Of the many things I like about Woodstock: It has a sense of humor about itself. —Lori Tripoli
Beaches with Something Extra
The week before Labor Day is the time of summer when everyone seems to be at the beach. My days of simply sunning are long past; now when I am seeking a beach vacation, in addition to wide swaths of smooth white sand and swimmable (and preferably warm) water, I look for beaches with something…
Paris as Protagonist
The City of Light plays a leading role in the 2013 film, Le Week-End, about a long-married British couple celebrating—or, at least, observing—an anniversary. It’s sort of a Before Midnight with a slightly older couple (Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan) as more annoying characters. The wife seems not to care for the easygoing complacency of…
Signs of Summer Down the Shore
Where to stay on the Jersey Shore–or thereabouts.
August Anywhere: Beaches
Mid-Mid-August, end-of-summer, work slowdown, mind elsewhere, vacation, a break, who can concentrate? I am here, but my head is at the beach. —Lori Tripoli Planning a beach vacation? Consider these destinations: Gulf Getaway: Oasis in Condo-Land Biscayne, Largo, West My Kind of Camp: The Jersey Shore Stay in a Sandcastle on Coney Island
Life and Death at the Key West Cemetery
The Key West Cemetery is probably the first one I visit recreationally. No relatives of mine are there. I hesitate: Is this okay? Just going in to look? Appreciating the stillness, the spookiness, the peace, the quiet, the flowers? Is it wrong of me to be there just gawking? I make that first visit in…
Remembering the Maine Far from Havana
Add the explosion of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor in 1898 to the list of historical events I don’t know enough about. I would “remember the Maine” if only I could. I know the incident triggered the Spanish-American War. I recall that the reason the boat exploded is perhaps a little murky. Conspiracy theories…
Paris: First Photo
Paris becomes Paris right away. I don’t have to go looking for it; wonder where the images I’ve seen in other pictures are. Right away I know my place, Paris, and that it’s the right one. —Lori Tripoli Headed to Paris? Consider these posts: The Book to Carry while Cruising Paris Quality Time at the…
Not Shopping
My riffs on street art and graffiti in Germany, Italy, New York City, Mexico, Ecuador, and Russia are not meant to be exhaustive catalogs of either street art or graffiti in any of these places. Instead, they are meant as a reminder to travel with your head up. At home, too often, my focus is…
Street Art: Russia
Russia is another society I am intimidated by—its wars, its strength, its vastness, its vodka. As I do in Germany, I expect its street art and graffiti to be fierce, aggressive, bold. As in Germany, I find some of what I anticipate but also some unexpected lightness. —Lori Tripoli