Today after I returned from my Yoga class, I thought it was a perfect day to begin my training. The sun was bright and encouraged cheerfulness. The gentle breezes and cool air felt crisp, enhanced by a wondrous blue sky with just a few white clouds sifting by.
The training track I am speaking of is the road that loops around our neighborhood, where new homes are still being built. It is a perfect one-half mile from my driveway, around the loop, back to my driveway again. It also has gentle inclines on the two longest sides of the race-tracked pattern of the road (however we drive at neighborhood speeds).
I kept my aged and scuffed walker shoes on in which I have walked many US miles and also miles in Italy and France back in the year 2000. Heading out the door, I feel certain I am once again about to establish a regular walking exercise that has fallen by the wayside and met with great resistance to beginning again.
I looked up in the skies as I heard the faint sounds of jets streaming by in the distant heights. It has been a long time since I have been a jet passenger for either business or pleasure.
And this brings me to what I am training for. On Saturday night, February 16, my good friend of over 45 years called me from her home in Florida. She asked me, “Would you go to Switzerland with me if I pay your way?”
Yes, that is what she asked me.
I have been speechless a few times in my life. That night I was speechless, minus one word:
Yes!
We are leaving together from Newark New Jersey on July 3 and embarking on a wondrous 12 day bus and hiking tour of the Swiss Alps, touching Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and the tiny country of Liechtenstein.
I know there will be many breathtaking experiences throughout the whole trip but I am particularly looking forward to the Salzburg highlight!
“Discover Salzburg, a city boasting magnificent Baroque architecture and intensive cultural traditions that took off with the career of its most famous resident, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, on a guided walking tour this morning. You’ll see the iconic composer’s birthplace and other local treasures, followed by lunch on your own and free time to explore the sights as you wish. This afternoon, travel to Salzkammergut, a region of peaceful lakes and craggy peaks that you might well recognize from film locations used in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music.”
And I am kind of hoping our bus doesn’t take this route!
My training track doesn’t have that many bends in it.
How wonderful! I am so happy for you and grateful for your friend!
Thank you Linda.
Linda, this friend is my Lexington neighbor, Martha; Like us, we have kept the friendship alive through all these years.
How wonderful you wanted to travel and here you go. I am so excited for you.
Thank you, Agnes. Holding you in love.