I love Paris in ...

[Skitterbug]

She has since become Buddhist and lives in a Monastery in the Rocky Mountains, (but that is another story!)

I agree with Big Al - I hope you share this story soon!

[Bigaldoc]

Way to go! My first car was a Ford Anglia. It looked just like the one from Harry Potter, same colour! If I'd known it was going to be nearly famous one day I wouldn't have taken it to the scrap yard when I gave up the unequal struggle of making it road worthy.

Here's mine, in front of a little cafe near Orleans where I proposed to Billie.

[stuck]

Here's mine, in front of a little cafe near Orleans where I proposed to Billie.

It might take me a while but I'll see if I can dig out a picture of mine. If I can, I'll start a new thread.

Ken

[Jezza]

Here is where Mrs J and I proposed.....X marks the spot, I'll let you decide where it was and why X was my second choice

[steveh]

First observation is that it looks like a ferry terminal somewhere, the X seems to be outisde of the car parking area so might suggest (a) car broken down, (b) no tickets to get in, (c) forgot passports.

Will have a better ponder during the day

[StuartR]

It looks like the vehicles are all driving on the right, so presumably this is not the UK

[stuck]

Here is where Mrs J and I proposed.....X marks the spot, I'll let you decide where it was and why X was my second choice

Where it was is easy, the picture is the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower looking down on Pont d'lena.

As for why it was second choice, , how about... you took one look at the huge queues for the lifts to the top of the Tower, decided you couldn't wait another two hours to pop the question so asked then and there, where you were standing.

(well, it's a theory)

Ken

[Jezza]

Ken gets the :barre de chocolat:

Spoiler

It was indeed Pont d'lena, it was my great plan to do it at the top of the Eiffel Tower but I didn't know Miss J well enough at that time to know she was scared of heights

[Bigaldoc]

I don't blame her, Jerry! I didn't know that I would not like "heights" until Billie and I went up there! Whew, I couldn't wait to get DOWN! The next time I encountered such a feeling was when we took our nine year old son to the top of our beloved Twin Towers in NYC. And it was a windy day to boot...

[stuck]

Ken gets the :barre de chocolat:

It was indeed Pont d'lena, it was my great plan to do it at the top of the Eiffel Tower but I didn't know Miss J well enough at that time to know she was scared of heights

ooo! yum, yum,

I nearly suggested being scared of heights as the reason but thought that was too obvious

Mrs S is non too keen of heights as well but she would have come with me to the top (because she loves me, ahh!) when we were there last year but the queues were over an hour long so we gave it a miss. Next time I'm in Paris though I plan to go to the top at night. I reckon that might be a more interesting view than in daylight.

Ken

[Jezza]

Jezzarette 2 and I did a night time excursion up there last year leaving Mrs J and Jezzarette 1 cowering on the ground, a fine sight.

Now for a science question when you go up there as I couldn't work it out. The tower has 8 lights that beam out at the top that "rotate"giving the illusion that is 4 light beams continually revolving around. Looking down the length of the beam it gives the illusion that it stops at a fixed distance. If they are parabolic why does it just seem to stop and not taper out along the length?

[stuck]

because a parabolic reflector produces a parallel beam of light, which attenuates at the same rate across its diameter. Thus light at the edges 'stops' at the same distance from the source as light in the centre.

Ken
PS mind you it must be a very well made parabolic mirror reflector to keep the beam parallel over such a distance, perhaps there is some sort of other lens in front of it to focus it down a bit.