It has been remarkably, really. The number of elite European soccer clubs who have been in the U.S. this summer is … astonishing. Real Madrid. Bayern Munich. Manchester United. Manchester City. Liverpool, Arsenal. Atletico Madrid, Roma, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Monaco, Olympiakos. Those names look like most of the final 16 team in the European […]

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I feel a bit like this is my other other team. People who know me can attest that I have been saying for 20 years that if I disappear one day, I probably have taken an assumed name and most likely can be found on the terrace of a cantina in San Jose, capital of […]

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As I have outlined on this blog, I cannot bring myself to support the U.S. team in this World Cup, not while it is run by that Enemy of American Soccer named Jurgen Klinsmann. If you clicked on the first link, above, you may have noted that several commenters on that entry seemed ready to […]

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I thought about this again while on the tour bus working its way through Helsinki, capital of Finland. Among the sights pointed out were three major theaters, the Finlandia concert hall, a building for the Finnish national opera and another for the Helsinki music center. And along the way the narrator recited a list of […]

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A year ago, a couple of Harvard kids decided to visit all 30 major league ballparks in 30 days. By driving from one city to the next — to the next and next and next. It made for the road trip from hell. The sort of trip better as an amusing concept than a punishing […]

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Each time we land back in Abu Dhabi, it’s like discovering a new international airport in the midst of a tear-down/build-up. We have an idea of what it looked like when we first arrived — one sort of antique-looking terminal, an Arabesque style, built in the round, with about a dozen gates. That was enough […]

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And so the Baltic cruise ends where it started … in cosmopolitan, friendly Amsterdam. The ship docked early, just after 6 a.m., because Celebrity had to offload 2,100 passengers … clean up a bit … and then load another 2,100 to head back out the same day at 4 p.m. Those who appreciate logistics probably […]

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Cruising is not for everyone. If mobs of senior citizens set your nerves on edge … stay away. If proximity with uninformed opinion annoys you … don’t come. If the notion of a bare brush with exotic cities and people leaves you frustrated … don’t bother. If a disconnect from the greater wired world leaves […]

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Four days, three Baltic capitals, and we were left to mull, again, the apparent goal for which Finland, Sweden and Denmark (and presumably Norway) are striving — a kinder, gentler social order. While riding the bus around Copenhagen we again heard (for the third time in four days) about the cradle-to-grave benefits guaranteed to citizens. […]

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I am convinced a potential bestseller is waiting to be written. “Life Below Decks: The Secret Lives of Cruise Ship Staff”. In which a veteran employee of the cruise ship industry, preferably someone with a job that puts them in daily contact with passengers, dishes dirt on the cruisers as well as fellow crew and […]

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