RESOURCES EMPLOYED ON THE TRIP

In one of my first postings I described my sources of information e.g. books, internet, documentaries etc. There is no doubt that the weeks of pre planning for the trip paid off handsomely and from our first day in Normandy we knew exactly where to go

Now I will describe what resources we used during the trip.

Firstly our faithful chariot was an Avis 2010 Renault Scenic 1.9 Tdi manual gear shift which we picked up at Zervantem Airport on our arrival in Europe. We must have driven about 3,500 kilometers on all sorts of roads from gravel to autostrada, flat lands and steep, windy passes. The car never missed a beat. However both Charlotte and I believe our 2008 model Scenic in Israel is more comfortable, smoother and easier to drive. I have a strong feeling that Renault is utilizing a Nissan chassis on the new Scenic – if so, it is a pity as generally speaking the French cars are well known for their smooth rides. Nevertheless it searved us well.

 

Without our QUE GPS loaded with IGo navigational software the trip would have been far more difficult – only twice did it let us down. In the one instance we were looking for a village called Scheidt – it took us to a point in the middle of nowhere and said “you have arrived at your destination” – we were certainly in the shite there! But overall it was fantastic.


The camera I used was the Canon SX200IS which I purchased 6 months ago. All photos were taken on the 8MPI setting. The camera handles low level of light fantastically and most of the museum shots were taken on the indoor setting without a flash. The outdoor scene shots were crisp, clear and natural colour. The 12X optical zoom proved more than adequate for my purposes and its wide angle capability is amazing when large objects at close range need to be photographed. Whilst the camera is not pocket size it is still very compact and not heavy.
Charlotte used her Canon 850 camera and also achieved excellent results.

My old and faithful Dell Inspiron Computer (6 years old) accompanied us. Whilst utterly reliable and robust (I have dropped it on several occasions) it is very slow in processing information. I can see the time has come for an upgrade. The 3G dongle I rented in Belgium was a waste of time and money and early in the trip and used wi-fi wherever possible.