On February 22, 2011, the city of Christchurch was rocked by a devastating earthquake, in what would turn out to be the second-deadliest peacetime disaster in the nation's history. Our two best friends were there when it happened, and our visit two months ago was an emotional one.

Two things really stand out about our travel adventures in 2011 - the first is that we had so many, and the second is that we didn't really write about them at all. In total, last year we visited 14 countries. Yup, you read that correctly: 14 countries.

Tim and I have never re-posted anything on Hedgehogs Without Borders. But because today is the 10th anniversary of September 11th, we wanted to re-share a story I wrote for the 4th anniversary in 2005.

It was just over two decades ago that I first heard the macabre tale. I think it was described to me as a church "made out of human bones," sitting quietly in a small, unassuming country village. I'm pretty sure that I spent an embarrassing number of years thinking it was "in" Prague, that Prague was a country of some sort.

The sky is losing color now, sliding from psychedelic splashes of pink and purple into a cool dark blue-black. Around us are a knobby jumble of grassy hills cloaked in thick white mist, dotted with rondavals that we can just make out in the dim evening light.