Travel
Reason #5372 to love Rome: Soccer/Football card trading
Okay, this falls firmly under the ‘things we do as parents for our kids’ category. My half-Italian sons are – like 99.9% of their peers- crazy about calcio (soccer for Americans, football for Brits). Here, all the kids collect football cards, buying packets, putting them in their albums, trading them with their friends. But the…
Read MoreNot just mustard in Dijon, France
Okay, perhaps Dijon’s biggest name recognition comes form those jars of tasty, spicy mustard, but there are lots more reasons to go to this charming city, southeast of Paris, in France’s Bourgogne region. A few summers ago, we stopped off at Dijon as we were driving to our holiday in Brittany. Needless to say, we…
Read MoreBraving the rain and mud in Paliano, Italy
If it’s early Sunday morning and you run into me in some little town in Lazio wearing running sneakers caked in several layers of thick mud, chances are I’m accompanying my eight-year-old to one of his state running competitions. My Sunday morning under the pounding rain in pretty Paliano, was no exception. My son had…
Read MoreColonial past at Penang, Malaysia’s fabulous E&O Hotel
I absolutely loved this hotel, where I stayed only briefly before going on to a project for work near Penang. The Eastern and Oriental Hotel – widely known as the E&O – is one of those great, storied hotels dripping with character and ghosts of the past. The E&O Hotel is located on the island of…
Read MoreFrom malaria-infested swampland to Fascist utopia: Latina, Italy
In the midst of a recent, stressful home move, I had to take a break from boxes to drive my eight-year-old down to a state competition (provinciale) for sprinting south of Rome, in the small city of Latina, in southern Lazio. My little one placed first in the 400-meter competition, making me awfully proud, and…
Read MoreDinosaur BBQ, New York City
Okay, so Manhattan barbeque joints probably aren’t the first thing to spring to mind for most visitors to New York. But whenever we’re back in New York, my kids insist that we go back to eat at Dinosaur Bar-b-que, a popular Harlem restaurant and Columbia University hangout. Sometimes we eat there, and sometimes we get takeout…
Read MoreShopping in Les Halles market, Toulouse
One of the (many) pleasures of traveling in France is wandering the stalls at the local markets. I’ve already written about some of my favorite markets in France – in the stunning mountain town of Annecy and the Cours Saleya market of the Riviera coastal city of Nice. If you’re travelling in France, always make time…
Read MoreBali Hotels you’ll love…
Okay, it’s a cold February day out there, and this is post is a blatant attempt on my side to revisit memories of tropical warmth just a few degrees from the Equator. If I close my eyes, I can feel it working already. Still, if any of you are headed to Bali, Indonesia, or starting…
Read MoreGaudí’s spectacular Casa Batlló, Barcelona
I’ve already written a post about Antonin Gaudí’s first major commission in Barcelona, Spain – the Palau Güell. The Catalan architect’s work are on prominent display all around Barcelona – and one that should not be missed is the whimsical Casa Batlló. This home, also known locally as the Casa dels ossos (House of Bones) for its bone-like shapes,…
Read MoreStep back to the Middle Ages in Toulouse’s Musée de Augustins
I had a great time exploring the pretty southwestern French city of Toulouse with my family at the end of November. I already posted about the great, outdoor Christmas market we enjoyed. I’ve also posted about the day trip we made to Albi, to see the impressive Toulouse-Lautrec Museum. Another highlight to our visit was…
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