June 25 – July 7 Lisbon, Portugal It’s been a while since my last post, but I can admit to having a pretty qualified excuse. For the past two weeks, we’ve made our home the ancient and decadently crumbling neighborhood of Alfama; Lisbon’s historic and, in many ways, cultural heart. In an attempt to align… Continue reading Out on the Tiles: Living Lisbon’s Summertime
Tag: city
Going Underground in Naples
Naples, Italy August 29 – 31 The sun had rolled slightly away from its zenith at three in the afternoon when we pulled into the gnarled streets surrounding Naples’ central storico (historic district). Despite this, it’s cruel heat still radiated over the ancient paving stones at Plebecito Square, and scarcely a soul ventured outside while… Continue reading Going Underground in Naples
Sunglasses at Night
Reykjavik, Iceland August 1-5 At 1am on August 2nd, Reykjavik welcomed us with a blast of salt air and a lingering sunset. The Midnight Sun had only just given over to a few hours of cerulean semi-darkness prior to our arrival, and to say our small squadron was due to experience some form of “temporal… Continue reading Sunglasses at Night
True Grit
Shanghai, China Every morning I woke up in Shanghai, I could taste the city between my teeth. Every night, clouds of dust and pulverized concrete would rise all the way to our room on the ninth floor of the Broadway Mansions Hotel, and by one in the afternoon, Ryan was rubbing his eyes and we… Continue reading True Grit
Almost Famous
Beijing August 26-31 Passing through the infrared body temperature sensors at the airport, I glanced back at Ryan with an enormous, loopy grin. The State Department emails I had been receiving for weeks that warned of potential quarantine in frightening Chinese sick houses, families separated, children shown no mercy; had melted away. We were in… Continue reading Almost Famous
The Zen Killer
Within the rectangular garden at Ryoanji Temple, the fifteen rocks and meticulously groomed white gravel represent the “quintessence of Zen art”. Arranged in no particular formation by a nameless monk in the 15th century, the brochure suggests each visitor “find out for himself what the garden signifies”, and millions of miniature rock gardens in psychiatrists’… Continue reading The Zen Killer