My wife and I have traveled extensively in France, but usually in the spring. There are two must-takes: first a Gortex jacket shell with hood (preferably that hides in the collar) and large pockets--big enough for camera, tour books, maps, bottle of water, apple and orange, and two or three sandwiches. I've never found a better material than Gortex; it's waterproof and the material truly breathes. The second item is a very light, aluminum frame umbrella that I bought from Office Max. It collapses to a few inches in length and will fit in the pocket of my jacket if I leave out one sandwich.

The clothing I take works on the layering principal and I've not been too cold nor too hot. I hope the following address works. If it does it will give locations of other packing tips:

http://budgettravel.about.com/travel/budgettravel/msubpackinglists.htm?iam=mt

If it doesn't, search for the Travelite and the Compleat Carry-on Traveler web sites. Also try http://www.learn2.com and search using the word, packing. The section on business packing has useful information about rolling clothes and this works well for me.

I also use packing cubes made by Eagle Creek and I've also seen a similar item at K-Mart.

Hope some of this helps.

Bill Wysong