Travel Muse Magazine
Stories, tips, & joy.
Author: Angelé
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Museum Cafés for Art Lovers: London to Lisbon, Paris to Ann Arbor
Warm, buttery air envelopes me as I open the door to the UMMA Café, a hint of cinnamon acting as the exclamation mark to the comforting welcome from the cold winter’s day. This coffeeshop inside the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan is my favorite place to grab a coffee on…
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Finding Tom Riddle’s Grave in Edinburgh (& Other Real Graveyards That Have Inspired Popular Books)
Low clouds hang over the damp night. A mist clings to the trees, particles of moisture illuminated as the castle’s roaming spotlights break through the darkness. This was the setting as I wandered the Greyfriars Kirkyard cemetery in Edinburgh in December on the hunt for the real Tom Riddle’s grave. Yes, I’m talking about the…
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6 Amsterdam Must-Visit Places Along One Tiny Street You Likely Won’t See on Any Other Guide – But Will Love!
Spui is one of those magical parts of Amsterdam we think of when we envision the idealized Amsterdam. Quaint streets with bikes parked along brick-paved sidewalks, a lovely canal nearby to watch boats float by, taking us to some other time that is somehow both past and future at once. About 10 easy-walked-minutes from the…
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The Call of Amsterdam & Why You Should Go, Despite Overtourism (& How to not be Part of the Problem)
Amsterdam is unique. Glittering canals reflecting colorful four-storied, window-brightened (curtain-less) homes jutting up at sometimes curious angles (that reveal the floors inside are far from flat) are not something you’re going to see anywhere else. These water-streets are peaceful, even when scores of bicyclists are hurrying by on their way to work. It feels like…
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Literary Travel Guide to Pont-Aven, france inspired by Jean-Luc Bannalec’s “Death in Brittany” novel
From page one, I was smitten with Jean-Luc Bannalec’s Death in Brittany novel (2012). To be frank, I’d never heard of this book, much less this series starring French police commissaire Georges Dupin, until the day I laid eyes on it in my local library’s book sale. It’s like it was waiting for me, among…
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Review: Dan Brown’s The Secret of Secrets
Dan Brown revolutionized the historical thriller genre when his book The Da Vinci Code was published 22 years ago, in the process elevating literary tourism in the European locations featured in the novel. Now Prague is hoping his latest in the Professor Robert Langdon series, The Secret of Secrets (released just last month), can do…
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Literary Travel Guide to Prague inspired by Dan Brown’s “The Secret of Secrets” novel
Prague is the shining star The Secret of Secrets of Dan Brown’s latest novel starring beloved genius Professor Robert Langdon (brought famously to the screen in the adapted film The DaVinci Code, played by Tom Hanks). Long overdue to be the featured character in a modern novel, Prague is filled with beauty and appreciation of…
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Art-Nature Walk to up your Mental Heath for free in Ann Arbor
“Live in the sunshine” and “drink the wild air.” These words of the poet Ralph Waldo Emerson are ones to live by. Add them to these by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “Only thoughts that come by walking have any value,” and you’ve got a recipe for mind-body success as art, nature, and exercise all have…
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Armchair Travel to Italy
I’ve only been to the northern Italy – the lakes district and Milan. But I dream of going back to visit the rest of this gorgeous (and delicious) country and finally getting to Florence, Rome, the Amalfi Coast, Naples, Capri, Pompeii, Venice, Pisa, Cinque Terra, Genoa… yep, everything else! While I wait, my mind’s been…
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What to do “downtown” Chicago
Downtown may be an American way to say “city center,” but it’s not really a Chicago thing. Here, people are more specific, defining the particular parts of downtown, as in “The Loop” (the heart of the city) and expanding out to “The Mag Mile” and so forth. Depending on who you ask, you’ll likely get…
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