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You’d think we only had gray days in Tuscany when you look at these photos. Well, mostly true. That famous Tuscan sun has only peeked out from the clouds a couple of times. Yesterday, our day in Florence, was especially gloomy. The sky was heavy and leaden, hanging low over the...
Even on a rainy, windy day Siena is a delightful place to meander. This is some of what we saw. Thank you to Georgia Gietzen, my traveling companion, who shared some of her photos with me. Patio at our Villa A little rain didn’t slow these ladies down. The Gelato is delicious and artfully...
Walking along Via del’Amore along the stunning coast of Cinque Terra on the northern coast of this most romantic countries, I understood why it got it’s name. What a magnificent spot to stroll hand in hand with the love of your life, gazing out at the vast expanse of sea and the...
Couldn’t resist capturing on camera. I would love to know what you think. Clearly the choice for the new color for this very old wall in the heart of Monterossa is up for public vote. What would you chose?
Lucca, a very old city about an hour’s drive from Florence, turns out to be a charming place. We planned for our visit to be little more than an overnight after taking three flights to get from Grand Rapids, Mi to this most charming part of Italy. Our first real destination is Cinque...
When I told a designer friend that we’d be spending a week in Barcelona he said enthusiastically, “Oh, you will love Barcelona. It’s like Paris. In fact, I like it better.” He was right. Like Paris, Barcelona has art, great food and interesting architecture. Extremely walkable, it is a city...
Yesterday I wrote about my favorite things to do in Paris and asked for readers to respond with ideas of their own. Well, I got lucky. John Brosky, formerly of Grand Rapids, Mi shared his thoughts and generously agreed to let me post them here. He is a free lance writer living in Paris with...
A young film editor from Chicago asked me recently if there are any things that I always do when I go to Paris. We were sitting next to each other at a Hidden Kitchen dinner in Paris discussing the fact it was her first trip to Paris and my tenth. The question has intrigued me […]
Tower Castles or Tall Houses as they are sometimes called, dot the landscape of Ireland. Left to ruin, they are an eerie reminder of clans and medieval life on the Emerald Isle. I think they are fascinating. Three or more stories tall, they have a their characteristic compact...
I had two really big surprises when we arrived at the Gregans Castle Hotel in the area known as the Burren in the western part of Ireland. The first one was that it wasn’t a castle. Actually that was a good thing. When I booked the hotel in the western part of Ireland in […]