The festival season has already kicked off with a bang and still some of the best events are yet to come in the month of August. One of the events not to be missed is the Sziget Festival in Budapest. The Festival started off as a little student event in 1993 and has by now transformed into one of the most important dates in the summer festival calendar in Europe with almost 400,000 visitors every year. The date for this year's edition is … [Read more...]
Sport Venues in Madrid
There is no doubt that Madrid is a powerhouse when it comes to sports in Spain and Europe, especially in football and basketball. With 2 teams in the top league in Spain in both sports, a lot of athletic talent accumulates in the city. And this year's season has proven this yet again: Real Madrid Baloncesto was the only Spanish team this season to make it to the Final Four in the Euroleague. And the football club of Real Madrid won the Copa … [Read more...]
An Affair To Remember
In the summer of 1994, I fell in love at first sight. It was a true summer romance in all its glory, white hot in intensity, and I remember every moment. Passion completely consumed me from the first glance. I was hopelessly, irretrievably -- joyously -- lost. There was so much to know, and so little time. The depth of my love transformed my life forever. And then, all too soon, it was over. The parting broke my heart. I have never … [Read more...]
Along the Dusty Trail
I was on a back road leaving a dust trail behind me that startled rope-pegged donkeys out of their sullen afternoon doze, the way before me stretching into the distance as infinite space. I had traversed miles of nowhere, taking in the lowland marshes of rice paddies where egrets strutted in measured steps collecting minnows for lunch, and the high mountain passes bordered by cliffs where only shaggy wild goats were sure-footed enough to clamber … [Read more...]
Lost in the City of Dreams
I had long been promising myself a visit to Istanbul, European Capital of Culture for 2010. So with the Bayram festival now approaching and the summer sun warming the earth, I couldn't resist a visit to this most ostentatious city of spires, a fabulously inspiring metropolis of imperial dreams; and it was only a magic carpet ride away. I arrived exhausted but excited, my heart in my hands here at the epicentre of three empires. Straddling two … [Read more...]
Squid on the Floor
At sunrise the buzz of motorbike traffic has not yet begun, and the street is oddly quiet. We come out of the alley and onto the sidewalk where shop owners are opening up and iced coffee vendors await their first customers. We're out here at this hour waiting for a van, which soon arrives. The four of us shove our bags in the back and groggily climb in. The previous afternoon we booked a Halong Bay tour from one of the hundreds of vendors in … [Read more...]
The Journey to South Africa
Johannesburg was chilly cold that winter morning when the Boeing 737 South African Airways plane touched down from Lagos. I was among the teeming passengers that disembarked. I took my turn through custom and immigration clearance. Soon I was in a registered airport taxi to the park station in Braamfontein. I'd catch the early-morning Greyhound coach to Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape to attend the 6th triennial congress of the Shakespeare … [Read more...]
Musings from Mussoorie
There are some incidents that occur in your life, that change the way you look at things. Then there are some that just bounce off of you without a visible mark, but later those memories come back to you at the oddest hours of the day, and you realise that they did in fact, leave a mark - they left one deep within your soul. This is what happened with me; I wouldn't say it was a bad experience, on the contrary, it pushed me into an existential … [Read more...]
Ready to Fly
I was thankful for the break in the rain as I loaded my old Volvo station wagon and headed south towards the desert. My mind was heavy with questions about relationships, my job, my future. The car was packed to the roof with enough food for a small nation, and barely enough room for my two kids and a tent. I drove without a real agenda, with only a general idea of places we wanted to see. I had no idea where we would stay, only that we would … [Read more...]
Madrid, Once Upon a Time
Maybe it was a bad omen that I'd memorized Cinderella before I could read. By winter 2004, I had to accept that my life was turning to ashes. Single, living alone in Manhattan, I found myself without steady income, and few, if any employment options. My seemingly endless supply of crazy ideas to otherwise help keep me clothed and sheltered had long gone up in smoke. Factor in frequent, lengthy illnesses and my lifelong propensity for being … [Read more...]
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