Day Sixteen: Coming Home

I got back to Annecy on Thursday, Day 13. On Friday, I slept in and then went with Alex to a lovely riverside home in the country, where he played music with his band for 5 hours. Truthfully, it was one of the highlights of my trip! During the evening, I heard songs in English, French, Russian and Spanish. I think my favorite was a rousing version of The Irish Rovers. These lads are very talented!

Saturday was cold and overcast, so we hung around the shanty and then went for a ride later in the afternoon to the small town of Pringy (pronouced Pron-gee, more or less) where young Alex spent his formative years. There are some photos from above the town attached and I have to say, it was a peaceful and very beautiful place. With the city of Annecy just 10 miles away, it's the kind of place where I could live and be very happy!

And then on Sunday, my odyssey came to an end.  Now that I have been home a week, it's time to reflect on the journey and figure out what, if anything, I learned.

One of those things is that travel is about meeting people, not seeing places. I met some warm and wonderful people along the way: Alex, Francesco, Slavia and Erik, Mariassunta and Claudio, Malcolm, Alex's parents, Patricia and Jean Claude and his two delightful sons, Valentin and Emmanuel.  All were unfailingly kind to me and all made me feel instantly welcome. Thank you to you all. How often in life do we get to make a dozen new friends in just two weeks? It was an incredible experience.

I also had some of my prejudices exploded. I grew up in a part of the country where the Mafia was in the headlines almost daily. Mob hits were legion. Years ago, a red Ferrari was dredged up near the Providence ship channel, its owner still behind the wheel, encased in concrete. The same dredging operation turned up dozens of skeletons with their feet encased in cement, something that was referred to locally as "Italian overshoes."  Suffice to say, my opinion of Italians in general was rather negative.

But now that I have been to Italy, and seen for myself the wonders that country has to offer, that opinion has been totally exploded. I can't wait to go back and explore the 90% of the country I did not see this time around, especially the east coast that borders the Adriatic.

I learned that in France, civil protest is handled entirely differently than here at home. How is it possible that 10,000 protesters march through a city without riot police and SWAT teams ready to swoop down and make mass arrests. How civilized are we here in the US, really?  I wonder.....

But most of all, I had an opportunity to discuss life and things in general with all sorts of people from a variety of backgrounds. There were several things we found we agree on:

1. Nowhere in our memories did Jesus EVER tell His followers to kill people they didn't like.
2. Everyone feels their government is too powerful and intrudes too much in their lives.
3. All are concerned about what sort of world their children will inherit.
4. We all are concerned about how our governments are being dictated to by powerful and wealthy interests.
5. Things would be better if the people had more say in their own affairs.


That's a pretty impressive list for a group of people of different ages, different nationalities, different education and different life experience. Was it worth two week of wandering to learn these things?  Absolutely!

And finally, after watching dozens of organized tour groups during my stay in Europe, I got to reaffirm my belief that choosing the road less traveled really does make all the difference. 

Thanks for following along with me. For the remaining photos, please follow this link:  In Conclusion