How Can You Keep Them On The Farm When They've Seen Paris'

Ok--so now the surprise can be told. We spent the day in Paris (FRANCE--not Hilton or Texas today). We got a wild hair once we were over here and made plans for a day trip. You may think it's crazy and my feet are certainly agreeing with you right now--but we did it.

We boarded the Eurostar early this morning (8:00 here--about 2AM Tx time) and took the train that goes under the English Channel to Paris. It's about a 2 1/2 ride (and it included another time chage) So we arrived around lunch time to the bustling Gaud De Nord terminal. We definitely knew we were in Paris when we got off the train. We took a quick Taxi ride over to the Louvre' to see all the famous stuff ( where's the Mona Lisa?--ok, there she is---she sure is small. Where's the Venus De Milo?--Ok--where are her arms.) Stuff like that.

We then went to a French Bistro for lunch near there and had some great--Club Sandwiches---ok, it's not Foo-Foo, but we were in a hurry--but we did have FRENCH FRIES (can you beat that?). Some of the best Sparkling water I've had so far.

Then off to Notre Dame to see if Quasi Motto was in--he's on vacation in Texas. Dark church---we've seen so many churches here--this one was DARK. It began to rain (must have followed us here from London) and we decided to sit and be Frenchmen and have a cappucino--yum, yum. It was even better than Rome!

Another Taxi ride after a hike to find one because in Paris--you don't just hail a taxi, stand in line for one and if you cut the line you get sworn at in 5 different lanuguages. But we finally made--off to the Arch De Triumphe. ( At this point most of this must be sounding like an episode of the THE GREAT RACE. It definitely felt like that) Ok--there's the arch--next point. Eiffel Tower.

We got there--got up to the second level finally and saw how much we had traversed the city. Now it was time to come back down, and everyone else had the same idea. So, I told Diane to be agressive and be European and get up there. WE finally made it back to the ground around 6:45 and had about 30 minutes to be back @ the station for our train. Once again we encountered the TAXI line with a self-appointed Taxi General telling us to get back in line. Susie bolted to another area and fought off another man to get us a taxi with a sweet Parisian lady who tried her best to talk to us ( "Paris to London und de deu?" What? What time is our train? No!) We finally figured out she was asking how long it took to come by train. And the funny part was that we were in the back praying because we were down to our last Euros and only had so much for the taxi ( Here lady--here's all our coins) It was enough--but we soon had to change more money to go to "toilet!" Yes it cost 1 Euro to go "doo" in Paris. Hmmm....more tax money for the municipalities in Texas. Just a thought.

Back to Nord for a quick baggette sandwich and a horrible attitude from the attendant at the counter. I'll do my impression of her later. We barely made it to the train...and now back in Merry Old England. WE love England--it has become our second home.

Weird ending was some guy from Prague coming up to me and wanting me to meet him at the American Embassy tomorrow to vouch for his Passport (Uh..no!) We quickly moved away from him, but he was following us for a bit--(Weird)

Here are the pictures from the day (The Louvre, Susie with Venus De Milo, Diane with the Statue Diane, Jim and Diane @ Nortre Dame, Jim @ the Arch De Triumph)

We enjoyed the trip--and now we're satisfied to say that we've been to France. Check mark.

Night