One thing I have learned lately is that it’s less about the where and more about the who. Unlike many of my travel writing peers, I do not particularly enjoy traveling solo, mostly because it’s not very fun. My main issue is that I like to be around people, but I’m also too shy to talk to strangers.

There are certain places where I’m perfectly happy to go it alone, though there’s something about being alone in a city that always makes me feel a bit lonely.

But Paris is different. Maybe it’s because I’ve spent so much time here, but I feel perfectly comfortable solo. I’m never alone here, really, since the city is a map of memories from previous visits. Some places are crystal clear, while others have been erased and rewritten multiple times. Many of the locations that define Paris for me I would never be able to find again, even if they still exist: the weird “Mexican” restaurant that let us drink for cheap on my study abroad program; the random apartment we rented that was full of family albums; the restaurant where my aunt accidentally told the waiter she loved him. Sometimes the memories that pop up are totally expected, and other times you’re walking down a random street and you’re like “oh wait, this was the secret entrance to that underground bar that looked like a chapel.” Memories have a way of keeping you tethered to a place.

what i saw

The only good thing about solo travel in a city is getting to see museums at your own pace. (For me, that means very fast. I basically have a one-hour time limit.) I had one full day and decided to see three things that have been on my list for a while, starting with The Pinault Collection at Bourse de Commerce. I went to their location in Venice a few years ago during the biennale and saw this incredibly spooky and memorable show of Pierre Huyghe’s creepy aquariums where the artist designed shells in the shape of Brancusi masks and real crabs were living inside.

When I visited in Paris, there was supposed to be some kind of fog sculpture in the rotunda. I strolled through the rest of the place (loved the witchy paintings by Romanian artist Victor Man) but I think somebody pooped their pants on the third floor so I had to escape the galleries quickly without taking in much of the rest of the art except a great Rothkoesque photo by Wolfgang Tillmans. It turns out the fog sculpture was broken, which I only discovered after sitting there for 15 minutes waiting for something to happen. They gave everyone refunds.

Then I went to 59 Rivoli, a former artist squat that I read about in the Messy Nessy guide a few years ago. Maybe a little touristy now, it’s six floors of artists studios that are open to the public. I wanted to buy a lot of stuff, but my husband has sort of tried to ban me from coming home from trips with armloads of random things to frame. I have not adhered to the ban, but out of respect for him I am trying to be a bit more discerning. But I could think of like 45 people who would want these alpine landscapes by Katrin Hinterholzer in their house, and at least 3 people who would want this extension cord by Jeanne Gourlaouen. (I would have absolutely purchased it if it worked with American voltage.) I also fell in love with Occulta Dama’s freaky-deaky puppets.

I had also never been to the Grand Palais. I had seen lots of buzz online about the Matisse show, but then I saw a poster for a Hilma af Klimt show and went to that instead. (I missed the one at the Guggenheim in 2018.) She is totally unmedicated and kooky but I would join her cult. I think she was really onto something, but I’m too stupid to tell you exactly what. I will say, though, that the exhibition space was slapdash and depressing and had elementary school gym vibes. I felt like I was going to vote. I don’t know if I would go back there to see art, but I want to go back for dinner at Le Grand Café and a rave under the big glass dome.

what i wore

It was 100 degrees in Paris, so I sweated my way through my favorite silk maxi skirt, a pair of cotton twill palazzo pants I bought on the street in Rome that take up so much room in my suitcase that I have to wear them on the plane, and a couple of tissue-thin t-shirts. I wish I had worn a bathing suit so I could have jumped in the canal.

what i ate & drank

My husband’s uncles live in Paris, so on my first night there I invited myself over to drink icy cold mojitos during the heatwave. Once it had cooled down enough to go outside, around 9pm, we walked over Pont de la Tournelle from their place to a restaurant I have wanted to visit for a very long time:

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Last weekend I was one of the first travel writers to [redacted], where I accidentally channeled this scene from Robin Hood by wearing an off-the-shoulder peasant dress with hoop earrings and a scarf in my hair. Turns out it was the perfect look for twerking to Jailhouse Rock in the clërb.

what I’m clicking:

Can you keep a secret? | The impossible joy of the Knicks win | Why you can’t eat when you have a crush | Can Patagonia own Patagonia? | What if it all got hacked? | The mirage of the gifted child | How food delivery is reshaping mealtime | Steve-o does not need your attention (love to read a profile about somebody I genuinely thought was already dead) | The rise and fall of the art world’s gadfly | Grieving my two dads | All we have is time

what i’m wanderlusting:

