Yup, it's Paris, France. And I'm so excited I can barely sit still. My poor coworkers, they've got another six months of this. Anyways, the first picture is awesome, though I think we might have a bit of a problem. They're a couple of blocks away from the place where I'll be staying... Maybe instead of a bouquet for my room, I'll get a Phal of some sort and then make a gift of it to my hosts... On the plus side, this isn't really a destination, just a stop to make while my friends are sleeping in or something. Which leaves room for more... Oh, I'm so bad. Thanks, Calvin. Julie P.S. OOS is making a group order from Exotic Orchids of Maui this fall. Details should be on our website in the next couple of weeks if you're interested, and I could send the Laelia alaorii at the same time.

My Lehman's catalogue arrived yesterday, and I thought of you. It started out as a business which catered to the Amish and Menonites in this country - German religious sects which settled here in the 17th century. They still exist in large communities in Pennsylvania and areas in the Midwest. They do not use electricity, automobiles, etc. (they really do drive horse & buggies in the slow lane on the highways). Fabulous farmers. They are the reason there is still a market here in serious plow horses, horse drawn plows, etc. I was in PA driving around with an elderly friend who had lived there all of his life (he was "Pennsylvania Dutch", and totally in the modern world, but still was able to speak the ancient German dialect, and spoke English with a slight German accent, despite the fact that his family has been here since the 1660s!). We passed a lovely farm house with at least 2 dozen Amish men climbing all over it doing sort of construction type things. I asked my friend what was going on, and he said "They are taking the electricity out", because it had been purchased by an Amish family! Anyway, the Lehman's catalogue has every tool & gadget you can imagine in a version that does not require power, as well as all sorts of wood stoves (with cooking ovens & tops), etc. etc. It was advertising a book about how to live without electricity, too. I thought you might find it amusing - they have a web site. Jackie

Great pictures! And I agree that it is too bad about Mexico right now. If you want to see real Aztec ruins, you would have to go to Mexico City. Here's some pictures I took of an Aztec temple excavated recently in downtown Mexico City, and here's some from the museum next door. My favorite ruins are in Oaxaca (Zapotec & Mixtec) and Yucatan (Mayan). There are fantastic museums in Mexico City, and I could meet you there, if you decide to go at some point. It's great that you got to cook your own fish - now that's fresh!! When I was in Puerto Arista, Chiapas, my traveling friend José helped some fisherman who gave him a large fish, and we had someone cook it for us in her yard, which was an ersatz restaurant. She hardly charged us anything for that, and our hotel rooms were $1.60 a day - but that was back in 1978, I believe. They're probably almost ten times that much now! Lars Here is a link that might be useful:

