Missing SOM2?

My wonderful friend Steampunk.Chuckster/@victorianoir/Karen made this for MEEEEE and I want to share it with you.  I love it.  It captures Paris, the family's time at the Eiffel Tower and Casey's essence all at the same time.  And it's a bumper sticker! Get it?

This makes me so happy.

My Way

I mentioned in my author's note for chapter 54 that I was having a bit of a crisis in the middle of writing Chuck vs. the Sound of Music II.  How much I still had to write was definitely a huge part of it.  At the same time, though, I noticed readers were dropping away from the story.  The chapters were long.  The story was already long and only going to get a lot longer.  This wasn't just my usual paranoia, however.  I read on one fan fiction board, "I'm not reading SOM2 anymore.  Nothing happens."

Ouch.

Needless to say, that shook my confidence a bit, even though I knew there were lots of people who were still enjoying the story.  You know how it is. It's easy to focus on the negative.

After a therapy session with my fan fiction shrink, Frea, who wisely told me, "You can't please everyone," I decided to write for the people who did like the story and not worry about those who didn't.  I chose to embrace the fact that it was going to be a behemoth of a story rather than be concerned about it.  It was going to be the story I wanted to tell no matter what and if only a handful of people were there at the end, so be it.

In the end, I wrote it "My Way."

(Note:  The following song has a couple of spoilers in it, so if you haven't read to the final chapter yet, continue at your own risk.)

What Might Have Been

Because we are ghouls, AgentInWaiting and I traded a few alternate opening paragraphs to chapter 52. If you do not want to be trolled, these are not for you.  Otherwise, enjoy after the jump.

Chapter 50

A few glimpses into Chapter 50.  Photos of the boats courtesy of Henry. Thanks, Henry!

Yes, there really is a Carina II. I giggled for about ten minutes when I saw first saw this.

Photos of Marilyn Monroe by Milton H. Greene, 1954.

There's really nothing else to add.

Cartier

I don't have a lot of photos to share this time, but I did want to post a picture of the Cartier panther earrings.  Shiny.

Casino de Monte-Carlo

More great pictures courtesy of my friend Henry.  Thank you, Henry!

View from the harbor toward Place du Casino

View of Monte Carlo from above

Casino de Monte-Carlo
The scaffold on the left was put up in preparation for the Monaco Grand Prix

Casino de Monte-Carlo

Random Casino Dude

A Night Like This

A Night Like This by Caro Emerald

FRED next Cartier

The mirror at the center of the fountain in the Place du Casino.  You can see the grassy area in the mirror.  The building is the Casino de Monte-Carlo.

Carina's Ferrari

The Hôtel de Paris

The top floor of rounded building to the left of the one with the spires (the Opéra Monte Carlo) is where Le Grill is located. 

More Monaco

I'm so lucky and privileged to be able to share these photos with you.  They're simply incredible.  Thank you, Henry.

From 'O' Magazine

Claude Debussy's Clair de Lune

Monaco

Once again, all photos (except for the last three) were taken by my friend, ziohenry.  Thank you, sir.

The Palace

What a view

Port Hercule.  I can't even.

Port Fontvieille from the Palace

Port Fontvieille

Brasserie de Monaco

Black Legend

La Rascasse

Monte Carlo, Baby!

My friend and fellow Chuck fan, ziohenry, lives not too far from Monte Carlo.  He "sacrificed" recently and went there to take some pictures for me.  Over the next few chapters, I'll be sharing them with you.  Thank you, Henry!

This is the view of Monaco from the Moyenne Corniche, the road Sarah drove as she neared the hotel.

Another place I must visit when I go on my Grand European Tour.  After I win the lottery.

Frost & Orion vs. the Cold War

I'm posting a couple of links to news report from 1989 about the fall of the Berlin Wall.  These are for anyone who would like to know a little more about what a monumental thing it was or for those who would simply like to remember.  I grew up in a world where there was "East Germany" and "West Germany," "East Berlin" and "West Berlin."  The Iron Curtain wasn't something in a history textbook.  It was real and feared.  Although there had been calls for the Berlin Wall to be torn down for many years, when it actually happened, it was hard to believe it.  It was shocking and amazing and thrilling and I remember it all.

I know to some this might not seem that interesting and history is boring, but if you watch these clips and look at the people's faces--the people yearning to make their way to freedom--hopefully you'll have a little better understand as to why I chose to tell the story the way I did.  Perhaps it wasn't written in as compelling or interesting way as it could have been, but for me, the sentiments behind the thoughts and motives of the characters are very real.

http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/international-politics/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-berlin-wall/the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall.html

To Russia With Love

The family has arrived in Moscow!  Learning about this city has been a blast.

There are many things to see on Red Square, but I couldn't write about them all.  So these are the few I highlighted.

St. Basil's Cathedral

St. Basil's is officially known as the Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat

One of the chapels inside St. Basil's

Lenin's Mausoleum is the building (kind of hard to see) in front of the Kremlin Wall

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Outside GUM in Red Square

Inside GUM

Vocalise, opus 34, number 14 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, performed by Luka Sulic.