curi·ous {Old French curios} Drawn to investigate, prick up the ears, ponder for the sake of pondering. Enticed by mysteriously labeled bottles.
vo·luptu·ary {Late Latin volupturius} A lass devoted to the pursuit of pleasure. An unabashed epicurean, hedonist, libertine, sensualist, lotus-eater.
Tho’ you may think it strange/Wine and women play the mischief/With a boy who’s loose with change/They’ll never want to see a rake or plow/And who the deuce can parleyvous a cow? Oh how ya gonna keep em down on the farm/After they’ve seen Paree?
This post WWl tin-pan alley tune looped on my personal [...]
Sunday morning snow storm and meeting my honey at the Gare de l’Est (built 1849, doubled in size 1931, a departure point for French troops in WWI). Or I should say judging by this photograph, I was unable to make it and sent my freezing, sleep-deprived crazy twin instead. Train forty-five minutes late, open-air interior [...]
Chez Louisette, at the Vernaison nook of le marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen: keyboards, accordion and Edith Piaf covers belted out by the charming Manuela, who has made this homage in this guinguette her life’s work. Not unlike seeing Marty & Elaine at some point in their twenty-seven year gig at the Dresden Room. [...]
We expect possibly ten days of rain upcoming, so I took the afternoon to wander Montmartre, in the area that was our stomping ground on the last trip here. It is such a fine nook, a little village.
Found the shop with the incredible Moroccan mint tea that I used so sparingly back in NYC until [...]
Today I hemmed and hawed (writing? outing? writing? outing?) and decided to go to the flea marché. That would be Marché aux Puces de la Porte de Vanves, as Saint-Ouen is not my cup (tho I do enjoy a glass of vin at that dark cafe where the gal does Piaf in total earnestness.) The [...]
Within a modest house, hung from a stately tree, upon which the leaves had just begun their autumnal turning, toiled a diligent and hopeful ecrivantrist, some say is called Lucy Luddite.
All day and all night she snipped and shredded her mountains of oddly-sized European note paper, chopping 22,000 words which fluttered down upon the heads [...]
On Saturday we took an adventure by train to Aarberger, to the annual brocante (flea market). This is part of my Explore Your Own Country initiative, prompted by a general lack of traveling elsewhere. Next up is a journey to hike the Creux du Van.
Most of the pictures below are from the train or [...]
Generally we drive, but for this trip to Zurich we took the train. Maybe the ride was my favorite part. I used to ride Amtrak several times a month for work, from New York to Philly or Washington. A lady can do her best thinking on a train.
I was thinking what if I were [...]
View of River Tejo from our hotel window. click on image to expand
A few things I have learned on this trip: 1. When looking for budget accommodations over “the holidays” in Europe one can’t always be too choosy. 2. One should always be somewhat choosy because 3. Counting the hours left to endure in a [...]
We visited our friends Klaus and Sabine and their two sons in their vacation cabin for a night. It was heaven, and very much needed! We stayed near Chur, in the Medieval village of Parpan–a magical place that looks exactly like what everyone imagines when you say “I live in Switzerland!” Very Von Trapp.
Parpan [...]