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Ah, Paris...

Rhonda and I went to Paris this past weekend for our "honeymoon". We took the Eurostar on Friday from Waterloo, less than three hours on a very comfortable train. It goes through the Channel tunnel, which takes around 20 minutes, and ends at the Gare du Nord in Paris. Our hotel had two floors closed off so they had a cab take us to another 4 star hotel and we got an upgraded room. That night we took a walk around town, across the Seine and had a walk around the Notre Dame cathedral and through their gardens. Afterwards we had dinner at le Zimmer, my favorite, chateaubriand, bordeaux, sorbet. Saturday we walked all around the city, from the Louvre to Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower and Arc d' Triomphe and back. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower on Saturday night, just after dark to see the city lights. Afterwards we found a lively greek restaurant and had dinner. It was nearly midnight and we knew it was lively when, as we walked down the narrow, brightly lit street, we saw dinner plates flying out of the doors, across the street and shattering on the brick walls opposite. I turned to look back up the street and when I looked back a waiter had grabbed Rhonda by the hand and was leading her into the restaurant, past the drunken rugby team and into the midst of a line of greek-styled dancers to a table in the rear. I followed. We had to move because of all the dancers, especially the women who were hopping up on nearby tables to dance. I ordered a glass of wine and after checking out the musicians in the corner behind us I turned back to see our waiter popping the cork on a bottle of Medoc, my favorite. Oh, well, looked like this evening was going to be more fun than I'd planned. Ah, cultural barriers. Moments later another waiter rushed to the center of the room, cleared a table, squatted down, wrapped his mouth around the corner of the table and lifted it with his teeth and began to dance around. We looked for wires but there were none. He put the table down, grabbed a young lady, sat her on the same corner, put his face between her legs and, with the help a two other waiters at each side, the table again was lifted in his teeth and he began to dance around as the other waiters stepped away. The woman, I believe, enjoyed it, as did we.
We went to the Notre Dame on Sunday Mass and visited the Louvre that afternoon. It was a great time, very relaxing and lots of fun. The wine was really great and we would buy bread sticks on the street and snack on them as we walked around. The coffee is just strong enough to get you from one cafe to the next and the sites were awesome. We returned Monday afternoon to London and back home that evening. What a trip!

London and Windsor Castle...

Rhonda and I spent a full day Friday in London, we were lucky enough to have a man I work with take us on a guided walking tour. He'd lived in London for over three years and knew quite a lot about the city. It was thrilling and exhausting, three hours guided and another 5 on our own.
Rhonda got her picture taken with on of the horseguardsmen, just minutes before the changing of the guard. These chaps are guarding what used to be the main entrance to the mall that leads to Buckingham Palace. They are still an officially active unit that participates in various royal and military ceremonies.
We saw a statue of Abe Lincoln, a block over from Westminster Abbey. We walked past the war planning bunker and Downing Street where the PM lives. We saw the portion of the original Windsor palace that remains, where Charles I was removed from and executed in the street below. We walked through the mall and gardens outside Buckingham Palace, and up Pall Mall, and on and on. Too much really to put in this blogpage.


This is one of the fountains at Trafalgar Square, named after a famous sea battle in which the British defeated the French. We happened to have a beautiful day to tour London, between rainy days which have dominated the past several weeks. Behind me, as I face this fountain, is a tall pillar with a statue of Lord Admiral Nelson atop, commander of the british fleet at Trafalgar. This year is the 200th anniversary of this battle, and there will be a lot of special events throughout the country in celebration of this important victory.

We spent the night at RAF Uxbridge and the next day, Saturday, went to Windsor Castle and took in the tour. Windsor Castle is the most incredible castle I've ever seen. We only had to wait about 30 min to get tickets and spent 3 hours walking about the castle wardrooms. There are no photos allowed inside, and I left my camera in the car, so I suppose you'll have to visit us here and let us take you there to see it. It was almost like a museum, only infinitely better. Not only was this a personal collection, it was the royal collection, which had much historical significance. There were many paintings and tapestries, sculptures and furnitures, all in rooms which are still in use... they'd hosted a ball in one of the rooms the night before! The queen was actually at Windsor that day, her marker was flying over the castle ( when she's away, the union jack is flown), but unfortunately we did not see her. We didn't make it into St. George's before it closed at 4pm, missed it by 6 minutes, but it looks really grand from the exterior and we will make sure we see it the next time we visit Windsor Castle... it's worth seeing again!