Travel

Welcome to Annecy! After our very “eventful” stay in Geneva and the French suburbs, Rob and I rented a car and drove to Annecy for the last week of our trip. This small city is known as the “Venice of France” for its canals running through the old pedestrian city. We’re staying in a converted…

There is a particular French way of resigned sighing when a situation is terrible and awful and there’s nothing to be done about it. You pucker slightly, fill your cheeks with air and quickly “poof” out the air between the center of your lips, even better if you can widen your eyes and rock back a bit…

Rob and I spent our last day in Paris outside the city, exploring the Palace of Versailles. He rode his bike and I took the C train out (Rob beat me by about 20 minutes). The town is quite lovely with lots of tall trees, it’s a posh suburb of Paris today. Even with pre-purchased…

For our last work day in Paris Rob and I went with a classic combination: picnic at the Champs de Mars, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower followed by a visit to one of my all-time favorite museums.  I had been up in the Eiffel Tower years ago on a trip to Paris, but none of the…

We stayed a bit closer to home for Thursday’s picnic, walking up to the Luxembourg Gardens from our apartment in the 14th arrondissement. Rob and I picked a trio of metal garden chairs in the shade and set up a spread of paprika goat cheese, figs, tomato, mache lettuce with tzatziki, fresh rustic baguette, white wine and…

Another random spin of the map and another day of picnicking in the parks of Paris. Rob rode his bike and I took the train over to meet at La Muette station in the very posh 16th arrondissement. We walked over through the fancy neighborhoods and through to Bois de Boulogne, a big green space twice the…

This was my favorite picnic day of our trip! Rob and I picked a park by random on the map: Parc Saint-Cloud looked like it would nice enough. Rob biked over and I took the train. We walked across the Seine and through a small suburban village and found a beautiful lawn with statues and fountains.…

Rob and I headed north for our second day in Paris. After a lazy Sunday morning, we packed up a picnic in Rob’s backpack and headed down the narrow, very French stairs of our 100-year old apartment building. It was market day on our neighborhood’s main street, Rue Daguerre. A lot of beautiful produce and…

Rob and I landed in Paris late Friday night from Tangiers. It was getting dark, but we could still see those perfect fluffy French clouds rolling overhead. Lots of transport to arrive finally in the 14th arrondissement. Our Airbnb host had stocked wine, a massive platter of fresh fruit, two kinds of cheese, prosciutto and…

Barcelona isn’t as much a city as a lifestyle. It’s slow mornings with a cafe con leche and a croissant (and quite often a beer), followed by slow three course lunches with a glass of wine. A siesta where you take a break from eating to rest up for a pre-dinner vermut and tapas before…