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Touring Paris on the river Seine

by Mark Eades September 17, 2020

One of the best ways to see some of the sites of Paris when you have limited time is to take a boat tour on the river Seine.

The Brigitte Bardot, one of the tour boats on the river Seine in Paris, France.

This is not the boat upon which we floated on the river Seine, but I thought the name of the boat was really cool.

The Eiffel Tower in the sun

When we first set out on our river tour, the sun had broken through the clouds and the sun was shining, making for this picturesque shot of the Eiffel Tower.

Crowding the rail on the boat while on the river Seine

All the boats have heated indoor seating with large windows from which to view everything. Some of them have outdoor areas, but be prepared; it can be pretty cold out there.

Many of the buildings look like they’ve been around a while.

The “banks of the river Seine float along through central Paris and under many bridges and older looking buildings.

Golden statues

Paris, like London, loves its statues. Only here they put them on the bridges.

A tour boat with a covered upper deck.

The river was “up” while we were there, which meant that the higher boats pretty much could not travel the river except between two bridges.

Places to live on the river

If you’re familiar with the series “Highlander” then you know some folks live in their boats or barges on the river. The building behind is some kind of museum.

Pont des Arts, also known as the Love Locks bridge.

This is the Pont des Arts, a pedestrian bridge where lovers put love locks on the rail. Visitors to the bridge attach personalized padlocks to its railing and throw the keys away in the Seine River. A few years back the city started removing them, but it has not stopped lovers or others.

The Notre Dame Cathedral

Everyone probably remembers the horrible fire they had at the Notre Dame Cathedral. Scaffolding was erected and more coming in to keep the building from collapsing because of the fire.

Another view of the Notre Dame

The sun peeked through the clouds on our return down river, shining some light on the Notre Dame Cathedral. Too bad about the fire, but they plan to rebuild it so it looks the same.

An important government building

I’m not sure what this building is for the government there, but it has the tri-color flag on it.

More tour boats.

Tour boats and other barges line the banks of the river Seine, occupying much of the space along the shores.

Some kind of statue

Don’t ask me the name of this statue. If you know it, feel free to contact me and I’ll update this post. The same with any of the buildings I have not identified.

Instead of the river Seine how about river Graffiti?

There are gangs in Paris, and they feel they are allowed to graffiti everywhere they feel they can, even on the walls alongside the river Seine.

The Eiffel Tower

This, then, has been our tour of the river Seine in Paris, France. In the previous post at this link about Paris, I talked about the food in the city.

We also took a tour of the Eiffel Tower at night, absolutely beautiful.

And then visited the Palace of Versailles.

September 17, 2020 1 comment
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Day 9 of An Adventure in the Daddy Zone With My Dad

by Mark Eades November 7, 2018

We were very Presidential today while visiting the Harry S. Truman home and library in nearby Independence, Missouri. No photos allowed inside the home.

The outside of the Harry S. Truman visitor center.

Our day started off with a visit to the Harry S. Truman Historical Site Visitor Center. Here you purchase tickets for a visit to the Harry S. Truman home. This is run by the National Park Service – so if you have an annual pass, or a senior citizen pass, it’s free for you and your group. Yes, that’s my Dad sitting on the bench with my cousin (and his niece) Carla. She and her husband were gracious enough to let us spend a couple nights in their lovely home.

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library.

This is the main foyer inside the entrance to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library. It is run by another group, including the National Archives, so it is a separate entrance fee from the house. Don’t you love the mural on the wall?

Always loved this about Harry Truman.

Yep, that’s the one that was on his desk while he was President of the United States.

The Oval Office.

The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library has a replica of how the Oval Office looked when he was President.

A memorial flame.

This memorial flame is in the garden in the middle of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library.

Serenity in a Presidential Library.

Harry S. Truman liked to walk, so the garden has a nice straight pair of walking paths.

A great quote from President Harry S. Truman.

Harry’s office.

This was the office former President Harry S. Truman worked out of at the library after he left public service. He would work there daily. He would even take people on tours throughout the library himself at times.

