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Three Sundays ago I was in Portland running my first marathon; two Sundays ago I was on a high-speed train from Paris to Ghent; last Sunday I was on a no-frills, thrifty plane to Berlin; and today, I am home. Our trip was so amazing, as I’m sure you might have gleaned from some of my blog postings, and so different from any of our other European travels in that we both went back to our roots. However, that all being said, it could have been a wee bit warmer! Both Mario and I packed for fall weather  (as we should have) but hoped for an Indian summer like we had three years ago. I arrived in Paris with just a sweater to keep me warm (my fall jacket safely packed away in my suitcase) and on the first day, I was even able to take my jacket off a […]

Sooo I wouldn’t be voted the most popular contestant on the Amazing Race, it’s not the worst thing in the world is it? As much as I love to travel and visit new cities and new countries and become more cultured with every step I take in all these new places, I HATE the act of getting from point A to B and back again. It doesn’t matter if it’s by planes, trains or automobiles, I hate them all. And yes, I do get a little, uhm, sourpuss like. But seriously, if you had a guy right next to you who repeatedly dug for gold up his nose and then proceeded to wipe it on his shirt, or a guy who smelled like he’d inhaled 20 packs of cigarettes just moments before stepping on to the plane and again sat right next to you, you’d probably be scrunching up your

I’ve read about it, watched movies about it, even written about it, but I could never wrap my head around it. And still, even now, after walking freely through the heart of the city where it all happened, I don’t get it.  It being the Berlin Wall. I don’t understand how one place could be so divided, how a government could oppress its people so much, how they could imprison them behind a barren concrete wall, how the police, who called themselves “The Peoples’ Police” could go and kill their people for something as simple as getting too close to The Wall. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a country and an era that never had to fight for its freedom, but I have just never been able to understand the madness that was the Berlin Wall. And I don’t think I’m alone. After an amazing week discovering Ghent,

To describe the Flanders Cobbles I give you three words: Oh. My. God. I am not ashamed to admit that I was whimpering by the end of my Belgium torture cycle tour. All you’ve got to do is Google Tour of Flanders and you’ll know why. Now granted, I didn’t do this ride in the spring when the race is held, and I didn’t cycle the entire 200 kilometres of the race, or climb the Koppenberg (although that was on the initial itinerary). But I DID ride in typical Tour of Flanders weather, which was Siberian cold with my fingers and face numb to the point I couldn’t clench my hands into fists or talk properly, and my shoes  filled with deep puddles of rain and my clothes sopping wet. And I DID ride The Cobbles. And I DID ride them in clip-in pedals – for the first time! To

Eat your heart out Mary Hart! In one day, I met a clothing designer, went to the premier for a Belgian television series (Melting Pot Café), saw my superstar cousin, who stars in the series, be interviewed by the Belgian version of Entertainment Tonight, and just three days later, went to the World Soundtrack Awards, which is basically the Oscars for movie soundtracks, and which had the likes of Eliot Goldenthal  in attendance – Julie Taymor’s husband!!! (For those of you don’t know, Julie Taymor directed Across the Universe, one of my all-time favourite movies!) And her husband has composed the scores for movies like Across the Universe, Titus and The Tempest. Beat that Entertainment Tonight! Back to the beginning though: the fashion designer. So pretty much from the moment I arrived in Ghent, I had been drooling over my cousin Griet’s wardrobe; she is seriously the epitomy of European