Traipsing Around Paris

Traipsing Around Paris

I had to go to Paris because I’m going somewhere else. Yes, I needed a Schengen Visa and (they say,) the easiest way to get a multiple-entry visa is via the French embassy. And so the Paris trip happened. Honestly, I never really thought it would be a good idea to be roaming around Paris, … Continued

A Love Letter to Paris

Paris is like a woman of a certain age, wholly unconcerned by the need to please and with every night we spend chasing the final train she seems to say “this is who I am, take me or leave me.” I choose to do the former. I escape from my apartment unto our tiny alley of … Continued

Lock You Love in Paris

Paris as you all know is the Romance Capital, and the city of lovers. So, whenever you are next in Paris, this is not to be missed. I think you can just make it an ultimate gift for your loved one. How about an idea of locking your love forever at the Lover’s bridge. ‘Lover’s bridge’ this … Continued

France: Below the Surface of the Seine

The river Seine hides behind the next cobbled corner, only a minute’s stroll from the Right Bank atelier apartment where I am staying, off Rue de l’Hotel de Ville in Marais, Paris. The murky Seine is ever present, snaking its way rapidly around the Île Saint Louis and Île de la Cité, carrying centuries of … Continued

Paris: A Home To Call My Own

I remember it as if it were yesterday. Such an old saying yet no truer words have ever been spoken. Unless they were all lies. In this case the memories are fragments, growing shorter and shorter as years pass, but the happiness even in the crustiest corners of my mind remains true. It was an … Continued

France: Burning Waves

The word “burning” normally brings about visions of fire, of heat and of light. Of licking flames, flickering tongues momentarily illuminating a warm brick hearth or charring wood until a bed of glowing embers is born beneath. The word “burning” does not normally haunt the same descriptions as do “dark” and “wet”. But if ever … Continued

Gratitude in Stone: The Pantheon, Paris

This Panthéon is gratitude made stone. It started life as a church, built to honour St. Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, in thanksgiving for her intercession during Louis XV’s illness. Since then, the Panthéon has been the site of Foucault’s demonstration of his pendulum, which showed the rotation of the earth, and the home … Continued

France: Ancient Dignity

Ancient Dignity Travelling is my passion. It’s the thrill of experiencing the blend of ancient and modern in places like Athens or Rome, or knowing that anything can happen such as having to get off the track outside a village in Thailand to make way for a water buffalo carrying two small children on her … Continued

France: Awe and Tears at the Zoo

A zoo in winter is a strange place to feel awe. A zoo is a place that symbolizes captivity, leashed freedom. But it’s not the place, although the Menagerie of Paris, France is one of the better zoos I’ve seen. With wide, clean paddocks, there is enough space, but not here. Not for this animal, … Continued

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