In Paris with Christine and Robert

Robert called me a few months ago.  "Eddie, don't tell Christine, but I booked us a flight to Europe and I want to come see you in Copenhagen and I hope you will join us in Scotland."  It truly was a big surprise for Christine.  To which she confided in me, "I don't want to go to Copenhagen - I've been there before."  That was about 30 years ago or so.  Just a few things have changed since then.  LOL  She continued, "If I have to go to Europe, I want to see something I haven't seen before."  Well that would be like 99.99% of Europe.  So Christine talked Robert into go to Paris instead of Copenhagen.  I really really wished they had come here to CPH so that I could show them my home, home town and surrounding areas.  But I didn't try to influence them one way or the other.  I wanted it all to be free will.  "Oh, Eddie, Robert is taking me to Scotland.  I don't wanna go to Scotland."  What am I gonna do in Scotland?  He wants to golf with his buddies.  I don't golf.  Will you come and meet me in Scotland."  To which I answered, "Of course!"  I didn't really want to go to Scotland either and I especially didn't want to go to Paris ever again. I was just there last year summer.  I have now been there about 10 times.  But if my dear sweet baby sister is coming to Europe, of course I am going to meet her where ever she choses to go. 

I was in Amsterdam and Brussels just the months before.  It was baking hot there.  So of course it was going to be baking hot in Paris too. It was, after all, the middle of August.  I left my home early in the morning.  I crossed the street, came to the next apartment and turned right back around.  It was raining.  I had to go back and get my umbrella.  Here you can see my about face foot prints in the rain.

Once I got to the Copenhagen airport, I met my German friend Stephan going back home to Berlin.  He's in CPH about once a month.  This time, he was traveling with his best friend Ron.  Here we are in the long security line.

We were supposed to go get a coffee and a bite to eat 

together once we crossed security.  But for some reason, they kept scanning Ron's carry-on.  I told Stephan, I'm sorry but I need to get going and my flight departs soon and I need something to eat before I hop on board.  We said good-bye and good luck.   

I snapped and sent the above photo to Stephan so that he could see now where their gate was at while they were stuck in security waiting for Ron's carry-on to clear.  I knew they would have to walk past me so I sat in a conspicuous space.  But they must have walked a different direction or we just missed each other among all the 1000s of passengers making their way to their respective gates.

I was sitting at the corner right next to the edge 

of the hallway that I was sure Stephan and Ron 

would be passing by and see me.

After my toast and coffee,

I made my way to the gate.

Robert and I already planned that though my flight would land 20 minutes after they land in Paris, I would most likely get though to the terminal before they would.  I would make my way to their terminal from my terminal probably before they cleared the customs process.  OMG  it must have been at least 1 mile between terminals.  I even started to jog a little because we had a long wait at the gate before the plane could actually park and let us out.  Time was passing.  I didn't want Christine and Robert to wait for me.  So I had to pick up my jog to a slow run.  (as if I could run fast)  

As it turned out, I still got to the gate before Christine and Robert got past customs control.  And then they had to go out and have a nicotine fix.  I actually could have just walked at a nice pace and still met them in time before we got into a taxi cab.

Suddenly, there they were, jet lagged, red eyed, but happy to see me and I was happy to see them.  We hugged, got some "fresh" air and then hopped in a cab to the very center of town.  The BnB they reserved was just a 5 minute walk to the Louver museum.

Robert slept a bit in 1st class.  Though Christine could lay all the way back, she really couldn't sleep more than a few moments at a time.  So by the time we figured out how to get into the BnB - it was tricky with needing 3 different door codes - and unpack, Christine needed to try to catch up on a bit of sleep.  But Robert was ready to go and he was ready to check out the town.  

Since it was just a 5-minute walk, Robert and I made a test run to the back entrance of the Louvre, which I knew of, but learned on Youtube how to get there.  

On the way there, 

I snapped the below photo. 

AI helped spiff it up and 

removed the many tourist 

in the foreground.

You don't even have to actually 

go inside of the museum.  

The outside is a huge 

work of art itself. 

Check out those necks.

Just walking thru the 

"golden arches"

of the Louvre

is way better than 

Micky D's.

Now we have made our way 

down into the back entrance.

So many people, it was impossible to get an ok video.

Now remember, the above is just the entrance to a shopping mall. 

The museum entrance is actually in the shopping mall.

