Favorite Places
In this, my final column as The Incidental Tourist, once more, I thank you for allowing me to take you on a flight of fancy. I want to bring you with me as I visit specific locations at my favorite places that remind me why I enjoy traveling so much.
There’s a spot in London’s Trafalgar Square. It’s at the top of the stairs in front of the National Gallery, gazing through the square, past Admiralty Arch and on toward Buckingham Palace. For me, no place captures London better.
Anyone who has visited Paris will undoubtedly include it on their favorite-places list, and it makes my cut as well. Yet, despite all the wonderful and romantic spots in the City of Lights, my favorite place is the Carnavalet Museum, because it represents what a museum should be. If you go, you will lose yourself in the numerous periods in Parisian life represented in this thoughtful and very down-to-earth museum.
I love visiting Switzerland, so picking a favorite place in this country is difficult. But the top spot goes to Larpin & Fils, a winery not too far from Lausanne. Clearly, this is influenced by the very personal nature of my visit, as Pierre-Andre Larpin invited me into his home and regaled me with tales of his fine wines, and plied me with excellent local meats and cheeses, and desserts made by his mother.
This is a relatively new favorite, but pictures of Hong Kong’s Peak bring back a flood of memories from my first big trip to Asia. I know it’s terribly touristy, but the less commercial view toward Lantau Island transports me to this exotic locale.
When I’m in San Francisco and food comes up, my mind wanders to Belden Place. With a great collection of restaurants, all on a pedestrian walkway that’s more European than Californian, I always carve out time to pay a visit.
Having family fortunate enough to actually live on Catalina Island means that I have been there more times than the average Southern Californian. And one of my favorite spots on the island is in front of the Inn at Mt. Ada. The Inn itself is amazing, and the view from in front of it is truly life-altering.
On the opposite end of the United States, pretty much any place in New York evokes memories for me. But Central Park, entering about 80th Street and Central Park West, reminds me how amazing an asset this park is to New Yorkers. In the midst of one of the busiest places on earth, you can find peace and quiet.
In the Midwest, Chicago is one of my favorite places to visit. And Millennium Park represents all that’s good about the City with Big Shoulders. It’s big and busy, yet intimate and tranquil. And for some reason, I get a huge kick out of watching people react to the photo-montage fountain that features giant photos of people appearing to spew water on waders in the pool.
I will always have a soft spot for Door County; it was one of the few places my parents could afford to take me as a kid, and I have been a nearly annual visitor as a semi-adult. My favorite spot is Eagle Tower in Peninsula State Park, in the fall. There’s no more spectacular view of the autumn foliage in this “Cape Cod of the Midwest.”
Last, but certainly not least, one of my favorite places is nearly in my own backyard. It’s Lake Harriet, early in the morning on a cool summer morning. Picture mist rising from the water, with the trees around the lake featuring the light-green foliage that marks the first days of the season. Sailboats bobbing on Harriet’s glassy surface.
I want to close with a heartfelt thank you to Twin Cities Business magazine. I have had a great time writing the Incidental Tourist for the past two years, and I hope that those of you who have read this blog have enjoyed it, too.
To quote Bill Bryson, one of my favorite writers and favorite people (yes, I have met and spent time with him): “To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”
I wish every one of you safe, enjoyable, educational, fulfilling, enriching, memorable, evocative travels.



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