Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman

Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman
Steinbach, Alice
Published by Bantam, Australia, 2004

When Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Alice Steinbach decided to take a year off to explore Europe and rediscover what it was like to be an independent woman, she left her job, family, friends and routine behind. The result, WITHOUT RESERVATIONS, became a bestseller and inspired women everywhere to take that leap, if not in reality, at least in their imaginations.But having opened the door to a new way of living, Steinbach found herself unwilling to return to the old routine. She quit her job and left home again, only this time her objective was to find a way to combine three of her greatest passions: travelling, writing and learning. EDUCATING ALICE is the intimate, funny and richly entertaining story of her adventures roaming the world to conquer new challenges, large and small. She learns how to cook at the Hotel Ritz in Paris, tackles the intricacies of traditional Japanese arts in Kyoto, makes a pilgrimage to Jane Austen's birthplace, revisits the past in Prague, surrenders to the spontaneous joy of music and memories in Havana, uncovers the secrets of border collie training in Scotland, and much, much more. Along the way, Steinbach learns more from the people she connects with on her travels and unplanned encounters than any of her lessons.