The last adventure I want to share was for my day trip to a mountain town 60 miles SE of Dubai called Hatta. It was 2 hour trip each way on the public bus for about $3 roundtrip. Compare that with my 15 minute cab rides into the city for $10. The buses are segregated with the first few rows reserved for women. Men will sit in them if they are avail, but are required to move for any women that ride. A quick segway - there are rumors the new lightrail system will have cars designated for each sex.
Leaving the city the landscape changes to sand dunes, then red sand dunes, then scrubby bushes and finally high-desert mountains which reminded me a lot of Arizona, but no cacti. There is a Heritage Village in Hatta which was built using traditional methods. It was interesting wandering around the small compound and seeing the traditional ways of life for these people.
In Dubai, English is the official language for business and almost everyone speaks it at least marginally making it is easy to get around. Apparently that is only in the city and not the rest of the country. I went into the town for lunch and stopped at a small cafe where I managed to get a type of chicken burger (it was on the sign) which was quite good. Some young boys came into the shop and got some food and it was pretty obvious they were very curious about me, but I didn't try and talk to them. When I left the shop I walked through the town back down to the bus stop. The local boys school must have just released for the day and there were boys of all ages in the streets heading home. Many of them waved at me and all of the stared. While I don't think tourists are unknown in Hatta, I think a lot of it was because I was a female by myself. And maybe the hot pants I was wearing (just kidding!! I purposely dressed very conservatively that day and was glad I had done so).
More so than any other place, the experience in Hatta really felt I was in the Mid-East and it was exciting and exhilarating! Oh, and I even got to cross off another country from my list because the road cut through a part of Oman.
Final thoughts? I am really, really glad I went. I will probably never travel again to this area of the world and it was an eye-opening experience. Dubai itself is slightly culturally underwhelming, but I made sure to speak with some locals and get out of the city which helped my understanding immensely and would still recommend the trip to anyone else with the money and desire. Assalaamu 'Alaikum.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Oregon deer = Dubai camel
One day I ventured to the Jumeirah mosque. A few days each week visitors are allowed inside and an overview of Islam is given by some local volunteers. The outside was beautiful. Inside was primarily 1 main room and fairly simple. The ensuing discussion about Islam was fascinating. I don't know much about it and this was a chance to learn the how and why of some of the basic tenets, such as the washing routine before prayer, some of the customs and basics of the religion. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
On another day I found myself heading out on a "desert safari'. I was curious about the surrounding countryside and somewhat reluctantly joined a tour. Honestly, after only a couple of days I found myself lacking in things to do. The city was still mainly mud and palm huts up until the 1950's. It wasn't until oil was discovered in the area that it started to grow. It has grown from 50k to 2+ million people in the last 20 years and the population is expected to double in the next few years. The entire city is under construction, or at least feels that way. I thought Beijing was bad, but this place probably has just as much in a many construction projects in a more compact area. What I am trying to get at is there was nothing here until a few years ago; the old city took me a half day's exploration and I am neither a shopper nor interested in going skiing in the underground resort or frolicking at a water park by myself. So options became limited.
Anyhoo, it ended up being as cheesy as I expected, but worthwhile. We were driven out into the desert and up and down the sand dunes in 4x4 vehicles. Then took a break to test our sand skiing skills. We hopped in the cars for a bit more dune bashing before another break to see a camel farm before heading to a "Bedouin camp" for dinner. We were served a mediocre buffet, had the chance to use a shisha (water pipe also called a hookah), were entertained by a belly dancer, dressed up in the traditional white and black robes and had henna body painting available. As I said: cheesy, but it was great seeing the surrounding countryside and the desert was utterly breathtaking.
I went to As an example of Dubai's policy of catering to foreigners (Dubai is the most liberal of the UAE countries), hotels are allowed to serve liquor. Perhaps a calculated consequence, due to the hot climate virtually all malls are attached to hotels and therefore restaurants in the malls can also get liquor licenses. Whether or not one imbibes it gives the excuse for some cool venues such as a bar on the 51st floor of one of the hotels where I watched the sunset and then the city lights turn on. It was along the main drag which is lined with skyscrapers.
For our last night I coaxed Jason to go on a dinner cruise. We went on an old refurbished dhow boat and had a great dinner while listening to a girl sing 70s and 80s pop and disco songs. The boat traveled up and down the Creek and it was quite beautiful with all the buildings lit up and reflecting off the water. At I got Jason out to see a bit of the city while he was there!
Here are the pics. Camels in the desert in UAE are about like seeing deer in the forest in Oregon.
On another day I found myself heading out on a "desert safari'. I was curious about the surrounding countryside and somewhat reluctantly joined a tour. Honestly, after only a couple of days I found myself lacking in things to do. The city was still mainly mud and palm huts up until the 1950's. It wasn't until oil was discovered in the area that it started to grow. It has grown from 50k to 2+ million people in the last 20 years and the population is expected to double in the next few years. The entire city is under construction, or at least feels that way. I thought Beijing was bad, but this place probably has just as much in a many construction projects in a more compact area. What I am trying to get at is there was nothing here until a few years ago; the old city took me a half day's exploration and I am neither a shopper nor interested in going skiing in the underground resort or frolicking at a water park by myself. So options became limited.
Anyhoo, it ended up being as cheesy as I expected, but worthwhile. We were driven out into the desert and up and down the sand dunes in 4x4 vehicles. Then took a break to test our sand skiing skills. We hopped in the cars for a bit more dune bashing before another break to see a camel farm before heading to a "Bedouin camp" for dinner. We were served a mediocre buffet, had the chance to use a shisha (water pipe also called a hookah), were entertained by a belly dancer, dressed up in the traditional white and black robes and had henna body painting available. As I said: cheesy, but it was great seeing the surrounding countryside and the desert was utterly breathtaking.
I went to As an example of Dubai's policy of catering to foreigners (Dubai is the most liberal of the UAE countries), hotels are allowed to serve liquor. Perhaps a calculated consequence, due to the hot climate virtually all malls are attached to hotels and therefore restaurants in the malls can also get liquor licenses. Whether or not one imbibes it gives the excuse for some cool venues such as a bar on the 51st floor of one of the hotels where I watched the sunset and then the city lights turn on. It was along the main drag which is lined with skyscrapers.
For our last night I coaxed Jason to go on a dinner cruise. We went on an old refurbished dhow boat and had a great dinner while listening to a girl sing 70s and 80s pop and disco songs. The boat traveled up and down the Creek and it was quite beautiful with all the buildings lit up and reflecting off the water. At I got Jason out to see a bit of the city while he was there!
Here are the pics. Camels in the desert in UAE are about like seeing deer in the forest in Oregon.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Bur Dubai and Deira
The hotel is super nice. Huge bathroom with marble everywhere, the wall between the bathtub and room is a window with automatic blinds. Flat panel TV, soft sheets, bathrobes and slippers! All for the low low price of $450 a night. Good thing Intel is paying! We will come to learn this is standard for Dubai; it is very much a Vegas-cum-Disney-esque city. Shopping is the top tourist draw, it's clean, sophisticated, chic, and over the top but sanitized: no swearing, gambling, PDA, alcohol, and lots of theme parks and adventure excursions.
I went into the old city area called Deira for my first day. The streets in the Spice and Gold Souks are a warren of small shops lining the twisting alleys. At first I was reluctant to take photos after reading that Muslims should be asked permission first. But I did manage to sneak a few and throughout the week became bolder. The city was founded at the mouth of the Creek which flows into the Arabian Gulf (you don't want to be caught saying Persian Gulf around here). Most of the old rebuilt and revitalized buildings are on the east side of the Creek. I then took an abra, which is a low boat built to ferry the local workers, across to the Bur Dubai side. Here was the Textile Souk, several mosques, an old fort and the old palace rebuilt into museums. The palace museum was fantastic. Not only did I get a glimpse of the architecture and lifestyle, but the museum had lots of old photos and information on the history and culture of the area.
