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UNITED KINGDOM | Wed, 26 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [195]
The temperature was forecast to never get much above freezing so we bundled up for the walk to Earl’s Court Underground station. Thirty minutes later we were at Russell Square with only a short walk to the British Museum.
The Museum ... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Tue, 25 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [178]
The Eurostar “Chunnel” train from Paris to London may cost a bit more than flying but it is much more civilized. We cleared both EU and UK immigration at Gare du Lyon in Paris, carried our own luggage onto the train and were in London in ... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Sat, 29 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [137]
It rained hard on Thursday and Saturday’s forecast isn’t much better. Today would be the best day for birding at Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve. It took us a half-hour for he eight-mile drive on England’s narrow, winding ... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Sun, 30 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [128]
When Henry VIII wasn’t busy tearing down churches, monasteries and abbeys or doing away with excess-to-needs wives, he indulged his paranoia by building castles. Actually more like fortresses, some 30 “castles” were constructed as part ... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Tue, 23 Dec 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [123]
The Galapagos Islands is the laboratory where Charles Darwin began developing his theory of evolution in 1835 . It took him more than 20 years of mulling, prodding from geologist Charles Lyell and botanist Joseph Hooker and competition from Alfred Russel ... Read more >
FRANCE | Thu, 23 Oct 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [123]
When we began our travels a couple of decades ago, we had to rely on guidebooks like “Lonely Planet” and Rick Steves. Now the internet is chock-a-block with tips and destinations for independent travelers. Much of it is shamelessly ... Read more >
FRANCE | Sun, 16 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [118]
I had almost forgotten our 2015 “drive by” visit to Citadel in Besançon. This time we’ll stay for a few days, if only to break up the six-hour drive from Lyon to Strasbourg. Traffic and parking being what they are, we decided ... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Sat, 13 Dec 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [108]
Despite English Heritage sites going back in time from castles, priories and monasteries to Roman villas and even Neolithic sites, John’s favorite site opened for business in 1939. Its existence wasn’t known to the general public until 1970 ... Read more >
FRANCE | Sat, 22 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [107]
Connie had had a list of places in Metz that she wanted to visit, most important and—as it turned out—the most impressive Metz Cathedral and Musée de la Coeur d’Or. I picked our AirBnB less on location and price but because it ... Read more >
FRANCE | Thu, 13 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [107]
Around 910, William I, Duke of Aquitaine “The Pious” founded the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny with the “no strings” donation of his hunting preserve. The monastery would be free from any future obligations to him and his ... Read more >
FRANCE | Wed, 22 Oct 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [107]
Saint-Congard is less than an hour from Josselin but as the French say, “Vivre la difference.” Our AirBnB is in a four-hundred year old farmhouse, 20 minutes from the nearest grocery store. Michel and Blandine met us at the door, speaking ... Read more >
FRANCE | Wed, 19 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [106]
We considered returning to Colmar today—the sun was shining and we wanted to see our favorite town in its glory. When we realized that Colmar’s neighbor, Eguisheim, was on the list of “Les Plus Beaux Villages de France,” we re-... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Wed, 17 Dec 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [105]
We finished our Christmas letter—even checked it twice—and (e)mailed it off to all of the good little boy and girls. If you didn’t get yours, try to be nicer next year. When we still felt that we needed a little Christmas—right ... Read more >
FRANCE | Wed, 5 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [105]
Bordeaux and wine have been an item since Roman times but after Bordeaux wine was served at the wedding of Henry Plantagenet, future King Henry II, and Eleanor of Aquitaine it became the plonk of royalty. When Richard the Lionhearted proclaimed it his ... Read more >
FRANCE | Fri, 31 Oct 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [105]
Whether to visit Chambord or Chenonceau, that was the question. Both were top picks on Rick Steves’ recommended list. Château de Chenonceau was described as the “toast of the Loire.” On the other hand, Château Chambord ... Read more >
FRANCE | Sun, 26 Oct 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [100]
Chinon is on the Vienne, a tributary of the Loire, but it makes a good base to see some of the chateaux and quaint villages long the “Valley of 1000 Chateaux.” The actual number of castles along the Loire is closer to three hundred, and not ... Read more >
FRANCE | Thu, 20 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [99]
When we bade adieu to Alsace this morning and headed off for Lorraine we weren’t counting on snow! Thankfully, it didn’t stick to the roads and it did pretty-up the drive to Nancy. We had spent the night here in twenty-eleven but hadn’... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Sat, 20 Dec 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [98]
The English are a strange lot. They consider the Battle of Hastings one of the most famous events in English history. It was the only time that England was invaded by a foreign power, their king was slain on the battlefield and their army was soundly ... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Fri, 5 Dec 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [97]
You might wonder why we are visiting the Isle of Wight at this cold and dreary time of year. The short answer would be Osborne House.
Faced with a growing family and the increasing pressures of court life, Queen Victoria pined for “a place of ... Read more >
FRANCE | Thu, 30 Oct 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [96]
Though he is not as well-known as the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault’s “Tales of Times Past,” was probably the first fairytale. And if one believes the story, the castle in “Sleeping Beauty” was inspired by Chateau d’... Read more >
FRANCE | Fri, 24 Oct 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [96]
Rochefort-en-Terre may not be THE most beautiful village in France as it claims, but it is on the official list of “Les Plus Beaux Villages de France.” And it’s only ten kilometers from our cottage.
Rochefort ... Read more >
FRANCE | Sun, 19 Oct 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [94]
Rennes, where we will spend the next couple of days, is only an hour from Saint-Malo but since check-in isn’t until five o’clock we decided to visit Mont Saint-Michel and the medieval town of Dinan, best known for it’s half-timbered ... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Tue, 9 Dec 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [94]
Cambridge seemed like a good compromise. It’s only an hour train ride from London but not too far from East Anglia’s English Heritage sites. John picked our AirBnB, in part, for the free parking, a real luxury in this college town. It’... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Thu, 4 Dec 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [94]
ISLE OF WIGHT
Do you remember verse from the old Beatles’ song “When I’m 64”? ♫ Every summer we can rent a cottage in the Isle of Wight, if it′s not too dear ♫ Well, here we are . . . it isn’t too ... Read more >
FRANCE | Mon, 17 Nov 2025 | By graynomadsusa | Views [93]
Alsace is one of our favorite areas in France—and not only because Connie’s family has an Alsatian heritage going back to Napoleonic times. When we first visited in 2011, distant relatives, Nicole and Thaddeus, treated us to a tour of the ... Read more >