The Jeremy and Rakefet Show

Home Sweet Home!

2007-11-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

As J said, we are back in the good ole US of A. If feels really good to be home although all of the english and the crazy big drinks are a bit of culture shock. I'm taking a few weeks to hang out with my parents and sisters in PA before heading to LA and then probably SF to build our life. I'm looking forward to putting down roots and reconnecting with friends and family. The things I'm not looking forward to are the stresses of finding a job and the right place to live. Any ideas or recommendations would be wonderful, hint hint :)

I don't have a cell phone yet, but my home number in PA is 610.935.7083. I would love to hear from you.

So, guess what?

2007-11-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

You'll never believe it...

RAKEFET AND I ARE IN THE UNITED STATES.

Yup, we are both back. I'm on the west coast, with my folks, and she's back east seeing her family.

We knew that the trip was coming to an end, after everything we had seen and done, that it was time to come home and see our friends and family, and just get back to some "normal". So, we did. Real quick like. When the decision is made, you just got to get back.

So we've been back a few days, and I can tell you, it's just amazing to be home. I'm tired, and sort of sad that this huge adventure has ended, but I'm also happy that the next chapter in my life is ready to be written.

I'll be here for a few weeks, then heading back to the east coast for Rakefet's sister's graduation from college. Then, well, looking a LOT like back to the Bay Area with us....

So this is it for the blog, I imagine, unless you want to read about me doing nothing at home, trying to put on some weight and sleeping in the same place without having to think about tomorrow! Not as interesting to read, I think. I love that you all read this blog, through my bitching, complaining, describing, whatever the hell I was doing. I know that R feels the same way (I bet she'll put something up sooner or later on here).

I did get myself a phone, I'm at 415-430-5350 (or try my parent's place at 661-254-3820), and R is at her family's (610-935-7083) if you want to talk to us, and of course, email is always ok (sorry for not getting back to many of you in recent days, big decisions were afoot).

Adios!

Day 5 Israel

2007-11-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

Hello.

So I went to the free clinic here to get the stupid hernia checked out. Turns out (after waiting a while, of course) that the doc couldn't feel anything at all. So he thinks that I have a hernia that comes and goes and doesn't see any sign of anything serious otherwise (no infection, etc). So I suppose that's good news. The bad news is that means no way I can get anything done. My travel insurance will not cover something like this, so I'm doomed to deal with it when I get back.

Knees aren't much better. The left one, and my right hip, really ache like you wouldn't believe.... and the right one still is pretty painful to put pressure on.

I've become some kind of angry vegetable here. I just don't feel like doing anything at all. I have tried keeping to myself, but I know that isn't the nicest thing to do when you are someone's guest. So I've ventured out more today, just trying to be friendly. I just don't really have anything to say about anything, and I'm bummed I can't take care of the hernia here. Aren't you all so happy you know so much about my hernia???

So I'm basically just doing absolutely nothing. Other than the trip to the clinic through most of southern Tel Aviv (not impressed, looked like South Oakland to me, without any historic buildings, and that's being nice about South Oakland!), I've not left the flat since I got here. Oh, and the day they took us to get Israeli kebabs (sorry, but not impressed. eck) and I saw R's cousin's store for a second, then to the market where we bought stuff for burgers (I had them today, the first time I've made them in a month and a half, not bad).

I did go out for a few minutes tonight to see if I could see Comet Holmes, but too bright. We are about 100 meters from the beach, and it actually looked very nice there. It's apparently been pretty warm out, maybe I should try to get out there.

Israel

2007-11-13T04:24:00.000-08:00

Hey all.

Been here for 2.5 days. Haven't done anything at all... haven't left the flat. Just wiped. Mentally and physically. Making some decisions about what's next, all that.

Rakefet's family (her Dad's aunt, husband, and their son, his wife and two kids) are lovely people. A lot of Hebrew getting thrown around, so sometimes it's hard (R understands it quite a bit, and her speaking is coming back), and frankly, I've just not been feeling so well, so I've been keeping to myself (I hope they don't think I'm a jerk, I just get super quiet in these situations, and I simply don't feel too hot). But everyone is great with me, giving me some space, and when I've felt ok I've had some nice chats.

Chances are I'm on the internet. If you want to chat (and I LOOOOOOVVVEE chatting with all you guys) just try me either on email or messenger. A few words from home does my heart good. Was able to catch up with Kevin, Meghan, Moira on the chat yesterday. So the rest of you should get it pronto.

Being taken care of in Israel :)

2007-11-11T23:46:00.000-08:00

It's so nice to be in Israel. I haven't been here since early 2000. We are staying with my aunt and uncle in Bat Yam a Tel Aviv suburb right on the beach. We haven't done any sight seeing or even talked about plans for things to see yet which is so nice. We are just soaking up the not having to think about anything and just being. My aunt and uncle are the most gracious hosts ever and they are both fantastic cooks which doesn't hurt either! Mmmmm... homemade food. The other big highlight so far is having all of our clothes clean, in a washing machine no less. Heaven! It's really the little things that count. Today my cousin is coming for dinner with his wife and 2 children who I have never met. I'm very excited to see them and to practice my hebrew with the kids.

Other Istanbul pics....

2007-11-11T06:12:00.001-08:00

Various pics

2007-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

from the end of the Bosporus Cruise and from the palace.

Final days in Turkey...

2007-11-09T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

Thought I would start with an update on my knee. It is still in bad shape, but Ive been able to put some pressure on it over the past two days, so I can get around a bit better, without really limping (or at least not doing it in an obvious way, I dont want to upset R too much).

It has meant that we have been all over the city, hitting many sites and soaking it up. Istanbul really is an amazing place, and one can easly spend more than a week seeing what it is about. Over the past two days, we visited the Haiga Sofia and the Blue Mosque... really amazing spots. The Haiga Sofia was once a church built by the Byzantines, then converted into a mosque, then a museum. It is 1500 years old, and the largest church of its kind around. I doubt there are any churches of its age in existence either, other than a few perhaps in Istanbul, and they would pale in comparison. An ENORMOUS dome, spectacular from the inside. Covered in both Christian mosaics and Islamic religious writings. Stupendous site. The Blue Mosque equals the Haiga Sofia in its external appearance... just perfectly balanced and quite a landmark.

We also hit the Süleymaniye mosque which R discussed. Spent some time there trying to get some great pics, we will see if they turned out.

We also explored some of the neighborhoods across the Golden Horn... the architecture over there surprised me... it was mostly built in the 19th century, so in many ways it reminded me of the buildings you would see in Prague... and it is gentrifying fast, so if you have a little money, gooooood investments are afound there!

After that, we took the ferry to Asia (love saying that) and hit Kadikoy... I am really amazed that his area, although not a large area, isnt more prominent in the tour books... truly a neighborhood for real prices.. large pedestrian areas were you can walk around and simply people watch, walk past the myriad of shops selling food, books, whatever... very pleasant place.

Today was Bosphorus cruise day.. and it was pretty. Didnt blow my mind, but a nice trip for about 2 hrs up to the Black Sea, hit a small village, hiked to a castle, and got to talk baseball with a Colorado Rockies fan on the boat (although a public ferry, it was mobbed with tourists). Some nice buildings along the way, both public and private.

Tomorrow is our last day here. We will hit Topkapı Palace, where the sultans called home, and do some last minute shopping (we broke down and did a little souvenir shopping). Then we have a late night flight to Tel Aviv, to begin that part of the trip. Should be nice having a place to crash for a while, before we do Egypt and Jordan. Bummed I cant do Syria and Iran this time round, but what can you do?

Wanted to thank our friend Asena for his helpful tips on everything Turkey while we were here. He helped make this part of the trip easier, more fun and more real. Thanks so much my man.

A wonderful day!

2007-11-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

Today the sun came out for my birthday and everything else seemed to go right too! I woke up early and got through on Skype to Gvantsa and had a wonderful talk with my best friend! Then Jeremy came up the stairs with a beautiful bouquet of roses, white flowers and babies breath and also a venti hot chocolate from Starbucks (quite a luxury)! As we were headed out the door Aki from the hostel gave me cake with a candle. It was so sweet of her as I've only known her a couple of days.

Thankfully, Jeremy is able to put pressure on his knee today and so fingers crossed we think it might be healing. We walked around all day without the cane. The big question will be if it works tomorrow.

We went to the Haya Sophia which is a church built by Justinian in 500ish AD and then was turned into a mosque and subsequently into a museum by Ataturk. The building is stunning architecturally and artistically. There are some pictures below.

Then we went to the Süleymaniye mosque which was also amazing. On the way in I clumsily tried to don a headscarf out of respect and a few of the local women smiled at me. One of them came right over and helped me put on the scarf. She pinned it with one of the pins that she had on her scarf, pinched my cheeks and sent me on my way. People here are so friendly.

We bought a tea set for ourselves today from a wonderful man from Malatya. He was so honored to have us in his kitchenwares shop that he invited us for tea and conversation. We took a picture with him and he asked us to email it to him. I will really miss the hospitality of the Turks and Kurds.

Then we walked over to Beyoglu after getting a delicious sandwich of the local variation of pastrami, super yummy! We had a nice walk around the winding streets and ended up on a ferry to the Asian side where we found a fantastic American bookstore and a great shopping street with shopkeepers selling fresh fish, pastries, vibrant veggies and bulk cat food.

Dinner was AWESOME despite the waiter making us wear sombreros. It was so nice to have 'mexican' food. Dessert was death by chocolate at a local sweets shop that has delightful goodies. When I got back to the hostel the owner's brother gave me a tiled candle holder as a birthday gift. And then I got to talk to my parents on Skype while watching a thunderstorm over the sea of Marmara. What could be better (besides having all of my loved ones to celebrate here with me, that is)?

Thank you to everyone for the emails, well wishes and for making my 30th birthday one to remember!

PS. The day we went to Eyup on the walk back along the Golden Horn we smiled at a man walking with his 2 children. The little boy gave me a shy smile and told me his name. His dad then said something to him in Turkish and the little boy took my hand and kissed it and then touched it to his forehead....just about the sweetest thing ever!

pics

2007-11-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

The sword cane!
The Haya Sophia.
Archangel Gabriel in the Haya Sophia.
Me in the Süleymaniye Mosque.
Fantastic art in the Süleymaniye Mosque.

B-day fun!

2007-11-08T10:49:00.000-08:00

Awe, Jeremy surprised me with beautiful roses and a venti hot chocolate!
Aki from the hostel surprised me with cake. (the wet spot on my shirt is from my very wet hair.)
Dinner at el Torito, complete with almost real burritos and hot sauce. YUMMY!!!!
A very cute kitty on a windshield.
Very chocolaty dessert and more Turkish chai.

The Big 3-0 for Rakefet....

2007-11-07T22:50:00.000-08:00

Yes, today my darling wife enters her 30s.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Musings and Ramblings

2007-11-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

Knee is still a mess. We did go out for a bit this afternoon, to see the Blue Mosque and the Byzantine Cistern, a huge underground cavern built in the 6th century to store water for the city... just a cool place, it even had these huge carp in it and a few strange statues of Medusa. But mostly I just limped around. You really start to notice things like accessibility when you cant walk. Stairs are just the worst.
And there are no ramps in this country.

Discovered that my cane handle comes out and there is a one foot sword in it. Im not kidding. Im really glad this was discovered BEFORE trying to enter Israel.

A bird pooped on me the other day and it made me sad.

We are sick of the food. Just sick of it. Not sure how an entire nation of people can only eat variations of the Doner. Guess we do the same with the hamburger in the States, or at least I do. But I cant even face _Burger King anymore.

R took a cooking class today and said that she enjoyed it.

Its like 40 degrees out. Im cold.

Knees

2007-11-07T00:07:00.000-08:00

So day three of bad knees. Spend part of the day yesterday BUYING A FREAKING CANE. I had to draw the line at the medical supply store, I just couldnt bring myself to do that.

The right knee is just completely messed up. I cant seem to put any pressure on it without it hurting. Im ok when Im laying around though. The left knee is getting more tender, partially from the pressure Im putting on it, and partially just because it is a bit of a mess anyway. Not happy.

The worst part about it for me is the lack of independence. It scares the hell out of me too, as I dont expect my knees to get better as I get older, and for some reason Im just so damn fragile. I cherish my independence, my ability to just get and go out and do what I want, so when it is threatened, I basically freak out. And I resist any attempt of anyone trying to help me. I just cant bring myself to let anyone do anything for me. That, and on top of the fact that all I can really do right now is play cards in bed, and hobble up three flights of stairs to check internet, Im just in a terrible bummed mood. I dont feel like chatting with anyone really (especially anyone here.. either people want to talk about how Im hobbling around, or just making some bs up, something Ive been doing for 6 months and am tired of).

On top of it, I cant believe how rude some of the people are in this city. I was run over three times yesterday by guys in their 70s trying to get by me, Im obviously limping around, and they will just push you to get wherever they are going (happened twice in the Grand Bazaar, which is just a Grand Old Mall Full of Crap, I really dont get it, cheap junk... and America gets a bunch of shite for being a consumerist society... try the Grand Bazaar!!!!! And where is the old man going in the Grand Bazaar that he has to run me over??? To get some tea set or some underwear?!??!?!?!)

So thats it. Waiting for Israel and perhaps two surgeries??? Cant wait.

For those who follow any politics, very happy to report that my immediate predecessor at Supervisor Rich Gordons office just won a seat on the Palo Alto City Council. Makes me want to run BAD.

Totally bummed

2007-11-05T13:13:00.000-08:00

Well, this might be the end of the Istanbul trip for me. Seems that Ive completely blown out my right knee-- ive had all kinds of trouble with my knees, particularly my left knee, so on some level, if somethings was gonna go, it was going to be a knee. Still, complete drag. It rained all day, so on some small short term level it wasnt a big deal, as I just laid in bed. But I dont see this thing getting any better. Its really just completely messed up. So I think once I get to Israel, Ill have to have both the knee and the hernia looked at ASAP.

Completely bummed out, totally. Cant barely walk.

and　ｍｏｒｅ

2007-11-05T03:06:00.000-08:00

Dovecots（old　pigeon　houses　carved　into　the　ｒｏｃｋ）
spectacular　rock　ｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎｓ
Our　rock　bed　in　ａ　ｃａｖｅ　ｒｏｏｍ
Ｔｒａｐｐｅｄ　ｉｎ　ａｎ　ｕｎｄｅｒｇｒｏｕｎｄ　ｃｉｔｙ
Ｓｐｏｏｋｙ　ｕｎｄｅｒｇｒｏｕｎｄ　ｃｉｔｙ．

More　ｐｈｏｔｏｓ

2007-11-05T02:48:00.001-08:00

Uh　ｏｈ！
The　new　do,　so　ｓｈｏｒｔ．
Fairy　chimneys　in　Ｃａｐｐａｄｏｃｉａ．
Ｈｉｋｉｎｇ
natural　ｂｒｉｄｇｅ

photos

2007-11-04T22:38:00.001-08:00

Views from Nemrut!
My favorite head.
Sunset at the heads.

Us with Kemal (what do you think, Leigh's doppelganger?) and Jeung.

Stupid computer...

2007-11-04T08:50:00.000-08:00

Well, this initially was going to be a post full of new pics and videos... but the computer here at the hostel wont let me load anything, so you will all have to settle for a new post.

We have made it to Istanbul. Finally. It is fantastic to just have a good place (a dorm, but so far we havent shared the room) where I dont have to move my bag every other day... we plan on being here for 8 days total.

The bus ride was long, overnight, but really not too bad. We got into town at about 8 am, and got to the area we are staying in an hr later. It was rough finding a place, as the location we picked, although near the big tourist sites, is just lousy as it comes to hostels. Plenty, sure, but they pack you in like sardines(literally we discovered) and way too much money for what you get. Fortunately, we found one run by a Japanese woman that works just fine.

We spent yesterday just walking the city, which was likely a mistake, as today, my knees are pretty much completely shot. I mean, SHOT. I dont expect to walk much tomorrow.

Some amazing sites... the two major mosques in this part of town, the Blue Mosque and the Haiga Sofia, are incredible to look at... the Blue Mosque is actually just behind me, about 100 yards away, from the top of the terrace where Im typing. Many other Byzantine sites that Im looking forward to seeing.

The major areas on the other side of the Golden Horne are uphill, around this long and very fun pedestrian area that has many shops and people watching. Frankly, its just great to be in a big city with some options on food. I hate to admit it, but my food option yesterday was Burger King. And it was awesome.

Today, we wanted to do a Bosphorus cruise (also visible from the terrace, just over the computer and taking up about 90 degrees of view) but we found that the info we had on the cruise was wrong, so we will leave it for another day. We instead took a ferry up the Golden Horne to Eyup, a conservative area about 2 miles north of where we are, to just walk around and also to see the Eyup Sultan Mosque the fourth most holy site in Islam. Great sitting in the mosque during prayers.

Not really much else to report. We expect lousy weather the next few days, what can you do. So likely indoor stuff (the Blue Mosque, the palace, the bazaar, a museum, whatever) until it clears. Definately colder though now.

Hairventures with Rakefet and other musings...

2007-11-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Let me start with Goreme....

Goreme... quite a strange place. I think they might have filmed Planet of the Apes here... well, they didn't but they should have. There are all these bizaare rock formations that are the remnants of eroded volcanic activity that are quite easy to dig into, so the population here dug into them and created whole cities, above and below ground. Many of the ones here in town are now hotels, but if you walk just ten minutes outside town, you find these fantastic valleys FULL of these rock formations with the remains of these villages and homes. Amazing stuff. We did two hikes in two days, and visited an underground city... and when I say city, I mean city. Multi-level place, just went on and on.. we were there for a few hrs, just going up and down, one room after the next, with huge round stone slabs that were used in emergencies to jam entrances from invaders, underground churches with pews, a winery, just very very cool.

We are even staying in a rock cave room at the hotel. It's modern, of course, but made using the same techniques as the old rooms. The bed is just the place where the didn't cut the rock out to the floor level (so imagine a rock bed) with a futon on it. Funny.

So yes, I feel I should comment on the epic Haircut of Rakefet.

First of all, it isn't all that bad at all. I won't call it good, as it isn't good. They did manage to leave the layers, true, but they just took way too much off. What can you do?

Secondly, I did try my best to make sure she knew that she could say no to them about it. What can you do? I mean, of course a 6 dollar hair cut in central Turkey by a guy who's never cut an American's hair, let alone someone's hair as particular as R's, is going to be as good as spending 80 bucks in Menlo Park with a woman who's spent her life cutting wavy/curly women's hair... makes sense to me!

Third, it WILL GROW BACK. True, R's hair is a little slow in the growth department. But she didn't get it cut unevenly, as far as we can tell, and there aren't any chunks taken out or anything. She could just shave her head like me if it was THAT bad. But it's not bad. Just not great. I think that the length looked fantastic. Oh well!

I say this all in jest of course. I don't have the best haircut right now, we all make weird decisions sometimes, and it's hard when EVERYONE around you is just trying to be nice and you don't want to offend anyone. Just had to give her a little bit of a hard time.

Other musings...

Ok, ready for some new food. It's just the worst, eating the same stuff every night. In the past 48 hrs or so, the diet went out the window and we've had THREE bags of Doritos and 2 1 liter Diet Cokes... and we haven't done that in months....and we tried what the locals call "Cheeseburgers" tonight. Wow. It was pretty lousy, but I just liked it cause it was different. And this was something doused in their version of ketchup, you all know how much I like ketchup.

I am excited that the Dodgers seem to be hiring Joe Toree manager, if just to make Matt Jacobs unhappy. If you don't know Matt, I used to work with him, and he's a Giant's lover. He is very unhappy about this, and that must mean it's a good move. :)

I am now fully not sick. That would be healthy. Stomach issues gone, cold gone.

Tomorrow night, we leave for Istanbul and the final 8 days here in Turkey. We don't think we'll be in Istanbul every day, but we are just ready for a big city, some choice, and perhaps a day trip or two to some of the sites nearby.

Whirlwind

2007-10-31T06:46:00.000-07:00

It feels like we've been on the move the last few days which is exhausting. We left Malatya to go on the tour to Nemrut Dağ at 1pm on Monday afternoon. We were whisked up along this beautiful winding road for about 3 hours to a small stone hotel with no heating. It was only us, another tourist Jeung from South Korea, the driver and the hotel owner. We dropped our bags off and were driven another km up a rocky "road" to the summit where the heads are. The good thing about doing the tour from Malatya is that you get to see the summit at both sunset and sunrise as opposed to doing it from the other side of the mountain where you have to choose. The scenery was stunning, especially with the leaves changing colors. The site itself was strange. There is a huge pile of crushed rock in the center of the summit that probably is a burial site for a megalomaniac king. On the eastern and western sides of the rock pile are basically matching 8 huge heads of the Gods who he believed were his kin. The heads were toppled from their bodies during earthquakes. There are also some random heads of eagles. Being up there at sunrise and sunset let us see the statues on either side lit up by natural light. It was FREEZING and windy though! Jeremy has been having terrible stomach issues and so that was an issue. At the hotel Jeung and I had a strange meal with the owner and drive who spoke broken English. Jeremy didn't eat and instead piled under blankets in the unheated room. For some strange reason I thought that taking a hot shower was a good idea. There was even hot water, but not enough for the pressure to push it up through the shower head. Of course the "shower" was just a shower head and spout next to the toilet in a tiny bathroom with a drain in the floor, so you can imagine how fun it was trying to bathe myself in the freezing cold with a dribble of water coming out of the spout next to the toilet. Ugh.

Anyway, we made it back up for a lovely if freezing sunrise and then were taken back to Malatya to wait for a 1pm bus to Cappadocia. We hung out for a while with Kemal, who very enthusiastically calls me Miss America. Then came the biggest mistake I've made in quite a while. We went to visit a friend of Kemal's at his hair salon nearby for tea. Everyone there was fawning over my hair and I just smiled. Then they offered to trim it, which I thought would be nice despite the warning bells. I haven't had my hair cut in over 8 months and so a trim should've been great. I didn't take into account my agonizing lifelong struggle to find someone who knows how to cut my hair. She's in Menlo Park, by the way. The best person for cutting curly hair by far! Anyway, I got a haircut and they chopped it to about where it was 1.5 years ago. I asked to keep the long layers, which they did, but the steps are a little bit too big, so it just looks like my hair is uneven. They wanted to dye my hair or do blond highlights too, but luckily my sanity returned. At least I only paid $8 and the hair will grow back. Meanwhile, everyone in the shop is asking J and I if we can get them in touch with hairdressers in the states so they can open a joint business. They all wanted invitations and visas too, which they thought we could provide. It was overwhelming.

