Sunday, August 4, 1991

Church by Car in Paris

Our first trip by car to church – downtown Paris. David even survived the circle around the Arch de Triomphe. We’ve been told if you succeed in this roundabout, you’re capable of driving anywhere in Paris. It has many roads joining from all sides and you yield to those entering. Back to our favorite store, IKEA, in the afternoon to pick up our back-ordered hassock stands.

Now we must rearrange the living room – a bright idea I thought of last night about midnight as we’re eating chocolate covered cookies and enjoying the company of our neighbors. It looks great – but now we need 1 small corner table and a coffee table. We hope that’s it.

Monday-Saturday, August 3, 1991

Monday – Friday, August 2nd

Put to use the running paths in the gardens of the Castle as we rean/walked distrances each evening (weather permitting). Dinner guest on Friday – Michael Watson, technician at InterVoice, Europe. Our subscription to USA Today began delivery.

Saturday, August 3, 1991

Late to walking again. After today’s brunch and the thrill of reading an English paper, David enjoyed a round of golf on a beautiful golf course near St. Germain with a neighbor of ours and I spent the afternoon packing for our trip to the “Good Ole USA”.

Dinner tonight at “La Table St. Germain” restaurant (Chinese, Vietnamese, Taiwan food), with David’s golf partner and wife, Ray and Maura Beard. Maura is from Ireland and 4 months pregnant with their first child and Ray is from London.

They moved here from Singapore a year ago and speak French. Very enjoyable evening of being with new found friends.

Sunday, July 28, 1991

Picnic at Invalides Esplandade

What a day! After Church we joined the Church group for a picnic at Invalides Esplanade. What a beautiful day. Both of us were able to get a good bit of sun on our much needed white bodies. After a great lunch and numerous games, we ventured across the river to watch the coming home of the “Tour de France” (famous bicycle race) with thousands of people.

We did manage a good view standing on our camping chairs and before we knew it, David had taken 16 pictures. We saw Greg Lemond (the American rider) who finished 7th. overall, and all the others going down the road to the Arch de Triomphe and circling back.

Editor’s Notes:

I picked out four of the photos that were taken that day and included them below. Captions for each are below each image.

David and their car for a picnic

19. Our car -
Return home – picnic
7/27/91

Picnic in Paris

8. Picnic time – Roadside rest area – returning home

Returning home from tour-de-france

35. Returning home from Picnic & Tour de France
7-28-91

1991 Tour de France

1991 Tour de France

Saturday, July 27, 1991

Sleeping Late and a Day Trip

Well, we thought it was 8am when we awoke; but one look at the clock quickly told us it was 11am. David was extremely tired from his tip and me, well, I’m accustomed to sleeping that late. After a great breakfast (12 noon) we ventured to the streets of St. Germain.

I had found a couple of things I wanted to show David before I bought them. Well, we had forgotten – the stores are closed between 12 noon and 2pm. So back home we walked and off in the car to explore more country. Out of St. Germain about to enter the A-13 freeway, a random highway patrol check stopped us.

David was given a breatherlizer test (first in his life) and the officer checked our car over for insurance and proper papers (final papers which David had only received yesterday). These random checks are frequent in this country. We drove South to the town of Val de Reiul.

We saw three beautiful lakes (first we’ve seen so far). Drove to the town of Poses. The lakes stretched between the 2 towns. We explored the old church in Poses and its magnificent commonwealth war graves. Snacked at a nearby restaurant overlooking the lake waters and took side roads back home.

Spotted 2 beautiful church steeples at a town of Evreux. Toured the Cathedral and museum there. Superb display of early life. Stopped at a roadside park to enjoy the pastries we purchased there and returned home. Oh yes, along the way we discovered 2 more campgrounds.

Editor’s Notes

There were several photos from this trip including the lake and several of the churches. Here is the church with the war grave yard and another of where they stopped to have a snack along the lake. Caption on this first images (yes Georgia stuck it to the front of the image) but also on the back that says:

9. Old Catholic Church & Commonwealth War Graves
Saturday – 7/27/91 Poses, France

Church in Poses France

This next shot is Georgia having a snack, the caption reads:

13. Cool snack
Poses France

Georgia in Poses France

Thursday, July 25, 1991

David flew to Madrid, Spain. This was one of those quick trips so I didn’t go. Still raining today but I have the urge to roam the streets – there must be a bargain somewhere.

Friday, July 26, 1991

Market day. I’m getting good at this. One of the ladies who has vegetables there recognizes me from the first time and proceeds to speak a little English for me. There are lots of vegetable, meat, fish, etc. booths and you just sort of pick one you like.

As I was glancing over the pork area at one booth, a kind gentlemen began to speak in French. When he realized I didn’t understand him, he apologized for not speaking English. He was very jovial and with sign language and a few mixed words, I managed to buy protraine fumee (bacon) and jambon (ham).

Other stores along the streets seem to post more specials on market days and I even manage to buy a few Christmas gifts at prices I could almost afford.

Wednesday, July 24, 1991

Rain in Paris

Real cool today as a cool front passed thru in the night bringing the beautiful sound of rain in the early morning hours. Planted the rest of my geraniums and a few more seeds I took off plants in the garden. Lots of beautiful, dark, heavy rain clouds this afternoon as a storm passes thru.

The rain is so beautiful to watch from our top floor apartment as it flows thru the trees and onto the garden. David took our car in for its first check up today. We hope he finally gets all the proper stickers and papers. It’s been an education to owning a car here.

More grocery shopping today. I now wait until after 2pm. Between 12 Noon and 2pm most of the shops close for lunch so if you want to browse before buying groceries, it’s not possible. Plus you have a lot of people from the closed shops at the grocery store during that time.

More beautiful rain falling and a surprise call from Twina tonight. We could have talked for hours but decided to make a list and save it for our trip home soon.

Monday, July 22, 1991

Monday – Laundry Day With the Neighbors

Laundry day – I love my washer and dryer. Looking forward to mail delivery from the U.S. today. Well, I’m visited by a very French lady who lives below us. Or course, I didn’t know what she was saying. She pushes her way in and tries to tell me that my washer is too noisy.

As she described the noise, I realized it was not mine she heard because I had also heard it thru the walls. It was very difficult trying to explain as she didn’t understand any English.

Tuesday, July 23, 1991

Hot day for Paris today. Probably reach upper 80′s.

Sunday, July 21, 1991

American Store and Fire Ants

A lot less people in Church today due to the Summer months and vacations. Returned to the “American Store” and returned my half full box of crackers in exchange for a full one. Ventured to the Concorde and Louve area to find lots of tourists and tour busses [sic] a plenty (even saw busses [sic] from Czechoslovakia).

Back to St. Germain and a walk to our Castle in the city and the beautiful park grounds surrounding it. Amazingly, no fire ants or flies in this country.

Editor’s Notes

I have been short on adding photos to the posts, sorry. Here is a photo of David at the church yesterday (Saturday, July 20, 1991) and the caption reads:

11. Benches inside Catholic Church
Poses, France

David Visiting Poses France

Georgia took several photos on their quick road trip from Saturday and I will try to post a few of them at a time. You may also notice that I redesigned the site. This is an ongoing process and soon I will have some images of Georgia at the top instead of my face staring back at you. I am trying to give this blog a look and feel of Georgia, it just takes some time.

They have some interesting trips coming up, but I am trying not to read to far ahead. Right now I am reading right along with you, but flipping through the journal I see some trips to Spain and back to the U.S. as well.

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