Tour de France

(Intro)
Hope you don't mind me write in English first, as SoGou online Chinese input is so slow tonight. If I put it off any longer, this will never happen.

I've promised to report back so at least this way I didn't break my promise.

(Day 1)
I've got an opportunity to visit several places in France last month. Originally, I only planned on visiting Toulouse in south France, attending some meetings for two weeks. Right about two weeks before departure, I got invited to give some talks in Paris. This new development pushed my boss (read: wife) over the edge and made the decision to join me in the Tour de France, along with our young boys, 5 and 7.

As my tickets have been booked ahead of time by the company, they had to get their own ticket at which point not possible to match mine. Besides, they don't want to miss too many school days. So I took off by myself first, made all the connections all barely in time and got in Toulouse airport with no surprises 6 hours ahead of them.

At Avis rental car counter, however, I got my first of many surprises. "I am sorry Sir but we do not have automatic for you. This is Europe." said the pleasant clerk behind the counter. As a veteran traveler who's been to Europe several times before, I wasn't really surprised. "I understand you mostly drive sticks here but I've made specific arrangement in my reservation and it showed automatic". "I am sorry sir", the young lad explained that this is not what's said in their system. Upon my persistent demands, he looked up all reservations here and there, amongst partners and finally offered me a choice: take an automatic BMW, with an extra 1,100 euros, on top of my original reservation which was about 400, for two weeks. That, was a surprise and not something I've prepared for. I can try but our management sure won't like me paying over 200 euros a day for rental car, even it's my project money. Besides, as a all frugal, dragon blood type consumers, I won't take the bait, not the first one anyway.

I put him on hold and went to check other rental car companies nearby and found one with 900 euros for two weeks. It's not the best solution but considering the circumstances, I took it. After all, I had planned on driving to Paris, as I was going to visit two different companies there.

With help of my Garmin, it didn't give me too much trouble finding my home for the next few days. Novotel belongs to a large hotel chain (Accor) in Europe and is considered somewhat better amongst its fleet, probably similar to Hilton in class in Hilton chains, price-wise anyway! I've booked a room for four people so when I saw the size of the room, I was surprised. It is well known, generally speaking, that European style rooms are small, in comparison to those in the States. But still! The maid was nice enough to have laid out all the beds for us, one queen size, one full size sofa bed. I put down my two pieces of luggage and sat on the bed and looked around. It wasn't that I was that tired, but rather, i HAD to sit down! There is no place for me to stand, after I put down my suitcases (one carryon, one 26"). It IS that small. As I've said before, I've been to Europe before, Italy, Spain, and Germany. But I guess this is yet another level, French level to be exact, that you literally do not have room to keep your suitcases open. Great!

With disappointment, I did remember to check all beds to make sure there's no bed bugs to bring home with. All beds are exceptionally clean, to be fair, even comparing to high end hotels in the US. The bathroom is separate from the toilet, which is exceptionally compact in size. I imagined for a few seconds what would happen when above average size folks from where I live (deep south) showed up here, and chuckled at myself for my stupidity, as I just noticed a phone sitting conveniently next to me. Doh! I am in Europe.

哎啊,英语水平不好,要慢慢查字典了.

又更新了，不错啊，顶一个

SUIM的照片真不错,看得出来空气很干净,呵呵,我也想出去玩呢,以后打比赛赢了就去

THE TOWER
---
The most famous landmark of France is no doubt the Eiffel tower. We first saw it when we drove into Paris, about 10 miles away on the highway. You could also see it from our hotel downtown and pretty much all nearby areas, as shown in one of the photos taken from the Louvre.

The day we went to the tower was rather windy and chilly. But you can see lots people heading over that direction as soon as you get off the metro. Along side the road to the tower, lined up many paddlers, like any typical tourist attractions around the world, selling cheaply made souvenirs of the tower, key chains, laser cut glass displays, drawings and paintings etc. It is interesting to notice that almost sellers these are middle eastern descents, which is rather interesting, considering everything they are selling are made in China. I can't help thinking they are related, or, being controlled by somebody. Of course, this is an afterthought. At the time, we just wanted to get to the tower and get it over with. And with me snapping pictures left and right. So are the kids.

It is no wonder that the tower is huge when you are closer. The four corners or supports are rather far away, with two of them serves as entrance to the tower. One is for those who want to ride to the top. The other one is for those who want to walk to the second level, which is about 10-story high, in my estimation. I wanted to get to the top but my wife is very afraid of the height, so she wanted to do the climbing. Naturally, kids went her way, leaving me standing in the long line by myself. The line moves pretty fast, and you could get to the ticket window in about 20 minutes. After a few minutes struggle, I gave up the idea of getting to the top by myself, as I wanted to take some pictures of the kids and family. I went over there to join my wife and kids, which was already half way down to the ticket window. When I got close to her, she whispered in my ear that there was a guy selling ticket half price to the top of the tower a few minutes ago.
Asian looking, probably Chinese. Oh my! I wish I had the chance to see another new trick.

