The Bridge...

Yea, that's Lisa!

Mr. Fox, Linda, and Lisa awoke this morning to a beautiful, sunny, autumn day.  They started out heading south toward New Hampshire and decided to see what they could see...and see they did! First up was a road side wonder in Rumford, ME.  They stumbled on a converted "Muffler Man" statue outside the visitor center, painted to look like Paul Bunyan.  Linda texted me that Lisa had found a new man.

After the morning flirtation, they continued down the road where a sign beckoned them to an old covered bridge. It turns out they were touring the covered bridge over the Sunday River in Bethel, Me. The original bridge was built in 1822 and has been repaired or replaced several times during its long life.

After the day's travels, they checked into their hotel in Conway, NH.  The view is spectacular, as you can see in Mr. Fox's photo.  On the technology front, they are having difficulty sending messages and e-mails, even through the internet connection.  Maybe this is what they mean by small towns having a slower pace!

Acadia!

Yesterdy Mr. Fox and the girls visited Acadia National Park just south of Bar Harbor, Maine.  The weather decided not to cooperate as it was overcast and foggy most of the day.  The pictures show a beautiful and somber park shrouded in fog and haze.

The drive looked like it was going to be a bust of a day, but when they arrived, the fog cleared enough for them to see just how beautiful the park is.  The waves crashing on the rocky shore and the wonderful views of the Northern Atlantic was truly spectacular.

Mr. Fox, staying on mission, continued to collect the fall leaves. As you can see, he does not want us to forget why he is on the trip!

The intrepid team is traveling around the great white north in an orange Jeep.  I will try to get a picture of it in the next post.

Mr. Fox collecting his leaves.

They are having a blast and are headed back to New Hampshire on Sunday.

Thunder Hole

Beautiful Acadia!

Maine!

Mr. Fox enjoying the view

The reason for the trip was to take in the beautiful changing of the leaves (and eat lobster), while the weather is not really cooperating, Mr. Fox was able to pose with some beautiful scenery.  They made their way up the eastern seaboard from Portsmouth, NH into Maine and through Kennebunkport.  In Kennebunkport they saw the former President Bush's compound.  Then it was on to Bar Harbor where they would stay for the night.

In an ironic twist of fate, as they arrived at the hotel in Bar Harbor, a Trafalger bus pull up with a load of tourists! (For those that don't know, Trafalger was our tour provider in Europe this summer!)

After lugging their bags up 3 flights of steps and settling in, it was already pitch black outside at 6:30pm!  They were then off in search of an authentic Maine Lobster dinner (this appears to be on Linda's bucket list)!!! From what I could tell, the dinner was a smashing success and they are having a wonderful time.

Posing with the star of the season!

Lobster!!

Off to New England

Mr. Fox is off on another adventure!  He is arrived yesterday in Boston, Mass courtesy of Jet Blue.  He and his trusty traveling companions, Linda and Lisa made their way to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Known as 'Tugboat Alley', they watched as two tug boats docked a ship with the first salt delivery of the season!

Later in the afternoon, they journeyed over for a little history, visiting the home of William Whipple, as signer of the Declaration of Independence!

A Day in Paris

Mr. Fox at the Louvre

Sorry that this post is so late, the trip home was long and this is the first chance I have had to post for our last day in Europe.

Saturday was a full day in Paris, we started early with at bus tour around the city, we drove up the Champs-Élysées, past the  Arc de Triomphe, to the main square where there is an Egyptian Obelisk marking the spot where the guillotine stood during the French Revolution.  The bus trip took us past Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower and ended back on the Champs-Élysées where we took a stroll down what is supposedly one of the most expensive strips of land in the world.

Following our stroll, we were on our way to the Louvre museum for an early afternoon appointment.  We were warned that it was as busy as Versailles, so we were prepared for another pushing match with the crowd.  Luckily, even though it was crowded, it was nothing like Friday's herd.

Our guide was much better than the guide for Versailles, and she took us on a quick 2 hour tour of the museums.  We started in the basement where we viewed the base of the original Louvre castle.  The base of the castle was discovered in 1985 and confirmed the original jail that was only myth up to the discovery.  The current Louvre palace was built directly on top of the old one and has expanded into the largest museum in the world.  We moved pretty quickly through the museum, with stops at the Venus de Milo statue, the Mona Lisa, and we even had time to view the French crown jewels of Louis XVI.

From the Louvre, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower.  We entered the lift and made our way to the second level.  The view is impressive from here, I can't imagine what it would be like at the very top. (Lisa has been up there and says that it is pretty scary!)  We took pictures, admired the views of Paris and generally marveled at this engineering masterpiece!  While Linda and Lisa waited in line to take the lift back down to the ground, Clayton and I started down the stairs, followed later by Michael, Emmy, and Anthony.  The walk down was much less taxing than the Cathedral in Cologne and my legs did not hurt afterward.