Anyway, here we are in Goreme for a few days. Today we hiked a bit through the surreal scenery and hope to chill out and hike a few more days before going to Istanbul.

Just keep goin and goin...

2007-10-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

We spent a few days in Gaziantep, and really enjoyed ourselves... it's a nice big city, so there was a bit of a respite from saying hello to EVERYONE you meet, and we saw much more of the same hospitality that has made Turkey special. Met a guy in the park, Mustafa, who was visiting family (he lives in Koln and loves it... couldn't stop talking about the beer there) and we went to get some tea... between some basic Turkish, and my lousy German, we had a good conversation and walked around a lovely park.

We ate A LOT... and had some of the best baklava the country has to offer, from the place that the federal govt here gets its baklava... and had a bunch of these mixed fruit drinks, called Atoms... maybe R blogged about them already? Anyway, not a whole lot going on in Antep, but just a cool big city... oh, we saw the new Bourne movie.. it was sweet.

So we bussed it today to Malatya, and we are basing ourselves here for a few days to check out Nemrut... it's a national park with these very ancient statues, and we can't wait to see it.. we came into town, and bumped into the guy who runs the tourist info place randomly( they are closed on sundays....) and he told us about an all inclusive tour up to the statues (the heads as we call them, as all the statues lost their heads and they are all laying around) and back. He was a cool guy, Kemal. He actually reminded us of my dad. We'll get a pic tomorrow and see if you all agree, is he my dad's turkish dopplegagner? He had this crazy theory about how the US told Saddam to invade Kuwait so we could attack Iraq and get all of Kuwait's oil. Lots of conspiracy theories here.

Not a whole lot to do here other than walk around and experience a "real" city, one that isn't touristy at all. Bought some stuff, and some apricots... the place is known for its apricots... and say YET ANOTHER MOVIE... this time Knocked Up, and we dug it.

Anyway, not much to report...

Gaziantep "Antep the Victorious Warrior"

2007-10-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

Juice!!!!
Copper artist in the bazaar.
Gypsy Girl mosaic.
Poseidon mosaic.
Pistachios!

You gotta love how the Turkish people bestow fabulous adjectives on the city names. Today we came to Gaziantep, the pistachio capital of Turkey and perhaps the world. As such, Antep is famous for its pistachio baklava... to die for :) The other food here is wonderful too especially coming from the east where the delights are a bit more limited. I reached nirvana today through a perfectly executed chicken doner on a buttery crepe with pickles, tomatoes and hot peppers, freshly squeezed pomegranate juice and then again through an "Atom" drink at the local juice place. An Atom is a smoothie made of milk, hazelnuts, pistachios, honey and bananas! I'm already dreaming of breakfast tomorrow.

Our hotel is great - complete with hot water and even BBC Prime/World. It's so nice to watch programming in English. We went up to the castle from which we could count almost 40 minarets soaring above the sprawl. Afterwards we were invited into a copper workshop by a local artists for, you guessed it, tea. It's amazing to watch the artists at work with their tiny hammers.

We visited the Antep museum today which was one of the best I've ever been to. On display are several almost perfect Roman mosaics recovered from a local site that is now largely underwater as part of the "GAP" project that will inundate Hasankeyf. The mosaics are breathtaking. Jeremy bought a t-shirt with the Gypsy Girl on it.

After the museum we had more juice and walked around the local park where we met Mustafa who is originally from here but has been living and working in Koln, Germany for the last 10 years. We communicated in a strange mix of German, English and Turkish over Nescafe. Dinner was a continuation of yumminess - meat with yogurt and eggplant was the highlight.

The Hammam experience

2007-10-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

More pics

2007-10-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

Incredible Roman mosaics in the houses of the rich people at the Efes site.
More Efes ruins.
The beautiful beach at Olympos and Cirali. The water was so warm!
The Chimera, gas seeps out of the ground on this mountain and spontaneously combusts creating flames - magical.
Us in the madness of the watermelon festival, complete with our diyabakir hats.

Long overdue photos!

2007-10-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

Us dressed in traditional costumes in Harran, a place mentioned in the book of Genesis. It's where Jacob met Rachel. The houses behind us are traditional beehive houses found only here, Syria (only a few km away) and Italy.
Watching the protest from our hotel window in Sanliurfa.
Tea with our student friends in Urfa.
Cevir making food for us!
Adorable children in the street who know how to say "what's your name? where are you from? and money money" They run up to you say everything they know in english, motion for a picture, look at it and then run away...very cute!

Friends we met today in Harran. At first there were only 4 or 5 and then EVERYONE came over to hang out with us. We had tea and yummy wraps made with fresh bread, grilled eggplant, hot red peppers, onions, tomatoes and salt. The produce is so fresh that it doesn't need anything to make it scrumptious. Many of these guys spoke Arabic as well as Turkish (being so close to Syria).

Glorious Urfa

2007-10-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

Actually, that is literally what it's name means.. the city is called Şanlıurfa, which translates into "Glorious Urfa", a name given in 1984 for its resistence in the War of Independence.

But first... we finished Mardin with a meal back at the same restaurant, and really splurged... a yogurt soup, four appetizers, two main courses of lamb and eggplant with minced meat, and desserts in honey and cinnamon. Yum. And wine... and the funniest, this one woman came walking in... turned out she was from NYC, and was staying in the same place we were.. we talked to her at dinner, and offered to walk her back down to the hotel, as she was on her own. Heather was her name, and it was nice speaking American to someone!

The next day, 2.5 hrs on the bus to Urfa. Got dropped off outside of town, where a nice guy helped us get the bus. Found a hotel after a little shopping... cheap, loud, funky and just aok. We set out to walk the town, and found the same level of friendliness and curiosity we have in other places here in SE Turkey... everyone wantes to say hi, talk to you... we bombed right into the baazar... and its a trip.. just everything you could think to buy.. from tobacco to purple scarves both men and women wear... we got a glove that the masseuse uses at the hamman to exfoliate the skin...and then walked to the site where Abraham was born (yes, THAT ABRAHAM)... a cave that is right up there in the few truly holy places in Islam... you walk into this small area, and cannot walk out of it with your back to it (as it would be turning your back on a prophet).. and there you are, in the cave where he was born and was hidden for years from King Nimrod. Powerful. Not to mention the amazing mosque on the site, the Kale (castle) above where Abraham was tossed, the bed of roses where he fell, the site where he was immolated only to have the fire turned to water and the coals to carp... and there are MANY fat sacred carp there now... you can't eat them, as you will turn blind!

As we left the area, we saw that a demonstration was about to start up, so we figured, why flaunt it, and we went back to the hotel. We are on the second floor
on the main street in town, and as we walked up, we saw HUNDREDS of cops out, with riot shields.. we were saying to ourselves, here we go... so we went up to the room, and watched the demonstration go by... mostly young people, all turks, demonstrating about the current situation... Not a big one, maybe a thousand or so, many flags, lots of noise, but turned out to be somewhat harmless, but there were a few moments before it started, as we walked to the hotel, watching everyone put their turkish flags out (don't throw a rock through my window flags)... sweating a bit. GRRREAT pics though...
We rested at the hotel, and decided on a place to eat above the Abraham site (turned out good, with a great view), when two young men came up to us and started talking... which became one of THE HIGHLIGHTS of the trip. Their names are Onur, Nidal (and we were joined later by Cevher and Yunus), all university students (or about to become), mostly in computer science. They joined us for dinner, and then we had tea with them. Onur is self-taught in English, and his friends are all learning.

I'm not sure that words are possible for this experience... they are all just amazing, charming, kind young men who just like to meet people who are visiting their city. They spent hours with us last night, just chatting about everything, asking their friends questions in english to help them learn, talking about Turkey, Kurds, America, food, girls... was wonderful. Cevher asked if we could come over to their place for a late lunch today, and we were more than happy to do so.....

We were going to go to a town called to Harran, a small town on the border, but we (or I really) didn't want to get out of bed - hard night sleeping, and maybe getting a little sick...and also just been dealing with some stomach stuff, like R ... so we just slept a lot, trying to get a little better, and then decided to hit another holy site here... Job's cave... yes, the cave where Job went to pray to God after losing his job, family, and health... and the well where God told Job to hit the ground to drink and wash himself. Very cool.

We walked back up, through the many people, men and children, who just want to say hi and get their pic taken, to meet our friends. This was quite the adventure.

First, one of the guys wasn't around, so we just walked around town a bit, until they got a hold of him... then we went into this downstairs apartment, and it had NO furniture in it, and I was thinking.. what is going on here? It turns out this is something of a common thing... many young men will get together and put a little money into a place they can all go to to hang out away from home... so it's just like a common apartment. We sat around, chatting and just having a good time, and Cevher started making the meal... I can't tell you what's it called, but it was a mix of bulgur, crushed dry red peppers, parsley, tomato paste, fried eggs and water... and we watched him slowly mix the ingridients together over 15 minutes or so, to get the right mix... just looked great. We were talking to them all, giving them cool english phrases to say, "wazzup" and pickup lines "there must be an angel missing in heaven"...and they told us phrases we needed in Turkish like "how long will the bus be here" etc... when these three guys, kind of spooky guys, came walking in.. they were likely in their mid to late 20's and the four guys we were with clearly were weirded out they were there... so we started to think, uhoh, here it comes... then they came in our room, as our guys got quiet and started talking by first saying, in Turkish, that they were from Chechnya... now we were REALLY starting to think, oh man... but I was just smiling, saying wow, Chechnya, amazing, stuff like that. Then they asked us about Bush, the war... and we got to listen to crazy theories like Saddam is still alive in the US, and that the US wants Turkey to invade Iraq... but in the end, they were just as polite as the rest, pouring us tea. Still, was uncomfortable, and we felt very bad as the guys we were with kept apologizing afterwards about it... it wasn't their fault, and their company made everything perfect! And the food was divine... just a simple but elegant meal, we ate with bread.

I can't stress how wonderful these guys are! They simply made this part of the trip unforgettable. We only wish that we could talk to women in Turkey too, but they don't speak much english and the customs make it difficult.

We just read that Diyabakir (the city we were in a couple of days ago) launched airstrikes on the PKK rebels near the Turkey/Iraq border - lovely.

Oh, one more delightful highlight, the boys took us to a pet shop last night where there is a very curious little monkey that hung out with us and was living on top of a caged peacock. Not the most humane thing, but the monkey was super cute. We gave him some food and it took it in its little hands and smelled it and ate it. Oh and today, it jumped up on my shoulders and was playing with my hair.

Tomorrow, if we feel ok, we will go to Harran then get on a bus for Antep. More wonderful Turkey awaits!

Continued good times in the southeast of Turkey...

2007-10-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

First of all, for those of you following the news, we are fine. There was an attack by Kurdish rebels on the Turkish army yesterday, and 12 soldiers died and 8 are missing. It happened about 50/60 miles from here. That's a world away honestly, just cause of the time it takes to drive. We have seen a major increase in the military and police presence around, so that's a little disconcerting, but no one seems to be even bothered by any of this.

Anyway, we're leaving Mardin tomorrow for the west part of the province, Urfa, so we will be fine.

So, the last 36 hrs. Man. Trying times.

We took three minibuses to get to where we are now, Mardin. The first took us through Batman (yes, a city of 200,000 called Batman...)to Midyat. we thought we might stay there, but between it being just not as scenic as we expected, and the hotel guy trying to charge us an outrageous price, we rolled on the next minibus. Took us about 30 miles, then we had to wait for a third one to Mardin. This would have been ok any other day, but R was dealing with some serious Turkish stomach fun, so when we got to Mardin, she was not in a good mood, very unhappy. We got dropped off like three km outside of town, and after asking two people where we were and getting no good answer we understood, R hit the wall and I had to figure it out. It was not a good couple hrs... R was pretty unhappy and sick, and she just wanted to get to a hotel... and I wasn't doing it the way she needed (trying to be nice here :) )... anyway, we ended up getting into it a few times, and FINALLY got up to the top of the hill, and took a bus into town. Went to this really nice hotel and decided to spend a little money on it... cuuuuute place. BUT, didn't have a double bed, so we had the guys come in and fix the bed up, then R tried to take a shower, and no hot water. That was it. We went back down and got our passports and left. As we walked out, a guy asked me in english if we liked the place... turned out he was one part of a couple from Israel. they ended up giving us a ride to this place called the teacher's house, like a cheap hotel. Delightful (sarcasm...)... first room had a major toilet leak, second one was leaking gas into the room (we managed to solve that problem ourselves). We were not happy folks.

I did manage to get a fantastic meal though, and we're going back to the same place tonight.. a woman owned restaurant, with women working as chefs (this is as about as rare as a burrito in these parts - this place opened up the possiblity of working outside of the home for the women of Mardin)... and the food was GREAT. Plum/lamb meal, pickled eggplants... so good. R couldn't stomach anything, so she got to watch me eat.

We are quite the novelty in Mardin... anyone under 20 says hello to us, and EVERYONE is remarkably hospitable. R got the other side of her bag fixed here, and no one wants any money.

Today, good day with periods of just arrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Mardin is beautiful but there isn't much to do, so we figured to get out of town on a day trip to Savur, about 30 miles off. Found the minibus place after spending 40 minutes trying to get money = R started talking to a woman in the terminal, and we met a great guy on the ride out. We ALSO found out that we might be on the last minibus of the day, and that we might be stuck out there, even though we didn't have our bags and had paid for a room. The guy on the minibus suggested we go to the army camp in Savur and ask them for a ride back into town... no thanks! Well, Savur was gorgeous, really a better looking and smaller Mardin. Just lovely... over a lush river valley that becomes drier on the way up, honey colored homes, mosques, and old turkish/ottoman homes... awesome. In Savur, we were like aliens. EVERYONE stops what they are doing to say hello... sometimes in English, sometimes in Turkish. When we say ANYTHING in Turkish or Kurdish, people flip out and just love it. the kids, they come out of the woodwork to see you... They love having their pics taken and seeing them, and usually can say three or four things in English... Hello, How are you, what is your name AND money money! Funny.

It's a small place, like 4000, and as we walked around more and more people just came out of their homes to say hello and offer us tea, crazy! We were told when we got into town that there was a 3 o clock bus, so we had about 2 hrs. We bumped into one guy who HAPPENED to run a hotel in the LP, and LP calls it the best hotel in Southern Turkey... wellllll, it's true! First he showed us around the town a little bit, then when we were walking we saw some people cracking walnuts... and making this paste and then stringing the waluts together and covering it with the paste. We asked about it, or I should say R did, and the guy talked to the women doing it, and one appeared with a bowl with this jello like consistency stuff, with walnuts on it... well, kinda like jello, but creamier. They offered it to us and just wanted us to try it. I asked the guy about money, and he said no way. I just wish the US could be like this without something thinking that you're trying to get in their pants or ripping them off. This kind of generosity would be just wonderful.

Then he showed us his place... I couldn't believe... his family's home (he had on the wall his family tree, going back 24 generations!) is an old ottoman place, and there just aren't words... old wood ceilings with the original paintings, pillows everywhere, gorgeous rooms... we were so bummed that we couldn't stay. A lovely rooftop terrace with views... I know that this sounds crazy, but if you ever get to this part of the world, and I mean within a 1000 miles of Savur, this is one of the sweetest most wonderful places you could stay. And just a great guy to boot.

Anyway, we told him that we did need to go, and he ran to make a phone call... only to tell us we had to run to catch the bus!!! Ran for a few minutes, and he pointed at one and was on his way.. only for us to realize it wasn't the right one... and old guy came out of nowhere to help us, and pointed where the bus was... we just only made it! Yet another nice little conversation on the bus with a guy from Savur in pigeon english... and back to Mardin. We did a little sightseeing, saw some mosques and a madrassa, an old religious school. Then we got some great freshly sqeezed juice... pomegranate and orange... and we are here.

Sorry I haven't been putting more pics up... the computers here are a little funkier and we often go when I don't have the card reader..... but I'll get some up soon. Hope you're all well.

If any of you are interested, I tend to be online in the evenings - like from 11 am on west coast time, and I try to be on skype at least once a weekend, either sat or sunday, usually in the mornings westcoast. R is a little more spotty with both... but if you wanna call or IM us during those times, sweet!!!!!

Hasankeyf - get here before it's under water

2007-10-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

One thing I forgot about the Turkish bath was that I am a little bit skeeved out by the lack of disinfectants - the same glove was used on everyone with only a quick rinse in water in between. Come to think of it, the main way they "washed" anything we used or laid on was water - not soap and water, or disinfectant and water - just water. I keep telling myself that they've been doing this type of thing for hundreds, if not thousands (Roman baths) of years and that it's not a problem.

This morning we had a great buffet breakfast in the hotel while watching Turkish music videos, the music is pretty catchy. Then we walked to where the minibus terminal was supposed to be according to Lonely Planet, but of course it wasn't there. All of the old men within a 10 foot radius descended upon us to help the "confused foreigners". One man spoke German which Jeremy can sort of understand thanks to 2 years of studies and he put us on a minibus to the minibus terminal. We were immediately surrounded by young children all trying to sell us candy, tissues, water, etc. They lead us to the minibus headed for Batman and we were off. The scenery was beautiful, dry honey colored hills in all directions, the Tigris river and loads of cotton fields. Once we got to Batman, a modern town that is a center for oil drilling, we took another minibus to our final destination, Hasankeyf.

Hasankeyf is BEAUTIFUL! It is a tiny town backed by huge cliffs covered in cave dwellings and topped with a crumbling castle complex which includes a mosque and a couple of cemeteries. We were surprised at how dangerous the castle was though, there are huge holes in the ground that go down at least 10 feet that aren't marked by anything. We are the only foreign tourists in town, although there were some Turkish families siteseeing. We are staying in a pretty basic motel, the only accomodation in town. It has a shared bathroom, with turkish toilets, not the easiest thing in the world to get used to. The upside is that we have a small balcony with a view of the Tigris and some of the caves. We had lunch on the bank of the river up on a pillow covered platform shaded by a leafy canopy (when the water rises it comes under the platform). For 12 dollars we had delicious fish, salad, bread and a bottle of water. Was wonderful! Then we walked off the meal by heading down the river marvelling at the rock walls *this should be a rockclimbers mecca* and the cave dwellings. We found a staircase built into the rocks and we were able to hike up and through the canyon on sheep and goat paths. There were random pieces of broken pottery everywhere. It was like being in an archeological site. We weren't sure how to get out of the canyon but we kept going and it ended up curving around and leading us to the castle. We also visited the local mosque which has one of the most impressive minarets I've ever seen. The only bummer was that our rechargeable batteries died pretty much when we arrived. We hope to get up early tomorrow and take the pictures we couldn't today.

This evening we went to a tailor see if they could mend my shoulder bag. Like most places the shop was full of men just hanging out drinking tea. They didn't speak a lick of English, but we managed with our Turkish phrase book. I wish we had a Kurdish phrase book. The tailor fixed one side of my bag, but didn't realize that the other side was ripping too. He wouldn't take any money and of course they gave us free tea. We all tried to communicate. One man showed us pictures on his cell phone of his 6 children and the other man told us with his fingers that he is one of 13 and has 4 of his own. The night was topped off by a lovely dinner at a local joint. We had a pide (turkish pizza), spicy lentil soup and a vegetable concoction that they call a vegetable kebab but curiously had chicken hearts and liver in it. I asked if they had diet coke and they sent the young waiter out into town to buy one. He was away for about 15 minutes and came back with a drawn face, no coke. Then when I asked where the bathroom was they sent the boy ahead of me to clean and fill up the water jug - used for flushing. We tipped him for all the effort and he was practically glowing. People here are so friendly and they fall all over themselves to be hospitable. It's a wonderful custom and I really hope that we can return the kindness to travelers when we have a home.

Visit Hasankeyf while you still can as it is slated to be submerged forever in the next few years as part of the GAP project consisting of 21 dams and 17 hydroelectric plants.

Tomorrow we're off to Midyat.

Squeaky clean hammam style

2007-10-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Today we went to a hammam (turkish bath) with our friend Ramazan from the Diyarbakir tourist office. It was a totally unique experience. The one we went to is not in the least touristy; it is mainly used by men who are bathing before prayers. He assured us that we were welcome though. The place itself wasn't very atmospheric but the men who worked there were very nice despite the language barrier. We were ushered into individual changing rooms where we put on a sarong type thing and rubber slippers and locked our clothing inside. Then we were lead into a very hot dry room with a large round stone in the center that was heated. The three of us sat sweating on the stone for about 40 minutes drinking hot tea, cold water and Coke in our wraps. I was the only woman in the entire place. Random men came in and out bathing themselves in the private rooms that surrounded the common area where the hot stone was. They didn't seem too fazed by me. After sweating out the impurities and chatting about everything from Ramazan's 8 (yes, 8) children to his past as an actor, Jeremy began his bath. A man who has been working in the bath house for 25 years motioned for him to lay down and he scrubbed him head to toe with a rough mitt to get off all of the dead skin. He went over him twice with the mit and then they went into one of the small rooms with a wash basin and he was rinsed a few times and told to lay back down on the table this time he was rubbed with soapy water again from head to toe, front and back (although the sarong was kept on) twice. Then the guy gave him a full massage using the soap instead of oil. J looked like he was in heaven. Then he was rinsed again in the small basin room and he was done. It was my turn! He did the same thing to me which was great. I do however have a whole new understanding of the term manhandling. He wasn't quite rough, but he did push and pull to communicate what I should do. There were a couple of close calls with my sarong not quite staying in place, but no one seemed to care. I was shocked at how much dead skin I had on my body. I am committed to buying a loofah when we get a shower of our own. I actually was "dirtier" than Jeremy, ha. The guy tried to wash my hair, which was a trip, since I have so much of it and I don't think he's used to washing long hair. It was nice that he tried though. After we were all clean and drank many more glasses of tea, we were ushered into the front room where we were wrapped in 4 or 5 towels each, covered head to toe and told to relax for a while with more tea of course. I can't believe how shiny my skin is now. I hope we can find turkish baths at home. Oh, all this, almost 3 hours, for only 13 dollars each, including tip and the drinks. I really don't think I've ever been this clean. It was such a treat to be bathed, I mean who gets bathed after the age where you can't fit in a sink? After the bath we visited a very large mosque in the middle of town where Ramazan prayed while we took photos. There was a tiny area closed off by curtains in the back corner where women are allowed to pray. The mosque used to be a sun temple, church, and synagogue. There was even a star of david keystone. The mosque was made of basalt. There are two types, the female type which has holes is used for floors because it catches water and keeps it cool in the hot summers. After the mosque we visited a typical old turkish house. They have 2 sides one for winter and one for summer that make the best of the sun and other environmental factors to keep the family warm or cool. Then we walked over to the look at the Tigris river which wasn't all that awe inspiring because it is small here. The walk was great though, children and men alike asked us to take photos of them and show them on the digital screen. One little girl walked confidently up to me, held out her hand and said "my name is fatima", was super cute!

