I’ve been traveling for the last two weeks in a warm and welcoming country, internationally renowned for its beautiful gulf. People speak Spanish here, which has rendered my language skills largely useless until yesterday’s lunch when I sat across from a charming French couple and was able to chat en…
Earlier this summer, my husband Andy and I enjoyed visiting southwest Utah with our kids and their significant others. I wrote about the trip briefly in an earlier post but took time this week to pull together a photo montage of the visit. The work provided a needed break from…
This summer I had the rather surreal and surprising experience of traveling in Japan. The surreal aspect of my trip might well have something to do with the 13-hour time difference coupled with Japan’s near-futuristic embrace of technology. I say surprising because my expedition to the land of the rising…
In the year 885, Viking ships sailed up the Seine and launched what turned into an 11-month-long attempt to seize control of Paris. In the end, the fearsome warriors were paid to take their catapults and battering rams elsewhere. They continued ravaging the population of western France for another century…
At the end of September, I drove to Detroit to attend a panel discussion featuring two descendants of Vincent van Gogh. Josien van Gogh, Vincent’s great-grandniece, and her daughter, Janne Heling, had come to the Motor City to help kick off a new exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts, titled Van Gogh…
Each time I visit Paris I think, maybe this time I’ll make it to the Louvre. There are so many things to see and do, however, that I never seem to get there. A quick eyeballing of the swarms in the Louvre’s main courtyard and the throng serpentining in front…
I’ve finally made it back to France! Won’t have much time to blog but hope you enjoy these pictures from a recent visit to the Parc Floral de Paris. Vertical Gallery Horizontal Gallery Ever visited? Let me know in the comments. Never been? It’s worth the trip and entry is…
For the last several summers, I have traveled to France, in part because I love the country and culture, but also to boost my French skills. In 2015 and 2016, I took French classes while staying with a famille d’accueil. These were rewarding experiences that definitely improved my French. This…