There were 3 noteworthy mosques right in a row along the same street. One Iranian with cool onion-domes on the roof, an Iranian completely tiled in beautiful colors and patterns, and the main Grand Mosque. The old fort museum also had some interesting displays, but I was entranced by the calls of the muezzin for the midday prayer and whizzed through the exhibits to get back out to witness the people coming and going from the mosques. Listening to the various adhans playing from loudspeakers from the surrounding mosques, in the 95 degree humid heat, in a city surrounded by people in traditional dress and signs in Arabic everywhere, was very surreal. Very amazing.
Pictures of my first day are here.
I went into the old city area called Deira for my first day. The streets in the Spice and Gold Souks are a warren of small shops lining the twisting alleys. At first I was reluctant to take photos after reading that Muslims should be asked permission first. But I did manage to sneak a few and throughout the week became bolder. The city was founded at the mouth of the Creek which flows into the Arabian Gulf (you don't want to be caught saying Persian Gulf around here). Most of the old rebuilt and revitalized buildings are on the east side of the Creek. I then took an abra, which is a low boat built to ferry the local workers, across to the Bur Dubai side. Here was the Textile Souk, several mosques, an old fort and the old palace rebuilt into museums. The palace museum was fantastic. Not only did I get a glimpse of the architecture and lifestyle, but the museum had lots of old photos and information on the history and culture of the area.
There were 3 noteworthy mosques right in a row along the same street. One Iranian with cool onion-domes on the roof, an Iranian completely tiled in beautiful colors and patterns, and the main Grand Mosque. The old fort museum also had some interesting displays, but I was entranced by the calls of the muezzin for the midday prayer and whizzed through the exhibits to get back out to witness the people coming and going from the mosques. Listening to the various adhans playing from loudspeakers from the surrounding mosques, in the 95 degree humid heat, in a city surrounded by people in traditional dress and signs in Arabic everywhere, was very surreal. Very amazing.
Pictures of my first day are here.
Monday, October 27, 2008
The shock of Abaya-land
Jason has the privelege (though he certainly doesn't think of it that way) of going to Dubai for a conference. Of course, I am not going to pass up this opportunity and will accompany him for the week's excursion.
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While being ferried from the plane to the terminal by bus, we passed a man wearing the traditional Gulf clothing which is a long white robe called a dishdasha (the long black robe worn by a woman is the abaya). That, coupled with 5 Indian ladies vying to get into the bathroom stalla after I emerged (they should try holding a "stand in line day" like in China), made me realize I was definitely no longer in Kansas. During my other travels in Asia I felt a complete foreigner - no way to blend in! - but here is a little different. I definitely look like a foreigner, but with the current political situation I feel very conspicuous and am very sensitive to my appearance and behavior. I certainly don't want to offend anyone here!
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While being ferried from the plane to the terminal by bus, we passed a man wearing the traditional Gulf clothing which is a long white robe called a dishdasha (the long black robe worn by a woman is the abaya). That, coupled with 5 Indian ladies vying to get into the bathroom stalla after I emerged (they should try holding a "stand in line day" like in China), made me realize I was definitely no longer in Kansas. During my other travels in Asia I felt a complete foreigner - no way to blend in! - but here is a little different. I definitely look like a foreigner, but with the current political situation I feel very conspicuous and am very sensitive to my appearance and behavior. I certainly don't want to offend anyone here!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The end of the Trek
Kiev was really awesome. In the inner core of the city where we stuck to, things are very promising. We agreed that the look of the buildings and feeling of the atmosphere was very similar to Warsaw. If any of you have a serious entreprenurial spirit, you should learn Ukrainian because the time is ripe there and it is the Land of Opportunity. Kiev has a long way to go before the entire populace has reached to levels of more than just survival mode and an expat from Chicago told us that the outskirts of the city are still very slummish, but they are definitely on their way up and it was very heartening.
After our horrible introduction yesterday to the Ukraine (the train and not being able to buy tickets, etc) we didn't expect too much of Kiev. Our hostess at the hostel wrote down on paper our request for train tickets and told us a better place to buy them and we managed to get our return tickets to Warsaw as planned. Whew! That was a huge load off my mind and we couldn't have done it without her writing it down for us. We quickly discovered this was going to be the norm. Luckily I had studied the cyrilic alphabet and a few words on the train ride and it came in really handy becuase very very few people spoke english. Not that people were impolite, but if we couldn't speak Ukrainian or Russian, they just didn't bother to try to communicate with us.
The two days that we were there we wandered all over the city and looked at a lot of cool sites. At the Ukrainian Orthodox church headquarters they have a cave system of thousands of bodies and we visited a piece of it housing numerous saints. It was kinda creepy and I also felt a twinge of guilt at gawking at this spectacle that was such a huge religious experience for them (people make pilgrimages to this place).
Like any mass transit system anywhere, after you take it once, you should kinda have the hang of it and it isn't so bad. We took the subway numerous times and it was cheap and easy (as long as you have a rudimentary grasp of cyrilic). As you can see from my pictures, Kiev is built up on a hill and in the flood plains surrounding the Dnepr river. When they built the subway, instead of attempting to navigate the altitude change, they built the subway pretty much at the flood plain level for the entire city. When we were in the upper city, we had to take 2 long escalator rides down to the platforms; when I say long, I mean long. They were easily about 10 stories each and even though they moved faster than normal escalators in the mall, the ride was 1minute 50 seconds on each. Crazy.
We had a bit of a scare the first day because Jason couldn't pull money out with either his credit card or bank card. His bank card had been frozen and he got that fixed easily, and we think he had hit his 24hr limit for the credit card (we had to pull out a bunch of money to pay the hostel the first night). Once we got it taken care of we bought tickets to the Ukrainian National Opera House. I had really hoped to see the ballet, but the only show playing before we left was the opera Faust. The opera house was beautiful, we had fantastic seats for about $10 each, and the show was great (and they even had some ballet in the last act!).
On the last day we happened upon a demonstration by what we believe was the foreign relations department building. I have since read up on it and it was an anti-NATO protest. I know that tensions between Russia and Georgia are escalating but hadn't paid attention to why. Reading about this I now understand that Russia is - of course - against these countries joining NATO and the people demonstrating were probably Russians living in Kiev. I would suggest this news blog for a summary of the situation: go to the June 20th entry http://blog.kievukraine.info/2008_06_01_archive.html
The trip back to Warsaw ended up much better. There was no first class train, but we had upgraded from the Ukrainian second class to the Polish second class car and it was night and day difference. We had only 3 beds but no 3rd occupant which was nice. The compartment was just much nicer in general, including our own sink. A guy in our car - some train official though not sure in what capacity - spoke German and helped get us settled. He asked us to carry some vodka and cigarettes for him and we did. What the heck. At the border they never even asked us if we had anything to declare so it wasn't a big deal at all. And I have to mention the border stop this time was at about 10pm so it we were actually able to get a night's sleep. Not too shabby!!
So we picked up the car in Warsaw, which we had left at the hostel, and headed to Frankfurt Oder in Germany. It was a really long day - there was tons of road construction and at one place we were backed up for miles due to an accident in the middle of the one-lane construction. Crap! We thought for awhile we may never get out of Poland! Well we did, and the next day we drove down to Munich. We had an extra day to get the car washed (it was embarassingly dirty) and our luggage figured out (we bought a box to check for some of the extra stuff we had picked up). I had hoped to finish up the blog but we didn't have internet access at the place. We flew to Frankfurt and ran into Drew who ended up sitting right in front of us on the flight home. And one last really long flight and we were back in Portland! And it was cloudy! Go figure.....
After our horrible introduction yesterday to the Ukraine (the train and not being able to buy tickets, etc) we didn't expect too much of Kiev. Our hostess at the hostel wrote down on paper our request for train tickets and told us a better place to buy them and we managed to get our return tickets to Warsaw as planned. Whew! That was a huge load off my mind and we couldn't have done it without her writing it down for us. We quickly discovered this was going to be the norm. Luckily I had studied the cyrilic alphabet and a few words on the train ride and it came in really handy becuase very very few people spoke english. Not that people were impolite, but if we couldn't speak Ukrainian or Russian, they just didn't bother to try to communicate with us.
The two days that we were there we wandered all over the city and looked at a lot of cool sites. At the Ukrainian Orthodox church headquarters they have a cave system of thousands of bodies and we visited a piece of it housing numerous saints. It was kinda creepy and I also felt a twinge of guilt at gawking at this spectacle that was such a huge religious experience for them (people make pilgrimages to this place).
