When my grandfather talked about wringing the neck of a chicken, we listened with moderate horror and more-than-moderate fascination. I was particularly confounded and titillated by his gesture of grabbing it by the… Continue reading
Holidays tell the stories of those who celebrate them, so when Thailand celebrated its 3-into-1 Loy Krathong festival a few weeks ago, it mirrored the blending of history, religion, and ancestral veneration in… Continue reading
How do you take a group of people to see the Sistine Chapel? A guided tour of the Vatican Museums is a rugby match between 50 teams at once, played out in beautiful… Continue reading
My language acquisition usually begins on the menu. I don’t speak French but when it’s cold in Paris I look for a boisson chaude. I don’t speak Turkish but every morning in Istanbul… Continue reading
The night before my first tour of Europe after two years of covid-enforced sabbatical, I wrote a post about the energy filling my mind and rattling through my body. But then I took… Continue reading
The Romanian people have responded to the flow of Ukrainian refugees into their country with a tide of rides given, food donated, and homes shared. In doing so, they have also given us… Continue reading
To be honest, the war in Ukraine is straining my higher principles of unity, human brotherhood, and tolerance. The reptilian part of me wants to see Moscow become a smoldering ruin. It’s just… Continue reading
My friend in Kyiv managed to send her two children outside the city. They should be safer there, but she has to remain with her elderly mother, sleeping on a mattress in the… Continue reading
My friend in Kiev sounds exhausted. Her family lost everything when Russia invaded the Donbas, and she was just getting back on her feet when this current round of menace began. “Just a… Continue reading
Have you ever taken one of those glass-sided “sky elevators”? Up the side of the Victor Emmanuel Monument in Rome, in the Reina Sofia museum in Madrid, and China has a doozy or… Continue reading