From home, I knew that Robert and Christine were going to be tried after the long flight. So I made sure to book an early welcome dinner at a very nice restaurant nearby the BnB.  Just a 3 minute walk from the BnB, is a square - Place des Victories - and then another 3 minutes beyond that, is the elevator door to the restaurant - Roof. 

Well........ that's a bit disappointing.  No food photos.  I guess I left all the photo taking up to Robert.  Robert... if you are reading this, send me your food photos so that I can post them here.  I just have a photo of Christine and Robert at the belt line. 😔   Anyway......... this was our view.

This was just some of our food.

Dessert with chocolate self advertising label.

How tacky for such a fancy place.

Tasty but tacky.

DAY 2  - - -  DAY 2

DAY 2  - - -  DAY 2

Since I have been to Paris so many times myself, I decided to do something a bit out of the ordinary, something that I've never heard about.  I found out that there are 21 pedestrian passages in the city.  They are from the the middle 1800s.  The covered passages were created for the upper class where they could shop, eat, hang out and get around town without having to step in the dirt, mud, and horse poop on the streets.  They could avoid the snow in the winter and the hot sunny days of summer.  Originally there were about 150 passages.  Many of them were destroyed to modernize the city with wide boulevards.  Many of them were neglected and removed simply because they became out dated and dilapidated. About 21 of them have survived.  We went to check out a few of them.  If my memory serves me correctly, we passed thru 7 of them. Some of them were pretty amazing.  We had breakfast in one of them as well.  Here now are several shots of our journey and a few history posters that were on the walls of one of the passages - if you want to read a little interesting history about them.  The first photo is of us walking to the first pedestrian passage.  This is the square (though it's round) called Place des Victory.  It's just a 3-minute walk from the BnB - right on our street. 

If you look in the background, you can see King Louis XIV on a horse.  The statue symbolizes the grandeur of French history and was designed to celebrate the king's military victories.  It depicts the king crowned by victory and trampling on Cerberus, with allegorical figures representing various victories.  You can read more about it here on wikipedia.  

Now we come to the first passage and sit down for a late breakfast - we're slow in the morning but hey! We´re on vacation. 

Jackie and Aristotle Onassis

walking into Passage Pavillons. 

All the passages have their own name.

I am pointing on a map to where we are. 

Could that be Jacky and Aristotle 

coming out of the passage?

We pass this beautiful building

on our way to the next passage.

Now a bit of history of the passages

and the area.

So as I mentioned earlier, several of the passages have been demolished simply because they are a thing of the past and they have not been taken care of.  I think this one is trying to make a come-back.  It's in desperate need of work.  It appears that it is being worked on but I am sure it is very $$$.

We saw so much.  I think it was a total of 6 or 7 different passages we walked through.  We had breakfast in one, I bought a few post cards in another and in another one, I bought a small golf size marble ball to take home to Jens for our 36th anniversary which is a Marble anniversary.  (of course that all depends upon which website you are looking for and how much a jewelry boutique can take you for.)

Google AI says:

Copilot AI says no.

So, after we did the passages, we decided to walk on over to Galleries La Fayette.  I have been there before.  Not to shop but to specifically view the beautiful glass dome.  

Here is a very brief history:

Opened in 1894.

During Nazi occupation of France,

Jewish owner and 120 employees 

were forced to resign.

Click here to read more.

But Robert had the inside scoop: What I didn't know was, there is a rooftop viewing deck.  I would say not possible.  How can you stand on a glass dome?  Such a limited imagination and knowledge I have.

Views from the rooftop.

Strange building with the top falling off.

Later that day.....

We are not going to the 3rd floor - the top.

But we are going to the Champaign viewing deck - 2nd floor.

And here for dinner on the 1st floor - 

where I have marked our window seats.

In stead of just looking at it, 

it was time to look from it.

I cheated on the next few photos.

It was completely over clouded

but I had AI do a bit of touch up.

For example the next photo is 

the real deal.  The photo after

that, is AI. 

All the photos with the blue sky are fake.

Some close ups of the views from the champaign deck.

The real thing with no fake blue sky.

Starting with Sacré Coeur on Montmartre.

Looking towards La Défence.

Robert wanted to go here but we just didn't have 

the time.  And Christine would never have climbed

the 284 stairs.  This is of course the Arc de Triomphe.