The ticket to climb up second level costs 7 euros I think and kids are half price. It's rather reasonable considering it is probably the mostly recognized symbol of tourist traps in the world. It is a great piece of engineering work, however and I have to admit that. Despite the windy conditions of the day and especially the increased intensity right under the tower, I did not feel any movements or vibrations at all! (big surprise huh?! If it does, it probably has clasped long before I got here, a hundred years ago). From a brief read from the ipad, I did learn that they had used the bottom of the tower as a wind tunnel to test aerodynamics of airplanes during the war. So they must know what they were doing. Another interesting fact, discovered by my 7-year old, is that there is a replica of the tower in Las Vegas, at exactly half the height (162m, compared to 324). I've been to Las Vegas and stayed a week there about 20 years ago but wasn't aware of it.

Despite of the age of the tower, at about 130 years old, it is in very good condition. I would assume they are doing the best they can to preserve its condition with routine maintenance. But that is mostly on minor fixes and would not affect its main structure. That, is the most impressive part. You can feel its craftsmanship and quality when you put down your first step on its stairs. Well, in my case, it was more like my 100th step, when I stopped to catch a breath, after following the kids dashing up. One can tell that it was built to last, with solid, thick iron bars and reinforced joints, as can be seen from the pictures we took. It has no enclosed units, other than restaurants between the levels, which certainly helps to reduce the impact from the typical strong wind going through. The cliche quickly jumped into my mind, "they don't build em like these no more".

We tried to count the number of steps when we climbed up, but often lost counts to new discoveries by the kids or their questions. Fortunately, we can always find the answers on the internet, especially with today's convenience of wireless everywhere. It's about 300 steps between levels, which means we climbed about 10 stories to get to level one. It has a small restaurant, restrooms, a small display room or museum if you will, and a gift shop. The perimeter is nicely fenced in and you can walk around to have a full view of the city of Paris.

Although windy, it was a beautiful day with high visibility, as you can see from the pictures. We found the places we have visited and places we haven't got around to, looking out and reading signs. Napoleon's tomb is probably the most visible one, with its shining, golden top visible from far away. Seine river runs by the foot of the tower and cannot be mistaken. It is of little surprise that most major cities are centered around rivers, for its convenience in old times in terms of both transportation and access to usable water. Thus the art of Feng Shui. Without water, there is no life, although recent discoveries have shown that might not true for non-carbon life forms.

There are many poster boards and signs around the walking path, to illustrate the history of the tower and its structures. This is where the kids found out many interesting facts that later were used in the slides to give "lecture" to the classmates. Knowing that their interests and energy would wane fast, we opted to move to the next level of the tower rather quickly, tackling another 300 steps in between. The little one began to show signs tiredness half way up on this flight, and Mom started to carry him in her arms. The second level has a much better view than the first one, believe or not, as higher altitude helps to bring out more three dimensionality of the structures and details of buildings. Wind had slowed down quite a bit at this level, not sure whether due to geometry of the ground or weather conditions. Although it was a sunny day, at times you would get a few drizzles here and there, probably due to passing clouds. In reality, you can
imagine yourself in the middle of the clouds if you so desire! I once had the experience of driving all the way up the big volcano, Maunakea on Big Island of Hawaii. It was a cereal experience to see clouds slowing moving below you, as you carefully maneuver along the edge of the cliffs.

I ran around all four sides of the walking path and took pictures of Paris, in hope to make a good panoramic. I think I got a very good set and it is just a matter of time to put them together (ha!). Of course, we had folks taking family pictures for us as well and ran into several interesting families. One came from Chongqing of China. The young couple flew directly from China to visit Paris. The husband was carrying a similar camera to mine, but with a big tripod as well. I was very impressed. Another family came from the same city as us and our houses are about 30 minutes away. Small world indeed!

There was a similar setup on the second floor and we had lunch in the restaurant. It is more of a cafe style fast food setup, understandably only for convenience. The selection is about that of a cafe. On the way down, we waited for the lift but the little one changed his mind at the last minute, likely got scared by the loud noise of the lift and steep descend of the boxcar, as we were watching it going up and down along the shaft while waiting. Oh well. More exercise for me to digest those heavy French dishes we've had past few days.

After a quick selection of few souvenirs on the way out, we decided to head over to the Arc for a quick peek, as it's not far from the tower. It is nothing but a big monument in the middle of a big roundabout, at the end of the famous shopping street, Champ Elysee. We strolled onto the Elysee and went to a store, bought small gifts for the boys and headed back to the hotel, as dusk is falling down fast.

那些都不是什麽好的ＤＣ，能用而已。毕竟比看孩子的费用少多了
争取这个礼拜写完剩下的。

不错啊，流口水了。

你儿子一人一个DC，真奢侈啊！

Louvre is the most visited museum in the world, with tens of thousands of art pieces on display. It averages about 15,000 visitors a day, using proceeds from tickets sold to maintain its operations. Because it’s a huge display, it is often advised to spend a few days or a week if you want to thoroughly check it out. For us uninitiated souls, a day would be more than enough, especially with young kids.

