Spring time revival

I've been back in the Philly area since mid-March, and it's been really nice. The trip at the start of the month, covering Atlanta, Charlotte & Virginia was hectic, and more tiring than I thought it would be. Oh well.

So, spring time has emerged and being my first transition from cold winter to spring - it's exciting and spectacular. First, the rain came (and when it rains it pours here in the north-east) and washed away all the snow. It had been a good whiles since I had seen green grass near my place! Lately, the trees have just come into blossom - a few awesome reds, pinks and oranges popping out early, grabbing all the attention from the drab brown trees around them.

Fritz took me out to Rittenhouse Square on the first really warm and excellent night of the year. It happened to be a Friday night, and was the first time I had been to the fantastic square. The atmosphere was just electric: everyone was out, feeding off the new season's collective energy. Lauren and I went back to Rittenhouse Square on Sunday afternoon again - in beautiful weather, a million dogs and toddlers wandered around whilst the rest of us lazed, happily soaking up the sun.

March madness (college basketball end-of-season tournament) is on TV, and some of the games have been super brilliant. I've been working long days in the office, then coming home and watching basketball or watching DVDs on the off-nights. It's been nice slumping into a very comfortable, non-hectic routine.

Ned & Kate have been entertaining like crazy - which has been brilliant for reasons of: good food and drink at home, new people to meet all the time, general fun times and sitting outside on the backyard patio has been even better than expected. I didn't realise how much I missed hanging out outside until I started doing it again.

So, one more week in the office, preparing for more international, then domestic travel. On April 1st (hopefully no joke), I'm off to Paris...Airport. I'm shooting straight over to Krakow to do research for Travel for Teens' 'Eastern Europe' trip in the summer - and hopefully Easter won't make the research difficult. Back in Paris on Monday, I will be a counselor on a school trip before popping over to Bruges the next day (more research), then doing uninterrupted work with the Paris school group until we fly back to Philly on the 10th.

Should be good!