abbie hoffman-part 2

i just realized this morning that i never told you why it was a "steal this book" tour.

after our adventures in brussels, we went to paris. in brussels, we learned that you could sneak onto the buses from a native. the ticket taker machine being in the back, you could come in the front. on the subway you could bypass the turnstile thingy, so we did it the native way. we paid our train ride to paris, but when we got there, we found that on the metro, there was a way to get through the swinging door thing to the trains- it was a two man system. then we jumped the turnstiles right in front of the gendarmes. they were unimpressed.

i ended up sneaking aboard the vaporetto in venice, the buses and subways in amsterdam...well you get the picture. pretty much everywhere in cities, we found ways to sneak onto public transportation.

if you read my brief bio, you know that i'm a middle-aged housewfe. you might be too young to remember abbie hoffman. he wrote a book called steal this book, which i stole. i had also been reading jack kerouac's satori in paris while in paris, which i found pretty amusing. i had similar experiences and went to some of the same places. it was pretty cool.

i also saw the home of colette, another writer i admire, in paris, and paid homage to the great sarah bernhardt,one of the stars of the comedie francaise, at pere lachaise cemetary, another paris landmark. she was what some people call a polymath, and a real character. she wore pants before most women, was a sculptor, a writer, an actress, etc. even after she had a leg amputated, she still continued acting. if you're looking for an image of a strong woman, this is one of them. of course, she lied so much about her past that no one really knew what her true background was, but isn't that fabulous? reinvent yourself if you don't like your life!