Less Car, More Life

UK to USA.

Definitely one of our favorite views in the UK. The harbor at Tenby, Wales.

When we were both working our vacations were at most three weeks long, and were in search of new places and new experiences. Now that we’re in our fourth year of constant travel we still love new places and experiences but also love to revisit familiar places.

Arriving from Norwich to London, Liverpool Street Station.

And back with our good friends Erik and Hannah in Tenby Wales. One of our happy familiar places.

Headed to lunch in Laugharne which is famous for being Dylan Thomas’s home for the last four years of his life.

The garage of the boat house, where Thomas wrote a lot of his most famous works.

It’s set up as if he walked away for a cup of tea. He died while on tour in New York City, so in a way, he did just walk away.

I requested that the guys look “moody and poetic”. Rich is used to my requests, Erik laughed!

I first visited Laugharne in 1984 or so, it’s nice to see that Dylan Thomas’s popularity is still strong.

Laugharne Castle. Such an imposing site. Such a tough place to find on the map when you’re looking for “Larn”.

Rich packed up and ready to leave Tenby.

After a delightful stay in Tenby we headed off to Bristol, another of our favorite UK cities. This was our third stay in Bristol. It’s always fun to chat to a local and see their sometimes puzzled delight over our love of Bristol. It’s an easy train ride from Tenby, and easy to get back to London from Bristol, thanks to the Great Western Railway which linked London and Bristol in 1841. Engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Yes, we are fans of his work and highly recommend the SS Great Britain museum ship, which he also designed.

Bristol Temple Mead station. Plenty of bikes in Bristol.

A swan and a view over the Floating Harbor, a lock controlled off shoot of the tidal River Avon created in 1809.

The hydraulic equipment at Underfall Yard Visitor Centre, which explores and explains the elegant engineering behind the Floating Harbor, and its importance in the development of Bristol.

Artsy shot out of the historic building.

It wouldn’t be a trip to Bristol without a visit to a Banksy artwork.

The Bag O’Nails pub. My favorite pub. Another must visit place for us.

Pub patrons trying to seem uninterested in the cats.

The cats truly uninterested in the pub patrons.

Just minding my own business by the record player.

Gotcha! Lured in by my wool sweater and scarf and spot near the heater. I failed to look nonchalant when this cat graced me with their presence.

The Left Handed Giant pub, another favorite of ours.

Sometimes it was also a bit cold inside the pubs.

The ceiling of The Cornubia pub. Horse brasses and beer mats. Yes, a lot of pub visits.

It was not cold inside the Cornubia. My favorite pub fire so far. Clean burning coal. Wood fires not allowed in that area, the bartender said, but clean burning coal is ok.

We took the train to Bath to go for a walk in the hills.

Snow hanging on thanks to the cold weather.

We take as many opportunities as we can to meet up with friends, so we shoved off from Bristol towards Hastings, where friends from London had recently moved.

Charing Cross Station, London. On our way to Hastings. Nice digital departure board.

British seaside towns. Love them. They share similarities but are all so different.

The covered promenade with the Hastings pier in the background.

What does this British seaside town have that no other one does? Our friends Joe and Justina!

We had a great walking tour of Hastings. A lovely town well worth visiting.

Where fisherfolk store their equipment and hang their nets to dry. From above the tall narrow black buildings look like toys or monopoly houses.

And no day is complete without a pub stop, this time at The Clown.

And after an easy train ride, back in London for a few days.

The modern skyline in the glorious winter sunshine.

I love the juxtaposition of the Tower of London and the Shard.

It was a super cold and still morning, the reflection of the bridge in the river caught our attention.

Frost on the river walk, and slightly hazy air made the view soft focus and golden.

We were staying right near Spitalfields and the view of City of London with the old buildings in the foreground was captivating.

Modern buildings looming over old buildings.

Museum of the Home, located in a row of old almshouses. Loved the Rooms Through Time exhibit, the evolution of London dwellings from 1630 to present.

Dinner date with young friends who recently moved to London.

When we were in Lyon on our way to Paris we caught an arts update on TV which mentioned the Tim Burton exhibit in London. We quickly booked tickets for our last day in the UK. So glad we did. Our two London museum visits, Museum of the Home and the Tim Burton exhibit couldn’t have been more different. Where one dealt with the practicalities of home, changing styles of furniture and social interaction, the other was the products of one man’s talent and creativity.

Recreated office, the desk blotter doodles were fantastic.

I wasn’t aware what a talented artist he is.

Many of the movie sets and costumes had signs not to photograph them. This Nightmare before Christmas-esque mobil and wallpaper had no such sign.

I’ve been having a hard time with this blog post. We flew from London to Chicago, saw our good friends Michelle and Alan – I have no pictures! – and Rich’s birth mom. From Chicago it was off to Grand Junction Colorado to see my Mom and Sister and Niece, very few pictures. Then Seattle, then San Francisco.

Lori looking out the window on January 20th, 2025.

A lot of Americans will understand the trepidation we were feeling, trepidation that has proved correct. It feels frivolous to do anything but focus on the state of the nation. Watch the news? Keep the news at bay? Focus on family and friends? Yes, that.

Seattle with our favorite Pacific Northwesters. Northwesterns? Cecily and Christine.

41 months. That’s how long we’ve been traveling since selling our place in San Francisco. So many amazing places and wonderful people. Many hotel rooms, wonderful house and pet sits, pensions, apartments. We both realized this winter that we are ready to have a place to call our own. Spring our stuff from storage and move it into our own space. We still intend to travel a lot, but we’ll be able to go home. Cook in our own kitchen. Sleep in our own bed. Host guests! Have parties!

Sutro Tower in San Francisco and the Happy Travelers.

But first we head off to Taipei and then Indonesia. The house hunting can wait until we return to the US in the summer. Stay tuned!

Au Revoir Paris – Hello UK Winter!

All good things must come to an end, so after a lovely month in Paris, we finally had to close the doors to our apartment in the 12th Arrondissement. We were headed into the darkness of the UK and the approaching winter solstice. A proper northern winter will build character, we kept saying to each other. (As to why were making this choice in lieu of an island in SE Asia!?)

It’s not that we particularly wanted to leave France, but we had to get out of the Schengen zone as we were at Day 89 of our 90 day allowance, so cutting it a bit close. And there really is lot to love about the UK, even in winter. So we caught the post rush hour metro to Gare Du Nord for our 11am Eurostar to London. Yippee, a train not a plane to the UK!

Our enthusiasm for our train trip was soon tamped down after we passed through Eurostar security and immigration to find the waiting area packed to the gills, with people lined against the walls, and sitting on the floor. This of course triggered my immediate moaning about the woeful under design of the waiting area. « Hey, I’ve sized waiting areas for HSR services, and this is a mess. « We didn’t get any photos of this fiasco, but trust us that it was very crowded.

All minor travel woe is forgotten. Eurostar Plus class was nice with spacious seats and a light meal. Very civilized.

Well, as it turns out, the normal cramped quarters on the mezzanine of Gare Du Nord were stressed by the load of 3 trains worth of passengers, as the 9 and 10 o’clock trains hadn’t boarded yet due to big delays. The E320 train sets carry nearly 900 passengers full, so 3 trains full is a challenge for any building design. But the situation was exacerbated by poor info signs and an inaudible P.A. system, so we didn’t figure this out until we saw the chaos for the boarding area and an attendant holding up a tiny paddle with “9:00” on it. They should have held us 11 o’clock folks outside security, but made no indications of delays to our service, and so we were still subject to the 1 hour advance check in cut off. Eurostar can definitely do better.

The Thameslink is fantastic. An hour to Brighton direct from St. Pancras International

The colorful beach huts of Hove; some color through the gray.

Keeping warm with a beach walk and coffee with our friends Gary and Ruth

The expansive yet cosy Lion and Lobster pub in Brighton

And my first hand pulled British craft bitter in awhile. Delicious!

The cosy pubs of England are hard to beat in winter.

Ok, maybe we were missing Paris a little.

Inside the Paris House (Le Pub) in Hove, the warmth and sounds of live Sunday night Jazz.

So our Eurostar train finally boarded after nearly two hours, and departed only 40 minutes late. But hey, at least we didn’t have our bikes -:) Our slightly agitated travel states soon calmed down as we took our Eurostar plus seats; which is a nice upgrade (but certainly not essential) from the standard service with the bigger business seat car layout and light meals delivered to your seat. And yes, white wine; which tasted pretty good after the misery of the waiting area and boardiing process. Note that the Plus class is a much cheaper upgrade than business/premier class, so often only €20-€40 more than standard. Eurostar business seems outrageously priced in comparison as same first class type train seats as the Plus service: just fancier food service; dedicated boarding, and a lounge….ok, the lounge might have been nice our day; but not worth €100 more each! And it would have been packed with 3 trains worth of people.

The windswept beaches of Brighton in early December

Cat subtlety mocking Cheryl out in the cold.

Serious winter fuel up at Sea Breeze Fish & Chips in Hove.

Ready to get out and put those fish & chips to use.

In addition to great trains, the Brighton/Hove area has great transit with real time info and frequent service, including up and down the south coast.

The wonderful footpath system of the UK.

