Our first day included a city tour of Paris. We were driven in Mercedes buses no less from Le Pecq, where we were docked on the Seine River, to Paris. The guide pointed out the beautiful homes and walled gardens of retirees in Les Chatons on the outskirts of Paris. Wow! How can retirees afford to live in and care for such homes? Bill remarked that these must be "family" homes, passed down through generations. That made sense to me, as they were older construction with traditional walled gardens that estates typically have.
Paris was amazing. All the different types of architecture the city has, yet it doesn't clash for the most part. We saw the business district with high-rises representing world players such as Alphabet, the Champs d'Elysee with it's L'Arche de Triomphe, where the Tour de France is held, to palaces that once housed Kings and Emperors. We stopped and saw the remnants of Notre Dame Cathedral, surrounded by a lot of street artists selling their wares. We purchased a watercolor of the Eiffel Tower before leaving as a souvenir, and lunched at a little Cafe that was supposedly frequented by "Round table" authors of the 20th century: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, etc. People were very nice, contrary to what I'd heard, and we both practice our French whenever possible. Bill is picking up the language rather nicely; perhaps it bears a resemblance to German, which he studied? He is amazed at how many words are similar in English!
Or last stop was the Eiffel Tower, which we had seen, plant"Hide and Seek" all day at a distance. It is impressive close up! It takes 840 gallons of paint entry 7 years to keep it spiffy!
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