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I'm am not sure how long Dad lived in Paris. He was working for RAYTAS ~ a European division of Raytheon Company. If anyone hasn't heard of this company, you may have, and just don't remember. They are the ones who "invented" the Radar-range (the forerunner to microwaves). They also designed and manufactured (and still do, by the way) the Patriot Missile, which was a very well-known missile in the days of the Gulf War.

Anyway, I'm getting away from myself here! Dad lived in an apartment in the Environs de Paris (not actually in Paris, but rather the outskirts) in Vaucresson. We did our shopping in the French grocery stores and malls. There was a Patisserie/Boulangerie caddy-corner to the apartment complex where I would go and pick up our day's baguettes (a long French loaf, crusty on the outside, soft on the inside).

During the week, when Dad was at work, I would either hang around the apartment, or go into Paris which was only a short train ride away. On the weekends, Dad would take me to different places. The first summer that he was there (1978), both my brother and I went. By the next summer, I knew enough of Paris to go in myself. Dad would still take me in on the weekends and show me some places I hadn't thought of.

One year we went down to the Loire Valley, which is lush and green with a river running through it. There are several Chateaux, and we went to visit a few of them. Some of them were open to visit inside. Our favorite one was Chenonceau, which is built over the river like a bridge. It really fascinated me then, and still does now. We didn't visit indoors, but the outside grounds were very well manicured in the old French style. As the years went by, Dad was less able to walk around when sightseeing due to problems with his feet (Charcot-Marie-Tooth - or CMT). Learn a bit about this disorder.

The following pictures are a few of the ones that I found. As I have said before, I really don't have a great many pictures of Dad. I don't happen to have any of him when we went to the Loire Valley.

This page was last updated

Sunday, July 31, 2005

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