Like any mass transit system anywhere, after you take it once, you should kinda have the hang of it and it isn't so bad. We took the subway numerous times and it was cheap and easy (as long as you have a rudimentary grasp of cyrilic). As you can see from my pictures, Kiev is built up on a hill and in the flood plains surrounding the Dnepr river. When they built the subway, instead of attempting to navigate the altitude change, they built the subway pretty much at the flood plain level for the entire city. When we were in the upper city, we had to take 2 long escalator rides down to the platforms; when I say long, I mean long. They were easily about 10 stories each and even though they moved faster than normal escalators in the mall, the ride was 1minute 50 seconds on each. Crazy.
We had a bit of a scare the first day because Jason couldn't pull money out with either his credit card or bank card. His bank card had been frozen and he got that fixed easily, and we think he had hit his 24hr limit for the credit card (we had to pull out a bunch of money to pay the hostel the first night). Once we got it taken care of we bought tickets to the Ukrainian National Opera House. I had really hoped to see the ballet, but the only show playing before we left was the opera Faust. The opera house was beautiful, we had fantastic seats for about $10 each, and the show was great (and they even had some ballet in the last act!).
On the last day we happened upon a demonstration by what we believe was the foreign relations department building. I have since read up on it and it was an anti-NATO protest. I know that tensions between Russia and Georgia are escalating but hadn't paid attention to why. Reading about this I now understand that Russia is - of course - against these countries joining NATO and the people demonstrating were probably Russians living in Kiev. I would suggest this news blog for a summary of the situation: go to the June 20th entry http://blog.kievukraine.info/2008_06_01_archive.html
The trip back to Warsaw ended up much better. There was no first class train, but we had upgraded from the Ukrainian second class to the Polish second class car and it was night and day difference. We had only 3 beds but no 3rd occupant which was nice. The compartment was just much nicer in general, including our own sink. A guy in our car - some train official though not sure in what capacity - spoke German and helped get us settled. He asked us to carry some vodka and cigarettes for him and we did. What the heck. At the border they never even asked us if we had anything to declare so it wasn't a big deal at all. And I have to mention the border stop this time was at about 10pm so it we were actually able to get a night's sleep. Not too shabby!!
So we picked up the car in Warsaw, which we had left at the hostel, and headed to Frankfurt Oder in Germany. It was a really long day - there was tons of road construction and at one place we were backed up for miles due to an accident in the middle of the one-lane construction. Crap! We thought for awhile we may never get out of Poland! Well we did, and the next day we drove down to Munich. We had an extra day to get the car washed (it was embarassingly dirty) and our luggage figured out (we bought a box to check for some of the extra stuff we had picked up). I had hoped to finish up the blog but we didn't have internet access at the place. We flew to Frankfurt and ran into Drew who ended up sitting right in front of us on the flight home. And one last really long flight and we were back in Portland! And it was cloudy! Go figure.....
Friday, June 20, 2008
a quick note
I don’t have time to write much, but I did add a lot more pictures. I culled the best from Jason’s stash for all the places since Venice – when my camera was stolen – and uploaded for your pleasure. I figure once I get home I probably won’t get around to it so I better do it now. We are currently in Munich and will be turning the car in tomorrow and then flying out the day after. Yippee!! My own bed!!! I will add a blog entry about Kiev later. Tschuss!! J
Sunday, June 15, 2008
planes, TRAINS, automobiles
Oh geez, the train ride to Kiev deserves it's own post for sure, but I guess I better quickly sketch Warsaw. There literally wasn't much to Warsaw to see. The city was flattened by Hitler in response to the "Warsaw Uprising" at the end of the Nazi occupation and they did a very thorough job. We went to a museum that explained all about the rising and it was really interesting. There was a guy that left over a 1000 pictures of everyday life during the occupation and underground journalism was kept alive with a surprising amount of video footage remaining. Very informative and powerful exhibit, very well put together.
Poland played Austria in the Euro Cup so we went to a bar recommended by the hotel to watch it. It was full of young people and they projected the game on a nice screen in a *gasp* non-smoking room. It was fun to watch with all those Polish.
Ok, the train ride. We had booked berths in a 4 person cabin for the overnight train to Kiev. The two other ladies were Ukrainian so we were unable to really communicate with them. I had packed some crackers and water and had read there was a snack car for any other items we may want, but after walking through the sleeper cars we came to a dead end! No restaurant car and therefore there was also no place to sit and hang out except on our bunks. We took the top two bunks and pretty much everyone went to bed after the first stops (the train left at 9:30pm). Thank goodness for earplugs! The motion of the train was actually pretty soothing, but it was a very clackity, loud affair. At the border, the Polish guards checked the Ukrainian passengers for duty items - this is at 2am, and took a long time. Then a little while later we were stopped again and the Ukrainian border patrol came through. First they checked the Ukrainians, then they checked everyone else. Then they took they moved the train and jacked it up to change the wheels because the track width is different in the Ukraine. After that, the border guards came through and returned our passports (boy, were we nervous with our passports being confiscated!) and finally we were on our way again. We remained on the train for the entire process which took about 2-2.5 hours. And this is standard because we arrived on time. The next day in daylight my suspicions were confirmed about the state of the bathrooms: the toilets emptied right onto the track which explained why they had locked the bathrooms while they were changing the wheels. :-) There was an official person in each train car and they sold a few things to eat and drink and there was hot water available, but of course we were not prepared for any of this and the people only spoke Ukrainian so we had to just make do with what we had. We arrived in Kiev the next day at local time 2:30pm.
After wolfing down some food, we tried to buy some tickets to return to Warsaw. We stood in several lines and couldn't find anyone to speak english or understand that we wanted to get tickets. It was miserable. We finally gave up figuring the hostel could help us and went to take the subway. We spent over 30 minutes trying to find the damn subway! There is a major lack of signage in Kiev and what they do have is all in Cyrillic - we were screwed!!! And we were so tired it was unbelievably frustrating. Finally, we managed to find it and get to the hostel. The folks wrote down some info for us so we could show it to the ticketing people the next day. It began raining absolute buckets, as in I haven't seen it rain this hard since the monsoons in Phoenix. We went to get dinner and were both soaked in less than 2 blocks even trying to run from one cover to the next. With the weather and being exhausted from the train ride and subway ordeal, we then went to bed. There was a free Paul McCartney concert that night which was supposed to be a huge big deal but I was in no shape to partake.
I have to get moving so that is enough for now. Off to explore Kiev!!!
Poland played Austria in the Euro Cup so we went to a bar recommended by the hotel to watch it. It was full of young people and they projected the game on a nice screen in a *gasp* non-smoking room. It was fun to watch with all those Polish.
Ok, the train ride. We had booked berths in a 4 person cabin for the overnight train to Kiev. The two other ladies were Ukrainian so we were unable to really communicate with them. I had packed some crackers and water and had read there was a snack car for any other items we may want, but after walking through the sleeper cars we came to a dead end! No restaurant car and therefore there was also no place to sit and hang out except on our bunks. We took the top two bunks and pretty much everyone went to bed after the first stops (the train left at 9:30pm). Thank goodness for earplugs! The motion of the train was actually pretty soothing, but it was a very clackity, loud affair. At the border, the Polish guards checked the Ukrainian passengers for duty items - this is at 2am, and took a long time. Then a little while later we were stopped again and the Ukrainian border patrol came through. First they checked the Ukrainians, then they checked everyone else. Then they took they moved the train and jacked it up to change the wheels because the track width is different in the Ukraine. After that, the border guards came through and returned our passports (boy, were we nervous with our passports being confiscated!) and finally we were on our way again. We remained on the train for the entire process which took about 2-2.5 hours. And this is standard because we arrived on time. The next day in daylight my suspicions were confirmed about the state of the bathrooms: the toilets emptied right onto the track which explained why they had locked the bathrooms while they were changing the wheels. :-) There was an official person in each train car and they sold a few things to eat and drink and there was hot water available, but of course we were not prepared for any of this and the people only spoke Ukrainian so we had to just make do with what we had. We arrived in Kiev the next day at local time 2:30pm.
