Lifestyle
At the End of a Road Trip, a Romantic Detour
In January 2021, Elizabeth Ives Solomon rolled into Naples, Fla., in a converted Toyota Sienna camper van. A thirst for adventure, along with international travel restrictions wrought by Covid-19, had inspired a monthslong road trip to explore the American West, and then, the shores of Florida.
Upon her arrival, Ms. Solomon, a writer and former radio journalist who lived in Washington D.C., decided to stay in Naples for a bit.
One of her first stops was to the Arthur L. Allen Tennis Center, putting advice from her mother into practice. “She always used to tell me it’s important to have a good tennis game because it’s a great way to meet people,” Ms. Solomon, 58, said.
[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]
She quickly befriended a septuagenarian Austrian woman who agreed to be her playing partner. During their first game, Ms. Solomon became distracted.
“I noticed a really handsome guy walk onto the next court,” Ms. Solomon said, recalling the first time she set eyes on Gero Klaus Geilenbruegge. She overheard Mr. Geilenbruegge speaking in German to his tennis partner and asked her friend, who also spoke German, to make an introduction.
The foursome struck up a conversation (in English) and set a date the following week to all play tennis together. A rainstorm canceled those plans. But Ms. Solomon and Mr. Geilenbruegge met up anyway for a misty walk on a public beach. Under a shroud of gray clouds, they discovered they were both free spirits who a shared passion for travel and new experiences.
“We walked for two hours,” Mr. Geilenbruegge, 56, recalled. “It was so nice. And she liked very much that I was so open.”
He informed Ms. Solomon that he had a teenage son from a previous relationship and told her about the choice he made to move to the United States from Berlin in 2000, trading a hectic career as a tax lawyer for a slower-paced life. He currently works as a real estate broker for the Waterfront Realty Group in Naples. He received a law degree from Trier University in Germany.
Ms. Solomon, who has a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale, shared details about her life, but chose not to disclose that she was living out of a van, sleeping in parking lots and bathing at public showers on the beach. Her “cover story,” she said, was that she was crashing at a cousin’s condo 20 minutes north of Naples.
The pair began spending more time together, enjoying dinners at Mr. Geilenbruegge’s cottage in Naples or battling on the tennis court where they met, something Ms. Solomon knows her late mother would relish.
“I knew she was sitting up on a cloud, clapping about it, saying, ‘See, I told you Beth,’” Ms. Solomon said.
After a few weeks, she sheepishly came clean to Mr. Geilenbruegge about her living situation. “He just looked at me and said, ‘That’s so cool,’” Ms. Solomon recalled. “I thought, ‘Wow. This is the only man in Naples who would think this way.’”
Ms. Solomon slowly began moving her things into Mr. Geilenbruegge’s home. “We never felt annoyed by each other and that’s a huge thing especially when you meet in the later part of life,” Mr. Geilenbruegge said.
The two took a number of trips together, including a spontaneous vacation to Helsinki, Finland, and another to Germany, where Mr. Geilenbruegge introduced Ms. Solomon to his large family in Düsseldorf. They also bought a sailboat together.
[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]
In October 2023, the couple went on a humanitarian trip to Malawi with CARE, a nonprofit organization that fights world hunger; Ms. Solomon worked as a fundraiser for the organization. Both were struck by the indomitable spirits of many of the people they met. At the end of one particular day, Ms. Solomon felt especially reflective.
“We were on this bus, bouncing out of this village,” she recalled. “I just said, ‘Honey, I think we should get engaged.’”
Mr. Geilenbruegge unhesitatingly agreed. “I’m easygoing but I have very high expectations,” he said. “And I would say she is absolutely flawless. She’s the kindest person, most generous person.”
They celebrated their decision that night on Lake Malawi, drinking cocktails and watching the sunset.
The couple wed Dec. 26 on the Naples beach where they had their first date. Several onlookers nearby clapped after they were pronounced married.
“It was a very small, private ceremony, but we weren’t separated from the people around us,” Ms. Solomon said. “It was open to whoever wanted to experience the joy that we feel about each other.”
The city’s mayor, Teresa Heitmann, a friend of the couple who was ordained by the Universal Life Church for the event, officiated. Also in attendance were Mr. Geilenbruegge’s son, Noah Rose, who served as the best man, and Ms. Solomon’s niece, Jessica Solomon, who was the maid of honor.
