tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16969545839542779072024-02-07T21:34:36.283-08:00To Auckland ....... and Beyond!!!Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-30092079830501960992014-12-17T16:17:00.000-08:002014-12-18T01:44:09.971-08:00St Petersburg<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
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Following our overnight train to St
Petersburg – our final experience on a Russian train, for now! we
arrived in the morning and made our way to our apartment. Time enough
for a full day's sightseeing!</div>
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Finally - a train photo. Not really representative though, since this train was a flasher one than most, like the one from Kazan to Moscow.</div>
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We deliberately left Moscow a day
earlier than we might have otherwise, to have longer in St
Petersburg. This meant we arrived on a Thursday, which, being the
first Thursday of the month, meant free entry to the Hermitage!!
Yussss! So that is where we made our way.</div>
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the Winter Palace<br />
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and nearby building</div>
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It was an elegant and tasteful
introduction to St Petersburg. The building itself is beautiful, so
as we looked at the exhibits within the Winter Palace we also took
note of the lovely interior. Some of the rooms were, in fact,
entitled “Palace Interiors”. John reckons it may be the most
beautiful palace we've seen, beating Schonbrunn and Versailles;
although the rooms were still decorated lavishly and opulently, they
seemed to always be cohesive, and not over the top, limiting
themselves to three main colours in general.</div>
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As for the exhibits themselves, we saw
a bunch of Russian art, which I love, as well as French art. All the
different artworks from the art galleries we've visited recently are
blending together in my mind, though, so I can't remember exactly
what there was. I do know there were also more museum-type
exhibitions, with artifacts from Central and East Asia, Tibet and
Siberia. We found the Siberian section the most interesting. It
included a stuffed chief's head and a completely mummified body –
those were pretty grim. Death doesn't do the body any favours. There
was also a big cart, a huge felt tapestry with pictures of guys with
awesome moustaches and clothes – lots of items that wouldn't
normally stand the test of time (in this case thousands of years),
but thanks to the permafrost in different areas of Siberia they
have been preserved for our viewing pleasure today.</div>
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The other main reason we allowed an
extra day in St Petersburg was so we could attend a Russian ballet.
Following our visit to the Hermitage, we walked to the Marinsky
Theatre II – apparently a very new building, only opened in 2013.
It was definitely flash enough! There we beheld a myriad of elegantly
dressed fellow audience members, matching their surroundings, while
we dressed up as best we could in our travel clothes, complete with
mud-stained boots.</div>
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before the show</div>
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pretty!</div>
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More importantly, we also got to see
Swan Lake, in three acts. It was so beautiful – the dancing was
exquisite, so graceful it brought tears to my eyes near the start –
and I always love the outfits they wear. I feel you get a two-in-one
deal at a ballet: an orchestral concert, plus ballet dancing thrown
into it. I gave John a basic overview of the plot, from what I could
remember, and unintentionally spoiled the ending a bit, saying how
all Russian narratives, be they ballets or novels, seem to be
tragedies. I seemed to remember a big long death scene at the end.
And then the prince ripped one of the evil magician's wings off,
whereupon the villain died, and the prince and princess were reunited
in a happy ending! I was so shocked. But I'll never say no to a happy
ending!</div>
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taking their well-earned applause</div>
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Speaking of happiness, we also paid an
extravagant price for two pieces of Russian layer cake during one of
the breaks. So worth it! As Brian Regan would say: delectable!</div>
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Much of the rest of our sightseeing in
the city involved wandering round and looking at, or inside, things.
I suppose that pretty much encapsulates all sightseeing, really. Here
are some of the objects we saw.</div>
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<ul>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Admiralty</div>
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<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
and this picture in the "Admiralty" metro stop - one of many in the metro stations</div>
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<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Decembrists' Square with the
Bronze Horseman – iconic symbol of the city</div>
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<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This triumphal arch</div>
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</li>
<li> St Isaac's Cathedral. Massive!
Opulent!</li>
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<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood.
This church was built on the spot where Tsar Alexander II was
fatally wounded in an assassination attempt in 1881. There was a special structure inside
marking the very spot. The church itself was so beautiful, with
nearly every internal inch covered with large mosaics – but in a
pattern, so it wasn't too overwhelming.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
another insane altarpiece</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
one of the mosaics</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
The paintings filled every inch.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Kazan Cathedral. This still
operates as a place of worship, rather than the other churches we
visited in St Petersburg, which have been converted into museums. On
the plus side, having it as a still functioning church means you get free entry. On the minus side, you're not allowed to take pictures
inside. So we have no photos
inside Kazan Cathedral, but it lived up to the standard of the
others, we thought – tasteful, if not quite as opulent. It seems
that tastefulness is a feature throughout St Petersburg.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoMkgt68wOfqlxZBu1ShGkAnna73Y44j4Rfl3cx1i45qYL1GZrXvyGgJcTCs77nZ6ohrVOf9HaFInHnJ9QVgFizh1Clc2ShOcnbz1HzHh-tIsmpEja924J0Toyi8tBuoZsv8biRQ0IlA/s1600/S_IMG_2688.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoMkgt68wOfqlxZBu1ShGkAnna73Y44j4Rfl3cx1i45qYL1GZrXvyGgJcTCs77nZ6ohrVOf9HaFInHnJ9QVgFizh1Clc2ShOcnbz1HzHh-tIsmpEja924J0Toyi8tBuoZsv8biRQ0IlA/s1600/S_IMG_2688.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
not snowing</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
snowing! </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Alexander Nevsky monastery. We
walked for a long way down Nevsy Prospekt, the main street, to
arrive at this monastery. It was also a proper experience in the
Russian winter, as it was snowing the whole time. It was great,
apart from when the wind blew the snow into our faces as we walked.
Still, like I said, it was great! And it meant the monastery, when
we reached it, had a decent covering of snow, and the sky was light
and pink with snow clouds even though the sun had long set, and it
just had an awesome feeling to it. The snow setting on our camera didn't work very well, though, giving us decidedly sub-par photos, so you'll have to take our word for it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Peter and Paul fortress, with
cathedral</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
the entrance to the fortress</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
the cathedral - very pointy</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
John fist-bumps a statue in the fortress</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</li>
<li><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Here is also a picture of the lack
of the cruiser Aurora. We went to the place it was meant to be –
we expected it would be bobbing around merrily on the water, and our
guidebook had opening hours for it, but when we got there, all that
greeted us was a partially frozen body of water<span style="font-weight: normal;">
and some large buoys.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7OyykOm5XpR3d2MdtvsTYr5voE9qWE3R6WORNeN5HmkxgoErNHzV3KdczdpxDFUOOiHFju1R1qWl0562_4RwPUqBuWzWydyZdaU7wBUqKHf5zxtZ69rtbtxAKdkCULbF7kq5JE4ZREQ/s1600/S_IMG_2711.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7OyykOm5XpR3d2MdtvsTYr5voE9qWE3R6WORNeN5HmkxgoErNHzV3KdczdpxDFUOOiHFju1R1qWl0562_4RwPUqBuWzWydyZdaU7wBUqKHf5zxtZ69rtbtxAKdkCULbF7kq5JE4ZREQ/s1600/S_IMG_2711.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
No Aurora! Must be sleeping.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A more successful
outing was the one that involved an Indian restaurant for
lunch/dinner. John got a medium-hot curry dish (i.e. WAY too hot for
me) and I got the mildest possible butter chicken (i.e. safe,
predictable and perfect). The food was really good – possibly the
best Indian I've ever had.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">And
now back to sightseeing. We got a further taste of the art on display
in St Petersburg by visiting the Mikhailovsky Palace (not the same as
the nearby Mikhailovsky Castle. Confusing). Again, like the
Hermitage, some of the wonder of this place was in viewing the
lavish rooms, decorated with beautiful gold leaf and paintings made
to look like 3D sculpture. Many groups of schoolkids seemed to have
chosen that same day to come and appreciate the wonder of Mikhailovsky
Palace as well, but we didn't let that put us off. Have I mentioned
that I love Russian art? This was reconfirmed here. There were the
artfully imagined biblical scenes, beautiful sunsets, moody forests,
a fantastical underwater scene and, one of my favourites, a huge sea
with a drowning ship.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We finished off
our time in the city, and our OE proper, with a visit to the Museum
of Political History. It had been done in quite a flash, modern way,
rather than long blocks of text with photos, like in some of the
other museums we've visited, but it was also the most confusing
museum we've visited. Confusing to know where the different rooms
were, and which order to do them in, and sometimes what order to view
the exhibits inside. I think I came away with a better understanding
of how the revolution happened, though, and a clearer picture of life
under Stalin's rule, with the incessant propaganda, as well as the
ideological bases of those involved. Once again, it made me grateful
to not have lived there and then.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">I
thought St Petersburg was great. I also thought Moscow was great. The
architecture was amazing, the Christmas decorations lifted everything
up a notch, and it just seemed </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">right</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
to be preparing for Christmas in the snow. St Petersburg was easier
to manage, being much less spread out than Moscow, and it also left
me with a sense of style and elegance. It was the perfect end to our
trip.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigD9ru1VxR7vI2lXI0cTc8e9RI_wJ3Gk4w-YJOTGd_sOJEIKzepOMMk8MSlm9Z477egdDdYBAgeTmnKOYqlVoSBF81Us1WOcRIxYSvx7rfZtklc13Tpkx_MCxIE_iO_j4MgzfquAeUhQ/s1600/S_IMG_2727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigD9ru1VxR7vI2lXI0cTc8e9RI_wJ3Gk4w-YJOTGd_sOJEIKzepOMMk8MSlm9Z477egdDdYBAgeTmnKOYqlVoSBF81Us1WOcRIxYSvx7rfZtklc13Tpkx_MCxIE_iO_j4MgzfquAeUhQ/s1600/S_IMG_2727.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
St Petersburg, you were grand.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Yet end it must, and end it has. And so has my part of the blog post. John now offers some final thoughts on our trip.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'm meant to come up with a grand closing statement, a final
paragraph, some sort of meaningful, poignant reminiscence or wistful
nostalgic phrase that ties the whole thing together into some
cohesive and coherent whole. (It's a tough job, but someone's got to
have the last say, right?) Here goes: Six months or so ago (I forget
exactly how long – since May some time) I guess I expected that</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
a. we'd have more spare time.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
b. we'd learn more about ourselves and our place in the world.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We've definitely not had very much spare time (sitting around on the
train notwithstanding). I'm not sure about b. The world has become a
much smaller place; visiting famous places is like having only seen
movie stars on a small distorted TV plugged into a VCR with dirty
heads – then when you see the same movie in HD you realise that
those perfect (if blurry) movie stars have wrinkles, and are human
after all. Oh the humanity. This would be an appropriate time for a
literary quote ('cause you know I'm just pretentious like that).</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
“Not all who wander are lost.”</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
- J.R.R. Tolkein.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Now that our wandering is over for the time being (and thanks to the
magic of GPS we were only lost a few times) my overriding feeling is
that NZ is a great place to come from, in spite of our insularity,
and it's a great place to go back to once you've seen some amazing
and interesting parts of God's green earth (although we're sitting in
Shanghai airport as I'm typing this, and I have to say, I do wonder
what it's like through the smog haze out the windows. Perhaps next
time).</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-87738710522466719932014-12-11T14:40:00.000-08:002014-12-11T14:40:57.962-08:00Moscow<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Capital City #20</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Travelling on the trains can be nice,
but when you've been on the road (or is that on the rails?) for a few
days, one feels like having a shower. Thankfully the place we were
staying at had one of those – it was a really nice apartment, with
more than enough of everything we needed.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">After cleaning ourselves up a bit we
went into town. Red Square.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Red square isn't actually red, and
isn't actually a square. It does have all these nice features though:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Lenin's Mausoleum</span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM1a0pvcp_CVc0TkZ6JnJr-vFVJX5y8tge7enULBoLX2KuxKe7VPZQQE7ZHpZssAfOx2k6WxoyD3KG7-TfHEIJozxefcijwGdxTt5IkzXG-hzx35IebzVSPVQBRrz9uzkOfgkQiTkaa0Xx/s1600/S_IMG_2477.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM1a0pvcp_CVc0TkZ6JnJr-vFVJX5y8tge7enULBoLX2KuxKe7VPZQQE7ZHpZssAfOx2k6WxoyD3KG7-TfHEIJozxefcijwGdxTt5IkzXG-hzx35IebzVSPVQBRrz9uzkOfgkQiTkaa0Xx/s1600/S_IMG_2477.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">St Basil's</span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYRGba6X-NagS0yNt6YobR8natQs7lGGZ603kS-elPEB6aQwzl8kCwCW3lH_kt6UH21yK4I8Qh2pkvL33fIEriNCmwCvkoLlilvOs_rI4ccy9IkxqdGcTNm9gAiRv6yu_ONePwD_U2KcVZ/s1600/S_IMG_2494.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYRGba6X-NagS0yNt6YobR8natQs7lGGZ603kS-elPEB6aQwzl8kCwCW3lH_kt6UH21yK4I8Qh2pkvL33fIEriNCmwCvkoLlilvOs_rI4ccy9IkxqdGcTNm9gAiRv6yu_ONePwD_U2KcVZ/s1600/S_IMG_2494.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">There was this fairground type thing.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">There was also this well type of place where people
were throwing coins in, which we didn't photograph.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Russian money is strange, especially
the coins. The coins go from 10 roubles at the upper end to 10 kopeks
at the lower end of things. 10 kopeks are worth one tenth of a
rouble, which is worth around 2.5 NZ cents. At first I would spot
the 10 kopek coins and pick them up; there are quite a few of them
just lying around on the footpaths, left there because they're not worth the
time and energy to pick up. Once I realised this I started to just leave them there too. Anyway, back to the story.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Anna and I aren't the type of people to
go literally throwing money away down some fountain or well, like
it's some karmic vending machine dishing our health/wealth/love. Here
we made an exception. On the steps around the well there were various
coins that people had thrown and missed with (it's hard to throw with
a bulky jacket and gloves on) so we picked up a couple of missed
coins, and tried getting them in the well in the middle. They're
worth so little that I do wonder why they actually still have the
kopeks.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">We went to church too; great to sing
some songs that we knew, even if they are Christmas carols in the
non-December part of the year.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">The next day we went to the Kremlin.
Not the Kazan one, the Moscow one.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUyI41qzfPDpdl0HcWj40Hn9ixtqJqvKNRlQ9PZND_hXMsVqnJe7FSqBWqfkgZPNU7GGE0fsr4QYJZA6QtFkv1oKuylN1Pkw4erO9sDtwXSm09urdP56eJJXWtUhUYXdQzwhK_FE94oeO4/s1600/S_IMG_2501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUyI41qzfPDpdl0HcWj40Hn9ixtqJqvKNRlQ9PZND_hXMsVqnJe7FSqBWqfkgZPNU7GGE0fsr4QYJZA6QtFkv1oKuylN1Pkw4erO9sDtwXSm09urdP56eJJXWtUhUYXdQzwhK_FE94oeO4/s1600/S_IMG_2501.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">The Czar cannon.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_7kQXMYtUSioXQF1CITy-KaUnnjS-SqhFmJv8rG0meIUiPBH02hyphenhyphenzpaukxS1nv7nZAIYHeTP8QfJXgojj40yAeCFmBaZwcBE3D4pdIndeVxJGjP89j2pLD2Eg3qMQ8PG7LyM3LM07OSX/s1600/S_IMG_2508.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY_7kQXMYtUSioXQF1CITy-KaUnnjS-SqhFmJv8rG0meIUiPBH02hyphenhyphenzpaukxS1nv7nZAIYHeTP8QfJXgojj40yAeCFmBaZwcBE3D4pdIndeVxJGjP89j2pLD2Eg3qMQ8PG7LyM3LM07OSX/s1600/S_IMG_2508.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">The Czar bell. The Czar seems to like large things.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">It started snowing while we were there.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseFt1NZmhQDdgEOzF6u0LqYs0g5yKuxIBOYCYW53Kmf3BBSVDt6XcJwt5SKyYQgDIN8wkJggpyfAsxRX5E3SXDaE22-6yJtQg05jfuPzmlyxTc_e8pT6-gPBWC1WYJ6gRkhYUnRTMteRn/s1600/S_IMG_2505.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjseFt1NZmhQDdgEOzF6u0LqYs0g5yKuxIBOYCYW53Kmf3BBSVDt6XcJwt5SKyYQgDIN8wkJggpyfAsxRX5E3SXDaE22-6yJtQg05jfuPzmlyxTc_e8pT6-gPBWC1WYJ6gRkhYUnRTMteRn/s1600/S_IMG_2505.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Gilt onion domes scattered all over the place.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Then we went to another church.
Probably my favourite one so far.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjakKoRENqOec4N2WU7ms5txR3atKsGLnd7Gd_g_SS7khOHOjajXRxc4hBSEdRIn_Q6T6s_N-MKlESE99vOjq6Qr3fBNW_di4FYbZEAoOXdgZZis2cypKeNVxSg5Yf2juuAzvrzYSM9T1Bg/s1600/S_IMG_2515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjakKoRENqOec4N2WU7ms5txR3atKsGLnd7Gd_g_SS7khOHOjajXRxc4hBSEdRIn_Q6T6s_N-MKlESE99vOjq6Qr3fBNW_di4FYbZEAoOXdgZZis2cypKeNVxSg5Yf2juuAzvrzYSM9T1Bg/s1600/S_IMG_2515.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">No pictures allowed inside, since it's
still a working church. It wasn't garish or overly sumptuous inside;
even though it was ornate and there were icons all over the place it
was cohesive.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">The next morning we went to try and
find a market that was recommended as having good tourist shopping.
We went to the place where I thought it was on the map and found
this:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuir_TpVKYr2rAEd9UWBSAT0krmgI7uKD9pNjr2IIJciV1aJFgcS3S__U2BKrHno1OTM7MWecmGSvLS6_njBvDUJAnYRP0xhS4QDPdFqU7lQvkwu0qftm_f5lu2CrBsh2lhDChmixshr6G/s1600/S_IMG_2519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuir_TpVKYr2rAEd9UWBSAT0krmgI7uKD9pNjr2IIJciV1aJFgcS3S__U2BKrHno1OTM7MWecmGSvLS6_njBvDUJAnYRP0xhS4QDPdFqU7lQvkwu0qftm_f5lu2CrBsh2lhDChmixshr6G/s1600/S_IMG_2519.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Some sort of winter wonderland.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">It's like a theme park with a Russian
flavour and as far as I could see, no rides. Plenty of interesting
looking buildings though:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEJ5UzBiyEbmB_5GNpl7O1xdB3a0nXH_Hij79aee37WfbJ7Zu_RuLH0D7IotyhSuVLQFFFGwh2ALB_q6L871aYQf986k_COm22RH9huc_4d5VwrqYNWCFc-lnoytBGoNMRwcuLgeiNJieC/s1600/S_IMG_2522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEJ5UzBiyEbmB_5GNpl7O1xdB3a0nXH_Hij79aee37WfbJ7Zu_RuLH0D7IotyhSuVLQFFFGwh2ALB_q6L871aYQf986k_COm22RH9huc_4d5VwrqYNWCFc-lnoytBGoNMRwcuLgeiNJieC/s1600/S_IMG_2522.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4nbmp30C5zYXKBJAkod1jHKnQXfFfOaicf2FO6XH1IK_BaxyT09NpIoP05yY1Vbeo0hkrQRi9cVRwvlAP6GCPqAS-jjKdOMzltZfo2T8JTT5Y1SycJF1Q0S39RHyh35EDmKl-umP0Nird/s1600/S_IMG_2523.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4nbmp30C5zYXKBJAkod1jHKnQXfFfOaicf2FO6XH1IK_BaxyT09NpIoP05yY1Vbeo0hkrQRi9cVRwvlAP6GCPqAS-jjKdOMzltZfo2T8JTT5Y1SycJF1Q0S39RHyh35EDmKl-umP0Nird/s1600/S_IMG_2523.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3jg3DTwz0yWxMgnZ-A4BPKikaO48rhl2qBggBfQ_egft-Lgi6evbhb9Y10t_7XphdZUEnpjus5aDhXI_hM7nSHMWgCXPcsjm4aoJ8Vn1_0XzGppOfl3pELCaW4_MG6jPhUV6g8RBTYAo/s1600/S_IMG_2525.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG3jg3DTwz0yWxMgnZ-A4BPKikaO48rhl2qBggBfQ_egft-Lgi6evbhb9Y10t_7XphdZUEnpjus5aDhXI_hM7nSHMWgCXPcsjm4aoJ8Vn1_0XzGppOfl3pELCaW4_MG6jPhUV6g8RBTYAo/s1600/S_IMG_2525.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">After wandering around this place for a
while (and belatedly seeing a no-photos sign) we finally found the
market. It was mostly deserted, and the few people still there were
all bundled up warmly. Not exactly the Mecca of tourist shopping, but
sufficient. I bought a fur hat.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">After this we <span style="font-size: small;">went
to VDNK – </span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Всероссийский
выставочный центр – which translates to </span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Exhibition
of Achievements of the People's Economy</span></i></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
in English (thanks Wikipedia!). Basically a bunch of monuments and
stuff. We saw this thing though:</span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0xhvwCMClNoC61pGycoqBSQFB1Yf6M_7AMoOXia5JV5WxtHj7aYSRz-TKbMl1yXtjwQP6XMsHAQ8A2YPu8kYlSbmds6aPwV8XAIpwfDh7OVvRDzlHSYZCOwW6gBrZioq1swSgDydWyvA_/s1600/S_IMG_2532.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0xhvwCMClNoC61pGycoqBSQFB1Yf6M_7AMoOXia5JV5WxtHj7aYSRz-TKbMl1yXtjwQP6XMsHAQ8A2YPu8kYlSbmds6aPwV8XAIpwfDh7OVvRDzlHSYZCOwW6gBrZioq1swSgDydWyvA_/s1600/S_IMG_2532.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: start;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Noble space engineers and scientists strive for a socialist future.</span></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjokEDm5SNHpX1B88erBTVG7QQkAsg03a_OGuScll2NqodVoUUs16X0Gwy-GzbxtuHG-PXBwXj3NgFjdvKB6rvw4S9PSXQ_3xczNcmKcQzH2RQj7BoMadaD4SWEQDogBv6ofgM2NCvHuvBw/s1600/S_IMG_2528.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjokEDm5SNHpX1B88erBTVG7QQkAsg03a_OGuScll2NqodVoUUs16X0Gwy-GzbxtuHG-PXBwXj3NgFjdvKB6rvw4S9PSXQ_3xczNcmKcQzH2RQj7BoMadaD4SWEQDogBv6ofgM2NCvHuvBw/s1600/S_IMG_2528.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Me, with the space obelisk, sporting my new hat.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It's
a little incongruous inside. There's a theme park type place that
blares western pop music, and a long wide avenue leading up to
triumphalist architectural monstrosities; there's an ice skating
track type area, a replica Vostok rocket, and one of the Soviet space
shuttles that never went past the testing stage.</span> </span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Possibly
the most incongruous part was walking past all these Communist
structures, and then hearing a song come on that sounded like it was
by Casting Crowns. Turns out it was, called “The Well”.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKioQPEW4do">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKioQPEW4do</a></b></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDNd5peBmSYTVtNag3FfWMftFmflisHXj21ltsVCan2y4tInpGoc4B1pHTRwNjx4ju79jhpjG4fjfmAFYAKSWQZ0HLgCmCNT2Utd8stsXIl74oYP0RfxndOwQVCMjghn8TD7NTampFdZVJ/s1600/S_IMG_2536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDNd5peBmSYTVtNag3FfWMftFmflisHXj21ltsVCan2y4tInpGoc4B1pHTRwNjx4ju79jhpjG4fjfmAFYAKSWQZ0HLgCmCNT2Utd8stsXIl74oYP0RfxndOwQVCMjghn8TD7NTampFdZVJ/s1600/S_IMG_2536.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Triumphal</span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZG9pDtNK_EXgX8Y8r7B_oKO9NkNHmQP4vJDmpFu7OOYezqylMhXB-B-nLnIgmSd1AM4eeL7GQKK18zQi8Aj-H-Q8fKlYSR4JXC5attBAjLqc8blJRKtJF7RR1JbVpkfitfcwSjqDESkIo/s1600/S_IMG_2547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZG9pDtNK_EXgX8Y8r7B_oKO9NkNHmQP4vJDmpFu7OOYezqylMhXB-B-nLnIgmSd1AM4eeL7GQKK18zQi8Aj-H-Q8fKlYSR4JXC5attBAjLqc8blJRKtJF7RR1JbVpkfitfcwSjqDESkIo/s1600/S_IMG_2547.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Soviet</span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl06DBHr0Ggsnj6FJLPmgaMaQ_wgudkbFjoH38jh0U1C62d-RJkRFrPzo94-0aFJEMlf64FeYv8jNUONy8nLA6U7zTqdOON9jM2G1pcsN1gm343hyphenhyphenTimjKPw4AuUCX-BzqS92bUTNsoI-S/s1600/S_IMG_2550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl06DBHr0Ggsnj6FJLPmgaMaQ_wgudkbFjoH38jh0U1C62d-RJkRFrPzo94-0aFJEMlf64FeYv8jNUONy8nLA6U7zTqdOON9jM2G1pcsN1gm343hyphenhyphenTimjKPw4AuUCX-BzqS92bUTNsoI-S/s1600/S_IMG_2550.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Architecture.</span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQaMyqQh5gSjvmVKDf2OOAAxeflcL5_ChyphenhyphenR3G32vyogpKXSAip1eSG2uBoG8widnOBxSBPf0HnNTJa19Nh8qZw2Ziinl65Dx8_ct7Ud0-k2U-FKFkWDsR4XuMqPcvT_DB6x5CezdSS78V/s1600/S_IMG_2553.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRQaMyqQh5gSjvmVKDf2OOAAxeflcL5_ChyphenhyphenR3G32vyogpKXSAip1eSG2uBoG8widnOBxSBPf0HnNTJa19Nh8qZw2Ziinl65Dx8_ct7Ud0-k2U-FKFkWDsR4XuMqPcvT_DB6x5CezdSS78V/s1600/S_IMG_2553.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">Vostok!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8eU5gfeVhHFWiqhyphenhyphenU8TnYWLt-7ebnMXdZa4INzLdb6zZLY56tteyhgAL4IHhXVuFTabpBh9VRN9Q8iA3rsy8uzUZA7prLSIL7mLkj8XuG8MyrNYpIRg1VCwGd_J3g3G-2J8_rCvnJ7IOX/s1600/S_IMG_2559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8eU5gfeVhHFWiqhyphenhyphenU8TnYWLt-7ebnMXdZa4INzLdb6zZLY56tteyhgAL4IHhXVuFTabpBh9VRN9Q8iA3rsy8uzUZA7prLSIL7mLkj8XuG8MyrNYpIRg1VCwGd_J3g3G-2J8_rCvnJ7IOX/s1600/S_IMG_2559.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">The Buran Shuttle!</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">Moscow
is an interesting place, it's really rather large, and the metro is
ridiculously confusing, perhaps more so than Berlin. While I enjoyed
our time there, I was happy to leave – and happier when we got two
breakfasts on the train to St Petersburg.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">A</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit;">nna
interjects: I really liked Moscow! It was so pretty, and I felt like
we got a proper, if short, Russian winter experience with the below
zero degree temperatures. It was great to be there in the build-up to
Christmas, with all the sparkly decorations and festive atmosphere. I
also loved the Tretyakov Gallery, which we visited on our last day
there. Russian art is beautiful.</span></div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-1949528385056527282014-12-09T00:31:00.001-08:002014-12-09T00:31:47.669-08:00Trans-Siberian<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This post could end up like an
itinerary – one place after another, so I'll fill it with enough
anecdotes to make it interesting.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The route itself that we're taking
(here's the itinerary part):</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<ul>
<li>Vladivostok</li>
<li>Irkutsk</li>
<li>Krasnoyarsk</li>
<li>Kazan</li>
<li>Moscow</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Also, this is going to be rather
disjointed, with little glimpses of what we did, rather than
necessarily a broad coherent narrative sweep of events. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>The trans-Siberian journey</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Much of the train journey so far has
been sleeping. You get a bed, and a pack of sheets and pillowcase
that you use to m<span style="font-weight: normal;">ake your own bed.
