in.

two hours north of sarlat lies thepowerful village of oradour-sur-glane. here, halfway to the loire valley, goodstuff on your way if you're ready for it. four days after the invasion of d-day,looking into town on june 9, looking very much as you see it in this image, wasinvaded by nazis. all the people, 642 people, were rounded up, taken to thechurch, machine-gunned to death, and then burned,left under a blanket of ash as the whole town was. the fact that that happenedreally wasn't so unusual in wwii, just ask italians and other french. what isunusual, is the french left the town exactly as they found it, exactly on june--

and you'll see what it looked like on june 10,1944, clearing out so that tourists could see a little bit. you can see the light railline, or the tramway, that led to the big city of le monge nearby. walk by rustedout cars, bicycles left positioned against the sides of walls, sewing machinesinside of buildings. it's a powerful sight to see, and the reason it's kept, of course, bythe french government for us to see today, is to remind us that this happened,and that it should never happen again. sadly, in the 1990s inbosnia-herzegovina, we know that genocide occurred again, so i'm glad thatthey still keep this going. and it's a

powerful site for you to see, with agreat museum that introduces you to the event and why, why, why, why, why this wouldhave happened. two, three hours south of the dordogne region, the grand feudalfortress of carcassonne lies with accepting is the capital, to me, ofsightseeing of this cool region that blends french and spanish culture. wines in this area are coarse and heavy. ilove the wines made from the languedoc, and i love touring the walled city ofcarcassonne. arrive, again, much like-- arrived after five, and-- otherwise it'llbe very crowded behind those walls. there are four or five hotels within the walls, andseveral with views just outside the

walls. spend the night in it or close. arrive at the end of the day, tour 80% ofthe walls, there are three levels of walls that protect the city, started by the romans,in carcassonne. you can wander 80% of them for free, and then havethe famous dish, the local dish of the area, cassoulet, a roman concoction of mutton,pork, sausage, goose, duck, and white beans. i call it a fancy "weenies and beans dish,"my wife calls it fattening. this is the traditional dish though,of a peasant cooking in the languedoc area, matched by a very coarse, heavy red wine,mind you, that's heavy for france's heavy red wine, then get out and seecarcassonne at night. the same walking tour

you may have done in the daytime isentirely different at night. camelot lies beautifully illuminated everyday of the year, and again, if you don't spend the night here or nearby, you won'tsee this, and i'd say, arguably, it's not worth going. it's too crowded in the daytime, it's just-- i wouldn't go. nearby, sights in thelanguedoc area, just adjacent outside of carcassonne, that remind us ofprovence, but this is southwestern france, that's southeastern france, lie in memories ofthe cathar people, a heretical group of christians who grew in numbers from11 to the 13th century, who were chased out by the pope and the king of france, andthe ultimate collusion to rid the church,

first of all, of a competing, everincreasing in popularity, religious approach to christianity, and the king offrance saw the advantage of a land grab to the southwestern corner of france. andtogether, after the genocide, if you want to call it that, the crusades preached againstthe cathar people, who hid in villages just like this. it's a gripping historythat you'll see a lot-- read a lot about in the languedoc area. after that, the lastcathar was killed burned, at the stake in 1301, the french took control of thisregion, adding it to their ever-increasing country size. minerve,here, is the village that you can see, and the castles, the cathar castles asthey're called today, where they ran to

hide, to escape. they were pacifists, they werevegetarians, they didn't fight, the cathars, they didn't have a chance against french the army, yousee. peyrepertuse is this castle, even if the cathar history is not that interesting to you, the incredible construction of this castle4,000, 3,500 feet high in the pyrenees mountains near carcassonne, about an hourand a half away. beautiful drive that i narrate in the guidebook between carcassonneand there, follow the route i recommend . these were originally built as outposts toprotect, there are about 12 castles, the maginot line, i call it, of the 12th century, to protectwhat is today spain from what is today france, you see. the cathars just simply occupieddeserted castles. another hour away lies

