Category Archives: Travel

Brugge (Part 2) – Summer 2022

By the time H. and I managed to tear ourselves away from work long enough to organise a much-needed holiday, all the hotels were booked up or too expensive.  The fares had also gone up.  So our plans to go … Continue reading

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Brugge (Part 1) – 2009

I felt at home there even as I wheeled my suitcase from the train station. The mid-August sun was setting behind the rooftops on Züdzandstraat, the crow-stepped gables that looked like stairways to the sky.  “I think there’s an error … Continue reading

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“Jerusalema” on the Parvis

A wedding party is spilling out of the sternly robust 19th-century church that stands on the edge of the Parvis.  The eye is immediately drawn to the splendid bride, skin like molten chocolate against the white lace dazzling in the … Continue reading

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From a Word that Means “Bridge”

Brugge. That’s what I want to call it from now on.   It’s in Flanders, not Wallonia.   How typical of the Anglophones – the British in particular –  to use its French name by default.  We haven’t grown out … Continue reading

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The Lady of Paris

When I first saw her, a few weeks ago, while crossing the Pont Saint-Michel, she looked like the ghost of a bygone age, her earthly life a memory, her soul gone from the stone.  Grey against the bleak, overcast night … Continue reading

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Queuing Outside la Comédie Française

Night is slowly permeating the evening sky in Place André Malraux.  The rain has eased into a steady drizzle and the yellow street lamps have come on.  The air is imbued with car exhaust fumes and roast chestnuts.  A smell … Continue reading

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Milan: Behind the Façade

I guess it was appropriate that my first conversation in Milan should have been about fashion.  H. and I just had lunch at Stazione Centrale and were leaving the restaurant, trolley suitcases in tow, when I noticed a young woman … Continue reading

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Paris to Rome by Train

“Why can’t we take the train?” “What – all the way?” H. gives me his your-quirkiness-is-turning-into-madness look.  “It’s – it’s –” “The longest leg would be just twelve hours,” I filled in, smiling sweetly.  “If you went to Australia, you’d have to … Continue reading

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Summer Night in Trastevere

Streets bustling with tourists who walk slowly, looking up, right and left, mouths half open, stopping abruptly to take a photo, holding up the locals, those whose footsteps have a specific destination, who no longer look at the sights because … Continue reading

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Santa Sabina

When we were in Rome, a couple of weeks ago, I insisted we go and see “my favourite church in Rome”.  The first church I ever liked, to which I owe my introduction to, and love for, early sacred music. … Continue reading

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