My niece is about to go off on a two-week trip to France with her high-school French class. She was in Paris with her parents when she was about five, and I’m sure she has isolated memories of that trip. (I remember being told that on a visit to the Musée d’Orsay, she plumped herself down on the floor with a pad of paper and crayons in front of a Mary Cassatt painting, and proceeded to draw her version of it.) But this school trip will be an experience she’ll remember throughout her life. Can you remember your first trip to Paris - the awe at your first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the distance or the energy and excitement of the boulevard St. Germain?
Apr
27
Having recently returned from Spain, I was reminded of a resource that has proven very helpful on more than one of my many visits.
Apr
20
Back home again after ten days on Spain’s Costa Blanca, I’ve spent the last week trying to source some of the delicious Spanish cheeses that are all but impossible to find here in the U.S.
Apr
8
Speaking with a travel agent friend, I learned there’s been a slight uptick in reservations for travel to India in recent months. Her thought was that it was due to the buzz created by the movie “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Apr
2
Oh my. It’s early April as I write this in Chicago, and eagerly awaited spring refuses to accept its responsibility to show itself. Yes, the days are longer (I start looking for recognizable signs of lengthening daylight by the third or fourth week in January), and there are a few snowdrops, crocus and scilla showing their welcome colors. But tulip and narcissus spears, bobbing robins and the faint sounds of chickadees and woodpeckers don’t make up for clinging patches of dirty snow, days of continued grayness and temperatures in the 40s. I don’t know why, but 41 degrees in April is more unpleasant than 21 degrees in February.
