[EUROBOUT CONTINENTAL CAROUSEL - 1984] DAY 21

Travel Notes
August 31, 1984 - Day 31
FRANCE

Paris - City Tour

Alors...what does one do on a marvelous morning in Paris? Mais naturellement, one goes for a walk with Grandfather Basil, of course, to talk about everything under the sun. Next on the agenda is a hearty (?!) Continental breakfast. City tour next avec une vraie, une tres jolie Parisienne is our city guide. I made it a point to mention how entertaining she was, when we met Earl for lunch! Then there was the chance to shop at Galeries Lafayette and Les Printemps, with everyone loaded to the gills with Paris clothes and souvenirs by the end of it. Such very, very interesting comparisons of who bought what, for how much, and where!

Versailles

Finally, we got our "class picture" in front of the King's Balcony, and I am going to get the autographs of my personal favorites as soon as the picture comes out. Oh dear, I didn't realize Frank was behind me, so all you can see is his hat!

Versailles is an interesting place -- like Hampton Court, the place is shadowed by the tragic fate of its last queen; at least we didn't meet Marie Antoinette's ghost walking through the gardens or the hallways! We did get to see the state bedroom and a lovely official portrait of her with her four children - I never knew she had four; and how hard it had to be to give birth to a royal child -- at least eighty courtiers had to be in the same room as witnesses to the event!

The gardens are in full bloom today. The hedges and topiary are something truly amazing.

Paris

Back to the hotel to rest, then dress for dinner. We were scheduled for a bateau-mouche ride on the Seine before the late show at the Moulin Rouge. Regrettably, snails were faster than the service of the waiters, but the food was worth waiting for, even if we barely made the boat. We had to wait for the Nocon group and Evelyn to come in from downtown, where their restaurant also had slow service, yet somehow Bart managed to get us to the quay on time without acquiring a gendarme as escort!

Paris seen from the river is delightful. Even delinquents throwing beer and juice down into the boat from two bridges could not ruin the experience. There was even a full moon out as we passed the Eiffel and Notre Dame, fat and yellow and bright to silver the surroundings of the floodlit cathedral.

Off to the Moulin Rouge, Montmarte - the red light district of Paris (the demimonde). It was warm inside, and perhaps a trifle more crowded than in the days of Toulouse-Lautrec, whose prints adorn the foyer. There were three bottles of champagne per table, and a show to match or surpass anything in Las Vegas. The Moulin Rouge, is, after all, the home of the "grandes cocottes" of can-can fame!

The bus was filled with laughter on our way back, and quick thinking from Earl had us looking out the windows on the right instead of left, thereby distracting us from a car accident. Mr. Lee, our resident rum imbiber, was very strung out, claiming he didn't want to go home after "seeing so much milk"! Grandfather, bless his proper English heart, engaged him in scholarly argument on the proper way to refer to the mammary endowments of the ladies of the chorus, and what with one thing and another, we got to the hotel by 2:30 am.

Being too excited to sleep, i spend the better part of two hours composing thank-you letters to Earl and Bart, with stationery bought at Galeries Lafayette. We leave Bart at Dunkirk tomorrow. He'll go back to Brussels to replace the broken window we got in Barcelona. For our part, we head back to Ramsgate and eventually, London...and then we scatter for home or other destinations.

Earl gave his "tips on tipping" spiel this morning -- but we showed him we were nearly 800km ahead and presented the envelopes that had been going around in Lourdes!