Susan Sontag’s statement made me laugh, and then it caused me to think a bit. It reminded me that I don’t have a bucket list. It never really occurred to me to have one before now, although I am always interested in other people’s list.

There are a number of places I have never been, and some that I dream of often, but of the places I have not seen, Russia might be the place I least expected to experience. If Saint Augustine is right and “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page” then I am about to read a whole bunch of pages.

I have an incredibly generous friend who is taking me with her on a most excellent adventure. My traveling companion has very carefully planned the trip of a lifetime, a pilgrimage really. Our itinerary includes some of the most spectacular places, ancient, profoundly sacred places that would be a treat for anyone, but for an art historian who specializes in Byzantine Religious Art, this is the Mecca.

There are eight of us, women from a variety of backgrounds chosen by my friend to accompanying her for nearly a month as we explore places like St. Petersburg, Moscow, Suzdal and the Monastery at Valaam.

We begin our trip in New York City, another place I have never been. Our three-day stay will culminate at the airport where the eight of us will board a plane and set off to parts unknown, surrounded by a language consisting of an unfamiliar alphabet. We will stand in front of paintings and artifacts seen only in my textbooks until now. Icons of the masters, Andres Rublev and Theophanes will come to life. The sights, sounds and scents of Orthodox Christianity will now longer be merely paragraphs in academic essays.

I have heard it said that it is good to set an intention if one wants to be successful at a thing. The notion of Pilgrimage is appealing to me as a student of religions, and it would be imperative to have an intention before embarking on any such journey. Henry Miller admonishes that  “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” With that wisdom as my guide, and with my travel journal and my much-loved art supplies in hand, I intend to draw my way through cathedrals, museums, and historic wonders. I plan to remind myself frequently to “be here now”, leave the past behind, not jump ahead to the next thing on the itinerary, just be exactly where I am at this very moment absorbing every last intricate detail.

“Oh the places we will go”, indeed!