When LA feels loud, Pasadena is an escape. @thehuntingtonlibrary is part garden, part library, part art museum - and entirely the excuse you need to cancel the rest of the day. You’ll tell yourself it’s a quick visit; then suddenly you’re arguing over whether to move in near the Japanese garden.

🌸 Gardens: rose, desert, and Japanese
📚 Library: rare manuscripts & early prints
🎨 Galleries: Gainsborough, Turner, and company

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Image Credit: the Huntington Library & Upon Return

🎨 Muse is what happens when a surrealist art gallery decides to serve dinner. Thirty-five seats, Miró on the walls, and a 24-year-old prodigy rewriting French classics. Veal bonbons, rack of lamb, brioche disguised as a croissant - then a pastry tray appears tableside, just in case you were feeling emotionally stable.

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Image credit: Muse & Upon Return

The Hollywood Bowl is LA at its best: stars above, stars on stage. Bring your own picnic 🧺 + wine 🍷, or book a catered box 🍾 - both come with the same acoustics that make this one of America’s great live venues. You don’t even need to know who’s playing to know it’s worth going (though explaining you came “just for the acoustics” makes you sound like a true local).

More LA rituals in our latest newsletter - check our bio.
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Image: Hollywood Bowl

Sightglass in LA is where a “quick coffee” turns into three hours, then lunch, then maybe dinner plans. Gourmet sandwiches, salads with bite, and a cocoa-carrot cake we’d move zip codes for. Inside is laptop land, outside is patio linger.

☕ Espresso → laptop hours
🥪 Sandwiches & salads that overdeliver
🍰 Cocoa-carrot cake = instant loyalty

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In our latest newsletter, we spotlight LA - a city that sells the dream on every corner. 🌴 LA hotels love to sell the dream, but few deliver. The London (yes, in LA) does: rooftop pool with downtown on one side 🏙️ and the Hollywood Hills on the other 🌄, suites with actual space, and service that feels effortless. West Hollywood and Beverly Hills are down the hill, but odds are you’ll stay put.

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Florence in 3 days? Possible. Art, music, gardens, and meals worth the trip.

Last week In our latest newsletter we shared a 12-day Italy itinerary, where we featured Assisi; this week we uncover Florence.

🚆 Assisi → Florence: ~2.5 hrs by train (one change).
🎨 By day: Uffizi, Accademia (David), Bargello, Santa Croce, Boboli Gardens - and don’t miss the Oltrarno artisans.
🌇 By night: Opera or symphony at Teatro del Maggio.
🏨 Stay: @portraitcollectionofficial, the Ferragamo family’s riverside jewel - stylish interiors, unbeatable Arno views.
🍷 Dine: @cantinettaantinori_firenze, a 1400s mansion where gnudi, fried artichokes, and guinea fowl taste like Florence at its best.

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Meet Jamie Gabbarelli - born in Assisi, raised among Giotto frescoes, and now the Prince Trust Associate Curator in Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago. Few people bridge European heritage and American culture as gracefully. We had the pleasure of speaking with him and asking about his advice for travelers:

- Don’t try to see everything. Spend longer with fewer artworks, and you’ll carry them with you.
- Reset by the lake: Lake Michigan is Chicago’s best free therapy, whether for a swim in summer or a bracing winter walk.
- Travel tip: never order red wine on a plane 🍷✈️ - some wisdom is learned the hard way.

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Some places ask for more than a quick visit. Assisi - just 2.5 hours from Rome, is one of them. 🌿 The itinerary in our latest newsletter reveals why this Umbrian hill town deserves an overnight stop.

By day: Giotto’s frescoes at the Basilica of San Francesco, medieval streets, and sunset over the valley.
By night: the calm after the daytrippers leave.

📍 Stay: @borgoantichiorti - a medieval hamlet reborn as a boutique retreat with gardens and seasonal dining.
📍 Dine: @lalocandadelcardinale - Umbrian classics served above a Roman domus with mosaics beneath your table.

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