They're not the most comfortable, but the train rocks in a random
chaos of motion,</span> which has a lulling effect, especially at
night.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The trains themselves are really rather
long, with multiple carriages, mostly fully occupied. We were
travelling in second class, which means that there are 4 people to a
room, with five or six rooms per carriage, a samovar at one end, and
a toilet at either end of the carriage. We were forbidden to use the
toilet half an hour before or after the train was scheduled to stop
at stations. I could never figure out which stop we were up to, or
what the time was, so I just chanced it and only got told off once.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In Vladivostok we shopped for supplies for the journey - mostly noodles and packet soups for lunch and dinner, but also UHT milk and cereal for breakfast, and bottled water.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Apart from the time spent sleeping and eating on the train, the other half is spent
talking to people, or sometimes being talked to by people.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I've been invited into the cabin of
some Uzbeks, who offered me beer, bread and fish, and we had a bit of
a conversation.<span style="font-weight: normal;"> They were very friendly. I've f</span>ound that I recognize a bunch of words, but
not necessarily their meaning. Anna has been bearing the load of the
conversations – our first few roommates said maybe a few sentences
to us, and then left us alone. Next we had the Uzbeks, who hung
around with us for a while. After this, we've had a dude who just
kept talking, telling me half a dozen times that I should learn
Russian, then left and came back drunk a few hours later with a
couple of beers. He might have offered me one, but we couldn't tell
if he actually was, so we didn't want to assume. He began to snore
shortly after this, then half an hour later rolled out of bed onto
the floor. Thankfully he was on the bottom bunk.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
He fell out of bed that night too,
a<span style="font-weight: normal;">fter talking to us for another
couple of hours and drinking both of the beers... We were glad when
he left. This is also the night Anna decided to start sleeping in the
top bunk, and was glad to have done so.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It's been snowing on and off ever since
we boarded the train, an<span style="font-weight: normal;">d it looks
b</span>itterly cold outside. Every time the train stops for an
extended stop the provodnik(a) walks around the carriage knocking
things on the undercarriage trying to dislodge the snow and ice. This
morning on the inside of the triple glazing a thick layer of ice had
formed where the condensation had dripped down the window and onto
the cold windowsill. Inside, though, it's a balmy 20 degrees (this
particular train has a display of the time, and the current inside
temperature), little kids run up and down the hallway, and everyone
wanders around in t-shirt and slippers.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Right now we're sitting opposite a
couple of guys who are more patient – Anna's looking up words on
her Kindle, which makes the conversation actually work somewhat. It's
hard to explain things like “Why are you Baptists?” or what you
think of Vladimir Putin when you've got a limited vocabulary. Things
seem to be working alright though. I'm understanding a surprising
amount of the conversation, which is nice.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
One of the guys has left, and another
joined us; this one was a soldier in East Germany, he appears to be
slight<span style="font-weight: normal;">ly drunk, and he keeps
showing us pictures of a big fish that he caught somewhere in
Siberia. It definitely is a big fish, but the wonder of it starts to
wear off after the third or fourth time being shown it.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Later that evening we had to switch
trains, with our shortest stopover period yet - 25 minutes. We were a bit anxious, but one of our friendly cabinmates said he would help us find
the next train. We got all ready and stood by the door as the train pulled up at the station. We detrained, and our friend went to the train right beside ours and asked someone if that was the one to Kazan - and it turns out it was! So we
were able to climb aboard without any fuss.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Now we're on a
really old one that has a ridiculous heating problem. It's far too
hot – everyone is walking around without shirts on. Perhaps
something's broken. We seem to be
in a carriage that's almost completely full of unwashed men in
various states of dress. Anna didn't like it, and slept on the top
bunk again. Anyway, one of our cabinmates looked completely out of
it draped on the upper bunk, immobile and softly snoring. The other
guy decided to show us videos of bears that came around the place
where he works in the forest. They're rather large creatures, so I'm
not surprised he wanted to show them off, but we were trying to get
to sleep. Ah well.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The
next morning we were joined by some other dude from another cabin who
was just visiting the guy we were sharing with. Such a dodgy-looking
dude, he began to ask us questions. Anna feigned ignorance of what he
was asking, I told him a bunch of times that I couldn't understand,
and then started to make up answers to what the questions sounded
like, but of course I could only answer in English. It took him a
surprisingly long time to leave us alone. And one of neighbours drank
some of our water in the middle of the night, which was already in
short supply, so we're not too happy with this particular leg of the
journey.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>The stops en route</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Vladivostok:</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We started in Vladivostok, and had a couple of hours to shop for supplies and see some of the sites.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3Ha7N6WY6170KBQUEVz-IdD19wKb_I8l0tEwqQheOgZoJNyrQi8CgD4Agzb80suubEwXyBn-geX3NlKkYmXW5QO5w0Wj8bk-4afZnacNcdjFm1RK9AgLHDQrRzCaSIe5ZseCmfKKumzX/s1600/S_IMG_2367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3Ha7N6WY6170KBQUEVz-IdD19wKb_I8l0tEwqQheOgZoJNyrQi8CgD4Agzb80suubEwXyBn-geX3NlKkYmXW5QO5w0Wj8bk-4afZnacNcdjFm1RK9AgLHDQrRzCaSIe5ZseCmfKKumzX/s1600/S_IMG_2367.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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The first of many Orthodox church buildings.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsSBwFIWNa4k-rHEN6loWfeYqCmw2z1nYhq-YPLmMFf_Kb1Kf9C8LJT_9LeGZcwV2Exed6J7oi3wq-8SMoGppWMLWRYORAtLuGGxi6ST8rZ4-LtaHJzaf6e6KfsjKec3mLfTbyAfJ85vd/s1600/S_IMG_2352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNsSBwFIWNa4k-rHEN6loWfeYqCmw2z1nYhq-YPLmMFf_Kb1Kf9C8LJT_9LeGZcwV2Exed6J7oi3wq-8SMoGppWMLWRYORAtLuGGxi6ST8rZ4-LtaHJzaf6e6KfsjKec3mLfTbyAfJ85vd/s1600/S_IMG_2352.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Lenin showing off his best dance moves.</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTDxGItxHp76SLTXxIQ2im_Xe3U7T0_3xRuDb-o-DMd5zhu0jRasKQKnP48E9_nIcfSWLfEq-7OJcxornxBljsEW2xy31LnCu5nGVr-QmfQTATij2CKze036vV7wFCGSyMg2VtC04mtiD/s1600/S_IMG_2371.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTDxGItxHp76SLTXxIQ2im_Xe3U7T0_3xRuDb-o-DMd5zhu0jRasKQKnP48E9_nIcfSWLfEq-7OJcxornxBljsEW2xy31LnCu5nGVr-QmfQTATij2CKze036vV7wFCGSyMg2VtC04mtiD/s1600/S_IMG_2371.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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A submarine.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Irkutsk:</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Arriving in Irkutsk we were immediately
glad for the preparations we'd made for the cold. In Bishkek we
stocked up on Chinese brands of jackets and boots and woollen socks.
I also got some long-johns that said that they're XXXXL, but they fit
me quite well. Either they're kids' sizes, or women’s, or they're
meant to be ridiculously tight. I'm not sure. Thus armoured we've
been able to stay warm enough to ward off hypothermia.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnWiGl1u2Qwa3dlw6n6TddSOGKxrImdC6twT8U9RGAPsu1a2mpVq-D0HUJfzix8gyIjq6NhCa2PzWtoqexHitFneZYpdmF-Xlqt5XW5hXGsmsMBqgsEEly1R2LHEfWP2eEPtBMK0zOodnm/s1600/S_IMG_2376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnWiGl1u2Qwa3dlw6n6TddSOGKxrImdC6twT8U9RGAPsu1a2mpVq-D0HUJfzix8gyIjq6NhCa2PzWtoqexHitFneZYpdmF-Xlqt5XW5hXGsmsMBqgsEEly1R2LHEfWP2eEPtBMK0zOodnm/s1600/S_IMG_2376.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Another Orthodox church. O for Orange, Orthodox, Owesome, and Oxford comma.</div>
<br />
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The mythical animal on the Irkutsk shield.</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjejg1p5L4zCC40ksyTUdbwaZ7SdkxL466zxFsSb0ggLUxQBLPZR3EJ4Uxb5pTAOxBSMvm09Z44GcOmbxk8_U5lO30zXF-lvPGdgNm9WtBpMNJCy99k6WfhFiOzaZfFak6LOLdpJfWChJT9/s1600/S_IMG_2399.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjejg1p5L4zCC40ksyTUdbwaZ7SdkxL466zxFsSb0ggLUxQBLPZR3EJ4Uxb5pTAOxBSMvm09Z44GcOmbxk8_U5lO30zXF-lvPGdgNm9WtBpMNJCy99k6WfhFiOzaZfFak6LOLdpJfWChJT9/s1600/S_IMG_2399.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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I aspire one day to be as manly and rugged as this statue.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We went to Irkutsk to visit lake
Baikal, the biggest freshwater lake in the world, containing 20% or
so of the world's supply of liquid fresh water. Irkutsk isn't
actually on the lake, so we took a bus to Listvyanka.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Perhaps we shouldn't have.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Listvyanka was mostly empty. Half the
shops were closed. We could see the lake, which roiled and swelled
like the ocean, a steel grey hypothermic menace. A nice day for a
stroll around the lake. We managed about a hundred and fifty metres,
stopping when we could in the few shops that were open, until we
considered the icy glare of the shop attendants to be worse than the
icy knife of the wind. We found a cafe that wasn't full of Asians who
looked at us politely as if we were a rare species of bird, and sat
in the warmth eating surprisingly delicious food while watching<span style="font-weight: normal;">
some of the movie </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Seventeen
Again</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;"> dubbed in Russian
</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">until
the next bus out was due to leave. </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">We
later found out the t</span>emperature was -13ish, and since the wind
speed was around 30kph, that makes the windchill at somewhere around
-23. We were glad we went, but since we were concentrating on keeping
warm, and since visibility was horrendous we took no photos.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Krasnoyarsk</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
From Irkutsk we went to Krasnoyarsk.
The reason for going to Krasnoyarsk was that there's this nature
reserve nearby that has a bunch of interesting looking rocks, and
because it might be nice to go for a walk in the snow. We found a bus
that we thought would take us in the right direction, but it took us
about three quarters of the way there, and then turned around to come
back. A website helpfully told us that there was a bus that takes you
directly to the car park of the reserve, but unhelpfully didn't tell
us which bus that was or where to catch it from. It probably worked
out for the best though, since the sun would have been setting while
we were still in the national park.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlLeG0gq5kc957L_2-63La-zSzkm8cSolgXpaY5TeYVrONrHBT7IPD662wBJCz2LJYyehcBsEE8cO3BaKshEq8b1UH5IB0okWAXrXAzuqOPyEBzEbmI3goNTdZylfGLyIyr9ZmC0GjxBWs/s1600/S_IMG_2405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlLeG0gq5kc957L_2-63La-zSzkm8cSolgXpaY5TeYVrONrHBT7IPD662wBJCz2LJYyehcBsEE8cO3BaKshEq8b1UH5IB0okWAXrXAzuqOPyEBzEbmI3goNTdZylfGLyIyr9ZmC0GjxBWs/s1600/S_IMG_2405.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The train station at Krasnoyarsk.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Kazan</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
From Krasnoyarsk we went to Kazan. One
of our friends from the previous train helped us find the connecting
train, since it can be confusing. Kazan is the capital of Tartarstan,
and isn't actually one of the stops in the normal version of the trans-Siberian, but we thought it'd be interesting. We arrived in the
morning (thankful that we were able to get away from our frankly
creepy cabinmate) and hit the town. The main interesting thing in
Kazan is the Kremlin (no, not that Kremlin, Kazan has its own).</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
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The mosque is such a pretty colour.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuu8k_RtTPVNYEWZBH16IbI7cDDNr3InFUyy7YwXRJMdrj9tf8dZwmKWy13yOgbfY1ot6y4lkJevDVzISZaZuro6XLEMqag-rL90HnsSATluDdlGBMOVPi3WTMJH3PIENljW5Jn4-4yQr/s1600/S_IMG_2440.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYuu8k_RtTPVNYEWZBH16IbI7cDDNr3InFUyy7YwXRJMdrj9tf8dZwmKWy13yOgbfY1ot6y4lkJevDVzISZaZuro6XLEMqag-rL90HnsSATluDdlGBMOVPi3WTMJH3PIENljW5Jn4-4yQr/s1600/S_IMG_2440.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The river was frozen, and there were people icefishing out in the middle.</div>
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<br /></div>
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We were only there for the day, and so
had to head back to the train for our connection to Moscow.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The trains in Russia have different
levels of salubriousness. The one going to Kazan was probably the
worst one we've been on. It was rather old, and probably should have
had a major refit years ago. The one to Moscow however was probably
the best. The different trains are numbered by their level of
niceness, with a larger number meaning it's probably worse. The train
to Kazan was #377. The train to Moscow was #1. We had our beds
already made. We had a little box of breakfast goods for the next
morning. We had lights that all worked all the time. We had an extra
toilet to go around, and a little plastic bag with toothbrush,
shoehorn, toothpaste, shoe-cleaning wipes, and probably other things
too.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This post is probably the most
disjointed of the lot, since I wrote it over a few days as things
were happening. The chronology is probably out of whack, but it fits
the experience. On the train the days blend into each other, the
rocking motion of the carriages, like a rickety pendulum, hypnotizes
you, making your slim grasp on time slip further. The hours clatter
by, and you're unsure whether or not you've crossed over one timezone
or two. I think overall it was a great experience. My Russian has
improved rather a lot, from a negligible amount, to enough to
understand roughly what Anna is talking about with the other
cabinmates, although I think I've had enough with the suggestions
that I need to learn Russian, or that we should have some little kids
running around by now if we've been married this long.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-23400841440488100132014-12-07T11:05:00.000-08:002014-12-07T11:05:26.499-08:00Киргизия
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Capital City #19 </div>
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<br /></div>
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From the tiny Nevsehir airport in
Cappadocia, we boarded our flight back to Istanbul. Unexpectedly, we
got a free meal again – gotta love Turkish Airlines! Our own dinner
had been long enough ago that this one was still welcome. Once we
arrived, we waited for our 12:50am flight and surveyed our fellow
passengers, who each seemed to have hoards of carry-on luggage. Once
again, we were served a meal near the start of the flight –
breakfast this time, at about 2am. The timing of all these meals was
all wack. Then we dozed for 3 hours or so.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After our longish flight, but not long
enough for a proper sleep, we arrived in my old homeland! Despite not
expecting to recognize much, necessarily, I was still more excited to
arrive here than most other places we've visited. We sailed through
passport control, then spent a while getting through customs. We saw
the “nothing to declare” entry was free of a big line of people,
unlike the “goods to declare” entry, so went to go through it. An
official shook his head “no”, though, and directed us back to the
other line. So we waited there, along with everyone else with piles
and piles of carry-on. Honestly, they all had the largest amounts of
carry-on luggage I've ever seen. And everybody's luggage had to go
through a security machine. After a while, we saw other people come
up and attempt to use the line. Some were forbidden and directed to
our line, while others were let through. It all seemed completely
arbitrary; we couldn't discern a pattern to it. It wouldn't surprise
me if it was, indeed, completely random. Such is the bureaucracy
here, I imagine.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After making it through customs, we
were greeted with a big crowd of cheeky-looking men, all of whom, it
seemed, were offering taxi rides. An immediate test of my Russian! We
blew off everyone who offered, got some cash out<b> </b>from an ATM,
and met the driver the hotel had sent to meet us. I'd thought it
would be safest to get a ride organized that way – a verified
driver, who wouldn't try to scam us or extort more money en route.
Well, he didn't. We made it to our accommodation without any
troubles. What a different accommodation experience from when we used
to live there – we had a flushing toilet now instead of a long
drop, real toilet paper, a shower, power that stayed on without any
cuts.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We didn't do too much that first day,
other than resting a bit, getting the lock fixed on our door after it
turned out it had broken, trying the nearby Tsoom mall for groceries
and discovering it mainly sold clothes and electronics instead, and
finding an actual supermarket and buying supplies. That's right,
Bishkek has supermarkets now! We visited ones called “Narodniy” or <span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="ru"><span class="hps">Народный in Cyrillic</span></span>. I don't remember
that there used to be any when I was last here, nearly two decades
ago. We found khalva there and bought some – and I realized what
I'd been missing all these years. Khalva is a delicious, sweet spread
made from sunflower seeds, that my sister Ruth and I always
thought looked like dog food. I have found some khalva in
Christchurch, in an Arabic shop, and we encountered some in Poland,
too. But the Kyrgyz stuff beats it all! It is the khalva of khalvas!</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrxjj2KNcnZYFr5qSG1O2CtX4JIg8-HJbkyE4tc808kuKLYqnrW8e-U05WAOFgjSh1pxlXJgFNCWRZHVr2BLcfMhToaqiYs9rpZmVO3TYFxqbAVmiT5ogaLGuWQ3g0Ev1Jn1Mw0UDnGA/s1600/S_IMG_2282.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrxjj2KNcnZYFr5qSG1O2CtX4JIg8-HJbkyE4tc808kuKLYqnrW8e-U05WAOFgjSh1pxlXJgFNCWRZHVr2BLcfMhToaqiYs9rpZmVO3TYFxqbAVmiT5ogaLGuWQ3g0Ev1Jn1Mw0UDnGA/s1600/S_IMG_2282.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Here is another supermarket - "Citymarket". Supermarkets galore! So developed!</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Bishkek has some ATMs now, too, thank
goodness. On our internet research, we were informed that ATMs are a
fairly recent commodity, so one has to beware of muggings. You'll be
glad to hear we weren't ever mugged. On the security note, though, we
made sure to avoid policemen like the plague, or at least walk past
them mutely so they might think we were<b> </b>ethnic<b> </b>Russians, and
not foreigners. I remember how corrupt the policemen used to be when
we lived there; foreigners are great targets for getting bribes from.
You'll also be glad to hear we never had any policemen try to extort
a bribe from us, though. Maybe they aren't as corrupt now as they
used to be?</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next day we made the hour-long walk
to Osh Bazaar, the city's main market. We were on the hunt for winter
clothes to prepare for a Russian winter. We were fortunate with the
weather in Bishkek; our first two days there, <span style="font-weight: normal;">before
we'd managed to buy any proper warm clothes,</span> were simply
balmy, definitely in the double digits.</div>
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<br /></div>
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On our walk, we were able to
observe the city and the city dwellers. Bishkek is a very flat place,
with lots of trees, and not particularly interesting architecture.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzEvbKs0ysb_39GJ31VM4T9Cid9WdUYykdfNuDW71ocVGVq9F3uTl74EnTHDaQWMI8xrUYqWsAhbma7QNyw1svtryEmUgNxcnJ2AJz_iro6vM8D2soB4iaS_PIgldXJudyIM2I3RD2g/s1600/S_IMG_2283.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBzEvbKs0ysb_39GJ31VM4T9Cid9WdUYykdfNuDW71ocVGVq9F3uTl74EnTHDaQWMI8xrUYqWsAhbma7QNyw1svtryEmUgNxcnJ2AJz_iro6vM8D2soB4iaS_PIgldXJudyIM2I3RD2g/s1600/S_IMG_2283.JPG" height="240" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Very flat, with lots of trees (admittedly, this is a park).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56Qn4fBybkcxGVArY3qHd-zSK9awLY3IBlCVlpnONUb8krisHVBvoMX5alHBr2HJ3ie8NoJ7ilO47S9u3YxAa7KpeBw7yYe_7uP8KvGy1V1WaKoRs9AijvNto_4cdBTWupfH3vQwbIA/s1600/S_IMG_2284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi56Qn4fBybkcxGVArY3qHd-zSK9awLY3IBlCVlpnONUb8krisHVBvoMX5alHBr2HJ3ie8NoJ7ilO47S9u3YxAa7KpeBw7yYe_7uP8KvGy1V1WaKoRs9AijvNto_4cdBTWupfH3vQwbIA/s1600/S_IMG_2284.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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all the trees in lines so straight</div>
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<br /></div>
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As
for the people, most wore jeans or other fashionable clothes; most
looked Kyrgyz; I saw a couple of<b> </b>schoolkids on cellphones. We
passed two or three other pairs of people speaking English during our
time there. Most of the conversation we overheard was in Russian. We
also noticed the traffic: this is the first place I've been where
cars actually stop on the amber – or even before, during the
flashing green light stage. This may be because the perpendicular
line of cars (and pedestrians) starts going <i>before</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
their lights have turned green, as soon as they see the other lights
turn amber.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We managed quite well at Osh Bazaar.
