We seem to be back on the right time zone, which thanks to the ocean crossing really went pretty easily. We arrived only about 2 – 3 hours off. We still seem to want to eat different amounts of food at interesting times, and miss horribly the fresh and unprepared foods we ate for so long. I was already trying to avoid corn syrup when I left; but it’s really discouraging to find sweeteners in so much of our food. So we’re really stuck with fresh fruits and vegies and local bread, etc.

We’re still unpacking the piles of little things that filled the corners of our luggage! We horded funny things like packets of honey and jam, plastic spoons and forks for use in having an economical or simple meal in the hotel room or park, and it’s amazing how many of those things and more are piled up as we unpack!

So for those interested, here’s a few preliminary numbers! I think as I organize the memorabilia, the numbers will go up!
115 Days we were on our trip

2 – 3 Suitcases

2 Backpacks

Cities visited (as in we walked about in them – does not count those we traveled through!)

9 Israel

13 Spain

6 Morocco

16 France

5 England

9 Places we did our laundry (does not count hotel sinks!)

10 Books Sharon read (does not include newspapers, magazines or travel journals!)

115 A guess as to how many places we paid to eat in!

2 Number of homestays

15 Hotels

1 Apartment

5 Number of airplanes traveled in

2 Ships traveled in

9 (at least) Trains

who knows? Buses and touring couches

Bicycles, Taxis and Metros uncountable!

1 Camel

Anyone think of other things to add to our numbers?

Two days home and we’re beginning to adjust. The time changes that happened on board the ship helped a great deal – but not entirely. We seem to be about 3 hours off still, not bad for four months living in another time zone. But we awaken at 6 am hungry for breakfast – okay, I know, for some of you that’s normal! But we’ve been getting up and eating breakfast about 10 am for a few weeks (and staying up late at restaurants, tapas bars, or on the ship, dancing every evening).

And our tasks at home are fairly sedentary considering that for the last 4 months we have walked 3 – 8 hours every day!

And, the weather doesn’t help! It’s been in the high 90s since we arrived home: a real shock to our systems! Although we probably had 80s during our trip to Morocco and desert, we’ve not had more than mid-70s. And our last weeks in France, England and the crossing were actually in the 60s with more often than not overcast skies, so the temperature difference is a big one. (Okay, and welcome home — our central air-conditioner died last night – and since we’re not elderly/or have children, we are not on the fix it by tomorrow list! We have plenty of fans but still no fun.)

But probably the weirdest adjustment in two days is the little moments of trying to find stuff or coming across winter seasonal stuff! Our winter boots and gear are nicely lined up at the back door where we left them. As are the snow shovels, snow guards and other items you use to winterize a house!

When we left, it was the day after a snow storm of 7 inches, and there was probably 3 feet of snow on the ground.

When we arrived yesterday, the rhododendrums, lilacs and all sorts of spring flowers were in full bloom about the house.

We went to open the windows for air last night and had to do the winter storm removal thing. All of the tasks that we would normally do over the spring as the weather changes have to be done these first days home – very strange!

And, once again, the hot days aren’t helping as it is just too hot except at 7 a.m. to do anything out of doors (good thing we were up this morning that early!).

Welcome back to New England’s crazy weather!

This morning we watched the sun rise over the Statute of Liberty as we arrived in NY .

We are now at home, and thought I’d catch you all up on our “transatlantic voyage.” This is quickly what we were told to call it, that it wasn’t a cruise!

Here’s she is as we approached on June 2. This is the Mayflower Terminal in Southampton, England.

Our dear friend, from Winchester England, came to the Pier to see us off! We really felt like we were setting off on a world excursion!

We arrived by bus from London, and it took about 45 minutes to get through the sign-in line and getting issued a room key, etc. There’s no cash exchange on board so they tie your room key to your credit card (a bit dangerous if you don’t keep track!)

We had a lovely stateroom. We had an enclosed balcony that was lovely for letting in the sea air and listening to the quietness of the ocean at night. It had a large bed, desk, sofa and coffee table (and nice bathroom and storage). This is the view from the room out of our balcony.

Here’s the main lobby area of the ship. There’s a casino, a few bars and a mall around this central core.

