Because We Can

Before I begin, Americans say: loov, the rest of the world says: loovra. We know some people from our former life that would insist the rest of the world is pronouncing it wrong. They are also the same type of people who tells that they would never travel out side the US because as there too much to see in the US. There is nothing like a little travel to open ones mind to the greater world that is out there, too bad some peoples mind’s are wired shut. Paris is the most visited city in the world, yet early in the morning, all the hustle and bustle is still waiting to break loose. I keep forgetting to take another photo of this same intersection in the late afternoon when we usually return to our hotel. That is when you take your life into your hands crossing the street. I read somewhere that as long as a Paris driver misses a pedestrian by a meter (three feet) it was no problem. I joke with Linda that she has now become a real Parisian because she no longer pays any attention to th...

Early morning in Paris. A time when the streets are quiet, with few people and cars about. And in the trees near the center of the picture is that reminder that we are indeed in Paris. Linda was happy with her breakfast, which wasn’t what we get in the smaller French hotels we prefer. Here they had eggs, cold cuts and fresh fruits and vegetables. What we really like, and what I ate was a chocolate croissant. Who needs a big typical American breakfast, or an even bigger German breakfast for that matter when you can have a chocolate croissant. Our first first Metro station stop as a tour group is pictured. American lawyer on vacation in Paris pictured beside Linda. Our first stop of the day was at the magnificent Sainte Chapelle, a stained glass wonder that was built to hold the crown of thorns from Christ's head that King Louis IX of France brought back from the Holy Land. While everyone marveled at the unmatched beauty of the those stained glass windows, a certain grandm...

7:20 this morning found us walking to the Trier Hbf. It was time to leave Germany and head west with a final destination of Paris. As we walked we talked about the great time we have has so far, and especially the wonderful German wines that Linda has come to really appreciate. She has certain standards in what wines she classifies as acceptable, the first being it can be any color as long as that color is white or yellow. I looked at some of her yellow wines and described them in the most unflattering terms, but she still enjoys them. I just hope France is ready for critics of their wines. It will be interesting when she is faced with Chardonnay or Chablis instead of Sylvaner and Riesling. It is hard to guess where our first stop was going to be. What we did was buy tickets on the TVG high speed train to that left Luxembourg City at noon. So now we were on our way there and planned to spend a few hours this morning sightseeing, which we didn’t get to do on Sunday, and if we lik...

A portion of the breakfast spread at our hotel. This one is definitely different from the the first few we stayed in, in that its décor is what might be called ultramodern. Interesting juxtaposition,  seeing that Trier was originally a Roman Capital City in the late 300’s. Guess many of those Roman buildings were ultramodern for their time, so what goes around comes around. Big flush, big button. Little flush, little button. A great way to save water. I suspect it would never catch on the US for reasons similar to why the masses rejected the much better metric system of measurement. It would be just too hard for Americans to learn which button to push. If you’ve been to Europe you might have already guessed what I will be talking about. Otherwise, the netball is one of two that we use for a washcloth since there is no such thing in any of the hotels we stay at. Maybe the big American chain hotels in Europe have them, but we have to do without or do with something else. Th...