Viva La France

September 8, 2000

We woke up early. Teresa was feeling much better. We took a morning tour after breakfast. We went to Notre Dame, I was surprised that they allowed us to take pictures and video inside. The cathedral is huge and very beautiful. The street vendors were hocking their wares and the beggars looking for coin and sympathy.

We got back on the bus and saw other sites, our tour operator pointing out  where Princess Diana died.  We stopped at the opera house and had our choice of restaurants for lunch.

Our “choices” for lunch were recommendations by the tour guide. We wanted to taste more a more local flair, to eat where the locals ate. We walked a little further and sat in a cafe. And we sat and waited and waited some more. Time was going past and still no service and we had to be on the bus soon. Finally, a waitress came over and we ordered. And we waited some more. Apparently, the kitchen was not open for everyone, just staff; but we did get some fresh water. Our food finally came and we scarfed it down, getting to the bus just in time. We were off to the Palace of Versailles.

Palace of Versailles

The Palace was breathtaking. It had some of the oldest silken and painted tapestries. The gold leaf was embellishing everything. It was just too much. 

We went into the famous Gardens. These were larger than the palace.  We were told that one lake which was man made was more than a mile long. All the statues and flowers and fountains are photographers paradise. Teresa was in heaven. We want to get back some day just for a photo tour.

Tonight we took in a dinner show,” Paradis Latin”. The food was kind of blah (my filet was almost raw). The show was good. There were 12 dancers. It was a cabaret and most of the women were topless most of the time. We did not find that the nudity was obscene, it was not even noticeable after a while.

We made it back to the hotel around midnight.