This is the final page on the European Tour.  I was thinking of all the things that we did and all the places we saw, and how similar and different all them are.  And I was comparing against the memories of Europe I've got from all my past trips.  And factoring in what Caroline had told me about her experiences.  I've got some postscripts to the trip that gelled on the plane home.

It's now about 10 PM on 6/12/01.  We have been home for about two hours.  All is well here.  The cat barfed all over the living room while we were away.  But that's normal.  There's a pile of messages on the answering machine.  Mostly well wishing for my birthday and the telemarketing garbage everyone gets.  It feels very comfortable to be home with so much familiarity.

I'd been thinking about coming home a lot as we progressed along the route.  I was looking forward to it a lot for many reasons.   But I was also feeling the pull of places we hadn't seen and people that we'd like to spend more time with.  It's a very tough place to be.  And then to complicate things, we have to set out on the US Tour.

Mostly I was feeling very lucky.  I'm really glad to be an American, to have been born in such a terrific place.  I was feeling lucky because I've got the world's greatest travel partner, best friend, and wife along for the ride, all in one person.  And then I was feeling very lucky that we could put together the time, the money, and have friends to visit in all these great places.  And then it hit me.

I was a lot more interested in seeing the friends than the places.  Somehow the places and art took a back seat to the people we saw and shared time with.  That was very different than all the other times that I'd been to Europe.  I was looking to connect with great people, and we sure did, in spades.  The rest was just gravy. 

To that end I send the warmest of thanks to our hosts in Europe, Mick & Jim, Charlotte & Tim, and Christine.  You made the trip really special.  Europe would not have been nearly as fun without you.

Come visit us any time.  Bring your friends..