St Georges Lafayette Paris

... and catch an early flight out.

I'll never complain about extending the vacation for a day, even if it means having a night out in the middle of nowhere. Given the volume of people on the flight, I had hoped that they would run out of rooms and tell me "Sorry, but we're going to have to put you in a dorm room where the Spanish women's national pillow fighting team is staying, and conducting an all night practice." A man can dream, can't ...

... minutes, tickets in hand, we entered Le Chateau.

You can read it in the history books and see the pictures, but unless you see Versailles for yourself, you really cannot imagine the grandeur of the place. I totally inderstand the French Revolution. Imagine you are so poor that you can't afford a loaf of bread, and the tax on said bread is helping to finance this ridiculously huge palace in the country for your King and his family. And not ...

Kim and I went to see Notre Damn today, and it was no question the most incredible thing I have ever seen in my life. We went on the tour of the outside of the building and you have to climb a **** load of stairs and then you get to different areas to look out over Paris. Thankfully it stopped raining while we were on the top of the building, because the sights were amazing. Inside of the church was the most amazing though - the architechture ...

... Gruyere cheese on it, but it was delicious! Afterward, we went to find the "American Store." It was just that, filled w/ American goodness - mac and cheese, pop tarts, wheat thins, Ben and Jerry's, etc. It was awesome! We took some Ben and Jerry's and headed down to sit by the lake. We ...

... the hotel. I get there as the shuttle is driving off so I step out into the street and flag him down. Because, at this point, you either run over me or give me a ride. He stopped and gave me a ride. Then he informed me that this was the last shuttle to the hotel for the night! Wow, my luck must be changing. The hotel is great! They have glass elevators and a nice indoor garden. The rooms are large; the staff is very friendly and helpful. My converter would not work, so they GAVE ...

... liked the simple life of the village better than court, so ordered her own village to be made. Pretty wild. It was very fascinating to walk around the grounds of Marie´s little get away. It was still amazingly beautiful, no matter how extravagant or ridiculous it was. We walked back to the palace, again in the pouring rain, unable to explore anymore of the gardens for fear of drowning. This was a disappointment because I really wanted to see more. We made it back into Paris, dried off ...

... got is how much the French are oriented around aesthetics--the appeal to the senses being everywhere--the amazing architecture; the carefully laid out gardens; the food combinations and presentation; even the clothes, perfume, style, and gently modulated voices of the people. And, not surprisingly, with my greater ability to appreciate and fall into the French pacing, the people were friendlier and kinder than I had remembered.

... picnic - spinach and bacon quiche, a baked hot dog bun encased in golden brown and bubbly cheese, and an assortment of Chinese food. John went insane when he saw the variety - though he told us he was only getting spring rolls, he ended up getting those, as well as salt and pepper shrimps, and glazed ribs. Dessert was a raspberry macaroon (too sweet), Swiss brioche, and a really excellent pear (not sure what kind it was). And a really bad apple/pear/who the hell ...

... then (I think purposely) don't abide by it. Thus, they get their revenge by making the passengers wait outside in the sub-zero temps expecting a scheduled train only to get an announcement a half hour later that that train is actually not going to run. We're just hoping the strike will end by the end of the week since people have all bought their tickets for independent travel. We like Versailles, but we don't want to spend our extra weeks here if we've bought tickets for elsewhere.