I Spy
08.05.2006
There comes a moment in the back of any police van when your thoughts turn to the chain of events that has brought you to this moment in your life, and with perhaps more urgency, to any potential chains of events that may help lead you someplace else. Whether it's the softness of the cushions (designed for beefy men who sit all day), the gentle rocking of the van, or that feel…
08.05.2006
There comes a moment in the back of any police van when your thoughts turn to the chain of events that has brought you to this moment in your life, and with perhaps more urgency, to any potential chains of events that may help lead you someplace else. Whether it's the softness of the cushions (designed for beefy men who sit all day), the gentle rocking of the van, or that feel…
A Morning in Iceland
11.21.2003
I knew that those troublemaker sunspots were rotating back into view this week, but I was still afraid to get my hopes up too high. The gate agent saw the geeky glint in my eye and was kind enough to reassign me to a window seat on the northern side of the …
11.21.2003
I knew that those troublemaker sunspots were rotating back into view this week, but I was still afraid to get my hopes up too high. The gate agent saw the geeky glint in my eye and was kind enough to reassign me to a window seat on the northern side of the …
Mission: Burfjord
07.12.2010
On my fourth day in a remote cabin up in Norway my host Ivar asks me if I would like to come along on a day trip to Burfjord, a little town on the mainland about forty minutes away. I don't have to think twice. Going to the mainland means a chance to charge my camera battery, use a flush toilet, and buy some groceries…
07.12.2010
On my fourth day in a remote cabin up in Norway my host Ivar asks me if I would like to come along on a day trip to Burfjord, a little town on the mainland about forty minutes away. I don't have to think twice. Going to the mainland means a chance to charge my camera battery, use a flush toilet, and buy some groceries…
On Top Of The World
06.29.2010
Getting groceries means having to cross the 70th parallel, which fills me with an unjustifiable sense of regret. There's something glorious about being out and about in my shirtsleeves at 70ËšN that loses all its savor down at 69Ëš59'. Never mind that I am still north of all of mainland Canada, north of Alaska (excep…
06.29.2010
Getting groceries means having to cross the 70th parallel, which fills me with an unjustifiable sense of regret. There's something glorious about being out and about in my shirtsleeves at 70ËšN that loses all its savor down at 69Ëš59'. Never mind that I am still north of all of mainland Canada, north of Alaska (excep…
Moldova
05.30.2009
In a sufficiently parallel universe, Moldova would be the Napa Valley. There are vineyards and grapevines everywhere, and the area is famous for its wine and brandy. The country is a pretty green landscape of rolling hills and forest, in a mild climate tempered by the nearby Black Sea. The local produce is better than the expensive heirloom varietals you would find at a Nort…
05.30.2009
In a sufficiently parallel universe, Moldova would be the Napa Valley. There are vineyards and grapevines everywhere, and the area is famous for its wine and brandy. The country is a pretty green landscape of rolling hills and forest, in a mild climate tempered by the nearby Black Sea. The local produce is better than the expensive heirloom varietals you would find at a Nort…
Into Moldova
05.08.2009
At some point in late April, the countryside in northeastern Romania explodes in bright crayon green leaves, the cats all come out to lounge in the sun, and the hatching of a million mosquitoes tells the world that spring has arrived. Suddenly the streets are full of Romanian youth in their faux-hawks and colorful Puma sneakers, looking for all the world like little San Francisco hipsters. I…
05.08.2009
At some point in late April, the countryside in northeastern Romania explodes in bright crayon green leaves, the cats all come out to lounge in the sun, and the hatching of a million mosquitoes tells the world that spring has arrived. Suddenly the streets are full of Romanian youth in their faux-hawks and colorful Puma sneakers, looking for all the world like little San Francisco hipsters. I…
Borderlands
02.18.2009
There is nothing distinctive about the Polish border with Ukraine. This part of the world sits on an endless, invasion-friendly plain crisscrossed by rivers that meander around without a clear sense of purpose before giving up in exasperation and draining into the Baltic or Black Sea. Historically, borders here have not counted for much. If you had horses, archers and an ac…
02.18.2009
There is nothing distinctive about the Polish border with Ukraine. This part of the world sits on an endless, invasion-friendly plain crisscrossed by rivers that meander around without a clear sense of purpose before giving up in exasperation and draining into the Baltic or Black Sea. Historically, borders here have not counted for much. If you had horses, archers and an ac…
Bosphorous
12.01.2008
The Bosfor is an overnight train from Bucharest to Istanbul, with a detachable portion that goes instead to Thessaloniki in Greece. I found out about it thanks to a man named Mark Smith, a British railway enthusiast with…
12.01.2008
The Bosfor is an overnight train from Bucharest to Istanbul, with a detachable portion that goes instead to Thessaloniki in Greece. I found out about it thanks to a man named Mark Smith, a British railway enthusiast with…
Elevators I Have Known
05.03.2008
Today is a day of quiet reflection as the elevator in my building undergoes repairs. Small paper signs appeared a week ago to warn us that the elevator would be out of service from 8 AM to 7 PM, and sure enough there has been a steady hammering from down the elevator shaft since early morning. Why maintaining the elevator should require eleven hours of hammering is somethin…
05.03.2008
Today is a day of quiet reflection as the elevator in my building undergoes repairs. Small paper signs appeared a week ago to warn us that the elevator would be out of service from 8 AM to 7 PM, and sure enough there has been a steady hammering from down the elevator shaft since early morning. Why maintaining the elevator should require eleven hours of hammering is somethin…
Volví!
