We went to Europe!
We really did.
A great big geography excursion with our youngest two
children.
World schooling. History, art, architecture…lessons for real
life!
It's weeks since our return to “normal".
The buzz of adventure has faded to a gentle hum.
Our hearts and horizons have expanded.
While we did visit London, Paris and Rome, we really did not
enjoy the main tourist attractions so much.
Our favourite experiences were meandering around the back
roads, exploring the countryside on bicycles and wandering cobbled streets in little
villages.
Visitors, not tourists.
The highlight was meeting local people.
Travelling can be quite lonely coming in as an outsider.
We flit across the surface of a new country for a brief
overview. The best times were connecting with local people and experiencing everyday
life in a different culture.
An elderly gentleman hanging out his washing in a little
stone courtyard.
He wore a beret. So natural. So French.
An elderly lady hanging out her washing in a tiny garden
with a gorgeous clump of dark red peonies blooming their pretty heads off in amongst the unmown grass and weeds.
Italian farmers bouncing along the steep ploughed fields on
tractors with tracks.
Italian farmhands pruning gnarly old olive trees.
Bicycle riders bearing baguettes in their baskets after
morning shopping.
Being a tourist sounds exhausting! Our experience wasn't about always doing something whiz bang.
The simplicity was being
there. Waking up in a cottage in the Italian or French countryside.
Listening to
people talking in a foreign language. Shopping for unusual groceries, sipping
coffee on a sidewalk café, watching the people around us living their daily
lives.
It was marvelous.
I hope you might enjoy a glimpse into some special memories from our travels.
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