I mentioned last weekend that flight/hotel bookings had been made. The travel doesn’t begin ’til mid-June, but meanwhile, here’s the itinerary. Fly into city represented by photo above, spend several days revisiting favourite spots and discovering new ones. Then fly to the big city of a fairly small country, renting a car to drive to this favourite rural spot run by friends where we will go on walks past this beautiful old ruin.
After a lovely, restful week in our self-catered apartment, with many hours spent reading by the pool, we’ll board a train to this city. . .
where we will spend a happy five days renewing old acquaintances, perhaps making new ones
before flying back to the city pictured below, where we have another few days before flying home.
Have you guessed/recognized all the spots? Figured out our plans? Clever you — leave a comment, show me how smart you are!
Hm, not SO smart – I think no. 2 is Portugal, no. 3 is Paris, no. 4 is London (Millenium Bridge?) but no. 1 – somewhere in the UK, traffic appears to be driving on the left. Manchester? Patricia
London, Portugal, Paris, London?
How do you find the language challenges in Portugal (am assuming neither of you speak Portugese)? I've heard such fabulous things about that country.
This is supposed to be a good time to go, with the euro trading favourably against our dollar and according to my sources, even better by then! Wonderful to look forward!
Well, I certainly recognize Paris. As for the others – all I know is they look wonderful. Have a great time!
Here's an article about Hidden Paris that might be useful in your planning:
nytimes.com/2010/03/28/fashion/28hiddenparis.html?src=me&ref=homepage
Oh, you're all so clever. I should have been clearer that 1st City and Last City are one and the same. Pseu has it exactly right and Patricia, yes! it's the Millenium Bridge.
Pseu: the language can be a bit of a problem inPortugal. Lots of english in Lisbon, but not so much outside the bigger cities. What we found was that many people speak French and we could often have some pretty decent conversations. I love the country enough that I'd love to learn some of the language, but, wow! it's got some tough sounds and it's just a bit off the other Romance languages I've got some coverage of — that Moorish history . . .
Liz: flattered you think I could be that hip — not likely!
Duchesse: We're already pretty good at squeezing the travel dollar, but the current exchange rate will make that even better.