Embrace the World

St. Petersburg...it's October and cold. We are going into the Hermitage museum. It is so huge! And incredible. It would take something like 7 years to explore the entire thing. We see paintings from Leonardo DaVinci and VanGoh and Matisse.  Tapestries on the walls and statues and gold and marble everywhere.

In Finland we ate domesticated moose and reindeer, it was so tender and moist and not wild tasting at all.  Sailing up the waterways in Sweden and Norway was so incredible and beautiful, it was beyond words.  Tallin, Estonia and Gdansk, Poland are the most picturesque towns you can imagine. If I ever return, I hope it is in the spring.

Turkey...did you know that Turkey has had a secular government for nearly 100 years. Istanbul is a city that is very modern. You can hear the bells ring for prayers 5 times a day, but unlike religious-run muslin countries, in Istanbul, you don't see people running to the mosques for prayers. It is a city with a complicated identity. The dress of primarily European people everywhere, with a smattering of muslin. The mosques have layers of paint from years of invasions. Its beautiful in such a unique way.

Ireland; 1,000 shades of green covering the most beautiful castles you ever did see. Its the scariest place to drive, with one lane roads and cars and vans and semi's passing each other at 60 miles an hour!

Paris. If ever I can live anywhere outside the US, it will be France or Italy....Oh, to be there again. I walked in the early morning dew to the Louvre.  What a crisp, beautiful spring morning. I find the floor with the Mona Lisa. I have heard good and bad. Some people say it was just meh. I have to see for myself. I see her from across the room and already, her eyes have me in their spell. I must get closer. I can't stop staring. She is more beautiful in person that in photos. Nothing has done her justice. I want to stay and look at her all day.

Please, bring me back to Europe, universe.


It is estimated that only 30% of Americans have passports. I love the world, I don't understand why we don't embrace it more. I haven't seen enough.

More, please.