the beachy hill town of collioure, a perfectplace to take a vacation from your vacation on this western swing throughthe southern-western corner of france. collioure, most americans havenever heard of, yet it has france's best, most moderate climate year-round. it's agorgeous little fishing village, or really, resort town, with a lovely old city here,a chateau of its own, and a beautiful church. but really there's no sight, noturnstile worth paying for, worth crossing. this is a chance just to sit on the sandy beach,drink the local wine vignoles or their white or their red wine from collioure, andimagine how close you are to spain. eat something spanish. here, it's only acouple hours by train to barcelona. if

you drop your rental car here, you cantrain to barcelona and continue your trip into spain if you want to. collioure makes agreat stopping off point then for that. the languedoc and the dordogne, together, areremarkable sights in the southwest corner of france. let's explore the eastern corner of-- side ofthis country. i'm not sure which side of france i like better. my house is here, inthe burgundy region on the eastern side, but boy, every time i travel through the west, and theplaces that i get to go every year, i'm never sure where i'd live if i couldchoose again. but the eastern side, we'll start in the burgundy area and coverburgundy and the alps, which adjoin each other, basically, for a great centraleastern look at this region-- at this side

of france, i should say. here you go, twohours by bullet train, four hours, at least, by car. believe me i know, i've done this a lotof times. from paris airport to beaune, and the capital of the wine country in burgundy,another couple hours up, three hours up to the heights of the alps in chamonix,again, not faster by train this time, because local trains takeover, althoughcertainly doable in a day, let's get going. in burgundy, the countryside is sophisticatedand calm as the residents. if you've come to see quintessential france, you'vearrived at the right place in burgundy, for here, the landscapes are crisscrossedwith canals and beautiful canal boats

like this, i just grabbed that one in theguidebook by the way. lovely romanesque chapels like this onein brancion, and hill towns far off the normal beaten path. and of course, thecuisine is world famous, snails cooked in garlic sauce, coq au vin,red meat from the charolais cattle, the white cattle,simmered in red wine for hours. coq au vin, rooster cooked in red winefor hours. "oeufs en meurette," "oeufs en meurette," if you're french, "oofs,"if you're american, phonetically, is my favorite of those dishes, and those are eggs,poached eggs, again, served in a red wine-- cooked in a red wine sauce.

there's something about red wine in this area, isn't there.beaune, i mentioned before, is the perfect base for touring theburgundian area. this is twenty minutes from our house and i spent a lot of timein the city. it's a lovely, quintessentially french town of 25,000 people, and capital ofthe wine industry here. so there's many chances to taste wine in the town of beaune.it works well even if you don't have a car-- does the burgundian-- doesburgundy. its most famous monument, there's one sight that's important to seeoutside of the wineries, for most americans, and that's its medieval hospitalhere, that i'm showing you. the hospices de beaune. you'll see medieval-- other examples ofthe middle ages in churches, and castles,

hill towns, and walled cities, right, butrarely will you see a hospital from the middle ages, particularly one as gloriousas this one. how is it, that this classically, by the way, tiled burgundian roof andhospital is in such great state of repair kits from the middle ages? mind you,middle ages is when the nurses were where nuns, and the primary antidote to anycure was bloodletting. when you travel through this museum you get to seeexamples of the-- what looks like a caulking gun. they would let blood from people'sheads, and of course, as a modern-day person, you realize that you were farbetter off in the middle ages outside this hospital, rather than within, becausethe idea of infection had not yet

arrived, and oftentimes two to three, even,sometimes patients would lie these narrow beds. but the reason this hospital lookslike this today, is that it was used as a hospital until 1971. thatmakes it remarkable alone, right, incredible, right. and it's unique in theworld because of its financing technique, method of financing. every year, over thehundreds of years that this hospital's existed, when people died, they woulddonate their land if they were saved and it felt like they were well-treated athospital, to the hospices de beaune, and to the nuns, etc. that land eventually grewgreat wine. that means that this hospital is one of the greatest landholders of

