The final post of our travel blog

Ode to Travel

We’ve flown in ten airplanes and in a hot air balloon,

We’ve listened to orchestras and to a gondolier’s croon.

Through Prague, Pammukale, Paris, Venice, Versailles,

We’ve had wonderful adventures: to relate them, I’ll try.

To travel in winter, we were sure to have snow.

The temp, down to minus fourteen it did go.

Then off came our jackets when we went through a door

Or the heat of a sauna we’d have to endure.

To the yuletide markets in Europe we went,

And there, with delight, lots of money we spent.

The lights, oh how pretty, the crowds –what a crush,

Drinking their gluwine in the snow and the slush.

Our feet over thousands of cobbles have walked,

With people from dozens of nations we’ve talked.

In rooms huge and tiny we’ve laid our tired heads,

And with sumptuous banquets we’ve amply been fed.

We’ve sailed on a ship, on ferries and boats,

Down the canals of Venice we were excited to float.

Tall towers we have scaled, down tunnels we’ve squeezed,

And to float over fair chimneys we were ever so pleased.

Tales of great valour and sadness we’ve heard tell,

Of death and disease and of cruelty as well.

Of civilizations and their ways of life,

Of kings and of queens and of people in strife.

We’ve used forints and krone to pay for our fare,

Euros and pounds, even lira here and there.

Swiss francs and Thai baht no one else wants to own

So with them we are lumbered and we’ll take them all home.

Downstairs and upstairs, across bridges we’ve gone,

Pulling our too heavy luggage along.

When we’ve lucked it for lifts, moving walkways or such,

The load seemed much smaller and light to the touch.

The dome of great buildings we’ve admired with such awe,

And spires of huge churches as to heaven they soar.

The gilding, the marble, great frescoes, mosaics

Roger stands and admires as photos Mim takes.

In England the graves of our forebears we sought,

But most of our effort alas, came to naught.

Not deterred, we pressed on, down the lanes, along roads

To view and admire the sweet English abodes.

Now our travels have ended, we fly home with relief,

To have wandered so far without coming to grief.

To those many friends who have followed our blog

We say thanks for your company as with us you’ve trod.