In 2020, I had planned a trip to Pompeii, which of course, never happened. But last Saturday, I caught a glimpse of this tragic city at the Legion of Honor. My brother invited me to the museum to see a very interesting exhibit: Last Supper in Pompeii -From the Table to the Grave. The exhibition…
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It’s 2021, and the Summer 2020 Olympics are about to begin… with no spectators. Like everything else in 2020, these Olympics will undoubtedly be historic and weird. Take the athletes’ beds in Olympic Village, for example. I saw these beds online in The Skimm. They reported, “The world’s best sports competitors are set to spend their nights…
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Initially, I intended to write about Alcatraz in my Bay Area series: In My Own Backyard. But I thought, “I can’t talk about Alcatraz and not mention Eastern State Penitentiary.” They’re like first cousins. Alcatraz, in San Francisco, and Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP), in Philadelphia, are two of America’s most historic and storied former prisons. They…
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I’m not sure what this says about me, but I love cemeteries. I don’t like new, tidy ones. Cemeteries with too many rules and uniformity don’t interest me. I prefer old, dilapidated cemeteries with overgrown landscaping and half-buried headstones. I like it when families or the passage of time has put their stamp on the…
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Happy 4th of July! Actually, it’s July 8, so Happy 8th of July. I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I am just back from Tahoe, where I was not only celebrating America’s birthday but also celebrating my daughter’s 21st birthday. Lake Tahoe is a 4-hour drive from the Bay Area and a favorite…
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I recently wrote a blog to the class of 2021 advising grads to start an Emergency Travel Fund -just in case someone invites them somewhere cool. Well, that is excellent advice. Because guess what? My girlfriend recently texted: “Hey Paula, do you want to go to PVR with me on my 48-hour layover?” (She’s a…
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