Chronicles of an expat from the US living in France
It’s February. The time of the year when Shelly and I make an almost annual pilgrimage to Hawaii (insert: island du jour). Well, Hawaii’s not going to happen any time soon. One of the benefits of living abroad is that a two-hour flight can get you pretty much anywhere in Europe. And so, our first … Continue reading Move over Hawaii, Italy here we come
As I was walking back from New York Sport's Club in Brooklyn, it dawned on me that since September 1, I have worked out at a lot of gyms across California, Hawaii, London, and New York. And because I love lists, I might as well list my favorites. Ranked in order of best to last: … Continue reading Gyms I’ve been to in the past two months
The Cumberland Pencil Museum was supposed to be the highlight of the day … at least for Shelly. And then buying food stuffs for our lunch was supposed to be just that, going to a grocery store. But, I got sidetracked in the beer aisle, I mean beer section. And the walk to Castlerigg Stone … Continue reading The Lost Lamb aka Lamb Rescue 911
Sunday April 18 Woke up to a rainy last morning in Edinburgh. Startled our B&B hosts with our yogurt and muesli breakfast, but you can only do a full Scottish breakfast every few days. We passed on the double decker bus in the drizzly weather and took a cab to Edinburgh Waverly station. Time for … Continue reading An ash-free post about our drive to Cumbria
Saturday April 17 Damned if the fricken ash cloud isn't the talk of the B&B. Starting to think we should really start to worry about getting back home on schedule. Weird to have to think about. Honestly, it's the dogs we worry about. The weather changed back to not-summer weather. We spent a low-key day … Continue reading Dolly Parton, Princess Leia, and some bird from the ’70s
After the adventures of the day before, we slept pretty hard. Woke up to a full breakfast – scone, eggs, this and that – and clear, sunny skies. So sunny that the locals were declaring it summer and donning shorts. We weren't that brave and headed out properly attired. We hit one of the must-see … Continue reading I got a sunburn in Edinburgh
I'm dusting off my blog to catalog our UK trip to Scotland and England. Wait, I think dusting is not a good word choice here. Read further and I'll explain. We boarded our Virgin Atlantic plane around 4:30 pm on Wednesday. Thankfully, we had a two-seat across row, so it was just us in super … Continue reading Planes, volcanic ash, trains, a taxi, and Edinburgh
Saturday, September 20 Up early to take the train to Milan, the final leg of our trip. Everything fit in our bags, we washed the dishes and emptied the trash, and took the bus to the train station. As we were waiting on the train platform, a woman walked by with her little wire-haired dog. … Continue reading The last supper and the last gelato
One of the dilemmas I pondered before going to Italy – get mobile coverage for my iPhone or rely on free wifi and pay for Skype credit? I use Skype to talk with a coworker in the Netherlands, so it’s already on my laptop. I decided to go with the latter. I used the iPhone … Continue reading Love letter to Skype
Rain today. Or at least first thing in the morning. Despite the weather and Shelly’s cold, we choose heading to Venezia over hanging out in Verona. We missed the morning trains and bought round-trip tickets that gave us just under four hours in Venice. Not a lot of time, but enough to get the flavor … Continue reading A three-hour tour to Venezia
KBad's Blog 