Home Sports Talk

Did Leonardo Da Vinci invent the tennis racket?

doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

I was reading looking some Leonardo Da Vinci drawings of his many inventions, and stumbled upon this article and drawing that suggests Da Vinci may have invented the Tennis racket. He was an absolute genius, and if you've ever looked at the drawings of his inventions in his Codex books, it is unbelievable. I've looked at his invention drawings many times, and it is mind boggling to take a peek into his brilliant mind. Anyway, here is the article about the tennis racket.

BY ADMIN ON APRIL 6, 2018NEWS
Astonishing news from the USA today, when it was announced at the Library Of Congress that officials had found original documentation to prove that Leonardo Da Vinci invented the tennis racket.

It had always been thought that the original tennis racket that we know today was invented by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield, when he patented the first modern version of the game of tennis in 1874. With this new information, it now appears the tennis racket was invented over 350 years before originally thought.

The chance discovery only came to light when a researcher at the Library of Congress was thumbing through a car repair manual for a Fiat Panda, in its original Italian version – when they found some old papers inside the book. Upon examination these documents seem to show the original drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci back in 1507.

The documents were initially thought to be fake, but after being inspected by the world famous Leonardo Da Vinci expert – Mrs Desiree Dots from the Nigeria University of Nigeria – she confirmed “Yes this is all true, I know it is true.

The Italian Ambassador To Washington Antonio Toni Bribaro said ” We are very happy for this news – Leonard Da Vinci, or as we call him in Roma ‘Loco Leo’ because he make so many crazy inventions – we know he invented tennis racket and bouncy balls – most Italians think he also invented baseball, cricket, swimming and formula one car racing – but we dont have proof yet.”

The search is now on to try and find the original documentation that shows Leonardo Da Vinci also invented the tennis ball. Because as officials at the Library Of Congress have said “why would a genius like Leonardo Da Vinci invent a tennis racket and then not invent some tennis balls. It is obvious he did also invent tennis balls, we just have to find the proof. Our aim is to now start searching through every Italian car manual we have on site as that seems to be where all his long lost documentation has been hidden.”

Comments

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    To me, this drawing and story seem to be fake. I'm just not buying it. I'm not buying what they're trying to sell me here!

  • AFLfanAFLfan Posts: 1,272 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I... um... But... Never mind.

    Todd Tobias - Grateful Collector - I focus on autographed American Football League sets, Fleer & Topps, 1960-1969, and lacrosse cards.
  • craig44craig44 Posts: 11,246 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I would give LDV no more than 5% credit for the tennis racket. maybe 6% on a good day

    George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 22, 2021 1:50PM

    They're trying to make out like they found a long, lost codex page in a Fiat manual?

  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,004 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Little bit early for April fools isn't it? :)

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 22, 2021 8:50AM

    One thing about Leonardo Da Vinci though, he was a prolific inventor. He was a true genius, and if you haven't seen his codex books with his drawings of his inventions, you should. Bill Gates actually bought one of his original Codex books, the Codex Leicester for $30.8 million.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Leonardo was a tireless man, who always had ideas in his mind. He had ideas for inventions that just blow your mind. In his Codex books, there are 5,000 + pages of inventions, and other things that he studied. He designed inventions for war machines, pulley systems, bridges, a scuba diving suit, a parachute, a helicopter, a hanglider, musical instruments, hydraulics, gears, a bicycle, the automobile, machine gun, architecture, clocks, you name it. He was a true genius, and his mind was deep. I've studied him and to look into is mind is a journey into another world. I've never seen anbody who was such a genius in my life. He's on another level.

    He made this self portrait of himself, and it's probably the closest we'll ever get to seeing what he actually looked like.

  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,004 ✭✭✭✭✭

    And he painted a picture of a cute girl.

    I think her name was Mona Lisa.

  • GoldenageGoldenage Posts: 3,278 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Gene Tenace invented the tennis racket.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stevek said:
    And he painted a picture of a cute girl.

    I think her name was Mona Lisa.

    Yes, and in the summer of 1992, I was forunate enough to visit Paris and the Louvre museum, where the Mona Lisa is on display. I stood right in front of it, and it was behind a thick glass case, and it was quite overwhelming. The painting is so old, that it has little cracks in it where the paint has split apart over the centuries. Very fascinating.

