Ponderings

Shelley photographs Liz while the cow looks on near Perosa Argentina, Italy.

Spending a day up here, walking through fields of green over cowtrails, and meeting a farmer who makes the famous Plaisentif cheese, (only available after Sept 21, but we got it early), and having lunch in a mountain hut. It was a day of Alpine smells, tastes and views. Then […]

This is much steeper than it looks! After watching these ice hikers, we went back down and ran to catch a train. It was the cog mountain railway that took us up a steep grade to the other side of the mountain, to the Mer de Glace. Chamonix, we learned […]

There was a telling moment as we were touring a chalet at La Ferme de Marie, an upscale hotel chain with outposts here in Megeve, Province, Lyon and other French cities. Our tour guide was showing us the upstairs bedroom of a beautiful large wooden beamed chalet that was available […]

I awoke to a totally darkened room here in my luxury off-season room in Chalet Alice. What gives? Try as I might, I see no way to lift up these metal shades that have clamped down, blocking my Alpine view. Whoa, it’s like a very well-appointed prison, no way to […]

This goes out to anyone who has ever been on a press trip. You know the suffering. The madness. The ‘it’s already time to eat? We just had lunch’ feeling you sometimes get when your hosts want you to sample their cuisine and pile it on. I’m sure I’ll get […]

I tried writing this post on my cute new iPhone. But it was useless, I really can’t write anything more than a few words with that absurdly small keyboard, even though the letters do conveniently jump up and enlarge themselves for you. One would have to have the slenderest of […]

The cool air of fall is upon us, and even if summer is scheduled to be here through Sept 21, it’s chilly and feels so much different now. Last night I went out and copied my friend Larry by buying an ipod Touch. What this sleek device offers is super […]

It´s a welcome relief to be traveling in a place where the dollar buys a lot of pesos and nothing seems very expensive. Tonight we went to one of the coolest places in Medellin, Colombia, the Plaza de Posada and joined hundreds of Paisas watching a very important soccer match. […]

For the first time since last Friday, my clothes are all dry and my feet are not wet. I am back from my communications cocoon on the Pacific coast of Colombia, not far from the Panama border. Contrary to our itinerary, we flew first to Bahia Solono, where we took […]