After wolfing down some food, we tried to buy some tickets to return to Warsaw. We stood in several lines and couldn't find anyone to speak english or understand that we wanted to get tickets. It was miserable. We finally gave up figuring the hostel could help us and went to take the subway. We spent over 30 minutes trying to find the damn subway! There is a major lack of signage in Kiev and what they do have is all in Cyrillic - we were screwed!!! And we were so tired it was unbelievably frustrating. Finally, we managed to find it and get to the hostel. The folks wrote down some info for us so we could show it to the ticketing people the next day. It began raining absolute buckets, as in I haven't seen it rain this hard since the monsoons in Phoenix. We went to get dinner and were both soaked in less than 2 blocks even trying to run from one cover to the next. With the weather and being exhausted from the train ride and subway ordeal, we then went to bed. There was a free Paul McCartney concert that night which was supposed to be a huge big deal but I was in no shape to partake.
I have to get moving so that is enough for now. Off to explore Kiev!!!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Rounding the Turn
Our last day in paradise couldn't be without a little excitement or life just wouldn't be interesting, right? I was laying out in the yard reading and was stung in my tricep by a wasp. My upper arm is still pretty swollen, but I seem to be alive just fine. After I was stung, Jason anxiously checked progress of the swelling every so often (he is so allergic to stings we would have needed to find a hospital if it had been him). After awhile my tongue swelled up a bit too, so we jumped in the car to find a pharmacy to see if we could at least get some antihistamine. Well, apparently no one in Poland needs them cuz they don't have them here. But, the swelling wasn't too bad so we figured I was in the clear even without it. We sure would have felt better though if we had found some.
Back in civilization and feeling the looming weight of work coming up. It is dawning on me that I am supposed to be sitting at my desk and working away again in only 2 weeks. While I wouldn't mind getting home soon, that sure doesn't mean I relish going back to work.
We arrived today in Warsaw, but it is only a stop for the night and then tomorrow we take an overnight train to Kiev. After Kiev we race back to Munich and fly home. So close! Tonight is another soccer match for Poland in the Euro Cup so we will go out to find a place to watch it.
Back in civilization and feeling the looming weight of work coming up. It is dawning on me that I am supposed to be sitting at my desk and working away again in only 2 weeks. While I wouldn't mind getting home soon, that sure doesn't mean I relish going back to work.
We arrived today in Warsaw, but it is only a stop for the night and then tomorrow we take an overnight train to Kiev. After Kiev we race back to Munich and fly home. So close! Tonight is another soccer match for Poland in the Euro Cup so we will go out to find a place to watch it.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Sometimes you can't beat doing nothing
Currently we are sitting around doing pretty much nothing in Wilkasy, Poland. It is in the northeast, in an area that could be considered a 1000-lake-region. We came here for some respite, to sit around and recuperate after all the going going going that we have been doing. We are here for 6 nights in a little cabin and it has been awesome. The weather has been fantastic (probably around 85 everyday) and it is very relaxing. My German has also really come in handy here since this area is becoming increasingly popular with German summer tourists. Yeah for me! Yesterday we rented a sailboat for the day and it took us most of the day to tootle around the big lake we are next to. It was a ton of fun and Jason was in his element. The only downside is that his allergies are pretty bad here. On Sunday night we went to a bar to watch the Poland/Germany EuroCup soccer game, but had to leave because his eyes were so bad. Poor guy.
By the way, the roads here in Poland pretty much suck. Even Czech Republic was tons nicer! But to be fair, almost every road is also under construction so I think they are trying (not sure how they are paying for all of that ?).
We leave the day after tomorrow to go to Warsaw. Bummer, it is great just laying around in the sun and reading and drinking our wine that we brought from Italy. But I am really looking forward to going to Kiev next.
By the way, the roads here in Poland pretty much suck. Even Czech Republic was tons nicer! But to be fair, almost every road is also under construction so I think they are trying (not sure how they are paying for all of that ?).
We leave the day after tomorrow to go to Warsaw. Bummer, it is great just laying around in the sun and reading and drinking our wine that we brought from Italy. But I am really looking forward to going to Kiev next.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Krakow
We went to a large system of salt mines and took a tour. It was really cool. The mines are at least 700 years old and extend over 300 km. During their spare time, the miners would carve things from the salt - there are gnomes, lots of religious figures, modern looking scultpures, and even several entire chapels! The main chapel was carved by a group of guys over a 4 year period and was incredible. The cristals in the chandeliers were even made from salt, the floor carved to look like tiles, and 3-D bas relief of various religious themes carved into the walls. Absolutely incredible. Apparently they actively use the space for mass on Sundays and they hold weddings and concerts in there sometimes. We did the really tourist thing and ate in the cafeteria they have cuz Jason was so giddy with excitement at the prospect of eating 300ft below ground.
That night we hooked up with Drew and Kevin and went out for some drinks and dancing. We found a place with a DJ and a small crowd (but what do you expect on a Tuesday?) and had a great time. Too good. We both were a bit hungover yesterday and didn't get out to see the city as we had planned. But honestly, at this point what's another castle?
Today we are off to Auschwitz concentration camp and then a stopover in a place called Lodz. Tomorrow we head up to the Mazury Lakes region in the NE of Poland for a 6 day decompression. Not sure about the internet access there and all, so you may not hear from me for awhile.
Oh, and I almost forgot. As we were about to leave Czech, Jason was pulled over! He was totally speeding and we didn't have the toll sticker, but somehow he managed to talk his way out of it. He shouldn't have been able to and I for sure thought we were going to be fined (they usually demand payment on the spot) and of course we had just topped off the tank to get rid of our Czech crowns. But he did it - playing the dumb tourist. Amazing!
Last but not least, I added a link to Jason's web album of pics. I am too lazy to go through and create my own album of his pictures, so you have to put up with looking at his. He only does a few pictures from each place, but at least it is something. Enjoy!
That night we hooked up with Drew and Kevin and went out for some drinks and dancing. We found a place with a DJ and a small crowd (but what do you expect on a Tuesday?) and had a great time. Too good. We both were a bit hungover yesterday and didn't get out to see the city as we had planned. But honestly, at this point what's another castle?
Today we are off to Auschwitz concentration camp and then a stopover in a place called Lodz. Tomorrow we head up to the Mazury Lakes region in the NE of Poland for a 6 day decompression. Not sure about the internet access there and all, so you may not hear from me for awhile.
Oh, and I almost forgot. As we were about to leave Czech, Jason was pulled over! He was totally speeding and we didn't have the toll sticker, but somehow he managed to talk his way out of it. He shouldn't have been able to and I for sure thought we were going to be fined (they usually demand payment on the spot) and of course we had just topped off the tank to get rid of our Czech crowns. But he did it - playing the dumb tourist. Amazing!
Last but not least, I added a link to Jason's web album of pics. I am too lazy to go through and create my own album of his pictures, so you have to put up with looking at his. He only does a few pictures from each place, but at least it is something. Enjoy!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Hello Poland!
Salzburg was pretty cool and one of my favorite places so far. After the ice cave, the next day we wandered the town and toured through the castle. It is pretty much an intact fortress and we discussed the amazing differences between the English castles - which were built explicitly with defense in mind and seemed very dark, dank, nasty places to live - and these central European castles that are fortified against attack, but still seem to be bright and comfortable to live in. The refinement of the continental Europeans make the English seem barbaric (imagine that while conditions in Braveheart were going on, composers were vying for court positions in Vienna).
Next was on to Prague. On the way, we stopped for lunch at a little town for our first meal in the Czech Republic, but didn't stay any longer than that becuase we had a long drive ahead. Next we stopped to check out the "Original Budweiser" Budvar Brewery. It seemed to be just as big an operation as the Miller plant we toured in Wisconsin.
