Traveling With Judi . . . .

It’s been kind of a crazy 10 days since my sister and I arrived in Barcelona! We had a few days of sightseeing (mixed in with a lot of sleeping to catch up, adjust to the time difference, and get rid of “airplane colds”), and it’s been a wonderful time together!! I haven’t had as much time as usual to write and ponder the Journey (and didn’t have good WiFi on the ship), but I put together a quick video and an overview of our trip!! First we enjoyed an overview of Barcelona via the “hop on hop off bus” (with pictures of the beautiful Sagrada Familia and Gaudi’s architecture), followed by our 7-night cruise around the Mediterranean with stops in Marseilles (LOTS of rain and a transportation strike meant lots of WET walking!!), a stop in Genoa (where we took the train down to Cinque Terre to see the cute little cities there), a VERY intense walking day sightseeing in Rome (where we got to see the Pope do the Anglus/prayer on Sunday), Palermo, a lovely visit to Malta, and finishing ...

I've made it back to the States safely and am happily ensconced in the warmth of my sister's home in Indiana (Brrrrr.... 20 degrees certainly is chilly compared to the lovely 65-degree-days I just left behind)!! I'm excited to hang out with family for a bit (waiting for my niece's 4th baby to arrive!!) after what seems like a long, lifetime "wandering Journey" around Europe.... but in reality was only a few months! I was too exhausted to post anything in my last couple weeks (and had run out of words while I was participating in my final English Immersion Program in Spain), so here are a few Bits and Pieces from the end of THIS Journey (with more Journeying to come in the future, I'm sure)!! As I mentioned briefly in one of my last posts, my last night with Sheryl was at an Airbnb on a boat/yacht in a marina in Lisbon! We thought it would be fun, unique, and interesting, and it was certainly all of those (let's just say it was MEMORABLE in the same...

As promised, here is the completion of my post from Seville (and my apologies for posting so many in a row.... it's just that I had lots to share and finally had time)!! I get so busy traveling, exploring, pondering, and writing that I sometimes lose track of what day it is!! So.... Happy Valentine's Day everyone!! I hope your lives are filled with Love, Kindness, and Ever-Present JOY!! And thanks for being the "Valentines-of-my-heart" no matter where in the world I find myself!! XOXO Part Two.... Morocco!!! We got up early on Friday morning (before sunrise - ugh!!) and headed along the cost - past Gibraltar, Algerceiras and to the southernmost coast of mainland Spain - the Port of Tarifa! The glorious views along the way woke us up as the sun sparkled on the sea, and by the time we arrived and navigated our way around the parking situation, we still had plenty of time before boarding the ferry for a cafe con leche! Watching the water sparkle on the waves, feeli...

My last post was a bit intense with all that carefully-planned travel being turned upside down, so I thought I'd share some of my more fun, pleasant travel experiences from the last couple weeks!! So.... even though I'm a week late, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all your wonderful Birthday messages!! I definitely feel well-celebrated this year, especially with all the fun and extra-special adventures I've had with my sister, Sheryl!! We started out my birthday week visiting The Alhambra and Gibraltar (which I've already told you about)!! That could have been more than enough wonderful sights and places, but we decided to meander up to Seville for paella (followed by a horse & carriage ride around the city) to see all the sights ON my birthday; then we went to Morocco on Friday and had a wonderful tour which included sight-seeing in a van, as well as a walking tour of the medina, lunch - and a camel ride!!! Seville is a busy, lovely city with o...

There are some travel days that flow and meander along easily like an inner-tube floating downstream on a lazy summer afternoon - and then there are those that feel like never-ending, bumper-to-bumper traffic with so many crazy stops and starts that you're left with whiplash!! Today was the former - yesterday was the latter!! Following two wonderful, fun, busy but relaxing weeks with Sheryl (culminating with her drop-off at the Lisbon airport), I expected a gentle ebb and flow on my day of travel from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela yesterday, but I ended up with more "adventure drama" than I expected.... Yikes!!! The day started out with the kindness of our AirBnb owner picking us up at sunrise (got some great photos of the Marina!!) and dropping us off at the airport (after helping me off the boat with NO STAIRS..... but that's a story for another time)!! Everything was easy and uncomplicated, and after a leisurely goodbye over coffee with Sheryl, I hopped on...

Oh my....what a week we've had!! Picking up Sheryl at the airport and finding our way to the hotel was pretty easy.... a fairly uneventful train to the airport.... waiting a LONG time for her arrival wondering the whole time if I might've missed her!!.... then... Yaaaay for sisterly time to reconnect!!.... train to Fuengirola.... wandering the streets to find lunch only to realize we had wandered almost all the way back to the train station by the time we found the right place.... bags and all!!, then a taxi to the hotel.... and finally we made it.... whew!! After no sleep for Sheryl on the plane and all that busyness of the English Immersion program for me, our next few days included sleeping, chatting, eating, sunshine, swimming (in the indoor pool since it was a bit TOO chilly for the unheated outdoor pool with wind and overcast skies!!), then rinse and repeat....sleep, chat, eat, enjoy!! Finally once we had chatted ourselves silly and caught up a bit, it was time to exp...

I...LOVE...meeting new people!!! I had the most fascinating conversations last week with the Spanish participants and learned a lot about their lives, their culture (and conflicts), and the people! Thanks to my new Spanish friends, I now understand a bit more about some of the distinct language groups (and subcultures) in Spain (although it is very complicated and somewhat controversial)!! I'm hoping I understood what they were trying to convey - in English - and my apologies ahead of time if I didn't get it exactly right.... So..... Castilian (or Castellano in Spanish) is the main language spoken and taught in Spain, but Catalan (the official language of Andorra) is spoken in parts of northern Spain (in addition to Castilian). Catalan sounds as much like French as it does Spanish, and many of the Catalan people want an independent country (although it's been part of/connected to Spain since Isabella and Ferdinand II married in 1469, uniting the Kingdoms of Castile and ...