Lunch on the Seine

After arriving in Paris on the Eurostar we took a taxi to our reserved boat ride and lunch tour on the Seine River. Arriving somewhat early at Bateaux Parisiens, we walked up the steps to view the Eiffel Tower. Right at the base of the tower were concessions and I bought Sandy a cup of hot chocolate from two Sengalese pirates . The chocolate was three and one half Euros with another one fifty for whipped crème on top. That's about six dollars for a small hot chocolate, but it was cold and I'm not in Paris every day so I bought the drink. We soon boarded our cruise boat and headed down the river for sight seeing and lunch. Sandy had bought the tickets a couple months ago on the web , and we really didn't know what to expect. We were given menus with options for starters , entrees , and deserts. I opted out on the starters because I'm not much on potato soup or pickled prawns, but everyone else ate theirs and gave them a thumbs up. I ordered oven baked chicken and brussels sprouts. The chicken was ok , somewhat smoky flavored and Sandy ate my brussels sprouts. Since I'm a teetotaler for alcohol , the first wine offering in my glass was consumed by Sandy, as well as her own. The drinkers relished the first wine which was blackberry wine mixed with champagne. The rest of the meal was many rounds of rose wine and white wine, which my brother in law drank for me. The waiter must have taken me for a heavy wino because my glass was always empty! T

he final drink was a thimble sized cup of bitter coffee , which old Tim drank for me as well. The beauty of this tour was a living history of Paris and the architecture of Paris along the Seine, which is why Paris grew to be here  in the first place. We went by Royal Palaces, The Louvre, Notre Dame , The national Library, The Eiffel Tower, A replica Statue of Liberty given by American Citizens in Paris, and the Island with Cathedrals and palaces.Along the way we passed boat traffic and house boats that a lucky few can reside in. I expected to see Jason Bourne fly across the Pont de Neuf, but he was out of town that morning. The Pont de Neuf connects to the Ile de la Cite, which is the center of the city and where Paris actually began.An interesting note is that the Pont des Arts is a pedestrian bridge crossing the Seine  over to the Louvre, and became the traditional site for lovers to place padlocks on the chainlink guard rails . They would place locks with their initials painted on as a momento. Unfortunately there grew so many locks on the bridge that it became likely to collapse. Engineers estimated 45 tons of locks were on the railings when they replaced them with plywood panels in 2015. All too soon we hailed a cab to take us to the Gare du Nord to catch our London bound Eurostar. Our cabbie was a native Frenchman who spoke little English and crammed four of us in the back seat of his BMW. He spoke little and asked me if I was Buffalo Bill. How do you answer that? His blue tooth radio kept ringing and it was someone named Catherine that he kept hanging up on. I told him Catherine was going to be pissed , but he just shrugged. He was middle aged and could have been an assassin looking for Jason Bourne.Who Knows? We finally got back to the station and caught our train back to London. I don't know if our cabbie ever connected with Catherine.