For those of you who were worried about us meeting up with the guy who we think tried to proposition us, under the advice of Ramazan and our gut feelings we stood him up. Fingers crossed that we don't run into him on the way back to the hotel.

Ramazan set us up with a great itinerary for the next week or so and so tomorrow we are off to Hasankeyf via a modern town called, get this, Batman! We might hang out there but might press on to Midyat and Mardin.

We might have more time to play with than we thought in Turkey, which is great because I love it! It's too bad that we are on the cusp of winter or I think we'd head to the north east. If you have ideas on where else to visit here, please let us know by email.

Oh - please note, next post R rated...

2007-10-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

Two additional things that I have to comment on...

1. The hotel has 25 channels, including one that just shows hard core pornography. I can't believe that in all the countries we have been in, THIS is the one that has it on the tube. And not just the normal run of the mill stuff. Use your imagination.

2. just had some yummy street food, and was walking looking for some baclava when a guy asked us if we were lost... he joined us at the sweets shop, and had a great conversation with him about the nature of people in Turkey, etc... then it got weird. We knew that people in this part of the world will invite you back to their house, just to share food and drink, and expect nothing. Well, this guy, about 45 or 50, single, invited us back to have some beer (said we could buy it) and just talk at his house. And he wanted to give us massages if we wanted them, for free (he is a masseuse)... no pressure. We told him, ummmm, we could meet tomorrow and see if we wanted to come back, which I don't think he really understood.

So what could be going on here? Trying to sell us something? Likely not. Trying to steal from us? He has to know we won't bring anything valuable. Trying to get it on with us? Well, who knows.....

We think we'll ask our friend at the travel place about it...

Crazy day, not sure how else to put it

2007-10-18T09:27:00.000-07:00

Ok. So, first of all, a NINETEEN HOUR BUS RIDE. That takes the cake for me. I've never done any transportation that long, except for a 22 hr car ride once. That's a long time. Not much sleep, but some good views of the night sky.. could see the Andromeda Galaxy out the window, and some people night scuba diving, very creepy with the lights. The bus driver and the porter were very interested in us, and loved to look at our language book and ask questions about us.

19 hrs later, we arrive in Diyarbakir. This is the heartland of the Kurds. No, there is no trouble here at all. Well, other than finding a place to stay... just ridiculously expensive...like 45 dollars a night.. finally found a place at about 34 dollars a night, at least there isn't a turkist toilet. Dropped the stuff off, and went out. We are sticking out like a sore thumb. People are absolutely fascinated by us, and I think by R in particular. They just stare, say hello, whatever. Even giving us free bananas on the bus in town.

We went to the tourist office, and the guy there was great, very friendly, and said he would take us to a Hamman tomorrow (turkish bath) and help find us a better hotel. He also suggested we check out the watermelon festival, which was just starting. We figured, why not... R loves the watermelon... we had no idea what we were getting into...

we met Razaman (the guy from the tourist office) and he walked us over to the square. We were surrounded by children, who work in the streets, who were there with their teacher/minder... they were great, speaking english to us, wanting to know about us, and vice versa.. was so cute. They loved when i took pics of them. We were also watching this great traditional dancing and music, kids and adults in costume dancing, with hundreds of people around, when Razaman motioned us over.. he said, here comes the Mayor, would you like to meet him? Sure, why not (like I'm at work :) ) And he introduces us, and we shake his hand, and he was very excited that we were Americans visiting. Then the governor of the province comes by too! And we were then invited to sit in the chairs set up for the VIP's there, and given these hats that were made for the event. It was just crazy. The hospitality was over the top. Then this woman realized we were americans, and started sending over her students (teenage girls) to talk with us and practice their english... they were just into talking to us, and we thought it was fantastic. Pictures, music, speechifying... it was surreal. I liked standing up for the Turkish national anthem, sung by this famous Turkish singer (sorry Asena, I don't remember his name, but got a pic of him) that we then talked to afterwards, eating watermelon seeds and drinking watermelon juice... of course! Talking with more locals, including a guy, that as far as I could figure out had the same job I did, working for an elected official. Was great!

So, then we went off on our own, and walked to the city walls... all 6 km of them... they are a trip. Totally open to walk on top of, and I mean open... no barriers, and only a few feet wide, with large steps. I was freaking out up there, but we walked quite a bit of it. They are nearly 1500 years old. Amazing. Also visited a church of the Syriac Orthodox Church, who believe that Jesus was only divine, and had no earthly qualities.... and then to the cheese and yogurt market, where R got a load of free cheese, for no reason.

Then, this was a trip, we had met this guy trying to sell us carpet earlier, and we told him no, but that we would come by the shop later... he caught us trying to sneak by and we HAD to go with him. Well, it ended up being lovely, as we sat there for 45 minutes with three guys over tea talking politics in Turkey and the US... they really don't like the Turks, but he said that he and most Kurds don't want to leave the Turkish country for their own. Great time. We will go back tomorrow to learn about carpet.. and we don't have to buy one.

what can i say? really turning out to be amazing... just wonderful friendly genuine people.. and hell man, we crossed the Euphrates River and are within walking distance of the Tigris. amazing! come now!!!!!

Surprising Turkey

2007-10-17T03:36:00.000-07:00

So far, so good. A CRAZY LONG 11 hr bus ride (which will pale in comparison to the 17 hr one we're gonna do in a few hrs) to Atalya, then another few buses to Cirali and a beautiful national park.

So the getting there. We got to Atalya at about 6 pm, and found a bus "to" Cirali for 20 minutes later. Sounded good. Had to ask a few guys on board when we should tell the bus driver when we wanted to get off, they asked for us, and we found ourselves on the edge of the dark highway, with little traffic, facing a 7 km walk down to Cirali as the bus doesn't go there. Wow. It was dark, and that's about an hr and a half, with a full bag on.

Started to walk, when within a minute a guy stopped and offered a room, for way too much. He left, only to come back a few minutes later and offer a pretty good price. R said no... now I've gotten into the habit of letting her handle these things, as she is more particular about it, and also I don't want to start discussing it in front of whoever is offering the place, cause you don't necessarily get the best deal if you start doing that. So I was just like, umm, what the heck are you doing? The dude left, and I knew that I should have spoken up, and I just couldn't believe she had turned the guy down. So, we walk more. A dog sees us, and we pick up a few rocks, as he's not happy. He runs at us as we pass. Almost comes in. Was great, we had to have a conversation about what to do if a dog attacks, as we heard more barking. Fortunately, after 20 minutes, a small bus came by and just picked us up for free. Very nice, but (of course) took us to his "friend's" place, a hotel. Way too much, and we checked more in the area, way too much. Then we met Mehmet (pronounced Mechmed). He was completely drunk, riding around on a scooter. Offered us a place for a great price. He had trouble parking his bike,a nd then he took us through an orchard (and apparently someone else's property, as someone was yelling at us as we walked through) to his place. Was a welcome site. Made us a snack and tea, and we stayed up for an hr talking with him.

The next day, wow. The weather was 80 degrees, we walked 100 meters to the beach, and found ourselves in some kind of paradise... a perfect beach, backed on the west by a mountain range coming right up to the beach, lush and green, turqouise water (which turned out to the be the warmest water we've swam in), which a ruined city at its base, in the lushness, with a stream an a lagoon. Wow, I say. Was a ruined Lycian city (a seperate culture from the Romans, but absorbed by them later on). We walked around exploring the ruins, partially covered in jungle, then sat on the beach for a while.

If you can believe it, we didn't head this way for these reasons... we were going to Chimera, a spot that is out of this world. It is an area spread over about a football field where gas trapped in the earth escapes and spontaneously combusts with the air, resulting in 20-30 spots where there is a permanent fire. Some were as big as a campfire you might make camping. There used to be more, and were plainly seen from ships passing in ancient times. Great spot, just mesmerizing. Took some cool pics too.

After some good breakfasts of tomato, olives, cheese, a hardboiled egg, cucumber and bread (and crazy amounts of tea) and some great salads, we left this morning, shared the bus out with a nice Canadian couple, and found ourselves on the road again, waiting for a bus. R asked a guy in a van if he wouldn't mind taking us to Atalya, and he gave us a good price, so we jumped in... five minutes later, we were off the road, at some roadside hotel, while he delivered something and decided to have a little breakfast. Great. Turned out fine, only about 15 minutes, and then R and him had a good conversation in broken English about him, Turkey, etc...

We got to the bus station, and found a 17 hr bus east to Diyarbakir, the heartland of the Kurds. Don't get all excited though .. we are following the news, we know what's going on, and there are no travel advisories on the state deparment site, and every Turk we've talked to said there is no problem whatsoever. Just not looking forward to that kind of time on the bus.

That's all folks!

http://66.70.224.3/Photos2/456-750-1.jpg

Onto Bodrum...

2007-10-14T06:27:00.000-07:00

We left Selcuk this morning, and headed a few hrs sounth to Bodrum, which is becoming Turkey's version of the Riviera... still pretty low rent and toursity, but yachties, and prices to match (especially with food... sushi for 50 bucks for example).

Hit two pretty good ones today.. the Bodrum Underwater Archeology Museum in a Knights of St. John (the guys who were in charge of the eastern Aegean in the 1300's) castle... the castle itself was great, 6 hundred years old, bombeb by a French battleship in WW1, but the finds from old shipwrecks, wow. The best by far was from three Bronze Age wrecks, around 3700 years old... with some totally unique finds, including a scabbard with Nefertiti's name on it, the only in the world, and some amazing everyday objects that have never been seen. I liked the glass ignots that had not been made into whatever objects intended. Many glass objects were around too, from shipwrecks up through the 11th century.. and of course, thousands of pieces of pottery, of the amphora variety (those large pieces of pottery with two handles used to store and ship things, like wine or olive oil)... they rebuilt one wreck, the way it was on the floor of the ocean, with hanging fish. Was a great great museum.

The second one was the second Ancient Wonder of the World, the Mausoleum of Maussollos, or more precisely, what's left of it. Not a tremendous site, but one of those places that you're just moved a bit by the fact you're there.

Now ask me if I actually care about either of these. :)

Been a nightmare few days, on the sleeping/planning/waiting for bus/crazy people page. Just ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTED of thinking about where to go next, planning, where to stay, just the worst. The bargaining for a place is the worst, it's just not fun or cute, just give me a decent price for a room and I'll pay it!!!!! The bus was an hr late today, and the guy who tried to sell us tickets last night was certifiable.. just mumbling to himself, laughing out loud at nothing, and trying to sell us tickets to places we didn't want to go. Had a lousy meal last night. And two nights of no sleep, due to the Attack of the Indestructible Mosquito Enemies. There was one last night, it was amazing. He was a stealth mosquito, made of kevlar. Couldn't see him, couldn't kill him, but could hear him from under the hot, stuffy blanket I had to cover myself with to keep from getting more bites. Kept me up all night, which meant that poor R was up all night too. I just gave up at 3:45 am, and tried to go on a walk, and the door of the hotel was locked, so I went on the roof and watched a thunderstorm go by for a while.

So we are set in going east. There are no travel advisories, and we are ready to deal with whatever weather comes our way. So we begin that part tomorrow.

Saw a sign saying "We sell the best fake watches in the world". That probably defines Bodrum best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Maussollos

http://www.bodrum-museum.com/

Efes was amazing

2007-10-13T11:24:00.000-07:00

or as I called it yesterday, Epheses... a huge roman and greek ruin, complete with almost totally intact apartments of rich Roman citizens, with full mosaics, paintings on the walls, and grafitti. Was amazing. A 2 story library, mostly intact... long main boulevards, and a 25,000 seat arena. We've seen a lot of ruins, but this was was the best by far.

Tomorrow we're doing an underwater archeology museum, south of here. Can't wait.

Not sure how long we're here. We know of the tensions between the US and Turkey now, but hasn't affected us... no one seems to care, and we know of the tensions with the Kurks, in places I really want to go. OH well.

A cat hissed at me after I gave it food. What the hell?

Goodbye Greece

2007-10-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Turkey. Selcuk to be exact, the town that is the keeper of Ephesus, one of the grandest ruins in all the eastern med of a Roman town.. can't wait.

But only just got here, and the people are falling over themselves to be helpful. Sure, some of them are trying to sell you something, and you can discuss any price, but many are just genuinely helpful and friendly. Amazing, the most friendly place we've been.

But I do want to share two animal stories with you from the last few days.

On Leros, R and I were meeting and becoming friends with every cat on the island.. you know how we like cats... and we started to hear this baying (spelling?) from what sounded like a donkey... sure enough it was. And it was baying to get our attention.. seriously, cause we started to walk over, and it was getting excited, and it just put its head against the fence and let us scratch him and feed him grass for 10 minutes.. and he was all upset when we left, making all kinds of noise, we had to go back!

The second is a little one, but was just awesome. On the ferry today (one of two we were on for like 6 hrs to get here..) we were pulling into one of the many ports we hit, and I was looking down at the water, and this dolphin just came flying out from under the boat (we were doing about 15 knots), did a 180, took a breath, and dived back under the boat... just graceful and beautful. Loved it.

That's all for now.. country 15!!!

Lipsi? Yes it's called Lipsi

2007-10-09T08:53:00.001-07:00

and it is quite nice. Tiny, we walked half the island today in about two hours. Many fine beaches, among the best we've been too yet. This one at the end of the island, unbelievably pretty... like a postcard. Should be on the Lipsi travel agency stuff.... and we kicked it there with the cows and the goats. You gotta love it. The water is sort of cold, but it's just great exercise, and I've really enjoyed swimming more than I have before. The beach also had the best skipping stones I've encountered yet on the trip - for those of you who don't know, I love skipping stones, and there were so many of these broken sheets of rock, very thin, not to heavy, and they go forever. I was even throwing them off a cliff, like 40 feet up, and they skipped. I've become a kid... or was I before...

Lipsi is very small, only 700 people, and 600 in Lipsi Town. You gotta love how the Greeks do it though... 600 people, 5 markets, three internet places. And there are about 10 tourists in town, and we only saw 2 other tourists in the five or so hrs we were out today. The weather is holding, so we will milk it for a few more days (maybe Patmos, or maybe just straight to Samos) and on to Turkey.

Leros was a great change, but not the kind of place to stay for a long time. I really enjoyed the architecture in the southern town of Lakki... the Dodecenese, the islands off the coast of Turkey we're at now, were under the control of the Italians for 35 years from 1912 to 1947, and they left an impact, particularly on Leros. They based their fleet in Lakki harbor (the largest deep water port in the Med!) and built up the town as some kind of Fascist showpiece (Mussolini had a mansion there, couldn't figure out which one it was). So the architecture is great... Art Deco, late 20's style. Great large balconies, sweeping curves, and even a large oval building with a huge open-air courtyard. Good stuff.

Leros was also a battleground in WW2 when the Italians capitulated, the Brits came to take over, and the Germans invaded and eventually kicked them out. We stayed two minutes from the Leros War Cemetary for the 200 or so British, South African and Canadian soldiers killed in the battles. Even sunk a Brit destoyer in the harbor.

R started up a conversation with a guy originally from Lipsi in Leros, Manolo. He is 78, and remembers the war very clearly. Was also digging all the ladies walking by him, and commented on each (said that he didn't like heavier Greek women, cracked R up).

Saw an octopus in the harbor, quite liked that.

So a word on decision-making on a trip like this... it's really hard, you go from wanting to see everything to skipping stuff, to changing your mind, to staying an extra day, to cutting something out completely you were sure you wanted to see and planned the trip around ... all in about a day. This last part of Greece has really been like that, adding and subtracting time and places based on how we feel. We have been here a month, and have gotten to the point that we have seen a good representative number of islands, and we are fighting the calendar and the end of the tourist season just to see more, so we know we NEED to be done soon. But you can only do nothing for so long (and believe me, the last few/three islands was a whole lot of nothing), but Turkey we weren't sure about, as we heard the weather would be bad this time of year. Flying to Israel complicates things too, as you have to buy a ticket well enough in advance for it to be somewhat cheap, but that means you have to stick to a schedule that can change or be bad because of weather. Right now, it's going to be Turkey for three weeks, no matter what.. we haven't bought the ticket, but we've stayed somewhat consistent (at least today) in what we want to do.

Phew.

I'm reading way too much right now (can you do that?) Finished a great book on the history of Central Park and an older survey of American Politicians by R. Hostedler. Going to finish Collapse by Jared Diamond soon. Working on Discipline and Punish by Foucault (heavy) and a DETAILED book on the French Revolution, too detailed. Then I have the Captive Mind by Milosz. I'm so smart, SMRT. If you know that reference, write it in the comments!

Bye!!!

From the middle of everything to the middle of nowhere to...

2007-10-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

What a week.

We did make it to Santorini. What a place. Disneyland for rich people. Quite a view, but that was it.

Was good to get out of there, but what a way to do it. Ferried from Santorini at 3;30 to Naxos, had to hang out there til after 11, then a ferry to Astipalea, in the middle of friggin nowhere, with an arrival at 4:30. Ouch. Couldn't find the place we had called, until we saw one of the EIGHT people on our ferry (a ferry for nearly a thousand folks) ask where the place was... made it in ... a GORGEOUS flat, and crashed out.

Not much to do there, cause we were literally in the middle of the Aegean and it was the end of tourist season. Cooked, laid on the beach, walked a lot.

Escaped this morning ...but had a GREAT experience there in the small but great archeological museum. We met the docent/curator, Labrini, and had a wonderful time over about 2 hrs talking about the museum, Greece, America (debating its merits after she said some, how shall I say, challenging things about it...) just everything. I was so bummed that we had not gone in there til the last day!

So, left today, and debated on the boat where to go - ended up in Kalymnos, then decided to split for Leros, a little smaller, quieter, etc...and it's nice so far. We don't know what's next. I think some serioust time in Turkey. My friend Asena sent me a wonderful email about Turkey and what to do there, and the place sounds so amazing.. I mean, I knew it was great, but we were thinking that the weather might make it hard for us to do at this point. Just checked my email ( I owe you one Asena) and he said that its colder but worth the effort. So we shall see. I also owe Tristen a big thanks on this one, for telling me how cool Turkey is.

So that's it. New photos should be up in a few days....

The Caldera

2007-09-30T07:29:00.000-07:00

We've been staying in Oia (pronounced iy ah) on the north side of Santorini for the last few days. The caldera is spectacular, especially around here where there are what they call traditional cave houses built right into little niches on the side of the cliff. The are fabulous studios and vacation rentals complete with jacuzzis and pools. Maybe we should've splurged. We had planned on staying at the hostel but were able to get our own little studio with a view of the sea and sunset for the same price. Other than the caldera view, a wine tasting (delicious dry whites and reds) and a couple of black sand and/or black rocky beaches we haven't done much. Tomorrow we're headed to Astypalea which is a tiny island in the Dodacanese. We hadn't orginally planned on going that way but the ferries are few and far between this time of year. I hope we make it. The one travel agent in Oia lied to us about ferry schedules so we'll have to test our luck at the port tomorrow. I do miss the customer service in the states.

What a lousy day

2007-09-27T00:12:00.000-07:00

So yesterday. Man.

We rented this four by four, and spent two days ago at the beach. Didn't do a thing but lay on two beaches. It's still a bit windy, and the water is cold, so not much time in the water, but I read my books "Seven Days in May" and "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" and that was great!

So yesterday. We decided to go inland to see this kitron factory (it's a local fruit they make into jelly and alcohol) and maybe some old statues that had broken in the quarries 27 hundred years ago. Got on the bike and drove inland for a while when bam! something crashed into my eye. Man. It hurt. Got to the town, but it was bad. I was trying to wash it out, nothing would come out, and it was getting worse and worse. Thought we should just see the tiny town of Halki, and went to the distillery, where I managed to slam my head against the wall (part clumsy, part just out of it from the eye). Ended my day, my eye was getting worse and worse.

I tried to get R to drive the bike, but she wasn't comfortable with it at all (and didn't have her license anyway, which could have been bad) so I drove. My eye was killing me. I've broken a rib, dislocated my knee, broke my face and teeth - I have to say, this pain was about the worst I've ever felt. Was just getting worse and worse. We did stop to look at some statues, but I was so out of it, and started to get a little freaked, as my eye was really bad and it had been like 5 hrs since I hurt it. Decided to get home.

Got back, and was in severe pain, and my eye was just a mess - totally red, couldn't keep it open. We had to go to the medical clinic. They were really nice, checked it out, didn't see anything in it, but told me that it was scratched pretty good ( I could see the scratch myself) and then washed it out and gave me an antibiotic, sent me on my way. Spent most the rest of the day (this was about 3:30) with my eyes shut in bed, nothing I could do. Well, it gets better.

I had a pretty good allergic reaction to the medication (you put it in your eye directly). My eye and part of my face swelled up (my eye real bad), got completely red, and it was just horrible. Freaked out some, cause I'm allergic to most antibiotics, told the doc, and she said it should be fine (should!!!). It was 11:30 at this point, and I had to go out to an internet cafe just to see if it was related to penicillin, which is the worst for me. It isn't, but now I have yet ANOTHER antibiotic I can't take.

I'm better today, the eye isn't puffy, but it looks a little red, and the scratch is itchy. What can you do?

I think we are finding some beaches in the north on the bike.

When the wind blows...

2007-09-25T00:13:00.000-07:00

things can get a little nutty.

We had delayed our leaving Athens by a day because of a few things... I wanted to catch a few more sites, and we also heard that the winds had been canceling ferries, so we figured, why not. Meant we got to go to the National Archeology Museum... wow. I don't know much about ancient Greece, but I do know now. Amazing stuff, particualarly the items they called "prehistoric", the ones R talked about in her previous post. The evolution of sculpting was very cool as well.. in the course of a few hundred years the Greeks went from highly stylized pieces, with no recognizable identity of the sculpted form, to the classics you all would recognize today. Great stuff.

