Rambling's and Misc.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Paris. I plan a bicycle journey through the Latin Quarter and back over to lle de Citi and Notre Dame. I also wanted to visit the Shakespere Book Store. I heard of a American style Diner in the area called "Breakfast in America". I want to try to find that. The weather report is iffy for rain. Slight chance but if so, I can do the "Hop on Hop off" bus I received a free ticket for with my trip to Normandy.  I did the Hop on Hop off bus thing in London yesterday. I know I have not kept a daily log - this is actually my journal for the trip so I will add to it later. When time permits. Its tough to fit in when your an international traveler and you spend most of your time decyphering menu's. They have the "Inigma Code Machine" from WWII that the ally's used to break the Nazi's messages on display at the Musee de Nationale Armee's. Napolian's Tomb is there also, which I can't figure out. It like the Russians having Lenin's Tomb in Red Square. They tear down his statues and turn there backs to his ideals but the Tomb is still there, open to visitors as is Napolian's. Napolian last wish was to have his ashes sprinkled in the Seine. Not. The French Government said to put him in a tomb for all to revere. That was after they got his body back from being in exile on a British Island off Normandy for 15 years. Naybe we (us Americans) should have a Tomb built somewhere nice, like the National Mall (the one in DC - not Minnesota - that's Mall of America). We could put Richard Nixon in it. Hmmm, maybe the mall in Minnesota would be a better spot.  Anyway, last full day tomorrow. On the way to London, I met a lovey girl from Brazil. She was somewhat confused the Gare de Nord, the train station where you get the international train to Britain. She thought I might be better informed. Luckily all my guesses (BS) worked perfectly. We decided to do the Hop on Hop off red rout together and then get on the Thames River Cruise. She suggested lunch after the cruise and then doing the "London Eye" which is a huge stupid looking Ferris wheel. I said it sounded great! I only had one must do thing on my list and that was to get to Westminster Abby and pay my respects to Charles Dickens who is interred there in an area called "Poets Corner". Yes, all the great British poets, playwrites, actors, musicians are burried there, if the Queen says its OK. This is along with some 1500 year old Bishops and Knights. Lawrence Olivia you ask? Yes, he is there but a stones throw from Shakespear. While your standing at Sharespears statue, the audio guide informs that they did not move his body from wherever it is so it is just a memorial to hin in the Abby. I think there is a school of thought that they don't really know who he was so that has to still be worked out. So back at the Thames river cruise, Gabriella, that was her name, really, and I were watching the wharves go by when the narator on the boat mentions we are passing the British HMS Belfast, a historic ship in the British WWII history. It is open to the public. Tied up along side it happens to be a Brazilian cruiser paying a friendly visit as a guest of the British Navy. The narrator mentions this and says, Anyone on board from Brazil. Gabriella waves and says "yes, I am" and so does there three older (older than me - I think - yes, definatly) couples who are also from Brazil, jump up and start screaming and yelling so the guys on the Brazilian ship could hear them. They started some Soccer chant or something and the guys on the ship waved back. So, one thing leads to another and we all end up downstairs (it was like a ferry boat) sitting together and they are so happy to meet Gabriella. They look at me and smile and say, ahhh Americano, and then get back to having a hell of a time as a group. So, I went to buy some Pringle's and a Coke and try to figure out just what the British concession guy is saying. He sounded a lot like Eliza Doolittle, I can understand the French easier.  All od a sudden there is huge amounts of joking and laughing amongst the Brazilian's. None of which speak any English, except of course, Gabriella, who took English at college in Vancouver BC, Canada for 4 years. She speaks some French, Italian (she works for the Italian phone company - in Brazil? Sounds like a cover to me but I am always suspisious) and she speaks German, which was / is her favorite country because everything is "very orderly". So the party is reaching a new level of jovality and the British guy comes over and says, from what I could make out, "you have to keep it down, Captn' says keep it down". The Captain is up in the wheelhouse on the deck above. I suppose he was concerned if we hit the Tower of London Bridge no one could hear the command to ABANDON SHIP. (Yuck, into the Thames)? So the Brazilians hehaive and all go SHHH, SHHHH and quiet down, a little. Gabriella come over to me and says, "You go to Westminster, they need an interpiter, we see each other later". By now, if you know me, I was thinking Abby, what Abby? But no, I did not want to be a fifth or ninth wheel to this crowd. I thought for sure they were going to be pinched before the day was out. So I went my way and Gabriella went hers. As the French say, Se La Vie. London is crazy compared to Paris. In Paris the traffic flows, thing are relativley organized, even during evacuations. But London was like being at a poor relatives who shoot guns from their porches and eat squirle. The are putting the finishing touches on Europe's tallest building, called, typically British, "The Shard" because it looks like a shard of glass. Not kidding either. The tallest building in Europe is now in Germany, Munich I think. I went up the tallest building in Paris and France, besides the Eiffel tower (it is taller). It has an observation floor open to the public and you can get great views of the Eiffel Tower from it. I was up there at dusk and dark so my photos are, well, blurry, but they will do. The Tour Montparnasse was built in the 70's at the edge of the Latin Quarter and St. Germain de Pres area's. After it was built, they realized what a mistake the location was so they banned skyscrapers form Paris except in the are called Il Defense. It is at the extreem edge of Paris, to the west. But, there is talk of building a complex at an elbow of the Seine neat the Eiffel Tower to perhaps take the tallest in Europe title from the UK. By the way, Our World Trade Tower One - the old Freedom Tower as it was originally named, is about 600 feet taller than the Brits. Of course the Chinese and the jabberin' Arabs have the tallest's (like 8 or 10 now) and theres no catching them. See what they do with our money? One thing about the French, easily 90 percent of the cars are either Citron (I thought was out od business) and Pugeot. The cars are beautiful, The next most popular seems to be either VW or Toyota, A very few Nissns. I saw 2 Italian sportscars, Ferrari, 3 Fords - nothing like I have seen in the states and you wouldn't want to. Today I saw a Mercury Cougar parked at the Midieval village I visited. There are quite a few Coopers and Smart Cars too. Tons of scooters, all shapes, sizes and some are as loud as Harley's but much higher pitched. I have seen 3 Harley's and today on the highway a group went by the bus. They sounded like Harley's, definatly not BMW's although those are real nice bikes. I did see a Harley dealership outside Paris and it looked just like the ones in the US.
I have gotten way off the track but it is just a collection of things that happen, not particularly in order.
Please forgive the spelling errors. I cannot use the spell check here - how it knows I am in a different country - I have no idea. Some words I just typed wromg an did not go bakc to fix.