After Austria, Prague at first came across as very communist-era run down. But upon closer inspection we decided that Prague was a very nice city with some fantastic detail in the architecture, but just dirty. The buildings were dirty, the streets dirty, the people not as nicely dressed. There seemed to be a lack of pride. During the first day while touring the sites, we kept seeing a lot of Scots in kilts. When we reached the city center there were a hundred or so sitting around the main fountain. We casually walked by listening for someone with a lighter accent that we would be able to understand and then asked what was going on. Turns out, Czech Republic was hosting Scotland in a soccer game that night. Well, that sealed the deal for Jason and we spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out how to get tickets. The stadium had about the same number of seats as PGE Park, but centered around the entire field like a normal stadium. Our cheap seats (~$10) ended up being in the 2nd row midfield. We looked right out over the field, but it was partially blocked by the fence and I guess that is why it was considered a bad seat. There were tons of Scots and they cheered and chanted the entire game. The Czechs were not nearly as organized, but I also think there were a lot of people mixed in like us (I heard lots of English speakers). The Czechs ended up winning 3-1 and it was a really good game - lots of fun!! We headed back to the hostel and I dragged Jason into a local pub nearby our place. Definitely a hangout for only the locals, but every beer we have tried has been fantastic and this place was no exception. Beer is also cheap - the local brews are about $1-1.50 for a half liter. Beat that!
We finally managed to hook up with Kevin and Drew the 2nd night, they had been sick as dogs for the last few days with some virus. So we took it easy and walked around a bit and had a couple of drinks and called it a night.
From Prague we have made our way to Poland (bye bye navigation system!) and are in Krakow for a few days. Time to get ready for the day - we are going to some salt mines today. Later!
Next was on to Prague. On the way, we stopped for lunch at a little town for our first meal in the Czech Republic, but didn't stay any longer than that becuase we had a long drive ahead. Next we stopped to check out the "Original Budweiser" Budvar Brewery. It seemed to be just as big an operation as the Miller plant we toured in Wisconsin.
After Austria, Prague at first came across as very communist-era run down. But upon closer inspection we decided that Prague was a very nice city with some fantastic detail in the architecture, but just dirty. The buildings were dirty, the streets dirty, the people not as nicely dressed. There seemed to be a lack of pride. During the first day while touring the sites, we kept seeing a lot of Scots in kilts. When we reached the city center there were a hundred or so sitting around the main fountain. We casually walked by listening for someone with a lighter accent that we would be able to understand and then asked what was going on. Turns out, Czech Republic was hosting Scotland in a soccer game that night. Well, that sealed the deal for Jason and we spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out how to get tickets. The stadium had about the same number of seats as PGE Park, but centered around the entire field like a normal stadium. Our cheap seats (~$10) ended up being in the 2nd row midfield. We looked right out over the field, but it was partially blocked by the fence and I guess that is why it was considered a bad seat. There were tons of Scots and they cheered and chanted the entire game. The Czechs were not nearly as organized, but I also think there were a lot of people mixed in like us (I heard lots of English speakers). The Czechs ended up winning 3-1 and it was a really good game - lots of fun!! We headed back to the hostel and I dragged Jason into a local pub nearby our place. Definitely a hangout for only the locals, but every beer we have tried has been fantastic and this place was no exception. Beer is also cheap - the local brews are about $1-1.50 for a half liter. Beat that!
We finally managed to hook up with Kevin and Drew the 2nd night, they had been sick as dogs for the last few days with some virus. So we took it easy and walked around a bit and had a couple of drinks and called it a night.
From Prague we have made our way to Poland (bye bye navigation system!) and are in Krakow for a few days. Time to get ready for the day - we are going to some salt mines today. Later!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Pictures are updated
I finished uploading the last of the Italy pictures and I finally put captions on everything. I hope you enjoy!
I will post a link to Jason's pictures soon for the places after Italy, since I no longer have my camera.
I will post a link to Jason's pictures soon for the places after Italy, since I no longer have my camera.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Missed a spot!
Oh my gosh, it is the 29th and I am finally posting my blog! :-( sorry. Anyhoo, we drove up to Prague today, stopping for lunch at a nice small town and then stopping for a beer at the 'Original Budweiser' brewery. The Czech Republic is not nearly as developed as Austria, but I am also happy to see that the countryside was not ravaged as I was expecting from the commies. The computer battery is running out, so enjoy the update for the last couple of weeks!
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Internet access was not easily accessible in Italy and therefore here I am now in Vienna with another entry. Let’s see if I can sum up Italy without leaving anything out, but also without becoming too longwinded.
It was a bit hair-raising being thrown into the organized chaos of the Italian road system and it was difficult finding the B&B, but eventually we were successful and managed to locate Drew as well. Genoa is worth skipping. It was merely a blue-collar port city and fairly dirty, nothing too exciting in terms of architecture (now that I went through more Italian cities) or sights. The best part was when we jumped on the ferry – part of the public transportation system – and traveled along the coast to the far western part of the city which ended up to be a very pleasant afternoon excursion.
Next was on to Cinque Terra. It is a string of 5 cities that are linked only by train or by foot trails. They are each unique with their own character and are quite interesting. The Italian Riveria (as the area likes to refer to itself) was extremely breathtaking. We had to park the car up on a hill on the side of the road in the first city (I don’t know how they handle the hordes of tourists, considering we were there during mid-week and before high season) and take the train in. After getting off the train we wandered around and found locals to rent rooms from. The city we stayed in was very small, right on the water, lots of tourists and restaurants, but quaint and laid-back. The next day we hiked to one of the neighboring towns and it was very beautiful, but quite a trek! The town was perched up on the hill and definitely an agricultural town, as opposed to where we were staying which was definitely a fishing village. We had a fantastic [romantic] lunch drinking local wine and eating local cheeses. During the afternoon we took the train to the last of the towns which was a pretty big (comparatively, probably ~1000 residents) and total beach resort. One thing we have over Italian beaches? Sand. The beaches there don’t have sand so much as very small rocks. It really isn’t very pleasant to walk on.
Our original plan was to stay one night, but it was a good thing we stayed 2 – it was a much needed break to lay around a bit and casually explore Cinque Terra.
Next we were off to Tuscany, in the area around Siena. We stayed at a working farm – well, really more a working estate – for a few days. The big thing in Tuscany (and Italy) now are these farm houses that are being opened up as B&Bs to travelers and it’s a great way to get to know the people and countryside better. Our hosts were an older couple, could speak English pretty well, and were very welcoming. He took us on a tour of the property and then arranged for us to do a cooking class in the evening. (It was one of the best meals we had in Italy). The next day we spent touring around the area and going to wineries.
Next, the boys were off to Rome for a few days and I spent more time in Tuscany. I first tried to find some old subterranean tombs (5-2 BC! So old!), but they were only available by prior arrangement with a guide from the University. So I took off to Bologna. Bologna is a small city, not very touristy, with a large population of students (the first university was established here). I need to mention here that after we hit Italy the navigation system got a bit flaky on us and didn’t work more often than it did. Jason has since figured out that the DVD copy he made wasn’t with the optimal settings; bummer, but it wasn’t going to work in the eastern countries anyway. So the 2nd night in Bologna I transferred to a smaller and cheaper hotel in the city and I must have spent an hour trying to drive to the dang place! Trying to navigate all those small streets, the majority of them oneway, while reading cruddy maps was no small feat! I finally managed, but not without our first car ding. I scraped up the back bumper a little while doing a 5-pt turn into the driveway for the hotel. L
Bologna itself was pretty cool. All the rich families built tall towers and vied for the tallest. The tallest surviving at about 500ft was open to walk up and it dwarfed in size everything in the city. They also had a huge cathedral that was magnificent, but never finished. I was in the cathedral with the Sunday evening service was about to start and so I stayed to see what it would be like to attend mass in latin. It was a little different. You could tell that everyone attending were visitors because none of us knew quite what was going on and whether to stand or not (there was no kneeling). But it was fascinating to get a glimpse of what it may have been like 1000 yrs ago attending mass. I had a restaurant recommendation from a local for good Bolognese food and found the place my last night. Utterly amazing!!! One of, if not the best meals I have ever had. The Bologna region is the birthplace of the following: balsamic, parma ham, parma-reggiano (sp?) cheese (Kraft coined “parmesan” when they were sued by Italy), chianti wine, and much more. Simply wonderful food!
I met up with the boys next in Verona. If you can’t make it there in the summer time for an opera or concert in their coliseum, then don’t bother. The coliseum was much smaller, but in much better condition than the one in Rome and I can imagine how beautiful it would be to hear an opera there with everyone holding their candles. There were a couple of rundown buildings that the city claimed were Romeo and Juliet’s homes, and even though we were a bit cynical, of course we visited them. But there wasn’t much else.
