The Renaissance houses of Old Town
Wow, Stockholm is nice — beautiful — like out of a story book beautiful. It is also stylish in every way — the architecture, the public art, the food and the women in boots and short skirts. Part of the city’s romance is its location on inlets of the Baltic Sea, 14 islands connected by 57 bridges. Fishing boats and yachts sit comfortably along the roadways, and if you are not on a boat, the city is very walkable. Continue reading
I have been spending a couple of days in Berlin doing the things tourists do — walking, eating, museums. Berlin is beautiful and clean and civilized. I have enjoyed all of it but what will always stay with me is the time I spent at the Berlin Wall. Continue reading
The air is breezy and warm on the balcony of Sayed and Nahid’s 6th floor apartment. The top of a large plastic table is a mosaic of plates piled high with rice and meat and vegetable dishes, mostly Afghan. From the table, we can see the Acropolis — 17 of us perched on rickety chairs or lounging on a small sofa that looks like early Ikea. Continue reading
This morning I walked up the street three blocks to see the damage at a squat called Notara 26. Last night it was set on fire with 120 people inside, among them, a large number of children. When I arrived, residents and volunteers were throwing burned debris out of second story windows and hauling buckets of ashes to dumpsters. The bottom two floors are gutted. Continue reading
Skaramangas is a harbor west of central Athens named after a wealthy English family. It is also a refugee camp at the harbor west of central Athens named after a wealthy English family. Since April, Skaramangas Camp is what must pass for home for 3,000 people from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. It is considered to be one of the good camps.
Sayed’s photos of Muhtasham and Mutahar showing off their temporary tattoos.
I am back in Athens, Greece. I have returned to write, to find ways to be useful in the refugee community and to spend time with my Afghan family. So far, I am doing pretty well with one thing on my list. Sayed and Nahid and their children have enriched my life immeasurably, and they are making the most of the dramatic changes in their lives since they left Afghanistan. Continue reading
London is a treasure chest of art and antiquities from every time and place. I had three days to enjoy it and visited six of London’s best museums. To avoid being overwhelmed, I limited what I saw to specific works or exhibits in each museum. A few things stood out.
One Sunday evening when I was ten, my dad turned on the TV and asked me to watch the Ed Sullivan Show with him. He said if I did, I would see something important. Continue reading
Camino Milagro 