What a doozey of a trip across the pond we have had. From an 8-hour flight with no a/c to accidentally falling asleep in the Muslim airline terminal during our 4-hour layover, I can honestly say I have more than once wished I had stayed home. It has been a number of years since I have been the passenger on a flight long enough to include a meal (one could safely question if it really was a meal) and, true-to-form, I found myself wondering just how many hands had touched my salad, how far in advanced was it prepared, and where exactly was it kept anyway? Is it really possibly to keep things sanitary 37,000 feet above the ground? I mean, sanitation (or lack thereof) was the motivating factor behind my successful determination to avoid the in-flight lavatory. Disgusting. Traveling as a party-of-90 is not without struggle - patience topping the list of mountains to overcome. Largely the reason I'm laying low this morning and enjoying my room at the Haydn Hotel.
We arrived Sunday evening, a little worse for wear, to pouring rain (curse you, weatherchannel.com, for telling us we would be the lucky participants of a 75-degree, sunny climate) and no umbrella. Only one closed-toe pair of shoes in my bag - even these were thrown in last minute - and thankfully a sweatshirt and jacket made it's way into my carry on as the 57 degrees I spent all of yesterday with became the most ill-loved companion thus far. Fashion be gone - a girl has got to stay warm. It's noon on Tuesday as I type, though it feels like I should be sleeping as most of you probably are. The ballet rehearsal yesterday was beautiful and after snapping quite a few shots in the the a.m, I snuck away in the afternoon for an amazing wine tasting at a local vineyard. The enchanting history behind the family-owned vineyard left me wanting to spend an entire summer here learning the process and working among the vines with the fifth generation owner, Eva Wagner, who appears to be about the same age as myself. All things handmade and artisan by nature have appealed to me for as long as I can remember so it shouldn't be surprising that I would want to learn wine-making.
I don't have have the ability at this time to pull any photos from my camera so I am forced to share only iPad/iPhone pics for now. Thanks for following along!
