Last week I spent a few days in Provence with my husband (!!!), aunt and uncle. I’ve always wanted to see the lavender fields, and taking a few days off after our Paris wedding to experience the French countryside and relax was just what we needed. I’d highly recommend going to Provence in the last …

Summer holidays are all about balance- for me, at least.  A week before our small Paris wedding, we took a family holiday with C’s family, to Corsica- they used to spend every summer there as a family, and now that everyone is grown up with spouses and in some cases kids, it seemed like a …

Just after finishing my PhD viva (and passing!), there seemed no better opportunity for celebration than a quick weekend trip to the Champagne Region. My mum and C. were both game, having been as nervous as I was for the results of my 300-page book and culminating interview, so we all craved a little time …

Last weekend I went to Lyon, France for a friend’s wedding. I’ve expanded my French travels a lot in the past year, going past Paris to Cannes, and now Lyon! Lyon is much more provincial than Paris, which was just fine with me. It is much smaller, more colorful and far fewer people speak English, …

In keeping with exploring more of France than Paris, I made plans many moons ago to visit Cannes. S. was obviously required to come along, but we were joined by my old childhood friend, C., for a bank holiday weekend of beaches, sun, French food, wine and, of course, practicing our French. We left St …

I’ve been to Paris many, many times. Give that its just an hour and a half between the Gare du Nord and St Pancras, its quicker and easier to get to Paris than it is to south London from where I live. A place I have less experience of, though, is rural France. That’s why …

At the end of August, I started to gear up for a very busy “autumn,” as the British call it. (As long as there is pumpkin spice latte, I don’t care what you call it.) First, one of my oldest friends came for a visit and, as all Americans are wont to do, she requested …

If you’ve been following the blog for a while you know that I started this ol’ thang because I lived in Paris for a few months before moving to London in 2011. I wrote every once and a while about my impressions of the City of Light and the many people that inhabit it, including …

Guess where Miss V and I are?   Versailles A ceiling at Versailles- I want to live here (minus the tourists). This week has been crazy busy with visitors. I’m so glad- I started to go a little stir crazy by myself. Sweaty me in the Hall of Mirrors. I have realized that I am …