Maine’s grand hotels help us celebrate the joy of waiting.

By Colin W. Sargent

Morley Safer used to paint the hotel rooms he stayed in while he traveled on assignment for 60 Minutes. His canvases were essays on loneliness. 

Lobbies are far more fun places to touch down. 

I also collect antechambers, lounges, grand tiers, private nooks, vestibules, sun parlors, colonnades, everything from peristyles to parterres. They’re intimate and wary, impressive and cozy—great places to haunt.

Perched on a pink coral wall, I loved listening to the music of the waterfall in the Hamilton Princess Hotel in Bermuda. After martinis, I crossed the Waldorf Astoria’s mezzanine to Cole Porter’s piano to see if I could strike the right note.

Read the full story in the digital magazine above.