African volunteering pictures and India pictures have been posted. See right side under "Pictures So Far".
Also check Molly's blog for new stories.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Friday, August 3, 2007
What's New...
- Egypt blog (below)
- Links to pictures from Greece, Egpyt and Africa on the right side bar under "Pictures So Far".
Also check Molly's blog for new stories.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Egypt
After an amazing time in the Greek Islands, where we really hit a vacation 'groove', we headed to Athens, where we spent a few days sightseeing. Our friends Cathy and Hashem were just starting their honeymoon and we were lucky to spend a fun evening with them. Earlier in the day, we were at the Acropolis on our own as rain came and tourists fled for cover. I guess we stood out, because all of the sudden Hashem called out Molly's name and we laughed at the crazy luck of bumping into each other unplanned. Athens proved to be okay but after getting a healthy dose of Greek life on the islands in a more relaxed and beautiful setting, we were glad that we only spent two nights in the big city before heading to Cairo for the next chapter of our trip.....AFRICA.As with many places we have visited on our trip, we truthfully (and embarrassingly) had only done a little research and reading on Egypt. The most prominent random things about Egypt my brain could muster were songs! The Bangles' 1986 single "Walk Like An Egyptian" depressingly played over and over in my head on the flight from Athens to Cairo, as did Steve Martin's "King Tut" song, but that one made me smile.
Rather than buying a book for every African country we planned to visit, we were only armed with our Lonely Planet Africa book that has an overview of every African country. Sure it was 1,000 pages (and weighed in at probably 5 pounds!), but the Egypt section was all to brief and the Cairo section was like 3 pages.
Having visited Morocco, we anticipated that Egypt would be reminiscent in many ways including the prominence of the Arabic language and Islam, our obligation to dress conservatively and show no signs of affection (such as holding hands in public), and unfortunately the disrespectful treatment that female tourists have to endure in Muslim cultures including leering men that literally stop in the street to stare as women pass, often cat-calling or snickering as well. We also again expected a cool reception as Americans, and were already planning on the flight to say we were "Canadians from Calgary, eh" to anyone that asked.
We ultimately were correct in our assumptions in some respects, but we were also pleasantly surprised to be wrong! Most Egyptians were extremely friendly and helpful to us, with shop owners often going out of their way to say "welcome" as we passed, or asking "where are you from?" to which we felt comfortable enough to be honest, and they'd respond, "Ah, America...nice people." Even the most wrinkled and ornery looking merchant on the streets would turn his scowl into a huge, mostly toothed smile when we would pass and say "Salaam" ('hello').
Cairo did feel a lot like Morocco as far the shocking dilapidation of buildings and homes on street after street. I expected some of this, but even the most touristed sites such as the Egyptian Museum had an air of decay and collapse. As we walked the streets on several days while visiting, I kept waiting to turn a corner and see a modern, tree-lined boulevard with glassy buildings or an massive air-conditioned mall, or perhaps a city park with fountains and benches, but that wasn't the case at all. Cairo looks and feels as old as it is, and maybe that's a good thing. Who really needs yet another ancient city TGI-Friday'd and Banana Republic'd?
We set out one day to visit the Pyramids at Giza, along with the Sphinx as well as Saqqara and Dahshur. This proved to be a wild experience right off the bat. Dahshur was our first stop and it came highly recommended as a less touristy pyramid you could go inside for no added cost. Little did we know that we'd show up and just walk inside the pyramid by ourselves. Sure enough, we walked up a few stone and wooden stairs to the tomb entrance where a hole about 4 feet square led down into darkness at an alarming angle. Before I knew it, we were plunging downwards and things were getting very claustrophobic, but to shake my fear, I kept talking and walking. When we finally reached the end, in what I'd assume was the lower center of the pyramid, it opened up into a steeply arched room about 20m high. Stifling heat, unmoving air, and the scent of urine. We walked forward and ducked down to walk into the next room, just as big and absolutely wreaking of urine now. At the end of the room a winding, decrepit wooden stairway led upwards to a small additional room with access only from 10m above the floor. Presumably these empty rooms once housed a king's tomb and many possessions and this upper room was purposefully hard to get at for thieves that would eventually find there way in. Molly and Lindsay (our companion that day) went up the stairs to see for themselves, but I was sufficiently anxious and gassed out to want to stay right where I was, and walking back into the other chamber, I was for a brief time by myself. An eerie and amazing sensation came over me. It felt like a combination of being woven into history somehow while at the same time being at the center of the Earth, ways away from life on the surface of the planet.Next we went on to Saqqara (Step Pyramid) and the Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. In summary, the visits closed the circle from all those years ago in my Egyptian Art class when I was so into the art and architecture and had memorized Pharoahs and Dynasties. But the actual experience of standing there is mixed bag of thoughts voiced over in my head.