vineyards in burgundy, and every year theydo an annual selling of their wine, it's the famous wine that determines-- auction thatdetermines the price of wine throughout the world, almost, the auction in beaune, every third-- it's comingup-- third week of november. anyway, that's fascinating. beaune has great market days two days aweek, wednesday's and particularly saturdays. i love the saturday market in beaune, wenever miss when we're there. the best thing to do, i think, the best placeto rent a bike in all of france is in burgundy, because short distance frombeaune, easy to do, great guys running the

bike rental store, in a couple miles you'rethere, in the villages, along these wine service roads. cars don't use these roads,maybe tractors do if they're tending to their grapes. bicycle riders have freerun then, throughout the vineyards, running wine village to wine village,it's a glorious area, the prettiest vineyards, i think, in france are here inburgundy. and stop to taste along the way if you want to. i wouldn't drinktoo much if you're riding your bicycle, but i'm probably feeling better about thatthan if i were driving a car. so i list two different bike loops that you can do,because it is early so easy to do. and bike-only lanes, and paths, and well signed paths allow you to do so.

the importance of abbeys in europe andin france's history come to life more in burgundy than anywhere else, thanks to theabbey at cluny, the most powerful abbey in europe's history, which had over 2,000dependent churches and abbeys based on it, and vied with the church in rome,st. peter's, the vatican, for power for a period of time. we have burgundy'simportance with abbeys like this one, and this one, at fontenay, is maybe one ofthe best examples, perfectly preserved, for you to visit today, to understand.this is a cistercian abbey. st. bernard, thanks to him, constructed in the 1200s, and from the 1200s and1300s, this abbey flourished, all the way,

really, until the french revolution. for700 years, this mini city gathered the knowledge, and kept theknowledge that was lost after the fall of rome, and the barbarian invasions, andthe dark ages. monks retreated to places just likethis, or the island abbey of mont st. michel, to study the workings of the clock, toilluminate manuscripts, to study metalworking, the first forge in european--in europe arrives here at the abbey at fontenay, and thanks to abbeys like this, europe, and france in particular, makesit through the dark ages. people start moving back into cities, thanks to thetechniques, the study of wine and cheese

in particular, at abbeys like fontenay.and here, just an hour outside of beaune, you can get that sense of life. myfavorite site in france today is being built. the castle at guã©delon is adaring move by the french private enterp-- entrepreneurs. imaginebuilding a castle using, from the 1200s, blueprints that we have,drawings designed in the year 1200, from the king philip the fair. imaginebuilding a castle using only the tools and techniques of the year 1200, andbuilding it taking forty years. they're twenty years into it today at guã©delon, what you're looking at here. nobody knows of this site, it's kind of in a remotecorner of burgundy anyway, we have

deviated two of our tours to visit it,we think it's so important. the reason they did this, they're buildingthis castle, is to learn. there's so much wedon't know, ironically, about the construction ofmedieval castles, and it teaches-- they're learning as they go, and alsoit's a great showpiece for children, for tourists to understand, to see how rocksare taken right out of the quarry nearby, and and then dressed into squares and rectangles, andthen pulled up the squirrel wheel, continuing the structure, taller, and taller, it'sall happening in front of your eyes when you visit. is it at the castle ofguã©delon, that's burgundy's latest sights.

for many people though, that's nothingcompared to being face to face with the awesome alps. whether you're inswitzerland, or france, or italy, the alps are one of the more remarkable mountainranges in the world, and here there's, i don't think there's a better place ineurope to appreciate the drama of the alps, and the glaciers that you can seeflowing down from the high alps in france, just two and a half hours east ofbeaune, of burgundy. here, melted cheese matters. you won't find this in most-- i meanthere'll be fondu places, but this is every restaurant in the alps, whereyou'll find fondue, melted cheese, right, or raclette, or tartiflette, which is myfavorite, and if you've never heard of

tartiflette, it's scalloped potatoes withmelted cheese. it's always melted cheese over the top. all of these dishes, of course, keeppeople warm in the winter in this cold climates, there's a reason for it. a lotof cows produce lots of cheese in this area too. two sights i recommend, two cities forbasing yourself, or for appreciating the french alps. the most beautiful city infrance, and i think maybe arguably in europe, annecy, pronounced, "ahnsee"here. 50,000 people laced with canals, arcaded walkways, a glorioussituation, town, on the lake annecy. the alps are a little bit in the distance, they're notright there for you to hike up right in

