There And Back Again.

A Hobbit's Tale By Bradbo and Charo Pottins.

...And we find ourselves back where we started. We arrived back in Calgary on Thursday, at about noon local time, to find our parents waiting for us. My (Brad) mom even made a sign saying "Welcome Home Brad and Char!" Quite excellent to be welcomed home by our fan club and paparazzi. Between 4 parents, there were three camera flashes going off repeatedly. It was awesome, to be on the ground again for one, and to be back in Alberta, to walk out of the airport and not smell cigarette smoke everywhere, to find that there weren't hordes of other tourists pushing past us, and to hear English being spoken with a Canadian accent. Off to Swiss Chalet for lunch and then to my parents farm, where we find ourselves now.

As we went for a drive yesterday (after boosting and washing our car that had been sitting for two months), we realized how blessed we are to live in such a beautiful part of the world. There is something astounding about rural Alberta: seeing the rolling hill, the fields that are just beginning to turn color, and just how green it was! It doesn't get much better than this! A good soul-refreshing sight. For our Lethbridge mates, we're going to be back on Sunday afternoon.

Hmmm, some final thoughts about our trip, you ask? We were so blessed to be able to do this. It was such an eye-opening experience to see other parts of the world, and to experience culture and langauge that we hadn't experienced before. We realize that walking places is a decent form of transportation, but having a car is really quite nice. Knowing a second langauge seems like a very good idea now. Map reading is a good skill to have (one that I am still learning). Going by intuition doesn't always lead you in the right way, but following the horde of tourists usually leads you to a place that is somewhat more crowded. Which may or may not be the place you want to go. Resteraunts that cater to tourists charge you an arm and a leg for sub-par food and drink. The key is to find places that locals go, and you can get a good coffee and a pastry for 2 people for less that 5 Euro, instead of 11 Euro at a touristy place. Metro systems are not near as cool as you think they are. They loose their appeal within 10 minutes of breathing stuffy, stale air and holding onto a pole that thousands of other grubby hands of held on to. (Thank you Paris). The people we met and dealt with are by and large amazing people. The scenery was nice, but the people we met were gracious, tried hard to accomadate us and made our stays very pleasant ones (expect that one guy in La Spezia, that overcharged us like crazy...). Watching Family Matters in french is still funny. I'm sure I'll think of more stuff later as well.

My top three places we visited?

1. Glendalough, Ireland - ruins of an old monastery in the Wicklow Mountains close to Dublin.

2. Cinque Terre, Italy - a National Park in northwest Italy.

3. Venice - cuz it was our anniversary.

My (Char) final thoughts? Language is useful for communication, but is not always necessary. There are many times when even though I didn't understand a word they were saying, I still knew exactly what they were trying to say. Although I do understand now how valuable it can be to know a second language. Also, people are people no matter where you go, and as Brad said most people were nice, and helpful. I also have a greater appreciation for Canada, and it's landscape. Europe is amazing, but there really is nothing like driving through the prairies. Also, how blessed we are that we got to do this trip, but also how blessed we are to have good family and friends to come home to. Thanks to everyone who thought of us and prayed for us on our journey. It is always appreciated. Yup, it is good to be back.

My top three places?

1. National gallery in London. Amazing to see famous paintings in person

2. Strasbourg, beautiful city, and a good hospital

3. Pantheon in Rome. Rome itself was really hot, but seeing the Pantheon was a really cool experience.