What's the blog title all about?

A friend mentioned to me today that she liked my blog title. I said thanks and then thought it merited a short explanation.

The quotation, "wherever I am, you are there also," comes from composer Ludwig van Beethoven's "Immortal Beloved" letter, an unaddressed love letter to an unidentified woman written in 1812. The language, even in translation, is beautiful and heart-wrenching -- here is the quotation in context:

You are suffering, my dearest creature--...Ah, wherever I am, you are there also--I will arrange it with you and me that I can live with you. What a life!!!! thus!!! without you--pursued by the goodness of mankind hither and thither--which I as little want to deserve as I deserve it...

Here's another translation of the same passage:

Thou sufferest, thou my dearest love. ...Ah! where I am, art thou also with me; I will arrange for myself and Thee. I will manage so that I can live with thee; and what a life!!!! But as it is!!! without thee. Persecuted here and there by the kindness of men, which I little deserve, and as little care to deserve.

In German, it probably goes something like, "Wo auch immer bin ich, du bist auch dabei." Though my blog title comes from a love letter, I thought it fitting for a few reasons: A) It comes from my favorite composer, Beethoven; B) It applies well to travel -- though I will be far away, you, my friends, will remain close to my heart; C) It applies well to a blog, which allows us all to stay in close contact no matter where we are in the world.

Nothing to do with Ukraine on this one, but I hope you enjoyed the fun factoids!

(Block quotations excerpted from: 1) Edmund Morris, Beethoven, the Universal Composer, New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2005. 2) A.C. Kalischer, Beethoven's Letters: a Critical Edition with Explanatory Notes, Vol. 1, trans. J.S. Shedlock, London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1909.)