Let’s play Jeopardy. I am the guest host; you are the contestants. You must answer my statement with a question. Here goes: I say, “The Athens of the South.” You stare at me thinking, “Wut?” Then, before you know it, time’s up and the buzzer sounds and I give you the answer: “What…

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”                                           …

Pop quiz! Name a building anywhere in the world that is named after the architect. Can’t think of one, can you? Buildings are always named after their benefactor or location or purpose, right? Well, here’s the exception to the rule (as we know, every rule has an exception): The Palais Garnier in Paris. I was…

“Louis-Napoleon [aka Napoleon III] was thoroughly convinced that misery and mobs would disappear if only the narrow, festering streets could be demolished and broad thoroughfares created in their place, letting sunshine in and allowing the free flow of commerce as well as the activities of daily life.”                …

I thought I would die laughing Monday afternoon. Seriously. Not kidding. Our Uber driver dropped us off right in front of the stairs down to the underground crosswalk leading to the Arch de Triumph. We saw that we would need to go down that long flight of stairs and join the masses going under the…

Touring a cemetery with a guide might seem like an odd way to spend a morning, but Père Lachaise isn’t just any old boneyard. It is the world’s most visited cemetery and way up on the list of the world’s most beautiful cemeteries. We spent a chunk of time in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah a…

“Quand il me prend dans ses bras/Il me parle tout bas,/Je vois las vie en rose.”                                                                               …

Sunset promised to be beautiful the other night, so we took one last glass of wine to the top deck of the ship to sip while we witnessed the close of another fine day on the Dordogne River in southwest France. We were enjoying conversation with fellow travelers when we noticed the ship’s captain and…

In June of 2019, we traveled a most circuitous route to Boston to attend a free lecture on the prints of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. I wrote a post then about “T-L” as a marketing genius. That’s why I am calling this “Part Deux.” Yesterday, we departed the Uniworld river cruise ship, Bon Voyage, to travel to Albi,…

“Then we put the juice in these barrels for a year . . .” Blah, blah, blah, yak, yak, yak . . . At this point, I feel myself drifting into a hypnotic state. Yes, I can sleep standing. I have done it many times on winery visits. I probably listened with interest the first few…