My final post: A few (okay, more like several dozen) of my favorite pics from our trip — some soulful, some soaring, some silly:
First day, and a bracing start to our trip — great decision to kick off with exotic and difficult India:
Qutub Minar!
Beautiful building, beautiful relationship:
Blissful afternoon reading, phoning home, and napping at the surprisingly remote and un-touristy “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”:
Village wedding and walk. Is groom saying “who are you?” or “help!”?
On top of the world in Nepal. Last photo, with upward glance from porter, is genius.
But the story is different in Kathmandu. These photos sum up the tragedy and malaise of a country that suffered a devastating earthquake three years ago but lacks the resources to do anything about all of the architectural treasures that lie in ruin.
Athens, including a view up to the Parthenon from the incomparable Acropolis Museum:
Naxos: Yes, but is the seafood fresh?
Spectacular Santorini (though we hated it at first):
Mom-son moment, gazing out over the Aegean:
Dad-son moment, night-fishing at 11:00 p.m. in Naxos harbor:
Home-schooling under the minarets on Crete:
Roaming Rome (and buy stock in the last guy immediately; never has a street performer induced more spontaneous dancing):
Way in over our heads — biking up hills like these — in Tuscany:
(Cousin) Mary the Magnificent in Florence:
My gorgeous peeps in Venice (at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco) and world’s coolest glass installation in random Venetian church:
Our beloved Orvieto:
Where else in the world can you do all of these things in a single day (answer = Tokyo):
These two beautifully sum up the complicated Japanese relationship to nature, with trees up on struts and workers using small scissors to clip individual blades of grass:
The ups and downs of rural Japanese homestays: bamboo whittlin’, makin’ mochi, lovely people, but may also feature murderous clown directly above bed:
Obliga-torii gate shots:
Soulful, soggy, and onsen-filled Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route:
Leafiest glade (in Yamanaka) ever:
Transcendent (but pricey) sushi, in process:
Ramen!
A gifted teacher wherever she goes:
Sweet selfie:
Stag party!
Cozy with kindle in our Kyoto house:
Kyoto crew:
Afternoon stroll:
The big guys:
WWII bookends: Pearl Harbor (at end of our trip) and, below that, Hiroshima:
Bakso in Bali:
Borneo by boat:
Borobudur, Buddha:
Jogja, Java: The old and the vibrantly modern:
Gili Meno sunset, moonscape:
Gorgeous Gilis:
Divemasters (including our newly certified 11 year old):
Sunset shell-skipping session:
Heading out for an end-of-trip sunset surf in southern Lombok at the aptly named “Heaven on the Planet”:
Fanatical Sabbatical 