Final resting place.

Harry S. Truman and his beloved wife Bess are buried here in the garden of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library.

Home is where the heart is.

This is the home where Harry S. Truman and his wife Bess lived. A simple home, yet stately.

Colors

The colors of the leaves frame perfectly this home up the street from the Harry S. Truman home. And it has a FRONT PORCH!

A front porch.

This home up the street from the Harry S. Truman home as a great FRONT PORCH!

Fallen leaves

I love the colors of the leaves fallen from the trees in Autumn here in Independence, Missouri.

Dad and me.

Dad and I on the front steps of the Harry S. Truman home in Independence, Missouri.

An odd bit of architecture.

This is a church in Independence, Missouri.

Up Dogs

We decided to have a snack in a place called “Up Dogs” in the central plaza of Independence, Missouri. Yes it served a variety of hotdogs and we ate at the counter. Left to right that is my Dad, James Eades, myself, and my cousin Carla Eades Krebs.

Time to rest.

It was an enjoyable day, if a bit cold. So, Dad decided to rest for a while in an easy chair and two of my cousin’s dogs decided to join him.

That night we enjoyed going to a hockey game with them.

Tomorrow it is on to Marceline, Missouri – the boyhood home of Walt Disney and more two-lane highways.

Here is a link to Day 8.

November 7, 2018 0 comment
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Day 7 of Adventures in the Daddy Zone with Dad

by Mark Eades November 5, 2018

Prairie, small towns, trains and Dodge City. The last was kinda meh on day 7 of my trip with Dad.

Las Vegas, New Mexico

We started this morning in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The downtown of this small town is, well, a little pretty much like many other small towns downtown areas. Though it did have a homeless person who was just waking up from his night’s sleep in front of the town’s movie theater.

Wide open spaces.

The wide open spaces of the prairie in northeast New Mexico, Oklahoma and southwest Kansas looked pretty much like this. There is one lone oil well pumping away in the distance.

National Grasslands

National Grasslands are a way of trying to return large parts of the prairie decimated during the dust bowl to its original state. Now all we need are some buffalo roaming around in their old home.

Oklahoma

We entered Oklahoma, where the wind goes rolling ‘cross the plain.

Kansas, the state not the singing group.

Then we entered Kansas, farms and silos and yes there was some dust in the wind.

Unpowered steam power

This steam engine that used to run on the Santa Fe line was on display in Dodge City, Kansas.

Details

The details and specifications of the above steam locomotive.

Tourist trap.

Yep, it’s not much and we decided against visiting this in Dodge City, Kansas.

Another museum in Dodge City.

Gunfighters and Teachers together in Dodge City. Kinda strange.

Deserted front street.

The only business on Dodge City’s Front street was Yogi’s Vape. All the other store fronts were empty. Sad.

Nothing here either.

The building was closed up, and the hotel not operating. I see so many possibilities in Dodge City, but there seems to be a lack of vision of what could be in the town.

It’s an obligatory shot of a silo in Dodge City.

There are a lot of silos in Kansas, including on the main drag of the city.

Dad on a caboose.

So that’s our look today. Dad on a caboose brings up the rear of this post.

Here’s a link to Day 6 – Part 2.

November 5, 2018 2 comments
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Day 6 of Adventures in the Daddy Zone With my Dad — Part 2

by Mark Eades November 4, 2018

More trains, and a lovely drive through some mountains that saw us eventually end up in Las Vegas, New Mexico that is.

The coal chute and water tower for the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad of the D&RGW.

We rolled into Chama, New Mexico to find the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad line of the D&RGW also closed for the winter.

Chama, home of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.

The engine, I believe still a coal burner, was cold and sitting on a siding.

A caboose sits on the side line too.

One of the cabooses and another car were also sitting there, the line closed for the season. Sadly, the small museum and gift shop were closed too. They’re only open Monday – Friday.

A passenger car for the rail line.

One of the passenger cars for the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, named “Archuleta.”

The Chama train station for the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR.

