In “Moving to France — Trying, Anyway” I chronicled the steps I took to be able to live in France for a year, and my first steps in finding a rental apartment and setting up a bank account. I’m over one month in now and can provide more of the…

Mini-tour of northern Italy In 2022, at this time of the year, we traveled by car to Italy from Nice to visit friends who have been renovating an old house since over ten years in Baragiotta. We explored a few towns along the way. The Italian border is very close…

I’m a born, but not bred, American. New York City was my home in later adult years, but once I left, I didn’t feel like returning. I moved to San Francisco to help take care of my grandchild, later grandchildren, but it never felt like home. Europe has the atmosphere…

Sausalito is arguably the most famous town in the Bay Area, outside of San Francisco, for tourists. Just about everyone I’ve known, and who has been to San Francisco, visited Sausalito, a charming town on the bay. There is a rather large marina with all kinds of sailboats, including many very large ones. A large variety of houseboats are also moored here; some are very artistic.

On Twitter — randomly as is often the case — I noticed the feed of @STPodcastHost, aka Elle Charisse, who created and managed a podcast about language, or rather, the languages of the world. I finally reached out to propose a podcast, but I was curious about how she got…

September 24 In the morning, we set off again, and sadly I had no time to shop: I would have liked to leave a few more dollars in Zimbabwe. …

A couple of months ago, my aunt through marriage, known as “Tantie Jessie” to the nephews and nieces, passed away in Douala at the age of 80. I was thankful to have seen her a while ago in Paris at the home of one of her daughters. She was a…

September 22 We packed up our belongings and tents, and drove to Main Camp — Hwange, which we had heard was wonderful. On the way out from Sinamatella, we needed to drop off our garbage at reception; there are no trash bins in the campsite. At Main Camp, we rented…

Day 3 — September 19 The next morning, we set off to Victoria Falls, where once again, as non-southern African visitors, we paid a higher entrance fee (fair enough). I was warned at the last minute that I should wear waterproof clothing — which (again) I hadn’t packed, so I put on a light hoodie…