Enjoying winter sun and views on Mill Hill above Shoreham by the Sea.

Sheep looking inquisitively at us for guidance (or maybe food?).

We love returning to places we like; and we have fond memories our 2 week stay in Brighton in 2022. Ok, it was Hove, actually. This time we stayed for a week on the Hove/Brighton border and closer to the water. A great choice as it was a walkable and lively area, but less touristy than the Lanes or areas around the train station. I even went back to the same place to get a haircut as 2 years ago. Brighton was also an easy shot back to London and our next destination, Norwich.

Cheryl relaxing again on the Thameslink, where we would transfer to a Greater Anglia train to Norwich.

Norwich is a small city in Norfolk County with a lively center, relaxed yet sophisticated vibe, and an engaging history.

Our stay in Norwich included looking after a sweet dog, and walking the dog always got us out, even on frosty mornings

Pre Christmas buzz in the beautiful Art Nouveau Royal Arcade in Central Norwich.

So what was our strategy for the UK winter? A pub a day, lots of walking in the short « daylight » , and catching up with some friends as possible. The dark winter days were a bit tough for these Californians, but the countryside and old cities are beautiful; and there is nothing like a cosy English pub on a cold, rainy (or snowy) day in December. You often open the door to find a warm buzz of people, pints, and if lucky, a nice fire to sit by. We often cite the footpath system and Pubs as what we would take from the UK to form our perfect Country.

Our Norwich stay was greatly enhanced by our local friends Jon and Jane; here on the grounds of the University of East Anglia (UEA)

The UEA buildings in the background are part of the Norfolk Terrace student housing, a Grade II listed architeturally significant example of 1960s modernist design by Denys Lasdun and Partners that is now in need of reconstruction.

The old school Earlham Park Cafe was always a great destination on our daily dog walks, and Bindi loved their dog sausage for just £1.

Bindi knows the way to Sausage Cafe (sung to the tune of “Do you know the way to San Jose”).

Sad dog during the Holiday closures of our other common destination, the Eaton Park cafe. Sorry, no dog sausage or Bap today Bindi.

After a nice recuperation in the familiar grounds of Brighton, we set off to the uncharted lands of East Anglia, and specifically Norwich. We had scheduled a long house sit to take us through the New Year and I admit, I had to look up where it was on the map, even after years of roaming about the UK. It’s the hub of Norfolk County and home to about 140,000 people.

The peaceful UEA campus grounds along the Yare River.

Norwich is less than 2 hours by train from London, but a world away, and thriving with its own unique history as a center of wealth and prosperity in England going back 1000 years. During the Middle Ages it was a close second to London in stature, but started to recede during the Industrial Revolution as it had no coal or swift water to power manufacturing.

Jane showed us a stunning view of the Broads National Park at the top of St. Helens Church in Ranworth.

It was great to have Cheryl’s sister Kathy join us for a week in Norwich.

Even (well behaved!) big dogs are welcome at most pubs in Norfolk County.

We had a nice warm cosy house and garden to call home for 3+ weeks, complete with the sweetest dog in the world. Our daily walks with her took us through the neighborhoods, parks, marshes, and rivers of the area, and certainly helped us feel at home over the holidays, especially in this dog crazy area, where dogs are welcome in almost all restaurants, pubs, and most stores. And our easy going golden lab was a popular addition to a few bus and train adventure as well, where she was welcomed and coddled by other passengers.

Elm Hill is a street in the oldest part of Old Norwich and has hundred of intact Tudor era buildings dating back to the 16th Century.

Lots of courtyards and alleys to explore in Norwich

Norwich has the highest concentration of Medieval churches in England, so many have been repurposed for other uses, including crafts, arts spaces, and this antiques and collectibles.

The spectacular Norwich Cathedral is over 900 years old at its core and sets the atmosphere in old Norwich.

The Cloisters attached to the cathedral are the largest monastic cloisters in England.

Bindi needed some reassurance on the train.

Cheryl loved having her sister here, and a day out at the Norfolk coast in Cromer.

Norwich is home to one of the best independent Department Stores in the UK , Jarrolds, which has three cafes, a massive gourmet food floor, and the more usual department store offerings.

Trapped in the chilled cheese room at Jarrolds

We had a great time uncovering the layers of Norwich history and exploring the area. This is one of the joys of slow travel; diving deep into the history and culture of an area that most people from Abroad don’t even visit for a day. Norwich also has a few good small museums and we even took in a classic British holiday Pantomime performance at the impressive Art Deco Norwich Theater Royal, and almost felt like locals, as we met our friends there as well, and even understood some of the quirky local jokes and references. But not all.

Outside Holkham Hall in Wells Next to Sea.

Cheryl and Kathy enjoying a mince pie and Prosecco at Holkham Hall, during our candlelight walkthrough of the historic 18th century country club state home.

The ruins of St. Saviour’s Church in Surlingham date back to the 11th century, but many of the large flint stone materials were eventually pillaged for construction in the 17th century. Amazing any of it survives.

It seemed everyone in the village of Eaton (part of Norwich) headed to the pub on Christmas Day for a pint. Most pubs are open for a few hours in the afternoon just for this purpose.

With our dog, walking up a storm was easy; but our next goal of « a pub a day » took some dedication and admittedly we missed a few days. but fear not, we doubled up on other days to catch up. We also discovered that the pubs are popular throughout the Christmas period, when so much else is closed. So to the pubs we went. Do as the locals we say.

Happiness is proper tea and a scone, cheddar, and chutney plate at the Earsham Street Cafe in Bungay.

Delicious and worth a stop before or after a local walk.

Part of our walk included Bighods Way, named after the local 12th century Norman family and their castle.

Beautiful winter light on Bighod’s Way near Bungay.

It seemed Bungay residents knew how to brighten up the winter with paint.

At one of our favorite local pubs, The Alexandria, in Norwich’s Golden Triangle neighborhood

The St. Andrew’s Pub in Central Norwich. We were really working at our “pub a day” goal.

The weather was mixed during our stay, but blessedly dry for the most part. But there were many days of gray (the grisaille!) with heavy low clouds and a bit of cold mist. But the pubs did their trick, and were a great respite on the dark sunsets (at 3:30!!). Friendly locals and lots of conversation…not to mention my favorite real ale cask bitters.

We’ll have fond memories of our time in Norfolk

We highly recommend you go a bit out of your way to see Norwich. We plan to return, but perhaps in spring or summer when we can sail on the Broads and see another side of the beautiful area. Happy New Year and new adventures!

Our month in Paris, Take 3: Museums

Palace of Versailles. 8:30 am on a Wednesday in November.

Museum planning can be quite a challenge in Paris. First – which museums? Choosing between the 136 options looks daunting. Even when you narrow it down to the 111 listed in the great book our friend Nancy brought with her, that’s too many for a one month visit. Second – which days are they closed? Monday is a popular closure day, so going to a museum that isn’t closed on Monday means it might be a bit more crowded than usual.

Two horses and humans walking through the forecourt of the Palace of Versailles. I think they were just locals who use the park as a cut through. The noise of hooves on cobblestones sounded like time travel.

The palace opened at 9, so we used our 30 minutes to check out the view.

Getting going early had the pay off of no crowds. And cold November weather helped too.

Versailles probably wouldn’t be fun for us crowd adverse people in Spring or Summer, so this might be our one and only visit to this A List site.

The Hall of Mirrors with our fellow early arrivals.

As we walked around we kept joking “now why was there a revolution?” in response to the luxury on display.

Pensive gazing out the window while listening to the quite good app based audio guide.

Make sure to budget enough time to explore Petit Trianón.

Sophora Japonica, or Japanese pagoda tree, planted in 1764 for Marie-Antoinette near the Petit Trianón.

Temple de l’Amour. The folly in the English Garden of the Petit Trianon.

The Petit Trianon, a laughing American tourist, and the classical angel statue. The app based audio guide covered a lot.

The Hamlet had a rough time surviving but several renovations later, you have a good idea of what it was like originally.

It is a peaceful respite from the grandeur of the Palace.

While we waited to get into the Palace there was a little guy, probably about seven years old, having a meltdown about having to visit the palace. He screamed and cried and his adult spent some time talking him down. He uttered a memorable phrase which we filed away for future use: “This is the stupidest thing in the entire stupid world!”

I sure hope that little guy made it to the hamlet and got to see the farm animals.

I’m sure the pigs, goats, and bunnies would have cheered him up. Not stupid.

So how else do we decide on museums to visit? Well, when you go to a lot of museums in France, and in the world, you see connections. At a museum in – Lyon? Dijon? I honestly can’t remember – a little card said about a missing painting: currently on display at Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris. What what what? That sounds fascinating. So it was marked on a Google map and Rich remembered and off we went.

The museum is in an old
Hôtel particulier. A grand urban mansion.

Yes, that’s a stuffed fox curled up on the chair.

The rooms were themed, and simply beautiful.

Don’t let the name of the museum put you off. It’s not really a celebration of blood sports, but more humans relationship with nature and animals.

Adorable little hoods for the falcons to wear. Putting feathers on a bird.

Even with only a month in Paris it was so fun to circle around topics or artists and come across them in different exhibits or even in cemeteries.