Last for Italy was a stop by Venice. Wow, there were a lot of tourists! Just hordes of them! And it was a weekday in May – not even high tourism season yet! We stayed outside the city because staying in Venice is horribly expensive, but I bet Venice is a halfway decent and probably romantic in the evenings when most of the people have left and it doesn’t feel so overcrowded and hectic. I guess I am glad to say I did it, but it was a little disappointing. To add to the mix, when we stopped for a cool glass of wine in the hot afternoon, my purse was stolen. Unfortunately I had just pulled out a bunch of cash, and they got my camera, but overall it could have been much worse (no passport, whew!). There was a couple sitting at an adjoining table and they somehow managed to slip my purse around the bench backs without disturbing my hat and signaling Jason. Poor guy, he felt horrible. I am just lucky that he is here to bum money off of or I would be in a huge world of hurt – I may even have had to go home cuz I don’t think the bank is going to send a credit card to some hotel address in Europe.
Ciao Italia!
In Vienna we dropped Kevin and Drew off to begin their tour. Jason and I took it easy, wandering around the clean and obviously wealthy city. We found a British bookstore where I replenished my book supply (one was in the stolen purse and the other was left on a train), had burgers at an Australian pub (we were both a bit tired of Italian food at that point and glad to have good beer again) and just kinda wandered. The 2nd night we went to the comedic opera Falstaff. It was entertaining and the opera house was very beautiful. I am also enjoying being able to speak the language again – it can be frustrating not being able to communicate well.
We are now in Salzburg, a city of about 100k east of Vienna. We went to an ice cave this morning and it was super cool. There is a 20 min hike, then you can choose to take a tram up (you betcha!) or take a trail by foot for another 90 minutes, then a final 20 minute walk to the cave mouth. The cave is almost 5000ft above sea level in the Alps and the views from up there were incredible. Today is a hot, hot day (~95) and there is no way we could have done the full hike, but inside the cave it is about 32 degrees and we were both blown away by the natural features created by the flowing ice. Really stunning. They don’t have permanent lights installed because of the heat that is generated, so the only light we had was by lanterns that we carried and the occasional flare used by the guide to highlight something important. We had a great time. I think we were also very glad to be out and seeing something other than cityscapes. It is for these kind of sidetrips that we bought the car and it was worth it.
I’m done. It has taken me 2 days to get this last post put together – sorry it took so long! My next project will be to update the pictures I have (luckily the morning before we went to Venice I downloaded all my pics) and add captions. Jason is also putting his pictures on the internet so I will add those links as he puts them together since I no longer have my own camera. Whew, I am typed out! I am sure I forgot a lot of stuff, but too bad.
**********************
Internet access was not easily accessible in Italy and therefore here I am now in Vienna with another entry. Let’s see if I can sum up Italy without leaving anything out, but also without becoming too longwinded.
It was a bit hair-raising being thrown into the organized chaos of the Italian road system and it was difficult finding the B&B, but eventually we were successful and managed to locate Drew as well. Genoa is worth skipping. It was merely a blue-collar port city and fairly dirty, nothing too exciting in terms of architecture (now that I went through more Italian cities) or sights. The best part was when we jumped on the ferry – part of the public transportation system – and traveled along the coast to the far western part of the city which ended up to be a very pleasant afternoon excursion.
Next was on to Cinque Terra. It is a string of 5 cities that are linked only by train or by foot trails. They are each unique with their own character and are quite interesting. The Italian Riveria (as the area likes to refer to itself) was extremely breathtaking. We had to park the car up on a hill on the side of the road in the first city (I don’t know how they handle the hordes of tourists, considering we were there during mid-week and before high season) and take the train in. After getting off the train we wandered around and found locals to rent rooms from. The city we stayed in was very small, right on the water, lots of tourists and restaurants, but quaint and laid-back. The next day we hiked to one of the neighboring towns and it was very beautiful, but quite a trek! The town was perched up on the hill and definitely an agricultural town, as opposed to where we were staying which was definitely a fishing village. We had a fantastic [romantic] lunch drinking local wine and eating local cheeses. During the afternoon we took the train to the last of the towns which was a pretty big (comparatively, probably ~1000 residents) and total beach resort. One thing we have over Italian beaches? Sand. The beaches there don’t have sand so much as very small rocks. It really isn’t very pleasant to walk on.
Our original plan was to stay one night, but it was a good thing we stayed 2 – it was a much needed break to lay around a bit and casually explore Cinque Terra.
Next we were off to Tuscany, in the area around Siena. We stayed at a working farm – well, really more a working estate – for a few days. The big thing in Tuscany (and Italy) now are these farm houses that are being opened up as B&Bs to travelers and it’s a great way to get to know the people and countryside better. Our hosts were an older couple, could speak English pretty well, and were very welcoming. He took us on a tour of the property and then arranged for us to do a cooking class in the evening. (It was one of the best meals we had in Italy). The next day we spent touring around the area and going to wineries.
Next, the boys were off to Rome for a few days and I spent more time in Tuscany. I first tried to find some old subterranean tombs (5-2 BC! So old!), but they were only available by prior arrangement with a guide from the University. So I took off to Bologna. Bologna is a small city, not very touristy, with a large population of students (the first university was established here). I need to mention here that after we hit Italy the navigation system got a bit flaky on us and didn’t work more often than it did. Jason has since figured out that the DVD copy he made wasn’t with the optimal settings; bummer, but it wasn’t going to work in the eastern countries anyway. So the 2nd night in Bologna I transferred to a smaller and cheaper hotel in the city and I must have spent an hour trying to drive to the dang place! Trying to navigate all those small streets, the majority of them oneway, while reading cruddy maps was no small feat! I finally managed, but not without our first car ding. I scraped up the back bumper a little while doing a 5-pt turn into the driveway for the hotel. L
Bologna itself was pretty cool. All the rich families built tall towers and vied for the tallest. The tallest surviving at about 500ft was open to walk up and it dwarfed in size everything in the city. They also had a huge cathedral that was magnificent, but never finished. I was in the cathedral with the Sunday evening service was about to start and so I stayed to see what it would be like to attend mass in latin. It was a little different. You could tell that everyone attending were visitors because none of us knew quite what was going on and whether to stand or not (there was no kneeling). But it was fascinating to get a glimpse of what it may have been like 1000 yrs ago attending mass. I had a restaurant recommendation from a local for good Bolognese food and found the place my last night. Utterly amazing!!! One of, if not the best meals I have ever had. The Bologna region is the birthplace of the following: balsamic, parma ham, parma-reggiano (sp?) cheese (Kraft coined “parmesan” when they were sued by Italy), chianti wine, and much more. Simply wonderful food!
I met up with the boys next in Verona. If you can’t make it there in the summer time for an opera or concert in their coliseum, then don’t bother. The coliseum was much smaller, but in much better condition than the one in Rome and I can imagine how beautiful it would be to hear an opera there with everyone holding their candles. There were a couple of rundown buildings that the city claimed were Romeo and Juliet’s homes, and even though we were a bit cynical, of course we visited them. But there wasn’t much else.
Last for Italy was a stop by Venice. Wow, there were a lot of tourists! Just hordes of them! And it was a weekday in May – not even high tourism season yet! We stayed outside the city because staying in Venice is horribly expensive, but I bet Venice is a halfway decent and probably romantic in the evenings when most of the people have left and it doesn’t feel so overcrowded and hectic. I guess I am glad to say I did it, but it was a little disappointing. To add to the mix, when we stopped for a cool glass of wine in the hot afternoon, my purse was stolen. Unfortunately I had just pulled out a bunch of cash, and they got my camera, but overall it could have been much worse (no passport, whew!). There was a couple sitting at an adjoining table and they somehow managed to slip my purse around the bench backs without disturbing my hat and signaling Jason. Poor guy, he felt horrible. I am just lucky that he is here to bum money off of or I would be in a huge world of hurt – I may even have had to go home cuz I don’t think the bank is going to send a credit card to some hotel address in Europe.
Ciao Italia!
