I woke up early, logged on and checked the seat counts; so far, things are looking pretty good. I cleaned up and headed down stairs, then checked my e-mail. Of all the messages I received, I enjoyed hearing from Kirsten the most. She and everyone were winding down their trip at the beach house at Anna Maria Island and were ready for me to come home. I think she’s missing me. I’m definitely missing her. Lori came down and said, “Hey pops, let me buy you breakfast.” That’s a tough offer to refuse; moments later, we’re sitting inside the McDonald’ [View Full Entry]

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We woke up, got ready and checked out of the hotel. We headed back to the downtown area. Lori was hoping shops might be open. We found a café and had a light breakfast because we were still stuffed from last night. Most shops were not open so Lori and I walked around just window shopping. When we went by the cathedral, mass was going. We went in and I sat down and enjoyed listening to the service and the choir. Their singing was unbelievable angelic. After the service we walked back to the car and took off for Riquewihr. This [View Full Entry]

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We woke up early; Lori and I have perfected the bathroom schedule. I’m first while Lori is still waking up. Once I’m out she’s in. I finish dressing then head down stairs with my stuff, load it into the car and go have breakfast. In about 30-45 minutes Lori shows up and has breakfast. I’ve finished looking at the maps and books; Lori asks where we going today Pops? And I tell her. It’s not the fastest but it works. So today we are going to visit Dijon, you know the place that makes mustard. We start with the cathedral, then [View Full Entry]

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Today was set to be a long driving day. We first got up from the cool hotel and had breakfast, it wasn’t the best we’ve had but it was pretty good. We loaded up and headed into Orleans, the main attraction for Orleans was their cathedral. We found it, and walked through the cathedral. Lori is starting to think the same guy built all the cathedrals in Europe. Dad, they all look the same, yeah but it’s fun to walk through them and light a candle for someone you love. Once we took some pictures, lighted candles and prayed for everyone [View Full Entry]

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We started our day by visiting Leonard De Vinci’s house. The house located in Amboise, is where he passed away. The house has been turned into a museum; IBM funds the house and also created models of all of his inventions from his drawings. From Amboise we headed toward Chateau De Chenonceau. Lori read all about this chateau and recalls it from her French classes at UCF. It was a short drive, we were there in 15-20 minutes. Lori was surprised it was such a short drive. I told her Francis I didn’t want to be too far from Amboise because [View Full Entry]

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We slept in until the trucks started roaring down the street. It’s Sunday for crying out loud who is picking up trash. This is what happens in Paris when you sleep with your windows open. Once we were up and out we started toward the Arch Triumph, the police had the roads shut down so Lori and I along with everyone else were being directed around the bicycle race route. Yea, I admit it was fun watching the police argue with Parisians why they couldn’t cross the street. We make it to the Arch I Walked toward the Tour De France [View Full Entry]

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We have almost perfected the getting ready in the morning. Lori says she stills needs more time but she is starting to catch the go go bug. Ask Kirsten she’ll explain. We both headed out of the hotel around 8:30 am; yea you read it correctly 8:30 am. We found a café’ sat down and had coffee and a croissant, light and quick. We then headed over to the Louvre where we caught the Green tour bus and began our tour of Paris. We visited: Notre Dame, Our first stop, we hopped off and walked through the cathedral. Lori was starting [View Full Entry]

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We left Paris; drove around the Arch of Triumph, Lori says she was living the movie European Vacation. We finally made it to the other side and continued up the road toward Versailles along with 20 plus other tour buses. Once we arrived at the Versailles Chateau we parked and walked up to the chateau, as we came through the gate Lori was ready. She asked where the entrance is, and then I pointed to the end of the line. WHAT that’s the line, you remember I told you there might be a long line. Long line that’s massive, I’m not [View Full Entry]

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I woke up in Epernay from a good night sleep; I rolled out of bed and took my shower first. I then woke Lori up as I headed down to breakfast. Lori came down 45 minutes later boasting how fast she was this morning. Yea, if I have my way she’ll be taking 5 minute showers and dressing as she’s getting in the car. We loaded up the car and headed toward Reims, Lori has mastered driving in France. She’s maneuvering thought the circles like a formula race car driver. As we came down the main street in front of the [View Full Entry]

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We woke up at 7 AM, well at least I did. I woke Lori; she said she in a groggy voice slept soo good. I told her to go and shower first and that I would be second. That was a mistake! After 45 minutes and twisting my legs like a bread bag tie, I yelled out what are you doing in there? She came out I’m just putting on my makeup. I’ve gotta go!!! She said all you have to do is tell me so and she let me slide in, I felt like the horse that just ran the [View Full Entry]

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