February 8, 2026

Greetings!

Hello from Riga!

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This has been a busy week, and one characterized by some trips around Latvia. Dmitry and I went to Ventspils to re-register our EU residency, grateful, as always, to the Government of Latvia for having us for another year! Yesterday, we made our way to Jelgava to explore that city’s annual ice sculpture festival.

My association with ice sculptures stems primarily from the decorations for the expansive brunches we enjoy on cruise ships and Moscow’s rather crude interpretations of cartoon characters and folklore heroes during the winter holiday period. The festival in Jelgava was completely the opposite: sophisticated, stunning, and very thought-provoking pieces made by artists from all over the world, even places like Indonesia, which I don’t associate with ice. It made for a wonderful day out, capped by meeting one of my podcast heroes, Joe from the indispensable Latvia Weekly Podcast.

As usual, the Latvians had laid on a lot of their signature winter dishes: hearty sauerkraut, solyanka, sausages, and pork knuckles generating mouth-watering steam as they simmered in kettles. Some photos below give you an idea of the art and atmosphere. Jelgava is a lovely city, and I’m looking forward to a return visit.

During our long car rides to and from Ventspils, I took some time to brainstorm new topics for talks. I’m finding the gossipy royal history goes down well, so I dipped into some of my favorite royal biographies and found the time to write reviews for Books for Travelers. I think the three below are not only superb studies of three very different women, but they also do a fantastic job setting the scene in late 19^th-century London, Berlin, and Bucharest. I’ve used each biography as a guidebook to explore those cities, and I return to them again and again for truly satisfying reading. I think this revisit has convinced me that Marie of Romania needs her own talk!

I hope you will find these books and podcasts as enjoyable as I do!

An Uncommon Women - The Empress Frederick: Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm

​An Uncommon Woman - The Empress Frederick: Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm by Hannah Pakula is one of my favorite royal biographies, and one that I return to again and again to understand the nuances of royal rule in 19th century Europe, as well as the rise of bellicose Prussia. I recently returned to it for another delightful dip as I prepared a lecture on Queen Victoria’s extraordinary matchmaking machinations of her grandchildren.

Review | The Last Romantic: A Biography of Queen Marie of Romania

Royals in the 19th century were by default glamorous. But there was one clear leader in the glamour stakes: Queen Marie of Romania, whose dramatic life crescendoed against the backdrop of the seismic events of the early 20th-century. Born Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh in 1875, Missie, as she was known in her family, entered the world as British royalty with an extraordinary pedigree. Her father was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and second son of Queen Victoria, and her mother was the redoubtable Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, daughter of Tsar Alexander II. This dual heritage placed young Missie at the intersection of Europe's most powerful dynasties, ensuring she grew up speaking multiple languages and moving effortlessly between the courts of England, Germany, and Russia. Her childhood, though privileged, was marked by her mother's strict discipline.

Review | Queen Mary by James Pope-Hennessy

As long-time readers of my site know, I’m a frequent speaker on Cunard’s very elegant Queen Mary 2. One of my more popular talks is on Queen Mary, in whose honor the ship was christened. This was a real joy to put together. I love royal history, and the research stage gave me an excellent excuse to revisit possibly the greatest royal biography of them all: James Pope-Hennessy's Queen Mary. Queen Mary has not only educated and entertained me, it has also been an invaluable companion on trips to London and the many residences that make up the Royal Collection. Queen Mary’s careful curation of the Royal Collection was key to making it the largest art collection in the world.

Be sure to check in with the Destination Resources Reading Lists, which I update regularly with new books, podcasts, TV and film, and other resources designed to make your travel meaningful. I did a big update recently, changing the format to make it easier to navigate. Visit via this link!

Podcast Recommendations

My long week of decluttering was made far more enjoyable thanks to the marvelous mini series on Alexander the Great by the Ancients. This is a topic I lecture on, but it was a positive treat to hear Dr Adrian Goldsworthy’s thoughts on Alexander’s early years.

I’m working on a lecture about Christmas and stumbled on this delightful two-episode podcast from Empire on the origins of Santa Claus a.k.a St. Nicholas. The Empire team traces the origins of this beloved Turkish saint, his links with pagan deities, and the race to steal his tomb, as well as pin-pointing how a number of beloved Christmas traditions developed.

If you’ve sailed with me, you know I am really interested in the voyages of Zheng He, and I could not believe I had not listened to this excellent episode of In Our Time on these extraordinary explorations! Highly enjoyable!

I hope you've enjoyed this edition of the Destination Curation | Books for Travelers Newsletter.

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That's all for this week, and I hope you'll enjoy browsing these books and podcasts! The week ahead is also a busy one, but hoping to get out into Riga for some more cultural trips.

I love hearing from you, so do please let me know how I can help make your travel meaningful. I am rolling out new 8-Hour Guides to popular cruise destinations and love getting suggestions for new ones from this amazing community of readers.

Did you miss my last newsletter? Here are links to the previous three editions.

​🇳🇴 Outstanding Oslo 🇳🇴​

​📚 Books for Travelers | January 25, 2026 📚​

​🇫🇷 Beguiling Bordeaux 🇫🇷​

Safe onward travels!

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