If the economy was doing better, losing foreign travelers wouldn't be quite as bad but unfortunately that's not the case. Is it our poor human rights record in recent years or have we become an unfriendly country or are other countries more interesting places to visit? If the US wants to be a world leader, does it even matter what the world thinks?
A nice video response to the popular Where the Hell is Matt. Matt is still dancing his way across the globe proving that not all Americans are terrified of the world around them and that people everywhere are well, people. The adorable girl above is experiencing the world with her parents who have been on the road for a few years. More on their travels here. Hopefully seeing that a family can do this (and I've met others doing similar trips) will show people that it is not as dangerous as some like to think. It's also not as expensive as people like to think. Americans often travel with less available free time and burn cash though it doesn't have to be that way. We've traveled comfortably enough spending $5-$10 per night for a room and even as low as $1 in Laos. It's not the Hyatt, but it's fine.
The pride and joy of the Bardo Museum. This mosaic is from Homer's Odyssey as Ulysses' ship approached the Island of the Sirens. The mosaic was found in Dougga and dates to around 260AD. If you enjoy mosaics, this museum is something to see.
A variety of mosaics to fit every surface. Just a small piece of a massive floor mosaic that must have been around 15' by 30' or more. Instead of carpets, the wealthy Romans would decorate their floors with mosaics. A thin strip of a beautiful mosaic at the Bardo Museum in Tunis. People say it holds the best collection of Roman-era mosaics in the world. Most of the collection is from El Jem, Dougga or Carthage, Tunisia.
The El Jem Roman theater held up to 35,000 spectators and is in remarkably good condition. In the middle of the arena floor you can see where they opened up the floor to allow light down below.
A thick stone 'tile' of sorts that is at ground level, allowing light down into the storage cave below.
Same 'tile' as above, but from underground.
Walking below ground level at the El Jem Roman amphitheater built in the 3rd century AD. This is where the animals would have been kept until being moved above ground for the Roman events. They opened up the ground floor (overhead) to allow in extra light for visitors.
This foreigner is bold to drive a moto in Vietnam, though Hue is much more relaxed than Saigon or even Hanoi. I remember watching traffic, looking for someone to stop but traffic just kept coming. Fortunately I'm big enough (especially with a forty pound backpack) to be viewed as an obstacle so I would remove my glasses, stop looking at approaching motos and just start crossing the street. As long as I maintained a steady pace, motos would just go around me without problem. You'll get a sense of the flow in this video but it does take some time to adjust.
In Hanoi, we met a towering Aussie who resembled a rugby player, but was terrified of the traffic. He told us that he couldn't bring himself to cross the street to enter the train station because of the endless and chaotic traffic. A little boy noticed his fear so the kid grabbed his hand and walked the 6'4" Aussie across the street, without problem. Ahhh, travel.
What does everything think about the competing arguments on the state of the US airlines? Last week the Times posted a blog from an American who currently lives in Asia and can no longer tolerate the miserable US airline service. That post was followed by a US airline attendant who fought back.
Compared to Europe, almost any service in the US is light years ahead. The US (among Europeans) is highly regarded for friendliness and service. However, nothing can really compare to the high level of service offered in Asia. Singapore Airlines, in particular, sets the global standard for service. All of this said, I would argue that the US airline industry compares better to Europe. I would also argue that European airline service is better. After the jump, links to the two opposing views and questions for readers.
Europe has plenty of bad airline service. British Air immediately jumps out and Alitalia is shockingly bad in every possible way. (How could a country that makes such perfect food produce glop that makes you hold your nose? It's that bad, really.) Other airlines such as Air France and Lufthansa almost always provide "correct" service, in my experience. Just because they don't smile with each question (this is an American behavior and not necessarily common in Europe) doesn't mean they are being rude.