front of you, but for a lakeside visit ofthe alps, annecy competes very favorably with any swiss city, from lucerne togeneva, that i've ever seen, with a fraction of the price for hotels, and betterfood and wine anyway, right. here you can travel around the lake, there's a path that goeshalfway up the lake. rent a bike. everybody's renting bikes here these days,it's like greenlake. ride around the lake halfway, 45 minutes or so at an averagepace, then pull your bike onto one of the steam ships that runs about everytwo hours, and come back rolling your into bike to the city of annecy via boat. orrent a paddle boat, but get out into the lake a little bit. lakefront alpine sightseeing isbrilliant in the city of annecy, but

if it's the alps in your lap that youmust have, if you need to go hiking, if you need tostand face to face with those glaciers, and the highest peaks in europe, then to chamonix you must go. chamonix mont blanc, as it's called, is a town of about 2,000 people,whose entire existence has always been devoted to exploration of the mountains.in the late 1700's, early 1800's, when the mountains became no longer obstacles inthe way, but obstacles of desire. "we're gonna tackle that mountain and climb itbecause it's there." chamonix was perfectly positioned to do so. and today, everyevery street name in the town of chamonix is named for a famous mountain climber.people come to chamonix from around the

world to study the heroic list ofclimbers, to understand what they did. and by the way, traveling in this city, in thefrench alps, they do a brilliant job of explaining the history of mountaineering,as well as the history of the, of glaciers and their current status today,but we'll talk about that more. but for you, the most incredible thing you can dofrom the downtown of chamonix is to ride a cable car up to 7,000 feet, thentransfer to another one to get up to 12,800 feet to the top edge of the sideof the mont-the massive mont blanc. 12,800 feet. dress warmly. this is open most of theyear, by the way. then, from the rooftop-- i love this next slide-- from the-- the french are crazy, they're nuts.

only the french would build a glassplatform hanging from the edge of this building that you're looking at, with athree thousand foot drop below, to allow tourists to do this. this started justlast year. i thought the tour office was kidding me, and then i went back the nextyear and i saw it sure enough. wow, this is incredible, and there many other thingsto see a 12,800 feet right next to mont blanc, but the greatest thing you can do,and there there are expositions of mountaineering, and of glaciers, and of thiskind of thing here, really, and restaurants, and the whole thing, but thegreatest thing you can do, is hop into one of these little teacups,

and travel at 12,500 feet, or 800 feet, with you and your partner, they can fit no more than four per car, andcrossover to italy. we used to have to say, "bring your passport," and then dropdown the other side if you want to, on a similar looking cable car, down into theitalian city of courmayeur, off to a aosta, a-o-s-t-a, a beautiful city, andonto milan, if that's what you want. there can be no greater european bordercrossing than this that i've just showed you. at 12,000 feet you'll pass the matterhorn onthe left and all these-- i'm serious, switzerland is right there. wow. that's worth going to chamonix alone,i don't know anywhere else in the world

that does that. then drop back down, onyour way back down to chamonix, get off halfway, that i mentioned where thetransfer was, and hike chamonix's-- this region's greatest hike. from the aiguille du midi, which is what that great lift is called, to the mer de glace glacier herebelow. eight mile long, one of the greatest-- the greatest glacier in the frenchalps. drop down, anyway, drop down to the cogwheel train to take you backdown to the city of chamonix. that's about a three hour hike for anybody. rapid walkers can do it in two hours. butit is-- it undulates, up and down, but it's a brilliant hike. if that'stoo much hiking for you, throughout, just

