WELL. This anglaise has been having all kinds of adventures recently โ although for the most part, they werenโt 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 →
Paris is Open
Three years ago, I wrote a blog post entitled Paris is Closed. It was about how, every year, half the city packs up and migrates South (or abroad) for the summer - much like a flock of impeccably dressed birds - and, consequently, a lot of independent shops and restaurants close for several weeks. As... Continue Reading →
Flying Solo
Solo travel is a special kind of time to yourself, when thereโs 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?
Winter Warmer: 10 Simple Steps To Public Mortification
I know, I know, I've been neglecting my blog again recently. I had such good intentions when I took up my figurative pen again this summer, but I can assure you, I have my best excuse yet for this most recent hiatus - I've been immersing myself in another writing project, one that I'm rather... Continue Reading →
Cirque de Cinnamon
I embarked on another food quest this week, deciding on a whim to dig out one of my (embarrassingly numerous) "to try" lists and settling on a little boulangerie I've been meaning to visit for at least two years now. The boulangerie in question is the Circus Bakery in the Latin Quarter, specialist purveyors of... Continue Reading →
Homecoming
Itโs just gone 8am and Iโm speeding towards the Channel Tunnel at 221 km/h. I have a whole carriage of the Eurostar to myself - talk about social distancing. The journey marks the end of a two-week trip back to England, the most time Iโve spent in my native country since I emigrated to France... Continue Reading →
Winter Wistfulness
I know youโre not supposed to wish your life away (a favourite admonishment of my mother) and youโve got to live in the moment, etc. etc. But right now, the moment is cold, wet, windy and grey, and franchement, Iโd much rather think ahead a little. So I thought Iโd put my wistful spring-and-summer daydreams... Continue Reading →
Breakfast in Bordeaux
As part of my 2019 quest to take advantage of being based in Paris by exploring other parts of France, I spent last weekend in Bordeaux. I have actually been before, so it wasnโt exactly expanding my French horizons the way the โquestโ is supposed to be, but my last (and only other) visit was... Continue Reading →
Gluten-Free Paree (aka Paris ‘Sans Gluten’ part 2)
Visitors are like buses: you donโt see anyone for months at a time, and then suddenly, everyone youโve said โhiโ to in the last fifteen years wants to turn up on the same weekend. As usual, Iโm exaggerating somewhat โ but I did have guests 3/4 weekends in April (and it was very nearly 4/4,... Continue Reading →
Umbrellas in the Sun
I happened across the most fabulously random little gem whilst walking through the 8th arrondissement this morning: a side street with a 'ceiling' of suspended umbrellas. Real ones. The umbrellas spanned the full length of the street, hundreds of them in a variety of bright colours, creating a spectacle that was at once surprising and... Continue Reading →
