France

Andorra: almost adorable

What a bizarre little country, Andorra. Nestled into the mountainous terrain between Spain and France, Andorra is basically a series of tiny little mountain towns. They’re completely unlike, say, Swiss mountain towns, in that each town consists of a small cluster of giant buildings. No cozy wooden mountain huts in sight. As a trade off … Read more

France: public hygene, art, and tarts in Albi

Albi is a charming old town about an hour’s drive from Toulouse. Its architecture is a fascinating mixture of tumbling down ruins, beautifully-restored old brick houses, and modern embellishments. The public showers were open and ready for business. How convenient that you can tell that smelly person sitting next to you on the bus, “Here’s … Read more

France: Charming Toulouse

Lufthansa was having a sale on direct flights to Toulouse, so how could we resist going to meet up with our friends who have a house just outside the city? I only wish we had gone sooner, because as a vacation destination it was fabulous. Toulouse itself is a wonderful city for wandering. One day … Read more

Notes from a weekend in Paris

We recently got home from a fabulous long weekend in Paris, but I’ve been putting off blogging about it because I can’t think of anything to say. I mean, I could tell you about what we did, saw, and ate, but none of it seems particularly insightful, entertaining, or original. But hey, that doesn’t stop … Read more

Colmar: France at its most charming

Day one of my recent trip to Alsace was spent in Colmar, an adorable little town full of narrow cobblestone streets and half-timbered houses painted in vivid colors. It’s just a 2-hour train ride from Zurich, changing trains in Basel (I’m being nice in this post, so I’m biting my tongue about the cleanliness and … Read more

France is growing on me

I never used to be a big fan of France. I wasn’t out renaming fried potato products just to spite its citizens or anything like that – I just wasn’t that into it. The language sounds ridiculous to me. The food is meaty. The trains… well, you know about the trains. But my last couple … Read more