II of IV: A Souvenir

We travel light. But we don't account for the things we will purchase on our trip. A Pashmina scarf, a postcard, a few matted photographs. The embellished beer glass and bottle of Pilsner that I purchase in a town outside the city, are not the wisest of souvenirs, I realize, but I carry the heavy burden, unbroken, from the castle at Karlstejn, to Prague, then to Vienna (Austria), then Rome, then London, and I finally present them to my father as a gift, a month later in Uganda. His excitement over this small token, reminds me that carrying the heavy box in my backpack through three countries was worth the weight.