There’s no place like home: Embracing expat otherness

I have lived in Paris for almost exactly 8 years, and whilst itโ€™s fair to say Iโ€™ve long since been pretty damn parisienne, Iโ€™m clearly not โ€“ nor will I ever be โ€“ French. Iโ€™m very comfortable in this country; more at home than Iโ€™ve ever felt anywhere else; thoroughly assimilated in a culture that made more sense to me than the one I grew up in long before I even moved here. But I donโ€™t have the references of a native franรงaise, having neither been raised in France, nor by French parents.

Lyonnais Love Affair (Part 2/2)

TL;DRIf you stumbled across this blog in search of some quick suggestions for your upcoming Lyon trip and you can't be bothered with all the waffle in between, click here to head straight to the recommendations at the end. (Although in my totally unbiased opinion, it is worthwhile waffle.) Missed Part 1? You can read... Continue Reading →

Lyonnais Love Affair (Part 1/2)

Surprise, surprise, Iโ€™m writing this blog post on a train - speeding through the French countryside, direction Paris, somewhere in the vague vicinity of Dijon. Itโ€™s a perfect โ€œgolden hourโ€, the rolling wheat fields and villages of tiny terracotta-roofed cottages bathed in the gorgeous glow of the setting sun. Iโ€™m reminded of how much I... Continue Reading →

2022: Time to Invest in You

Bonne annรฉe !  Itโ€™s a funny one, this year, isnโ€™t it? Just about this time last year, the world couldnโ€™t wait to see the back of 2020, certain that its successor could only be better, sure that we were finally getting shot of C Who Must Not Be Named. We all hugged and hurrayed with... Continue Reading →

Under the Tuscan Sun: Anglaise in Italy

WELL. This anglaise has been having all kinds of adventures recently โ€“ although for the most part, they werenโ€™t occurring in Paris, or even France, so I initially decided against immortalising them in blog form. However, a good portion of those adventures took place in Tuscany, and I feel that the part of my heart/soul... Continue Reading →

Oh Crรชpe!

Joyeuse Chandeleur ! Nope, that's not a real greeting in French, I just made it up โ€“ but any day consecrated to the consumption of crรชpes is worthy of one, in my humble opinion. And Chandeleur is exactly that. More or less. It falls on the 2nd February every year, 40 days after Christmas. The... Continue Reading →

Flying Solo

Solo travel is a special kind of time to yourself, when thereโ€™s no obligation or pressure to do anything specific or productive. How often, in the busy balancing act of grown-up life, do we get the opportunity to spend several (waking) hours in total repose, without any guilt or consequences?

Confinement Crazy

Iโ€™m starting to wonder if thereโ€™s something wrong with me. Weโ€™re 26 days into the official confinement in France, itโ€™s been 27 days since I had a conversation with another human face-to-face, and 29 days have passed since I saw anyone I actually know. Not that Iโ€™m counting or anything. But if I was, I... Continue Reading →

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