We’re spending a full week in the lovely town of Huesca. In a way, Huesca is a little like Utica, if Utica were spectacularly beautiful. It’s an old city, with lots of history. It’s near the mountains, but not in the mountains. An hour (or less) drive north, east, or south takes you to breathtakingly…

This is Russell writing. The words in this rant do not reflect the views or commitments of Emily. Before we left for Europe, someone wished us a good vacation. I appreciated the sentiment, but we’re not on vacation. I’m working during this trip, and so far I’m really enjoying the writing and being sufficiently productive,…

The title of this blog post is not a reference to the Whit Stillman films that Emily can’t stand. We started off the day with a house call from a doctor, who diagnosed Russell’s ear inflamation and was able to give him some prescriptions that we hope will clear his head. After that, we headed…

On Thursday, we commenced with our regular plan: Emily walking while Russell writes. Emily traversed the neighborhood. Russell worked in the library at a local university: not beautiful but perfectly pleasant. Russell was delighted to make some good progress. We reconvened for lunch and then headed to the local Picasso museum. The museum has a…

Finally ditching those pesky kids On Tuesday, with mixed emotions, Emily and Russell took a fast train to Barcelona. Still not feeling great, we did not much more than have lunch, relax, and have a Barcelona-style late dinner. Our residence is a cozy shoebox in the Born, a pleasant if touristy neighborhood in an old…

Monday morning, erev Rosh Hashana, Emily, Russell, and Marina took a cab to the bus station in Saint- Denis. From there, with mixed emotions all around (but mostly excitement), Marina took a shuttle to Aéroport Paris-Beauvais, where she got a flight to Romania to start her year, at last, as a Fulbright-funded instructor at the…

Before we start this post, a note about interacting with our site: If you click on the title of any blog post and then scroll to the bottom, you should be able (if you so wish!) to leave comments. In the last two days, we have been saying goodbye to the kids, and attending as…

In our first day in Paris, Emily, Marina, and Izzy roamed while Russell tried to recuperate. We walked around Île de la Cité but didn’t go into Notre-Dame (it was really hot, and the line was long!). We then wandered to the Luxembourg Gardens, where there was a podium for some reason no one understood.…

The city of lights and intimidation. Thursday was a travel day. We had an early flight and were both sad to leave Iceland and excited for the next step of our adventure, even though it brings us closer to saying goodbye (for a month) to Marina. The flight to CDG was a bit over three…