"Wow, I'm finally here"
"They aren't as big as I thought"
"It's way too hot here"
"How did they ever build these?"
"Am I really here?"
"This is surreal"
The same thoughts came over me at the Egyptian Museum when finally face to face with the iconic funeral mask and sarcophagus of gold of King Tutankhamen. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. And with all the glitz, the built-up expectations, the mass of tourists led with Egyptian guides, the stale air and humidity, and the monumental amount of stuff packing shelves, aisles, walls, glass cases, turns and twists leading further to rooms, it was overwhelming enough to make it difficult to simply take a breath and admire the beauty and really look, really see. Only glimpses of these moments came to pass. I was keenly aware of and frustrated by this so I made a second trip back up stairs to see Tut's mask one more time before we headed out. I'm not sure it helped bring me more into the moment, but I could think of no other way to at least try.
See the rest of the best of our Egypt photos here.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Short greetings from Naxos...
Just a short update on where we've been since the beginning of May. Hungary and especially Turkey really engulfed us (in a good way) and we've got lots to share, including pictures and stories. For now, here's where we were and now are.
May 9-17; Hungary (Budapest, Esztergom, Visegrad, Danube, Pecs)
fly...
May 17-22; Turkey (Istanbul, Bosphorus Strait, Uskadar)
fly...
May 22-25; Turkey (Selcuk, Ephesus, Selince, Kusadasi)
ferry...
May 25-26; Greece (Islands...Samos, Naxos)
May 9-17; Hungary (Budapest, Esztergom, Visegrad, Danube, Pecs)
fly...
May 17-22; Turkey (Istanbul, Bosphorus Strait, Uskadar)
fly...
May 22-25; Turkey (Selcuk, Ephesus, Selince, Kusadasi)
ferry...
May 25-26; Greece (Islands...Samos, Naxos)
Sunday, May 13, 2007
10 May, 2007. Zagreb Center.
Breakfast. Sunny and 10:20am. It’s gonna be a scorcher but right now it’s shady and cool. I just polished off a chocko-croissant and have to note the ratio of chocolate filling is at least double, maybe triple that of chocolate croissants in America. This was also true yesterday morning in Piran, Slovenia, as it poured out of my warmed croissant and onto the plate. Yummm.
Back tracking…
On the 6th we drove from our fairytale castle stay in Sepulje, Slovenia south through the amazing wine region until we decided to hang a right turn into….ITALY! A painless border crossing with passports flashed and we were on our way to Trieste which sadly was a hideous let down from what we could see; a huge industrial port town with pumping smoke stacks, scary freeways built into the side of the mountains before they ultimately descend down to the crammed and viewless waterfront, a sea of city signs in Italian and Slovenian pointing in every which direction. We headed for Muggia and then Koper in Slovenia, with only a few mis-steps. On this gloriously sunny day, the silly Italians packed the coastal “beaches” which were literally cement walls and cement walkways on the other side of the only road the gripped the coast. It was a laughable and almost disturbing that these tanned bodies crammed in here like pigeons scrounging at a garbage heap in such an undesirable location as this. We literally breathed a collective sigh of relief when crossing back into Slovenia and headed towards Koper (Slovenia’s small but serviceable port on their paltry coast) and on to Piran – the coastal jewel of Slovenia.
But that’s another story. Back to Zagreb.