The Chama train station sits by the tracks at the southern terminus of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR, a former line of the D&RGW.

More cars belonging to the Cumbres & Toltec RR.

An old worker’s car from the D&RGW that is part of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic RR.

Are you dreaming of a white Christmas?

We took a mountain road out of Chama, New Mexico to make our way to Taos, New Mexico. Even though we had gone south around most of the mountains, we encountered some snow, and about 30 seconds of snow flurries. But it was a beautiful drive.

Earth Architecture.

On the road into Taos, we found the headquarters of Earth Architecture, where homes are being built that have little to no impact on the land. They are also very whimsical.

A Dr. Seuss inspired Earth Architecture home near Taos, New Mexico.

Yes, people really live in these homes.

A house with a bottle wall.

Check out the bottle wall in front of this Earth Architecture home.

The Rio Grande gorge.

The Rio Grande Gorge just west of Taos, New Mexico. quite a drop here.

Taos, New Mexico.

Taos, New Mexico is a bit of an artists community, and all the buildings are built in this style. But no artist style dinner for me and Dad, we ate at Taco Bell.

Fall colors.

I love the colors of the leaves on the trees in the fall. This tree was on the banks of the Rio Grande south of Taos, New Mexico.

The Rio Grande.

It was beautiful along the banks of the Rio Grande south of Taos, New Mexico.

Here is a link to Day 6 – Part 1.

November 4, 2018 0 comment
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Day 5 of An Adventure in the Daddy Zone With My Dad

by Mark Eades November 3, 2018

Train tracks lead up the canyon to Soldier Summit alongside our road for several hours.

Today’s theme will be beautiful scenery, odd formations and trains as Dad and I traveled from Pleasant Grove, Utah to Monticello, Utah, by way of Helper, Utah and Moab, Utah.

Wow! $8,000 back then was a lot of money. What did they spend it on?

Along the way we also learned about a robbery by Butch Cassidy, coal mine disasters and potash evaporation ponds. Intriguing, eh?

My Dad, Jim Eades, stands in front of the restroom building at a rest stop along Highway 6 on the road south and up towards Soldier Summit. The building was designed to look like a train depot – a narrow gauge train.

The rest stop on Highway 6 was right up my alley – a railroad theme.

The rest stop even has a mocked up narrow-gauge roundhouse.

The steam engine in the roundhouse is a mock-up, but the folks did a nice job.

The front of the engine looks cool, though it’s missing the engine number on the front. Details, details.

But even though it’s fake, it’s still cool.

The theming extends to the mock water tower.

Further up the canyon we stopped to watch a Union Pacific freight train made up of mostly empty coal cars working its way up the canyon. By the way, this is close to where Butch Cassidy and the others staged that robbery.

This is downtown Helper, Utah. It looks like a themed entertainment location as they’ve kept up the buildings. But most of the businesses are closed. Investment opportunity?

Too bad this hotel and the dance hall and other businesses in this building are closed in Helper, Utah.

Okay, so there’s a retired caboose on display in Helper, Utah. Of course I had to take a picture.

The world’s tallest coal miner stands in front of the Helper, Utah Public Library.

These red cliffs are seen from the road on the way to Dead Horse Point near Moab, Utah.

Neither Dad nor I could figure out what this was – but I took a picture anyway.

There be snow in them thar Rocky Mountains, as seen from the road to Dead Horse Point near Moab, Utah.

Those rocks are in Arches National Park, as seen from the road to Dead Horse Point near Moab, Utah.

My Dad adds to the small balanced rock statues others have made, the big rock behind him is named the “Merrimac” after the ship, also seen on the road to Dead Horse Point near Moab, Utah.

This rock is named the “Monitor” and is also seen on the road to Dead Horse Point near Moab, Utah.

Okay, now we’re at Dead Horse Point and that is the Colorado River as it heads on into the Canyonlands National Park.

Those are evaporation ponds where water is mixed with stuff dug up – and when the water evaporates they’re left with Potash.

