Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

A writer takes a minute for a closer look

recent posts

  • Around any corner

    A pleasure of travel is simply walking around in a new-to-me city and seeing whatever is there. Yesterday, after settling in at our hotel in Stockholm we wandered out and found the St. Johannes Church, built in 1890 and part of the Church of Sweden until it was sold in 2024 to the Roman Catholics, for use by the Polish Catholic community. I want to know more about all of that.

    I expect we’ll consult guidebooks and things in coming days for advice on what to see.

    But stumbling upon unanticipated beauty tops my list of reasons to go.

  • Planes, trains, buses

    Public transportation in Britain is so uncomplicated. We found a bus directly from Heathrow to Woking, from there a train to Portsmouth (they leave every 10 or 20 minutes), then a return, just as uncomplicated, very little waiting around. Easy shuttles two and from the hotel near the airport.

    Since transit images are boring. Here’s a picture of a vine having its way between a sidewalk and a brick wall. In Portsmouth. In the morning.

  • Oddly

    Imagine your wedding ceremony conducted in the gunpowder magazine at the explosions museum in Portsmouth UK.

    I will say it’s an amazing large, red brick chamber with graceful arches, now empty of gunpowder of course. And your guests can wander through displays of naval weaponry and projectiles from cannon balls to missiles…

    A different sort of romance.

    The photo above shows the happy couple alongside an image of Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower, which is a cool bit of public art offering views of the very busy Portsmouth Harbor.

    Also, I’m kind of smitten with Portsmouth, a busy naval base, a busy museum of naval history, ferries coming and going, not only to the Isle of Wight, but also to France and Spain, amazing old cathedrals, castles, etc.

    Oh, and wind.