Well, as we look back to this day (6/20) it is now not quite a month later. Today is Tuesday (7/15) and we are approaching the 1 month anniversary of our return to normality.......haha, whatever that means these days. Certainly a lot has happened since we have returned and the 'drifting' days of our trip seem like wonderfully simple and comforting escapades in hindsight! We are thankful for the good times.......we are very, very lucky and privileged to have these experiences.
To start this off, I have to admit that I am bolstering my mood on several fronts. First, we just had a great dinner at the Tack Bar in Lincoln. This place is a real standout on the local food scene and we had a wonderful meal supported by some cold summer beverages! It is still 80 degrees outside at 9:30!
Secondly, I have shifted my inspiration from an earlier 'listening' of Mahler's 5th Symphony on my way to work this morning. Mahler's Fifth Symphony is undoubtedly his most famous work, thanks to its serene fourth movement, the 'Adagietto', written as a love letter to his beloved wife Alma. It was written in the summers of 1901 and 1902. This guy was amazing. On the way home this afternoon (I escaped the office early at around 1:00) I listened to Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. Written only shortly after in 1910, I have always found this piece to be both beautiful and soothing........as it should be!
Now, guess what........a real shift. I am listening to a Grateful Dead concert from 1977 in Passaic, NJ. These guys had a real impact on our college years, and especially the parties! Although this concert was a few years after our graduation, it is a great video to watch.......crazy in black and white! Are we that old! Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir and Micky Hart. It sounds a bit different now, but that's probably because we missed the 'appetizers'! Listening to this reminds us that memories are so formative to who we are......and that we need to keep them hanging around! It is easy to jump on the internet and find a concert.......and we want to make it easy to find our blogs as well. It is all part of the same celebration!
Enough of the sentimental reflection, I need to get down to the essence of our last travel day.......if I could only remember what we did! Haha, not that difficult. We started with enough time to have a relaxed breakfast and trip to the airport (although we did use our phone alarm for one of the few times on our trip). Breakfast was great......a very nice buffet and a nice table on the terrace. Guess what?.......another wonderful sunny morning!
I guess it is a bit easier to do all the writing up front and then show the pics. We left the hotel around 10:00 and had another wonderful 'pony' or 'horse' experience on the way out of the New Forest. We are not sure which they were, but they were clearly roaming free......and so close to the road!
The car drop off at Heathrow was much easier than our crazier experience in Florence! It all went smoothly and we spent an enjoyable time in the business lounge at British Air......until they announced the gate for our flight. Trick here is that they only announce the gate 1 hour in advance of departure. We we in a totally 'distant' terminal and had to make a fairly energized hike and train ride to get to our gate.......along with 480 others on our flight. The plane was an Airbus 380......which is two full levels high and seats 500 passengers. This all seemed a bit crazy to us, but trust in technology is our mantra these days!
It was a very smooth flight and we arrived without incident in Boston. Our luggage arrived intact and we took a nice cab ride back out the Mass Pike to arrive home in our 'cottage in Wayland.' It is bittersweet. Nice to be home but also hard to conclude such a wonderful trip.
Che viaggio fantastico ed è così bello essere a casa!