So how did we pass the time? There was a library, several restaurants, bars of different sorts, entertainment, lectures and classes galore. I went to a line dance class, a watercolor class, walked about the deck (lots of high winds on our journey) and together we went to several lectures on maritime issues. There’s even a planetarium!

And, of course, we ate!

More pics:

One of the many food sculptures that were always in the restaurants and eating areas. This is actually made of dough!

And, of course, we couldn’t resist this at the top of the ship! It was really really hard to stay there in the high winds while hubby took the picture! And this was the center of the ship (romantic nonsense that you can stand on the front! – not to mention that they don’t allow you up there!)

This is the main area of the restaurant we ate in each night. You were assigned one of the main restaurants although you were free to eat at most of the others (there were two set aside for the super first class rich folk). We went to eat at one of the places called Todd English.

This is one example of the beautiful works of art that were everywhere on the ship.

We had a really lovely time. They add an hour a day so we arrived in the US hopefully without too much jetlag after 4 months on a different schedule! A day or two at home will tell.

We managed pretty well with the clothes we had. It is formal wear three nights of the six on board, and one is informal (meaning jacket, but no tie required). I’m sure some of the folks in tuxedos had something to say about hubby’s suit; but it worked for us! We had bought him a suit coat in Nice France and a bowtie (in a Tie shop in a railroad station in England actually), and he looked very dapper. I had several nice blouses (and a lovely black dress loaned by a friend), so with scarves and a few bits of jewelry it was easy for me to look decent.

Unfortunately, I don’t think we got any pictures of ourselves dressed up — they took a few on the ship, but we just weren’t into paying $27.50 (yup!) for a 5 x 7.

We arrived home to our house by about 1 pm and we’re just beginning to make it through the mail (and we’re not ready to unzip that luggage as yet!).

Do check in for more on the trip – there’s lots more photos I plan on posting (especially now that I have steady connection!).

We went into one station and had to catch a taxi to another to catch another train to Winchester. (Yesterday we returned to London). We met this couple in Salamanca in school and really hit it off. They are delightful folks and gave us a few days of wonderful hospitality!

The first day they took us to tour Winchester College -

a very old what we would call high school: over 625 years! For you fans of a certain wizard book — does the dining room remind you of anything?

We then went to tour WInchester Cathedral (yes, the one of the old 60′s song!).

This is a scuplture by Gormley in the cript of the cathedral — really one of the most stunning sights we’ve seen this trip. This photo does not do it justice at all.

We had tapas at a new local restaurant. Here we are!

They took us to a town nearby to enjoy an open air sculpture garden as well. We spent the next day touring the Cathedral again, seeing a few things that were closed the next.

Yesterday, they had arranged to come into London and join us and another couple of friends of theirs for an evening at the theatre. We went to see “Como Aqua para Chocolate” in Spanish! Nice way to begin to wind down our trip, huh?!! It was a small theatre in a tunnel under either a bridge or the subway, I wasn’t sure. It seated about 100 on benches. It was a great play!

For a couple of days, we’ll tool about London and before you know it be on our way home on the Queen Mary II – really hard to grasp actually!

So here’s just a few pictures from our few days in Paris. From London, this afternoon, we take another train to Winchester where we will spend a couple of nights with a couple that we made friends with in Spanish school in Salamanca. (Maybe we’ll remember a few of our already lost vocabulary.)

Of course, one must take a picture of the tower while in Paris. We understand there’s a light show every evening; but we skipped as the crowds of tourists here are really huge and we just couldn’t do it! So we sat in a nice cafe eating long slow dinners instead!

We did go to the La Orangerie (I’m sure that’s misspelled) since it was reconstructed since we visited ten years ago. They built two new rooms for the panels by Monet with natural lighting. The natural lighting is beautiful, but we thought the rooms were too sterile. The old worn-out rooms had warm wood tones from the floor that we thought looked better against the paintings. Thought, of course, the paintings are breath-taking.

The famous – or, in our case, – infamous, Pompidou Center. It was closed for renovations ten years ago when we were here. We went two days in a row, and it was closed. On Thursday, there was a general strike of transportation, which they joined. On Friday, we went again, and the workers had decided to go on a five day strike – oh well — won’t see it again!

