Sacramento is often dismissed as a cow town capital…because it is. The skyline rises out of flat farmland, recently converted to suburbia. It's not nearly as sophisticated, or liberal, or fashionable as nearby neighbor San Francisco. There's less...
Drinking "fresh beer" while sitting on child-sized furniture, dodging a constant stream of motorcycle traffic, group aerobics by the lake before the sun rises: this is Hanoi.
The city in Vietnam's north is remarkably cold: in temperature, in...
Eating a steaming plate of noodles while perched on a plastic chair built for a 5-year-old, I faced a dilemma. I had four days in Hanoi, a city that was a grey and chilly as Saigon was colorful and warm—in weather, in buildings, in people. Hanoi’s...
I've learned that when a city is proclaimed as a country's cultural capital, it usually means it's cold. True to form, Hue (pronounced h-way) features gray-hued skies, a chilly wind drafting over the river and squat buildings crowding the winding...
I don't remember a word of what was said at my college graduation. I had been at the bar drinking Bloody Mary's since 6 a.m., was force-feeding water to my friend passed out on my shoulder, the sun was blazing and I just wanted President Zingg to...
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About Me
Christine Amorose Merrill
C'est Christine is my little slice of the internet to talk travel, lifestyle and twenty- and thirty-something struggles. After stints living in France, Australia and NYC and lots of (often solo!) travel around the world, I currently live in San Diego with my husband, daughter and two pugs.