They reminded me of the great potential that waited after the conference, through their very pleasant company for a few minutes’ drive (or few hours’ flight), and maybe a dart of their eyes in the rearview mirror or a sideways glance between movies.
Read MoreGive a public housing complex set to be destroyed over to street artists from around the world for a few months to work and hold an exhibition. Here's what happening in Paris.
Read MoreYou don't need little glass pots chock full o' concealer or slices of cool cucumber to hide the bags under and above your eyes.
Read MoreI confessed that I didn't know a lick about the game, other than how the pieces moved and their names, and then asked Joey if he wouldn't mind explaining chess to me while we watched the match. Chess, he said - well, whispered - is all about playing to an end game.
Read MoreTaking the bus forces stumbling around a city, this breathing organism that one is simultaneously outside of as a visitor and yet temporarily a part of. You find things you weren't looking for.
Read MoreAnd, oh, I would have loved to dress up for a night of opera or ballet at L’Opéra Garnier in Paris (also known as Le Palais Garnier)! As I was in Paris in late July/August, the only time when the performing arts takes a vacation, alas, “It was impossible,” as the French like to say. Le SIGH. I went anyway for a tour and I was very pleased that I did.
Read MoreAnd what have we learned today, kids? Always listen to your gut. Give people time to show you their true natures with their actions, and not just with their words. And, like 80's slasher movies, don't ever, EVER go into the basement.
Read MoreOne of the first things you’ll notice is thousands of bicycles propped and locked up along the canals’ guard rails. Practically everyone in Amsterdam gets around by bike. So in the words of popular kids in high schools everywhere: everyone is doing it, and YES, you should, too.
Read MoreHe's the Dutch Barry White. I am enamored of this man's voice. Because he's so clearly in love with, he's so passionate about what he's describing... every brushstroke, the treatment of light and dark, from the lace-collared wealthy in the paintings to the artists in their employ in the 16th century Netherlands.
Read MoreTucked up a hill in the 5ème arrondisement between La Sorbonne and the Jardin de Luxembourg hides Le Salon, above the Panthèon movie theatre.
Read MoreThe women of Pussy Riot in their speeches at the close of their trial aligned themselves in the tradition of Russian thinkers, artists and political dissidents and even with Jesus Christ himself to underline their point that critique in and of itself - even and especially when governmental and religious institutions are its subjects - is not a crime.
Read MoreAt first, it sounded like a con. Call someone I didn't know from Adam, tell him "party of one, I'm traveling alone" and "yes, I'll bring the 30 euro in cash to your house"...?!?! But, I put stranger-danger cynicism aside and phoned Mr. Haynes up.
Read MoreVélib, Paris’s public bike sharing program, for residents and tourists, would have everyone believe a few things. With a striped shirt and baguette in tow, I will bike on Velib all around Paris for a mere 1€70. I'll pedal past the Louvre and along the Seine on my Vélib, with unicorns and rainbows and puppies... RIGHT?
Read MoreThere's two things that grow in Holland that interest most tourists: Tulips and Marijuana. You can find them both in Amsterdam's Bloemenmarkt floating on the Singel canal.
Read MoreAny writer, reader of good literature, history geek, folk fond of tactile correspondence, stationery freak or handwriting analyst should go immediately upon arrival in Paris to the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts (Museé des Lettres et Manuscripts en français).
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