Voyages
« Previous EntriesVictor Hugo’s Guernsey exile
Monday, May 7th, 2012Here in France, there is a new president elect. But I’ve been wondering, if Victor Hugo was alive, who would he have supported in the election — Sarkozy, Hollande… or exile? You see, last summer, I was lucky enough to visit the Channel Island of Guernsey, where Hugo, a fierce critic of the Second Empire, [...]
Shades of pink Toulouse
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012They call Toulouse la ville en rose, a city built of bricks that cast a rosy glow. Two weeks ago, just before the tragic events that struck the region, I visited this southern city and caught an ombre of pinks with my camera… Palest petal pink at the L’hôtel d’Assézat, once the palatial home of [...]
Artichokes of Rome
Monday, December 19th, 2011Wandering around Rome recently, I noticed a few things: 1) Winter in Rome makes Paris seem like a gulag. The sun shines bright and strong (except when it rains), and the temperatures are mild enough for year-round gelato consumption. 2) Romans seem to have infinite reserves of patience for children and non-Italian-speaking tourists (i.e. me). 3) [...]
Rome, actually
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011I’ll never forget my first visit to Rome, during a sultry summer weekend almost seven years ago. I’m not sure what disappointed me most: the masses of tourists crowding the monuments, or the horrible food I ate at almost every turn. I hadn’t done my homework , you see, hadn’t researched any good addresses. And [...]
Carte postale: Rome
Monday, December 12th, 2011Lunch at a nondescript tavola calda. Nothing fancy, and yet unforgettable. P.S. I’m still digging out from my trip, but I’ll be back with a longer post soon!
Cheese in St-Etienne and environs
Monday, December 5th, 2011I’ve been traveling so much this fall, I can scarcely download the photos from my camera before I’m packing my bags once again. As a result, these pictures from St-Etienne — about 40 miles southwest of Lyon, in the Rhône-Alpes region — are a few weeks old and the gentle sunshine that diffuses them seems [...]
Alsace
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011Is everyone bilingual in Alsace? On a recent trip there, I heard shopkeepers and restaurant owners switching between French and the local dialect, Alsacian, snapping from one to the other without batting an umlaut. Alsacian is etymologically close to Swiss German — I heard lots of ja, ja, ja, mixed with the occasional ça va [...]
Fall foliage in Burgundy
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011Last week I went to Burgundy for a few days. Though the purpose of my trip was to eat research boeuf Bourguignon — I’m saving tales of wine-braised beef, garlicky snails, and liquid Epoisses cheese for a chapter in my new book – I also spent a lot of time driving (over 620 miles in four days!) and marveling [...]
Strudel show
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011When I went to Vienna last November, I loved eating apple strudel at the old-fashioned tearoom, Demel. At the time, I had no idea of the skill and labor involved in creating the sweet pastry. The word strudel, which means “whirlpool” or “eddy” in German, refers to the swirl of thin dough wrapped around a [...]
Cheese fondue canicule
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011Salut, mes amis! I’m excited today to share part two of our vacation photos: Annecy and the French Alps. Don’t those names conjure up cool air and fresh mountain breezes? Alas, we arrived in the midst of a canicule — that is, a heat wave — which draped the town in a swathe of stickiness. But [...]
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