Chantdoc Celebrates a Big Birthday!

This has been a wonderful year for me, one of the best of my life.  Since this blog is primarily devoted to babyboomer travel, I will recap some of the trips I've been on this year.  

Last August, my three daughters and two sons-in-law took me on a delightful cruise that was headed to Cozumel.  At the last minute we were diverted to Grand Bahama, because of a hurricane...one that we had to slowly go through as we were leaving Miami.  Will include a video of that!

In September, my friend and I went to Italy for a fantastic tour of Rome, Florence, and Sorrento!  We had spectacular weather and met lots of wonderful people everywhere we went.  The food and the sites of ancient wonders of the world were simply spectacular.  Will enclose a photo of that!

In April of this year, I went to visit my daughter in Paris and another daughter joined us and the three of us went to Dublin, Ireland for the week-end, then back to Paris!  It's been a year of fabulous travel to capitals of Europe as well as a tropical paradise.  I don't think I can top it!

A few final pix from Paris!

I had such a fabulous time in Paris and am so looking forward to returning there!  Just thought you might enjoy a few more photos that I haven't posted yet!  Let me know if I can  help you with your travel plans!

Alice

Visiting the Salvador Dali Museum in Paris

This last trip to Paris was filled with museums!  For the first time I went to the Salvador Dali museum which is just a few blocks away from Sacre Coeur.  I'd heard of Dali all my life but I guess I really didn't realize that Dali was a brilliant madman!  I wish I could post all of the pictures I took there but the two above are pretty typical of his way of thinking.  The one with me in it is his "Alice in Wonderland."  The second is about a picnic and the woman is wearing most of the food!  She also has ants crawling across her forehead.  If you're not familiar with Dali, just Google his name and I'm sure you can find many, many pictures of his amazing art!

Update on my trip to Paris

Hello to all my Boomer friends! I've now got my ticket to Paris and have two possible speaking gigs:

• one would be at the American Church in Paris
• one would be speaking to a group of harpsichordists who are lifetime fans of the great harpsichordist Wanda Landowska, topic of my dissertation

Now I have a third invitation:

• Traveling for a few days to Jaen, Spain to consult with the music faculty at the university there about a "Music in the Hospital" curriculum that they are putting together! They will fly me down there and I am soooo excited as I have never been to Spain! It is in the Andalucia section of Spain and is very far south!

If you know anyone in Paris or Southern Spain who would like a workshop, contact me ASAP!

Thanks,

Alice

Traveling to Paris

Paris is one of my favorite cities. I've probably been there half a dozen times in my life and I love it more each time. I was very fortunate to have spent 6 weeks there in the summer of 1987, which I was doing research on Wanda Landowska for my doctoral dissertation.. Now I am going back to Paris this Spring to visit one of my daughters who will be doing an internship at the American Embassy in Paris. I will be able to stay with her in her apartment, but I am trying to find a good price on a plane ticket. You probably know that I have my own travel agency at www.CashFamilyTravel.com. I hope that you will always check there for the best price on your own plane tickets, hotel rooms, and rental cars! Thank you!

View from Anacapri

Although I've been to Anacapri before, I was eager to go back because of the memories of the Debussy prelude I payed long ago, "The Hills of Anacapri." I highly recommend seeing Anacapri if you're going to Capri. You can take a bus ride to Anacapri and then a chair lift to the tip-top for a spectacular view!

Thanksgiving Menu 2008

This Thanksgiving I decided to make 3 or 4 new dishes for our family feast of Thanksgiving. I had one major request to incorporate some recipes with pomegranate as an ingredient. I found a delicious recipe for cornbread stuffing with pomegranate and a salad made of sauteed shrimp, scallions, various seeds and pomegranate arils. This mixture is put on a bed of baby greens and was totally delicious! The cornbread stuffing also had chopped dried cranberries and raisins in addition to the pomegranate. Of course we had turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, poached, spiced pears and asparagus too! Hope your's was a good one. We all have so much to be grateful for despite the current economy!