The grave of
Théodore Géricault, in
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

One of our early morning Louvre visits was specifically to visit The Raft of the Medusa, by
Géricault.

Which is replicated in bronze on his tomb.

A cold and grim subject. Again, the smiling American tourist.

A college friend (thank you Jen) reminded me of the chapter in Julian Barnes’ book History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, chapter five, Shipwreck, which relays the story of the creation of this painting and the history behind it.

The artist visited morgues to achieve the correct shade of skin tone.

Not far from The Raft in the Louvre is another famous
Géricault painting:
The Charging Chasseur, or An Officer of the Imperial Horse Guards Charging.

Which is also recreated on the artist’s tomb.

At our final Louvre Visit to see this exhibition, Figures of the Fool.

Here was another work by
Théodore Géricault,
The Woman with Gambling Mania (French: La Folle Monomane du jeu) from 1822.

I can’t be the only one who goes through museum exhibits hoping for fun reproductions in the gift shop? These marginalia of little monsters or grotesque characters would have made fantastic pieces for the museum shop.

Chimeras of Notre-Dame de Paris:
Monster Leaning on the Parapet
Paris, 1847-1862

Although we missed the re-opening of Notre Dame by a few days, we did get to see four chimeras removed during a restoration in the 1800s. Gargoyles spout water away from a building, chimeras are ornamental, adding to the overall atmosphere of the Cathedral.

Such a moody and beautiful presentation.

Chimeras of Notre-Dame de Paris:
The Pelican The Lioness
Monster Leaning on the Parapet
The Wandering Jew.

We also visited the Musée d’Orsay for the Gustave Caillebotte exhibit, amazing, and Nancy and I went to the Azzedine Alaïa museum. He was a talented and famous Tunisian couturier and shoe designer.

We loved the window which let you see his atelier. Left exactly as it was when he died.

There were other museums we visited – my head is still spinning from what we saw – and of course, the best museum of all: the city itself. Thanks to our new friend Roy, whom Nancy met on her flight over to Paris, we even got to see a Chambre de bonne. These small top floor maids rooms on Baron Haussmann’s 19th century mansions. Ever since listening to this 99% Invisible podcast about Chambre de bonnes I’ve wanted to see one. But how? Well, have a friend who makes friends.

Hi Roy! Thank you again for showing us a side of Paris we wouldn’t have seen without you.

The corridor of doors to small, very small, apartments. Some have been joined together to make more useable spaces.

The view! Eiffel Tower one direction, Basilique du Sacré-Cœur the other.

Those very top windows will be the Chambre de bonnes in this building.

Everyone who travels will tell you that the most amazing experiences are not found in guide books. They happen. You walk by them, if you’re lucky and open to saying yes, you get to have unexpected and delightful times, and even better with friends.

The happy travelers in flattering Paris light.

Spending our time in Paris. Take 2.

We have a running joke while we travel where we put things in a Bay Area context for each other. Guanajuato is the Mendocino of Mexico City. Parc Vincennes is the Golden Gate Park of Paris. When we discovered that Paris is actually smaller in size than San Francisco, but with over twice the population, we felt a bit more at home. We lived in SF for decades, most of those years without a car, so Paris felt like a super lively, more busy SF.

What? In my mind Paris was much bigger than SF.

Almost every Metro trip we mapped out on CityMapper was about 30 minutes or less from our Paris apartment. The Metro does move along and wastes very little time dwelling at stations – on the older lines you can actually open the doors while the train is still moving. And people do. But to walk across the city, or to your destination, really doesn’t take long. We started taking one Metro ride, and instead of transferring to a second line, just walked the rest of the way. Or, walked the whole way. We took buses as well, which is a great way to see the city and rest your feet.

Paris is so walkable. Nancy demonstrates that even the weather can’t stop her.

Rich and Dan on the Coulée verte René-Dumont.

The retail scene is so vibrant. Restaurants and shops abound. And bakeries- so many bakeries. Pharmacies everywhere. Laundromats – check. Chocolate shops – check. As you walk you never suffer from a lack of interesting things to see.

So many 6-8 story buildings. So much housing.

Although the population of Paris has shrunk since its high of 2.9 million in 1921, it now hovers around 2.1 to 2.2 million. As with many cities smaller family size and gentrification have had an impact. But the population certainly keeps the city humming! A street near our apartment simply teemed with parents and children at school drop off time. We quickly learned to try to avoid that street at morning drop off.

Paris is doing a lot of street re-imagining, making more space for people not using cars to get around. This is a street in the Montparnasse neighborhood getting an update. Wider sidewalks and planting areas.

And in the 12th, a massive redesign of Place Félix Éboué, adding bike and pedestrian space, more trees and amenities, and removing car lanes.

These changes seem to have brought out a lot of folks on bikes.

On my Paris bingo card this lady transporting her dog and baguettes would be quite a get.

Of course we got out on bikes! Despite the chilly weather.

We used Lime bikes while in Paris. Cycling in Paris is quite good, although with so many cyclists I would recommend skipping rush hour at first, until you get the hang of Parisian cycling it can be intimidating. It helps to be a calm and confident urban cyclist since you will be passed by faster Parisian cyclists with only inches to spare. And be careful stopping at red lights since not all cyclists do and you risk a rear end collision!

After all that cycling around France we did this year – finally! The
Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe.

Now we can fully appreciate the cobblestones the Tour de France cyclists face in the Paris circuits that typically feature in the last stage of the race.

Not our own comfortable bikes, but a great way to explore Paris.

The Tunnel des Tuileries. Once full of auto traffic, now graffiti, bikes, and pedestrians. Delightful.

And along the Seine River on a road where cars used to be.

Notre Dame, just a few weeks from re-opening after the devastating fire. That’s Rich on the bike on the right.

After parking the bikes we snapped the apparently obligatory Eiffel Tower photos.

It’s fun to see, or bike by, the big attractions, but our joy really comes from simply wandering. Having an errand – find a good coffee roaster to buy beans – and then seeing what we see. Be a Flâneur. Wander the city. Stroll. Observe. Be delighted. It’s what we did for so long in San Francisco, and it was such a luxury to have the time to do the same thing in Paris. As we kept reminding each other, stop and look up, look around.

Coffee shop dog. The family who ran the shop had their two kids and dog keeping them company since it was a holiday and schools were closed.

Nancy joined us in Paris and shared our cafe stops and delightful times.

I particularly love Kermit and the painted poles echoing his color scheme.

Neighborhood markets and murals, Montparnasse.

A wall of old advertising, uncovered and refreshed on Rue des Martyrs.

In the 9th. The society of mineral water building.

The people in dark wool coats strolling the passages.

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre glimpsed from Bd Haussmann on our way somewhere one morning. And the real life of a city going on.

Enjoying a chocolat viennois at the Cafe at d’Orsay.

One of the famous and stunning clocks at the old train station turned museum.

Watching Paris put on her Christmas and holiday decor was wonderful. Although we didn’t see too many lights on private balconies, the commercial corridors and chocolate shops put on a show.

Chocolate Christmas tree. Buy a forest of them!

Baby Jesus meringues. Apparently a retro treat, it’s a soft candy, not a hard crunchy one. I think it’s more like a marshmallow or melt away candy.

A forest of Christmas trees for sale in the 17th arrondissement.

The netting on the trees looks like spider webs.

Trees for sale on R. des Martyrs which is closed to car traffic on Sundays.

Nancy and I inside Galleries Lafayette admiring the massive Christmas tree.

Which put on quite a show as it changed colors.

We walked to go to specialty shops only open on Saturdays to buy artistic stamps.

We walked until the sun set (at 4 pm) to watch the lights come on.

All that walking meant we needed to keep up our strength.

The soufflés at Le Récamier were just the thing.

We had a one meal out per day rule. So we made those meals count.

Sometimes we didn’t need to go far. This oyster stand set up one weekend for two evenings on our neighborhood market street.

12 shucked oysters from Brittany and white wine.

Thanks to Dan we visited Buns Land for some amazing Biangbiang noodles. Mostly take away with just three stools at a tiny counter.

We also drank vin chaud when we could. Hot mulled wine. This was the best we tried, from the wine stand at the regional merchants evening market where we also had the oysters.

Had to try it at La Défense Christmas market too! Complete with souvenir cup.

Nice and hot, but a bit sweet. But we kept our souvenir cups to savor sweet memories.

More vin chaud please! At a small Christmas market at Pl. des Abbesses.

A nice version, not too sweet. The quality of the wine was not as good as at the regional merchants evening.

Late November and early December seemed to be a great time to visit Paris. Holiday cheer was getting going, but Christmas crowds hadn’t fully arrived yet. The weather was mostly grey but the sunny days we got felt even more special. The one day of snow was scenic but melted quickly. And having friends visit, first Dan and then Nancy, was just wonderful. And we got more photos of the two us than we usually take. As Nancy joked, it’s proof Rich does have a right arm – that’s his selfie taking arm usually not seen in our photos together. A big thank you to Nancy for the great photos.

Look at that! We have legs and Rich has both arms!

We got to pose in front of a Christmas tree.

And we got to spend time with one of our favorite people in all the world! Nancy.

Apartment lobby mirror group photo of the happy travelers.

