Neptune Landing

      Jet lag and a feeling of loneliness did not leave me with a favorable first impression of Amsterdam whose uniform grayness and tight sense of organization I felt respectable but suffocating. It didn't help that I got lambasted on the 17 tram by an unhinged derelict. In San Francisco we have our fair share of crazies on the MUNI but they are usually berating the universe in general. This French-speaking guy directed his ire on me and my one regret was moving to another part of the tram rather than sticking up for myself.       Adding to the insult was a humid density to the City of Canals, similar to a bad day in New York (not surprising given their shared history) of heaving throngs and claustrophobic architecture, boorish tourists and locals clad in black. An obligatory trip to the Sex Museum and a "coffeshop" in Rembrandt Park proved to be elusive distractions –– I left the latter because of the horrific R & B blasting from the strategically-placed video scr

"We'll always have Paris."           The above quote given by Humphrey Bogart's character Rick Blaine in Casablanca could easily reach beyond the personal and speak to the collective, to the fact that Paris belongs, permanently, to each and every individual across the globe, a place on the opposite end of a boom-and-bust-town. Her heavy energy and organized infrastructure won't be blown away by some big, bad wolf. Rome may be the "Eternal City" but Paris knows too that it is staying put, that her edifices of steel and marble and stone aren't going anywhere soon (unlike the flights of her 80 million annual suitors). We'll ALWAYS have Paris.   Notre Dame Cathedral       We rolled into Paris's Gare du'Nord, a transportation crossroads, on a Monday evening. The best early decision we made was NOT to purchase a 1-day or 4-day Metro Pass but to instead pick up a book of ten metro rides for 14 Euros each. At today's currency rate (