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TRAVEL
Summer 2012: Operation “Hometown Traveler”
An early kick-off to summer in Halifax at OpenCity on May 16-17 gave me lots to think about. Mostly, about how I’m going to spend the summer here at home in Nova Scotia before my next travel adventure in the fall.
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Paris trip journal: inside the Opéra Garnier
Long before I ever visited, my friend and guest poster Janet (read her A t0 Z!) visited Paris and shot this amazing photo outside of the Opéra Garnier (also known as the Palais Garnier) in Paris.
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Postcard: Highway dinosaur
Out of town for a couple of days for work. No road trip is complete without a stop at Mastodon Ridge in Stewiacke for sustenance, mini golf, and the last mastodon. The Lastodon, if you will.
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Paris trip journal: Shopping at the Puces flea markets is not for amateurs
The Paris flea markets, in my case the Puces de Saint-Ouen at the Porte de Clignancourt, are a shopper’s delight. From furniture belonging to pre-Revolutionary rich folks to vintage Chanel suits to human skeletons to every kind of taxidermied animal you can im...
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Souvenirs, jewelry, and “wearable memories”
sou·ve·nir [soo-vuh-neer] noun
1. a usually small and relatively inexpensive article given, kept,or purchased as a reminder of a place visited, an occasion,etc.; memento.
2. a memory
(Thanks, dictionary.com!)
For lots of practical financial reasons, travel...
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Paris trip journal: Champagne tasting in Reims
First, nothing about pronouncing the word “Reims” is phonetic. As far as I could tell, the pronounciation is closer to “rahnce.” Kind of like “France,” but not really.
Reims or Epernay?
When I was in Barcelona last year, I went on cava tour at Freixenet in S...
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Cordoba’s festival of patios and flowers
I loved visiting Spain in the autumn, with its cooler weather and smaller crowds. However, there’s a lot to be said for visiting in the spring, when Andalucia is in full-on celebration mode. In Cordoba, better known as the home of the amazing Mezquita, May 2-1...
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Paris trip journal: Photo challenge – new angles on the Eiffel Tower
Whether a first-time visitor to Paris or returning again, you’re going to take pictures of the Eiffel Tower. According to a group of Cornell University researchers who analyzed over 35 million images on flickr, the Eiffel Tower is the most-photographed landmar...
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Paris trip journal: French Presidential election, round 1
As a person who stays up-to-date on news – and has lived through many, many elections at home in North America – I was intrigued by the prospect of being in France for Round 1 of the French presidential election on Sunday, 22 April, 2012. On the eve of the sec...
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Paris trip journal: A walk along the Promenade Plantée
I love public green spaces and being elevated – it’s a “being short” thing. Put those things together and it usually results in something that becomes a one of my favourite things, like the High Line in New York. I had equally high hopes for the Promenade Plan...
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New Paris vocabulary: poppy, un coquelicot
Immersing myself in a French language environment normally yields some new vocabulary or delightful phrases, and my recent trip to Paris was no exception.
I love poppies, they’re among my favourite flowers and one of the only reasons I want a garden. My first...
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Departures & Arrivals: Volume 4 - HFX to VRA
1. sun & palms everywhere
2. nerd alert: game of thrones = read of the week
3. ebay find: marc jacobs tote for beach essentials
4. best mojito ever created - fresh mint grew everywhere simply for this purpose!
5. handsome hubby chill-axing on our catamaran...
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Paris trip journal: a surprise Art Nouveau church in Montmartre
Arriving in Paris, the top priority was dumping the luggage and diving head-first into the city. Seeking croissant and café along Rue des Abbesses, I was distracted by a church with open doors.
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A €9,25 «Bienvenue à Paris!» gift
Upon arriving at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, the options for getting into the city range from cheap to ridiculous. My preference is for the cheap route, which is why I take the RER train. I also loathe sitting in traffic, and that’s pretty easy to avoid ...
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Home again: anything to declare?
I’m back home in Halifax after an exhilarating week in Paris that went by far too quickly. After traveling for 24 hours yesterday, my brain is mostly mush and the only thing I can recall (presently) is my many experiences with customs and passport control.
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Postcard: Marc Jacobs & Canal St-Martin
A very successful Thursday spent enjoying the Louis Vuitton-Marc Jacobs retrospective at Musée des Arts Decoratifs after a morning at the gorgeous Canal St-Martin.
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Postcard: nous sommes arrivées!
After a long day of travel, we’re toasting our arrival with the finest €3 bottle of rosé we could find across the street from our hotel. À votre santé!
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Packing for a week in Paris
Programming note: the blog is going on a wonky schedule for the next week because I’m off to Paris!
It’s been a long winter, so when my friend M suggested a trip away was required, I was pretty easy to convince. A week in Paris in April, what could be better?...
