Another trip

I have decided to take another trip, this one not so fun. Some of you may remember that in May I went to Florida to visit my friend Martha who is sick with Primary Peritoneal cancer. At the beginning of July Martha and Andy went "home" to Jamestown to visit. Well it seems that Martha will not be going back to Florida, so I have decided to go "home" to visit one more time.

Martha is the younger sister of my oldest friend Jolie who died six years ago of Colon Cancer. What are the chances of this? Why them?

The one thing that keeps running thru my mind is:

THIS IS FUCKED UP! I AM NOT SURE WHO IS IN CHARGE, BUT I WANT A DO OVER!

France Photos

If you are intrested take a look at my most recent trip pictures. The pictures start in the Monmartre cemetary - it seems to be the most used cememtary. Not so well kept as others, but there was a woman sweeping graves and feeding the cats.

Next up is St. Dennis, the burial place of the Kings and Queens of France. You can see the monument to Marie Antoinette and her perky little breasts.

Then over to Montparnassee cemetary, much better cared for than Monmartre and a few more famous people making it their final resting place.

The Rodin Museum, one of the reasons I love Paris. As many times as I have been to Paris, I had never been here. It is small museum and a place where I could picture living. I tried to imagine that at one time there were many of these small mansions all over Paris, with their lovely gardens and beautiful floors.

Then out to the Loire to Patrick and Benny's place (see my previous post). We visited Chateau Usse, said to be the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland. We visited Chinon, the beginning of the end for Joan of Arc. We did try to go see the Chateau at Samur - one hint if you go to the Loire, this Chateau is closed until 2013 for renovations, hum... just a reason to go back. And of course, Villandry. Gardens, gardens, gardens.

Mixed in are just shots of Paris and the Loire, hope you enjoy.

Home again, home again

Well, I am back.

I was picked up from Travel Chicks apartment at 6:00 am Paris time on Sunday morning. I walked into our house at about 9:00 pm California time on Sunday night. Now do the math. Yes, I a very long time. I gotta go back to the direct flight, it is so much quicker. Due to mechanical problems with a plane instead of just under two hours between flights in Houston, I was in the lovely state of Texas for nearly six hours. Makes for a very long day.

But it was well worth it. Paris as always brings joy to my heart and good sleep after walking for hours every day. On Saturday Travel Chick and I started out about 10 in the morning met a friend for coffee and then started walking. We walked all day all over the city. OK, so we would walk and stop and sit in a cafe and watch the world go by. We did rate the bathrooms of every cafe we stopped at, which is a major reason for stopping and I am always amazed at how the French can tuck a toilet in just about any place. We arrived back at the apartment at almost 10 that night, tired and happy.

The Loire Valley was also wonderful and makes me want to go back for a longer time and explore it in greater detail. The wonders I see make me curious about what I don't see.

If you ever get the chance to go the Loire Valley and need a place to stay check out Patrick and Benny's lovely little farm house in Sache, France.

Bal Des Pompiers

Yes, I am in Paris - again. Yes, I know how lucky I am. No I do not take it for granted. Travel Chick is in Paris for a couple of months and she was kind enough to let me come and share her space for a week. Today is the day before Bastille day and what that means other than fireworks at the Eiffel Tower tomorrow night is that most fire stations around Paris (and maybe all of France, I don't know) have Bal Des Pompiers. A Fireman's Ball, yup we went to the fire station in the 18th and stood in a short line to get into a space behind the fire house where there was music, champagne and dancing. There were people that looked like they never got out of the house except on this one night a year, like the lady in front of us that just was dancing up a storm, I mean shaking her entire body while never losing control of her silver bag that matched her silver shoes. I am thinking she was one of the fire fighters mothers and he was somewhere shaking his head. Then there were all the young girls on the hunt for a handsome firefighter. And handsome they are. In addition to being a firefighter they are all trained paramedics and members of the military. They all have that short military haircut and really good posture.

The only complaint I had was that it was so crowed and I think I must have had a sign on my back in French that said "Just push me out of the way" and they did and let me tell you there was not a woman there with a bag that was smaller than a weekend suitcase and I think every single one of them hit me.

Travel Chick and I decided we needed to leave before we had to use the bathroom, so we left after about and hour and a half. By this time the line was three times the length it was when we arrived. Of course we did arrive early, it was still light out - about 10:30 - ah Paris!

Preparation

I am leaving to join my friend Beatrice (her Parisian name) in Paris for a week. My beloved who knows how much I love Paris, said "go, have a good time". Don't have to tell me twice. Bag is packed, carryon almost done and one more day of work.

Michael Jackson

Today is the public memorial for Michael Jackson. My feelings about this are why can't they just leave the man alone? They couldn't/wouldn't leave him alone while he was alive, the poor guy can't even rest in peace. Why didn't they family go with the reported Mrs. Jackson's wishes for a private family funeral? I don't get it. Another thing I don't get is why the state of Rhode Island was left out of the lottery.

I am sure there are thousands of people wandering the streets of Rhode Island right now in tears because they could not get tickets to this stupid fest.

WTF?

OK, so a woman, who is on some type of medication, is driving down highway 80 on May 18th, 2007 talking on her cell phone, hits a guard rail, gets off the highway and rear ends a car stopped at a red light, injuring the driver and three year old child.

OK, so hands free cell phone laws were not in affect at the time, so I can't get her on that. But lets just get this straight, driving on a major highway, speeding, hits a guard rail, drivers all around are calling 911, exits the highway and rear ends a car injuring two people all while on some kind of medication.

And now I am paying $335,000 in damages to the two injured people in the car she rear ended. Yes, me and if you live in the broke state of California you, are paying an additional $335K, cause we already paid $25K for property damages for this accident.

My question is WHY THE FUCK ISN'T CAROLE MIDGEN paying this money out of her own pocket? When I was on medication at one point, my license was taken away by the great state of California to avoid just these types of things. If she was on medication that could cause erratic behavoir why did she still have a license? Does she still have one? Cause you know, she probably is still driving to that new $132K job that the state gave her after she lost her re-election last year, the job that she has to be at a meeting once a month that the governor says is an unnecessary position.

And people wonder why the state is in such trouble?