Phantom of the Opera

Got down to business today.  Time is short.

Diane and I did Frommer’s walk #13 which is around the famous Opera Palais Garnier.  The walk, of course, also included the usual assortment of spectacular churches.  Does this city ever run out of them? 

At the opera, we paid our money to walk around inside.  Nice and warm.  Apparently it is built on a source of subterranean water which could not be pumped despite a year of trying.  They just converted the foundation into an artificial water tank instead.  It gave a nice place for the Phantom of the Opera to paddle around.

We parted company after a quick lunch in a cutesy little sandwich restaurant.  Diane had a huge carrot soup and I had a big chicken sandwich.  Very good.

After lunch, I got down to business hunting down antique bicycle parts to try to “improve” my already cool bike / white elephant.  Needless to say, it requires specialty bicycle shops, so I rode a fair distance on the metro.  Did not have much luck finding parts. 

The most unique shop I encountered was “Geppetto of Bicycles” (technically, the French version of this).  It was the typical narrow, cramped shop filled with the usual clutter of cool old bikes hanging from the ceiling, on racks along the walls and in the isle way.  The unique thing about the shop was that it was “decorated” with Geppetto knickknacks and even had a small Persian carpet with the name of the store in the center.  This is unusual; bike shops seldom have anything on the wall except bike parts.  The owner/mechanic is a lithe woman of about 35 years; hands black with grease, coveralls covered with the same.  She has a rear motorcycle-sytle kick-stand for sale for 35€, that I want a lot.  The only problem is that it is new and black and my bike is old and brown.

After all this, I went to Bibliothèque Fornay for a couple of hours.  It was nice and warm too. 

For dinner we had a couple of big hunks of cheese, some nice bread, olives, pears and a half-bottle of Bordeaux.

Stow-Away Passenger

I have kept quiet up to this point, but I discovered early in the trip that we had a stow-away in our luggage.  He has been traveling around with us this whole trip.  It is time to come clean about it.  He first appeared, remarkably, at the Lufthansa Lounge in San Francisco.   By the time we got to Istanbul he had already changed his name from Flat Stanley to Flat Zeki.  The guy is a mover.  He has certainly been a lot of places now, and because he is smaller than the rest of us, he can do a lot of cool stuff that most of us can’t do, such as crawl on the cannons in Normandy.  I am assured by Diane that Flat Zeki is going to leave us to visit her 7 year old nephew immediately after we return from this trip.  He has made a good book mark, I won’t deny that.

Today, Diane and I did walk #6, which starts just across the river from us and is a tour of Ile Saint Louis.  There was a lot we hadn’t noticed on the island, despite it being our major route to the Left Bank or the Notre Dame.  The massive Rothschild estate is currently being renovated; poor family. 

We returned to the apartment for lunch.  After, Diane went hat shopping and I took the Metro to the Place Monge stop and walked back from there.  It was a nice long and pointless stroll.  Perfection. 

For dinner, we strolled the temporary “Winter Wonderland” kiosks along the Avenue des Champs-Elysées and bought baguettes stuffed with meat and vegetable shish kabobs (there is a fancy French word for these things, but I forget it).   They just slice the baguette, lay the shish kabob inside and pull out the skewer.  They were great.  We shared a waffle with Grand Marnier for dessert.

My camera is starting to complain about how many times I’ve pressed its button.  I think it is nearing its design life.  I am going to replace it when I get home.  I don't think I should trust it any more on major travels.  It’s been a great body (a Canon Rebel XTi) but it shutter has probably been tripped 40,000 times already.  It is starting to squeak.

So, time marches forward relentlessly now.  It is moving at the pace I remember before the start of the vacation: … fast!  Too much to do and no time left to do it. 

All is well at home.  We have received sufficient intermittent email from Tom to confirm that he is surviving “house sitting”.  We "chat" with the kids intermittently.  Jen is chugging away at school; Kate is juggling 3 jobs but successfully self-sufficient.  We do look forward to catching up more thoroughly with everyone: friends and family.

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Return Logistics

We successfully walked Frommer’s walks #16 and #15 today.  We dressed up as warmly as we could.  I had on all 3 of my wool sweaters plus my Gortex jacket, scarf, hat, gloves and double layer socks.  Diane had equal amounts plus her long underwear.  The high today was 2⁰ C.  If we were staying longer, we would have to buy warmer clothes.  We'll make it.

