A whimsical topic for this blog. 'If travel was a menu, what place is your starter (short haul), main (long haul) & dessert (lasting impression)' Kinda depends on where you live in regard to what is considered long or short haul, but for what its worth : Starter : Best weekend trip – anywhere in France. If you are living in Europe, and especially in France or the … [Read more...]
‘Friends Therapy’ – Lou Messugo
Emergency support required, after emotional and unexpected break with boyfriend! What to do when stranded alone in the middle of France? Why, decamp to the South of France, call girlfriends, get alcohol. Specifically to Lou Messugo, a Gite in Roquefort Les Pins midway between Nice and Antibes and towards the mountains. What do you need to aid in heartbreak – friends, a … [Read more...]
Le Corbusier – Architect and Urban Planner
Cool one name names didn’t start with Cher and Madonna, I found out. It was fashionable in the 1920’s as well, which is when Le Corbusier changed his name from Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris. Le Corbusier is a famous French architect and urban planner (born in Switzerland). This July 2016, seventeen of his buildings were listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. His theories … [Read more...]
EURO 2016 Football – Love from Saint Etienne!
The EUROs are done and dusted and (spoiler alert) Portugal won. Thirty two teams played in ten stadia and a gazillion fans invaded France. I was completely unprepared for the level of intensity and passion that the games would ignite in my small adopted City of Saint Etienne, which as luck would have it has an international standard football stadium. Managing sporting and … [Read more...]
Home – with the In-Laws
On the Father’s Day weekend I went to visit the in-laws*. They live in the Cantal area of Auvergne in the middle of France – what I like to call the French Outback (not to their face). When I say ‘outback’ it is in the broadest sense of being fairly uninhabited and remote. The cows wear bells without irony, and in winter the cottages higher up in the mountains are … [Read more...]
