What do I do when I’m in Champagna? I go to the “cradle of champagne”- Hautvillers. I’m skipping several of Sigeric’s Via Francigena stages between Reims and Vitry en Francaise.… Read more

What to write about cathedrals? Similar to writing about wonderful music, I probably should write nothing. Simply be quiet. Write nothing. But the various cathedrals compel me to acknowledge their… Read more

Slow traveling gives me time to participate in unanticipated events. I’m in Reims. Famous for its beautiful, beautiful cathedral. I’m entering a square and I hear a trumpeter practicing. On… Read more

Besides walking this area of the Somme, I visited three museums and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Center. I forgot to mention in the previous post that soldiers had ways… Read more

Walking through the Somme and seeing the memorials and cemeteries, I wondered about the soldiers. From the displays I read the British tried to train or motor their soldiers as… Read more

Besides being quite small, the Picardy villages are very, very quiet. As I lived in two rural Illinois villages with barely 400 folks in each village (one had a very… Read more

All this walking in the Somme has me unavoidably thinking about my feet. Some people use their feet not just to walk but to play sports. Soccer for example. I… Read more

I am walking the Somme. From downtown Decatur to Bethlehem, Georgia or from Springfield to Decatur, Illinois, between 2 1/2-3 million men fought with over 1 million killed, wounded, or… Read more

As a very young Swedish immigrant, my unknown-to-me grandpa Lindquist came to the USA in the 1880’s. Later, as he was in his mid 30’s and supporting a wife and… Read more

Okay, it isn’t storming the Bastille, but it is my Americanized version of French life. The French are in the streets!! Right outside my hotel’s front door! They aren’t wearing… Read more