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Guest post: Awesome Amherst by L-A
Today, friends, we are in for another guest post treat. L-A, my long-time friend and boss over at Fashionable People, Questionable Things went on an unexpectedly epic road trip a couple of weeks ago to Amherst, Nova Scotia. She required very little convincing ...
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Vintage travel: St. John’s, Newfoundland,1960 (or 2012)
More vintage travel fun from Canada’s youngest province, Newfoundland and Labrador. This 1960 Canadian travel promotion ad featuring St. John’s, NL – the oldest city in North America – is remarkably timeless.
Hair: If only I could pull that off.
Sunglasses: ...
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New York dreaming
I don't know why, but I love this picture of New York! Lower East side. The Surtex show is happening this May 20-22 and I REALLY would love to go. How amazing and inspirational to explore it and then maybe get a booth there one day.
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Favourite places: The bird market of Paris
Where I live, if you want a pet, you go to a shelter. You may go to a pet store for a bird or other small critter. Much like how I fell in love with everything about the way they do everything, Paris wins for the ways to buy a bird. Six days a week, Place Loui...
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Vintage travel: Northwest Orient Airlines’ four types of travelers
I love vintage travel advertising that caters to specific traveler archetypes, and this one covers all of most prevalent ones from the 1950s. For what it’s worth, I would totally wear the stylin’ orange travel suit, but with far better shoes for walking.
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Unicorns!
I was pretty chuffed to learn recently that Klout considers me influential about unicorns, so I will have to demonstrate my bona fides. Before this revelation, I only knew unicorns as mythical creatures who frequent fantasy-genre art and were among the first g...
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Vintage travel: Antigua, Guatemala
With Easter coming up, let’s celebrate the world’s most elaborate Easter celebrations. Few places in the world have more elaborate celebrations than Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala. The streets are taken over by intricate carpets of flower petals, which las...
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Sunday reading
10 ways to experience a city like a local (Hostelbookers) Easy tips for better travel experiences.
Free Amsterdam mini-guide – PDF link (Lonely Planet Magazine) Since most of my guest posters have strongly recommended Amsterdam, this mini-guide from LP is a g...
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Not Since Moses 2012 – run across the floor of the ocean!
I just checked the site and it appears Not Since Moses registration is now open! I first discussed this event – and my deep affection for it - in an earlier post published on January 19, 2012. For the uninitiated, it’s simply too much fun:
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Vintage travel: Newfoundland, the New-Fun-Land
I have a deep and abiding love for Newfoundland and Labrador, despite the fact I have seen very little of it. I love this poster for so many reasons, let me count the ways:
1. Newfoundland and Labrador is fun. Crazy fun. Some of the nicest people on Earth, to...
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My last hometown trek (of the 2012 Halifax transit strike)
During the coldest – therefore the most Canadian – part of our winter, my hometown of Halifax experienced a six-week transit strike. Mercifully, the strike has since ended. Everyone has gone back to work, and things are getting back to normal. Normal enough, a...
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Vintage travel: Summer style at St Andrews By-the-Sea, New Brunswick
Another great crossover between fashion and vintage travel. This time, it’s the grand hotel charm of The Algonquin in St. Andrews By-the-Sea, New Brunswick. I had the pleasure of staying there a couple of years ago, and spent a lot of time pretending I was a g...
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Guest post: Travels from A to Z by Halifax ReTales
Today’s guest post is from a new Twitter friend, Arthur of Halifax ReTales. He runs a very active blog and Twitter feed chronicling activity in the Halifax retail and restaurant scene. We talk about food a lot. A LOT.
A: Age you went on your first trip.
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My 10 travel essentials
As a packing fetishist, I have honed my list of travel essentials over years of work and leisure trips. With a near-religious enthusiasm for packing lighter and better with each trip, I have found the following items to be absolutely essential for traveling li...
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Guest post: My travels from A to Z by Vanessa
I have to tell you, I’m love having guest bloggers. Not only does it let me bank some posts for the next time I’m super-busy, I’m getting far too many great travel ideas. Vanessa and I know each other internettily, through a pretty great bunch of real-life mut...
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NYC, Union Square, and Manhattanhenge?
The last time I was in New York, I stayed just off Union Square. It was an amazing location, just a few steps away from the 14th St-Union Square subway interchange – connecting with at least six lines – and a little removed from the throngs of tourists around ...
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Scary storks in Morocco
If you had told me some of the most terrifying creatures on Earth are storks, I would not have believed you.
We saw a lot of storks in Morocco. In Marrakech in particular, they were everywhere. They look unassuming, despite their rather large numbers.
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Sunday reading
How to travel on a special diet (Lonely Planet)
Notes after 4 months in Guatemala Notes after 4 months in Guatemala
Dealing with bedbugs while traveling (Finding the Universe) Great, great, great, great article about one of travel’s true terrors!
25 Reasons...
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