London Weekend

This year we decided to take a long weekend to London and Paris instead of our yearly weekend in December in New York. Sandy and I have been going to NYC in December for the past twenty years to celebrate our anniversary, and to celebrate Christmas in the Big Apple. This year while checking airfare and hotel rates Sandy found we could go to London for 4 nights at the same price as 2 nights in NYC. We actually had been wanting to see London and Paris during the Christmas season so we booked the flights and left Lexington to Atlanta and then on to Heathrow. The only negative is the flight is 8 1/2 hours in a crowded airplane with child size seats for adults. Our plane finally landed at around 8 am and our trip to the hotel lasted 1 1/2 hours. The traffic toward the airport was backed up for probably 20 miles due to a horrible wreck involving a large BMW sedan that had been made into a convertible by rescue workers. I doubt there was a happy ending to that wreck. We finally made it to our hotel which was across the Thames in south London . The trip was very picturesque as part was along the busy river side with modern buildings and old traditional landmarks as well. The Shard was there as usual, as well as the London City Hall, affectionately known as The Onion or the Biscuit due to its strange bulbous shape. You could see the Eye rotating across from Parliament, and you could see the ancient Tower of London on the North Bank. It was becoming evident London doesn't have the love of Christmas as does the USA. The most common element of the highways of London was the countless Black Cabs . There were hundreds of them everywhere you looked, some with advertising like on New York Taxis, some without. Everyone we asked said to take Uber because of the cost, but we are skeptical about Uber from American reports. The Black Cabs hold 3 people in the rear seat and have 2 jump seats facing the rear. When designed,  the cabs were given a tall interior that accommodates tall formal hats on gentlemen, something we didn't test as we had left our Bowler hats at home this trip.Our hotel was a Hilton Doubletree at Excel and on the banks of the Thames, close to the London City Airport. It was interesting to watch large British Air and Swiss Air jets coming in to land as their approach path is directly over the river The hotel had two Christmas trees and holiday  music playing,but nothing like New York. It cost around 40 pounds one way to get to Trafalgar Square or Piccadilly Circus but that was better than hitch hiking. The story is that Lord Admiral Nelson defeated the French and Spanish navies at Trafalgar off the Spanish coast , but was killed in the battle. Being the hero that he was , his officers placed his body in a keg of rum to preserve it for a proper burial back in England. The sailors on the ship sneaked around at night and drank all the rum, leaving his body without preservation. The sailors said afterwards they were"having a drink with Nelson". London in mid December is chilly and often raining, but we had the first day with sunshine. Our plans were to catch the Eurostar at St Pancras Station and travel to Paris . Now the trip costs around $80 American round trip and takes two hours and 15 minutes to arrive at Paris. St Pancras is a Victorian Station that was nearly demolished but saved and today is a main hub for trains leaving London to France and then to all destinations in Europe. The Eurostar is an engineering marvel  traveling at 185 miles per hour in smooth ultra quit comfort. Each train carries up to 900 passengers. Our train was filled coming and going with mainly business commuters. The tunnel under the English Channel was completed in 1994 with two trains meeting midpoint under the Channel, one carrying Queen Elizabeth II and the other with French Prime Minister Francois Mitterand. The tunnel is 31 miles long and 250 feet deep at the lowest point.  All you see for 15 or twenty minutes are green lights  hurling by at 185 mph, then you suddenly are propelled into bright sunshine and French countryside.The trip to Paris is  a continual flash by of cultivated farms and villages every ten minutes or so. Each village has cathedrals towering over the houses and businesses. Occasionally there will appear wind farms with alien towers generating electricity. The train hurls itself into Paris and the Gare Du Nord station, one of the busiest in Europe. The name means the North Gate. From there we catch a taxi to Batteau Parisienne for a scheduled lunch cruise on the Seine. The boats are moored on the Seine River with The Eiffel Tower only 100 yards away. The tower is closed on this day as the threat of protesting workers wearing yellow vests loom ahead. As

it turns out the Lunch cruise became one of our most memorable times in Paris.

Not what I thought

Last year we traveled to England with an excursion to Paris, which I wanted to visit , but with some reservations. I think I had listened to many stories about the aloofness and attitudes of the French and I had some trepidations . We had taken a large tour bus from London to Dover in preparation of crossing the English Channel. Now you can go under the channel in the famous Chunnel, float across as we did, or fly. Some people have actually swam across ,but not us. The motor trip from London took about two hours and we arrived at the famous seaside city of Dover. Historically Dover has been the sea side port of entry from France and is famous for the white chalk cliffs that are visible from sea. The white cliffs were often the landmarks of WW 2 bombers as they returned from missions against German targets. In like manner they were the first landmark of The German Luftwaffe as they attacked England. As we motored up to the Ferry terminals I was shocked to see monsterous ships of multiple decks taking traffic on board from 4 lanes of traffic. Our large bus was swallowed and we entered what appeared to be a modern parking garage. We got off the bus and took elevators 4 or 5 decks up to a mini shopping center with a gambling hall,shopping, and eating facilities. We all ate an English breakfast and watched the progress across the channel on a gray, chilly morning. The sea and the sky were both the same color of gray. About an hour later we entered the French port of Calais, which was large and full of container ships and huge cranes. At the time the ship conveyed many campers and cars of British origin crossing the channel for vacation in Europe, which is fascinating that you can motor all over Europe without restrictions due to the European Union. All money is in Euros and all European members enjoy a world rather easier than those of us with US passports. I do think Brexit will change a lot of this convenience for British Citizens. We started our journey toward Pari

