The NYT declares Guangzhou to be the hottest new place to visit. Why does everything I read and do make me want to go to China?

The TSA needs a copyeditor if it's started its own blog and can't figure out the difference between Everyday and Every Day.

It seems that I have found in the Paris bureau of the New York Times a fellow religious tourist. Just watch the stunning photo montage accompanying her article "Worshiping Paris". Her article reveals another connection between myself and Paris: Keith Haring's foundation gave copies of a triptych he created after being diagnosed with AIDS to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, and the city of Paris, which placed its triptych in St.-Eustache.

Perhaps next time she'll also discuss the draw of the organs and bells in a bit more detail. It's interesting that despite their overall absence from her article, their sounds are one of the most noticeable and memorable aspects of the video.

happy 25th!

Happy 25th birthday to the CD, which is only one year my elder but outnumbers me by about 200 billion.

Cappadocia -- another reason to visit Turkey. After the apparent vegetarian friendliness of its cuisine, as I discovered in Dorset.

it's a bird! a plane! a... train!

"London to Frankfurt by train? It's possible, it can be as fast and as easy as flying and it's far better for the environment, a group of European high-speed rail companies claimed Monday." There has definitely been an unmet need for the international rail alliance Railteam, but its goal completion date seems far away, and who knows if the discount airlines will still be flying by then. How long will they be viable before the price of fuel makes them impractical? Anyway, the whole carbon offset business that's been all over the news lately would certainly motivate me to go by train rather than plane if they could make it equally attractive and affordable. I don't like to lose time, but a longer train trip probably won't be such a problem as I get on in years (really!) and became a little more patient. I'm already feeling more leisurely nowadays, reading nonfiction books and listening to Yale lecture podcasts. I'm liking this life.

wanderlust

I'm starting to think about travel again as I work out my European concert tour, and am in the mood to be enticed by other destinations. China, anyone?