Castles and Honking Aplenty in Europe Tonight

We are 14 including my two parents, my two brothers, their families, my son, daughter, and son-in-law.  5/14th of us are in Europe today.  That's nearly 36%!!  Sorry to get quanti-dramatic.  I'll get to the point.  It's hard for me to be in the 64% of the family not in Europe. Instead I'm recovering from a night of wedding partying and trying to figure out where the stock market might be headed this week.

Today, my brother, who remains in England on a work assignment, sent me another Where's Waldo picture.  I guessed on the third try, but only after I saw an email with two guesses made by my parents.  My sister-in-law, niece and nephew are visiting, and they're soaking in as much English countryside and history as they can.  And watching the World Cup games at local pubs.  Such a life.

My niece and nephew at Arundel Castle

A couple Christmases ago, I gave my niece a giant book on castles.  I was hoping that she'd get to visit a few and it looks like that's happening.  They spent today at Arundel Castle, which is a bit to the north of two of England's well-known coastal towns, Portsmouth and Brighton.  Next week, they are meeting my son in Paris.

View from my son's office ... sigh.

Later, around midnight in Geneva, Switzerland, I got a call from my son.  This was one of the loudest phone calls ever.  I was able to hold the phone at least four inches from my ear and still hear the blaring noises.  We had to try to converse in between sirens from emergency vehicles and honking horns from the celebration of Spain's first World Cup title won in overtime.  The noise went on and on.  I wonder if he is getting any sleep.

Viva Espana!

Why does Switzerland care that Spain won?  Apparently, Spain is a favorite vacation destination for the Swiss.  All those sexy Spanish beaches, seductive flamenco dancing, and dinner at 10 pm.  Definitely a contrast from Switzerland.  Anyway, the explanation makes sense.  I know I always cheer for Croatia, definitely one of my favorite vacation spots, at world events.

I'd much rather be there in person to share in all the happenings, but it's so handy dandy that our world is made small through email and Skype.  Any time any of my world readers want to send a picture and/or a paragraph, it's sure to be posted here soon.