Walk #15 is in Les Invalides area, so some of the streets were familiar.  It was focused on Paris' military.  It is great to get some of the details that we would have missed alone.  There was other stuff too, including some interesting Art Noveau architecture.

In between walks, we stopped at a restaurant for Croque Messieurs and Café Crèmes, but mostly to warm up.  It was a pleasant lunch.  Diane struck up a conversation with the family beside us who were visiting their student son over Thanksgiving.

Walk #15 is focused on the bridges across the Seine River.  It was quite interesting reading the story regarding each of them.

We stopped by the crepe stand on the way home and picked up a couple of crepes with Nutella.  We were offered free vin chaud, but we politely declined.

For dinner, we had a frozen pizza we bought at the grocery store tonight.  It was okay, but I am now thinking ahead to next week, where we return to the land of deep dish, four cheese, mushroom, peperoni, salami, green pepper, sun-dried tomato, cilantro and mozzarella pizza.  Ohhhhh, it’s gonna be good.

I looked at the weather forecast for the remainder of the week and can see that it is very doubtful I will ride my bike again in Paris.  This evening, I decided to start to prepare it for transportation back home.  That means disassembly to get it to fit in the Giant bike box.  To my delight, no critical bolts were rusted tight.  I only have a few small tools along (6” Crescent wrench, 10 mm socket wrench, pliers, screwdriver etc) and they were sufficient to get the necessary pieces apart.  I did have to use the heavy wooden rolling pin to loosen the wedge holding the handlebar stem, but didn’t use (many) other kitchen utensils.  I was expecting to have to buy or borrow tools.  The bike is ready for loading into the box at any time.

We have a big problem.  We have agreed to meet the Property Management Agent at 7:45 AM on Sunday to “check  out” of the apartment and get our damage deposit back.  I recall that leaving that late was cutting it a little short at the airport.  I checked to see just how short.  YIKE!  I was calculating from the time our plane leaves for SFO from Frankfurt.  Our plane from Paris leaves at 6:30 AM.  I am going to try to get a hotel at the airport for Saturday night and will have to try to reschedule the apartment check-out for Saturday.  Not good.  Grrr. 

I knew this week was going to be different.

Nicolas Flamel

It was a frosty freezing chilly day today.  I went down to the boulangerie anyway and choked down a pain au chocolate and a hot café crème.  The windows were steamed up from the cold.

Diane and I bundled up and did two Frommer’s walks this morning: numbers #4 and #6.  There is some hope we can do them all. Both were close to home.  

Walk #4 was near the Pompidou Center and the highlight was seeing the residence of the famous alchemist Nicolas Flamel who, of course, discovered the Philosopher’s Stone in the 1300s.   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Flamel)

Walk #6 was even closer to home and at one point we could actually see our apartment window from down the street. 

Bibliothèque Forney also featured in Walk #6, and is formerly known as Hotel de Sens (and has a cannonball lodged in one of the walls if you know where to look).  That library is a great library, and I still think it is cool that I am a member (members only: must show card upon entry).

We stopped for coffee somewhere along walk #4 mostly to try to warm up.  Diane’s feet were pretty cold.  I am now using my Scottish hat for warmth.

After the walks, we stopped by the supermarket and bought a bottle of tomato soup and some bread for lunch, which we ate at the apartment.

I went back to Bibliothèque Forney for a while.  For dinner, we considered foraging for food amoung the kiosks along the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, but we are still burning off blubber, so settled for a simple dinner at home. 

After dinner, we dashed out to buy crepes at our favorite stand beside the Notre Dame, but the guy was just closing up.  He really enjoys us and we enjoy him, so he gave us a free glass of vin chaud.  I have wondered what hot wine tastes like.  Conclusion: it tastes as bad as I expected.  In fairness, it also has spices stirred in.  I believe the correct English translation is “mulled wine”.  That doesn’t make it taste any better.

While sipping our vin chaud, I snapped a picture of the Notre Dame.  They put a tree in front which looks pretty cool.  We'll have to go inside to see if its decorated in there too.

Neige

View from Apartment Window at 4:00 PM

It snowed today!  The temperature has been plummeting these last few days and it has now dropped below freezing.  The forecast is for continued cold.

