The Swiss Connection

With our trip coming up very quickly, I decided to give you more information on Geneva. It is a wonderful city with much to offer and we will be there for the afternoon of Tuesday, May 8. You may want to view the excellent website:

http://www.geneva-tourism.ch/index.php?rubrique=0000000000&lang=_eng

Underneath the photo at the top, click on:
- Discover
for the major "must-sees", parks, walking tours, info on bicycles
- Culture
for the list of museums (maybe you want to visit the Patek Phillipe Museum of watchmaking)
- Gastronomy and Wines
for a very extensive list of restaurants of all types
- Lifestyle
in case shopping is your thing, this will satisfy your curiosity about the numerous shops and department stores, and you can research them ahead of time so you can shop till you drop!

On the left side of the homepage, you can look at the Webcam or view
Maps of the center town or center town and international organizations if you are interested in taking a trip to the United Nations Building.

The trip packet Pam and I will give you at the airport will include some printed info and a small map of Geneva.

FYI: The currency in Switzerland is the Swiss Franc (CHF) but most places there accept Euros (as well as credit or debit cards) The current exchange rate is 1 Euro = 1.6 Swiss Francs. Also 1 Swiss Franc = 82 cents in Dollars.

See you at MBS Airport on Thursday, May 3 by 11 a.m.!

Monet's "Waterlilies"

If you are interested in seeing Claude Monet's famous impressionist paintings from his Waterlily series (Nymphéas) there is no better to place to go than the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. This museum has been closed for renovations during our last three trips to France but was reopened in May, 2006.

If you are curious and want to see what all the hoopla is about check out their website:http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/index_u1l2.htm

At the top you can click on: la visite virtuelle de Nymphéas for a virtual visit of the two very large oval rooms built especially to showcase these masterpieces. (Salle 1 & Salle 2) You can use your mouse to rotate around the entire rooms and press shift to zoom in. Believe me when I say they are much better viewed in person! Magnifique!

Or you may click on English to get some printed info in English

This museum also contains many excellent paintings by Renoir, Cézanne,
Picasso, Rousseau and others.

Paris Museum Pass

The Carte Musées is now officially called the Paris Museum Pass and in case you are interested in checking it out see:

http://www.parismuseumpass.fr/flash/hp_fr.html

If you want to be able to visit many museums without waiting in line and paying for individual tickets, this may be for you!

The two day pass is 30 Euros and the four day pass is 45 Euros and is easily purchased in Paris.

Great guidebooks!

These are the guidebooks we are using:

For the Lyon area:
Michelin Green Guide, Auvergne and the Rhône Valley

For the Chamonix and Annecy areas:
Michelin Green Guide, French Alps

French:
Lonely Planet French Phrasebook

Paris:
Eyewitness Travel Guide, Paris
Knopf, MapGuide: Paris
Paris Made Easy
Eyewitness, Top 10 Paris
Walking Paris

Sue Johnson had also suggested Paris for Dummies and has field tested it herself!

Pam Renna likes the Paris Walks notecard set.

Any other favorites?

Remember we will be supplying each of you with a packet of maps and brochures when we meet at the airport.

Want to see a slideshow of Annecy?

Pam has been writing to the boat company which will provide a luncheon cruise on Lake Annecy for our group. I found this website which has a nice slideshow. You may select flotte (fleet) to get boat and lake photos or tourisme to get photos of Annecy. All are très picturesque! Check it out and whet your appetite!

http://www.annecy-croisieres.com/component/option,com_slideshow/Itemid,39/lang,en/

Speaking French

It is not necessary to know how to speak French while on our trip in France, but knowing a few greetings and phrases is definitely helpful.

Pam had us practice some of those at our last orientation session on Jan 28th. Quite a few of you have French phrase books also.

One of my favorite French language websites is:
www.france.about.com

Since many of you have studied French in the past, you may want to test your listening comprehension skills.

There is a helpful section where you can listen to some conversations typical to what you would hear while traveling, for instance in a store or restaurant. Look for the section entitled Beginning French Dialogues on page:
http://french.about.com/library/listening/bl-listeningindex.htm

Bonne chance!

Pam and I welcome comments from our fellow travelers!

Paris: ooh-la-la!

"La Conciergerie" is an interesting and useful site on Paris giving lots of info and allowing you to order tickets/museum passes/bus passes, etc ahead of time. It is in English and user friendly and gives rates in Euros and Dollars. I have not yet used it personally but it looks great.

www.conciergerie.com

Everytime I go online to research sites on France, I get more excited about our upcoming trip! Feel free to share any info you may find on this or any other site.

Currency Issues

Using foreign currency does not have to be confusing.

I find it best to find out how much it would cost in U.S. dollars to buy one Euro and then multiply that amount by the cost in euros.

The dollar has gained a bit in value recently. :-)

The website I use to keep an eye on exchange rates is:
www.x-rates.com

In 2006 the rate has ranged from as little as $1.20 in Feb and March to as high as $1.30 in June. It currently is around $1.26 to buy one Euro.

So today if I wanted to buy something with a price of 10 Euros, it would cost around $12.60.

Of course the "official" exchange rate is not the exact one used by banks and businesses. They will use a slightly different one or tack on a fee for the exchange service. Credit card companies do the same.

By doing some research and talking with Swiss friends, I find while we are in Geneva, Switzerland we will not have to exchange Euros into Swiss Francs, the official currency there (those Swiss are so independent!).
However if you pay with cash in Euros, you will receive change in Swiss Francs. (This is similar to what happens when we use American dollars to buy something in Canada.) The easiest way to purchase something would be to use a debit or credit card.

While on vacation I try to be knowledgeable but not overly concerned with exchange rates and just enjoy the trip. :-)