  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,847 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 22, 2021 10:17AM

    There was a da Vinci "discovery" in 2018 where this tennis racquet sketch was concerned.

    Nothing has ever surprised me about this man. His total work is unrivaled

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Da Vinci was into just about anything you can imagine. He was an inventor, an artist, he designed architecture, he was into mathematics, and the laws of nature, and he even studied human anatomy. These drawings are from one of his Codex books.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Justacommeman, Yes, he is unrivaled, an absolute genius. Just looking at his drawings in his codex books just blows your mind at how brilliant he truly was.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    His drawing for the invention of a underwater scuba suit, and they actually made the suit using his drawing.

  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,004 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:
    And he painted a picture of a cute girl.

    I think her name was Mona Lisa.

    Yes, and in the summer of 1992, I was forunate enough to visit Paris and the Louvre museum, where the Mona Lisa is on display. I stood right in front of it, and it was behind a thick glass case, and it was quite overwhelming. The painting is so old, that it has little cracks in it where the paint has split apart over the centuries. Very fascinating.

    I was there in 1986.

    If you would have went six years earlier, i would have bought lunch. But i would have asked you not to order the $500 bottle of wine along with the entree, because i ain't rich. :)

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:
    And he painted a picture of a cute girl.

    I think her name was Mona Lisa.

    Yes, and in the summer of 1992, I was forunate enough to visit Paris and the Louvre museum, where the Mona Lisa is on display. I stood right in front of it, and it was behind a thick glass case, and it was quite overwhelming. The painting is so old, that it has little cracks in it where the paint has split apart over the centuries. Very fascinating.

    I was there in 1986.

    If you would have went six years earlier, i would have bought lunch. But i would have asked you not to order the $500 bottle of wine along with the entree, because i ain't rich. :)

    It's weird because there was a McDonald's right around the corner from our hotel, and I ate there every day, so lunch would have been cheap!

  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,847 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:
    @Justacommeman, Yes, he is unrivaled, an absolute genius. Just looking at his drawings in his codex books just blows your mind at how brilliant he truly was.

    I had an office in Paris. Guess where I went for lunch almost everyday?

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Justacommeman said:

    @doubledragon said:
    @Justacommeman, Yes, he is unrivaled, an absolute genius. Just looking at his drawings in his codex books just blows your mind at how brilliant he truly was.

    I had an office in Paris. Guess where I went for lunch almost everyday?

    m

    McDonald's! 😂😂

  • JustacommemanJustacommeman Posts: 22,847 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited March 22, 2021 11:02AM

    @doubledragon said:

    @Justacommeman said:

    @doubledragon said:
    @Justacommeman, Yes, he is unrivaled, an absolute genius. Just looking at his drawings in his codex books just blows your mind at how brilliant he truly was.

    I had an office in Paris. Guess where I went for lunch almost everyday?

    m

    McDonald's! 😂😂

    Ha! And I still feel like I haven't covered all of the Louvre yet. When my wife lived in Paris she never went. I think she was too busy working on other works of arts

    Next time in LA I'll take you to the Getty.

    m

    Walker Proof Digital Album
    Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,004 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:
    And he painted a picture of a cute girl.

    I think her name was Mona Lisa.

    Yes, and in the summer of 1992, I was forunate enough to visit Paris and the Louvre museum, where the Mona Lisa is on display. I stood right in front of it, and it was behind a thick glass case, and it was quite overwhelming. The painting is so old, that it has little cracks in it where the paint has split apart over the centuries. Very fascinating.

    I was there in 1986.

    If you would have went six years earlier, i would have bought lunch. But i would have asked you not to order the $500 bottle of wine along with the entree, because i ain't rich. :)

    It's weird because there was a McDonald's right around the corner from our hotel, and I ate there every day, so lunch would have been cheap!

    I vacationed over there for two weeks...mostly Germany and France.

    Admittedly, we ate once at a McDonalds, i don't recall where, and i'm still ashamed of doing it. I mean flying all the way over there to eat at McDonalds? LOL

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Justacommeman said:

    @doubledragon said:

    @Justacommeman said:

    @doubledragon said:
    @Justacommeman, Yes, he is unrivaled, an absolute genius. Just looking at his drawings in his codex books just blows your mind at how brilliant he truly was.