When we arrived in Zagreb, Croatia by train on the 7th, we had no place to stay but as has been our experience, generally we can find a decent place after one to two hours of door to door shopping at hotels, pensions, guest houses, apartments, treehouses, backseats of cars, etc. We’re pros now and even pre-pack little high-energy snacks in our backpacks in the event that during the scramble our blood sugar dips dangerously low and we make a rash decision. A candy bar or a hunk of cheese in these moments can easily mean the difference between settling for a $120 hotel right in front of you vs. a cute guesthouse at the top of a nearby hill for $45.
Our Lonely Planet Europe book has every single European country listed and weighing in at forty five pounds still has managed to earn its keep in my backpack. But a capital city like Zagreb is lucky to have three pages devoted to it. Luckily one tourist agent called EVISTAS was listed, and being just ten minutes from the train station on foot, it was our first stop once we arrived. As we walked there we noticed right away that Zagreb isn’t as pristine as Ljubljana and many of the cool, older buildings are clearly dilapidated with flaking paint, darkened entries, and some looking as if a carefully placed sneeze might bring them down.
We entered EVISTAS and were kindly greeted by a bearded man in his 40’s named Davor. After explaining our needs he sent us off down the street to view an apartment on the ground floor*. This place, while tidy enough, was a mildewy, dank mess with dark paint and painfully un-fengshui’d bed set up that truly creeped me out. You know those times when you walk into a room at a hotel and you feel like someone or something awful happened here? You get the picture.
We left in a hurry and back-tracked to EVISTAS. Molly chatted with Davor and we asked respectfully for something better. M charmed him a little to improve our odds, and he located another unit through switching another reservation and proceeded to start another drawing with verbal directions…which I will detail below in all their splendor.
Davor: Go down the street to the right and pass the ‘new’ doors to the next building with old doors. Use the ‘green’ key and go straight passed the mailboxes and then out through the courtyard (he then scribble doodled a few tree shapes for effect), then up some stairs and into the next building, and up to the second floor** where you look at two doors across from each other.
Molly and David: Yeah, yeah, we got you.
Davor: One door has someone’s name on it. That’s not yours.
David: (looking at M with the ‘why is he telling us about the apartment that is not ours’ look)
Davor: The unmarked one across the way is yours. Use the ‘yellow’ key here, but….it’s a new door painted to look like an old door…
David: (looking again at M with the ‘why is he telling us about the new old door’ look)
Davor: …and the lock is a bit off, so what you’ll need to do is turn the key a half turn to the left, then jiggle the handle before turning the key the remainder of the way.
Molly and David: Um, okay, so that’s…
Davor: Once inside you’ll see another door in front of you. That’s not yours.
David: (thinks to self – a little less of the information we DON’T need might help here)
Davor: There will be another door to the right and that is yours.
David: (thinks to self – yes! That is what I like to hear. The directions I NEED to remember!)
Davor: Take the ‘blue’ key and use it to enter a very small apartment.
M and I looked at each other and thought the same thing. If we find this place we outta get a reward; a pot of gold or something. We asked Davor if there would be a leprechaun awaiting us inside on this treasure hunt. He laughed and laughed and said that there would perhaps be some brandy awaiting us. So M and I left in search of the magical apartment and unbelievably found it on the first try. It was great for us – and cheap. We returned to pay Davor and collect our reward jokingly. He turned out to be serious and without hesitation went into the back room and came out with 3 small glasses and an unmarked bottle with some mysterious clear liquid inside. We asked what it was but he poured first and said ‘you must try.’ As the full shot singed our throats, he explained it was grape brandy made by a friend. It was lethal stuff, and M was gasping for a bit of time. But it was a great lead in to another 30 minutes or so that we stayed to speak with him about Croatia and recent history since the early 90’s when everything turned upside down. It was a wonderfully memorable time and we thanked him as we headed out with treasure map in nad, back to our cheap two night apartment in the heart of Zagreb.
*In Europe, the ‘first’ floor is what Americans call the second floor. Of course this makes complete sense really, but being an American, I am hopelessly confused each time we check into a place and there’s that moment of counting on my fingers as I hesitantly take the key handed to me at reception.
