5 years ago today Chris and I arrived in New Jersey. Now, given the fact that I’m from New Jersey, that may seem like much of a fact worth mentioning.

But you see, although we arrived in New Jersey on June 24, 2013, it was also the day we officially began our European adventure. After a series of events that culminated in Chris’ getting a job offer in Italy that spring, we scrambled within a few short weeks to give away a good percentage of our stuff, pack up what was left and stash it in storage, sell our car and our condo, and say farewell to our life in British Columbia.

We were on the move to Europe. And it all began with a red-eye flight from Vancouver to the U.S., which took us to New Jersey, 5 years — or 1826 days — ago today.

In thinking back to that time, it’s hard to believe that it has already been 5 years, in the way that things can seem to go by in a wink of an eye. But it also seems impossible that it’s been only 5 years, when I stop to consider the entirely of the new world of experiences and opportunities that have come our way since that day in 2008. From learning new languages to visiting new places, it’s been an unending series of delightful occurrences – how did we manage to cram that all into just 5 short years?

It’s hard for me now to imagine a time when I didn’t write a blog. But it actually has only been since we started our European life that my almost blogging began. In looking back yesterday at my original 22bz blog, I saw that there was no first post welcoming people or explaining anything at all about the Two to Bolzano blog, or how much I was looking forward to a chance to write about our new lives, etc. etc. Rather, I just plunged right with a rather mise en scène approach, as though I’d been writing a blog for ever.

And that approach has carried over.  On my blog, I write about any topic that spontaneously captures my imagination. Sometimes my posts are based on something directly tied to our lives in Europe, while other times a post winds up wandering a bit further afield.

Including today’s post, for example. 😉

You see, this morning I happened to read a story about a museum in Manchester, England that is apparently plagued by an Ancient Egyptian mummy’s curse. It seems they have an Egyptian statue on display in a locked case at the museum, and the statue mysteriously turns by itself 180 degrees every day. The curator is quoted as saying it could be due to a mummy’s curse:

Campbell Price, an Egyptologist at the museum, suggests the museum may have been struck by ancient curse. He told the Manchester Evening News: “I noticed one day that it had turned around. I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key.

“I put it back but then the next day it had moved again. We set up a time-lapse video and, although the naked eye can’t see it, you can clearly see it rotate on the film. The statuette is something that used to go in the tomb along with the mummy. Mourners would lay offerings at its feet. In Ancient Egypt they believed that if the mummy is destroyed then the statuette can act as an alternative vessel for the spirit. Maybe that is what is causing the movement.”

— The Independent, June 24, 2013

I like it! I’m not sure I actually believe in the curse, mind you, but I like the story.

Now that story ties into something connected to photos i was already planning to use for the post today. Sort of, at least.

Well, first I should mention that this past weekend, I led a half-day workshop at the d.a.i. (German-American Institute) here in Tübingen. The theme was how to take photos while walking around a place in order to go “beyond the [standard] postcard” shot. It’s a topic I know well, since when we go on a trip, my photos that I post on the blog of those places are usually not quite the standard postcard shot.

With that theme in mind, I’d spent some time yesterday finally sorting through photos I took on a trip to  Konstanz Germany in May 2012. Even for me — for whom it always takes an inordinately long time to sort through photos — 13 months is extraordinarily long to have gone without sorting them. So yesterday I’d decided I would finally sort them and see what kinds of “beyond the postcard” shots I had from Konstanz.

As it turns out, while I predictably didn’t have have a standard postcard shot, I did have several photos of what surely is a major postcard shot subject from Konstanz: the Imperia statue. It’s a 9 meter (30 feet) high statue of a woman who is holding two small naked men in her hands. The statue towers above the entrance to the harbor on Lake Constance. The English Wikipedia entry cryptically claims that it was “clandestinely erected in 1993.” When you see the photos below, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that the idea of this being “clandestinely” erected is astonishing.

But another remarkable thing about the statue is that it rotates – it actually does a complete revolution every 4 minutes. When I first caught sight of it off in the distance that day, I had no idea what the heck it was. When I caught a glimpse of it a minute later,  I thought that it had moved. It was odd, huge and moving? Clearly I was losing my mind. How would a such a large statue be able to move?

But it does and it did, as you can see in a couple of the photos below.

Anyway, it was misty and cloudy that day, not  ideal conditions for taking a postcard shot of the Imperia statue. But as I explained to my workshop participants on Saturday, for me the excitement and delight of photography is always scouting around a location for new ideas and inspirations. You need not focus on replicating a standard postcard shot, but rather be open to experiencing the unexpected.

For me, that’s as close to a summing up of what the last 5 years have been about. It’s been a chance to embrace the unexpected and appreciate every moment of the journey.

Thanks for all of your support along the way.  I hope you’re ready to continue the adventure, starting with day 1828 tomorrow.

I know I am!