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- 1st Installment: Paris is the bomb (scare)No doubt about it, getting to Europe from western Canada is arduous. It starts with a 4 hour drive to Vernon to park our car at Rachel’s (saves us almost $300 in parking at the airport), then a ride to Kelowna where we depart from; first to Calgary with a brief layover and then 9 …
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- 2nd Installment: Dennis and Carol’s Big AdventuresGeez, let me check the calendar again… yup I’m a geezer. Day 3 of our first stop in Paris and I am befuddled and confused (jetlagged ‘r us). There are so many technical situations that have to be juggled and solved on the spot to keep this train a’rollin’.
- 3rd Installment: New pope, same gelatoriaFirst off I would like to offer a shout out to all of the new subscribers that I hounded into joining the site, Welcome Aboard newbies (newbs?)! Disclaimer: You might not recognize this as a traditional travel blog because I do tend to offload random observations from time to time and wander down unplumbed depths …
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- 4th Installment : Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drinkIt was an uneventful train journey on our next stop to Mestre (mess-tray) which is just over the bridge to Venice. Our Airbnb is a room with private water closet in a 4 bedroom apartment with a 300sq.ft terrace on the 3rd floor of a 10 storey building. The owner, an entrepreneur, and her 2 …
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- 5th Installment: Polishing off a 5thJust to tidy up a few loose ends from our time in Mestre/Venice. On our last day in that location we took our foot off the gas and decided that we had given Venice our best concerted effort and opted to spend the morning and afternoon with Megan who had to be back with the …
- 6th Installment: Pleasant SurpriseIt was another smooth trip from Venice to Sienna, about 4 hours by train. Smooth as in comfortable, the process and logistics are always a bit heart-fluttering because there’s so much at stake to arrive at the station on time. Then work in a breakfast on the run, find your platform, and set ourselves up …
- 7th Installment : Welcome HomeAnother smooth transition, this time to La Spezia. Ignoring the hosts instructions we decided not to take the bus (15 minutes including wait time) and we would get the lay of the land by slinging our backpacks and pulling our wheelie bags over the rough Italian patchwork sidewalks. Mr. Google assured us it was only …
- 8th Installment: BoaringOur new stay has it all including a king-size bed. To fully take advantage you would expect that each person would lay in the middle of their own side, maybe in an X configuration to languish in the luxury, not making contact with the other and feeling like a king, hence the name. No, that …
- 9th Installment: Road Trip! I Call Shotgun!In search of new frien… er, looking for history and culture we will be taking the bus to Lerici (le-reach-ee) on Sunday and Porto Venere (porto-ven-err-eh) on Monday. By choosing 5 days in La Spezia it was always the plan to do short day trips by bus or train. La Spezia is the gateway to …
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- 10th Installment: Don’t Whack Me, I Have a Family!It’s our final full day in Italy and we have reached the midpoint of our time away. There had been predictions a couple of days ago of a deluge of rain for today, but just like in Canada they pick their prognosticators from the defunct T#%mp University of Liars. Of course we had made plans …
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- 11th Installment: We Have Hit the MotherlodeJust another day at the office; 4 trains and 6 hours got us to Nice (Niece). It’s great to be back in France, and it’s great to be in the Côte d’Azur, FrenchRiviera. More steep hills to shlep our bags to get to our latest studio, but it is remarkable!
- 12th Installment: I’m Hungary in NiceWe decided after hearing from a few people that Eze Village (eh-ze vee-laaj) would be a good place to check out as a day trip from Nice by bus. It’s claim to fame is the 13th century fortress and medieval town surrounding it high up in the mountains and was just 30 minutes down the …
- 13th Installment : Seeing RedOur host Alain owns a nightclub in Nice, called Le Six. In the early years it featured live jazz, but times and the economy have changed and now they have djs from around the globe performing; from Brazil tonight, Paris tomorrow, et al. He has played trumpet with Whitney Houston in his younger years and …
- 14th Installment: Henri Matisse, a Reverent and Irreverent LookWith still 3 days to spend in Nice we sprung for the 4 day (yes, I realize it) museum pass. There are 12 museums included in the package, but only a few were important to us. The headliner was Musée Matisse located in Jardin des Arènes de Cimiez, WAY WAY up in the upper suburbs. …
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- 15th Installment: Menton and MonacoWe’re closing in on the final days of our stay in Nice and the western Côte d-Azur. It has been the best part of an already great trip. This studio has been the most entertaining of the 50+ Airbnb’s that we’ve stayed in to date (3 more to come). Our hosts just had us over …
- 16th Installment: Slow Day in the Côte d-AzurOn our last day in Nice we were determined to use our mueum pass to catch a couple more from the list of eligible locations. We also were going to hit the beach probably for the final time on this trip so we were going to keep things close to the water. The first candidate …
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- 17th Installment: Fear and Loathing in MarseilleThe train to Marseille follows the sea, gliding past the sandy beaches located outside of Antibes and Cannes, then moves inland into the southernmost portion of Provence. There you’ll find lots of agriculture in the fertile valleys and vineyards on the hillsides, lush and green. After a 2 hour trip to Marseille Saint-Charles station you …
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- 18th Installment: Dijon, Home of Grey PouponIt’s four hours from Marseille to Dijon by train. The lush rolling hills and vineyards of the Burgundy region, home to some of France’s best wines, cheeses, and chocolate, led us to its historical capital. Positioned in the eastern quadrant towards Switzerland and near Besançon, home of the world famous Comté cheeses (my personal fave) …
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- 19th Installment: C’est Parti (Here We Go)This will be the final installment of our trip and a synopsis of our last 3 days in Paris. First off… it’s been fantastic here! The best food, very good inexpensive wine, the incredible visuals everywhere we go, kind and interesting people, and on and on. Our 300 sq.ft. studio has worked out extremely well. …
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- Death of a Schwartzman
- The Flaws of PhysicsThis is the first in my Re-writes series where I take a snippet from a previous post, add more detail and offer a completely different perspective from the original telling. This is from Europe 2024 and our stay in Lyon. There will be 2 perspectives offered. The first being a scientific offering, and the second …
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