The Kid and Auntie Nora (Miss Bored vs Miss Shopaholic) traipsing along the cobblestoned avenues

Posted by Nora K ,
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You know you’ve got some serious issues when you realize that you’re just a wee bit in awe of your 17-year-old niece.  Yes, the Kid will be pleased as punch upon reading her middle-aged Auntie’s hesitantly scribbled words, screeching in joy whilst twirling round and round the looking glass that is the center of her world.  The inner workings of the teenage mind are beyond complex, the myriad of personalities that greet each day are as varied as there are days in the year and the deliberately contrived personas too numbered to count.  So, in a nutshell, it goes without saying that having to traipse halfway across the globe with Miss Kid in tow, therefore becomes a challenge of exponential proportions.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?

Will today be the day that I dejectedly trudge from one tourist sight to another with Miss Annoyingly Bored?  Or will I be pleasantly surprised at having the unbelievably great fortune of scampering along the cobblestoned rues and avenues with the Princess of Sugar Pie Sweetness, only to be rudely pummeled out of my delusionary state by mid afternoon, subjected to the rough edged brashness of a walking, talking encyclopedia of “I’m prettier, smarter and above all, wiser, than you” Know it all Teenager?  Yikes!!  What have I gotten myself into?


Sometimes moody, sometimes charmingly adorable and other times dramatically outspoken, the Kid certainly did not fail to both amuse and irritate, cleverly succeeding in pushing the limits of her middle-aged Auntie’s patience into the stratosphere of no return.

Not content to merely meander along the well-worn pink-sneaker footprints of her mother’s oh so eccentric wacky older sister, the Kid had already become annoyingly frustrated with having to schlep her burdensome luggage through the capitals of Europe and was bored beyond belief, yawning at having to preen and pose yet once again at le tour Eiffel and queue with the rest of them in snaking line-ups at the over-crowded tourist infested top 10 attractions. 




  • Big Ben – Seen it
  • The London Eye – Been there, done that
  • Carnaby Street – Oh, so yesterday!
  • The Louvre – I’ve already posed with the Mona Lisa, and guess who’s the prettiest?
  • The Palace of Versailles – Still searching for the Queen
  • The Colosseum – It’s crumbling and has somewhat of a shady history, like, seriously, didn’t you know?
  • The Leaning Tower of Pisa is leaning, need I say more?
  • And Venice is sinking



Photo courtesy Maradzidra

You get my drift, oh, and speaking or should I say, writing, of drifts, the Kid vowed to never again place a pretty pink manicured tootsie on board any type of ferry, as memories of last summer’s endless ferry crossings from one Greek isle to yet another, were still too raw and nauseatingly fresh, to have to bear.  Sicker than a dog for the duration of the journey, the gentle swaying and rollicking of the vessel too much for her queasy tummy.  Yikes! Guess then that I’ll have to wait until the last minute before springing the news of our upcoming ferry crossing from Dover to Calais – why rock the boat earlier than necessary?  Let’s just hope that the Kid can swim.



Greece photos courtesy of Maradzidra

Tagging along with her cheapo designer obsessed frugal ol’ Auntie, whose sole mission in life is devoted to securing that highly coveted limited edition satchel, leaving no stone (shop, actually) unturned, the Kid vowed (here we go again!) to never ever again pound the pavement for hours on end in quest of that 80% reduced bargain basement priced exclusive treasure.  Just because her lunatic odd relative (the key word here is crazy) is hell-bent on scoring that deal of a lifetime, Le Niece vowed to, in the future, park herself on a bench, guzzle endless gallons of soda pop and languish the afternoon away in contented bliss awaiting her cuckoo Auntie’s return from power shopping and handbag acquisitions. 

Handbag acquisitions of the shopaholic kind

The Kid, therefore, was neither shocked nor surprised upon sight of her bedraggled Auntie miserably limping home after the shops had closed for the night, sporting both a miserable state of mind and unusually bright, bleeding and blistered tootsies.  Ouch.  Close to spitting out the words “I could have told you so”, Miss Perfect Niece instead smirked and quietly snickered, held out her hand and escorted her shopaholic ol’ Auntie to la Pharmacie for bandages and some soothing medication at Le Vino de Jour.

