Ry and Will were wiped out from their all night music extravaganza and spent a vast part of the day sleeping. We packed the yellow cart and went off to the flea market Marche de Puces des Vanves..which means flea market in Vanves. It's not the BIG market, but it was still pretty large and full of wonderful old things. Of note were the buttons, glassware, real silver, and cards. It was a little rainy, but most of the market is well covered. Lee returned to join the other guys napping in the apt, but I opted to keep going. The men are sucked dry of energy, but I find myself to be completely energized by this city! I took the metro to Galleries Lafayette and the hordes of people shopping the soldes or sales. It's ... read more

07 86 95 98 18 in case you want to call me internationally. If you are ever in Europe, remember that the coffees aren't made up like your local Starbucks. A latte and cappuccino are basically expresso with a hint of milk, so if milk is what you need in coffee, one must order cafe creme or cafe au lait. Once our coffee dilemmas were over and at the risk of repeating myself, we dashed off once again to buy cell phones. Voila! Je suis Americain avec un telephone, albeit a dinosaur in its technical abilities. I saw on Facebook that our friends, the Clevengers, were also in Paris, so we made arrangements to have a 4th of July drink later. The guys went off in search of more music and French fashions, and we found ... read more

Shalom one last time before I head home. I've been in Tel Aviv for a few days and have enjoyed myself like nothing else! 7/16 I found myself up around 7:30am and headed out to the Shuk HaCarmel and Nakalot Benyamin markets. The shuk is open every day, but the other is a sort of street fair/ flea market on Tuesday and Friday only. I was so pleased with myself for getting up early enough to get the best deals. Bummer that no one told me that nothing really happens until after 10. Nothing at all. So I window shopped Sheinkin street in the 85 degree weather and found a sweet little cafe to order my 9 am iced coffee. Bummer that no one told me that most of the icy machines don't start running until ... read more

Shalom again from Israel - no photos at this time since I can't upload with my camera card to this compter. Just know - still gorgeous! Traveled with the group up north near Acco to the Ghetto Resistance Fighter Musuem. Right before the Nazi's emptied out the Warsaw ghetto, some very courageous people formed a resistance and after the war, emigrated to Israel. they have a kibbutz and have made a beautiful museum, including the most moving children's musuem. We looked at models of the death camp of Treblinka - the Nazi's made 3 of the buildings into the Hebrew word "chai" the word for life. 72 survivors out of over 870,000 prisoners. Although the Nazi's were very precise with photos and careful documentation of information, only 4 clandestine photos of the actual murders exist. Taken ... read more

Shalom from Israel! Hi all, After a turbulent bounce into Toronto and seemingly no one in charge security and customs, we cooled our heels for 3 hours waiting for the delayed Tel Aviv flight. We passed the time shopping duty free, bought kinders and maple candy (we are in Canada, after all) and watched part of the World Cup in an airport bar. Uneventful flight into Tel Aviv...except for the panicky realization I should have paid better attention the last few years and learned more than the aleph bet in Hebrew. What a difference a day makes! After a cramped night (even my 1/2 Ambien didn't do the trick - going for the whole thing on the way home) I found myself in a gorgeous new universe called Tel Aviv. We took a $40 cab ride ... read more