Paris is a little bit of everything, from high art to street art. The best way to get to know the city is by wandering her grand boulevards and petites rues, her waterways and cemeteries. Some days I would set a destination, then make my way there via serendipity and whim. Edith Piaf, in Belleville My … Read more
On our return to Paris, we changed trains at Avignon, the station as modern and vast as Arles is old-fashioned and cozy. We passed villages and farmland, rural France at its most timeless. Arriving at the Gare de Lyon, we couldn’t resist a cocktail at the ravishing Train Bleu. The next day, as part of … Read more
From Zurich, our TGV—Train Grande Vitesse—is smooth and speedy, and by mid-afternoon we have arrived at the Gare de Lyon in Paris. Soon we are standing on rue Chateau d’Eau, outside the courtyard of what will be our home for three weeks. Three flights up the polished oak stairway and we enter what was once probably … Read more
We’d gone to Italy for the soul and were now heading to Zurich for friendship—to visit one of my very oldest friends, married to a Swiss. After leaving Bologna, we connected through Milano, the station just as you would expect for this fashionable city, grand and elegant. I haven’t mentioned yet the Man in Seat … Read more
Leaving Arezzo’s cozy train station, we passed through lush Tuscan hill country, descending to Bologna, an artistic and culture center of North Italy, home of the world’s oldest university, founded 1088. Most of Old Town is a pedestrian zone and our taxi took a circuitous route to our Art Hotel Orologia, next to the sprawling main … Read more
It was hard to leave Rome, but time to move on. Bidding the great city arrivederci, we boarded our train at the mammoth Termini and two hours later reached the Tuscan hill town of Arezzo. A fellow traveler, a journalist, told us he lives here and commutes to Firenze, about thirty minutes north. Quelle vie, as … Read more
This is our second time traveling Europe by train. We go light, one carry-on each. In previous years I had a Red Oxx backpack, but after a shoulder injury I bought a four-wheel Bric spinner. I filled it with black and navy separates, ready for almost everything except tea with the Queen. Two years ago … Read more
From Voler, Voguez, Voyager Louis Vuiton Exhibit, Grand Palais, Paris Why is it every time I’m getting ready to leave town―even for more Europe by Train!―my home tugs me to stay? The weather is beautiful; the wisteria is in bloom, the roses are providing yummy buds for the “dear” deer, and the spring bulbs are popping. My sweet Daisy … Read more
While preparing for seven weeks in Europe, I’ve invited the versatile and talented Carole Buggé (C. E. Lawrence) to entertain you with one of her lively travel stories. Carole has nine published novels, six novellas, and a dozen or so short stories and poems. Many of her works appear in translation. Winner of both the Euphoria Poetry … Read more
At the Left Coast Crime conference in Phoenix last week, I was assigned to appear on the “I Spy” panel with authors Art Kerns, Jeff Layton, Ryan Quinn, and moderator Annette Rogers. I’m a devout reader of espionage novels and have written a few…which got me thinking about the genre and what it’s really about. … Read more