a nightclub in Munich

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From Paris to Munich was and eight-hour train ride and because this was the first trip I ever put together I thought it might be nice, wrong.  We’d spend eight hours falling in and out of sleep and once we reached Munich we checked into the Marriott.  As exhausted as we were we both knew if took a nap we weren’t going anywhere but it was Saturday night and we needed a dance floor and after some research we found one, we inhaled a Domino’s cheese pizza and we were off.  It was the perfect size everything and the beer started flowing.  The place was alive, it had energy and we could’ve have picked a better place.  We were feeling real good, real fast and whatever exhaustion we felt it was gone.  

We were drinking beer that was 15% tequila and talking the locals.  The music was perfect – no house, techo or reggae – just music in its original form with a mix or a beat added or an extended version.  And the more we drank the more we danced and then the DJ played a song I would never expected to hear that made the night even more amazing, you could offer me $1,000 and I still wouldn’t believe you – but these are the moments that make travel so amazing, the unexpected.  ‘Dare Me’ by the Pointer Sisters was blasting and in the blink of an eye the dance floor was packed but I didn’t care because a moment like this might never happen again – me in a nightclub across the world dancing to the Pointer Sisters, I owe someone $1,000.

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an Alitalia flight to Rome 

I felt like I was on a roller coaster at 60,000 feet in the air only this time I wasn’t attached to a metal track that would return us to a starting point in four or five minutes.  This roller coaster was 60,000 feet in the air with nothing holding it down, there were no safety harnesses all you had was a seatbelt, this roller coaster was a Alitalia 737 bound for Rome.  It was, has been and I pray the only time I truly feared for more life.  It was something I never would’ve ever imagined.  Everyone on board had been ordered back to the seats including the flight attendants.  The plane was shaking and the turbulence was like nothing I have ever felt.  The plane kept dropping 100, 150 or 200 feet at a time as a thunderstorm raged.  And it is still just as vivid today  the sheer intensity of the moment with everyone on board scared, even the flight attendants couldn’t hide their fear.

We were being tossed about to the point I was clutching my armrest for dear life.  All you heard were the cries of children, the ‘oh my God’s’ from other passengers.’  It was like a movie when your worst fears of flying are realized.  And then in the blink of an eye it ended and we emerged into a perfect sun filled sky high above Rome.  And when we finally landed the entire plane burst into a loud, roaring applause for the entire crew.  And some of us, including me, were in tears of joy.  And once we were at the gate we all stood and hugged each other because we got through it together.  As we left the plane everyone was hugging the entire crew, especially the captain something I never thought I’d see or be a part of.  And something I will never forget.  

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a cemetery Buenos Aires

When we think of a cemetery we think of our loved ones resting in peace.  It is the place we go to mourn, cry and grieve, it is also the place we go to be with them, talk, to remember, smile and laugh and the last thing you’d ever think is their cemetery is a tourist attraction.

Well if they are buried in the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires they are among the rich and famous is the tomb of Eva Peron.   I never thought I’d be writing about a cemetery but this is one I will never forget. The cemetery is the final resting place for the wealthy and famous of Argentina and it is the most amazing cemetery I have ever been in. 

Powerful and dramatic sculptures that lay across graves that cry and mourn and tell a story of loss.  They grieve, anguish and agonize.  Tributes to the deceased like none I have ever seen.  

And the tombs are just as fascinating, each one causing you to simply stop, stare and admire.  Monuments and sculptures of Argentina’s rich and famous laying side by side not just telling their own story in life but in death as well.

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the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires

I never thought I’d ever visit a cemetery and find myself fascinated, how many of us do.  It is a place we grieve and mourn the loss of a loved one.