So we’re off this week to France — Chris is presenting a paper at a conference there, and I’ll be tagging along for the ride. And the photo ops. And the cafes.  And the food. 🙂

Although we’ve never been to the city of Montpellier, we did go to the south of France on a trip 5 years ago, in the Spring of 2005.  Chris recently ran across a trip report from that trip. It was series of daily accounts, plus much, much, more that he had written up about that trip to share on an old website of ours that is now defunct. There are photos (in the “Abecedary” section) and a complete list of menus along with a description of what we did each day in the day-by-day write-ups.

Plus, Chris penned a couple of essays about themes that emerged from the trip for him. I should note that Chris was on vacation the whole two weeks, while I was initially on a business trip. That division of labor is, of course, the opposite of what will be the case on our trip this week to Montpellier.

You see, 5 years ago we were living in North America. I was working in Vancouver, BC, while Chris was the one who was “semi-retired”. In reading through Chris’ creative trip report for that 2005 trip, I felt like I had entered into a time machine and was visiting a past that felt far more distant than 5 years. I had all those business meetings in Paris back then? Definitely, that’s a past life. How quickly I have settled into being the “semi-retired” one over the past four years.

Anyway, while we’re traveling this week, there will be a short hiatus on the blog.  In the meantime, I have uploaded Chris’ 2005 trip report about the trip to France and Italy to our new web host: click here to view this peek into our past.

And then join me back here in the present next Monday, July 16th, when regular blog posts resume on Two to TÜ.