    I had an office in Paris. Guess where I went for lunch almost everyday?

    m

    McDonald's! 😂😂

    Ha! And I still feel like I haven't covered all of the Louvre yet. When my wife lived in Paris she never went. I think she was too busy working on other works of arts

    Next time in LA I'll take you to the Getty.

    m

    We spent two days at the Louvre, and I don't think we covered it all. That place is huge!

  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,004 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Da Vinci without question is up there for GOAT consideration for smartest human being.

    Although the founder of Collectors Universe has to be considered. 😉

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:
    And he painted a picture of a cute girl.

    I think her name was Mona Lisa.

    Yes, and in the summer of 1992, I was forunate enough to visit Paris and the Louvre museum, where the Mona Lisa is on display. I stood right in front of it, and it was behind a thick glass case, and it was quite overwhelming. The painting is so old, that it has little cracks in it where the paint has split apart over the centuries. Very fascinating.

    I was there in 1986.

    If you would have went six years earlier, i would have bought lunch. But i would have asked you not to order the $500 bottle of wine along with the entree, because i ain't rich. :)

    It's weird because there was a McDonald's right around the corner from our hotel, and I ate there every day, so lunch would have been cheap!

    I vacationed over there for two weeks...mostly Germany and France.

    Admittedly, we ate once at a McDonalds, i don't recall where, and i'm still ashamed of doing it. I mean flying all the way over there to eat at McDonalds? LOL

    The best ice cream I've ever had in my life was from an ice cream street vendor on the streets of Paris, real french vanilla in a cone. I had three cones. I'm ashamed of that!

  • 2dueces2dueces Posts: 6,449 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Bucket list for me the Louvre is right up there near the top. Van Gogh museum. Venice, Rome and of course the McDonald’s across from the Louvre.

    W.C.Fields
    "I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
  • 2dueces2dueces Posts: 6,449 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:
    And he painted a picture of a cute girl.

    I think her name was Mona Lisa.

    Yes, and in the summer of 1992, I was forunate enough to visit Paris and the Louvre museum, where the Mona Lisa is on display. I stood right in front of it, and it was behind a thick glass case, and it was quite overwhelming. The painting is so old, that it has little cracks in it where the paint has split apart over the centuries. Very fascinating.

    I was there in 1986.

    If you would have went six years earlier, i would have bought lunch. But i would have asked you not to order the $500 bottle of wine along with the entree, because i ain't rich. :)

    It's weird because there was a McDonald's right around the corner from our hotel, and I ate there every day, so lunch would have been cheap!

    I vacationed over there for two weeks...mostly Germany and France.

    Admittedly, we ate once at a McDonalds, i don't recall where, and i'm still ashamed of doing it. I mean flying all the way over there to eat at McDonalds? LOL

    The best ice cream I've ever had in my life was from an ice cream street vendor on the streets of Paris, real french vanilla in a cone. I had three cones. I'm ashamed of that!

    I’m told the pastries in France are to die for. Probably will because of cholesterol but what a way to go.

    W.C.Fields
    "I spent 50% of my money on alcohol, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.
  • craig44craig44 Posts: 11,246 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I was going to laugh at you guys going to France and eating at Mcdonald's, and then I remembered eating KFC in Bejing.
    It was spicy and good!!

    George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Paris is a beautiful city, especially at night when it's all lit up. We went up on the Eiffel Tower and looked out and you could see for miles. We took a bus out to Versailles and visited that huge palace where all those King Louis's lived, and walked through the famous hall of mirrors. You wouldn't believe how huge the palace of Versailles is.

  • TabeTabe Posts: 6,061 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:
    To me, this drawing and story seem to be fake. I'm just not buying it. I'm not buying what they're trying to sell me here!

    That's because it is. The original site it came from is a parody site.

    https://worldtennisfederation.net/disclaimer/

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Tabe said:

    @doubledragon said:
    To me, this drawing and story seem to be fake. I'm just not buying it. I'm not buying what they're trying to sell me here!

    That's because it is. The original site it came from is a parody site.

    https://worldtennisfederation.net/disclaimer/

    Now it makes sense, I thought that was a real tennis website! 😂😂

  • craig44craig44 Posts: 11,246 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:
    Paris is a beautiful city, especially at night when it's all lit up. We went up on the Eiffel Tower and looked out and you could see for miles. We took a bus out to Versailles and visited that huge palace where all those King Louis's lived, and walked through the famous hall of mirrors. You wouldn't believe how huge the palace of Versailles is.

    are you sure that is Versailles? I could swear tom and Gisele just bought a place that looks like that.

    wait, did Tom and Gisele just buy Versailles?