My Dad stands at the overlook of Dead Horse Point, the Colorado River makes a 180-degree turn as it continues on down into Canyonlands National Park.

Pretty self explanatory. On the other side is the tourist trap. This is south of Moab, Utah, on the road to Monticello, Utah.

I’ve saved the best for last. The arch behind my Dad is Wilson Arch. It is on the road to Monticello, Utah – south of Moab, Utah.

Here is a link to Day 4.

November 3, 2018 4 comments
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Day two of an Adventure in the Daddy Zone with my father

by Mark Eades October 31, 2018

Well, it’s our second day in Las Vegas and after a hearty breakfast (he had a ham an cheese omelet, I had French Toast) in Bugsy’s (the restaurant inside the El Cortez Hotel and Casino); we decided to go over to Hoover Dam to see the bridge they built 880 feet above the Colorado River to the south of the dam.

No, that’s not Dad with me in this photo.

Of course, this was after we check our multi-game Keno tickets to see what money we might have one. We both got some money, but not enough to cover what we had spent on the multi-game tickets.

A view out the window of the El Cortez towards the Las Vegas Strip.

Oh well, we bought new tickets, then headed out.

A view of Lake Mead as we headed towards Hoover Dam.

We actually drove out Fremont Street, which turns into Boulder Highway for most of the way, just to look at all the run down and closed up motels along the way.

The Hoover Dam Lodge and Casino, a nice place to make a pit stop on the way to Hoover Dam. Nice clean bathrooms!

Then, after getting on the freeway, Dad announced he needed to make a “pit stop.” Fortunately, the Hoover Dam Lodge and Casino was just at the next off-ramp – only a mile. So we got off the freeway and went inside the place so Dad could do his “duty.” By the way, it’s a very nice place with lots of interesting history on the construction of Hoover Dam.

My Dad, Jim Eades, looks down upon Hoover Dam from the bridge.

Okay, that was done and on to the overlook for the Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which is the actual highway now between Nevada and Arizona.

At the top of the switchbacks trail leading to the overlook of the dam and the bridge.

We climbed a multitude of switchbacks on the walk up to the overlook, which were built very ADA compliant, by the way, with a grade of a 1-foot rise for every 12-feet. We both walked all the switchbacks up and down, rather than take the stairs

It’s a long drop from that bridge to the Colorado River below. But a great view of Hoover Dam. You can see the water level of Lake Mead is fairly low.

Once at the top, we walked out on the bridge on the pedestrian walkway to take in the view of Hoover Dam. We were 880 feet above the surface of the Colorado River below, south of the dam. A scary height indeed. The wind was blowing pretty hard too, so Dad had to carry his “Pop Pop” baseball hat so it would not blow away into the canyon below.

The bridge over the Colorado River near Hoover Dam.

You can still drive, very slowly, across Hoover Dam. But once across, you will have to turn around and drive back across, as it is no longer a throughway for traffic.

Cars still drive very slowly across Hoover Dam.

Then we drove through Boulder City on the way back to Vegas. That afternoon, after myself doing a little bit of my freelance work,  we both went out to “check on our investment” in Las Vegas. (You know, gamble.)

These folks from Michigan were all having Bloody Marys at the Golden Nugget’s Bar 46. (They make an excellent Manhattan there, by the way.)

But before I hit the poker room at the Golden Nugget, I had a Manhattan at its Bar 46, where I met up with a group from Michigan who had flown into town and made that bar their first stop to have their version of Bloody Marys. (Seven of them in all!) They proclaimed them the best they’d ever had.

An interesting character on Fremont Street.

I won some of the money I had lost the night before playing poker by, playing poker.

While walking back to the El Cortez from the Golden Nugget, I did run into a few interesting characters along the way.

I think this guy behind me lost all his money at the Craps tables.

Sadly, neither mine, nor my Dad’s numbers all came in that night at Keno.

Then it was on to dinner at Bugsy’s. We both had Rib-Eye steaks. But in Dad’s case he did have a hard time eating it, so I gladly finished it for him. We also washed it down with three (apiece) glasses of red wine – the wine was free due to the donations we both made in the Keno lounge.

