I didn’t know very much about Cornwall before we visited – only what I had seen represented on TV and the very loose history of Cornish miners in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (mostly about pasties, if I’m being honest). I’d read something about cream teas and heard of The Pirates of Penzance, but other than that,
What comes to mind when hearing or reading the words “afternoon tea?” Is it crisp, white tablecloths and delicate, bone china dishes, scones and jams and pinkies sticking out just so? Is it something more casual, perhaps? Just cups of hot brew with a little cream, shared at a table to help keep your eyes
Not too long ago, we visited Toronto, and the trip forced me to reflect on the lack of widespread, usable public transit in the United States … and how much easier it would be to cart my kid around if we had it. Unless you live in one of the few cities with easy-to-use,
There’s a reason it’s called “high season.” There’s a reason more people flock to a place at certain times, that the prices skyrocket and the city fills up so full that it’s nigh on impossible to imagine it any other way. Except that there is a low season. There is a time when visitors
We never planned on going to the Louvre. There are so many other museums in Paris – Musée d’Orsay, the Rodin Museum, Petit Palais, Orangerie Museum and a weird erotica museum in Montmartre, just to name a very few. The Louvre was too big. We were told to skip it. The lines were often
We used to stay out late on our travels – have dinner at 9 or 10pm and then wander the streets, hand in hand. In Paris, we would head to the Eiffel Tower to watch it light up at midnight. In Italy, we’d cue up for pizza at 2am, and then find a place
When we booked our trip to San Miguel de Allende, I thought I would be most excited about a little R&R, margaritas, European-style architecture and tacos, tacos, tacos. Instead, I was transported … by the doors. Yes, doors. Maybe because there was very little R&R to be had with a five-month-old infant in tow,
Northern Italy’s Lake Como: it’s a dream destination, right? It’s the land of Hollywood stars, VIPs and celebrities. It’s luxury and glamour and glitz. Isn’t it? Well, in the summer, yes. In those months, it’s bound to be full of Clooneys, footballers and the royals of Europe – all of them yachting and boating
In the autumn, my thoughts always tend toward England. Perhaps it is because I have read too many novels set in the UK, or because the weather in rural areas seems to be perpetually made of falling leaves, mud and rain. In any case, when the world around me turns orangey and the temperature starts
Growing up a proud Michigander, I was under the impression that all the lakes worth visiting were in my home state. If not only for the beauty, majesty and bragging rights that come with being the “Great Lakes State” but for the sheer number of bodies of water found here. Minnesota, “land of a thousand
Have you ever had the experience of returning to a place you had been before, to find it utterly different than you remembered? I hope so, for your sake. And I don’t mean the sensation of returning to your childhood home to find that it is smaller than you remembered, or back to your high
On a recent trip to Northern Italy, we planned a stay in the ancient city of Bergamo. It is everything a northern medieval city should be: walled, with twisting, turning, nonsensical streets that are too narrow for a car (even the tiny, European variety) to navigate. In a city like this one, we were determined
