Back from France

I just got back from France.  When I wasn't working on my French commercial real estate business and Kiva stuff, my sister and I just hung out in Paris visiting friends, shopping in the open markets, and eating.  We then flew East to Strasbourg and Colmar to play tourists and eat lots of choucroute garnie.

35 years ago in Senegal, I had a French colleague from Colmar which is about 20 minutes South by train from Strasbourg.  We were all working in Senegal to start agriculture cooperatives and credit unions (savings and loan cooperatives).  He told me that Senegal did not have a strong cooperative movement because the French, who had colonized Senegal, had never embraced the cooperative concept as had been the case in Germany.  However, credit union development had taken place in Colmar due to the German influence.  I did not see actual credit unions in Colmar and Strasbourg, but did see some of the later iterations which are called Caisses Populaires.    

Another reason to be in the Strasbourg area had nothing to do with work. I love classic cars.  I just had one of those rare once-in-a-lifetime adventures.  I've been in love with Bugatti Royales of the 1930s ever since my mother gave me a book about Bugatti automobiles when I was 12 years old.  Only 6 (and one copy) of those magnificent monsters (over 21 feet long) were produced for the rich and royalty. I had actually seen 2 of them at the Harrah Auto Museum in Reno, Nevada, many years ago.  They're worth about $10-20M a piece - yes that's millions!!!

The largest auto museum in the world is located in Mulhouse, about a 45-minute train ride from Strasbourg, where 3 more Royales are housed along with a few hundred other lesser Bugattis.  I thought I had died and gone to "voiture" heaven.  Only 2 more to see - one white convertible in the Ford Museum in Michigan and a black coupe now owned by VW of Germany.  Of course my sister thought I was completely nuts.

Back to micro-finance.  I'm off to Nicaragua at the end of this week.