When I first came to Saint Etienne to stay, because of meeting a French man reasons I cried. Of all the places in France – the picturesque villages, the chic cities, the old buildings – at first glance Saint Etienne has none of this. I lived in a small apartment above a main road next to a train line. It is a small post-industrial city about one hour south west of Lyon in … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2016
Las Islas Juan Fernandez – a great travel adventure
Asked to write about my greatest adventure. Hmmm. There’ve been a few and so I decided to narrow it down to adventures for which I have access to photos, and having said that I have to apologise for the quality of these images – they are scanned from photos which I thought at the time extremely top notch. The destination is Las Islas Juan Fernandez, and the reason I call … [Read more...]
Book Review: Talleyrand by Duff Cooper
‘Talleyrand’ is a book that was written in 1932 and tells the story of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, who was born in 1754. At various times he was the Bishop of Autun, Foreign Minister for France, Grand Chancellor and Ambassador to London. It is a story of an extraordinary man in extraordinary times. After briefly describing his childhood, the book begins with the … [Read more...]
