Places to Visit »Newport,

This playground for the wealthy is not only worth going to during the summer. In fact, the town's huge Winter Festival is this coming week and it sounds like fun. There will be more than a hundred activities including seal watches and wine tastings.

When we've been in the past, it is quieter and less touristy during colder months, but be sure to bring warm clothes, that sea air can get pretty frigid. Several of the local mansions are open all year including The Breakers, Marble House and Rosecliff.

See more: Places to Visit


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on February 19, 2007

Places to Visit »Madonna Inn

Madonna InnSo many people have raved about this place, I have no problem recommending before having gone myself. But I will go some day, damn it! Just look at the photographs. A girl like me could never want to emerge again. It's worth the few minutes it takes to look at all of the photos of the themed rooms.

Even if you are not staying overnight, there is the Gold Rush Steak House, which looks like it was built by Liberace, and The Silver Bar looks like it was built by an Old Heidelberg Liberace. Shaun has also told me countless times about a public bathroom in the inn in which you get to pee into a waterfall instead of a urinal. From his telling, this is an unforgettable experience. The Inn is located on the Central California Coast, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

See more: Places to Visit


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on February 12, 2007

Places to Visit »Sydney,

Sydney AustraliaA sunny, friendly, beautiful metropolis on the water, Sydney is not only home of one of the world's most famous architectural achievements (the Sydney Opera House), but has been home to the largest gay carnivales in the world since 1978. My family visited during their bicentennial and it was the most joyous party with the biggest fireworks display I have ever seen.

Sydney is home to a majority of Australia's population, and after visiting it's easy to see why so many people would want to live in such a paradise.

See more: Places to Visit


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on February 5, 2007

Places to Visit »The Whaling Museum

Whaling MuseumWhile this museum may be small in size, its big in heart. Thanks entirely to Paul B. DeOrsay, the museum's director, greeter, and all around nice old man. When he recommends you watch the twenty video courtesy of Mystic Seaport (CT's larger whaling museum) to get a better understanding of the toil and difficulty of whaling through actual film taken on an actual whaling ship, take him up on his offer, it will color your whole experience.

The museum, which consists of about three rooms, is full of fun stuff, including a real whale boat (the smaller ships on the side of the main boat used to chase and harpoon the whales), some lovely intricate scrimshaw work, and a few of my favorite things of all time: dioramas and animatronics. Worth a stop in if you are taking a leisurely day trip in Northern Long Island.

See more: Places to Visit


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on January 29, 2007

Places to Visit »Winter Park,

Winter Park, COWe used to visit my favorite elementary school teacher and family friend who lived in this picturesque mountain resort town. The slopes are reported to be great, but not being a skier myself I always had much more fun during warmer months when the activity was the thrilling Alpine Slide.

See more: Places to Visit


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on January 22, 2007

Places to Visit »Uffizi

Uffizi One of the world's most beautiful cities is home to one of the world's most stunning and awe-inspiring museums. Seeing Sandro Botticelli's Primavera in person was an extraordinary experience and the collection of Flemish painting, one of my most very favorite eras of art history, is phenomenal. You can not experience Florence without the Uffizi.

See more: Places to Visit


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on January 15, 2007

Places to Visit »The Inn at the Hudson

Inn at Hudson My good friend Laura passed this travel tip on to me and I am passing it on to you. She has great taste, so I can stand by the recommendation even though I haven't had the privilege to stay at this charming inn. If you ever need accommodations in the Hudson Valley, head over to the exquisitely restored former convent of Dini Lamot and partner Windle Davis, two ex new wave musicians.

They and the adventure which led them to own and rehabilitate the once sagging and dilapidated building was recently featured in the Times and the slide show features breathtaking interior and exterior shots.

See more: Places to Visit


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on January 8, 2007

Places to Visit »Harvard Square

Harvard Square(First American University) While Boston seems smaller and smaller the longer I stay in New York, it once seemed huge and bustling. Well, it is still bustling, and Harvard Square is the nucleus, full of young collegiate energy and shopping destinations. I have never walked away from Boston empty handed due to its plethora of vintage clothing stores and specialty novelty shops that were always too enticing as a college sophomore. Take a walk around the area and feel distinguished among the brick and columns of the Harvard campus. Don't forget to bring your people watching glasses, because there are more goths, punks, skateboarders and general teen angst ridden loiterers than you can shake a magic?? stick at.

See more: Places to Visit


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on January 1, 2007

Places to Visit »Disneyland

disneylandMy family would visit my extended family in California often when I was a child and a trip to Disneyland was always, to my glee, on the agenda. I don't care what the French say, it really is a magical place and it firmly set an obsession with animatronics in my mind.

My sister and I would try to be the first to see the top of the Matterhorn on the drive there and the first sighting was tickle-your-toes exciting. The Matterhorn is just one of the memorable and classic rides. Space Mountain was the first big coaster I ever rode on and who can resist smiling when recalling the city lights on the Peter Pan ride; the ghosts sitting next to you at the end of the Haunted Mansion and the drunken antics of the ride that relaunched Johnny Depp as box office gold, Pirates of the Caribbean? Just writing about it makes me want to look into a trip in 2007…

See more: Places to Visit


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on December 25, 2006

Places to Visit »Ground Zero

ground zero lightsNot only harrowing as the site of the most horrendous tragedy in recent memory, but depressing for all the feuding and red tape that has marred the reconstruction. A place for introspection and reflection and when it's lit up at night I still get all broken up inside and realize how much I love this city.

See more: Places to Visit


Be the first to leave a comment →
Posted on December 18, 2006