I left the boat at Oriental, NC, a sublet boat slip at a new condodevelopment. They SELL slips, just $80,000 or so. A friend at Orientalcheerfully offered to drive us around to find boat parking. I had expectedto haul the boat out of the water and park it on land, but Hurricane Earlhad just gone by and so many boats were pulled for safety that the boatyards were full.After arriving back to Ithaca with in a rental car, I was able to replacemy Bifocal glasses in 2 days with one trip tp Owego and 3 trips to Vestalwhere they promised lenses "while I waited". My original set of glasseswent to the bottom of the Hudson River and my spare set had some terribleprescription mistake from last year. I had been getting by with 2 sets ofdrugstore reading glasses that I was able to buy in Kingston, NY.(Lee)Next from Sherry:We're heading out again on our annual fall migration, this time by air andcar and cruise ship, rather than on S/V Alesto. We're finally going toEurope, first time for both of us. We fly to Paris tomorrow, which isthrilling, even to type. After three days in Paris we have a rental car for40 days to meander through southern France with a little Italy and Spain ateach end. We then get on a cruise ship in Barcelona for some guided travelto several ports, including Majorca, Madeira and the Canaries. We are onlyseasoned travelers when on our own boat. We know how to anchor and dingyashore for exploration all through the Caribbean. Whether we will do as wellon land is yet to be seen. The lack of French worries us more than a little.Continuing in Paris:The most difficult part of our trip so far had to do with luggage, too muchluggage. We lugged (lug must be the root word for luggage) it from the PortAuthority bus terminal in NYC 20 blocks to Michael's apartment in Manhatten.Then the next day we lugged it down the subway steps, bumping our our threesuitcases every step of the way. We lugged it all back to street level inBrooklyn to have lunch with Jill. At that point she took pity on us andaccompanied us from the C train to the A train. We managed on our own fromthe A train to the air train that took us to terminal 8 where we managed tocheck our bags and move freely again. Normal people would have taken a taxi.It's good we aimed to be there three hours early, since we had about an hourto spare when we finally reached our boarding area. I'm not a big fan of airtravel (those who know me know how much of an understatement that is), butthe seven hour flight was fine. They fed us dinner, we watched a movie,lights dimmed while normal people slept. The time zoomed ahead to accountfor the six hour time change so it was soon time for breakfast. The suncame up and there was Paris. We somehow found a bus outside the terminalwhich took us to another bus which took us to Gard du La Est which the mapshowed to be near our hotel. We were able to walk from there, again lugging.The hotel was a bit of a shock, along the lines of our usual Lonely Planetguide hotels. We left the luggage in a corner near the desk and went out toexplore until our room was ready. We came back and lugged it up one flightuntil we discovered a miniscule elevator up to our 5th floor roomette. Theluggage filled the area not covered by the bed. Three walls are school-busyellow and one is red. The bedspread is a spread of sunflowers and moons onblue, there is a casement window overlooking rooftops we can open forventilation. The lightswitch on the stairs stays on 4 1/2 flights out offive. You cannot turn around in the shower without bumping the faucet. Butthe price is right. I won't complain any more or mention the word luggageever again. Paris is wonderful. (Sherry)The room measures about 8X9, minus the bed, the bath is 4X4 plus a 2X2shower with a curtain that drains in the room. There is no A/C, or evenheat that I can see, but the ventilation is good. The room was very clean.(Lee)We walked until jet lag forced us to take a nap, mostly in Le Marais, ourneighborhood. The guidebook says it has more pre Revolutionary lanes andbuildings than anywhere else in town. After resting we headed out on thesubway for a nighttime boat ride on the Seine. After NYC, subways here areso easy. The map shows the lines by color and number with the endpointsnamed. That's all you have to know to board the correct train. They appearevery three or four minutes and stops are well marked. And the cost is oneEuro, much less than NYC's $2.25. The boatride showcased the "City ofLights" as we circled the two islands in the Seine with all the majorlandmarks and bridges glowing in the dark. Crowds of Parisians werepicnicing along the banks cheering and waving at the tourists. The EiffelTower's golden structure twinkled with white lights every hour and even thebirds overhead glowed golden from the boat"s lights. We got back to theroomette late and crashed. (Sherry)Actually, we walked until my feet hurt and I refused to go on. Thearchitecture and sculptures in Paris go on forever and make it allworthwhile. It is amazing the scale of it all, considering constructionthat started as early as 1100 AD and was done all by hand labor of thefinest quality. (Lee)This morning we enjoyed our hotel breakfast before heading out for a fourhour bike tour (Bikeabouttours). Our guide Pamela was from Chile, our fellowtravelers were from many countries and our folding bikes took us on bikelanes and cobblestone alleys around the inner circle of Paris, both rightand left banks. I hope to trace the route on our map before I forget toomuch. There are well-marked bike paths all over and a company called Velibhas 20,000 bikes all over which can be unlocked with a credit card. Wefollowed up the tour by exploring the Latin Quarter and hope to visit atleast one more neighborhood tomorrow. Then we pick up our rental car andtake whichever roads lead away from Paris with the least traffic.We had one whole day in Paris before the strike began, something to do withprotesting the government in power which wants to raise retirement age to62. Huge crowds with chanting and smoking flares snaked through every areawe visited today, peacefully enough though. (Sherry)I have no sympathy for strinking French. They work about 42 thirty fivehour weeks per year and retire at 60. All physical work here has beenreplaced with machinery, every delivery truck has a hydraulic gate on theback to lower and raise goods, every garbage truck is automated. Healthcare is free. Get this! They may get STRIKE PAY!!! Something likeunemployement insurance for strikes. We were in the French Islands 2 yearsago during a strike. Everything stopped, the money machine was not workingand we had no Euros, even the Customs office was not working. Local peoplewere stealing the gas tanks from sailor's dingies. We found one bakery thatwas selling bread, and every day they gave us change for $20 US in Euros.We will keep an eye on this and keep a full wallet and gas tank. (Lee)Since arriving yesterday we have eaten bagettes with ham and cheese andcrudites, croissants, crepes with pommes compote (which turned out to beapplesauce) , brie and bagettes, pastries, several tiny strong coffees whichmight account for our productivity and free tap water. (Sherry)Truthfully, restaurant food is expensive here, so we eat takeout or homemademostly, but cheese and baguettes are favorites for us anyway. (Lee)I had hoped to post pictures with this on my blog, but it seems to havedisappeared in France and all the directions to fix it are in French. Thismay be a problem. Sherry