Chris and Debbi's Adventure

I do not like mountains. I don’t like traveling around hairpin curves, being in vehicles close to the edge of a precipice or even being able to see the bottom of a valley if I am in motion. In the USA, Chris and I have added hours to some road trips so we could avoid crossing the Rocky Mountains. I have an intense reaction to heights. So, it’s not just mountains I dislike. I don’t like going over long bridges, I will not climb to the top of any lighthouse, church tower or rock formation to admire the view, and I lose my sense of uprightness on especially long or open escalators. This Washington DC Metro escalator at Wheaton station is the longest single span escalator in the Western Hemisphere. It is 237 feet long, has a vertical rise of 115 feet and takes almost 3 minutes to ride. Riding it is like taking a single escalator up 11 stories. Chris and I had to ride that escalator in April BECAUSE THE ELEVATOR AT THE STATION WAS OUT OF ORDER!! I probably spent close to 15 minutes verify...

A former hospital has never before appeared on the “Top Sites to Visit” list for any location we’ve visited. In books and movies, shuttered hospitals are usually featured only as eerie and  abandoned institutions where cruelties were inflicted. But in Barcelona, a  complex that was an active, working hospital and medical center until just 16 years ago has been restored to its original condition and is open to visitors as an architectural and artistic jewel. All the buildings are adorned with ceramics, statues, mosaics and stained glass. Chris and I spent nearly three weeks in Barcelona in May. This extended visit allowed us to see the most popular sites in Barcelona (Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Picasso Museum, Gothic Quarter), as well as several less visited sites, like the Banksy Museum , Mercat de Santa Catarina and what was once the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau . This hospital complex was a landmark in hospital design when construction started in 1902. And it was ...

A recent social media trend posits that many men regularly think about the Roman Empire. The idea is that the empire’s perceived strength, military prowess, leadership and enduring influence on politics and architecture “speak to the male psyche”. As with most social media trends, the whole idea could be completely false. Chris claims he has almost never given any thought to the Roman Empire, and I am certain that I haven’t, because when we traveled to Portugal in 2017, I was astounded that we encountered occasional ruins from the Roman Empire – I had no idea its control had ever extended into Portugal. Our first Roman ruins. We wandered round and round Evora, Portugal, in 2017 to find these fenced off, poorly marked Roman columns hidden on a side street. AMAZING (we thought at the time)! Since our first stop in Europe more than a month ago, we have seen Roman ruins galore - two amphitheaters, a bit of a surviving circus, a couple forums, some temples, a theater, living quarters, bat...

Chris and I left Omaha two months ago today. We are having a great time seeing and doing  beautiful and interesting things daily. But my travel news updates to share our experiences with you have been pretty sparse. That is because traveling is often mentally draining. It can include so much stimulation, decision making and, sometimes, anxiety, that it frequently doesn’t leave adequate energy for contemplation and creativity. My encounter with this bird yesterday is a perfect example of where my attention and brain power often go. Notice the partially eaten croissant this sparrow is guarding.   It is late May, and we are spending a week in Avignon, France, which is a beautiful and historic UNESCO site and where, in search of safety and political stability, seven successive Catholic popes lived and worked in the 1300’s. This "vatican" is a wondrous complex of buildings and gardens called the Palais de Papes. View from the Palais de Papes in Avignon, France. Not far from Avig...

Chris and I have used pet sitting for eight years to trade accommodations in downtown apartments, water front homes and desert adobes for care of someone's home and pets. We’ve been able to live like locals in Argentina, blend with US and Canadian expats in Costa Rica and escape Nebraska winters by playing pickleball in Arizona and Florida . We learned about house and pet sitting on a trip to Portugal, where we met a couple from New Zealand who spent half the year on house sits near their daughter who lived in the UK. We were immediately intrigued with the idea - we had been considering living at least part of the year away from our hometown and this seemed like a great opportunity to find out what it was really like to live in, not just visit, other communities. A stubborn and greedy bulldog who snored all night. and peed a gallon right inside the front door, but still delighted us with his personality.  Within a few months we had joined a pet sitting platform, created a profile ...