so so so good to read your blog again.   Your MoM missed you while you were traveling.

I thought several times about how hard it must have been for my mother when Aunt Ruth and I each spent a year abroad and only talked by phone once (Christmas) and all the rest had to be in letters.  (I was not a good letter writer in those days either!)

Thank you for introducing us to a positive side of traveling.  And thank you for being embarrassed at the rudeness of an American (especially one working at the embassy.) I have been hoping there were fewer Americans to be embarrassed by than when I spent time in England many years ago.
Love, MoM