To Eat Well....In Paris

Ah, to eat well. But to do so in Paris. Now that is a real luxury. And to do it retracing the steps of a 19th century gastronome...the first Parisienne food critic of sorts. Check it out in today's New York Times travel section.

Photo courtesy of NY Times.

A Mexican Party...I Mean Protest

I always love a good protest. The kind with banners and chanting and whistles. Preferably without police in riot gear, please. Although I have been present for a few of those during the dark days of Milosevic in Belgrade.

But in Mexico last week, the protest was anything but dark. Yes, there were banners with counter government proclamations. There were coffins bearing the names of government officials. And yes, there was even a skeleton representing someone.

But the protest against the closing of a Mexican utility was more party-like with stalls selling fruit and juices. People selling black and white photos of Che Guevara and other notable revolutionaries. And people mingling about in a happy sort of way.

Another Travel Bag

Okay, so how many travel bags does a girl need to shop for and purchase until she has the "perfect one?" Here's another possibility available from Graf and Lantz.

A Little Jewel in Dubai

It's always magical to find a little travel jewel. That cozy, out of the way restaurant that serves amazing food and is not well known by the typical tourist crowd. A shop which has amazing little trinkets. A boutique hotel where you simply want to return to the room to fall onto the bed and look up at the ceiling. I found one such place in Bangkok a few years back that rolled all of this into one -- an antique mecca and a few guestrooms.

Now, lucky me! Friends took me to La Maison D'Hotes in Dubai....an absolutely lovely guest house owned and run by two French women in a Dubai residential neighborhood. Please don't tell anyone.

Returning to....pure joy!

It was an early morning flight out of Cairo (4:30 a.m.)...the layover in Frankfurt, an airport I truly detest...and the long 9 hour flight in Economy Plus with a sick passenger behind me who worried the flight attendants that he might have swine flu. Somewhere along the way, I picked up a bit of stomach bug so the flights seemed even longer than usual.

Yet, somehow I kept thinking about what was awaiting me on touch down. And it was worth it to see the expression on my daughter's face when I surprised her at school....and her pure delight at her Halloween costume. My little Asian princess was truly a sight, don't you think?