Getting Ready

January 22, 2010

Welcome to our European Blog

Welcome to our Blog that will document our vacation to Europe. We leave 3 weeks from tomorrow. There is still much to be done to prepare; as is the case with most trips. It's so nice to have something so exciting to look forward to in the gloomy Canadian winter months.

We will do our best to update this blog while we are away providing of course we can find internet cafes or other such connections along the way. One of the benefits of such a vacation is the fact that the blackberries and cell phones will be left at home. So, it will be necessary for us to forage for communications in more creative ways.

We will be travelling with my sister Janis and brother in law Bill. We land in Paris on February 14th and will spend Valentines evening travelling down the River Sienne enjoying a 3 hour dinner boat cruise while enjoying an ample amount of French wine. After a few days in Paris, we will travel by train to Zurich where we hope to meet for the very first time, our (Jan's and mine) grandparents' families. What an opportunity! After Zurich, we will head to Florence and then complete our trip in Rome where we will meet up with our American friends Bruce and Nancy from Michigan.

As I write this, Jim and I sit watching the telethon "Hope for Haiti". I've waited so long for the opportunity to travel to Europe and yet, now that my dream is almost here, I can't help feeling like we should be going to Haiti to help in their desperate time of need. Perhaps it's writing this blog that makes me feel this way. The last 2 times I wrote any kind of a blog, it was to document my 2 trips to New Orleans to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

Okay, I'll stop feeling guilty now and instead savour the excitement of a trip we really deserve and are grateful to be able to take. There'll be plenty of time upon our return to figure out how to make the world a better place : )

Beth