Both parting thoughts and introduction, Summer 2018 trip to France, Croatia, Bosnia

For anyone looking in for the first time, the posts read in backwards order, in other words, the top one is the newest one.  If you want to start at the beginning of my recent trip, go to the post titled "Piecing it Together."  You can read chronologically or just stop in at any entry. They rarely go in chronological order, more by what I am remembering at the time I am writing, usually trying to catch up in writing with my actual experiences. 

I think I write this as much for myself as for anyone else, and I rarely edit anything, which makes it somewhat stream of consciousness.  It's a more modern version of what I always did as a kid, chronicling my travels, with family, and later, on my own, in paper journals.  It's funny to look back on those car trips with my parents and siblings - they consist mostly of recording  the beginning and ending mileage for each day, every single expense, gas, food, motels, entry fees, etc.  And then a pretty mundane recording of where we went and what happened. 

I think Loring and I, on our early trips, also kept track of every expense, but I don't remember or even know if those logs even exist anymore. 

I am going to write here a chronology of this trip, because I know how much the entries jump around, and also to help myself remember

The first week I spent just outside Avignon, France, where I participated in a mosaic making workshop with about a dozen others.  Avignon happens to be where I spent part of my first trip to Europe, in 1968, exactly 50 years ago.  So it seemed fitting.  I then spent an extra few days in Avignon proper, to experience part of its famous theater festival, which I had also attended 50 years ago. Next, train to a couple of days in Loches, in the Loire Valley, home to the famous chateaux, to visit my friends Marie and Tim. Marie and I went to college together in Paris.

On to Paris. Will I ever become satiated with Paris? I hope not. I spent five days there on my own, then an additional two days when Loring arrived.

And then on to part two of the trip -  Croatia and Bosnia-Herzogovina. We flew from Paris to Pula, Croatia, where we rented a car and spent two nights.All the rest of our stops were for two days each, except for our last stop, in Split Croatia, where we spent our last three days.

In between our first and last stops in Croatia, we stopped in Rastoke, Croatia, with its fairytale like environment and old mills. Next,  Jajce in Bosnia, where we stayed in a family run b and b with wonderful hosts. Then,  onto Sarajevo, and after that, Mostar, both cities in Bosnia.  Last, we returned to Croatia, to Split, for our last three days, before flying back home through Paris to Boston.

Rather than add to this last entry, I'm going to go back and add a little bit, because I don't think I've done Mostar justice.  So if you've read  that entry, I hope you'll go back and reread. 

And although I say I write as much for myself as for others, I do appreciate knowing who has read any of this. If you have, I hope you'll leave me a little note.

And so, that's it for now, until the next adventure.  People are already asking me when and where.  And of course, I have already started thinking about it.  January, maybe? Where? I don't know. Check back in a few months!