Favorite places are not easy to come by and not easy to pare down. Sometimes we have too many and at times we don’t have enough. My favorite places of 2011 are highly subjective, as are all articles of this nature. I have been reading many “Where to go in 2012” articles and I can’t help but wonder about the author. These are their favorite places most likely of 2011. Every Friday, I feature a favorite place, a moment with a destination that moved me. The idea is to lend a weekly postcard, one I hope you feel is purely addressed to you. These places wish you were here, even if you can’t be. Continue Reading
Milan, Italy Wishes You Were Here
The last place you will find me this time of the month is an indoor shopping mall. It is a place all should avoid for fear of being spritzed with the latest scent by a celebrity or for fear of being rundown in the parking lot by an SUV. However, the first place I found in Milan was just that, the original indoor shopping mall, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. What would become Milan’s idea of a shopping mall in the 19th century, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II opens up to a dramatic archway. Within a ceiling of steel and glass, you can still spot the heavens. It’s design takes on the shape Continue Reading
Sweet December Travel
He stirs the mixture of hot sugar, just one point in the process to create a simple candy cane. A father lifts his son on his arms to see the silver saint as an entire island elbows in between. And a lighthouse watches over a Christmas tree composed solely of lobster traps. I don’t often travel in December, mostly due to family filled schedules and of course the chaotic airport scene. After boarding a flight on Monday, a boarding process that took far longer than it ever should, I watched as people jammed their holiday gifts and jackets in the overhead bins, ignoring all announcements to leave Continue Reading
Cork, Ireland Wishes You Were Here
Driving into Cork, I noticed an abundance of high school students. And then, I realized I’m getting older. These are college students attending the University College Cork, home to around 7,000 students. Cork’s youth is apparent, even if a little more immature. You don’t sense age in this city, just pure youth and innocence. A good day in Cork begins at the Old English Market, with no connection to the wood cleaner brand. I am delighted to find not bottles of wood polish but rather stall after stall of random goods. T-shirts and meats, delicious fruit tarts and vegetables, the market is Continue Reading
The Tivoli Gardens of Copenhagen Wish You Were Here
A few screams fill the cool night air of Copenhagen. My first time in the city, I was skeptical of its amusement park at the center. The Tivoli Gardens fill Copenhagen’s heart on more levels than one. You come here to be entertained, but strangely not in a kitschy, amusement park sense. The Tivoli Gardens have class. As I walk around Tivoli Lake, I take in what I believe to be this 8-hectare garden’s best attribute, its lights. While the space is made up of rides, restaurants, concerts and even parades on occasion, it is the soft glow of the Tivoli’s lights that make it seem the work of Continue Reading
Kilkenny, Ireland Wishes You Were Here
A peat fire warms a pub in Kilkenny as The Beach Boys “Sloop John B” blares in the background, a song about wanting to go home. The woman next to the fire reads her newspaper and steals bites of dinner in between stories. Her glasses rest on the lower end of her nose as her plate of food goes flying due to an accidental elbow. She doesn’t bat an eyelash at her mistake and continues to read the evening news. I sit on the other end of the fire, eating crispy fish and chips. Suddenly I realize being alone in a pub is a good thing. You can observe the soul buried in her literature, the family Continue Reading
A Year in Travel
It is the eve of the last month of the year. December is a month I seldom travel. It is a month designated for family time. Each weekend seems to spur an event or occasion. It is also the final chapter of the year, a time for reflection. And on the eve of the last month of 2011, I couldn’t help but think back on my travels for the year, as many of us do throughout this time of ending and beginning. What I have concluded about my travels this year is that I learned something about travel I didn’t realize before. The realization comes after travel, when you are home reflecting on experiences. Continue Reading