Category: STORIES
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Sweden | A Midsummer’s Day
If you live in Sweden, Midsummer,or Midsommar, which is celebrated in June on the longest day of the year, is the most important holiday next to Christmas. If you’re American, and you’ve just arrived in Sweden on Midsommar’s eve, you’ll discover that everything, and I mean everything, is closed. Except for the boat tours. Exploring…
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Dublin | Pub Crawl
[A repeat post for St. Patrick’s Day] It was my first day in Dublin, and I had covered a lot of ground – but when I wandered into the Temple Bar neighborhood, and heard the music coming out of each and every pub, I really felt like I was in Ireland.
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In Bruges
I’m in Bruges. Like the movie. Except without the shooting. What can I say about a city that smells like chocolate, has houses that look like lace, and where the soundtrack is the clip-clop of horses pulling carriages and the (almost constant) melody of forty-seven bells reverberating from the medieval bell tower that soars above…
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Italy | The Joy of Cooking
Passing by Ristorante Buca di Bacco in Positano one day, I noticed a raucous group of tourists with aprons on, and wine glasses in hand, in the kitchen. It looked like a party, but upon further inspection, I discovered that it was a cooking class. I signed up immediately. The next day I arrived at…
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Italy | Under the Ligurian Sun
The blog can’t seem to get out of Italy, because of all the questions that have come from viewers of “The Brian Boitano Project,” since it aired on HGTV. One of the queries was, “Where did you stay during the house renovation?” The answer is a charming town on the Italian Riviera, called Chiavari. (Pronounced…
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Paris | Guimauves pour la Saint-Valentin
On a quiet Sunday afternoon in Paris, I stumbled upon Meert. The windows were spilling over with delectable and beautifully packaged Valentine’s Day sweets, and I stopped momentarily to gaze through the window. That’s when I saw the marshmallows. I love marshmallows. These were big and fluffy and colored in shades of soft pastel, hinting…
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Italy | The Great Big Italian Feast
It was like a movie. On the side of a mountain, just off a treacherously curvy road, the residents of the town of Favale di Malvaro gathered for a Sunday afternoon feast. Brian’s contractor for the renovation of his family home in Favale was Enzo Pezzolo, and he invited us all to the town feast. …
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Scotland | Why I Went to Kirkcudbright, Part Two | Glenholme Country House
It took me four somewhat dicey hours to get to Kircudbright, Scotland, only to find there was, literally, nothing to do there. Here’s the thing about travel: No trip is ever wasted. Somewhere along the way, you’re bound to meet someone interesting, or see something intriguing, or find inspiration in an unexpected source. When I…
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Scotland | Why I went to Kirkcudbright (“ker – COO – bree”), Part One
I had a limited amount of time in Scotland, and I knew I would go to Edinburgh and Glasgow – but I also wanted to see a bit of the country. My first choice would have been the Highlands, but I didn’t have time to do that trip. So I did what I always do…
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Scotland | Kingdom of Fife – The Bus Tour | Part Two
Part One of the Kingdom of Fife Bus Tour story left off as I was running back to the tour bus in the harbor of Anstruther, Scotland, after photographing the irresistible “shell house.” Not only did I make it back to the bus, but I had time to take one more funny photograph (who doesn’t…
