This might sound weird, but my grandma used to take me to the neighborhood cemetery to play when we were kids. While other kids played at the park down the road, I loved the cemetery games I’d play with my siblings and cousins. We’d visit our favorite ‘spirits’, reading their birth and death dates on […]
Europe
Live Like a Local in Italy’s Cinque Terre
Though it’s akin to picking among your children, everyone who visits Italy’s Cinque Terre region holds a secret favorite among its five villages. It could be argued that Vernazza is the sexiest; that Corniglia offers the most amazing views. My favorite? The simple, steep-sided hamlet of Manarola, because an amazing stay there let me sink […]
The Whispering Walls of Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio
When I visited Florence, Italy’s Palazzo Vecchio last spring, its’ walls seemed to hold a whiff of mystery. I lingered in the grand hall meeting hall, Il Salone dei Cinquecento, soaking up the sort of spooky ambiance, picturing the De Medicis holding court with foreign potentates and generals returning from battle. It’s the kind of […]