Noon in Ankara is 5am in Boston.  Ankara is the capital of Turkey. The people were friendly but their English was as good as my Turkish so we talked at each other and tried to pick up nonverbal cues. My…

Ethiopia is a place with a lot of subtlety so that I often paused to ask myself, what country am I in?  (The Omo Valley in the southern part is outside the scope of this post.) Ethiopia is the only…

To appreciate this post, think back to the world of the 1980s.  DAY ONE: It was my first time in Italy.  Unlike landing in London, a place only a few hours of flight time closer to my home, I found…

I had the most interesting massage.  I sat on the side of a ten-foot wide round pool, and the waiter went off to get my complimentary cocktail.  He returned with my drink, but I had yet to get the nerve…

Which is the most beautiful Catholic church I’ve seen?  Even thinking about just the Catholic ones, I couldn’t say.  I like to admire churches.  I know I have seen many beautiful churches, architecturally beautiful and/or decorated beautifully.  After stretching my…