Ooooh la la!

Good Morning!

A busy day yesterday started with the Eiffel tower tour.  Went all the way to the top and because they have restricted the height of buildings in main Paris you have a great view of all the parks and the way the streets are laid out.  If I am not mistaken they used the same type of street planning in Washington, DC.   The engineering for elevators uses both hydraulic and cable making it quite a marvel to watch  as it operates like a finicular prior going vertical for the rest of the journey.

Then on to the Versailles the gardens alone are worth the time, quite massive we rented a golf cart there and we barely got to see just the perimiter of all the gardens.  The palace itself is massive, 50 years and 20,000 workers to build it, then 400 to keep it staffed when it was in full operation.  The candles in the chandeliers only lasted 40 minutes and at the time were the equive
equivalent of a months salary.  No wonder the people revolted.

You know when you see pictures of cobblestones how picturesque they look well I can tell you they are a bitch to walk on, I cant imagine what it was like riding on wooden wheeled carriages.  Its a good thing I started the tour with a new pair of sneakers as I will bet money they will be worn out by the time this trip is over!   (looks like someone found a quick nap time, yup those shoes are going to be worn to the threads!!!!

)

For the evening we went to the Moulin Rouge and I have to say what an enjoyable evening.  Almost like watching an old Ed Sullivan show only topless (I forced myself to watch). :)

The costume changes, intermediate acts, a juggler, a husband wife acrobats the strength they had was nothing less than amazing.  The final side act was a ventriloquist who was quite good the best was a dog he had trained to open its mouth to coincide with him throwing his voice it was all quite entertaining.  Oh of course the Can Can was enjoyable :)

I ordered a 7 UP or Sprite the Saturday night here and both in London and Paris they call it Lemonade. In case you cant read the label its called Pshht.  NO I am not making this up.

Of course there are a lot of motorcycles here and here is a picture of how frenchmen take their dates out for a ride!

We all agree Paris is quite beautiful, it was clean, people were very friendly and definitely we will be returning here in the future.  The only downside are the gypsys and the hawkers trying to sell you knock off merchandise they are so agressive they will climb right in to the bus to get you to buy stuff.

Off to Bordeaux this morning will talk to you soon.

Adieux
D & D

P.S.  Looks like the city of Paris rubbed off on these two couples :)