2026

We flew to Helsinki in search of something a bit different after spending the previous month in London, and because the beginning of September conveniently marks the start of lower off-season airfares and hotel prices. We got lucky. Mostly clear skies, sunshine and light-sweater days, which are by no means guaranteed in a country where winter has a habit of arriving early and staying late. Helsinki itself is delightful: compact, handsome and wonderfully easy to navigate on fo

I think we all have places in the world, if we are lucky enough to discover them, where our hearts sing and our souls somehow expand. For me, one of those places is Point Reyes, an hour and a world away from San Francisco. I first chanced upon Point Reyes shortly after moving to San Francisco in 1988. I remember cresting the road into the postage stamp of a town, with that first wide vista of Tomales Bay opening up in the distance. It was love at first sight. Nearly four deca

Our Helsinki tour guide joked that when you search for tours of Helsinki, one of the first things that pops up is a tour of Tallinn, the capital of nearby Estonia. So, naturally, off we adventured. Tourists go to Tallinn for its remarkably preserved medieval Old Town. The Finns, apparently, have another motivation: they go for the booze. Alcohol is considerably cheaper in Estonia than in Finland, and according to our guide, some Finns arrive at Tallinn’s port and immediately