Coats, boots, thermal pants, gloves and warm socks. Items with brand
names like Adidas, Nike, etc seem to be a big thing over there. Ben
10 has made its way there, too. I enjoyed shopping, as it gave me a
chance to talk to some Kyrgyz people. They were nice, too; helpful,
but not pushy, like so many other sellers we've encountered. They're
not used to catering for tourists, but for their own countrymen. Some
of them were interested in us and where we were from. When John was
buying his coat, a small crowd of half a dozen or so
shopkeepers/other shoppers gathered round and were looking at us in
the stall, curious about these foreigners trying to speak Russian. A
girl we bought our thermals and some socks from asked us some
questions about ourselves, too. I counted it a victory that she asked
us how long we'd been living in Bishkek, asking how many months or
years, rather than how long we were visiting for. Perhaps my Russian
didn't seem too bad. Or, perhaps, she can't conceive of people
visiting Bishkek as tourists – there must be a better reason for us
to be there. I was also surprised at how many people there speak some
English now; in some shops, I'd ask how much an item was, and they
would respond in English. That wasn't such a victory.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
That evening we searched for a
recommended restaurant, which turned out to be in Bishkek's hottest
new mall, Vefa<b>/</b><span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="ru"><span class="hps alt-edited">Вефа</span></span>. The walk there and back was very dark in
some places; the Kyrgyz don't believe in having many streetlights,
not to light the footpaths, anyway. Combined with the way they do
roadworks – unmarked and barrierless – I can easily imagine<b>
</b>someone injuring themselves while walking at night.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82pa7by6X9KwVnRvyi8XZO9rG8iMGIgCDltsZ7bkIZk8NedOCeeEJvO1nK7DAyPpzZiFyOOUn2ysLSpyyK4mDJ3O0-bO1TPpC1LlpXxOhbu07-Rzo5spDx429Di344nWU65MwIVOFeQ/s1600/S_IMG_2340.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj82pa7by6X9KwVnRvyi8XZO9rG8iMGIgCDltsZ7bkIZk8NedOCeeEJvO1nK7DAyPpzZiFyOOUn2ysLSpyyK4mDJ3O0-bO1TPpC1LlpXxOhbu07-Rzo5spDx429Di344nWU65MwIVOFeQ/s1600/S_IMG_2340.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
An example of the level of safety-consciousness present. This was in the middle of a square we visited.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnM_hyaUV5kzuVsK3TKWaA5emkFQ2LLeQTnv7fY5dierZfzJ3s9_4yj6s75g2Cg3QhxK6dRCW7iCc2vtgXSV4QeCqMtv4TLKUwrCyAygvW9DTLoM2QhQ_JMh4hi4jpvRcqnVn4Zd6rAA/s1600/S_IMG_2350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnM_hyaUV5kzuVsK3TKWaA5emkFQ2LLeQTnv7fY5dierZfzJ3s9_4yj6s75g2Cg3QhxK6dRCW7iCc2vtgXSV4QeCqMtv4TLKUwrCyAygvW9DTLoM2QhQ_JMh4hi4jpvRcqnVn4Zd6rAA/s1600/S_IMG_2350.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
typical roadworks/footpathworks<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="ru"><span class="hps alt-edited">Вефа</span></span> is a flash, modern
mall. It has free wi-fi that works, shops with flash, modern prices,
apparently, and a foodcourt at the top. I had some mantiy, dumplings
with meat, and John some beef stroganoff, along with sprite/beer for
drinks. It was nice to recognize food on a menu again, even in
another language. It was a decent meal, and cost us the equivalent of NZ$9.60.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjqCutmodTEq2BaLNvVxB5eyGbpR_JPI9UH7XgU1HDGYKIJb5rA8bEZGh5fY7DfwBT1nPfS5zchxaIVt8hqDZ62_zHSUhGL_EcCyC9bgtTu-XuTodEmhmyzr-oXKxCdWtcBeBwbVDFtw/s1600/S_IMG_2301.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjqCutmodTEq2BaLNvVxB5eyGbpR_JPI9UH7XgU1HDGYKIJb5rA8bEZGh5fY7DfwBT1nPfS5zchxaIVt8hqDZ62_zHSUhGL_EcCyC9bgtTu-XuTodEmhmyzr-oXKxCdWtcBeBwbVDFtw/s1600/S_IMG_2301.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="ru"><span class="hps alt-edited">Вефа mall from the outside - pretty!</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="short_text" id="result_box" lang="ru"><span class="hps alt-edited"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1bj37Iilj-PnWCA7un9KDTBPDnFsyq-Q3XrbuTGpqMPqiOmKdYqgw_SlKZcdD2Hgyj007RTss0glmZ57pTFS5PLaZ7MKWyN2m8aHrNdbQhmM-yETbIulJMuEeEBKBlmgUg2PoikzYGw/s1600/S_IMG_2303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1bj37Iilj-PnWCA7un9KDTBPDnFsyq-Q3XrbuTGpqMPqiOmKdYqgw_SlKZcdD2Hgyj007RTss0glmZ57pTFS5PLaZ7MKWyN2m8aHrNdbQhmM-yETbIulJMuEeEBKBlmgUg2PoikzYGw/s1600/S_IMG_2303.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and on the inside - fancy!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
pretty ceiling decorations</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
movies that have made their way to Bishkek</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
catchy English slogan<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next day we felt the effects of jet
lag, sleeping through our alarm and waking at 12:50pm. We did feel
well rested though! Our bathroom light also broke. So from then on we
used a torch in there, as there was no natural light source. Our main
task of the day was to walk down memory lane: we visited my old
kindergarten, which I didn't really remember at all, as well as the
bazaar Dad often used to visit. Dressed in our newly acquired warm
gear for a much colder day, we felt like we fit in much better.
Perhaps we did, because as we strolled down the main aisle, a lady
asked me for the time; I showed her my watch, not proficient enough
to tell her myself. I'll take it as another victory though! I think
the people here would be even less used to having tourists; even
here, though, some of the shopkeepers spoke English.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Next, we saw my old music school; John
didn't like the neighbourhood very much, but I figure, if it was okay
for an 8-year-old girl to attend alone back in the day, it's probably
alright now too. Most meaningfully to me, we saw our old street, and
our old place – the gate, at least. I could still remember it
clearly: a massive, tall green gate. I was pleased to see it's mainly
unchanged, although not nearly as tall as I remember it... go figure.
I remembered little things from my childhood, looking down the
streets: there was the place a little dog nipped me on the ankles as
I biked down the street; there was where Dad taught me about the
speed of sound by hammering a piece of wood from a while away; about
halfway down was where I breathed in the fumes of a car 'cos they
smelled so good (just for a little bit).</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
our old green gate!!</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
That evening we ate out again, making
the most of Kyrgyz/Russian cuisine while we could. It was a nice
establishment, called “Faziya”. I ordered borsch, a beetroot soup
from my childhood, while John got plov, a traditional rice dish. My
soup was a bit watery and disappointing, unfortunately, but John's
was very tasty! How would I know, you wonder? I'm not telling. Again,
drinks included, the meal was equivalent to a mere NZ$8.30.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
our fine dining establishment!</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
John's plov</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
and my watery borsch<br />
</div>
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<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On our last day in Bishkek, we made the
trek back to Osh Bazaar, as we still wanted hats and a scarf for
John. We then had a leisurely walk back, finally doing some more
traditional sightseeing as we saw numerous squares and statues, along
with a changing of the guard ceremony. Gotta love those. This is the last one we're posting though, I promise!</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy9FhI37mHSVO2Jf15e7fiehVpf9eCAtvQz6ivCiNUAStUAVSgTY66m9B_MywJxB8EkFQTs-H5JfnyVTMER' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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the changing of the guard<br />
</div>
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And now let the picture overload begin:<br />
</div>
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fancyish building</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
dude</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
more awesome dude</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
John beneath a man carrying a horse?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
slightly tilting Kyrgyz parliament building</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
speaking of tilting...</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Manas - the subject of a tradition of epic oral poetry who has become a symbol of the nation. There were Manas things everywhere. Multiple statues, streets, parks, and the airport.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
eternal flame within a yurt-shaped structure<br />
</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'm not sure Bishkek would figure on
many travellers' itineraries, and I don't really blame them.
Objectively, it's not the most exciting city to visit. With the
sentimental value, though, and even from our brief encounters with
Kyrgyz people, I loved our time there. They were so nice! And it was
an unassuming, non-pushy city (apart from all the taxi offers). Maybe
it's not so much a place to visit as a tourist, but a place to live.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
And now a less biased opinion, from
someone who didn't use to live there:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Perhaps it's just showing my naive
racist bias, or perhaps it's just that we were warned extensively
about pickpockets and thieves in Bishkek, but I felt comfortable,
safe even, in most parts of Bishkek. After we arrived we went for a
walk, always with an eye on any police who might be of the dodgy
persuasion – making sure to cross the road at a point where we
could avoid them, scurrying along trying to look like we belonged
there. Perhaps we were lucky/blessed, but all the people we met were
nice, friendly (with the possible exception of a harried waitress)
and I felt safe, like the whole thing was overblown, and it's not as
bad as all that.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
When we were in L.A., there were people
I felt intimidated by, and when we were in Italy, all the short
swarthy dodgy looking guys hanging around made me watch my valuables
(not closely enough though). I've felt intimidated by Russians,
Poles, Italians, Spaniards, and the immigrants who sell the Eiffel
tower souvenirs in Paris, by half the border police/immigration
people we've met, and by around 20% of the people we saw in Sarajevo,
but even the Kyrgyz police officer with the biggest hat I didn't find
menacing whatsoever. Perhaps it's because I don't feel intimidated by
Asian people. I kind of feel that I probably should feel equally
intimidated by people of all races and genders, regardless of the
size of the hat that they're wearing. Enough introspection.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I like Bishkek. Things are cheap, the
people are friendly enough, the markets aren't full of tourists, so
you don't get that whole “Come to my shop!” banter that you get
while going though the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and you don't get
the acres and acres of souvenir shops selling identical things. It's
nice for a change. Sure, there's not much to do, not very many famous
monuments, but having seen my fair share of famous monuments, I think
I can say that fame does not a monument make. Bishkek is an interesting place, a city of concrete and internal combustion in a land of nomadic tent dwellers. Can recommend.</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-91037737301356057612014-12-05T12:21:00.000-08:002014-12-05T12:34:23.977-08:00Cappadocia<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
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Cappadocia is pronounced “Kappadokya”,
and means “land of the beautiful horses”.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This is where we arrived next, a
fantastical land of crazy rock formations, cave monasteries and
underground cities. If Iceland seemed like another planet, Cappadocia
often seemed like another world, one in which unicorns and centaurs
might roam (yep, pretty much Narnia). In this world, they often
didn't want you flushing toilet paper down the toilet, but putting it
into the bin provided instead. Weird.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
Cappadocia</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We stayed at a comfortable hotel
recommended by Mark and Joy – funnily enough, they had visited
Cappadocia right before they got back to Istanbul and hosted us. The
hotel had beautiful lamps and curtains.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
pretty, sparkly curtains</div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The hotel also provided complimentary
breakfast, of which we always take advantage. We got a proper taste
of Turkish music this way. That's right – they had Turkish music
videos playing on the TV during breakfast, and we were treated to the
top of the pops (we assume). They reminded us of the Spanish flamenco
music (uh oh!); all the songs sounded basically the same, most of
them were sad songs about heartbreak, with the same-sounding riffs
and chords. One of our hotel hosts informed us one of the singers was
a famous gangster, who'd got shot a couple of years ago (and is still
alive). Turkey's pop scene is way more exciting than New Zealand's!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We started off our adventures in this
land with a wander around the little town we were staying in, Goreme,
and visiting the nearby Goreme open air museum. This is apparently
the oldest cave monastery in Cappadocia, consisting of numerous
churches built into the rocks.<span style="font-weight: normal;"> Some of these were all painted up inside with icons. Annoyingly, it was always forbidden to take photos inside the ones
with pictures on the walls. We found some later on though, elsewhere,
where we were allowed to snap away, so if you're hanging out for that
you won't be disappointed.</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBWpUdZ6hJgRAybHpKjmg7E9MY2Fu-njsaveY7wEzfZZzUqsKqoHMhBPKlh47fF52ynVk3oRjy_9sfw_wvdM3I281yX8iNTR_i67az8Z075ifavKXWt88NyUJ96bpBKMSeJiQzmC24hw/s1600/S_IMG_2048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBWpUdZ6hJgRAybHpKjmg7E9MY2Fu-njsaveY7wEzfZZzUqsKqoHMhBPKlh47fF52ynVk3oRjy_9sfw_wvdM3I281yX8iNTR_i67az8Z075ifavKXWt88NyUJ96bpBKMSeJiQzmC24hw/s1600/S_IMG_2048.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><br />
They had carved staircases into the cliffs<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2FhPskPnffN6q_PLMYe-tjjpz4VdyaCSbh4HCKiLa0eadg4X6HvUjQBgQrJcKYSD9gkvaSoW_FAX3o3FKNW3Hqixho_zzjaBlGVvOrbuhrOLhyphenhypheneM_AIITscPs6AfPtsTR32h5g5YUg/s1600/S_IMG_2051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs2FhPskPnffN6q_PLMYe-tjjpz4VdyaCSbh4HCKiLa0eadg4X6HvUjQBgQrJcKYSD9gkvaSoW_FAX3o3FKNW3Hqixho_zzjaBlGVvOrbuhrOLhyphenhypheneM_AIITscPs6AfPtsTR32h5g5YUg/s1600/S_IMG_2051.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and into the buildings themselves.<br />
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_lZfE3LWgIy8ChBKzyDJxFUBKj4RBUQ5x6KD11dQ7043WmOs5mX9PZ5eTbe-aAMXbHStpgPO4_Iqt_8IJHtNF8Nkro3jPTeWIDGWLTPAl1aQ4YztVZo6Ym8QmhxxpyhsZyjNYePdjhg/s1600/S_IMG_2054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_lZfE3LWgIy8ChBKzyDJxFUBKj4RBUQ5x6KD11dQ7043WmOs5mX9PZ5eTbe-aAMXbHStpgPO4_Iqt_8IJHtNF8Nkro3jPTeWIDGWLTPAl1aQ4YztVZo6Ym8QmhxxpyhsZyjNYePdjhg/s1600/S_IMG_2054.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a> </div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
Most of the paintings were more interesting than this. This is from the iconoclastic period, when pictures were forbidden. Since this part was outside we were allowed to take photos of it.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
To fit as much as
possible into our visit, we decided to do a popular guided tour on
our second day, the Green Tour, for which we got driven round in a
van to several cool destinations between 9.30am and 5.30pm. It was a
full van, with about 15 of us, mostly couples, from all over the
place – Indonesia, Tunisia, Spain, Chile, South Korea, China, even
New Zealand.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Our
first stop, after a quick stop at the Goreme Panorama, was Derinkuyu
underground city<b>.</b> John describes it:</span><b> </b></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Derinkuyu is the
kind of place that, once you know it exists, makes you wonder why this sort
of thing hasn't been done a million times elsewhere already, and then
you realise that perhaps it has, and then you get all paranoid about
Morlocks.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Derinkuyu is an
underground city, with a carrying capacity reaching into the tens of thousands.
In this part of Turkey there are hundreds of underground cities which are being discovered all over the place, and some of them have
multi-kilometre long tunnels connecting the cities. It's pretty much
science fiction. Archeologists think that they were first built by
<strike>aliens</strike> Hittites, as refuges for people to flee to
when under attack. The tunnels are cramped, with stone doors that can
be rolled over the entrance to tunnels, with holes in the middle, all
the better to stab you through. Great stuff. There are ventilation
shafts that punch through the layers, and communication tunnels that
carry sound, but aren't large enough for people. It's really well
thought out, even for a place that would have been built over
multiple generations. We were able to go down eight or so layers to the church
at the bottom. In the Christian era, there were many Christians who
lived here, hiding from persecution underground. On the
one hand, it's kind of nice to be underground, away from the extreme
cold and heat, but on the other hand, the people who lived there
would have been relying on oil lamps and candles for light. Not a
very nice thing if you're living there for many months.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Most of the caves were like this. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
A door.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The big ventilation shaft.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Some of the tunnels were rather tight. Good thing we don't have claustrophobia.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvfye3xn8lX_QP1TsYjRtjp3S6_aun8Cldyltj3tlAWhTJzFmShMxrtArBQprlsjYKNr4DtH8pMbiBav9nNt4puznzT_15DyATpd00zJwgb3hCcRcyUBHs-F3z8F2fLW4gqswBAc0RA/s1600/S_IMG_2088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvfye3xn8lX_QP1TsYjRtjp3S6_aun8Cldyltj3tlAWhTJzFmShMxrtArBQprlsjYKNr4DtH8pMbiBav9nNt4puznzT_15DyATpd00zJwgb3hCcRcyUBHs-F3z8F2fLW4gqswBAc0RA/s1600/S_IMG_2088.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Some parts were rather open and airy. John could even stand up straight!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
There were many tunnels where crouching was the order of the day.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
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<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
From the bottom of the ventilation shaft.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It was good to
have commentary as we explored, otherwise I think it would've just
been a whole bunch of indeterminate underground rooms.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Next
up was Selime Monastery, another collection of churches and other
rooms dug out of rocks. If the monastery in the Goreme open air
museum is the oldest in Cappdocia, this one is apparently the
largest. Our guide related how it was initially a monastery, before
being converted to a </span>camel stop<span style="font-weight: normal;">
under the Seljuks.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Multi-level cave dwellings.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Most of those holes at the top are accessible via shafts and stairs.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
One of the churches.</div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">Inside another of the churches. The blackened surface is from the fires that were lit inside the buildings when it was a caravan stop, covering any decorations with soot.</span></div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After consuming a
hearty complimentary lunch at a restaurant, all part of the package
tour, we took a walk along the floor of the Ihlara Canyon. We could
imagine how it could look beautiful, but in mid-November I don't
think it was looking its best. It was still a pleasant walk,
especially after the mid-way break, when the guide let John and me go
ahead of the rest, who were enjoying cups of tea. This meant we could
go at our own pace, instead of at a crawl.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
First stop in the canyon. A church that we're allowed to photograph! This is the ceiling.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Most of the canyon was like this. </div>
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There were a bunch of these little windows and doors at various levels on the cliff walls.</div>
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Yes, one of those.</div>
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Where we stopped to have a break.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The guide's
instructions to us were clear, and reminiscent of the Bible's: follow
the path straight ahead, don't turn to the left or the right, and the
van will be at the end. It's straightforward. We mostly went as he
directed, but then we saw a sign pointing to the left, to a church up
a mere 300 steps or so. We figured we were far enough ahead to pop up
and see it. So we did, puffing by the end. Then we rushed back down
guiltily, and caught back up to the group as they were nearly at the
van. Phew!</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The painted church!</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Various saints and/or apostles.</div>
<br />
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We continued our
tour with another great viewpoint over Pigeon Valley, so called
because of the niches carved out into the walls of the canyon. The
people who carved them used pigeons for three purposes: their eggs as
a binding agent for the paint in the frescoes, their droppings for
fertilizer, and the pigeons themselves for communication. Hey, just
like how they use owls to communicate in Harry Potter! Across the
road from the lookout point was a shop selling Turkish Delight. More
importantly, it had tons of piles of free samples of the stuff. Mm
mmm! Mentions of Turkish Delight always put me in mind of The Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe. Second Narnia reference!</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our tour concluded
with a trip to an Onyx factory, where we saw an expert craftsman
carve an egg on a base from a block of onyx, then sand and polish it
to a smooth and beautiful surface. This was probably the least
exciting part of the day, as we got trooped through to the adjoining
shop and invited to survey all the onyx jewellery they were selling,
showing us all the different colours it can go in different lights,
as well as other kinds of gemstone jewellery. A simple pair of
earrings cost 414 Turkish Lira. “Don't worry,” the shop assistant
laughed, “it's Turkish Lira, not dollars!” Even so, that's still over NZ$200. I
didn't like the dominant colours of onyx anyway – brown and green.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It had been a very
interesting day, and we thought the tour well worth it. Funnily
enough, given the Turkish tendency to try and sell you as much as
they can, I was expecting more pushiness from our tour guide at the
different shops we went to, especially as they no doubt have a deal
with the tour company that takes us there. However, our guide seemed
more the jaded sort, who'd done this so many times he was more
inclined to get going. Funny – he made me feel like I needed to go
when I might've bought stuff if I'd had longer to browse – the
opposite of what I expected!
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We still had a
full day to go in Cappadocia, as our flight left at 10pm the next
day, and we spent it walking. From our 11am check out to our 5pm
return to Goreme, we took a walk down Red/Rose Valley, getting
slightly lost in the middle, followed by a walk down Love Valley,
which turns into White Valley. So many valleys!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The start to the
Red/Rose Valley was the roughest of any walk we've done on our trip:
narrow tracks for our feet, ladders connecting parts too steep to
manage otherwise, scratchy trees grasping at us. I felt a little like
Snow White. Once we got beyond that, though, the rest was fairly
easy, apart from a section where we lost the trail. The trail was
basically arrows, normally accompanied by “red” or “rose”,
painted on rocks along the way. This is why we're still not sure
whether our first walk was along Red or Rose Valley. Whichever it
was, it was great. I've decided the rock formations are what I found
most fascinating in Cappadocia, so I enjoyed our walks on the last
day the best out of the activities we did there.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">For
lunch, we stopped at a Kebab World in a tiny town between the two
hiking trails. As we walked along eating them, we realized a dog who
had come up to us at the takeaway place was – well, dogging us. We
figured she wanted the kebabs. We didn't oblige by giving her any. I
take a while to eat, but even once I'd finished mine, she was still
following us. We had left the town behind, and were walking along the
side of the main road. It took us at least half an hour to get from
the takeaway place to the start of Love Valley, and John finally
commanded her in his best dog language: “Go home!” I suppose it
worked, for she finally left us. All the dogs in Cappadocia seem nice
and chilled out, roaming around as they do, and she was no exception.
Still, there was nothing for her in Love Valley (no metaphor
intended).</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Initially the
track led us down between two banks, so we couldn't see that much of
the incredible rocks on either side of us. Then the track started to
get wet in places, and I was wearing my holey sneakers, so we
clambered up one of the sides, and found a parallel track up there.
We did this a couple more times on our way, and got to see more of
the amazing scenery. I think White Valley had the most outlandish
scenery I saw in Cappadocia; it was the place I most felt didn't
really belong on Earth. I sort of couldn't believe what we were
seeing. The sense of the exotic was helped by the fact we virtually
saw no one else on either of our walks.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Needs no caption.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
John for scale.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Parts of the valley were more like a canyon.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
bizarro, fabulous landscape in the White Valley</div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Upon our return to
Goreme, there was something we still needed to do. John still hadn't
tried a Turkish coffee. So we went to a cafe and he did that. His
impressions:</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The coffee came in
a small cup, basically a gulp's worth of dark liquid. Knowing a
little about what I was up against I let it sit for a while before
taking a sip. It was creamy and sweet, and not as grainy as I was
expecting. Nice. I'd go for it again I think. By the time I got to
the dregs, the cup was still half full. I think that's as much as I
was meant to have, but I'll have to look it up later if I remember.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We followed that
up with a dinner of Turkish pizzas, called pides and mighty tasty,
which came with free tea. That wasn't the first time we'd been
treated to free tea when out to eat in Turkey, either. We started out
on the wrong foot with Turkish hospitality, thanks to the pushy
shopkeeper guy in Istanbul, but we had come to really appreciate it
by the end of our visit to Turkey! I even tried some tea, traditional
as well as the apple variety. The apple was my favourite.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Again, excepting
the pushy shopkeeper guy in Istanbul, we had an amazing time in
Turkey. The exotic, the fantastical and the free stuff – we loved
it.</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-71933734731910006212014-12-02T09:28:00.002-08:002014-12-11T23:03:49.762-08:00Istanbul<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In Istanbul we again enjoyed the luxury
of staying with friends/family/parents' friends. In this case, it was
my parents' friends, formerly living in Inglewood, Taranaki, now in
Istanbul, Turkey. Practically the same place, really! Mark and Joy
were very hospitable. On our first night there they met us after the
flight and we all headed to a restaurant for dinner; on the second
night we were served a lovely homemade chicken roast meal, and on the
third night we enjoyed the leftover chicken in a creamy pasta dish.
