I am a senior citizen, retired from the workforce, a native of New York City, born and raised in the borough of Brooklyn, currently living in Northern New Jersey.
In her book , Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders Mary Pipher describes stages of old age. The first stage is usually more or less an extension of middle age, only with a few more birthdays under your belt. You’re vigorous and active, able to do pretty much everything you would do if you were younger. These are the seniors you see in TV commercials and magazine ads, the amazingly happy people who are living life to the fullest, identified as elders only by the gray hair on their heads. It goes down hill from there. Exactly when things start to deteriorate is highly individual, but for most people, physical difficulties start to crop up somewhere in your seventies. After that, it’s just a matter of time before you hit outright frailty. As for mental abilities, well, we all hope and pray those will stay intact to the end. Until medical researchers get a real handle on exactly what happens to the human brain during this time, I guess it’s all we can do.
That in mind, I decided to take advantage of the vigorous part of my old age to do as much traveling as I could afford. I like traveling. Specifically, European traveling. Even more specifically, traveling to cities. My blog is an attempt to record my experiences, maybe offer some help or amusement to the reader.
I hope you enjoy reading it.