The hills are alive
Last night, Lanna, Karla, Julie, Ken and I watched "Before Sunrise." It is not a good movie to start if you're sleepy (it's mostly dialogue), but it was jam-packed with fascinating scenery of Vienna, Austria.
Movies set in Europe (like this one, as well as "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Enchanted April") do nothing more than fan the flame underneath my soul....the flame of the longing to travel to that magnificent continent.
I narrowly missed a trip over there twice in my life, and though it pains me to regret not being able to go on those occasions, I am glad I did not in retrospect. I would have been about 9 years old when the first opportunity arose, 19 when the 2nd came along....still too young to appreciate what all I would have seen there.
I am "older and wiser" now, though, and don't take things for granted anymore. I believe I would soak in every little bit of culture, sights, sounds, and personal interaction if I were to hop on a plane tomorrow. I feel as much a part of Europe as the people living there. Perhaps it is because I have always heard Dad telling me of my Scottish ancestors and the lands we inhabited there centuries ago. Maybe it's just that I feel that the European lifestyle is much like my own....a place where people walk a little more slowly, eat a little finer, and spend a little less (America is indeed the country of overspending).
I can just picture Ken and I sitting alongside a French patisserie at dawn, sipping black coffees and sinking our teeth in to freshly baked breads or pastries. I can see myself lying on the side of a lush, green mountain in Ireland, smiling at the sounds of lambs bleating nearby. I can feel the warmth of an angora sweater that I pull closer as I stand on my balcony overlooking Switzerland. I can taste the bursting tomatoes in my mouth as we walk along and tour farms in rural Italy. If I imagine, I am right there.
Maybe one day I'll make it to that exquisite region. In the meantime, I will keep taking in the scenes and sounds from these well-produced movies with a European setting. They draw me in like magnets, holding my attention (and inflating my passion) for hours on end.
Movies set in Europe (like this one, as well as "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Enchanted April") do nothing more than fan the flame underneath my soul....the flame of the longing to travel to that magnificent continent.
I narrowly missed a trip over there twice in my life, and though it pains me to regret not being able to go on those occasions, I am glad I did not in retrospect. I would have been about 9 years old when the first opportunity arose, 19 when the 2nd came along....still too young to appreciate what all I would have seen there.
I am "older and wiser" now, though, and don't take things for granted anymore. I believe I would soak in every little bit of culture, sights, sounds, and personal interaction if I were to hop on a plane tomorrow. I feel as much a part of Europe as the people living there. Perhaps it is because I have always heard Dad telling me of my Scottish ancestors and the lands we inhabited there centuries ago. Maybe it's just that I feel that the European lifestyle is much like my own....a place where people walk a little more slowly, eat a little finer, and spend a little less (America is indeed the country of overspending).
I can just picture Ken and I sitting alongside a French patisserie at dawn, sipping black coffees and sinking our teeth in to freshly baked breads or pastries. I can see myself lying on the side of a lush, green mountain in Ireland, smiling at the sounds of lambs bleating nearby. I can feel the warmth of an angora sweater that I pull closer as I stand on my balcony overlooking Switzerland. I can taste the bursting tomatoes in my mouth as we walk along and tour farms in rural Italy. If I imagine, I am right there.
Maybe one day I'll make it to that exquisite region. In the meantime, I will keep taking in the scenes and sounds from these well-produced movies with a European setting. They draw me in like magnets, holding my attention (and inflating my passion) for hours on end.
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