Yum!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But perhaps you are more interested in
our sightseeing adventures. Well then. We started our time in
Istanbul with a visit to the Topkapi Palace museum.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
entrance to Topkapi Palace</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We expected it to
be more of a palace than a museum, but once we got in I could see why
it was called a museum. We got to see numerous fancy structures and
rooms, true, especially since our ticket included the Harem section,
but a good number of the rooms were used for housing exhibitions,
like in a museum.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
a ceiling in the Harem</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
in the Harem</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
stained glass window in the Harem</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidjosRirqiuOGawTjGq-XSS-CAhzdYAfmz1nIi0GOk-mKLGsEhQErCYdAqjQwfypqEyyiDxzgKks1saN9O_EqSl7HgT8fm-oIwliuq242LRvGAqnYVpTQngAXBuULcPcvc84DyBPnZzg/s1600/S_IMG_1956.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidjosRirqiuOGawTjGq-XSS-CAhzdYAfmz1nIi0GOk-mKLGsEhQErCYdAqjQwfypqEyyiDxzgKks1saN9O_EqSl7HgT8fm-oIwliuq242LRvGAqnYVpTQngAXBuULcPcvc84DyBPnZzg/s1600/S_IMG_1956.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
likewise</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There were several rooms with lavish, opulent items
from the Treasury, be they the rulers' own, gifts from other
countries or spoils of war, including several ginormous gems. There
was a series of rooms with religious relics, sort of like in some
Catholic churches;
the items included Moses' staff, David's sword, various swords of
various relatives of the prophet, and rather a lot of small reliquaries
holding<b> </b>bits of the prophet's beard. There was an armoury, with a
sword taller than John. There was a room with timepieces. There were
kitchen rooms, with crockery items displayed, as well as the
confectionery section, with some extraordinarily intricate jugs for <strike></strike>sherbert.<span style="font-weight: normal;">
All in all, it was most interesting, and we spent longer than
expected looking at everything, a good 4 hours or so. If we had
invested in the horrendously expensive audio guide, who knows how
long we may have spent there!?</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
fancy doorway!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
fancy doors - mother of pearl! </div>
<br />
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<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
fancy doorway!</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We had a bit of a
wander round the touristy area, Sultanahmet, before heading home, and
got to see the Hippodrome with an obelisk and a serpent column. We
decided the Istanbul tourism department is doing a good job, as the
city seems very nice and clean, with Sultanahmet a pretty area for
walking around. The metros we took, too, apparently all installed
between 1-3 years ago, are all really clean and spacious, without all
the graffiti that tends to cover the metros in other places
(especially Italy. Especially Rome).</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On our way back,
striding along with purpose, a random guy hailed us from the side of
the street, asking if we were German. We stopped and chatted for a
bit, as he was friendly, and kept asking us questions. Where were we
from? How long in Istanbul? First time here? You don't have Turkish
goods in New Zealand, eh? I let John do most of the talking, as I had
been cautioned that it's best for a western woman in the
predominantly Muslim nation to a) not expose much flesh and b)
probably best to avoid looking at/being friendly with men there.
Apparently many of them have a pretty skewed perception of western
women as being loose, free and easy, gained from the media. Thanks,
celebrities!
</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Anyway. After a
couple of minutes, the roadside guy identified himself as the owner
of a shop nearby, and invited us to follow him to get his business
card. We had sensed he wanted something. We weren't overly keen to
go, but it was just his business card – we could grab it and be on
our way. He led us into the shop, and took John down a flight of
steps. I decided I'd just wait up there until they came back, but he
insisted I come down too – Turkish hospitality! John muttered to
me, “We need to get out of here.” Word.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">The
guy referred back to how we don't have Turkish goods in New Zealand,
and started blatantly trying to sell us stuff. He motioned us to some
carpets, then suggested other goods when we weren't interested. John
reminded him about the business card. He gestured us to look at a
smaller carpet instead. I said we really needed to go, and John said
if he could just give us his business card, we could come back to
have a look (yeah – as if), but that we needed to go now. He
directed our attention again to other goods (my specificity shows
just how much attention I paid to what he was trying to get us to
look at), and we realized there was never going to be a business
card. A deceitful ploy! We said we had to go, despite his
protestations of Turkish hospitality, said “no, no!” and just
rudely left, climbing up the stairs past another guy coming down with
a little tray carrying two cups of tea. Another ploy!</span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">We
escaped into the fresh air, and managed to get to our ferry 2 minutes
before it left to go back over to Mark and Joy's side of the city.
See – we really did need to go! Anyway, this dude had picked the
wrong couple to try and coerce into a sale. For non-confrontational
shoppers such as us, this was the absolute guaranteed worst way to go
about getting us in a buying mood. All it did was strengthen my
non-buying mood into a definite, absolute, unshakable, on </span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">principle</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
opposed to buying a single thing mood.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We never got approached like that again though. Maybe it was the
menacing looks we adopted ever after.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
next day we were in a much more amenable mood to buying things, as we
headed off with Mark and Joy to the Spice Bazaar, followed by the
Covered Bazaar. The Spice Bazaar would have been heaven to our foodie
relatives and friends – spices and other exotic food things piled
high all round. As it was, I found the other bazaar more interesting.
We were still residually suspicious of any friendliness on the part
of the shopkeepers, who were still overly </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">outgoing</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
for our liking, but we did have a good time, especially with Mark and
Joy expertly guiding us to some of the cheaper shops nearby as well.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Istanbul's famous Covered Bazaar </div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
and inside</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
That afternoon we visited the Hagia Sofia – a huge thing! It wasn't
the prettiest church – I mean museum, as of 1935 – we've seen,
but it was one of the most massive.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJyGjxsVroVYbanBeiRsiEx0qNCclX0YUNxt2c_WImEusrDyQhrtJ_yoDesf96IyRquAZndXeHLRp_TonGrjbaTTYDMjWBRTemhUvFSqLyHv-_L8sz3mAWGOvlA4hyphenhyphena0OSjJ3Grn475g/s1600/S_IMG_1980.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJyGjxsVroVYbanBeiRsiEx0qNCclX0YUNxt2c_WImEusrDyQhrtJ_yoDesf96IyRquAZndXeHLRp_TonGrjbaTTYDMjWBRTemhUvFSqLyHv-_L8sz3mAWGOvlA4hyphenhyphena0OSjJ3Grn475g/s1600/S_IMG_1980.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a fancy structure out the front</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
inside</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
slightly the worse for wear in parts</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
massive!</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8B1nHbdFmPgNu-Ng2zmLCQ0XXQT8ZvIRZz5PhLCBlFRsoHMD15dvPrJF9960AmPUUKWQiQyUDpAxd8Qx3hfcEKCRmPHe81lY4b_oqdWoMly7TKC8zjbZBT7Gn7IX_8nZP88tv3NGKlw/s1600/S_IMG_1998.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8B1nHbdFmPgNu-Ng2zmLCQ0XXQT8ZvIRZz5PhLCBlFRsoHMD15dvPrJF9960AmPUUKWQiQyUDpAxd8Qx3hfcEKCRmPHe81lY4b_oqdWoMly7TKC8zjbZBT7Gn7IX_8nZP88tv3NGKlw/s1600/S_IMG_1998.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
Massive! Still!</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We then went to see the Blue Mosque, me using my hoodie to conform to
the head-covering requirements. I had brought my scarf just in case,
but my hood seemed to work just as well; in fact, better than the
scarves of many other tourist ladies. You could tell who the tourist
ladies were by the sloppily-done headscarves, leaving hair poking out
in all different directions (the hoodie was also a dead giveaway). Anyway, the
mosque itself was fancy, with pretty designs on the walls. It was
also pretty packed with all the visitors.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
the outside of the Blue Mosque, and John</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
big inside, too</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
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pretty!</div>
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We ran into Mark and Joy again at the ferry port, after they had
spent all day shopping, and they took the opportunity to show us some
proper baklava (I always want to write balaclava). They took us to
the best baklava place in Istanbul, and John and I tried a plate of 6
different types of pistachio baklava. It was delicious! Very sweet,
and yet somehow we managed to finish it all between the two of us
(pigs).</div>
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On our last day in Istanbul we visited a trio of museums, starting
with the biggest, the Archeological Museum. We saw a range of items
from Cyprus and the ancient Middle East – most interesting for me
was an inscription from a tunnel built by King Hezekiah as a
precaution/preparation for a siege! - as well as a bunch of statuary
and archeological finds from the Istanbul area over the centuries,
which mainly looked very similar to what we'd seen in the Athenian
Archeological Museum.</div>
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<br /></div>
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There was also a section on the excavation of Troy, divided into the
different layers which corresponded to the different settlements that
had existed there. The exhibits mainly consisted of pottery shards; I
believe this was because the guy excavating it was most interested in
what lay at the bottom of all the layers, convinced he would find
Hector's palace, so he was rough and careless with the rest of it as
he dug through. Indiana Jones would be shocked! as Indy always takes
the delicate approach to archeology. It's always interesting to see
supposed mythical tales by Homer and the like being validated by
archeology, though, so good on rough archeological dude for that
part, at least.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The part of the museum I liked best was the translations of cuneiform
tablets. You can look all you like at vases and pottery and not learn
too much about how people lived and thought in the ancient past, but
reading what they wrote provides a great window. There were
mythological stories, receipts and records of loans, parts of laws
and records of import taxes; there was a note about a group of
smugglers, one of whom was getting cold feet, and it was up to one of
the group to make sure things still turned out alright; there was
also part of a letter from a queen petitioning the king from another
land to send her one of his sons as her new husband, as her first one
had died. There was a note under the last inscription saying that
apparently the son that was sent was murdered on the way. Intrigue!!!
There was a whole section of the museum closed for renovation, but
even so, it took us a decent length of time to get through what was
open.</div>
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Next was the Tiled Kiosk Museum, which contained
brightly coloured rooms – covered with tiles, come to think of it –
displaying various ceramic crockery in the centre of the rooms. We'd
gazed our fill of crockery in the kitchen room section of Topkapi
Palace, so we looked round this place in about five minutes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Last was the Museum of the Ancient Orient, which both John and I
found the most interesting of the three. I think I've fallen prey to
the “bigger is better” mantra, and tend to find the bigger things
interesting in museums. There were mummy cases from ancient Egypt,
big statues of people and animals, big tiles taken from the wall of
Babylon depicting mosaics of animals, big friezes displaying a
procession, as well as lots of slabs depicting banquets and feasting.
It must have been a popular activity back then and there.</div>
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<br /></div>
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After our museum visits it was time to be off, taking the metro for
an hour to catch the shuttle bus to the other Istanbul airport. Mark
very kindly accompanied us to see us off. It was perfect timing to
catch the bus, which was just as well, as it took 80 minutes to get
to the airport – twice as long as we were expecting – due to
terrible traffic, I think. You will be delighted to learn that once
we arrived, however, we got on our next flight without any problem.
Whither? Come back next time to find out!</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-21753040295254682152014-12-01T00:33:00.001-08:002014-12-07T09:57:39.737-08:00Athens<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
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Capital City #18 <br />
<br />
We arrived in Athens having enjoyed a
break from pushy salesmen and crowds of tourists. With our return to
a more typical tourist destination, however, came the usual crowds of
people seeking to sightsee and to sell. We ventured into at least
three shops where everything was “50-60% off”! It was incredible.
Such consistently incredible sales! We were hard sells, though, and
resisted all the super deals so well we didn't buy a single souvenir.
Bad tourists!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Our first tour of the city yielded some
interesting sights, including the National Gardens, the Parliament
building, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian's Arch and many
policemen around the place. Seriously, Athens had the largest police
presence we've encountered in our whole trip so far – including the
US. There were multiple police buses around the place, as well as
small groups of policepeople stationed at various points. We're not
sure if it was for something special, or is a regular feature of
Athenian life. Another unique aspect to Athens was the abundance of
sleeping dogs around the place, generally in the sun, some of which
looked pregnant. We let them lie.</div>
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Hadrian's Arch</div>
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leftovers of the Temple of Olympian Zeus</div>
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We also saw part of the changing of the
guard ceremony (we presume) at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which
was a pretty great performance.
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxcK3mMbwWtJKBfpFqRWnPyhIzMLiXHisl3lYeyFjvzIZMIGX_oPIIvPBCjYfYLL8rwErJslYo-OLhOQKfTGg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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On our second day, we visited the
Acropolis, as you do, which contained the Parthenon and the
Erechtheion. The Parthenon is being restored, it would seem – a
task I imagine will take a while – so it joined the swelling ranks
of famous European landmarks to have scaffolding around it (not all
the way, though). It was definitely a big ol' fancy remains of a
building. There also weren't too many other tourists there, which was
nice. It's good to be in touristy places in the off-peak season.</div>
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A mostly scaffoldingless view of the Parthenon.</div>
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We made sure to explore the surrounding
area quite thoroughly, and in doing so stumbled upon a couple of
tortoises hanging out. That was unexpected!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztehP-qEFlmhG5lJ4Ov5g3JOGrN2Ed2ljDUJcaqCpDBGiH49mGNv1BDK5An_Ou-o02WaqVTphmDkPLUKy9vQnOj71ymLGPCGRGEkKoDe0KjBa-H51eynyvPzL47UGnNOPu90NjFr1wQ/s1600/S_IMG_1882.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgztehP-qEFlmhG5lJ4Ov5g3JOGrN2Ed2ljDUJcaqCpDBGiH49mGNv1BDK5An_Ou-o02WaqVTphmDkPLUKy9vQnOj71ymLGPCGRGEkKoDe0KjBa-H51eynyvPzL47UGnNOPu90NjFr1wQ/s1600/S_IMG_1882.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a> </div>
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one of the tortoises </div>
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We also saw the Theatre
of Dionysos, as well as some formerly sacred caves. The Acropolis
sits on the top of a rocky hill that has been enclosed in walls, so
it looks like a fortress – it was used as a fortress until
relatively recently, which makes sense given its commanding view
over the city. The caves dedicated to various deities, or used in
various rites were sometimes secret entrances into the Acropolis,
useful if you're a besieging army, or a besieged populace.</div>
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looking down one side near the Acropolis</div>
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One of the views in the surrounding area - Theatre of Herodes Atticus.</div>
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We also managed to
see Hephaiston's Temple in the Agora, an impressively intact
structure given its old age, as well as the Areopagus, where Paul
famously preached to the Athenians. It was basically a pile of rocks.
We presume there was more to it in Paul's day.</div>
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Hephaiston's Temple - so intact!</div>
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the Areopagus</div>
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The downside of
visiting in an off-peak month is that the attractions close earlier.
In the case of the ancient sites, this was at the ridiculous hour
of 2.30 or 3 o'clock. So we ended up walking around some sights
from the outside instead, which often worked fine, since you could
see everything through the fence anyway. In this way we admired the
Roman Agora, Hadrian's library and other ruins. Athens has lots of
ruins all over the place, not just the famous ones; we'd just walk
down a street and encounter a fenced-off section containing
excavations, or see excavations at a metro station, discovered when
they were building the metro line.</div>
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Hadrian's library (we think)
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On the third day,
we took a bus trip out to Cape Sounion, to see another temple –
Poseidon's this time. It was an appropriate location for a sea god's
temple. The temple itself was big and imposing. Perhaps we should
have been more impressed by our fellow visitors, but we're not sure.
We happened to time our visit with that of an Arabian-looking Muslim
couple, along with a man in a suit. Another man in a suit was
obviously an attendant, and another couple was showing the group
round. The primary way we could tell they were important, though, was
the 6-8 policepeople accompanying them like bodyguards. We made sure
not to make any murderous-looking moves, so we were fine. We still
don't know who they were, though. Saudi royalty? If so, we feel more
important by virtue of our proximity to them. As it is, we only feel
slightly more important in an uncertain way.</div>
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view from Cape Sounion</div>
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the star attraction</div>
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We managed to get
dropped off near the Acropolis on our return journey, and dined at a
nearby restaurant that night. We were served by the wryest waiter
we've ever known. He asked us if we were going to be participating in
the marathon that weekend. Indeed, the weekend we were in Athens,
they were redoing the original marathon – from Marathon to Athens.
We had decided not to participate in this particular event, and told
the waiter so. We tipped him happily after the meal, grateful to have
experienced reticence in the tourism sector for once. As for marathon
runners, we saw some the day we left in Athens, running along not too
far from our accommodation, with all the streets nearby closed to
traffic.</div>
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<br /></div>
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That night we
visited the Acropolis Museum. What were you doing on Friday night,
November 7? We were at the museum late night. That's how we <i>roll</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
We so down wit it. It was pretty rocking there, too. We saw many many
statues of Athena, as well as the friezes that used to adorn the
Parthenon and other buildings – what's left of them, anyway, which
is still a fair amount, following multiple centuries and Lord Elgin's
looting. ELGIIIIN! Naughty! Many of the statues were in remarkably
good condition; some even had a bit of the original paint left on
them. We learned this was due to the defeat and ensuing destruction
of Athens by the Persians in about </span><span style="font-style: normal;">480BC</span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
whereupon the Athenians buried the surviving statues, preserving them
in great condition for museum visitors a couple of millenia later!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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We followed up our museum night with the National Archeological
Museum the next day. This traced the history of all of Athens from
prehistorical times up to about the end of the Roman period. It was
fascinating to see the evolution in art style as we followed the
statues through from several centuries BC to the inevitable Roman
emperor busts in the first few centuries AD. Realism really came into
its own in ancient hellenistic art. Most of the exhibits were
statues, tombstones, steles and busts. I realized I'm used to a
combination of sculpture and paintings in art museums we visit, and
it seemed like something was missing at this museum – I was feeling
the lack of traditional paintings. The ones that are preserved are,
of course, on the vases and other pottery vessels. There was a big
collection of these upstairs.</div>
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This is how you <i>get down wit it</i> in ancient Athens. The men are dancing with females, whom you can only just make out.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
the horse and his boy</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
a theatrical mask</div>
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two thumbs up! Another guy gambolling.</div>
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Poor Athena, not quite as attractive since she lost her nose, I imagine.</div>
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<br /></div>
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On our way back from the Archeological Museum we saw a street
performance by a Korean tai kwon do group (we think). It was
cool, and different from the typical busking we've seen. As we
watched, we opined that this was something we would not see in New
Zealand.</div>
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<br /></div>
We finished our time in Athens by getting all the paganism out of
our system with a visit to church! Like most of the others we've
visited, John found it online, and saw they held to the 1689 Baptist
Confession. We were so there – we're all down with proclaiming the
Pope the antichrist (jks)! It turned out to be a pretty tiny church;
John and I made up 1/4 of the total congregation size, though a few
others joined the fellowship time afterwards. We sang the songs a
cappella, and the pastor preached on Galatians 3:6-9. It was pretty
great. It was nice to hear expositional preaching again, and he spoke
on one of the key elements of the gospel: being declared righteous
before God is only possible through faith in Jesus, rather than any
works we can do. He pointed out this is what makes Christianity
different from every other religion. Rather than us amassing so many
righteous deeds to get ourselves declared righteous by God, an
impossibility for sinners like us when standing before a perfect and
holy God, God declares us righteous while we are actually yet sinful.
The pastor cross-referenced a couple of passages to explain how the
righteousness “counted to us” means that we are “considered as”
righteous even when we're actually not. And the only way God can do
this and still be just, punishing sin as it deserves, is for us to
put our faith in Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross, when He
bore our sins, guilt and punishment in our place. For a fuller
picture of what the gospel is all about, read the Bible (maybe
starting with John).<br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Back to our experience of the city – Athens is built quite
literally on the ruins of former greatness, like an aged rock star
going on tour one last time; no one wants to hear any of the new
stuff, they're just there for the old hits they can sing along to,
and to be part of the experience, to be able to say “I was there”
along with thousands of others before. The ruins are just that –
ruins, husks of buildings and monuments that hark back to the day
when Athens was great. In one sense, once you've seen one marble
pillar, you've seen them all, and every ruin that you visit after
this is just a slightly different configuration of blocks and
pillars, derelict and abandoned. In spite of that, those broken and
vandalised structures still have some quality that defies objective
aesthetics. That's why we were there of course, for the history. To
look at the marble foundation slabs nestled in the dry grass, to
climb up Mars Hill, wander through the Acropolis, and to be able to
say “We were there.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
So were these people. A protest of some sort.</div>
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<br /></div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-74546053653803569532014-11-26T19:31:00.000-08:002014-12-07T09:56:14.999-08:00Sarajevo and Belgrade<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Capital Cities #16 and 17 <br />
<br />
<b>Sarajevo</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Sarajevo is like Christchurch. While
walking through the cold darkness to our hotel along the long,
straight road that leads towards the airport I felt like we were
walking down Memorial Ave, or perhaps Yaldhurst Road. Sarajevo is
mostly on a flat area, with a river running through the middle of
town (if you can call it a river). So too in Christchurch. There are
hills that overlook the city – in Sarajevo they're a little bit
closer, and surround the city, so they didn't remind me so much of
Christchurch as Dunedin, but we won't hold that against them. They've
got a confusing bus system, which is perhaps more confusing than the
one in Christchurch, although I've never used the one in Christchurch
– I found it too confusing. Both cities have roughly the same
popu<span style="font-weight: normal;">lation size. And, of course,
both have had disasters in their recent history, although the nature
of disaster was very different. Whether or not either city will
completely recover is still an open question.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our hotel in Sarajevo was pretty flash.
We'd tried to find the closest one we could to the Istocno bus
station, which for some reason is where many intercity buses go to.
This station is close to the airport, while the other main bus
station is in the city centre.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next day we came downstairs for yet
another complimentary breakfast. The bread buns were equivalent to
the bread we had in France (delicious). Outside the window we could
see bullet holes in the building next door that hadn't been patched
over yet. There were many buildings which had a smattering of
puncture wounds of various calibre throughout the city – and this
is many years after the most recent wars.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It was my suggestion that we should go
to Sarajevo, and pop through some of the Balkans. For my first
Nanowrimo book (no, you probably don't want to read it) I set the
events in this area in the late 1800s to early 1900s, and ever since
then I've wanted to visit. While I know a little of the earlier
history of this area, my knowledge of the breakup of the former
Yugoslavia is sketchy. First up we visited the historical museum,
which helped a lot in explaining the conflicts of the 90s, including
the Croatian experience.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'll not try to share my ignorance
here, but basically there were smaller states which made up the
federation which was called Yugoslavia, and when Tito (their
communist dictator for life) died in the early 1980s, the federation
managed to hold together for a few years before falling apart. The
different states felt that Serbia had too much influence in their
federation, and decided to go it alone, one by one. This is in the
mid to late 90s, early 2000s. The states are very roughly based on
ethnicity/religion, but some of them had very significant minorities
who didn't necessarily want to secede, and who made their own
militias and declared their own mini-states.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sarajevo is right in the middle of
this, and as the capital of the Bosnia/Herzegovina state, was under
siege (sieges still happen, weirdly enough) for multiple years. Hence
the bullet holes in the building next to our hotel. The UN controlled
the airport, and so humanitarian supplies were able to get in (and
there was a famous airport tunnel too, which we didn't see) but they
weren't able/willing to intervene in any direct way. Remember how I
said that the hills surrounded the city? Well, imagine snipers
sitting on the hills around Dunedin, waiting for people to cross the
street. It's harrowing stuff, and it's surprising how peaceful the
whole peninsula is right now given its recent history.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Having seen the museum, and absorbed a
little history, we hit the old town area.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sarajevo has a whole bunch of mosques,
which we probably could have visited, but neither of us knew the
correct protocol for doing so. I think one of the daily prayers was
happening when we walked past the fanciest looking one, since there
were people who looked late running in, so I didn't want to
interrupt. We intend to look it up before we get to Turkey, so we
won't be committing some horrendous faux pas as ignorant western
tourists.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Here's a picture of the outside though.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Actually this is the fountain outside.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The rest of the old town area was
filled with people who seemed to be just wandering, like us. The
shops were open, and it was more like an open market, with stalls
selling clothes, trinkets, metalwork – mostly traditional plates
and stuff, but also bottle openers made from the spent casings of .50
cal machine gun rounds, food, and a few tourist-inclined shops. It
was Saturday, so we weren't able to go into a couple of the buildings
that we might have liked to, but I enjoyed wandering around.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Then we get to the main event, at least
in my opinion. Right there on that corner on the other side of the
road, on the right. It's nothing spectacular to look at, just a
particular piece of road on a relatively insignificant intersection.
