29 Aug
Today is sunny, warm and breezy- perfect. It’s the end of August in Odessa, and I am visiting for a few weeks. I was born here, and moved to New York when I was 15. I returned two Summers ago, fell back in love with Odessa, and keep coming back. My friends from London are in town, and I am showing them [...]
28 Aug
We didn’t have an underwater camera, so our underwater journey remained undocumented, but in a way I am glad- It keeps the image of the dolphins fresh and vivid in my mind. It’s an image I hope to preserve and remember for years to come, and when it fades I’ll just have to come back to [...]
26 Aug
It’s a short drive from Waikiki to the simple coastal town of Kailua, and the amount of gorgeous scenery per mile is immense. I call this the high impact drive, because it is relatively short and really, incredibly, overwhelmingly beautiful. Coming from Waikiki you would take highway H1 to H2. H2 took 37 years to [...]
19 Aug
We landed in Maui’s tiny airport at 11am, and Masha was waiting outside in her old beat up green station wagon. Bright red Hawaii print nylon seat covers adorned the front seats. I guessed this car gets pretty wet, sandy and muddy at times, though it looked perfectly clean now. “I love this car- I [...]
19 Aug
Our destination was The valley of the Temples, and the traffic from Waikiki to Kaneohe was brutal. It would clear up for a minute, and we’d start rolling slowly, but then it was bumper to bumper again for the next 10 miles. We got there at 6 PM, The Valley, and with it the temples were closed. [...]
View all of 'Two Thai restaurants, or why I do not trust guidebooks'
13 Aug
Waikiki is crowded. That was one of the first thoughts I had when we arrived a week ago. Though this impression hasn’t left me completely, it has subsided. I have gradually come to realize that Waikiki is not crowded in a loud obnoxious way, and there is still an element of peacefulness in the thickest of crowds. I think it comes [...]
2 Aug
When you visit Tel Aviv, there are 3 things that are an absolute must for any itinerary. Jaffa, neve Tzedek and Shuk. Jaffa and Neve Tzedek are two beautiful areas next to each other, so when you go, plan to spend a day there. Make sure not to go on Shabbat as everything is closed, so Thursday [...]
31 Jul
We are sitting at a place called Lala Land on the Tel Aviv beach, listening to mellow atmospheric music played by an attractive DJ, and watching the beautiful sunset. I am on my third glass of wine, and really savoring this time- I leave tomorrow, and as it happens on really incredible trips, I am [...]
28 Jul
The name of one of the loveliest neighborhoods in Manhattan, Nolita sounds like a pretty girl’s name, but it simply means “North of Little Italy”. This lovely area has some of the best cafes and boutiques in New York City, all concentrated around a several block radius. You can spend a lazy Saturday afternoon here, [...]
24 Jul
The red light indicating that I was running dangerously low on gas has lit up a while a go, and I was starting to get more than mildly worried. The highway was closed. We were not moving- at all, not even a touch and go bumper to bumper misery, for which I would have been [...]
Crimea is what they call the “Ukrainian Rivera” spread out along the coast of the Black Sea. It’s a place of amazing beauty, and each little town offers it’s own special “something”. When I arrived here, my first thought was that it feels like time stood still here for the past 20 years. It was apparent [...]
Toronto is one of those cities that makes you want to be more “green”, healthier, friendlier to the planet and more polite to strangers. Every time I visit here, I am a whole lot more conscious, polite and drawn to recycle when I return home. There is a good recycling program in place in the [...]
Brighton beach-day trip to little Odessa At the last stop of B train a different world awaits any New Yorker or a visitor who has a hankering for a bit of the unusual within the reach of the MTA Brighton beach is a Brooklyn area by the shore, right next to the old Coney Island amusement [...]
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