    George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.

  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,004 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:
    Paris is a beautiful city, especially at night when it's all lit up. We went up on the Eiffel Tower and looked out and you could see for miles. We took a bus out to Versailles and visited that huge palace where all those King Louis's lived, and walked through the famous hall of mirrors. You wouldn't believe how huge the palace of Versailles is.

    Did you drive a car in Paris? We drove a rental car and i was the one who "volunteered" to do the driving. Most frightening driving time in my life. Basically there is no such thing as a yield, it's every car for itself, first to get into the intersection, gets into the intersection, regardless of damage to the car.

    i actually got into a minor accident in France, but it was driving in southern France. Wasn't my fault, a car rear ended our rental car when was stopped at an intersection. Nobody was hurt, but i got out of the car and the driver got out. Here i didn't speak the language but fortunately this guy was Swiss and spoke a bit of English. I wasn't hissed at the accident, i thought my credit card covered it to some degree. It was only a small dent into the fender so i wasn't that worried about it either way. I didn't know the laws and thought that maybe a day or more might be wasted with this thing in a French court or whatever, that was my main concern. Interesting though, real quick the guy offers me 200 Swiss Francs to forget about it. I didn't even know how much that was. The guy told me it was worth around $100. I just wanted to get out of there and go on with the vacation. So i took the money and we both drove off.

    Well it turns out that my car rental contract with my credit card or my insurance company, i forget which, covered the damage in full. I didn't have to pay anything, but i had the guy's 200 Swiss Francs. So i made a cool 100 dollars on the accident. LOL

  • ScoobyDoo2ScoobyDoo2 Posts: 839 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Nope, it was Leo Dicaprio...

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:
    Paris is a beautiful city, especially at night when it's all lit up. We went up on the Eiffel Tower and looked out and you could see for miles. We took a bus out to Versailles and visited that huge palace where all those King Louis's lived, and walked through the famous hall of mirrors. You wouldn't believe how huge the palace of Versailles is.

    Did you drive a car in Paris? We drove a rental car and i was the one who "volunteered" to do the driving. Most frightening driving time in my life. Basically there is no such thing as a yield, it's every car for itself, first to get into the intersection, gets into the intersection, regardless of damage to the car.

    i actually got into a minor accident in France, but it was driving in southern France. Wasn't my fault, a car rear ended our rental car when was stopped at an intersection. Nobody was hurt, but i got out of the car and the driver got out. Here i didn't speak the language but fortunately this guy was Swiss and spoke a bit of English. I wasn't hissed at the accident, i thought my credit card covered it to some degree. It was only a small dent into the fender so i wasn't that worried about it either way. I didn't know the laws and thought that maybe a day or more might be wasted with this thing in a French court or whatever, that was my main concern. Interesting though, real quick the guy offers me 200 Swiss Francs to forget about it. I didn't even know how much that was. The guy told me it was worth around $100. I just wanted to get out of there and go on with the vacation. So i took the money and we both drove off.

    Well it turns out that my car rental contract with my credit card or my insurance company, i forget which, covered the damage in full. I didn't have to pay anything, but i had the guy's 200 Swiss Francs. So i made a cool 100 dollars on the accident. LOL

    No, I was only 14 years old at the time, so I couldn't drive. I was with my grandparents and we took a taxi everywhere we went. They didn't want the headache of driving, it was too chaotic. When we went to Versailles we took a double decker bus. The whole time we were there, we didn't meet hardly anyone who spoke english, people would try to talk to us on the street, and we had no clue what they were saying. I remember the flight over there and back took forever, flying over the ocean at night time was crazy. We were on a 767 and it had three rows of seats and I had a middle row to myself and stretched out and slept. I don't think I could fly that long again, as I got older, I developed a fear of flying, so looking back, I don't know how I got through flying over there and back.

  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,004 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:
    Paris is a beautiful city, especially at night when it's all lit up. We went up on the Eiffel Tower and looked out and you could see for miles. We took a bus out to Versailles and visited that huge palace where all those King Louis's lived, and walked through the famous hall of mirrors. You wouldn't believe how huge the palace of Versailles is.

