There’s just something alluring about having dinner in a low-ceilinged dining room with peanut shells on the floor and a fireplace and ancient-looking wooden beams holding everything in place and rippled views from the antique glass windows. That this place—Purdy’s Farmer and the Fish in North Salem, N.Y.—has good food, too, is just a bonus….
Paris: Don’t Skip Sainte Chapelle
During this season of renewal, my mind floats to my favorite churches in Paris. I can’t help but marvel at Sainte Chapelle, stuck next to a courthouse, the little sibling of its competitor, the grand Notre Dame Cathedral. With each located on the Ile de la Cité, and with time in the capital limited, the…
Moscow Now
Any number of people, knowing that I’ve visited Russia, say to me, “I’d never go there now.” I can’t help but think, why not? Well, there’s that crisis in Ukraine, of course. Yet most people I know wouldn’t be heading to Kiev, they’d be going to St. Petersburg to see the Hermitage and to Moscow…
R & R, Nature and Nurture, on Sanibel
Not every vacation can be a jungle adventure in the Amazon. Sometimes, a traveler just needs to get away and for the trip to be unthinkingly stress-free. For a quick escape, I tend to choose Florida. It’s all too easy to buy a plane ticket on a site like CheapOair and then head south at…
Sanity on Sanibel
Florida features so many destinations, and hotels are so numerous, that making a choice can be overwhelming. Even narrowing down a list of prospective hotels can be daunting. At the high end, chances are you won’t really go wrong no matter how you choose a place to stay. At more modest levels, though, success can…
“I Can’t Walk into a Bar Alone”
So said a divorced mom of two to me about going through life a bit solo right now. I am always surprised when otherwise outgoing people suddenly become needy and clingy when confronted by an adventure that they have to undertake alone. Just this week, a certain senior adventurer in my life expressed doubts about…
How We Want Woodstock
Watching Peace, Love & Misunderstanding (2012), I remember how I’d like my ideal life to be, full of Jane Fonda as a hip grandmother, happily cluttered houses fostering free-range chickens, and women with whom to howl at the moon whenever it happens to be full. I wonder whether I’d be as uptight as Catherine Keener…
Peacefulness by the Sea, Captiva
The Brawny Sherpa and I wander aimlessly through Captiva Island, Fla., having ditched our rental car somewhere with the optimistic hope that we’ll remember its color, make and license number when it’s time to retrieve it. This is a day trip for us as we wind down from a family get-together in not-so-far-away Naples. Nothing…
Gulf Getaway: Oasis in Condo-Land
Never super-keen on the Gulf coast of Florida for no particularly discernible reasons except Miami, Palm Beach, and Amelia Island, I headed there for a quick stay on Marco Island with the Brawny Sherpa before pointing north to a family get-together in nearby Naples. Someone recently asked me what city I’d live in if work…
Bubbling Good Times on Captiva Island
On a trip to the west coast of Florida, the Brawny Sherpa and I are staying on Sanibel Island when we decide to take a little road trip to nearby Captiva. This is the most basic of vacations featuring beaches, a few family visits, and occasional field trips to make us feel our daily margaritas…