We were all wondering where I would settle: Sweden, where I’m a citizen, Germany, where I have ‘chosen’ family, Italy, where my daughter lives, or France, land of my maternal grandmother’s ancestors…
Tag: solo traveler
Happy Birthday, Hainewalde!
2026 marks the 700th anniversary of the founding of Hainewalde, the village in Germany’s Oberlausitz region where I regularly spend time. Garostly gardening. I’m there at irregular intervals for variable lengths of time, so I was excited to be there the weekend of the big 700 celebration. While you’ve likely not heard of Hainewalde, you… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Hainewalde!
14 July – Bastille Day
Quatorze Julliet (or Bastille Day, as Americans have dubbed it) in Pau didn’t turn out to be festive in the way I anticipated…
Recommendations
For me, it’s important to understand how my friends evaluate food just as it’s important to understand how to interpret Yelp or other popular restaurant rating systems in order to gather the desired information. I lunched recently in Paris’s Latin Quarter with friends with whom I periodically dine out. They had just returned from Sicily,… Continue reading Recommendations
Life Surprises
After three successfully completed marriages and a host of other unanticipated twists and turns…
Knut & Ute
Knut and Ute are farmers living in Germany’s Zittau Mountains, a gentle, Catskill-like range that stretches across the ‘Three Corner’ region…
Americans Abroad
Most Americans are descendants of individuals who left their homelands due to discrimination, famine, greed, poverty, war, or (in the case of many with Irish and African roots) colonial dispossession or enslavement. Perhaps the restless longing for a homeland and community—a reassuring sense of rootedness—is what shapes the American character?
Snow Happy
Here I sit on a friend’s terrace in southern Switzerland’s Lötchental, enjoying a postcard view of the Alps…
Cause and Effect
A friend just sent me an email containing a scan of her most recent black and white drawing. Her drawings and paintings often convey a still, contemplative mood, and this one made me cry unexpectedly…
Mme Chocolat
The sun shone and the humid air felt crisp as I walked down rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, where Hemingway and, earlier, a host of Nordic artists once lived…