If you have a few hours of layover in Reijkavik, I highly recommend taking the 20-minute bus ride to the Blue Lagoon medicinal hot springs. The short ride takes you through fields of dark lava rock, and once you’re there, you will be handed a bracelet that will allow you to program your locker andContinue reading “The Blue Lagoon”
Category Archives: Travel
French highlights
To recap: in France, I spoke French, toured Normandy, remembered Joan of Arc, and cruised the Seine. And it was glorious. I wrote about it a bit more extensively over on David Lansing’s travel blog.
The souvenir
On my 31st birthday, Antoine, the youngest member of the family I am staying with in France, has given me an unexpected birthday present: a beautiful little pendant that looks like a large pearl or a small, pristinely white Fabergé egg. I put it around my neck and feel the smoothness of it with myContinue reading “The souvenir”
Not in my cloister on a cloud
Where Normandy meets Brittany, there is a city on a hill, in the sandy land reclaimed from the Atlantic. Mont Saint Michel. I had wanted to visit it for years, imagining this cloister in a cloud, the ethereal chants of the monks of times past hanging like ghosts in the cold air, perhaps the choppyContinue reading “Not in my cloister on a cloud”
4th of July
We have a tradition that for the 4th of July, we all go up to my parents’ house next to Canada, swim in the river, jump off stuff, cook outside, shoot fireworks, and take lots of naps. All five of us kids. Sadly, however, it’s not going to happen this year, so I will contentContinue reading “4th of July”
The fortress of San Nicola
The most inhabited island in the Tremiti archipelago is San Nicola, although that’s not saying much. After leaving the docks, we ran into a woman who had a bed and breakfast on the island, and that’s about it. Our main purpose for seeing the island was to examine the fortress, which had a long history;Continue reading “The fortress of San Nicola”
The lighthouse of Capraia
On the island of Capraia, there is bright sunlight, harsh wind, seagulls, and not much else. It was once tended by a lighthouse, which has since fallen into disrepair. Now nobody lives on the island at all. You can find only the remnants of civilization, unless you bring your own. But nonetheless, it is beautiful.Continue reading “The lighthouse of Capraia”
Photos from the Adriatic
One of the highlights of my trip was exploring the archipelago of the Tremiti islands. Though the place is supposedly overrun with tourists during the later summer months, there was practically nobody but us — the Italian man and the French woman I went with — and some seagulls.
CouchSurfing Italy
In Italy, my accommodation is taken care of via CouchSurfing, a website and, for some, an entire way of life. It’s like karma, or Christianity, or anarchy, or socialism. I think different people have slightly different motivations for doing it. Some (the ones who “are not true couchsurfers”) are just looking for a free placeContinue reading “CouchSurfing Italy”
In search of the best pizza in Rome
Louis has family in Rome, and he asks me to go visit them for him. They’re his second cousins or something along those lines, and there are three brothers who own a pizzaria not far from the Spanish steps, he tells me. Also, as a bonus, it’s supposed to be the best pizza in Rome,Continue reading “In search of the best pizza in Rome”
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