Without Reservations_ The Travels of an Independent Woman - Alice Steinbach [0]
WITHOUT RESERVATIONS
“Steinbach’s prose is polished and professional. Her deft descriptions of random acquaintances … turn them into living, breathing people.”
—The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“Anyone who looks longingly at travel brochures or who feels Merchant-Ivory—inspired pangs of wanderlust will find deep enjoyment—and perhaps inspiration—in Steinbach’s grand tour.”
—Book-of-the-Month Club
“Steinbach’s book is much more than just an engaging travelogue. She reflects thoughtfully on her life as she wanders through Europe, revealing her concerns about being a woman alone and about growing older.”
—Austin American-Statesman
ALICE STEINBACH, whose work at the Baltimore Sun was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1985, has been a freelance writer since 1999. She is also the author of Educating Alice. She was appointed the 1998–99 McGraw Professor of Writing at Princeton University and is currently a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
Copyright © 2000 by Alice Steinbach
Reader’s guide copyright © 2002 by Random House, Inc.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House Trade Paperbacks, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House Limited, Toronto.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Music Sales Corporation: Excerpt from “We’ll Meet Again” by Ross Parker and Hugh Charles.
Copyright © 1939 and renewed for all countries by Irwin Dash Music Co., Ltd.
All rights for the Western Hemisphere controlled by Music Sales Corp. Reprinted by permission.
Warner Bros. Music Publishing and Williamson Music: Lyric excerpt from “My Funny Valentine” by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Copyright © 1937 (renewed) by Chappell & Co. Rights for the extended renewal term in the United States controlled by the Estate of Lorenz Hart (administered by W.B. Music Corp) and the Family Trust u/w Richard Rodgers and the Family Trust u/w Dorothy F. Rodgers (administered by Williamson Music). All rights outside of the United States controlled by Chappell & Co. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Warner Bros. Publications U.S. Inc., Miami, FL 33014 and Williamson Music.
The author encountered many people during the course of her travels. Their names and in some cases identifying details have been changed in order to protect the privacy of those individuals.
RANDOM HOUSE TRADE PAPERBACKS and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.
This work was originally published in hardcover by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, in 2000.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Steinbach, Alice.
Without reservations : the travels of an independent woman / Alice Steinbach.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-76982-4
1. Steinbach, Alice—Journeys—Europe. 2. Europe—Description and travel. 3. Women journalists—Biography. 4. Women travelers—Biography. 5. Women—Travel—Europe. I. Title.
PN4874.S682A3 2000
818′.5403—dc21
[B] 99-32959
Random House website address: www.atrandom.com
v3.1
This book is for Shelby
and Patricia Carter
There are years that ask questions
and years that answer.
—ZORA NEALE HURSTON
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For making this book possible, the author wishes to thank Gail Ross, who, from the first, stood behind its publication every step of the way. I am also deeply grateful to Kate Medina for her elegant eye and insightful editing. For their invaluable contributions, I thank Jean-Isabel McNutt, Robin Pinnel, and Meaghan Rady.
I am also indebted to the Baltimore Sun, where, over the years, many of my writing thoughts took shape.
CONTENTS
Cover
About the Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
Paris
1. THE NOVICE
2. WOMAN IN THE HAT
3. AT SAINTE-CHAPELLE
4. FELLOW TRAVELERS
5. FIVE EXTRAORDINARY DAYS
London