La Défense

I am focusing on the Danish architect designed

La Grande Arche de la Défense.

Click on it to see it on Wikipedia.

It's the square building of which I could

only capture the top.

Pont Alexandre III bridge.

Ferris wheel.

Notre Dame

There are actually 2 towers. 

Ugly.

They look like they are going to 

break and fall.

It's called Tours Duo.

Instead of looking out,

I look up to the top/3rd floor

 from the champagne deck/2nd floor.

None of this would be possible if it wasn't for this guy.

A little but nuts but you know those Frenchmen.  After we went up for champagne, we had to come back down so that we could go up again to have dinner. It takes 2 separate tickets and they are time based.  1 ticket for the viewing deck and 1 ticket for the dinner deck.  Each deck has it's own elevator.  I guess that's the reason.  It's not possible to coordinate the tickets to match the time. Thank goodness it all worked out.  We just had to wait on the ground  about 20 - 30 minutes to go back up for dinner.  Yes, there are stairs between the 1st and 2nd floor but you must start at the bottom.  

In all the years that I have been to Paris,

this is the first time I have been up in the tower.

How fun to have my first time with my sister.

In the next photo, the lens is focused on the ground

AND on the same floor across the way 

is the entrance to the restaurant.

Looking down thru the glass floor,

you can see tourist milling around 

on the ground.  I circled them so

you can see the people.

That's how high up we are.

After a long viewing session with champagne on the 2nd floor viewing deck, a long wait on the ground, and then another elevator tour up to the 1st floor for dinner, we finally walked in and we were seated right next to a window that looks out over the Seine and towards the city.  I had to buy a specific time slot each for the viewing deck AND the restaurant.  What was available for a dinner time slot was just after the sun set.  It gave us a night time view over the city but the area we looked at was mostly over public areas and offices.  So actually we didn't see a heck of a lot.  Plus the reflection of the restaurant lighting on the windows hindered a bit of the view.  But besides all of that, it was a very lovely experience and I was so happy to share this moment with Christine and Robert.

As they say: if you have to ask for the price, you shouldn't be there.

This is a good example of little lighting outside

and reflective lighting inside.

After dinner we were back on the ground looking up again.

It's impossible to stop looking up and admire the imposing structure.

I have 100s of shots but here are just a few.

DAY 3 - - - DAY 3

DAY 3 - - - DAY 3

As I mentioned on Day 1, Robert and I took a practice run on the back entrance to the Louvre museum so that we could hopefully just walk right in.  It worked and it didn't work.  We got up early to be at the museum at our designated time slot.  Though we took the short cut and though we came early, it was still a very long line to get in.  What we didn't know is that there was a very very short line that we should have been in for easy access.  The short line was so short, we didn't notice it until after waiting in the long line for 30+ minutes.  We eventually moved into the short line but by then it didn't matter much.  Like an airport, everyone has to go through security.

Lots of photos coming up. I have 1000s.

I won't  explain them all.  There was way too much to see.

We saw only a tiny fraction of all the art.  

We saw only a small amount of the building. 

 I booked us a 1½ hour guided tour.

It was just the highlights.

It wasn't easy.  Way too many people.  

IF and that's a huge IF - if I ever do this again, 

it will be in the dead of winter.

It was difficult to get a good shot

because of the backlighting.

Is it too late to turn the flash on now?

Even AI had a hard time with this one.

And now the tour begins......

This ancient artifact is the Votive Altar of King Ptolem VI Philometro 

approximently from 164 - 162 - BC.

Uh............ ok.

Athena from 430 BC

From between 150 -125 BC

Believed to depict Aphrodite

the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

aka Venus. 

The Greek goddess Victory

aka Nike.

She's the one all over your

sports shoes and gym gear.

Really.

The artwork built into the actual structure

of the building itself is amazing.

Christine and I have the same star sign,

and Robert has his initials etched into the ceiling at the Louvre.

I don't care if they are 500 years old or

finished just yesterday.  I am always

in awe of oil paintings.

This famous oil painting is Leonidas at Thermopylae. Completed in 1814 by the celebrated French Neoclassical master Jacques-Louis David.  He is the most celebrated and influential French painter of the Neoclassical era.  David effectively defined the visual style of the French Revolution and later served as the official court painter to Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

Anyway... this painting captures the Spartan King Leonidas at the center, seated calmly before the fatal Battel of Thermopylae in 480 BC, surrounded by his 300 hoplites preparing for their final, heroic stand against the invading Persian forces. David chose to paint the soldiers naked to evoke classical Greek idealism and emphasize the pure moral courage, patriotism, and self-sacrifice of the warriors rather than focusing purely on active combat violence.