And, a picture I wanted to put up last week and didn’t get a chance to: hubby enjoying Burgundy wine and escargot while dining in a cafe in Burgundy! I did try a half of one — delicious!

And, this is for Avi-do! The name is not quite spelled correctly; but here is someone you would like to see (on the Hotel de Ville in Paris). It made Poppi and I think of you — we’ll see you soon!

We went on the organized tour of Versailles. We had not been there before as about 10 years ago when we came to Paris, there had been some kind of storm that damaged the park and part of it was closed; and they were renovating some of the interior and we were told that many of the treasures were on tour.

It was packed with people and we were glad to be on a tour for this one. We didn’t see too much less than others on their own did as they send you through pretty quickly. We would have liked more than an hour for the gardens as they are HUGE and beautiful.

It’s quite the statement in decadence to say the least. And, makes us curious to know more of the history than we know — but that’s been almost everything we’ve done this trip!

Last night we went to the Moulin Rouge – again with the organized tour. And good thing as well in this case — the line went around the corner. We also benefited by getting to sit in the second tier of tables – quite good seats for show watching. Most folks react to it as a tourist trap and i suppose it is. But it is also over 100 years old, and we wanted to say we had been there. We danced to the band that played during dinner. The show was great fun, although we thought the can-can they did was not very good. We’ve seen it on old films and documentaries and the updated version is not the way to go!

It’s now Sunday and we leave Paris tomorrow. We have found internet in all the public parks (in fact we are sitting in a 1st century Roman theatre with wifi!), but alas my laptop’s battery has decided its dead; so I can’t post away from a plug. At the moment I’m using hubbie’s laptop so I won’t be able to post pictures of our Paris fun until we get to London.

We go to London tomorrow via Eurostar and the Chunnel – we’re looking forward to it. Here in Paris, we’ve been to the L’Orangerie and Musee Rodin to see a special exhibit on Camille Claudette which was stunning (and we had to wait nearly 1 1/2 hours to get in). We found the cafe we went to 10 years ago and had dinner and a chocolate ancienne – delicious!

From London we are going to Winchester to stay a couple of nights with a couple that we met at language school in Spain, and then before we know it, it’ll be June 2 and we’ll be on the Queen Mary II headed home!

It’s really hard to believe the time has gone by. Our adventures have been many and wonderful. We are really enjoying ourselves and just beginning to wish for home – and really what we miss at this point is routine. We are beginning to be weary of lugging our stuff and moving about. Stay tuned for more pictures from the cruise and Paris once I find a plug to sit next to!

We have just arrived in Paris from a week cruising on the river Rhone and Soane.

This is the boat when we arrived in Arles.

It was a small boat holding only about 125 people with, best we can figure it, about 25 crew. Although the company promised an “Internet Corner” and access, it really wasn’t that true! The connection was often down (we were told it was due to the satellite – hubby, knowledgeable about such things to say the least – said it was how the system was set up), and went it was up, it was (as Gramma used to say) slower than molasses! So needless to say we got nothing done online, and used what time we could get connection to get a hotel in Paris. Neither of us could use our own laptops. And we won’t talk about the charge for using it….

But we had a wonderful week. Each evening, after dinner, was a little entertainment, sometimes while we cruised, sometimes while docked. A few nights was, in all honesty, a terrible lounge piano singer! One night, however, we were surprised with a local band to the lower Provence area: the center musician is a member of the Gypsy Kings! WOnderful!! And hubbie had a dance with their dancer!

We saw several medieval villages along the river, or even inland, as the tour had options of taking a bus for a couple of hours in the afternoon to see other villages. The boat itself was lovely: quiet, restful, food was okay, the other travelers fascinating. The boat is run by a German company, and so the food was more German in nature than French, but it was very good, and we enjoyed the fact that the servings were a nice size – not huge! This is important in cruising as there’s a lot of food!

Here’s some of the towns we experienced: Nice, Arles, Avignon, Carmargue region, Lyon, Macon, Marseille, Tournon, Vienne, Beaune, Viviers, and Oingt! These are only a few of the villages we stopped at, we saw many more from the boat.Really quite amazing….