    Did you drive a car in Paris? We drove a rental car and i was the one who "volunteered" to do the driving. Most frightening driving time in my life. Basically there is no such thing as a yield, it's every car for itself, first to get into the intersection, gets into the intersection, regardless of damage to the car.

    i actually got into a minor accident in France, but it was driving in southern France. Wasn't my fault, a car rear ended our rental car when was stopped at an intersection. Nobody was hurt, but i got out of the car and the driver got out. Here i didn't speak the language but fortunately this guy was Swiss and spoke a bit of English. I wasn't hissed at the accident, i thought my credit card covered it to some degree. It was only a small dent into the fender so i wasn't that worried about it either way. I didn't know the laws and thought that maybe a day or more might be wasted with this thing in a French court or whatever, that was my main concern. Interesting though, real quick the guy offers me 200 Swiss Francs to forget about it. I didn't even know how much that was. The guy told me it was worth around $100. I just wanted to get out of there and go on with the vacation. So i took the money and we both drove off.

    Well it turns out that my car rental contract with my credit card or my insurance company, i forget which, covered the damage in full. I didn't have to pay anything, but i had the guy's 200 Swiss Francs. So i made a cool 100 dollars on the accident. LOL

    No, I was only 14 years old at the time, so I couldn't drive. I was with my grandparents and we took a taxi everywhere we went. They didn't want the headache of driving, it was too chaotic. When we went to Versailles we took a double decker bus. The whole time we were there, we didn't meet hardly anyone who spoke english, people would try to talk to us on the street, and we had no clue what they were saying. I remember the flight over there and back took forever, flying over the ocean at night time was crazy. We were on a 767 and it had three rows of seats and I had a middle row to myself and stretched out and slept. I don't think I could fly that long again, as I got older, I developed a fear of flying, so looking back, I don't know how I got through flying over there and back.

    My good friend in the army, we were fraternity roommates, was stationed near Frankford Germany with his wife. He never bothered to learn any of the languages but his wife could speak and read rudimentary French and German. So when we were in restaurants, etc, we had no problem ordering. So she was like our own personal tourist guide.

    Europe was a fun place to visit, but as Dorothy once said, there's no place like home. :)

  • doubledragondoubledragon Posts: 23,269 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:
    Paris is a beautiful city, especially at night when it's all lit up. We went up on the Eiffel Tower and looked out and you could see for miles. We took a bus out to Versailles and visited that huge palace where all those King Louis's lived, and walked through the famous hall of mirrors. You wouldn't believe how huge the palace of Versailles is.

    Did you drive a car in Paris? We drove a rental car and i was the one who "volunteered" to do the driving. Most frightening driving time in my life. Basically there is no such thing as a yield, it's every car for itself, first to get into the intersection, gets into the intersection, regardless of damage to the car.

    i actually got into a minor accident in France, but it was driving in southern France. Wasn't my fault, a car rear ended our rental car when was stopped at an intersection. Nobody was hurt, but i got out of the car and the driver got out. Here i didn't speak the language but fortunately this guy was Swiss and spoke a bit of English. I wasn't hissed at the accident, i thought my credit card covered it to some degree. It was only a small dent into the fender so i wasn't that worried about it either way. I didn't know the laws and thought that maybe a day or more might be wasted with this thing in a French court or whatever, that was my main concern. Interesting though, real quick the guy offers me 200 Swiss Francs to forget about it. I didn't even know how much that was. The guy told me it was worth around $100. I just wanted to get out of there and go on with the vacation. So i took the money and we both drove off.

    Well it turns out that my car rental contract with my credit card or my insurance company, i forget which, covered the damage in full. I didn't have to pay anything, but i had the guy's 200 Swiss Francs. So i made a cool 100 dollars on the accident. LOL

    No, I was only 14 years old at the time, so I couldn't drive. I was with my grandparents and we took a taxi everywhere we went. They didn't want the headache of driving, it was too chaotic. When we went to Versailles we took a double decker bus. The whole time we were there, we didn't meet hardly anyone who spoke english, people would try to talk to us on the street, and we had no clue what they were saying. I remember the flight over there and back took forever, flying over the ocean at night time was crazy. We were on a 767 and it had three rows of seats and I had a middle row to myself and stretched out and slept. I don't think I could fly that long again, as I got older, I developed a fear of flying, so looking back, I don't know how I got through flying over there and back.

