Why I love New York in August

When people ask me what my summer holiday plans are on the years I return home, they tend to look at me oddly. “New York in August? Why? Isn’t it miserably hot?” My family and I try to get back every couple of years for a long holiday in NY, and this is our favorite…

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Etruscan Tuscany in Chiusi

On a trip to Tuscany this past summer, I decided to make a stop in a city I’ve always seen from the highway but have never managed to visit. The area is known for its Etruscan civilization. The ancient city of Clusium, or Clevsim in Etruscan, was one of the most powerful cities in the…

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Hamburg’s Kunsthalle

When you’re in Hamburg, Germany, there is lots to do. One of the visits you probably want to make is to visit the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Hamburg Art Museum. It first opened to the public back in 1869. You can read about opening days and times, its collection and exhibitions here at its website. Since…

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The links between authors and painters

“I learn as much from painters about how to write as from writers.” -Ernest Hemingway An interesting question raised by an author I have to admit (stereotypically? unfairly?) I would never have imagined to have pondered such a question. But I have always loved art for many of the same reasons I’ve always loved literature…

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Athen’s spectacular Acropolis Museum

I’ve already written about visiting the Acropolis on your next visit to Greece’s capital, Athens. Just at the foot of the ascent/decent is the spectacular, newly restored and absolutely-not-to-be-missed Acropolis Museum. The museum has been planned since the 1970s, since the earlier museum was hardly impressive enough for all the splendors it contained. The new packaging…

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More summer favorite reading … That Summer

After reading and enjoying Lauren Willig’s The Ashford Affair, I was happy to pick up That Summer.  Willig’s new novel is a dual narrative following both modern Julia Conley, a victim of New York’s financial crisis who finds herself out of a job, but inheriting a house – Herne House – from a mysterious aunt…

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Reason #5380 to love Rome: Bernini’s home and studio

One of the (many) great things about living in Rome, Italy is keeping your eyes pealed for all the famous authors/composers/sculptors/artists who once called the Eternal City home. Not surprisingly, one such illustrious resident was the Roman sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). Although I knew Bernini lived and worked in Rome, I didn’t know where until I…

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Reason #5379 to love Rome: Michelangelo’s Moses

There’s a great expression in Italian, l’imbarazzo della scelta, which translates loosely to such a wide range of choices that it’s almost embarrassing. That’s how I feel about Rome’s artistic treasures. There’s simply so much to see in Rome, and much of the treasure trove is absolutely free to visitors. One such (marvellous) artistic example of…

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Medieval Manhattan? The Cloisters

Living in Europe, when friends and colleagues ask me what to see on their visit to New York, I always get the odd look when I say to spend part of one day exploring ‘medieval Manhattan’. As Europeans know all too well, American history is remarkably short. But money can buy almost anything, as the…

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