The place itself isn't exiting. It's the place where Franz Ferdinand
was shot way back in 1914.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The shot heard round the world.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Franz was heir to the throne of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, and since he was killed by a Serb
nationalist, who may or may not have been instructed by persons in
the Serb government, Austria-Hungary declares war against Serbia,
which brings Germany into the conflict because of a treaty with
Austria-Hungary, and brings Russia into the conflict because of
Slavic solidarity (and perhaps a treaty with Serbia), which brings
France into the conflict because of a treaty with Russia, which
brings Germany to invade France via Belgium because it's quicker and
they hope to be able to get it over and done with in time to turn
around to face the slowly mobilising Russia, which brings Britain
into the conflict because they'd guaranteed Belgian neutrality, which
brings New Zealand into the conflict, since of course we'll follow
the mother country. Such a mess. All of this happened 100 years ago
this year, so I feel privileged to be able to be here at least in the
centenary year. When we went to Serbia, we saw pictures of the
assassin Gavrilo Princip on street corners and in shop windows – he's considered a hero there.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Christchurch and Dunedin put together
can't boast that kind of history.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Anyway, for tea we had huge burgers for
2.50ish marks, which is about $2.10. They'd be much more
expensive in Christchurch.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We left just as the early morning fog
was burning off; from one of the hills overlooking the city we could
see dozens of minarets puncturing the remaining low lying mist.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Belgrade</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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We arrived in Belgrade in the late
afternoon – Sunday afternoon.<span style="font-size: xx-small;">
There was no toilet stop on the 7-hour bus trip between Sarajevo and
Belgrade. Just FYI. </span><span style="font-size: small;">We had arranged to stay with
Anna's childhood friend</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
from her time in Kyrgyzstan, who is now living in Belgrade wit</span></span><span style="font-size: small;">h
her husband, working for a Christian student organisation. On Sundays
we normally try to go to church, and we were able to go along with
Rachel and Bojan to their church. Bojan was preaching, and Rachel
kindly translated for us. It was encouraging to visit a church using
another language, but worshipping the same Lord</span><span style="font-size: small;">.
And the initiatives planned by their student organisation, which
Bojan mentioned as prayer points during the service, reminded us of
some of Campus Church's work in Christchurch. We were made to feel welcome, in spite of the language barrier.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The next day we went into
town with Bojan and Rachel – they live on the other side of the
Danube, the side that used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,
and it was easier for us to stay in the student organisation office,
and bus into town from there.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Belgrade is different from
other places we've been in the Balkans – it's bigger, shinier, and
much more like a modern city. It was nice to be able to understand
the bus system. We didn't see much of an old town, but there were a
few old Ottoman-era structures – the main one we visited being the
Kalemegdan Fortress.</span></div>
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Unfortunately not a drawbridge.</div>
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Sort of reminds me of Age of Empires II.</div>
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The view over the river.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">It's built on the Danube
river, right on the border between where the old Austria-Hungary
ended and the Ottoman Empire began, so it was a rather important
place. Strategic.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We also saw this building.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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Saint Sava's church.</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Such an imposing
architecture. It's an Orthodox church with a capital O, so once
they've finished renovating it it will be decorated up to the nines,
decked out in bejewelled mosaics and Han-Solo-in-Carbonite style Mary
and Jesus depictions gleaming golden in the gloom, illuminated by
votive candles, with overhead chandeliers wired up with flickering
LEDs.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Perhaps this is my
pseudoiconoclastic reformational bent showing through, but I thought
that the building looked great with the bare walls.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">That evening we found the
McDonald's there does a reasonable flat white. I didn't expect to
have one of those again until we got back to NZ. We were also able to
be involved in one of the student organisation's meetings – with
pizza and Bojan interviewing different people. Good times. Such friendly people.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The next morning we posted
a box of stuff back to NZ, knowing that we'd be having to reduce our
luggage weight since we were flying out the next day. We had to
itemise everything inside the box before the dude would post
it for us.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Hoping that we'd be filled
in on some Yugoslav history, we went to the Museum of Yugoslav
History. Instead, since the main part of the museum was closed, we
went through an exhibit showing a bunch of gifts given to Tito from
different world and regional leaders – this was the ethnographic
museum. It was interesting enough seeing swords and knives, hats and
bags and pipes, but while the labels on them valiantly tried to give
us a context to put the artifacts in, it was more of an exercise in
the comparative merits of different things. Which national costume
looked the most ridiculous. Which blade the most lethal. Which gun
would be best to have in an apocalyptic scenario.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Also on the grounds of the
museum was the so-called <i>House of Flowers</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
which contains the graves/tombs of </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Josip Broz</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> (alias Tito)
and his wife. I'm unsure how I feel about Tito; he seems to be rather
a mixed character. </span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">He
came to power in a post-war election which was basically a vote
between either Tito and Communism on the one hand, or the old regime, consisting of a king in who was in exile in London and whose family was placed in power by the
victors of the First World War. Someone thought it was a good idea to
put one sovereign over a conglomeration of nationalities and regions
so variegated and disparate that the term </span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Balkanise</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
became a metaphor for fragmentation. Sounds like a fool's errand to
me. Tito m</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">anaged quite
well though. On the one hand, he's obviously a dictator. On the other
hand, he held everything together, breaking away from Soviet
hegemony, forging relationships with famous and influential people
all over the world, and as far as I can tell, making a good show of
things. The displays in the wings of the </span><i>House of Flowers</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
paint the picture of an okay sort of guy, sort of a globetrotting
Mafia Don, sharp dressing, and sociable. Not exactly the nicest man
in the world, but then, I don't know of any influential world leader
who would fit that description.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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You can see why it's called the house of flowers.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;">We
also visited the </span><i>Konak of Princess Ljubica</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
Before going there we didn't know who she was, and after leaving, we
still don't know. It's a house/palace set up showing different styles
of decor, how the house might have been set up when people were
living there. Each room had little informational plaques on the walls
telling us what the rooms might have been used for, who lived there,
and the style of furnishings, from some time in the distant Ottoman
past until the late 1800s or so. Downstairs was a photo exhibition on
Belgrade in the Second Wo</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">rld
War, with pictures taken by a former journalist, who risked being
killed each time he took a photo</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;">,
with photos showing the bombing, the invasion by Nazi troops, the
occupation, the bombing again by the Allies, pictures of the
resistance, and the street by street fighting when the resistance
joined with the Red Army (who by this time was using something like
80% captured enemy vehicles) and the liberation of Serbia.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We now
have at least some idea about the more recent history of the
peninsula.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">That night, after
joining in on the English Conversation Club, we went out with Rachel
and Bojan to a ridiculously popular place for takeaways. The details
are hazy on what the place was called, and even what we had to eat. I
had a kebap type wrap, that used a pancake-shaped piece of meat
instead of those pancake-shaped pieces of bread to wrap some more
meat. The thing probably weighed about a kilo, and was delicious.
It's making me hungry right now. Anna had a more traditional wrap
type thing, and we were able to see how popular the place was. From
the outside it looked just like one of many other fast food kiosks,
with a counter and a window that you order from, except that this
place had people queueing outside it. During a short lull in
customers, the ladies inside never stopped cooking, they were just
getting ready for the next onslaught of customers.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We
said goodbye to Rachel and Bojan that evening, since we had to leave
the next morning before they'd be around. It was good to stay with
them, and to have their input on the best way to get around the city,
and some inside knowledge on Belgrade. </span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The
next morning we flew out to Athens.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-53483505501356502222014-11-24T16:15:00.000-08:002014-11-24T16:15:47.338-08:00Dubrovnik and Kotor<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Dubrovnik</b></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The bus ride to
Dubrovnik was really rather strange. The bus takes the coastal route,
so much of the trip we had a view like this:</div>
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<br /></div>
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Complete with dusty windows.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The coastline in
this part of the world is a little strange too. To get to Dubrovnik
there's a section of road that goes through Bosnia and Herzegovina
(it goes through one of those anyway, but since they're one country,
it's unclear right now which one it went through). As we saw when we
went through Zagreb, Croatia has a policy of checking passports for
every entry and exit from the country. This became a little
kafkaesque when we had our passports checked and handed back to us
when exiting Croatia and entering Bosnia and Herzegovina, and again
less than five minutes later when exiting Bosnia and Herzegovina and
entering Croatia again. It felt like something from <i>The City and
the City</i>. Of course with a history like the Balkans have, it's no
surprise that the border is less than logical.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Dubrovnik is
pretty, although within the city walls it felt a little sterile to
me. Everything is made out of stone: the walls, the roads, the
buildings, the churches, the monuments, and some of the souvenirs.
There was rather a lot of <i>Game of Thrones</i> paraphernalia as
well, since Dubrovnik is the location for <i>King's Landing</i> in
the TV series.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
While we were there
we visited a few churches, and had a look at the memorial for those
who died in the relatively recent siege of Dubrovnik, where the old
town was shelled by Yugoslav forces who didn't want Croatia to
secede from Yugoslavia. It's kind of amazing that such things
happened in our lifetimes, but then I suppose this period of relative
peace in Europe is the anomaly rather than the norm.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Speaking of
conflict, there's a great – if disturbing – exhibit of war
photos. We saw everything from Maoist guerillas in Nepal to Congolese
child soldiers, and of course the permanent exhibition with photos of
the wars during the break up of Yugoslavia. The temporary exhibition
is on the conflict in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Congo, which
is neither a people's republic, nor democratic. It's so very sad that
a country that should be so rich on paper, is so very poor, due in
large part to the mineral riches that are there for the taking. The
love of money has some 'splainin to do. As does the international
community (whatever that is). Obviously the causes of this
humanitarian disaster (I want to use a stronger word here, but the
only one that comes to mind that sums up the situation is unsuitable
for print) are many and complicated, and the solutions will be
more complicated, but humans are good at complicated things... Sorry
about the rant, I'll continue.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We wandered down
the road a little way along the coast that afternoon, missing out on
a boat trip to the island.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Stout as walls.</div>
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Bland streets.</div>
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Ornate churches</div>
<br />
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More walls</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu7Hsvd9hnI1uohvxuAQeRogrCzoq-wQPmT_vkjJHPn4BSrr3YNoWfiqUw-Be82ghBI1Kiu0Unnii1he2ojI97cbK2hlagHE-HQDxcIlGZpk8-G8VthnhlSOTe7UJLMMn1HW25cefaGipV/s1600/S_IMG_1733.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu7Hsvd9hnI1uohvxuAQeRogrCzoq-wQPmT_vkjJHPn4BSrr3YNoWfiqUw-Be82ghBI1Kiu0Unnii1he2ojI97cbK2hlagHE-HQDxcIlGZpk8-G8VthnhlSOTe7UJLMMn1HW25cefaGipV/s1600/S_IMG_1733.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The walled city almost looks out of place here in the tropical surroundings.</div>
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<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Kotor</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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The next morning we
took the bus, leaving Croatia behind, taking the long and winding
road that leads to Kotor. Alright, it's not actually all that long,
but it's winding. Kotor is another little walled town on the coast,
this time in Montenegro. We were unsure how large it actually was, so
made sure to book a place near the bus station. As it turned out you
can walk across the city in about five minutes (the old town anyway).
We were up about four flights of stairs' worth of stone steps, but
I'm getting used to carrying the big bags up stairs. Since it was
still the early afternoon we went to have a look at some of the
sights.</div>
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We saw a couple of
Catholic and eastern Orthodox churches, and then decided to go have a
look at St. Ivan's fortress. I'm not sure who St. Ivan was, but he
must have had great aerobic fitness. It was a 45 minute stair climb
up to the top of the hill where his fortress was. We're no slouches
either (I think I'm probably fitter than I've been in years – so
much walking!) but it still took us the whole 45 minutes that the
tourist book said it would. We paid 3 euros each for the privilege,
and for views like this:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkF0dct9iKiK_1x0_a5hBkGSzb5sM0exEQQeCLaAckLvPotoraUjCZcWLFSXARgdCsm_DY5ECqpBt-KWvfaNnK052JYY5JDRefwyCj9Hg6bXngAuse2XWK4NQwx9oXXY7IoxB1Y0GQCkfB/s1600/S_IMG_1746.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkF0dct9iKiK_1x0_a5hBkGSzb5sM0exEQQeCLaAckLvPotoraUjCZcWLFSXARgdCsm_DY5ECqpBt-KWvfaNnK052JYY5JDRefwyCj9Hg6bXngAuse2XWK4NQwx9oXXY7IoxB1Y0GQCkfB/s1600/S_IMG_1746.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Actually the view from our window.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITMUL8VE_VrZx98yf9OKsj1O4kSEQImBhyphenhyphenYGR8RrOUVXZfOyACcDTem_DSRWdwtjOLDB8v0EuR8TKweGRzHsXfHyLfEhyWs_Nv1ClYu-BEBCUbWj6VV3aVCZ6DokrjNrbicMLkJgg481A/s1600/S_IMG_1752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiITMUL8VE_VrZx98yf9OKsj1O4kSEQImBhyphenhyphenYGR8RrOUVXZfOyACcDTem_DSRWdwtjOLDB8v0EuR8TKweGRzHsXfHyLfEhyWs_Nv1ClYu-BEBCUbWj6VV3aVCZ6DokrjNrbicMLkJgg481A/s1600/S_IMG_1752.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbFjSQVy62yYp26FEDVEiGumRkByl8nn8eIiMLbEOjuQ8WI6Aw-x-auG_5IevyGD1ZsHIntQ4TAtmA696Dc1WVy8OfQ6q9lnqmwlYRXdBDEgSTbDutVSMkUm-bVqTVNwSxP7oh1JaKFiD/s1600/S_IMG_1760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbFjSQVy62yYp26FEDVEiGumRkByl8nn8eIiMLbEOjuQ8WI6Aw-x-auG_5IevyGD1ZsHIntQ4TAtmA696Dc1WVy8OfQ6q9lnqmwlYRXdBDEgSTbDutVSMkUm-bVqTVNwSxP7oh1JaKFiD/s1600/S_IMG_1760.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Another cruise ship, complete with cetacean-emulating exhaust system.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpe34jvjzVVeAr-2xBLJIG0-UcxbixT5dn7YlegO5d8kcw3TxBffyGvya-yizECw6S45mf7dJrbTIjgFsozjqd1zTHi9JOGwW5-xICuO-BO3Q_on7oY5rbBlUoYX4Za6baB-pwbI27dJax/s1600/S_IMG_1773.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpe34jvjzVVeAr-2xBLJIG0-UcxbixT5dn7YlegO5d8kcw3TxBffyGvya-yizECw6S45mf7dJrbTIjgFsozjqd1zTHi9JOGwW5-xICuO-BO3Q_on7oY5rbBlUoYX4Za6baB-pwbI27dJax/s1600/S_IMG_1773.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Parts of Kotor - not including the old town</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxW4dw3UlVCC2056OERbc5cx_LGLvbGNx1VE36y_XFwOX2mhN4NT77j4-isvFGGANsYBcCzekSVGJyJnRZa7bUAZMgBMGB97KVAEHjmjKmA-Khyphenhyphen-zZnMBVy2cpg0PRErbVm1voINEmP8mM/s1600/S_IMG_1777.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxW4dw3UlVCC2056OERbc5cx_LGLvbGNx1VE36y_XFwOX2mhN4NT77j4-isvFGGANsYBcCzekSVGJyJnRZa7bUAZMgBMGB97KVAEHjmjKmA-Khyphenhyphen-zZnMBVy2cpg0PRErbVm1voINEmP8mM/s1600/S_IMG_1777.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Refreshing to be able to run around the ruins without safety restrictions.</div>
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Some old derelict church.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I'm not sure why a
saint would need a fortress; maybe he was like one of those warrior
monks.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Kotor was cool, and
seems to be an up-and-coming place. Just after we arrived that cruise
ship you can see in the photos docked, and like Jonah's whale spewed
forth a belly full of cruise ship tourists, many of whom were walking
up to the fortress at the same time as us. The tourist book suggests
that Montenegro is trying to market itself as a more upmarket
destination, and while we were in Kotor we noticed pretty flash
shops, which didn't seem to be doing much by way of sales.
Admittedly, we weren't there in the height of the tourist season.</div>
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The next morning we
tried our luck at getting to Sarajevo. Unfortunately there wasn't a
bus that went at an appropriate time for us directly from Kotor –
we had to take a bus to Podgorica, and then on to Sarajevo.
Unfortunately, again, it's really rather difficult to find
information about the bus system in the Balkans, so we found out as
much as we could about getting to Podgorica in time for what we hoped
was a bus to Sarajevo. Podgorica isn't a place that I would normally
talk about, but it felt different from Kotor. It was much much less
tourist-oriented. It's not on the coast, it doesn't have a quaint
stone city enclosed in crumbling walls; it does have a bus station
though, and at that station we had this meal for just over 5 euros.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgMgr3k5-d5Cah8LtnPO3rYd50nOrp5dv29Wa-HGcJtuJcn9LKg47K7_viYw12cuJYQGUCj0gQyqdOK4akv7t2lnGj7D-irbTIPEpLq0uFwuefYg4K8tX0hOpycphW37LPGCroq-y1oG9e/s1600/S_IMG_20141031_122812.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgMgr3k5-d5Cah8LtnPO3rYd50nOrp5dv29Wa-HGcJtuJcn9LKg47K7_viYw12cuJYQGUCj0gQyqdOK4akv7t2lnGj7D-irbTIPEpLq0uFwuefYg4K8tX0hOpycphW37LPGCroq-y1oG9e/s1600/S_IMG_20141031_122812.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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If that's the price
at a bus station restaurant, I don't know what to expect in the rest
of Montenegro. I imagine that in the non-tourist parts of Montenegro
for a small price you can live like a king - a king with
arteriosclerosis.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The rest of the bus
ride to Sarajevo took us through the mountains, up through the
mountain roads – some of which were unpaved. While the roads were
in better condition than some of the ones we've been on in Canada,
it's probably the worst road that goes between major cities in
neighbouring countries that we've been on. Some parts of it are only
wide enough for one vehicle at a time, so when we meet other cars we
have to pull over and let them pass. As I'm typing this up now, there's
a curious mix of 80s hair metal, 90s top 40, and what I assume are
Balkan folk, and electronic dance songs on the speakers. The bus
stops at random locations in the middle of nowhere to drop people
off, who then stalk into the darkness beyond the reach of the warm
bus, off into the inky blackness of the starless Balkan night. The laptop
is running out of battery. I'm enjoying this part of our adventure.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-57837016274199733522014-11-23T09:27:00.000-08:002014-11-23T09:27:37.044-08:00Plitvice and Split<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Travelling from Napoli to Plitvice was
a long-ish process. Train to Rome, train to Ancona (unexpected bus
from Ancona ferry terminal to the place where you collect the tickets
and then back again), through passport control, across the Adriatic
via ferry (overnight, in the hold of the ship; we slept well enough).
By then it was morning, and we'd arrived in Split, only to sit in the
bus station waiting for a bus to Plitvice. Breakfast had been
included on the ship, so we filled up on bread, cereal and coffee.
Yum.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Plitvice Jezera is a National Park in
Croatia. It's got waterfalls and lakes, and slightly more expensive
accommodation. I suggested that we skip it. We're nearing the end of
our time in Europe, and we're finding that travelling in this part of
the world isn't as straightforward as it was in Spain or Italy. The
railways aren't really in use, and it's hard to find information
about buses on the internet. Plitvice was – as far as I could tell
– too difficult to get to, given that we'd have to travel for a
half day each way to get there.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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We hopped onto the bus, and paid our 20
kuna for luggage (luggage is extra in this country – 20 kuna is
about NZ$4).</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Driving through the countryside I
thought, rather profoundly: <i>I like this country</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
Having come from Italy, where everything is covered in graffiti, it's
a nice change to have graffiti the exception rather than the rule.
There are little clusters of abandoned stone buildings scattered over
the scrub-stippled hills, the infrastructure is in need of
improvement, and we're beginning to see signs in the exotic Cyrillic
script. Andalusia felt exotic in a Mexico-meets-arabian-nights kind
of way. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Croatia is exotic
in a different kind of way, like a post-apocalyptic backwater, where
things are falling apart, but everyone is getting on with their own
business.</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> It's also
surprisingly touristy, but in a chilled out kind of way; even the
</span><span style="font-style: normal;">people meeting you</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
and asking if you need accommodation for the night as soon as you
step off the bus just shrugged when we told them we already had a
place to stay.</span></div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We ascended into
the mountains and a problem became apparent. It began to rain, and
then we entered a bank of fog and never left. This is a problem when
you're planning on seeing things more than 20m away. We had been
hoping to do a bit of that.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Anyway, we arrived
in Plitvice, checked into our really rather flash hotel, and suited
up to go outside again.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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Did I mention that
it was cold?</div>
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<br /></div>
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It was cold.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We walked out to
get tickets (which we never actually seemed to need) for entry into
the park and saw that the lower lakes were closed due to flooding.
Perhaps this is why our tickets were half price.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The lakes area is
set up quite well for walking tours. There are boats that normally
take you across the lake to other trails:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPXynCFhJjs6APXNMzIV5Q1PSoqdW23RyNsm2kfqVZJ2UwDEuVIjdlO1PL894cJl3Bx3zr69QNkJ6mM6G1t2N7VaBBwlRNpveM213XYv9qjFEm5avLdCmSJvoFPp1RBtZ5tr8QB3DYhPl/s1600/S_IMG_1546.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwPXynCFhJjs6APXNMzIV5Q1PSoqdW23RyNsm2kfqVZJ2UwDEuVIjdlO1PL894cJl3Bx3zr69QNkJ6mM6G1t2N7VaBBwlRNpveM213XYv9qjFEm5avLdCmSJvoFPp1RBtZ5tr8QB3DYhPl/s1600/S_IMG_1546.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Here's what the
boat area looked like:</div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy51bti6flrLRHA4hvcbI_Yz3D33W5pn0Wru821r1oer6_wVhPZBXi72j5YxHB_tSoOa7VZNqQRHQjID1Diz6QNgZbzo3JTQTA7Pe0xRRkEATXiLGBSsfJ4_vQVjWQDofy-YA4dBLYlXVL/s1600/S_IMG_1547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy51bti6flrLRHA4hvcbI_Yz3D33W5pn0Wru821r1oer6_wVhPZBXi72j5YxHB_tSoOa7VZNqQRHQjID1Diz6QNgZbzo3JTQTA7Pe0xRRkEATXiLGBSsfJ4_vQVjWQDofy-YA4dBLYlXVL/s1600/S_IMG_1547.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
They had these bus/train
things that can take you overland if you're not into walking 3-5km
before starting your 3-5km walk. The problem was that the signs in
the park didn't say which of the lakes were the lower ones. We made a
few educated guesses, and took one of the bus/train things to where
we might be able to do a walk from.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We wandered along
the boardwalk at the beginning of our walk and managed to squeeze
past a group of package-tour tourists, and off into the mist and
drizzle.</div>
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<br />
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Some sights:</div>
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Waterfalls</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibZhgLoyOJwAhsDX0SoK-v6l0eSHZcSnGqSIYf1FzdkjwehDbehTDv-qAqB4OploxpWI9w0mANyNkadU3IfEkxFENs1L9s5kWu_V4WIagTUvmxpzrqT6uwyrpK1zizCFFZNAIVdArUR94/s1600/S_IMG_1566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjibZhgLoyOJwAhsDX0SoK-v6l0eSHZcSnGqSIYf1FzdkjwehDbehTDv-qAqB4OploxpWI9w0mANyNkadU3IfEkxFENs1L9s5kWu_V4WIagTUvmxpzrqT6uwyrpK1zizCFFZNAIVdArUR94/s1600/S_IMG_1566.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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More waterfalls</div>
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The path was flooded, but like life, we uh, found another way. (Yes it's a butchered quote from Jurassic Park.)</div>
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That's a fire salamander enjoying the drizzle. At least someone got some kicks out of it.</div>
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There was a bunch of fish valiantly trying to jump upriver, but you probably can't see them in this picture.</div>
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The next day we had
another complimentary breakfast (too much scrambled eggs and bacon
and sausages and weird quasi-yoghurt and toast and cereal for me),
stashed our bags, and went to see if we could see anything else.</div>
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The day was much
clearer!</div>
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That's a walkway that was closed down there - but of course there were people down there still. Scofflaws gonna scoff.</div>
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It was still rather cold.</div>
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We managed to do a
proper wander round before hopping on a boat (that was actually
running today!) that we hoped would take us to one location, but
which ended up taking us back to the beginning near our hotel. Lame.</div>
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View from the boat. We got on last, so were right in the middle of a sea of brightly coloured people.</div>
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We waited in the
cold for our bus to Split, and the weather began to clear enough for
a couple of patches of blue sky. At least we got some fine weather in
Plitvice, even if right at the end. I'm glad we went, even though the
weather didn't work out very well for us.</div>
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The bus back to
Split was uneventful. Our booking.com host picked us up at the bus
station (this was unexpected) and told us we looked tired (this was
also unexpected).</div>
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There are a few
things to do in Split – and a few to do in the surrounding regions.
