When in France

I always like to check travel articles about places I have been, to see whether articles on places I haven’t been are likely to be reliable. I found the article on France by Barbara Baird and Claudia Luther to be quite good. I have only two suggestions:

The word consistently misspelled piage is, of course, peage. The word means toll booth, not toll road. The toll roads in question are called autoroutes as in Autoroute de Soleil, mentioned in the article.

The cost figures for auto rental bring home the desirability of leasing a car. For little more than they paid for eight days without insurance or road service, one can lease a small, new Citroen or Renault for 22 days, tax free, with full non-deductible insurance and 24-hour road service included. This must be arranged here in the United States through the manufacturer or, less expensively, through firms like Europe by Car (9000 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles 90060). If one doesn’t need the car for the full 22 days, one can turn it in (but with no refund).

JOHN M. MAYS

Santa Monica