Paul, Thanks for that. I'll give it a try. As regards our trip, we did the following. Calais to Troyes. Stayed at Hotel Mercure Troyes Centre, 11 Rue des bas Trevois, Troyes 10000. Hotel is convenient and fairly standard. This is a nice stopover. Worth spending a couple of hours in the old centre of Troyes. Some nice restaurants for evening meal. Dijon is an alternative stopover, with more to see, but a bit further from Calais. We then stayed a couple of nights near Lake Geneva at friends' house, just above Nyon on the Swiss side. Lots to see there. Enjoy a trip across the lake on one of the paddle steamers but try to choose one with a real steam engine - presuming you're into that kind of thing. If you're going to do Lake Geneva, leave the French autoroute near Poligny and take the road over the Jura, rather than motorway all the way to Geneva, - this will be the first bit of 'nice' road on the trip. Don't forget to buy a Swiss vignette for their motorways at the border post as you'll probably need it at some point. Then, head west along the motorway on the north side of L Geneva. You can avoid the motorways if you object to buying a vignette but it would take a lot longer. Then head for the Grand St Bernard pass into Italy. (Don't take the Mont Blanc tunnel route, the lorry fumes are dreadful and you don't see anything; the Simplon pass is OK but you can get a few lorries on that route, which cramps your driving style.) If you do the St Bernard, don't take the tunnel near the top but stick with the old road. Your Boxster will like this bit. Check it's open first! This year it opened about the middle of May but the restaurants at the top were still closed at the end of May. We then headed to an area just south of Genoa called the Cinque Terre. Very picturesque but the motorways in that part of Italy are rather unpleasant and get worse as you near the coast and along it - two lanes and very busy with lorries. An alternative, which we've done previously, is to take the Simplon pass instead and take a look at Lago Maggiore on the Italian side. Stunning. Incidentally, on that occasion, as we drove up the Simplon we spotted a UK registered Bentley Continental in a lay-by and pulled over for a chat with the owners, an English couple who were having a lunchtime barbie and getting totally plastered at the same time. If you want to do Lago Maggiore, I can recommend an hotel - let me know. Near Cinque Terre, we stayed in a farmhouse B&B, so far off the beaten track and miles along a single track road that I wouldn't recommend it. We then drove to Tivoli, just east of Rome. We were staying there with a group for a week in an old convent that has been restored by the Landmark Trust (Google Sant' Antonio Landmark Trust, if you're interested). We tried to avoid the motorway for the first half of the very long journey but that was a mistake - should have take the motorway and saved time. Not a very interesting journey from a motoring perspective and I probably wouldn't bother driving south of Tuscany on a future occasion (though Tivoli is a great place with lots to see, and the house was fantastic). After that, we headed north and spent one night in Bologna. Mrs E found a hotel bang in the centre of the city. Getting in and out of the hotel car park was probably the most challenging bit of the whole trip but I can confirm that the hotel car park is accessible by a 981. Just. If you can't resist the challenge, it's Hotel Accademia, Bologna, Via delle Belle Arti 6, 40126 Bologna. Bologna is a stunning city. One of my favourites in Italy (or anywhere). On the way there, drive through an area called Mugello. There are some fantastic mountain passes just north of Borgo San Lorenzo, on the way to Bologna. Beautiful countryside and fairly quiet roads. Quite a few bikers use them but they tend not to get in your way! If you decide only to go as far south as Florence or Siena, you can take in this area on your return journey. Mrs E and I plan to go back there. Then we headed for the Dolomites, South Tyrol - still in Italy but with a lot of Austrian influence. We stayed for a few days at Corvara, which was great, but there are lots of other options. The scenery and roads here are amazing. You could spend all day just doing one mountain pass after another. You simply have to go there. It's a popular area but you won't find the roads so busy as to spoil your driving enjoyment - at least not in early June. We then headed for Stuttgart to take in the Porsche museum. Its' worth a visit but mainly for car nuts. I'd recommend the MB museum, also in Stuttgart as having more interest for the non-specialist. Stay over and do both! Of course, you can get a good blast on the Autobahn - the bit your Boxster has really been waiting for. We then headed for Luxembourg. Stayed overnight, away from the main city. The country areas a very attractive with some very pleasant topdown driving. The whole country is carefully manicured: you can see where Starbucks' corporation tax has been spent. Then home via Calais! I hope that gives you some ideas. Chris
