Travel, Happiness and Simple Living During Retirement
By Marie Sherlock This is the fifth (and likely the last!) in my series of photo essays on The Arches of France. This time we’re traveling to the Burgundy region to visit Noyers-sur-Surein. Noyers-sur-Surein is a spectacular medieval village about two hours southeast of Paris. It’s a joy to saunter along its cobblestoned lanes while…
By Marie Sherlock This is the third in my series of photo essays on the archways, passages, vaults, and tunnels of small French towns. More to come! Pérouges (in Eastern France, about 25 miles northeast of Lyon) is not typical of the places I’ve visited. It’s decidedly more touristy. It now exists (to a large…
By Marie Sherlock Last week I started posting a series of photo essays on “The Arches of France.” Actually, “essay” is a stretch; they’re mostly just photos because I haven’t uncovered much information on these enchanting architectural details aside from the fact that they are very, very old and appear to have the structural/functional quality…
By Marie Sherlock Note: This is the last – for now! – in a string of posts on The Doors of France. I reserve the right to travel to France, take copious photos of amazing entryways – and continue this series. 🙂 If you are an aficionado – or, at minimum, a wannabe aficionado, as…
By Marie Sherlock Brittany – in the far northwest corner of France – is often overlooked by travelers. It shouldn’t be. Along with a rugged and breathtaking coastline, it is home to a distinct architecture and culture, even a second language (Breton) – it was, indeed, a separate country up until 1532. And it’s the…
By Marie Sherlock I had never heard of France’s Haute-Loire area before I planned to travel there – and only then because it was, more or less, a midway point between two other destinations. Turns out it’s a stunningly beautiful departement of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alps region. (French Geography Lesson: There are 13 regions in France –…
I didn’t set out to put together a series of photographic essays on “The Doors of (Small Town) France.” In late 2017, I was working on several articles on “Les Plus Beaux Villages de France” (France’s Most Beautiful Small Towns) and found myself mesmerized and gravitating toward the whimsical, varied and sometimes inexplicably small, odd…
By Marie Sherlock Travel – if done correctly – is always a learning experience. Traveling to a country whose language is foreign to you and then attempting to absorb said language while there amounts to a learning experience – on steroids. As part of my half-century (!) attempt to master the French language, I’ve had…
By Marie Sherlock First World Problem Alert! I wrote this back in the fall of 2015 when we had the privilege of spending a full month in France. I penned this during the fourth week of our adventure. Before I launch into this blog, I need to make it perfectly clear: We are still having…
By Marie Sherlock True confessions: I am a Francophile. While Americans are fond of denigrating the French, citing their haughty waiters, their enduring disdain for foreigners, and their apparent physical inability to pick up their dog droppings, I remain an admirer of nearly all-things-French. It likely started with my dear French-Canadian grandmother who spoke a…