Dear Ageless Traveler,
This week’s newsletter will be a particularly personal one. There will be no recurring section like Ask Adriane or News You Can Use. Why deviate?
Here’s why.
I decided to give you a personal account of my journey, so you get a better feel of what ageless adventure can be like.
Into Africa
As I write this newsletter, I am in an airport waiting for my Frankfurt connecting flight from Paris to Johannesburg. This will be my second time in Africa. The first time I was on a press trip to Zambia, it was all work and some play. This time I meet with Lorraine Keenan, whom I interviewed on The Ageless Traveler Podcast about her Heroes’ Holidays voluntour program. Listen Here. In Joburg, I’ll be privileged to visit Babies in the Bush and a game ranch, as Lorraine describes on the podcast. I urge you to listen.
This Week’s Podcast
This week’s podcast: Meet the First Safari Game Ranch to be Recognized for Ageless Tourism: Baobab Game Ranch, Namibia.
Listen here.
I will cover Capetown and Uganda in upcoming podcasts and newsletters.
If you consider a trip to Africa, let me know at adrianegberg@gmail.com and I connect you with the folks that helped me plan my trip.
Transformative Travel Through Burgundy, France
Prior to visiting Africa I spent a transformative week barging through peaceful and beautiful Burgundy with European Waterways. The trip experience takes place on the 4 cabin Barge Finesse, our home, for a week. We ate three scrumptious gourmet meals daily and never considered straying from the chef’s menu. The culinary extravagances of our private chef was off the charts and changed the way I will eat forever…smaller portions, fresher food, more wine!
It is unsurprising to be wary of spending several days on a small boat with strangers. When everyone clicks, as we did, we again realize the transformative power of friendships, old and new.
European Waterways has ample comforts for service, culinary delights, wine tastings, and sightseeing, and I need to add this outstanding personal element of meeting like-minded, well-traveled people in an intimate setting, enjoying each other’s company.
See all that European Waterways has to offer at europeanwaterways.com.
Ah Paris
Before and after the barge cruise, we enjoyed whirlwind days in Paris. We stayed at Mom’Art in Montmartre and revisited Sacre Coeur, the magnificent cathedral on the hill. Our random walk in Montmartre brought us to the Batau Lavoisier…the old section where Picasso, Modigliani, and many iconic artists started in shabby, almost impossible living conditions. The building, now demolished, was part studio, part Cabaret, part living arrangement, and all Bohemian.
Of course, we ate bistros’ pate, mussels, and onion soup. I would have had less if I knew the food in store for me on the Finesse, but alas, I overindulged, in the memory of the artist who had so little food they often traded their canvases for bread.
After the barge journey, I headed to the Relais St Germaine on the left bank. Arriving in the afternoon, we had time to wander the boutique shops, eat in one of the plat du jour restaurants, and take an excellent boat ride on the Seine. In one of our podcasts, I interviewed Irvina Lew, author of Forays in France, who told me where to eat in Paris. Check out her podcast and see where to enter the gourmet world near the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and the Left Bank.
In the evening, we went to the church of St Germain for the Vivaldi concert. Paris has English-speaking shows (we saw a wonderful Guys and Dolls years ago, and there are plenty of cabaret and jazz venues). But we enjoy the church concerts.
On our last day in Paris before leaving for the airport, we did the usual The Ageless Traveler mad dash. We visited the Louis Vuitton Foundation Hockney Exhibition. This is our fourth viewing of a Hockney Exhibition. I recommend all of them if you get a chance. His hometown museum in Yorkshire, England, the exhibit in our Palm Springs Art Museum, the immersive Hockney Exhibit we saw in London, but it travels, and this one is at the Vuitton Foundation.
Seeing David Hockney’s work for opera sets, iPad creations, watercolors, and portraits, make him the most endearing and versatile contemporary artist.
Then to the Museum Marmattan, a spectacular Impressionism Collection-The Boudin exhibit enchanted me; an artist considered the first impressionist. I was introduced to Boudin in Le Havre on a shore excursion. People said…”go, to Paris, there is nothing to do in Le Havre.” That is not true; it is a fascinating sea city.
Now, boarding is announced for the long flight to Johannesburg. I stay at the Mandela Sanctuary. It was his home, and every room tells his history. It is an excellent introduction to South Africa.
Let’s meet again next week after my first Big Five Safari in Kruger Park, and I will share my experiences again.
