Bill has to go to Africa next week. I will be here all alone with my thoughts. I usually try to be somewhat constructive when he goes away. I try not to drink… much, anyway, and get some writing and music done. I know the world doesn’t really care if I do these things, but they kind of make my life worth living and give me a sense of purpose besides doing housework.
One thing I tend to do well is plan trips. As I have mentioned before, I am determined not to take our time in Europe for granted this time. I want to go places and see things. That means we need to travel.
The problem is, there are so many places I want to see and things I want to do. We have the champagne bucket for the times when we can’t decide. The next trip, which will be to Austria, did not require the champagne bucket. It was merely a diversion from my original mission of finding a good place to see in Switzerland. I’m afraid there are so many good places to see there that I lost my way. I am determined to find it again.
Here are some other places I haven’t seen yet, despite several years of trips to Germany and elsewhere in Europe…
Berlin– Yes, even though we’ve lived here twice now, we haven’t been to Germany’s capital city yet. It’s definitely on the list.
Stockholm- Actually, we have been to Stockholm, but not long enough to see much more than the port, the countryside (by way of freeway), and the airport (not impressive). I want to go back and see it for real.
Ireland- Ireland has been on the list for years. We must get there and SOON.
Helsinki- So it’s Finland. I still want to go see it, especially since I’ve heard it’s not that expensive compared to other places up north.
The Baltics- We did go to Tallin, Estonia and Bill has been to Riga, Latvia. We want to take a proper vacation there and get to know the Baltics. We’ve heard they’re cool in more ways than one. And I want to visit this place… We both want to check out Lithuania, too.
Slovenia- We totally meant to go there last time we were here, but ran out of time. I’ve heard it’s beautiful.
Croatia- Ditto!
Romania- Bill has been to Bucharest. I haven’t set foot in Romania, yet.
Bulgaria- I have been to Bulgaria, but it was in 1996 and things are different now. I’d like to go back and actually stay in a hotel.
Turkey- Ditto… I went to Turkey in 1996 and it was a shoestring budget kind of trip. I want to go back and see more.
Ukraine- It might be interesting to visit Ukraine, as long as there’s no violence.
And, of course, there is a host of islands we want to see… especially Iceland.
We have our work cut out for us.
But Switzerland definitely awaits…