(As an aside, I was thankful and impressed by an Air France crew earlier this month on my way back to Paris. I had the misfortune of sitting next to a very jumpy and agitated passenger who could not sit still and then argued with anyone and everyone. When I'm in the air I do not like loud and jumpy passengers. Especially when they are sitting next to me. After making the entire section of the plane nervous and after being nasty with the crew, the cabin director stepped in. He was polite - much more than I could have been - and asked him "what is your problem?" He took him to task and that settled the guy down for the remaining five hours.)
So after reading this view, on the sub-par standard of service from US airlines and this view on how they try their best, what do you think?
- Are they that bad or are customers just demanding too much? - Are consumers asking for too much or are airlines delivering too little? - Is it fair to blame attendants for the lousy airline quality? - If it's unfair to blame attendants, what's the best method for pushing airlines to improve? - What airlines do you prefer? Domestic and/or international?
Chris (in Paris), his wife Joelle and I decided to go shopping yesterday at the street market at the Rue Daguerre. It's in the 14th arrondissement, near Metro Denfert-Rochereau. (We walk there from Chris' place via the Cimitiere Montparnasse, a neat above-the-ground cemetery, where Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, among others, are buried). This is a market I used to frequent when I studied in Paris 25 years ago (25 years, ugh) - I lived around the corner. On the map above, I've marked the street market with a nice long yellow tint. The arrow at the end of the market is the bakery that I talk about below (and the cafe I talk about is right next to the bakery).
Here's the meatshop on the Rue Daguerre.
The street market at Rue Daguerre is only open until 1pm, though open most days (maybe closed Mondays). Here's a quick video of the market yesterday.
Chris likes to go to a great, very typical, cafe at the end of Rue Daguerre, at the intersection with avenue du General Leclerc, right on the NW corner. Chris and Joelle ordered "cafe" - i.e., strong black coffee - and I got my usual, a "creme" (a cafe-au-lait, though in Paris they're called cremes). Total for 3 coffees: 5 euros (should be 5 bucks, but with the screwed up exchange rate it's more like 7 now).
Here's a quick video of the cafe, with cameos by Chris and Joelle (Joelle was reading about the Rugby World Cup taking place in Paris at the moment - more on that shortly).
And finally, a woman sitting outside the cafe, as shot from the inside window.
Next we went to an organic bakery right off the Rue Daguerre. It's called, Moisan, and it's at 4, avenue du General Leclerc. They have great bread and pastries. Chris had us buy a "kouign amann" - pronounced "KOON-ya-man." Kind of a sweetened roll, from Brittany. Excellent. Here's a close-up of the kouign amman, with a row of palmiers in the middle.
Here's the bakery window.
And again, a quick video entering the bakery. Check out the bustle.
A closer look at the baked goods available in the bakery. It's funny, you probably can't hear it on the video, but the entire scene was one big "bonjour, bonjour, bonjour" as they served the never-ending swarm of customers.
And finally, rugby. It's the world cup of rugby here this month and the town is insane. The only sport I understand less about than soccer is rugby. Lots of ads all over town, and oh, they're the kind of ads that the French do so well.
It was cloudy and kind of rainy all of August, really. Today, however, was exceptional. Chris (in Paris) and his wife, Joelle, took me to a little chocolate bar/bike rental place in the 19th arrondissement, Velo et Chocolat, that has the best hot chocolate in town. To. Die. For. 3 euros, and you can not finish a large cup. On the way, we stopped and got some melons. Here's Chris.
Feel free to insert your own caption. Across the street was a horsemeat butcher. For real.
We came to this neighborhood to see the canals. Really quite lovely, and a neighborhood of Paris I'd never seen (the light was tremendous).
It's a rather mixed neighborhood - Arab, yuppie, Asian and Orthodox Jewish mixed together. We witnessed an interesting exchange of looks when two Orthodox Jewish guys with their kids walked through a group of Arab guys sitting in the park. Nothing happened, but the looks exchanged were priceless. There were also a group of Asian men playing some game (majong?) with ivory-colored blocks with symbols on them.
As I mentioned, we didn't hit the area until 6pm or so, so the evening sun was just gorgeous.
