Walking the grounds scattered with large water fountains and huge statues, I sensed the horrible power of the royalty. In the main palace, the power seemed to ooze from the pompous royal face of Louis XIV, sneering down at me from Rigaud’s gigantic portrait. The king is wearing high heels, a long wig, and tights with a richly embroidered brocade robe. Very few of the paintings captured people with Godly countenance So far, I’m at loss in describing the glory and size of the palaces (including Versailles), museums,, churches, and garden structures. Majestic, gigantic, heavenly, enormous, spectacular, fantastic, amazing, unbelievable, incredible...you get the idea. Americans don’t have such architectural splendor simply because of circumstances in history. Certain entities there had the gold, silver, and money, leaving most the majority poor and taxed to death.

In a stark comparison, our country was inhabited for eons by people who regarded God, the earth, and it’s beauty as enough to enjoy in celebrations, victories, and religious reverence. (To me it’s like choosing either a visit to Vegas or to Colorado mountain areas. (God’s creations are incomparable.)

In European countries, people built memorials of all kinds and sizes to honor events or influential people. Wealthy resources, centuries of hard construction work, mostly from slaves, provided structures of unbelievable magnitude. As we finally walked away from the sumptuous City of Lights, I noticed the huge courtyard covered with the same bricks laid in the 1600’s.

We lunched at a near-by cafe. A young, friendly French waiter was funny and charming. I ordered a salad and onion soup--to compare with the last one--it had even bigger globs of chewy cheese but it, too, was delicious. (After passing by so many open meat markets on this streets, it was easy to go vegetarian--like Oneita does.) That afternoon we rode the subway back to Paris to see the Louvre Museum from the 10th century, housing hundreds of beautiful paintings and artifacts.

We rode the subway to the Eiffel Tower that evening. The size and height was awesome. We couldn’t go any higher than the second floor because of repairs being made, but that was okay since people below looked like ants. The river Seine glistened in the dark. The panoramic view was breathtaking; however, so was the sight of my lost luggage at the hotel. It boasted of German stickers, so that’s why I was being encouraged to fly first to Germany!

The next day we had an early lunch at a French McDonald’s. I ordered pancakes and got 2 limp ones on paper, with only a small cup of syrup. Having no paper plate, or fork, or napkin, I made the best of it as I rolled up the pancakes and dipped them in the syrup--without butter.

Being a literature and writing professor at SSC, my only request was to see the famous Shakespeare and Company Bookstore. Directly across from it, over the Seine was Notre Dame. The bookstore was housed in an old, two-story apartment, built in 1600 as a monastery. Since then, connecting apartments had been built on both sides, This historic Parisian hot spot became famous in the 1940s when aspiring and worldfamous writers hung out/ or slept there for decades. An 88-year-old gentleman owned and ran the business since 1951.

Anyway, to go upstairs to see more books, I climbed the steep, narrow, old stairway on my hands and knees, Each room had books stacked from walls to the ceiling. And each room had a bed with a sagging mattress for overnighters.

Oneita and I both were able to trace our ‘steps’ downstairs, with a limited amount of treasures. Then, we had to wait in line for some time because the owner used no computer or adding machine. He figured on scraps of paper and only accepted cash. We finally headed out with our treasures and rejoined Larry and son to head across the river to see Notre-Dame. I could only stare at the cathedral with unbelief of its beauty because it was about to close for the evening. Armies of Gothic architects began building it in the 10th century and continued for two centuries. It witnessed the coronation of King Henry VI in 1422 and Napoleon in 1804. Bells tolled as in ancient times as we walked on to see the Arc de Triomphe--built to celebrate Napoleon’s influence.

The next morning, we left the nice, small quaint hotel and lugged our bags on the Metro, and then on the train station--where we boarded one of the faster trains in the world. It would take us 4 hours to get to Geneva...but... Remember, I’m on the train, so....We get a half hour from our destination and the train comes to a stop....for a long time...After an hour passes, we learn storm winds blew a large tree down on the next control station and had to be cleared before we could arrive.

In Geneva, we met with my nephew’s Adventist college friends and went to a fabulous pizza restaurant. Patrons gathered items from veggie, fruit, and meat bars, and waited in line to have the cooks put the items on pizza crust, then placed them in brick oven as we were seated. In 10 minutes they were ready. I was so hungry when we got there that I made some hasty choices of chunky tuna, zucchini, tomatoes, and onions, but it was one of the best pizzas I’d ever eaten! I had it with a Coke, mixed fruit, apple pie, and a chocolate bar! I even slept well that night!

Before going home, we spent 5 days in the college dorm that is strategically positioned on a French Alp that overlooks beautiful Geneva, Switzerland. Oneita and I spent hours sitting out in front terrace among beautifully manicured rocky gardens. Later, we could look out our window to see paragliders sail off the top of snow-capped Swiss Alps. It was all so surreal spending 5 days in Paris, then 5 days in the French Alps and in Switzerland--where I dreamed of traveling one day when I was a 6th grader at New Lima School.

This was our last stop before heading back to the airport. And, I was glad for an uneventful long flight back to Dallas where James was waiting with flowers, then to take me back to Seminole where my rock gardens waited for new landscaping ideas. What a trip! What a blessing! It still blows my mind, full of memories, after all these years!