Budapest and Prague comprise the epicenter of a twentieth century gone mad having endured World Wars I and II and then the forced usurpation and subjugation of the populace by the communists following the Second World War. Unimaginable but very real historical horrors abound. In 1939, 125,000 Jews, as “defined” under the Nuremberg Race Laws…
The Other Stuff This blog Jacquelyn and I have created attempts to give you some insight into those things we enjoy. We sincerely hope it produces in you a desire to do one deceptively simple thing: to do the things that you enjoy; to surround yourself with people and activities that make your life richer,…
A number of years ago, Jacquelyn and I bought an old house. Built in 1915, the house came complete with walls leaning precariously into the adjoining street, one dilapidated bathroom for three upstairs bedrooms and ancient, stained carpeting covering up (mostly) beautiful floors, hardwoods alternating with decaying plywood. We tackled the inside of the house…
April 25th is a holiday in Italy celebrating the liberation of the country from Fascism and Nazism. One April 25th, a thousand years ago, an earlier version of myself at nineteen turned a corner in Florence and ran head-long into a parade marching toward me, with what my memory tells me held at least a…
Reputationally, a visit to Paris is rife with rudeness: the maitre d’hotel looking askance at you over the rooftops of his European-sourced eyeglasses, the apron-bedecked waiter ignoring your pleas for service, the elderly, compression-stockinged resident, baguette clenched firmly in hand, contemptuously turning her back as you ask for directions. The reputation is inaccurate. Paris is…