We finished Frommer’s Walk #19 today, which we started with guests but then abandoned because of nightfall and rain.  We’ve got 13 walks left and only 10 days.  Completing the walks is looking grim.

The second goal of the day was to finally go to see Katherine’s apartment where she stayed two summers ago for her 5 week study at Sorbonne University.  Until today, I have been feeling kind of sorry for Katherine, having been required to stay way out in the 12 Arrondissement.  The reality is that it appeared to be a funky, fun area.

There was a big street market in full bustle.  A guy with a pig head at the market hammed it up for me. 

We went to Katherine’s favorite boulangerie for her favorite tuna sandwich (I am not a big fan of tuna salad, but I had a sandwich in her honor).  It all looked pretty cool and I am happy now that Katherine was in a good place.

From there, I went to the library and Diane did some shopping.  Reading/writing went dismally, so I dropped off my computer and went to BHV to shuffle around the floors there.

I think I am starting to feel preoccupied.  Next weekend, Diane and I return home.  The end will now come at us fast.  The mood of this vacation is about to change.  I can feel it. 

It thus seems appropriate today to reflect on our spent time before the mood changes.  It will be hard to look back in a few days.  I don’t intend on looking back or analyzing anyway. I am not good at long goodbyes.  This blog will end when I get home. 

Here are my reflections at this point:

- Basically, it has been wonderful.  There is nothing we would change.

- We woke up every morning excited about the day.  Never did we feel at a loss for things to do. 

- The long duration is transformational; although we did many things, we didn’t think in terms of a schedule or a plan; we lived one day at a time.

- Seven weeks was close to a perfect duration; much shorter and it is a sightseeing vacation; much longer and lethargy would set in. 

- The apartment was wonderful and greatly helped us set up “home” here.  It was worthwhile cleaning it and moving in fully.

- Somehow, Diane and I stayed friends and, if anything, have become closer.

- We haven’t felt homesickness.

- We haven’t craved any sort of food from home.

- We haven’t missed our material goods, not even our bed and pillows.

- We packed well, but yes, there is stuff we didn’t use.

- I don’t think this trip has “transformed” us per sec, we are richer in our experiences, but still the same people we were before.

- I expect that time has moved much more slowly for us than for people back home.  Every day has been an adventure and we have not let much unused time slip through our fingers.

- It was great to have friends visit.  They helped us see Paris again through tourist eyes with tourist energy.  They sure had a lot of energy.

- I have changed my mind: Jules Verne restaurant was totally worth it for the joy that it brought us all.

- A sabbatical as a time to think and learn.  We have done that.

- This blog has been easy to write.  It is just my personal diary.  I am surprised (honored!) at the number of people who find it interesting. 

Thanksgiving? Hello?

To quote my mother, “Well, that’s a fine howdy ya do.”  Both Diane and I seem to have gotten acute food poisoning from our comfort food meal of pasta, red sauce and broccoli last night.  It was a miserable night.  We’re both recovering, but we were both pretty weak today.  We skipped breakfast and had a slice of dry toast for lunch.

This morning, I did manage to step downstairs to the bike shop and pick up a giant bike box.  Of course, while struggling to get it up the narrow spiral staircase, I ran into, for the first time since being here, the building custodian.  He just seemed more worried about whether I was going to throw all the cardboard into the trashbin than me dragging this thing along the walls and ceiling, but a lot was lost in communication and it was a moment I was actually happy that I couldn’t speak French.  Anyway, it is now in our apartment.  Diane does not seem that impressed.

We did a bit of nearby shopping today.  I finally bought a new wallet and key chain.  I like the larger European size wallets.  Thereafter I went to the library while Diane took a snooze.

Thanksgiving doesn’t exist in France.  Even the American Expat community must make big compromises.  Turkey is completely unavailable until Christmas.  I scoured the internet for potential Thanksgiving dinners, but had no luck.  There is a Cajun restaurant called “Thanksgiving” very close to our apartment which might have been a possibility had our stomachs not been so adverse to spice today.  Diane wore her Thanksgiving socks that Lauri gave her last week.

Ultimately, we went out to La Defense to a quintessentially American institution for Thanksgiving dinner: (… drum roll , please …) McDonalds.  I had the Big Mac Maxi Menu avec frites et Coca-Cola Normal.  Diane had cheeseburger avec frites et Coke Zero.  Afterward, we had McFlurrys.  It was good.  So far it is staying down too.