We had one day, so confined ourselves to Split.</div>
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Diocletian (whom
you may remember as a persecutor of Christians, or perhaps as the
first Roman emperor to retire) grew up along the Dalmatian coast, so
it's understandable that he'd retire here also. It's also
understandable when you see the view. The story goes that he retired
to grow vegetables, but having seen his palace, I think it's more
likely that he retired to supervise others growing veggies. The
palace is/was so big that after he was long gone the town/city of
Split grew up inside its walls.</div>
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Part of a church</div>
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Entrance into the palace.</div>
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Not sure what this is, perhaps the other side of the church.</div>
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Gate.</div>
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We got to see the
underground levels of Diocletian's palace though, since it's being excavated.
It's not really worth the price of the ticket to get in to see it,
especially not when you can see parts of it for free.</div>
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Under the palace.</div>
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After this we took
a walk up the peninsula. There's a hill overlooking the town.</div>
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Part of the town. It's quite a cruise ship destination.</div>
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Islands off in the distance.</div>
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There were a few old stone churches scattered along the peninsula, including this one.</div>
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Later that day we
popped into the archaeological museum. It's pretty small, but we saw
some interesting stuff.</div>
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Mosaic. (As an aside, I've always felt it's strange that pictures made from small tiles are called mosaics, but things related to Moses are also called mosaic.)</div>
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As a whole, Split
is alright. It's kind of like some parts of Auckland with its
waterfront area, and kind of like Spain, with the arid landscape
surrounding an old town area. If we had more time we might have taken
a boat trip to one of the islands, but we didn't, so we didn't.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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The next day we
headed off to Dubrovnik.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-42480752659172837382014-11-16T20:24:00.001-08:002014-11-16T20:24:29.777-08:00Three ruins<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
South of Rome is a place called Napoli.
That's Naples to any of you still clinging vainly to the anglicised
version of the name.</div>
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As soon as we arrived in Napoli I
wondered if it was a mistake. It seems that the further south you go
in Italy, the worse the unemployment rate becomes, and the more like
a third world country it seems. On every corner there were people
selling things – phone covers mostly for some reason, but also
pirated designer handbags, cigarette lighters, and other things I
can't remember. Everyone crosses the road by just stepping out into
traffic – not that the traffic stops for them at all. There are
zebra crossings, so we used those when available, but when in
Napoli... It felt more like Jakarta than anywhere else on our trip.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The whole point for going there though was to visit Herculaneum, and Pompeii, both of which are just a
short train trip away from Napoli. We went to Herculaneum the day we
arrived, and spent the afternoon wandering around the ruins.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'll assume some knowledge of history
here, but broadly speaking, both Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried
by Mount Vesuvius in an eruption in 79 A.D. Herculaneum was buried in a
different way to Pompeii, and so was preserved better. Pompeii is
much larger, and was a much more important place than Herculaneum.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
When I use the term <i>ruins</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
I use it rather broadly.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Check
out the paintwork in this house. It's 2000 odd years old, and looks
like it's from the '70s.</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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</div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Just
like Napoli, minus traffic.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This
reminded us of Christchurch. It's in the baths. They had a raised
floor, with underfloor heating. The floor partially collapsed in the
earthquake associated with the eruption, but the mosaic stayed
together.</div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
... speaking
of mosaics</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Pompeii
is the more famous ruin, and is so much larger. It's also the place
where casts of people were made by the falling ash, so we can see the
shapes of the people who died, mostly from the deadly gasses that the
volcano spewed forth.</div>
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</div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Plasterwork
in the baths. Pompeii had a bunch of baths. This reminded me of
Versailles or Schonbrunn.</div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Mosaic
copy of a famous painting. This is Alexander the Great, as far as we
can tell.</div>
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</div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Mount
Vesuvius</div>
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</div>
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Many
of the houses in the city were blocked off for
restoration/preservation, so we could only look at some from the door.</div>
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These
are wheel ruts worn into the stone.</div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Some
of the houses had their gardens restored to what they would have
looked like. I'm not sure how they know. Presumably by looking at the
plant remains.</div>
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Of
course like any self-respecting Roman city they had a theatre,</div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
and an amphitheatre for gladiatorial fights.</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Both
Pompeii and Herculaneum are well worth the visit. Both are easily
accessible via the train. The audio guide is good value at both
places, although we did get a little tired of the audio-guide-man
telling us we could learn more about the </span><i>fourth style</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
by pressing 108. </span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">I</span>n case
you're wondering, yes, Napoli is the third ruin. Neither of us liked
it at first, but it was beginning to grow on me by the time we left.
You could say it's hectic and crowded and seedy, although dynamic,
bustling and restless could also be applied.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-53208546721928699672014-11-15T00:43:00.000-08:002014-12-07T09:53:17.466-08:00Rome and the Vatican<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Capital City #15 <br />
<br />
From Florence, which had been
consistently rainy or drizzly, we moved on to hot and sunny Rome. Not
only was there more sun, there were more people, more touts (I just
recently learned that word) and more thievery – more on that later.
Our apartment also had the added charm of having multiple biting
insects in the garden area. I found out about them the hard way as we
waited around for our hostess to let us in. Six bites later, I
resolved to be much faster in unlocking the front door in future. I
tried that. Still more bites, so we implemented a new, ridiculous
strategy: John, in whom the insects have virtually no interest, went
ahead, unlocked the door, then I ran through the garden and into the
hallway. It worked!!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We spent our first afternoon there
doing a general survey of the city, visiting the Spanish Steps (as
exciting as the Bridge of Sighs in Venice), the Trevi fountain (less
so, as there was no water and tons of scaffolding), the Trinita dei
Monti church, the Sant 'Agnese church, Piazza Barberini, various
fountains and the Pantheon.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Some of Trajan's Column! </div>
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Trevi fountain</div>
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Our overall impression of the city was that it was dirty, smelly and noisy, with lots of rubbish and graffiti everywhere (graffiti everywhere in the Italian cities we saw, but especially in Rome - it's no wonder that graffiti is an Italian word), and full of ruins - including the ones that are tens of hundreds of years old. And crowded.</div>
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My, but was it crowded. Maybe it was
because it was a Saturday, but there were the biggest crowds of
anywhere we've been since Disneyland, which also meant there was a
multitude of guys trying to encourage you to buy splatty ball toys,
or selfie camera sticks, or sticking a rose directly in front of you.
For some reason, John never got a rose shoved in <i>his</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
face. Weird.</span></div>
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The crowds and the Spanish Steps.</div>
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</div>
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It was also a cool kind
of lively, though, with some cool street art going on, and great
buskers outside the Pantheon – it seemed like the busking standards
were somehow kept quite high at this particular location. The
Pantheon was also interesting, with its perfectly circular shape, and
completely open space in the middle of the roof; presumably nobody
sits directly underneath when it's raining. Interesting for a
building named the Pantheon to now be a church devoted to the one God
of a monotheistic faith.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
I will never get the Pantheon and the Parthenon mixed up again.</div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
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The next day we
visited a nearby church, the Rome Baptist Church, and heard a sermon
on living waters. It was okay; it definitely made me notice whenever
I was thirsty for the rest of the day, as that was one of the
pastor's key illustration points. Which happened a fair bit, as we
spent that afternoon exploring the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill in
the burning sun. We made like Asian tourists and held our umbrella up
as a sun-protector; it actually worked quite well. They're onto
something!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Even with that
measure, though, our visit didn't start out as the best experience;
we were both still too hot (and thirsty), and the audioguide was
confusing to follow; in one way, because it was hard to locate
exactly which building the man was commenting on, and also because
several of the places on the audioguide tour were blocked off. I
developed an unreasonable hatred of it after the first few locations,
and left it solely to John while just reading the information boards
for myself. And then I was happier!</div>
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a bunch of ruins</div>
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More ruinous remains. Perhaps I'd be able to comment on them further if I'd stuck with the hateful audioguide.</div>
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It was cool to see
these ancient remains of an ancient civilization, but as I'd studied
Roman history at uni, I realized I already knew a fair bit of the general background we were being told – maybe another reason I wasn't
digging the audioguide. It was good to be reminded of what I'd
forgotten, though, and learn some new things, and to see the actual
main place where all their politics were centred. (SPOILER) I
actually preferred the later ruins we visited in Pompeii and
Herculaneum, though, which focused on the daily lives of citizens in
these cities, and walked us through actual, often amazingly
well-preserved places where people lived.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
It was really cool seeing structures I'd studied in Classics at high school, though - behold, the Arch of Titus! </div>
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Carrying away the plunder of Jerusalem! in fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy.</div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;">The
next day, we went on an adventure.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;">We had decided to expend money,
again, on another new Kindle, again. This required an electronics
store that stocked them, and the most likely option John found was
Mediaworld, in a mall half an hour's bus ride north of us. We
debussed at around the right location, and looked round at a barren
landscape, with apartment buildings in the distance and random lone
supermarkets. Not what we had expected. We set out in what we hoped
was the right direction, our umbrella sheltering us from the harsh
sun. Then it broke. So we walked along with the sun beating down on
us as we sought to find the mall. After maybe 15 minutes, John
located a likely candidate on his smartphone, so we followed a
deserted-looking path, littered with litter, until we saw the mall!
Yay! However, we couldn't see any way into it. We ended up going down
the side of a road leading into the parking lot underneath, and from
there managed to find an escalator leading into the mall's body. We
were back in the land of the living.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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A new Kindle and
umbrella later, we went out a different way, yet still couldn't find
any footpath for pedestrians to cross from the mall back to the city
streets. We actually suspect that none exists. It seemed to be a Mall
for Car Owners Only. Back up the side of roads we went, until we came
to another narrow, overgrown footpath.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This had all taken
considerably longer than I'd bargained for; I'd planned a 2-hour or
so trip to the mall, followed by a little more sightseeing in the
late afternoon, when the heat of the sun had faded. Silly me; I'd
assumed the mall would be pedestrian-accessible. However, by the time
we found a bus stop, waited there for half an hour, caught a bus to
the metro station, caught the metro to the Colosseum, we arrived 5
minutes after entry closed for the day. Arrgh; it was most vexing,
especially since the ticket we'd bought yesterday for the Roman Forum
was a joint ticket with the Colosseum, valid for two days. We would
now have to buy a new ticket just for the Colosseum.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Yo - quit yo moanin'! Post a picture of the Arch of Constantine instead.</div>
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And a close-up of one of the medallions. Oh, high school - it's all coming back, it's all coming back to me noooow!</div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;">The
next day we woke determined and reinvigorated; we </span><i>would</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
finish all our sightseeing today. Off we went to the Vatican, to see
the museums, including the Sistine Chapel, and St Peter's Basilica.
As we walked along from the metro stop, we came under the most
sustained barrage of tour offers we've encountered on our entire trip; a new
person every few feet offered a “skip the line!” tour. A nice guy
started talking to us about his one at the lights, and kept talking
to us as we joined the line. Our resolve wavered. The internet had
advised us to buy tickets in advance for the Vatican Museums, but
that was an extra 4 euros each. The internet had also advised us to
buy tickets in advance for the Accademia in Florence, and the line
there had only ended up being 5-10 minutes long. I'd expected this
line to be the same. This was Rome, however, and the crowds had
turned out in force – this line was long and wide, and we still
needed to see the Colosseum that day as well. NEEDED. For once, we
succumbed, and agreed to join an English-speaking tour of the
Museums, which also gave us skip-the-line access to St Peter's Basilica afterwards; St Peter's is free, and can't be booked in
advance.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">Our
Italian tour guide, a woman with an interesting way of speaking, took
us through some of the rooms rapid-fire, to pause at certain
stand-outs and draw our attention to particular aspects. So, really,
it was just like any regular tour. Except now </span><i>we</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
were one of </span><i>Them</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> (or
two of </span><i>Them</i><span style="font-style: normal;">). Part of
a big group that blocks all the space, making it hard to get past,
while walking interminably slowly. Oh well – the Vatican Museums
were so busy anyway we probably didn't make that much difference.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
A section of ceiling. 3D sculpture, right? Aha - that's what we thought! Apparently just <i>painted</i> to <i>look</i> that way!! It fooled us!</div>
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<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I found it helpful
and appreciated the extra insight she provided to some of the
artwork; since religious art, in general, isn't really my thing, I
didn't mind walking right past much of it, but really liked most of
the ones we lingered on. Caravaggio's picture of Jesus getting taken
down from the cross was really striking in its realism, and like
Michelangelo's David was beautiful just from the perspective of
representing the human body really well. I would have preferred it if
our tour had been a bit longer, as we missed out a whole section of
the museums, but again – religious art is not my favourite, and
really, we were all mainly hanging out for the Sistine Chapel.</div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We're not convinced
our guide had all her facts straight, though; she informed us Peter
was the first martyr – pretty sure that was Stephen. She also made
some highly dubious claims about Peter being the “prince” of the
apostles, as well as the apostolic succession going through him to
the popes – of course, that kind of stuff is taught by the Catholic
church, not just by our tour guide, but as kids of the Reformation we
don't hold with all that dogma. Biblical truths, please!</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
a big bath on some great feet</div>
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<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We went from
skewering the Bible to the Sistine Chapel. I was prepared to be blown
away, and ended up ... underwhelmed a bit, sorry! Adam was great, as
were many of the paintings on the famous ceiling. I wasn't so taken
with the ones on the wall, though. A bunch of them also looked to me
like they'd had clothing painted over what was originally their naked
form, which looked a bit silly – I think from what I've heard this
may well be the case. Furthermore, the room was absolutely packed, we
had about ten minutes allotted to us to stand and drink it all in,
and as it's still technically a place of worship, we were meant to be
quiet. This meant that whenever the noise from all the people started
rising too much, one of the guards would get on the loudspeaker and yell, “Silence please! Shhh!” Or, when people were taking
photos, even after the myriad of signs expressly forbidding it,
guards would charge towards them and bellow, “No photos! NOOO
photos!” I rather wonder if their attempts to gain silence didn't
actually disturb the peace even more.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KJju5l3BSr40YXgkHyUNVUTi3AQxQxDyiy9FnsCM24SK4BWSQggHor-a19HSHKdpMg6yluUgZwuomJUTKAptsUD4UJXTKOfIjk6AZXulQWt4Zzo4Qg7S1XxIQPU7H6gbxoeTfdNRmg/s1600/S_IMG_1337.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8KJju5l3BSr40YXgkHyUNVUTi3AQxQxDyiy9FnsCM24SK4BWSQggHor-a19HSHKdpMg6yluUgZwuomJUTKAptsUD4UJXTKOfIjk6AZXulQWt4Zzo4Qg7S1XxIQPU7H6gbxoeTfdNRmg/s1600/S_IMG_1337.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
I would insert a picture of the Sistine Chapel ceiling here, but... refer to above paragraph. Here's a ceiling from a different area. This one's actually 3D.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
From there, we
headed directly to St Peter's, and got to see the new most impressive
church we've seen yet. So grand – so fancy.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCgHJV2lXG150sg8xi-LFVuf946Re6o6K8-lfjKw3bmc6LkMspmMwYdLporPcAmpGoN2c2NzqmQoQdAN75rZYgdmqSFO1zdHm2p0lugEEDMTMVNMGseykA6QEqRx2OUnwcgribGw6T4g/s1600/S_IMG_1365.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCgHJV2lXG150sg8xi-LFVuf946Re6o6K8-lfjKw3bmc6LkMspmMwYdLporPcAmpGoN2c2NzqmQoQdAN75rZYgdmqSFO1zdHm2p0lugEEDMTMVNMGseykA6QEqRx2OUnwcgribGw6T4g/s1600/S_IMG_1365.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
St Peter's and the massive square outside.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We saw a statue of
Peter (we presume), but the poor guy had most of his feet worn away
to blobs from all the people superstitiously rubbing their hands on
them.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQldYGtvbcr_nv_UFF0qyoG8sYapQkC802y7kL0mBU04N8BSLPDTFKmElgsZh_8zff_lxdrz061UVIRGgwG97EZUopOLgpYMBdGChE92x2KI6OJPj3Bd_09euf3WtQLuQ1GDd9yuh60g/s1600/S_IMG_1348.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQldYGtvbcr_nv_UFF0qyoG8sYapQkC802y7kL0mBU04N8BSLPDTFKmElgsZh_8zff_lxdrz061UVIRGgwG97EZUopOLgpYMBdGChE92x2KI6OJPj3Bd_09euf3WtQLuQ1GDd9yuh60g/s1600/S_IMG_1348.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Poor Peter's tootsies. </div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There was a gorgeous stained glass window representing the Holy
Spirit.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6yFice1JF1AyYNBWS1c7hyuVWVl5mKKK-lQY4t7-Qd4Y7XpOSoMhlT_Hb_4b4oNNad_Am1LtlYVltAOlybBujYRQq9_BH4ZiBrQvHY8qCIFqjhUAAT_g7kFJ5evpX72osdN7O2V3vQ/s1600/S_IMG_1356.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6yFice1JF1AyYNBWS1c7hyuVWVl5mKKK-lQY4t7-Qd4Y7XpOSoMhlT_Hb_4b4oNNad_Am1LtlYVltAOlybBujYRQq9_BH4ZiBrQvHY8qCIFqjhUAAT_g7kFJ5evpX72osdN7O2V3vQ/s1600/S_IMG_1356.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
It's nice to see the Holy Spirit get some prominence. Normally He would be eclipsed by Mary in terms of representation - so wack!</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
And after we went out, we saw the monstrously long line we'd
been able to skip, and were again glad we had decided to take the
tour.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Also, incidentally, Michelangelo's <i>Pieta</i> inside St Peter's.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYSM7nqU81zd8gV3S2ZlI2TKiPZLkcwUITzCMMEGwWA9a-jBbSf0ilOpFb5RdxEyZpJmHKHXjD7vDXA1CRzKsFUP2EvsHuUpMYT0OA2ZmpN2K01vlWc6AGyAb4K9Eqv8YRVZYz4WeLSw/s1600/S_IMG_1360.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYSM7nqU81zd8gV3S2ZlI2TKiPZLkcwUITzCMMEGwWA9a-jBbSf0ilOpFb5RdxEyZpJmHKHXjD7vDXA1CRzKsFUP2EvsHuUpMYT0OA2ZmpN2K01vlWc6AGyAb4K9Eqv8YRVZYz4WeLSw/s1600/S_IMG_1360.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
Also, this guy. To adapt a Miss Congeniality line: It takes a very secure man to dress like that. </div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our final stop in
Rome was the Colosseum – successfully this time, though a tiny
piece of me died having to pay admission again. It was worth it,
though; really interesting to read about what went on there. Even if
what went on was really brutal. I ended our visit feeling more
distaste for the Colosseum than before; so many people killed here
for people's morbid entertainment, so many Christians martyred, and
poor beasts slaughtered. Ugh. It reminded me of the Hunger Games but,
of course, ancient games such as these came first, and actually
happened. In places like Spain, too, similar events happen even
today, with the ongoing popularity of bullfights.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
from the outside</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
on the inside!</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We rounded off our
last day with a meal out in a restaurant, where John got some lasagne
with sauce that tasted like the spaghetti sauce from a can, and I got
a (nicer) creamy pasta dish. And then we boarded an absolutely PACKED
metro back. John was wearing baggy pants, since he'd made sure to
have his knees covered to be decent for the Vatican. He had
carelessly left his smartphone in his pocket. And about three stops
in, he realized he couldn't feel it anymore. Yes; you guessed it;
someone stole it. Our first pickpocketing experience! I had just been
thinking earlier that day how we hadn't even witnessed anyone trying
to steal from us. Well, after initial frustration, we played the
thankfulness game, and thanked God that: it wasn't our passports, or
wallets, or my smartphone (mine didn't have a screen lock until that
day. Now it does), or a break-in to our room. Or my Kindle. That
would have been very sad.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So we left Rome. It
had been a mixed experience; we were glad we'd visited it, but we
weren't sorry to be leaving. On the plus side, just to finish off, at a wonderful supermarket in Rome I discovered not only Special K - peach and apricot flavour!!!! but fabulous new Snickers bar ice creams. Yum!!</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-65925841829722665882014-11-13T02:00:00.000-08:002014-11-13T02:00:48.287-08:00Firenze and environs<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Firenze (Florence) is near some other
interesting places, and isn't exactly boring itself, so we decided to
visit. I'll divide this one into three sections, which won't be
chronological, but cartological.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Firenze</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Firenze is relatively compact. The two
main sights are a statue and a building. I'll show you the building
first.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOHDndPsWoNFkohmeSBx6jfTL7Pc98CjhMB1Pw0wB1y0VFTQda1RFEVfBPziDmPXQ_UHC-Suj2HM_FQRePM1MOLiMcnEI9YYmXzHGQJFizH_MGcKZyxREf4-Oui7aYdQoRVYbGhVIEnbcv/s1600/S_IMG_1051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOHDndPsWoNFkohmeSBx6jfTL7Pc98CjhMB1Pw0wB1y0VFTQda1RFEVfBPziDmPXQ_UHC-Suj2HM_FQRePM1MOLiMcnEI9YYmXzHGQJFizH_MGcKZyxREf4-Oui7aYdQoRVYbGhVIEnbcv/s1600/S_IMG_1051.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We knew there was a large church in the
city that we were supposed to go look at, but nothing quite prepared
me for walking around the corner and having this thing jump out at
me. Bizarrely, it reminded me of the <i>Sagrada Familia</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
in Barcelona – like something that Gaudi would design if he were
into straight lines and squares. I was expecting something really
amazing inside, but it was a standard, if large, Roman Catholic
church building on the inside.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL_iE8kKOpU-1bXOJpYEf6F9y7Q3CoIFmRDb_PnbqWyEyKpsi7WyQ4H7jM45qal09asgarkRnmrjjqRwzOvNJFfreFbbta1HURRF5WBFjOj76PMC7M9fjZzAmbS6p-JrfVnRIa3HmGQryP/s1600/S_IMG_1235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL_iE8kKOpU-1bXOJpYEf6F9y7Q3CoIFmRDb_PnbqWyEyKpsi7WyQ4H7jM45qal09asgarkRnmrjjqRwzOvNJFfreFbbta1HURRF5WBFjOj76PMC7M9fjZzAmbS6p-JrfVnRIa3HmGQryP/s1600/S_IMG_1235.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It did have a funky 24 hour clock that turned backwards on the back wall</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
And
this ceiling.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The other thing that you might want to
see in Firenze is this statue:</div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
David</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
He's actually holding a
sling. I read somewhere that the statue is meant to be viewed from
where he's looking, because that's quite a menacing glare if it's
viewed from straight on. Unfortunately when viewed from below and in
front it makes him look concerned, and maybe a little put out but not
like he's about to face down Goliath.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The museum with David, the
Accademia, also had a bunch of cool medieval art. Mostly icons and
stuff, but there were some cool bits. At least, I thought it was cool
– Anna didn't dig those and spent most of her time admiring David
instead. This part was also quite something:</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A whole room full of
plaster prototypes of marble statues</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Rows of heads</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
More heads</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Other things to do in Firenze include wandering around looking for
jandals (they seem to stop stocking them in 'winter' even though it's
over 20 outside) and going into other churches. There's a public
square, <i>Piazza della Signoria</i><span style="font-style: normal;">,
with replicas of a bunch of different statues, including David, so if
you're feeling cheap, you can say that you went to Firenze and saw
David (and then explain that by Firenze you mean Florence, and then
end up looking all pretentious). The original is definitely worth seeing though.</span><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Cinque Terre</b><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Cinque Terre means Five Towns, or
something like that. I think it might actually be Five Lands, but
since they're within walking distance of each other and are more like
villages the Five Towns definition seems to fit.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
One way to see these towns is via
train. There's a track that runs between all the towns, and you can
get a ticket that allows you to see all of them. We got a couple of
those and started at the top one to work our way down. While the
towns are all different and unique in their own special way (yes
that's a tautological redundancy, and yes, so was that), they're all
essentially the same – villages of multi-story dwellings next to
the ocean. Some have cliffs. Others have beaches. They're all
picturesque. Observe:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4zgCB3P8Jj8DT-FiOO-v1O-yVJQET5xXax5QkINoGiDWlHKx_DVhod1DOUUmFX2ulvlJvt7lU5RCLaKkAkbAZSgrxvsFEIJoAH6fjPCFM93fmsjqr7RbE3pOjBJ1C8Oy80CMQcdfN4pr/s1600/S_IMG_1100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ4zgCB3P8Jj8DT-FiOO-v1O-yVJQET5xXax5QkINoGiDWlHKx_DVhod1DOUUmFX2ulvlJvt7lU5RCLaKkAkbAZSgrxvsFEIJoAH6fjPCFM93fmsjqr7RbE3pOjBJ1C8Oy80CMQcdfN4pr/s1600/S_IMG_1100.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Monterosso has a nice-ish
beach</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The rain was chasing us
the whole day.</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Vernazza has a tower.
