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Monthly Archives: October 2014

Caught with Your Pants Down in the Garden or: Do You Want Flies with That? (The Honeymoon Chronicles Pt. 4)

07 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by TGBII in Honeymoon, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Arc de Triomphe, Best Western, Champs Elysees, City of Light, Eiffel Tower, France, Grimbergen, Le Lucene, London, Paris, Place de le Concorde, River, Royal Opera, Seine, Shakespeare & Company, Skype

Salutations™!!

Enchanté, Paris.

The first of these honeymoon blogs was started on the trip from London to Paris via the “Chunnel” or Channel Tunnel under the English Channel. So, yes, a tunnel underwater; and no, you don’t see under there, it’s just about a 15 minute tunnel. The weird thing is that you see so many tunnels leading up to the big one that it’s almost hard to tell when you’re in the chunnel. The only reason I knew we had done it was because my phone told me: “Welcome to France.”

Paris is definitely one of our favorite cities. The BCPF and I have both decided that if we win the lottery, we are going to buy an apartment in one of the Arrondissements that allows us a visual of the Eiffel Tower. Speaking of the tower, this trip marked the first time that we actually visited it. We didn’t walk nor ride anything to the top, but we did stand underneath it. We happened upon it by chance after doing our customary Metro to outlying neighborhoods and traversing our way back toward the city center or whichever other destination we’ll be looking for. The oddity about that was it was the place (other than the train station) we saw an abundance of soldiers/police with machine guns. Last year, there was a plethora of police with semi-automatics canvasing the area. Kind of off putting, but it was cool, nonetheless. We also saw what I call the “Eiffel Tower Flip Out,” or a flashing/”sparkling” light show that goes nuts on the tower itself. That’s what happens every hour from sunset until 1am and lasts for 5 minutes. It started for the millennium celebration in 2000 and was supposed to only be temporary. It turns out that it was so popular, not only with tourists, but Parisians, as well, they left it. We saw this on an evening riverboat cruise of the Seine River right through the middle of the city.  You can see the video right below.  But, I kind of got off track; let’s get back to the beginning of Paris.

Paris is called the “La Ville-Lumière” (City of Light) and it’s not because of the shload of lights that are all spread all about this beautiful city. No, dear reader, it is because it was once – and to some extent still – the center of learning and enlightenment. See? We feel enlightened every time we come here. We arrived at Paris Nord Station and were picked up by a driver to be taken to our hotel. I will say this, to get it out of the way: The Best Western Premiere L’horset Opera was the worst hotel that we saw this entire trip. Supposedly, they’re a three-star resort, but that’s pushing it. I equate it to staying at The Cow Shed in Pineville, WV two years ago, but L’horset Opera was pretty bad. The room was smaller than we had stayed at any other location on the trip. The Wi-Fi (I like to Skype with 3B and mon mere when we’re out of the country) was shoddy and that’s putting it nicely. It would come and go; work then not work, all the time I tried to use it. The showers in Europe – we’ve gotten used to this – often only has covering, usually using half-glass large enough to protect just the part where the shower head is. This had a wall, but it was very shallow and nothing else. The water would bounce off my plump body and spill onto the tile floor. We used the floor towel that one steps out on but it was usually soaked and did no good. It was always slick. The actual WC was really no bigger a hall closet. Again, to a large man like me, that makes it hard to be comfortable. The kicker for it all, however, was the morning after the first night. We went down for the free breakfast that was included with the hotel. There was an array of meats and cheeses, most of which were under a serving case, different breads, cereals and a toaster for toasting any of said breads. As I was going to get some of the cheese and meat to put on my plate, I noticed a HUGE fly sitting on a wedge of cheese and it was trapped inside this case. That turned my stomach as I have a phobia with food being old, wet (not liquid; meaning food that has gotten wet), etc. The fact that the fly was encased with the cheese made me not want anything. I had a hard time getting even my breakfast tea down. Add that to the nonchalant attitude of the front desk the day before and the other things mentioned above, and it’s obvious that this was definitely a bad choice for our stay. We chose it and I know better than to allow my clients or me to stay there again. I’ve been an advocate for Best Westerns, especially their Premiere category, but this was horrible. The only plus for it was the bed was very comfortable. But, other than one more thing that I’ll touch on in the last installment of the “Chronicles,” and that may be worse or better according to my mood when I write it, this was the worst thing for the whole trip. Let’s talk about being out and about in gay ol’ Paris.