“I was happy,” Ms. Solomon said of her life before moving to Florida. “But I didn’t realize how full and rich life can be until I met Gero.”
Lifestyle
Fashion’s Climate Reckoning Is Just Getting Started
Lifestyle
The 2025 Vibe Scooch
In the 1998 World War II film “Saving Private Ryan,” Tom Hanks played Captain John H. Miller, a citizen-soldier willing to die for his country. In real life, Mr. Hanks spent years championing veterans and raising money for their families. So it was no surprise when West Point announced it would honor him with the Sylvanus Thayer Award, which goes each year to someone embodying the school’s credo, “Duty, Honor, Country.”
Months after the announcement, the award ceremony was canceled. Mr. Hanks, a Democrat who had backed Kamala Harris, has remained silent on the matter. On Truth Social, President Trump did not hold back: “We don’t need destructive, WOKE recipients getting our cherished American awards!!!”
Lifestyle
How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Keiko Agena
Keiko Agena likes to create moments of coziness — not just on Sundays, but whenever she possibly can.
“Oh, there’s my rice cooker,” she says when she hears the sound in her Arts District home. “We’re making steel-cut oatmeal in the rice cooker, which by the way, is a game changer. I used to have to baby it and watch it, but now I can just put it in there and forget it.”
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
The 52-year-old actor, who played music-loving bestie Lane Kim in the beloved series “Gilmore Girls,” delights in specific comforts like a bowl of warm oats, talking about Enneagram numbers and watching cooking competitions with her husband, Shin Kawasaki.
“It sounds so simple, but I look forward so much to spending time on the couch,” Agena says with a laugh.
It is time that she’s intentional about protecting, especially amid her kaleidoscope of projects. Over the last couple of years, Agena starred in Lloyd Suh’s moving play “The Chinese Lady” in Atlanta, acted in Netflix’s “The Residence,” showcased her artwork in her first feature exhibit, “Hep Tones” (some of her ink and pencil drawings are still for sale), and performed regularly on the L.A. improv circuit. And her work endures with “Gilmore Girls,” which turns 25 this year. Agena narrated the audiobook for “Meet Me at Luke’s,” a guide that draws life lessons from the series, and is featured in the upcoming “Gilmore Girls” documentary “Drink Coffee, Talk Fast.”
She shares with us her perfect Sunday in L.A., which begins before sunrise.
5 a.m.: Morning solitude
I like to be up early-early, like 5 a.m. I like that feeling of everything being quiet. I’ll go into the other room and do Duolingo on my phone. I am a little addicted to social media, so the Duolingo is not just to learn Japanese, but also to keep me from scrolling. Like, if I’m going to do something on my phone, this is better for me. I think my streak is 146. Shin is Japanese, from Toyama. So I’ve been meaning to learn Japanese for a while. For him and his mom.
Then I’ll do [the writing practice] Morning Pages. I don’t know when I learned about Julia Cameron’s book [“The Artist’s Way”] — probably around 2000. I know a lot of people do it handwritten, but I’m a little paranoid about people, like, finding it after I die. So if I have it on my computer and it’s password protected, I can be really honest.
Then a lot of times, I’ll go back to bed. Shin, as a musician, works at night, and so he wakes up a lot later. So I’ll fall back asleep and wake up with him.
9 a.m.: Gimme that bread
I don’t do coffee anymore because it’s a little too tough for my system, but I’ll walk with Shin to Eightfold Coffee in the Arts District. It’s tiny but very chill. Then we’re going to Bliss Bakery inside the Little Tokyo Market Place. We get these tapioca bread balls. If you make any kind of sandwich that you would normally make, but use that bread instead, it ups the game. It’s life-changing. The Little Tokyo Market Place is not fancy or anything, but it has everything that you would want. There’s Korean food. They have a little sushi place in there. You can get premade Korean banchan and hot food in their hot food section. They also have a really good nuts section. It’s just one big table with all these nuts, just piles and piles.
10 a.m.: Nature without leaving the city
We’ll go to Los Angeles State Historic Park near Chinatown. I like that place just because it’s very accessible. Like, they have accessible bathrooms and I’m always checking out whether a place has good bathrooms. We call it Flat Park because it’s a great walk. Like, you’re not really out in nature, but there’s a lot of greenery. You can take your shoes off and at least touch grass for a second.
