Born in mid-town Manhattan in a (no-longer-existing) French Hospital, Lanie often wonders if a few ambient whispers from the hovering French nurses might have sealed her destiny from day one. After studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence and New York University’s Paris outpost, she went on to receive her Doctorate of French Literature from the University of San Diego. Always on the move between France and the U.S., Lanie taught at the University of Southern California (USC), Rutgers University and Baruch College (CUNY) until 1988, when she finally settled in Nice. According to this Francophile, “the south of France is the perfect location—in an hour or so, you can jump on a plane and be in Paris, Corsica, Italy, Tunisia, or Spain.” Lanie has translated four novels from French to English and is currently working on a travel book on the Riviera’s cultural history.

Interesting Characters Met While Traveling: “On the ferry on my way to Formentera, while waiting on line to exit, I began to chat with my neighbor, a charming grey-haired Irishman who turned out to be the renowned architect John Meagher. He and his friends were headed to the wonderful beach restaurant, Juan e Andrea for lunch as was I. Maegher is a part-time resident on Ibiza and has built a number of amazing contemporary villas there, which I was fortunate enough to visit with him. He and his expat circle were incredibly gracious about sharing their island secrets with me.

Another memorable encounter was in Marrakech with Gary Martin, an American ethno-botanist who is dedicated to preserving Moroccan culture (and also happens to be the husband of Meryanne Loum-Martin, designer and hôtelier of the luxurious riad hotel Jnane Tamsna). Martin is a wealth of knowledge about everything from the re-greening projects in the medina to the illegal animal trade of endangered species. My favorite experience with Meryanne and Gary was a trip to a tiny mud village, not far from Esssaouira, with no electricity, where the women were grinding the argan nuts to make their famous oil. A real step back in time.

Most Memorable Meal: Louis XV, in Monte Carlo. “Predictable, but true.”

Favorite Destination for Food: Sydney. “The restaurants—from the snack shacks to the gourmet hangouts—really excel in creative fusion food, the likes of which I’ve never found anywhere else.”

Favorite Travel Book: Everybody Was So Young by Amanda Vaill Sara and Gerald Murphy. “A must-read for anyone who travels to the Riviera.”

“Also, a fabulously entertaining, newly released series by the New York cultural center, Symphony Space—Selected Shorts, Travel Tales and Food Fictions—two CDs of short stories by such authors as Nadine Gordimer, Joan Didion, Ring Lardner, M.F.K. Fisher, V.S. Pritchett and Anton Chekov. They’re read by literary and film stars like Tony Roberts, John Lithgow and Joanne Woodward. They’re available on http://www.amazon.com.