Saying yes got us to Paris. For a month. Take 1.

When we came through Paris in May, on our fantastic bike tour through France, we visited our friend Jason who was on sabbatical from his professorship and staying in an apartment he found through sabbatical homes. It turned out that he and his wife could only take two of the three month final increment on the lease and he asked us if we would like to take the third month. Yes – was our pretty fast reply. Since we’d stayed at an apart hotel just up the street from the apartment we knew we’d like the neighborhood, and we’d been to the apartment for dinner so it was an easy decision. And a great decision.

The neighborhood street market, Tuesday and Friday. An early visit to avoid crowds later.

The wide sidewalks of Bd de Reuilly in our 12th arrondissement neighborhood.

Windows that face La Promenade Plantée. A greenway somewhat similar to the high line in NYC. Those windows and iron balcony just scream ‘Paris’ to me.

We hit the ground running with our Amis du Louvre cards and a trip to Disneyland Paris. The high and the low? The culture and the pop? Mona Lisa and Micky Mouse!

The RER A goes right to Disneyland. One transfer from our apartment, metro to RER.

The mouse ears on the train departure signs are pretty darn cute. And helpful.

As huge fans of public transportation we were thrilled to take a train right to the entrance of Disneyland. We’re both very familiar with Disneyland Anaheim so we spent the day making comparisons and ranking the rides between the two parks. Paris for the transportation win, for sure. And our monthly Navigo passes (~€80) covered the entire trip, as well as all metro and trains in the Paris area (Zones 1-5)

It was a grey and chilly day at the happiest place on earth.

I sort of expected Europeans to be a bit blasé about Disneyland, maybe treat it as a brash American import. Nope. Disney fans are Disney fans.

Thunder Mountain Paris for the win! Most of the ride is on this island, so you start and end through a tunnel.

Phantom Manor, The Haunted Mansion in Anaheim. Both are fun, similar layouts, nothing terribly different, except the spooky French in lieu of English. Très amusant!

Before the ride. I should have paid attention to the signs warning about motion sickness. And noticed the shoulder harnesses.

It is right there in the name. Hyperspace. Not just space. I’m used to the one in Anaheim which is pretty much a simple rollercoaster in the dark. I knew right away this one was a mistake. It went upside down twice. We now call it the brain scrambler. I lurched off the ride to find a bench, feeling pretty shaken up and a bit nauseous. I am past rollercoaster age, I decided. I’ve always avoided rides that go in a circle, the worst motion sickness ride for me is the spinning tea cups, but this one really was awful. Even Rich thought it was a bit much in the dark, and he loves rollercoasters.

The only thing I could face was Small World.

The grounds of Small World are more extensive in California, with more topiary animals, but the ride felt fresher and more culturally correct in Paris. One of the biggest differences we noticed was how quickly the lines for the rides go under cover in Paris. In Southern California you can be outdoors quite comfortably year round, and the rain isn’t torrential. It was chilly and a bit drizzly when we visited and we were glad for the shelter.

A big motivation to visit was that we were there during a very quiet time. The Halloween decorations were down and Christmas decorations not yet fully up, so it’s not a popular time to visit.

But, being efficient Disneyland, some holiday decorations were already up.

We could bore you much more with our detailed observations of how Paris is different than Anaheim, but won’t. Ask us the next time we see you in person about Pirates of the Caribbean. We have thoughts.

On to the high culture: we learned about the friends of the Louvre card from our Paris apartment connection, Jason. Not only do you get to go to the Louvre as often as you want, you also get a different entrance, at the Passage Richelieu, so no big line like at the pyramid or in the Carousel Mall.

We had visited the Louvre once before and it was a lesson in frustration. The audio guide is a Nintendo based handheld gizmo which is confusing to operate, even for people younger than us. Signage is not great, the layout is labyrinthine, and you will walk miles and miles finding the art you want to see. But it’s the Louvre! On display: 35,000 works of art. In the collection: 500,000.

In the newly renovated Anne of Austria Summer Apartments, the Torlonia Collection.

The marble sculptures are on display outside of Italy for the first time.

Rich added for scale in front of a massive painting.

We visited the Louvre six times this visit. Once was only to visit the bathrooms and get a coffee, which was a mistake since it was afternoon and very busy, but we will share what we learned. The Friends of the Louvre card – fantastic if you can make it work. We had it mailed to our Paris Apartment, and we applied from within France. Sunday am turned out to be a fantastic time to visit. At peak times the crowds are thick, but for an hour or two Sunday am we wandered the halls and galleries of the less popular wings and rooms with very few other visitors. We even peeked at the Mona Lisa – no, no selfie.

A happy Louvre visitor. This is in a room just past the Mona Lisa,
The salle Mollien Room 700, Denon wing, Level 1. The Red Rooms, Les Salles Rouges.

We visited three special exhibits during our six visits, The Torloni Collection, Figures de Fou, and A New Look at Watteau. We kept reminding ourselves how extensive the Louvre collection is that they can mount amazingly specific exhibits by plumbing the depths of their own collections. And when you view the Louvre outside from the I.M.Pei pyramid and understand how little of the connected buildings is display and how much is storage and other use – it’s overwhelming.

My fearless tour guide. If you aren’t one, find yourself a map friend who won’t get lost in the many rooms and levels of this museum.

Leaving on a Sunday at 11:24. After coffee at the Starbucks in the Louvre (!). Still not super crowded but the line to get in through security is now very long.

There will be more Louvre photos in later posts, but our recommendation is to get yourself a Friends of the Louvre card if you can. We paid 120€ for both of us, good for a year and allows you some discounts at other museums and into the Louvre Abu Dabi. Not sure we’ll use that benefit but who knows! The usual museum card coffee and gift shop 10% discount too. We ended every visit with a caffeine break.

The Happy Travelers in the sun at Luxembourg gardens.

Some of the special exhibits will have their app based audio guides, Figures of the Fool did, so check before you go and bring your earbuds. We searched on line for paintings we knew we wanted to see and read write ups to each other standing in front of the paintings. There are small bathrooms scattered along the galleries, some very well hidden, so if the line is long at the main bathrooms- and it will be ladies – try to find one up in the galleries. More from Paris soon. We just arrived in the UK for a nice long stay, until January 14th, happy holidays to all.

The railroad to Paris goes through Bourges. And Orléans.

Bourges through a window of the Palais Jacques Cœur.

Lyon is the bottom heart, then Bourges, then Orléans. All by train as our bicycles have entered winter hibernation.

Looking forward to a month’s stay in Paris we left Lyon, and the sunshine, although we didn’t realize it at the time. And we headed to Bourges. Bourges isn’t a big tourist destination, although Rick Steves tours do stop there to enjoy the half timbered houses and the huge gothic cathedral with its 13th century stained glass windows.

Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Bourges. Seriously huge. We called it a triple decker cathedral.

The soaring interior and lovely chandeliers.

Bourges has nearly 500 half timbered buildings, more than any other French town, and the ruins of a Gallo-Roman wall. A tea and cake shop, Cake Thé, uses one tower as a dining room, if you follow the path to the shop you will find the remains of the wall and a lovely walking path.

Twilight on a street of half timbered buildings.

The upkeep of the buildings must be very challenging. We saw a few supported with external bracing like this.

And more half timbered buildings on a quiet street near the center of old town.

Of course a Camino route goes through town. And, this is the last you will see of our sandals for a while.

One of Bourges’ other sites to see is the Palais Jacques Cœur, a large Hôtel particulier – a grand urban mansion, freestanding and not connected to its neighbors. Cœur was a government official and successful merchant in the 1400s. Too successful, as his ability to lend large sums of money led to his eventual arrest and downfall. It seems never to pay off to have a King in your debt.

He did not get to enjoy his mansion, traveling during construction, arrested before he could live in it.

So many craftsmen were employed to make this building an absolute masterpiece. Gargoyles abound.

You’d need a fireplace this size to heat the massive rooms.

Although the palais is not furnished, it changed hands several times and was the town hall for a while, the audio guide helps you picture life in the building, and understand the amount of money and work that went into its construction.

And more gargoyle downspouts. Unfortunately for me the rain had stopped. I love seeing these in action.

Our two night stay gave us enough time to visit one of Bourges other fascinating sites, Le Marais, or the marsh, or swamp, in English.

A sign pointed the way as you walked down a neighborhood street.

On the map the Marais looks like a city of water. We caught a glimpse from the train and had to see it on foot.

The Yèvre River is the source of water, and the swamp had provided a defendable space for the town. The 300 acres now hold 1,500 garden plots on which locals grow food, build small summer huts, and enjoy strolling on the levees. Some plots are only accessible by boat.

I imagine the locals know their way around the small paths and bridges, we had to check the map frequently.

A building being taken back by the vegetation.

A boat ready to carry gardeners to their plot.

We imagined quite a lovely summer scene in the Marais.

It’s a fun way to travel, a few nights here, a few nights there, get the sense of a place and understand its place in the region and the country, and then off we go! But first, a nice dinner out at a restaurant we spotted our first night, and made a reservation for our second night. La gargouille.

More gargoyles, and Rich, not a gargoyle.

Gargoyle tartar! (No gargoyles were harmed.)

The second best tartare I have had in France.

