A Reunion

   

     Just back from Prague and I already look forward to returning soon, this time with Day and maybe friends. Travel is more than the seeing of sights, for me it's about people. Day and I have met many people and befriended a few, who we stay in touch with via Facebook. People are the memories that last a lifetime. So I would like to tell a story, one I hope would come true.

     Jaroslav picks us up at our flat, as he always has, and he brings us to Jan's home. Jaroslav is my father's second cousin, who Day and I visited for the first time in April 2016 in Prague. Jan is a most excellent tour guide, who we just loved as soon as we met him. I have now been on two tours with him, and I would like to call him a friend. So, Jaroslav brings us to Jan's and my heart is warmed at the sight of Helena, Jaroslav's most wonderful wife, and Jan cooking a feast for friends, together in his kitchen. At last, we finally get to meet Jan's family, and they are every bit as wonderful as he. So food and friends, the only thing we are missing is wine, and with that, a knock on the door.

     Francesca, Simone and Pickle bring the wine we are missing. Francesca is the owner of an apt we rented in Venice, and like others, we loved her and have stayed in touch on Facebook. Simone and Pickle are a couple we met in Tuscany during an impromptu dinner, kept in touch with and have actually met up with a couple years later, and spent a wonderful day together. We spend the night eating, drinking and making friends and memories that will last a lifetime.

     We will have to say "goodbye" at some point, and we agree to do this again, sometime. Maybe we will, and maybe we won't, is doesn't matter, because we had this night, which we will never forget.

“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again- to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.” – Pico Iyer

Luv ya
Curly