Les Catacombes de Paris

When I was stranded in Paris during the first volcanic eruption, I decided to visit the catacombs at Denfert-Rochereau. I had heard someone mention the ossuary in passing and I only had a vague idea of what it actually was, but I imagined a dark world of secrets beneath the City of Light.

Listening to Ulysses

Before he was anybody special (well, at least before he had his own show), Stephen Colbert stood on the stage at Symphony Space in New York City and flexed his arms in preparation.  He was about to read two chapters from James Joyce’s Ulysses, Calypso and the Lotus Eaters.

One for the Road

So it's summertime and you know what that means - Road trip! I do believe it's the law, in most states, for families with school age children to embark on one road trip to a touristy destination each summer. Staying home and getting ice cream at your local Dairy Queen does not count and could mean you run afoul of the law.

We Are All Africans - World Cup Update

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, decked out in full Bafana Bafana regalia, launched the opening ceremonies of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Soweto with a wonderful speech welcoming people from all over the world in his inimitable way, saying:

Anne Carson's Nox

Anne Carson has credentials when it comes to fragments.  She’s a professor of classics and translator of ancient Greeks who says, of using brackets when translating Sappho, “Brackets are exciting.”

South African Restaurants, and a Recipe for Bobotie

I noticed a curious trend on a recent trip to South Africa - a whole slew of “South African” restaurants had opened across the country. I lived in South Africa for most of my life, dining at the usual places - Steakhouse, Indian, Seafood, Italian, French, and all manner of Fast Food restaurants – but I’d never seen a restaurant billed as South African before - in South Africa, that is. Oddly enough, the first South African restaurant I ever came across was in Atlanta, Georgia, a few years ago - “10 Degrees South”- where my husband and I spent a lovely evening reacquainting our tastebuds with familiar flavors.