2 different pieces of art here.

I tried to frame it all as one.

The Italian Stanga Portal arch 

in the background 

is from around 1495.

Michelangelo's famous Dying Slave

was sculpted between 1513 and 1516.

 

And of course,

 the top attraction at the Louvre 

is the stamp size Mona Lise.

One room with several 100s of 

people squeezing in to see her.

Robert and I waited about 30 minutes.

Every 15 seconds we moved 1 step forward.

Each person gets a brief moment to snap a photo

and then move to the exit lane.

Christine just couldn't.

I don't blame her.

I've always been fascinated with the Flying Mercury.  I love the way he gets around with the wings on his bare feet and helmet.  Created by Flemish-Italian sculptor Giambologna around 1580.  This is one of very many copies.  The original was made to sit on top of a fountain in Florence.  But has since then been moved to a museum.  Notice Mercury isn't just standing on this tip-toes; he is balancing on a column of air being blow from the mouth of Zephyrus (the god of the westerly wind), whose stylized face serves as the statue's tiny base.  I read about the making of this.  It took some math to get the heavy weight of the whole statue to balance just so.  The Caduceus ( a snake-entwined staff or rod) is held in Mercury's left hand.  It is a rich symbol that primarily represents peace, balance, commerce and safe passage.  The more I learned about Mercury, the more I am fascinated by him/the myth.

We've had enough.  We saw more than what we knew we were looking at. My only regret is not taking a historical art class in school.  Now as we are heading out of the museum, I snapped a final photo of the fascinating pyramid glass entrance in the middle of the very very old building.  This all started in 1190 - scroll up to see the first photos from the start of the tour.  As an actual museum, the Louver opened in 1793.  The glass pyramid was inaugurated in 1989. 

We took a little brake once we got out of the museum.

Robert and Christine had a plan where we should go have lunch but we couldn't quite figure it out.  So we ended back up at the place where Robert and I had lunch the day of our arrival.  Robert went on and on about the typical French ham and cheese sandwich called Croque Monsieur.  They really are delicious.  I've eaten very many of them in my life but usually I get the Croque Madam which is the same thing but with an egg.  If you every happen to be in a restaurant that offers this - get it. 

And now, a few photos from the area as we walk

home to freshen up for the 2nd half of the day.

Here we are at the Domaine National du Palais-Royal standing in the inner courtyard (Cour d'Honneur), surrounded by the art installation known as Les Deux Plateaux - aka Colonnes de Buren. Created by French artist Daniel Buren in the mid-1980s, the piece features 260 of these distinctive black-and-white striped marble columns cut to varying heights across the plaza.

This town is loaded with some of the most amazing

cafés you'll ever see or sit in.  If I had time, I would sit 

in them all and eat 5000 tons of Croque Madam.

This funny car is the stationwagon model of the Citroën Ami 8 Break, manufactured by the French automaker Citroën between 1969 and 1978.  It was parked almost in front of our BnB.  The 3 of us always mentioned it as we walked to/from our BnB.  It's a real classic.  Too bad it was so run down.  It was also loaded with junk.  Barely enough space for the driver.  In the 4 days were were there, it never moved.  Across the street is the Bank of France - it was the view from our BnB.  If you google map the bank, it's all pixeled out.  I guess that's to keep robbers from making a plan.  But it's the size of a huge city block.

I snapped another photo

of one of the passages.

This one is, for the most part,

empty.  It's just at the corner 

of our BnB.

Since Christine has interest in Jewish culture, 

because of her job and boss, 

I planned a trip to the Jewish ghetto.

The Mémorial de la Shoah

Holocaust Memorial.

 

Shocking and horrible.

Sad and heart breaking.

Above is the entrance to the Agoudas Hakehilos Synagogue aka Synagogue de la Rue Pavée.  The construction was completed between 1913 and 1914 - just before WW1 broke out. 

The above sign reads:

Below is a Jewish bakery.

