International Waters

The Golden Gate Bridge will be the backdrop of the 2013 America's Cup next summer

   
I love sport of all kind, especially events that combine best in class competition with great spectacle for fans. And that's exactly what happened a couple weeks ago when the America's Cup World Series jibed into town----the first time this internationally ranked event has taken place in the USA in decades. And what a back drop....the beautiful San Francisco Bay. What a thrill to see eight teams from Korea to Sweden take to the Big Blue in these wing-sailed catamarans flying beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, sometimes hauling at over 30 mph (it's not NASCAR but that's really fast in the boat world). Many of the racers interviewed after each event declared San Francisco one of the best venues in the world (natch), as much for the setting as the proximity to the fans who lined the city's northern waterfront. But it's not over yet.

Come October the America's Cup World Series meets a San Francisco tradition----Fleet Week!  Nearly 1 million visitors each year head to the Marina Green (just a few minute's walk from my house, lucky me) and the water front to watch a parade of naval ships and an aerial show from the Blue Angels. But this year the added bonus of America's Cup racing (October 3-7) is the cherry on top. All this in preparation for next summer's main event— The 34th America's Cup, the oldest trophy in sport.

There are ticketed seats for purchase, but no need. Bring a blanket and a camera. The Marina Green offers plenty of viewing spots along the water and the atmosphere is energizing.

Hope to see you out there.  Go team USA!

Italian Team Luna Rossa celebrates in style

Oracle Team USA with the mayor of San Francisco Ed Lee

Basque-ing On The Edge of France

Atlantic sunset from La Reserve in St. Jean de Luz

I’ve been to many places in France, from north to south, mountains, beaches, rivers, and most places in between, but the southwestern corner of the country, the Basque country as it called, in the western Pyrenees bordering Spain, has eluded me until this summer. It was worth the wait.

St Jean de Luz and port

St Jean de Luz itself is a pretty little port town known for its macarons, the church where Louis XIV married Maria-Thérèse of Spain, and welcoming narrow lanes bustling with tourist shops and restaurants serving Basque specialties. The beaches are wide, sandy, and accessible. And surf schools and paddle boarding hawkers lap at your adventurous side. And all this was only a 10 minute walk from La Reserve, my home for three nights, a comfortable red-tiled hotel owned by Groupe Floirat, tucked into a chic residential neighborhood perched on a cliff above the Atlantic. By the end of my stay, I felt as if I had finally found the edge of France.

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Monaco = Summer Family Fun!

Summer Sporting Festival Monte Carlo

It's probably the French Riviera's most extravagant playground. Cruise ship sized yachts float in the harbor as Gucci clad first mates pop champagne off the bow. Ferrari, Lamborghini, and cars-so-rare-and-exotic-I-don't-know-their-names purr around the Casino. The famed Cipriani just opened last month, and Billionaire is not just the moniker of the city's hottest night spots. This is Monte Carlo, and there is truly nowhere like it in the world. I come to Monaco every year, but not because I'm a millionaire or a billionaire, or a driver of  a car than ends in an 'i'. I come for simpler pleasures. The weather is warm, the welcome is warmer, and it's on one of the most beautiful coastlines in he world, hands down. An added bonus for a traveling mom like me... It's great for families!  Besides admiring the stunning views, here are a few other summer-fun things to do with the kiddies in Monaco that won't require an Italian sports car, matching bling or a billionaire's bank roll.

The Legendary Le Negresco---100 Years!

When I was in high school and taking the only French class offered, my teacher Madame Danne asked the students what we'd like to be when we grew up. After the would-be doctors, lawyers, vets, and teachers, declared their goals, I said, "I'd like to be the U.S. ambassador to France." While I never pursued a career in government, I feel that as a traveler, writer, and homeowner in France, I am somewhat of an ambassador---writing about and traveling around France, hoping to sway opinion of a people and a country that, much like my own, is often misunderstood or caught in the sucker punch of sweeping generalization. I love France. I have since I was a little girl despite the fact I have not a single drop of French blood in me. It often feels more home than home. And each time I return, I find it harder to leave. So it was an honor, a privilege, a dream really, to be a part of the kick off celebration for the 100th year of the iconic Le Negresco hotel in Nice, France this week. Amidst the countless pieces of art, the historic guest register, and beneath a gleaming Baccarat crystal chandelier commissioned by Czar Nicolas II, I raised a glass to the legendary hotel, and to my good fortune to be a part of its history. The U.S. ambassador to France was not in attendance, but I was.  Merci Le Negresco.