Shakespeare & Company, Paris

Because we were there last year, we had a respectable knowledge of the Metro and how it operates and how to navigate it. So, we bought 5 day passes (we only used four) and set off to explore the nooks and crannies of this town. Step one, head toward Notre Dame to start a tradition. We make our way to and around the famed cathedral, took in the sight of it and then crossed the river to the Left Bank. We wandered through the streets and found a music box store where The BCPF purchased a little music box that plays “Champs Elysees.” And, because I like to make sure she gets to one of the most famous bohemian bookstores, Shakespeare & Company, the music box store was a strategic coursed distraction before heading to the bookstore. It’s famous for being a hangout for Hemingway, Joyce and Pound. No, it’s not the same location but opened in a new location as an homage to the original and is still storied and famous.

Beef Tartare

Beef Tartare, Le Lutece, Paris

Croque Madame

Croque Madame, Le Lutece, Paris

We wasted away that day (and loved every minute of it) and decided it was time to get some vittles, or victuals if you want to keep with the literary theme, and found a nice little restaurant called Le Lutece. I had a Grimbergen Blanche which is a white wheat, and it was delicious. I never found it again across Paris, I’d go back to Le Lutece just to have it again. The BCPF had rosé and she seemed quite giddy about it. One thing about Paris, the house wine (really a lot of wines) is generally cheaper than either soda or even water. House wine can be about $2-3 where a Coke is about $3-4; bottled water, still or sparkling, is also $3-4. For food she had Croque Madame, which is a giant piece of bread with cheese piled on it and toasted and then a fried egg on top. For me, I will just say that I am a huge fan of beef and I’ll say that I’m a HUGE fan of raw beef. We were in Paris for 4 nights and 3 of those nights I had steak tartare. Each one tasted different and each one delicious. That’s just good shite. A good start to the stay and then we went back to the room so I could keep track of the Steelers game (it was opening day). That’s how I know she loves me, she let me track it on the computer… in Paris. Luckily, she was tired.

DSCN1401

After Placing the Lock, Paris

The next day was a day of exploration as we had a tour later that night. That tour was on the Seine River cruise and observation of the “Flip Out.” But, that day, it was a lot of walking and exploring. Another thing we did was put a lock on the infamous “Lock Bridge.” This is something that I told The BCPF last year that we would not be doing. Well, even though I wear the pants in the family, she tells me which ones to wear. We put a lock on the bridge. We understand they cut them off periodically but the symbolism is strong enough to be worth it. Now there are several lock bridges in Paris, I think we counted up to 8 on the cruise tour. The bridge we picked was one that was slightly behind Notre Dame: Pont de L’Archevéché. Once it was fastened, we had a nice gentleman (who had a professional camera) take a pic with our camera of me tossing the key into the Seine; also symbolic.

After that we made our way, via the Metro to the Place de la Concorde, which is where Marie Antoinette and others met their demise via the horrific guillotine. This is also an avenue to step onto the famous Champs-Elysees, which is probably one of the most famous streets in Europe, if not the world. At the other end, there is another famous Parisian landmark, Le Arc de Triomphe. We walked from Concorde to Triomphe, stopping in on some of the shops and even had lunch at a little restaurant tucked away back in a small shopping center. That’s about a mile and a half and it’s a 3 foot higher difference at Triomphe than at Concorde so there was a grade. It was a good walk.

Eiffel

The BCPF and Scorp at The Eiffel Tower, Paris

The BCPF had some things in mind that she wanted to purchase and we looked for some of these things. That’s how we ended up at the Eiffel Tower and then strode a long, long distance looking in shops and then to find the location of the tour company. We found that but had about 90 minutes before we had to be back. So we visited an old favorite. Last year we stopped, oddly enough after a tour with this same tour company, at a charming restaurant called Royal Opera. We did so again, this year. It was the only “repeat” we did. Again, beef tartare for me and duck for her. With beer and wine, we’re happy campers.

