10th and Lawrence Streets, N.E. Washington D.C. 20017
From: Terry Catucci <tcatucci@erols.com>
Subject: Re: Travel
Date: Tue, 05 Jan 1999 11:47:17 -0500
Elsie et al,
When Rosie wrote about her upcoming travels I thought, what a great
trip. Rosie, why is your favorite place Indonesia? Maybe you talked
about it in an earlier e-mail and I've just forgotten. And Two-Rays,
your England/Ireland trip is one that I hope to do at some point. Let's
see, four more years of college tuition for my daughter, my graduate
school debts... maybe in 10 years.
I can't complain. Pete's had lots of business trips that I've been
able to accompany him on. Yearly trips to Miami, in February no less.
I don't always go, but am planning on it this year. We've done,
Seattle; I loved Mt. Rainier and the great market they have in Seattle.
We took a day trip to Victoria Island by boat. Had High Tea at the
Empress hotel and then visited Butchart (sp?) Gardens. I have pictures
of Mt. Rainier and the Gardens that I took with a wide-angle lens. They
are framed and sitting on my desk and my dressing table to remind me of
their beauty.
Then there was Tucson. I climbed down some canyon that was a real
spiritual experience and rode horses in another canyon which about
scared me to death--I guess you could call that another spiritual
experience! We've done San Diego several times. Geralyn, Pete's
sister, lives there, and Pete usually has an October board meeting
there. That's a fun place, great weather year round. San Francisco is
another great city, the Redwood forrest was breathtaking. Last summer I
went to his convention in Chicago, not expecting to like it very much
but I thought it was fabulous! I could spend days at the Art Institute,
and I visited the original Hull House founded by Jane Addams in the 19th
Century which is now a museum. For you non-social worker folks, her
work with the immigrants and poor of Chicago is often considered the
beginning of social work. Of course, I shopped at Marshall Fields, but
didn't buy anything.
My own business trips when I was at Decorating Den included Calgary and
Nova Scotia. Loved the people in Nova Scotia, some of the friendliest
I've ever come across. Des Moines, Iowa was also great. I think it
was probably because of the people I was with. We were flown in a
private jet by Meredith Corporation (publishers) and put up in a nice
hotel. Talk about wining and dining! I've been to Tampa more times
than I can count, and once to New Orleans--our convention group paraded
through the Bourbon Street area, such fun. Indianapolis, Kansas City,
Phoenix, Memphis, Dallas, Orlando. Each place had its own unique
charm.
We've vacationed in Bermuda a couple of times. That's the closest I've
ever gotten to the UK.
My two favorite trips were off continent. Pete and I went to Japan in
1986 for two weeks. I loved experiencing another culture so different
from our own. Pete worked most of the time while I toured with some
other wives who accompanied their husbands. We had a lesson in Ikebana
which is the art of Japanese flower arranging. I also attended a
traditional Japanese tea ceremony, another spiritual experience. I saw
more Shinto Shrines than I could count while we were there. The
Japanese think that taking you to the shrines is a great treat.
Everywhere we went, Japanese children would stop and ask to take our
picture. I think Pete's height and my blonde hair caught their eye.
They were all dressed in navy blue or grey uniforms with hats--too
cute. I got the same feeling at the museum in Hiroshima that I get when
I go to the Vietnam Wall. I pray that nothing like that will ever
happen again. Kyoto was my favorite Japanese city, it's one of the
older ones. There's a Shogun's palace which the architect designed so
that the floors creak when you walk across them, so that the Shogun's
enemies couldn't sneak up on him and kill him while he was sleeping. I
was there in late October and in Tokyo they have a Chrysanthemum
Festival and Contest every year. Truly a beautiful sight.
Some of you have heard me talk about my trip to France in 1997. I
think Lourdes is about my favorite place on earth. I went with a
delegation from the archdiocese as part of World Youth Day. We took the
group to the grotto in the middle of the night to pray and say the
rosary. Just sitting in the silence and experiencing that awesome
energy was something I'll never forget. Of course, I loved Paris and
its attractions like the Louvre, but it pales in comparison to the
quaintness of Lourdes and the draw of the grotto. There were a lot of
touristy shops in Lourdes that were sometimes tacky. Oh well, c'est la
vie!
Well guys, got to go. As Elsie says, yak at ya later.
Terry