Our Eiffel Tower tour guide on Tuesday was the same one we had in the catacombs which was fine with me because she’s a wealth of knowledge with a dry wit and speaks fairly quickly; none of which is an accurate descriptor for our Versailles tour guide the following morning, but I guess that’s why…
I forgot a few things on the previous post… Saturday we toured a farmer’s market, bakeries, and other local food outlets with Lydie, our tour guide. Did you know there are stores that just sell cheese? I bought a few kinds among the hundreds of varieties available at one of Paris’ many fromageries. The kids ate…
Did you know Jim Morrison’s dad commanded the American fleet in the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin confrontation? We saw Jim Morrison’s grave today at the 110-acre Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris’ 20th arrondissement which is what led me to want to read more about Morrison on Wikipedia. The cemetery is one of the most beautiful…
Remember plaster of Paris from elementary-school art class? It’s made from gypsum which is one of the mineral deposits upon which Paris is built. For centuries, and possibly millennia, Parisians quarried the limestone and gypsum left by the ancient sea that used to cover this portion of France. The result is a swiss-cheese effect –…
Below: A horse receives training in the cold water of the English Channel Wednesday. The peaceful scene belied the chaos of that June morning seventy years ago when hundreds of American soldiers and sailors died on this shore. Utah Beach saw far fewer deaths than the slaughter at Omaha Beach, however. Amidst the terrible weather conditions of…
We’re doing well in France with our special brand of diplomacy that is Charlie. The title quote was said to the grocery store clerk yesterday when Charlie read the young man’s name tag. We’re on a train to Paris this evening, coming home from a full-day, private tour of Normandy. Charlie has already greeted and…
Charlie said this as we stepped through the gate of our apartment building last Sunday and onto the sidewalk, having arrived in Paris the day before. Paris is so beautiful we can’t take it all in. Building after building, block after block is a work of art. Then there’s the Louvre where we went Thursday. I…
Travels with Charlie and Laurel 