**Remember to do the Europe to America floor conversion, this is the third floor!
Back tracking…
On the 6th we drove from our fairytale castle stay in Sepulje, Slovenia south through the amazing wine region until we decided to hang a right turn into….ITALY! A painless border crossing with passports flashed and we were on our way to Trieste which sadly was a hideous let down from what we could see; a huge industrial port town with pumping smoke stacks, scary freeways built into the side of the mountains before they ultimately descend down to the crammed and viewless waterfront, a sea of city signs in Italian and Slovenian pointing in every which direction. We headed for Muggia and then Koper in Slovenia, with only a few mis-steps. On this gloriously sunny day, the silly Italians packed the coastal “beaches” which were literally cement walls and cement walkways on the other side of the only road the gripped the coast. It was a laughable and almost disturbing that these tanned bodies crammed in here like pigeons scrounging at a garbage heap in such an undesirable location as this. We literally breathed a collective sigh of relief when crossing back into Slovenia and headed towards Koper (Slovenia’s small but serviceable port on their paltry coast) and on to Piran – the coastal jewel of Slovenia.
But that’s another story. Back to Zagreb.
When we arrived in Zagreb, Croatia by train on the 7th, we had no place to stay but as has been our experience, generally we can find a decent place after one to two hours of door to door shopping at hotels, pensions, guest houses, apartments, treehouses, backseats of cars, etc. We’re pros now and even pre-pack little high-energy snacks in our backpacks in the event that during the scramble our blood sugar dips dangerously low and we make a rash decision. A candy bar or a hunk of cheese in these moments can easily mean the difference between settling for a $120 hotel right in front of you vs. a cute guesthouse at the top of a nearby hill for $45.
Our Lonely Planet Europe book has every single European country listed and weighing in at forty five pounds still has managed to earn its keep in my backpack. But a capital city like Zagreb is lucky to have three pages devoted to it. Luckily one tourist agent called EVISTAS was listed, and being just ten minutes from the train station on foot, it was our first stop once we arrived. As we walked there we noticed right away that Zagreb isn’t as pristine as Ljubljana and many of the cool, older buildings are clearly dilapidated with flaking paint, darkened entries, and some looking as if a carefully placed sneeze might bring them down.
We entered EVISTAS and were kindly greeted by a bearded man in his 40’s named Davor. After explaining our needs he sent us off down the street to view an apartment on the ground floor*. This place, while tidy enough, was a mildewy, dank mess with dark paint and painfully un-fengshui’d bed set up that truly creeped me out. You know those times when you walk into a room at a hotel and you feel like someone or something awful happened here? You get the picture.
We left in a hurry and back-tracked to EVISTAS. Molly chatted with Davor and we asked respectfully for something better. M charmed him a little to improve our odds, and he located another unit through switching another reservation and proceeded to start another drawing with verbal directions…which I will detail below in all their splendor.
Davor: Go down the street to the right and pass the ‘new’ doors to the next building with old doors. Use the ‘green’ key and go straight passed the mailboxes and then out through the courtyard (he then scribble doodled a few tree shapes for effect), then up some stairs and into the next building, and up to the second floor** where you look at two doors across from each other.
Molly and David: Yeah, yeah, we got you.
Davor: One door has someone’s name on it. That’s not yours.
David: (looking at M with the ‘why is he telling us about the apartment that is not ours’ look)
Davor: The unmarked one across the way is yours. Use the ‘yellow’ key here, but….it’s a new door painted to look like an old door…
David: (looking again at M with the ‘why is he telling us about the new old door’ look)
Davor: …and the lock is a bit off, so what you’ll need to do is turn the key a half turn to the left, then jiggle the handle before turning the key the remainder of the way.
Molly and David: Um, okay, so that’s…
Davor: Once inside you’ll see another door in front of you. That’s not yours.
David: (thinks to self – a little less of the information we DON’T need might help here)
Davor: There will be another door to the right and that is yours.
David: (thinks to self – yes! That is what I like to hear. The directions I NEED to remember!)
