Where we've been and where we're going

Looking back on 2023 and forward to 2024...

We had quite a year, you and I.

We expanded our perception of beauty in Florence, reflected on the fragility of life in Venice, and spent a slow month in Orvieto.

We walked with Bram Stoker through Whitby, and fell in love with England in York.

We dipped our feet in the Mediterranean, met a pre-teen bridge builder in Avignon, and had a mysterious midnight visiter in the Luberon.

It was blue, blue, blue in Nice, and white-hot in Nimes.

We went to three Belgian cities Antwerp, Bruges and Brussels - and wrote about Paris, twice, because once could never be enough.

We visited beautiful Brittany and the lovely Loire Valley.

And we walked through Pere Lachaise Cemetery, the gardens at Versailles and took a tour of the Tuileries Gardens and Place de la Concorde.

Among other things.

But there’s so much more that I haven’t told you about yet:

Switzerland, Germany and Holland.

Rome, London, Edinburgh, Vienna, Budapest, Prague.

We’ll go back to France and Italy, and take an extended break in the UK: the Lake District, the Cotswolds, Oxford & Cambridge, Wales and more.

And who knows what else the future holds…the adventure continues, right?

I’m so glad that you’ve come along for the ride.

Sometimes I wonder if people think, “All this talk about beauty. Isn’t there anywhere she doesn’t like?” And the answer is, yes, of course. It’s just not what I choose to write about. I think it’s important to find beauty wherever we go, and to constantly remind myself that the amount of beauty in our world is directly proportional to our willingness to see it.

The poet Mary Oliver said: “Pay attention Be astonished. And tell about it. The world didn’t have to be beautiful. We can and should think about that beauty and be grateful.” And so I am grateful - for the lovely world and for all of you. Thank you for letting me share my wonder with you.

Wishing you the happiest of holidays and a very beautiful New Year.

XO