Continuing my DC pool series. . . today I got an invitation to my friend B’s apartment pool.

I didn’t even have to go into the water to love this place. We ate lunch at one of the poolside tables and talked about traveling with two young friends of B’s from the Netherlands who were in Washington. They loved exploring the world, and I loved hearing about their favorite places.  “Namibia,” one woman said, which reminded me, I sure would like to go to Namibia someday!

People often ask me what my favorite “New Places” are that I have visited as part of this project. I definitely have a few, as well as some I consider duds, but you know, on any given day, my favorite place is the place I am exploring. Something about it—it’s newness, the possibility it embodies, the curiosity it lights up in me, the way it engages me and makes me look closely to get to know it–that is the kind of attention you pay to something you love. Maybe that works in reverse too:  maybe paying someplace, or something, or even somebody, that kind of attention makes you love it in a certain kind of way.