Talk about great timing! We landed in Paris on June 24, smack during the record heat wave when the high temperature was over 100°. Did we pack enough lightweight clothes? No. Were we physically prepared for the heat? Hell, no. We did have two tubes of sunscreen in our luggage to deal with the relentless …
Tag: travel
Permanent link to this article: https://ediblethoughts.com/2026/07/06/paris-during-the-heat-wave-of-2026/
May 14 2025
One Bad Knee, Three Countries
Regular readers will recall that I trashed my left knee on a so-called family-friendly hike in Switzerland. I didn’t seek attention there because most of our destinations lacked medical facilities. I waited until I returned to the States to see a doctor. This is the saga of the knee over the last ten months. United …
Permanent link to this article: https://ediblethoughts.com/2025/05/14/one-bad-knee-three-countries/
May 01 2025
Getting Around in Paris – An Update
We were in Paris last week. We rented an apartment in the same building where we stayed three years ago. Unfortunately, the years have taken a toll on my knees. As a result, moving around the city – and even in and out of the building – has been painful. One of the original issues …
Permanent link to this article: https://ediblethoughts.com/2025/05/01/getting-around-in-paris-an-update/
Jul 15 2024
Ciao di Morcote
Stop #3 on the Swiss tour was Morcote, a small town hugging Lake Lugano in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Unlike our earlier stop, the town wasn’t mobbed with tourists. We rented an apartment above the downtown strip. The number of stairs to reach the front door with our luggage, then the flight up to …
Permanent link to this article: https://ediblethoughts.com/2024/07/15/ciao-di-morcote/
Jul 11 2024
Riding the Rails in Switzerland
We’ve been to Switzerland three times over the years. We rented a car the first time, for the “if it’s Tuesday, it must be Belgium” grand tour of western Europe. The second time, we stayed in a car-less town and bought train tickets as needed. This time we invested in Swiss Travel Passes. These get …
Permanent link to this article: https://ediblethoughts.com/2024/07/11/riding-the-rails-in-switzerland/
Jul 07 2024
First Night in Switzerland – Zurich
Our first stay in Switzerland was in Zurich, mostly to beat back jet lag. Transferring several trains while sleep-deprived is a recipe for winding up in the Swiss equivalent of Podunk at 3 in the morning. Zurich is a banking capital of Switzerland. It also contains the Swiss equivalent of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. …
Permanent link to this article: https://ediblethoughts.com/2024/07/07/first-night-in-switzerland-zurich/
Jul 06 2024
Hurry Up and Wait – And Wait Some More
This year’s vacation is to Switzerland and Prague. Julian has a thing for mountains, especially the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland. He made most of our reservations well in advance, including flights on Icelandair. We’d never flown this airline before, but friends have had a good experience with it. We left Seattle on July 2 to …
Permanent link to this article: https://ediblethoughts.com/2024/07/06/hurry-up-and-wait-and-wait-some-more/
Dec 02 2023
A Trip to Post-Pandemic Portland
We visited Portland for the first time since the pandemic last week. We had three missions: A visit to Powell’s Books, one of the P’s of Portland that I blogged about previously. Sadly, Pok Pok and Paley’s Place are no more, victims of the Covid-19 plague. A visit to a couple Julian knew from Ithaca …
Permanent link to this article: https://ediblethoughts.com/2023/12/02/a-trip-to-post-pandemic-portland/
Sep 21 2023
Vacation Postmortem
Now that we’ve been home for over two weeks, I’ve had a chance to sort my thoughts on this year’s European junket. Here are some words from this wiseacre if you’re planning to head to Europe in the near future: Getting Covid while on vacation sucks. Airports and airplanes, not to mention crowded public spaces, …
Permanent link to this article: https://ediblethoughts.com/2023/09/21/vacation-postmortem/
Sep 21 2023
The Altana
You see these everywhere in Venice: a small platform on the roof of a building, often appearing rickety and precariously attached. This is a rooftop terrace (Altana, in Italian). Venetians have been building them for centuries, and they are used for a variety of purposes: hanging laundry out to dry, growing potted plants, or simply …
Permanent link to this article: https://ediblethoughts.com/2023/09/21/the-altana/
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