11:30 a.m.: Lunch and TV cooking shows
One of my favorite salad-sandwich combos is at Cafe Dulce in Little Tokyo. A Korean cheesesteak and a kale salad. That’s always like a — bang, bang — good combo. So we might go there or Aloha Cafe, though it’s not fully open on Sundays. But I love it because I grew up in Hawaii. They have this great Chinese chicken salad and spam musubi and other Hawaiian food that is so good.
We’ll bring home food and watch something. Cooking competition shows are my cream of the crop. My favorite right now is “Tournament of Champions” because it’s blind tasting. To me, that’s the best way to do it. “The Great British Bake Off” is Shin’s favorite. He loves the nature and the accents as much as the actual cooking. He just loves the vibe, the slow pace of the whole thing.
I’m such a TV girl. I love spending time on the couch and eating a meal and watching something that’s appetizing with my favorite person in the world. I’m lucky because I get to do that a lot.
2 p.m.: Browse the aisles
I’ll go to this bookstore called Hennessey + Ingalls. I love art and architecture and design, but you can’t always buy these massive books. But you can go into this bookstore and look at them and it’s always chill.
If I have time, I’ll walk around art supply stores. Artist & Craftsman Supply is a good one. I’ll look at pens, pencils, stickers, tape, washi tape, different kinds of paper, charcoals. In my art, I try to find things that aren’t meant for that particular purpose, like little things in a hardware store that I’ll use it in a different way.
5 p.m.: Downtown L.A. in its glory
We really love to walk the Sixth Street Bridge. It’s architecturally beautiful and they’re building a huge park over there, so we’ll walk around and check it out, like, ‘Which trees are they planting? Can you see?’ We sort of dream about how it’s coming together. But the other beautiful thing about that walk is that if you go at sunset and you walk back toward downtown, it’s just gorgeous. Los Angeles doesn’t have the most majestic skyline, but it’s so picturesque in that moment.
6:30 p.m.: Cornbread and Enneagrams
I’ll head to the Park’s Finest in Echo Park. It’s Filipino barbecue. It’s just so savory and rich and a special hang. Their cornbread is really good. Oh, and the coconut beef, but I’m trying to eat less beef. They have a hot link medley. Oh my gosh, just looking at this menu right now, my mouth is watering. OK, I’ll stop.
One of my favorite things to do is ask friends about their Enneagram number. So the idea of sitting with friends over a good meal and asking them a bunch of personal questions about their childhood and what motivates them and what their parents were like and what their greatest fear is and then figure out what their Enneagram number is? That is a top-tier activity for me.
9 p.m.: Rally for improv
Because I get up so early, if 9 o’clock, I’m ready to go to sleep. But I am obsessed with improv, so on my ideal day, there’d be a show to do. There’s this place called World’s Greatest Improv School in Los Feliz. It’s tiny and they just opened a few years ago, but the vibe there is spectacular.
Then there’s another place where my heart is so invested in now called Outside In Theatre in Highland Park. Tamlyn Tomita and Daniel Blinkoff created it together and not only is the space gorgeous — I mean, they built it from scratch — they have interesting programming there all the time. They’re so supportive of communities that are not seen in mainstream art spaces. It’s my favorite place. Sometimes I’ll find myself in their lobby till 12 o’clock at night. The kind of people I like to hang around are the people that hang out in that space.
11 p.m.: Turn on the ASMR and shut down
I am firmly an ASMR girl and I have been for years. I have to find something to watch that will slow my brain down. Then it’s pretty consistent. I don’t last very long once I turn something on. My eyelids get heavy and it chills me out.
-
Iowa5 days agoAddy Brown motivated to step up in Audi Crooks’ absence vs. UNI
-
Iowa7 days agoHow much snow did Iowa get? See Iowa’s latest snowfall totals
-
Maine4 days agoElementary-aged student killed in school bus crash in southern Maine
-
Maryland5 days agoFrigid temperatures to start the week in Maryland
-
Technology1 week agoThe Game Awards are losing their luster
-
South Dakota6 days agoNature: Snow in South Dakota
-
New Mexico3 days agoFamily clarifies why they believe missing New Mexico man is dead
-
Nebraska1 week agoNebraska lands commitment from DL Jayden Travers adding to early Top 5 recruiting class