This travelogue was written in the summer of 2003 and was never finished. There are still those who hold out hope that it will one day be completed. Who knows? It's possible. In the meantime, in case you might enjoy these first six chapters, I have put them here on this site.
Friends, in case you were wondering what we're up to these days, here you will find an account of Annelie's and my seven-week trip this summer around France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Sweden, complete with haps and mishaps, travails and travaux.
The problem with taking a long trip is that by the time you get back, you have done so much that it's impossible to recount it to everyone you'd like to tell your stories to. Add to this the fact that during your absence, everyone else has been doing things that they want to tell you about, and it becomes clear why many stories never seem to get told.
One solution to this, of course, is to write a travelogue and share it with several people simultaneously. These can be tedious or entertaining, but of course, you don't have to read them if you find them tedious. That is also the case with this particular travelogue. I will, however, do my best to make it entertaining.
And, of course, it's a way of keeping in touch with those far away during the trip. So we want you to know that we're thinking of you as we roam around eating cured ham and squid and drinking unpronounceable liquors. We would love to hear from you as well, so to make that easier, here are links to my e-mail, Annelie's e-mail, and both together. How's that for easy?
I will also intersperse photos from the trip with the text. I'm sure we will come home with thousands of photos (the danger of the digital camera), but for now I will spare you all but a few. Feel free to ask us for more extensive slide shows when you see us.
Below is an index of the "chapters". I have no idea how often I will be able to post entries, but I will do my best. At present, the travelogue is lagging several weeks behind, but I will try to catch up. [Editor's note: Good luck, buddy.] Please feel free to bookmark this page and come back from time to time to see what we've been up to.
Gregory