April 2004

Italian Hostages in Iraq

April 27, 2004

The Italian hostages in Iraq don’t seem to be getting much media attention outside of Italy. This evening’s news here is that they have been shown on Al Arabiya television in an apparently-recent video, accompanied by a message from the kidnappers that: “We will show good faith and free them if you sympathize with our [...]

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Eating Cheaply in Italy

April 27, 2004

Someone asked in one of the travel forums about how to eat cheaply in Italy, and whether it’s possible to take a "doggie bag" from a restaurant. To answer the second question first: I’ve only once taken away the remains of a meal from a restaurant in Italy (a steak that was larger than anticipated). [...]

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Baby-Friendly

April 27, 2004

The NYT reports on the phenomenon of daytime movie screenings at which parents are welcome to bring babies – presumably the entire audience understands and tolerates baby noise. If people were a bit more tolerant in general, this kind of thing wouldn’t be necessary. Bringing a baby to a usually baby-less venue doesn’t have to [...]

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Dancing Horses: The Lipizzaner Stallions

April 16, 2004

For Easter vacation we went to Vienna. There’s so much to do there that we barely got started; we’ll definitely have to go again. The highlight of the trip, fulfilling a 30-year dream for me, was seeing the Lipizzaner stallions perform at the Spanische Hofreitschule. The event fully lived up to my hopes and expectations. [...]

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Photo Gallery: Austria, 2004

April 13, 2004
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