 Sous les ciels de Paris ... I fell in love with Paris even before I had ever visited the city. In fact, I fell in love with everything French as far back as in my early childhood, when I first heard the language (probably on TV) and watched French movies and travel documentaries about France. It was an instant crush. For the record: I have always had a passion for languages, - even different accents of my own language have always fascinated me, - and foreign languages are like music to my ears. The French language more than any other. I first visited Paris in 1984, and it was everything I had dreamed of, and more. Le Tour Eiffel… L'Arc de Triomphe… Les Champs-Elysées… Pont Alexandre… Le Louvre… Montmartre… all the famous places, of course. But most of all it was the sounds, the smell of fresh baguettes from the bakery, the restaurants, the elegance of the French women, in all its simplicity… the green areas…Jardin de Tuileries… La Seine… les bateaux mouche… Notre Dame… Sacre Caeur… le Quartier Latin… I was lucky enough to be visiting my French friend, who lived with her newly wed husband in a Paris apartment close to La Place d'Etoile. Thus I was able to experience first-hand what it was like to live in one of those wonderful old buildings. The solid wooden door… the concierge downstairs… the spiral staircase… the high ceilings of the apartment and the large windows, opened up to let the summer breeze play with the light curtains… And the kitchen, facing the backyard, with a large window where the sounds from the neighbors came in and tickled my ears, with their laughing, the sounds of their pots and pans as they were making their dinner in the neighboring flat.. the smell of food… a dog barking… All familiar sounds, but yet so different there… Because the backdrop was different from what I was used to. And I loved the Paris shops, all the specialized shops: boulangerie, pattisserie, charcutterie … Even going to the local supermarket and buy food was an adventure! What a selection! The Bon Maman jams … the cheese… the sausages… the wine … oh-la-la! But even going to the big malls, like Galeries Lafayette and Printemps, was a more pleasant experience than visiting many other malls I’ve been to. And the Paris life … starting the day with a bowl of café au lait and some croissants with confiture du framboise… Perhaps not the healthiest alternative in the long run, but my God, what a joy! Lunching out at a restaurant, watching the people walking by and having a nice conversation with friends … flaner sur les quais… listening to someone playing the accordion in the French way … the sound of Edith Piaf on the radio, or some more modern music on Radio Énergie … In 1984 they played “Red, red wine” with UB40 and “Neun-und-neunzig Luftballons..” - and my friend recorded the radio-program for me and I played it again and again when I came back home, and longed back to Paris. I will always long back to Paris. I’ve been there twice since that first time, but hardly often enough. As much as I love the rest of the world and want to see it all: Paris will always have a special place in my heart. Paris, je t'aime. (This was first published on my blog "Leylas Journal" over at leylasjournal.tumblr.com)
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  In the summer of 2018 I decided to try housesitting for the very first time. I have been a member of House Carers since 2016, so I decided it was about time to try it out. I checked out some of the housesit notifications on the members' page, and ended up with a deal to housesit for a nice woman in Venice who needed someone to look after her Airbnb outlet for a week while she was on holiday in Britain. She had already had an American woman there for one month, but this other woman had to leave earlier than planned, so she needed someone tho housesit for the last week of her holiday. I was really excited and thought it was a great opportunity, so after having checked flights and found that they matched perfectly, I booked my tickets and flew off to Venice in the middle of August. I had never been there before, but the house owner sent me a lot of useful information about how to get to her apartment from the airport, and with the help of Google Maps on my cellphone and an exact route description, I had no problem finding it. It took me only 15-20 mintues to walk there from the bus station, and when I reached the front door of the house where the aparment was and rang the bell, I felt a rush of excitement when I heard a cheerful voice on the intercom by the door. It was Sally, the American woman. She would be leaving the next day, but was waiting for me to arrive so she could show me everything I needed to know in order to take care of the Airbnb outlet in the best possible way. Sally was nice, the apartment was nice, and I just knew that my week in Venice would be great. Sally showed me the local grocery shop and market, and also left me a very useful street map and guide and gave me some useful tips about some galleries and other interesting venues, along with some practical information about the vaporetto fares etc. In the evening we went to a very cosy restaurant in the neighbourhood, where we had a nice conversation over a delicious lasagna and some dessert, before we decided to call it a day and head back to the apartment. Sally had still a few things to pack and would be leaving early in the morning, and I had been up at the crack of dawn and was a bit tired after my journey, so we said goodnight early and went to bed. I slept on the couch in the living-room that first night, since Sally was still occupying the main bedroom, but when she had left the next morning, I could install myself in there with the few belongings I had brought with me. It was a nice room with an ajoining bathroom, so I didn't have to share bathroom with the Airbnb guests, which was nice.  In the summer of 2017 I went on a road trip from Nice to Tuscany together with my son. We flew from Norway to Nice, and rented a car to take us from there to Tuscany. Our trip started on a warn and sunny day at the end of July. We wanted to see as much of the landscape as possible, so we decided to follow the Via Aurelia, which took us through a breathtaking landscape, first up the Alpine Route, and the view from above Eze was quite spectacular, as you can see from the picture above. We could see all the way back to Nice Ville and the airport where we had landed, and the sight of the many luxury yachts in the bay below was proof that this is the playground for the rich and famous. You can read the whole article about the trip in the May 2018 issue of the Magazine The Passionate Globetrotter. You find the link to that issue here ...
I also made a small book about the trip, which you can get here ...  Kurdistan in Iraq has become like a "second homeland" to me, after having visited the region twice together with my Kurdish friends who live here in Norway / Europe, - first in the summer of 2012, when I spent nearly 4 weeks there, and then in March 2014 when I went there to celebrate Newroz, the Kurdish New Year)
Kurdistan has changed my life in so many ways, so when I established EKN Travel and EKN Travel Club, it was only natural that my first feature article in the member's magazine, The Passionate Globetrotter, was about Kurdistan in Iraq, where I have so many friends now. The article in the May 2018 issue of the Magazine was almost 30 pages long, so instead of writing it all here on the blog, you can follow this link and read it here... |
AuthorHi, I'm Else Kosberg, a Norwegian woman who is passionate about travel, languages, photography & filming, and learning about other people and cultures. I'm a freelance writer, photographer and broadcaster who wants to inspire others (and especially women) to live unapologetically on their own terms and travel more. I will forever be a Warrior for peace, love and understanding across the borders, and with this blog I hope to inspire, motivate and empower YOU to start exploring the world and maybe follow the roads less traveled. Archives
October 2020
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