It is the people

    This is a lovely Scottish castle opened to visitors by the owners who need the money to keep it. The utilities alone are high. There is also a beautiful garden. But the owners' story was much more interesting, It made me think of others I have met: a physician in Scotland who had done a residency at the same time I did my clinical work in San Francisco, a salesmen who bantered and kidded back in forth at a BNB in Ireland, a merchant in Florence that thought us the meaning of Pinocchio, a cab driver in Vienna who gave me a free tour on the way back to our boat in the harbor. I can think of almost one or two special encounters in every place I have gone. It is fun to collect new friends.