HKs Travels

What an adventure! From January 6-18, Tom and I were down in the southern hemisphere of Africa, "overlanding" with Africa Travel Company (ATC) from Vic Falls to Jo'burg--meaning we travelled in a 23-passenger truck, pitched and slept in tents (often in the rain because it was the rainy season down there), and ate outdoors, helping the cook and cleaning up afterwards. The other members of the group were mostly young Aussies and New Zealanders who'd actually started in Nairobi and gone through Tanzania and Malawi. Our guide was a Belgian; the driver and cook were South African. ATC provided the transport, the food, and the tents; we brought along our own sleeping bags and air mattresses. We began our journey in Paris on January 4th, flying to Heathrow to catch our overnight British Airways flight to ... read more

Washington, Maryland and Virginia showed us their fall colors from October 16-28. We were fortune to have lovely weather as well --it was "the calm before the storm" of Hurricane Sandy. The main purpose of the trip was to attend Tom's 55th class reunion from his high school, the Landon School, in Bethesda, Maryland. We attended events there, but we were also able to visit Washington, in particular the Mall, with its great monuments and memorials, as well as the very impressive Holocaust Museum and George Washington's house in Mt. Vernon. While Tom was at the school Saturday afternoon, I also got to the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian's American History Museum. While in D.C., we stayed with my college friend (thank you, Suzy!) and were able to have dinner with my oral history ... read more

Well, I got back to the San Francisco Bay Area and am getting acclimated again to life here. Tom and I have had two lovely weekends since my return: one camping for 3 nights at the City of Berkeley's camp at Echo Lake (near Lake Tahoe in the Sierras); the other a wedding in Healdsburg (Sonoma wine country) and a half a day at Bodega and Bodega Bay on the Coast. I hope you enjoy the photos!... read more

Following my stay in London, I took the train from Waterloo Station down to Wareham in Dorset. Sandra, my British friend, was waiting there in her black sports car to get me, and we drove to her home in Swanage, a lovely beach resort town on the coast. I'd been there to visit her two years previously and was delighted to be back for a 3-day stay. The weather was cool and windy. It would rain, and then all of a sudden the sun would come out, and then it would rain again. The sea was much too cold (for me,at least) to go swimming as I had last time, but I nevertheless took full advantage of the sea air and very much enjoyed my walks, not only in Swanage, but also further along the coast ... read more

To my mind, nothing boosts the morale as much as sun and surf. After living near San Francisco Bay from January till June, I have been feeling "land-locked" back at my place in Paris. I've also missed seeing the sun. So, when a bit of summer weather finally came to northern France a few days ago, yesterday I headed to the coast. I couldn't get away for more than a day, but that was plenty of time to have a "change of ideas", as the French say. My destination was Deauville and its neighboring town, Trouville, in Normandy. I chose them because they are easily accessible from Paris (only a two-hour train-ride away) and because they both have wide, sandy beaches. In addition, Deauville has amenities that I really appreciate: wooden planks or "planches" ... read more