Davor: Take the ‘blue’ key and use it to enter a very small apartment.
M and I looked at each other and thought the same thing. If we find this place we outta get a reward; a pot of gold or something. We asked Davor if there would be a leprechaun awaiting us inside on this treasure hunt. He laughed and laughed and said that there would perhaps be some brandy awaiting us. So M and I left in search of the magical apartment and unbelievably found it on the first try. It was great for us – and cheap. We returned to pay Davor and collect our reward jokingly. He turned out to be serious and without hesitation went into the back room and came out with 3 small glasses and an unmarked bottle with some mysterious clear liquid inside. We asked what it was but he poured first and said ‘you must try.’ As the full shot singed our throats, he explained it was grape brandy made by a friend. It was lethal stuff, and M was gasping for a bit of time. But it was a great lead in to another 30 minutes or so that we stayed to speak with him about Croatia and recent history since the early 90’s when everything turned upside down. It was a wonderfully memorable time and we thanked him as we headed out with treasure map in nad, back to our cheap two night apartment in the heart of Zagreb.
*In Europe, the ‘first’ floor is what Americans call the second floor. Of course this makes complete sense really, but being an American, I am hopelessly confused each time we check into a place and there’s that moment of counting on my fingers as I hesitantly take the key handed to me at reception.
**Remember to do the Europe to America floor conversion, this is the third floor!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Short And Sweet
Updated Tonite:Links to pictures (see right side) for Morocco, Czech Republic, Austria, and Slovenia. Check 'em out if you have a sec.
Time flew tonite so here's a quick list of where we've been the last month. We are off to Budapest tomorrow early and staying there and in Hungary for about a week in all likelihood. Hopefully more internet time soon. We're doing great and having an amazing time exploring, talking with locals and getting a better understanding of the conflicts and recent (relatively) creation of Slovenia, Croatia, etc, and the tensions that still exist, as well as how joining the European Union is positively and negatively impacting the countries.
April 03-17; Morocco (Marrakech, Essaouira, Rabat, Fes, Casablanca)
fly...
April 17-19; Spain (Barcelona)
fly...
April 19-22; Germany (Berlin)
train...
April 22-27; Czech Republic (Prague, Ceske Budejovice, Cesky Krumlov)
train...
April 27-29; Austria (Graz)
train...
April 29-May 07; Slovenia (Ljubljana, Bled, Sepulje, Postoroz, Piran)
train...
May 07-09; Croatia (Zagreb)
Thursday, April 12, 2007
England-Scotland; 21 March - 03 April
I am finally writing from a small internet café in the ‘new town’ in Fes Morocco. Today it’s dreary and actually pretty cold so it’s a perfect time to catch up! This is also the first post to the blog thanks to a hectic schedule of sightseeing in London, followed by a more relaxed time in Scotland, but poor internet cafés that couldn’t load Blogger, and then back into pretty full day-to-day experiences in Morocco.
London – 21-24 March
We landed in London after what amazingly enough felt like a short flight from San Francisco that included flying over northern Canada, the tip of Greenland, then just south of Iceland, before coming down between Scotland and Ireland as the sun rose. Touching down at 6am local time, the temperature was unfortunately frigid – literally!
We spent 3 nights in London and a good amount of time on buses and the tube to the most central and popular spots in London, which run along the river Thames that cuts the city in half running east to west, or maybe west to east, but you get the idea. The best sites are north of the river with south London supposedly more rough and tumble and residential.
London is now officially the most expensive European city and it definitely felt that way. $6 beers, $9 cheeseburgers, $30 to see the Tower of London. Luckily the great museums are all free, and we hit many of them – the best for us being the National Gallery which has entire rooms filled with Rembrandts, Rubens, Rafaels, a couple of Vermeers, and my favorites from the Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck.
Our favorite thing to do was catch a double decker bus and sit upstairs in front and sight-see that way. The main reason was to keep warm but it also granted a great perspective on buildings, people, etc.
