rockover

So far in Paris    We went to Le Man on Friday (This is the place of the famous Le Man's Grand Prix). I tried to connect there, but the Excite connection kept getting screwed up so I had to give it up. Anyway, in LeMan, we went to the race track and looked around. Visited the museum and looked at the history of cars and some sports cars. Very nice. They had a mother-in-law "killer" car (1889). This was a four wheeler with no windows and the front seat was the passenger seat. Imagine a person riding between the handlebars of a bike, but a bike with 4 wheels.  Saw lots of cars, buggies, three wheelers, etc. Pretty interesting place. There was some testing going on, but we were told is was the police who had come out and were practicing. The one in the 8  car was not coming out of the turns very well.  We then went to another city (Chartre) and stopped by a very nice curio shop. After shopping, we found a place to eat. The food was nice, but the conversation turned a little sour with Mr. Rockstead and the waitress. He didn't get what he ordered, and she complained it was his accent.  Anyway, after dinner, we headed back to the train station to head home to Paris. We found out the last train left about 20 minutes before we got there. When we initially arrived, we looked at the time schedules and figured we had until about 11:30pm to shop and visit. As it turned out, that was the time for last ARRIVAL. The last DEPARTURE was about 9:40pm. The next DEPARTURE we could take was around 4:30am. We finally elected to take a taxi (about 35 min) to the next town, then the train from there to Paris. Got in around 11:30-11:45pm. Ok, so we screwed up. 1st time so far.  Yesterday, we went to Chantilly. As in Chantilly lace. There was a nice "castle", for want of better words (A small chateau, or mansion). We took a tour and had a pretty good time. It wasn't a real castle, just a location protected by moats. Across from that is the Chantilly Horse Race Track. We went to the stalls and took a look around the museum there. I never saw the insides of a horse before, complete insides. I didn't feel like checking to see if those were real intestines dangling from the ceiling.  While at the stalls, there were a few shows that they put on. Demonstrating the different things the horses could be taught to do, like bow, prance, jog, which hoof to put forward, etc. While I was checking out the museum (which also included a description of all the different styles of horses to be used for different events: Basic Racing, Rodeo, Matadour, cart racing, cowboy, farming, etc.), I got seperated from the Azucena and her dad. After looking around and going through the museum for another 2 hours, I finally left thinking I'd wait at the train station for them.  Since the last train was about 11pm, I had some time. As it turns out, They went back to the mansion, then passed by the stables about 5 minutes after I left. They then beat me to the station by about 5 minutes. Azucena held my ticket going back, but that wouldn't have stopped them from leaving me behind. They were planning on catching the next train to Paris. So, this means I would have sat at the station for another 4 hours waiting for them while they were already in Paris. Did I get lucky. Friday dejavu all over again.  Today, we made our way to the Catacombs. This is a crypt that they used to discard the bones from graves. At least the way I understand it. When the graves got full, they'd take the coffins and remove the bones and store them here. There is other stuff, but I didn't get around to it. Anyway, as we got here, it was closed for renovation until July (thus I can't really tell you what is inside). So, we went to an area for Mr. Rockstead to drop off his laundry. We also went strolling through the market (sidewalk sellers). Lots of art, books, old stuff. Today, being Sunday, a lot of the stores are closed. The restaurants are open. And are there restaurants. Probably about 10 on each city block.  On our way back, we passed through the Luxemburg gardens. This is a 22 acre area that houses the Senate. It also has a merry-go-round, a play area for kids, a water fountain-pool to play with your boat, statues (the model for our Statue of Liberty), tennis courts, etc. Just one big Central Park.  That leads me to here and now. It is about 2pm (7am your time). We are taking some time off, getting ready for tomorrow's departure. We are going somewhere tonight that starts with an M. This is a show and a dinner.  The weather has changed. Yesterday it did some sprinking all day. And it got a little bit cooler. Probably in the lower 80's or upper 70's. Today it is in the mid 70's.  This should be the last one until I get back. Azucena started off a little slow with the video. Now she's on her 5th or 6th tape, but about 400 pictures. She thinks she may have saved some pictures to video before she wiped out the first set. Let's hope so.  My plane is a 10 hour adventure from Paris to Dallas, then a 3 hour layover. Her plane leaves about 3 hours after mine. We should both be arriving in Austin about 5 minutes apart from each other. It'll be after 7pm that we pick up our baggage. Then we both head to work on Tuesday.   Well, that's it. One thing about Paris, it's a beautiful place, but no one cares to "Keep Paris Beautiful". It seems they'd rather throw trash on the sidewalk next to the trashcan than make the attempt. Oh, I amost forgot. Sidewalks are made for driving. I mean that if there are not bars/barricades, you can drive there. Nothing like being at a sidewalk restaurant and seeing a car driving by. Sometimes, they have these posts that pop up at during certain times to keep cars out. Then after a certain hour, these posts will drop into the ground allowing cars to go through. In some areas, the parking lanes are marked on the sidewalk. The basic rule is "If there is no post, you can drive".   Ok, that's it again. I'm done here. I'll see you when I get back in town. We are thinking about taking Tuesday and Wednesday off to recover from this vacation. Just kidding Anita and Petrena. I'll be there Tuesday. I'll find out just how much Job security I really have.   Till later, Auvua (don't know how to spell it - owe-vwa)