s, which took about 4 or 5 hours through the vivid green country side. My first impression of Paris as we entered the outskirts was a sprawling metropolitan area befitting one of Europe's oldest cities of nearly nine million people. Modern Paris was a forest of construction cranes atop looming skyscrapers. The city, old and new, went for miles. The Charles De Galle Airport is about 45 minutes out of town as we were to learn on our later departure.The bus took us to our Hotel , the Novotel Paris Centre Eiffel Tower, which is considered a mid range value for around 300 Euros per night. It is a high rise  building with about 900 rooms. Situated on the banks of the Seine, it is close to transportation and about 40 minutes from De Galle Airport. Rooms are small, but larger than New York . The breakfast buffet is good and beats British food by a lot, which isn't saying much. We took a night cruise on the Seine and it was raining and chilly, but the Eiffel Tower at night lives up to reputation with gold lighting like jewels, and the occasional flash of strobe lights. The only negative was an extended family of Indians was also touring with a pack of wild children who evidentally had consumed buckets of sugar and ran over people like young jackels the entire tour.An interesting note was the antique houseboats moored on the banks of the Seine which were grandfathered in from earlier times. There are only permits for 60 some boats, one of which is owned by the President of Cartier. There are many historic bridges over the river, most of which I had previously seen Jason Bourne cross in fast cars. We toured The Palace Of Versailles, the Biltmore of Louis the XIV. The Sun King certainly knew how to live.We toured the Louvre , the world's oldest and largest museum. Enhanced with the fairly new glass pyramid, by I M Pei, the Louvre lives up to its reputation. The crown jewel is of course the Mona Lisa. Da Vinci's masterpiece is small in reality compared to what you would imagine it to be. You are in extreme danger of being trampled any where in the Louvre by herds of rude, obnoxious Chinese  tourists with every known variety of photographic equipment hanging around their necks. The Chinese will push you out of the way with hands and elbows, never thinking of manners. I honestly think they have to push people around because it is the way they live in China. I have noticed the same rude Chinese behavior in NYC and San Francisco.The French people are saints compared to the Chinese. The thoughts of the rude Chinese and Indians have worn me out, so I will talk about the nicer things in France in a later

post.

California

When I was in my youth everyone wanted to go to California , which was a land of great attraction with famous people and beautiful sunsets and beaches. All the movie and tv stars lived in this promised land. The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean sang about the girls and surfing , and everyone drove 55 T- Birds, Corvettes, and XKEs. A place on the beach in Malibu was everyone's dream. Over the years dream world has become tainted with too many people and a veritable Tower of Babel of everyone living in excess and corruption. Nowhere is this greed and corruption more apparent than in the entertainment business. The casting couches of the Harvey Weinsteins and his comrades have become legendary. Suddenly every starlet is telling of attempts on her integrity. The Me Too movement is in full swing. It seems that the core of California has become a rotted foundation waiting to collapse. The state is full of liberals wanting to give everything to migrants and expect the rest of the nation to follow suit. The entire state is a powder keg  literally burning up in times of drought , and then sliding off the hillsides during the infrequent rains, to say nothing of the San Andreas Fault getting ready to dump the masses into the cold Pacific. When the Beach Boys were wishing they could all be California Girls somehow I don't think they were singing about Nancy Pelosi or Diane Feinstein. My vision of California Girls is stuck on Pamela Anderson running on the beach in that red bathing suit , or Farah Fawcett in that poster every male had in college in 1970.We see Glen Campbell leaving for Phoenix and that telephone just keeping on ringing. Nobody today even remembers ringing telephones. The California of Jimmy Webb and Linda Ronstadt is long gone , as well as 1967 and the summer of love. Jimi Hendrix hit the Monterrey Festival and Jefferson Airplane was on the radio. Music made sense in those days before Justin Bieber and Kanye. The Brady Bunch was replaced by the Kardashian Bunch. OJ quit running through airports and started chases on freeways.San Francisco changed from Haight- Ashbury to something else.You really do have to wear flowers in your hair if you're going to San Francisco. San Francisco would never tolerate Harry Callahan in today's society. Do you feel lucky Punk?I guess nothing remains the same , yet I still love the Pacific highway and Half Moon Bay, along with Napa and Sonoma. I just don't feel comfortable with the present California mind set. High tech and Tesla drive that state and if you're not Apple minded you need not apply.I guess I'm stuck in 1968 and need to move on. Besides , have you seen Pamela Anderson lately ?

What"s there to Say??

