WOOHOO!! We're in Africa. A new continent for both of us! We arrived in Marrakech just after 3pm but didn't get out of the airport until 4:30pm. The customs routine is comical and efficiency is definitely not the name of the game. In a way, it's a great induction into the Moroccan way of taking your time. I think we were 3rd in line and it took nearly an hour to get our passports stamped. A driver picked us up at the airport to take us to the Riad L'Orientale ...

Whirlwind trip to Rome and checked a bunch of monuments/fountains/paintings off the list of must see's. Unexpectedly, we planned a trip to Rome the same weekend as Palm Sunday and the Rome Marathon. The city was bustling, as I'm sure it is most of the time. But we felt particularly lucky to be able to see the Pope give Mass in St. Peter's Square and walk down major thorough fares that were open only to foot traffic for the marathon. I think we walked at least 26....

A quick weekend but a wonderful weekend in the Swiss Alps. Public transportation in this part of the world is spectacular -- and it runs so smoothly. Despite not knowing any French, other than "merci" and "parlez-vous ainglas", we navigated the train station and boarded the proper car. There was a very sweet man who helped us sort things out. He spoke no English and we spoke no French so our "conversation" was actually a game of cha...

I spent the afternoon with Johanna Webb at the British Museum. WOW...this is in our backyard and it is FREE! No doubt I will be back regularly. Most of the time was spent in the Terracotta Warrior exhibit. Intricate details on these larger-than-life-size statues created to guard the First Emperor of the Chinese Empire (Qin) after his death. The sophistication of these people really came to life with the exhibit -- organizations, attention to detail, roads, whee...

Todd and I had a fabulous weekend out in the English countryside. His boss, Robert, invited us to spend the weekend at his country home. Robert purchased the Old Vickarage in Elham (about 20 miles from Canterbury) about 2 years ago. It is this magnificent estate across the street from the village church. The views were spectacular! Robert was kind enough to extend the invitation to Foster as well, as Robert has 2 dogs. Foster is still recovering from all the hour...