I love to travel, this blog makes that evident. I love to experience new places, see new sights and observe different cultures. It is easy, in a country that stretches "from sea to shining sea", to become myopic and unaware of the wealth of treasures and experiences that exist outside our national borders.
What I do when traveling may not be all that different then those things I do when I am at home, but the backgrounds to those things differ, sometimes greatly. Wandering the tiny lanes in Stockholm's Gamla Stan is something quite different than hustling down Chicago's Michigan Avenue. Stockholm's Durgarden, a beautiful urban oasis, serves the same purpose as Chicago's lakefront ribbon of parkland but with it's own unique flavor.
Copenhagen's bustle happens on streets lined with beautiful 18th and 19th century facades. In Chicago it happens among brawny, historic late 19th and 20th century buildings, many of them architectural masterworks.
In Copenhagen tiny pleasure and sightseeing boats ply canals, in Stockholm boats provide transportation across the sometimes broad waterways which separate the islands of the city. I cherish the memory of riding on the top deck in the open air watching the fairy tale skyline of old Stockholm come into view.
I look back fondly on getting lost on bikes in Copenhagen as the street names changed every 2 blocks. That was how we found the quiet cemetery with it's towering poplars, a lovely and peaceful spot to remember and reflect on loved ones who have passed on. It is something we may have missed had we taken a more conventional route.
But as I land in Chicago, as plane wheels touch the ground or a train I am on pulls into Union Station, I am glad to be home. It is my anchor, my place in the world which is mine. I love to travel, but I also love to come home.
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