Paris and beyond by camper

Friday 26/10 = departure towards Genoa, with an overnight stop in Nice. Saturday 27/10 = we carry on along the motorway and, after a lunch stop, in the evening we pull over at a service area just before the exit for the Château de Fontainebleau. Tomorrow we plan to visit it. Sunday 28/10 = Having reached the château and parked on the avenue beside its walls, we go to see this "hunting lodge", which in the end pleased us all. We decide to have lunch on site, and so in the early afternoon we set off for the Paris campsite, which we reach around 4 pm. In the evening we go to see the Eiffel Tower lit up. Monday 29/10 = It's raining, and this rain stays with us all day long. We buy the Paris Visite pass for 3 days (to travel by metro, bus, RER, etc.) and the Paris Museum Pass for 2 days, and decide we'll use them on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Meanwhile we wander on foot and by metro to get familiar with this city, and there's still time to visit Notre Dame and pick out the places for tomorrow's and the day after's visits. Tuesday 30/10 = The morning is for the visit to Les Invalides, with the museums of arms and other museums all inside it, ending with the tomb of Napoleon. We then go to the Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie. Then it's off to the Montmartre area to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, with its little artists' square full of talented portrait painters, and a stroll through the Pigalle district as far as the "Moulin Rouge". We get back to the campsite really exhausted. Wednesday 31/10 = We get off the metro at the Louvre, where we go to see the Italian painters' section.

In the room where the Mona Lisa is displayed there's a constant crush of people, while in the other corridors and rooms the paintings can be looked at up close and in peace. Around 3 pm we go out and stop to eat our sandwiches in the sun, in the square with the pyramid. On foot we reach Place de la Concorde, passing both the Opera house and the Madeleine. We rest a while on a bench in the Tuileries garden, then continue along the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe, where, after the effort of the inner staircase, we enjoy a superb panorama of Paris. That done, we head back to the campsite to refuel and get ready to go out. In fact we've decided to leave Paris the next day, and tonight we go up the Eiffel Tower because the evening is clear.

The view of Paris at night from the terrace on the 3rd floor of the Tower is truly a breathtaking spectacle, and even the cost of the lift becomes secondary. Thursday 1/11 = We decide not to take the same road as on the way there, so we head east towards Alsace. In the late afternoon we reach Nancy. We park the camper in the "Bus Turistici" car park and make our way into the old town. The central square is truly wonderful, but everything around it is no less so! Friday 2/11 = We decide to go to Strasbourg, but after seeing the European Parliament building we set off again towards Colmar. There we settle into the "Bus Turistici" car park and take a nice stroll around the old town, which is really beautiful. We were supposed to come for the Christmas markets, but since we've already been, we'll wait another couple of years. Saturday 3/11 = We set off to head home through Switzerland.