12.16.2007
The time difference between Buenos Aires and New York City is six months and two hours. The two hours aren't bad, once the strange feeling passes of travelling in an airplane for a full day and night and arriving still in synch with the local dinnertime. The change of season is harder to get used to. A little private blizzard saw me off from New York, and the next day I was …
12.16.2007
The time difference between Buenos Aires and New York City is six months and two hours. The two hours aren't bad, once the strange feeling passes of travelling in an airplane for a full day and night and arriving still in synch with the local dinnertime. The change of season is harder to get used to. A little private blizzard saw me off from New York, and the next day I was …
El Chaltén
05.28.2006
Just when you thought nationalism had nothing good to offer the world, along comes a wonder like El Chaltén. A town with no conceivable economic or geographic purpose other than sticking it to the nearby Chileans, El Chaltén (Spanish for The Chaltén ) is an accidental hikers'…
05.28.2006
Just when you thought nationalism had nothing good to offer the world, along comes a wonder like El Chaltén. A town with no conceivable economic or geographic purpose other than sticking it to the nearby Chileans, El Chaltén (Spanish for The Chaltén ) is an accidental hikers'…
Las Torres Del Paine
05.04.2006
A better name for this place would be Holy Sweet Mother of Jesus National Park, since this is what you will say the first time you set eyes on it. The Torres del Paine is an absolutely ridiculous collection of mountains and lakes squeezed between Argentina and the Pacific ocean in Chilean Patagonia, not far from where Chile turns east at the bottom of the continent. The Torre…
05.04.2006
A better name for this place would be Holy Sweet Mother of Jesus National Park, since this is what you will say the first time you set eyes on it. The Torres del Paine is an absolutely ridiculous collection of mountains and lakes squeezed between Argentina and the Pacific ocean in Chilean Patagonia, not far from where Chile turns east at the bottom of the continent. The Torre…
Land of Fire
04.03.2006
There is a place called the 'Valley of the Beavers' at the Chilean edge of Tierra del Fuego national park, where you can go to see miles of beaver dams in the otherwise dense coastal forest. A giant beaver (presumably with a person inside) roams the streets of Ushuaia with his companion, a giant penguin, wa…
04.03.2006
There is a place called the 'Valley of the Beavers' at the Chilean edge of Tierra del Fuego national park, where you can go to see miles of beaver dams in the otherwise dense coastal forest. A giant beaver (presumably with a person inside) roams the streets of Ushuaia with his companion, a giant penguin, wa…
The Collapse of the Perito Moreno
03.25.2006
It was pandemonium this month at the Perito Moreno glacier. The Perito Moreno is a giant mess of ice that flows out of the mountains in the southern Argentine province of Santa Cruz, near El Calafate, looking for trouble. In a world of sissy nature that requires protection, handholding, wild…
03.25.2006
It was pandemonium this month at the Perito Moreno glacier. The Perito Moreno is a giant mess of ice that flows out of the mountains in the southern Argentine province of Santa Cruz, near El Calafate, looking for trouble. In a world of sissy nature that requires protection, handholding, wild…
Junin De Los Andes
02.26.2006
In northernmost Patagonia up against the border with Chile is a child's drawing of a volcano come to life - a triangular white peak covered in snow, with a kind of hump on its southern slope that makes it look like a hunchback. This is the Vulcán Lanín, a stratovolcano that sits on the horizon like a single pointy t…
02.26.2006
In northernmost Patagonia up against the border with Chile is a child's drawing of a volcano come to life - a triangular white peak covered in snow, with a kind of hump on its southern slope that makes it look like a hunchback. This is the Vulcán Lanín, a stratovolcano that sits on the horizon like a single pointy t…
Two Dinosaurs
02.15.2006
On my way back from Buenos Aires from the Argentine lake district (snug up against the Chilean border), I stopped in the provincial capital of Neuquén. Neuquén is one of those unloved but essential cities, like Inverness or Anchorage, that constitutes the only population center in a large expanse of nothingnes…
02.15.2006
On my way back from Buenos Aires from the Argentine lake district (snug up against the Chilean border), I stopped in the provincial capital of Neuquén. Neuquén is one of those unloved but essential cities, like Inverness or Anchorage, that constitutes the only population center in a large expanse of nothingnes…
Transnistria
06.21.2009
I arrived in Transnistria on the happiest day of the year - May 25, the last day of school. Packs of happy, singing students were wandering the streets, the boys dressed in suits or nice shirts and the girls wearing a kind of folk costume that combined apron, scrunchies, stockings and a disturbingly short UPS …
