diff --git a/gallery.module b/gallery.module
index 2aa2efbddb8b2be5f1d08e0fa322cc4e935ac418..ca66a2908c6a043cd814de77da58e0ee5d269be6 100644
--- a/gallery.module
+++ b/gallery.module
@@ -389,7 +389,7 @@ function gallery_page($internal = FALSE) {
       // Some themes (eg hybrid) do not set $result['themeData']['parents']
       if ($result['themeData']['parents']) {
         foreach ($result['themeData']['parents'] as $parent) {
-          $parent_title = $parent['title'];
+          $parent_title = _gallery_htmlcharsdecode($parent['title']);
           // Simple strip of bbcode (italic, bold)
           $parent_title = str_replace(
             array('[i]', '[/i]', '[b]', '[/b]'),
diff --git a/gallery_base.inc b/gallery_base.inc
index 9155b8a4ead586de130d040f51c8211f167255d0..3e895aa0b7904cda44e06473e0408f9e7de69060 100644
--- a/gallery_base.inc
+++ b/gallery_base.inc
@@ -178,7 +178,9 @@ function gallery_get_language($user) {
  * (retrieve all image frames from Gallery2)
  */
 function gallery_get_image_frames() {
-  _gallery_init();
+  if (!_gallery_init()) {
+    return array('none' => t('None'));
+  }
   // List of available image frames
   list($ret, $imageframe) = GalleryCoreApi::newFactoryInstance('ImageFrameInterface_1_1');
   if ($ret || !isset($imageframe)) {
@@ -196,19 +198,41 @@ function gallery_get_image_frames() {
  * Function gallery_generate_url().
  */
 function gallery_generate_url($params, $html = TRUE, $full = TRUE) {
+  if (!isset($GLOBALS['gallery'])) {
+    if (!_gallery_init()) {
+      return '';
+    }
+  }
+
   $options = array();
   $options['forceFullUrl'] = $full;
   $options['htmlEntities'] = $html;
-
+  
   $url_generator =& $GLOBALS['gallery']->getUrlGenerator();
   if (!$url_generator) {
     gallery_error(t('Error: UrlGenerator not available'));
     return '';
   }
-  
+
   return $url_generator->generateUrl($params, $options);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Function gallery_album_tree().
+ */
+function gallery_album_tree($root = NULL, $depth = NULL, $user = NULL) {
+  if (!_gallery_init()) {
+    return array();
+  }
+  list($ret, $tree) = GalleryCoreApi::fetchAlbumTree($root, $depth, $user);
+  if ($ret) {
+    gallery_error(t('Error fetching album tree'), $ret);
+    return array();
+  }
+
+  return $tree;
+}
+
 /**
  * Function gallery_item_details().
  */
@@ -226,12 +250,12 @@ function gallery_item_details($id, $verbose = FALSE) {
   $details['g2owner'] = $entity->ownerId;
   $details['g2parent'] = $entity->parentId;
   // Drupal node properties (no g2 prefix)
-  $details['title'] = strtr($entity->title, array_flip(get_html_translation_table(HTML_SPECIALCHARS)));
+  $details['title'] = _gallery_htmlcharsdecode($entity->title);
   $details['created'] = $entity->creationTimestamp;
 
   if ($verbose) {
-    $details['g2description'] = $entity->description;
-    $details['g2summary'] = $entity->summary;
+    $details['g2description'] = _gallery_htmlcharsdecode($entity->description);
+    $details['g2summary'] = _gallery_htmlcharsdecode($entity->summary);
     $details['g2keywords'] = $entity->keywords;
     $details['g2theme'] = $entity->theme;
   }
@@ -239,14 +263,40 @@ function gallery_item_details($id, $verbose = FALSE) {
   return $details;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Function gallery_db_query().
+ */
+function gallery_db_query($query, $data = NULL) {
+  if (!isset($GLOBALS['gallery'])) {
+    if (!_gallery_init()) {
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+  }
+  list ($ret, $search) = $GLOBALS['gallery']->search($query, $data);
+	if ($ret) {
+    return FALSE;
+	}
+	$results = array();
+	while ($result = $search->nextResult()) {
+    $results += $result;
+  }
+
+  return $results;
+}
+
 /**
  * Function gallery_flush_entity_cache().
  */
 function gallery_flush_entity_cache() {
+  if (!isset($GLOBALS['gallery'])) {
+    if (!_gallery_init()) {
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+  }
   $platform =& $GLOBALS['gallery']->getPlatform();
   $cache_basedir = $GLOBALS['gallery']->getConfig('data.gallery.cache');
   $cache_dir = $cache_basedir .'entity';
-  
+
   if ($platform->file_exists($cache_dir)) {
     if (!$platform->recursiveRmDir($cache_dir)) {
       return FALSE;
@@ -375,6 +425,14 @@ function _gallery_split_imageblock($html) {
   return $images;  
 }
 
