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When I was in the Amsterdam airport yesterday, I bought a copy of the WSJ and read a review of a new book about learning to play one of the most difficult instruments in the orchestra. The book is called “A Devil to Play,” by British journalist Jasper Rees. Writer […]
I had a lot of fun sharing my trip to Iran with you, my devoted and beloved blog readers. I can’t think of anything that’s more fun than having good stories to share with friends and readers who will become friends some day. Hi Peter! On the plane I sat […]
On my last day in Iran, I listened to the sounds emanating up from the street. The wail over loudspeakers of the call to prayer, a man singing in Farsi about Mohammed and about Allah.Even though the mosque where the speakers are is far way and I’m way up […]
My final day here in Tehran, another day without real responsibilities, just waiting for my 5 am flight. It’s funny being someone who is so busy and who usually on trips is following a very set itinerary, bags in the lobby at 7, city tour at 9, dinner at 8 […]
I woke up uncharacteristically late, it is a Sunday after all, and I finally have absolutely nothing I need to do. On trips like these, that’s a rare thing indeed, so I leisurely read the Tehran Times (lots of photos of Mr President grinning and accepting awards), and ate my […]
Tehran has a population estimated at between 8 and 12 million, and sprawls out from the north, butted up against Damovan mountain with lots of snow and a cablecar to the top, spreading and growing every year far, far out. I was told that North Tehran, where the shah once […]
The mosque in Aran, Iran, the complex dominates the dusty town, south of Qom the most holy city of Iran. We stopped at a caravansary, a fortress built 400 years ago to defend the camel caravans along this important trading route. Iranians took the Friday holiday to picnic on the […]
We left the hotel at five am yesterday, to meet a bus full of Tehranians and take an excursion out into the desert. The bus rolled through the light traffic of central Tehran and out into an exquisitely flat open road, unbroken by anything except distant hills, we were bound […]
In Iran there are no dance clubs, but of course, Iranians love to dance. So on our way home from our day-long trip into the desert, they cranked up the funky Iranian dance musik and we took turns boogie-ing in the aisles as the bus rolled the long way back […]
After our final dinner, complete with rollicking Iranian musicians, my tablemates and I decided to walk back to the hotel in Tehran. Cars raced around us.
Here are some of the faces of people I met in Iran, friendly girls with low headscarves in Isfahan, a couple in Shiraz, nice people all of them.
I love the little differences between countries, that’s what makes each one special. A few things here that are funny are that the soda cans have those pop off tops we used to collect and string together when we were little kids. Inexplicably, some sodas and the fake beer that […]