    My good friend in the army, we were fraternity roommates, was stationed near Frankford Germany with his wife. He never bothered to learn any of the languages but his wife could speak and read rudimentary French and German. So when we were in restaurants, etc, we had no problem ordering. So she was like our own personal tourist guide.

    Europe was a fun place to visit, but as Dorothy once said, there's no place like home. :)

    I remember before we left for Paris, we went to this place and had to get a bunch of money converted into francs. We also had to buy a language translator book which we used everyday in Paris. I found the French people to be real nice, but it was frustrating not knowing what the heck they were saying! 😂😂

  • stevekstevek Posts: 29,004 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:

    @stevek said:

    @doubledragon said:
    Paris is a beautiful city, especially at night when it's all lit up. We went up on the Eiffel Tower and looked out and you could see for miles. We took a bus out to Versailles and visited that huge palace where all those King Louis's lived, and walked through the famous hall of mirrors. You wouldn't believe how huge the palace of Versailles is.

    Did you drive a car in Paris? We drove a rental car and i was the one who "volunteered" to do the driving. Most frightening driving time in my life. Basically there is no such thing as a yield, it's every car for itself, first to get into the intersection, gets into the intersection, regardless of damage to the car.

    i actually got into a minor accident in France, but it was driving in southern France. Wasn't my fault, a car rear ended our rental car when was stopped at an intersection. Nobody was hurt, but i got out of the car and the driver got out. Here i didn't speak the language but fortunately this guy was Swiss and spoke a bit of English. I wasn't hissed at the accident, i thought my credit card covered it to some degree. It was only a small dent into the fender so i wasn't that worried about it either way. I didn't know the laws and thought that maybe a day or more might be wasted with this thing in a French court or whatever, that was my main concern. Interesting though, real quick the guy offers me 200 Swiss Francs to forget about it. I didn't even know how much that was. The guy told me it was worth around $100. I just wanted to get out of there and go on with the vacation. So i took the money and we both drove off.

    Well it turns out that my car rental contract with my credit card or my insurance company, i forget which, covered the damage in full. I didn't have to pay anything, but i had the guy's 200 Swiss Francs. So i made a cool 100 dollars on the accident. LOL

    No, I was only 14 years old at the time, so I couldn't drive. I was with my grandparents and we took a taxi everywhere we went. They didn't want the headache of driving, it was too chaotic. When we went to Versailles we took a double decker bus. The whole time we were there, we didn't meet hardly anyone who spoke english, people would try to talk to us on the street, and we had no clue what they were saying. I remember the flight over there and back took forever, flying over the ocean at night time was crazy. We were on a 767 and it had three rows of seats and I had a middle row to myself and stretched out and slept. I don't think I could fly that long again, as I got older, I developed a fear of flying, so looking back, I don't know how I got through flying over there and back.

    My good friend in the army, we were fraternity roommates, was stationed near Frankford Germany with his wife. He never bothered to learn any of the languages but his wife could speak and read rudimentary French and German. So when we were in restaurants, etc, we had no problem ordering. So she was like our own personal tourist guide.

    Europe was a fun place to visit, but as Dorothy once said, there's no place like home. :)

    I remember before we left for Paris, we went to this place and had to get a bunch of money converted into francs. We also had to buy a language translator book which we used everyday in Paris. I found the French people to be real nice, but it was frustrating not knowing what the heck they were saying! 😂😂

    We flew into the Frankford airport. I think i only converted $100 into German marks. Almost everything else I just used a credit card.

    The only time i really needed a fair amount of cash was when visiting the casino at Monaco. I converted $500 into French francs to buy chips. I didn't want to spend a lot of time there, it was basically the same Atlantic City gambling chit, nothing special, i just wanted to see it. Played low stake craps for about an hour. Walked out with a one five franc chip profit. Was worth around a dollar back then. Still have the chip. Only casino i ever beat - LOL

  • Alfonz24Alfonz24 Posts: 3,101 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @ScoobyDoo2 said:
    Nope, it was Leo Dicaprio...

    I thought it was al gore

    #LetsGoSwitzerlandThe Man Who Does Not Read Has No Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read. The biggest obstacle to progress is a habit of “buying what we want and begging for what we need.”You get the Freedom you fight for and get the Oppression you deserve.
Sign In or Register to comment.