We're on our way to the Sahara Desert! I wrote down a stream-of-consciousness while we made our way out to the UNESCO certified Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou: I'm sitting in a van full of people, up in front with the drive. Being able to see out the front window makes me feel more a part of the scenes I'm passing. Gorgeous Marrakech; streets flooded with bikers, pedestrians, horses, buses, cars and taxis. Streets on the outskirts of Marrakech flanked by orange trees and red clay buildings. Tiny villages now, dotted with red buildings, some adorned with a bright red Coca Cola sign. Little towns getting ready for market. Cactus lined roads as we snake up the beginnings of the Atlas. French on the radio. Tractors tilling the soil, people standing around, children walking across fields to ... read more

Today is our last full day in Paris.... it's amazing how fast these days go by. Sometimes I feel like I have not really seen or done a whole lot in Paris, while other times I feel like I have seen a good amount of the city. I guess I can explain the first feeling because we weren't walking around a whole lot. Paris is a large city, and while you can walk and see a whole lot in a single stretch, it's not the most walkable city. There are grand boulevards and squares and gardens, but it's very vast in comparison to a city like Rome. I also never got a "wow, I'm in Paris!" feeling when I arrived, or when walking through the streets. Maybe that was because Paris is so well known and ... read more

Notre deuxième jour à Paris, our second full day in Paris. It was cold. So cold that I am sorry to say that I'm slightly miserable. And nothing is open in Paris on New Years Day. Double problem: I'm cold and I have no where to go. You wouldn't think I'd ever say that in Paris. But it's true. It sucks. We started our day okay enough... woke up and took the metro down to Concorde where we walked the Tuileries Garden and ended up at the Louvre. The garden was nice, but in winter... it's cold and bare. I can tell from its skeleton that it would be a very pleasant place to sit with a bottle of wine and a baguette (freshly purchased from Maison Laurent, the delicious little boulangerie Keith and I have ... read more

I step outside on 3rd and Pine and before I can even turn the corner, I hear: "Oh, here comes the rain again!" I take one whiff of the air, smell the heavy dampness of the Pacific Northwest and think: Yeah, I'm in Seattle. Of course, while packing for this trip I'm going to a few concerts in George, Washington, but get to bookend the excursion with a few hours in Seattle, I kept checking the weather. Seattle's reputation for being a rainy city made the idea of bringing my rain boots attractive, but as the chances of rain decreased I opted to leave them at home. Besides: it actually rains more in New York or Miami than it does in Seattle; I just forgot that it drizzles like mad here. Luckily, the rain didn't last ... read more

Today my group took a day-long tour of the west side of the island. Since O'ahu is quite a diverse island, it was a nice break to get outside of Honolulu. While Honolulu and Waikiki are full of attractions and things to do, I felt like I was getting a one-sided view of what O'ahu is really like. Today was my much needed escape. We started out with a hour outside of 'Iolani Palace, which is the only imperial palace on American soil. It was only in use for the last two monarchs of imperial rule of Hawai'i—King Kalakaua and Queen Lili'uokalani—since it was actually the second royal palace to be used in the kingdom of Hawaii. The whole complex was really beautiful looking. We were briefed by our tour guide (aka bus driver) about the ... read more