Even when traveling bike free we can’t help but check out the bike spots on the trains.

Our last stop before Paris was Orléans. We went through Orléans on our bicycles when we rode along the Loire River in 2021. We enjoyed it then, in a sunny October, and knew there was enough to see still for a short stay. This is where the grey November weather caught up with us. What the morning news show called la grisaille. The greyness.

The fog made for a very atmospheric walk along the river.

This narrow building caught our attention in the old streets by the river.

The old town streets giving framed views of Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d’Orléans.

An autumnal display brightens a grey day.

Inside the cathedral on All Saint’s Day.

Joan of Arc, Jeanne d’Arc in French, is honored as a patron Saint of France for her role in defending Orléans in April 1429. You can find her in cathedrals, as statues, and paintings in the Musée des Beaux-Arts d’Orléans. Her story is powerful and poignant, as she was only 19 when she was tried for heresy and burned at the stake.

The Happy Travelers looking ahead to Paris.

Next post: Paris!

Warm Autumn Days in Lyon

We missed summer in Europe in 2024. Like really missed it. It was great to be in the US for the summer, but it’s been a relativley cold spring and fall in Europe. So we were thrilled to get a last gasp of pleasant fall weather in one of favorite French cities, Lyon. Some places we seek out, such as our return to Taiwan and further exploration of Malaysia earlier this year. Other places in Europe we seem to end up in more often due to their location, and Lyon is one of these places since it’s usually our train gateway to and from the Vallée Verte.

This was actually our fourth visit to Lyon, and the second time this year, as we passed through for two nights in March on our spring bike tour along the Via Rhôna. In March, we caught up with some freinds staying in Lyon, and explored a few new places, but didn’t have time to dive in deeper. So we decided to return and spend a week this time, and it was really a joy, from the lovely autumn warth and sunshine (finally!) to the amazing food and friendly people.

Shorts and sandals! On the pedestrianized Montée de la Grande-Côte, which takes you up to the Croix-Rousse neighborhood.

img_7270-1 — A snipet of the vast Mur Du Canuts. A huge building mural depicting the rebellion of the local silk workers from 1831-1848, some of the first labor revolts of the industrialized world.

Lyon is France’s third largest city, but for many French, it’s the best. As we found out, many Lyonnais wouldn’t consider living in Paris or Marseille. It reminds me of the rivalry between New York City and Boston growing up; one clearly the biggest and dominant in cultural icononography, but the other more livable and approachable, espcially as a tourist.

Along the Saône River, which has a more industrial and gritty feel than the Rhône promendaes.

What I really enjoy about Lyon is the geography, as it has some dramatic hills at it’s edges, and the confluence of two major rivers at it’s core. You even get views of the Alps when it’s clear. It’s also very walkable and easy to get around by bike and public transit, although pales to Paris in its extent of metro and trams. I imagine the access to the Alps, Massif Central, and Mediterranean is a huge benefit with those with the means to get away regulary. Oh, and the weather is a bit nicer than Paris.

Ready to explore the Lyon Bienalle’s largest installations at the former SNCF workshops known now as “Les Grands Locos”.

We also were lucky to time our visit with the large Biennale Art Show, which showcases about 75 artists in venues around the city. The 2024 theme of “Crossing the Water” invitied a wide array of interpretations and seemed especially pertinant to the migrations of people across the globe due to wars and economic opportunity, as well as animal life impacted by climate change.

The installations at the SNCF Railyards site were often extrememly large scale and experiential like **Hans Schabus** –
*Monument for People on the Move*

img_6891-2-1 — **Mona Cara** – *The Cactus*

Slightly Creepy carnival installation by **Clément Courgeon** –
*The Cart of the Clever*

img_6913-2-1 — **Lorraine de Sagazan & Anouk Maugein** – *Monte di Pietà* at the MAC. Labeled and recorded, the objects that compose it are linked to traumatic memories.

I have also crossed the water many times, but luckily by choice.

**Grace Ndiritu** – *The Blue Room* features around a hundred prehistoric, Roman, Egyptian, medieval, modern and contemporary pieces from various *Lyon* museums. It was part the Biennale at the Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon (MAC).

I really enjoyed the Biennale and it was well attended but did not have a crush of visitors, due to its long run and dispersed venues. The artists also seemed to represent a modern and diverse cross-section of Fench and foriegn artists, something often missing from all the classical art museums of Europe. The other musuem we really enjoyed was the recently renovated Musée Lumière. Dedicated to the cinematogorphy and the history of the Lumière family, the Musée Lumière looks back at the various technical creations of Louis and Auguste Lumière and their family. It’s well curated and has a great collection of early film equipment, as well as engaging and interactive elements, all set on the grounds of the historic building and workshops.

We reluctantly skipped the striking new Confluence Museum as the week we were in Lyon was one of the Autumn school holiday weeks and anything child and family friendly was very busy….saved for our next visit to Lyon.

The Place Des Jacobins dates back to the mid 16th Century is an important historic junction of 12 streets. The fountain was added later in 1885 after the start of the Third Republic and some disputes about content. Public art and monuments are taken seriously in France.

img_7302-3-1 — Off the bikes and back on transit!

Paul Bocuse looks over the street nearby Les Halles. He is Lyon’s most famous chef and has a legacy 3 star Michelin restaurant and the new Les Halles is named in his honor.

The way the locals eat and drink in Les Halles.

img_6684-1 — The food presentation at Les Halles is often like a museum installation.

We opted for a classic Moules marinière feast at Chez Lyon in Les Halles. Mussels are generally in season from August to January.

We probably could have shared a bucket, as they were huge! But sooo good.

I can do this…and I did, as well as about 1/3 of Cheryl’s bucket -;)

The typical chimneys of Lyon with Grafitti/Art?….how did the the street artists get up there?

The famous Frédéric Bartholdi fountain featuring Amphitrite looking over the four tributaries of the Garonne River….in Bordeaux?! It was his intention to sell this to the City of Bordeaux in 1892, but Lyon scooped it up instead.

We stayed in an apartment and a hotel for parts of our visit, but both were just a block from the Left Bank of the Rhone; a perfect location to access all the city and the river’s many cafes and 5km of paths, but out of the tourist zones.

img_6915-1 — Lots of space for people, dogs, and bikes along the extensive Berges du Rhône.

Selfie on one of my frequent runs along the Rhône, with the Mussée de la Confluence in the distance.

Access in pedestrianized zones is generally controlled by retractable bollards activated by residents and delviery vehicles only. Why is this hard to transfer to US cities?

Besides the great variety of food in Lyon, we really were impressed by the lack of impactful car traffic in most nighborhoods. There are some busy main arterials, but in general, you can walk freely and cross small streets with ease. There are 7 tram and 4 underground metro lines that cover the ciy pretty well, and an extensive bike network. And as in much of France, they are investing more in public spaces for people with a huge project to expand car free space in the commercial core, not to mention a massive renovation of the always busy Lyon Part-Dieu train station. As always, the surface tram lines are a nice way to get around and sightsee as well.

Roman ruins are tucked into Lyon in surprising locations, such as the 19AD Amphitheater of the Three Gauls in the 1^st Arrondisement.

Random Roman ruin fragmants yet to be pieced togther by a grad strudent, and cats…always!

This cat seemed to be in some sort of guardina role. We kept our distance.

Taking advantage of water collected in the ruins.

Cities with layers of history are always intriguing, and Lyon city along the Saône used to be the core of Lugdunum, a thriving Roman city dating back to 43 BC. It may have had up to 200,000 inhabitants at its peak, which is in incredible as Lyon today only has 500,000 inhabitants in the age of modern infrastructure. There is a large Gallo-Roman museum, two amphitheaters, and lots of other remnants to be seen if you want to dive deeper into this history.

Beyond the usual recycling and residential composting, we were surprised to see public compopsting bins in such a large city.

Delicious dumplings at Enginomo. The culinary scene in Lyon includes a good variety of food choices, not just French Gastronomie.

The “Pot Lyonnais” The usual French wine ‘pichet’ comes with a twist in Lyon as it has a thick glass bottom and only accomodates 46cl instead of the usual 50. Apparently the factory bosses used these bottles to take a little from each worker of their weekly wine rations.

Notice the thick glass bottom, which also makes a “Pot Lyonnais”very stable!

Beautiful architecture, trams, and sunshine.

Former 19^th century hospital is now the Grand Hôtel-Dieu, as well as shops and gathering spaces.

Low morning autumn light on Les Célestins Theater.

img_6906-2-1 — We used the last few minutes of our 24-hour transit pass to take the funicular up to the Basilica of Notre Dame of Fourvière. It’s impressive and one of Lyon’s top sights, with views of the city from the nearby terrace.

Remains of the Gier Aqueduct which brought water to Lugdunum from over 50 miles away. Parts are still fully intact while other sections are now one with later development. Amazing.

This streetscape reconstruction in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon was still in the archeolgical phase, as Lyon sits atop layers of history.

Enjoying the nice weather on our exploration of the hills.

Colorful liquor bottles caught Cheryl’s eye at a casual neighborhood bistro where we had lunch in Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon.

Sunshine on the Saône looking toward Croix-Rousse.

