Cars, trains and more trains. . . . Getting to Paris never seemed like this big of a deal before. Now it takes all day. Good thing we are vacationed out! Just riding the train is kind of nice. Paula booked First class, so we don’t have to ride with the farm animals, etc.  Today may be a little random as there is no great vacationing to report on.  Observation one: When we rode the high speed train in China there were numerous little Chinese people at the end of the line scrubbing down their nice, clean, snappy train engine. Wow did it shine! It was spectacular!!  In France the engine looks like it was last washed when it left the factory many years ago. Since then it has collected bugs, grease, grime, dust and dirt. . . It looks like crap. Still, it runs like the wind, so we don’t mind. The rest of France (Except for the ever present dog poop) is clean as a whistle. Observation two: The French do LOVE their dogs! They take them everywhere; restaurants, shopping malls, grocery stores, to the beach, vacations, on the trains. . . Everywhere! And we’re not talking service dogs, we’re talking about dogs of every size, breed, stripe, purpose and demeanor.  Duane does not approve. Mostly he doesn’t approve in the ever present doggie leave-behinds (Poop). Observation three: Except for the ever diligent Germans, the rest of southern Europe is in trouble because they just don’t like to work very hard. On the way to the train station this morning at 9:00 AM on a Monday morning we noticed very few people out and about scurrying to work. We asked our taxi driver about this. . . . . . . He said, (And I quote) “They’re probably still sleeping. They won’t get up until later.. . . . What? ? ? It seems they like the Biarritz Life Style. . . . Sleep late 8 months of the year and don’t work much. The other 4 months (Tourist season) they work like crazy. Nice deal if you can get it. But working 4 months a year pays the bills? ? ? ?  Observation four:  The French, in particular, have been great hosts. Even in Paris we found English speakers, polite, agreeable, helpful and accommodating. If the French have ever been rude, obnoxious and cold, we have not seen it. We love these goodly people and Duane, in particular, is excessively fond of their food. For the bread alone it is worth a trip to France. Many more do speak English these days (They do learn it in school) and most are happy, even eager, to use it. They like to practice. . . . I’ll stay out of their politics as it is as smelly as ours. Observation five: Everything is EXPENSIVE!! This trip, even though the exchange rate is better, we have noticed that most things are VERY expensive. Yesterday we paid over $10 US dollars for two small coffees. That’s just wrong.  Duane figures that when you’re not selling very much stuff you have 2 choices. . . . Sell more stuff or raise the price. The French decided to Raise the price. It does not seem to be deterring the tourists. Time will tell if this is a good decision. Duane thinks not, but then he was the one that just said, “It is worth a trip to France just for the bread alone!!”. . . If the French can keep a lock on bread, crème brulee, foie gras and croissants they just might make it after all. . . . Observation Six:  We drove the Fiat Punto like a truck, race car, hauler and sedan. . . . It worked well. Not exciting, of course, but everything held together. We had a diesel and we got great gas mileage. I didn’t keep track, but we drove all over (Really, ALL Over) and only put in about 10 -12 gallons of diesel fuel. . . America needs to get its act together and make diesel cars again. They are clean, efficient and quiet. Diesel fuel is about 2 dollars cheaper a gallon over here. Much smarter.