Home again!

We are now back in Portland. This voyage has been quite an experience and I have to admit that suddenly it feels so odd somehow to be back in our house!
As we flew into Portland in the early evening of July 16 I caught these views from my seat by the window. It was so lucky that I sat on the left side of the plane as we passed close to Mt. Hood.

I looked down at these patterns below as we began the descent into Portland.

 We are back in Oregon!

We left Marseille at dawn, en route to Madrid once again for our Iberia flight to Chicago. It was so early and we were sleepy...the Bastille Bal in Venasque sent celebration sounds up through the bedroom window until 1:30 a.m.

View of Venasque in the distance

Our chauffeur to the airport (Anton) had coffee waiting for us in the car!! Merci!! The drive was nice and we watched the dawn coming over the hills of Provence.

I strolled around the quiet airport...more poster photos to add to my collection.

This cookbook  looked very appealing...no more room in the carry-on however!

When we arrived at last in Portland, my first impression was how lush it all is! It is true that we spent a good deal of time in big cities; some of the last 10 days of our voyage were in Estonia just outside of Tallinn where there are lots of trees and also some unusual houses like this one which belongs to an architect...the house is built for a view of the sea.

Somehow though, Portland seems to be more "tropical" than the birch tree lined path in Estonia or the farmstead at the open air museum.

Or especially the countryside of Provence...

Or this of Bretagne...or the attico in Rome

Some things I am still thinking about are the wonderful handcrafts of Estonia found in shops like this...Eesti Käsitöö...

or out in the market stands around the Laulupidu.

The stripe effect was also demonstrated in this modern young woman's hair color variations...

Like the various stripes above...color really caught my eye on this trip...for example these dishes spotted in a shop window in Rome...

 and the lavender house with blue shutters in Bretagne...

 or the macarons in this pastry shop in Paris.

Going to markets in Provence was something I enjoyed very much too...

as well as painting sessions in the garden in Carpentras.

Or a family barbecue...

The time went so quickly we can hardly believe it... here we are taking a selfie in the mirror of a restaurant in Paris.

And watching a cocktail party float by on a barge on the Seine.

A good lesson to try and learn on a trip of any kind is probably this... seen on a poster:

I am not sure we have learned that yet but we are working on it and this trip certainly taught us that this statement is probably true!

Here's a toast to travel and new experiences:

A la prochaine!! Thank you for joining us...it has been great!