Back in the paleotechnic dawn of the 21st century, my mother’s request was understandable. “Just call me once a week to let me know you’re alive,” she said, as I wandered off across… Continue reading
On that late September day in Timisoara, summer had dumped the last of its heavy heat into the afternoon hours, like the hardest teacher who surprises you with a brutal final exam. But… Continue reading
It’s possible hell is being a dog walked by someone wearing ear buds. Paris today offers a succession of such tortured pooches I’d love to pet, all proudly Parisian. Or maybe it’s the… Continue reading
Romanians curse a lot. My favorite of their more playful profanities is when they tell someone to go away. We might use two simple words to form an expression that makes very little… Continue reading
The obvious highlight on Day 3 of our Tour of Romania is the opulent yet intimate royal palace of Peles. I’ve written about it before and there is much more to say, but… Continue reading
Initially, Bucharest’s Athenaeum looks like just another nice neoclassical building of columns in front and a dome on top. Very European. So European that it’s familiar everywhere they sailed, ubiquitous in statehouses around… Continue reading
I love to hear different languages overlapping in the summer air. In Bucharest on Day One of this year’s Romania tour, the languages were varied and the air was nice and toasty, like… Continue reading
Hello fellow travelers and curious minds. When I tell people I lead a small-group tour of Romania I am often met by blank looks. The honest will admit “I don’t know anything about… Continue reading
The thing about epiphanies is they’re supposed to be singular, right? You have them once, and that’s it. But after I flew back to Romania yesterday, I inhabited a cycle of one recurrent… Continue reading
It was a simple task: find a wrench to attach the handlebars of my new bicycle. I was one day into my move to the Netherlands, so getting a functional ride was of… Continue reading
On our drive into Paris yesterday we were singing lines from Les Miserables. Everyone loves Victor Hugo’s story of the everydayman driven by desperation to a small crime, excessively punished but spirit unbroken… Continue reading
