Category Archives: France

The Travel Years

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I began Meg Travels in August and this month is my fourth anniversary!  It has been so much fun sharing travel adventures from near and far.  When I look for themes over the years I can see that flowers and gardens are some of my favorites, along with doors, sunsets and signs.  I tend to travel in the spring and that is an ideal time to see fresh and colorful flowers.  Autumn is another beautiful season for watching the leaves change color, and it is still warm and sunny.

I will continue to travel so there will be plenty more adventures (with pictures) to share over the next year.  Here are some of the flowers, doorways and other souvenir pictures that I’ve taken over the past four years.

Monet’s Garden
Try new flavors
Portofino
Autumn in Williamsburg
Doorway in Avignon
fruit display
an important sign!
St Ives
Barcelona
Avignon
Lugano, Switzerland
St. Petersburg, Florida
Door to Monet’s house
Prince Edward Island

 

Travel theme: Details

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When I was in Avignon, France, I saw this sign and decided that I should try to see as many of these places as possible.

Avignon

The first place I went was to the Palais des Papes that was full of interesting rooms, nooks, and details on display.  Here is some of what I saw.

 

sunny window
artwork detail
open air
design detail

Later I decided to visit some of the shops in the same area.  I liked the brightly colored fabrics and all the lavender items for sale.  I purchased quite a few of the soaps and sachets to take home as souvenirs.  These pictures include important shopping details!

pretty fabrics
lavender souvenirs

You can find more details here.

 

Here and There

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It was three years ago this month that I started Meg Travels.  My very first post was about Venice, which has been one of the places I’ve written a lot about ever since!  As I look back I think that there are so many aspects of travel that are part of the overall experience, such as planning, getting lost, finding souvenirs, wondering what to do with the souvenirs when you get home, shopping, and many other details.  I still wonder if it will rain, but I’ve found that a place can be just as beautiful under cloudy or rainy skies.  I just try to keep an umbrella handy – or a poncho.  Either one works fine.

I think that walking is an excellent way to see a place too.  And when possible, stop at a gelato shop for a delicious treat as you walk.  Here are pictures from some of my rainy, sunny, chilly, warm and mostly wonderful travel adventures from over the past three years.  There’s more to come too.

 

Shopping in Florence
Shopping in Avignon
In case it rains…
A souvenir…
St Ives after the rain
Lighthouse in Maine
Stop here in Barcelona
Lugano, Switzerland
Prince Edward Island
Giverny

After all, travel is both inspiring and fun!

 

Unpacking Travel Souvenirs

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Since my recent move to a new house I’ve been busy unpacking a lot of boxes.  Although this has been rather overwhelming today I was absolutely delighted to find a box with the intriguing label “travel souvenirs.”  Suddenly I didn’t care how long it might take to unpack everything.  I carefully looked inside to find all kinds of fun souvenirs.  There were postcards, key chains, scarves and jewelry as I sorted things out.  But how to begin – by country, type or just random?  Before I actually started putting things away in different drawers I took the time to get pictures of some of my favorites.  They all have wonderful memories of past trips and I’m looking forward to adding more in the future.

From Italy (cute)
Souvenirs from England
Fan from Seville, Spain
Cameo from Italy
Lavender from France

Here is a dish towel from Provence that I will never use!

souvenir

 

Between

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When I was taking a walk through the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris I enjoyed seeing groups of green chairs scattered throughout the park.  I liked the arrangement of chairs here because they seemed so casual and friendly, and they were quite comfortable too.  When I look at this picture I notice that the middle chair is between two other chairs.  It is also between the bench and the lawn.  Then I noticed something else.  If you look in the upper left hand corner you will see the Eiffel Tower between some trees.  It looks like Paris in May provides lots of scenes that fit this theme.

Paris

For more information about the topic check here.

Split-Second Story

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It was time for lunch and I was looking for a place to get something to eat as I was walking along the Champs-Elysées near the Place de la Concorde.  There were a lot of people on the sidewalk but if you looked to the right there were food stands along the way.  As I continued walking I spotted this place that seemed to have a variety of things to eat as well as cold drinks and hot chocolate.  This is what I saw from the sidewalk.

Paris

In case you’re wondering what was available I’ve included this closeup.  I liked that there were hot dogs as well as crepes and even ice cream.

Paris

Look here for more information.

Renewing a Passport

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Next month it will be time to renew my passport.  It’s a little worn now with lots of interesting stamps and memories, including a stamp from my very first visit to Italy.  On the back cover are colorful stickers that have accumulated over the years.  When I started traveling with this passport I didn’t take many photos.  I was too busy looking around and trying to remember everything that I saw.  Because of this I have very few pictures from early trips.  Then there was the time that I forgot to bring my camera to the Grand Place in Brussels. I had to buy a disposable camera and to my disappointment the pictures were blurry.  I’ll have to go there again so I can get better photographs!

It’s wonderful to have done so much traveling over the past few years.  Here are some of my favorite memories of trips where I took many, many pictures.

Capri, Italy
Paddington Station, London
Monet’s garden
Tuscany
Matterhorn
gelato
Avignon, France
Barcelona
London
Venice

Now that it’s time for a new passport I’m definitely planning on more traveling, and some trips will be local since I’m living in a different place (Virginia).  I’m looking forward to more adventures and to start getting stamps in my new passport!

Monument

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When I was in Paris I saw the Eiffel Tower from many points around the city.  I started to watch for all the different places I could catch glimpses of this monument from parks and streets and at different times of the day.  Here are some of my impressions.

Look up and you can see it!
Partially hidden by trees
The view from a car window
From the Jardin des Tuileries…

I saw this early in the morning.

Eiffel Tower

Travel theme: Yellow

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When I was in Provence last May it was sunny and bright.  In addition to the sun there were many examples of the color yellow that I noticed.  Here are some of my souvenir pictures from Provence.

Walking down the street..
Shopping in Avignon
Doorway in Avignon
I liked this sign…
A yellow building