And a few more things to Ponder. . .

There is a never ending list of things to ponder. . . .The French Air Condition very few places. And if they do they chill it down to a nippy 81F. Paula is dying most of the time and searching for places where there is free movement of outside air which is 80F, but moving.
We measured . . . Our table for dinner last night was a whooping 20" X 20" . . . This is your assignment today. Mark out a space 20" X 20" on your giant kitchen table and then arrange the following items: 1ash tray, salt, pepper, 2 water glasses, 2 wine glasses, 1 large bottle of Water, 1 bottle of wine, two normal sized dinner plates, 2 forks, 2 knives and a bread basket with an entire baguette cut up inside. And, of course, you don't have any space on the sides either as they tuck these tiny tables together as tightly as possible. As in: Right next to each other! We sat outside last night in front of the restaurant. The space, about  15' X 20', was packed with at at least 50 tables tucked in like sardines. The French, (Except for us there were no other tourists) are having a wonderful time and Paula and Duane wonder how they do this on a Monday night!? It appears like this every night until at least 10:00 - 10:30. Then they do it all over again. Oh, and if I didn't mention. . . Everything is expensive. Yesterday, as a break, we had 2 - 8 oz. beers (25cl) and one smallish order of French Fries. . . The bill:  $20!! And this was at one of the cheaper places. If one is so desires, you can find a pricier place. We aren't complaining, just reporting the news. Duane did learn a little bit about the metric system. . . A small beer is 25cl. . . The next larger one is 50cl. . . As it turns out, 50cl is about a Pint. On a hot day that is a lot of beer! Duane is really looking for a 40cl serving, but NOOOOOO. . . They don't do that. Lesson Learned. It is their country, they can do as they please.
Perhaps it is because we are in a large international city, but there appears to be a much greater tolerance for integration here. The whites, blacks, browns, pinks, oranges and the kinda pale people are all mixing it up like crazy, with nary a concern. . . It is nice. Also, we see what appears to be a lot of couples where the ages don't necessarily match up . . . The old are with the young and vice versa. Either that, or there are a lot of fathers out and about with their daughters and mothers out with their sons. We don't think so. They appear to be mixing it up however they damn well please! Good for them!