Paris, as we all know, is called the “City of Light”, for reasons both literal and figurative– the thousands of lights that illuminate it, as well as its link to the Age of Enlightenment, in which numerous philosophers, scientists and thinkers pushed the world out of medieval darkness. We returned home to Ottawa last night from Paris, on…

One of the many reasons that D and I both enjoy returning to France so often is that with very rare exception, we have always eaten well here. Whether we shop in the markets for fresh, local ingredients and cook at home in our rented apartment, or eat lunch at an informal café, or have dinner at a…

The internet has certainly changed the way that D and I travel. Gone are the days when we hauled thick, heavy travel guides in our back packs, one for each country we planned to visit on a month-long trip. We used to have to purchase calling cards to be able to call family in Canada…

A very short (35 minute) train ride took us from Strasbourg to Colmar today, where their annual Christmas market opened on Nov 20, and will run daily through Christmas. Colmar is a beautiful, very well-preserved medieval town. It is ready for Christmas already on Nov 22, the main core already awash in Christmas décor, and the…

We locked up our Paris apartment on Friday and took the train to Strasbourg for the weekend. Originally, we had hoped to rent a car here and take a day trip to Freiburg, Germany, at the suggestion of a German engineer that D had met on a business trip in St. John’s, Newfoundland back in…