There was a big Winter Wonderland set-up at La Defense, which we strolled through quickly.  We were very cold, so rushed home.

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Day of Rest

We are alone now again; all guests are gone.  Greg and Lauri left early today; Dayton and Gaye have been gone since Saturday.  Today seemed so quiet.

We both woke up late and had breakfast in the apartment.  I had to dash two buildings down to get a loaf of bread for toast, but that was it for going outside this morning.

This afternoon, I explored the logistics of getting my bicycle home.  It looks like the cheapest way to ship it will be as “oversized baggage” on our plane flight.  That is $150 to $200, depending on how they categorize the bike.  I inquired today at FedEx near Galleries Lafayette, and they said the cost to ship it through them would 850 €. 'Scuse me?  Lufthansa Cargo quoted 375€.  The bike shop just around the corner is going to give me a cardboard bike box tomorrow.  The logistical challenge now will be getting the big box to the airport. 

I also went to the vintage bike shop to buy a few hard-to-find items for the bike.  I got a vintage-style 3 speed shifter (my bike had a modern one; one of the few non-vintage items on the bike), new covers for my curved metal brake lever and a vintage-style lock for the back wheel.  I think I’ll just leave installation on all of this stuff until I get home since I am going to take the bike apart fully to “restore” it and grease it once I get it back.  There are a few dents in the fenders and chain gaurd that need to be pushed out too.  All-in-all, I lucked into a beautifully intact Dutch bike.  I get complements at the bike shops, in fact.

I also went out for a long bike ride to Alfortville.  It was not a specific destination, but rather just where I ended up.  It’s upstream from Paris along the Seine and very much an industrial suburb.  We’re talkin’ cement plants.

Diane spent the day walking around equally unambitiously.  She shopped the Saint Germain area and then the big Galleries Lafayette in the Opera area. 

Tonight we had pasta noodles, broccolli and a half bottle of nice Burgundy for supper.  It was great. 

For the remainder of the night, we do more of nothing.

Pere Lachaise Tour

After a pain au chocolate and café crème, I spent the morning at the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris (Bibliothèque Forney did not open until 1:00 PM today).  I got back home just in time to drop off my laptop, grab a quick crepe with Nutella, and meet Greg and Lauri at the Saint Paul Metro Station.  From there we headed to Pere Lachaise cemetery. 

At Pere Lachaise, we pulled out our map and began the search for bodies.  We quickly encountered a helpful man, who turned out to be an expert on the cemetery and who is writing a book on some of the people in the cemetery.  He was beyond extremely helpful in that he gave us a guided tour of many of the plots we were looking for; Fred Chopin, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde etc.  It was also a fascinating tour of so many of the characters we would never otherwise know about, including the wacky and weird (the wife of an alchololic had his gravestone carved in the shape of a wine bottle, for example).

After Pere Lachaise, we popped into a café for a quick coffee and to warm up.  From there, we went to the Arc de Triomphe to walk Avenue des Champs-Elysées.  We solved the mystery of the Pirate flag on the top of the Louis Vuitton store; they have an exhibition on Peter Pan in their art gallery.  While in the art gallery, we were able to step out onto the balcony for view of the Champs.  Awesome.

We walked the length of Avenue des Champs-Elysées stopping at the kiosks, as necessary, for crepes, pretzels or whatever. 

At Place de la Concorde, we rode the large temporary Ferris Wheel that mysteriously appeared last week.  From there, we took the metro to the Marais District and had dinner and drank wine.

It was yet another bittersweet meal, since sadly tomorrow Greg and Lauri head back home. 

Diane and I will wake tomorrow alone again in Paris.


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Gargoyles

We met early at the crepe stand (me: eggs, ham, cheese) (great) and got in line to ascend the mighty Notre Dame towers.  It is a whole lot of spiral staircases.

The view is spectacular, and I really appreciated being able to look at the building up close.  I studied the flying buttresses, which now make perfect sense to me.  The gargoyles don’t, but they are cool too.  There sure are a lot of them.

After the Notre Dame, we went to the George Pompidou Center which is the Museum of Modern and Contemporary art.  Lots of weird stuff that is refreshing after the long, long hallways at the Louvre. 

