This really isn't a picture of Gretchen...
I was trying to get a picture of the guy in the background--Gretchen in the foreground is merely subterfuge. This guy walked up to the train platform wearing a red velvet coat--it was like a sports coat, but just a little longer. It was like a Santa Claus coat, minus the white fur and thick black belt. Maybe you had to be there...but it was a pretty interesting jacket. And without even realizing it, I found myself on the train subconsciously humming Alannah Myles' song Black Velvet. "Black [red] velvet and that little boy's smile; Black [red] velvet with that slow southern stlye; A new religion that'll bring you to your knees...Black [red] velvet if you please..."
Great Britain, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the ear... ... read more 
