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Strategies & Market Trends : Galapagos Islands -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (54339)	4/13/2005 11:44:30 AM
From: PuddleGlum	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57110

Laz, your non-standard keyboard is qwerty. The one I was talking about was zerty, or something else that I'd never heard of or had to deal with. The big surprise of the trip was how well we were received everywhere. We wondered beforehand just how much trouble we'd encounter as Americans, but there was no trouble. We even felt specially welcomed at times. As we were watching the Eiffel Tower a few days ago (just before it lit up with a 10-minute light display, much to our surprise) I found myself in a discussion with some Algerians who declared emphatically they they love America. They didn't like Bush, but I wasn't about to get into any political discussions at the time. The interesting points of this trip were primarily associated with our encounters with certain people. We hooked up with a Belgian woman in Lourdes who, out of nothing but generosity, decided to give us a tour of the town. As we were waiting to board the plane in SF we chatted with a woman who was heading to Paris for her 30th birthday celebration. 13 days later we ran into her again near the Eiffel Tower (she spied us first, as we are visually a rather "memorable" couple). In Lourdes I had a 5-10 minute conversation with a Belgian fellow.... all in French. Granted, there were some things he said that I didn't understand well, and he did 75% of the talking, but it was, nonetheless, a genuine conversation. Then there was the time at breakfast in a hotel when a woman was scooping something white and creamy out of a bowl, so I said, "Excusez moi, questce que c'est?" She looked at me and answered without hesitation, "It's yogurt". Damn Anglais accent. :-) At the end of the trip, we came home with a greater appreciation of where we live and the opportunities that we have here in this country. There is a pervasive despair among the working class in France. Have a great day!