After spending three days in Stockholm in July, it was time to head south to the countryside of Skane to visit our friends who had moved back to Sweden after living in New York City for a year. Normally, they live in Uppsala, which is less than an hour drive from Stockholm. But for most of the summer, […]

Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, is one place where you can have a very bright Christmas! Keeping up with the proverbial Joneses never required more electricity than it does in this Christmas lights wonderland. Subtlety is not rewarded here. Many of the houses go far beyond lights, with giant Nutcrackers, inflatable Santa Clauses and Nativity Scenes. Most […]

I had heard about the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden for years, but I had always thought that it was something just for kids. Until I had my son (who just turned two), I didn’t get excited about trains unless I was planning a trip to Europe. But now that trains […]

There are always musicians in Central Park, but today there many more than usual thanks to a brand new festival called Jazz and Colors. There were 30 jazz bands in 30 locations all playing the same set list from noon—4pm, with an hour-long intermission. I arrived shortly after the second set had started and after […]

We visited Quinta Da Regaleira in Sintra, Portugal, on a beautiful fall day. Quinta da Regaleira, an eclectic, almost spooky palace in Sintra, Portugal, was nothing short of amazing. most visitors to Sintra, however, will probably end up passing it over for the more popular palaces. If we weren’t staying within walking distance from it […]

Hotel Tivoli Palacio de Seteais in Sintra, Portugal If Lisbon reminded me of San Francisco, then Sintra reminded me of Newport, Rhode Island. When Sintra was in its heyday, the richest of the rich built incredible palaces of sometimes questionable taste but never lacking in detail, opulence or personality. And just like in Newport, these […]

After raving about Junibacken, the Children’s Museum in Stockholm, it just wouldn’t be right for me not to share my enthusiasm for the Children’s Museum in Indianapolis (CMI). This weekend marked our son’s first trip to Indiana – my husband grew up here and I have been here at least 15 times with him. We […]

When my friend Felicity Loughrey told me she wanted to write a guest blog post about Fitzroy Island, my response was, “Where’s that?” She told me it’s the best resort you’ve never heard of, and that it’s good enough to bring the grandparents. There are plenty of blogs (like this one!), articles and websites about […]

When you walk into the Vasa Museet in Stockholm, you’re immediately in awe of the massive wooden ship that stands before you. The whole building of the museum is built around the enormous vessel, and the lighting is dim and dramatic to perserve this delicate giant. Right after we played around at the Junibacken, the […]

When you board an international flight, it’s so disappointing to see those little screens hanging from the ceiling. The fantasy of watching two or three great movies on the plane is quickly shattered because even if they were showing something good, you could barely see it. Even if you see those back-of-the-seat screen, you still […]