Paris-Geneva-Paris

Help! Our family of 6 will be travelling by car from Paris to Geneva and back next month and would love some recommendations. We will be staying in Paris for 4 nights (sans car) and then would like to take a couple of days driving east through Metz and into Germany and then to Geneva. We%26#39;ll stay 3 nights in Geneva then have 2 days to return to Paris. We%26#39;ll stay the last night near the CDG airport. Three of my sons are in college, so they are going to want some autonomy. I think they%26#39;d enjoy seeing a real German town as well as a French town besides Paris.m They%26#39;d love seeing Italy, too, but I%26#39;m thinking that might be too ambitious. If you have other suggestions that would be great.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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From what you%26#39;ve said, Heidelberg would probably be quite a good option for you. We visited for 2 nights during our trip this summer while en route to Austria. Although the 3 boys in our group aged 15/16 weren%26#39;t overly impressed they%26#39;re used to travelling in Europe so it probably wasn%26#39;t different enough from what they%26#39;ve seen before and we all know how hard it is to please that age group! Heidelberg is a university town though so seems to cater well for that age group. I think our boys were just a bit too young to explore the bars/student haunts. It also has enough for the adults to explore for a couple of days.

We ate at %26#39;Vetter%26#39; which had been recommended to us by a local. Traditional German pub food - excellent.

It%26#39;s about a 2-3 hour drive from Metz and about a 4-5 hour drive from Geneva.

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You might be interested in visiting the Maginot Line just to the south of Wissembourg, France. Heidelberg is slightly out of your way. Another nice German town on your way is Freiburg, another old college town, which sits on the edge of the Black Forest. If you don%26#39;t mind driving a little out of your way, another great old college town is Tuebingen ( www.tuebingen.de ) with its hilly cobblestone streets, half-timbered houses, castle, interesting nontourist shops, and one of Europe%26#39;s oldest universities, our favorite place in Germany to repeatedly visit. Just to its north is the lovely well-preserved medieval Bebenhausen Monastery (in www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de ). You can then drive across the Black Forest to return to the Rhine.

As the area of germany bordering both Switzerland and France is Baden-Wuerttemberg, a few useful websites:

www.baden-wuerttemberg.de

www.tourismus-bw.de

www.schloesser-und-gaerten.de for the excellent castles, palaces, monateries and gardens operated by this German state.

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Much as I love Heidelberg, it is a Baroque town, not a medieval %26quot;half-timbered%26quot; place, like other towns in Germany. Freiburg is a better choice here, and closer to your route.

MP: Why do you suggest Wissembourg? I love the place,but it is a bit obscure. And the Maginot line?

Why doyou suggest that? If one is in the area,I much prefer Strasbourg, a wonderful French/German/Alsatain town with some medieval, some Barouque,somem odern and great food: )

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%26quot;MP: Why do you suggest Wissembourg? I love the place,but it is a bit obscure. And the Maginot line?%26quot;

I didn%26#39;t suggest Wissembourg, we%26#39;ve only driven through it, although I%26#39;m sure it%26#39;s a fine place to visit but not one of the best. I%26#39;m also not recommending everyone visiting the Maginot Line, but for some people it would be very interesting. I%26#39;m just saying it%26#39;s there and can be visited. We went last summer because it was one of the few places that my visiting American son wanted to see. I also enjoyed it, it%26#39;s interesting and different. I just mentioned it because it is close to a possible driving route.

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Thanks. I was in Wissembourg last year and enjoyed it. Pretty little place,nice restaurants, and the closest bit of France to southwestern Germany. (other than tiny Lauterbourg, for an upcoming trip someday).

What do you see with the Maginot Line? We once took a detour from Black Forest across Rhine thru the Voges to Gerardmer (great town on the lake in Lorraine)and I understand the forests in the Voges have a lot to do with German/French combat.Is that related to Maginot?

For OP, this is all some background, no?

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%26quot;What do you see with the Maginot Line? We once took a detour from Black Forest across Rhine thru the Voges to Gerardmer (great town on the lake in Lorraine)and I understand the forests in the Voges have a lot to do with German/French combat.Is that related to Maginot?%26quot;

We visited the extensive underground tunnels and living areas somewhere not too far south of Wissenbourg, I think we kind of went off to the SW there as we had to look for another road there. I can%26#39;t find our detailed map of Alsace showing the Maginot Line fortifications, but there are several that are visitable and can be easily found on the internet with a search. When we arrived, there was a bus load of students and some of their families from Purdue University (my alma mater) who were just leaving on a tour so we joined them. Miles of tunnels, living areas, hospitals, storage areas, etc. and the guns are like battleship turrets that can be raised from below ground for firing, and can pivot like them.

Of course in WW II, the Germans just bypassed the Maginot Line attacking through neutral Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland. So although quite a few shells were fired from the guns, there were no real major attacks along this front and all the fortifications were surrendered intact by France. However, the late 1800%26#39;s Franco-Prussian War was fought in Alsace, and certainly in the Vosges. I%26#39;ve seen memorials to fallen German soldiers in places throughout Germany, but in Stuttgart is the only memorial I have personally seen in Germany celebrating victories in a war, this war, on Karlsplatz.