The Mazarine Library in Paris is a hidden, beautiful spot.  If you've been to Paris, you've probably walked right by it and didn't even know it existed.  This is part of its charm.  It seems like a place reserved for Kings, but visitor passes are free for a couple of days or you can purchase yearly passes.  It is a public library; it just looks like a palace. 

History from the website:

La bibliothèque personnelle du cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661), principal ministre de la minorité de Louis XI...
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‘We are in Transylvania; and Transylvania is not England. Our ways are not your ways, and there shall be to you many strange things.’

-Dracula




Romania is one of the most mysterious, beautiful, friendly places I have been.  This two week trip was something I did before a conference in Sibiu by Societas Ethicas: Ethics and Immigration.  I visited Brasov, Sighisoara, and Sibiu, with a few day trips.  Perhaps I will write a longer reflection later, but for the time being, a couple of short l...
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The helicopter drop...


The concert & poetic history of the refuge, including a century old murder story of an Italian immigrant...

At Refuge de la Rosary, La Tournette, near Thones, France.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Ren%C3%A9_Duch%C3%A2ble



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Thanks to my HK swim coach, Janie, I have really gotten into swimming for exercise and relaxation.  It has also taken me to many pools, lakes, and oceans in my travels.  Here is a photo of a public pool I went to in Paris.  It is in the student quarter and preserved from the 1950's.  The changing rooms double as lockers and the man with the big set of keys simply remembers you to come and unlock your door for you when you finish swimming.  If you are interested in going, just be sure to look ...
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