It was One of Those Days in Paris. When the sun is breaking through cottony clouds and everyone is smiling and the world is a wonderful place — or at least it is as viewed from the little park named Square Jean XXIII on the tip of the Ile de la Cite. Let’s take a […]

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American exceptionalism is a fairly controversial political notion, talked about for nearly 200 years, that the United States is unlike any other country in the world due to its “unique” history and form of government. People of good will can be on either side of that discussion. But the U.S. most certainly is exceptional in […]

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What a bunch of geezers. Talk about the ancien regime. These days, the last thing I expect at an action-hero movie is a bunch of guys on screen who make me feel young. But that is what I got watching The Expendables 3, the third installment of Sylvester Stallone’s latest franchise, at a Gaumont theater […]

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It’s not exactly Everest, but it is a hike from the bottom of Butte Montmartre to the top, where the Sacre-Coeur Basilica was built. Most tourists, including this one, tend to believe Sacre-Coeur is old. Like Notre Dame. But it is not. Notre Dame was begun in 1163 and completed in 1345. Sacre-Coeur was started […]

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Sometimes we forget how much our living space says about us. Our furniture. Our appliances. The art on the walls and the knick-knacks on the tables. The size of our television. What is present, in our digs, and what is absent. And I can say, without hesitation, that our home in France this week is […]

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Two reactions, in quick succession, upon hearing today that Landon Donovan will play a farewell match with the U.S. national soccer team, in October. 1. It’s nice that they are giving him a chance to say goodbye. 2. Gosh, the whole thing could be awkward.

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All the time spent in Paris … and it is hard to recall more than one day spent in the 18th arrondissement. A visit to Sacre-Coeur. A very long time ago. However, we are staying a week in the 18th this time around, and it’s not quite like the areas of Paris with which we […]

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In some ways, it was a well-planned fete. A concept years in the making. Guest list resolved. Date and time chosen months ahead. Place identified. Champ de Mars, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Near the dirt allee named Thomy-Thierry. The trouble with that?

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In 1975, during a roundtrip tour of the U.S. — from sea to shining sea (to shining sea) — my brother and I pulled into Gettysburg late one evening. We found a motel that seemed tidy and inexpensive enough, and were soon asleep in our ground-floor room. When we woke the next morning, one of […]

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We were going to Italy, from Abu Dhabi, to celebrate a significant birthday, and it seemed a perfect occasion to invite some of those near and dear to us to a sort of moveable feast. In Italy. It began in Florence, moved to Siena for Il Palio and since Saturday night has continued at Villa […]

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