womantraveler

LA: Alas, The Rains

On the fourth day of the last deluge of steady rains, I headed to the beach for some fresh air and a beach walk between showers. It felt as though I was emerging from Middle Earth. There were more people than usual on the Marina del Rey stretch between the Venice Beach pier and the ocean channel, and we all had that pallor that comes with extreme sun deprivation.

Since before Christmas, Southern California has seemed more like Miami Beach in hurricane season. With each subtropical storm, we break 100-year records. We've reached more than 31 inches of rain this season, as recorded in downtown LA, the 5th wettest season since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1877, and already above the Seattle annual average. Get that -- rainy Seattle!

At 3 a.m. the other night, hailstones as big as quarters pelted our condo community. Having just read Robert Harris' Pompeii: A Novel, I had a flash of understanding for those unfortunate souls living below Mt. Vesuvius when it erupted and buried their town. Within minutes, a layer of ice collected on our balconies, and the sidewalks were littered with leaves, blossoms and other debris, as if a tornado had stormed through (which several did elsewhere in the area along with crashing thunder that bounced off the hillsides).

Such turbulent weather in LA naturally has a celluloid quality.

Paris Notes: Anticipation

A little more than a week before my trip to Paris, I experience one of those nuits blanches of restlessness, fix a cup of chamomile and mint tea and calm my mind with Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel. I am struck anew by his thesis -- that there is plenty of information available about what to do when we travel but precious little about how to travel well.

Earlier in the day I officially began my Paris journey at the French Market Cafe (2321 Abbot Kinney Blvd., 310.577.9775) in Venice, California in my part of Los Angeles. I picked up a copy of Marie Claire, ordered a velvety bouillabaise and listened to the French speakers at the tables around me to begin re-tuning my ear to the French language. It has been eight years since I was in France; once comfortable getting around in the language, I am now extremely rusty. Over the past few weeks, you might have seen me driving up and down the freeways and surface streets of LA talking to myself, thinking I was -- like everyone else -- talking in my cell phone when I was actually responding to the French language tapes in my car radio. Or, rather, I was experiencing extraordinary pleasure in mastering the expressive merde! at the idiosyncratic drivers of LA. But that is another histoire.

From the cafe I drove up to Magellan's in Santa Monica, eager for a supportive environment of travelers. The claches of chatter were invigorating -- a solo womantraveler on her way to Shanghai for the first time, a man buying shoes for a South American rain forest, a couple discussing their forthcoming retirement to Provence and, coincidentally a French store manager from Montpellier also in the south of France. He kindly let me practice some basic conversation with the gentle correction of a teacher rather than the horrified Parisien I expect to encounter in a week's time. It is challenging to align one's thoughts to spoken words in another language unless your language muscle stays very flexed, which mine isn't.

On the way home I picked up a French film, 8 Women, taking the advice of an American friend who suggested that having the voices in the background without subtitles to rely on is a helpful way of training the ear anew. She was right about that, but when it came to actually watching the film and fearing I'd miss the nuances of the story, I had to open my eyes and cheat by reading the English subtitles.

For me, the how of travel is inextricably linked to why I travel -- to be transported to other lives and cultures and capture something of them that becomes a new quality of me -- a simple memento, a precious photograph, an evanescent essence I wear like a new piece of jewelry. For six weeks I have been enjoying my upcoming trip through anticipation, and in four more weeks I will be living it through memory. In between will be the actual voyage, but the entire experience is the journey. The how of travel is imagining and preparing, living it, then committing it to memory through a process that compresses, exaggerates, filters, diminishes, forgets, rewrites. The how of travel lies deeply in the subtle reinvention of ourselves from who we were before we left and who we are when we return.

Low-Pressure Business Dining in DC

In the Washington, DC, the nation's capital, where pressure and intensity accompany the everyday bravura of self-importance, I prefer to hold my business dinners in a more relaxed DC restaurant setting. Although this doesn't work in all cases, with certain colleagues we accomplish plenty by slowing down for a couple of hours, hearing ourselves without shouting and experiencing carefully prepared alternatives to predictable power-dinner menus (steaks, chops, whole fish and blah blah blah). Women particularly like this option, especially if we are kicking back a bit, though still accomplishing our business conversations. Added value -- in many of these locations the service feels more like a neighborhood restaurant, even a little bit of home.

