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Jul 10, 2022
English Chronicles VII
6 December 2000
French Excursion and AC/DC
Thanksgiving was an excellent time this year. Thanksgiving itself was laid back, and uneventful. I just cleaned up my place a bit and read, but needed a day to relax, so that was it. Although I didn't do too much on Thanksgiving Day, I did use the long weekend well. I took a tour trip out to Paris for the remaining 3 days!
That Friday morning, I headed out to the base and tried to take out some cash, so I could convert it later, but the machines on base were all out of money (due to the long weekend, I guess). So I decided to just bring the charge card with me and use it to withdrawal funds or buy foreign currency at an exchange place. We headed out of the base in a double-decker bus at about 5 in the morning, and cruised down to the cliffs of Dover, where the major waterway port is located. Headed over the channel by ferry and came off in Calais (pronounced Kah lay) France. The ride over was great, with an awesome view of both sides along the way, although a bit chilly up on deck. I checked out the Currency Exchange place and bought a little bit of Francs, but didn't want to spend too much, knowing that these places are usually a bit more costly than in town. I really should have bought more here, and you'll find out why later... Anyway, when we reached the other side, we drove through the vast farmlands of France on route to wee Pareee.
Once we got into Paris, we headed for our hotel, and I made my way to a local ATM. Hmmm... this darn thing won't accept my card. Huh? So, I went into the hotel to see what rates they had; pretty good actually! I handed them my car and, as you can guess "sorry, cash or travelers cheques only". Doah! That's the way it was for the whole trip... but I had a small reserve of English £'s and some US $'s, so I exchanged all I had. Got me about 450 Francs. It ended up being just about enough though... That evening, me and a friend, Bob (although, I gotta call him Chief, due to the whole fun rank thing, but he's cool) went up to the market and checked out prices on wine. Red Wine was REALLY inexpensive, and turned out to be truly decent! Some bottles we picked up were only 9-12 francs (about $1.20)!
We cracked open a couple bottles before we went on our first tour that night. Had to start out the trip right, right? In fact, we even brought a bottle with us! <grin> First stop was to a nice little French restaurant where we (the whole touring crew) had beef marinated in chardonnay, some cheesy French onion soup and desert, along with an endless supply of wine and beer... Of course, we all took full advantage of that! 🙂 There were entertainers there, signing songs, dancing, entertaining. Very pleasant. We snuck out a couple bottles of wine from the restaurant, and headed back to the bus. Afterwards, we headed downtown to check out the Eiffel Tower.
When we got there, we were immediately swarmed by local sales folks, with tons of trinkets and goodies to remember the occasion. Well, if you've been reading carefully, I'd had quite a lot of wine, so my accounting functions weren't working to a certain extent... one guy offered me a plastic 7" replica of the tower for 200 francs. I knew that was outrageous, but I couldn't think by how much, so I told him I'd only give him a hundred (about $12). He warily accepted, although knowing he easily got the best of this stupid American. I rejoined our group and showed them my new toy. One of the folks on the bus, Kathi, asked how much I paid... I told her, and I've been getting the flack for it since (still to this day!!) (Thanks Kathi) Anyway, we made our way to the tower. It was completely lit up, still using some of the special effects from New Years (sparkling lights, 'Au 2000' sign, etc). Just an awesome sight! We rode up to the midway point for a view of the city, and other stores selling my "prized possession" for a mere 35 Francs. When we were done, some of us went over to the pub to see "what was going on" there. After a couple more small drinks, we went back to the hotel and just CRASHED for the night.
Next morning, we reboarded the bus for a scenic tour of the city, viewing Notre Dame cathedral, the infamous arch in the city center (which infamy has forgotten it's name at the moment), and the Louvre (similar to our Smithsonian Museum), which had the Mona Lisa! We also ventured out that evening to the Hard Rock Café of Paris... Chief and I took the underground from the hotel, and got off at the wrong stop. We attempted to walk it, and it was POURING down rain. By the time we made it to the Café, we were drenched! It was a fun evening and we took the tour bus back to the hotel with the rest of the crew.
The final day, we headed up to see the Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart cathedral) and Place du Tetre (artists square). The church was immense, and active. We were allowed to walk around while a church session was going on. They started playing music on the organs, and the pipes were located all through the church. It was overwhelming how beautiful the music was. A chorus of singers followed the 3-minute intro on the main stage area, where the pasture was giving his sermon. In leaving the church, we wondered around to the Artists Square, where dozens of artists were painting and drawing, selling their work to would be buyers. Some of the art was really great!
We headed back from Paris, and stopped at a special shop in Calais to buy some French wine and Belgian chocolates. The prices were just right, so I ended up with 8 bottles of wine and 5 bags of chocolate. On the trip back over the water, the winds had picked up a lot, so the boat was all over the place. Walking around the ship made us all look drunk! <grin>... so instead of pretending, we decided to sit down and have a couple brews over the hour and half trip back over. We got to know some new friends better (Kathi and her husband Steve, and Dre). Sleeping most of the bus ride back to base, we ended up getting back around 8 or 9. Ahhhh... home sweet home.
Yesterday (Tuesday), me and a couple folks from work headed down to London to Wembley Arena to see AC/DC in concert!! They put on an awesome show, and still dress up the same as they did years ago, Angus in his shirt, tie and shorts, still had his huge amount of energy, just rocking the whole show, almost non stop! Some of the special effects and "visual eye pleasers" were sweet, from a huge statue of Angus, with growing horns, lit eyes and spewing smoke, to huge cannons that blasted during "for those about to rock". There was a huge bell for "Hells Bells" and an enormous inflatable woman for "she's bit"(?). <grin> Just an awesome show. My ears are still ringin', so ya know it was good. On the way back, we got mixed up a couple times trying to find the main highway to head back home. It took us over 45 minutes to find the right way, just to the M25! We didn't get home until after 1:30AM... (notice, this is a work night). I worked it out with my boss so I could sleep in for an extra couple hours... I really NEEDED it! HA!
Anyway, things are going good. Starting to catch on a little more at work, but not as fast as I think I should be. It's really a difficult job, and there's a lot of "ins and outs" to figure out yet. I'll get there sooner or later . Home life is still the same, nothing new there.
I'll cut this one for now... hope to hear from ya!
Dan
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