It's been a while since I posted , and somehow I felt I should have been writing about my political feelings of our country, but what remains to be said?This political mess we are living in has become so bitter and full of hatred that I really don't have anything to add. I guess I must give my State Of Union in lieu of any other subject that means nothing to me or anyone else.I've never been this old before and every day brings a new ache or pain.I still get a haircut every four months or so and pay for it with a bottle of Gray Goose vodka, because my hair babe will work me in for the booze. She's in no danger of addiction because  3 bottles a year doesn't make much of a buzz.I'm 6 months behind on my Blood Work , but I feel at my age I'm not producing as much red blood cells as a young man, and I want to keep all I've got. I was in Manchester today and went to the Mennonite bakery and bought a dozen bear claws from a young maiden with a unibrow that had somewhat of an attitude , but who cares? I'd have an attitude if I were a Mennonite, wouldn't you?The Bearclaws were delicious and that's another reason not to have bloodwork at the moment. Megyn Kelly went down in flames, and I thought that even I would have better control of myself for $23 mill a year. It took me 30 seconds to find that frigging dollar symbol.Poor Megyn . Where is she going to go?We went to Europe in February and I left my heart in Rome. I really felt I was going to want to stay in Barcelona, but it turned out to be my least favorite. I was intrigued by the Barcelona Worlds Fair and Mies van der Rohe"s Barcelona chair ,as well as the crazy architecture of Antoni Gaudi, but somehow I was disappointed by the city. We flew into Amsterdam ,and then into Barcelona, and didn't see anything in Amsterdam interesting other than cleaning ladies mopping around your feet while you were at the urinal, something that I 'm used to at home. Lots of pickpockets in Barcelona. Actually there are recognized gangs of pickpockets with young children all over Barcelona's tourist haunts.I really liked Marseille, France and we saw the harbor and drank really sweet Coca Colas in bottles in a little café on the square. I bought Sandy some kind of brownie with real , hot melted chocolate over it. It is impossible to beat French pastries.Merci Beaucoup.We went to Monte Carlo  and I felt like James Bond. Most beautiful harbor and country in the world.We then went to Saint Tropez and saw Barbie talking to a priest outside of church on a Sunday Morning. I guess Ken was on some yacht in the harbor sleeping off a night of drunken debauchery.Went to Pisa and the Tower, with more pickpockets.Then we went to Rome and the Seven hills. I want to go back to Rome ASAP. It is that beautiful with all the millions of modern Romans riding their little Vespa scooters and tiny cars to work. My impression was that this vibrant population cares nothing about history and the Roman Empire, but has the same interests as middle income people the world over. Now I'm not much of a foodie but eating in a little restaurant in Rome is an experience . Romans know how to eat!We are going to London and Paris for a short week before Christmas, and I'm already dreading English food. If you ever eat an English breakfast you will realize why The Queen, Prince Phillip, and Charles look so angry.Pork and beans at every breakfast makes anyone anxious the rest of the day!We are taking the Eurostar to Paris for one day. Hop on that baby and 2 hours and 15 minutes later you are in Paris. Time flies at 185 miles an hour. We are taking a lunch tour on the Seine and all I'm eating is Dessert. The last time we were in Paris we attended the Moulin Rouge , which means"the red mill".It should mean 35 nearly naked ,nubile maidens on stage. At one point a Plexiglas pool of water rises on the stage with many 10 foot long anacondas swimming and trying to escape into the audience. At that moment a pretty ,almost naked maiden runs out and jumps in the pool with the serpents. Where I come from nobody jumps in water with snakes, naked or clothed.I digress, as is common lately, and wish to convey my gratitude that the mid term elections are over. I have forgotten my conversational French but I need to be able to order a baloney sandwich on white bread with a little Grey Poupon por favor.Imagine looking at old Gustave Eif

fel's trinket eating a baloney sandwich  chased with a coconut macaroon. Life is good. As my buddy Donnie Sears says,'It's all Good."