+/**
+ * Function _gallery_htmlcharsdecode().
+ * (recover special character's HTML entities, see htmlspecialchars_decode() for php5)
+ */
+function _gallery_htmlcharsdecode($string) {
+  return strtr($string, array_flip(get_html_translation_table(HTML_SPECIALCHARS)));
+}
+
 /* 
  * --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  * Error, Debug and Status Functions
diff --git a/gallery_menu/gallery_menu.module b/gallery_menu/gallery_menu.module
index ab78c6a1764bb3135c43586fbdabfe2ab2c76205..0b18b93015f4647792e0c0642f0e9a7e4ebfd47e 100644
--- a/gallery_menu/gallery_menu.module
+++ b/gallery_menu/gallery_menu.module
@@ -23,6 +23,19 @@ function gallery_menu_menu($may_cache) {
       );
     }
     else {
+      // Initialize G2
+      if (!_gallery_init(FALSE)) {
+        return $items;
+      }
+      // Rebuild the menu if the G2 album structure changed
+      $timestamp = variable_get('gallery_menu_timestamp', 0);
+      $query = 'SELECT COUNT([GalleryEntity::id]) FROM [GalleryEntity], [GalleryAlbumItem] WHERE
+                [GalleryAlbumItem::id] = [GalleryEntity::id] AND [GalleryEntity::modificationTimeStamp] > ?';
+    	if (($results = gallery_db_query($query, array($timestamp))) && $results[0]) {
+        cache_clear_all('gallery_menu:', 'cache', TRUE);
+        variable_set('gallery_menu_timestamp', time());
+      }
+      // Insert the menu items
       $items = gallery_menu_build_menu();
     }
   }
@@ -84,38 +97,21 @@ function gallery_menu_album($id) {
 function gallery_menu_build_menu() {
   global $user;
   $items = array();
-  if (!_gallery_init(TRUE)) {
-    return $items;
-  }
   
-  $depth = variable_get('gallery_menu_depth', 0);
-  $tree = _gallery_menu_album_tree(NULL, $depth ? $depth : NULL);
-  $cid = 'gallery_menu:'. $user->uid .':'. md5(serialize($tree));
+  $cid = 'gallery_menu:'. $user->uid;
   if ($cache = cache_get($cid)) {
     $items = unserialize($cache->data);
   }
   else {
+    $depth = variable_get('gallery_menu_depth', 0);
+    $tree = gallery_album_tree(NULL, $depth ? $depth : NULL);
     _gallery_menu_traverse($tree, $items);
     cache_set($cid, 'cache', serialize($items), CACHE_TEMPORARY);
   }
   
-  GalleryEmbed::done();
   return $items;
 }
 
-/**
- * Function _gallery_menu_album_tree().
- */
-function _gallery_menu_album_tree($root = NULL, $depth = NULL, $user = NULL) {
-  list($ret, $tree) = GalleryCoreApi::fetchAlbumTree($root, $depth, $user);
-  if ($ret) {
-    gallery_error(t('Error fetching album tree'), $ret);
-    return FALSE;
-  }
-  
-  return $tree;
-}
-
 /**
  * Function _gallery_menu_traverse().
  */
@@ -190,7 +186,7 @@ function _gallery_menu_settings_table() {
   }
   
   $depth = variable_get('gallery_menu_depth', 0);
-  $tree = _gallery_menu_album_tree(NULL, $depth ? $depth : NULL);
+  $tree = gallery_album_tree(NULL, $depth ? $depth : NULL);
   
   $form = _gallery_menu_settings_traverse($tree);
   $form['#theme'] = 'gallery_menu_settings_table';