Thursday, or Thereabouts - January 19, 2017

Faraway Places...

Grey January skies with too few sunny breaks, tune up my wistful heart to recall an old song. The version I recall was sung by none other than Vera Lynn with my parents joining in whenever it was played on the radio.

Have a listen...

"Faraway places
 With strange soundin' names
 Far away over the sea
 Those faraway places
 With the strange soundin' names
 Are callin', callin' me

Our 2017 excursion to faraway places begins 243 days. It's a bit of a long stretch for us between adventures, but there's work to be done home here, so we'll just have to whistle while we work and hope the time flies by. We are heading back to Europe as my love has a conference in Berlin (just like last year). I'm working on intriguing ways to get there. Looks like Prague will be the starting point for a river cruise. Here's hoping the Elbe River levels stay high enough to float the boat. All that's needed is 84cm (33.1 inches) of water under the hull.

image courtesy of Viking River Cruises

 Goin' to China
 Or maybe Siam
 I want to see for myself
 Those faraway places
 I've been readin' about
 In a book that I took from a shelf

2014 took us to Asia:

Hong Kong

Nagasaki

Busan

China: Laolongtou - The Dragon's Head, the eastern edge of the Great Wall.

Old Shanghai

Xian - The Terra Cotta Warriors

Beijing

 "I start getting restless
 Whenever I hear
 The whistle of a train
 I pray for the day
 I can get underway
 And look for those castles in Spain."

Several trips have taken us to Spain, the most recent being last year.

Alicante

Grenada - The Alhambra

Seville - The Alcazar

And we've been privileged to cruise to so many other faraway places.

St. Petersburg, Russia 2012

Venice 2013

Sydney, Australia 2010

Mumbai 2011

Ushuaia, Argentina 2008

Oslo, Norway 2007

And then some...

 "They call me a dreamer
 Well, maybe I am
 But I know that I'm burnin' to see
 Those faraway places
 With the strange soundin' names
 Callin', callin' me..."


©2017 April Hoeller