I lived and worked for two decades in DC, then began visiting it as a womantraveler, and looked at some of the standby favorites differently as I ate out night after night. Accustomed to eating well at home, I wanted excellent food ideas, variety, healthy options (low fat and low cholesterol), attentive service, ample but not oversized portions and less formality -- all without sacrificing quality. By contrast, some of the well-known DC power spots are underperformers in quality and service, stuffy in atmosphere and often way too noisy for conversation. Practically speaking, in DC it's smart to have a list of options in different parts of the city, because gridlock is more common than movement in rush hour traffic across town.

Here are the restaurants I return to time after time in DC on Capitol Hill, downtown and in the West End and Georgetown. They're equally good for business lunches, too.

Great Links 1

What do women want? Here's how a kitchen Romeo attempted to find his own answers in an entertaining culinary Valentine from the New York Times.

Now check out the following additional news you can use -- or file away for future reference:

• Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel online provides a variety of helpful tips.
• Orbitz ranks No. 1 in customer service for its innovative "critical care alerts."
• Exotic hotels can mean exotic diseases, so travel safe.
• European travel websites often beat US prices.
• Traveling with a printer for your laptop keeps getting easier -- here's how.

Paris, at Home

Leave it to girlfriends at home to come together to help launch one of their own on a fabulous solo vacation -- in this case, my upcoming Paris trip in March.  It was Peggy's idea to organize a dinner party around a theme -- we'd cook from Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris that she gave me for Christmas. And thus began the countdown toward my vacation.

I picked the first and main courses from the book -- Winter Squash Soup (Soupe au Pitiron) and Salmon with Lentils. Peggy and JoAnn provided the munchies (while we cooked), the salad and the wine, while Sandi brought two desserts (not in this book but more on that later). I arrived with two bags full of provisions -- the butternut squash and pumpkin puree, among the other soup ingredients, and 4 center-cut salmon fillets, French green lentils du Puy and the leeks, thyme, celery, carrots and more for the rest of the dish.

The concept of cooking French is very intimidating to Americans, but thanks to a long line of impressarios such as Julia Child (The Way to Cook), Jacques Pepin (Jaques Pepin Fast Food My Way), Patricia Wells (Bistro Cooking) and Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook), elaborate recipes crafted in hallowed restaurant kitchens have been simplified for the rest of us to try -- with added optimism and good cheer that we will be successful. When I lived in France for a year and cooked with friends in their kitchens, everyday French cooking was quickly demystified for me. On a farm in the Loire Valley, we ate vegetables, fruits and grains assembled for the vegetarian (and macrobiotic) household. One evening my brother visiting from the States arrived with a skinned rabbit he and his friend had found on the way (lapin a la roadkill) and had stopped by the boucher to clean and freshen up. It was a most scrumptious and memorable meal. For the daily routine, a terribly worn paperback in my kitchen, La Cuisine Pour Tous, has nearly 500 pages of short and simple home-cooking that the average home cook would use. But many years later my French is so rusty that I wouldn't trust my translations for the weights and measures. Quelle horreur!

This no-pressure evening, centered around the Barefoot Contessa's generous approach and accessible recipes, was of course made better by the company of forgiving girlfriends. (It took twice as long to prepare, and we finally sat down to eat about 9:30 p.m.). Each of us had assignments for the cooking, and the mellowing Chardonnay further reduced the stress. Wouldn't you know that the piece de resistance was the dessert -- actually two desserts -- brought by new girlfriend Sandi. Her sour cream cheesecake, derived from Thanksgiving dinners and celebrations with the Lennon Sisters family, and the Ghiradelli milk chocolate oatmeal bars would have delighted any French chef.

We Spa

"Spa" has transformed from a noun to a verb. Originally from the name of the famous mineral springs in Spa, Belgium, spa-ing has proliferated from the day spa down the street to luxury resorts around the world, embracing relaxation, beauty, and health.

