It always happens each time I return to the states. I am certainly not alone in this, as just about every long-term expat I know goes through the same process of re-acculturation. You might think that it is strange for someone who grew up and was schooled in a certain country’s culture would even have to experience …
Every once in a while I head out on a Sunday to one of the oldest markets in Paris, Le Marché aux Oiseaux, that come rain or shine, takes place on Sundays on Ile de La Cité, next to the oldest hospital of Paris called Hopital Dieu, which by the way is a monumental historical building …
Ernest Hemingway was one of America’s most talented and prodigious writers, who despite his immense fame, fought many demons in his life. Recognition for his writing though never seemed to completely satisfy his ego, as an emptiness within compelled him toward wild feats of thrill seeking as if to prove something he held in doubt …
I have written before about the seriousness Parisians maintain about their beloved baguette. The city of Paris puts on a contest each year to find the best baguette each year. Contests such as these may uncover some of the city’s talented bakers, who in the past were not known. It can not be described as …
I was away all last week on the Cote d’Azur in desperate pursuit of the sun. When you live in Paris, sun chasing comes from an essential thirsting for that bright golden globe that likes to tease the city now and then, like an elusive lover. When I think of getting away, I generally …
Even if you have totally forgotten what day it is, you are quickly reminded by pretty little bouquets of lily of the valley flowers. They are for sale on every corner and every few feet all over Paris. It is the first of May! Tradition has it that King Charles IX in 1561 initiated the …