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
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
A Meditation on Paris It’s nearly impossible to write about Paris while sitting in a Café on the Carrefour de L’Odeon, the oldest square in the city. I’ve lived here for nearly a year and everything still seems completely surreal, one big cliché, and there simply is no obvious place to begin. One could write … Continued
Life is astounding. It works in many mysterious ways; it can surprise you, it can challenge you, it can beat you down; but above all, it can amaze you. I have had people amaze me, ideas and theories amaze me, and best of all, I have had places amaze me. Finding beauty in the most … Continued
Once upon a time, Joan was a Princess for a day, in a country called France. Standing by the window, inside her castle, Joan could see the roses, nestled together in the garden below her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath; it was the sweet scent of the roses. Oh, it was a … Continued
A flight aboard a giant mechanical heron in France Having climbed into a weird steel and leather seat I take the reins of a giant mechanical heron and as its wings extend to almost touch either side of the enormous warehouse which has become the gallery for the heron tree project it takes flight. A … Continued
Traveling turns the ordinary into the extraordinary. When we return home from our travels, food can transport us back to that special time and place. Souvenirs and pictures do this too, but food affects our bodies in addition to our minds. Just one taste can carry us to another country especially France. My strongest memories … Continued
It was 1973 and my parents were in Paris. I was left at home with my older siblings and coincidentally, a French housekeeper. The plan was that while Dad would attend meetings during the day Mum would go sightseeing. They’d meet up at night in some little bistro and share their news over a romantic … Continued
Can Mothers and Daughters be friends or are they always foes? Mia and Claire Fontaine’s travels together in Have Mother, Will Travel: A Mother and Daughter Discover Themselves, Each Other, and the World tell a story in two voices of each women finding their footing in their complicated lives. One in a quarter life … Continued
This is an entry in the We Said Go Travel Writing Contest written by Ashley Tessarolo from America. Thanks for your entry Ashley! On that New Year’s Eve, I climbed the winding stone stairs to my friends’ French apartment in a building older than America. I felt like an oversized Alice in Wonderland as I … Continued