u/One-Opposite-4571

I'm an American who has been living in France and decided to take an overnight trip this weekend to Lyon. This is the only city I've visited in France where people were consistently rude. I also got targeted by a gang of 4 college-aged kids who began to chase me in a park, grabbed me, accused me of stealing from them (which made no sense), and then proceeded to use force against me (grabbing, strangling, etc.) when I managed to cross to an outdoor cafe across the street.

The most distressing part of the experience was not just that I'm a person with a visible disability and no one helped me; it's that the 25+ people at the cafe watched me get attacked and were smiling, filming, etc. as I was yelling (in French) for help. The waiters did nothing to help-- nor, when they arrived over an hour later, did the police. In fact, they acted like I was the guilty one, when I was clearly targeted as a tourist unable to get away quickly. The xenophobia was palpable. When I yelled for help, saying in fluent French that I was a tourist, one bystander literally said, "Why don't you just go back to your country?"

I love France and French culture in general, but Lyon was terrible. If this is how the city treats its visitors, I'd urge others to stay far away.

I'm a relative newcomer to the world of classical music, and my favorite instrument is the cello. Does anyone have favorite pieces where the cello stands out as a solo instrument and/or has a particularly interesting part?

Thanks in advance!

I have a couple of wealthy friends, one of whom retired at 50 with ~$10M and now estimates his net worth at about $18M. He recently said to me, "Another 10 million would make no difference to me in terms of lifestyle. Anything I want (or want to do), I can already have/do." He also said that he has friends a lot richer than him, and they belong to the same clubs and go to the same restaurants, etc.

Obviously, there's a level of wealth (e.g., being a billionaire) that I assume *is* categorically different in terms of lifestyle-- but do you agree that, within a certain range of net worth, the differences are less meaningful? How has this played out in your own life?