This week I am preparing for a very special journey, and I'd like to pack you all along in my suitcase and bring you along.

Since I was a little girl, I've had a dream to visit Vienna, and the reasons just kept piling up til I couldn't resist any longer. Strauss (in the movie 2001 Space Odyssey), Mozart, the Spanish Riding School (Lipizzaner Horses), Viennese Coffee, Whipped Cream, Marzipan, and the Empress Elisabeth…they've been calling me for 40 years and next week I will go see what it is that's been calling out my name.

If you've gone on a trip with me before (on my blog, my photo page, or on a guided tour with me) you know that I love to capture evocative images and share them with you. I always have an eye out for art, design and color…and am endlessly fascinated with the lush visual ideas that present themselves while traveling.

My roommate in Hong Kong was Oscar de la Renta's patternmaker for his frothy silk dress collection, and she was trained as a couturier in Austria, so I know there were a few Viennese seeds planted there. Then I have to add in Prague because of my love for Alphonse Mucha's artwork, and Anton?n Dvorak's music.

Budapest too, because of Franz Liszt and B?la Bart?k's music, and I want to see the Hungarian textile arts. Heck…I've always wanted to go to the *REAL* Bohemia on the Blue Danube. People use the word "bohemian" all the time and don't even know what it means! Well I am gonna go find out!

So if Life is a bowl of Truffles, I'm about to take a bite, and pass the bowl around. Curiosity is what drives my creative passions, and sharing my delighted discoveries is half the fun. I'll post what I can next week on the road, and even more the week after. When I find Wifi in the cafes, I'll be posting photos on Facebook too. (I hope!)

Oh yes, in case you are wondering about the photo above, that is from a chocolate shop in Switzerland, while on a trip to visit Bernina headquarters in December 2006. That trip was my first experience of traveling to Europe in December for the Christmas Markets…charmingly addictive!

Won't you take a bite with me? *smile*

photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/luanarubin/
Bali trip: http://sewmanyplaces.com/tours/bali_0411.html