All posts by Jolanta

Attractions, College Tours, Guidebooks, Historic Sites, Massachusetts, Tours, Universities, USA

Self-Guided Tour of Harvard University’s Old Yard

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If you’re in Boston, Massachusetts, don’t forget to visit the city on the other bank of the Charles River – Cambridge, MA.

And while you’re in Cambridge, you might as well visit Harvard University, the oldest university in the United States.

I’d suggest you put aside a whole day just for Harvard, since in addition to the one-hour Guided Historical tour of the university, Harvard museums – Harvard Art Museums and the Harvard Museums of Science and Culture – are worth a visit as well.

Quincy Street entrance to the newly renovated and reopened Harvard Art Museums
Quincy Street entrance to the newly renovated and reopened Harvard Art Museums

If you don’t have that much time, at least do the tour of the university, either with Guided Historical Tours of Harvard or on your own.

Continue reading Self-Guided Tour of Harvard University’s Old Yard →

Attractions, Europe, Nature, Peniche, Portugal

The Rocky Coast of Peniche, Portugal

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There’s something powerful and captivating about waves crashing into a rocky cliff, sending up a fountain of sea foam, then retreating back into the ocean.

It’s calming. It’s humbling. And it’s beautiful.

kids watching out onto the Atlantic from the rocky shore along the most westernmost part of N114 in Peniche, Portugal
kids watching out onto the Atlantic from the rocky shore along the most westernmost part of N114 in Peniche, Portugal

Continue reading The Rocky Coast of Peniche, Portugal →

Blogging

We’re not really a “Family” Travel Blog, are we?

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I’ve been following various travel blogs for a few months now, and realized that while we travel with our kids, ours is not really a family travel blog. Is it?

First of all, our name is wrong.

It looks like most “family blogs” include the word “kid,” “mom,” or “family” somewhere in the title.

We’re simply “Casual Travelers.”

Also, most family travel blogs (though not all) tend to post articles about planning beach vacations, best ways to entertain kids on the airplane, or list most kid-friendly restaurants in a given city.

In other words, most family travel blogs are, in general, very kid-centric.

We don’t do that either.

Continue reading We’re not really a “Family” Travel Blog, are we? →

General

The gift of “me time”

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It is 6 a.m. I close the door, set the timer for 30 minutes, and sit down in my swivel chair, with my eyes closed, and my hands loosely resting on the arm supports.

It’s an assignment for a “Social Media and Analytics” class I’m taking, taught by Leila Samii (@reallyleila) – “sit alone, with no technology, friends, family, or reading material for 30 minutes, then blog about it.”

I admit, I’m a social media junkie – I love, love, love Facebook and because of the class I have also recently been spending a lot of time on Twitter and Instagram, tweeting, retweeting, participating in Twitter chats, and posting photos like crazy, frantically trying to keep up with the tsunami of incoming information and images.

And then, just before Thanksgiving, I’d had enough.

It was too much. I just simply could not keep up with it all, no matter how hard I tried.

So I stopped – for a few days I had not tweeted anything or posted any photos – even though I knew that my Klout score would go down.

That’s why this assignment – to be alone for 30 minutes – didn’t feel like a chore, or a homework, but was more like a gift, a gift of “ME TIME” that I don’t get very often.

Continue reading The gift of “me time” →

Art, Attractions, Massachusetts, Museums, USA

A few thoughts on Nicolas Regnier’s “Self-Portrait with an Easel”

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If you are planning to visit the newly opened Harvard Art Museums, and are willing to play “scavenger hunt” with me, please read first “Invitation to Play ‘Scavenger Hunt’ at the Harvard Art Museums – The Clues.” 🙂

If you are not going to visit the Harvard Art Museums for a while, or at all, because Cambridge, Massachusetts way off your itinerary route, and you like to read about art, read on.

Last week I posted close up photos of a few details from five paintings at Harvard Art Museums that I found interesting. Some of them would be hard to miss as they are quite prominent in the painting, some might take some looking for, since they are just a small part of the overall piece.

detail from a 1620s Flemish painting
detail from a 1620s Flemish painting

The blobs of paint on the easel in Nicolas Régnier’s “Self-Portrait with an Easel” are hard to miss because the easel is positioned right in the center of the paining and is quite prominent, though it would not be the first thing you’ll look at, I bet.

What captivated me in Nicolas Régnier’s “Self-Portrait with an Easel,” painted around 1620s was… well…. how pasty pale he is. 😉

Continue reading A few thoughts on Nicolas Regnier’s “Self-Portrait with an Easel” →

Blogging, Social Media, Twitter

Tweeting for #MRpoints: A Few Comments on Marriott’s Plus Points marketing campaign

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Note: This post was written to satisfy an assignment for the “Social Media and Analytics” class I’m taking, taught by Leila Samii (@reallyleila), but I hope you’ll find it interesting nevertheless.

Last May (2014) the Marriott hotels chain started a promotion allowing social media users to earn Marriott Rewards points through a “Plus Points” program for:

  • following Marriott accounts on Twitter and Instagram,
  • retweeting Marriott’s content,
  • checking-in at Marriott on Facebook,
  • or posting on Twitter or Instagram content with hasthags #MRpoints and #LoveMarriottRewards.
Official Marriott Rewards Plus Points logo
Official Marriott Rewards Plus Points logo

Continue reading Tweeting for #MRpoints: A Few Comments on Marriott’s Plus Points marketing campaign →