The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

Common Language, My Arse (BCLT 2013 - Part 5)

I returned home from my British Countryside Literary Tour on Thursday just before midnight. I'm still putting the finishing touches on getting all my photos organized and uploaded, and will share what I saw and did over what will probably be many, many posts -- because I sure packed a lot into 4 1/2 days! Luckily I have my travel journal and about 600 photos to help me remember what I DID see and do there. Otherwise it would be a blur! Keeping a travel diary the old-fashioned way But let's start out with my innocent assumption that communicating in England would be effortless and that I spoke the language. Ha! Silly me! It's not the British accent (or accentS, because of course there are several) that throws me off; in fact, because I've watched so many British movies and TV shows over the years and because I have some British friends, I seem to understand most of the Brits I meet in normal conversation. Yes, even the Scots. It's the slang and the odd (to me) pronunciation of certain words, especially proper names, that throws me off. For example, I found that the names of certain towns are pronounced... Read more →

My literary patron saint

I'm on the Eurostar as I type this and my phone battery is at 15% so I've got to make this fast. I got to spend time with my literary patron saint today: Jane! Details to follow but for now, enjoy: Read more →

Tea with Jane... And Mr. Darcy

What a lovely way to spend an afternoon in Bath! P.S. Yes, I was a bit sunburned because I'd been out on the roof deck of a tour bus for two straight days in the sunshine (a rare thing in England this time of year) but the sunburn was actually very light and not at all painful - so I think I just LOOK super-red in this picture because of the lighting. Read more →

Bienvenue in Britain

I arrived easily and on time yesterday and was greeted by this giant kissing couple that made me wish Georges was with me instead of in Brazil. Arrived in Oxford around 7pm and ended up having dinner with my Airbnb hosts in their garden under the stars! Now I am on the train leaving Stratford upon Avon where I saw Shakespeare. The countryside is green and beautiful, spring is definitely here! More time to explore Oxford this afternoon. Read more →

Travels and Tribulations

Along the Côte d'Azur near Saint Raphael We returned home from Saint Raphael last night and had a very quiet and peaceful trip on the train; in fact, we had the whole back of the train car to ourselves until Avignon when only one young woman got on. For once, there were no screaming babies, people with cell phones ringing or loud music blaring from crappy earphones, or dogs whining. Just quiet. It was lovely. Tonight, Georges is getting on a plane to Sao Paolo, Brazil to attend a huge conference. I have no idea when he'll actually get into his hotel room upon arrival (which is very early in the morning), as apparently the hotel chosen by his organization's travel team is in an area smack-dab in the middle of the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix race circuit -- and it's race weekend! No one was apparently aware of this until just a couple of weeks ago, when it was too late to change anything, and it's very possible he'll arrive in town and be unable to check in until many hours later. Luckily he's traveling with just a carry-on. Maybe he'll score a ticket to the race; if... Read more →

It's down to details (The 2013 BCLT, Part 4)

Now that the major stages of trip planning are pretty well take care of -- I've got my Eurostar tickets printed and my other train tickets from TheTrainLine.com arrived a few days ago, and I've got places to sleep paid for and confirmed for all four nights -- now it's all about the details of what I'll be doing and when. I now know how much time I will have in each place I'm stopping, which makes it easier to figure out just how much I can "fit in" to my timetable. This forces me to set priorities: what are the things I MUST spend time seeing and doing, and what are the things that would be NICE to see if I happen to have the time. The 4th day of the trip is taken care of, for the most part: that's the Mad Max Tour that leaves from Bath in the morning and will take me to Stonehenge, Avebury, Lacock and Castle Combe, and will return to Bath by around 4:30 or so. Since I'll be spending the day before that doing all my walking bits around Bath -- the Roman Baths, all the pretty Georgian architecture, and tea... Read more →

Riding the Rails (The 2013 BCLT, Part 3)

Plans for my upcoming British Countryside Literary Tour are definitely progressing! I have booked accommodations for my two nights in Oxford, and found something that looks quite nice, reasonable and convenient via Airbnb. A few years ago, I would never have thought of staying in someone's home, but now having used Airbnb as a host, and seeing the sort of checks and balances their system provides to help you ensure you will get what you pay for, I now think it's an excellent way to find inexpensive places to stay when traveling on a budget. For starters, while they billed my credit card for the full price of the room, the homeowner doesn't receive that money until the day AFTER I arrive, which means if I get there and there is any sort of problem, I can contact Airbnb immediately to stop the reservation and find myself another place to stay. Also, you can select locations where the homeowners have received multiple good reviews from past guests (hosts can also have their Facebook friends enter positive remarks about them, but these are counted separately from actual guest reviews, and frankly I wouldn't book a room solely on the say-so of... Read more →

My train of thought (The 2013 BCLT, Part 2)

After a lot of thought and research, last week I changed my mind about driving on this trip. I still think I could do it, the driving on the left thing, and that once I got the hang of it I would probably have a blast despite the stress of learning to shift with my left hand and trying NOT to turn on autopilot into oncoming traffic. But it seemed to be the most expensive option available to me (add paying for parking along with the rental and insurance fees) and budget is a strong consideration for me on this trip. Also, if I was going to arrive on Sunday and with Monday being a Bank Holiday, I wouldn't even be able to get a rental car until Tuesday. So it was back to doing everything by train or bus or tour bus, and I would need to plan accordingly. Knowing that I would now spend the last 2 nights sleeping in Bath and would probably plan to spend the first two nights in Oxford, I reworked my proposed itinerary, which now looks like THIS: Day 1: Travel day from Paris to London. Then take train from London to Oxford... Read more →

Blighty, here I come! (The 2013 BCLT, Part 1)

Detailed planning for my 2013 British Countryside and Literary Tour have commenced! Read more →

A little adventure abroad... I hope

Early in May, during the spring school holidays, I will have an entire week at home alone with myself. Le Garçon will be with his mom on the second week of his vacation, and Georges will have a business trip to Brazil. So I've decided this would be an ideal time for me to complete the European Grand Tour I started in 2007, as part of doing research for another book I plan to write at some point. And this would mean spending a few days roaming around Southwest England. Yes, I know. My life is so, so hard, isn't it? ;) In 1956, my dad was a young guy stationed in Verdun, France with the post-war US Army. My grandparents -- a minister and a minister's wife -- decided to make their first trip to Europe to see their son. They spent 3 weeks together, driving from Paris into Switzerland, Italy, Austria, German, Luxembourg, back into France before hopping over to England and driving around some more (my dad did all the driving). At the end of it, my grandparents boarded the Mauritania II and cruised home, and my dad went back to his base to finish out his... Read more →