When you think of spring, what comes to mind? Cherry blossoms maybe? The start of a new year, a new season or maybe, new beginnings?  I’ve always tended to wonder why we don’t celebrate the new year on the 1st day of spring, it seems so much more fitting.  A new year with the onset of spring daffodils sounds so much more serene than a new year in the dead of winter.

Disneyland and I were born just 6 months apart and let me tell you that even though I’m 6 months younger than the magic kingdom, I feel really old just making that statement.  Want to know how old I am?  I remember the original mule ride where Thunder Mountain Railroad now stands.  The mules left the Disneyland corral years ago, but oh man, did I love riding those silly mules and believing I was seriously trekking through the desert.

I caught the gist of the phrase based on what I was hearing on the news, but I have to admit I still went to everyone’s back-up source and Googled the term.

Put me on a train and you can pretty much color me happy.  I’m still waiting for someone to build railroad tracks across the Atlantic Ocean and I’d never fly again.  Love trains.  Hate planes.  It’s that simple.

I’m beginning to understand why people return to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago more than once.  When we reached Santiago, the end of our journey, I was beyond exhausted and thought to myself, okay, that was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Abyaneh, with soil the color of rich terracotta and residents dressed in cultural garb dating back centuries, a walk in Abyaneh is a walk through time.

To tour or not to tour?  It’s the question we find ourselves asking more and more often as we travel.  Maybe it’s because we have officially retired and are a bit more selective as to how we spend our money, or maybe it’s because we’ve seen a few too many museums and castles.  Whatever the reason, we are more discriminating these days.

Iran: Arrival. As I put fingers to keyboard to begin writing about our three weeks in Iran, I want to rewind for just a bit to write a few words about traveling in today’s world.

Ten days in Aix en Provence; the south of France.  Even the name, Provence, sounds soothing to the soul. Pretty much the perfect final destination to wrap up this 3-month, 6 countries incredible journey we’ve been on.  I adore France and I’ve been known to say I could live in France if it weren’t for the smoking.

Making our way back across Spain – after walking the Camino and visiting Porto – there was only one stop I really wanted to make. And, basically it was for only one reason; to visit La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.