I was talking to a friend who had recently returned from a trip to Europe, and he made a "looks like a French village" statement while standing on the corner of Jefferson and Main streets in downtown El Dorado.

Actually, some of the features you see on that corner are similar to a photograph I have of a small French village cafe. When Vertis and I lived in Benghazi, Libya, I worked for Exxon, and with time off, I would end up with almost six weeks of vacation time, and we managed to visit almost all the countries of western Europe.

Vertis and I were in our 20s, on a budget, and when we were in Europe, we used public transportation and always stayed in the center of whatever town we were in. We quickly found out that small villages in Europe, which were a 20- to 30-minute train ride from major cities such as Rome and Paris, were a lot cheaper than trying to stay in a five-star hotel within a 10-minute walk to the Eiffel........

© Arkansas Online