Angola has been on my list for many years, but this recent review of Mumba Lodge and this Roads & Kingdoms trip have moved it closer to the top

where i’m traveling:

Back to Maine, a place that sort of traumatized me the first few times I visited, but now I’ve learned to love it

what i’m listening to:

Obsessed with the saga of Laura Owens

what i’m watching:

I have caught sprot fever, and though I have probably only watched a cumulative 45 minutes of actual world cup games over the past few weeks, I am extremely invested. I’ll be rooting for Spain, even though I prefer when non-Euro countries win. (I’m just pretty sure I have a grudge against the Argentina team, but I can’t remember why. Lovely country, though.)

Hosting the World Cup might be America’s redemption arc, and I can’t get enough of the very sweet videos of international sports fans discovering random corners of the country. It’s also a great reminder that there’s basically one of everybody in New York, and it’s been fun to see Queens erupt in cheers. I also can’t get the Bosnia song out of my head.

what i’m eating:

10 years ago, I wrote about a bakery in Paris. It’s never been busy on my many previous visits, but a few weeks ago, I was there at 10 on a Monday morning and there was a line of dozens of people snaking around the block. Instead of waiting, I sat at a table at the expanded next-door cafe (hot tip: they do pizzas now too), ordered a cappuccino and a pain au chocolate, and ate while I wondered how much my travel writer friends and I were to blame for its overwhelming popularity. Later that day, I read a newsletter from William O’Connor about this exact phenomenon. The croissant was delicious, though.

what i’m drinking:

I got back into carajillos recently during a lunch at Manuel in Baranquilla, and they really are the perfect afternoon pick-me-up

what i’m coveting:

I spent a lot of time shopping in Provence this month, which has inspired me to consider more colors and patterns in my clothes. Current fixations include this patchwork scarf skirt from Souleiado, Nili Lotan silk bandana pants, a pajama-adjacent matching set from Lorena Azizeh, these neon bandana necklaces, this wrap skirt, and the bags and patchwork trousers from Celine’s autumn collection.

what i’m recommending:

The De L’Europe in Amsterdam has one of the best hotel gift shops of all time, which is where I discovered Yvra 24, my new favorite perfume

what i’m reading:

I used my trip to France as a great excuse to go to the bookstore and pick up: Giovanni’s Room (not sure how I’ve never read this before, but WOW I loved it); The Paris Novel (hated the writing, the main character, and the contrived plot, but I still really enjoyed reading this); Grape Juice (short and sweet); Go Gentle (literally the perfect vacation read); and Hemingway’s posthumously published Garden of Eden (which I could not get through… I put it back on the bookshelf when I got home.)

what i’m bookclubbing:

Next up is Mary H.K. Choi’s Pool House - let me know if you want to join us!

Francesca del Balzo and Alice Russotti are the co-founders and creative directors of PORTA, a treasure trove of expertly curated tableware and hand-crafted home furnishings.

Before opening the shop, F…

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I am obsessed with Stella Jean’s take on Haiti’s soccer jerseys

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I went to the opening night of Grace Ives’ Girlfriend Tour at Underground Arts in Philadelphia and it was very fun.

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Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl

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I watched The Lost Boys for the first time recently and I still can’t stop thinking about the greased-up saxophone player. Can’t wait to see him on Broadway.

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10. Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin

9. Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

8. Circe by Madeline Miller

7. The Destroyers by Christopher Bollen

6. Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell

5. God of the…

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Since about 2010, I’ve visited a new country every year, including in 2020 when I went to Costa Rica for the first time that January. I didn’t go to any new countries this year, but…

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I was in Harbour Island earlier this month and got to go to the last Junkanoo practice of the year. On Harbour Island they celebrate on January 1st, but many moons ago we spent…

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Push their boundaries with a freaky-deaky co-ferment from Rose Hill Farms

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When my sister Abby was in town a few weeks ago, we made an early evening pit stop at Neue Galerie, which is basically my ideal museum because you can see everything in under a…

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The day I boarded the ship, I got a message from my editor that there had been a change of plans. Now, they needed a full photoshoot, and I’d have to model — face and everything. Luckily, I packed a suitcase full of gowns. (But in retrospect, I should have hit up the on-board salon for some professional hair and makeup.)

I spent the week with Natali Afsar, a Belgian photographer who has carved out a niche as THE chic ship photographer. I think getting my photo taken is actually kind of fun. Models have literally the easiest job in the world and if any of them try to convince you otherwise, just take that with a grain of salt because they’re probably too beautiful to have ever worked a real job.

