That's a Wrap!

---

Well, everyone, we've been home a week now. Suitcases unpacked, laundry done...finally back on a normal sleeping schedule. We had some amazing adventures, but it sure is nice to be home.

As a final entry, we would like to give you our highs and lows for each country we visited.

Moldova
Best: No contest, the orphans!! Even now we still say "We miss the orphans" or "We love the orphans." We are working on a way to continue our relationship with the orphanage, because we can't forget these kids.
Distant Second Best: Fruit and Vegetables -- Moldova cannot be beat in terms of the plentiful and delicious fruits and vegetables.
Worst: (Adrienne😊 Cold showers. It was horrible to come home dusty, dirty, and sweaty, and have no hot water to help clean off.
(Wendy😊 Crowds. Everywhere we went were hoards of people -- buses, city streets, and no one moved out of the way. It always seemed like a contest to see who could get through the door first. I hated that!
Second Worst: Multiplying families. During our last week in Moldova, we came home to find additional family members of our roommates had either moved in or come for a visit. Remember, we were living in a three room apartment (not three bedrooms, three rooms), and you saw the bathroom we all had to share. At one point, we had nine people in that apartment!

Istanbul:
Best: We were so enamored of so many things in Istanbul simply because it wasn't Moldova, but one of the highlights was visiting the Grand Bazaar. There were so many wonderful things to look at, and it was fun joking around with the vendors (and drinking their apple tea). We had an excellent meal, on the recommendation of one of the vendors, at the Bazaar. We bought so many amazing things while we were there.
Worst: The 5:25 am call to worship. Although on our last morning, we slept right through it.

Prague
Best: Our first night in Prague, we were exploring the area near our hotel, trying to get oriented to our location. The streets are really winding and we didn't have a map so we weren't sure where we were going. We took a few turns and "stumbled" into the Old Town Square, lit up at night. It was breathtaking. In fact, neither of us could say a word for several seconds. The square is huge, with a big statue in the middle, surrounded by beautiful historical buildings like the Astronomical Clock and Our Lady of Tyn Cathedral. We thought it was so cool to see something so beautiful, so unexpectedly.
Second Best: The Lennon Wall. A peaceful oasis among the masses of people.
Worst: The crowds. Don't go to Prague over the weekend. Too many tour groups who are not considerate of others.

Paris
Best:
(Adrienne😊 I loved everything about Paris--the food, the shopping, the people who were so stylish, the sites we visited...It was a magical city to me. I also loved eating dessert at least three times a day and getting my haircut by a famous stylist.
(Wendy😊 Paris IS magical! I am doing my best to convince my friends to go there; I know they would love it as well. Even our morning 'cafe noisette et croissant' was such a terrific and delicious way to start the day. We weren't crazy about our hotel, but its location in the Latin Quarter was ideal. Plus, the nearby ethnic restaurants were a surprise and delight every evening.
Worst:
(Adrienne😊 I can't think of anything.
(Wendy😊 Prices were higher, but this seemed minor. We found many economical places to eat, and it wasn't difficult.

Madrid
Best: (Adrienne😊 Figuring out the train system, taking the train to Toledo, and then visiting Toledo. We were jumping up and down as our tickets were being printed because we couldn't believe we had purchased our round-trip tickets on our own. And Toledo is a beautiful city...
(Wendy😊 I would have to say that madrilenos are among the friendliest people in the world. Wherever we went, we didn't just conduct a transaction or eat a meal ... we had an experience. People genuinely wanted to get to know us, and have us return again.
Worst: Even though our hotel was in a great location, the area around it seemed a bit seedy. You know we had prostitutes on the corner, right?

One final bit of news...Andy Roddick was on our flight from Atlanta to Austin, and we saw Jared the Subway guy getting off a plane in Atlanta. So that makes three celebrities on our trip!

And so, as we mentioned in a previous blog, this trip was primarily about getting out of our comfort zones and immersing ourselves in a culture, while performing volunteer work. And so, while we were sometimes a little too far out of our comfort zones, the orphans more than made up for any cold shower or bucket of laundry. What we learned is that love is a universal language, and children understand it very easily. We both fell in love over and over again -- with individual orphans. As we said above, we hope to establish some formal connections that will improve their lives. At the very least, we will stay in touch and send packages. This trip could not have turned out more spectacularly, and we are extraordinarily grateful for the children we met.

Thanks to all of you for reading our entries, and responding with your messages and comments. We can only imagine what this trip would have been like without the Internet! Talk about homesick! But it has been so much fun, and we are so happy we had the opportunity to take this trip.

Cheers ,
Adrienne and Wendy

---

Comments

[Judy]

Thanks!
Thanks for letting us live vicariously thru you and being such persistent writers so we could hear all about your travels - sights, sounds and (almost) tastes!! I have really enjoyed this!!