Coming Home

Coming Home

Alas, poor Paris.  Amidst the pall of tragedy and political unrest, instead of Paris as our final destination, we rerouted our end-trip and flights home.  After spending our last day wandering in Barcelona and saying goodbye to this gracious city and to our beloved travels, we flew to Zurich and spent the night in a comfortable, super efficient airport hotel.  

In the morning we boarded a mellow and almost-empty flight, eating, reading, sprawling and napping as we flew across the Atlantic.  We landed in Washington, DC, where we passed through high-security customs, with polite customs officials and their luggage-sniffing German shepherd and beagle, automatic passport scanning machines, body scans, the works.

Then we boarded our jam-packed flight to Portland, and spent six more hours in the air, scrunched among coughing and sneezing travelers.  After almost 24 hours awake, we stumbled out into PDX, with a warm, sweet welcome from Jennifer.  And now we are home, coughing and sneezing from our airplane colds, drinking hot ginger lemon toddies and recovering from jet lag.

We feel very grateful and privileged that we were able to embark on this adventure of two months while so many in the world struggle day to day. Our immersion in European culture, made us aware of striking differences with our country around the areas of commercialism and consumerism. The gift of travel remains with us forever.

Blessings,
Werner & Abigail