In Vienna we dropped Kevin and Drew off to begin their tour. Jason and I took it easy, wandering around the clean and obviously wealthy city. We found a British bookstore where I replenished my book supply (one was in the stolen purse and the other was left on a train), had burgers at an Australian pub (we were both a bit tired of Italian food at that point and glad to have good beer again) and just kinda wandered. The 2nd night we went to the comedic opera Falstaff. It was entertaining and the opera house was very beautiful. I am also enjoying being able to speak the language again – it can be frustrating not being able to communicate well.
We are now in Salzburg, a city of about 100k east of Vienna. We went to an ice cave this morning and it was super cool. There is a 20 min hike, then you can choose to take a tram up (you betcha!) or take a trail by foot for another 90 minutes, then a final 20 minute walk to the cave mouth. The cave is almost 5000ft above sea level in the Alps and the views from up there were incredible. Today is a hot, hot day (~95) and there is no way we could have done the full hike, but inside the cave it is about 32 degrees and we were both blown away by the natural features created by the flowing ice. Really stunning. They don’t have permanent lights installed because of the heat that is generated, so the only light we had was by lanterns that we carried and the occasional flare used by the guide to highlight something important. We had a great time. I think we were also very glad to be out and seeing something other than cityscapes. It is for these kind of sidetrips that we bought the car and it was worth it.
I’m done. It has taken me 2 days to get this last post put together – sorry it took so long! My next project will be to update the pictures I have (luckily the morning before we went to Venice I downloaded all my pics) and add captions. Jason is also putting his pictures on the internet so I will add those links as he puts them together since I no longer have my own camera. Whew, I am typed out! I am sure I forgot a lot of stuff, but too bad.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
pics! hurray!
I uploaded the pics so far from Italy, but I am to the point that I have so many I decided to start a new web album and this is for Italy only. The UK/Ireland/Germany are in one album and Italy is in a separate album. Enjoy!
P.S.
If you want me to separate them completely by country, feel free to leave a message or email me your vote. I have randomized the pics in each folder to make the slideshows more interesting, but because there are no tags on them you will not necessarily know which country or thing they are representing - please give me feedback if you think that would be helpful. (or in other words, I am too lazy to do so unless I think it will benefit someone).
P.S.
If you want me to separate them completely by country, feel free to leave a message or email me your vote. I have randomized the pics in each folder to make the slideshows more interesting, but because there are no tags on them you will not necessarily know which country or thing they are representing - please give me feedback if you think that would be helpful. (or in other words, I am too lazy to do so unless I think it will benefit someone).
Vino, vino, Vino
It has been quite awhile since my last post, because it has been difficult to find wi-fi in Italy. I drove the car down the autobahn from Munich until we stopped for lunch after crossing the border from Austria to Italy. It was an amazing drive through the Alps (at 90+ mph; we are supposed to keep it under 100 the first 1500 miles while the engine is broken in), just breathtaking. Then Jason took over and boy am I glad; it was crazy in Genoa trying to drive in town with virtually no road signs to guide us (the GPS on the car quit working for a time due to a corruption of the disk Jason copied), scooters driving all around any space they can fit, cars jockeying for position, and cars randomly parked on the side of the road. I was really stressed just sitting and observing, I don't think I would have done well driving!
We found Drew and our room and spent a couple of days exploring Genoa which had all these little alleys (they call them streets), colorful building facades, lots of graffiti (all over Italy which is very sad), great wine and friendly people. The best part was a ferry we took from the harbor to the north end of town - really pretty!
Next was Cinque Terra. Absolutely magnifico! It is a string of 5 small towns on the Meditteranean, each with a unique character, that are accessed only by foot or train. Even though it was in the middle of the week and not quite the high-season, it really felt crowded. I would steer clear of it in summer. But these towns were situated either down on the beach (fishing industry) or perched up on a cliff face where they terraced the hillsides for agriculture similar to pics I have seen of Japan. Jason and I hiked between 2 of the villages (whew!) but stuck to the train the rest of the time. Very much recommended!!!
After staying an extra day in CT we moved on to Tuscany. We are currently staying just south of Siena and it is very lovely rolling hills of wheat and grapes. The wine has been fantastic, the food incredible, and our B&B hosts like family. Yesterday we toured the property which is over 1000 acres and then did some wine tasting. In the evening we took a "cooking class" and made dinner - spinach & ricotta ravioli, stuffed veal rolls, veggies and tiramisu. It actually turned out really, really good (though it was hard work and that probably helped the taste appreciation). Except for his allergies kicking in, it was probably Jason's most perfect day yet.
Today we will tour a bit more around the area, looking for wineries and maybe go through Siena. Tomorrow the boys head to Rome and I will continue roaming the countryside and meet up with them in a couple of days in Verona.
We found Drew and our room and spent a couple of days exploring Genoa which had all these little alleys (they call them streets), colorful building facades, lots of graffiti (all over Italy which is very sad), great wine and friendly people. The best part was a ferry we took from the harbor to the north end of town - really pretty!
Next was Cinque Terra. Absolutely magnifico! It is a string of 5 small towns on the Meditteranean, each with a unique character, that are accessed only by foot or train. Even though it was in the middle of the week and not quite the high-season, it really felt crowded. I would steer clear of it in summer. But these towns were situated either down on the beach (fishing industry) or perched up on a cliff face where they terraced the hillsides for agriculture similar to pics I have seen of Japan. Jason and I hiked between 2 of the villages (whew!) but stuck to the train the rest of the time. Very much recommended!!!
After staying an extra day in CT we moved on to Tuscany. We are currently staying just south of Siena and it is very lovely rolling hills of wheat and grapes. The wine has been fantastic, the food incredible, and our B&B hosts like family. Yesterday we toured the property which is over 1000 acres and then did some wine tasting. In the evening we took a "cooking class" and made dinner - spinach & ricotta ravioli, stuffed veal rolls, veggies and tiramisu. It actually turned out really, really good (though it was hard work and that probably helped the taste appreciation). Except for his allergies kicking in, it was probably Jason's most perfect day yet.
Today we will tour a bit more around the area, looking for wineries and maybe go through Siena. Tomorrow the boys head to Rome and I will continue roaming the countryside and meet up with them in a couple of days in Verona.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Munich
A while back Jason, Ania, Kevin, and I went to dinner at Rheinlander's where I got a small goat charm with a beer that I drank. I attached it to my watch thinking it wouldn't last a week - it lasted 3 months. On the flight from the US I reminded Jason of the goat and jokingly added that I hoped to procure another one. Well, we went to the Ayinger brewery last night and guess what? The beer Jason ordered came with a goat charm! What a coincidence. Well of course the charm is safely on my watch and once again I feel whole. :-)
I added pictures to the slideshow and randomized them so you don't see the same ones all the time.
We picked up the BMW yesterday and it was a great experience. They took us through the design and manufacturing process, we learned all about the features of the car (tons more safety and other stuff that we had no ideas about), and toured the plant. We took it to get dinnner at Aying and it is a lot of fun to drive. Ok, enough about the car, I don't want to come across as braggin but I had to say something or it would seem suspicious.
Kevin also managed to track us down yesterday so we only need to find Drew in Genoa tomorrow and our little posse will be complete for the next couple of weeks. I have to admit I was a little worried about so much together time for Jason and I, but we have been getting along admirably with no problems. But, I am sure he is still glad to see his buddies (he and Kevin have been discussing sabbatical plans longer than I have known Jason).
I think Jason and Kevin will be doing some touring of their own today since they have both previously seen Munich, while I wander around the city today. Tomorrow we drive over the Alps to Italy.
One last note: even though my German is pretty rusty and I have forgotten a lot of vocab, it has been good to have it and I am very pleased with myself and my ability to communicate while here. And if just feels good to be able to hear it and speak it again.
Ta ta!!
I added pictures to the slideshow and randomized them so you don't see the same ones all the time.
We picked up the BMW yesterday and it was a great experience. They took us through the design and manufacturing process, we learned all about the features of the car (tons more safety and other stuff that we had no ideas about), and toured the plant. We took it to get dinnner at Aying and it is a lot of fun to drive. Ok, enough about the car, I don't want to come across as braggin but I had to say something or it would seem suspicious.
