I’ve traveled to France enough times that the transit process feels less like an adventure and more like established procedure. Last August, however, frazzled, sleepless, and hauling more than a hundred pounds of baggage, I was forced to break from my normal routine as I headed into Paris.
Ever since watching the French Netflix movie Lords of Scam (reviewed here), I’ve been curious about the Parisian neighborhood of Belleville. This documentary traces the rise and crash of scammers who conned the EU carbon quota system and pocketed millions before turning on one another. Much of the action unfolds in Belleville,…
One of my favorite places to stay when visiting Paris is the bustling town of Vincennes. Vincennes lies just beyond the eastern edge of Paris, north of the Bois de Vincennes, Paris’ largest public park. Lodging in this prosperous suburb generally costs less than in the city of light. And…
Last week, I compared and contrasted day-trips to two of France’s most opulent palaces, Versailles and Fontainebleau. At the end of the post, I mentioned that Fontainebleau has the added bonus of being situated on the edge of one of France’s most extensive forests. Originally established as a royal hunting…
Journaling… like every other human endeavor, there exists a narrow sliver of people who raise this seemingly simple practice to the level of a refined and illuminating art. Such is the case with graphic novelist Craig Thompson’s Carnet de Voyage. In the spring of 2004, Thompson traveled to Europe to…
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…
