Carmany

Paris, 2 Novembre Okay, okay, so not a great day for pictures! We started early in the morning - by our new standards - to trudge up the Eiffel Tower. Skies were very heavy but the crowds were light. Until, of course, we got to the tower, and then they were immense. Happily, all those other thousands of people were waiting for the elevator. We were able to start right up. And up, and up, and up. Six hundred eighty-eight steps. That’s a good 250 more than St. Paul’s in London. Along the way, there are little landings with extremely interesting and important facts about the tower, its history, and Arnold Palmer, who drove a golf ball from the second level. A must read, to be sure. At least, that’s my story. From the second platform, ... read more

Paris, Oct. 31 Time to stuff our faces again - this time with an old Thorp family friend, Jean Pierre and his petite copine Dominique. Hard to see behind us is the Eiffel Tower all lit up like a lighted tower. Too big to be a Christmas tree. On the hour, it turns on some flashy lights, and it sparkles all over Paris. Dinner was lovely - oh, that was England. Dinner was delicieux and the company charmant. Today we boarded a Grand Ligne train for Chartres - the quintessential early Gothic cathedral about an hour’s ride from Paris. The skies were blue, the sun shone, but the air was still icy cold. Inside the cathedral was even colder! However, the stained glass and portal carvings were magnifiques. Lucky for Erik, all the shops were closed ... read more

Nous sommes arrives a Paris! But first, here’s London. We arrived on time and therefore had plenty of time in the afternoon to begin our first forced march. We walked all the way to Covent Garden, Trafalger Square, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham palace, and then to Dave and Ginny’s much nicer hotel - a distance of some five miles. At Covent Garden, we watched a busker work with three brass cups and some rubber balls. He counted “One, Two, Three”, and then “Uno, due, tres,” then “Un, deux trois,” then (while smacking the table hard with his wand, counted “Eins, zwei, drei.” Finally, he said he would count like an American. “One,” he said, and then stopped, as if confused. “Another one,” he said finally. I laughed hysterically - perhaps more a sign of my fatigue ... read more