We had planned to go to Santorini... all good plans.... we got to the ferry terminal yesterday morning at 6:15, along with the rest of the world, and found that Santorini was sold out. We, on the spot, decided just to get out to the island group we're planning to be in for the next little bit... the Cyclades... by going to the main stop of Paros. It was 5 long hrs on what felt like a floating mall from the 1980's. We got to Paros, and stayed long enough to get a ferry out to one of the stops we had planned to make after Santorini, Naxos. An hr later (and it was windy out, so kind of a barfer) we made it. Very different than Paxos. More established tourist spot, which is good and bad. Bad, as in lots of lame shops and bad restaurants. Good, as in some obvious reasons why people have been coming here, and some good places to eat (more on the later).

We didn't do much other than get a great place - a studio apt with a pool! For cheap! I love the offseason! We walked into town, and wondered around the Kastro (no, not SF!) which is the old Venetian part of the town, up a hill, through whitewashed buildings, timbered, and it goes this way and that as a way to defend against pirates! No kidding.

Then we hit Picassos. Yes, a tex mex place. I know, I know, but you all know how desperate I've been for a burrito. This place was awesome. It was a FINE delicious REAL burrito, and we got nachos too. There were jalapenos and chunky guac. And a free after dinner shot of margarita! The nicest was we started talking to the waitress, a Norwegian woman who has been here for years. About the trip, the food, her life, etc... and she decided that we needed two tshirts from the place. Soooooo nice of her.

Had breakfast this morning (did our shopping when we got in) and will be likely renting a four wheeler (no scooter for me, just don't want to deal with it) and get to some beaches, which are supposed to be really good.

Adios.

Crazy old stuff

2007-09-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the Athens flea market which was a total let down. The LP says that it's a must see, but it turns out that it is pretty much the same vendors that are down there every day. We did find a couple of used books though, which should get us through the islands. Hopefully we can get out to them. The woman at the hostel said that the ferries have been suspended for the last 48 hours due to winds. I don't get it, these aren't small vessels. We haven't been able to find any info through the google, so we'll see tomorrow morning at 5am since the ferry is at 7:25. Oh the joys of the "travel day". After the flea market we went to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. The columns there are breathtaking. I especially like the one that was blown down about a hundred years ago in a gale. Then we checked out an ancient stadium that had been restored for the first recent Olympics in 1896, very cool! After that we tried to no avail to find the grave site of the archaeologist who discovered the city of Troy. Gyro time! In the evening we went to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens which was amazing. I have never seen anything that old before. We saw what they call the Mask of Agamemnon which isn't actually his death mask as it predates his life, but cool nonetheless. Many of the artifacts were under 3500 years old, but some of it was 8000 years old. The gold jewelery and burial ornaments from the Mycenaean era were perfectly preserved. It's hard to wrap my mind around just how old some of these things are. One of my favorite things was a large bronze statue of a woman which was accidentally found by a fisherman in the 90's. They showed the restoration process that included cleaning the barnacles off and building a new internal frame. It's amazing what they can do to restore these objects, especially the ones found under water. The plaster casts for household items and furniture made by pouring plaster into the hollows of the volcanic material left after the eruption at Santorini takes the cake though. They were able to make perfect casts of things like a wooden bed frame complete with the string that was tied around the posts. I wish the ticket allowed multiple entries though because there are only so many statues and pots one can look at in a day without burning out.

After the museum we went for Indian food which I was VERY excited about, despite it's location in the middle of a street where just about everyone was buying or selling "hard" drugs. I wanted something other than Moussaka though and was willing to risk it. It was quite an experience. The restaurant itself was nice, painted colorfully with scenes of the Taj Mahal and such, even though we think the clientelle and probably the ownership was Bangladeshi since they had a Bangladeshi tv channel on in both rooms. In any case, we were the only non Bangladeshi/Indian/Pakastanis in the place. Oh, and I was the only woman there too. The waiter was very happy to see us. He brought out a bottle of water, which of course we were charged for, but that's fair enough. The entrees were pricey at around 10 euros a pop (I hate the dollar right now), but we were ready for different food. So we ordered chicken tikka masala, lamb biryani, potato saag and naan. About 20 minutes later the water brought out a plate of french fries and 3 traditional dipping sauces. I tried to ask if they were free since we didn't order them and he just said yes, but I think he would've said yes at anything since he didn't speak much english. I tried to show him that they charge for fries on the menu and then he started asking me about the potato saag and so we thought maybe he was trying to pass off fries for potato saag. Whatever, we ate the fries and sat there dreading the bill, all the time wondering since when french fries were considered Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani cuisine. A few minutes before he had told us that they were out of lamb biryani and so we switched to chicken biryani. The food all came out at different times. It was ok, but not spicy at all, super buttery (full of ghee) though. In the end we scarfed it all down and committed to not being over charged. He brought the bill and only tried to over charge us 1 euro for the lamb instead of chicken, but I think it was an honest mistake. Everything worked out ok, except for the food not really being worth what we paid - $40. I guess next time we stick with the souvlaki and moussaka while trying not to get charged 2 euros for bread. I do look forward to the good ole USA for free water, bread, condiments, papadaum, tortilla chips and salsa, those goodies at Korean restaurants, and not being charged to sit down at a restaurant or cafe. I guess I'll settle for free french fries for the moment though :) Wish us luck with the ferry. I really don't want to be stuck in Athens as Santorini beckons.

And more video!

2007-09-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

I love this video thing...

2007-09-22T13:42:00.000-07:00

Let's try video....

2007-09-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

And more...

2007-09-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

More pics....

2007-09-22T13:14:00.001-07:00

of Athens, Meteora and Greece....

A week of no blog? The bastards.

2007-09-22T12:49:00.001-07:00

Well, I know, we are, really. Here's the past week.

So we spent the last two days on Paxos on the beach basically. Went to the neighboring baby island of Antipaxos, and there we found the two most beautiful sandy beaches. Swimming, frisbee, laying around. No more to do, and it was perfect. We did hike most of the 2km island, but not much to see but views, green and the odd house. AWESOME BEACHES THOUGH.

Got on the ferry, and made it to the port town of Igoumenitsa, nothing going on there but the bus terminal not being where we thought it was - a 4 km walk with the packs on. Went to Ioannia, thought we would be there for the evening, but got another bus out to Kalabaka - why Kalabaka? Well, it's home to Meteora, the coolest location for monasteries you've ever seen. Huge rock cliffs, look like they are out of the Planet of the Apes, with the monasteries on top of them. Spent two days climbing around them, went to three, including (I know, pretty silly) the one in the James Bond flick "For Your Eyes Only". What can I say, it was a mainstay movie of my youth. Not the reason we went though, believe me.

The monasteries all have very ornately-painted chapels, and obviously great views. They are very touristy though, so some magic was lost when you were there. We hiked over the mountains though home, and that was great - no one around, and we came across a tortoise as big as my head (turtles are in the water, tortoises on land, right?).

Headed out yesterday for Athens. There is still stuff we want to see on the mainland, but we figure to hit them when we come back this way in a month to head to Istanbul (Delphi, etc). Athens is, well, not the most amazing place on Earth. It lacks some character (I know, you think I'm nuts) but most the time, when you're just walking around, there's nothing that calls out to you saying Athens! like other cities do (such as SF, NYC, London, other places surely). It's a bit bland, a bit on the 1950's-60's construction side of things... but the ancient sites, they are amazing, if just that they are so old... some are more than 2500 years old. The Acropolis is truly the most important archeological site in the world. And it looks it (to our disappointment) as it's covered in scaffolding, including the Parthenon. Kind of a drag (the museum up there is closed right now too!) but still, it's the Parthenon, and you're pretty blown away when you're there. The whole area around the Acropolis is full of ruins, including ancient Agora (the old Greek town, where both Socrates and St. Paul plied their trade), Roman Agora (with some impressive edifices and restored sites, and a GREAT museum with a Spartan shield, 6 thousand year old finds and some amazing painted jars), Kerameikos (the old Athenian cemetery with finds from 700 BC to 100 AD - and eight tortoises including two that were fighting....) and monuments that the Roman emperor Hadrian built in about 150 AD.

But you really do get your fill of ruins. We will be here tomorrow, sort of cleaning up so to speak (the Archeology museum, the flea market), then we head off to Santorini for our first Med island stop, perhaps a month out there!

I wanted to with Kevin and Jess a great honeymoon as they travel in Italy!!!!

I love the Ionian Sea!

2007-09-16T07:40:00.001-07:00

Paxos really is a paradise. Yesterday we hiked all over the island, about 20 km total. We stopped briefly in the port of Loggos and then went all the way to Lakka which is a yachties heaven - nice bay, good food. I wish we had a yacht, would be so nice to island hop that way. Maybe we'll meet some rich yet down to earth yacht owner who is looking for company. The hike yesterday took us through endless olive groves and past derelict olive presses and tiny churches. There are tiny little pink cyclamens "rakefet" flowers growing wild all over the island. The hike was great until we lost the path and tried to climb down through sticker bushes and down terraces for the olive trees. Not nearly as bad as our bicycle debacle in Poland, but not fun either.

Last night we made pasta with tomatoes, delicious greek olives, feta and olive oil. I am having so much fun with the fresh ingredients. Jeremy has been making us breakfast every morning which we eat on our balcony facing the port. I am not looking forward to moving again tomorrow. It's been nice getting into a routine here.

That said, the mainland beckons. We can't be in greece without seeing the ruins. Tomorrow we'll try to get to Meteora, where there are monasteries built on the top of rock cliffs. Evidently one of them was in a James Bond movie, which J is very excited about.

Onward to Greece...

2007-09-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hey all... sorry for no updates lately... paritially cause the last few places in Albania had either no internet or it didn't work, and now in Greece, it's 6 EUROS AN HOUR. Highway ripoff...

Sooooo... I slowly got out of my funk in Albania. After all, there's only so much you can do when you're in Albania. We headed to Gjirokastër, a smallish town in the south, for a day (this was a period of time where we traveled everyday, very rough) Gjirokastër was alright actually. We stayed in the old part of town, WAY up this hill we had to climb, and checked out the castle (which was great, as it was intact and huge, so we climbed all over it... including an old American plane the Albanians said they shot down) and the ethnographic museum, which is the home of the old Commie ruler of Albania, Hoxna. That was great, as it was an old Ottoman home, and it had all the original furniture and clothing. Decent food too, these things called Qifqi, like potato pancaked but with rice.

Then we went to Sarandë, a "beach" community in the south - not much of a beach, even the one LP was raving about. The best thing about it was something truly special though.. the ruins at Butrint
. FANTASTIC. It was where the Greeks, in the 5th century bc, built a city to honor Asclepius, the god of medicine. It was taken over by the Romans, Byzantines, Normans, Venetians, the Ottomans... quite a history. Remarkable ruins, including a ampitheatre and Greek writing on the walls. Great museum with all sorts of finds dating back to the Bronze age, Greek statues, just amazing.

One thing to mention before we go. The Albanians are pretty weird... they start building all types of things and don't finish them. On most of the unfinished buildings, and some of the homes, there are either dolls or stuffed animals hanging from them. We couldn't figure out what they were, and R asked, and apparently they are NOT like scarecrows, as we thought, but used to ward off the evil eye. Yes, the evil eye.

Left Sarrande yesterday for Greece, goooooodbye Albania! We headed to Corfu for a few hrs to wait for the ferry (and found that most atms didn't like my card there, was a delight trying to find one that worked. We took the ferry (about 2.5 hrs total on both) to PAXOS . Amazing, awesome Paxos. Tiny island (10km by 4km). We are staying in the main town of Gaios, about 500 people. A woman asked us at the ferry if we needed a place... turned out she was the number one recommended place in LP. Easy to see why... our own studio, kitchen, and private balcony. We love it. Cooked this morning a breakfast, and going to do dinner there tonight to save some money - Greece is expensive! We have eaten at the crepe place in town though a few times... loved the olive tomato feta one, and did a waffle with ice cream.

Today, we hiked to to the south end of the island, and had our own beach. No kidding. We were on it for most of three hours and were by ourselves most the time. Clear water (not the warmest, but really nice in the sun) and just hung out and laid out and swam and played chess. These two Greek guys came up and they showed us a conch they pulled from the water that was as big as my head, no kidding. Amazing. Not sure what tomorrow holds... more hiking on the island? To the neighboring island of Antipaxos for a day trip? All sounds good to me.

Still a little sick with the stomach flu, can't beat it.

Thought I would finish by sharing some of the things we've picked up on the trip, to fill out the bags..

two additional shirts found in hostels... one black one from Bosnia, one yellow one from Tirana.

An old bedsheet, we use on the beach, and an REI towel we found for the beach

A pair of white socks I sometimes wear at night.

R found a pair of Diesel Jeans, awesome.

Anyway, feeling better, thanks for the nice emails from everyone. I'm likely not going to email much the next little bit, but I will as soon as I can!!!!

How awful depression is...

2007-09-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

So hello all. This comes to you from Berat, in the southernish part of Albania. More on that later.

Thought I would talk a little about depression. Not sure how many of you deal with it, other than the "getting depressed cause I had a bad day at work" type. I deal with two pretty serious types of depression (not sure if this is clinical, but whatever)... situational, when things just get too hard for me, and a type of depression that comes on from nowhere. I usually get the latter a few times a year, and it's awful- usually lasts 4-5 days, and I'm just out of it and can't really function... I usually try to throw myself into work and ride it out.

The situational one tends to come on when I have no outlet to deal with whatever is getting me, and it usually takes a little time for it to build to a point where I just get really out of it. This has happened twice to me on the trip.. once for a few days in Lviv, and now for about 5 days here in Albania. As I've said before on the blog, one of the difficult things to deal with is the lack of my normal outlets- friends, guitar, walking to the local bookstore, cooking some foods, whatever- that help keep me on a level field. I was thinking about it the other day, and it's almost like I medicate myself by doing those things, maybe like what a compulsive person does to keep in check (again, I'm no therapist, I'm just shooting from the hip here, but I liked the comparison). So when I just reach the wall, I have no way of rationally keeping myself from crashing through it, and I retreat to bed, stop eating, all these wonderful things, all things I did over the past five days. The few times I tried to physically get myself out of it, it takes very little to push me back over. So when I reached Tirana, and R and I started fighting, the dominos started to fall, and I couldn't stop myself.

That being said, I do stand by everything I wrote about Albania. I still don't think very much of it, and what I wrote really does capture how I feel. And just to finish that night I was blogging, R went out after I blogged and got me a chicken to eat. Well I started eating it, and this guy that we rode in on the bus came in and started chatting with me. Well 1. I didn't want to chat at at all and 2. I'm not a big chat when I eat guy. He immediately started telling me that chicken wasn't good for someone who was sick, that I should do this and that... just wouldn't stop. Finally, after eating some of the food, I said that I wanted to find R to give her some, just to get away. Couldn't find her, so I sat in the bottom bunk where I was sleeping to finish eating. I threw the bones away, and then the hostel dog came upstairs and tried getting in the trash... when I tried to shoe him, he tried to bite me, then bit my food and partially ripped my sock. I couldn't get him out, and said forget it, if he wants to choke on chicken bones, fine. I went downstairs and hid out until R came back and shoed him away. This is quite a state of mind to be in. The next day, while I was packing, the dog came in and grabbed my medicine bag and chewed on it, then took R's shoe. Just delightful.

Today, I tried very hard to get of the funk. We went up to the castle here, but got roped into a "tour" by some dude who just waits around for tourists to come and we were corralled into walking around with him, he was taking the camera from me to taking awful pics, telling us fairly uniteresting facts about the place, and at the end (and during the middle) he tells (mind you, this was all it ITALIAN with R translating through a Spanish filter) about his poor family, etc... so you have to pay him something, which is never enough, and he asks for more. Just was a lame situation. I couldn't deal with anyone today, let alone some leachy guy who just wouldn't leave us alone (didn't help that R sort of encouraged him on early before we could get out of it). Sent me right back into bed.

Then she wanted me to get out and get something to eat, another disaster (at least in my state of mind)... first she wanted to find this restaurant, but we just wondered around for a while and didn't find it (later she realized that she should have brought the map, and thinks she got two places confused). Then we went to the second place, and while we waited (forever) for a menu, that damn guy who was critical of my food choice two nights before came over to talk (the guy from Tirana). Wow, I wasn't in the mood for this. I said nothing, and he kept chatting. Still no menu, five minutes. I just said, f this, and told R that I was leaving. She followed me out, and I told her I wanted to go back. She wanted to try one more place, and I said ok. Up a hill we went, went inside, where the waiter had no idea what R was talking about when she said she wanted to sit outside. I didn't want to repeat the lack of a menu, and the only seat inside was in a room full of smokers. Your brain (or my brain I should say) just about fizzled out. I was just out of it completely. You try to get out of your funk and you can't. Or I can't.

Well, much more talking later between me and R and I feel ok. You just have to baby step it when you're depressed. You try your best to not let things bother you, don't put yourself in situations where they might, and see what happens. WE talked about next steps here in Albania; R had indicated that she wouldn't mind seeing a little more (about 3 days worth)... I think that I could blow right of here, but since I don't expect us ever to come back, if she wants to check it out, fine. Greece beckons at some point.

Berat

2007-09-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

My last night in tirana turned out to be really fun. Tadej, my slovenian photographer friend, invited me and some other people from the hostel out to meet some peace corps. volunteers for a drink in the bloku area (a district that normal Albanians were forbidden to enter during communist times, as it was reserved for the big shots - now it is full of trendy bars). It was crazy to be around so many Americans all at once. One of them, James, who is living in berat invited me to dinner last night in berat.

We left tirana in the morning yesterday. they don't have bus stations so you have to find out the current location where the minivans (furgons) and buses leave from and then once you get on you are still in the city for what seems like forever until they finish trolling for people to fill up the seats. the weather has been beautiful the last couple of days, the rain cleared up and it's not too hot. We found a great hotel room with our very own balcony for only $20! It's good because Jeremy needed a peaceful place to recover. I was supportive and left to do my own thing. I went out to dinner with James and another voluteer, Katie. they took me to this lovely little restaurant that I would've never found. It had a great view of the city and the food was pretty good too, especially the mixed salad which consisted of many different pickled veggies. those of you who know me well know that I can't pass up anything (well just about anything) pickled. the conversation was fantastic. I got some good insights into what peace corp life is like here. I thought it was pretty funny that they said that they refer to their post in Albania as posh corps. compared to some of the other places they could've been placed. they are particularly lucky to be in berat which is beautiful and has a good array of things to do socially. the power and water cuts suck though, but that's most places in the country.

today, Jeremy and I ventured up to the castle complex on the hill. the setting is wonderful. berat is surrounded by 2 stunning mountains and there are lots of pine, olive and pomegrantite trees on the hills. Leading up to the castle are 2 mosques and traditional white houses with red terra cotta roofs, Lovely! I thought we would have a quiet visit, but like a novice tourist I was sucked in by a guy who proceeded to guide and rush us through the sight in Italian. I was surprised at how far my Spanish took me in understanding the tour. He insisted on taking all kinds of pictures of us posing with a flower he picked for me. there was something charming about it, but then again, he was just doing it for money. I guess it is better than begging though. He did give us a pretty thorough tour of the site. I just felt bad because it was hyper stimulation for Jeremy and after we gave him money he asked for more, argh! In the evening we walked across the river and looked at a few churches. It was fun walking through the winding pathways. One of the churches was remniscent of an old CA mission. then we got some delicious freshly dried sunflower seeds and participated in the gyro - the nightly social walk on the main drag. tomorrow we'll head to the beach town of Saranda. I think it will be nice, but I'm really looking forward to spending time in Greece.

Albania

2007-09-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

So,just an advanced warning...I've been good for four months, not swearing or otherwise on the blog...but this might be the blog filled with obscenities. Consider yourself warned.

I should also say that my hernia has been miserable for nearly a week, and that I've got some kind of stomach thing going on that has been the worst. How shall I put it? Well, you all have good imaginations. Imagine your worst diarrhea. Now multiply that by 15. That's me. AND I've been fighting a really awful cold for a week, and my sinuses are killing me. So I might just be in a wee bit of a bad mood.

AND, before I forget, R put lots of new pics up - just go to the Photos! link on the right of the page or straight to www.snapfish.com and log in with jeremysdennis@gmail.com password is 123456 - go to the photos tab at the top to see all of the new albums, woohoo.

Albania sucks. It's the pits. A dirty backwards dump. Incredibly dirty, can't drink the water, the food is miserable (a doner is a mayonnaise sandwich with soggy french fries in it). They have daily power outages, some last 4-5 hrs, and businesses, even in the main drag, have to use generators in the street to stay open. People have tried to rip me off 3 separate times with food... once I demanded the right change and I got it, the second time I let it pass,and the third time I gave him the food back, managed to get my money back, and told the guy to F himself. Two other times I went to the once place where the food is ok, and they were OUT OF FOOD.

Up until 15 years ago, there were less than 2000 cars in the whole country. Now there are 500,000, and since no one really learned to drive (and are apparently driving stolen Mercedes - no kidding, lots of organized crime here) they all drive like shit. Like, you really might be killed crossing the street, even when they have a red. Even the few morons riding around on bikes will run you over. They honk at everything, at nothing, for no reason, and drive on the wrong side of the street.

There is no organized public transport in the whole country, so you have to wait by the side of the road,waiting for guys in VW vans to come by... if they are going where you are and have room, you're ok. If you're like the poor saps I saw coming in from the crowded van we were in, standing in the pouring rain miles from ANYTHING (and I mean anything, as there are vast stretches of nada here), you're screwed.

So basically I stayed in bed for two days. Who cares. It didn't help at all that on our first night R and I were fighting a little, went to the internet cafe,and she finished early so she went back to the hostel WITH THE ONLY KEY, that I didn't know existed. Well, I couldn't get back in. I had to wait for a while, until someone came along who let me in. Positively awesome, when your wife spaces out like that are you're stuck outside in the cold.

The three guys in our room are a-holes. I don't know where they are from, but apparently they came here to play pool and bet on it(sounds like they aren't doing well). They also,when they think you're sleeping, talk about you behind your back.

I am tired of acting excited when someone tells me where they have been or tell me how amazing it is that I'm traveling.

So you can say that I've hit a wall. This place completely sucks, it's hard to get out of anyway, I actually think R likes it here, and now I don't want to go to Greece cause it will kill us moneywise.

I am tired of the "poor person" tour we're on. There is nothing good or fun or cute or quaint or educational about it. I just feel bad. There are people out there selling whatever they found in the street that morning, or selling your weight ont their broken scale, and we all just come and look at them. Or the Roma,man, they live like animals, and the people here at the hostel we're talking about how we have to check out the new Roma camp! I feel terrible that I can't do anything, feel awful that I look at them (and have taken pics of it). It's all just superficial and sad.