06.21.2009
I arrived in Transnistria on the happiest day of the year - May 25, the last day of school. Packs of happy, singing students were wandering the streets, the boys dressed in suits or nice shirts and the girls wearing a kind of folk costume that combined apron, scrunchies, stockings and a disturbingly short UPS …
Down The Yangzi
01.22.2003
The weather forecast tonight said lows approaching -20 F (that's -29 C, for you metric people. At forty below, we meet), which is the coldest forecast we've had so far. The actual temperature in the mornings, when I dash out onto the porch in a fit of curiosity to read the thermometer, is usually a good five degrees below the forecast low. I don't know if this is some fluke of geography, or…
01.22.2003
The weather forecast tonight said lows approaching -20 F (that's -29 C, for you metric people. At forty below, we meet), which is the coldest forecast we've had so far. The actual temperature in the mornings, when I dash out onto the porch in a fit of curiosity to read the thermometer, is usually a good five degrees below the forecast low. I don't know if this is some fluke of geography, or…
Three Gorges
01.21.2003
For all my recent posts about China, I never actually wrote about the Three Gorges. Regular readers will remember that the Chinese government has built a gargantuan dam on the Chang Jiang river, which means that the spectacular gorges behind it will soon be mostly underwater. You're still not out of luck if you fancy a river cruise - it will take a good ten years to raise the water level b…
01.21.2003
For all my recent posts about China, I never actually wrote about the Three Gorges. Regular readers will remember that the Chinese government has built a gargantuan dam on the Chang Jiang river, which means that the spectacular gorges behind it will soon be mostly underwater. You're still not out of luck if you fancy a river cruise - it will take a good ten years to raise the water level b…
Halifaxus Remotus
10.17.2003
Now that the IEEE conference has ended, I have a chance to explore the beautiful city of Halifax. Right, so maybe the IEEE conference was never a huge obstacle to begin with. But at least now I don't have to feel guilty about wandering the city. And thanks to fluke of airline pricing that made it cost less to stay two extra nights, I get to play the tourist. Halifax is a small and…
10.17.2003
Now that the IEEE conference has ended, I have a chance to explore the beautiful city of Halifax. Right, so maybe the IEEE conference was never a huge obstacle to begin with. But at least now I don't have to feel guilty about wandering the city. And thanks to fluke of airline pricing that made it cost less to stay two extra nights, I get to play the tourist. Halifax is a small and…
Drum Bun
09.25.2012
Botoșani! Botoșani! Botoșani! What poet can sing your praises? Whose arms are thick enough to heft that industrial-strength lyre? Whose inner eye can see past your grit and mud, your packs of ownerless little nippy dogs, your undrainable streets, your unsportingly silent mosquito, and celebrate the glowing, inner y…
09.25.2012
Botoșani! Botoșani! Botoșani! What poet can sing your praises? Whose arms are thick enough to heft that industrial-strength lyre? Whose inner eye can see past your grit and mud, your packs of ownerless little nippy dogs, your undrainable streets, your unsportingly silent mosquito, and celebrate the glowing, inner y…
Idle Words
brevity is for the weak
Eating the happiest cows in the world
I Spy
I go for a walk in Beijing and accidentally infiltrate the Chinese space program
Dabblers and Blowhards
Smushing Paul Graham
Attacked By Thugs
Warsaw police hijinks
Dating Without Kundera
Alternatives to the Slavic Dave Matthews
A Morning in Iceland
The best layover in the world
A Rocket To Nowhere
Space Shuttle rant
Best Practices For Time Travelers
The story of John Titor
French Week 3/03 (Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6)
100 Years Of Turbulence
Wright Brothers exposed
NYC Marathon 2003
Bleeding nipples
PC Forum
Business at the speed of dumb
Poland Joins The EU
Report from Warsaw
brevity is for the weak
Greatest Hits
Argentina on Two Steaks A DayEating the happiest cows in the world
I Spy
I go for a walk in Beijing and accidentally infiltrate the Chinese space program
Dabblers and Blowhards
Smushing Paul Graham
Attacked By Thugs
Warsaw police hijinks
Dating Without Kundera
Alternatives to the Slavic Dave Matthews
A Morning in Iceland
The best layover in the world
A Rocket To Nowhere
Space Shuttle rant
Best Practices For Time Travelers
The story of John Titor
French Week 3/03 (Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6)
100 Years Of Turbulence
Wright Brothers exposed
NYC Marathon 2003
Bleeding nipples
PC Forum
Business at the speed of dumb
Poland Joins The EU
Report from Warsaw
Every Damn Thing
Every Damn Thing
Your Host
Maciej Cegłowski
maciej @ ceglowski.com
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