In Ireland, I have always had a problem with the first three months of the year.  This is when seeds are asleep, awaiting the Spring sunshine. The ending of the year, the burst of lights and indulgence that is Christmas, heralds a bleak, cold patch that just has to be got through. The Christmas tree and leftover food indulgences are heading for the bin, and I’m heading out the door for six weeks.   a christmas tree

Up until this moment, I had too many commitments to be able to take any long stretch of time off, but this year, I have managed to carve out a piece of winter time to go travelling.  Initially, I had hoped for some faraway sunny place, but, as things turned out, staying in Europe was more feasable – the faraway sunny places will be there next year and the year after too. I have warm clothes for the more northerly places, a teeshirt for the more southerly places. My trip begins in Budapest and takes in Italy, Spain, France and Germany.  Even though I’ll be travelling in some very cold places, I’m travelling to cities with bars, cafes and transport. I’m unsure of how the weather will be in most places, that will be part of the surprise – very few people go to Venice or Rome or Madrid in January.   When we travelled in Mexico, the people we met would ask us who we had come to see, as the Mexicans we met seemed to only travel to places where they had family or friends. When they heard that we were travelling just to see places, they found it both puzzling and sad, but were cheered by the fact that we now had them to come and visit again. This trip is a bit of that too, looking up old friends – I’m not so much sight-seeing as people-seeing, hence what the weather does is its own business.