First posting, July 4, 2009

Hello everyone! We are busy planning our trip which begins on August 23. What with the illness of Beth's mother and the birth of Jessica's baby in July, it has been a busy summer! If you are reading this, it means you have received our card telling you of this site. We will update the news here as time goes by - hopefully at least once a week, once the adventure begins. I am taking my laptop, so we can receive emails at my address (also on the card).

Speaking of beginning, the first part of our trip is planned and reserved. We fly to Helsinki, Finland, on Aug. 23. We join a Grand Circle Tour on the 26th. which explores Helsinki and then flies to a Sami (Lapp) area north of the Arctic Circle. We spend time there learning about the Sami culture and then board a Norwegian ship to travel south on the coast of Norway. We have heard marvelous descriptions of the scenery and are very excited to be there! We disembark the ship in Bergen and then travel overland to Oslo where we spend several days. On September 9, we fly to Paris to spend a month in an apartment there. Our address will be 54, rue de Turbigo. 75003 Paris. I don't know if you need more information in order to mail us something, but we'll find out. The apartment is in the 3rd. arrondissement in the Le Marais district. A very good location! We are very excited to become Parisians for a month. We plan to take several day or overnight trips to northern France places but mostly we just wander the streets and take it all in (and eat lots of croissants and cheese and drink lots of wine!)

As more details are arranged and confirmed, we will let you know. Meanwhile, keep us in your prayers as we try to juggle the issues of leaving our house with renters for a year, leaving a brand new grandson and my mom's health.