South of France to Rome, Italy: Why So Hard?

When I leave today for Rome from sunny Montpellier, I will walk to the end of my street and board an express train to Nice. I have an hour and a half layover in Nice - just enough time to stroll down to the sea while munching on a delicious sandwich from Paul - [...]

Heathrow Terminal 5! Pull Yourself Together!

OMG Heathrow Terminal 5, you are a mess. Get it together, mate. Come on.
First there was the fact that the architects, engineers and designers seemed to have overlooked including one passenger-accessible electrical outlet. Hello! It’s the 21st century calling, permission to plug in, please.
Then there was the crazy biometrics - all [...]

Finalmente: Free Wifi in Rome!

It’s true! It’s just in Trastevere for now - a lovely area, to be sure, but nowhere near where I ever am when I am in Rome.
FON has decided to make the entire neighborhood a wifi hot spot, which is great news for Rome. The Internet obviously has caught on in Italy - which might [...]

Non-Italian Food in Florence

Ben and Martha are American expats living in Italy.
Now, normally that wouldn’t send me into fits of camaraderie, but there’s a twist: Martha’s from my hometown, a small enough place for it to be quite a coincidence. But wait, it gets better! Not only does her family own my favorite cheesesteak shop in [...]

Mistral Sunday: Pictures

I had to do some thinking before I quoted an Italian translation job today, so I grabbed the camera and took some pictures around the house. The sky color has not been adjusted, by the way. Anyway, here’s a look at what I see every day:

I love the way the light hits [...]

Never on Sunday: The Mysteries of the Mistral

It’s been such a strange day so far. Already, a lot of things have happened that never happen:
1. I played video poker on my cell phone before getting out of bed this morning. I have never done this before, and in fact was the first time I had ever played a game on [...]

Too Good Not To Post

 From Gridskipper, the travel site I love to hate (and most recently, hate to love):
Two Italian oldsters were stopped by airport police in Munich holding a suitcase stuffed with an eleven year-old dead body. The women carrying the corpse, who are both in their sixties, were en route from Sao Paolo to Naples. One of [...]

London Ad For Cyclists

This ad is extremely clever, and makes its point: Look out for cyclists.
http://www.dothetest.co.uk/
I don’t drive, but as a pedestrian I’ve learned to look both ways for cyclists before crossing a street. This was taught to me the hard way by various unnamed bicycle messengers in New York.

Palermo, Sicily: “What if they ask us for the pizzo?”

You’ve heard of duty-free airport stores and sweatshop-free clothing. How about Mafia-free shopping?
That’s the idea behind Addiopizzo - a group that believes “an entire people that pays the pizzo is a people without dignity”:

There’s now a store in Palermo in which “all products and staff are 100 percent guaranteed Mafia-free, supplied only by shops and [...]

Wow, Huntley Santa Monica, You Messed Up.

I don’t believe I need to express further on this blog how much I love hotels. Some might call me a hotel snob, but really, I’m not. I disdain hostels and a one-star is out of the question, but my only true requirement is that the room is clean and well-maintained. Give me [...]