Like so many things in life, my 30th birthday snuck up on me unexpectedly. For a while there, my twenties felt as though they would stretch on for an eternity in that wildly unpredictable, youthful way; then November 2017 rolled around and I found myself staring down the barrel of a new decade. Rather… [Read More]
A Guide to Visiting Paris for the First Time
There’s just something about Paris and how the cobblestone avenues and sweeping rooftops overlook the grey-blue waters of the glistening Seine. How in the vanilla twilight hours of the evening, the Eiffel Tower casts a glow over the city; or how patisserie store fronts with decadent pastries call to pedestrians like a siren. … [Read More]
The Joy Of Being A Shameless Cliché In Paris
be damned, this is the Paris of my dreams. French mingles with English while the light clinks of champagne glasses and tea fill the parlor room of Ladurée in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. I am sitting at a window table facing the Rue Jacob in the 6th arrondissement. An impossibly intricate pastry rests on the plate in… [Read More]
The Dark Honeymoon: A Visit to the Paris Catacombs
After an hour spent taking cell phone pictures and taunting sparrows, my husband and I found ourselves at the front of the line to see the Paris Catacombs. We were on our belated honeymoon, more specifically on a three-day trip to the City of Love after tours of Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Freiburg. Holding hands,… [Read More]
Flânerie in ‘the Garden of France’
Bursting with vineyards, fruit orchards and a wealth of history is ‘the Garden of France,’ also known as the bountiful and beautiful Loire Valley. Often eclipsed by its glittering neighbor, Paris, the Loire Valley is home to sprawling castles, Medieval-style towns and unparalleled cuisine.
What it’s Like to Live in Rouen in France’s Normandy Region
I remember when Monday mornings didn’t hold the same stigma they have now. Before 9am-5pm work hours, oppressive cubicles and blaring screen monitors, I remember waking up on Monday to sunlight flooding my apartment, the sounds of car horns and French mingling outside my window and the promise of an unpredictable day ahead. This was… [Read More]
Why You Must Add Étretat to your France Bucket List
Imagine driving through the French countryside surrounded by rolling hills and pastoral beauty. The landscape is lush with budding flowers, charming farmhouses and grazing Normandy cows roaming lazily through the grass. The French countryside seems as though it could go on forever, extending endlessly in fields of wild flowers. Suddenly the scenery shifts revealing shockingly… [Read More]
What it’s Like to Visit the Normandy Beaches in France
I don’t know if I will ever find the words to describe what it felt like to visit the Normandy beaches and walk along the shores of the D-Day landings. I once read somewhere that a single death is a tragedy while a hundred deaths is a number, concept too immense to wrap our minds around. When… [Read More]
