Happy Anniversary Alex!

September 26th is my favorite day, because I get to say those words to my wife Alex…and every day with her is the best day of my life…

“Old Souls” Indeed…

Alex is sitting in front of the record player she gave me as a gift…and that album playing 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 mid-July, because Alex was involved in the opening night of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris:

Spectacular light show to be sure! I shared a look at the preparations that took place in Paris leading up to the Olympics:

And of course, I ate as well…I mean, she was busy so what else was I to do?

I took a look at some of the incredible food I sampled – and shared that story on my food blog “Bite! Eat! Repeat!”

If you want to see more, you can click on my link here:

It capped a great summer, where Alex won her 9th Daytime Emmy Award – as “The Kelly Clarkson Show” won Outstanding Daytime Talk Show for the 4th straight year…

She moved the show to New York last year, which has allowed me to explore this amazing city and send you pictures like this one of Alex in Central Park on a fall day:

And we went to the White House again for their annual Holiday Party, where Alex shook the President’s hand and I only got the aftermath!

Oh well! If you want to see more of the inside of the East Wing of the White House, here it is:

We’ve had so many great adventures together since we’ve been married, like the time we stayed in the “Pearl Jam Suite” at Seattle’s 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:

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:

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Happy Anniversary Alex!

Categories: Art, Exotic Travel, Food, Memoirs, nature, New York, Pop Culture, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, TV Show

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