Mont Blanc loomed. Icy, craggy, cliffy, with sheer drops unto death from every angle, Chamonix’s local celebrity filled the sky with its drama. We stood at the door of the flat Camille’s friend had leant us for our visit and gazed sans breath at its majesty. “Isn’t it...
In Camille’s Lugano happy place, complete with a splendid lake view, she and Jacqueline sprawled on their shared queen bed with Swiss picnic things arrayed around them like one of Cleopatra’s feasts. Unfamiliar salamis and foreign cheeses were the least of it, with...
It felt slightly kidnapped-like, held in the backseat of Camille’s rental Fiat as we zoomed out of Paris headed south. Camino was happy napping in his travel house, so I was alone with my foreboding that somehow my sister/my captor would convince me to try something...
What does it take to become a Camino pilgrim? A divorce? A job loss? Ennui? People of all ages and persuasions pack their trekking poles and alight in France or Spain or Portugal for their personal 500-600 mile adventure, and many have no idea why until they arrive in...
Where’s my kitty? I opened the door to our spa-hotel room and knew at once things weren’t right. There, on the four-poster bed, lay the maid. The bedclothes rumpled, the vacuum idle, Mademoiselle with a cry of surprise leapt up in shame to see us. “Oh, pardon, pardon,...
We’re standing in the 16th century palace spanning the river Cher, studying Sauvage’s Portrait of Catherine de Medici in the former bedchamber of Diane de Poitiers, who was King Henry II’s favorite mistress during his marriage to Queen Catherine. Château de Chenonceau...
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