We all split-up from there.  Lauri when off to see the 2^nd floor of the Louvre, which she had not yet seen.  Diane came back to the apartment to relax.  Greg and I headed off to the Maison Européenne de la Photographie which, it turns out, is closed both Monday and Tuesday.  Instead, we just split; Greg planning to do a long wandering walk through the 4^th and 3^rd Arrondissements. I walked down to the Paris City History Museum, but found it closed on Mondays too.  I just bought a baguette and came back to the apartment for a feast of bread, cheese and black olives.  After that I went to the library.

To night we are planning a seafood feast at Bofinger, which is the oldest Brasserie in Paris .  We are wearing our dress clothes because we hope to have a drink afterward at Hemmingway Bar at the Ritz Hotel (not a “Ritz Carlton” hotel).  Diane and I tried last time we were in Paris and were rather bluntly turned away for being underdressed.  We shall see.

EDIT:

Bofinger was great.  Shared the "Bofinger Royale" seafood platter, which had a bunch of raw and cooked shellfish on the triple decker platters.  Some liked the oysters; others did not.  Same with the snails.  Same with the mysteriously little crawly things with less meat than shell.

I feel like Edmund Hillary except descending Mount Everest within feet of the top.  We actually got into the Ritz Hotel, found Hemmingway's Bar, but learned that there was no room for us.  We waited a bit and finally gave up.  It may be just as well: drinks were 40 euros each.

Pizza

After a quick egg, ham and cheese crepe at our favorite spot, Diane dashed out early in the morning to go to the Armory Museum.  She wanted to the see the Military Uniform display, which she has not been able to see so far.  We have six day museum passes which means we can get into any museum we want for “free” and seeing the uniforms was a priority for Diane.  I mostly sat in the apartment and drank coffee, but also walked out to Bofinger Brassarie to make a reservation for tomorrow night. 

We had to meet Greg and Lauri at the Lourve pyramid at 2:00 PM.  On route there from Bofinger, I passed by the Carnavalet Museum which documents the History of Paris. Since it was on the Museum Pass, I went in and scampered through the exhibits just to see what was there.  It definitely looks like it is worth a second look.

Diane returned from the Armory Museum, with her mission accomplished.  We met Greg and Lauri at the appointed time. We walked over to the l’Orangerie Museum to take in the Andre Kertesz exhibition.  November is “The Month of Photography” in Paris and there are exhibits everywhere.  It was a great exhibit.

From there, we walked over to the Musee d’Orsay, which is the Impressionist art museum.  It is currently under renovation, so is not at its full splendor, but is still very cool nonetheless.  It was interesting how they have revised history: none of the pamphlets show that the museum has a third floor.  The third floor contained all of the greatest Impressionist art and is the floor currently closed for renovation. Master works, such as “Le Dejeuner sur l'Herb” by Edouard Manet, were now on exhibit on the ground floor.  There still was a lot of good stuff to see.

We decided we needed pizza tonight.  I became obsessed with finding Chicago-style deep dish combination pizza.  No luck.

Instead, we were turned away from the one pizza joint we could find, because it was 6:00 PM and they didn’t open until 7:00 PM.  We drank a bottle of wine in a bistro while we waited.  We went to the pizza restaurant, which had a fabulous décor and pretty good pizza (thin, but better than the cracker crust with cucumber slices that I feared).  After eating a few pizzas we went back to Harry’s New York Bar and celebrated with a round of homemade Bailey’s cocktails.  Even Greg had one.

Winter Wonderland

One of the first things I did when I got my new bike to the apartment a few days ago was to take a few things apart just to see how they worked.  The bike has unusual inner tubes which have strange valve stems that I have never seen before (I will change them to conventional tubes when necessary).  I undid the plastic cap and undid a metal sleeve that fits over what looks like the stem itself.  Interesting.  About 15 seconds later, the valve launched itself from the high pressure tire at about 100 mph.  It went ricocheted against the walls, furniture and drapery.  The tire instantly went flat.  Oops.

Anyway, after much searching around I found the lost parts and reassembled the valve.  Today I finally had time to drag the dead bike down the street to a bike shop and got the tire refilled.

We had a great time together.  I bicycled to parts of Paris that no one except locals see.  I figured out the bicycle route system.  I became a connoisseur of cobblestones learning that there are cobblestones and cobblestones.  It was a joyful ride filled with motion for the sake of motion.  I felt 12 years old again, which – when I think about it – was the age I got my 3 speed “English Racer” bicycle which has the same gear system as my new Dutch bike.

