Of the seven countries we visited, England, Italy and France have had most glorious long histories and grand ancient buildings.  For tourist access, England is the easiest while France is the most difficult.  The reason: language.  French people are said to be proud of their beautiful Francais that they are reluctant to learn other languages.

I don't know if the French are going to change their mentality soon, but I know why I like America the best. American people are most tolerant, most inclusive, and most ready to learn about (and from) other cultures.  American high schools teach a lot of foreign languages: such as German, Spanish, and Japanese.  Churches and temples of different religions co-exist in America.  The real strength of a nation is in its open-mindedness, in its inclusion, in its being a great melting-pot.  The current economic woes will be over, and America, still strong, will be stronger.

On the last night of our stay in France, I tried the hotel we stayed in to see if I could check on-line and print a boarding pass.  No.  They did have paid-machines for the Internet, but there were no printers.  I went outside and found a little store with the big sign: Internet.  After I learned that he spoke English, I told him what I needed and he happily showed me a computer.  It was a paid machine too, but their charge, 15 minutes minimum for half a Euro, was less than our hotel would have charged, besides, they did have printers connected. 

I soon came across a big issue, same as in other European countries.  Their keyboard had a different mapping.  Not only was my touch type skills rendered useless, but I could not find the symbol @ (for e-mail address).  Eventually I got to the web page, but the website was all in French.  I did not see any button to switch the language.  I paid my due, left, and came back with my own laptop, explaining my difficulty in keyboard mapping and language selection.  The owner pulled out the Ethernet cable from behind one of the machines, and gave it to me to attach to my own laptop.  With that, I soon checked my e-mail and sent out messages to tell our children that we were heading home the next day.  After I was done, the owner did not want to charge me.  He said that I did not actually use their machine, and no one was waiting to use that machine either.  It was a simple act of kindness that brought a happy ending to our stay in Paris.

All pictures posted here were taken by us. Those from Google, brochure, and the web were duly noted. Most of my posted photos are still missing captions because I do not have time for them yet.

• Day 2 (6-17-2009): Arriving in London, visited Big Ben and Parliament Buildings
• Day 3 (6-18-2009): city sightseeing, Windsor Castle, & Cruise on the River Thames
• Day 4 (6-19-2009): Taking coach to cross the English Channel, then to Amsterdam
• Day 5 (6-20-2009): sightseeing in Amsterdam, and canals cruising
• Day 6 (6-21-2009): Cruise on the Rhine, and a stop at Rothenburg
• Day 7 (6-22-2009): Passing Austria from Munich, then a stop at Cortina
• Day 8 (6-23-2009): Visiting Venetian glassblowers, then Tuscan (Venice-Florence area), and a Gondola boat-ride
• Day 9 (6-24-2009): Visiting Florence and Pisa the leaning tower
• Day 10 (6-25-2009): entering Switzerland and visited Lugano
• Day 11 (6-26-2009): a Swiss town Lucerne and a cruise on Lake Lucerne；group picture before heading for Paris
• Day 12 (6-27-2009): Visiting Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Palace of Versailles.

Note: Day 1 was flying from PDX (Portland, Oregon) to JFK (Kennedy Airport in New York), then to LHR (London), while Day 13 was flying home from Paris.

Les Invalides

Below from Wikipedia: Les Invalides in Paris, France, is a complex of buildings in the city's 7th arrondissement containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine, as well as the burial site for some of France's war heroes, notably Napoleon Bonaparte.

Palais Bourbon

Below from Wikipedia: The Palais Bourbon, a palace located on the left bank of the Seine, across from the Place de la Concorde, Paris (which is on the right bank), is the seat of the French National Assembly, the lower legislative chamber of the French government.

Galeries Lafayette

Below from Wikipedia:The Galeries Lafayette is a French department store company.

Palais Garnier

Below from Wikipedia: The Palais Garnier, also known as the Opéra de Paris or Opéra Garnier, but more commonly as the Paris Opéra, is a 2,200-seat opera house on the Place de l'Opéra in Paris, France.

Notre Dame de Paris

Below from Wikipedia:Notre Dame de Paris ('Our Lady of Paris' in French) is a Gothic cathedral on the eastern half of the ?le de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France, with its main entrance to the west. It is the cathedral of the Catholic archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the "cathedra", or official chair, of the Archbishop of Paris, Andre Cardinal Vingt-Trois. Notre Dame de Paris is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the world. It was restored and saved from destruction. The name Notre Dame means "Our Lady" in French, and is frequently used in the names of Catholic church buildings in Francophone countries.
Notre Dame de Paris was one of the first Gothic cathedrals, and its construction spanned the Gothic period. Its sculptures and stained glass show the heavy influence of naturalism, unlike that of earlier Romanesque architecture.
Notre Dame de Paris was among the first buildings in the world to use the flying buttress (arched exterior supports). The building was not originally designed to include the flying buttresses around the choir and nave. After the construction began and the thinner walls (popularized in the Gothic style) grew ever higher, stress fractures began to occur as the walls pushed outward. In response, the cathedral's architects built supports around the outside walls, and later additions continued as such.

Gargoyle on the wall of Notre Dame

Below from Wikipedia: The term originates from the French gargouille, originally "throat" or "gullet";"to swallow", which represented the gurgling sound of water
A chimera, or a grotesque figure, is a sculpture that does not work as a waterspout and serves only an ornamental or artistic function. These are also usually called gargoyles in laymen's terminology, although the field of architecture usually preserves the distinction between gargoyles (functional waterspouts) and non-waterspout grotesques.

Eiffel Tower

Below from Wikipedia: The Eiffel Tower is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine River in Paris. The tower has become a global icon of France and is one of the most recognizable structures in the world.

the Palace of Versailles， seen from outside

Below from Wikipedia: The Palace of Versailles, or simply Versailles, is a royal chateau in Versailles, France. In French, it is known as the Chateau de Versailles.
When the chateau was built, Versailles was a country village; today, however, it is a suburb of Paris, some twenty kilometers southwest of the French capital. The court of Versailles was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Regime.

Updated November 18, 2015
网页更新 2015-11-18