The lonely traveler

This is my third major trip alone.

In 1994, I traveled to Tokyo all by my lonesome, and I spent the better part of the week randomly grabbing trains and exploring neighborhoods and local cuisine. (Eating first and then asking later what I'd eaten. To try that in Japan, you've got to be bold!)

In 2007, I went to San Francisco to do some work for Adobe. I rented a bicycle and there, too, I just wandered -- making sure to see Haight-Ashbury, the Golden Gate Bridge from the Presidion and Union Square, where Robin Williams used to perform to the crowds.

Those places and here are places that would have been 10 times more fun with Jeanne. But, being alone, they also had their unique charms.

And you can even capture a few memories, if you don't mind grabbing the occasional selfie (modern slang for pictures you take of yourself at arm's length, something I've turned into something of an art form).

Europe's cafes are particularly friendly to solo travelers. And when I'm eating or having a drink alone in a cafe, I feel a bit like a cut-rate Hemmingway -- hanging out amongst the other lonely expatriates.

Glen and Betina generously invited me to enjoy a couple of the local cafes while I'm here. And tonight I had dinner in an Italian cafe called the Gondolier on Tanus Strasse.

Doesn't this salad looks awesome by sunset?

Meantime, I've learned one very important lesson about being alone in a strange city:

You're never alone when you've got a really cute dog! Everyone talks to you!