More Practice

My blogging skills are limited to doing a decent job of photographing and writing about Paris.  What it seems I can't do is master the blogging software such that the email version of my posts looks as good as the web version.

I subscribe to the blog by email at two email accounts.  The email rendition really sucks compared to the web version.

Also, the email version cannot view the videos because the file sizes are too large.  They must be seen on the web.

So....I'm going to make a suggestion to the email subscribers.   Your subscription has one big advantage, you know exactly when a new blog is posted.

So instead of living with the email version's bad layout, when you receive the email, simply click on the title "Steve's Travel Blog" & that will take you to the web edition in your default browser.

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I need to test a video.  Here is a short vid of some circus clowns-to-be (out of costume) practicing on their stilts.  In Paris you can come across almost anything.

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HAVING CELL PHONE SERVICE IN EUROPE

If you're going to stay any length of time, it's useful to have mobile phone service which consists of a compatible cell phone plus a country specific SIM card.  If you have AT&T service in the U.S., you already have the phone.  You just need to call AT&T customer service (they try to hide the number: 800-901-9878) & ask them for the unlock code & how to do it. If you've been with them for several years, they'll comply albeit reluctantly.

We're with Verizon so our phone won't work.  Go to Amazon & purchase an unlocked GSM phone.  Nowadays, you can get an Elderberry for around $20 & for $85 & up, an Android smart phone.  We have one Elderberry & two old Java phones. (May have to replace the latter for our trip next year.)
 
Now you need a French SIM card.  For years, I stood in line for an hour or more at the Club Bouygues office near the Ledru-Rollin Metro.  It's the cheapest of the regular French mobile providers.  Orange (France Telecom) is the AT&T of France. For around €30 a phone, you have cell service for 15 days.  The Europeans brag that in Europe you never pay for an incoming mobile call.  That's correct.  But someone has to pay.  You do, in the form of outgoing calls costing double the price.

About 10 days ago I stumbled upon what seems to be the ideal mobile phone service.  Everything is in English, designed for the British & Americans & it's cheap.  Here's the link:

http://www.lefrenchmobile.com/

Had I discovered it sooner, I would've had the SIM cards sent to Scottsdale so we would've had service as soon as we stepped off the plane.  Instead, I sent them to our apartment.  The landlord acknowledged they arrived today.

So I've gambled a bit over $80 for mobile service for three phones with plenty of talk time.  Stay tuned, I'll let you know how it works out.

BTW, it's useful to have even limited phone capability no matter what.  Back in the pre-mobile phone days, I carried a France Telecom "Telecarte" and still do.  With it, I can use any public phone to make calls.  If somehow GFB we fail to connect with our van service Saturday morning, this is how I'll call them.  Pre-mobile, I used it to call friends from the public phone in the hotel lobby.

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This is probably my last practice blog.  I gots to get to the serious business of actually going!