Final Travel Blog

I know that some of you probably wonder if Donald and I fell off the face of the earth. We have been home for 2 and a half weeks, but have been, of course, pretty busy. We left Orebro, where it turns out that we did our Centigrade- Fahrenheit math wrong: when it is -25 Centigrade, it is about minus 10, Fahrenheit. So THAT is how cold it was, and must have gotten up to just above about 0 Fahrenheit during the day. So when I last wrote, it was NOT 19 F; it was probably about 3 or 4 degrees, F. Since then, they have only had MORE snow and cold, with trains once again shutting down due to frozen switches, etc. Since so many people travel by train in Europe, this creates huge problems for everyone. The predictions by climatologists that global climate change was going to cause increased temperature extremes and variance, with temperatures both much warmer and much colder (depending on where you are), along with more intense storms, are being confirmed last winter and this winter. Since we arrived home 3 weeks ago, Europe has been hit by at least two more big snow storms that I know of, shutting down airports, trapping motorists on the Swiss and Italian autobahns, and causing the Italian trains to bypass Florence, where the train station was snowed in!

After Orebro, we flew to Dublin, where we encountered 3 inches of solid ice on most sidewalks and some roads. It was treacherous all over Ireland to drive, as places that LOOKED clear often had black ice, and there were many accidents. It was even worse for walking, and hospitals were filled with people who had fallen on the ice. The newspapers and television stations were warning older people to not go outside at all, and younger people to check on older people to make sure they were okay. This meant that it was difficult to be tourists, as, for example, Trinity College was closed due to the weather and cold, over the weekend, and no one could see the Book of Kells. It took a while to get anywhere, as we minced steps and tried not to fall. Flying over the North Sea, which was loaded with icebergs and almost solid ice in some places, Scotland and northern England, which were covered with snow, including the roads (I read newspaper articles about people in Yorkshire getting snowed in, with 16-foot snowdrifts against their homes, cars buried under 9 feet of snow, etc; last winter was similar in these same places, with hard freezes in southern Ireland, snow, etc), and then the northern Irish coast being snowbound, was a shocking experience, especially for early December. What will the North Sea look like by January? Meanwhile, the glaciers in Greenland are melting at an even faster pace, dumping all that icy water into the sea, and changing the Gulf Stream flow which has kept northern Europe warmer than it ought to be for centuries. Additionally, there is a massive Low Pressure system stuck over Iceland, keeping normally warm air from flowing to Europe, and also keeping OUR east coast winter storms from reaching us here inland in Western Massachusetts (our storms, just like last winter's, are sticking to the coast and going out to sea. Cape Cod got over a half foot of snow the other day, while we got none!)

But the worst part of our Dublin experience was the cold. We were dressed fine for it, but the many beggars—drunken older men and the many, many Roma and the Eastern European teenagers—were not. They huddled, shivering, on the ice, perched as best as they could on top of a blanket or a bag, and held out a paper cup for coins. I know that there are begging scams, with organized groups putting out the most pitiful members to collect money, but it’s still an awfully hard way to make a living. And it is still heart-breaking to see really OLD women, and younger women with babies (I SAW the babies; they are real), huddled on the sidewalks, up against a phone booth or on a step, begging and clearly cold. I was once told by a priest that it doesn’t matter who the person is who receives the money, or what they are going to in fact do with it; the central thing going on when I see a beggar is in my own soul. Do I see a person who needs my help and turn away, cynically believing in what may be their own cynicism, or do I help, regardless of who they are or what they MIGHT do with the money (give it to a boss, buy a drink or drugs)? The thing is, I can’t live with myself if I don’t help, and I sure can’t eat supper if I know that someone is shivering and hungry outside the window. Again, those old women and women with babies may be out there because some criminal boss decided they would earn the most money from suckers like me, but regardless, it is awfully cold, and it’s horrible to be out there, an old person or a baby, shivering on the ice, with the wind blowing on you, no matter who you are. And if my giving them money means that an old woman or a baby can get out of the cold sooner, then it is MY sin if I don’t give them that money, if I have any in my pocket.