Then the river cruise. The river cruise was cool but really nothing to talk about that isn’t just a lot of stuff on a river. Stories was translated for us and we were told what some of the buildings and structures were. The remarkable part about this tour, though, was twofold. First we’re on a double decker bus traveling through the Place de la Concorde on the way to the Eiffel Tower and here, against a wall in the (the garden of tiles and garden that is adjacent to the Louvre), was a man answering nature’s call. There. In front of traffic and this double decker tour bus with people looking on. The funny part about that is his girlfriend (they were both dressed fairly nice and casual) was standing behind him just smoking a cigarette like nothing was happening. He finished, tucked away Mr. Happy and then turned around – facing the public – to close, button and zip his pants and then buckle his belt. We felt that was ridiculous and ridiculously funny. The other part of this twofold tidbit is the fact that there are very few traffic lanes marked in Paris. What we would see as about 4 lanes were, at times, 12 cars wide. In that, the scooters, mopeds and motorcycles were weaving through all the traffic, in front of cop cars, buses, each other. It didn’t matter if it was at a traffic light, stop sign or while traffic was moving. It blows our minds. After the river cruise we took a tour around the city, in the dark, on the bus. We saw parts we saw last year, this year and things we hadn’t seen before. Man, we love that town.

That’s a lot of info to slam on you at once, so I guess it’s time to take a break, but don’t worry, more is coming soon!

DSCN1405

Jardin deTuileries

Until next time, same blog channel at SOME blog time…

Scorp out!

 

“London is a riddle. Paris is an explanation.”
― G.K. Chesterton

After These Messages or: What We Did for a Scooby Snack

06 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by TGBII in Life as We Know It, Rant

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ABC, American Bandstand, Batman, Cartoons, CBS, CW, DC, Dungeons and Dragons, Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, He-Man, Herculoids, Hong Kong Phooey, Kenner, Life as It is, Marvel, Mr. T, NBC, Pac-Man, Plastic Man, Rant, Saturday morning, Schoolhouse Rock, Shazam, She-Ra, Shirt Tales, Smurfs, Snorks, Soul Train, Space Ghost, Spider-Man, Super Friends, Tarzan, television, Thundarr the Barbarian, Thundercats, Time for Timer, WCHS, WOAY, WOWK, WSAZ, WVVA

Salutations™!!

So, CW, the last bastion of Saturday morning cartoons, has ceased its showings of anything that resembles animated entertainment.  It wasn’t even that long ago (ok 30+ years) that almost every American kid, aged 4-13 or even older, was getting up at some ridiculous hour on a Saturday to watch our favorite superheroes, mystery machine, little blue people, animals, underwater world or outer space adventure.  This, after complaining that we had to get up early to go to school 5 days a week; we had no problem getting up for these hand drawn nuggets. I’m sure there will be animated commercials but not actual cartoons.  So sad.

Super Friends

Super Friends Over the Years

I remember back to when I was only about 4 or 5, my dad would get up to go to work in the coal mines, but before he did, he’d place a blanket over the seat and back of the couch.  He’d then come get me out of bed, even carrying me, usually, lay me across the blanket and then wrap me like a caterpillar in a cocoon.  He’d then turn the TV on to channel 4, WOAY, for those in WV, because that’s where the Super Friends could be seen.  But before that, on the same channel Bugs Bunny and Yogi Bear would come on.  Afterwards, I would work my way out of the very tight wound pocket I was resting in, have some cereal, I was (and if so inclined am still) a Fruity Pebbles kind of guy.  Then maybe I’d work my way to channel 3 (WSAZ) or 6 (WVVA), both were NBC stations to see Sigmund and the Sea Monsters or, my grandfather’s fave, The Pink Panther.  Maybe, I’d switch to Channel 8, WCHS (Now ABC, Channel 13, WOWK, eventually took over) for what CBS had: some Josie and the Pussycats or Speed Buggy or whatever.  It started with ABC.

ShazamIsis1

Shazam!/Isis Power Hour

As I got older, my watching habits didn’t change, just what I watched, or at what time.  I wasn’t wrapped like a birthday present anymore, but Dad still made sure I was up, or my mom may have been at that time.  Super Friends moved to later time slots, but I still watched Bugs, Buggy, and Hong Kong Phooey.  Even though it wasn’t animated, Land of the Lost was big at the time. Oh! and Shazam! I LOVED Shazam! and when Isis was addded, it was extra cool.  Things like The Ghost Busters (with Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker, not the ’80s movie) and Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle and The New Adventures of Batman really turned my key. The latter was part of either Tarzan… or Batman and the Super 7.  Even Plastic Man was so popular at this time, he had a 90 minute show! Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!? was brought back from the ’60s, as well. I’m longing for all that now, the more I write this.

