some pics from this year's trips

Notre Dame Cathedral (Paris, early spring):

View of Las Vegas from penthouse balcony (August)....

Texas Vehicle (summer)

a "shoe garden" in San Francisco (September)...

Brooklyn patio party (July)...

Vegas, San Francisco, crafting...

Check out my Romer-O-Rama page on Etsy.

I sell draprons and use the page as a bit of a "confessatorium."

Useful Ameri-advice for Euro Travellers not explained in guidebooks

Installment 1: What to drink

Get used to drinking mineral water, coffee or booze. "Still" or "table" water is often served in a caraff that looks like it hasn't been washed since the days of Napoleon. And it's served at room temperature.

Don't even think about ordering a coke. Once by the Louvre, in a bistro lousy with tourists, a 1-liter plastic bottle set us back $17 USD. Yet my glass of wine was a little over $3 USD. Welcome to Europe.

Keep in mind Euro Fanta tastes like Orangina (even less floursecent orange in color), and Orangina practically flows from the fountains in the public squares. In fact, all food (think ketchup) and beverage contains less sugar.

One of the best things to drink is mineral water with a shot of exotic (by U.S. Standards, anyway) fruit juice. I urge you to partake of the juice of the kiwi, the mango, the gooseberry.

Oh, feel free to buy Evian. No longer cost prohibitive on this side of the Atlantic, it's cheaper than Dasani or Ozarka. Go Evian crazy.

Romero confession

confession:

I don't know my home phone #. Arturo finds this shameful. I'm kind of proud of this, sort of like how I've never eaten grits.

Paris!

Wow, have I not posted that long? The last post is from another freakin' year, for chrissake.

Here's a pic from our last trip to Paris in March. I miss it already. I hate summers in Houston. My hair won't feel dry for the next...oh...four months or so.