We are staying just down the street from the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, our first week in Paris. I had never been there, not being a big fan of cemeteries, even one often declared “the most famous cemetery in the world.” But it was only a mile or so away … And … Paris also has […]

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A “benefit” of two weeks in Paris in August … a chance to resume jogging. Outside. I haven’t jogged — or done any out-of-doors cardio — in Abu Dhabi since April. Just way too hot. For most of us regular folks, it’s just not an option. Running when it’s 110 degrees, that’s a death wish […]

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Britt and Drew arrived in Paris today. I was very happy to see them coming at me at the end of the quay at the Gare de l’Est train station, rolling their luggage and looking like seasoned travelers. They are the first members of my family I have seen since we left for Abu Dhabi […]

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We are staying in a great place in Paris this week. Partly by accident. Partly by design. The planning part of it: We contacted the man who handled the rental of a friend’s Marais apartment and asked him to inquire after reasonable two-bedroom places in the area. The accident: That this place apparently had just […]

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Even people who have been in Paris a time or three, for a month or 10, can sometimes forget all the fabulous parts of the city which lie outside the popular Arc de Triomph-Champs Elysees-Louvre-Marais stretch of town that runs above the No. 1 Metro line. An example: we had no idea that what a […]

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OK, so we don’t have a lot of imagination. Two weeks off … and we were on the plane to Paris. Yes. Just like last year. And, if things work out, like next year, too. I mean, it’s Paris. If it ever gets old … well, it’s hard to imagine. So, Thursday night, out to […]

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It wasn’t long ago that the nation of Bangladesh routinely was included on lists of “basket-case” countries with little or no chance of ever escaping grinding poverty for its masses of people. That was the global shorthand for Bangladesh. Where everyone is starving to death. Things may be looking up. A little. The per-capita income […]

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While researching the concept of “great sports venues” in Asia, it was deeply impressed upon me how enormous was the scope of the topic. Daunting, even. How to know about that grand old place in what is now Kazakhstan? Or the charming race track in Mongolia? Or whatever it is that Nepal, Uzbekistan, Georgia or […]

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Go ahead, name the top three sports venues in Africa. I’m thinking you can’t name three.  At all. A year ago I certainly couldn’t, and if you can do it now it’s because you were paying attention to the names and datelines from the World Cup in South Africa. Africa pretty clearly seems the most […]

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This is pretty good stuff, if I say so myself. However, I didn’t link to the Europe part of this, a couple of days ago, and South America is coming up for Tuesday morning. So let’s catch up with that. Got any guesses at our top three venues for Europe and South America? Let’s link […]

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