‘Oxford or Cambridge?’: the vacation edition
Visiting university towns for a uniquely civilized — and wholly British — experience
Spectator Life
An intelligent mix of culture, style, travel, food and property, as well as where to go and what to see.
August 11, 2022
Them dog days
Summer in broiling Washington reminds us that hard work isn’t everything
August 1, 2022
Christ stopped at Oberammergau
The Passion Play was political, and not even particularly religious
My encounters with the Mayans
The people are still here but their great cities have been swallowed by the jungle
July 18, 2022
Slowly roasting in heatwave Britain
AC-free UK sweats it out like Prince Andrew
July 7, 2022
Bogotá in full bloom
A new Colombia is budding, though still scared and scarred
The pride of Paducah
A weekend in Kentucky’s distinctly working-class Jackson Purchase
July 6, 2022
Celebrating the Fourth in free Florida
Bad drivers, happy faces, and unmatched patriotism
June 25, 2022
The secret to exploring Istanbul
You don’t have to spend a lot to eat well there
June 18, 2022
Following the seam of the Iron Curtain
I met people who risked their lives to escape from east to west
May 31, 2022
In defense of Northern Virginia
Washington’s suburbs are more than just sprawl and traffic jams
May 26, 2022
On the spot along the Outer Banks
History takes you out of yourself at Kill Devil Hills and Cape Hatteras
Paris match
Hustling and hoteling in La Ville Lumière
April 18, 2022
The island that time forgot
A remote Chesapeake outpost is turning to soup
Lincoln’s hideaway
What solace Lincoln did find often came during stays in what today is known as President Lincoln’s Cottage
March 24, 2022
Who killed Dicky?
A cold case in a hot place
Souvlaki with graffiti
Even the graffiti can’t undo the light over Athens. It bathes the city in a serene glow
February 20, 2022
Back to Bangalore
Quantity is quality in the new India
January 24, 2022
Blowing my mind in the Electric Forest
What happened to the all-embracing, welcoming spirit emanating from the Electric Forest?
Return to Iraq
More than two millennia of Jewish history stalks the land that now encompasses the modern state of Iraq
January 17, 2022
America should be more like West Virginia
Bette Midler and others slime the state as backwards but those who are from there know better
January 3, 2022
In search of Sisi
Sisi was the first royal celebrity of the modern age
Staten my preference
Staten Island offers the spiritual antonym to elitist performances such as the Met Gala and the Oscars that peddle a distortion of American life
November 18, 2021
Ice fishing in the Arctic
The Russian ice fishing journey is a study in contrasts between the elements
Prague by design
The Czech capital may be a prisoner of its heritage, but it’s more than a Disney castle
November 17, 2021
The history of the American Memorial Chapel
The Chapel is dedicated to the 28,000 American people who were stationed on British soil and died in World War Two
November 16, 2021
Fall is America’s sentimental season
It’s a bittersweet time, a nostalgic one, when we come home to our true selves
November 3, 2021
An appreciation of the Trump International Hotel
It has a strangely authentic character all its own, just like its namesake
October 26, 2021
Maybe Hawaii should be independent
The state has a complex pride and history — just don’t call it anti-American