See the full story in Oltre Magazine or keep reading for the behind-the-scenes scoop.

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where I went

The cruise started in Athens with stops in Milos, Chania, Ortigia, Taormina, and Sorrento before ending in Rome. If I could only choose one of those places to return to, it would probably be Crete, a Greek island that is so unique it should basically be its own country. (They agree.)

Otherworldly natural wonders, great food and wine, and some of the best beaches in the Med. We went to what is probably the worst beach in Crete and it was still pretty ideal: walking distance from town and crammed with loungers, but soft sand and crystal clear water.

who I met

Most of the people I met were first-time cruisers, lured by the promise that the RC yacht is not like other cruises. (It is in fact exactly like other cruises, only better.) Everyone on board was surprisingly young (lots of couples in their 40s) and surprisingly hot (there was a literal Victoria’s Secret model onboard). I already wrote about the most enigmatic person on board, a septuagenarian Italian woman who dressed exclusively in couture gowns and diamonds. The only other time I have seen this $500k Bulgari serpenti necklace was at a museum exhibit in Moscow. The rumor on board was that she did the inaugural sailing with her husband the previous week and loved it so much she just didn’t get off the boat. I hope she is still onboard.

what I ate

The food on board was better than it needed to be. I had the best spaghetti carbonara of my entire trip, and that’s saying a lot since I spent a week in Rome after the cruise. But the best thing I ate was this cold sesame noodle with crab. I still think about it sometimes. (Please tell me where I can find this in New York!)

My one critique of the food on board is that there was no breakfast buffet. I am not a breakfast person, so I love when I’m at a fancy hotel and I get to have some weird little salads, an Asian soup, and a chocolate croissant first thing in the morning. (Shout out to Velaa in the Maldives for having the best breakfast buffet in the world). The breakfast situation onboard was a little whack, honestly, since they had no non-egg, non-sweet, hot items. (But they did make me congee one morning, which is my ideal breakfast.)

My meals off the boat were mostly unremarkable except for on the Amalfi coast, where our boat driver took us to this restaurant for maybe the best spaghetti alle vongole I’ve ever had in my life, accompanied by some Furore from Marisa Cuomo.

what I drank

My mom is famously not allowed to drink gin because “it makes her want to rob a bank” so in solidarity with her, I tried a non-alcoholic Negroni made with actual zero-proof Tanqueray, vermouth, and Campari. (I also had plenty of real Negronis, French 75s, Americanos, and who can say no when a staff member cracks open a magnum of Whispering Angel?)

what I read

I’ve killed too many brain cells to reread The Odyssey, so I opted for the next best thing: Circe.

what I packed:

A Georgia Hardinge number similar to this one and a long mauve version of this Good American dress paired with a boxy silk kimono from Poochki. I packed but didn’t end up wearing a floor-length mesh dress that I got for $10 at one of those pay-by-weight vintage stores in Paris. My bag was a sparkly number similar to this one from Jennifer Miller. I also packed my silk robe from Kayll, which made a cameo in the photos. But most of the photoshoots happened in a bathrobe.

what I listened to

One night on board, they had a party where they had local musicians play and it was literally the best cover band I have ever heard in my life? Future brides, this is your sign to have a Dolce Vita wedding and hire these guys.

what I bought:

Since I was going back to Taormina, I made a plan to visit Antonio lo Turco to buy some earrings I regretted not getting last time I was there. He remembered us and was so happy we returned that he gave my mom and I each one of these little horn charms made of coral. I wear it all the time next to my shark tooth charm. I bought a pair of giant gold cross earrings that I wore to the Vatican a few days later.

is it worth it?

Did I have fun? Yes. Did I eat delicious things and see new places? Also yes. Would I pay $25k for this?

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For my birthday a few weeks ago, Haley and I went to see one of the last performances of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. It was maybe the best performance I’ve seen on Broadway an…

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Finally went to one of those shows under the BQE this weekend and now I’m obsessed with everyone in TV on the Radio.

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Cole Escola as Little Edie in the Hamptons issue of NY Mag

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Gurmit Kaur (seen here in Vogue Italia)

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Julia Butterfly Hill, who lived in a tree for 738 days.

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I went to see the Alvin Ailey exhibit at the Whitney on one of their free Friday nights. It was a little overwhelming trying to navigate the exhibit with so many other people w…

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15. All Fours by Miranda July

14. Trust by Hernan Diaz

13. The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

12. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

11. Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

10.

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