I hate this!!!!!!!!

Blood Feuds

2007-09-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

I went for a walk today along the pitiful river in Tirana. During the lawless years there were shanty towns built on the banks. Today only one building remains which is supposedly occupied by a couple of families who can't leave or they will be killed because they are involved in blood feuds. They are allowed to keep the house there but don't get any other assistance. Evidently the men cannot leave the house and so they live on the womens' wages. Blood feuds are making a come back in the north of the country too. I can't really wrap my mind around the concept.

Bush love

2007-09-07T01:05:00.001-07:00

They sell stamps here with President Bush on them. I just don't get it, is the US really doing that much to aid Albania? Last night I went out with a few guys from the hostel. One is a photographer from Slovenia who is living in NYC. He is in Albania working on a story about Roma people in the south who are trying to begin recycling and sorting of recycled goods in the houses. He wasn't sure how successful the project would be as every day there was new information. He had some interesting observations about Albanian life. My favorite was the Gyro - from 8-10 everyone goes out for a walk and the cities and villages seem full of people. I guess at 10pm it's a ghost town though as in his words "all good girls are in by 10". People socialize during the gyro and if young couples are lucky they will be set up for coffee by an uncle. He said that a coffee date was a BIG deal. Other curious observations include the faux McDonalds they have in Mother Teresa square. It's a large tent that advertises "happy kids", 4x4 chicken sandwiches, giant pizzas for 4 people and has a playland type thing in the back. Capitalism at its best, ha. Today is rainy again, so I'm not sure what we'll do.

Photos!

2007-09-06T10:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the last few weeks. I am also trying to upload more photos to our snapfish account which you can access from the sidebar (just use the log in info provided). These are from Sarajevo and Mostar. Us in front of one of the many new cemeteries from the recent war, some of the war damage in Mostar, Turkish coffee set. I tried to put more up, but they are taking forever to load :( I don't know what the problem with blogger is.

Frenetic Tirana - where generators and car horns rule

2007-09-06T07:34:00.000-07:00

We decided to move swiftly through Montenegro after reading the Greece Lonely Planet. There are so many things to do there and we don't want to miss out on too much. I think we'll try to spend 1 - 1 1/2 months exploring mainland Greece and the islands. Hopefully the weather will warm up again for the beaches.

We spent a couple of days in Kotor, walking around the old town, admiring the crystal clear blueish green water backed by the dramatic fjord and climbing up to the top of the fortress on the mountain for panoramic views. We even did a day trip to Cetinje which was a bit of a let down for the time and money investment, but I'm glad that we went. It is the old royal capital of Montenegro and so there are some older buildings there that were used as embassies, a monastery and a few museums. My favorite things not knowing whether to believe the guy at the hotel desk who told me that the tourist office was 200 meters down a road that seemingly went into the wilderness, but having it be right where he said it was, a huge relief map of Montenegro and of course a courtyard filled with black kittens (there were about 8 of them), one even let me pick it up. I wish we could have a trip kitten that would enjoy peeking it's head out of our packs and exploring the world with us. But alas.....

Yesterday we decided to come to Albania. It was a bit of a mess getting here, but we made it! We left Kotor on a bus that arrived near the border 8 minutes after the last bus for Albania
left :( Luckily there were 4 other people who had the same goal in mind and so we negotiated 2 taxis to take us into the first Albanian town. I was super skeptical of the price because the LP had it listed much lower, but I think the LP was wrong. It ended up being 10 Euros per person and then from Skodra, we all piled into a minibus to Tirana (the capital) for only 3 Euros per person for the 2 hour ride. The border crossing itself was one of the easiest on our trip. The taxi driver took our passports up to the control point and they didn't even look at us to see if we matched the photos. We paid the 10 Euro entry fee and were on our way. Almost immediately you could tell we were in a different country. There was trash and bunkers everywhere and things just seemed a bit chaotic. The mountains in the distance were gorgeous though. The bunkers are evidently all over the country and left over from the communist regime, and were built to repel invasions and to resist even full tank assaults. They are indestructable and are now sometimes decorated with plants or used as nookie rooms by couples trying to get away from it all.

Coming into Tirana is a sensory assault. It's dirt, frenetic, loud and colorful all at once. The mayor who has a background as a painter had lots of the soviet block style apartments painted in super bright colors. It's neat, if not overwhelming. The traffic is TERRIBLE, most people have been driving for less than 10 years and so the rules of the road are a bit muddled. Crossing the street is a nightmare - you just sorta hold your breath and make a run for it. They won't stop. Sleeping was tough as they know how to use their car horns. The one thing that is nice though is that they don't drive or honk at night since the roads used to be unsafe in the evenings due to armed robbers and car jackers that were prevalent in 1997/98. Not to worry,things are safe now, old habits die hard though. The horns start again quite early though, around 5 am, as Albanians are early risers. The public transportation supposedly is best taken before 7 am and practically shuts down after noon. This might make day trips from Tirana tough.

Tirana sort of reminds me of Lima in that it's sprawling, dirty and full of energy. I think I like it. There are pictures of Mother Teresa everywhere as she was Albanian. There are also pro America and pro Bush signs everywhere. I guess he was here recently and is the first American president to visit Albania. They love him. There is a huge Welcome President Bush sign in the main area as well as a plaque naming a street after him. I wonder if we are giving Albania aid. In Cetinje we saw signs near the tourist office that attributed the rebuilding of their tourist bus parking lot to an American agency. Seems like a strange place for our $ to be going, a parking lot?!

We are staying in a nice hostel in Tirana run by some locals in their 20's. It's very friendly with few common areas, a kitchen, internet and hot showers that even have a place to hang the shower head from (a real luxury on the road)! We went out for a walk after we checked in and got a couple of huge slices of pizza. Then it started to pour for about 10 minutes. When we stepped out from under the awning there was a perfect double rainbow. It was so pretty that I had to show the girl who sold us the pizza. She was really happy and gave me a smile and a thumbs up. Apart from the noise of the traffic, I hardly noticed the constant roar of all of the generators in front of each shop. The power outages here are severe and can last from 5-6 hours a day, which means no water either. So every business establishment seems to have their own generator. Jeremy noticed that some places have cars on top of the buildings and are using them to power things down below. I guess poverty inspires creativity.

Today I had some authentic Chinese food at a restaurant where the chef and owners are from Shanghai. The food was such a nice change of pace! We hope to check out a local football game if we can get info on the game times.

We'll probably be here about 4 days and then we'll head south for a few days to see the sights there and finally to Greece.

I will try to put up some pictures tonight.

Hands down, Balkans win

2007-09-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

So we have made our way down th Adriatic coast, having left Bosnia four days ago. We made it to Dubrovnik, in Croatia. Not sure how to put it, but the city is like a movie set. White marble everywhere (no greenery, strange but appropriate), completely walled in, on the blue and green ocean. Awesome. Wayyyy too expensive and about a million people there, but it was great. Stayed in a home, and it was a wonderful experience... the woman couldn't stop feeding us, her daughter was apparently a baker!

Spent most the time on the beach, just swimming and soaking in the rays. Yes, I am approaching tan. A momentous triumph, if I do reach it. We also were playing with the hundreds of cats in the streets, as no one understands the concept of neutering all the animals! But you know us and cats!

We ate mostly at this one restaurant right on the old harbor, where the city was made through trading in opposition to Venice. Lots of mussels, cuttlefish and squid. Yum. Nice change in the food too. Ice cream was particularly good, as I am now a chocolate expert.

I have been battling a cold, which is a real drag. Maybe number 6 on the trip? I also had to kill my fu manchu mustache today, and I am clean shaven. I look 12.

Well, then we took the bus to Montenegro, and we are in a town called Kotor. Spectacular! An old town on a fjord carved thousands of years ago, you wouldn't even know you were on the sea. You walk two minutes to the beach. The mountains jut straight up from the sea, and are granite. There is a castle running up the side of it, and it's out of Lord of the Rings/the Great Wall of China. There is even a natural bridge up the mountain side. Amazing.

Ok, I have to get some pictures up! Enjoy!

Postscript.. I'm sitting here waiting for the pics to load, and they are taking forever. Very frustrating, as this is costing me a euro an hour, which is a rip compared to most of Europe. Likely not a fair comparison, but still!

Postpostscript... still not loading. This is really frustrating. I wish I could get them up, maybe there is something wrong with our card reader. ARGHHHHHHHH

Beautiful Bosnia

2007-08-30T12:39:00.001-07:00

I have to agree with Jeremy that Bosnia is a wonderful place to visit. The mountainous scenery is stunning, although a bit barfy when riding a bus through it from Belgrade. I much preferred the train ride from Sarajevo to Mostar. I loved passing through the tunnels and then coming out next to a gorge or a beautiful river. The ride was almost perfect - minus Jeremy getting locked in the bathroom for 25 minutes since there was no handle on the inside of the door :(

Sarajevo is a pretty city, tucked in a valley surrounded by mountains and a skyline studded with minarets. There are public fountains everywhere which are key to staying cool and hydrated. Free water is quite a treat in these parts, almost as amazing as a free bathroom. The old town is full of craft shops where you hear the tapping of the coppersmiths making coffee sets. The coffee looks like mud and will knock you on your butt. It kinda reminded me of Granada and Epcot Center at the same time. I guess the moorish influences in Granada and the tourist element for Epcot Center. I couldn't believe how touristy Sarajevo was, we thought it would be off the beaten track. Evidently Steve Buscemi was even there for the film festival last week. I'm learning that almost nothing is off the beaten track anymore.

Lately, I am most struck by the Bosnian people's strength to overcome the terrors of the war. There are physical signs everywhere, bombed out buildings being taken over by plants, shell marks on the sidewalks symbolically filled in with red material, and graveyards in the middle of the cities all with the same year of death. But the people are wonderful and vibrant. The ones I've spoken to have stressed a need to learn from the past and to live in the moment.

Being in a Muslim country is neat. I wasn't sure what to expect. The minarets and the call to prayer are lovely. The Muslims I've met seem particularly interested when I identify as a Jew. They are very curious and it has lead to some fantastic conversations. They are quick to clarify the ways that Islam has been distorted by other 'muslims'. 2 main things they've stressed are it being a sin to harm oneself in any way and also to harm women, children and civilians; and that they revere and respect women. I would like to continue to learn more about the religion and the different ways it is practiced in the places we visit.

Mostar is remniscent of Italian villages on cliffs. The aqua river rushing under the famous bride is breathtaking! We haven't really done any sightseeing, just being here and meeting the people has been a pleasure. Oh and as Jeremy mentioned, the lovely fresh squeezed lemonade complete with ice cubes in the outdoor bar with pillows and low tables was divine!

Jeremy's birthday was chill. We hung out, walked around and ate some ice cream. I was able to figure out a way for him to talk to his folks, but sadly the perfect burger was impossible. They just don't sell hamburger buns or avocados. I wish I could've surprised him with some of your smiling faces, hint hint :) Come visit us on the road.

Catching up with y,all

2007-08-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry that it has been spotty.

Well, we finished up Sarajevo mostly the way we started it... walking around like crazy. I went out one night with Chad, the American, and a Finnish guy, and it was an experience to say the least. We went to one bar, and met some girls there... and they were really cool. I had a great time chatting with one especially. It started though by the Finnish guy making a fool of himself when he asked her if she was Turkish, as she is Muslim. Wow.

Anyways, we followed the girls to a club, and we didnt get back until 5 am, but not before the Finnish guy pissed off both me and Chad for being a major fool. He came up with a creative word I cannot repeat here for me stopping his attempts to get with this girl, which was ridiculous...I was walking around the bar and passed them a few times, and he thought that meant I was stopping him. Chad and him got into a bit, and the Finnish guy told me off after accusing me of trying to get with the other girl, and that was about it for us. Then he asked for my email, and I told him off. Was super lame of him.

Sarajevo highlights include going into my first mosque, and just generally walking around and taking in the beautiful city.

Anyway, got on the train for an early morning ride to Mostar in the south. This city, wow. I have to say, the most spectacular sight on the trip of the old bridge over the river. Complicated place, as during the war the Serbs fought the Croats and Bosnians, then the Bosnians fought the Croats. A free-for-all, and the city shows it. Massive parts of it stand ruined. But the old town and good chunks have been restored.

The trip here will be a highlight for one reason... the people. The Bosnian people are truly the friendliest we have met... totally engaging, proud and curious. We have met two guys, Janan and Eziden (spelling way off on the latter) who we have spent many hours with, particularly Janan. I started talking with him the computer lab, and R and I went out with him and later his wife Minela until 1 in the morning that night, talking religion, life, movies, you name it. Was FANTASTIC, exactly what I want the trip to be about. Spent good portions of the next two days with him. He is an artist and his primary but not only occupation is selling paintings and drawings of the old bridge.... good work. But he really impressed us with his broad knowledge of religion, his attitude on life, and his generosity.

We met Eziden when we visited the mosque here. R started to talk with him (he sold us the ticket to go in) and he was very gracious with his time talking about Islam. It also turned out that this young man (25 ish) is one of the the iman of the mosque! He spent a great deal of time talking about Islam and it tenants. I have to say, I am pretty impressed with the religion and what it believes. I suggest that everyone pick up a book and read something about it, and you will feel hopeful in the end about the many awful situations in the world... you will realize that just like Christianity and Judaism, madmen can twist and turn something into evil. Too much to tell about, but Im happy to discuss if you want to email me about it.

So thats it .. been eating good food, having lemonade in a plush open-air bar, watching guys dive off the bridge into the cold blue waters of the river below (you would LOVE my pic, but the stupid computer is so slow I cant get any photos to load... I will overload you all tomorrow hopefully...)... gooooood times here. Please, come to Bosnia, I love it!

The Balkans = Fantastic

2007-08-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

I suppose the above line says it all. The Balkans have exceeded all our expectations (which is rather easy at this point actually, since we have decided not to have any at all).

First, it was Belgrade for three days. This is a real underrated place. We were suprised that Lonely Planet didnt have much nice to say about it. Not the most beautiful city in Europe, surely, but many fantastic buildings with some newer communist and post-communist ones woven in. The city, though, was just alive. People out all the time, eating, shopping... it was one huge people-watching fest. LOVED IT. The food was GREAT. Street food for 2 dollars, delicious spicy chicken sandwiches... we kept going to the same place for dinner... swimming in the lake in a man-made bay....very walkable, with great views of the Sava and Danube Rivers from the Cidadel.

I bought my first souvenir too... there was some hyperinflation in the mid-90s here, and they printed a 500,000,000,000 note. Yes, that is 500 Billion. I got the set for 7 bucks. Woo hoo.

Accomodation was at a university building, with lots of noisy students running around.

Rakefet continued her ˝How Many Cities in the World can I Fall and Hurt Myself Tour by slipping on this slight concrete decline and falling on a pole sticking out of the ground. From my perspective, I thought she had put the pole right through her neck, but luckily she managed just to grab the thing on the way down and scrape up her neck badly. Quite the injury... not as dramatic as the leg cut in Poland, but not bad.

We saw the Transformers there too. Man, what a dumb fantastic movie. Anyone else see it?

We then hopped the bus to Sarajevo yesterday. Again, just very happy with where we are. Hard to imagine that this city was under seige just 15 years ago for 3 plus years. Damage still everywhere, mostly shrapnel marks on most buildings, but the city has made an amazing recovery.

I am especially enjoying the Muslim influences, from the direct in the many mosques (I had never been in a mosque, amazingly), to the indirect (the Ottomans were fairly tolerant, so the culture mix here is incredible... Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Turkish, all in one place). A great Turkish quarter is all one story wooden buildings with red tile roofs, where trades were pursued, so they have a utilitarian look. Fantastic!

The other claim to fame of Sarajevo is that this is the city where World War 1 started, when a Serb killed the Archduke of Austria-Hungary. Hard to describe standing on the spot where the 20th century was shaped, all from his assassination.

Met a great guy, Chad from Oregon-NYC-Berkeley, and the three of us have spent quite a bit of time together since we got to Sarajevo... he is an architecture student, and we have really enjoyed laughing with him.

One last thing... those of you who know me well will be blown away by this... over the past week I have shaved TWICE WITH A RAZOR. CLEAN, well, leaving a little thing on my face. But yes, I got so bored one day I shaved my face baby smooth.

Well, unfortunately, does not look like I will be able to load any photos today. Our card reader might have died!!!!!!!!!

Thats all!

Beautiful Belgrade

2007-08-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

Our last day in Bucharest was great! We took the faux frisbee to the park and started tossing it around. Two girls came up and started giggling and motioning to us, so we included them. After a while, I noticed a little boy, about 8 yrs. old, watching mesmerized but too shy to ask to play. Pretty soon we were all tossing the frisbee and laughing. They didn't speak any English but we figured out each other's names and had a great time! I live for those experiences, where you don't necessarily need to speak to communicate. We also got to hang out with Nick, a guy from Minnesota who has been traveling for over a year and has been to a lot of the places we are headed to. It was fun to commiserate over annoying travel experiences, especially getting ripped off.

Today we arrived in Belgrade with very low expecations. We thought the train would be awful, but we had the car to ourselves so we slept pretty well. The city itself is fantastic. It's full of life and has fantastic parks and other public spaces. The food is yummy too, especially the spicy grilled chicken sandwiches. I can't wait to explore more!

Triumphs galore!!!!!!

2007-08-19T08:21:00.001-07:00

The pics should tell the obvious... 24 hours of shopping in this glorious city has eliminated all our capitalist, comsumerist wants and we will now be happy forever! Or something like that...

So... R found a chess set with small pieces and a cardboard board in a trendy bookstore/coffee shop place, we jointly found the Greek LP in an underground metro used bookstore, R found the shop that had the IPOD speakers, we shared a room last night with a guy from Switzerland whose IPOD is busted and he had a TRAVEL CHARGER that he sold to us for 15 euro, I found the card game book ( a little too big for us, and exactly the same one we looked in Krakov) at the big bookstore in town, and R found the frisbee thing in this all in one store in the basement of the Bucharest mall. A glorious day, really.

Other than the fact that even though most the stores in town have a sign saying they take Mastercard, they don't. We had to turn away a meal because they didn't take the card, even though we were pointing at the sign saying they should, and we had to pay cash at the market because the cashier was taking forever trying to get the credit card thing to work. So ridiculous.

Overall though, was a mellow day. I'm exhausted from battling mostquitos and loud French guys most the night (well, I didn't battle the French; R and a guy from Minnesota, Nick, who has been traveling for year, did the battle). Very very hot out there, and hard to do anything.

We have a request from you all... when we have the opportunity to cook, we sometimes stumble as we don't have any good ideas to cook anything. Ends up being pretty basic stuff. If you have some cool and easy recipe (esp something that requires few ingredients and no spices) then PLEASE feel free to comment it or email us!

That's all, hope you liked the happy pics!

And even more...

2007-08-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

sick of pics yet?

And some more....

2007-08-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

More pics...

2007-08-18T07:12:00.001-07:00

My friend and I were harrassed by the Romanian Parliamentary Police and All I Got was This Lousy T-Shirt

2007-08-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

A very Romanian day.

But first, had a cool experience trying to find a place to eat. The LP had a place in it that doesn't exist anymore, so we were wondering around, looking confused, when a voice, in English, said "Can I help you?". We wondered over to him and his colleague, who were both in security uniforms and realized we were in front of the American Embassy. He was local but part of the security detail. We told him that we were looking for a good place to eat, and he suggested a restaurant called La Mama - a weird mix of Italian and Romanian - that he went to once a month (obviously special). We thanked him and went down to it and had a great meal - stew and cabbage stuffed with meat - but the best for me was the LEMONADE. They just don't have lemonade in this part of the world - and when I say this part of the world I mean Europe. Good times. Found some cool American jazz band at a bar around the corner, the Tuba Project. Yes, tuba rocks.

Got up and had a decent breakfast. We met last night in our room two wonderful Italians, Jean Louis and Elena (from Turin) and we all said that we wanted to go into town and see the same things, so we made plans to do so with them. After breakfast though, the four of us went to the train station to get tickets, us to Belgrade, them to either Belgrade for tonight or to the coast.

Well, the lovely woman at the ticket counter's computer broke when we got up to the window, and didn't bother to tell us for 10 minutes while she watched tv. We finally made some noise to her about coming back later, and she said, ok, that's fine, but hadn't the whole time bothered to tell us what the delay was (we found out then). We love to wait around for things, as you all know, but....

So then we jumped on the metro (nice system, large BART like trains) to the Palace of Parliament. On the way, we met a cool Canadian couple, Mireille and Paul, from Montreal. We saw them coming out of the metro with the Eastern European Lonely Planet, and I joked "must always follow the book"; we semi-followed them out, and on the street, realized we were going to the same spot.. so the 6 of us headed over...

Here's a little history... in 1983, the last communist ruler of Romania, Ceauşescu visited Paris, and fell in love with the wide boulevards. He bulldozed huge portions of Bucharest to create his version of the Champs-Élysées (the one here is actually a bit bigger, with more fountains and TONS more communist block apartments). He decided to top it off with the Palace , the second largest administrative building in the world (after the Pentagon). Incredible, audacious, terrible, egotistical; the Romanians call it the "Madman's Palace). The thing isn't even complete, 23 years after it was started.

We're not even sure what is worst about it:

1. that it was started at all, with all the poverty and the like in this country
2. that it was completed (at the time of the revolution, only the exterior and two of the 1000 rooms were complete.. .and this is opulence at its most Trump Plaza type, with marble, oak, specially-made carpets, the lot) given the poverty and the like in the nation
3. that anything is done with it (the govt does meet there, but it is full of huge rooms that all seem to be used for "conventions, concerts or cocktail parties"; they even turned the lights off when we left the rooms)

But it was built for the man, Ceauşescu, and his stamp is everywhere; the 10 meter high areas that were made for his and his wife's portraits; the stairs that are closer together than normal as he was short and couldn't navigate normal stairs; the huge marble rooms with great acoustics that were made in a way that a few people applauding his utterances would sound like 100; the lack of central air conditioning (using natural air flow) as he thought he might be poisoned. Nuts I say!

I quite enjoyed the other "Romanian" part of the day, at security. Paul has a nice film camera, and associated film, that the security said must go through the x-ray machine - obviously, a bad idea. He didn't want it to, naturally, but they insisted. He suggested leaving the small bag at security, but the security woman told me that "It wasn't possible, and to be quiet". He told them that his x-ray bag wouldn't allow them to see into the bag, but they didn't seem to care (brilliant). So he eventually put it through (they couldn't see the film in the bag) and then asked him to remove a swiss army knife from the bag. Guess where they kept it? At security. You just wish you could get into a fight when that kind of crap happens.

