The very name Ganges brings to the mind’s eye a swell of images that flow, just as the river itself, through 4,000 years of human history: the famous ghats at Varanasi, fishermen in narrow boats, the unmistakable profile of Kolkata’s Howrah Bridge over the Hooghly tributary. This relatively short river […]
One of the best things about returning to Paris this spring for the first time since 2019 was experiencing long-anticipated pleasures, both familiar and new. I was happy to once again be swept up in the rush-hour Métro crowds, or sip my favourite aperitif, a Suze, among the lilac trees […]
“Just look! It’s right there in the painting.” This exhortation from our guide Sara Magister seemed so intuitive, so easy. A painting is there to be looked at. What happens when we take the time to do it? Let me back up a bit. Who is Sara, and which paintings […]
How far would you go to save a painting? One of the people we’ll meet on our upcoming trip The First Modern Artist: Caravaggio in Rome and Malta found himself facing that very question. In December 1984, three men disguised as workers stole the painting St. Jerome Writing from St. […]
For me, the holiday season is synonymous with movies. During these last couple weeks of the year when work slows a bit, I love to get together with friends (or spend a few hours in my own company) to head out to the theatre or make spicy chili popcorn for […]
“The time has come,” the Walrus said, “to talk of many things…” And so it has. It is now official. The Marvelous Ms. Melanie Blake is the bona fide owner of Classical Pursuits. Most of you will have assumed this has long been the case, and, apart from some tedious […]
Early last spring, I was in Tucson, Arizona, to spend time with my stepmother and sister and sort through papers and mementos that my parents, both now deceased, had saved. One of these papers was a certificate from my fifth-grade teacher voting me most likely to “be the first lady […]
OK, we don’t quite have 80 drinks to recommend to you here. But spend enough time on the road with us, and you’ll see that at Classical Pursuits and Worldwide Quest, tasting the cocktails, wines and beers of different cultures is one of our favourite parts of travelling. We look […]
Today Classical Pursuits talks with friends of many years John Riley and Gary Schoepfel, who are leading our upcoming seminar Understanding Conservatism: The Search for Shared Beliefs. All affiliations welcome! Our agenda is simple: working together toward true understanding. In John and Gary’s view, this will make us more patient, […]
Hamilton. Many love it. Some just hate it. I’m one of those who love it. And my kids love it too. I love the big thesis of the show that you don’t have to look like the founding fathers (that is, be white) to learn from and be inspired by […]