above the city, there are easier trailsthat i describe in the book, to get you up to some of these chalets with greatviews, and a glass of wine, or hot tea, or coffee. just enjoy the mountains allaround you without so much effort. on the opposite side of chamonix's valley, there are lifts and cable cars taking you on the mountains that hem it in on the other sidejust as well. it's a little bit claustrophobic in chamonix, because you'resurrounded by high mountain peaks. burgundy and chamonix and thealps, pardon me, the french alps, combine together for a brilliant five or sixdays of your time on a trip to france. provence and the french riviera anchor the southwesterncorner of your trip here. it makes a grand

finale in the southwestern corner.provence provides a splendid recipe of arid climate, seas of vineyards, fields oflavender, sunflowers, so good and great cities and villages, that we had towrite a book just dedicated to this one region, the size of the state ofmassachusetts, is this little region of provence and the french riviera. itfeatures great cities like arles, a principal roman city on the via domitia that connected italy with spain. here in arles, 50,000 people, you can exploreits roman history which is-- its heritage is shown beautifully. it's alsoan inexpensive place to stay with great hotels and restaurants in remarkableprice ranges.

the ancient-- antique museum of arles presentsits roman history. look at how little the city looks to have changed, let's look backwards. here it istoday, this is what it looked like in a model in this museum that i'm showingyou, two thousand years ago. geez, i wish every city had a museum like this, thatpresented what the city looked like in its heyday, you see. and then from the modelof the city of arles, there's the arena, there's the theater, the roman theater,there's the forum, and then you go model to model over, and see all ofits great monuments, roman monuments, in this museum. it's a great way to startyour roman lesson 101. then get out

in the city of arles, and see the realthing, whether it's its great theater, its roman arena that could handle 25,000gladiator crazy fans two thousand years ago, and enjoy it's market days. two daysa week where you'll feature its fineolives, a feature of the of the provence cuisine and tapenade. the market daysthroughout the region of provence are terrific, and arles has two of them, has two daysof the greatest of them. vincent van gogh spent-- dropped down-- camedown to the city of arles when he was just 35 years old, hoping to jump-starthis career, his artistic career and a social life. coming from the flatlands,and the grey skies of holland, he was bowled over

by everything provencal. the wind, the sunshine 350 days of the year, and he lived here for 18 months, sadly. and this is the region, when helived here, that influenced his art so greatly, and the paintings that we see,that we love of vincent van gogh's were painted when he was at his time here. productive artist he was, cranking out amasterpiece every two to three days during his time here. there are very fewof his paintings, maybe one or two, left that we can visit, depending on the year, in the city of arles, but you can go in the footsteps, a tour, of vincent van gogh, andstand where he did, you see, and look on

the edge of the river, of the rhone river,over the city of arles, and watch starry night over the, over the skylight and seewhat he say, it looks just the same today. twelve different panels are positionedin arles, taking you on the footsteps of vincent van gogh, showing paintings ofwhat you're looking at that he painted in his style. i'd love that. half an hournorth of arles lies the walled city of avignon. behind its powerful wallslies an interesting history. avignon is twice the size of arles, with moreof a sophisticated look and a great vibe from its market squares. it's a young city, it's astudent city, with very little to do in terms of sightseeing. this is the sightin avignon, and i actually think it's a

rather mediocre one, though historically,it's critically important. this is the pope's palace in the year-- in the 1300's, for almost a hundred years. the vatican was moved to southern france, andthe entire city of avignon was given a makeover. nine popes ruled from here in the1300's. you can tour the inside of the pope's palace in avignon, it'slargely vacant rooms, with not a lot of things to see, but the history isinteresting. that said, you get a lot of history by staring at it from theoutside, if you want to, as well. "sur le pont d'avignon, on y danse, on y danse." you can walk on this famous medieval bridge if you wantto, once 3,000 feet long with 22 arches,

there are only four arches left to cross.avignon makes a brilliant base for those who don't have cars for sightseeing inthe provence area. buses and trains get you out to see itsmost important sites, and those would be the roman sites nearby. the pont du gard isjust 45 minutes by bus, 30 minutes by your own car, probably, from the city ofavignon. here the greatest roman aqueduct that we get to see today in europe.carried nine million gallons of water a day across this aqueduct, along a 30 milechannel, to serve the important roman city of nã®mes, dropping one inch for every 350 feet as it went. it's a remarkable accomplishment that twothousand years ago this bridge was built,

