Today was going to be an exciting day anyway, because in a few hours Morgen and I are leaving for a one-week trip to Spain. We’ll be in the town of Marbella, on the southern coast, just a short drive from Gibraltar—which we might also visit. Perhaps we’ll even get adventurous and take a ferry […]

I was awakened this morning (that would be, er, yesterday morning, as I’m writing after midnight) by the doorbell, but I only had 30 seconds to be grumpy about it. It was the mail carrier, delivering my French driver’s license (two signatures required for delivery). Back when I passed my road test, I asked my […]

It’s a sad day in Paris. A landmark dating to 1831, and one of our favorite places to immerse ourselves in decay and general weirdness, was severely damaged by fire yesterday morning. Deyrolle, the taxidermy shop and walk-in cabinet of curiosities, was the site of a major blaze yesterday morning that took 55 firefighters and […]

Today is—or rather yesterday (the 9th) was, since I’m writing this after midnight Paris time—my 41st birthday. This evening Morgen and I went out for dinner with some friends at a fantastic Indonesian restaurant near Les Halles, Djakarta Bali. I thought that was appropriate given that this time last year we were in Indonesia. (On […]

Well, I’ve been living in interesting times. Less than a month ago, Morgen and I were wondering whether we were going to have a dull Christmas, since our budget was, shall we say, not conducive to travel (or bringing family members here to Paris). We were, however, looking forward to the week between Christmas and […]

In the course of doing research for my latest post on Gridskipper, Algerian Patisseries in Paris, Joe and I had to sample as many delicious Algerian pastries as we could. It’s a tough job, I know, but someone’s got to do it. If you’ve never tasted Algerian pastries, I would highly recommend them. They are similar […]

Now that I have your attention, you may be wondering what the three items in the name of this post could possibly have in common. The answer: all three were subjects of recent posts I wrote for Gridskipper. My latest post is about Pétanque in Paris and includes places where you can watch games in action, […]

I can’t say exactly when it was I decided that if I got married I wouldn’t change my last name, but I know that by the time I got to college the idea was pretty much confirmed in my mind. I knew a lot of people at that time who were finding creative ways to […]

One of the best things about living in Paris is that we have the time to explore the not-so-obvious aspects of the city. The Eiffel Tower is hard to miss, but there are many places that are hidden, or not easily seen unless you know where to look. In my latest post on Gridskipper I […]

A few evenings ago, when trying to come up with a place where we could take a walk and enjoy the fall colors, I suggested the Parc Monceau, in the elegant 8th arrondissement. I had heard that this park was well worth a visit, and had been eager to see it since we arrived. After […]

You might be thinking it’s a little early to be talking about Thanksgiving, but in fact it’s not too early to talk about Canadian Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on the second Monday in October. In honor of my roots, I wrote a post for the Web site Gridskipper about Canadian-related places in my new hometown […]

Today is the three-month anniversary of our arrival in Paris; given that two of those were 31-day months, it’s actually day 92 for us. That’s significant, because had we come as tourists, without visas, we would have been obligated to leave the country by now. But we’ve jumped through all the necessary bureaucratic hoops to […]

On Sunday night Morgen and I had dinner at Hidden Kitchen. We left with full stomachs and warm fuzzy feelings. It was a deeply satisfying experience all around—one of the best meals I’ve had in years, plus wonderful conversation in a truly delightful setting. HK is sort of a cross between an exclusive restaurant and a […]

Over the past week or so, we’ve received a string of messages, from friends and strangers alike, wondering if we’re OK, since neither of us has posted anything new on any of our blogs in some time. It’s nice to know we’re missed! Yes, we’re both fine, and I’m in the process of writing a […]

One thing about Paris that really suits us is the fact that it’s such a film-friendly town. There are so many theatres, playing so many different movies (current and classic), that it’s pretty easy to find something we want to watch. Of course, we’re somewhat limited at this point to English-language movies (at least until […]