After descending down to the museum below, we stood in the long line to get our tickets right away, although I was not paying attention other than snapping photos of the place. Suddenly, I noticed somebody poking me on the ribs, and it was my wife, walking away from the line and gestured me to follow her, with a mixed expression of alertness, secrecy and excitement. As any good husband would do, I obeyed without any struggle.  “This guy”, she pointed to somebody standing not far from us, “got two spare tickets to sell. They bought extra but don’t need them. Half price!” Sure. As if I was born yesterday. I started to walk away back to the line when my wife stopped me. “Listen, alright?” “He asked us to pay him after we get inside.” Hmm, I guess the tricks have been improved since I was born. Consider myself not too dumb while eager to see a new trick (or get fooled, take your pick), I agreed. The guy pulled out two ticket, one with date on it and the other one is blank, gave to us and then proceeded to the entrance. He waved his tickets to the collectors and then went inside. The check point is kind of like a parking garage entrance you found mostly in the US or any toll booths in the world. You just show your tickets and after they casually take a glance, you are good to go. So we got inside, with kids in the front as there is no entrance fee to kids, teachers and students if you have proper ID. The guy turned corner and pulled out a map to examine, and we stopped next to him. My wife paid him, at half price, although we could pay at little as a third, if we don't want the tickets. He then briefly explained to my wife what was the best routine to check the museum, by using the map. Did I mention he is Chinese? So the map is the Chinese version (Louvre has maps in all major languages). While he was doing the guided tour on the map to my wife, I took several pictures, just in case. A few minutes later, he went away and I looked at his back and said to my wife: "Smart guy. Good business". You probably don't know that the locals can buy the tickets at huge discounts or even free (to students and such), and many tickets do not have dates, which means you can in theory, reuse them after a day's visit. With increasing visitors from China these days, it's just a matter of time before somebody's brain starts to take advantage of this. By the way, when the smart guide gave my wife the tips about the museum, there were several Chinese visitors gathered around and closed in on us to listen to the conversation as it was in Mandarin. This reminded me the scene you often see in the train ticket windows or bank teller windows in most of China. They would come very close to you, as if we have been friends for a long long time. We have been in the Sates for so long and have long forgotten the compact living environments we were used to. These visitors are well dressed with somewhat naive curiosity on their face. Needless to say, they must be from the mainland. I have many incidents of hurt-feelings when I first came here, as they could easily spot us even we have the same clothes. I hate to admit but I know I have gained the same super natural ability by now.
Louvre is  a huge palace, first as a residence since Phillips II cica 12th century, and by the time of Louis XIV in 17th century moved to Palace de Versailles, it slowly evolved into the museum as we see today. It has 3 wings, which are the three sides of the palaces and you need the tickets to go from one wing to another. Each wing got several floors, 3 if memory serves but could be 4 easily as I wasn’t paying attention, rather just following along and snapping pictures. There are many world famous paintings, including the Mona Lisa, which turned out to be a joke, in my opinion. First of all, the signs are everywhere, just like you are about 200 miles away from Orlando and start to see road signs of Disney everywhere. When you get there, you realized that the room is jam packed with people who just want to take a picture to show that they have ARRIVED. There is a loose parameter set up around the glass-window guarded painting, about 12 feet (4m) away, if not more. I am not sure if the glass on the window is special glass or something but I could swear through the somewhat thick glass nobody would know if it’s real or fake. For all know, they could just put a photograph there and nobody would be able to tell. All but a few were standing there looking at the picture camera-less. I am not sure if they really “know” or just pretending. To me, I don’t see anything special at all. No mystery to me. No shocking mesmerizing sensation, just a girl waiting to be painted and put on a smile, whether or not she’s a guy or pregnant or stole your wallet I could care less. Then again, I am probably no better than a door knob when comes to art appreciation. There!
Other master pieces like Venus of Milo didn’t really get me too excited neither. I am not sure why it was as famous as it is. To me, there are several pieces that are much better and refined, including paintings on ceilings. Some with art sense hinted that it matters which one came earlier and original. Or missing a piece of body parts makes one wonder how it should look. Sounds strange to me. But what do I know. It said so in the guide so that must be true. Right?











The kids were excited to see so many paintings, in part, because they were cool (this is what my 5yr old just typed on my computer so I’ll keep it). Also, I think they found good use of their cameras, as we each have one in our hands. They did take some good photos and the older boy actually made a slide show and presented to his whole class upon his return.

哇，我还以为你烂尾了呢

Pentax 聚焦太慢。ＣＡＮＯＮ有些好镜头，我这次用的就挺好，１７－５５ ２。８。
争取快把剩下的写完，好玩的在后面呢