Jack Hietpas, Lisbon, Portugal: I didn’t take many photos in Lisbon. The city center was almost too picturesque: the pastel colored late 18th-century buildings, the vintage yellow trams running up and down the cobbled streets, the ornate tile facades, the hilltop viewpoints offering sweeping views. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures. Snapping any photo felt cliché, with the result unlikely to differentiate itself from the mountain of images captured everyday in this place that has become a major tourist destination. Even now in the “off-season,” Lisbon was packed. Constantly surrounded by other foreigners and being unable to speak Portuguese, I was hyperaware of my status as a visitor, which is not a feeling I like. It almost felt like a theme park, with the disconcerting thing being that of course it is a real city where people live and are now increasingly being priced out of as a result of the influx of tourists and expat “digital nomads." It was only when I got out of the center that I really enjoyed my time there. On my last evening in the city, I went to the Tapada das Necessidades, an old palace grounds that is now a park. Fortunately, humans were greatly outnumbered by chickens and ducks here. (If you look closely, one of the handful of other people I encountered can be seen in this photo feeding the birds.) I loved it, just standing amidst the weird tropical-looking vegetation and listening to the various species of fowl squawking combined with the dull distant roar of traffic crossing the bridge over the Tagus River.
Melanie Holterman, Washington, D.C. : My cousin and I elevated our feet after a night out and wiggled our toes. That’s about the gist of it.
Lydia Milano, Baltimore, MD: I have been trying to rotoscope a little bit every day. Such a slow process! But it feels good to draw, and I feel more motivated to sit at my desk and drink tea all day now that it’s getting chilly.
Karuna Vikram, Cambridge, UK: The Fairbairn Cup; on our way back from our first race of the season.
Elm McKissick, the Berkshires, MA: This past weekend my sisters and I took my mom to the Berkshires for a celebration of her 60th birthday (yay Peggy!). Here she is popping her champagne. The Berkshires are lovely, tons of hiking trails and some really great food. Felt nice to be with family outside of the holiday madness.
Andrew Swant, Milwaukee, WI: Our cat, Billie, is 14. Our dog, Bertie, is 4. They're the same weight. The cat has been ignoring the dog for the last 4 years, but yesterday they both climbed on my lap and laid next to each other for about 15 minutes. I stayed very still.
Aditi Kapoor, Rome, Italy: Every corner you turn in Rome, you stumble on something beautiful. Every ceiling you look at is better than the last one! The weather is almost always amazing and the food is out of this world! The youth culture is so potent and the wine is bellisimo (there are as many enotecas as chapels I’d want to say). Italian is a beautiful language and unlike the French they love when you try to speak it! Rome has my heart! Since it was my first time there, I went to the Vatican. By the end of our run there, everything melted into each other—it’s overwhelmingly beautiful. Really overwhelming, and really beautiful. I was walking through a room and everyone seemed to be looking my way and I turned my back, only to gasp and look at the School of Venus. To be honest, I didn’t even know it was painted at the Vatican so it added to my surprise of seeing it. It’s beautiful, but so is everything everywhere in Rome. All chapels and Roman temples are embellished with paintings and gold ornamentation and they all make you go go like: how is that even possible? Rome hasn’t answered any questions but has posed so many more!! Gosh I never wanted to leave. Here for reccs if anybody on this list ever wants to go! I think I got all the right spots down.