Around London

While in London we did the usual touristy things involving historical sight seeing. We toured the Tower Of London and saw the amazing Crown Jewels , as well as a fascinating armor collection going back to the Norman conquest in 1066.The stories and traditions are fascinating as you watch young soldiers standing guard in bright red uniform coats and traditional bear skin head covers.They are now carrying automatic British armaments of SA-80 designation which are unloaded during the day, but live ammo clips are very close at hand during emergencies. There are no such guards as "Ceremonial Guards", as all are in the regular British army and have been exemplary soldiers to be honored as Queen's guards or Tower Guards. The Beefeaters on the other hand are chosen from British Army ranks with at least 22 years active NCO service. Needless to say none of the guards are to be taken lightly.At one time the Tower of London hosted the Royal Menagerie , where over 60 exotic animals were kept for Royal Entertainment. Started in the 1200's by King John of Magna Charta fame, the zoo lasted for over 600 years. Polar bears ,lions , and tigers were kept as well as baboons which couldn't be confined due to their climbing skills. The only animals left are 6 Ravens ceremoniously kept for traditional purposes. All six wander the grounds at will, confined to the earth with clipped wings.There are wonderful life size animals on the site sculpted by Kendra Haste of wire. They look so real as to startle visitors.The legend of the Ravens says that the British Empire and the Tower of London will fall if the Ravens ever leave.The revelry of the Tower of London's past and historical significance is given a dose of reality as one can see the modern 41 story skyscraper named 30 St Mary Axe towering above the walls. Finished in 2003, the cylindrical tower looks like a space rocket towering over old London. Often called the Gherkin by Londoners, the building looked to many like a Pickle. It was featured in the Sharon Stone Thriller Basic Instinct 2.We

took a boat ride down the Thames at low tide and saw much of modern London's financial District.Standing starkly against the sky is the Shard,which at over 1000 feet is the tallest building in The United Kingdom.It looks like a monsterous piece of blue glass piercing the sky, hence "The Shard".Also dominating the London skyline is the London Eye, once the word's tallest Ferris Wheel at 443 feet tall. It was erected on the South Bank of the Thames to celebrate AD 2000. We rode the contraption for one of the best views of London. Each of the Glass enclosed cars holds about 25 riders and the thing never stops. It is moving as you walk on board and it is moving as you step off. A complete revolution takes about 30 minutes , and allows you a beautiful view of old London on the North shores of the Thames , as well as The Houses of Parliament and The Bell Tower, which is not "Big Ben". Big Ben is the clock inside the Tower. Later that night we went to see 42nd Street at the largest theater in London at Theatre Royal on Drury Lane. We had great seats and it was a lavish production. The truly weird thing about the theater experience was that everyone went up and paid 4 Pounds for little paper cups of Haagen Daz ice cream between acts, something unheard of in American theaters.Some of our group saw Sir Paul McCartney at the Savoy down the street from the theater. Paul probably wouldn't have known me.He's come a long way from Liverpool. Next day it was Dover and the English Channel.

A Pile of Rocks

 One of our scheduled trips out of London was to visit Bath and Stonehenge which were a couple of hours out of the city. Bath, which our guide Daisy pronounced Baaath was a Roman outpost whose claim to fame was the mineral springs where they built an elaborate bathhouse with plumbing and pools. The whole location of Bath suited the Romans as it was built on seven hills like Rome. The Romans settled in Bath in AD 60 and utilized the native limestone which is quarried under the city. Today Bath has around 90,000 inhabitants and 2 universities. It is situated on the Avon River of Shakespearean fame. The town today is primarily Georgian in style with construction of 4 or 5 stories of limestone. Daisy told us that inhabitants used to be taxed by number of windows and therefore you can see false windows of stone where tightwads valued English Pounds more than sunlight.Jane Austen lived in Bath if you are inclined to read fussy old maid literature. Jane hated Bath and only lived 2 years there, probably to the benefit of Bath . It was raining while we visited Bath but I was very impressed with the city and the architecture. Another Jane, the actress Jane Seymour lives on the outskirts of Bath. We also travelled west to Oxford, the home of Oxford University. What can you say about Oxford that hasn't been said in millions of words? One of the foremost colleges in the history of mankind.. Teaching started there in 1096 and it is the oldest English speaking university in the world; the 2nd oldest college in existence. Oxford as a city has around 170,000 inhabitants and is about 70 miles from London. 29 Prime Ministers of England attended Oxford.It is a beautiful city which makes me realize how young our country is. We then went to Salisbury Plains to view Stonehenge. Built between 3000 BC and 2000 BC by Bronze age inhabitants, the purpose is still argued. The circle of stones are up to 24 feet tall including the portions underground ,and weigh around 25 tons each. They were transported from around 18 miles away and some came from Wales, all by primitive Bronze age people. Arguments abound as to their purpose. Were the stones a burial ground? Yes. Were they a center of worship ? Yes. Were they a site of astronomy study?Yes. Just how all of this relates to each other is argued and unknown , which is the real beauty of Stonehenge. It is truly a magic place and perhaps the mystery should never be unveiled.The only thing I can add in my limited knowledge is that it is an awesome pile of rocks. Maybe Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble were British.

