Travel
The “Little Apple” of Manhattan, Kansas and the Konza Prairie
Last summer, my younger son and I took a(n almost) cross-country trip from New York and Washington, DC to Kansas. While staying in Topeka, one of the spots we visited was the not-the-city-that-never-sleeps version of Manhattan: the one in Kansas. Otherwise known as “The Little Apple”. We got a kick out of this moniker. It…
Read MoreEnjoying a performance at Paris’ Opéra Bastille
I’ve already written about Paris’ stunning Opéra Garnier. But when I was in Paris earlier this year, I did attend an opera, but at Paris’ much larger, and more modern, opera house at the Bastille. Opéra Bastille is – not surprisingly – located on Place de la Bastille. It was commissioned in 1981 by then…
Read MoreSpring hiking in Abruzzo
I’ve written many times about how much I love Abruzzo. Abruzzo is the Italian region neighboring Lazio, where Rome is. This makes it the perfect weekend escape to nature from Italy’s capital. I’m a frequent visitor here, and my husband and I decided to enjoy a long weekend here over the 1 May holiday weekend.…
Read MoreL’Aquila’s reconstructed Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio
The Basilica di Santa Maria di Collemaggio is L’Aquila’s most important church. It was built in 1289 by the Celestines and is the final resting place of Pope Celestine V. With all of the Papal talk in these days, with the recent death of Pope Francis and the Conclave that elected Pope Leo, this is…
Read MoreThe glamour of Paris’ Opera Garnier
I was in Paris a few months ago, and I decided to stop off to visit the Opera Garnier – a place I hadn’t visited in years (decades?). Musical afficionados will know the Palais Garnier as the inspitration for The Phantom of The Opera. And the self-guided audiotour does speak about the tales of the…
Read MoreSanta Maria Maggiore – The Papal Basilica where Pope Francis is buried
With the recent death of Pope Francis and his decision to be buried not in the Vatican, but at Santa Maria Maggiore, it seemed like a good time to spotlight this impressive basilica. Santa Maria Maggiore is one of Rome’s four papal basilicas. The others are Saint Peter’s, Saint John Lateran and Saint Paul Without…
Read MoreAdmiring Exeter’s Cathedral between bouts of rain
This past autumn, I was in Devon, England for the Historical Novel Society Conference. While there, I joined one of the organized trips for us to visit Exeter’s Norman-Gothic cathedral, and to enjoy a wander around the pretty town. The Exeter Cathedral was founded in 1050, but was expanded between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.…
Read MoreEnjoying the early spring rays in Marche’s seaside Fano
It was a glorious, sunny March day and my husband and I were were driving from our weekend trip to Urbino and long the Marche coast back to Rome. We had never been to seaside Fano, and since it was on our way we stopped off to explore this beach town. The weather was perfect…
Read MoreThe stunning fourteenth century frescoes in Padova’s Palazzo della Ragione
You can’t miss this spectacular structure on your visit to pretty Padova. I’ve already written about the picturesque Piazza della frutta and Piazza delle erbe, on which this palace is located. The bottom of the Palazzo della Ragione (The Palace of Reason) was dedicated to a covered market built in 1166, but the upper section…
Read MoreTraining it along the “English Riviera”
This past autumn, I traveled to Devon, UK for the Historical Novel Society conference. Flying in to Exeter, I took a bus to the train station, and then embarked on a trip down to the Devon coastline – also known as England’s Riviera. I nabbed a coastline window so I could catch views of the…
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