In prior blog posts, I've commented on my search for inner peace. For purposes of this blog post, let inner peace and happiness mean essentially the same thing... life is good! It is said that "money...

What do white truffles, Nutella spread and Barolo wine have in common? Give up? All three come from Italy's Piemonte (or Piedmont) region, where life slows down and elevation ramps up in northwest It...

You’ve probably seen the headlines: mass protests in France. Maybe you read the details. And possibly even wondered for a second or two whether I’m safe over here. Fear not, loyal readers. Everything...

About 20 miles south of Avignon, Alpilles Natural Regional Park is a large nature preserve, described on google maps as full of "marked trails for hiking, biking and horse riding," and featuring "expa...

Greetings from Avignon, where it's raining today – perfect for writing a long post. Technically, Avignon is the prefecture of the Vaucluse department in a region of southern France. That's the equiva...

While our stay in Lyon was brief, it felt like a nonstop highlight reel. The Saône and the Rhône Rivers run through the older part of Lyon before merging as the Rhône at the southwest corner of the c...

There is a Burger King across the parking lot from our hotel here in Dijon. They do not put Dijon mustard on their whoppers. The word burger comes from the city of Hamburg, Germany, whose immigrants w...

Memory issues typically occur with dementia, but not always. Some types of dementia have other symptoms affecting mood, behavior or ability to function.

We arrived in Paris yesterday, after a walk to Utrecht Centraal, a train to Schiphol Amsterdam Airport, a walk to our gate, a flight to Aéroport de Paris-Charles de Gaulle, a walk to one of several tr...

Medicaid work requirements go into effect across the country on January 1, 2027. Work requirements have previously been applied to cash welfare and food assistance programs. But with the exception of a couple of demonstration...

So far we haven't withdrawn, used or even touched any Euro coins or currency. We use credit cards for everything and almost exclusively rely on public transportation. The last time I didn't own a car...

This story is part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak’s newsletter here.

When we took off on our "retired couple international travelers" lifestyle last December (Phase 1 was South America), one motivation was a desire to see more of the world. Another was to seek peace. W...

About 12 miles from Utrecht, the imposing Kasteel (Castle) de Haar is the largest castle in The Netherlands. We checked it out yesterday. Originally built in the 1300s, it passed to the Van Zuylen fam...

Today we took a short train ride from Utrecht to Amsterdam. And let me just say "Damn!" What a city. We enjoyed "An Irreverent Amsterdam" walking tour as well as a boat tour of the city's intricate c...

The Stadsbuitengracht Canal, which translates in english to City Outer Canal, was built in the 12th century partly as a moat-like line of defense for the medieval, fortified city of Utrecht, and also ...

You might not have known that, in college, I majored in philosophy. Now you do. One of the great philosophers of the 18th century Age of Enlightenment was Jean-Jacques Rousseau, born in Geneva where ...

The GOAT of Swiss cheeses is Le Gruyère AOP (or simply "Gruyère"), with the entire world's supply of Swiss Gruyère being made at one modest looking cheese factory in the town of Gruyėre, nestled in th...

Today would be Freddie Mercury's 80th birthday, and there's no better place to celebrate the legendary Queen front man than Montreux, Switzerland... where we arrived this morning. Montreux is about a...

Today was a busy sampling of some of what makes Geneva unique. We started at the Alley of Flags outside the United Nations' European headquarters building. Every member country's flag is represented,...

I expect to be in several cities that use "Old Town" to describe their historic city centers. Today we took a virtually guided walking tour of Geneva's Old Town (using a tour from Viator via the Voic...

Thoughts, stories and ideas.