I hardly know where to begin to share. We took almost 700 pictures (thank goodness for digital format). We tasted wines, saw flamingos, and beautiful white horses, walked in ancient castles, cathedrals, and breathed the beautiful air filled with the scent of lavender.

…dancing under the bridge (remember the song?) of Avignon.

This is a picture of the town of Viviers from castle remains on the top of the hill. We heard an organ recital in the medieval cathedral surrounded by tapestries from the 13th century.

We went through many locks and under bridges. One of the locks was the second largest in Europe! The skydeck where the bridge and lounging chairs are located were designed to be very flat for going under the bridges. For one particularly difficult bridge we were sent downstairs – the clearance was 2 centimeters! Here’s a photo of the clearance for one we were allowed to be up top for – but we had to remain sitted! That is a underside of a bridge!

One village was more beautiful than another! Here’s a sample for you….

it was a delightful week. I’ll trip to post a few more over the next few days. We are in Paris for four days and hope to have good connection.

I don’t know when I’ll be able to post again, so keep checking in. We’re told that there is internet on the boat; but we’ve learned that here in Euope that phrase means a lot of different things!

This cruise takes us up the Rhone and we will arrive in Paris on May 21. The last day or two is in a bus. The itinerary is exciting and so we are hopeful we’ll enjoy ourselves!

We’re really enjoyed Nice. It’s a huge tourist destination – apparently it’s been so since the late 1800s when British, French and Russian royalty came here to play. The beachline is beautiful, the water exquisite, and interestingly to me – the beach sand is not so pleasant. The beach is small rocks, not sand at all. Anywhere there is sand, it was added on top of the rocks by the hotel that owns the beach front.

Here’s a few pictures of Nice. The weather is lovely so far, although we’re told it may rain tomorrow.

This is me at the top of a hill where a very old castile used to exist.

Some of the very interesting buildings here in Nice.

Old Nice from the top of the hill.

And, while I’m on, I want to put up a few pictures of Cadaques where we were a few days ago. We went on a day trip from Figueres (Spain) in order to visit Dali’s home.

This is Rich in the middle of Dali’s house in Port Llagt. The room is a peribolic room; when you talk in the middle it does this wierd bounce back at you.

The beautiful view from our hotel.

Our hotel in Cadeques.

So, hopefully I’ll see you online in a day or two once we get settled on our river cruise. I look forward to being back in the states soon; but I’m still having way too much fun for it to be tomorrow!

I’m in a small pasta place with wifi and may not be able to post any pictures as yet; but I hope to do that this week before we leave Nice on our river cruise.

Today has been quite a shock in terms of language though. After working so hard for 2 months to understand Spanish; we have to switch to French. That’s okay; since we taught ourselves the basic hello, thank you, etc.; it’s just that it was a shock to switch so quickly! But on the other hand, we are excited that what jumps to our mind quickly is the Spanish for many things! So we spent the day replying in Spanish, and then English!

But here we are at dinner – Pates’r Rus PastaBar at 4 ruelle de la Boucherie, Nice, and finally after the little French greeting, English comes to our minds! Very strange! Here in Nice, it’s actually not necessary to speak French as it seems all the restaurant and store folks speak English.

Already we are talking of home, knowing our adventure is treading toward the end. But we only spend a moment or two on it – still enjoying our break from the routine of life in the US! We are both spending time reflecting on our past life together (this summer marks 36 years together for us); and what we hope to achieve together and in terms of our family. We have one grandchild; and certainly hope for more – so we think about how to continue to make sure our children and grandchildren are always first in anything we do.

We really enjoy traveling – always have – and we enjoy most the time in one place to do the “back-door” thing.: find the local stores, the laundrymats, the fruit market, etc. (In fact, this afternoon we spent a hour or so doing our laundry in the old section of Nice!)

We are already talking about where in the world we might go for a month some summer soon and invite the children and grandchildren to come for a portion of it. And, of course, we are thinking it might be good to have it a Spanish speaking country!

Our best to everyone in the US!

We had a great day and a half in Cadaques! I’ll post more another time – now it’s time to get to bed as we have an early train to catch!

Adios Espana! Mi me gusta mucho todo Espana!