Street Art and murals are a mainstay of Lyonnais life and there are websites dedicated to the various artists.

Nothing but smiles after a stimulating week in Lyon. But will this great weather last?

Lyon is not always a must see to most visitors to France, and I think it’s still a bit overlooked. Paris is amazing, but Lyon is a place you can really feel comfortable in quickly and will be rewarded by friendly people and a vibrant cultural scene. We were glad we came back for a longer look. Happy travels!

What makes time in the French alps better? Good friends.

When we end a bike trip nothing feels better than taking a nice break at our wonderful generous friends’ house in the Vallée Verte, France. We shop for food and cook in every day instead of searching for open grocery stores and restaurants. We have leisurely mornings and afternoon naps.

We watch the alpine glow and the cows waiting to go back to their barn.

But this break was even better since we had our dear friends Christine and Cecily joining us for a week. Usually we spend our time in the alps hiking from the house, catching up on stuff, travel planning, cleaning and storing the bikes and trying to help around the house. Their visit gave us the kick in our pants to rent a car and actually get out and see some of the alps. We joke that for folks who have spent so much time in the area we hadn’t seen many of the local sights.

The best way we know to get over jet lag is physical activity in the sunshine. Thankfully the weather cooperated for our first hike, Plaine Joux up to Pointe de Miribel.

Remember to turn around to see the high alps playing peek a boo through the clouds.

The summit! Photo credit to the nice Australian lady hiking with her dog.

I can never get enough of the views – those huge clouds.

The nice hiker with the dog warned us there was a herd of goats with their guard dog on our chosen route down. The dog barked at her and her dog, just so we knew. My sister in Colorado has had these big white guard dogs for her livestock for years so I assured everyone that they aren’t dangerous, just protective. Well, the big white dog did indeed bark at us, but calmed down after we greeted them with good doggie voices.

And I will escort you out of my territory.

If we had done our hike in reverse we would have seen this information sign before meeting the big dog.

The fall colors were changing every day.

For jet lag busting hike number two Rich and Cecily both had their fall appropriate colors on.

After a day just hiking from the house, we headed by car to Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval. The weather was rainy but we all just suited up in our rain gear and headed out on a fantastic waterfall loop.

Cheryl and Christine. Friends for 42 years.

It was hard to know if it was rain or mist from the waterfall. Whatever- it was wet.

A wet day meant we had the trails almost to ourselves.

Cecily and Christine enjoying the break in the rain and the fall colors.

The mix of trees makes for dramatic vistas. As did all the uphill hiking.

Framed waterfall. It was all downhill after this point.

The next day our destination was Chambéry, which is south of Lac du Bourget. A nice walk around the old town, a visit to the Musée Savoisien and lunch.

Musée Savoisien had a great exhibit on houses of the Savoie region, and how and why they were constructed as they were.

Really detailed architectural models of the different house types.

The museum also celebrated one of the region’s most famous dishes.

Tartiflette– potatoes, lardon, onions and reblochon cheese.

At a traditional Savoie restaurant for lunch, Christine had the tartiflette, which was delicious but rich. We all agreed it is not an everyday meal. But so luscious.

Rich captured what we called “our album cover shot”.

We learned a good lesson about renting cars, always add the second driver even though it costs more. Since Rich did all the driving he didn’t get to enjoy the scenery as much as the rest of us. We’re spoiled from California where the rule is that the spouse is always covered when it comes to rental cars. We should have added me as a driver so Rich could relax and enjoy the scenery too. So, with that in mind we took the train the next day. Rich still had to drive us to the train station but then we all got to admire the scenery from La Roche-sur-Foron to Annecy.

First stop in Annecy, where it was market day, a coffee cart.

One of Annecy’s beautiful rivers, Le Thiou. With fun and impressively sited fish graffiti.

Such a picturesque place. The water is crystal clear.

We weren’t the only tourists in town, but it wasn’t super busy. Just pleasantly hopping.

The perfect case for retirement, lounging in chairs by the lake.

After a day at home, shopping and doing an airport run to pick up Hannah, we headed off the next day to Chamonix, a new place for the four Americans. The very impressive roadway leading to Chamonix and the Mont Blanc tunnel was mostly empty since the tunnel is closed for works until December 16, 2024. That made for a lovely traffic free drive along the impressive viaduct roads.

The top of Mont Blanc was shrouded in clouds, but we now had Hannah with us!

Even with the peak covered the view is impressive.

A glacial river and a glacier. Oh, and Cecily and Christine!

Hannah and Cheryl, friends for 40 years. I do love being able to say that. Long term friends are so wonderful.

Rich in front of a mural of famous mountain climbers.

Sadly we had to say to goodbye to Cecily and Christine as they were off by train to Italy for another friend’s 70th birthday party. We dropped them at Annemasse train station, they took the local Léman Express to Geneva, and then trains to Turin. Such a fantastic way to travel.

When we made our nomadic decision it was our hope that we would have friends meet up with us in various places. This visit by Cecily and Christine was so energizing and wonderful. To get to share one of our favorite places, the Vallée Verte, with two of our favorite people was fantastic. The biggest downside to our life as nomads is missing friends and family.

We also had bonus time with Hannah our wonderful host, and some lovely weather to enjoy.

And got high enough to catch a glimpse of the reclusive top of Mont Blanc.

That might look like a dry field, it was actually wet and swampy.

The sign for the cooperative cheese monger in Boëge.

Which has a fantastic cheese vending machine with curated selections, open 24/7. For those cheese emergencies.

Too soon it was time for Rich and I to shoulder our backpacks and head off ourselves. Hannah’s family had arrived so we left them in good spirts and got a lift to the train station in Annemasse.

After our challenging trains with bikes time the previous few weeks we were giddy to have only backpacks. This is so easy! We kept saying to each other.

The travel planner enjoying his stress free train ride.

We were working our way to Paris for a month stay and more visits from friends, but first we had a few stays along the way. More on that in the next post.

The happy travelers in Chamonix. Life is even better when shared with friends.

Bikes and trains. Pizza and rain.

Enjoying a view over Udine, Italy, on our one night in town.

Sometimes we get a very quick sense of how cycling in a region will be. We’ve cycled in Italy before, years and years ago, and were impressed with the smooth pavement and respectful drivers in Tuscany, but this part of northern Italy has not caught up with Germany, Austria, or France in welcoming cyclists. But that’s the roads, the cities are super walkable and beautiful. Udine was a lovely surprise with a pretty and walkable center.

Rich has his loaner umbrella ready, but the rain held off.

The warm glow of buildings in the twilight.

Pizza with mortadella, pistachios, lemon zest, and fiore de latte. Amazing.

With our deadline of a train from Milan we decided to make a train hop from Udine to Conegliano so we could make it to Treviso that day and spend less time riding in the rain.

Trains in Italy come with some predictable challenges: track changes. With loaded touring bikes a track change can be beyond hectic. Thankfully there were elevators at the Udine station so the track change at least didn’t involve stairs.

The look of a man whose patience with loaded touring bikes and trains is starting to wear thin. And is looking at 32k/20miles of rainy riding.

One of our less glamorous but very welcome lunch stops. Between the rain and the roads this pavilion looked like heaven to us.

Weather fit for ducks as we get to Treviso.

Outside our hotel in Treviso, trying to drip dry a bit before going inside.

We both had Treviso marked on our Google maps as an interesting place to visit – sort of a little Venice. An alternative to the magical city, with its own canals and own culture.

Canal side buildings absolutely bring to mind Venice.

Yes, a lovely view even in the near constant rain.

My Cleverhood Rain Cape had its time as I got really tired of wearing rain trousers and switched to tights and the rain cape.

The fish market (Isola della Pescheria) on an island in the Cagnan River.

Who wouldn’t be charmed by views like this?

You can see from this photo what Treviso has which Venice doesn’t: cars.

Our two nights in Treviso were fantastic. Even with a lot of rain. But the feeling we get in Venice, with no cars, not a whisper of car noise, is very different from Treviso. Definitely visit Treviso, but don’t be expecting the same scope of magic as one finds in Venice. It is much less crowded though, and a fairly short train ride from Venice for making a day trip one way or the other.

The arcades of Treviso made the rain less impactful.

They were a place to walk, to stop and chat.

And for restaurants to set up a charming scene.

What else did we find delightful in Treviso, the birthplace of tiramisu? Cicchetti, which are small bar snacks like tapas or pinxos, served alongside a beer or wine. A quick aside about bike storage in old towns. It’s not easy to find a hotel with easy and convenient storage for our bikes. The hotel Rich found in Treviso, Palazzina 300, were super accommodating and we were able to store our bikes in one of the owners’ fire wood room about a five minute ride from the hotel. Behind a locked gate and in a room stacked with wood for the winter. The owner pointed out the video camera watching the courtyard and assured us they would be safe.

The outside of a little osteria, cicchette on display in the window.

What? I can wander from place to place drinking and snacking? Sign me up please.

The charming and handsome waitstaff who help you choose your cicchetti from a glass case. Our second stop of the night.

Rich did a good job picking our first round. From the left, cod, zucca, and Gorgonzola and nuts.

My favorite was the zucca (pumpkin) and prosciutto.