La Fete de la St.-Jean

The flower cross of St. Jean 

In the Dordogne a few summers ago, on June 24^th, for the occasion of La Fete de La St. Jean, a friend of mine invited me to his house. When I arrived, I noticed a cross of wildflowers hung where the peephole would be on any city dweller’s front door. I asked him about it and he told me it was a tradition on this day to gather wild flowers and fashion crosses from them. They were then attached to houses and barns to protect the inhabitants. I could tell, however, that despite the emblem on his door, my friend was a little miffed about something.

Turns out while he had gone to the trouble of gathering real wild flowers from the hills behind his house, some of his neighbors had taken the easy way out and plucked generic garden flowers from their back yards. 

I asked him if it really mattered.

“Isn’t the sentiment the same?”

“NON!” he bellowed. “You must frolic in the hills and celebrate the liberty and freedom of finding the flowers, then you make the cross.”

Fête de La Musique

Summer Solstice has arrived and in France it means longer days and music in a nationwide (maybe even worldwide) celebration known as Fete de la Musique.

This idea was first hatched in 1976 by American musician Joel Cohen, then working for the national French radio station "France Musique." Cohen proposed an all-night music festival on summer solstice, inviting amateurs and professionals to play music in the streets. The idea was noodled by the French Minister of Culture in 1981, eh voila, the first fete took place in 1982.

Since then,  June 21 has been dubbed Fête de la Musique and is a musical one night stand for local musicians, dancers, and singers to perform live in the squares and restaurants, outside doorways, or anywhere they please really. 


If you've been eyeing that dusty accordion in your closet, today would be the day to blow off the coating of dust and embarrassment that has kept it hidden, and come out and play.  

Go on---make music and celebrate the summer!

The French Riviera: Through My Eyes

Every village has its fountain.

Its very name is  synonymous with glitz, glamour, and super sized bank accounts, but the Cote d'Azur is more than just mega yachts and mega tans. Tucked between the Mediterranean and the Alps on one of the most famous stretches of coastline in the world are real villages and people who know it only as "home."  I am also fortunate enough to call this part of France home part of the year. Here I'll share some photos of the French Riviera through my eyes.

www.hotel-souleias.com

Say “French Riviera” and visions of glamorous parties, movie stars, and dollar signs dance in your head. But don’t think for a minute you can’t enjoy a holiday along one of the most famous coastlines in the world without sacrificing your kids’ college fund. Click here and discover 10 petit pied-a-terres that make it easy to  say “oui” to a French Riviera vacation.

Golden Gate 75th Anniversary

Summer Read For Travel Lovers

Check it out!  Inspirational stories from Bay Area travel writers, including yours truly.  If you're looking for that great summer read, here it is.


Click Here!

Throw Of The Bowlines!

I don't know why, but I find quotes from famous (or infamous) people fascinating and often uplifting. Maybe because they say it better than I ever could.  I especially love travel related quotes because, well duh, I am a wanderer.   I am often checked back into center by this Mark Twain quote:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.




I couldn't agree more. It reminds me to lead the life I choose, rather than lead one chosen for me.

In French, I think they'd say:  Larguer Les Amarres!


Read more inspirational travel quotes here

And then ...cast off! Larguez!

I Left My Heart In.... Biron

Front entrance to Le Prieuré of Chateau Biron

At least once in her young life, a girl has imagined herself as a princess in a fairy tale—we have Cinderella to thank for that. But what the bedtime tales of our youth neglected to tell us was just where Cinderella was going in her horse-drawn carriage when she took off with her prince for happily ever after?  It could very well be she was headed to the Dordogne region of southwestern France, also known as the land of 1,000 castles. One of the largest and most imposing is the one that reigns over the miniscule village of Biron (population 150). And just a few cobbled steps from the grand Chateau is Le Prieuré, a chambre d’hotes that will steal your heart.  I know it did mine.


Read all about this magical place here