Across The Pond

This past month of May we had scheduled a trip across the Atlantic to visit England and France. I don't normally dread flying but anything over 4 hours fills me with dread of confinement . This particular flight to London Heathrow was scheduled for a little over 6 hours but was a red eye leaving Boston Logan at around 9 pm. Being that London is 5 hours ahead of the US we would fly all night and get there in the morning. The flight at 30000 feet and 500mph was smooth and uneventful, and the British customs people were very cheerful and nice, quite the opposite of the surly and rude TSA officials here in the USA. Our travel agency , Trafalgar, had a young gentleman waiting at the baggage area to take us to the Cumberland Hotel which is about 45 minutes from the airport.It was quite a change from Stanford ,Kentucky as we entered the London metropolitan area of 8 and one half million people. The first thing we noticed was how green the country side is.Kentucky is green, but not the vivid emerald green of England, and later France. I guess it's because of the moderate island climate and abundant rainfall, which it was doing upon arrival. It is also obvious that England is a virtual melting pot of nationalities and ethnic groups. Our guides told us London is the most expensive city in the world. It is in somewhat of a turmoil due to the exit from the European Union, and subsequent elections left a dilemma to Teresa May and her party, which leaves Great Britain in a divided  state much like the USA. Our hotel was only a block from the Marble Arch which used to be the entrance to Buckingham Palace but was moved by order of Queen Victoria to its present location in Hyde Park. Hyde Park is one of four major parks , and at 350 acres is the largest. It was established in 1536 by Henry VIII as a hunting area. Like our own Central Park, which is nearly 900 acres, Hyde Park has been used for many things ,including rock concerts. Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Queen have given concerts there. Also of note is a podium in Hyde Park where anyone can address issues to whoever will listen. Appropriately enough this area is Speaker's Corner. There were people speaking every time we went by.Speaker's Corner has been in constant use since 1872.The area of food was also a great education. We were prepared for "Bangers and Mash"every morning for breakfast but they never appeared at the hotel. Bangers are sausage which are called that because they popped and banged in the skillet as they were fried. Mash is mashed potatoes. Breakfast was usually a buffet with normal eggs and toast, but with the addition of cooked tomatoes and pork and beans. There is no such drink as iced tea to be found in the British Isles. They don't believe in ice either. I did grow to like scones which is like a crumbly sweet biscuit, usually with a jam spread on it. The Brits are heavily into marmalade.We were anticipating the infamous "Spotted Dick"which is supposedly a pastry with raisins or currants which gave it the Spotted description. Nobody could tell us the "Dick " origin. It never appeared on the menu , much to everyone's relief. Fish and Chips were good and one night we ate at a pub called "The Grazing Goat".Some of our group had beef which they said was good. I again had fish and chips which is rumored to be haddock. Chips are French fries. Our hotel had 1000 rooms and was very well situated in central London. It is a 20 minute walk to Buckingham Palace, which we saw but the Queen wasn't in. We were hoping for an audience but she was at Windsor. You know that because her flag is flying if she is in town. We were also within 5 minutes of Selfridge's Department store which we walked through because Sandy has watched a series about it on Public Television. We didn't buy anything because we had spent all our money getting there.We watched the Queen's Guard change at the Palace, and it was impressive. I actually liked Freddy Mercury playing the Queen at Wembley Stadium better than the actual Queen but I suppose I would warm up to her if we met.Freddy played for over 400,000 fans at the old Wembley Stadium in 1986 over a series of nights. That Wembley Stadium was torn down and replaced with a new one in 2007 , mainly for football, which is British for soccer. Soccer is a European game played and liked by females as well as men. Kind of a boring and sissy game by American standards. Like I said previously London is a Virtual Tower of Babel with many nationalities in evidence. Many Arabic and Moslem citizens, mostly driving Rolls Royce and Bentley automobiles. In five days of Great Britain I only saw 2 American cars. The rest were European or a very few Japanese.T

hat was a surprise. I was looking forward to Stonehenge and Bath, but that's a future story.