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Hello all,

I’m in heaven. And no, I’m not sunning on a friend’s yacht in the Med or swanning about the Hamptons. I’m in Kansas City, one of my favorite spots in the U.S. Last night I was whisked away on a dream evening—cruising around the city with historian Michael C. Kathrens, who is quite possibly the best architecture coffee table book author out there. Many of you no doubt have his volumes on New York City houses or Newport, Rhode Island. But his best work might actually be this tome on his hometown of Kansas City. While I’ll be writing about it soon for It’s Still a Big World, driving to each of his favorite houses was such a delight!

A delight, however, is not how many people in the northeast would describe living with piping plovers. In his latest feature, Todd Plummer covers how annoyed folks are getting about disruptions caused by this diminutive bird.

Have any of you driven I-95 past New Haven, CT and wondered what the heck that strange brutalist building with its bottom missing was? It’s actually an iconic work by the architect Marcel Breuer and has been turned into a hotel. Anthony Paletta covers it for our Room Key series.

Rounding things out, is this lovely story from Alex Sakalis about a teeny tiny mountain town in Italy that houses one of the country’s greatest art collections. 

Enjoy!

–William O’Connor, Travel Editor

The Tiny Bird Ruining East Coast Beach Vacations

Meet the piping plover, an adorable little bird whose tenuous existence shuts down roads and beaches right in the peak of summer.

That Weird Building on Side of Highway Is Actually Famous and Now a Hotel

You’ve no doubt seen it from the highway and either gushed or gasped, but now it’s a slick new hotel.

One of the Best Italian Art Collections Is in This Tiny Town

In an Italian region famous for its stunning landscapes, picture-perfect villages, and buzzing economy, one can find a hidden treasure.

I Swore I’d Never Go in a Supernatural Cave Again

The last time I had quite a supernatural experience. It was so scary I said I would never go in a cave again.

“So imagine my surprise—after so many years visiting and then living in L.A., after all those weeks turned into months just driving aimlessly—when I learned that West Adams is L.A.’s oldest suburb with a thriving coffee, culinary and cultural scene to boot, and that I’d never spent any time there.” 

— Allison Ramirez extolls the virtues of one of L.A.’s most unsung neighborhoods for It’s Still a Big World.

Vignalsole, Radda in Chianti, Italy (Vrbo): We don’t like to stereotype any destination, but there are certain things that inevitably come to mind—things a traveler hopes will come true—when planning a holiday in the Tuscan countryside. Olive groves, vineyards, historic towns paved with cobblestones, and old stone houses are key among them. (We like to blame Under the Tuscan Sun for these clichéd expectations.) Luckily for us, when it comes to Vignalsole, all of these dreams can come true. This home not only ticks off every one of those boxes, but it also offers much more for any poor soul desperately in need of a summer vacation.

Vignalsole is basically the perfect Tuscan villa. It’s nestled in the Chianti hills surrounded by cypress trees, forests, and the vineyards that produce some of the best wine in the country. If that isn’t a recipe for a vacation that will make it into the family history books, we don’t know what is.

Book Your Stay: Vignalsole, Radda in Chianti, Italy: $1,000/night via Vrbo

Don’t miss previous OMG, I Want to Rent This House posts, which spotlight the most spectacular and unique homes that you can actually stay in.  Check out the full archives. 

Travel Around the World With Surfers

Few things in travel read more like an addiction than a surfer chasing good surf. There is this constant pull they talk about, and they’ll travel far and to dangerous places to get it. So while millions of us travel every week to the seaside to lounge and relax, they’re headed there for an adrenaline rush. The latest selection for Just Booked, our series on gorgeous coffee table books, catalogs the work of the magazine that tries to capture this world–Surfer Magazine: 1960-2020, published by Rizzoli.

The book is filled with spectacular shots, made more remarkable given the images are an attempt to capture in static form an action (man with ocean) full of movement and energy. Over the decades one can see how the depiction of the sport changes not only in terms of logo designs and artwork, but also in how the bodies, skin color, and genders shift too.

Don’t miss our other selections for our series on gorgeous travel-related coffee table books, Just Booked.

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