New Adventures in Vieux Lyon

My confession is that I had never been to Lyon. Well, at least never inside the city proper. I had passed it in my rental...

Churros, Churches and the Best of Spain in Spring

It wasn’t that I had had enough of Madrid. I had spent my first night doing a tapas route while bumping into a bunch of...

With the Monsignor in Vatican City

I feel like I have spent an awful lot of time around the Vatican recently. There was Easter and there was the beatification two weeks...

A Food & Wine Lover’s Guide to Piedmont, Italy

So, what do you do when you need a break from Turin? The good news is that Piedmont is Italy’s new culinary region for cutting...

Everything You Need to Know About Visiting Turin, Italy

Our journey to Turin turned into a long day in the car. An adventure in the dead of winter involving a train and lots of...

Where to Find the Best View in Italy

Every time I go to Venice, I get caught in that star struck moment—is it live, is it Disney, or is it even Las Vegas?...

Italia Nord, Italia Sud, and the Trains that Unite Them

Italy is a strange and wonderful country. It is at once hopelessly inefficient, exasperating, and unfathomable. Its regions are fiercely independent and culturally alien to...

Finding My Roots in Eastern Poland

My mother was born in West Prussia in 1941. It was then part of Germany, but on 18 January 1945 the family received an "evacuation...

In Brazil, Don’t Always Trust Your Guidebook

weather is hot in Rio de Janeiro and you have already been to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain to see the the Christ statue, the...

What It’s Like to Spend New Year’s in Rio de Janeiro

There is something pretty amazing about being somewhere else on New Year’s Eve. Last year, it was Bangkok. On a balmy evening, I was on...