In about 2 hours from now, we are about to meet 2 of my good friends, Fabien and Patrick, 2 native Frenchmen.  They have invited us to meet them at their home just around the corner of where we are now.  With 2 hours to kill, we decided to sit down at a local Jewish café.  We're not really hungry so we just ordered something to drink. 

It's warm.  It's cloudy.  And..... we can feel something is about to happen.  It was too hot to sit indoors so we looked for a place with an awning just in case.  Now, I'm the only one smart enough to take an umbrella.  Usually an umbrella is a kind of mystical insurance to keep the rain away.  But it was 2 against one.  Soon there was a little sprinkle.  Just a few moments later, the sky opened up and dumped it's load on us. I made a quick decision.  Since I am very familiar with the area, I directed Christine and Robert to hang tight while I run to a shop to buy 2 extra umbrellas.  Just 2 blocks away I popped into a shop.  I'm dry, but my Skecher Walker's are like 2 stinky, old, kitchen sink sponges.  "2 umbrellas, please,"  I ask the boutique sales woman.  I paid, and then quickly ran back to the café to hand Robert and Christine an umbrella each.  

Fun useless fact:  while the Chinese invented umbrellas over 3000 years ago, it was a Frenchman named Jean Marius whom invented the first folding compact umbrella in 1710.
By the time we left the café, the rain had slowed down just a bit.  We only had walk less than ½ a mile / 550 meters but when we got to Patrick and Fabien's apartment, we had to take off our completely soaking wet socks and shoes.  The guys were so sweet to throw our socks in the dryer and loan us an extra pair while we sat in their living room getting to know each other, chatting, sipping on cocktails and nibbling on hor d'oeuvers - that's French for little finger-food snacks - LOL

Where are my photos of us in Fabien and Patrick's home?  What happened to my photo of real French finger-food snacks? If anyone has a photo or 2, send them to me so that I can post them here.

  

OK, now repeat after me: hor d'oeuvers.   

Finally when our socks were dry, we put them on and then then put our dry feet back into wet shoes - LOL.  Then Patrick and Fabian took us to a great neighborhood sidewalk café for dinner.  It was so much fun.  It was so delicious.  It will be for now on, a great memory.  Thank-you Fabien and Patrick for your extremely generous hospitality.

DAY 4 - - - DAY 4

DAY 4 - - - DAY 4

This is our last full day to take in as many sights as possible.  Robert and Christine are on vacation so they are taking their time to wake up and get the day started.  The first thing they do is go out to take a look at the vintage French automobile to make sure it's still ok.  And while they are there, they take in a bit of "fresh" air.   After some time, I realize I am the only one in the BnB.  So I opened the window of the BnB to look out and see if I can spot them.

When they come in, I am ready to go.  While they get themselves all dolled up for the day, I took my post cards to the post office.  It's only a 4 minute walk away from the BnB.  I think I ended up at the post office for over 30 minutes. Why?  I had a really long chat with this amazingly cool and helpful postmaster.  We talked all about stamps and the Danish post office and that I used to work at an international post office in Copenhagen.  I told the guy that we don't have post offices anymore in DK.  I told him that there are no mailboxes anymore in DK.  When I said that, he immediately repeated that to his colleague in French.  I could hear the dread in his voice as he told his colleague what I had just told him.  And he was explaining to me everything about his post office and how each post office at one time HAD each their own rubber cancelation post marker.  But now they are all generic. However, his post office still has its own rubber cancelation post marker and it has a drawing of the post office building that I was in.

Look at this guy.  He is so proud of his work.  He's in a sports coat and so kind and easy to talk to with great English. He was talking so nicely with all the customers too.  Zoom in and you can see it is a fancy rubber cancelation post marker.  The guy actually rubber stamped my package to my parents and post cards to my friends and family.  Did you get your post card?  If not, blame it on trump and DeJoy.  (trump's kiss ass postmaster general who tried to keep mail-in ballots from reaching their destinations - yes, that DeJoy).

We got a late but very relaxed start to head out to Notre Dame.  I tried to make reservation but it was pretty much impossible.  You can only do it 2 days in advanced and the website says that if you try too often, you will be lock out from the website.  WTF!   I guess this is what we can expect more of in the future with all the hacking going on around the world.  Anyway............. a beautiful rainless day.  We agreed that we would eat before trying to get into the very long line to the cathedral.  Long - yes, but it moved way faster than the line to the Louvre. 

