I was interviewed by Jeremy Bassetti for his excellent website Travel Writing World: https://www.travelwritingworld.com/thomas-swick-author-profile/
I was saddened to learn this week of the death of Lili Pohlmann, a Holocaust survivor who devoted her life to improving Jewish-Polish relations. In Krakow in 1999, covering the Festival of Jewish Culture, I happened to sit next to Lili before the opening concert in Tempel Synagogue. She identified important people in the crowd, telling me which ones I needed to talk to, and revealed a little about her life: the happy childhood in Krakow, the wretched war years in Lvov, the transport of Jewish children, including herself, to England after the war.
Following the concert she invited me to dinner with her husband Peter. On the way we stopped at their hotel so she could give the receptionist a gift. (They were leaving in the morning.) Then we headed to a restaurant on Market Square, where the waiter greeted her like an old friend. Lili ordered three shots of vodka and three glasses of beer. “Na zdrowie,” we said, lifting our glasses. Then we dug into pierogies and carp ‘Jewish style.’
Back outside, we said our goodbyes under a full moon.
That evening remains one of my most cherished memories of Krakow.
The news that France has banned unvaccinated American travelers raises the question: How many unvaccinated Americans have passports?
Saw Roadrunner last night. I always liked Bourdain’s show but I knew it was TV, creating illusions – for instance, that he traveled alone. The documentary shows that, in one sense, he did.
In tomorrow's Wall Street Journal I write about five great travel books: https://www.wsj.com/articles/five-best-books-by-travelers-in-residence-11628261021.
In his testimony yesterday before the Capitol riot committee, DC police officer Daniel Hodges said that if the people who stormed the building on Jan. 6 were “tourists,” he could understand why foreign countries weren't eager for visitors from the U.S.
It was a good line, but a little outdated. The global image of the ugly American has faded over the last few decades and been replaced by that of the ugly Englishman.