paris | Maple Danish

Transforming Touristing

Posted on February 23, 2017February 23, 2017 by admin

In most of my encounters with Paris, I have tried not to come across as a tourist. I’ve failed, of course; even when I try to speak French, I’m a sore thumb the moment I open my mouth. Recently, I’ve enjoyed recasting myself as a mystery tourist – too polite to be American, yet too…

Transforming Perfection

Posted on February 17, 2017 by admin

I am sitting upstairs in Café Verlet, a fancy salon de thé about a block from the Louvre. Outside, snow trickles onto hats and umbrellas, but inside the heat is cranked way up. As my waitress brings me my cat-poop coffee, she checks to make sure I am not too hot. “No, no,” I say,…

Transforming (Actual) Railroads

Posted on February 11, 2017 by admin

Is there any form of transport more civilized than rail? You might not think it, to travel by train in Canada, where our ambitious, continent-spanning rail empire has shriveled down to a smattering of grungy, truck-stop stations linked by shabby trains with erratic, unhelpful timetables. Here in Europe, it takes only a small taste to…

Transforming Paris

Posted on February 3, 2017 by admin

“You finally got me to Paris,” Says my daughter teasingly as we emerge from the warren of corridors that connect Gare de Lyon with half a dozen Métro lines and RER stations. She has a point; we’ve been living in France for five months, and I’ve made several daytrips from Lille, but P hasn’t been…

Transforming Daytripping

Posted on November 16, 2016 by admin

One of the reasons we chose Lille as our sabbatical home is its position as carrefour – a crossroads, or jumping-off point to northern Europe. Lille is in the northernmost part of France, and thanks to Europe’s excellent high-speed train network, it’s within 2 hours’ travel of Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Cologne and Frankfurt, and…

Transforming Inspiration

Posted on September 21, 2016September 21, 2016 by admin

The Itinerary: 7h00: Up and about, breakfast and teeth, check my checklist for a daytrip to the Big City! 8h15: Walk X to school. His mom just got him a scooter, so he’ll be fully occupied with keeping his balance on the cobblestones. Tell him S will pick him up. 8h30: My train leaves at…