Well fueled from our snack dinner (not really, Rich was super hungry the next morning.), we headed to the train station for a hop from Treviso to Vicenza, and then a 44k/27m ride to Soave.

We had a nice little ride through Vicenza.

Rich way finding through the narrow streets.

Piazza dei Signore. Italian cities and towns excel at big piazzas, plazas, and car lite or car free spaces.

Is that a bench? Then it must be time for a pastry break. That is a Pasticciotto, filled with ricotta based lemony filling. It got powdered sugar all over our clothing, which the mist then turned to sugar paste.

We were quickly out into the vineyards of the Veneto region.

Americans will likely remember the Soave Bolla commercials from the 70s and 80s, which probably gave most people a somewhat bad opinion of Soave wine. The ads were super cheesy and apparently, the wine not very good. But happily wine now made from the garganega grape is delicious, and in 2002 Soave received DCOG status and joined the ranks of well respected wine in Italy.

Soave Classico paired perfectly with the delicious pumpkin lasagna at Locanda ai Capitelli where we had a lovely stay and dinner.

A view of Soave over the vineyards as we headed out in the morning to ride to Verona to catch a train to Brescia to shorten our day to 58k/36 miles.

The harvest was in full swing. This nice workman smiled and waved when I stopped to take photos.

Garganega grapes waiting to be harvested. Such a lovely color. What would this paint color be named? Wine blush? Whisper?

And climbed a hill with a classic Italian view.

The riding was lovely at times, but again, not an area of Italy with very welcoming bike infrastructure. We saw plenty of Italian road cyclists, but not many other bike tourists, and precious few bike lanes or decent shoulders to ride on the busy roads. And no transportation cyclists. No one headed to the shops or to and from school. And the terrain can’t be totally to blame as much of our ride was gently rolling, staying on the edge of the foothills.

Traveling by bikes gives us such a range of experiences. We go from sweet little lanes,

To a coffee and chocolate break at a gas station cafe.

Verona! The Verona Arena is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy, built in 30 AD. And popular to visit on a Saturday in October.

But we can’t spend too long sightseeing, we have a train to catch.

Yay! Elevators at the Verona train station.

Laughing because… platform change! Second to last train of the trip.

Riding out of Brescia after our train hop, some nice new bike and pedestrian lanes.

My favorite sign in any language: Except bikes.

We had quite a bit of rain on this section of the trip. I don’t have a lot of photos of rain riding since it’s so hard to take pictures in the wet. And, since we were not quite into the colder part of the year we had a run of hotel rooms where the electric towel racks hadn’t yet been turned on for the season. No heated towel rack and wet weather makes it very difficult to dry our bike gear and other laundry. We had two days of riding still so when we got a working towel rail we sprang into action and did laundry.

A working towel rail – finally! At Hotel Touring in Cocaglio.

How many pizza dinners is too many pizza dinners in Italy?

We set out the next morning to ride to a town outside of Milan, Gorgonzola, 61k/44miles. As we approached Milan there were better bike paths and more folks out on bikes. We stayed outside Milan because the hotels in the city were quite full and expensive due to a pharmaceutical conference. Our hotel for our last night was close to the canal path that led right into Milan for our ride to town the next day.

Crossing the Oglio River and a photo bomb by a friendly local cyclist.

Espresso and gelato break in Caravaggio. With our days in Italy drawing down we knew we needed to eat gelato whenever possible.

Rich chatting with a local in Treviglio. This gentleman was a bike activist in town, pushing for the local routes to be improved and was happy to see bike tourists.

A restored water wheel that used to lift water from the canal to irrigate local noblefolks’ orchards.

You can see the buckets and channel that moved the water to street level.

Ciclovia della Martesana, a relaxing and popular canal path.

On the outskirts of Gorgonzola. Yes, where the cheese was first produced. We had it on (what else?) pizza that evening.

Our last evening in Italy. Tomorrow the ride to Milan and a train to Geneva.

Rich chatting with Massimo who saw our American flags and greeted us. The flags on our bikes are the best conversation starters.

We were in no hurry as we had several hours before our train left Milan Central. So we bumbled along the canal.

Into Milan, admiring the new bike lanes.

Hey! We have some of these Milan street cars in San Francisco.

Doobie doobie doo, somewhere else in Milan.

Cathedral de Milano. We had been expecting it to be rainy while we whiled away our hours in Milan so we were happy to ride around sightseeing and eating our lunch sandwiches in the Parco Sempione. But finally we headed to the train station.

That’s the train station at the end of the street.

We had a few things going for us with this final long train hop. First positive is that Milan Central is an end station, you reach all the platforms from the same level, so no elevators or stairs in case of track change. Our train started at this station so we should have a decent chunk of time to get our bikes into their reserved spots on one car, and ourselves into our reserved seats in the next car.

Up we go to the platform level on an inclinator. Still looking good and feeling positive.

Now we’ll just wait around until our platform is announced and we will proceed calmly to our train.

Ha! What really happened is that our train was late arriving and came in about 20 minutes late which put it cross platform from a Turin train arrival. The electronic tickets for just about everyone on our train did not work at the gates so the station agents had to check and let folks through one at a time – but with bikes we need the wide gates and for those we had to wait and wait and wait until we were just about the last folks to get through. With loaded bikes. Two trains unloading, and two trains worth of folks trying to load, equals one big mess.

At this point we just gave up. We figured the train wouldn’t be able to leave any time soon, so we just patiently shambled along the platform with everyone else.

Folks who were not convinced the train would wait for them started boarding many cars before their seats which meant the aisles of every car were impassable as people tried to walk along four, five, or even six cars to get to their seats. Our “reserved” bike spaces? Completely filled with giant wheeled suitcases by the time we got to our car. The palaver it took to get our bikes and panniers and us sorted was monumental. We were moving suitcases, bargaining with other riders, helped by a lovely young and patient passenger, and at first greeted with shrugs from the train attendants. They finally had us move to another car where the bike space had a few fewer suitcases in it, and we eventually got to our seats, hot, exhausted, and giddy with joy that we were on our final train ride of the trip.

Along with dinner Rich wisely bought us train wine during our station wait. We needed it.

Our final destination was a hotel in Annemasse where we would spend the night before tackling the climb up the Vallée. (We ended up getting a ride up the Vallée due to heavy rain and cold and exhaustion.) We told ourselves that if it was raining when we arrived in Geneva, or if we were too exhausted we’d just take the train to Annemasse. Another ha! The train tracks were being worked on and no trains running after 8 pm. We arrived at 9:30 and headed out to ride to Annemasse. Thankfully there is a first rate bikeway all the way so even in the rain it wasn’t awful. Just very wet.

Ah, Geneva Cornavin station. Now just a 9 km/ 5.5 miles to our hotel in Annemasse. In the rain. We made it.

Our loop in nights spent. Each green heart is a place we stayed. The far left heart is our good friends’ place in the Haute Savoie.

A few observations about our different experiences along the way. The Swiss are very no nonsense and straightforward. The bike infrastructure is good. Germany has really good infrastructure but it’s starting to be dated, and, with so many folks on e-bikes, crowded. Germans are gruff. They do not waste time being gentle. As I was pushing my loaded touring bike up a steep climb a man on an e-bike came down the hill. He took the time to stop and say to me “There are many steep hills ahead.”, with a rueful shake of his head at my blithe disregard of tough climbs. We could hear his internal question of why these silly Americans did not have e-bikes. A second German man cycling with his family, all on e-bikes, rode by and motioned to me with a wave of his hand and said “Come on, hurry. Keep up.” I snapped that my bike had no motor and when we encountered he and his family again they tried very hard to be nice. Was I holding a grudge? Why yes, I was.

By contrast the Austrians we encountered were more friendly, and the Italians! We were cheered up climbs with calls of Brava- Bravo! Almost every cyclist called out ciao ciao and smiled and waved. When I was caught in the bike race on a climb the spectators clapped and called out as if I was part of the race when I finally got on my bike to finish the climb.

Although the infrastructure for our northern Italy route was not yet in place it is underway. Alta Alia D’Attraversare is the website for the formal route we partially followed and which is mostly in place and being improved all the time. Worth checking out if you plan to cycle this part of Italy.

We’re in France until December 4th, the 12th arrondissement of Paris and then off to the UK for Christmas and New Year.

Cycling Bliss on the Alpe Adria

Apologies for the long gap in posts, but we’re now back in France and finally catching up on our past month of adventures. So how’d we get back to France from Salzburg? Cycling through the Alps and some trains of course!

Descending on the Alpe-Adria Route into Italy.

We really enjoyed our few days off the bikes in Salzburg, but as always, were eager to get back exploring. We find that more than two days off the bikes can put us off our game (like the Tour de France, eh?), so it felt good to roll out and head up the beautiful Salzach River towards the towering spires and massifs of the Alpes. Ok, maybe a little intimidating too.

Starting up the Alpe-Adria on the Salzach River.

The Alpe-Adria is a long distance cycling route that starts in Salzburg and covers 415 km over the Alps, all the way down to the Adriatic Sea at Grado, Italy. This spectacular route was (mostly) completed between 2006 and 2009.

Leaving the river and approaching Route 159 and the gorge; all looks innocent.

