When Ray and I travel we usually end our trip by reflecting about our travels.  This culminates with us each producing stars (highlights) and wishes (things we would each change).  Being reflective about our travel experiences allows us to take our experiences in deeply, and influences that choices we make for future adventures.  It’s also a great way to spend a portion of a long plane ride or car ride home (depending on the trip).  So here they are:

Alyssa

Stars…..

1. Day with Auntie Miep (including the garden and the owl)
2. Pernety Pizza & Chocolate Mousse
3. Eating Crepes on the Trocadero
4. Family dinners with Frank & Lubica
5. Früstuck along the Mosel
6. The View of Paris from the top of Notre Dame
7. Any painting by Van Gogh
8. Taking pictures of the Canals at night in Amsterdam
9. Vla and Slagroom (Dutch chocolate pudding with whipped cream)
10. The Essex Farm (In Flanders Field….)

Wishes…..

1. Having more time in less locations (less moving from place to place), thus allowing us to explore the culture of each place more thoroughly
2. Having an apartment with a kitchen in Paris, so we could cook for ourselves (allowing us to eat more fruit and veggies, and saving us a fortune on food)
3. More picnics in the park and along canals and on the river – we just didn’t do this enough (and #1 and #2 would help facilitate this)

Ray

Stars…..

1. Van Gogh Museum
2. Van Gogh Paintings at Musee d’Orsay
3. Learning how to use my camera (movies, Panoramas and night shot in Amsterdam)
4. Trains
5. Früstuck (and breakfast in general)
6. Pernety Pizza (and the dude who owns it)
7. Making ourselves at home on Rue Raymond Lossard in Paris (and seeing the same people, shopping in the same shops, etc).
8. Beer & Soccer in the Pub in Ieper
9. Food (pretty much everywhere – Pastries, Mussels, Confit de Canard, Kibbeling, etc).
10. Ede & Winterswijk (including biking, markets and the owl)

Wishes…..

1. For less people to come to Paris (it was so busy – it would be nice to see it in the off season, and also a less hot season)
2. Everything to be cheaper in Paris (or having a home base to cook myself so it wouldn’t be so expensive to eat)
3. To return to Luxembourg on a day that isn’t Sunday (it would be a cool place to see on a day that everything was up and running)