And the moral of the story is?

Who’s the smarter cookie here – the ever so clever Kid or her slightly cuckoo ol’ Auntie? Stay tuned for more adventures of the Kid inspired kind.

Next week – Where to next?? Looks like we’re heading to Greece or thereabouts.





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What's a travel writer to scribble about when not traipsing the globe? - A pink sneaker dilemma

Posted by Nora K ,
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There comes a time in every travel writer’s life when a scheduled trip is not looming anywhere on the horizon, the digital archives from previous excursions have all been tapped out and inspiration has flown the coup, choosing instead to take up residence in far more interesting and fascinating glossy picture books of the National Geographic kind.  And so dear reader, all that is left for this week’s blog post is a huge blank page staring me in the face and a dumb-founded keyboard perplexed by the frozen stance of my once dancing fingers no longer excitedly clacking away, anxious to weave the storyline’s next adventure.




I therefore have to post the question that has been plaguing me ever since I started this blog a year and a half ago.  Ever wonder what a travel writer scribbles about when there is nothing to share, report or recount?  Surely one cannot be on the road or be jetting off in search of adventure 24/7?  What about having to eek out that living in a 9 to 5 workday, furiously scrimping and saving each hard-earned cent for the luxury of a couple of weeks annual vacation?  Surely not everyone is hopping on planes, trains or automobiles in pursuit of the next great excursion?  Airport lounges and over-booked hotel rooms would indeed be cramped beyond belief, as surely not every single travel blogger or writer is hoofing it along cobblestoned pathways or motorways, en route to yet to be discovered lands?  Or, are they?  And I inadvertently got left behind?

Globe-trotting around the globe - vino and camera in hand!

Or better yet, perhaps I’m just one of the denizens of curious globe trotters who are biding their time at home, languishing with a glass of vino in one hand and picturesque travel magazine in the other, daydreaming, plotting and planning the next far-away expedition?  Yes then, that must be it.  I’m just one of the multitudes of would-be journeyers who are frantically scouring the web for that bargain of a lifetime – whether determined to score that steal of a deal for first class seating on a jumbo jet, my penny pinching ways stretched to limits of near improbability, praying for that last-minute invitation from the Sheik or the Queen to bunk and hunker down at one of their grandiose residences.  Yes then, that must be it.  The invite surely has been posted, and is now snaking it’s way via camel across the barren desert, en route by plane, train and automobile to my humble abode.  Could be a longer than usual anticipated wait.


sand dunes in Dubai - photo courtesy of Maradzidra
The regal camels of Dubai - photo courtesy of Maradzidra
La dolce vita - vino and picturesque travel books beckon and invite 

Foreign lands beckon and invite, welcoming visitors from far and wide, inquisitive guests eager to immerse themselves in unfamiliar cultures that oftentimes appear to be so dramatically different from our own, yet are remarkably similar at the same time.  And that, dear reader, is the primary reason as to why I relish the opportunity of traipsing across the planet, discovering that no matter how many miles I wander away from home, I am home no matter where on the globe my pink-sneakered footsteps happen to find themselves.

Jetting around the globe - photo courtesy of Maradzidra

Come traipse along with me as I wander the globe in search of both the familiar as well as the unfamiliar, discovering far-away places in my never-ending quest for precious memories forever encapsulated in time.    


Next week – where to next?? Stay tuned for more pink-sneaker adventures!!

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Pink Sneakers on the Go pizza, paella and vino culinary tour

Posted by Nora K ,
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Searching the digital archives for snapshots of memories to add to this week’s blog post, it dawned on me that not only do I delight in scampering about the globe, discovering foreign lands and cultures, I am just as curious about sampling the cuisine of these far-flung places.  Whether savouring a fresh out of the oven butter infused croissant whilst meandering along the banks of the Seine at the wee hours of the morn or being waited upon in Barcelona by waiters of the charmingly suave kind, a wanderer requires sustenance of either the meat, carbohydrate or sugar sweetened kind.  It goes without saying that all of it, of course, must be washed down with vino from any one of the white or red tetra pack or bottled grape producing regions of anywhere, my tastes neither picky nor discriminating when indulging in seductively soothing libations for the mind kind.