this aqueduct, before the invention ofgunpowder, gunpowder? mortar. i'm getting tired. before theinvention of mortar, so these stones are just positioned into place perfectly. stilltoday, floods happen on a regular basis in southern france. modern bridges washaway, roman bridges lie intact. the nã®mes, the city of nã®mes, that the pont du gard served, hasone of the greatest roman monuments, the maison carrã©e, the best-preservedinterior, a brilliant roman arena nearby, about half an hour from avignon by train. half an hour north, the city of orangeoffers roman sightseers the best preserved roman theater of antiquity.easy by train to visit, 10,000 people

could attend a roman play, opera, or musicalhere and experience remarkable sound effects, thunder, lightning. go tovisit the theater of orange to appreciate what the romans were capable of. for manypeople, the most important part of traveling in provence is getting out onto the roadways, like this, and escaping themadding crowds, and getting out to explore the gorgeous, arid landscapedotted with olive trees, vineyards. we do a self-guided driving tour throughthe cotes du rhone vineyards in the france book and the provence book. friendly,easy-going tasting places like this, and hill towns like this likely, like le beau, thepowerful hill town of le beau. or france's

answer to tuscany, the luberon hill townsof gordes, or my favorite, roussillon, with cozy squares, and lovely places tospend the night or at least some time, before heading off onto the frenchriviera. just a few hours east of these hill towns that i just showed you, and thecity of arles and avignon, lies the french riviera. attracting cruise ships,sun worshipers, and travelers, with a surprising array of sights for you tovisit. the city of nice is the epicenter of this area, with its best-- with france'ssecond best and most easy to use airport, lots of people fly into nice and out ofparis or vice versa. it's half an hour for all that we cover, for all that'sinteresting on the french riviera, it's

half an hour from nice to antibes by train,and about the same distance to monaco at the eastern edge. don't bring your car. ifyou're renting a car, rent it when you're ready to leave, if you have a car whenyou arrive, drop it off right away. public transit in this area is brilliant,and the penalty for trying to drive in this compact area is high. nice is the fifth-largest city offrance, it's a gorgeous city that's really cleaned up its act in the lastfive years, thanks largely to its tramway system, where all of the cars were takenoff the roads that it goes near including great squares. until thistramway was built just a few years ago, the

place massena here had cars racing rightthrough it. today it looks like this, and at night it looks like this. howpedestrian-friendly, and how-- what a change to the character of nice, this is, and for me,as a guide book writer, to see some place change that, well, that i used to not lookforward to going to is a joy. stand up on castle hill, and admire the fact thatjust below you, the old city of nice is very italianesque when you wanderthrough it. and we do a walking-- self-guided walking tour through thecity of nice, the old city, that looks more, really, looks like it could be in downtown rome. well until the late 1800's thiswas italian, it was part of a principality

owned by italy. so the food, the architecture,feels very italianesque in nice. market days, the cours saleya is the heartbeat at the centercity of old nice. the promenade des anglais is essential for understanding thatthe history of the city began, really of importance, about a hundred years ago,when russian and british tourists started to come here to escapetheir dreary winter weather. you can-- we do a self-guided walking tour in ourguidebook, taking you along the promenade des anglais, which looks like this today bythe way. sunny weather, probably 65 degrees, something likethat, nobody's lying on the beach. come in the summertime, it looks a littlebit different, doesn't it. who would do this?