A very fast asleep Pop Pop.

So now that we’ve both had all that wine, we’re both very sleepy. He’s all ready asleep and I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open. So, it’s on to bed, then on to Pleasant Grove, Utah tomorrow.

In case you missed it, here’s a link to the Day One story.

October 31, 2018 0 comment
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Day one of An Adventure in the Daddy Zone with my father

by Mark Eades October 30, 2018

Day one of the 23-day road trip with my 85-year-old father started out innocently enough, we were just going to go to Vegas for a couple nights. After all, he had a few free nights at his favorite hotel: The El Cortez downtown.

But once we hit the road, we encountered our first little problem as we were climbing up to Cajon Pass on I-15, he could not find his sunglasses. He thought he had put them in one bag, the easily accessible one, but no. Oh well, he’d have to live without them if he had left them at home.

So, it was on to Victorville for our first stop, the traditional breakfast at Denny’s on Palmdale Road. We both had the same breakfast off the senior citizen menu, the scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, bacon and pancakes. Then it was time to pay for the meal, which was on him.

Well. we encountered our second snafu. He attempted to use one of his credit cards to pay for the meal, and tip, but the machine rejected it. So he ended up using another card. But why it wasn’t being accepted was a puzzler. More on that in a bit.

Mark Eades stands near the giant ice cream sundae at Eddie World.

Fed and paid for, we went along on I-15 to our next stop, the newest tourist trap along the road to Vegas: Eddie World.

The wall of Los Angeles Lakers memorabilia on a wall inside Eddie World.

The owner is a big Lakers fan, and has a giant wall that shows his love of the Lakers.

Even the toilet handles at Eddie World are clean as with each opening of the handle, a new plastic cover slips over the handle – see Ma? No germs.

One of the selling points of Eddie World is that it has the cleanest bathrooms anywhere along that route, and I have to agree. Even the handles in the toilet stalls are set up with plastic that gets replaced every time someone uses them.

For a tourist trap they have some good food, even build your own pizza that is baked in a wood-fired oven.

They also sell a large variety of their own produced candies, wood-fired pizzas, fresh-ground hamburgers, and there’s even a section with multiple flavors of ice cream. In addition, there’s a jerky stand with a whole lot of varieties of jerky, and a Peet’s coffee counter.

Some of the stuff sold in Eddie World.

After spending some time inside, Dad decided to call the people about his refused credit card. Turned out they had sent him a new one, and he had neglected to validate it. So not only was the card he was carrying invalid, they invalidated the one probably sitting at home. But no worries, he had other cards and would be able to pay his share of the trip.

So now, after some photo ops, it was on to Vegas. We got there, and after checking in at the hotel, he immediately went down to the Keno Lounge and bought his favorite numbers for 100 games, then lost at a video poker machine.

I went over to the Golden Nugget to the real poker room and played for a few hours, but never really got any good cards and after about three hours, had spent my limit for the day.

Back to the hotel, we rested for a bit in the hotel room while I did some editing on a freelance article due in a couple days, then we went out to check out the crazy sights in downtown Las Vegas and have a light supper.

One of the crazy characters to be found on the Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas.

Trust me, there are plenty of crazy sights in the downtown area called the Fremont Street Experience including many characters willing to pose for photo ops, for a donation of course.

If you’re heavy enough, and finish your meal, it’s free.

We thought about eating at the Heart Attack Grill, but instead dined on chili dogs at the American hot dog stand that sells Coney Island chili dogs at “The D.” Then went inside to take a look at the girls wearing go-go boots dancing behind the blackjack tables.

An art display sponsored by LYFT in downtown Las Vegas.

Then we went outside to visit Manneken Pis, a copy of a famous statue in Brussels. And, of course, I took a photo of Dad standing by the statue.

We wandered around a bit more, taking in all the lights, sound and craziness, then we two older men decided it was time to shower and bed down for the night.

All in all, a nice start to what should be a memorable trip.

October 30, 2018 1 comment
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