Mr. Fox cruising down the Seine

Our final dinner was a farewell dinner with the entire group in an old Parisian establishment.  It was supposed to be a pretty big deal, as we had to select all three courses 3 days ahead of our reservation!  Well, we were not that impressed with the French cuisine.  The appetizers were a little sketchy, the fish had bones, the beef was 'interesting', and we had an interesting encounter with the manager on the wrong number of Chocolate Mousse desserts.  It was pretty funny listening to our tour guide and the manager arguing...I am sure Caroline did not enjoy it, but the manager was being a jerk.

Mr. Fox and the Eiffel Tower

We finished our meal and headed out for a final cruise down the Seine river to see Paris 'wake-up' and become the 'City of Lights'.  We had a good time, cruising past Notre Dame and finishing up by the Eiffel Tower with it's lights sparkling in the cool Parisian night!

After the cruise, Caroline had one final stop before heading back to pack and bed. The Eiffel Tower does it's sparkling trick 3 times a night and the bus took us to the prefect spot to view and take pictures. Clayton and I found an unobstructed view where I took pictures and he captured the spectacle on my phone.

All in all, a very busy final day!  I will be posting some more pictures and will probably post a final summary a little later.  For those who followed the entire trip, thank you very much for your interest and endurance!  I know we are all exhausted and will take some time to recover from such a wonderful vacation.

Gettin' to Paris

Friday started out the way most of the travelling days did, on the bus.  We made good time through the farmlands of central France, seeing more beautiful sunflower fields, along with corn and other staple crops. (And the errant Castle and Church!)

Mr. Fox in Beaune, France

We had a mid-morning stopover in the small medieval village of Beaune, France.  We simply walked around and window shopped, however, Emmy (with her personal shopper, Michael) bought a beautiful new dress (and some other things I'm told).

Mr. Fox at Versailles

We arrived on the outskirts of Paris a little before three in the afternoon where we made a stop at the Palace of Versailles.  The palace to Louis XIV, Louis XV, and the last palace Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette saw during the French Revolution.  The palace is huge (over 1700 rooms I think), but crowded.  It was beautiful, but as you move from room to room, you get crushed going through the doors!  There as a lot of pushing and shoving (and that as just our group!).  In one instance, a rather rotund man was pushing Lisa with his stomach.  Michael put his hand between his mother and the fat man, pushed him back and said, "No, too close!"  Michael said that the man stood there with the look on his face saying..."did that just happen?"  Oh, the adventure that is Europe!

The palace was a little overwhelming, and the guide not very good, so the group hightailed it out of the Kings abode, into the courtyard, and off to the meeting spot at the main gates.  Needless to say, we have been to Versailles, and that is all we're saying about that. (I will post some pictures though).

Mr. Fox getting ready to enjoy the Moulin Rouge!

After making it into the city and checking into the hotel, we were off to our evening adventure, The Moulin Rouge! (Red Windmill in English)  Here we were treated to a nice meal in the largest cabaret in Paris. The highlight of the show, for us anyway, was when Micheal was selected out of the audience to participate in the show by the mime.  He, a Chinese man, a Chinese woman, and a German (Michael thinks) woman all joined the mime on stage for some antics and a very funny skit.  Michael stole the show by ad-libing and generally giving the mime a hard time, it was very entertaining!

It turned out to be a pretty long night and we were all ready to get back to the hotel for some sleep for our last day in Paris (and Europe!)

Headin' to Paris

Mr. Fox with a Bocce ball sculpture in Cannes

Thursday was primarily a travel day, as we are headed for the grand finale in Paris. We left Nice and traveled a little west to Cannes, home of the famous film festival. It is really a small coastal village with expensive boats in the harbor, the film festival hall, and not really much to see.

We visited the local farmers market, which was filled with everything from flowers to vegetables to chickens with their feet still on (Clayton's favorite: skinned rabbits with their eyes still in their heads) and all kinds of herbs and spices.

In the afternoon we stopped in the small Provençal town of Avignon. Avignon is famous for the Papal Palace, that housed 6 Popes in the 14th century before they returned to Rome in the early 15th century. The Papal Palace is HUGE! Take a look at the panorama, as the camera would not take it all in from the square.

We had a really nice lunch in the village square. Linda was looking for crepes, so we found an outside resturant that served them. Lisa had chicken, while Clayton, Linda and I all had cheese crepes. They were delicious! After lunch, we did a little shopping in the street side shops.

Mr. Fox with a namesake establishment in Cannes, France

I think everyone slept on the bus on our way to Lyon. There were no planned activities in Lyon, so Caroline took us to the city center for dinner. We walked around the old city where we used a secret passage originally used by the silk merchants and the French resistence in WWII.

Some of the group wanted escargot, so we found an outside cafe that served them. Linda was the only brave one among us to order the large snails.

Dinner and the company was delightful, and we headed back to the hotel to rest up for 2 days in Paris!

Tomorrow we travel most of the day for a 3pm tour of the Palace at Versailles, then on to the
Moulin Rouge for dinner!