Strange Closets

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday season. I was very fortunate to spend Christmas with family in a rented condo overlooking Hanalei Bay on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. I arrived the evening of the 21st, and I woke up at 5:30 the next morning to the sound of waves crashing [...]

Paris, France might be my favorite city in the world. The food is wonderful, the Seine is romantic and in my experience, the people are friendly and helpful. On the downside, Parisian hotel rooms are notoriously small – great for a couple days but potentially claustrophobic for more extended stays. Ditching one of the city’s [...]

Antony Gormley’s Madison Square Park Conservancy public art exhibit, Event Horizon, ends on August 15th, so I was happy to have visited New York in time to see at least a few of the 31 sculptures cast from Gormley’s own body, which stand on the rooftops and streets surrounding the Flatiron District. Police have fielded more [...]

The first time I visited Europe in 2000, I took an overnight train from Copenhagen to Paris. My tiny, beautiful, old-fashioned cabin had wood paneling and bunk beds, and it was the first thing that came to mind when the uniformed bellhop opened the door to my itty bitty room last week at The Jane [...]

My flight from Chicago to New York yesterday morning was inexpensive, punctual and quick, clocking in at just over an hour and a half. So far I’m having a fantastic trip. I checked into a great little hotel (more on that later), worked for a couple of hours and met a longtime friend, Matt, for [...]

When I visited Rome earlier this year, I walked something like 20 miles in two days. That’s all the time I had, and I didn’t want to waste a second. After all, Rome’s vibrant neighborhoods, spectacular ruins and prevalence of sixteenth and seventeenth century buildings make it the perfect city for wandering – my favorite [...]

Many thanks to Modest Designs founder Hillary Keech for contributing this excellent New York City shopping guide. A veteran of design firms such as Sills Huniford and Roman & Williams, Hillary understands that high design can be achieved on any budget, and I’m looking forward to visiting some of her selections during my next visit [...]