What were they (again) thinking?

There's that "Dark City" wallpaper again. This time it's The Courtyard in Ronkonkoma, NY.

Mike in Paris - The view from butte Montmartre.

Montmartre is the highest point in Paris; photos can only hint at the grand view.



The Eiffel Tower, from butte Montmartre.



As there are some 300 steps, I used my transit pass to ride the "Funiculaire de Montmartre" to the top.

Mike in Paris - How we roll in Paris.

Hit the photo booth (in many Metro and RER stations) for the picture you'll stick on the self-adhesive patch of the "Navigo Découverte" companion ID card. The patch is smaller than the picture; trimming is required.



Because of the included admission discounts, the "Paris Visite" transit pass may be a good buy, if your plans include plenty of typical "tourist" spots.




After you've obtained your transit pass, just find a Metro station and roll.

Browse to transilien, dot com, for details. You'll have to read the pages in French for information regarding the Navigo Découverte pass.

Mike in Paris - It's a bridge! It's art!

Stop, you're both right!

The Rue de la Convention bridge, adjacent to the Javel RER C train station.

Mike in Paris - Notre Dame

It's a pretty good crowd, for a Saturday...



No power tools, but there it is.



This fellow was banging out good, I mean really good, classical music on that steel drum. Street performers don't normally impress me, but for these tunes, I tossed a two euro coin in his instrument case.

Mike in Paris - R.I.P., Jim Morrison

Yeah, a guy old enough to have seen The Doors play at The Whiskey just had to find it.



It's a shame the cover stone has not been replaced.



The map just inside the gate tags Jim as Number 30.



If you're looking for Morrison, use the Rue de Repos entrance. It's just a few hundred meters north from the Philippe Auguste station on Metro train number 2.

Mike in Paris - The Tower

That's a lot of iron.



The long view from the Parc du Champs de Mars.



As with any large iron structure, The Eiffel Tower needs constant maintenance to keep the thing from turning into a big pile of rust. These workers have the swell job of chipping away at the old paint.

Another Los Angeles "Ghost Sign"

This was the location (closed many years ago) for Clifton's Silver Spoon Cafeteria. The last Clifton's (Brookdale) is still open at 648 S Broadway.

www.cliftonscafeteria.com

What were they thinking?

The wallpaper in my room at The Kyoto Grand Hotel reminds me a bit of that scene in Dark City. There's no way out!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118929/

www.kyotograndhotel.com
120 S Los Angeles St
Los Angeles, CA 90012

The Down & Out

The bar previously known as "Charlie O's" has reopened as "The Down & Out"

It's still at the corner of Spring and Fifth, in The Alexandria Hotel, and operated by the same, fun-loving, folks that brought you Bar 107. Come on down...

The Gamble House - Pasadena, CA - 2009-07-19

Learn more at: http://www.gamblehouse.org/



View from the front lawn.



Looks like Doc Brown is at home.

The Gamble House was "The Brown Mansion" for the 1955 scenes in Back to the Future. Finding the DeLorean parked in front of the house was just a lucky coincidence.

Sacrilege!

But, but, but... OS X is perfection on earth! How could you commit such a horrible sin?

Sorry, I wanted an "it just works" experience and OS X (Tiger) can't cut it. You disagree? Try to configure a network printer, not bundled with Tiger, and get back to me.

Mike in Hamburg, Germany - 2009/04/29

Google translates hauptbahnhof as main rail yard; an accurate, if unimaginative, description, as it's one of Hamburg's primary transportation hubs. I was more than two weeks in Germany without a rental car; no problem.

Mike in Wedel, Germany - 2009/04/26

A couple of places I didn't enter...

It was nine in the morning, but a few crusty, old locals were warming the stools and bending their elbows. I wonder if they filled-out all the paperwork and payed to fees to license that name from 20th Century Fox.


No, I didn't "have it my way" at this establishment. This Burger King is only a few hundred meters from McDonald's.

Here's a great place for eating and drinking. The sign out front says, "Bier und Wein Comptoir" (Beer and Wine Bar). Not a lot of imagination behind that but, hey, I drink at a bar with the address as part of the name

Regardless of the silly name, the kitchen produces very tasty food and the bar offers more than a dozen varieties of draft beer.
http://www.bwc-wedel.de/

Mike in Wedel, Germany - 2009/04/25

This is good to know, if you happen to drive a tank to work.

I looked it up; this sign is to inform NATO troops of bridge weight limits.

Mike in Wedel, Germany - 2009/04/19

I'm in Germany for a couple of weeks on business; here are a few snapshots


My hotel in Wedel. It's a nice place; stay there if you visit the greater Hamburg Area. The Blum family (yes, it's a family operation) made me feel as if this was my "home away from home."

http://www.hoteldiamant.de



I don't know if this traffic sign is a warning, or a prediction.



Some things can't be avoided, no matter how far one travels. This establishment is next to the large shopping mall next to the Altona railway station.

Los Angeles Union Station

Most folks making connections here never take the time to look around; that's too bad, as they miss something well worth their time.