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Death in Rome: An ode to a fellow American expat

Johns at Toscolana

The most shocking news I got while covering the Winter Olympics in Cortina wasn’t anything an athlete did or didn’t do. It was the death of one of my best American friends in Rome, John Tuthill. They found him dead in his apartment Feb. 13. We still don’t have many details. As we wait, I wrote a tribute to my drinking buddy, fellow Romanista and occasional travel companion.

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Cortina during Olympics: Meeting Alberto Tomba and the chic center of Italy

Cortina di Ampezzo Olympics

I’m in Cortina d’Ampezzo covering alpine skiing for Colorado Public Radio, The Olympics are always long for reporters. Many 17-hour days. Long bus rides. Major time gaps between food. But Sunday night I hit one of the most chic towns in Italy. I managed to meet three brothers from Bologna who had a pass to a party hosted by Alberto Tomba, Italy’s Olympic medalist skiing hero and eternal playboy. It was the highlight of another memorable Olympic memory.

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Winter Olympics memories: From U.S.-Canada hockey to freezing my pens off, I’m returning for more

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This week I’ll be in Cortina d’Ampezzo to cover my fourth Winter Olympics. This time it’s for Colorado Public Radio and National Public Radio. I hope I collect a memory I can add to my long list of memories. Here I list 10 of them, most of them uplifting, some heartbreaking. But all memorable, from the U.S.-Canada gold medal hockey game in Vancouver to the Russia House in Turin.

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Bucket list 2026: From the Alps to Vietnam, from Maldive to Iran

Royal Island

What’s on your bucket list for 2026 travel? I’ve got mine down. I have 10 destinations ranging from Grenoble to Northern Vietnam with various deserts and islands scattered in between. I crossed off nearly every item on last year’s bucket list. Check out mine for this year and see if it inspires you to write one of your own.

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New York Times 52 Places to Go 2026: My list of five that I suggested

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Every January the New York Times posts a timely feature entitled 52 Places to Go. It’s one destination per week for that upcoming year. The Times has its part-time writers scour the Internet and phones for interesting places that have big events, celebrations or anniversaries. I am one of them. I send in five a year and this year they chose my suggestion of Assisi, Italy, which is celebrating the 800-year anniversary of the death of St. Francis. I write about it and my other four suggestions as my own personal Places to Go 2026.

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12 years in Rome: Anniversary calls for another list of reasons why I love this city

Forum of Augustus II

Twelve years ago Sunday I showed up in Rome with three bags which weren’t nearly as heavy as my dreams. My retirement in Rome has surpassed all of them. Every year around Jan. 11, the date of my arrival in Rome in 2014, I list all the reasons why I love this crazy city. This is my latest edition. Stay tuned for more in coming years.

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“Emily in Paris”: Playing an extra in Netflix’s global chick flick hit a humble way to spend a sunny day

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Resuming my side gig as a film extra, I played an obnoxious tourist in Netflix’s hit series “Emily in Paris.” It filmed Season 5 in Rome and I got to spend a sunny day in May in Ostia Antica’s pretty Piazza della Rocca. The series is a chick flick on estrogen but star Lily Collins is nice, the work is easy and the piazza is beautiful. There are worse ways to make wine money.

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Lebanese wine: How a growing 5,000-year-old tradition was started by a hungry, wily fox

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As a lover of wine and Lebanese cuisine, a visit to Lebanon’s biggest and oldest winery was the perfect way to wrap up my five-day trip. Chateau Ksara dates back to 1857 and its storage area is a cave that stretches two kilometers. It produces 70 percent of Lebanon’s growing wine industry and has won more than 200 awards. My Travelers’ Century Club visited and had a wonderful wine tasting.

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