 | | A 2013 highlight for me was strolling into the world of medieval stained-glass symbolism with the revered scholar of Chartres, Malcolm Miller. | | | | | | | Dear Traveler,
As we wrap up 2013, I'm enjoying travel-thrill memories of a very special year, and beginning to dream about the next.
This has been a year of broadening my horizons: A horse cart took me through a grove of Egyptian reeds and into a time-passed Nile village, where I drank tea with a proud old hadji who had just returned from Mecca. In nearby Israel, I celebrated that country's 65th birthday with Jewish friends at a city park BBQ, complete with pork-free bacon. Across the wall in Palestine, I hiked "Biblical Terraces" through an ancient olive grove and joined a local family for the harvest, at the end of the day watching the golden olive oil spill into their buckets at the village press. A continent away in St. Petersburg, as brides and grooms posed for wedding portraits, filling city parks with hope and happiness, I realized why Putin is so popular in Russia: it's a land where dreams of stability trump dreams of democracy.
And it's been a year of embracing the good life in Europe: In Scotland I read a poem scrawled by Robby Burns on the chimney of a village inn, then helped to stomp the paint off the neighboring pub's floor to a rockin' folk band. In France I found new ways to make history come to life — from strolling into the world of medieval stained-glass symbolism with Chartres scholar Malcolm Miller, to touring the lavish Loire Valley palaces of old-regime financiers of pre-Revolutionary France (on a visit that also treated me to prancing horses, tow-path bike rides, and pulling escargot out of their shells literally by the dozen in small-town restaurants where even a Yankee traveler is fed like a prince).
In this month's Travel News we're celebrating the richness of travel with articles on my three-hour joyride through a French restaurant dinner, the quintessential Italian hill town of Orvieto, the flat-out fun of European festivals, readers' thoughts on how much travel technology is too much, and a video roundup of my 100 TV shows. And did I mention we're having a "Jolly Old St. Rick" holiday sale with free shipping going on, right now?
As 2013 winds down, I'm thankful for another thrilling year of travel. It will be hard to beat in 2014... but I'll do my best. One thing's sure, after four months of European travel every year during the past four decades, I see no end in sight to all the fun and learning that my favorite continent has to offer. Next month I'll fill you in on my plans for 2014. Will our paths cross? I hope so. Let's stay in touch.
Happy travels,
Rick |
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