We returned to Brooklyn last night after two weeks in Spain and The Netherlands; it was an amazing trip but I’m glad to be home and seeing everything with fresh travel eyes, like a tourist in my own home. Navigating unfamiliar territory with a language barrier is always challenging, but compared to the way I used to travel 25 years ago, with just a Lonely Planet guidebook and without a phone full of satellite maps, current information and translation features, it is a much easier experience, although I didn’t have two kids in tow back then!
We flew to Santander on the North Coast of Spain, where we spent a few days in a beach hotel. Unfortunately the waters were filled with Portuguese Man O’ War jellyfish (which we learned are not actually jellyfish, but colonies of separate symbiotic organisms, one of which packs a wicked sting). We made some careful and brave forays into the water with constant scanning and enjoyed the beautiful beaches in the area. Then we drove into the hills of Cantabria to stay in a house with the British Buckland clan; walks through local towns, a sculpture forest, a hedge maze, The Altamira Cave museum, an astonishingly large and beautiful zoo, a horse ride, a variety of beaches, birthday celebrations for Kevin and Ivy (13!), a family Olympics, and pool parties with all 17 of us made for a spectacular week. We had chosen the location for several reasons, but one was the prospect of seeing a total solar eclipse on August 12. We had a perfect viewing spot from the house and were enjoying beautiful sunshine right up until the moon began its pass in front of the sun and a thick blanket of clouds rolled in and stole our view! We experienced the eerie darkness of the moon’s shadow but missed the incredible iconic sight of the sun’s corona. A year of planning and preparation to be in position and still out of our control — disappointing but a character-building experience I insisted to myself and my children! And a reminder to focus on and enjoy the company of this wonderful European family we see once a year, instead of a novelty celestial event!
My cousin Charlie is a newly-minted European himself, having just moved to Amsterdam with Isabelle, born in The Netherlands with life travels around the world, including Boston and San Francisco where they met several years ago. They were married this weekend at a castle in the Nationaal Park Zuid Kennemerland just outside Amsterdam in one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever attended; gorgeous scenery, an officiant friend of Izzy’s since childhood setting a fun but purposeful tone, a communal singing of Stand By Me, personal and thoughtful speeches by family and friends and heartfelt and genuine vows by the bride and groom, a long outdoor banquet table with 70 people on each side and fantastic food, then a late-night dance party with incredible Dutch energy and endless Heineken. The next morning featured an exquisite buffet followed be a 100 person bike ride through the Nationaal Park to the North Sea Beach. It was an amazing weekend that felt very personal and authentic for these two amazing people.
I visited Amsterdam 3 times in my college and young alumni years; twice during my 1999 study abroad semester in Firenze, Italia and summer Eurail adventure, then once with Alaina on our Euro adventures in 2002. It has always sung a special song to me. The city is unique and beautiful with its clean and swimmable canals, charmingly sinking and lopsided architecture, finest of fine art, manicured parks, modern and efficient subway and street car network, and of course, the greatest biking infrastructure and culture in the world. It is also the most liberally progressive city and A Dam fun place to visit! Being with the family on this visit tempered me from most excesses but I did relive my nostalgia with a coffee shop stop! As New York has slowly caught on to the benefits of liberal progressivism, local cannabis retailers have emulated the Dutch model and the regulated shopping experience is no longer novel, but Amsterdam will always be the vanguard of legalization. My dream now is for New York City to fully embrace Dutch bicycle transportation, making it safer and more accessible for everyone.
The Summer of 2026 also featured:
Land Party – Best yet, with 8 amazing bands including our Radiohead OK Computer tribute, Dave Matthews Band covers a Land Band set spanning the last fifty years of rock music.
Our Maine visit to Acadia and Taylor reunion in Rangeley including hikes, canoeing, swimming, camping, fireworks, birthdays, golf, feasts and family.
Lake George Lincoln Logs experience, year 10, with baby Althea joining us for the first time!
Wilco at Forest Hills, as always delivering sublime beauty and soaring inspiration.
Phish at MSG, playing their 92nd show all-time at the venue, performing a surprise throwback 1992 vintage setlist, pulling me back through more than 30 nostalgic years of following this band. I returned for the 1995 set a few days later.
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard at Forest Hills Stadium – the third year I’ve seen them play this venue, this time in a torrential storm, soaking everyone thoroughly and feeding the frenzy of their devoted following. When they kicked into Open Water at the end, they appropriately unleashed the heaviest rain of the set.
World Cup, hosted by Mexico, Canada and the US, with dramatic matches and a beautiful Governor’s Island Final Watch Party, where Spain dominated Argentina, earning their second star and priming the country for our arrival a few weeks later.
The Odyssey – The highly anticipated Christopher Nolan film interpretation with the family at Nitehawk Cinema on opening weekend.
The Godfather 1 and 2 – Six and a half hour marathon first-time viewing on the Transatlantic flight home.
Cat Cohen, Broad Strokes – a hilarious one-woman show at The Lucille Lortel Theatre, detailing the absurdities of life through the terrifying personal experience of having a stroke, followed by a nightcap at Marie’s Crisis Piano Bar, featuring full bar renditions of showstoppers from Les Miserables, Rent and Wicked.
A few of my favorite recent library check-outs:
A World Appears – Michael Pollan. Always curious and pointedly communicative, Pollans considers the ultimate subject of Reality, Existence and Consciousness.
Dark Rooms – Lili Anolik. A high school classmate intersects with my wife at work and I learn of her first novel, a spicy thriller of prep school drugs, sex and murder.
Time and Again – Jack Finney. A psychological time travel exploration of New York City in 1882.
Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI – Cory Doctorow. Assessing the AI hype machine as a catastrophically irresponsible, financially inflated bubble and an oppressive technology that is already demanding more out of its workers and consumers with efficiency labor tracking and surveillance pricing.
Demon Copperhead – Barbara Kingsolver. Beautiful and heartbreaking saga of Appalachian life and death, the unique voice of its narrator describing the hopeless destitution and perpetual suffering of a community wrought by the opioid epidemic of the past 30 years.
It has been a wonderful few months, and now just one more week of Summer Life with Archer’s Bar Mitzvah and a trip to Vermont before Fall encroaches and I slip back into work mode…