I got home just in time to put away the bike (it is not easy hauling a bike up a 2 storey spiral staircase, by the way) and head out to Saint Chapelle where we agreed last night to meet Greg and Lauri at 3:00 PM. 

Saint Chapelle was built shortly after the Notre Dame, but is of completely different design.  The walls are mostly stain glass windows.  It is beautiful.  After, Lauri, Diane and I stepped into the Conciergerie while Greg when back to their hotel to get a warmer coat.

We met Greg at the Arc de Triomphe and took in the view at the top.  We took lots of pictures.  It is a great vantage point to see Paris.

We decided to walk the length of Avenue des Champs-Élysées on route to Harry’s New York Bar (Greg has been suffering from an acute Martini deficiency).  All of the temporary buildings that they have been setting up are now open.  It was amazing.  They are all shops selling anything from sausages to vin chaud to clothing to artwork.  It was a winter wonderland.  We spent a lot more time there than expected, but it was very fun.

Greg got his martini.  Lauri asked for a glass of wine and learned that they do not serve wine.  Diane got a cocktail called a “Bicyclette” and I had a French beer.  Lauri had a handmade Bailey’s cocktail (they do not use bottled “Bailey’s).  Harry’s Bar is famous because it was a favorite hangout of Earnest Hemmingway.

Montmartre Shopping

We met this morning at Miss Manon for breakfast chocolate.  Meals – even breakfasts – have been a lot of fun with the gang.  Dayton and Gaye reported that they enjoyed their day together yesterday, where they explored their extended Left Bank neighborhood.

After the long breakfast, we jumped on the Metro and popped out at Anvers station.  From there, we followed the standard path through the sea of street performers and hucksters to the Sacré Cœur Cathedral.  We spent a bunch of time in the nearby Place de Tertre which is filled with painters selling their wares.  Dayton and Gaye bought a small painting.  A bunch of us bought watery crepes.

From there, we descended (both meanings of the word apply) to Boulevard de Clichy with all of it’s, ummm, burlesque shops.   After looking at the various windows (toys of Santa in various un-Santa like poses are currently popular) we paused for coffee at a Starbucks across from the Moulin Rouge.

Next, we zipped over to Galleries Lafayette and took in the rooftop view.  There, we split up and agreed to meet at Café de Flore at 7:00 PM.  At Café de Flore, we had a bottle of 2010 Beaujolais Nouveau.  The Beaujolais Nouveaus were just released yesterday and the wine joke “last month was a good month” applies.  They serve it ice cold, which helps.

Greg had made a reservation at Allard, which is a Paris institution.  It was a good meal.  It is remarkable how easy it is in Paris to spend 2 ½ hours eating.  The event was bittersweet because afterward, sadly, we had to say our goodbyes to Dayton and Gaye who leave back for home tomorrow morning. 

New Bicycle

The gang took a break from each other today.  Everyone has been enjoying Paris and exploring as a group, but just wanted to explore a little bit alone; to discover and experience things themselves and on their own terms.  We officially rendezvous tomorrow at 10:30 AM at Miss Manon boulangerie although Greg emailed late today saying he has made a reservation at Oscar Brasserie for tonight dinner.  Diane and I have RSVPed “qui”.  I expect Dayton and Gaye (…those little love birds…) are off on their own having their own escape.

I BOUGHT A BICYCLE!!!!!   It’s a Gazelle Impala model made somewhere between 1900 and yesterday.  Even the French refer to them as “Holland” bicycles, in that they are those old beautiful cruisers that are quintessentially Dutch.  Gazelles are indeed made in Holland.  The French like them too.

My Gazelle is exactly what I was looking for; very “vintage” looking (read, “rusty”), has drum brakes, mechanical brake linkages, a cable actuated 3 speed internal hub, a dynamo-driven headlight, leather Brookes saddle, full leather chain guard etc.  Tres cool.

The only problem with the darn thing is going to be getting it home.  Lufthansa wants to charge $200.  Gulp.  Assessing options (… which may be limited).

… Oh yeah, … Diane did something today.  I am not sure what, I think maybe she went to a movie and did some shopping.  Right now she is on the Skype phone with Laurie P.