INTRODUCTION

This is a blog for personal remembrance, but it's public so anyone can take a look.  This is my own personal adventure, and my own personal opinions about hotels, restaurants, museums, points of interest, method of travel, etc. that I liked or didn't like.

It is also a place for me to explore what DID work on this trip, and what DIDN'T work so well, so I can fine-tune it for the next trip.

The eight-week trip I chronicle here is my third trip to Europe.  The first, in 1979-80, was for a three-month stay in Paris for a Study Abroad semester (my spouse's, and I went along as a newlywed.)

January 1980, my Student ID for L'Alliance Française

The second trip was in 2014-15, for a five-month stay in France for another Study Abroad semester (mine own, this time!)   I blogged about that trip here, from the viewpoint of a student:  2nd Chance in France

January 2015, with a classmate

I didn't wait so long to go back for the third time, which was in late 2019 - not very long before the COVID pandemic!  How fortunate that we were able to have this adventure before the outbreak began, and now have some great memories to look back on.

This time I wanted to include Italy, so my spouse (or "DH" for shorthand) and I started in Rome and spent three weeks working our way up to northern France.  Then he went home, and I spent a few weeks mostly soloing through France and England, and meeting up with friends along the way.  This is the journal of that trip...

Sept 2019, at the airport with DH, read to depart