Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Pardon me for the next few paragraphs as I channel the great Lorelai Gilmore and gush about how wonderful and magical snow is. Did you know that snow actually sparkles in the sunlight?! It honestly looks like it has glitter in it.

I can’t get over how much it transforms a landscape so completely. The entire world becomes a bright, light-filled, monochromatic wonderland, and a peaceful silence pervades the atmosphere. All sounds are slightly dampened, while the dry crunching sound from your boots in the snow is oddly amplified.

Read more

A Calm February Morning at the Eiffel Tower

The last time I took the elevator up the Eiffel Tower was 3.5 years ago and after that, I swore I would try my best never to do it again. Doing it once is enough, I thought, and who wants to deal with the pickpockets and con-artists that lurk below, the long lines and cramped elevators, the sheer tourism of it all?

But then I found myself accompanying a friend to the tower on Monday. She had a free ticket and after some indecisiveness, I decided to take advantage of the free entry. Honestly, I was not really looking forward to it. The main reason I wanted to go was to take some pictures of the brand new cherry blossoms making their early appearance for Spring. I accomplished my goal and ended up getting some amazing shots of the blossoms – blurred Eiffel in the background – but I also managed to have a good time.

Read more

Christmas in Sweden

My 2015 holiday season was wonderful. I was so glad to be able to spend Thanksgiving in the US again, where I spent lots of time just hanging out, sewing pajama pants, making christmassy crafts and eating. After we got back to France, we had just a week’s rest before heading to Sweden for Christmas. I was excited to see how the Swedes do Christmas. We stayed for about 10 days and split our time between Stockholm and “the north,” as Erik calls it, where it’s rural and snowy, with endless trees and lots of quaint farmhouses.

We didn’t do a ton of sightseeing while in Stockholm, but I was totally ok with that. I hadn’t done one ounce of travel research before arriving, simply because I knew we’d mostly be spending quality time with Erik’s sister, with whom we were staying.  I was also traveling with a Swedish native, so I figured there was really no need to do much cultural research!

Read more

Travel Diary – Sweden

Our week-long trip to Sweden is winding down; tomorrow we head back to France via car, train, plane, and then another train.

This trip was essentially one big, continuous circle of fika, or coffee, sweet cakes, and light conversation. Of course, most of the time I didn’t have any idea what was being said, since I don’t speak Swedish! Knowing about five words – speedbump, frog, sausage, and beach – doesn’t get you very far in a real conversation.

I am in love with Swedish cakes, however. Nothing like texture of French pastries, the Swedes like softer things, much like their temperament. Sugar cake with a layer of butter in the middle, vanilla-cinnamon muffins with custard on the top, and cardamum rolls. They take their coffee strong, but not too strong. Not quite espresso, but way darker than the American cup o’ joe.

Read more

Wandering Wednesdays

Wandering Wednesday is back! It’s been a solid few months since the last one, but let’s just focus on the present, shall we?

This Sunday, I ate a scrumptious and very American brunch at Breakfast in America. Bacon, root beer, pancakes, and salsa on eggs – we always thoroughly enjoy our trips there. We went to the location in the lower Marais; the dining rooms are a bit less packed-in than the location in the Latin Quarter.

Afterwards, we took a walk down towards the river and over the islands, through the 4th arrondissement. I love this area of Paris. A good chunk of it, aside from the immediate vicinity of Notre Dame and Berthillon ice cream, is so quiet and calm – or maybe it was just the winter chill that kept people away. I remember attempting to get ice cream this summer and the main street of île-Saint-Louis was PACKED with tourists. When there’s barely any people on the street, it feels like your own private world. I loved it. I kept an eye out for more color that day, since so many Paris pictures seem to be dominated by shades of white, gray, and taupe.

Read more