shirleyjustwrites

Who Do You Belong To?

My Garden Gnome or my Alter Ego? On a recent trip to Paris on Eurostar I had an epiphany. I was travelling alone and the queues through customs were long and sometimes a little chaotic. As I moved through the various custom points, I was asked on three different occasions if I was with theContinue reading “Who Do You Belong To?”

It’s Time To Get Back On The Road Again

It’s February 2022 and its been a long lonely road, as they say. Covid-19 has sent our world reeling. For me, the last two years has provided an opportunity to return, for a while, to my profession as a lecturer working online at a local university. Three vaccines later and a lot of time sittingContinue reading “It’s Time To Get Back On The Road Again”

How to Have Fun In the French Pyrenees

Winter blues already. Plan your next hiking trip. The Pyrenees is a dream come true for travel adventurers

The Next Time You See Paris: Cultural Glances around the Latin Quarter

Most people have seen Paris. Its iconic buildings and monuments appear in movies, in the news, and even in video games. When we visit, we rush around taking photos of whatever we recognise, whatever we think is iconic or famous: the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, Moulin Rouge. The list is endless.Continue reading “The Next Time You See Paris: Cultural Glances around the Latin Quarter”

How to get Lost in Paris: But Are you too Frightened to do it Alone?

Famous Five Department Stores For the Compulsive Shopper

Galaries Layfayette Think gold and you’ll get what it looks like in this fabulous department store located in the Opera district of Paris. With 10 floors glittering with golden lighting, it’s a stu… Source: Famous Five Department Stores For the Compulsive Shopper

The Promenade Plantee: Paris

When I was a child, I could see our local bus terminus from my bedroom window, that’s if I craned my neck. At night, when the buses were all lit up I made up stories about the passengers sitt… Source: The Promenade Plantee: Paris

Aubigny sur Nere is a wee bit of Scotland

Located in the heart of Central France, sits the pretty town of Aubigny sur Nere and I’m lucky enough to have a conversion de grange just a few kilometres away. This fascinating town was comp… Source: Aubigny sur Nere is a wee bit of Scotland

Seeing is believing: 5 awesome salt mines

The world produces a billion tons of salt each year, irrespective of claims that salt is bad for our health. Salt however is essential in our diet, without it our brains wouldn’t work and our muscl… Source: Seeing is believing: 5 awesome salt mines

Grandma Grey Bla Bla’s to Benidorm

Grandma Grey at Poniente Beach The photograph is rather good, a bit grainy, but good. The t-shirt I bought in Paris after being released from the police station looks very posh, except the baby I’m holding is hiding the lovely sequined logo. I’m sitting at a table on the Av de la Armada Espanola, squinting atContinue reading “Grandma Grey Bla Bla’s to Benidorm”