Parlez-vous Francais?

Not sure what the subject line says, but the content of this entry may be of interest. It is actually an email that David sent to me and the kids (I took out MOST of the mushy stuff!) Call it a guest entry. As much as I keep suggesting, he doesn't create his own blog - and he should. I'll let him borrow mine for now...

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I absolutely can't believe what I am experiencing. I left Paris behind this afternoon and now am in the small town of Metz. Look it up! Find it on a map, or on Mapquest. The hotel's address is Cetre Saint Jacques, Metz FR 5700.

The night sky is beautiful, clear with stars and moon.

France is all about beauty and creativity: the architecture (buildings), the flowers, the people, the styles, the food. And the language is like poetry, the beautiful way it rolls out of the mouths of the people.

I want to show you Paris and also a smaller French town, like this Metz that I'm in. The streets are all cobblestone, winding, with TALL 3-story storefronts all along. And most stores only sell 1 type of thing: knives. Or CDs. Or sandwiches. Or jewelry.

NO STRAIGHT LINES, the streets are curvy, the paver stones are curvy the bridges are curvy…..it's like a big cartoon.

And the cars-----------HA! You wouldn't believe all the funny (goofy!) French cars. Renault Twingo, Citroen (my favorite is the C6), Smart car (2 seater, very upright, shorter than a mini Cooper). Very quirky and interesting (creative) styling, like cartoons. And most of the cars are small over here, because the streets are narrow and parking is difficult (congested). But they drive FAST, like shot out of a cannon.

I am on the 3rd (top) floor of the Nootel Metz Centre hotel, looking out over a mall/courtyard that is vacant and almost silent. Except for the bells that chime every 15 minutes, from the HUGE GORGEOUS HISTORIC cathedral, lit up with beautiful lights, and I am looking STRAIGHT OUT MY WINDOW at it. Picture Tim & Diane's beautiful church, x2. It is a cathedral, that almost seems to compare to Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur (which I went in yesterday and today; the 2 most famous and beautiful Catholic cathedrals in Paris). I paid the extra today and took the EXTREMLY NARROW, spiral staircase up to the top of Sacre Coeur. AMAZING.

And I've done something I rarely do: took LOTS of pictures. So I can't wait to get home and show you the whole show. Susie: you've got to help me find the right French background music for the slideshow.

I even saw Moulin Rouge today, during the day, from the outside. Wow, quite a bit goes on over there.

The saw the famous Mona Lisa wow(!) at the Louvre. They would not let me borrow it. The Arc de Triumphe, of course the Eiffel Tower (at day AND at night), flooded with glorious golden light and flashing (for 5 minutes every half hour) with hundreds of strobe lights, from top to bottom.

We've been "on the go" so much that I fall into bed exhausted every night. It is about 9:15 pm here (I'm writing this to save, then send tomorrow when I can hook up to internet), and I'm lucky to have lasted till 10. Oh here goes the cathedral bells again. Now bonging 10:00

The only thing that's missing you 3. We must come here one day, when you kids have had some time to take some French in school. To be able to communicate (I am getting the very basic hello, thank you, and a few other things, but not much else. Bummer!) It takes time to study and master, but it's worth it.

I am SO blessed to get to experience this.

Tomorrow I must "hunker down" and get to work for Delphi, at our Florange plant. This is, of course, the reason they paid to send me over here.

With all my love and fondness,
David (Daddy)