London, Paris, Jordan (as in Michael), and Rome, Part III.

The Finale, Finally!

Welcome to my 37th Newsletter Friends!

If you recall, I began this newsletter to give you, my dear readers, two accounts of travel to the same destinations with the same travel company (Insight Vacations), taken at very different periods in my life. My first trip was in 2010 when I had a nine-year-old restaurant and my second was in July 2023 with my nine-year-old son! Obviously, these trips were entirely different and it’s been really fun looking back through my journals and remembering funny or interesting stories that happened along the way.

With the ever-increasing danger from the effects of global warming, war, terrorism, the possibility of another pandemic or going into debt with my new business, and worst of all, the prospect of Ari hitting puberty, I knew it was now or never that we take this whirlwind tour of Europe!

Here we are a year later and travel in Europe has become increasingly difficult and dangerous. Tourists have died of heat exhaustion or dehydration in main tourist attractions in Italy, and Greece. Paris’s train lines were sabotaged ahead of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics. There were riots in London over the stabbings of three young girls and there are protests in Spain calling for an end to tourism, and as expected, Ari is on the cusp of being embarrassed of me!

To get my business up and running when we returned to Ireland after 20 days abroad, I had to hit the ground running. This meant I had little time to reflect on our trip and I am a bit sad about that considering I did not have much time to write in my journal during our travels. Luckily Ari remembers everything! Now and then he is triggered by something, usually at a restaurant, and asks me if I remember whatever place, meal, or story it was. Four eyes are better than two and when I compare my travels. I think about how much more I was able to capture in my journals of my first trip, but how traveling with a companion offers another perspective.

Last night as we prepared the bruschetta for our accompanying recipe, he asked me if I remembered eating something similar in Florence, Italy, and he began to describe the Mercato Centrale. He remembered all the different stairways of the multilevel food lovers’ paradise and how massive and cool-looking the building was. Me? I only remembered the food. Display after stunning display, showcasing the best of Italy’s regional cooking and baking, fermenting, curing, and aging. There was even a cooking school, full of students with instructors, on full display, teaching the techniques of Italian cuisine which they have been doing for over four hundred years!

In Sickness and in Health

While it just might be the most picturesque city in the world, I would never want to see Venice under a microscope! Ninety percent of the city’s sewage ends up in the canals and pigeons are everywhere, making their way into shops and restaurants like they own the place, spreading nasty germs everywhere. More than once, I saw pigeons land on restaurant pristinely set patio tables, claws clutching the clean glassware and silverware of unsuspecting future diners.

Not surprisingly, illness swept through our group, one by one, not everyone but some. Ari became overheated and exhausted on our boat ride back from Moreno. By evening he had developed a rash on his body, and I had one on my feet and between my toes, but luckily we had no other symptoms.

Others were not so lucky and there were a few times when fellow travelers would be fine one moment and be vomiting the next and on the verge of passing out. We’d find out at breakfast who had fallen ill and who was feeling much better. Luckily it seemed to be a 24-hour bug and everyone was happy and healthy again just in time for our Tuscan Dinner at Villa Macchievelli and all of our excursions in Rome, the Eternal City.

Funny Story…

Burano, Italy

While I adore bold and beautiful colors in art and nature and on houses and buildings, inside and out, my wardrobe tends to be all black with few exceptions. So when our tour group was challenged to wear bold colors and take a photo with matching houses or storefronts in Burano, Italy, I was glad I had something colorful to wear. Our tour guide Patrick asked us to send him the photos and explained that this contest had prizes to win.

The next day as we drove from Venice to Tuscany, Patrick surprised us with a slide show of all the photos we submitted, which he played continuously on the large monitor at the front of our coach. There were oohs and ahs, and suddenly there was a collective gasp followed by an outburst of laughter. Our travel companion, an Australian named Craig, whom I had spoken with quite a bit and found to be a bit reserved and shy, submitted a photo wearing only his purple underwear, which matched the building behind me in the photo below perfectly! No one had any idea that he was capable of doing something as shocking and hilarious as this! Craig was traveling alone and I was reminded of my first trip to Europe, and how fun and freeing it is to be anonymous.

And Finally…

Every vacation has that one moment, that “this is what we came for” moment. Amazingly, one of our fellow travelers captured ours in this photo.

If I look like I am beaming, it is because Ari had just told me that he hopes to return to Venice someday with his wife and kids.

Of course, I didn’t mention that Venice is sinking and will likely be underwater by the time his kids are grown!

Journal Entry

July 7th 2023

It’s nearing midnight. Our tour is ending, and we will see Abaz (Ari’s father) for the first time in person in over six years tomorrow. My God! Ari cried his eyes out last night saying he had just made some of the best friends of his life and now he has to say goodbye. Tiny bodies aren’t meant to take on so much emotion.

Tonight, it is me that can’t hold these feelings of loss and regret. WHAT A GROUP THIS WAS! We spent the last twelve days together and we became so close, unnaturally close! Why? Everyone on this trip was so special including our driver Mauricio, and especially our tour director Patrick. It feels as if it was all a dream.

The ring leaders, two Australian women (party animals!) from Tasmania, cried at the end saying it was the best couple weeks of their lives. They said they LOVED Americans, a sentiment I agree with wholeheartedly. In fact, this tour renewed my faith in ALL of humanity! It made me want to fight, save, and protect all of it, all the people and all the places, if it’s even still possible. “MAKE EARTH GREAT AGAIN!” I’ll get my MEGA hats printed up when we get back home!

The End!

I will end this series as it began, with this incredible quote:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” -Mark Twain

Speaking of America…

Just Some Thoughts on this 2024 Election Eve

I remember as a child, getting busted doing something illegal or immoral or both and saying, “It’s my life! I can do what I want!” My mom would always say, “You are a member of this family and your actions affect all of us!” I never understood that back then, but on the eve of this election, it is crystal clear to me that what America does next, will affect not only every other country in the world but also every generation to come.

Today, November 4th 2024, may be the last day for America, the country I love, to continue to appear relatively peaceful, mostly safe, and supremely powerful. Whichever way this election goes, I expect civic unrest, not-so-civil discourse, and a whole heap of disinformation to fuel the flames.

So sleep well tonight my friends, because this bitter battle that has divided a nation and turned family members and friends against one another does not end tomorrow. No, no, no. Don’t kid yourself. There will likely be no clear and trusted winner on which to pin your hopes and dreams. I may be wrong, but I believe things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better. And I’m one of the most optimistic people on Earth!

Good Night, Good Luck, and God Bless America!

Thank You For Being Here My Friends!

Cheers!

Bridget