Tag: bashful adventurer

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…

“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…

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…

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,…

Tripping on Chocolate

A chocolate gorilla at Patrick Roger Chocolatier in Paris Photo credit: V. Laino

Indulging in Chocolate Tourism Attempting to crack open cacao beans one afternoon at Cyrila’s Chocolate near Punta Gorda, Belize, I couldn’t help but wonder what led people, thousands of years ago, to begin torturing beans in a way that would…

Chichen Itza, Top to Bottom

A yellowed 1989 image of Chac-Mool at Chichen Itza. Photo credit: L. Tripoli

Even as my lawyerly side contemplated liability, I relished climbing the monuments at the Mayan city of Chichen Itza on my first visit there 24 years ago. I remember hearing stories of high-heeled women falling to their deaths on the…