Here's the view from the top looking toward the town.</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
View out to sea.</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Manarola has a nice
walkway by the sea. Unfortunately many of the coastal walkways were closed; this one only went halfway around the peninsula, but it was
still nice.</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Riomaggiore.</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
By this time the sun was
beginning to set, so we watched it paint the sky in beautiful hues
while waves crashed against the rocks below, until it was time to
catch the train home.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Pisa</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Pisa is one of those places that, if
you're in the area, you have to visit. There's some municipal by-law
somewhere that states this.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It's weird going to a place like Pisa.
It's like going to Paeroa – you either live there (and my
condolences if you do) or you're there to visit the L&P bottle.
Of course, Paeroa doesn't have souvenir stands lining the streets around the L&P bottle.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
From what I'd heard, the tower isn't
all that impressive. Having seen it, I think it definitely stands
out, but isn't a must-see building. Anna felt it was worthwhile though.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The tower is leaning
towards the viewer</div>
<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div align="CENTER" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Some of the other
impressive buildings on site.</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It's not all that amazing;
if it wasn't leaning then we wouldn't have gone to see it, because it
wouldn't be world famous. Well it might be, but only world famous in
Italy.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-29291179740281604532014-11-11T01:11:00.000-08:002014-11-11T01:11:09.210-08:00Ah Venezia<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Skip this part if you want to avoid the
rather long tale of woe regarding missed connections – aka John
complains about yet another aspect of being overseas.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Here's a cliche I don't think we've
used yet: <i>The journey is the destination</i><i style="font-style: normal;"> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(or
something to that effect)</span><i style="font-style: normal;">. </i><span style="font-style: normal;">Meaning
of course that the enjoyable part of travelling is actually the part
where you get from </span><i style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">A</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;">
to </span><i style="font-style: normal;">B</i><span style="font-style: normal;">, and not so much
what you do once you get to </span><i style="font-style: normal;">B</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.
This can apply to things like the </span>Flamsbana<i style="font-style: normal;"> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">or
the </span>Transiberian<i style="font-style: normal;"> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">(we
hope)</span><i style="font-style: normal;">.</i><br />
<div style="font-style: normal;">
In this case, the
journey wasn't the destination. The journey was mediocre, and made us
miss our train.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
We'd got these free
tickets for a bus trip on Meinfernbus – the German company which
made us late to Berlin with a flat tyre. We were able to book tickets
to get us from Zurich to Milano, arriving in Milano with 50 minutes
to get across town to our train for Padova.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
Fools. We of course
thought that Meinfernbus wouldn't always be late. It's a German
company after all, and it was leaving from Switzerland, so surely
it'd be punctual.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
The first worrying
sign was when the barrier arm to let the buses out of the bus car
park (buspark?) wouldn't open. There were more and more buses filling
up the cramped space while we waited in line for someone from the
parking company to come and let buses out individually. Tedious.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
Once we were on the
road we got to see some fantastic scenery. Seriously, the roads
through the mountains to Italy are fantastic, with ridiculously long
tunnels and views over lakes and mountains. Can recommend.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
We stopped
somewhere on the other side of the mountain in a place where they
speak Italian, but isn't yet Italy. Presumably there was a reason for
this 30 minute break, considering we must have already been running
late – the best reason that I can come up with is union regulations
stating how much rest a bus driver is entitled to, but it's a mystery to this day.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
We arrived 45
minutes late in Milano, figured out the metro system and ticket
machine in record time (refusing to purchase a ticket from the shady dude
who offered us one as we were working it out) and arrived late for
our train – hoping that it would also be late and we would be able
to catch it. Overly optimistic.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal;">
We had to purchase
another ticket – fortunately there was one more train trip that
night, and the ticket could be bought easily at the ticket machine
for the same price we'd paid for the others – and then contacted
our accommodation to tell them we were going to be late.</div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We return to your
regularly scheduled broadcast.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">One
thing I've found weird is that places will often have different names
in English than in their native language. Brussels vs </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Bruxelles</span><span style="font-style: normal;">.
Munich vs Munchen, Seville vs Sevilla. Whanganui vs Wanganui. </span><span style="font-style: normal;">Italy has an abundance of this nonsensical nomenclature.</span><span style="font-style: normal;">
It's hard enough booking train tickets in foreign lands without
having to convert place names to different languages too. It's not
like these names are harder to pronounce either. Most of them are
easy enough to decipher, but surely it'd be better to begin to refer
to these places by the name that the people who live there use. I'll
be using Venezia (Venice) and Padova (Padua) in this post.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Padova is around
half an hour by train from Venezia. It's also around half the price
to stay there.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<strike>Venice</strike>. I mean Venezia.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Venezia was
crowded, fancy, dirty, damp, dilapidated, expensive, strange, and
full of people, pigeons, pizza and puddles. It's cool having no cars
on the roads, and little winding streets linked by bridges gave it a
nice atmosphere. It's a place that it would be easy to get lost in.
There are signs on some of the buildings pointing to main locations
like San Marco, but none of the roads are straight, and it's hard to
find out where you are on a map, let alone find a route to your next
destination. It was a cool place to wander around though the
crumbling facades, and we did rather a lot of wandering.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
San Marco square
was thronged with a throng of tourists trying to avoid huge
puddles in the middle of the square. Venezia has a problem with
flooding. It must be sinking, since no one would intentionally design
a public space that fills with ground water seeping up from below
whenever the tide comes in.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Huge puddles.</div>
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<br /></div>
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We were told off
for sitting on the steps that line the square when we were about to
eat lunch. For some reason we were allowed to sit on the edge of the
clock tower.</div>
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<br /></div>
We saw the Bridge
of Sighs (which apparently is a thing). We walked past it without
realising, assuming that the bridge we were going over was just
crowded because it's Venezia. It wasn't all that great, so we didn't
take a photo. Maybe the bridge of yawns would be a better name. If
you want atmosphere, Venezia has it, but apart from the couple of
different buildings to visit (Doge's palace included – which I
can't take seriously because of this <span style="color: navy;"><a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/doge">Doge</a></span>)
there isn't much to do other than wander, shop, eat, and sit in
little boats while costumed men row you around. Actually, that doesn't
sound too bad.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-62763061420403261832014-11-08T11:06:00.000-08:002014-12-07T09:51:44.634-08:00Dear Switzerland<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
<br />
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Switzerland is a wonderful place, but
it doesn't come cheap. On the one hand: majestic vistas, lovely
remote areas; on the other hand, thinking to buy a cheap snack out,
we paid the equivalent of NZ$10 at McDonald's for two large fries.
Daylight robbery! And that was just the tip of the iceberg. However,
no more complaining about steep prices – onto the good stuff!</div>
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<br /></div>
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From the Swiss Alps, we headed to
Zurich to stay with an old school friend of mine – Sara came to
Inglewood High as an exchange student a whole ten years ago now! My
word, would you look at the time. Every morning during our stay we
all ate a hearty breakfast together; fresh bread and croissants or
porridge, with fresh squeezed orange juice! Yum!</div>
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<br /></div>
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We also ... dum dum duuuummmm... picked
up our passports, sent back from New Zealand by my kind relatives,
with our Russian visas inside!!! Yaayyayayayayyyayay!!! Khalva and
ice-cold landscapes, here we come!</div>
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<br /></div>
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On our first day in Zurich, we explored the
city. With quite a compact city centre, we managed to see
the Fraumunster, St Peterskirche and Grossmunster, where
Zwingli headed up the Protestant Reformation in Switzerland.</div>
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</div>
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Fraumunster</div>
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St Peterskirche</div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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Not
surprisingly, Grossmunster wasn't as grand as other churches we've
beheld, with the Protestants' eschewing of ostentation and
iconography. The stained glass windows, rather than picturing Mary,
Jesus or saints, were composed of what looked like unicellular
organisms. Interesting! The feel of the place was relatively homey,
though, so instead of being awed, we could imagine actually being
part of a church service there.</div>
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Zwingli outside</div>
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</div>
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We also saw Lenin's place of
residence in 1917 or so, before the Russian revolution, and took a
lovely walk by the lake in Zurich. Our legs were protesting a bit,
even now, from our walks on the Swiss Alps, so we didn't strain them
too much.</div>
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Lenin's old abode</div>
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That night Sara and Jan, her boyfriend,
had organised a surprise activity for the four of us; we discovered
that we were to be trapped in a room and have to figure the way out
by solving a mystery! Our mission was to uncover the men guilty of a
recent bank robbery. We had to find various keys and codes to unlock
padlocks, through solving different riddles, logic puzzles and
generally using our powers of deduction. We had an hour in total, and
managed to finish with three minutes to spare! It was so much fun.</div>
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<br /></div>
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We celebrated our victory with dinner
at a restaurant, where John and I sampled raclette for the first
time, a traditional Swiss dish. We were served (delicious) melted
cheese on a plate, and were supplied with baby potatoes, little
onions, little gherkins and mini maize cobs. The concept is simple:
grab a little food item, place cheese on it, and eat. It was actually
very filling, and very yummy.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Capital City #14<br />
<br />
The next day we took a day trip to Bern
and... riddle me timbers! We did another clue-based activity, called
a Foxtrail. Again, we had to solve various clues to follow a trail
around the city, getting to see the sights of Bern while exercising
our mental faculties at the same time. It was good fun, although
frustrating at times, when we couldn't find the clue, or took an
alternate meaning from the clue, and spent an extra 40 minutes
wandering around the wrong part of town. It didn't help that our
paper instructions were in German, but at least John had the English
instructions on his smartphone. We ended up taking 4.5 hours or so
for an activity that is meant to take 2.5 hours – so we got our
money's worth! For the record, we saw a park, a church, walked past
some bears (in a bear enclosure – bigger than the ones we saw in
Canada), some statues, the river, a government building, and a tent
with people rehearsing for a <i>Miss Switzerland</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
contest the next day. They were just setting it up in the middle of
the square, and it looked fancy.</span></div>
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a bear lying around, in the middle of Bern</div>
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The Swiss like huge clock faces.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The next day was a
Saturday, so Sara was able to take us out for another day trip, this
time to a mountainous region about an hour's drive from Zurich. We
exercised our leg muscles again with a hike up to a lake, and were
rewarded with beautiful autumnal trees on the way, and a picturesque
lake with moutains behind it and a restaurant beside it. We loved getting
back out into Swiss nature.</div>
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<br /></div>
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autumnal trees </div>
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autumnal hues on autumnal trees </div>
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the lake in its picturesque setting </div>
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so pretty!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We had lunch
at the restaurant, sampling some of their delicious homemade ice
cream for dessert, and then drove round to the gondola up to the
mountain we'd seen from the lake: the Santis.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The prospect didn't
look too good from the live TV they had playing at the ticket desk of
the viewing deck from the top of the mountain; a big heavy cloud had
descended on the top of the mountain, and it looked like all the view
we would get was swirling grey fog.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The unpromising view up from the base of the mountain.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Still, Sara was an optimist, so
we decided to go up anyway, to the 2500m high tip, higher than any of
the heights we'd reached in the Swiss Alps. It was really cold up
there and after a while our hands were freezing. But these were the
kinds of views we got:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
on the way up</div>
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We then drove to a
charming little village called Appensell and wandered round, admiring
all the pretty facades. We sampled the local culinary delights again
at a restaurant there for dinner, where Sara recommended another
typical Swiss dish – a dessert this time, noodley-type things made
of chestnut, on top of a meringue, with cream on top. It was
unexpectedly really good!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
a pretty facade</div>
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Our last activity
before moving on was going to the Zurich Protestant Church on Sunday
morning. It was a proper old school service, with a liturgy, hymnals
and robe-wearing ministers. The preacher spoke on the tension between
faith and science, pointing out how the two coexisted (most of the
time) quite happily for ages until recently, and basically that not
everything can be explained by science, as some would posit. Not
everything that exists can be held under a microscope, and we should
be more humble and mindful of how little we really know, as humans,
rather than be arrogant about how much we think we know. He spoke
from Job, which contains the best question in the Bible, in his
mind: God asks, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the
world?” Indeed.</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-66161334826833886462014-11-05T10:57:00.000-08:002014-11-05T11:20:58.609-08:00The Swiss Alps<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
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From tropical Spain to wintry mountains
– what better way to cure a pesky cough than some fresh alpine air?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Our next stop after Cordoba was
Grindelwald in Switzerland, which meant a weekend composed almost
entirely of travelling. Never fear – that's what we have Kindles
for, to alleviate the tedium of two long days! I pulled it out on the
first morning and discovered it was broken. Again. My new Kindle,
only bought a few weeks ago!! Am I the Kindle-breaker? Or could it be
my Kindle cover wrecking the Kindles it contains, bitter because this was not the career it had
envisaged for itself? We are still not sure.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Speaking of tedium, though – back to
the blog post. We saved some money by booking a slow train back up to
Barcelona, one which stopped at every town on the way up (it seemed)
and took ten hours in total. The next day it was an early start to
catch a 7.20am train to Lyon. After an anxiety-inducing hour-long
delay at Perpignan, we somehow managed to arrive right on time at our
destination, where we caught a train to Geneva, then one to Bern,
then one to Interlaken Ost, and then one to Grindelwald, arriving at
9.30pm. We were thankful we didn't have any issues with all those
connections!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Upon our arrival in the small town of
Grindelwald, we discovered that our accommodation, Mountain Hostel,
was not 100m from the main train station, as we had thought, but a
very dark and steep half hour walk away, 100m from a different,
cogwheel train station. Again, we were glad it was downhill, and that
even at a dark 10pm it was totally safe to be walking around a mostly
deserted township.</div>
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(NB: If anybody is wanting to follow in
our footsteps and stay here at some point, also note that the
Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald is not the same as the Mountain Hostel
in Grindelwald. This is a helpful distinction to make.)</div>
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Grindelwald. All the lovely chalets!</div>
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Our accommodation in Grindelwald turned
out to be a very comfortable place to stay, with a helpful
receptionist who supplied us with an adaptor plug for the silly Swiss
sockets. It would seem the Swiss feel the need to be unique; not
content with being more expensive than all the places around them,
they also need to have their own currency and their own power
sockets.</div>
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<br /></div>
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To their credit, however, they do have
beautiful scenery and nice people in the mountains. On our first
proper day there, there happened to be a market on! We love markets,
so we checked it out, quickly realizing that this would be a window
shopping experience, so to speak, given the hefty prices.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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We hadn't travelled to the Swiss Alps
for shopping, though, but to appreciate the alpine countryside by
going for some walks. After our brief survey of the market, we set
off on our first attempt. It turned out to be sharply uphill.
Moreover, the sun had become unexpectedly hot, making us
uncomfortable in our long pants, socks and sneakers. I felt slightly
weak, too, with my cough persisting from our time in Spain. After
about ten minutes, we did the sensible thing and came back down, and
paid for the gondola up to our destination instead. We then enjoyed a
nice walk going downhill.</div>
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view from the gondola</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
scene from our first day's walk</div>
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<br /></div>
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Our walks in the Alps stimulated<span style="font-weight: normal;">
all our senses. Our eyes feasted on lovely scenery. It often smelled
of the country (not necessarily in a good way). We could always hear
a faint tinkling sound from the bells tied around the necks of cows,
goats and sheep in the fields – we're still not sure of the purpose
of the bells. We felt the gravel beneath our sneakers on the broad
paths, as well as our sore legs and eventually toes from too much
downhill walking. And we tasted the fresh bread we bought for lunch
every day.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Our walks also got my imagination going. I could totally imagine Heidi frolicking about in the more
remote areas we passed through (and then waking up the next morning
and going, “Where am I?” – as she ALWAYS seemed to).</span></div>
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Cows with bells on. Not a picture of mountains!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">The
next day was the true pain-causer for our legs and toes. We took
another cable car, apparently the longest one in Europe, up to the
top of the mountain Mannlichen, </span>2343m<span style="font-weight: normal;"> high. The views were breathtaking, surrounded as we were
by majestic snowy mountains. We then walked down to Kleine Scheidegg,
at </span>2061m<span style="font-weight: normal;">, from there to
Alpiglen, at </span>1615m<span style="font-weight: normal;">, and
then the steepest section back down to Grindelwald, at 1034</span>m<span style="font-weight: normal;">.
It took a total of 4 hours or so, and we definitely felt it the next
day (and the next. And the day after).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKcd07QJ5v72oyyYhgNADokpbPCD2UYpNvydEz_8lIdMvyoEXQ0URWEU4fBG7xQsd7WGpPlTuK84WptERoAUQYsMIbgosvfwq0QpkEzMhbT1eBLynHFU1iyNrbKnhEO8FJwHxx2BvdQ/s1600/S_IMG_0735.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKcd07QJ5v72oyyYhgNADokpbPCD2UYpNvydEz_8lIdMvyoEXQ0URWEU4fBG7xQsd7WGpPlTuK84WptERoAUQYsMIbgosvfwq0QpkEzMhbT1eBLynHFU1iyNrbKnhEO8FJwHxx2BvdQ/s1600/S_IMG_0735.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
At the top of Mannlichen.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
A rare and elusive moment, superbly captured on camera: John really going all out in his imitation of the new camera pose we've been seeing: not just the victory sign, but holding your arm/s out wide while doing the victory sign! In John's case, also bending the body in a strange manner.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Near the top.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
On the way down...</div>
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Gorgeous colour lake!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our pained legs didn't stop
us from exploring further afield, however; the following day saw us
travelling across to Murren, another little town in the same general
region. The route was interesting for us, as a train took us most of
the way, but the transport from the valley floor up to Murren
involved a cable car for most of the way. We wondered if our luggage
would be alright in the cable car, and then saw the size of it – a
massive one that could fit about 100 people. Murren is apparently a
car-free village, which means you have to have a special permit to be
able to drive there. We did see some hardy vehicles there, but very
few, and not many people either. It was a very quiet and peaceful
place.</div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We had intended to
take another cable car from here up to the top of the Schilthorn
mountain, but when the price turned out to be significantly higher
than we were expecting, we forewent that opportunity, figuring we'd
seen enough beautiful views already to make us happy. Instead, we
went for another walk, despite the protestations of our legs and
feet, going on a round trip to Gimmelwald.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
scene from our third day's walk</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
We also saw quite a high, thin waterfall in Lauterbrunnen.</div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
And so ends our
not very exciting account of various walks to places you haven't
heard of in the Swiss mountains. Otherwise it would've just been all
photos!</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-64812324856053196082014-10-30T12:49:00.000-07:002014-10-30T12:49:42.805-07:00Southern Spain<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
If you happen to be a time traveller
from, say, 500 A.D. SPOILER ALERT. If not, well you're cool too. Read
on to learn a little history.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Much of what is now southern Spain used
to be ruled by various Moorish (<span style="font-weight: normal;">Nasrid
and Ummayid</span>) kingdoms and caliphates. There was a bit of back
and forth between the Christian and Islamic states over the centuries
until in 1492, at the end of what's called the Reconqista, the last
Islamic kingdom fell to the Christian kingdoms of Aragon and Castile.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Five centuries later, and we have the
vestiges of that influence in the culture of <span style="font-weight: normal;">Andalusia</span>.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<b>Granada</b><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We arrived in Granada on a hot autumn
day, and spent the next hour trying to find our accommodation. I
won't bore you with the details, but basically the bus system in
Granada is in dire need of improvement, or rather, they need to post
more information about how to get from A to B on their bus stops.
Success at last though.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The main reason for going to Granada
was for us to visit the Alhambra – a mountain fort/palace/garden
complex which was a 20 minute uphill walk from where we were staying.
Apparently it's the most famous and most visited monument in Spain.
