No matter how fantastical the artwork, the Youthful Adventurer can only appreciate so much of it before being obligated to run, jump, shout, and—as has happened more than once—set off museum alarms. We were fortunate to find alternatives in Paris that could keep the young set amused: the elevator ride up the Eiffel Tower, a…
Category: France
The Sunny and Strategic World of Les Andelys
It was on our first stop away from Paris that I realized I didn’t remember enough about the history of France. On the Uniworld River Baroness with the Senior and the Youthful Adventurers, we awoke to sunny, pastoral town of Les Andelys, a throwback in time from the dazzles of Paris. Walking up to the…
That Summer Light at Giverny Really Is Different
A pink house with green shutters and a killer garden are the few things that could possibly persuade me to leave Paris. Yet, having seen some muddied water lilies at the Orangerie, I was ready to be underwhelmed at Giverny. Still, how could I not go to the place that inspired all that creativity? …
Traveling to Remember
Sitting at an outdoor café three blocks from the Rome Termini one morning 24 years ago waiting for my friend Julie to arrive, I had no appreciation of the folly of our planning. In the days before cell phones, all I knew for sure was that Julie was scheduled to arrive from the United States…
Paris: Macarons and Macabre All in One Morning
Is it okay to stop for a macaron at McDonald’s Paris before descending into the ever-so-slightly macabre catacombs, also known as the empire of the dead? The Bashful Adventurer finds out.
“I Survived the French Revolution and Didn’t Even Get a T-Shirt”
History, for me, is best understood in manageable nuggets. I keep targeting the French revolution because of the convergence of so many ideas: the roles of church, state, kings, budgets, freedom, violence, revenge. I can’t imagine I’ll ever understand it, or why it flowed quite the way it did, but I keep looking and reading…
Visit Versailles via ‘Farewell, My Queen’
Does anyone understand Marie Antoinette? How someone, anyone, the queen of France could be so entirely oblivious about what was going on all around her entirely befuddles me. Every time I make excuses for her—she was too young for her role, her husband was supposed to be in charge—I can’t help but think of another…
The Oblivious Queens of Versailles
Visiting Versailles, the palace of French kings, and the Conciergerie, the prison where Queen Marie Antoinette spent her last days, one can’t help but wonder, How could it possibly have ended like this? Elements of the story do make sense: the queen seemed largely unschooled, her spouse weak, her home far removed from any squalor….
Getting Out of the House and Staying Put
I travel because I want to try out different lives. Could I remember the names of all the trees and remedies to become a shaman? Would throwing my slop into the streets of medieval Rouen be too much for me? Could I ease into a laid-back work ethic as a resident of Rome? Would I…