Ziggy, there are cell "dead zones" all over the place for all the carriers. I occasionally do work in an office where my T-Mobile reception is great but no Verizon reception inside, at all; the workers have to go outside to make Verizon calls!

Yep, Ziggy, we'll be back for a couple of weeks in late May again for me to creep and shuffle my creaking old carcase about that lovely city. I'll gasp and pant and bitch at the stairs in the Metro, while following up on the restaurant tips I have noted here over the past year.

Really, both of us got hooked on the Portes Ouvertes des Ateliers D'Artistes de Belleville last year. Despite the bloody hills in Belleville we are determined to visit as many of the artists's studios as we can. We only got to 30 or 40 of the over 120 last May.

Aside from the art, it was a revelation to go behind the those doors that are closed to mere mortals the rest of the year. Some of the studios, passageways, and communal courtyards have been turned into mini art galleries themselves, while others are true garrets with some obsessed person doing art in their bedroom. I'd go back just for that.