After we stuffed ourselves, I made

my way over into the line to get into

Notre Dame.  Robert and Christine

went across the street to look at

a souvenir shop and then they

would make their way to meet me

in line so that they wouldn't have

to stand in another long line.

But it was moving fast so it

wasn't that bad.

Notre-Dame was built between 1163 and 1345. 

During renovation, it caught on fire on April 15 2019.

It was restored and reopened December 2024.

Fire fighters claim that another 15 to 30 minutes 

of fire, the building would have been pretty much

totally destroyed.  Also, somehow, with all that

fire and with all that damage, roughly 90% to

95% of all the art and relics were untouched. 

Shortly after we walked in,

there was a spot where you 

could light a candle for 

a loved one.

We had a difficult moment here.

After some time, Robert and Christine got the gest of the cathedral.  They crossed the street to take a load off their feet.  They sat in a park and waited for me while I tried to squeeze in a few more photos.  You know me - I have 100s more.

But......... I made my way across the street and took a little break too.  Then onto something really interesting........ for me.  We hopped into a cab and drove to Place De L'estrapade. 

When we got there I was so excited.  I was gushing like a young teenage  girl.  I've seen the Netflix series twice called Emily in Paris.  If you haven't seen it, you should.  Especially if you want to go to Paris but can't afford it.  It's about a young American girl who ends up getting a job in fashion house.  She falls in love with a wanna-be Michelin star chef. He lives in this apartment building and as it turns out, on the above floor, the American girl lives here too. It's very light hearted series and a lot of fun.  And on this square is where a lot of the scenes take place.  Behind me on the above photo is the apartment building where the American and the chef live - in separate apartments of course.  In the series, a few celebrations take place in this square.  The chef's restaurant is on this square and a bakery that is often used in the flick is also on this square (though i captured the wrong building.)  Below is a photo of the apartment door that you see in many of the scenes.

The red building is the restaurant used in the series.

I only noticed it after i got home that

the bakery/boulangerie in the series 

is actually this building next door to 

the restaurant - with the graffiti on it.

After my photo spree, we got back into

another taxi and made our way back to

the BnB for our last Paris adventure.

Patrick had set up a dinner river cruise

for us. I think he said it was his niece 

who could get us on board.  Wow !

What an amazing trip it turned out to be.
All we had to do was figure out how to

get to the boat dock.
When a ticket confirmation came to my phone,

it said to go to the Trump train station.

Then cross the street and follow the signs

to the Blue Dimond.

We just got on board, sat down, and ordered drinks.

Santé ! - Skål ! - Cheers !

After we got our drinks, we took them up with us

to the top deck where we spent the evening until

our food was served on our table.  It was so fantastic

how it all worked out.  The views were amazing.

3rd floor - top

We were here on the champagne deck - 2nd floor.

We ate here on the 1st floor - we were seated 

where you can see the glass windows.

The Musée d'Orsay

It would have been great if we could have eaten our dinner up at the top but......  Eventually we had to come down to the dinning deck.  There was live music and though I would rather eat with low calm music, it was actually pretty good. 

I forgot to snap pix of the food.

But I did get dessert.

To get the best result when major zooming

the camera needs to be as still as possible

but we were on a moving boat so that wouldn't 

have been possible anyway.  I did the best I could do.

And then it was time to go back to the BnB and start packing for our flight tomorrow. Christine and Robert are going on to Scotland and I am going back to Copenhagen to celebrate 36 years of marriage with Jens.  After that, I will fly to Scotland to meet Christine and Robert.

We share our final moments between our gates, over a croissant and café au lait at the Charles de Gule airport as we say  " au revoir, au beintôt, bon voyage "  

As I am walking towards my gate, I can hear some piano music over the airport speakers.  But wait.  That sound like real music. And as I get closer to my gate, I realize someone is playing music on a real piano........ a piano at the airport?

This guy was amazing.  Just an ordinary passenger who got off the airplane, saw a piano, (which is weird - but maybe not - it's the 2nd airport piano I saw this summer) walked up to it and started tickling the ivory.  Again - he was truly amazing.  I watched and listened to him play for about 15 minutes.  He didn't have any music sheets.  He played all types of music, but he was making it up as he went along.  He only played one song.  None of his music had an ending.  It was beautiful. I wish I had recorded more.  And then, just like that, without any ending, he just got up and left to go pick up his suitcase.