Our Grand Tour

This is it - we're taking a trip around Europe! I like to think we're very Victorian in our aim to survey the cultural landscape of countries we've never been to. (Yeah, we're actually just backpacking and staying in hostels, but it sounds so much cooler to be taking such a tour...)

"The primary value of the Grand Tour, it was believed, lay in the exposure both to the cultural legacy of classical antiquity and the Renaissance, and to the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the European continent. In addition, it provided the only opportunity to view specific works of art, and possibly the only chance to hear certain music. A grand tour could last from several months to several years." (NY Times, Thompson - The Making of the English Middle Class - 1991).

Well, our grand tour is going to be 2 weeks long - but it will no doubt impact us forever. I'm not sure we're part of the fashionably polite society, but this is the grand tour that the Feldman Sisters (heretofore denoted the FS) have dreamed about since their girlhood. Our mother regaled us with stories of her European adventure as a teenager - sneaking onto Ferries to cross the English channel, eating pastry for an entire summer, getting onto the wrong train car and being detached (literally) from the group... with those stories in mind, we set out for this adventure. It will be a tough challenge to come up with new antics of our own, but I have full faith in my sisters.

Here is the map of our anticipated journey:

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I am so blessed to be taking this adventure, to spend such quality time with my sisters, for the generosity of our parents to not only support but encourage such a trip, and to our boyfriends for allowing us to high-tail it out of town right as the midwest gets nice and sunny. We love you all.

Today, Katie and I head to Madrid. We will meet world-traveler-of-the-month Julia in the Madrid Airport and fly on to Munich together. Let the adventures begin!!