We have a trainer at the fitness center to build up our muscles and a massage therapist at the local day spa to knead out the kinks. Rather than effortless vanity, we spa as a dedicated approach to staying in great shape and achieving mind-body balance. And the spa industry has gone mainstream with a spa for every pocket book and appetite.

Here's just about everything you need to know about finding a spa, at home or abroad, from Spa Finder and other insider resources, including the best spas in while skiing in New England and in the West and sunning in the Caribbean.

Top on my list remains the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa north of San Francisco, where the hot springs mix and renovated spa facilities offer a fabulous rejuvenation package for a memorable girlfriends getaway.

The Real Paris

Paris for me is not simply a vacation -- it's a state of mind. Ever since I lived there in the late '70s, I've seen life in part through my French eyes. In Paris I learned how to transform from a tourist to a resident. Even though the French will spot you a mile away, most other tourists won't! It's a template I use on all my travels now. So when I make my fourth trip to France in March, my daily journal will help you discover -- with an inside view -- how to experience "the real Paris" on your next visit.

I also start my trips a few months early, believing that half the thrill is in the preparation and anticipation. Over the next few weeks I'll chronicle how I'm getting ready for Paris through language studies, food, films, books, packing and assorted practical details.

Let's start with books. My friend Mort Rosenblum, a journalist and award-winning author who lives in Paris, was back in the US on a book tour for his latest delicious cultural investigation, Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark & Light. I'll interview him in Paris next month. Meanwhile, here's what else is on my reading shelf:

Food and Culture

A Goose in Toulouse and Other Culinary Adventures in France, also by Mort Rosenblum

The Gastronomical Me, by MFK Fisher

A Food Lover's Guide to Paris: 4th Edition, by Patricia Wells

Found Meals of a Lost Generation, by Suzanne Rodriguez-Hunter

Journals, Memoirs and Biographies

Paris to the Moon, by the New Yorker's Adam Gopnik

Paris Journal: 1944-1955, by Janet Flanner

Women of the Left Bank, Paris: 1900-1940, by Shari Benstock

Looking Great

French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure, by Mireille Guiliano

A Guide to Elegance: For Every Woman Who Wants to Be Well and Properly Dressed on All Occasions, by Genevieve Antoine Dariaux

Also watch for soon to be released Murder in Clichy from the Aimee Leduc detective series by Cara Black

And if you're a Francophile living in the San Francisco area, you can see these and other authors on book signings and other events sponsored by the organization Paris Through Expatriate Eyes. There's a free newsletter on the website that allows you to sign up for events before they are sold out. À la prochaine fois!

Hot Spots for Cool Times

He Skis, You Spa, Whatever

More and more ski resorts are offering inviting options for the non-skiing partner or parent, not that reading and boutiquing all day long are bad things. Spa treatments and art and cooking classes are among the cool stuff, the New York Times reports.

You Go, Leo

The extraordinarily versatile mind of Leonardo da Vinci is exhibited in Rome this month, then travels to Europe and lands in the United States in 2007. "A Curious Genius" demonstrates through his notebooks how Leonardo's vision was way ahead of the technological capacity of the 15th and 16th centuries in architecture, engineering and optics and predicted progress to come.

Art Against the Odds

About 75 works of French 19th century avant-garde painter Berthe Morisot, the first woman Impressionist, are on display for the first time in the U.S. at the The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., through May 8.

Do Your Part for the Cure

What better way of spending a weekend or some of your vacation than walking or racing for a breast cancer cure? Womentravelers are preparing for this year's Race for the Cure and the Avon Walk, among other opportunities in your communities. Now is the time to think about how you can do your part through a few hours, an overnight, even a five-day walk. One of my friends has given her weekends for months to train for a three-day marathon in Alaska. Another friend is in her fourth year of chemotherapy and surviving against incredible odds. I personally have many years of pink T-shirts, all signifying people who cared. And don't forget the men in our lives, too -- my son is helping organize a walk at his university. Join us. There's something to fit your schedule. You'll be glad you contributed with significance in 2005.