Curiosity   I was hoping you’d peek into the Avant-Propos first, just out of curiosity. Since we are dealing with various languages here, why call it a Preface? Why not start out right at the beginning in the right vein, with the French phrase Avant-Propos, used occasionally in English, which indicates you’re looking at a Preface by styling it as Before [the Main] Purpose? If doing that sort of thing appeals to you, you could be in the right place and may wish to continue.

Background   Beverly and I had acquired a number of languages over the years, and had traveled and studied extensively in both Europe and North America. I called us Euramericans. In 1990, after spending an eight-week summer studying advanced Spanish in Málaga, Spain, we never thought an entire decade would pass before returning to Europe. But retirement came to us both early in the 1990’s, then there was the effort downsizing from the Westchester home we had built, and eventually becoming “bi-statal” in both New York and Florida. Subsequently, in June 1995, Beverly was diagnosed with Pick’s Disease, which led to a gradual decline, up to her passing in 2004, into speechlessness and immobility in a wheelchair. The first half of the 1990’s saw only minimal travel, all in the US. The second half seemed hopeless for travel of any kind, up until 1999, when I decided that with the use of our van, we could successfully manage a number of week-long drives. The decision to go back to Bermuda late that summer after many years, this time with sister Pat and husband John, sailing on the Nordic Empress, was pivotal. I could see we could not only manage to successfully travel outside the US again, I was spectacularly reminded of the joy of voyaging on the open sea, which we hadn’t done for many years, since early on.

Furthermore, I felt that, while we could manage short flights, overnight flights between Europe and North America would be difficult. That made an excellent additional excuse to return to round-trip Transatlantic voyaging by ocean liner.

In 2000, exactly a decade after our 1990 stay in Spain, we were off again to Europe by sea. Our destination had to be Germany, since, after our many earlier visits there, we had missed all the drama of reunification in the 1990’s. Eastbound we took our first trip on the Queen Elizabeth 2, to Southampton. Westbound we sailed from Cuxhaven, near Hamburg, on the new Deutschland. The previous summer, on our return from Bermuda, we had spotted the Deutschland docked in New York. I never knew a new German ship had been built, and after researching, we booked passage. She doesn’t usually do Transatlantics, but we took what was the first two-week segment of a world cruise, stopping in Plymouth, England, Waterford, Ireland, and four stops in Canada. It was surprising crossing the Atlantic in only three days, but it was only the short distance between Ireland and Newfundland. Later, in Halifax harbor, we saw the celebration for the Tall Ships, which had just arrived from New York. When we finally disembarked in New York, we heard of the Concorde crash in Paris, which had been chartered to bring passengers to the Deutschland to replace those getting off. Nevertheless, we made friends on the Deutschland with whom we still keep in touch. The trip was a good return to European travel.

Laptop   On this first trip back to Europe in many years, I did have a laptop along. However, I had misjudged the amount of time I would have to spend time online, what with seeing everything and helping Beverly. I only read my mail once and sent a quick message home, just before leaving. This was remedied in 2001, when I started sending home messages to family and friends, first called Letters, then Reports. When I started writing from home as well, I started calling them Musings, but now, Reflections seems the best description of what has blended into a combination of journal, memoir, and commentary. Over time, the circle of family and friends written to, extended, and people asked to see some of the old ones. A friend recommended going online, which I eventually hoped would be the best way to publish and reach an audience.

Quaint Language   You will find an explanation of my newly-coined word “Travelanguist” in Reflections 2005 Series 1 “New Coinages”.

You will find the basis for using “worthy” in my locution à la viennoise “Worthy Reader”, in Reflections 2004 Series 11 “Wien”.

Acknowledgements   I woke up one morning with the image of how I wanted this website to look, especially the home page with its photos. I presented the ideas to Yefim Furlender and his daughter Vicky Furlender, who, between them, obtained the domain, and set up and designed the website just the way I wanted it, and I thank them for it. In addition to their design input, further critiques and ideas came from my sister Chris DiNapoli. I want to thank Sharon Ledeboer for her permission to use her picture of me on the home page, which involves a story. She took that picture at the Memorial Dinner for Beverly at the entrance of the Fontainbleau Room of the Sofitel Hotel in Minneapolis. I had been pleased that the hotel had set up the Table Assignment Chart in such a beautiful frame. However, it seemed even more fitting for the website to have a picture of Beverly in that frame. I have multiple copies of the picture I call “Beverly in Blue”, taken some time ago while she was still teaching, and Vicky was clever enough to be able to artfully electronically insert Beverly’s picture into that frame, for which I am grateful.

Dedication   Of course it goes without saying (ça va sans dire) that this website and all the Reflections therein are dedicated to: