UPDATED OCTOBER 2020: Because I travel without a fixed itinerary and on a strict budget, I usually move around countries/continents by bus. But as I began making plans to visit France, friends warned me that this would not be an option, as France does not have a well established bus system. Everyone insisted that the … Read more
Experts disagree how Paris came to be known as the “City of Light.” According to the official City of Paris website, the nickname was originally bestowed upon the city “because it was a vast center of education and ideas during the Age of Enlightenment.” Other sources state Paris was dubbed City of Light in 1828 … Read more
I had a plan for the Louvre Museum in Paris. According to the museum’s website, nearly six million people each year view some of the 35,000 works of art displayed in its 652,000+ square feet of exhibition space. Because most of these six million want to see the museum’s most famous lady, the Mona Lisa is surrounded … Read more
It didn’t have a great view. I slept on a click-clack sofa bed that was little more than an Ikea futon and the kitchen was the size of a postage stamp. But the location of my Paris vacation rental apartment more than made up for its minor shortcomings. The longer I travel, the more I … Read more
I frequently travel solo to developing countries in the remotest corners of the world without the least bit of fear, but when it came time to visit France I was totally rattled. I don’t speak a word of French, but the inability to speak the local language had never bothered me before, yet every time … Read more
