Leanne O'Donnell’s Post

I am woke and awake. It is 6.12 am in Taipei. It is 7.15 am in Tokyo. It is 9.12 am in Naarm/Melbourne. It is 11.15 pm in Berlin. It is 10.16 pm in Dublin. I do not like LinkedIn. It is useful in these times and in this place as I no longer have a website. I have, however, bought some domain names from the good folk at Serversaurus. Passenger We have two days left of our 4+ months of travel. The music and locations have been carefully chosen, there's a story in each. We left Sydney in late October after seeing Passenger (Mike) at the Sydney Opera House. I first meet Passenger on 12 November 2009 in Pitt St Mall. He was busking, selling his CD for $10 or $15 and handing out flyers for his show. I bought the CD but I did not go to the show. I did not go to the show. I had dinner and worked. Italy In planning this trip, we divided responsibilities up into portfolios - clear division of responsibilities. We stayed near the Vatican. The Pope was in town. Tom bought a Pope keyring for his Dad. They are both 88. I bought a hot priests calendar for Tom's sister. We visited Florence. I first visited in 1996 with Monash University to study Renaissance History in Florence with Bill Kent and Peter Howard. I love History. I won the First Year Prize in History at Monash and completed an Honours year with Graeme Davison. He is 84 and still writing. I emailed Graeme last month, he remembered me and my thesis which was rather lovely. A top 3 day of our trip was in Tuscany with a friend. Christmas Markets We visited markets in Berlin, Aachen, Munich, Salzburg, Ljubljana, and Zagreb. I love Berlin. We stayed in a hotel near the East Side Gallery. I caught up with a friend from Melbourne and we talked a lot, while our partners patiently ate their delicious brunch. Good people :) I loved Ljubljana. Family We spent January with Tom's family. Tom as Minister for Transport, hired a car to visit cities, towns and villages across the Dalmatian Coast. We had New Year's Eve and Day in a Palace in the Old Town of Split. I got to know the women in Tom's family better - his sister and her two daughters. They are good people - and good cooks. Japan & Taiwan Tom had always wanted to go to Japan. There was a conference on in Taipei that I was curious about attending, so we decided to come home - the long way - via Japan and Taiwan. Loved both countries. Ireland & Patti Smith I have kissed the Blarney Stone 3 times. This may explain a lot or nothing. I have bought a ticket to see Patti Smith and her Band on 6 October in Dublin. (She is not touring to Australia - I get it, it's far!) I have read a lot of books. There are plenty more to read. The advice that has stuck with me is from Patti Smith. I have watched this video many times. https://lnkd.in/g4K9DGBq It is 6.56 am. I have met my self-imposed deadline of 7am.