Trip to begin July 15

    Well, friends, Ellen and I fly off on the big silver bird on Ellen's birthday—first to Frankfurt and then to Bucharest (which I must learn how to spell). If you follow this blog, you will see some of the better pictures we take, read about the places we visit, and generally drool with envy at the rich experiences that we share.
    All this will be accompanied by witty, pertinent, flowery prose to give you the highly personal and biased viewpoint that we develop over the course of this adventure. For some of it, you need a little background (if you don't already have it). Ellen and I are surprised parents of a young man, Ion Zanca, who came from Romania to study viola with her—surprised because in the absence of his parents who were unable to attend, he asked Ellen and me to stand in for his parents when he married his lovely bride, Estera, two summers ago. As a result we have all become close friends. One of the objectives of the trip to Romania is to meet Ion's mother and father. There is much more to this story to come.
    The second phase of the trip involves Ellen performing in a festival. I don't know much about this, so I will relate details as we go along.
    The third phase is a Mediterranean cruise. That should provide me with the opportunity to unload tons of pictures on you (you know, the kind that feature light blue above dark blue, and real flat...), as we steam from one port to the next. When we were signing up for this, I saw a note in the literature that mentioned "Titanic II". I looked back through it carefully but could not find the page.
    At any rate, save this URL and check back here from time to time, to be amazed at our astounding adventures. Better yet, sign on to follow this blog (see right sidebar). If you do, I think you get notification of new posts.