Happy Fourth Anniversary Looks and Leaps

by Wendy

January is the anniversary of the Looks and Leaps blog project. Thanks go to family members who write and edit posts, and to readers (who are probably for the most part these same family members). Thanks to everyone who has offered a kind word of encouragement on or offline.

I read that fruit and flowers are traditional presents for the fourth anniversary, so I’ve pulled together photos on this theme from previous years of travel. Many of these were taken by family members, who I also thank for their superior photography skills. The top one depicts flowers outside a pub in London, where I wish we could gather to toast travel stories and travel with family and another year of both. Continue reading →

Get Back

by Wendy
Get back home. Get back to work. Get back to nature. Get back to the routine. Get back into a fitness routine. Get back to blogging. Get back to where you once belonged.

It can be hard to get back into the daily rhythm after a busy summer of travel. One way of easing the transition is to find something new to appreciate in your city. Jack and I recently visited the National Arboretum in DC for the first time, loved it, and went back a few weeks later. As you can see from Jack’s beautiful photography, this is a gorgeous place. Continue reading →

Americans Drinking in Paris Part Two: Harry’s New York Bar

by Wendy
Bar Hemingway at the Ritz was brilliant, but it was not our favorite bar of this recent visit to Paris. Harry’s New York Bar has its own illustrious past and list of notable patrons, including Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Gershwin, Rita Hayworth, and even James Bond. Continue reading →

Americans Drinking in Paris Part One: Bar Hemingway

by Wendy
The weather is cool as Jack and I walk from our hotel to Place Vendome, a large fashionable square particularly striking as its lights glow against the evening sky. My heels click on the cobblestones and I pull on my trench coat, trying to channel a chic Parisienne. We are going to Bar Hemingway in the legendary Paris Ritz, one of the top luxury hotels in the world.

This well-known bar is on the Paris itinerary of many fans of both Ernest Hemingway’s brilliant writing and the drinks he loved. I know from research that it’s perfectly fine to visit the bar without staying overnight here, but am still impressed by the hotel staff’s cordial welcome as we enter through the revolving door. Continue reading →

The Rooftops of Beaune

by Wendy
Beaune is a beautiful walled city in the French region of Burgundy, about 2 1/2 hours from Paris by train. Besides the vineyards, Beaune’s tourist attractions include the Hotel Dieu, or Hospices de Beaune, a charity hospital from the 15th century founded by a wealthy aristocratic couple. Its brightly tiled roof is striking, refurbished in the early 1900s.

As Jack and I checked into our Beaune hotel, it was one of the first things the concierge mentioned. “You’ve noticed our famous roof?” Continue reading →

Beaune Day to Night

by Wendy
When I’m feeling stressed or in a bad mood or wondering when gloomy, humid rain is going change to decent fall weather, travel memories are often an antidote. I keep thinking back to about three weeks ago when Jack and I were lucky to visit Beaune, France. I look at photos and read my journal and type on this blog, and it’s the next best thing to a time-machine. Let’s go… Continue reading →

Meet Me in St Louis

by Wendy
One of my favorite work trips this summer was to St. Louis. Sure, the meetings I attended were interesting . . . but I was also able to meet Dad and my brother in law Jimmy for a baseball game!

Longtime Cardinals fans Dad and Jimmy arrived in St. Louis in time to catch a Tuesday evening game. After work wrapped up on Wednesday, I took a taxi to meet them downtown. Continue reading →