Places

Until recently, I’d not considered the virtues of fat wood, or what folks in South Mississippi call “lightered knots” or “lightered” for short. A...

image source: Basler Zeitung Yesterday, Kleinbasel, once little more than a village across the Rhine from the Bishop’s city of Basel, celebrated Vogel Gryff. The...

As I went about my business yesterday, picking up goodies for a Sylvester (New Year’s Eve) apéro with friends, each merchant cheerily wished me...

Basel’s Christmas market is the largest and most traditional in Switzerland. The merchandise on offer is of high quality, albeit pricey, and I always...

Last Saturday, a fellow leaned out of the way-up-there window of Martinskirche in Basel’s Old Town, flapped a glove with his left hand and...

Leaves are turning and beginning to fall, darkness comes early now, and the evenings are getting downright chilly. Despite some warm afternoons, autumn really...

My advance copy of Lonely Planet's forthcoming food anthology arrived a week ago, and it’s an edifying read. The thirty-eight stories are set around...

In the local markets of southern Germany, pumpkins and their squashy cousins come in myriad shapes and sizes. Each autumn, a family-run farm in...

  Place François-Rude is at the heart of Dijon’s pedestrian zone. The capital of Burgundy is visitor-friendly, its compact historical center chock-a-block with parks and...

This drowsy month is one of birthdays (Switzerland’s, mine) and the pinnacle of summer here. It can be cool and rainy, but is generally...