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first time trip to benelux countries and france
Sun, 01/14/2007 - 16:33
mr2step
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Greetings everyone. I am a first time poster and also gonna be first time traveler to europe in August of 2007. My wife and I are planning on heading over to Amsterdam to visit our daughter who will be studying abroad over in Amsterdam for 6 weeks this summer. We will be over for 2 weeks and are trying to develop some kind of itinerary to work with. We are obviously doing Amsterdam but I have heard you can see it in a few days. I would like to go to Belgium and down to Luxembourg to Lux. City and check out the Mosell wine region. We also want to head to Paris for a few days and would like to possibly go to Normandy region in France and check out St. Michelle. Now, rail is obviously the way to go. However, I am finding a difficult time getting any info on traveling down to Lux. Does anyone have any ideas on the best itinerary for these places with 2 weeks to work with? Also, I do not know if there is any train service to the Normandy region from Paris. Would we be better off driving? I would rather NOT drive but realize that certain areas just do not have train access. Additionally, the last question I have for now is for anyone who has traveled these countries and done a similar route. What is a good time frame for traveling these countries? I know Lux. is small and could be seen in 2 days max perhaps. Any ideas, suggestons? Cussing, discussing?? Thanks!![=“Arial”][/]

Sun, 01/14/2007 - 19:07
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oldlady
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Use the German rail website for schedules anywhere in Europe — it’s the most complete and the most user-friendly in English:  http://reiseauskunft…

Luxembourg city is interesting for WWII history and the medieval battlements.  Bastogne, on the Lux border but in Belgium, was the heart of the Battle of the Bulge and has a great museum (everything’s in three languages including English) if you’re interested in WWII stuff.

We took the train from Paris to Caens and then rented a car to tour Normandy.  The rental offices are across the street from the train station.  The traffic was no problem and there are 6 different self-guided driving tours of the D-Day stuff.  We picked the specific things we wanted to visit and developed our own driving tour with no problem.  I normally don’t recommend driving in Europe — but I do recommend renting a car for a day to tour Normandy.  Renting a car for 2 or 3 days will make it easier to visit Mt. Michelle.

Mon, 01/15/2007 - 00:40
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There is very good rail service to Normandy from Paris, but you need to understand that Paris has more than one rail station. I’m guessing that, if you arrive in Paris from the Moselle area, you’ll likely arrive at the Gare de l’Est in Paris, while your departure station for Normandy will be Gare St Lazare (the two stations aren’t terribly far apart, but it’s important to know that little bit of info, although you’ll probably spend a while in Paris before going on to Normandy).
There are some guided tours in Normandy, but I think that you’ll be happier with a rental car for a day or two.

Wed, 01/17/2007 - 00:12
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if you want to have a great experience in Normandy – if you want an explanation of where you are and the history behind the DDay landings i would totally recommend taking guided tours from the small van type tours….. several good reviews about several of the outfits. I did my tour out of Bayeux and went with Battlebus. I plan on returning to Normandy again in the future and would use them again. I would not recommend just driving around yourself. You won’t get the stories, won’t get to visit random people’s backyards where some of the skirmishes played out……Enjoy.

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