Unlike the rest of Hipster Nation, Kris and I haven’t been able to get into Mad Men. This show on AMC is ostensibly about the men (and women) working at an advertising agency on New York’s Madison Avenue during the early 1960s. It’s been lauded for its acting, directing, writing, and (especially) its art design. …
On Saturday night, I had dinner with Wendy and Dennis, two Get Rich Slowly readers who recently moved from Phoenix to Portland. We talked about a lot of things — most of them nerdy. We also chatted about the ever-evolving nature of Get Rich Slowly. “I’ve noticed you’re writing more about credit cards lately,” Wendy …
I don’t have much to say about our final day-and-a-half in Paris. Kris and I were still sick, and we didn’t leave the hotel room much. We did venture out to a kitchen store, but mostly we slept. Kind of a bummer way to end our European vacation, don’t you think? Still, we had fun. …
Though Kris and I still felt sick, it seemed foolish to spend our time in the hotel room. This was an expensive trip, and we felt obligated to get our money’s worth. Because we were feverish, we made a slow start to the day. We left the hotel at 1100 for a second trip to …
Kris and I both woke feeling sick, but since we had to be out of our cabin by 0800, there wasn’t much we could do. We hunkered down in the lounge of the River Baroness with other late-departing guests. I wrote; Kris slept on the floor. At noon, we took the subway to our hotel, …
During the night, the River Baroness docked in Paris, near Parc André Citroën. Despite feeling sick, I rose early to join Mark and the ship’s fitness expert (and masseuse) for Nordic walking to the Eiffel Tower. The morning was cool and misty, but the walk felt good. Beneath the tower, we paused for calisthenics. Soldiers …
Today, we took a vacation from our vacation. I felt sick and tired, so we slept late, skipping the excursion to Monet’s garden at Giverny. After sleeping late, we slept some more. In the afternoon, Kris stayed in bed, sleeping and reading. I sat in the lounge and watched the French countryside slip past. I …
On Thursday morning, Kris and I joined a bus tour to the coastal resort town of Étretat. The long drive through French farmland was beautiful. Plus, the day was cold, windy, and wet. I loved it. There wasn’t much to see in Étretat. It’s the sort of place where you’d spend a relaxing week or …
After just a couple of days, the boat was driving me crazy. I’d felt cooped up in Italy, but that sense of confinement was nothing compared to the river cruise. At least in Italy, we were walking most places, and if I needed to escape to be on my own, I could. That wasn’t true …
During the night, the River Baroness moved north to Rouen, a Salem-sized city in France’s Normandy region. In the morning, all of the passengers boarded buses for the two-hour ride to the D-Day Beaches. On the morning of 06 June 1944, the combined Allied forces (including not just the United States and England, but also …