Time Travel Log

Our Home in Marseille

October 16, 2022
It is the eve of our departure from Marseille. So I start this story from its ending. Friday we returned from a quick 3-day jaunt to Besalu, Spain, to visit James Wallace, ex-Seattleite and former owner of Besalu Cafe in Ballard. James and his wife, Kaire, settled there in 2017,…

France: Paris

September 29, 2022
In our last contact, we took you through Belgium en route to France. Now we bid adieu to our few hours in Belgium and enter the territory of France making a beeline towards the village of Sedan, our last stop before taking up residence in Paris. Sedan is known for…

Germany: Chapter Two

September 14, 2022
After we down pots of coffee, copious amounts of eggs, bacon, sausages, pastries, bread and cheese at the Hotel Europa breakfast buffet, we waddle to our car to tackle the 3-hour drive to Berlin. BERLIN. One of the truly amazing capitals of Europe. So many stories, so many tragedies and…

Germany: Chapter One

September 6, 2022
Our two weeks in Germany begin in Hamburg with family—the Hamburger Rafiis. Uncle Yousef, Tante Maren, cousins Jaschi and Bijan, Bijan’s lovely wife Yvonne, plus their three boys, Fabio, Yago and Sami. A boisterous bunch that all live together in a family compound in Niendorf, a little suburban hamlet on…

The Netherlands

August 22, 2022
Flying into Amsterdam on a beautiful clear morning, I marvel at the coastline—an endless ribbon of white sand as far as the eye can see—and out to sea, the fields of windmills planted in the water along the coast. I had no idea that Dutch coast had such long, beautiful…