Highlight: Dazed and confused on our first night from 11 hours of travel and 28 hours without sleep, we crashed almost literally at a local pub in the trendy Carnaby Street area sitting outside in the bracing cold (the smoking laws in public places don’t go into effect until July and pubs are currently just a dense airless fog of smoke). Two older guys from Essex were sitting next to us and we struck up conversation. To toast our first day of the year’s travels, they bought us beers and a shot of whiskey (to warm us up to Scotland where we would be heading next). It was a wonderful gesture and a great way to inaugurate our travels. It also helped our wallets out!
Codicote (outside of London) 24-26 March
We spent two nights visiting an old friend of M’s and her husband and son. It was a nice break from the big city. Nikki and Andy and their son Archie were very generous with their time as we sucked up their entire weekend visiting St. Albans, ordering take away (take out) Bangladeshy-Indian food, etc.
Highlight: Going to a local ‘pints and poems’ event in this little town. The evening featured locals (mostly would-be actors and dramatic types in their 40’s and up) reciting some of their favorite poems and also some songs with acoustic guitar including one of my fave’s “Wild Mountain Thyme” that features a great Scottish melody ‘will ye go lassie go’.
Edinburgh, Scotland 26-30 March
This city is absolutely stunning even when dreary and overcast. The centerpiece of the town is Edinburgh Castle that sits on an extinct volcano and is visible from nearly all parts of town. Luckily M and I found a reasonable hotel that was in the ‘old town/west end’ and literally we could walk out the door and down the street and boom – there it was!
We stayed a bit longer than planned due to a cheaper airfare to our next destination of Morocco – but it worked out great. Each day we’d pile on all of our warm clothes and trek around the old town and the ‘Royal Mile’, gazing at ancient buildings as if looking back to the 17th century. The Scots here are incredibly friendly and we found that even the convenience store attendants went out of their way to comment on the weather or just say hi. We did a ton of walking as usual for us and rarely took a bus. Venturing out to Leith one night we hit the “local-est” looking pub we could find and walked in for a pint. On cue, everyone stopped drinking and gazed towards us, and if I am not mistaken the dart just released by an older gentlemen froze in mid-air. After a good five seconds of uncomfortable silence, life in the pub resumed and we walked up to buy a pint. From there, we sat and spoke with a few of the regulars including the older dart-throwing gent. It was hilarious as we could really only understand about 60% of what they said and more often than not just smiled and laughed when they would finish their garbled mess. As if in a movie, they tried to sell us on the merits of eating haggis as well. Hmm, let’s see pork organs...wrapped in intestine...and mixed with oats… Oats?!!?! Couldn't of seen that extra ingredient coming from a mile away, but if you say so. After a few polite moments, we respectfully declined. They remained genuinely puzzled as to why we would turn down such a delicacy.
Highlight: Taking the bus to nearby Dunfermline, just north of Edinburgh and across the Firth of Forth, to see the town where my musical hero, Stuart Adamson, lived for most of his life, before he unfortunately committed suicide in 2001. The town of Dunfermline has a great older section where the bus dropped us – and where I had arranged to meet a local guy who shares the same respect for Stuart and his incredible talent. Allan “Smid” Smith met us at the bottom of Glen Gates at the 7 Kings pub and we spent the night chatting about Stuart and his bands; the Skids and Big Country. Smid knew Stuart personally for years and it was just phenomenal and moving for me to hear about Stuart’s beginnings in music and also just share a pint with someone as passionate (borderline obsessed). Really, this was a dream come true for me. I’d wanted to visit Dunfermline since 1983 when I first heard Big Country. Smid also showed us Stuart’s old house right near the old Abbey at the end of the evening, before we said goodbye and took the late bus back to Edinburgh.
Fort William, Scotland 30 March – 01 April
Despite the high cost of everything, we splurged and took the train 4 hours from Edinburgh through Glasgow and up the west highlands of Fort William to see more of the less inhabited and beautiful landscapes of the Scottish highlands. It was well worth it for both of us. The train alone was a stunning experience as it cuts through parts of the highlands where there are no roads.
