Posts by Kimberly Sullivan
Between Italy and Austria in Bolzano
I’ve already written about the luck my family and I had visiting Bolzano on Saturday for market day and how we stocked up on all the specialties from Alto Adige/Austria. Bolzano is the capital of Alto Adige, the German-speaking half of Italy’s Trentino Alto-Adige. From the architecture and the language spoken around you, you’ll feel…
Read MoreWriting as a way to free your mind
“A writer should be able to express himself easily, naturally, copiously in a form that frees his mind.” —Saul Bellow Wise words by Canadian-American author Saul Bellow (1915-2005), and I’m certain a concept with which most writers are familiar. As writers, how many times do we struggle with a story we’ve had simmering away in…
Read MorePretty lake views from New York’s Lake Geneva
I spent four years of my life at the “neighboring” lake of New York’s Finger Lakes. I already wrote about visiting my alma mater, Cornell University, on the edge of Cayuga Lake, but on that same visit, we also made the trip to the town of Geneva, on Geneva Lake. Geneva is home to Hobart…
Read MoreDrove all the way to Ancona, and all I saw was the inside of the Palaindoor…
Unless you’re a huge track and field fan, most foreign tourists in the Marche region’s Ancona will never see its famous indoor track, the Palaindoor. But for Italy’s track and field athletes, their coaches and their parents, this is the mecca during the months of January – March. It’s the closest major indoor track for…
Read MoreBook review: A Gentleman in Moscow
I adored this novel, the story of “former person” Count Alexander Rostov. In 1922, Count Rostov – recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club and Master of the Hunt – is declared an enemy of the state and informed he will be shot if he ever ventures out of his…
Read MoreModern medieval pilgrims at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France
Sadly, I wasn’t in this picturesque, medieval French town on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, but I loved observing all those lucky fellow travelers who were. I was in postcard-perfect Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on a family holiday to France’s Pays Basque, and I couldn’t miss out on visiting this pretty town along the pilgrimage to Galicia’s…
Read MoreSeven year itch?
No, I’m not actually writing about the film perhaps best known for this iconic subway grate scene with Marilyn Monroe. No, my seven year itch post refers neither to the Monroe film nor marriage (I’ve been married much, much longer that seven years), but to blogging. I received a little reminder from WordPress.com that it…
Read MoreCommemorating WWI soldiers in Abruzzo
On my recent ski escape, I was in Ovindoli, in Italy’s Apennine mountains of the Abruzzo region. Like most little mountain towns, Ovindoli has a memorial to the soldiers who died both in WWI and WWII. For those who know the region well, most of these towns have much longer lists for the First World…
Read MoreNovels in the mountains
I always love reading, but there’s something special about books I take with me to read when I’m out in the mountains. I spend a lot of time out in the mountains, both in the spring and summer for hiking and in the winter for skiing. On a recent skiing escape in Abruzzo, I read…
Read MoreSnow was only okay, but the skiing was fabulous. Abruzzo
Is there anything more magical than the first ski run of the season? Even after all these years, it never fails to put me in a good mood. I’m generally loathe to organize complicated travel plans for the Christmas holidays, since I hate to travel at on of the most chaotic times of the year.…
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