There is something about elevation and isolation that might have helped Montaigne write and think.   more »

But rarely does it seem possible to actually converse with anyone there. To make the coffee-house experience work, you'd need a winning way with strangers.   more »

Perhaps this is just something that happens to people as they age; their own country starts to seem more like a foreign country every year,   more »

Some of my favorite moments of writing a travel blog occurred when I started composing an essay on a hike or mountain bike ride, and then encountered images that affected me enough to redirect the essay...    more »

Always a morning person, I once asked a friend of the opposite persuasion why he liked evenings. He did a great job of describing how...    more »