From Fort William, a small seaside town, one can easily hike in the valleys below Ben Nevis; the highest point in the UK at 4,400 feet. We had no intention of hiking it though as it’s covered in snow and can often have sub-arctic temperatures at the top (um, no thanks!). The main valley of Glen Nevis is flat and easy to walk and we had plenty of time to stop and each lunch one beautiful sunny day, as well as stop for me to draw, and for M to read and watch nearby highland cattle with curiosity. Looking like a cross between a cow and a sheep dog, with strands of hair running down over their eyes and faces, it isn’t hard to see why.
The next day we walked again in beautiful sunny weather over to the north side of the loch that Fort William looks upon. The little towns just to the north are really nothing more than a few suburban houses with kids playing football (soccer) in any patches of grass they can find. But with what appeared to be the first really good weather of the season, everyone was out strolling and chatting. It was touching to see the small town vibe in full display where everyone knows each other and shares a genuine interest in one another. With Ben Nevis looming behind us, it was a truly idyllic setting.
Edinburgh, Scotland 01-03 April
Back for a few days to ‘wait’ for our flights to Morocco. The highlight was walking up to Calton Hill where there’s a killer view of old and new town Edinburgh, the Firth of Forth and nearby coastline. We stopped for the afternoon and holed up on the sunny and wind-protected side of a statue so that I could draw a nearby tower for a few hours. It was a stunning day and we both could understand full well why this is such a great town full of history, beautiful buildings, and friendly people. I’d definitely add it to the list of ‘places I could live’.
Next: Morocco 03-17 April…
London – 21-24 March
We landed in London after what amazingly enough felt like a short flight from San Francisco that included flying over northern Canada, the tip of Greenland, then just south of Iceland, before coming down between Scotland and Ireland as the sun rose. Touching down at 6am local time, the temperature was unfortunately frigid – literally!
We spent 3 nights in London and a good amount of time on buses and the tube to the most central and popular spots in London, which run along the river Thames that cuts the city in half running east to west, or maybe west to east, but you get the idea. The best sites are north of the river with south London supposedly more rough and tumble and residential.London is now officially the most expensive European city and it definitely felt that way. $6 beers, $9 cheeseburgers, $30 to see the Tower of London. Luckily the great museums are all free, and we hit many of them – the best for us being the National Gallery which has entire rooms filled with Rembrandts, Rubens, Rafaels, a couple of Vermeers, and my favorites from the Flemish painter Jan Van Eyck.
Our favorite thing to do was catch a double decker bus and sit upstairs in front and sight-see that way. The main reason was to keep warm but it also granted a great perspective on buildings, people, etc.
Highlight: Dazed and confused on our first night from 11 hours of travel and 28 hours without sleep, we crashed almost literally at a local pub in the trendy Carnaby Street area sitting outside in the bracing cold (the smoking laws in public places don’t go into effect until July and pubs are currently just a dense airless fog of smoke). Two older guys from Essex were sitting next to us and we struck up conversation. To toast our first day of the year’s travels, they bought us beers and a shot of whiskey (to warm us up to Scotland where we would be heading next). It was a wonderful gesture and a great way to inaugurate our travels. It also helped our wallets out!
Codicote (outside of London) 24-26 March
We spent two nights visiting an old friend of M’s and her husband and son. It was a nice break from the big city. Nikki and Andy and their son Archie were very generous with their time as we sucked up their entire weekend visiting St. Albans, ordering take away (take out) Bangladeshy-Indian food, etc.Highlight: Going to a local ‘pints and poems’ event in this little town. The evening featured locals (mostly would-be actors and dramatic types in their 40’s and up) reciting some of their favorite poems and also some songs with acoustic guitar including one of my fave’s “Wild Mountain Thyme” that features a great Scottish melody ‘will ye go lassie go’.
