A penny for your thoughts & 3€ for your sh*t

I love travel and can say, without a doubt, that window shopping is part of the pleasure. It’s not like I buy anything (for sellers, I am the worst kind of tourist), but just wandering in and out of shops and dreaming of a limitless budget does wonders for the vacation soul.

Still, I am often amused by the kind of items I come across in these shops. Case in point, the items pictured below. I was actually enjoying this shop — two levels of kitchen and home kitsch in bright come-in colors and high empty-your-wallet prices — until these gems screamed at me from the shelf.

A 3€ roll of toilet paper? Really?

In three parts, the amusement:

1. That there is a company (or, worse, an artisan) whose sales rep came by and made the pitch.
2. That the buyers for this shop decided, yeah, we’ll make room on our shelves and in stock for it.
3. That there are tourists who are tempted to buy one…and some actually do.

Related post: For the high-end bathroom, something reeks.

Black.

It’s the first thing I noticed.

…ok, not true. First I saw the “Bienvenue!” poster with giggled with delight at the immediacy of it — The Eiffel Tower! Live! In Person!

So it the was the second thing I noticed and just as inspiring.

Black. Black people. Black people hair. Black people lips. Black people skin.

We were everywhere. From high yellow — as my old Black southern relatives call it — to an almost shiny blue-black (and in a surprisingly complementary blue dress suit, I’d like to point out).

Some weeks before, when Ralf and I were visiting his parents, I noticed this was true of Nürnberg as well. Golly, for all the talk of Berlin’s multiculturalism, it doesn’t look it enough.

—

I stood under the Eiffel Tower last night. I had already had an amazing day — eating Lebanese take-out with my host/guest/housing swapper Adrienne, standing on the grounds of the Louvre, walking the Champs-Elysees, and snapping photos at the Arc de Triomphe.

But the Eiffel Tower is glorious at night, and add the most beautiful light-and-breezy summer weather and it *is* the once-in-a-lifetime chance you’ve dreamed of. (And, because life is good, I can repeat it over and over for days.)

Ok, time for my walking tour. Wie sagt man, “see you later,” auf Französich?

Remember The Time

– there are just some songs that mark ones life too strongly to ever be free of them. Thanks, Michael, for this and all the rest.

Do You Remember
When We Fell In Love
We Were Young
And Innocent Then
Do You Remember
How It All Began
It Just Seemed Like Heaven
So Why Did It End?

Do You Remember
Back In The Fall
We’d Be Together
All Day Long
Do You Remember
Us Holding Hands
In Each Other’s Eyes
We’d Stare
(Tell Me)

Do You Remember The Time
When We Fell In Love
Do You Remember The Time
When We First Met
Do You Remember The Time
When We Fell In Love
Do You Remember The Time

Do You Remember
How We Used To Talk
(Ya Know)
We’d Stay On The Phone
At Night Till Dawn
Do You Remember
All The Things We Said Like
I Love You So
I’ll Never Let You Go

Do You Remember
Back In The Spring
Every Morning Birds Would Sing
Do You Remember
Those Special Times
They’ll Just Go On And On
In The Back Of My Mind

Do You Remember The Time
When We Fell In Love
Do You Remember The Time
When We First Met Girl
Do You Remember The Time
When We Fell In Love
Do You Remember The Time
Those Sweet Memories
Will Always Be Dear To Me
And Girl No Matter What Was Said
I Will Never Forget What We Had
Now Baby

Do You Remember The Time
When We Fell In Love
Do You Remember The Time
When We First Met
Do You Remember The Time
When We Fell In Love
Do You Remember The Time

Do You Remember The Time
When We Fell In Love
Do You Remember The Time
When We First Met
Do You Remember The Time
When We Fell In Love
Do You Remember The Time

Remember The Times
Ooh
Remember The Times
Do You Remember Girl
Remember The Times
On The Phone You And Me
Remember The Times
Till Dawn, Two Or Three
What About Us Girl

Remember The Times
Do You. Do You, Do You,
Do You, Do You
Remember The Times
In The Park, On The Beach
Remember The Times
You And Me In Spain
Remember The Times
What About, What About…

Remember The Times
Ooh… In The Park
Remember The Times
After Dark…, Do You, Do You, Do You
Remember The Times
Do You, Do You, Do You, Do You
Remember The Times
Yeah Yeah
Remember The Times

Were you sexually active before you were married?

In case you women missed it, Bristol Palin — young, single mother and daughter of abstinence-only wack-job Sarah Palin — has been crowned a Teen Ambassador by the Candie’s Foundation, according to Time Magazine’s coverage. The foundation works to prevent the “devastating consequences” of teen pregnancy under a wait-until-you’re-married banner that seems to focus exclusively on young women. Among their tips for parents are a series of self-reflective questions that include this gem: “Were you sexually active before you were married?”

Oh golly no! The horror!

In better news, Obama wants to cut federal spending on abstinence-only programs , the Republican-led anti-sex initiative that has plagued our public schools and battered comprehensive sex education.

Clearly, the battle for sanity is not over when hyprocrites — wait! make that “repentant sinners” — like Palin are chosen to provide their wisdom to the wayward. Nevertheless, this nail in the coffin from Obama gives me reason to cheer.

Says Advocates for Youth, “The Obama administration deserves praise for bringing science and evidence back to public health policy and jettisoning the ideological earmark known as abstinence-only.”

Amen to that!

Where’s the beef?

ice cream disguised like burger & fries

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Nelson Mandela Brand!

Available at your local gift shop

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Sign of the (new) times

outside one of the Obama events in Berlin, Germany

Vicki’s report on the Inaugural Concert

“We made it! It was much milder today and no precipitation. We had to walk from Farragut North as the streets were close below I st. And we got there 2 hours ahead so we could get a least somewhere near the Lincoln Memorial, though we really only saw anything on the jumbotrons. But it was great even being squeezed into a huge crowd with barely room to move.

All of it was great except Bono who sucks and was totally out of place.

Renee Flemming was wonderful, okay no one else in our vicinity payed any attention to her. LOL.

Springsteen was first up and he was pretty good. Garth Brooks was actually one of the highlights, he sang American Pie and Shout and the crowd totally was into it. I didn’t know who all the singers were and they didn’t announce them. I just checked some stuff on the internet to see who some were. The only patriotic song they sang in the body of the concert was Josh Groban & Heather Headley singing My Country Tis of Thee, backed by a chorus, which I just discovered was the Gay Men’s Chorus of D.C. Is the Reagan era dead now? Obama spoke and then PETE SEEGAR along with Springsteen sang This Land is My Land.

This is a new era.”

Turn Your Back on Obama Day

So much for celebrating the inauguration.  In this morning’s read of The Vicki Rant, I learned that President “Change You Can Believe In” Obama has chosen anti-gay, Proposition 8 proponent Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration.  This is an outrageous disappointment and has, per my title, recast the day. I won’t be celebrating with drinks, sitting in front of my television nor clapping my hands with joy.

With 33 days until the fateful day, there are things you can do:

Read more at The Huffington Post Twit, digg, stumble it.

Send a written protest via at the president-elect’s Change.gov site using the contact the transition team form.

Send an email to Rick Warren personally asking him to step aside.

Crawling back into bed now. Thank god/goodness/goddesses/smurfs that there is no Vodka around.

Little White Man

Oh these shopping moments in Berlin that give me so much joy…
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