So, a few thoughts from Paris... First of all, I must confess though I chose the Eiffel Tower as my picture, I have not actually been to it yet! A month I know, but I'm trying to avoid the super touristy places. I went to the Champs Elysee this weekend with my mom and almost got run over by all the people trying to sell me little figures of the Arc de Triomphe or pictures of the Mona Lisa and have decided to avoid these areas for awhile. Instead I have picked...

Having your fortune read in a cup of coffee grounds by total strangers in the middle of nowhere is the kind of unmanageable risk guide books and worried mothers warn you against. This aversion is the first among many indications that this is, in fact, a wonderful idea, if you can manage it. On yet another foggy, rainy day in Istanbul, my first experience with the much touted "Bosphorus tour" put me in the kind of close contact with the loud-and-obnoxiou...

From Murchison Falls National Park, Northeastern UgandaFebrary 27thThe soil and air are damp from the recent rain - which cooled the scorching afternoon. The birds are purring in the moist shrubs - announcing the sun's departure. Glenn is off photographing a family of warthogs (one male and 3 females) who inhabit red chillis campsite, where we are sleeping.We woke this morning at 6, when the stars still blinked brightly above us, and set out for a very early mor...