Our recent trip to D-Day cemeteries in Normandy was a moving reminder that remembering the fallen honors sacrifice on both sides. You can't help but be moved, even in victory, by the futility and insanity of war. As our day in Normandy with tour guide Colin McGarry concluded in fading afternoon light, we visited the German and American D-Day cemeteries. La Cambe We hadn't requested a stop at La Cambe, the German cemetery, but true to form as he had been throughout the day, Colin knew to Continue Reading
High Speed Train Travel: Paris-Zurich Aboard TGV Lyria
TGV Lyria is the high speed train from Paris to Zurich We'd been looking forward to christening the train travel portion of our latest trip to Europe aboard TGV Lyria. This high speed train from Paris to Zurich was part of a transportation-packed day which ended in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse, literally "high speed train"), a subsidiary of the French National Railway system (SNCF), was envisioned in the 1970's. Over the next 30 years, high speed rail networks developed Continue Reading
Normandy D-Day Tour, Part 1: Utah Beach and Ste-Marie-du-Mont
A Normandy D-Day tour is a great way to commemorate the Allied invasion's 75th Anniversary A visit to the beaches of Normandy is on many a bucket list. With the D-Day 75th Anniversary on June 6, 2019, a Normandy D-Day tour is a great way to pay your respects to the Greatest Generation, who brought forth a pivotal moment in WWII with their sacrifice and courage. Where is Normandy, France and where are the U.S.-relevant sites of the Normandy invasion? This first map of Normandy (click images twice Continue Reading
Paris in Winter Has a Perfectly Lovely Patina
We had one full day in Paris in winter. Tempting as it would have been to load an agenda furiously full, we went unscripted. January had washed Paris in a misty sepia. We set out on the relatively short walk from our Trocadero hotel toward the Eiffel Tower, inhaling the city and saying very little. As we ascended the Tower, the patina of Paris in winter further softened. It lay before us like a painting, shrouded, mysterious, subdued. Along the Quai Continue Reading
Bringing a Bit of Paris Back Home
This is a guest post from Catherine Lavinia. Are you a compulsive souvenir collector? Do you spend far too much of your holiday combing the visitor gift shops for souvenirs and presents to bring back for friends family and work colleagues? If so you have our sympathy; it is a very difficult habit to break. However many times we visit Paris there is always something we feel compelled to bring back home; though far too much of it seems to have an image of the Eiffel tower printed or embossed on Continue Reading