Edinburgh, Scotland 26-30 March
This city is absolutely stunning even when dreary and overcast. The centerpiece of the town is Edinburgh Castle that sits on an extinct volcano and is visible from nearly all parts of town. Luckily M and I found a reasonable hotel that was in the ‘old town/west end’ and literally we could walk out the door and down the street and boom – there it was!We stayed a bit longer than planned due to a cheaper airfare to our next destination of Morocco – but it worked out great. Each day we’d pile on all of our warm clothes and trek around the old town and the ‘Royal Mile’, gazing at ancient buildings as if looking back to the 17th century. The Scots here are incredibly friendly and we found that even the convenience store attendants went out of their way to comment on the weather or just say hi. We did a ton of walking as usual for us and rarely took a bus. Venturing out to Leith one night we hit the “local-est” looking pub we could find and walked in for a pint. On cue, everyone stopped drinking and gazed towards us, and if I am not mistaken the dart just released by an older gentlemen froze in mid-air. After a good five seconds of uncomfortable silence, life in the pub resumed and we walked up to buy a pint. From there, we sat and spoke with a few of the regulars including the older dart-throwing gent. It was hilarious as we could really only understand about 60% of what they said and more often than not just smiled and laughed when they would finish their garbled mess. As if in a movie, they tried to sell us on the merits of eating haggis as well. Hmm, let’s see pork organs...wrapped in intestine...and mixed with oats… Oats?!!?! Couldn't of seen that extra ingredient coming from a mile away, but if you say so. After a few polite moments, we respectfully declined. They remained genuinely puzzled as to why we would turn down such a delicacy.
Highlight: Taking the bus to nearby Dunfermline, just north of Edinburgh and across the Firth of Forth, to see the town where my musical hero, Stuart Adamson, lived for most of his life, before he unfortunately committed suicide in 2001. The town of Dunfermline has a great older section where the bus dropped us – and where I had arranged to meet a local guy who shares the same respect for Stuart and his incredible talent. Allan “Smid” Smith met us at the bottom of Glen Gates at the 7 Kings pub and we spent the night chatting about Stuart and his bands; the Skids and Big Country. Smid knew Stuart personally for years and it was just phenomenal and moving for me to hear about Stuart’s beginnings in music and also just share a pint with someone as passionate (borderline obsessed). Really, this was a dream come true for me. I’d wanted to visit Dunfermline since 1983 when I first heard Big Country. Smid also showed us Stuart’s old house right near the old Abbey at the end of the evening, before we said goodbye and took the late bus back to Edinburgh.Fort William, Scotland 30 March – 01 April
Despite the high cost of everything, we splurged and took the train 4 hours from Edinburgh through Glasgow and up the west highlands of Fort William to see more of the less inhabited and beautiful landscapes of the Scottish highlands. It was well worth it for both of us. The train alone was a stunning experience as it cuts through parts of the highlands where there are no roads.From Fort William, a small seaside town, one can easily hike in the valleys below Ben Nevis; the highest point in the UK at 4,400 feet. We had no intention of hiking it though as it’s covered in snow and can often have sub-arctic temperatures at the top (um, no thanks!). The main valley of Glen Nevis is flat and easy to walk and we had plenty of time to stop and each lunch one beautiful sunny day, as well as stop for me to draw, and for M to read and watch nearby highland cattle with curiosity. Looking like a cross between a cow and a sheep dog, with strands of hair running down over their eyes and faces, it isn’t hard to see why.
The next day we walked again in beautiful sunny weather over to the north side of the loch that Fort William looks upon. The little towns just to the north are really nothing more than a few suburban houses with kids playing football (soccer) in any patches of grass they can find. But with what appeared to be the first really good weather of the season, everyone was out strolling and chatting. It was touching to see the small town vibe in full display where everyone knows each other and shares a genuine interest in one another. With Ben Nevis looming behind us, it was a truly idyllic setting.
Edinburgh, Scotland 01-03 April
Back for a few days to ‘wait’ for our flights to Morocco. The highlight was walking up to Calton Hill where there’s a killer view of old and new town Edinburgh, the Firth of Forth and nearby coastline. We stopped for the afternoon and holed up on the sunny and wind-protected side of a statue so that I could draw a nearby tower for a few hours. It was a stunning day and we both could understand full well why this is such a great town full of history, beautiful buildings, and friendly people. I’d definitely add it to the list of ‘places I could live’.
Next: Morocco 03-17 April…
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