So, the other two couples are on their way to parts far, and we will be taking the rest of the day off.

Enjoy the random photos of the past week or so.

Bucharest...

2007-08-17T07:24:00.001-07:00

Hello hello.

We have made it out of the Delta and are now in Bucharest! More on this great city after I tell you all about our week in the east.

Let's start with the 13 HOUR train ride. Was good, bad and ugly rolled into one long night. We got in our car, after finding out that the car we were assigned to was a supplemental car numbered 20, that the powers that be thought should be put in front of all the other cars behind the engine, meaning it was before car number 1. Well, we had to walk 17 cars to find it!

Got in the 8 person area we had assigned seating in, and found one other person. Very promising, as it was not a sleeper and a little room would have been nice. His name is Cristian, and he's a dj on Romanian radio and voice-over guy. Was great talking with him about music, and Cluj and the country. We were then joined by a guy who was traveling east with a 6 week old English bull terrier puppy for a friend. He is a breeder, and this puppy was the last of 6 from some breeding he did with what he called "two important dogs".. no matter that, the dog was ADORABLE. And pretty well behaved too, and did quite a bit of sleeping. The four of us talked for about 4 hours, and all was well...... until...

We reached Sigua, and a couple came into the cabin. The first thing they did was pick up a few bottles that were on the floor and THROW THEM OUT THE WINDOW. Classy pair. They didn't say much.

Then at 1:30, still having not really gotten any sleep (and Cristian had gotten off at that point) we reached Brasov. We could hear these kids out on the platform acting like idiots, drunk, etc and said "I hope they don't come in here" . Well guess what? Horrible. Drunk, smoking, spitting sunflower seeds everywhere. Until the ticket master came in and found that they didn't pay for the tickets correctly, and demanded money from them. Was lovely, as it shut them up. We tried to sleep (R was laying on me and she got some sleep) until 2, when we hit another stop (at this point the dog guy had to leave to find some space for the puppy) and a guy came in the cabin, TURNED THE LIGHT ON, and proceeded to wake everyone up. And didn't turn the light off. I slept about 6 minutes the whole night.

Got to the end of the line on the train, and had to take another train at 8 am for another three hrs. Ouch. We were joined by two coupled on their way to the delta... Constantin and Ilena (just on their honeymoon, school teachers) and Radu and Andra, students in Cluj. These people were great. Constantin and Ilena were so helpful in getting us to where we were going, just everything, really going out of their way to help us find a place, get money, get food... but I can't say enough good things about Radu and Andra. We saw them most every day, and spent a great deal of time having fun with them, whether on the beach at 1 in the morning, watching a movie, just chatting... they are special people and we hope they can get to America when we get back.

So. Five hour ferry through the delta to Sfântu Gheorghe, a tiny town in the south of the delta, on the UNESCO protected preserve. About a thousand people there, and I already described the conditions... no paved roads, no cars save a few, tractors, horse buggies, animals wandering all over, and pretty primitive showers and toilets. Decided we should spend a week there (although the last few days we were living on pasta and eggs, as we ran out of money).

We HAPPENED to get there a few days before the 4th annual Sfântu Gheorghe International Independent film festival. Fantastic in that it was something to do... but the movies were hard to watch. Why are these festivals always so depressing? A movie about abortion in pre-Revolution Romania; a movie about a prostitute and the 12 year old girl runaway she found on the street for a very perverted client; a German woman prison movie about an old woman who is in the closet and teaches piano for the students and the talented troubled young women she helps. There were no romantic comedies here. But they played many of them outside on a big screen tv at this nice campsite, where I also got to watch a little soccer, so it was an experience to say the least. A few directors of the films, including Ken Loach, flew all they way out there as well, and there was some animated discussion about film and politics of his films.

The big drama was the change of our host, Maria. She was lovely and was so wonderful the first five days... great food, helpful, was so sorry when the boat tour she recommended didn't work out (got charged three hours for less than two - good ole R got some of our money back). Well... one night we thought it would be nice to have Radu and Andra over for dinner. We thought we did a good job telling Maria this (no english) but apparently didn't as when she saw the extra plates out, she FLIPPED OUT. She was so pissed that she didn't talk to us for a bit, then came in and explained in Romanian that the place was only for us to sleep and shower in, not to have people over. This is her home, and we felt very bad that we broke this rule (even though we didn't know the rule and tried to ask her earlier). We went to the campsite, and Andra wrote out an apology note to her. When R gave the note to Maria, saying we were so sorry, that she was a great host, and that we wanted to make it up, she took the note, CRUMPLED IT UP IN FRONT OF R, and threw it away. She didn't talk to us again for two days. Wow. I was blown away by this... I was sorry that we did something that upset her, but she's pretty messed up to do that to R. None of our Romanian friends could figure it out.

Toward the end of our trip, we got to know Vlad and Oana, and we traveled back to Tulcea on the ferry with them. Equally wonderful people, had great times talking politics, about America, and sharing music with them!

Long bus ride yesterday.... and just a hilarious one...met a few nice people on board, including a Romanian woman and two Austrians biking through this part of the world. The fun started about an hour in, when the air conditioning unit started leaking over us and the Austrians. It spread toward the back, and started getting everyone wet. R and the Austrian guy were in the worst shape, as it was like it was raining in there. It was incredible. I spent about a half hour standing in the back, and three others stood for over an hr. The Austrians has a bag over them, and R had to sit up in the front of the bus. The bus driver was a major fill in the blank, and said that his job was to drive and that everyone needed to shut up. Awesome people. Spend a lot of time talking with a Romanian guy on board who was well traveled about politics and Romania... interesting guy who said some provocative things about jews ("Did you know that 45 percent of doctors in the US are Jews?" To which I answered "So?" or "In Germany, before WW2, everyone was against jews... that must mean something") and ("There should be no social programs for anyone, makes people lazy" to which I said "you're right, let's get rid of education"). The time went by quick.

The hostel we are at is run by a Canadian family that lives there. Old old building, and they pile you in a bit, but very homy and a great collection of books. I'm a little perterbed (sp?>) by them though, as they keep the Sabbath (but not Jewish) so they do no work for a whole day. Personally, I'm not sure you should be in the hospitality business if you're not going to work one day... but...

Today was a walking day, a shopping day. CRaaaaaaaaazy city. Truly odd mix of huge communist block buildings, huge Parisian boulevards, and old gorgeous residences, public buildings and the like spread out. I love it. Everything is covered in adverts. Cracks me up.

As you know, we were trying to find a few items (chess, speakers) and we went .000 today. Was a drag, as we got agonizingly close a few times.. at the main shopping area, found a tiny chess set for 60 lei (about 25 dollars), so no dice. Found the same card game book that we almost bought in Krakov... the thing is just too big to lug around, but I'm about to buy it anyway and rip it up to take with us. No speakers, or anything else. The big find though was a LP for Greece for 15 bucks in an underground bookstore - many shops are underground on the way to the metro, and we were shocked when we found it.

Funny line today... when we were trying to find this stuff, we went into this low-rent mall, just filled with crapola, and we were leaving and I was lamenting that we should be able to find a few of these things in such a big city, and R said to me "Things are not what they seem". I thought this a quite unusual thing to say, given what I was talking about, and I replied "There can be only one". If you know the movie reference, you are pretty cool (and I'll only believe you if you comment it!)

So that's it. I'm tan (yes, TAN) and am happy. R and I are over the hump. We're having a good time again, the delta rejuvenated us and we feel like we can go on again. So (this is the decision you will all thing is nuts) is a little more Europe won't hurt. Serbia is next, then Bosnia, and likely a day or two in Croatia, a few in Montenegro, then onto Albania/Macedonia for a weekish. Looks like my B-day will be in Bosnia, a real birthday kinda place.

I think that's all.. sorry for the long posting!

We live...

2007-08-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

and the trip gets a new spark.

Only time for a short post, as this internet connection is a rough one... but yes, we are having a great time! We are in the Danube River delta in eastern Romania, in a town called Sfântu Gheorghe. In the middle of nowhere. There is tons to tell, but here are the important parts...

Met some great people here.. mostly Romanians, and a few Germans

Managed to get to a spot that is very isolated, dirt roads, few cars, and a short walk to a great beach with few people on it.

Staying at a home stay with a WONDERFUL woman who speaks little English, calls me Mister, and we have an outside shower and she makes us fish dinners, caught in the delta.

Managed to arrive right before the 4th Annual Sfântu Gheorghe Film Festival. Funky, not loved by the locals, but stuff in English (the producer of Crash is here, and we saw Inconvenient Truth last night, how horribly depressing) so stuff to do... been watching some Romanian soccer too.

So yes, good times are abounding here. Will be leaving in two days (to be here just over a week) on our way to Bucharest. Yay!

Just a checkin...

2007-08-08T04:59:00.000-07:00

So we are heading to the east, the Danube River Delta, and we don't expect to be on the internet much over the next little bit.

Heard that Bonds hit 756. This, with the Dodgers losing their umpteenth game (they are terrible right now) makes me really sad. Not sure if any of you care about Bonds or all that, but I think that mostly it's just a shame that the guy felt like he had to do what he did in order to compete. He was already a great player, and no matter what they say, there will always be a question (likely more than a question) about the record forever. Good to know that ARod will be breaking the record in a few years yet.

Here are some things we (or I) wish we had right now.

1. A tiny chess board... can't find one anywhere, came close on one, but it was way too heavy.

2. A book on card games... again, came REALLY close... found a book on solitare games... that's almost worst than not finding it all.

3. A few more shirts. After the REI stuff died, I just went with what I found mostly... cotton shirts that get wiped out and don't dry. Bought a new shirt today, a disco kinda shirt, so that's nice

4. A frisbee... might by a little Aerobee today, but might just be something we have to carry around for a while.

5. Tiny speakers for the Ipod, when we have our own place... tried to find something like this in the states, and had no luck really... so don't expect to find anything really.

I shaved my head today. My hair was making me crazy.

That's all...

Oh Romania, you're soooooo....

2007-08-07T00:55:00.000-07:00

Lame? Haha, who knows, but we do know that before we came here, two people who we know well told us that Romania was lousy.

We saw the Simpsons yesterday, in this big old theatre, built during communist times. The movie was sweet!

Also ate at this good cafe, other than the English menu had different (older) prices than the Romanian menu. Guess what they charged us?

We thought we were going to roll out of town today, but my clothes, that I washed yesterday, were not dry. Lame. So we are trapped, um, going to stay one more day.

Loud night last night. These two jerks came in the room around 12:45-1 am, made a bunch of noise, then got up at 4, made more noise, and left (likely to catch a train to Bucharest). Hard to sleep in the room we're in.

We still don't know what we are going to do, lots of talk yesterday, at one point pretty close to Turkey with the caveat that we come back if we want to try this part of the world again, but I don't know. Then we thought, let's just plug away, but today, I'm like, forget it, let's do this one thing we want to do here (the Danube river delta), then blow town. Likely more talking today.

My moustache is looking quite good today, the fu manchu. Kiddoo, Armstrong, you'd be proud.

Cluj-tastic?

2007-08-06T03:44:00.000-07:00

Sooooo, where to start?

Two days ago we left our place in Gura Humorului and headed east, hoping to get deep into the rural areas of North Central Romania (primarily Maramures, which is really out there). Guess what? It's REALLY OUT THERE. We had a loooooong bus ride that got us into the eastern edge, after a scary ride in the pouring rain over a mountain pass, full of locals in crazy green hats drinking vodka. Got to Borsa, and found a place to stay, that was basically a dump, and R hit the wall. We had to get out of there.

We figured, we'd get to Cluj Napoca, the closest larger city, that would give us some options (it also put us in Northern Transylvania, where there is lots to do). We started by hiking to the next town ( or more accurately trying to hike) as we found out after doing about 10 km that it was much farther than we were led to believe (we ran into two Romanians who spoke perfect Spanish, and after R got all this info from then, they said the could give us a ride to the town with the train station for a little money... they said 50 EUROS!!!! Insane). We walked some more, and eventually hitched and gave the couple 10 lei (about 4 dollars). And waited at the train station for three hours for one of the only trains that came through there that day.

We were hungry, but the station was way out of town, so we had to hit this snack shop for dinner. We both went in at different times as we got hungry, and check this out... and this has happened a few times... I paid for my stuff, but they (usually) don't have exact change, so sometimes you get less that you should get back with a shrug, or, as I did yesterday, some change and A MENTOS GUM. You got it, an economy that pays for things with Mentos. I would love to try to buy something with it.

Lovely ride to be honest, through these mountain towns that have no roads, no electricity. We were sitting next to a guy who has been living in Santa Monica for 5 years, from Romania (what a small world) and he was a good time talking to - Julian. Lots of good info from him, and even a sandwich for R! He gave us his number, and he suggested that we go clubbing with him. I know that my clothes are pretty good, but...

Got in late, and the hostel is ok, but way too expensive. Met a nice guy, James, Australian, who has been out 7 months and is feeling it as well. We all sat around and complained about traveling for a while. R really isn't feeling it, and we are on the edge of leaving Eastern Europe for either 1. Albania (yes, e europe, but pretty out there) or 2. Turkey. We decided to stay at least a day here, take it easy (as I hurt my back a bit yesterday), do some shopping ( I need a shirt), and just generally hang. We are going to see the Simpsons movie tonight, I am very excited about this. Had a good expensive meal today, milk shakes, guacamole, chicken alfredo and a mexican dish for R that was more that we thought cause the English menu is old and has the wrong prices. You have to laugh. I told the guy off.

yeeha.

It's just not that bad

2007-08-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

For me the last few days weren't quite as dire as Jeremy described them. I was sad to leave Lviv though. I was beginning to feel like "home" there. A few highlights were stumbling upon a fantastic greek restaurant with the best tasiki I've ever had. The menu was completely incomprehensible but one of the guys that worked there was eager to speak English and he translated the entire menu for us. Turns out the cook is from Greece and the guy who helped us spent 4 years there. It was delicious! Afterwards we watched impromptu tango dancing in the main square. There were two young children holding hands and dancing among the adults; they were soooooo cute! Then there was a totally drunk homeless guy who started making a fool of himself, dancing with a street sign and such. Every time he would venture onto the dance floor bouncer types would come out of nowhere and remove him.

I was a bit disappointed by Kamnayets Podilsky, especially since LP described it as stunning, but there were nice things about it. I enjoyed climbing around the castle grounds, you can really get into everything (I guess they aren't worried about lawsuits). Check out the picture of Jeremy practicing archery (notice the guy in the background). The canyon was spectacular too. That said, it wasn't worth the 7 hours on a crappy bus to get there.

Highlights from Chernivisti, the phone pictured above in the throwback room, the University building (pictured below - red bricks), feeding stray cats and dogs salami and Jeremy attempting to drink sour cream from a bag which he had mistaken for milk.

Gura Humorlei has been nice. I am especially enjoying the language as I can read it and it feels somewhat familiar because of my knowledge of Spanish. The guilty pleasures are the english tv stations Animal Planet, Discovery Channel and CNN. We have been watching Animal Cops from Houston, NY and Miami. What a great show! These guys are real heroes saving a kitten trapped in a wall by chiseling a brick out, rescuing pregnant horses from negligent owners and more! It's also wonderful watching American news outlets after 2 weeks of BBC World. Don't get me wrong, I love BBC, but they don't intend for people to watch it for more than 15 minutes at a time or more than once in a few days. We watched the same things over and over and over again. It seems like in Romania we'll have more access to English media and movies. I heard that in Bucharest we can even see movies in english in the theater which will be dreamy! Today we walked down country roads to two absolutely stunning painted orthodox monasteries. We shared the roads with horsedrawn carts, modern cars, stray dogs and loose horses wandering around on their own. We will probably head west from here into more rural areas before going to Transylvania and the big cities. Please email us if you have any ideas for places to go in Romania as we plan to spend about a month here.

The Last Four Days... A Pile of Manure

2007-08-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Not sure how else to put it.

We left Lviv early Monday morning for Kamyanets Podilskyy, in the South. Well.... the national highway system in Urkaine leaves much to be desired, and it took us over 7 hrs to go about 140 miles. The first 40 were unbelieveable. It was like 10 miles an hr for a looong time.

We met a guy on our bus, Santiago from Argentina, nice guy, talked a bit about Urkaine...

Made it to Kamyanets Podilskyy and it is just a dump. Really run down, ugly. We were warned that it made a bad first impression, but still... and then it started POURING. We were trying to find a place to stay and (yet again) Lonely Planet was getting it wrong. The first place was an absolute craphole, the second place has been completely changed into a very expensive place, and we didn't know about the third. R went off to find out what the deal was with it while I just took it a bit easy. The sky opened up and I didn't see R for forty minutes... she came back and said the place was fine. We headed about 1.5 km south to the pad. Nice enough, but you couldn't get a straight answer out of the doorman about various things... internet? Food? That kind of thing. They did have a billard room with all the balls in white, with numbers on them.

Went downstairs for food. We ordered to find out that most of what I wanted wasn't available, but in a weird way... I wanted a baked potato, no baked potato, but fried or boiled is fine. I was not happy and rolled my eyes a few times and got pouty. Well Ms. Napoleon Jerkhead who ran the place decided that the best thing to do would be to not bring R most of her food. We were beyond arguing.

The next day we headed to down into town. In all fairness, the canyon that separates the old town rock island part from the new town is quite pretty, and we did hike through it a bit later that day (there are people living in the flood plain down there, wow) but otherwise, quite a lame place. The old town was deserted and not very attractive, and we walked around for a bit, and both hit the wall. We said forget this, we must do something, so lets go to the castle, the type of thing we've been avoiding. This was mildly amusing, as it's all just open to wandering over/under/through, and I did get to shoot an arrow at this archery thing they had. But the back end of it was closed because they were filming what looked like :the history of every single warrior who ever fought here" show. We went back into old town for lunch at the place LP loved. Again, bastards. They screwed up my meal (or, more likely, R, when ordering for us, got it wrong) then charged us triple for it as they increase the amount they want to give you without any input from you... for example, they quote a price of x for 100 grams. But they automatically give you 300 grams. So the meal, in the end, was over quadruple what we should have paid if I had just gotten what I wanted. I freaked out on these people, called them a few choice names, and we split. R and I then got into it about it all (she recalled afterwards that Ukrainian restaurants will pull exactly that kind of scam, would have been good information beforehand) and we didn't have a good night.

The next day, we rolled out of that lame place for Chernivtsi, a border town with Romania and our escape out of there. Kind of a cool hotel, huge Soviet monolith, still with 70's decorations.

We were pleasantly suprised with the town itself (but not with the rude people in a few places and the total lack of information from LP AGAIN). R and I are just running on fumes a bit at this point, and we got into another fight that just was a bad one, and we both said that we were upset, needed time, whatever. We worked through it, as we both realize that the trip is making us nuts, and we can't let that happen.

After we made up and decided to stop the fighting dammit(!!!), we went to the hotel for dinner. They comped us dinner as breakfast was to be free, but we were leaving at 6 for the bus. What a joke. The waitress got EVERY SINGLE THING wrong in the order, and we had to go to the front desk to find someone who spoke some english to help out. What a pisser.... three meals, three wrong, screwed-up lousy meals. At this point, R and I just laughed our way through it.

Tough day today, but a funny one. Got up early, and rolled out of the town at 7ish. This is a major smuggling route for all kinds of stuff, but particularly cigarettes. I've never seen anything like this. The bus driver handing out packets of cigs for people to hide. Babushkas hiding them in their bras and panties. Shoving them in the seat cushions. I saw one guy, at the border, rip out from under his wife's dress a single pack that had been tied to her with stockings, as to throw it away. Women wearing multiple vests to hide the packs in (still don't get why they aren't searched on their person). Hilarious. After about 1.5 hrs at both border crossings, and we got through, all the babushkas made the sign of the cross when they got their goods through. Yes, even GOD is on their side.

Met a guy on the bus, Michael from Poland, who was a lot of fun to talk to, and we continued it after we arrived in Suceava in Romania. He was heading south, eventually to Turkey and Georgia. We all got coffee and just talked about everything under the sun for a few hrs. Very nice.

After he split, we had to make some decisions about what was next. We don't have a good book on Romania, so we weren't sure what to do in that part of the country. Every decision we DID make though didn't work out for one reason or another, and we tried four-five different things over the course of about an hr. Very very frustrating, and I just threw the towel in. Luckily, R is much much better at this than I am, and got us on a bus out of town to Gura Humorului, to the west, in the heart of Southern Bucovina. Rural (lots of people with horse drawn wagons), green, and in the middle of many fantastically painted monestaries we will check out over the next few days. We are in a homestay with an older woman, who is one of the most giggly people I've met. So, rough tough day, but seems to be better now.

Thanks to many of you who sent me encouraging emails or commented on the blog about my week in Lviv. I really appreciate the warmth. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you all are following this adventure we're on, and have contributed your thoughtful words. If I can be selfish, please keep emailing me. It really does my heart good when I get emails from you all, even if you just want to tell me the most mundane nuttiness.

Lastly, congrats to Kyle and Elizabeth on their plunge into adultness with the (soon to happen) purchase of their first home. Man, Tony and Christina & Kyle and Elizabeth, we are all getting too old too fast!!!!!!

Thai massage...

2007-07-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

Have any of you been in a car accident? Not a bad one, but one where you are bounced around pretty good, and you're sure that you're going to hurt for a while? Then you know what thai massage is like.

R and I walked by this place the other day (the sign was in English and Ukrainian), and we couldn't help thinking how legit the place was. After "pizza" last night, we decided to walk in and see what the deal was. There was a woman at reception, nice Ukrainian who spoke some english, and we decided, why not. For 16 bucks for me for an hr, and 24 for R for 1.5 hrs.

If you haven't done thai massage, I imagine it's very similar to what a little girl does to her rag doll. I wouldn't call it warm or soothing... it's stern and sudden. I was amazed that my body could get into some of the positions she put me in... over her head, on her legs....my leg bent past my hips... my arms up over my head behind her head as her legs dug into my back. I suppose it was authenticish, as she is Thai, and I gleamed she didn't care much for Lviv. R is going now, and she was hilarious. She came in when I was done, and I was giving her the eye... not a "this is bad, run away" eye, but a "wait til you try this" eye. She tried to get me outside to "discuss the massage" as she put it, but I said it was fine, and that she'd like it. Then I gave her the eye again......

