The story behind the statue in our August mystery photo begins with a woman named Geneviève. She was born in Nanterre, France, circa 423 and later moved to Paris. She was a young woman when Parisians feared an invasion by Attila the Hun. Genevieve refused to flee and urged others to remain in the city and pray. When Attila bypassed Paris, people believed a miracle had occurred. Geneviève was later declared the patroness saint of Paris.
Alentejo is a vast and arid land — the bleak interior of Portugal, where cork seems to be the dominant industry.
Stretching from Natchez, Mississippi, on the Mississippi River, northeast to Nashville, Tennessee, the Natchez Trace Parkway is a wonderful road maintained by the National Park Service.
Based on an ancient trail, its earliest users were buffalo, then Native Americans and then white settlers. Today it is a paved highway closed to commercial vehicles but open to other vehicles and bikers. There is no separate bike trail, but the traffic speed limit is 45. My wife, Barbara, and I drove some of it in 2020.
7 days, 6 nights in northeastern CANADA, July 4-10, 2022. Group limit, 24. Highlights: From Deer Park to Gros Morne Nat’l Park for Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse/Prime Berth Twillingate Fishery & Heritage Centre/in St. John’s, Quidi Vidi Village Plantation/Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, home to puffins, migrating humpback whales. From any US departure gateway, $3,490 ppdo; land only, $2,800. Single, with air, $4,150; land only, $3,450.