So our 24 hours in Dublin became a process of us shivering as we picked our way on the ice, from beggar to beggar, digging into our pockets over and over, and buying hot food for some. Ireland is experiencing an ever-worsening economic crisis, with increasing numbers of impoverished and homeless. It was worse than sad to walk down Grafton Street, with glitzy shops and a consumerist-Christmas being marketed, and to encounter dozens of beggars in front of those shops. As we ended our European trip, it was the worst experience of the human costs of capitalism that we had encountered. And yet the World Bank asks for more austerity from them, when they’ve already launched severe austerity measures that have only further scared away the international banks, rather than attracting them. It’s clear that more austerity won’t work; probably only unhitching from the Euro and letting their own currency crash would help (Iceland has survived its own severe crisis by letting its currency sink, which made its exports and labor more attractive again), but obviously that is not going to happen. With the Euro as its currency, the Irish now have nothing to lure international business with.

In Dublin we had one very good meal, and then some absolutely TERRIBLE food (Donald insisted we eat supper in a pub that also advertised live Irish music, which was also terrible. Note to travelers: if in Dublin, eat somewhere else first, THEN go out for the music). Thankfully the Book of Kells exhibition was open the morning before we had to leave, and it was wonderful, and worth the treacherous sidewalks to get there. We then flew home, meeting—what else?—very cold temperatures here in Western Massachusetts! We began unpacking and grocery shopping, and drove to NY, where we visited both sets of parents. Unfortunately, we forgot both our laptops behind my mother’s front door! So then we had to wait another week, during which I went to a half-dozen doctor appointments, until Donald could once again make the drive to NY and pick up the computers (don’t feel TOO sorry for him: while there, he also attended his brother Pete’s infamous annual Christmas party). He—and the laptops—arrived home and then we hosted a belated Thanksgiving dinner for some of Anna’s friends.

One thing that has been on my mind since coming home is the bombing in Stockholm two weekends ago, near a major pedestrian shopping street that I visited a couple of times per week on my daily walks. While no one died other than the bomber himself, thank God, it has shaken up that normally peaceful country. I feel for my Swedish friends and wish them all well.

I miss Sweden (though not the frighteningly high prices), and especially loved our short time in Orebro, with its town hall turned into an enormous Advent calendar and with its gorgeous Christmas lights shining through the falling snow and cold dark. I imagine that my Swedish friends are still riding their bikes despite the minus-zero F temperatures and snow (they are hardy souls; during the summer and autumn, after all, we saw VERY old people biking a few kilometers in order to go to the grocery store, out in the countryside). In Orebro, people were still bicycling even though it was below 0 F and ALL of the roads were covered in packed-down snow. Are you still bicycling, Anna? I miss my new friends in Sweden and Ireland and Italy. I miss the beauty of Bellagio and being able, in Italy and Stockholm, to walk anywhere I needed to be. I miss the amazing European pastries and whipped cream, but am already losing weight rapidly, despite it being the Christmas season and having made--and eaten--tons of tasty cookies! And I miss waking each morning with the knowledge that I could work on my OWN work that day, all day, and not have to grade papers, prepare quizzes or lectures, or answer emails for 2 hours each day. It turns out that I am a very disciplined worker even when it’s my own work, and I really enjoyed the freedom to read, take notes, and write each day. I know that I would not have gotten as much done if I had stayed home; being away from my normal comfort zone, routines, and responsibilities was an enormous gift that few people are privileged to experience in their lifetimes. While it may be too much to ask for, I hope I get to do it again!

I will post some final photos on this blog soon, but this is the last real travel blog I will write for this trip. I have enjoyed writing it (mostly at 10 or 11:00 at night!), and have loved sharing with all of you. I wish all of you some slice of the joy of traveling and experiencing new places and people, and I hope you all have or receive the gift of finding beauty in small things (I also wish you the joy of finding history fascinating, but that might be too much to ask for!). And in this seemingly dark time of year, I wish all of you the blessings of both the darkness and the light, the joy of knowing that, one way or another, God-is-With-Us, and the inner peace that comes with living in harmony with those around you. Good Yule, Happy Chanukah, and, to paraphrase one of my favorite Immortal Beings, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a Goodbye.”