Got this Spanish Red on SALE  in London- yet another reason to indulge!

And so, this week’s blog post is dedicated to the appreciation of both foodstuffs, markets, wines and intoxicatingly satisfying nourishment that feeds both one’s soul and lines one’s tummy.  Whether your tastes range from either the quick grab fast food, take out, grub, canteen or five star carte du jour menu sort, come graze along with me as we feast on culinary delicacies of the not so discriminating kind…

When in Barcelona, you must eat paella and paella and more paella.

Indulging in black squid paella in Madrid -It's actually quite yummy!!


When in Paris, you must indulge in les croissants et les petits gateaux. 






When in Bruges, you must sample some of the local brew.


When in London, fish and chips or sky-high hamburgers are the way to go.



When in Italia, why not take a bite out of the local pizza, which is a masterpiece creation all it’s own.  Come celebrate where food is art.  And, must I add, delicious!

Pizza as a work of art - A feast for both the eyes and the tummy!




When in Versailles, stop by the local market and pick up an apple or two for the Queen.


When stuffed to the gills, Pink Sneakers on the Go highly recommends either walking, trudging or galloping back to your hotel.  That, and schlepping burdensome over-stuffed luggage for miles on end works wonders for whittling that waistline and burning off those oh so delicious and decadent calorie laden gastronomic delights.

Come stuff your face as you gallivant around Europe, sampling local delicacies, chocolates, moule et frites, coq au vin – and, on that note, santé!!

Next week – what next?  Stay tuned for more Pink Sneaker adventures!!



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Where art and the riverbank converge at Les Berges de Seine

Posted by Nora K ,
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Now that I had successfully outrun the horses, what else could I check off my Parisian “not to be missed” pink sneaker adventure list?  After all, the most memorable of vacations are those that don’t go quite according to plan or that veer off the rails, as if seeking adventures of their own, quite oblivious to the meticulously laid plans that were supposed to go off without a glitch of a hitch. 

 

And that is how I inadvertently stumbled upon a cornucopia of not quite death defying, as that would be an exaggeration of the monumental degree kind, but nonetheless intriguing, activities of the not so quite far-fetched kind.  Meandering along the banks of the Seine on a leisurely summer afternoon led me to discover a playful side of the City of Lights, an easy breezy summertime easy joie de vivre encapsulated within the outdoor playground of Les Berges de Seine.  Officially inaugurated to the public in June 2013, Les Berges offers a little bit of something for everyone, whether young or old.  Youngsters can delight in scampering about the teepees and climbing walls, merrily hop-scotching their way along the waterfront whilst their parents luxuriate in contended bliss and languish the afternoon away in one of the numerous bistros and cafés overlooking the Seine.






Not one to brave the sheer impossibility of delicately balancing on a tight-rope, my pink sneaker clad tootsies recoiling at the improbability of such a feat, I could only gawk in disbelief and delight at the fortitude and resilience of the limber gymnasts as they performed their cirque du soleil like mesmerizing jumps and leaps.  Not one to push my luck as well as the limits of middle-aged flexibility, as the likelihood of breaking a few bones would definitely hamper my ability to scamper around the cobble-stoned rues and avenues and increase my chances of having to spend a fair length of time in le French hospital being tended to by les suave and charmingly handsome medics (a la Grey’s Anatomy kind), would be a fate…. Hold on a minute here, on second thought, where is that trampoline?








An urban landscape project that has successfully intertwined 2.3 kilometers of riverbank with pedestrian friendly promenades, les Berges de Seine offers a multitude of activities that range from anything to everything.  Out-door fitness buffs can skate, blade or cycle while the arts and crafts inclined are able to hone their skills in any of the denizens of on the spot workshops offered throughout the year.  Stretching from le Museé d’Orsay to Pont de l’Alma, les Berges combines the best of street art, outdoor festivals and open-air green spaces, where both performers and spectators converge in appreciation of the joie de vivre that is the City of Lights.



Come promenade, roller-blade or cartwheel your way along the riverbanks of the Seine as you discover yet another element of surprise in the ever-changing Parisian landscape.  Come stroll along les Berges de Seine….

Next week – what next????? Stay tuned for more pink-sneaker adventures!!



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