Kevin also managed to track us down yesterday so we only need to find Drew in Genoa tomorrow and our little posse will be complete for the next couple of weeks. I have to admit I was a little worried about so much together time for Jason and I, but we have been getting along admirably with no problems. But, I am sure he is still glad to see his buddies (he and Kevin have been discussing sabbatical plans longer than I have known Jason).
I think Jason and Kevin will be doing some touring of their own today since they have both previously seen Munich, while I wander around the city today. Tomorrow we drive over the Alps to Italy.
One last note: even though my German is pretty rusty and I have forgotten a lot of vocab, it has been good to have it and I am very pleased with myself and my ability to communicate while here. And if just feels good to be able to hear it and speak it again.
Ta ta!!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Off to Germany!
I have mixed feelings about Dublin. Overall it seems run-down and dirty and fairly uninteresting, which explains why several Irishmen had told me to avoid it when I asked around before we left on sabbatical. The best thing is the walkability of the city; we covered pretty much the entire place by foot no problem. Our first day we walked all over town and visited the Guiness Brewery. There is also a beautiful city garden which is the largest urban park in Europe. And to top off the day we had dinner in a microbrewery which had some fabulous beers (but they will not bottle or export them).
But to get a different feel for Ireland we took a bus yesterday outside the city to Trim. Small little place but they have a fairly intact Norman castle that was really super cool (Braveheart was filmed there) and we got to learn a lot of history of the area on the tour we took. For any of you that ever wanted to live in a fairytale castle as a kid, here is a fact for you - they would hang their clothes out at night over the castle latrine because the noxious fumes would de-lice and remove the fleas. Nasty. No wonder the French were all about perfume!!
We noticed a lot of the businesses are painting the exteriors and when we asked, we were told everyone is jumping on the chance it isn't raining. In fact, the weather has been absolutley superb - it is in the 70s and just lovely. If you ever visit Ireland, do it in May!
But to get a different feel for Ireland we took a bus yesterday outside the city to Trim. Small little place but they have a fairly intact Norman castle that was really super cool (Braveheart was filmed there) and we got to learn a lot of history of the area on the tour we took. For any of you that ever wanted to live in a fairytale castle as a kid, here is a fact for you - they would hang their clothes out at night over the castle latrine because the noxious fumes would de-lice and remove the fleas. Nasty. No wonder the French were all about perfume!!
We noticed a lot of the businesses are painting the exteriors and when we asked, we were told everyone is jumping on the chance it isn't raining. In fact, the weather has been absolutley superb - it is in the 70s and just lovely. If you ever visit Ireland, do it in May!
Monday, May 5, 2008
yay! we were so there....
Newcastle lost today in the match, but it was a brilliant time: we went to a pub beforehand where the guys were singing songs back and forth between the teams, and then the match itself was tons of fun (even though they lost), and afterwards we followed the fans towards the subway and stopped off at a pub - but it wasn't just any pub: yesterday, we were told if we went left outside the hotel doors we would find some restaurants and pubs to go to, but if we went right we would also find some pubs but they would be of the uni-sex style. Well, we found ourselved after leaving the stadium in a place with very cheap drinks and cute girls serving and quickly figured out it catered to girls-who-like-girls. Oops.
Yesterday we ate Thai food and today Japanese...hmmm, I see a trend away from pub food for the short term.
Yesterday we ate Thai food and today Japanese...hmmm, I see a trend away from pub food for the short term.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
A day to rest
We were drawn in the ballot and played the Old Course at St. Andrews yesterday morning! It was a difficult course, very different from the wide open and flat courses I am used to back home. It has hills galore, hidden bunkers (some of which were over 6 feet deep) and nasty bushed that leapt up and ate your golf balls! It was a beautiful morning though and we had a good time, even though I kicked the trash out of Jason. We then caught the train to Newcastle and are now in our 2nd country of the trip.
We went out last night - not too late, it seems we are slowing down a bit :-( - and it is incredible how many young people were out on the town and how many bars there were - I can see how this is the party town of western Europe. Today we are taking it easy and plan on not doing too much. It is hard living out of a suitcase and moving every day or two; and we have 7 more weeks of this! Whew! Well, when we get our car next week that should help immensely as we can unload some of the less necessary items out of the luggage.
Here's to finding a pub that serves Newcastle Brown Ale today (haven't found one yet, too funny!)! Cheers!
We went out last night - not too late, it seems we are slowing down a bit :-( - and it is incredible how many young people were out on the town and how many bars there were - I can see how this is the party town of western Europe. Today we are taking it easy and plan on not doing too much. It is hard living out of a suitcase and moving every day or two; and we have 7 more weeks of this! Whew! Well, when we get our car next week that should help immensely as we can unload some of the less necessary items out of the luggage.
Here's to finding a pub that serves Newcastle Brown Ale today (haven't found one yet, too funny!)! Cheers!
Friday, May 2, 2008
St. Andrew's
Edinburgh was great (the pic in the last entry is Edinburgh Castle, I didn't want to presume before). Yesterday we took a day trip outside the city to see a ruined castle and had a good time finding our way there and back. We are now in St. Andrew's - the home of golf. Jason put our names in to play golf on the Old Course tomorrow and we are in! 0630... Oye... Then off to Newcastle by train.
I removed the Trinidad slideshow now that I am starting to collect sabbatical pictures. I may have to actually add it tomorrow, we will see how long this takes.
I removed the Trinidad slideshow now that I am starting to collect sabbatical pictures. I may have to actually add it tomorrow, we will see how long this takes.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Edinburgh
This castle-type structure on the hill is the first thing we saw getting off the bus coming into town from the Edinburgh airport. I had to also show the double decker bus, of course! We were absolutely dead after 13 hours of flight time; we left 1pm Monday and arrived in Edinburgh 8am Tues which was 4pm local time. Whew! We did a bit of wandering in the city, had a pint at a "free house" and a bite to eat and then crashed for the night at 8pm. We hope we will be mostly adjusted and on local time now. Keeping our fingers crossed!
The weather is what you think Scotland is - wet, rainy, blustery. Tomorrow should be better but in the meantime we will be spending the day sightseeing all the inside places. Cheers!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Today is the day!
I have been packed for 2 days, Jason packed this morning and we are double and triple checking everything....we are outta here! Wish us a safe journey!
Monday, April 21, 2008
It's working!
Cool, looks like I have figured out how to get the pics to show up (I have the Trinidad pics showing now as a placeholder) and I added the map and itinerary.
Tomorrow begins the packing and sorting...
Tomorrow begins the packing and sorting...
Sunday, April 13, 2008
In The Beginning
This is an attempt to keep everyone involved and up to date on our travels during sabbatical. I guess the success of this depends on how often I leave comments and how detailed they are. I will also try to link my pics, if I can figure that out.
1 week....I better start packing!
Addendum:
General Itinerary
4/29 arrive in London, head to Edinburgh
4/30 Edinburgh, Scotland
5/02 St. Andrew's, Scotland
5/03 Newcastle
5/05 Newcastle vs Chelsea soccer match
5/06 Dublin
5/08 head to Munich
5/09 pick up car
5/11 Genoa - meet up with Drew & Kev
5/13 Cinque Terra
5/15 Siena/Tuscany
5/18 Bologna
5/20 Verona
5/21 Venice
5/23 Vienna
5/26 Salzburg
5/29 Prague
6/02 Krakow
6/05 Lodz
6/06 Mazurian Lakes
6/13 Warsaw
6/14 Kiev
6/21 drop off car
6/22 return to Portland
1 week....I better start packing!
Addendum:
General Itinerary
4/29 arrive in London, head to Edinburgh
4/30 Edinburgh, Scotland
5/02 St. Andrew's, Scotland
5/03 Newcastle
5/05 Newcastle vs Chelsea soccer match
5/06 Dublin
5/08 head to Munich
5/09 pick up car
5/11 Genoa - meet up with Drew & Kev
5/13 Cinque Terra
5/15 Siena/Tuscany
5/18 Bologna
5/20 Verona
5/21 Venice
5/23 Vienna
5/26 Salzburg
5/29 Prague
6/02 Krakow
6/05 Lodz
6/06 Mazurian Lakes
6/13 Warsaw
6/14 Kiev
6/21 drop off car
6/22 return to Portland
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