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Out of Africa....we are out of Africa.Once we got in a few more rays at the beach we packed our luggage and piled into taxi to head to the airport.We had just one
stop left and that was at the local Donkey Rescue. It was way out there in Spice country.We arrived to the site of a two legged goat! A Dutch Women and local Vet
run this place.The locals use the Donkeys and cows to pull these sometimes over loaded carts.They will get reports or see this happening and will try and teach the owners
about animal welfare and sometimes buy the animals outright.Some of the Donkeys have been hit by cars and some just have really bad skin disease.Anyway there were cats,kittens,dogs
and cows. The goat we saw as soon as we got there was born with deformed hind legs but seemed to get along fine walking on her front legs.The three legged dog had no problem jumping up
on us and the donkeys that had been hit by the cars followed us around welcoming our attention.Heck there was even a one legged man watering the herd! We only spent a short time there
and before leaving we got a tour of the surgery room and a visit with the cats.
Back in STone Town we walked around a bit more trying not to get to sweaty as we are low on clean clothes and Tazanian money called Shillings. Time grew short and once again
we found ourselves back in an airport all security checked.Zoom we were soon off to Kenya.Arriving at our hotel we had to go through a metal detector and a pat down which I thought was different
and there was security on each floor.I'm not really sure if there is a sercurity risk here or just cheap labor rates but there were plenty of people running this hotel
An over night stop and a fresh water shower we felt good.The showers back in Zanzibar were salt water showers so you never felt perfectly clean and your hair did new tricks.
We had a good dinner and I had my last Tusker "Kenyan beer" before retiring to bed.We woke to the sounds of the local Mosques call to prayer and if you have ever heard these it is quite different,
I wonder what Muslums think of all of the bell ringing on sundays?
Well that brings us up to where we are now,high above Africa soaring at 500 mph towards Paris. My long pants are here in my carry on luggage as I refuse to put them on until
I have too, I know many of you have seen me in shorts when it is really too cold but showing up in Paris wearing shorts just seems wrong.We have recieved reports of 60 degree
tempatures back home so hold that thought as I have a great tan I want to show off guess I'll have to book a trip to Miami if I want to keep it.By the way earlier I made a mistake
in the height of Kilimanjaro it is 19,560 feet and not 12,000 as I stated.
Fast forward we cleared immigration in Amsterdam and have arrived in Paris.Heres a dopey thought it looks very French here!We have been here before but it's in the high 50's
this time and last night everybody was out at the sidewalk Cafes.We bagged that and had dinner in the lounge of the hotel which will probaly get us some boos but it has been
a really long day and here we are up before dawn so we will make up for it today.I want to climb the Eiffel Tower again and Joys wants to do the Arc de Triomphe so we should
have some great pictures.So out the door we go!
Well this blog is all over the place and I like it that way. Not sure Joe and Sean would approve of my writings but I'm a truck driver and not some fancy Steeplechase writer.SO here goes
Paris in a couple of paragraphs. We rolled out the door this morning and headed to the Arc de Triomphe as it was the namesake of our hotel and the closest site. We wanted to climb the Arc but
since it didn't open until 10:am we passed and walked towards the Eiffel Tower.Snapping pictures along the way we approuched the Tower to the site of a hundred people already lined up,hmmm?
Well we have done that before,climbed or elevatored up to the top and besides the tower didn't open until 9:30 and we were pressed for time.Wait a minute here comes one of those double decker hop on off
buses.I wanted to see Notre Dame for a long time and the double decker bus was the way to go.Problem is that there are about a dozen other places we wanted to jump off the bus before
Notre Dame.Well holding our seats we arrived and what a great place. The inside was much more dramatic then we expected,shooting pictures here and there we were soon out of battery in my camera
already and it was only 11:30am and the two excellant coffee I drank at breakfast wanted out.Luckly for us Paris is equiped with public toilets.They are these booths on the street that open up
and then kind of close around you, you do your business and the door rolls back open and then closes before the next person and cleans it's self.Sound like a dish washer in action and yes it
is spotless when it reopens, best of all it's free.
Well hours roll by we have walked miles or say kilometers,rode several double decker buses around but there is just too much to see in one day.We had our eye on a Fondue resturant for dinner
and since people in the Eu seem to eat late we had the place to ourselves at 6:00pm.The waiter played with us a bit asking Joy if she wanted his number and for her to stay her in Paris with him
and let me go home alone.He changed his mind once Joy discribed the size of her luggage at this point.Well stuffed and knees knocking we headed back to our hotel,our final hotel,our final night.
Tomorrow this time we will be back in Elkton Maryland about as far from the classy city of Paris as you can get.Now we have to decide which one of us drives home from the airport. Years ago I
got a speeding ticket returning home from Ireland and it just never left me, maybe one more driveless day for me let Joy get aggrivated in Washington DC traffic. Well time to go to sleep I will put this blog
to sleep once we get home so until then take care.We already are thinking two years ahead and Rwanda gorillas?Maybe...Keith and Joy
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