September 8, 2024
Procida
I've been on a mission to find the perfect fishing village for years. I have this idea in my head—Local Hero in a warmer climate,...
ROAM
August 19, 2024
Saunter like Sophia (Loren, that is)
I find it hard to imagine what the Italian coast must have been like in the 1960s. Before the hordes of tourists, bumper to bumper...
August 10, 2024
Here’s how Paris surprised me during the Olympics
I had no idea what Paris would be like during the Olympics and arrived with a mix of anticipation and dread. After a week of...
February 25, 2024
Roman Treasures
Rome is slightly over an hour away from us by fast train, but it always feels like an exotic vacation, even on the briefest trips....
July 4, 2023
Discovering Lake Maggiore
Italy is sinking under the weight of tourists right now, and it's not even high-season. I am not too affected by crowds living in such...
April 30, 2023
Just go: Brescia
An unexpected visit to Brescia revealed a delightful town often overshadowed by its neighbors—Venice, Verona, Padua, and Milan—but packed with beauty, history, and great food. We...
December 11, 2022
A new favorite place: Fife, Scotland
So what were we to do? We had paid for tickets for all of us to convene in Edinburgh to drop Sebastian off at the...
December 4, 2022
“Vacationing” on a barge in France
Mistakes were made–our first was assuming that there would be a grocery store open in the town where we set sail, on a Sunday, late...
October 30, 2022
The devil at the beer garden
My mother was an artist, but her pallet for rebellion was limited. When I was growing up and she was really, really fed up—a fight...
September 30, 2022
Road trip, part II: where did the good times go?
When I left you last on our European road trip we'd headed out of the tunnel from France to England with hearts full of anticipated...
July 31, 2022
Road trip in Europe
One graduating kid, one car, one dog, four countries, four languages, three seemingly endless tunnels, eleven different places to stay, three positive Covid tests, one...
December 29, 2021
Little treasures of 2021
Here are some of my favorite adventures and discoveries of the year. If you've stuck with me this long you know that as much as...