Happy Anniversary Alex!

September 26th is my favorite day, because I get to say those words to my wife Alex…the best life partner I could have ever hoped for!

“Old Souls” Indeed…

Alex is sitting in front of the record player she gave me as a gift…and that album is the “Phantom Of The Paradise” movie soundtrack…this cult film from 1974 was a rock opera version of “Phantom Of The Opera”:

Alex had never heard of the film or the song, but when I played it for her it was her immediate choice to be our first dance as a married couple at our wedding…here are the lyrics by the iconic Songwriter / Actor Paul Williams:

“Our love is an old love, baby
It’s older than all our years
I have seen in strange young eyes
Familiar tears

We’re old souls in a new life, baby
They gave us a new life to live and learn
Some time to touch old friends
And still return

Our paths have crossed and parted
This love affair was started
Long, long ago

This love survives the ages
In its story lives are pages
Fill them up, may ours turn slow

Oh, our love is a strong love, baby
We give it all and still receive
And so with empty arms
We must still believe

All souls last forever
So we need never fear goodbye
A kiss when I must go
No tears, in time we kiss hello…”

And here is the song as performed beautifully by Actress Jessica Harper in the film:

We both love the song and how it resonates in a special way for us…this love affair was indeed started long, long ago…

It’s always fun to look back at some of our adventures, and this year, because of work schedules, we planned our anniversary trip for the end of June:

Celebrating “Under The Tuscan Sun!”

As some of you know, we stayed in the real house used to film the terrific movie “Under The Tuscan Sun” in Cortona Italy!

For those who know the film, here’s the iconic road behind the house!

You can see video from the house, plus a look at the property and lots more by clicking here:

We’ve had so many great adventures together, like the night we stayed in the “Pearl Jam Suite” at Seattle’s The Edgewater Inn, and Alex strapped on a Guitar and rocked out:

The Edgewater Inn also has a Beatles room – because the band fished out their hotel window once!

Click here for that story:

And then, there was the time we celebrated our Anniversary with a trip to Spain, where Alex rolled calls back to the US because she was in production on a TV show, with the spectacular Costa Brava as a backdrop:

For those who follow this blog regularly, I have shared lots of adventures with Alex, including when we celebrated our wedding anniversary “on the rails”:

We celebrated our 20th anniversary in 2018 by taking the iconic “Orient Express Train” from Venice to Paris, with a stop in Budapest! It was as magical as you can imagine:

The Historical Magic Of Train Travel!

There were so many incredible memories from that trip, as you can literally sit in your suite and watch history go by outside your window:

Sometimes, what goes by is a little “too close for comfort” – like when I stuck my phone out the window of the moving train to capture our arrival into Budapest – take a look:

You can see more images from this trip, including some of the incredible food served onboard The Orient Express – just click on my story here:

Because Alex is working today, I surprised her with a trip to one of our favorite cities this last weekend:

We had a blast for two days in Chicago – that’s Lake Michigan and the iconic Hancock Tower behind her…we had some really terrific meals there, including this fiery dish at NEXT restaurant!

This is “Fagioli al Fiasco” – cannelloni beans with garlic, thyme and rosemary – literally cooking at our table!

The night before, we ate at the incredible 2 Michelin-starred restaurant EVER:

Chef Curtis Duffy took us into his kitchen to show off some of his culinary magic – incredible! For example, the picture on the upper left is frozen hamachi shaved into curls!

Alex is always up for an adventure, so when we were in Budapest, we ate some classic Hungarian food!

Click here to see it all!

Alex is so much fun to travel with, and is my best friend, and I can’t wait for the adventures still to come!

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Happy Anniversary Alex!

Categories: 70's Cinema, 70's Music, Exotic Travel, Food, Funny Pictures, Memoirs, Music, nature, Pop Culture, Sports, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir

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