We can hear the fat lady singing.

It's with very mixed feelings that we finish this Blog.  I have enjoyed the process of writing every week or so and Richard has loved showing you his photos, so it will be sad to stop doing that.  He has inserted some more of his favourites here.  On the other hand, the pressure is off - we are nearly back to normal now and we don't have to keep thinking of exciting things to share; well, there won't actually be exciting things to share, will there?

We've had the most outrageously fabulous time over the last four and a half months, as you can see from the blogs.  Lots of things haven't gone into said Blog - the odd time we've argued about which way to go in the car or which Art gallery to visit or where to eat dinner.  Sometimes arguments were had over nothing at all - mostly due to tiredness - and instantly forgotten.  Occasionally, the odd door was slammed and a few rude words yelled - always by me, never by the Supreme Being I had the good sense to marry.  Calm, cool, collected and always considerate of me and my sometimes precarious ADHD mental state, he carried the whole trip, ensuring I had earphones and music to listen to when places were noisy, a charged-up E reader for when I got bored in Hotel rooms and always, always chocolate just for whenever. As a result, I was happy the whole time we were away, not anxious about too much at all and very aware of how lucky I was, am and will hopefully continue to be.

And then there were the things he had to be thankful for; very organised and almost anal about lots of things, I had made sure we always had a nice room, plenty of eating -out opportunities and a warm welcome from the many friends with whom I had organised to stay. Our rough timetable was kept, but we had plenty of flexibility built in, so we could take advantage of invitations or extensions of time in places we were fond of and most flights and accommodation were paid by the time we left NZ, in order to have some funds for exploring and visiting sights we wanted to see.

We just complement each other - that's the way it has always been and this trip just proved it again.  We had spent many years being married to other people and now we thank Heavens for every minute we are able to be together.  Long may that continue!

 

Sloppy stuff over - now some Fascinating, Fun Facts about our trip.  Hope you find them so.

In 17  1/2 weeks:

Beds slept in - 36
Old friends (or families of) caught up with - 15
Family Members visited, stayed with and cool stuff done with - 12
Money spent - ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !
Kilometres travelled: (just because you asked, Martin!)
By air - 36, 804 km
By train - 1743 km
By bus - 1655 km
By underground - too many km in too many cities to be accurate, but lots!
By car - 5163 km
By tram - 15 km
By boat - 94 km
On foot - Feels like loads, but in reality, we were a bit lazy and could have done lots more walks!
Days we needed to wear our raincoats - 1...yes, really!!
Favourite food experiences NOT at a restaurant- Jo's cheesecake, Christine's curry, Gotti's minestrone...the list would continue but we'd run out of room.  We have some very talented cheffy friends!
And at a restaurant - with Elke and Gotti in Lindum, near their home,"our" Tapas bar in Merida, Spain and at La Mediterranee with Bill n Don in San Francisco
Favourite drinking experience - Port tasting in Oporto (they have a gorgeous sweet, white one they chill and drink as an aperitif - wow!) and Michael's lovely selection of wine.

 

Favourite Hotel - The Eaton in Hong Kong, but The Hilton in Las Vegas is a very close second
Favourite B&B - The Blue House, Lake District, England
Outstanding performances - Placido Domingo in Verona at the Opera Festival, Swan Lake at the New York Met, Fado singing in Coimbra, Portugal
Best cultural moments - The Monet panels at The Orangerie, Paris, just about everything in Barcelona that Gaudi designed
Favourite days out:
Sans Souci Palace, Potsdam, Germany
Boat trip on Norfolk Broads on board "Betsie Jane"
The Grand Canyon
aReandaRe narrow boating with Sandra and Barry
Bristol walking, lunch and boat trip with family
Cruise on Lake Ullswater, England
Walking the Nikolaiweg with Elke, Gotti, Maria and the Gang in Austria
And evenings out:
The Swan - with Mike, Chris, Paul, Sylvie and Naomi Hobden
Dinner with Cuzzies at their place in Bristol
Rehearsal of The Builth Wells Male Voice Choir at the local pub where we stayed in Wales
Twilight cruise on the Seine, Paris
Wandering up and down the Strip in Vegas with our son, Shawn
Over the top, awesome sights - The Grand Canyon, all of Venice, the new laser light show on the Eiffel Tower, Casa Battlo in Barcelona.

 

Unexpected delights - Las Vegas (ALL of it!), Merida and its magical Roman history and architecture, the gorgeous countryside in the Dordogne area of France, barbeque with friends Emmanuelle and Norbert in their garden, near Nantes, France
Highlights - Now we're both stumped.  We can't think of anything we did that wasn't a highlight - 4 1/2 months without a hiccup - we are truly blessed and feel so fortunate to have been able to do this now.