Day 6

While waiting on the beautiful street by the Musee d'Orsay for our tour, a man came up to us and asked if we dropped this nice gold ring. Rich said 'no', but it was obviously a gold men's ring! The man told Rich because of his religion he could not wear the ring, but that Rich could keep it!!! The man walks away then returns to ask for just a little money to buy a coke for his generosity. Wow, it all seemed to good to be true!

So we headed for our third tour, we took a guided boat ride through the waterways around Paris. Floating down past Notre Dame and learned the history of every bridge we passed. The 2nd half of the trip took us through 10 locks & dams, and through 2 miles of underground canals. The guide was talented, funny and always entertaining in 2 languages. While in the tunnel, quietly floating along, the guide disappears and we begin to hear eerie melody coming from the front of the boat. I thought the Phantom of the Opera was around the corner. But the guide was playing his own creation on his clarinet. Later he was telling us about the horrific history of the area and the blood and guts spilled in that area, but as he would tell the stories we would be laughing out loud. It was memorable in many ways.

After the float we grabbed our first American meal, yes McDonalds, then went back to the hotel to get dry and warmed up. After an early dinner we went to the Louvre and saw all the high lights. It is the world's largest museum, so I can tell you Rich and I saw the Mona Lisa in a private gallery with about 200 people. Venus deMio, Ramses the Great, and Napoleon's royal apartment were the most memorble exhibits. We stayed several hours then began walking again!

Funny thing happened while we were walking toward the Eiffel Tower. We stopped to take a rest on the most photographed bridge in all of Paris and a man walks up to us and asks if we just dropped a gold ring!!!! Rich and I BURST out laughing and the man knew the answer.

By 9 pm we arrived at the base of the Eiffel Tower, it was pretty lite up at night. Rich took many pictures while I stayed in one place and quietly waited a half hour. There was this couple who were trying to take a self-portrait under the tower. After 7 trys, I got up and went over to ask if I could help. They were Americans and on top of it all the ladies brother has a medical practice in Southlake, TX!!! It is a small world when you get talking to people.

We walked another 14.5 miles today.