Got in late on Thursday and spent the weekend recuperating from my vacation! Work is piled up to the ceiling but it was well worth the trip. First of all, that city was ridiculously packed with tourists. Mostly from Europe. Seems like a popular destination for French, Japanese and Scandinavian tourists. The weather was way warmer than I thought it would be. I took sweaters for the evenings but all I needed was a light poncho. I stupidly got a sunburn too! As for our itinerary, we did everything. We were out the door pretty early everyday and able to beat the crowds pretty much everywhere we went. Saturday -Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market: Beautiful food everywhere! We had breakfast at Boulettes Larder - really fantastic food. -Exploratorium Museum: Really neat place but we got there too late and the crowd was just too much. It was packed with unruly kids and rude parents and nephew isn't the pushy type so he didn't get to have very much "hands on" with all the cool exhibits. We did see a cow's eye dissection, so there's that! -FW/Pier 39: Aquarium - really one of the better aquariums I've been. We were early so lots of the animals were active, especially the very cute Otters; RocketBoat Cruise - super silly and touristy but oh so much fun and got to see the sea lions while on the boat; lunch of chowder in a bread bowl at Boudin which was lame but I guess an iconic thing to get at FW. -Chinatown - Didn't have dinner but walked through. Really dirty and don't need to go to another Chinatown ever. -We were so tired we order takeout sushi (can't remember from where) in our hotel room. They have a service in SF that's much like Uber but for delivers. Worked great and sushi was good but average. Sunday - Had breakfast at Waterfront Bakery around the corner from the bike rental place at FW. Very yummy French pastries at this cute little bakery. Maybe not the best choice for breakfast before a bike ride! - The GGB bike ride was awesome! Again, started off early and beat the crowds. Sister and I had to walk our bikes up two very steep hills but nephew powered through the whole thing. Really, one of the easiest parts was on the bridge. Wind wasn't bad and all the bikers were very courteous. Sausalito is a fantastic little town. We parked out bikes (valet bike parking!) and walked around town, had the best burger ever at Napa Valley Burger, laid in the grass for awhile at a park by all the sail boats while nephew flew a kite. Took the ferry back to SF in late afternoon. I clocked the bike ride at around 10 miles. Getting off the Ferry at FW and riding back to the bike rental place was a little stressful because of the crowds and cars. -Took a cable car from our hotel to Frascati on Hyde (Russian Hill) for dinner. Fantastic little neighborhood bistro. Monday -Rented a car at the hotel (free upgrade to a Mercedes was nice) and drove to Muir Woods. We arrived around 8:30am and got a parking spot in the second parking lot. Had a decent breakfast at the cafe there and walked about two miles into the forest before nephew wanted to head back. Really beautiful and peaceful. So glad we left when we did. As we were getting closer to the entrance, the woods turned into a shopping mall - people everywhere with a din of voices. There were cars parked along the road for two miles! - Drove to Point Bonita Lighthouse with the most spectacular views! Went to Rodeo Beach down the road where nephew got to fly his kite. Basically a very uncomfortable gravel beach. Wish we had thought to take a blanket. - Headed back to SF and drove around the Castro, Haight-Ashbury (found an organic hot dog place that was just okay), the Tenderloin (yikes!), drove down the iconic hairpin turns on Lombard Street. Went to Baker Beach just before sunset. Nephew was happy to jump into the bone-chilling water! Returned our car about five blocks from the hotel. We walked back to the hotel UP THE HILL. No wonder there aren't that many people walking those hills. Tuesday - Took a cable car to Union Square, had breakfast at Sears (very good hearty breakfast fare). - Went to Alcatraz, what a wonderful experience. The audio tour is awesome and there was a former prisoner in the bookstore signing his book. The island is a bird sanctuary as well so it was really cool to see all the nests and fledglings. - Got on a cable car at one of the manual turntables (nephew loved that!) near FW and went back to the hotel. - Had dinner in the Mission District at Pica Pica, a Venezuelan arepa restaurant. Not amazing, but good. Walked around a bit and headed back. Wednesday - Sister and nephew went to iFly in Union City. She said they were on the Oakland bridge in traffic for almost 45 minutes. I stayed at the hotel to take care of work. - Had dinner at Boulevard near the Ferry Building. Beautiful old building and the food was spectacular. Thursday - Travel day. Checked out the hotel a little more (rooftop garden with beehives was a joke) and had a late breakfast. Laid around a bit and headed for the airport. Really nice airport! My sister's flight was an hour before mine so I had time to get a pedicure in the salon at the airport. One of the best pedicures I've ever had. Notes: -Cable cars are hard to get with all the tourists but I found a trick. Hold up a hand with fingers showing how many people are in your party. They'll pick you to jump on every time. Showing your City Pass helped too because then the operator knows they don't have to mess around with taking money and giving change. - Our hotel sucked. Very expensive Fairmont Hotel wasn't even close to being worth it except the location was good - away from the crowds. The only good thing I can say is that the beds were very comfortable. Maid service was terrible, concierge service was non-existent, and our room was musty and smelled like smoke. They claimed they had no other rooms to switch us to and offered to bring a ionizer to the room which took them and hour to bring. Breakfast was mediocre at best. That was way more detailed than I had intended! All in all, great vacation. Loved San Francisco but wouldn't want to live there!