About time I blogged a bit...

2007-07-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Well, the end of our time in Lviv comes soon. We've been here a week, and we leave tomorrow for someplace that has a huge name and I'm too lazy to look it up on the map right now... wait, I will look... :) Kamyanets Podilskyy. To the south east of here, on our arc to Romania. Apparently the city was built on a rock "island" surrounded by a river and a ravine, and it's quite beautiful.

So I haven't really felt like blogging lately. The reason, to be honest, is that Monday afternoon I just hit the wall shortly after we arrived here. The hassle, the disappointments, the pains, they just all caught up to me during our efforts to find a hostel, and I just effectively shut down. I did not get out of bed for about 2 and half days. I just didn't care about seeing anything, I was very homesick, I missed my friends, I missed being able to do ANYTHING that would make me feel better... just the little things, going to a bookstore, going to a bar and knowing what you're ordering (reading Cyrillic has actually not been that hard, but that doesn't mean I know what everything is). Basically, all the stuff I've been bitching about over the past few weeks.. it just nailed me. R was really good through the whole thing. She knows that when I get depressed it's best to just do her own thing, and she did. We spent a few days fully working through what we both wanted, our expectations, all that... which is VERY difficult to do with the person you're travelling with, as you don't want to disappoint them.

So yes, totally depressed. I get depressed from time to time anyway, but this was a doozie. Lots of questioning the trip, lots of not eating, lots of sheer sadness. All things that I knew would be hard before we left, but it's the decision we made, and we do think that continuing is for the best, and that we want to keep going.

We did do a few things to improve the situation. We got out of the lousy hostel, and got an apt.. nice place, and (I hate to admit) it has BBC news in English on the tv, which has really been nice. We are really curtailing the "touristy" or "sightseeing" stuff unless we have a particular interest in it. We bought some beers and just hung out on the promenade yesterday (is that how you spell that?) which was delightful. Watching the people is quite fun. And we got asked/harrassed by a lady collecting bottles for our beer bottles. Problem was 1. She kept speaking Ukraninan after we told her that we didn't understand her and 2. she SAT there watching us drink to get the bottles. Pressure! Needless to say, I was tanked last night.

So impressions....

Lviv is a GREAT PLACE. I would rank it, even after the mental week I've had, as one of the top stops so far. It's got an impressive stock of older buildings and a rich history (has been mostly Austrian-Hungarian or Polish most it's existence, remember, Ukraine as a political entity is relatively new). The food is quite good, and crazy cheap. Our meals, and I'm talking huge portions at the buffet, run about 10-12 when we are pigging out. Beer is like 45 cents. The weather is pleasant too, and it's a walkable city.

The differences are quite noticible here too, which makes it challenging and laughable. The use of english words, in cyrillic, makes me laugh. You'll translate something and realize it says 'Premium Lager' or "Telephone". People are not good with private space, and the cars will run you over, no questions asked. As you know, R ate it walking across the street, and this truck really didn't stop. You should see her... she is all bruised up. I love her to death, but man, she is a klutz.

People are very helpful, and the young people like to speak a little english and will help if you look confused, but there are things that just don't make much sense... you will be told the price for something one day, and it changes the next... you can't buy certain things with a credit card in one location, but the same company will take them in another location. And the women...

This is the most remarkable difference, as least one that is in your face everyday. I don't know how to put this any other way, and no offense to anyone, but if any of the women here I saw in any other country of the world, I would think that they were prostitutes. I have never seen more provocative clothes (I'm being nice). It's remarkable and it's all women, whether 12 or 60. Everything is see through. Skirts are so short you can see their underwear. Their breasts are pushed out and hanging out of their tiny shirts. The plastic bra straps, very classy. And they are with the ugliest guys you've ever seen. We know that there is a bit of a marriage service/prostitution thing going on here, or maybe it's just that you gotta date who's around. I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but it's a trip. We are going to take some pics later, you have to see some of these couples.

We found this huge open air market, mostly clothes, but also home goods, food, drink... turtles! I almost bought a little turtle for the trip, I thought it would be hilarious to have a little turtle buddy. They only need a cardboard box and a little lettuce, and you can be the life of the hostel with a turtle! But I didnt' buy him. I was on a clothes search, as my clothes have been somewhat ruined (the rei stuff, contrary to popular belief, is crapola. Both shirts wore out completely, so I'm wearing shirts I found in hostels, and my sweatshirt is slowing dying... I wrote them too, and REI said I should ship it back, how helpful). Didn't find anything really, but at least I'm carrying less.

Finished a few books... the World since 1945 and Freakonomics, and reading a world religions book. Gave up on the languages for the time being.

We saw four guys dressed as SS officers the other day, in front of the McDonalds. Not sure what I could say to describe how odd the whole sighting was.

R got this card game book that, well, is pretty bad. It was originally written in the 1740s.. I'm not kidding... and reads like it. Tried learning Piquet.. .hard game, esp as it's written for the English royalty or something like that. :)

Anyways, I'm feeling better and looking forward to the next stops...

Still hanging out in Lviv

2007-07-28T04:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was pretty unnerving for me. We were crossing the street, in and of itself a very dangerous thing to do in Lviv because the crosswalks are meaningless and you just walk out into traffic confidently and hope the cars stop, when the front of my sandal got caught on the trolley tracks and down I went, flat on my face into the hot dirty cobble stoned busy street. When I looked up there was a huge truck barreling towards me, luckily it went around me and I was able to get up and even recover my sunglasses. I have some nasty bruises though on my knee and hip, as well as little ones on my elbows and chin. It made sleeping quite fun, trying not to put pressure on any of the bruises. In the scheme of things it isn't a big deal, it's just hard to get that truck out of my head. Jeremy brushed me off and we headed to the Lykachivskyi Cemetery.

The cemetery was overgrown and dilapidated, but beautiful. It is remniscent of the cemetery in Paris. It's huge with trees everywhere and very elaborate gravestones and tombs. There are approximately 400,000 people buried there. Many of the graves had flowers in "vases" made of the bottom part of plastic soda bottles.

We then walked around the center and checked out a couple of churches and beautiful building facades. I went to the pharmacy museum which was small but neat too see all of the containers and vials from the 1600s.

Today we are just walking around and hanging out, nothing special. On Monday morning we'll head out to Kamenetz Podolski, a city built on a rock island. The Lonely Planet reviews are glowing and it's in the general direction of Romania, so we'll see.

Lviv

2007-07-25T02:21:00.000-07:00

We got to Lviv, Ukraine 2 days ago and it's been quite a ride. Lviv is only 90 km from Przemyszl but it took us about 4 hours to get here including 2 hours at the Polish border kiosk and then another 1/2 hour on the Ukraine side. The bus driver had his wife and other family with him. They were smoking the whole time and had brought a home cooked picnic meal with them to eat while we waited. My favorite parts at the borders were watching the old women on the bus open the curtains to stare at 2 men who were fighting loudly and when the bus driver was driving while smoking and looking at his wife instead of the road for long stretches. When we finally did get to the Lviv bus station we went on another adventure to find an ATM so we could get on the Soviet style minibus, marshrutka, to the center - 8km away. We finally found one in the center of a huge concrete block housing complex in front of which was a cow grazing and a few goats. Once we got into town we tried to find the tourist office with the intention of finding an apartment to rent. It is on 3 different maps listed in different places on each of them, yet seemingly not existing anywhere. The town is pretty small and I have yet to run across the tourist office, evidently it was the only one in the whole of Ukraine. It really says something that Kiev doesn't have one. Anyway, then we decided to hostel it and looked to the Lonely Planet only to find out that the hostel they recommend is closed due to "paperwork". The girl from the hostel association said it had something to do with western european tourists not wanting to send their children there because of Chernobyl (she was surprised that I knew about Chernobyl). In any case we finally found a hostel which is ok, but between our not speaking Ukrainian or Russian and everything being in Cyrillic things are a bit stressful. Jeremy was done for the day but I went out to explore.

There is a fabulous cafeteria where I can point to delicious foods and eat really cheaply (if a meal costs $5 it is super expensive). Yesterday I also went out by myself for the day. I went to an open air market where babushkas were selling anything they could think to sell including: flowers, sunflower seeds, fresh cheese, black and blueberries (which lonely planet warns not to eat because I guess they absorb radiation to a higher degree than other fruits, which is a shame because they look really yummy), unrefridgerated beef complete with flies (as pictured below) , one woman was holding just one whole raw chicken to sell....

Other observations... the girls and women here wear super high heels and the shortest skirts and tops I've ever seen. I'm all for sexy clothing, but 11 year olds wearing skirts these outfits are a bit much. I feel like a conservative alien in my REI quick dry clothes and my chacos sandals. Amazingly I found a complete book in english of card and other games for only $5 which I snapped up! I'm looking forward to learning some new games so we can mix it up.
In Western Ukraine they are very patriotic. Lviv has a central treelined avenue called Svobody (Freedom) where I peoplewatched and read for a couple of hours yesterday on a bench. I really enjoyed the little boy trying to play a plastic flute (pictured below) on the bench across from me. There were people everywhere, lots of them carrying flowers. I felt really bad for teenage boy sitting behind me who was waiting for over an hour with a rose. I guess he got stood up :(

I met two guys in the hostal. One guy is a graffiti artist from the Netherlands named Olaf. He is traveling around Eastern Europe tagging things because he wants to show that individuals and not only ad companies and big business can express themselves in public places. He waxed poetic about seeing what children write on walls (so and so loves/hates so and so etc.) because it gives places character and brings them to life in an otherwise sterile environment. He showed me a picture of his latest "artwork" the word RETARD written in huge colorful bubble letters on a wall somewhere probably by a train track. He said that he wrote it because that's what they call stupid people in the Netherlands and basically he wrote it to be against "the man". I think it's crap....ego driven and the thrill of trying not to get caught. But then again, what's art?

The other guy, Timon, is Slovenian and well traveled. We kept running into each other around town and finally decided to get a beer and walk around together for a while. He had lots of tips for our future travels to Bulgaria and Romania. He also had good insights into the Ukraine since his girlfriend is Ukrainian. Their flag (pictured below) represents blue skies above wheat fields. He also said that they made the lyrics to their national anthem unofficial since it says something like "we will kill all of our enemies and once again stretch from (a town now in poland that used to be ukraine) to (a town now in russia that used to be ukraine). I guess it didn't jibe too well with their aspirations towards the EU. I'm not sure what our plans are from here. It is supposed to be really hard to get information about and buy train tickets so we may be here for a while.

Przemyśl..... The City of Dead Pigeons....

2007-07-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

or, perhaps, the City of Goat Washers. More to follow on both.

Caption for the first pic attached... and use your imagination a bit as I couldn't get close enough... Sammy Hagar can lead a llama to water, but can he make it rock? I'll take other captions as well on it....

Left Sanok this morning. Was an easy bus ride over the mountains. We decided to delay by two days our trip to Lviv as the tourist office is closed there over the weekend, and we're hoping for a week at least there in an apt, which they can set up.

Przemyśl, the City with A Thousand Names, as you can't seem to pronounce it correctly (Psheh-mishl, with the emphasis on the Psheh) is actually quite pleasant. About 70,000 people, on the river, split by the river, with the old town on the east and the newer stuff on the west (Although apparently there is SKIING here in the winter, just a km south of old town) Staying in the local hostel, just fine there. Spent the day walking along the river, checking the digs out (did some churches for the first time in a while, and they were great... wall to ceiling paintings, the Greek Orthodox one had a display on Ukranian-Papal relations in the 20th century, nice). Lots of folks on the river, the same in Sanok (The San), but funky along it, broken glass and high grass. A little deeper too.

On the walk, and walking into town, saw at least 6 dead pigeons. Nice.

While on the river, we saw across it that the circus was in town (tent and everything), with 5 camels just kickin it there. Then we saw a couple people in the water with two goats, two little llamas, and one sheep, cooling them down and washing them. Goat washers. Cracked me up, as you can see by the pic attached.

Otherwise, not much to report. Dodgers not good right now. George Bush is making me crazy with his latest executive authority claim (check it out... )

That's all... tomorrow is the visit to.. yes, you guessed it... the Pipes and Bells Museum!!! It's here, aren't you jealous???

Today, Mark Jeremy

2007-07-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

First of all, make sure you read R's account of today's adventure below before mine.

It was a pain. Simple as that. Best laid plans sometimes. R was being nice about it. I took us off the path, thinking that it was the right way (I still kinda do, but whatever...) and we were in the middle of NOWHERE. Remember, we had just seen ON THE ROAD a guy riding his horse buggy carrying wheat. I kid you not. So we were nowhere from THAT. We first rode for a long with through a field, that had no real discernable track on it, then we were in the middle of all this mud and water and it was just a crazy mess. We had to get off the bikes and push. We then went down a long hill, very muddy and with trees across the trail, and I decided it was time to swim. Well, more like stand in the 6 inches of water and splash yourself. We were somewhat refreshed, so we continued on (still no churches but the first two we saw), then R crashed, then it was like, we have to get out of here as I've lost the map and I have a vague idea what's next but not enough to get us hurt or anything. We did FINALLY find a road, a dirt road, with a car on it, which led us to believe that it was A way out. Well it was. Uphill, on a (eventually) paved road, and the heat was terrible. Nearly 100. And we just couldn't ride. A local said that Sanok was down that road, but when we finally reached the top, the sign didn't indicate where to go, other than to take a trail OVER the mountains to Sanok, 1.75 hrs away. Ok, but it was UP and it wasn't a bike trail. We got in the shade and talked it out, and I was convinced we should go down the road. These people had to be going somewhere, and I figured to Sanok. She agreed, and it was LOVELY. All downhill for 10 minutes (which is a long time) into the outskirts of Sanok. We returned the bikes within 20 minutes of deciding to go downhill. Awesome. So off to the water again, as R described, following lunch. Still haven't showered yet, but I'M ALIVE! :)

I love the pic of R looking at her crashed bike. Fantastic pic.

Lugging a 25 lb. bike in the heat instead of my pack....

2007-07-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

Ugh, so as J said the last few days we kinda hit a wall. It's been hot and muggy which makes everything seem like an ordeal. Oh and our "beds", granted they do only cost $6 a night, have huge wooden bars running horizontally through the middle of your back. There are wool blankets to try and pad them with, but who can stand to sleep on wool in such hot weather. This morning things were looking up though, another hot day, but we were both in a good mood. We headed out to rent bikes for the Icon trail. It's a 70 km loop trail that is dotted with beautiful wooden churches. We got the bikes, and then the fun began. We couldn't find the trail and then we lost our map, got lost in the forest on a "bike trail" which was filled with bogs of mud that we had to trudge through and uphill with our bikes trying not to slip. I fell a couple of times and resigned myself to the mud. Oh and it was super hot and we started to run out of water. The highlights of the excursion were wading in the river with tiny trout, watching J try to catch water snakes in the puddles in the mud holes, the plethora of tadpoles and little frogs, oh and finding our way back and returning the bikes! The bummer is that we didn't see ANY wooden churches. We did survive though :) Fueled by our high of surviving the heat, we treated ourselves to sitting in the river again with the little trout nibbling at our toes for a good long while! Then we had some more peirogis, sour soup with an egg and keilbasa and meat (bigos - a saurkraut and many meat stew). The best thing though was the tiny glass of diet coke (200 ml) - they have the sizes of everything on all of the menus- it had 2 ice cubes in it. I've been fantasizing about ice cubes and there they were! Enjoy the pics. My favorite one is of the wild raspberries that dotted the red trail in the mountains.

Pics update, we made it easier...

2007-07-20T00:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is easy...

Either continue using the sidebar, or just go directly to Snapfish.com

We have one set up for you to use. DO NOT USE YOURS, AS WE HAVE NOT SHARED THE PHOTOS WITH ANY OTHER ACCOUNT. Just hard to keep track of it...

Type jeremysdennis@gmail.com and then 123456 for the password. Enjoy.

Finally, an Update!!

2007-07-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

Yes we are alive.

We left Krakow on Sunday morning, and made our way southeast to Krynica, a large (well, in Polish terms) spa holiday community, as we saw it as our gateway to the Beskid Niski mountains to the east. We had an ambitious plan to hike across them (four to six days) and then go to Sanok to walk the Icon Trail.

Krynica was quite nice actually, it is famous for mineral springs, so you walk around buying water that tastes really bad and smells like sulfer ( I had some, and was getting a little sick and guess what, I'm not sick) and we saw an international folk festival there as well. Stayed in a guest house.

We should have known we were in for it when, on Sat, in Krakow, the weather drastically improved and it got hot. Like really hot. So Mon morning, when we got up to start, it was already over 90 degrees. It was just miserable. Hiked for about 7 hrs, with 25 lbs on my back, and it was rough. The trail was well marked when there we no other trails around, but as soon as you popped into a tiny town, the markers disappeared. We lost it a half dozen times, and nearly an hour in total trying to refind it over those 6 times. We were our 7 hrs, and were dying when we walked past a remote house that was marked as a hotel on the map I bought of the area. We said forget it at that point, and were able to get a room there for two nights. Later, we found out that we were really in the most remote corner of this whole area in the Neski, and that even in high season they never really fill up. Lovely place, and was a good rest, even though we hiked to the closest town the next day for supplies (two hrs round trip) and it was even hotter. And I got some massive blisters, for the first time in a month.

After that, we decided that our plans to hike were nuts, esp with the packs. We then decided for Sanok where you can hike over a trail that highlights the local wooden churches from a few cultures that no longer exist in the area. We can do it on bikes, and can leave our packs at the hostel (or to be more precise, the "special school" as it was decribed to us that in the summer is a hostel... cheap, dirty, perfect.)

Most the people staying with us at the hotel could speak a little english, and one woman in particular, Aneta, was very nice and helpful in getting us a few buses, etc. She is a sociologist, and had spent a little time in the states. Great fun chatting with her, and R and her spoke quite a bit! Getting to Sanok, we were both really burnt out and it was a difficult day. Had trouble finding any information, and then found the tourist center... got some info, then I was so excited to check the internet, they had email there, and as I sat down the power went out. We were hungry, and the guy there suggested a place on the square (called the Rynak). Guess what, no power there either so only soup. I had a beer, and got drunk. We then looked for more internet (meanwhile our bags are at the hostel but we aren't checked in as the guy wasn't around) and we couldn't find any, and we just both hit the wall. I know, a dumb thing to let you hit the wall, but we had been so excited about the hiking, and as the weather is so bad, no one at all is out there, and that took the wind out of our sails in the sense that we were trying to mix things up out here. Then to find that we couldn't even email a friend to find a little solace, we just both got really depressed. Then we found out that the bus we were going to take to Lviv wasn't going to be running as there was some kind of explosion at a factory. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!

Yesterday I actually spent in bed. I just was in a place where I couldn't deal with it all... I was sad that I didn't have anything of the things that usually bring me comfort, I felt like all the ideas we had to try something different kept not working out, just was stressed and not feeling good about the trip. I know that I've mentioned this before, but this just isn't that hard. Eventually, we do talk it out, and feel better about it all, and we did have a lot of fun in the mountains hanging, but I'm sure after Lviv in the Ukraine we will really change it up. Likely a major long stay somewhere, and R wants to talk some classes, etc but we can't do that in Sanok, as it's smallish.

I know I shouldn't complain. This is an amazing opportunity. It's good to let it out though. I think that you can't really do that to the person you're traveling with, as that just gets them really down as well. We knew that there would be walls we would slam into from time to time, and what's helping me is just trying to change my mental idea of what this is all about, and what to expect. I SHOULD expect that much of eastern europe WILL be the same, and that the subtle changes should turn me on. I SHOULD not expect locals to want to talk to us, cause you know what? They don't want to. I SHOULD not expect to meet new exciting people in all the hostels because 1) many places we stay just don't have many people 2) many travellers are 19 year old morons and 3) most people aren't as interesting as us :) haha.

Shall I stop complaining? Yes I will.

A very chill day and hopefully some new pics

2007-07-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

There are 421 new photos up that show us in Germany (after we left Gvantsa's), CZ Republic and Poland! We chilled today in Krakow. We got up late, strolled up to the Wawel castle and cathedral hill and napped in the shade of a tree by the river. It's been lovely to rest. The most stressful thing was trying to eat at a Milk bar which is a communist style cheap eats cafeteria. The menu was only in Polish and you couldn't point at the food. The place was packed and the food looked really yummy, if only I could figure out how to ask for it. I spent about 10 mins trying to decipher the menu with my phrase book. In the meantime, Jeremy decided to bail out for pizza. I did truimph though by getting cheese filled butter drenched peirogies and a buttery potatoe and pork soup. Ironically enough the woman who took my order spoke English. All that stress for nothing. Tomorrow we are headed out to the mountains to go hiking for a few days. We are armed with a map and our sleeping bags. Hopefully there will be some accomodations along the way. The map indicates some, but it's unclear as to what kind of accomodations they are. They could be wilderness shelters, hostels or hotels. What an adventure.

Additional photos from today...

2007-07-13T14:31:00.001-07:00

of Auschwitz 1 (brick buildings) and Birkenau...

Today...

2007-07-13T14:06:00.001-07:00

What can you say really, especially anything that hasn't been said? Maybe I'll just lay out some facts and you can take whatever lesson you want from it all.

Auschwitz is really three camps (Auschwitz, Birkenau and Monowitz) and a number of smaller subcamps near manufacturing areas. Auschwitz is the name that became famous, as far as I can tell, as it was one of the first serious concentration camps built by the Germans (it was actually a Polish army base before the war), it was the place where the first widespread extermination of the Jews and others took place, the first place to have a gas chamber, and the only camp to use tattoos to identify prisoners.

As R said, Auschwitz 1 is really much smaller that I expected. It somewhat reminded me of a stroll through the Presidio, with many two story brick buildings. You don't stay in that mindset long, as you pass info spots that tell you about what happened in each block building. Just beyond words.

Auschwitz 1 has the only intact gas chamber, and you are able to walk through it, and view the incinerators. What can you say? Auschwitz 1 also had a number of rooms FULL of the belongings of those who died... cooking pots and pans, eyeglasses, luggage, brushes, shoes... the worst, as R said, being the hair shaved off women and used by German companies to make netting for the war effort. This room was about 65 feet long and 20 feet wide, and it was full of hair.

I was personally more struck by Birkenau. Most of that camp is gone, as it was destroyed by the Germans as they fled the Red Army, but enough (about 45) buildings) remain to get a sense of what happened there, and more so, the ruins of everything else is in place, and just the scale of it is beyond description. At one point, the camp had 100,000 at it. You can view the sites of the four major gas chambers, now in ruins, and where ashes where spread, and bodies burned. You just can't comprehend the numbers.... over 1.5 million people were killed there. It's the largest mass grave in the world.

