It does not feel much like traveling yet

I am retired.  We have a plan.

Hurry no more: travel the world to wander around beautiful cities; look at the remaining evidence of the Roman empire; sit in cafes and contemplate whether something is green or blue.

Well it has been 2 months now and I have a mixed report.

Beautiful cities:  Check.  New York City in May--definitely beautiful as well as interesting.  Great plays, pedicabs, ferries.  Everything one could want.  Some hurrying was involved, however.  Almost late for a play.

Washington, DC is beautiful and spring is its loveliest season.  However, humid July is a cosmic joke. We need to get to a different beautiful city.

Wait--what about North Carolina and the drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel?  The plan must be enlarged to include other beautiful or interesting places.  The Bridge-Tunnel has been on my life list for awhile now. Birding in the Gulf Stream--a life dream, and I did not get seasick.  Mini-golf on the Outer Banks.  Check. Check. Check.  Life goals achieved.

Roman Empire:  The Met in NYC but I got lost in the Assyrians and some of their predecessors. Also a great exhibit of Buddhist representations in Southeast Asia.  Clearly, the wandering part is working.

Sitting in cafes:  Our back deck is sufficient replacement for now.  Everything involved in packing up our stuff, renting out the house, transferring our financial life is consuming but rewarded with a coffee or cold white wine on the deck.

Time is rushing along though.  We will be out of the house soon and off to Detroit, still thought to be part of the world despite its economic woes and the first stage of our wandering.  We are curious about the emerging neighborhoods and art scene there.  Our dear friend Andy will watch over our car while we are away.

Finally, at the end of the month, we fly off to London.  It will feel more like traveling then, probably.

Going where - going when?

Here's our proposed travel outline - is this what will happen? What if we dislike some place -- what if the housing is bad, or the food, or suppose we disagree, or a meteor hits the earth? Well, stay tuned.

AUGUST 1-31, London, London! We have a place near the Oval Cricket Ground, south of the Thames in the Kennington neighborhood. It's small, with a pretty garden. British Museum. V&A. Sir John Soane's House. Tate(s). Some galleries. Some plays. Some music. Some hanging out in pubs. Walk and walk, and take buses. Botanical garden. Eye. Maybe Bath. Maybe Salisbury. Maybe Greenwich. I'm pretty sure we can fill a month. Do you think?

SEPTEMBER 1-15, a road trip to Brittany by camper van. Bayeux, Mont St. Michel, St. Malo, Rennes, Carnac, Quiberon. This is where Nancy leads Julianne to some of her favorite memories, prehistoric and all.

SIX WEEKS UNTIL OCTOBER 31, Amsterdam, Kroller-Muller Museum, Brussels, Madrid, Barcelona, a ferry from Barcelona to Civita Antica, and Florence. Maybe we'll be taking the train. Maybe we'll fly part of the way.

NOVEMBER 1 - APRIL 9, 2015, Rome. More on that later! That's all the farther ahead I can get my mind around for now.

So, we're about to begin.

We're starting our blog on July 7, 2014...

We haven't quite started traveling, but here comes the blog in the form of a trial run. 

I'm Nancy, and this is my first blog posting ever. Julianne, say a few words for the blog: 

I'm Julianne, and I feel nervous about blogging, because it's an unknown process. 

So Nancy answers: but let's plunge ahead, no harm if it doesn't work quite right. 

And Julianne agrees: yes, let's have an adventure.

That's it for now, folks.