Where to Stay for the Convenience On a quick trip to the west coast of Florida for a family wedding, the Brawny Sherpa and I need someplace convenient to stay. For us, that means a hotel with parking that is centrally located and also reasonably priced. Cleanliness and safety also factor in for us, although…
Tea Partying in the Eternal City
A Visit to Babington’s Tea Rooms As if we needed a break from our vino rosso and carb-filled Italian vacation, the Brawny Sherpa and I decide at the bottom of the Spanish Steps that it is time for tea—and carbs of a slightly different sort. Here in the land of espresso and grappa, in we…
Dust, Chariots, Spas, Pompeii
A Visit to the City Buried by a Volcano The first time I go to Pompeii, the journey is work: a missed train from Salerno to Pompei, followed by a train that surely must be the local rather than anything direct, followed by an arrival at a train station a healthy distance from the ruins….
The Mystery of Volcanoes
The Lure of Hot Lava Living in New York State, as I do, I haven’t historically had to worry much about volcanoes and the possibility that they might at some point obstruct my way, or worse. The first time I came across their devastation was on a long-ago trip to Italy where I toured Pompeii,…
Le Penseur Two Ways
In New York or Paris, Rodin’s Sculpture Charms What sculpture might be as well-known as the Statue of Liberty? Could it be Auguste Rodin’s Le Penseur (The Thinker), accessible at the Musée Rodin in Paris and, with a contemporary twist (Le Penseur avec Smartphone) on the streets of New York City in the form of…
The South Street Seaport’s Titanic Memorial Lighthouse
A Reminder of New York City’s Past as “Sailortown” Down at the South Street Seaport in Manhattan is a little reminder about a big ship that never made it there. The Titanic Memorial Lighthouse, at Fulton and Pearl Streets, was originally placed at the Seamen’s Church Institute at 25 South Street, a little factoid that…
Art and Bustle in Little Italy
More than Pasta and People-Watching in Lower Manhattan Why head to the touristy and ever-shrinking Little Italy in lower Manhattan? The neighborhood is a great place for people-watching, for sitting at an outdoor table on a sunny day and sipping some Prosecco, or a bellini, or some white-wine sangria, or for critiquing different types of…
Getting a Clue at Caramoor
An evening of wine and ragtime at Caramoor in Katonah leaves imaginative visitors looking for Professor Plum, or possibly Miss Scarlet, in the music room at was once the residence of Walter and Lucie Rosen, who spent good-weather days at the house while entertaining their theatrically inclined and otherwise talented friends. Now open to the…
Back at the Palazzo: Westin Hotel Europa & Regina
What is a stay in Venice without a palazzo on the water? A stay at the Westin Hotel Europa & Regina
ISO Artists before They Were Known
A Visit to the Warhol Exhibit at the Morgan Library Who knew pop artist Andy Warhol used to have to make a living designing book covers? Or that he self-published some books? Seeing an artist’s early works, before he was known, and his practice scribbles trying out different variations of his name, and learning that…