Program 286b: Mother's Day: Sweet Home Croatia; An American Mother in Paris

On this week’s Mother's Day edition of Travel with Rick Steves, we hear what it was like to relocate your family to the same village your great-grandparents came from in the mountains of Croatia.

Also, an American who married a Frenchman explains what it’s like raising a child in Paris.

We take a sentimental family trip to San Francisco, and hear how mamma will always be center stage in Sicily.

And Rick shares how his own mother influenced him to become a traveler.

This is a re-edit and update of a program that first aired May 12, 2012. The program also won the Lowell Thomas Award gold prize for Audio in 2013, from the annual competition of the Society of American Travel Writers, which Rick humbly notes in the open to the program.

• Jennifer Wilson, author of Running Away to Home (St. Martin’s Press)
• Mary Bouron, Paris-based mother and tour guide
• Feature includes Alfio DiMauro and Tommaso Pante, tour guides based in Sicily
• Closing essay from former Travel with Rick Steves producer Sarah McCormic

• Rick included the tribute to his mother June Steves that he read for this week's program in his blog in January 2012.
• Jennifer Wilson's book about her family adventures in Croatia is called Running Away to Home. Her latest work is a novel called Water, about issues and controversies protecting water sources in the Midwest.
• The village of Mrkopalj, where Jennifer and her family lived, has its own Facebook page.
• Click on the link to "Mamma's Recipes" on Tommaso Pante's website to find out how to make many of his mother's Sicilian family favorites.
• More about Alfio Di Mauro, who helped write the Rick Steves Sicily guidebook, first released in April 2019.
• Mary Bouron's archived blog from 2012 is called How To Marry A Frenchman.

• Michel Legrand-Christiane Legrand, "Dans le magasin," Les Parapluis de Cherbourg (soundtrack) / Sony  
• Georgia Kelly and Dusan Bogdanovic, "Yovano Yovanke," A Journey Home / Global Pacific
• Loituma, "My Kantele," Nordic Roots (collection) / NorthSide Records
• Royal Ballet Sinfonia, conducted by Gavin Sutherland, "Suite Navarraise - Le vert galant' (Paul Lewis, composer)," English String Miniatures, vol. 5  / Naxos
• Leif Ove Andsnes, "Suite No. 1 'Nordland images' for piano, Op. 5 No. 4, 'Towards the mountains of my forefathers' (David Monrad Johansen, composer)," A Portrait / EMI Classics
• Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, "Cassation in G, K-63 (Mozart)," The Key to the Classics:  Mozart (collection) / Angel
• Christopher Parkening, "Gymnopedie No. 1 (Satie)," The Great Recordings / EMI Classics
• Warsaw Philharmonic, Kazimierz Kod., cond., "Symphony No. 3,  Opus 36, 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs,' (Henryk Górecki)," Henryk Górecki - Symphony No. 3 / Philips Classics - Eloquence
• The St. Olaf Choir, "Sommersalm (The Earth Adorned) (arr. Åhlén)," Reflections Of Norway / St. Olaf Records
• Izumi Tateno, piano, "'May's Sun Smiles' from 'Sun and Clouds, 12 Pieces for piano, op. 102' (Selim Palmgren)," The Nordic Experience (collection) / Warner Classics
• Kocani Orkestar, "Usti Usti Baba (Altiplano mix),"  Electric Gypsyland (collection) / Six Degrees
• * Café Antarsia Ensemble, "Rakija Waltz," Songs of the Table / Innova
• Milan Ilic Micko, "Brankova Setnja," Gipsy Music Collection, vol. 1 / Ton 4 Records
• Munkásőrség Központi Férfikara, Bela Toth, cond., "Riflesong," The Best of Communism:  Revolutionary Songs (collection) / Gong (Hungary)
• Klapa Nostalgija, "Mila Mi Je Govorila Majka," Dalmatinske Pjesma Dinka Fia / Best Music  (Croatia)
• David Hewitt, "Streetbeat," Music from the Wine Lands (collection) / Putumayo
• Anna Maria Gheltrito, Gianfranco Bittino, "Cara mamma," Viva La Mamma  (vari artisti) / Blue Music  (Italy)
• Jan Corduwener and his Orch, with Willy Alberti, "Mamma," Vintage Tenors No. 1 - EPs Collectors / Vintage  (1958)
• * Massimo Faraò Trio, "Viva La Mamma," Viva La Mamma (vari artisti) / Blue Music (Italy)
• Raft, "Yaka Danse," Madagascar / Universal
• Charles Aznavour, "J'aime Paris au Moi du Mai," Paris By Night (collection) / EMI  
• Christine Brown, "Mary Had a Little Lamb," Childhood / Key Image Music
• Mylene Farmer, "Sans Contrafaçon (Boy Remix)," Dance Remixes / Polygram
• Piano intro (Malcolm Martineau) to Angela Gheorghiu, "Songs My Mother Taught Me (Dvorak) (Siganske Melodie, opus 55, no. 4)," My World / London Records
• Los Reyes del K.O., "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," Coll Vs. Costa / Gaztelupeko Hotsak S.L
• Emile Pandolfi,  "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," What a Wonderful World / Magic Music
• Tony Bennett,  "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," The Essential Tony Bennett / Sony
• Christopher Parkening, "Afro-Cuban Lullaby," The Great Recordings / EMI Classics

• In the Billboard and open to segment A, Rick says that today's topics are a "Mother's Day edition" of Travel with Rick Steves.
• In Rick's Mother's Day tribute essay that opens segment A, he notes that his mother passed away "a few days after Christmas," and later gives the date as Dec. 29, 2011.  Rick also mentions in the open at 6:57 that this episode of Travel with Rick Steves won a Lowell Thomas award in 2013.
• In segment A, at 13:40, Jennifer Wilson says her family decided to move to Croatia in late 2008, party due to the poor American economy at the time.  She again refers to the "dismal" state of the (2008) American economy at 22:30 in segment B.
• In segment C, at 41:26, Mary Bouron says her daughter Collette is 15 months old now, and at 45:08 notes she has been married to Gregoire for 4 years. 
• At 42:23, Mary explains that many Parisian couples plan to give birth in May, due to May and September deadlines for getting into the daycare system. 
• Mary describes, at 46:14, that paid maternity leave in France starts one month before one's due date, with two or three months off work after giving birth, depending on the benefits of a CDD or CDI employment contract.  She notes that fathers also get "a couple of weeks at home."
• Mary responds to Rick's question at 49:03 that she believes that French proposals for dealing with "economic challenges in Europe" will retain their present maternity leave benefits.
• Mary observes at 50:03 that few restaurants in Paris have high chairs or changing tables for young parents.
• At 51:37, Rick notes "since our interview" that Mary now has three children and is working as a "food stylist."