Winter Landscapes on Roosevelt Island

Snuggled in the East River and just a short tram ride from Manhattan’s Midtown East, Roosevelt Island is a great place to soak up the bucolic landscape and contemporary architecture. (The 59th Street Bridge that hovers above the island is quite photogenic when a thick blanket of fog settles in.) Winter on the island is especially evocative when the undulating lawns of the Cornell Tech campus are covered in snow. These are a few winter images. 

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Travels in Quebec’s Eastern Townships - Part 2

Whether you ski Quebec’s Mount Bromont or just take the gondola to the 1,800 foot summit, it’s worth hanging out at the ultra contemporary Summit Lodge for the stellar sunsets.

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Travels in Spring Lake, NJ - Part 1

Despite traveling all over the world to the most wonderful places, I always return to Spring Lake, New Jersey that’s a bastion of serenity and bucolic scenery.

Sunrise is a special time in Spring Lake.

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Travels in Wales - Part 6

 

What an atmospheric setting for a tea room in Wales. At Tu Hwnt I’r Bont, I enjoyed scones with butter and jam in the leafy gardens beside the Conwy River. Most of the edifice is blanketed with Virginia creeper which, I’m told, turns a delightful shade of crimson in the fall.

The landscape of Wales is a delightful patchwork of verdancy in all its vivid green hues.

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Travel in Wales - Part 5

 

I’m enamored with Newport, a lovely town in Southwest Wales with a sandy beach, a castle, several coffee shops and art and craft emporia, and much more.

In the town of Llangollen, Wales, the lush grounds and oak-paneled interior of this mansion, Plas Newydd, are worth an extended visit. This is where the Ladies of Llangollen - as portrayed in the BBC series Gentleman Jack - lived.

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Travels In The Faroe Islands - Part 2

On the Faroe Islands, the roads that thread along a headland in the south of Eysturoy provide numerous picnic opportunities as well as stellar views of Nolsoy, the small adjacent island that is accessible by a short ferry ride.

I fell in love with the look of this town hall in the Faroe Islands. It’s located in the Eystur municipality and designed by the same architect who did Reykjavik’s stunning Harpa Hall. (You can walk across the grassy rooftop!)

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Touristy Mystic is Also A Placid Destination

 In Mystic, Connecticut, I was as infatuated with clouds as I was with trees.

Though Mystic is thronged with tourists, a sense of calm is pervasive.

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Photos: Brittany, France

Walking even a portion of France's 216-mile Nantes-Brest Canal in inland Brittany -- I walked  a 60+ mile section over the course of six days -- is a placid adventure through a bucolic landscape. It’s one full of discoveries, as the colors of the sky, foliage, and reflections in the water continually change. The bed and breakfasts vary from chateaus reminiscent of Downton Abbey to country houses in centuries-old slate hamlets.

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Photos: Curacao

The Curacao most people see is the one with glorious sandy beaches. The one I preferred to visit is lush with pockets of forest land, decked out with bold art objects and dotted with dramatic sea scapes.

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Gardens Resembling Works of Art

I’ve always been in awe of the creative works of Brazilian native, Roberto Burle Marx, a conservationist and legendary landscape architect who’s most noted for his wavy patterns on the sidewalk of Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. He used plants as anyone else would work with paint pigments to design gardens that are unique in their patterns, forms and color palette. I was delighted to recently visit the New York Botanical Garden that has a tribute to him -- “Brazilian Modern: The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx: -- that’s open until September 29. It’s a must see whether you know anything about this legendary man or not. The exhibition, which includes tropical plants that are native to Brazil, is divided into four sections. The Modernist Garden has paths that are curvy as are the planting beds. Here you find elephant's ears, bromeliads as well as Caribbean and Brazilian palms. The Explorer’s Garden is lush with tropical rain forest plants such as philodendrons. The Water Garden has a whimsical wall dripping with staghorn ferns, as well as a large pool dotted with water lilies and other aquatic plants, including the Victoria amazonica whose leaves can grow as wide as nine feet. There’s also an indoor exhibition of his boldly-hued abstract textiles, drawings and paintings. As part of that exhibition, the Rotunda is where visitors are given insights into Burle Marx’s estate, referred to as the Sitio that served as his studio and home. The re-creation includes wall graphics that reference the hand painted blue and white tiles that line his studio’s walls.

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