13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CDLXXXVII)

1. Castle Ashby Orangery Built in 1872 near Northampton, UK. Photos via here and here. Visit the Castle Ashby Gardens website here. 2. Iconic French Art Nouveau house to Reopen to Public Villa Majorelle, the famed Art Nouveau residence in Nancy, France, will soon reopen to the public. Found on Curbed. 3. Just a little Hat…

How to Soak Up New York City in Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ Style

The Irishman is Martin Scorsese’s latest ode to the Italian-American East Coast, and the unflinching mobsters who held its purse strings in the 1970s. It’s also an utter delight for the New Yorker at heart: Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino take us on a slow burning trip down memory lane to find…

Secretly Documenting the Intimate World of 19th Century Sex Workers

No one knew that William Goldman led a double life. A model citizen and well-respected photographer in Reading, Pennsylvania at the turn of the century, he became treasurer of the State Photographers’ Association and was a valued member of numerous social organisations. It wasn’t until nearly 80 years after his death that his vast collection of…

52 Years Later, the Biggest Global Cult Is Still Off the Hook

On a Monday afternoon in 1971, Jeremy Spencer – Fleetwood Mac’s then-lead guitarist – popped out of the band’s Los Angeles hotel to grab some groceries. It was the last time they saw him, reported Rolling Stone, before Spencer disappeared without a trace. No note was left. No baggage taken. When management found him three…

An Abandoned Overgrown Estate is the Last of its Kind in the Heart of Paris

Wild and consumed by nature, like a scene described by Dickens in Great Expectations – an estate frozen in time, fit for the reclusive Miss Havisham herself – a “country house” in the centre of the city, surrounded by Paris’ most coveted real estate, will go up for sale this week at auction. In a…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CDLXXXVI)

1. John Holliday Perry’s Private Underwater Habitat John Holliday Perry started diving at a time that he called a few years B.C., Before Cousteau developed the aqualung. He built most of the submarines for the James Bond movie Thunderball, and kept a few for his own use on a private island in the Bahamas. At…

The Mysterious “Order of the Odd Fellows” that frankly, belongs in a Wes Anderson Movie

It’s a name that had me instantly transfixed, like something Wes Anderson had dreamt up for his next film. The Independent Order of the Odd Fellows – a secret society for … odd people? Why had I never heard of it? Never one to resist the pull of a promising rabbit hole, I would soon…

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The Keys to Amsterdam’s Secret Chapel B&B

What’s gold, pink, and Amsterdam’s best kept secret? The 18th century chapel-turned-AirBnB that landed in our inbox this morning, courtesy of a hot tip from our pal Holly Beach of the Choosy Traveller, who recently discovered the hidden gem and found it to be of the most unique places she’s ever seen “in Amsterdam, or…

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So Cheese Rolling is an actual Sport and Everything is Wonderful

Don’t play with your food, they said. But whoever uttered those words has clearly never attended the annual “Cheese-Rolling and Wake” at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire, UK. Think of your favourite mischievous childhood pastime of rolling down hills, the steeper the better – and just add cheese. Since the dawn of time-ish, brave locals have been…

Buried in Sand for a Millennium: Africa’s Roman Ghost City

Got your archeologist’s cap on? Today we invite you to touch down in Algeria and explore Timgad, a lost Roman city on the edge of the Sahara desert that remained hidden beneath the sand for nearly a thousand years. Positively obscure compared to the international notoriety of Pompeii, this ancient city is nonetheless one of…