Tomorrow morning we leave on a road trip for a week. We’ll take the first couple of days to visit a couple of homes of the rich and famous: Naumkeag for instance. By Wednesday we’ll be in Clinton, NY at the annual Shaker Seminar taking place this year at Hamilton College.
I’ll post as I can!
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Just a brief note between hamburgers to say Happy Birthday to the country we live in! On our travels we met some really interesting people who were always interested in the US, the people, and our opinions of world events. On several occasions, people asked if we would like to talk about our country’s politics, and were interested in exchanging opinions.
We met one gentleman on the Queen Mary from the UK who said he served in WWII and had a deep appreciation for our country (and was quick to add that we’ve had better leaders in the past).
Every place we talked with people, I always was amazed at their depth of knowledge of world events and of America’s history. I do think many people we met know more about our country than many Americans do.
During this trip, we came to appreciate many things about America; but also came to see that we could be doing much better in many ways. The acceptance of wind power in Spain is a quick example.
But this posting is not to wax long and certainly not poetically, just to say “Happy Birthday”!
P.S. I hope my many readers will keep checking in as I plan to reflect more on my trip , and to begin to post other pieces about work, life, liberty, Spanish learning and the thrill of grandchildren here in the future.
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We’ve been home for over a week now, yet we’re still adjusting in many ways.
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?
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Anyone reading this from the 60s-70s generation might need read no further; you probably get the general idea!
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!
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Sorry to be out of touch for so long! We boarded the Queen Mary 2 on June 2 and we haven’t been able to connect (they did have internet but at 50 cents a minute).
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!).
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