Snap Shots from Paris (11/14/20)

In August of 1993 our family took a three-week tour of central Europe, starting in Germany, looping through Austria and Switzerland and back in to Germany, and then across France to Paris. Some of our most memorable family times on the trip are from the days we spent in Paris. Two stand out and are captures in the following scans of snap-shots:

It was a hot and humid August day when we drove into the city. Neither the car nor hotel had AC (nor did most placed in the city. Maybe that is why many residents leave the city to vacation during August. In the heat and humidity, we all had a thirst for a tall cold Coke. So after checking into the hotel, we headed for a nearby cafe for lunch. In our best but very limited French, we ordered four large Cokes. The waiter first brought warm 12 oz cans, which we turned-down, asking for "Beaucoup plus gros et froid, s'il vous plaît." ("much larger and cold, please"). What we got was more than we expected - four one-liter beer mugs that had been cooled, filled with Coke. While each of us enjoyed the coke - as per this photo of our daughter - none of us were able to finished our drink, though they were much larger and somewhat cool.

The next day we took a walking tour of major sites in the the city starting at our hotel near the Eiffel Tower. By late afternoon, it was the time to head back to the hotel. While I referred to a city map, our son gleefully told us the hotel was a couple of blocks this way. Thinking it was impossible that he we right given all the twists and turns and ins and out of buildings we had trekked during that way. None of us believing him at first, but I soon determined from the map that he he was correct. It was just a couple of blocks away in the direction he pointed. So he took the lead and we followed him. Nonetheless we had to razz him.