lie on rocky beaches like this? thefrench don't care, it doesn't matter. they rent lounges, and chairs, and such to avoid therocks commonly, but for you, put yourself in one of these lovely chairs and justlet the scenery in front of you pass by, and enjoy the promenade des anglais. theriviera is france's greatest corner for understanding contemporary art. there itdrew artists, thanks to wwi, post-wwi, a variety of artists from renoir to marcchagall, whose museum we're looking at, to pablo picasso, and many others. and thereis a museum dedicated to each of those artists along the riviera, several ofthem in the city of nice alone, here the greatest museum that you want to see isdedicated to marc chagall, who painted a

series of 17 paintings, just for thismuseum, inspired by the bible, passages from the bible. this is a brilliantmuseum and we take you on a self-guided tour through it, thanks to the genius ofgene openshaw, again, with the help of rick steves. i just get to update it when i go. theother museum nearby, just a couple of minutes away, is dedicated to henri matisse, wholived just before marc chagall, died in the early nineteen hundreds. and hepainted in an abstract style, his museum, the museum dedicated to henri matisse is less compellingto me, less essential for your visit. though if you're a matisse fan you must go visit, right. dedicated thechurch, the russian church in nice is an

interesting site to visit, withoutquestion. here five hundred families doled together their money to build this church,well thanks to the czar principally, the 500 families who lived in nice yearround used this is a place of worship. and it's a fascinating-- it's the greatest, probably thegreatest russian orthodox church outside the country. fascinating place to visit. day trips from nice are easy. thanks to buses and practical trains, you can go next door, 15minutes away, to the lovely city of villefranche-sur-mer, where many people prefer establishing their home base, becauseit's so quick to get into downtown nice,

if you want, and then get away to thislovely little small village for their riviera experience. buses and trains connect it to downtownnice on a regular basis in one direction, in the other you can walk alongbeautiful seafront promenades, across to the peninsula of cap ferrat.visit the remarkable villa ephrussi de rothschild, with seven different gardens,gorgeous interior, but the gardens are what it's all about. looking to monaco on onedirection and villefranche the other, have dinner at one of my favorite restaurants,the plage de passable here, with views back onto villefranche. it's about a 45minute walk, taxis will take you there in about

10 minutes. having dinner, watching thelight of villefranche come on, on the beach, is a marvelous experience to have.and what to eat? in nice, bouillabaisse. anything from the sea is very expensive, bouillabaisse is, but there are cheaperversions like bourride, b-o-u-r-r-i-d-e. anything shellfish from themediterranean makes logical sense to order in this region. end yoursightseeing on the french riviera at the-- if you see it once, that's enough, but yougotta go there-- principality of monaco. this principality, just 30 minutesoutside of nice, another twenty maybe from villefranche, is where 30,000 monegasques live today, most because of the tax-free status, income tax free status.you'll want to tour the rock, monaco-ville.

there are two principal parts of thissmall little principality, i think it's 30 kilometers, it's smaller than edmonds. it'sits own country, but it uses french currency and a lot. visit the rock, themonaco-ville, where prince rainier's palace, now prince albert's palaces, remember, marriedgrace kelly, and arrive before noon every day for the changing of the guard.which is sort of silly to contemplate that a country this size has achanging of the guard, and all of its pomp and circumstance, when you considerthere are more people in the philharmonic in monaco than in the army.i like that, alright. then cross the port here, where race cars have raised since 1929up and down these hills, doing 78 laps in

the monaco grand prix, and find theneighborhood of monaco called monte carlo. and here, the casino is themain site, right, this is the if they build-- "if you build it they will come," structure in monaco, built as aeconomic investment plan where you can feel downright james bond-like after two o'clock.anybody can enter, it's free now to enter the gaming rooms, but you haveto dress up and look as nice as you possibly can. shorts are not allowed, tennis shoes, andthis kind of thing. wear the best thing that you brought with you and spend yourlast night, maybe, on your french

experience in this glimmering city of monaco.it's glorious at night. easy to get back to your home base in nice or villefranche-sur-mer. well, this southeastern corner of franceis covered perfectly well in our france book, but even better in our book thatdedicates itself to provence and the riviera. all the information is updatedon our website, information about our tours. things change, so we update our bookson our website. check our website out before you go, maybe the price or maybethe price of a great monument has changed, or its closed. you'll find information on ourwebsite. and i know, that if you go to france, no matter what region you chooseto go to, if you paddle on your own,

choosing to do it on your own, or with agroup, you'll have a marvelous experience,because of those waiters, not in spite of them. "merci," everybody. thank you foryour attention on this rainy night.

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