The Holiday Before The Holidays

It was such a great trip, it has taken me almost an entire month to even attempt to tackle blogging about it. Seriously, when you are gone for 15 days seeing millions of new/interesting/humorous things each day deciding how you are going to blog about it is quite overwhelming. Actually, I don't think it can be done.

In an attempt to keep this short, and keep the tiny flame called "interest in blogging" alive a bit longer I'll just offer a couple of thoughts and observations.

1. I do not like being places where I don't speak the language. Although everyone in Paris was WAY more friendly in the face of my bad French than I had expected, I really didn't like not being able to communicate. As far as communication strategies go, my "sil vous plait (point point) merci (eye batting) " approach worked well and got me what I wanted (with a few extra treats on the side). But next time, I'm going to rely on more than my High School French to see me through.
2. In Barcelona, we went to see the Sagrada Familia cathedral. Looking at the pictures of this place I didn't think I would like it ... but I LOVED IT! I think what I loved the most about it is that it is still under construction.
3. It is a truth universally acknowledged that I need to spend a significant amount of both time and money in Rome. I am starting the vacation day and dollar stockpiling now in preparation.
4. Turkey is a surprising place. Rug weaving is way more interesting than it sounds. Shepherds still have full time jobs there. It's Greek ruins are WAY better than Greece's (ironically).
5. Egypt has a serious trash problem.
6. Egypt also has a serious pushy street vendor problem.
7. On Malta (which was the shining star of the whole trip) I decided that I would start a bucket list. So far my bucket list has one thing: Visit the Blue Grotto.

So, all in all, it was a wonderful trip! Happy to be home, and happy to be heading into a New Year!

Happy travels in 2010, everyone!