Travel
A weekend in Italy’s center – Rieti
I’ve already written about this medieval town north of Rome, at the upper edges of the Lazio region. I got to know Rieti quite well when my younger son began running for the town’s competitive track and field team. Although his daily practice is (thankfully) in Rome, we get here fairly often for track meets.…
Read MoreA taste of the Old World in Columbus, Ohio’s German Village
My older son and I were in Columbus, Ohio this past summer, and we decided to walk down to the German Village area, on the southern edge of the city. Originally settled by Geman immigrants in the early 1800s, Columbus’ German Village still has a distinct character today. It sits adjacent to the Brewery District…
Read MoreThe odd nighttime silence of the Eternal City
It’s déjà vu, all over again…. But so it goes in 2020. Here in Rome, we have a lockdown lite. Perhaps not that ‘lite’, however, to businesses trying to get back on their feet after our long lockdown. Currently in Rome, restaurants and bars must shutter up at 6 pm. Supemarkets, pharmacies and some shops…
Read MoreA needed breath of fresh (mountain) air in Abruzzo
In the familiar tradition of all things related with 2020, autumn sucked… Usually, I make efforts to get out to our mountain escape in Abruzzo, enjoying the autumn foliage, hiking and mountain biking with my family. But 2020 has ruined all our beloved traditions, so it’s no surprise it also hampered my mountain getaways. Nevertheless,…
Read MoreExploring Morgantown, West Virginia – home of the Mountaineers
This past summer in the US, I had a long, solo drve back from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Washington, DC, and wanted to break up the drive and explore someplace new to me. Am I glad I selected Morgantown, West Virginia. Morgantown was previously unknown to me. Clearly, I don’t follow Big 12 college football.…
Read MoreWest Virginia’s stunning Cooper’s Rock State Forest
There’s a great expression in Italian: La fame viene mangiando. It literally means Hunger arrives as you’re eating, and it perfectly sums up the attitude of that food-obsessed country. I always thought a similar expression for travel would work well in the same vein: Wanderlust viene viaggiando (Wanderlust arrives as you’re traveling). That certainly sums…
Read MoreAlong the shores of Lake Erie at Ohio’s Maumee Bay State Park
I was in Ohio this past summer with plans to drive up to Ann Arbor, Michigan when I saw a documentary about America’s Great Lakes. One of the amazing facts I learned way back in school (and the promptly forgot) was repeated on this show – how the Great Lakes comprise almost 20% of the…
Read MoreOf gods and athletes : Rome’s Stadio dei marmi
I spend an inordinate amount of time hanging out at tracks. My younger son is a track and field junkie athlete, and I would suspect there are few tracks in central Italy in which I have not spent a fair amount of time. So, as a track mum with years of experience, you can trust…
Read MoreEarly morning jogs in a deserted Washington, D.C.
When I was in Washington, DC this past summer, I would try to beat the summer heat taking an early morning jog. In normal times in DC, I would have been one of many, but in COVID-era DC, it often felt like a ghost town. This wasn’t a quiet suburb or out-of-the-way areas, my daily…
Read MoreA driving holiday across America’s “fly-over country”
This year was a strange “holiday” in the era of Corona virus. I had to bring my oldest son to college, necessitating a two-week quarantine in the US, and another when I returned to Italy. In the middle was a one-week period in which I could drive him out to his new campus, and we…
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