Heading home today....see y'all soon.

No this is not a cathedral, this is the Gallerie Lafayette...

THE department store in Paris...stopped for some last minute souvenir shopping...so did a zillion other tourists.

The gardens, especially the lilly pond, were gorgeous!

Visiting Giverny, Monet's country home...

Our first encounter with a fellow Tennessean

Can you tell how hot Paris is? Egypt is cooler.

Contemplating the beauty of Venus de Milo

Jockeying for position to meditate on La Giaconda Mona Lisa)

I love Paris when it sizzles....

We made it to Paris and boy is it sizzling...today was at least 32 C. We took the city tour on a double decker bus, the wrong bus and we toured the northern part of the city for an hour. Basically saw nothing but traffic for an hour...ok so we saw the Moulon Rouge, the Gare du Nord, the Gare de L'est and we got a peak at the Sacre Coeur. Finally we got on the right bus and the tour was great....we saw everything....and best of all we got the front seat on top under the mini roof so it was shaded and cool. We saw Opera Garnier, the Place Vendome, Place de la Concorde, the Champs Elyseees, circled the Arch de Triumph, the Eiffel Tower from several angles, the Petit Palace, the Grand Palace, The Trocadero, The Hotel des Invalides, the Rodin Museum (and the Thinker in the garden), the Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre, the Cathedral Notre Dame, and the Latin Quarter. We even saw a wreck, 2 "Smart Cars" collided in an intersection. Ironic.

Brussels to Paris...whew!

The plan was to take the bullet train from Brussels to Paris...sounds easy,well, first of all we have to check into our hotel in Brussels which I don't know the name of because we didn't have an internet connection in Bouillon, however, my educated guess was right and we check in and "consolidate our luggage". We don't actually have a ticket, so we walk to the train station and get in the first line we see. I tell the assistant what we want and he say that will be 300+ Euros. Wait a minute, don't you need to know what day, what time, what class of service? ( I had done some homework via the web). He mutters something in French or Flemish or German and summons his colleague. his colleague sends us to the train station. We find the train station and believe it or not and "I" information desk. The fellow cheerfully tells us we need that Thalys travel service and points. We go there. There are 3 people in line in front of us and two people working the line....for a good hour the line does not move and now there are at least 20 "angry looking" people behind us. We scour the area for brochures, non are in English, but by the time we are waited on we have figured out exactly what we want. When we finally get to the window it only takes 3 minutes and we have our tickets. It turns out the train to Paris leaves from the South Station, not the Central Station where we are staying. No problem, it also turns out that we are to turn the car into Avis at the South station and according to Betsy it is only 5 minutes drive from our hotel. This photo is of Edward with our consolidated luggage...no one....not even families....not even refugees....had as much luggage!

If it is Tuesday, we must be in Belgium...

Actually it was Monday...we just thought it was Tuesday...yes the days of the week have started to blurr..

Waterloo, Waterloo, where will you meet your Waterloo...

every puppy has its day, everybody has to pay, everybody has to meet his Waterloo....

we travelled on to Brussels and made a last detour to Waterloo to see where Napolean was defeated. This earthen monument was erected in the early 1800's and once you climb the 200+ steps (and we did) it gives a magnificent 360" view of the battleground. Some of the farmhouses that are standing today were standing during the battle....I find that amazing! Before moving on, we enjoyed a refreshment at the local inn. They actually served iced tea!!! While enjoying our refreshment two busloads of Asians disembarked along with several Buddhist monks in yellow robes...the irony of Buddhists monks visiting Waterloo was not overlooked.

Sohier so belle!

The homes are typically stacked stone like this...so natural, so beautiful and the flower decorations are the best.

and then there was Sohier...

"une des pleur beaux village fleuris" which we stumbled on (thanks to Betsy) and discovered almost an OZ of a village. It turns out Sohier won the "Entent Florale Europe" (the European Competition for Towns and Villages in Bloom) in both 2000 and 2006. It will literally take your breath away. I jumped out of the car (while it was still moving) to take photos. The horse in this photo is straw!!!! I have so many photos of the village but can only upload a few....yeh rah Belgium! Thank you Betsy!

Bouillion is centered in the Ardennes Forest

The Ardennes are very dense forests that were the scene of many battles in WWI. Here we are driving through a particularly beautiful section of tall trees.

Edward on the ramparts of Godfrey's Castle

Sir Godfrey and the First Crusade

Oue hotel in Bouillion sits below the 12th century castle of Sir Godfrey of Bouillion who led the First Crusade.

Route 66 in Bouillion?

Bouillion is lovely

Dinner in Bouillion, Belgium

We were sitting next to Jackie who had a Bar B Q restaurant in Brussels for 20 + years. Her first restaurant was called Memphis! She reminds me of Emily jut a little.