Category: travel
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How I navigate international travel as the daughter of two moms
During a wine tasting we attended in Paris’ 11th arrondissement my partner and I met lots of lovely expats. Over the course of our conversation I learned that my neighbor had just gotten engaged to her French girlfriend. So, naturally I brought up my family: my queer, non-heteronormative, two-mom family. She asked the questions that…
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How to allow yourself rest while traveling
Originally written Sunday November 13 Yesterday I went to hot yoga and afterwards met my partner, Ernie, for lunch at Bouche in Paris’ 11th arrondissement. From brunch we wandered around what is becoming a familiar region of Paris to us: the Marais and Canal St. Martin in the 11th, 3rd, and 4th arrondissements. Once the…
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The Paris Syndrome
Paris Syndrome is an extreme form of culture shock that tourists, particularly Japanese tourists, experience on their first trip to Paris. The main symptom (though not technically classified in the DSM-V) is a paralyzing and overwhelming feeling of disappointment sometimes accompanied by nausea and dizziness. The Paris of tourists’ imagination (presented in movies like Amélie…
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How to enjoy Parisian art museums
Art is best enjoyed over time. Seated. Quiet. Notebook and pen in hand. I’ve always been drawn to write l for as long as I can remember, even scribbling in a notebook alone in my room, “writing” if my moms asked me what I was doing. My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Reitzel, was the first person in…
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The luxury of the metro
I expected to write every day in my journal or notebook from quaint Parisian cafes, pen in hand. Instead I’ve written mostly in the ‘in-between times’ on the metro. The metro is a meeting of peoples and cultures. Of phones ringing and people speaking in French, Hindi, German, Spanish, Mandarin, Italian, and Wolof. Some people…
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Parisian café vignettes
The view of Parisians’ lives that I have is largely a public one. I see Parisians bustle from one engagement to the next. The spill onto café sidewalks, coffee in one hand, cigarette in another. They squeeze onto the metro at rush hour and read their books. So much of their lives have to happen…
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Yoga classes in Paris
Missives from a rainy, Parisian Sunday Yesterday I went to a yoga class in French at Paris’ Modo Yoga. I’ve practiced yoga in the United States for 15 years now, but I had never taken a yoga class in French. How better to improve my French than to jump in with both feet and learn…
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10 changes I’ve seen in Paris in the last decade
8 years have passed since I studied abroad in France and since then so much has changed. Here are some changes I’ve noticed about Paris now vs. 2014. 1: You know what wasn’t popular when I lived here in 2014? Halloween and eating pumpkins! Every bakery and bank we walk into has a Halloween display…
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The best pain au chocolat in Paris
One bite of a pain au chocolat changed my life the other day. I picked out this particular pastry from the eye-catching selection at Tapisserie in the 11th. I could wax eloquent for an eternity about how good this pain au chocolat was. It was perfection: a crisp, flaky pastry exterior + dark chocolate interior…
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Getting sick + healing in Paris
Being sick is hard. Being sick in France is hard *in French*. It’s not glamorous, and it’s not cute but thankfully… it’s not COVID! When I first started feeling sick a couple days ago, as we Americans do, I defaulted to my usual solution: better living through chemistry. I popped out to my local pharmacy…
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What to do when you leave a belonging on your flight
Where: Charles de Gaulle airport; Originally written 10/13 I’ve been in Paris for two hours. Well, let me clarify, I’ve been in the Paris airport for two hours. I deplaned and navigated my way through customs in an hour. But, at baggage claim, I realized I had left my yoga mat on the plane. My…
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The Paris Project
I just wrapped up my fabulous yoga retreat in Morocco (more on that later), and today is my first full day in Paris, where I’ll be for a whole month. I could not be more excited! My partner and I will stay in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. I’m unfamiliar with this neighborhood, but my…