At one point, R and I were standing right at the top of the stairs that decend into the long chamber that took people to the spot where they were forced to undress, then go into the gas chamber. Literally hundreds of thousands of people had stepped down those stairs.

Then we passed a few ponds where the ashes of the dead were dumped. One STILL retains the color of the ash. Another, which personally struck me, had all kinds of life in it... plants, large numbers of frogs jumping about.

Anyway, R and I debated and listened to each other regarding the possible lessons one can learn from a visit to Auschwitz... and I won't burden you with any of them. If you want to chat about it with me or R offline, I'd be happy to share my thoughts.

I have attached some pics... I wasn't sure of the wisdom of taking any of them, but in the end, I did want to share some of today with you all.

In other news....had lousy Mexican food last night, as everything was closed after 10 and it was the only restaurant we could find open.

It rains every day, and this is tough for a guy with no umbrella or rain jacket. I know, I'm a huge idiot. I really do want to get an umbrella, but we haven't found one yet that isn't for 2 dollars and won't break in a day, like my old one. Fortunately, the rain usually passes in about 10-20 min, so you can wait it out.

We ALMOST bought a book on card games today, but it was large and a bit expensive. I think we will regret that decision anyway.

Auschwitz - Birkenau

2007-07-13T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today was tough. We went to Auschwitz 1 first and walked through the buildings and various exhibits about the populations that were murdered there and how the prisoners "lived". It was almost surreal and not really what I expected. The gate that says "Work sets you free" is much smaller than I thought it would be as was this part of the camp. Seeing the personal effects, glasses, a whole room filled with womens' hair and what the Germans made out of it (including how it was priced), brushes, shoe shine kits, prayer shawls and then seeing empty canisters of Zyklon B stopped me in my tracks every few steps. I've been to Yad v Shem in Israel, but nothing has compared to standing in a gas chamber and in the room with some of the ovens. The exhibits were moving but it was hard to process with all of the tour groups and people taking pictures where it cleary states that they aren't allowed. The blatant lack of respect for the dead shown by people wearing belly shirts and flip flops and then carving their names in the walls of barraks made me really sad. We then hiked 2 km over to Auschwitz 2/Birkenau which was vast and moody. We had some time alone walking the grounds to take in and imagine the atrocities that happened there. There are small lakes that still have a grey tint from the ashes. The train tracks and the ruins of the gas chambers, undressing rooms and creamatoriums are beyond words. Everywhere you find signs of what happened there. I am not sure what to make of the visit, but I am glad that I was able to pay my respects to the dead. Never forget....

A little more about today...

2007-07-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

As R said, it really was the commie day. The Polish Airplane museum was pretty cool, mostly old MiG's for you airplane enthusiasts... MiG 15, 17, 19, 21 and 23. They had a couple American planes captured during the Vietnam War, but the best two were a Polish fighter that is the ONLY plane to have survived the initial fighting with the Germans in September 1939, and the American plane the Germans had bought and used in demonstrations during the 1936 olympics, as R described. A neat trip.

The church in Nova Huta, the post-war planned community east of town, was a nice change... huge building, with an impressive version of the standard Crucifiction scene... a large rendition of Jesus, and he almost looked like he was in flight away from the crucifix. Couldn't get a pic though...

Anyway, enjoy the pics...

Communist tour

2007-07-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

Today started out better at the hostel, less noise and the hot water actually worked. Oh and they have a washing machine which makes such a difference, saves me rubbing bar soap over my clothes in the sinks that are too small to get them "clean". Around town we've seen "communist tours" advertised which seems a bit offensive to me. They pick you up in a Trabant and take you around to see the architecture and sights that made Communisim famous. "Explore everyday life in Poland in the 1970s in our exclusive and unchanged Communist apartment. This deluxe tour includes the rare opportunity to eat pickled cucumbers and toast times past with our close friend and Communist relic, Mr. Vieslav." I don't really get how communism has become nostalgic. This morning we headed outside of town to the Polish airplane museum which Jeremy LOVED and I thought was interesting. They had an american plane bought by the Germans that had a swastika on the tail and the 1939 olympic rings painted on it. It evidently flew during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Strange... We then walked out to Nowa Huta which was built after the war as a bedroom community for the steel works which was also put there during Communism, despite the town's lack of ore or other essential steel making stuff. I read something about them wanting to bring in the working class people to break up the cultural and intellectual atmosphere of Krakow. It didn't seem to work though. The suburb is just one big concrete slab with a bunch of trees to break up the dreariness. They do have a neat church though called Arca Pana which is in a sort of oval shape and has a very unique feel. It started to rain just as we got back into town, but that didn't stop us from trying to find a book of 101 card games. As J said, we tried to play cribbage with the wikipedia rules, but it's hard to grasp without playing a few rounds with people who know what they are doing. So if you are inspired, please email us some interesting and hopefully easy to learn card games to keep us busy on the trains. Bobbi asked if I cut my hair, I am afraid of haircuts on the road so I plan on keeping my hair in braids and dealing with it when we get back to the states. That is unless I go crazy with the heat in India and decide to shave it off :)

Tomorrow we'll go to Auschwitz, deep breath...

Krakow's Jews....

2007-07-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

Today was dominated by exploring Krakow's Jewish neighborhoods, and their demise.

Although I suppose I should say first we have arrived in Krakow. Long (4.5 hr) train ride yesterday, where I continued my studies of Cyrillic, to the train station. We did a bit of hiking around until we found a hostel. More expensive it is here, but this is the high season in the top spot in Poland. We are just off the main square too.

We unpacked and headed out. I have to say, the main square is quite impressive, if just cause it is enormous. It is also populated by real Poles, as well as the expected tourists... it's always nice to see a place like this having a true population of locals. Anyway, we ate at a fancy restaurant (for us these days, anyway) called Avacado... just opened, and we spend THIRTY WHOLE DOLLARS on our meal and wine, so we were livin' it up!!! It was by far the best meal I've had in a while --- roasted duck in blueberries --- and we told the owner, who brought us, free of charge, polish red vodka. Good stuff. So yesterday was a good day.

Today was spent in the southern parts of the city, in what was traditionally the Jewish quarter. It's in a place called Kazimierz, and it's remarkable as with the rest of the city, it survived the war intact. There seven synagogues, and two cemetaries, still there. Amazing. The older of the two cemetaries has tombstones over 400 years old here. I attached a few pics. The newer cemetary is overgrown and quite moody.

We knew that there was more to Krakow jews than the tour of the Jewish quarter--- there was a ghetto here put in place during the war, as depicted in Schindler's List - but we couldn't find anything about it, until we came across a sign saying that the site of it was across the Vistula River - so off we went, and found a Polish map there that we translated a bit, and saw that there were remains of the wall of the Ghetto, and Schindler's factory. We found the wall, and the factory. It is still completely intact, and it has a small informative museum, and you can tour his office. It also had a map of where the ghetto was, and we walked out there. Horrible really, as you can stand where hundreds of Jews were murdered, as well as rounded up and sent to camps. Most of the buildings are still intact as well. Was a moving place, just the history courses through you.

After that sobering walk, we went back up into old town - again, remarkably intact - and found an english bookstore that was INCREDIBLE. Thousands of used books, all in English. We went nuts, multiple language and Lonely Planets, and two new ones for me (I haven't had a regular one since I gave up on the science/christian one I think I talked about the other day).. Europe since 1945 and a History of religion. Light reading, I know.

Then we ended up in the square and a had a meal out there from a kiosk... steak and potatoes for me, yuuuum. Then back to the hostel (which incidentally, isn't all that great... people in our room are nice but loud in the morning, had trouble with hot water, crowded kitchen, R had similar issues, oh and kids always on the internet who never get off) where we tried to play cribbage and I studied Russian more.

Anyway, we think we'll be here nearly a week, and we like it so far. Not sure what tomorrow will be.

Oh and I got my hair cut for 6 bucks. Yes.

A better day...

2007-07-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

not that yesterday was really a bad one. Just a reflective one.

Got up, had the usual free breakfast... jam and toast and tea... and headed out on the town with no real agenda. This usually means we wonder around until we get tired. Well, no disappointment there... walked something like 10 km over the day, and saw a few impressive sights... the huge prewar convention hall - see pic - and some older prewar homes that survived the fighting, still with their scars. Mostly though we walked through the southern part of Wroclaw, where most the people live and not a tourist is to be seen.

We were walking along when some guy in a car started yelling at us... when we said we didn't understand, he asked if we were English, and when we said American, he flipped out and wanted to talk. Didn't know how far apart LA and NYC were, and tried Italian on us a few times. Interesting stuff.

Oh... funny thing happened yesterday. R and I had had a few drinks, and we were walking through a park when we saw two Mormon guys, and we decided to talk to them. I said "Hey what's goin on" as we passed, and their eyes bugged out. I talked to them for a bit, but R had the long conversation with them, and they were really nice guys. Said that they are only allowed to call home twice a year, on Mother's Day and Christmas. One guy had been here in Poland a year. What a trip. I think they have handlers, or maybe their just good kids, as they had to be home before dark. I think I will talk to every Mormon I see....

Otherwise, dumped a lot of stuff out of my bag, including a shirt, two pairs of socks, two underwear, ripped shorts... nice to lighten the load. I did trade one of my Rei shirts the other day for a green shirt (I must say, REI stuff, for long-term use, just doesn't last) and my umbrella broke, so I'm cutting down on the stuff. Also lost my sunglasses at some point.

I think we are out tomorrow to make our way to Krakow, and then ... who knows. Met a guy here who RAVED about Belarus, so I'm trying to convince R. Another guy here, Bill the Georgian USA, a professor of history there, is here doing research and lived in Ukraine for a while, so he had some tidbits for us.

You know you're in Europe when...

1. You buy everything in outdoor kiosks.

2. Your change equals $14 dollars.

3. No one uses a dryer, even though it rains A LOT.

4. Corvettes turn heads.

5. McDonalds is a good place to take a date.

Have any more to add?

Even the vacation from the vacation....

2007-07-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

didn't keep the burnout blues away.

I feel absolutely ridiculous, but we really are just a bit bored with all this. Wroclaw is pretty and all that, but that makes a trip not. In fact, it's really amazing how many of these cities have great squares, old buildings, magnificent churches.... but who cares.

R and I were sitting in the square with the obligatory ice cream, talking about the trip, honestly just laughing our way through a hilarious conversation where we each suggested to the other what we could do differently... learn a language, take a class, live in Albania for a month, go to Thailand...

I suppose that my expectations are somewhat out of whack...what really did I expect? Did I think that every new town would be THAT different from the old one? That the food would be something I've never really had before? I honestly don't believe I ever thought these things, but it really is a disappointment to walk into a town people are raving about, and feel like you've seen it all before.

It's funny, I feel like when this is all over, and if anyone ever is discussing any subject with me and leads in with a "Well I've travelled and..." and pops off with some pithy statement about how the world really works, I can hit right back with the honest-to-God truth.... People all over the world want the same thing... happiness. Most think that it comes from having money and buying stuff. Everywhere we have been, it's a bunch of American lookalikes, with clothes that either ARE the real thing (Nike, Gap, Levis, whatever), or some weird facsimile (like the Lubricants shirt we saw, for example), eating at McDonalds, nose piercings, tattoos, it's almost shocking. What can you do? Capitalism won. Big time. And people love it. I can't tell if I'm in Kansas City or Wroclaw.

Anyway, I'm not really complaining, I'm just letting it out. Any and all suggestions appreciated from our loyal reading audience.

Goodbye my lovely Olomouc...

2007-07-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

I have to say that the week in Olomouc, or 6 days actually, was fantastic, and perhaps the favorite part of my trip so far. It was the vacation from the trip, and I enjoyed every (well, almost) every moment of it.

I should start first with the night out that R mentioned. Crazy. Me, Jean and Christopher went to this local uni place, Vertigo. Good scene. Jean was really keen on using his Czech (he is from Quebec) and also just to start conversation. So he went over to this table of locals and started up. Soon, I was over there hitting tequila shots, drinking beer, etc etc etc. Two of them, a couple living in Prague but visiting, were great. They spoke english well (the woman worked for EXXON.... and had lived in Anaheim for a while).. so lots of chatting there. The other couple, well, they were just plain nuts. He was a crazy drunk (spilled a beer on me, spilled two tequila shots, would pass out, wake up, bang on the table like mad, and pass out again) and she was plain crazy. She asked that I buy her friend a drink, then babbled about how I was like George Bush and that I was dead inside cause I was like him. Her english was rough, and it was clear she had a wicked sense of humor (she was all over Jean about buying tequila for the table)... but she was really odd. Ended up on the table, almost kicking everyone as we grabbed like mad for the beer. Met a few other folks there, a self-titled director, and then we rolled back at 2:30 after seeing the moon over the square.

Well the drinking ended hopes to make the caves, and Friday was laying around day. Met a woman in the hostel, Anetta from Norway, and she joined our merry group.

Spent sat at a folk and country music festival outside of town. Great people watching, and so so music - some great, some was just lousy. I have some video of some I'll put up. Lots of people were in camo, and we asked Greg what the deal was... he said that there is a counterculture of folkies, who like the woods and music, but are also a bit militia like, so they get all dressed in camo for these things. There was even camo on the stage. Odd folks.

Left this morning, and it was hard. We just love the hostel we were at, the people and our hosts - Greg, Francie, Camilla and Dennis. We asked about potentially helping them out in the winter months, and they were pretty excited about the prospect. I promised to stay in touch and see what we were doing around Dec and maybe we'll be out there again for a few months.....

Today was an unmitigated disaster. Cause there was no way to mitigate it... haha. We were trying to see the huge steel works of Ostrava... an unremarkable town with huge, pretty much closed down steel mills that are so massive they are apparently going to be Unesco listed. Well, we got there, found the information, and were told where it was, and that it was easy to find. Not so... the walk was LONG, we had our bags, and when we got to the general location, no museum. We asked TEN PEOPLE and got two "I think it's over there" from two people about to walk into a wedding ceremony, four "I Don't Knows" from local workers, one "Down that way" from a security guard", one "Kaput and closed" from another local worker, and two "I don't knows" from two cops.

Then we didn't have any change to get on the bus, and the whole country is closed for a four day holiday weekend, so we walked another hour and a half to the train station. Got into an almost fight with the information person there about splitting the payment for our train tickets between a card and the last of the krowns.... we finally suggested on ticket on the card, and one with the money... and awaaaayyyyyy Cz, we will meet again.

Now we are in Poland, in Wroclaw, pronounced Vrotswauvf. About 700k people, LARGE AND GORGEOUS main square (more like 2 and some pedestrian spaces), and overall a place we can explore. Not sure about the hostel... big and new and amenities, but who cares when you had homey! Anyway, I'm tired, so see ya!

Congratulations to Tony and Christina on their Engagement!!!

2007-07-05T07:30:00.000-07:00

Yay for Tony and Christina, they got engaged on Sunday and J and I couldnt be happier for them. Hopefully well get to celebrate their engagement with them in Israel in November, barring all out war there.

4th of July didnt end up as we had hoped. For some reason we thought it would be a good idea to make chili dogs. We found premade microwave chili, which shouldve been the first warning sign and the only hotdogs we could find were chicken, at least thats what I think it said in Czech. We tried to put them on staleish hamburger buns and basically gagged our way through the meal. Heading out to the bar was fun though, we happened upon a childrens tumbling-acrobatics team from Denmark that was putting on a show in the main square. I couldnt believe how bouncy these little kids were. For one number about 50 of them were dressed up in random Disney costumes, doing flips in the air and tumbling all over the square. I am very impressed with the number of activities they have in Olomouc.

We had good intentions of going out to see the caves this morning, but Jeremy and Jean ended up having a late and from what I hear pretty crazy night with some locals at a university bar. Ill let him tell you about that. Its ok though, because it has been pouring most of the day and it was nice to sleep in and read in the hostel.

Burrito success and spongey cookies

2007-07-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! We are hoping to rally the troops in the hostal for some drinks and maybe hotdogs or keilbasas tonight. They have a few bowling alleys here in Olomouc which peak my interest. I don't know why i always get so excited about bowling since it is rare for me to even break 100 and about half way through the game I loose interest and my wrists hurt. None the less it always sounds fun at first. The burritos were a HUGE success, super yummy, we even found sour cream and washed off the baked beans so they almost tasted like the pinto beans we know and love. I now have the utmost respect for anyone who can roll a burrito so it stays together. We had enough left over to make breakfast burritos this morning too. In all of the cooking fun, i decided to try to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch without a recipe. Note to self, baking is not really a fly by the seat of your pants activity. I couldn't get the right consistency so then I just kept adding eggs and another girl told me I should add more baking powder. We ended up with scone like things, which were definitely edible and actually disappeared by this afternoon. I think it warrants another try though.

Today we hit 2 museums since it is free museum day. One was the archdioses museum which had a stunning array of jewel encrusted chalices and a well preserved ornate carriage like you see in any renaissance movie. The other museum wasn't that interesting, it was modern art, but mostly copies of famous work. There was one unique gallery though that showed the evolution of residential architecture in Olomouc.

We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with Jean a french Canadian about politics and culture. We are trying to decide if we should venture out on a day trip tomorrow to some caves that are 2 hours away on a complicated public transportation route with Jean. It could be an adventure, but then again it could be a pain in the butt for an hour of touring the caves.

There are concerts in the main square today that are teasers for a country and folk music festival outside of town. I was excited to hear Czech folk music, but was quickly perplexed when they played the times they are a changing, here comes the sun and puff the magic dragon in Czech. Strange....

Ah, the slow life...

2007-07-03T07:53:00.000-07:00

Things are slowing down and its great. Day three in Olomouc, and I love it. Totally mellow day today, with just a walk around town, then nothing. I plan on doing nothing touristy for the rest of today. Just try to make a burrito === we found tortillas, avacados, chicken, rice... but not so lucky on the beans, we will see === and chat with the new folks at the hostel.

Just a great location. Totally cozy, good kitchen, attracts all kinds... a uni professor from the states has been there three months, we said goodbye to a canadian couple and a guy who works on urban planning issues in LA this morning, and an Argentine pilot working at a start up in Macao yesterday. Its run by an Aussie couple thats been here five years. Seeing them do something like this really gets you thinking if YOU could do it.... HMMMMMMMM

GREAT town. Good energy, a few tourists, but mostly locals. Has a BAR IN AN OLD RUSSIAN AIRLINER... wow. We hiked to the lake yesterday, and R swam. Incredible amounts of naked people there... and hung out a bit in the evening with the group at the hostel. The town has two lovely squares connected to each other, and a number of historic fountains. We did a few churches this morning, and they were well adorned with all types of gold and painting, but the church thing is getting old. Sightseeing is getting old. So staying in a place for a while is a good thing... we will be here through Sat.

One of the hostel guests has been travelling alone since Nov, so it was good hearing from her what its like.

Enjoy these pics.. the last one is of the astronomica clock in town here....and go Dodgers....

Travel day...

2007-07-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

we were on our way this morning, always an adventure at the bus stop, cause you always feel like you didnt get the bus time or platform right... but on time it came, and we left lovely Brno to travel north toward the Polish border and Olomouc... and what a find... it is GORGEOUS, compact so extremely walkable, and the medicine we needed as we found a great a hostel, the Poets Corner, which has plenty of fellow travellers, things to do, cheap bikes, ideas on day trips, places to eat, a frisbee, book exchange, trivial pursuit... so we are very happy and expect to be here some time before we roll.

There is a lake nearby and some nice looking walking trails, so we tackle those tomorrow... tonight we cook, for real~~~

accosting people

2007-06-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

As J said there really arent english speakers around, which was super nice the first day or so, but dude there is only so much interesting conversation that j and i can have with each other. its pretty funny, weve been listening and looking for telltale signs of travellers and then i accost them, asking if they want me to take their picture together or any other way to test the waters to see if they are people we could hang with. i almost succeeded the other day with a couple from montreal, but they didnt want to hang out past the 5 mins we were chatting. oh well.

Im really enjoying the middle aged and older womens hair color, they have stopped with the reddish maroon coloring and have gone to pink highlights. strange.

i cant wait to eat fresh veggies in greece, too bad its not til sept. getting kicked off the computer now....

Beautiful Brno...

2007-06-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry there are no pics this time round.. the computer here doesnt seem to have a good usb port...

Brno has been great so far. Got in a few days ago and we were put up in student accomodation... like being at Davis again! Not a bad place, but no one is around at all, so its a little creepy at times. Thought we might cook, as there are facilities, but the two pots we could scrounge up were so gross we passed on it.

Brno is a large city, and really free of the tourist craze... which is partially good for obvious reasons, but partially terrible, as we were both ready to meet some people and have conversations, etc... but there is seriousy no one around who speaks english natively. oh well.

we hit sites yesterday after getting a feel for the town. large square with trolleys running through it... mostly nineteenth century buildings, but a lot of more modern ones as well.. a good mix. Hit the monestary where they preserved bodies with a natural type of mummification... pretty gruesome stuff, but fascinating... we wondered if the people mummified there had any idea that we would all be staring at their bodies ....

Then hit the Spilberk Castle... brick eastern european castle, very common out these parts.... then we went to my favorite one, the Gregor Mendel Museum, the father of genetics and heredity... hes the cat who did work with breeding peas to determine traits. Great stuff.. all his books, tools, his microscope!!! And you can stand on the site of his greenhouse where he did his work. YES!!

Went to a yummy veggie place for dinner ... which is a great change as the food here is meat and cream heavy. Today, we walked like eight miles to and back from the Brno Dam, where there is swimming and hiking. Lovely day.

Other Brno-CZ observations...

It rains every day here, even if it is ninety degrees out.

The use of English words is astounding... they are everywhere, on everything. The best is on the t shirts though... some good ones include.... Truckers only, Highway Freaks...Lubrications, Stop the Cuts, Table Tennis... they will throw any english on a tshirt. We even saw a grandma with a shirt that said... Its not easy to get with me... nuts.

Ice cream is cheap and we eat a lot.

These people love capitalism... new cars everywhere, cell phones... we observed that most people under twentz five have no real memory before the iron curtain fell... must be amazing conversations the kids have with their folks.

If you buy anything cheap to drink, it will be terrible. Bought a two liter generic cola today,... and it was soda water colored to look like cola.

Ok, must find food. Things arent really open on Sats here, so wish us luck.