I have managed trips to 4 foreign countries over the course of 2018 (Scotland, France, Greece, Italy), of which one was a fairly triumphant first. It continued a curiously stable trend established in the last couple of years (2017, 2016) following a much higher output of 2015.
Where it comes to the World Heritage, I added 11 entries to my list of visited sites – a slight improvement over the previous reporting periods.
Closer to home, there were a few trips to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where my middle child is pursuing higher education, and a semi-spontaneous Christmastime visit to our friends who reside in the Washingtion, DC, area, as well as a couple of one-offs for assorted family members, but overall we remained mostly housebound.
The new year has a potential to improve the trend somewhat. Two big trips are already well in the works, with a possibility of exploring or touching upon 4 new foreign countries. There are further tentative plans that should increase that total. I may well break my record for WH sites and visit around two dozen of them during the year, if all plans come to fruition. We shall see.
Following the tradition for these year-end summaries, here is a baker’s dozen of my favorite shots from the past year.
The brooding landscape of Islay.
The fishing gear at the pier in Pittenweem, Scotland.
The colorful resident of Marqueyssac Gardens, department of Dordogne, France.
The boat on river Dordogne.
The waterfront of Brantôme.
The lily pond at Monet’s Gardens in Giverny.
Love locks on Pont des Arts in Paris.
The weekend midday bustle of Tuileries Gardens with the Louvre and the Arc du Carrousel in the background.
Oia, Santorini, Greece.
A fragment of Naxos City, Greece.
Little Venice corner of Mykonos.
Athens, with the Temple of Hephaestus in the foreground.
Porta di San Giacomo, Bergamo, Italy.
Thanks for being with me! I promise to continue to chronicle our travels on these pages.