Space Ghost

Space Ghost

When 1977 came along and Star Wars happened, every other commercial was about the action figures, play sets, breakfast cereals, clothing lines or anything else related to the brand.  And that was OK.  I never minded commercials during Saturday morning cartoons because it was stuff that always interested me.  Speaking of space, NBC brought back the 60s hits Space Ghost and Herculoids to capitalize on the outer space phenomenon that was happening.

There was an educational element while Saturday morning cartoons were happening.  ABC played the now-famous Schoolhouse Rock which I was barely old enough to use them for what they were meant for.  The idea was to help students remember multiplication tables, and moved into American history, science and grammar.  I was just going on 3 when they started and didn’t need all that education, but the other thing SR was supposed to do was entertain because that’s how many of us learned, heck, most of us, even.  But, later, when reruns started back, I got through my 9th grade American Studies project of reciting the Preamble of the Constitution by singing it in my head.  But, that wasn’t all.  CBS had 30 Minutes and The CBS Saturday Film Festival.  And Time for Timer!? Who didn’t love Time for Timer?  And Chopper?  I didn’t even know what Peoria was, but I knew I should do pushups if I did know.  Hmmm… We learned and we didn’t mind it.

Thundarr

Thundarr the Barbarian

Even later in my cartoon watching career there was Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Thundarr the Barbarian, The Smurfs, Shirt Tales, Mr. T (he even had a cereal), Pac-Man (also a cereal), Snorks, and Laff-a-Lympics.  I had plenty of Saturdays that my friends had spent the night before and we watched cartoons together, or when we went out to play, we’d talk about how Samurai saved Superman and Apache Chief by shouting the famous “Kaze no Yō ni Hayaku” a time or two and how Darkseid was thwarted because of it.

shirt tales

Shirt Tales

But, with all this, there was one thing for sure: American Bandstand meant it was time to go outside and play.  We still did that.  We went out and played.  Not that I didn’t like American Bandstand.  The first time I heard “Turn Me Loose” from Loverboy was on American Bandstand.  I always thought it was weird that I had never heard any of the songs that Dick was polling the crowd about.  And Soul Train, I liked watching the dancing.  Still, usually, American Bandstand meant, OK! Saturday morning is over; let’s move on.  And we did.

he man

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

I can remember when things started to fall apart.  It was still mid-’80s.  When He-Man, She-Ra and their respective “universes”, or Dungeons and Dragons, Thundercats and, basically, all those first-run syndication cartoons started playing during weekday afternoons and they brought back the Saturday morning toons for syndication all during the week, many parents stopped letting the kids sit in the house and watch cartoons on Saturdays.  They could watch cartoons all the time at this point.  I loved and hated that.  I loved that I could watch cartoons all the time (and I still watch the old ones when I get the chance) and hated that I could see it was the end of Saturday morning fun.

So back to the original thought here.  Those were the “good ol’ days.”  My son will never know the joys of WANTING to get up on a Saturday to watch cartoons.  He’ll never know the elation of talking about those cartoons with his friends.  Sitting under a blanket, in his Underoos or Superhero pajamas, eating cereal with feelings of suspense to see if Batman is going to escape the Riddler this time… won’t ever happen.  I’m so thankful to my dad, mom, friends, Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, Kenner, Post, Kelloggs, DC, Marvel, ABC, CBS, NBC and many more for making my childhood the fantastic time that it was.  I’m sad that time has passed, but like everything, all good things must come to an end.  There’s still cartoons, yes, and some of them are really good, but NONE can compare with what we had on Saturday mornings.

What are your thoughts/memories of Saturday mornings, dear reader? I’d love to hear your stories.  Comment, if you will.

Until next time, same blog channel at SOME blog time…
Scorp out!!

“Gathered together from the cosmic reaches of the universe – here in this great hall of justice – are the most powerful forces of good ever assembled.”  – Ted Knight, Narrator, Super Friends

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