Belle Views: Hydrangeas, Harleys and Rockers

Rocker on the Marsh on Pawleys Island

Welcome to the first edition of Belle Views. This new weekly photography feature is all about you showing off whatever it is you’re seeing and shooting recently. Be sure to read more about how you can submit your own photographs for possible inclusion. And we’d love it if you would join The Travel Belles new [...]

Dane County Farmer’s Market in Madison, Wisconsin

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I realize I have unusual habits, but I was not the only person who got to the farmer’s market on State Street in Madison, Wisconsin, at 6 am last Saturday. A gaggle was already there at what is often recognized as one of the best farmer’s markets in America. Mind you, in that part of [...]

A Little Bit of Krazy, a Lot of Krab

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** Note, 6/1/11: Sadly, the Krazy Krab has closed   Unless someone tells you exactly where to stop, the unbeaten path will whir right on by. This is probably true along almost any US four lane highway in a pocket of space between more major towns and cities.   In this instance the highway is [...]

Sunday Afternoon Finds at a Roman Mercatino

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Flea market finds, antiques’ fairs, garage sales, vintage bijoux stalls, second hand stores… Don’t you just love them? Market shopping in Rome, Italy, calmly browsing the displays, and then coming upon that perfect and unique piece? Ah, bliss.[SlideDeck id='3' width='100%' height='475px'] Every second Sunday of the month, a tiny “mercatino dell’antiquariato” (antiques market) comes to [...]

Visiting Oxford with a Local

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When you think of Oxford, UK, what’s the first image that springs to mind? The university, no doubt. Although the exact date of its foundation remains shrouded in mystery, Oxford is thought to be the world’s oldest university, with evidence of teaching as far back as the eleventh century (just don’t mention this in its [...]

Fried Foods and the Southern Festival

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Strolling past the vendors at any one of dozens of food festivals that go on in May in the South, the sound of sizzling hot oil seems to hiss, “Jamie Oliver be damned.” Whatever you do, I wouldn’t show up there hungry. It’s a gauntlet. Fried dough, aka funnel cakes, french fries, fried crab, fried [...]

Not Your Grandmother's Summer Sandals

High heel race

Is there a sandal comfortable enough to take you from a morning museo to passaggiata**, yet cute enough to wear with your flirtiest sundress or dressy black trousers? Up for a Travel Belles challenge, I set out for Shoe Fanatic Nirvana, aka Shoes on a Shoestring in Albuquerque, to find out. I’m not alone in [...]

5 Reasons to Remember to Look Up Next Time You Go to Paris

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When we go to Paris we are determined to climb almost every flight of stairs we can pay to go up. This is understandable. We climb them all because that is what we do. We come bearing Nikons, Canons and Panasonics. Once there we take pictures of each other at the pinnacle of every famous [...]

Wisconsin Small Town Spirit in Fried Mushrooms

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Somewhere in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on Highway 16 just outside the center of town, close to the shores of Lac La Belle is a small piece of heaven: Mapleway Bowl. It may not seem much when you see it on the road: a faded forty-something year old sign and small one-story building. The front windows sport [...]

Pink Lilies, Three Year Old Fillies and the Louisville, Kentucky, Version of Prom

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Going to The Kentucky Oaks I felt like I was going to the prom all over again. This time, however, I loved my date enough to have been married to him for 21 years, my dress size was a wee bit different, and I had used spray tan instead of sunburning with foil. I also [...]

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