We are in Helsinki, it is 0751 Friday morning. We have already showered, dressed, went looking for AAA batteries for Tricia’s keyboard, and ate breakfast at our hotel. Yes, it is early for all that – the background music artist is singing an appropriate song, “In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning” – jet…
TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday – Well……
We have always been light packers, a habit I picked up during my seminar travel days. We decided early in the planning for this trip, which begins today, that we would not check any bags. AND was that such a good decision. As we were doing a few things, so as to be ready to…
This week in The Pearl – May 8, 2026
A good week with friends and family. Saturday, Alexis and Joe brought two of their friends that were visiting from Chicago over for dinner. We had Tuscan Chicken with orzo, and Tricia made a peach tatin. Sunday, Tim and Lisa came for Sunday lunch. We had Mediterranean tilapia, and Tricia made a second peach tatin….
TheTravelsketcher’s Tuesday – Fine dining
“And asparagus? My father would sooner have carried a twenty-dollar bill to his grave than spend it on some glamorous weed coated in cheese. But for me, dinner at a fine restaurant was the ultimate luxury. It was the very height of civilization. For what was civilization but the intellect’s ascendancy out of the doldrums…
This week in The Pearl – May 1, 2026
Bon 1er Mai ! In France today it is La Fête du Muguet, the Festival of Lily of the Valley. It is also Labor Day in France and much of the world. The French tradition began when, in the 16th century, the French King Charles IX received a sprig of Lily of the Valley as…
theTravelsketcher 