Next stop - Frankfurt

I was awakened at 4:30 this morning by pounding rain, thunder bolts and huge flashes of light.  I sit now at my dining room table - nearly four hours later and all is well.  Looking out the window, the sun is shining, the trees have stopped shaking in the wind - all is peaceful. The dark clouds have dissipated. And yet a few hours ago, everything felt uncertain, a bit ominous and unknown as to what the day would bring.  How quickly things change!


Speaking of change, tomorrow Pete and I will change our external conditions (again!)... We are headed to Frankfurt, Salzburg and Vienna, via Vancouver.  It is that time of the year again - "vacation" - when we deliberately take time to relax, reflect and physically reposition ourselves. We make a change deliberately.  We transport ourselves to cultures, other than the familiar. Most of you know - already - our ongoing love affair with Austria, Germany and Italy. Part of the joy we get in travelling from here to there is the contrast we experience.  Everything is just slightly different over there.  Now some would say better while others might argue, worse.  For me, it is a chance to experience something new - even though, it really is something old! It is a different kind of energy, culture seasoned in time, rich with history and stories, landscapes ripe with beauty. And, of course there is always the language and the food!!  Since this is my fourth trip to Germany and Austria, I will expect (hope) to understand a few more words and more importantly, be able to make better sense of the menus!

In any event, I am looking forward to the trip.  We have had a year of many changes - that we have set in motion. Sometimes I protest at change, but yet, here I sit, having deliberately made some big shifts/decisions in my life with Pete this past year. It is exciting and then not so much! Sometimes it feels like the storm I described this morning - scary, dark and uncertain.  And then something shifts, the sun comes out and all is well!  We have experienced all of this!

So, now we will pause (kind of) and catch our breath. We will let the internal dust settle, so to speak, while exploring Germany and Austria.  And, course, we will be eating, drinking and making merry so do expect the odd :) picture here or there.

Please stay tuned if you want to share in our adventures.  We are meeting up with our dear friends - Vince and Mary Pat - in Salzburg.  Should be fun!

Our bags are packed...