It was too hectic to take photos, so a bit of the narrow section from Google street view. Somehow looks calmer and no 18-wheelers in their views! And there is the train if you’d like.

This look after the gorge sums up my feelings. « That kinda sucked! »

The first day was about 65km to the pleasant and somewhat upscale town of Sankt Johann im Pomgau. It was a tougher day than expected for a number of reasons. It was all upstream and uphill, although there were not many big climbs. Second, we had a good headwind, which made even the flat river sections tiring. Finally, there is a gap in the route that requires you to ride on a narrow two lane road through a gorge.

The route continues on route 159 to Bischofshofen, but there was now a shoulder.

The worst section is from Salzachlamm to Werfen, which has about 5km without any shoulder, lots of trucks, and a barrier hemming you in on both sides. Yes, it was a bit sketchy and we had to grit our teeth a few times as large trucks approached at good speed from both directions. But it was daytime and we were fairly confident that the regional truck and car drivers would be looking for cyclists on this stretch.

Burg Honenwerfen loomed over us as we crested a small pass along the river. These valleys have been strategic trading routes for centuries.

So although we made it just fine, we asked ourselves, “would we ride it again?” No! So we have to recommend skipping it with a quick train train hop on the S3 (S-Bahn) from Golling to Werfen. It was the only traffic impacted gap in the otherwise enjoyable Alpe-Adria route, so we hope they figure out a solution in the gorge to make it a bit less stressful. It seemed that many cyclists rode to the restaurant near Pass Lueg and either turned around or perhaps got a shuttle as we saw no cyclists on the narrow and truck filled stretch. We now know why. It would be better if you’re on fast road or bike packing setup, as you’d be narrower and faster. For now, we can add it to the many stretches of road around the world we will only ride once!

But all good in Sankt Johann with a nice meal and white wine.

Day 2 of the route brought peaceful and rolling climbs away from the main roads. Our favorite kind of touring.

Turning up the valley towards Bad Gastein, there a few long tunnels with protected bikeways. Noise cancelling earbuds are awesome for loud tunnel stretches!

Ah, this is more like it, a new and separate bike/ped tunnel! Overall, we were impressed with Austrian cycle infrastructure as it seemed to have more recent investment than Germany.

Our next day to Bad Gastein was dramatic and all along quiet roads and paths. The profile was again mostly uphill as we continued towards the main spine of the Alps. But the long profile hid some of the up and down rolling terrain along the edge of the valley. It was fun (roller coaster!) but the last stretch up to Bad Gastein was very steep so required some pushing and patience.

The mighty falls in Bad Gastein are a constant sight and sound in the lower part of the city.

The heated rooftop infinity pool at Bade Schloss felt so good. There’s a sauna too.

And great pizza refuel at Pizza Napoli, which seems to be run by one passionate chef/owner.

The rewards of swing season cycle touring.

The terrace at Bade Schloss looking across at their sister hotel, the Straubinger Grand. It was chilly but atmospheric.

The reward was the « discovery » of Bad Gastein, as we hadn’t ever heard of it prior to this journey. We highly recommend a stop here and staying at the Bade Schloss hotel if possible. (It was a bargain in late September) It just reopened in 2023 with a dramatic remodel to three historic buildings, as well as a new 14 story concrete tower. Ok, the tower is a bit of a sight from afar, but the rooms and rooftop pool are wonderful. And the setting next to the roaring falls incredible. It’s a faded spa town with belle epoque buildings and a bit of a Wes Anderson vibe.

Fueled up for the short ride to the pass in our well used rain gear.

Constant cascades to please the senses, a slight reward for all the rain.

Getting close, but don’t panic, that’s not OUR train!

Buying tickets for the Tauerbahn in Böckstein. Only 4 bikes on this rainy late September Day. It’s about €10 each, a bargain to avoid a 1000m climb (and snow.).

The nice thing about stopping in Bad Gastein for the night was that it was just a relatively easy 7km climb to the train portal. Yup, the official Alpe Adria does not go up and over the highest passes, but utilizes the hourly Tauernbahn shuttle between the Austrian States of Salzburg and Carinthia. The 10 minute train ride takes cars and bikes through the mountain and is a fun way to feel both the accomplishment of a pass without the reality of a high pass, including weather challenges in late September. (Note that the tunnel will be closed until July 2025 for engineering works.)

A chance to chat with some friendly Germans from Düsseldorf. Apparently in summer, there can be over 100 bikes jammed in this train car

We emerged on the Carinthian side of the tunnel to even heavier rain, so decided to try to wait it out a bit before heading down the next valley. But fun to watch the cars load on the next train.

Contrary to our hope for sunshine on the southern side of the train pass; the rain just got heavier as we headed down the fairly steep and relentless switchbacks on the other side. My disc brake pads even started to crystallize a bit trying to control my loaded tanks’ speed. But eventually the rain ended and the terrain flattened out and we made our way to Spittal am der Drau for the night. Another relatively short but memorable day.

The amazing works of vertical infrastructure in the Austrian Alps.

And unlike most of Germany, plenty of public Trinkwasser

Rare spot to duck out of the rain on another mizzle-y day to Villach.

A welcome coffee stand for this coffee achiever.

The locals provided their own rest stops for cyclists on the Alpe-Adria. This sprawling one had lots of food, bike repair supplies and a guest book. All free with donation box -:).

The friendly but somewhat incongruous Hacienda Mexicana hotel and restaurant in Spittal am der Brau. The room was good, and I’d love to say we found good Mexican Food in the middle of Austria, but …

The next day was another relentlessly rainy day with few places to stop and escape the weather. This is definitely a challenge on many long distance cycle routes; there may be lots of nice benches and even tables, but there are rarely covered rest areas, so bridge underpasses or farmers barn overhangs become your best bets.

Lots of cool bridge and tunnel engineeing in Austria.

Overnight in Villach, an enjoyable stop at the recommended Palais 26 Hotel.

Typical picnic lunch near the Italian border. Focaccia with various toppings are the new go to quick snack at small stores and groceries Note my mini bottle of Serrano Hot Sauce -:).

As we rode over the second pass into Italy, we could notice the terrain and vegetation changing somewhat from the north side of the Alps. The most popular and scenic part of the route is the downhill decent from Tarvisio to Venzone along the former Pontebba rail route. It’s a spectacular route of viaducts, tunnels, and waterfalls.

Also so close to Slovenia here…it was tempting!

Heading out for an all downhill day from the lovely AlBuondi B&B in Camparosso.

The stretch of former railway starts here and is perfect cycling bliss.

The Pontebba Railway was converted into this segment of the route in the 2000s. There is a newer (and straighter) rail line that now traverses the pass and valley.

And too many tunnels to count…
(ok there are 22)

Always great to see a Critical Mass sticker elsewhere in the world. Not to mention an arty Woodstock -:)

Most of the original rail bridges were retrofitted for trail use.

After a relaxing night at an apartment in the old town of Venzone, we took the recommendation of our cyclist host and rode an alternate route to Udine via the west side of the river valley and eventually back through San Gabriele del Fruili to Udine. The route was very nice and had some steep hills, a surprise pro bike race, and a chance to sample its famous prosciutto.

Vemzone is a tiny walled town that you can explore in a few hours.

Venzone suffered two devastating earthquakes in 1976, but showed amazing resiliency by rebuilding most historic buildings block by (numbered) block.

This rubble in the center of Venzone is a reminder that not everything got rebuilt from the quakes.

Renato, our friendly and helpful apartment host in Venzone.

The sign for bicycle friendly lodging in Italy.

Bike storage for the night protected by cats.

The area around Venzone is now a seismic and building engineering research center, with various reinforcement and repair designs being tested in real time on historic structures.

The beautiful and broad Tagliamento River.

Off the Alpe Adria, but still nice regional routes.

The story of Ottavio Bottechia, the first Italian winner of the Tour De France was more intriguing than we imagined.

This giant roadside bicycle memorial in Girona del Fruili celebrated 100 years since his historic 1924 Tour win. His body was found injured and unconscious here in 1927 and he died shortly thereafter after. Was he murdered? Too liberal for Mussolini? The mystery remains.

It’s a nice reminder but we did notice that the Italian drivers were more agressive and less considerate than their Austrian counterparts.

Watching for the Eurasian Gryphons at the Riserva Naturale Regionale del Lago di Cornino

The gryphons have been successfully reintroduced and protected across southern Europe. We spotted a bunch with impressive wingspans up to 8 feet.

San Gabriele del Friuli is famous for its buttery and luscious prosciutto.

There was a bike race starting in the center of San Gabriele, so we got our prosciutto supplies and headed out of town a quiet way down into a steep river valley. Quiet, so we thought!

Suddenly not so quiet as the motorbikes cleared the way for the race.

Cheryl caught on a steep climb by the field. She was not amused but the spectators were.

Cheryl literally got overtaken by the peloton on her touring bike and we were still laughing about it.

Finally done with our Alpe-Adria adventure; the happy cyclists in Udine, Italy

So we almost did the entire Alpe-Adria route except the last flat stretch to Prado. We diverted west at Udine towards Milan as we had a hard deadline with our long distance train back to Geneva and hoped to find some more rolling hills. But more on that soon in our next post. Ciao!