2 . Here are some literary landmarks you should add to your list while you are travelling around Paris.

This antiquarian bookshop, dating back to 1826, specialises 19th- and 20th-century books on history, poetry, theatre and music. The shop is located in a covered arcade designed by an architect in 1823. It is neoclassical (新古典主义的) in design, with a glass roof and a mosaic floor. Librairie Jousseaume takes the form of two shops facing each other on a corner of the arcade, and is home to as many as 40,000 books.

The Bouquinistes are riverside booksellers who have been around since the 16th century. These booksellers began as somewhat lawless figures, disliked by the government as they were able to get around the censorship (审查) rules that limited official booksellers. In themid-19th century they were officially allowed to sell books, and now they are a main sight along the River Seine. They feature on France’s list of intangible (无形的) cultural heritage.

Le Procope was opened in 1686 by Sicilian chef Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli. Located across the road from a theatre, it became popular with actors, playwrights and poets. Voltaire was said to drink 40 cups of coffee a day while he worked at a table at the cafe.

One of Paris’s most famous English-language bookstores, the Abbey Bookshop was established in 1989 by Canadian Brian Spence. The bookstore has over 40,000 books, most of which are second-hand. Spence often shares a complimentary cup of coffee and a story with his customers.

3 . Like most people, I was not sure about using virtual reality (VR) (虚拟现实) for travel. However, driven by the chance to experience places and things I could never visit without time, money, and travel, I visited the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) to check out their spacewalk VR Transporter. The visit turned out to be the most unforgettable experience that I’d ever had. After an hour or so, I took off the VR headset (眼罩), feeling as if I had actually been staying in space for months.

As we move through the post-COVID era (后疫情时代), international travel and large events have both been slow to return, so Ceek, an APP for virtual events and experiences, has been developed to allow users to travel through time and space with great joy. Mary Spio, Ceek CEO, explains that the combination of sights and sounds is important. “So our users can listen and see everything at the same time.”

The promise of VR is that it helps us rethink what travel even means. “Traveling can be crossing cultures, crossing memories, and can be done in your mind,” says David Askaryan, CEO of the Museum of Future Experiences. He says MOFE’s VR technology create “an experience where the world around you just completely changes for 70 minutes.”

In the post-COVID era, with our vacation days or travel money running short, virtual reality may be the next best way to visit the destinations that have been lighting up our social timeline, or are on our list. As for me, I’m already planning my next VR trip: an underwater VR experience.

4 . Beijing has hundreds of hotels and hostels (招待所). So there are many places to stay whether you want to enjoy rich history or modern culture.

The Hotels in Central Beijing

Central Beijing is the historic heart of Beijing. Now it is home to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Chang'an Avenue, Wangfujing Street, Beihai Park, as well as some important museums such as National Museum of China and National Art Museum of China.

Hotels in this area suit those who are interested in the imperial relic sites. Wangfujing area is also popular with shops and restaurants.

The Hotels in Northeast Beijing

Northeast Beijing is the most developed area in Beijing. It accommodates Beijing’s central business district and international companies.

Hotels in this area are not really considered to be the best place to stay and enjoy the tourist sights because of high expense, but it does have some interesting sites such as Sanlitun Bar Street and Chaoyang Park.

The Hotels in Northwest Beijing

The northwest Beijing mixes the universities and colleges in Beijing, Zhongguancun and the imperial garden. The important attractions include Summer Palace, Western Hills and Fragrant Hills Park,

Hotels in this area mainly serve academic (学术的) and business travelers.

The Hotels in South Beijing

The south Beijing has a slow pace (节奏) of life without many shining architectures or the modern styles of the north and northeast Beijing. The south Beijing is home to many hostels and courtyard hotels as well as some medium and high-class hotels.

Important attractions nearby include Liulichang Cultural Street, Temple of Heaven and Museum of Natural History.

5 . At 12, 139 feet above sea level, Potala is the highest palace in the world. The 1, 300-year-old palace was originally built by Tibetan king Songtsen Gambo for Princess Wencheng of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. Eventually it was expanded and changed into the house for the Dalai Lama. Since 1959, it has been turned into a museum of Buddhism. In 1994, Potala Palace was named a World Heritage by UNESCO.

The building is divided into two parts—the Red Palace and the White Palace. They are really colored red and white. A fresh coat of paint made up of milk, honey, and sugar is applied every autumn.

The neighboring Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka Temple were rebuilt in 2000 and 2001. The Jokhang Temple is considered the most sacred (神圣的) temple in Tibet and thousands of Buddhism believers travel thousands of miles by foot just to pay their respects to it all year around. In addition to the two temples, many other temples, including the Ramoche Temple and Palkhor Temple, are symbols of Tibetan culture.

HOW TO VISIT

All foreign visitors must visit the Potala Palace with a tour group. Groups are allowed an hour inside the palace and photos are not permitted. While the palace and its nearby temples are very much tourist attractions, many of the guests are Tibetan people who come to pray.

WHEN TO VISIT

As one of the highest cities in the world, Lhasa can get quite cold during the winter. Summer is the best time to visit. June to August is the busiest tourist season.

6 . We had promised to do it for years. We would pack a car with cold chicken and drive south like we used to. But we never had a proper time to do it, somehow. My aunt Edna’s heart was failing. Aunt Juanita had to care for my uncle at home, and my mother, Margaret, did not leave home unless blown away from it by tornadoes. So I was surprised a few years ago when my 72-year-old mother told me to pick up all of them for the trip.

I found the three sisters in the yard, with suitcases in their hands. Edna packed some food including two gallons of potato salad for the two-day trip from Jacksonville, Alabama.

As I drove, they talked of childhood, dirt roads where the dark closed in like a cover on a box, and a daddy who chased the bad things away as soon as he walked in. When we arrived in Montgomery, they had ridden a horse named Bob, cooked a dead chicken named Mrs. Rearden, and fished beside a little man named Jessie Clines. As we drove across Mobile Bay they were remembering their mama and a groundhog that lived under the floorboards.

I wanted them to see the sunset from the Fairhope pier, and as we rolled down the bluff, I heard them go quiet. But the sunset was just a light to see. They were looking at the roses, which were flowering in a circle the size of a baseball field. There were more than 2,000 of them. My mother, who never even liked roses much, said, “Oh, my God.” Juanita looked as if she were about to cry. “So beautiful,” she said again and again. She stayed in the rose garden for a long time, till the sun disappeared totally. She saw the Fairhope roses six times on this trip. The last time, because she was tired , we sat in the car.

A year later, I spoke at Edna’s funeral. For the first time, I knew what I wanted to say in my mind, but the words crashed together inside my head and I lost the fine things I really wanted to say. Her daughters just hugged me, one by one, and thanked me for the roses.