Thursday, October 09, 2008

French Beyond Belief

The next day we were up and at 'em. Sadie picked us up and we headed toward the center of Paris. We went down a flight of stairs and did you know that they have trains under the ground? I know, me neither. We hopped on one of these and the next thing I know we are coming up right in front of the Arc de Triomph We stared at this tremendous Arc and tried to cross the street. It would be a triumph to do so without getting killed. The monument has a circular street around it and the cars were whizzing along at 80 or 90 mph. Finally we found a tunnel that goes under the street and got to it. You can not tell how immense it is from pictures. That Napolean knew what he was doing. Breath taking architecture and the true symbol of France. It celebrates all the victorious Armies of France and the unknown soldier. Spectacular!
We headed south and I kept watching the gigantic Eiffel Tower that stands over the city. Walking the streets and going through the small parks I noticed that all these areas were lined or filled with the same kind of trees.
On closer inspection I found that they were all Chestnut trees. The huge nuts were everywhere! The whole city is filled with them! We ended up by the river and found a familiar flame sticking out of the pavement. It is directly over the spot where Princess Diana died and has become a makeshift memorial to her.
We crossed the bridge and let me tell you, every bridge there is a work of art. Towering statues of gold, bronze and copper adorn them and small canal boats drift the ancient River. Sadie was wonderful but all those people spoke a foreign language, so we could not fiollow everything that was going on. Saw Gypsies that tried to convince you they just found a ring and spent a lot of time begging or selling cheap souvenirs. People walked the street all day and night enjoying the city, and we stopped at a lot of outdoor cafes'. They did not have Guinness.

1 comment:

Davin said...

Rex,
Do you know why all of France' main road ways are lined with all of those big beautiful trees? So the next time the Germans march all the way to Paris they can do it in the shade (HAHA).