Booking a few days ahead of time, the tickets to see the whole
complex during the day were already sold out for the two days we were
there, but by splitting the visit up, we were able to see the main
fortress/gardens in the day, and then come back at night to see the
Nasrid Palace.<br />
<br />
The Alhambra complex is largish, and sits on a hill overlooking Granada. It's a great location for a fort, and there's been one there since before the Islamic incursion into Spain. After a time, some caliph or other decided that it'd be a nice place for a palace too, and so the Nasrid Palace was built up on the hill, with an aqueduct to bring water from a spring nearby, since water was a big requirement in the Islamic gardens of the time.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbvZ1hiImOPh59KRBYnK5gl7r2TjeNt4LGxoq8WbLrp65Ixxi574YU7-bTeKiIqXOa4tK487CR7dXi3Jf03_RCrxHcSzKeyABw01WFHDYoQ_coGtTr5Nc-htC_nl6ISZQX5BfKjJLjsay/s1600/S_IMG_0501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYbvZ1hiImOPh59KRBYnK5gl7r2TjeNt4LGxoq8WbLrp65Ixxi574YU7-bTeKiIqXOa4tK487CR7dXi3Jf03_RCrxHcSzKeyABw01WFHDYoQ_coGtTr5Nc-htC_nl6ISZQX5BfKjJLjsay/s1600/S_IMG_0501.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Imposing walls of the fort.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxEFt-GmY1k_huOO07CeQlQJG23XFcpz77pz830keEBNuOoTEG0IM6b6jextvtOuZ79zRN53vsUgTlOa9-4Ii1ZeD6mLFIlr8OflTWmTt7dNPvj6gewMgiSi1KzNuvhiP4yUbS6mkBAn6A/s1600/S_IMG_0519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxEFt-GmY1k_huOO07CeQlQJG23XFcpz77pz830keEBNuOoTEG0IM6b6jextvtOuZ79zRN53vsUgTlOa9-4Ii1ZeD6mLFIlr8OflTWmTt7dNPvj6gewMgiSi1KzNuvhiP4yUbS6mkBAn6A/s1600/S_IMG_0519.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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View of Granada.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1f7q70O1reucyJjRwaLxbSljcddpdZgN7ao4W6CnSzQm9kQ9ZWPz7cC_QBpG2aPtVlupoGpdQHhiDNWiMipGM2SY1prcHmS6jqi98_jsCiXeDdvt5oveOINQTTE-GUSrg20hcikZWnIrK/s1600/S_IMG_0531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1f7q70O1reucyJjRwaLxbSljcddpdZgN7ao4W6CnSzQm9kQ9ZWPz7cC_QBpG2aPtVlupoGpdQHhiDNWiMipGM2SY1prcHmS6jqi98_jsCiXeDdvt5oveOINQTTE-GUSrg20hcikZWnIrK/s1600/S_IMG_0531.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Charles V's palace. Apparently this area used to be used for bullfights. It's now a museum.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZzpRY5htHkuMFadjnpVuXVZ0qDCpnBXgZqvyC1dOnhHnPA1_XCiV7BMK_g2-pcxArRhOdk8f-_Z-qq0HWfpN1tizQqhyphenhyphenqJ2ju-H7TXTtenMJ6DMQPQ6tmu0jAqA_rvSvCDl-Dlwp8BJg/s1600/S_IMG_0547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZzpRY5htHkuMFadjnpVuXVZ0qDCpnBXgZqvyC1dOnhHnPA1_XCiV7BMK_g2-pcxArRhOdk8f-_Z-qq0HWfpN1tizQqhyphenhyphenqJ2ju-H7TXTtenMJ6DMQPQ6tmu0jAqA_rvSvCDl-Dlwp8BJg/s1600/S_IMG_0547.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Islamic architecture at the time was into water features.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5NcsZoM4WjLSCQVNuasfuRxr6Z1zBxyB-_ZiUnpmkrVtdRMYBbm89Ld9Yy_SNMe73K6FMbP-q7TF_ev_Di48DyBC1OZL87-TRR4IXt8EnXxvQvqjdNeGreEy7qwJTvjhKHKyEOmsC764_/s1600/S_IMG_0572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5NcsZoM4WjLSCQVNuasfuRxr6Z1zBxyB-_ZiUnpmkrVtdRMYBbm89Ld9Yy_SNMe73K6FMbP-q7TF_ev_Di48DyBC1OZL87-TRR4IXt8EnXxvQvqjdNeGreEy7qwJTvjhKHKyEOmsC764_/s1600/S_IMG_0572.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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More water features.</div>
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmeYrct2RdcgRDGgLZQ2Wv8y7SO3Puz4Z_mInYEnYHmDMaxCA91qsQUAkCygsKDv4WSG9Fx0FL8ZXbf5LGLYTZ_awOTwEuhv79mMFcNnH_1pUHni7JLpiwma_SAkz_seUiFztNksbTzFvJ/s1600/S_IMG_0574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmeYrct2RdcgRDGgLZQ2Wv8y7SO3Puz4Z_mInYEnYHmDMaxCA91qsQUAkCygsKDv4WSG9Fx0FL8ZXbf5LGLYTZ_awOTwEuhv79mMFcNnH_1pUHni7JLpiwma_SAkz_seUiFztNksbTzFvJ/s1600/S_IMG_0574.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In Spain, since everyone has dinner so
late, it seems that things are open late too, which suits us well,
and our ticket for the Nasrid Palace was set for 10pm. We lined up
with around 300 odd other people, and managed to get inside at around
10:15pm.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_aLDFdeokHPqZ12tBJ2gzkg2Y-h-CeZeg880GGZstXOTtJgCBKOFS07p_OsnH_8qoS-AdCUlAJrzS-avjtl1Y1CjRuwaDJenj50AlTkDqeaIS3zuL6UysOBO3QxSHqz61vBBIojV0Bib/s1600/S_IMG_0616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_aLDFdeokHPqZ12tBJ2gzkg2Y-h-CeZeg880GGZstXOTtJgCBKOFS07p_OsnH_8qoS-AdCUlAJrzS-avjtl1Y1CjRuwaDJenj50AlTkDqeaIS3zuL6UysOBO3QxSHqz61vBBIojV0Bib/s1600/S_IMG_0616.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The walls were covered with detailed carvings like this</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZtgkLyuAucWCdiS0DKNrpZlv5wh_Qmvf5kQ91rA47TFygn1b7ERgGUUtgJgm1Stwm7VWFCagojKlvNWptkc0FRe4ipTPrNcK5BFgvbiPn2beAJGYFtDIq2cOv8pmG59MDXT66EkVZ2Bx/s1600/S_IMG_0619.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZtgkLyuAucWCdiS0DKNrpZlv5wh_Qmvf5kQ91rA47TFygn1b7ERgGUUtgJgm1Stwm7VWFCagojKlvNWptkc0FRe4ipTPrNcK5BFgvbiPn2beAJGYFtDIq2cOv8pmG59MDXT66EkVZ2Bx/s1600/S_IMG_0619.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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and this.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaqUsIei87a7Eg4pQ3ajFgLRKhkYdR_UdAjFLDA8cdvweAOz-8zlZ784g9gaX1SfS0fZhCXud3S382N22LgFZ2LJsP19JuXpIa8_yoQ4YA0CECvz2WOSO0xKPbYbV2NnSTafKC2QGzfzNe/s1600/S_IMG_0620.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaqUsIei87a7Eg4pQ3ajFgLRKhkYdR_UdAjFLDA8cdvweAOz-8zlZ784g9gaX1SfS0fZhCXud3S382N22LgFZ2LJsP19JuXpIa8_yoQ4YA0CECvz2WOSO0xKPbYbV2NnSTafKC2QGzfzNe/s1600/S_IMG_0620.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Felt like something from Aladdin.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguvcT0pNnnMZGGPzLFcLHxR-qitFofrb4ZL1RgBmZEz-aQoT0Q5Scp3fg97oafsmjcpjpvGITgFQdu7RG6gsyB8AwJnzA4DSngwJZ_I6_tgh82G8rz-Y6nc_IErm3WucwRgEtEMUkY9pE4/s1600/S_IMG_0646.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguvcT0pNnnMZGGPzLFcLHxR-qitFofrb4ZL1RgBmZEz-aQoT0Q5Scp3fg97oafsmjcpjpvGITgFQdu7RG6gsyB8AwJnzA4DSngwJZ_I6_tgh82G8rz-Y6nc_IErm3WucwRgEtEMUkY9pE4/s1600/S_IMG_0646.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHPYDJkjQqkbXIY4JdTjIR4RLNX8ZiPrv-CtkIAQz5TzB9QwZaOIHyY0UmPxmv_iwKECoWrQdtPXQ6_AFTkb-btKl_moAXE06yDg6G2DajcM0FiANqnMiH4D8YzWWlazfLKdbdz8-kDo6l/s1600/S_IMG_0634.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHPYDJkjQqkbXIY4JdTjIR4RLNX8ZiPrv-CtkIAQz5TzB9QwZaOIHyY0UmPxmv_iwKECoWrQdtPXQ6_AFTkb-btKl_moAXE06yDg6G2DajcM0FiANqnMiH4D8YzWWlazfLKdbdz8-kDo6l/s1600/S_IMG_0634.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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You might not be able to see the details here, but it's like an inverted wat temple. It's one of the ceilings, and was probably painted with even more details.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBz7saYOQ1z0cl5xp_r7S_f8lGXgUPOuTo2A4stEtw7VofM6QFhFWhHwe-7raSJlJIU_IsW6feMYFr9z5MP1U304lkBObVvIydFgUPnPnFsRb_w4jyxzgEZyTjX4Fmd60O4s2fA29rHbTv/s1600/S_IMG_0645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBz7saYOQ1z0cl5xp_r7S_f8lGXgUPOuTo2A4stEtw7VofM6QFhFWhHwe-7raSJlJIU_IsW6feMYFr9z5MP1U304lkBObVvIydFgUPnPnFsRb_w4jyxzgEZyTjX4Fmd60O4s2fA29rHbTv/s1600/S_IMG_0645.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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I want a courtyard like this in my house.</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
We enjoyed walking around the complex looking at the different buildings, walking through the gardens. The highlight though is the Nasrid Palace. It's really majestic. The Alhambra in general has aspects of what was in the Nasrid Palace, but it's a bit disjointed. The Nasrid Palace though seems much better thought out, and more cohesive.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Next morning we tried to find the <i>Arab
Baths. Bano Arabe.</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> Having failed
at that, we wandered around and looked at some of the buildings, went
shopping, and felt pretty tired and slightly unwell so trudged home.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
That evening (or
really that afternoon) it began to rain. Not quite as hard as it had
in Warsaw, but then it began to hail. Not exactly a storm of biblical
proportions, but there was some good thunder and lightning, and I was
a little bit concerned about the windows cracking if they were hit. We'd chosen a good evening to stay in!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next morning
we'd pretty much forgotten about the storm, until as we walked to the
train station we had to walk through mud only to find our train was
now actually a bus, presumably due to damage caused by the storm.
Through a series of sign language and English and a little bit of
Spanish (<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">¡</span>si!) we found
the bus, and were on our way to Cordoba.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Cordoba</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Neither of us was
feeling all that well when we got to Cordoba. I was tired (early
morning) and Anna was tired and had developed a mystery cough. It was
still hot and sunny. And our schedule doesn't allow for sick days.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Cordoba is home to
the Mezquita – what used to be the largest mosque in western
Europe, turned into a cathedral.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Actually it used to
be a Visigothic church. You know the Visigoths? The ones that were
mostly Arian Christian (followers of Arius, basically a heretic).
One of the barbarian hordes that swept through the western Roman
Empire in the years after Constantine (I think. The time traveller
from 500 A.D. should be able to correct me on this one). Anyway, so
far it was a church for people who believe that Jesus was a created
being, and not fully God and fully man at the same time, then it was
levelled and became a mosque, built by the first European Caliph (who
was actually from Syria originally). Then, after many additions, and
after Cordoba was under Christian rule once more, it became a cathedral.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Still with me?</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Anyway, it's a
fantastic piece of architecture, and we had a great time wandering
among the marble columns listening to the audioguide, staying cool in
the shade.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It was nice and cool and dark inside the older mosque parts.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Lighter in the slightly newer areas.</div>
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This part is the part that indicates the direction of Mecca, so it's pretty fancy.</div>
<br />
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Other parts make it obvious that it's a church too.</div>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After we'd seen
this, we wandered around a bit, and went to get some ice creams. I was
able to use my limited Spanish in a transaction that went something
like this:</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
John: Hola.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Dude: Hola.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
John: Dos Cornetto
por favor, uno Natrel, uno Vanilla, por favor.<br />
Dude: Dos Euro. </div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I think after that
I handed him the money, he said something I didn't understand, I said
“Gracias”, we grabbed our ice creams, and we left.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
And the next day,
we left Cordoba.<br />
<br />
I'm trying to think of how exactly to describe our experience in Spain. It was a cool country, different to anywhere else we've visited so far. We both really liked it. I feel that it's kind of like what I'd expected Mexico would be like - hot, arid, exotic. It's a place that I'd happily go back to and spend more time in.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-57897093656816747572014-10-28T07:52:00.001-07:002014-10-28T07:52:35.721-07:00Sevilla<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We decided to take a fast, flash train
between Barcelona and Seville with Spain's national <span style="font-weight: normal;">train company, Renfe.</span> It was our first experience of train
travel in Spain; there was an airport-like lounge, with eateries with
airport-like prices, and you have to go in a line to get your ticket
checked, then through security to get all your bags scanned before
boarding. The train was the flashest we'd been on thus far, too; it
had a power socket, we were supplied with complimentary headphones,
and we rocketed along at speeds of up to 300kph on our journey to our
stopover in Madrid.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Unfortunately, that still wasn't fast
enough. We arrived in Madrid at our scheduled time, and had 15
minutes to catch our train to Seville. We've made other connections
without any problem, but we hadn't counted on the massive
airport-like terminal that is Madrid's train station. Up a long
travelator we went, before hurrying down a looong hall over the
tracks, into the main area, then after a wrong turn we were told that
our platform (unsignposted) was on the first floor. We only had a few
minutes to get there by this point, and we clumsily and
apologetically hurried past all the people with their baggage on the
travelator up, raced through security, and came up to the gate just
after our train had pulled away.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It was fairly distressing. We went to
one Renfe counter, where the lady indicated we should go downstairs
to the ticket office. Instead, John took us to another Renfe counter
nearby, and asked for help with our missed connection. Initially they
also told us to go downstairs to buy a new ticket, but then John's
assertiveness showed up, and he let it be known that it was the fault
of whatever system had given us such a measly stopover time to get
between platforms, rather than our own negligence in missing our
train (I'm not sure he conveyed that FULL meaning of that to these
Spaniards... but enough of it). “Just a moment,” she said, and
then all the people in the office space behind the counter, maybe
half a dozen, started conversing in Spanish back and forth, and then
she called someone and was on the phone for a little while; finally
she wrote on our ticket, and then gave it back to us with a new time,
coach and seat numbers on it, for two hours later. Hurrah!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We made sure to be on the next train in
plenty of time, and from there to Seville our journey was pleasantly
uneventful.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7EWV__4NazAbtmm1piI2IQCgq0utA8vPCnmTiglvvE3-Zx_UeFwFLJ4FvAcEtvsWbNhGw14c7K4xThRI6qSYqptIPaou60I2HR8FstP0L4E3HciriNakoy04XnGa-ZUvRKyMjAKXmNw/s1600/S_IMG_0377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7EWV__4NazAbtmm1piI2IQCgq0utA8vPCnmTiglvvE3-Zx_UeFwFLJ4FvAcEtvsWbNhGw14c7K4xThRI6qSYqptIPaou60I2HR8FstP0L4E3HciriNakoy04XnGa-ZUvRKyMjAKXmNw/s1600/S_IMG_0377.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a view of Seville</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We had been primed to expect a big
difference between Barcelona and Andalucia. They were right! It was
immediately noticeable once we arrived in Seville; it was hotter,
with fewer people who spoke English, and a very different style of
city. Our Airbnb hostess described it as a “big village”, and it
felt that way – a big, charming village, with narrow, winding
streets I would hate to drive down, more pedestrians than cars, and
awesome houses. Our own house had three stories, with our floor on
the second, a big lightwell in the centre and a flat shaded roof you
could sit and relax on. We had only booked one bedroom with a
bathroom but, as it happened, we were the only guests there, so had
the whole place to ourselves!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On our way to our accommodation we
passed a big group of people dressed fancily; our hostess mentioned
how all the women dress up heaps for weddings here, and indeed, the
women all looked like they could have been bridesmaids, their dresses
were so beautiful. If we were in the US, I would have suspected that
might actually be the case.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq8gbkC6wULEYBk0gdXPLQmFpd6I2-ODcnxic4qHsIDpgfzH8McfwZ1cMSSKPQA2t0bg1fH9yZ5y6mIxZ4K_2z78vwCLascC1-NFSKgCeZPcy9HEJSIHGooRgmLWvRN_TGPY91pmbX8Q/s1600/S_IMG_0335.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq8gbkC6wULEYBk0gdXPLQmFpd6I2-ODcnxic4qHsIDpgfzH8McfwZ1cMSSKPQA2t0bg1fH9yZ5y6mIxZ4K_2z78vwCLascC1-NFSKgCeZPcy9HEJSIHGooRgmLWvRN_TGPY91pmbX8Q/s1600/S_IMG_0335.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Plaza de la Encarnacion with a big confounding wooden structure</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On our first full day in Seville, we
had a leisurely stroll through the centre of town, seeing the<b> </b>Plaza
de la Encarnacion and some market stalls on our way to see the
cathedral, a major attraction. We were appropriately impressed; it is
the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, built
on the foundation of the old mosque, and it took us a few hours to
get round it with our audioguides. The cathedral also contains la
Giralda, a former minaret turned into a bell tower.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWm3Lkxb1TchCNiu_EX4MjkH2r7kH7h6L69OWFbL3RLundhODoffmnZO5SyGrYu36e_xL64WCYlaDau6z5cbU2AsA-ObXqMO2fbZ40rC-wJBrDa_9A7kE68EuaTg6NTxnYBUedblJ6KQ/s1600/S_IMG_0346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWm3Lkxb1TchCNiu_EX4MjkH2r7kH7h6L69OWFbL3RLundhODoffmnZO5SyGrYu36e_xL64WCYlaDau6z5cbU2AsA-ObXqMO2fbZ40rC-wJBrDa_9A7kE68EuaTg6NTxnYBUedblJ6KQ/s1600/S_IMG_0346.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
the Cathedral</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSpwIMm4ePTf-DJ6NoOoLN04pbrOO8Ga2NPIj41tHRsIrxzkRx09dYv65jAEElXZ_qh3Njiev3y67RedJzxpejwZrdnv3gOwjw9H3SIIhOpuKRE3d1ZPm6w_AJJuPiY1kR4kI7SgkPOQ/s1600/S_IMG_0353.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSpwIMm4ePTf-DJ6NoOoLN04pbrOO8Ga2NPIj41tHRsIrxzkRx09dYv65jAEElXZ_qh3Njiev3y67RedJzxpejwZrdnv3gOwjw9H3SIIhOpuKRE3d1ZPm6w_AJJuPiY1kR4kI7SgkPOQ/s1600/S_IMG_0353.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
Although not normally a fan of statues of Mary, I liked this one - she looks so pretty! Love the bodiless heads at her feet too.</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSgKHbIa4X35eDJY-gjpmgXOLZLa0xqfvj2bm4xO0pLOY2NxnKwI3XGNYmmTWt0EoD04KJXRNCHKOm9xA42TIfGGJ5IRLnbhWZEbFBMR3wfPAxsRhCIa7hYW-12jO72F-BniDcGhDow/s1600/S_IMG_0361.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVSgKHbIa4X35eDJY-gjpmgXOLZLa0xqfvj2bm4xO0pLOY2NxnKwI3XGNYmmTWt0EoD04KJXRNCHKOm9xA42TIfGGJ5IRLnbhWZEbFBMR3wfPAxsRhCIa7hYW-12jO72F-BniDcGhDow/s1600/S_IMG_0361.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
insane golden altarpiece</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
the orange grove outside, a legacy from its days as a mosque</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our hostess had recommended we see
Plaza de Espana, a free square, we presumed. We checked it out, and
discovered that “square” is not really an adequate summation;
it's more like a lovely open area, half encircled by a long, fancy
building, and adorned with fountains, bridges and pretty lamps and
fences.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8xR9QOYPWEkma_Wy84aM4TuZdulj7xYrvarG8cqQpXBO5YjvNB8F28R9fRJkz6vszAKDxlDFJ4UoNCjUEsjqG1QeWKLbyibWKBDHWAoYkF3oZw8m24Cmm4UVKYGHMfNaOtIiSh1ukjQ/s1600/S_IMG_0394.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8xR9QOYPWEkma_Wy84aM4TuZdulj7xYrvarG8cqQpXBO5YjvNB8F28R9fRJkz6vszAKDxlDFJ4UoNCjUEsjqG1QeWKLbyibWKBDHWAoYkF3oZw8m24Cmm4UVKYGHMfNaOtIiSh1ukjQ/s1600/S_IMG_0394.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Not just a square!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
Far more exciting!<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We ended the day with a lovely walk
through the adjoining Parque de Maria Luisa, a big, tropical park
with various fountains, flowers and garden areas. It had more trees
than we're used to in an urban park, so it felt more like a forest much of
the time. We
could understand the sense in it, given the temperatures southern
Spain can get up to.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next day, we started with a long
visit to the Alcazar, the other main draw in Seville – again,
justly so. The royal residence was unlike anything we'd seen before;
the fusion of different artistic styles and influences was beautiful
and fascinating, perhaps in part because it was unfamiliar. The building
had quite a few courtyards with little gardens, which were designed
to be smaller and more intimate, and achieved their aim well.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
Amazing ceiling, the amazingness of which cannot be captured on camera.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
highly ornate decoration</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFbveHkLhVOsRti3HME5Hujvl3Hnq6vZoP-XF4lRGsxiVpX_aGQLGHDinV_7z_R_m6IF4Y-_Y_iPopUJQkBinJ2lWgHiQxhYkeyHfxKVMsGxwo2LxwKy6ZLs-hYw216U_VtYO6RYb-w/s1600/S_IMG_0434.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFbveHkLhVOsRti3HME5Hujvl3Hnq6vZoP-XF4lRGsxiVpX_aGQLGHDinV_7z_R_m6IF4Y-_Y_iPopUJQkBinJ2lWgHiQxhYkeyHfxKVMsGxwo2LxwKy6ZLs-hYw216U_VtYO6RYb-w/s1600/S_IMG_0434.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
extremely incredibly very highly ornate decoration<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Faced with ludicrously expensive
audioguides, we also started our new technique of hiring just one and
sharing it between us. Absolutely brilliant idea – we bet no one
else has ever thought of doing that.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The gardens were just as lovely as the
palace; large and disparate, they had evolved over a long
period of time, with different areas planted in different eras. There
was a labyrinth, a rose garden, several fountains and pools of water,
with water running down channels in some of the paths. A special
feature was a musical fountain – different from the one in
Barcelona; apparently the last working one in Spain? This one used
some sort of mechanism to play a pipe organ,which tooted away happily to itself playing an unfamiliar tune with slightly off notes and timing. It's an engineering marvel to be sure, although I'm sure there's a more efficient way to create music.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNjntEFy1ghnmLRE_t0IjP0Xha49lNFRZPnFBvKAuviEjYqOSroKMfK9TKkpmV-eyxEyzU8_VnYpomqsy-Mw60hm4Oz1In2WRiyIOBY4Wxrp5-P5eXBvv-mFldD1EP_3ieQgUmQXK8hA/s1600/S_IMG_0452.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNjntEFy1ghnmLRE_t0IjP0Xha49lNFRZPnFBvKAuviEjYqOSroKMfK9TKkpmV-eyxEyzU8_VnYpomqsy-Mw60hm4Oz1In2WRiyIOBY4Wxrp5-P5eXBvv-mFldD1EP_3ieQgUmQXK8hA/s1600/S_IMG_0452.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
just a path in the Alcazar gardens</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNGxWJmbAnoLhjN4U5LNtMWXJmDH1y5iDcMsHX9dco_OP-KgCy9R7hmWkXoXT_yZho1T_Q_TPMvquQVZaxOURirFjTG50IeYGBQeJ9vgt2bLttHH4WN8F-JZE4FSUjJMAEd_VPbbnluw/s1600/S_IMG_0454.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNGxWJmbAnoLhjN4U5LNtMWXJmDH1y5iDcMsHX9dco_OP-KgCy9R7hmWkXoXT_yZho1T_Q_TPMvquQVZaxOURirFjTG50IeYGBQeJ9vgt2bLttHH4WN8F-JZE4FSUjJMAEd_VPbbnluw/s1600/S_IMG_0454.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
Water played a prominent part in the garden's design, so there were lots of murky, stagnant bodies of water lying around.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibTC_l87wC2rLwlPXx0vQlAa2OUIqTGHXQqUhmqosLE2fkSPkMwZJJUCBMUxp189l8197LFntnC4POly7yg1FlJMdkjtH-0_r7FcRnd3ly7lSEcGirdBgx6Lc2QVlvSokWzSZLiAjOOw/s1600/S_IMG_0469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibTC_l87wC2rLwlPXx0vQlAa2OUIqTGHXQqUhmqosLE2fkSPkMwZJJUCBMUxp189l8197LFntnC4POly7yg1FlJMdkjtH-0_r7FcRnd3ly7lSEcGirdBgx6Lc2QVlvSokWzSZLiAjOOw/s1600/S_IMG_0469.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
a building for hanging out purposes in the gardens</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Like the park from the day before, the
gardens also had a good number of shady trees and tropical foliage,
making the Alcazar a good place to spend a hot day – it was
probably about 30 degrees. And this is Spain in autumn? We're really
glad we took the warning about European summers, and headed north
during the warmer months before venturing down south.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It was still too hot for our next two
expeditions, neither of which met with success. First we tried to
find the Inquisition Museum, and failed; next we tried to make it to
the bullring by 6 o'clock for one of the free half-hourly tours,
which turned into a power walk after taking a wrong turn.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3INCKK-mE6erw5fqRVl3RCxTkhaC0d6EyIFuo9ef2gekIhC97Dl0CSETnPEtVAWHvroYi-Mz6Uq6IbUI4E6NUu4Hk5ufbSEckd3U0pTdktpKNMKvGoIiQkdJqZLxaNqbsn0vkZyUNQ/s1600/S_IMG_0343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3INCKK-mE6erw5fqRVl3RCxTkhaC0d6EyIFuo9ef2gekIhC97Dl0CSETnPEtVAWHvroYi-Mz6Uq6IbUI4E6NUu4Hk5ufbSEckd3U0pTdktpKNMKvGoIiQkdJqZLxaNqbsn0vkZyUNQ/s1600/S_IMG_0343.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
At least we got to see this tower.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
As it turns
out, it didn't matter, because all the free tickets, valid between
3-7pm on Mondays, had been sold out on or shortly after 3pm that day;
apparently you couldn't just turn up at one of the times in the free
time period. Naive fools! There were paying tickets available for
later in the evening, but that would conflict with our next
appointment, which was...</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
A flamenco show! We decided it would be
a great idea to experience some authentic Spanish culture by
attending an authentic flamenco performance. Our hostess had
recommended la Casa de la Memoria, House of Memory, as a more
affordable and less touristy option than many other offers. In any
case, it was still all tourists in the audience. That audience was
limited to 80 members, however, as flamenco is apparently meant to be
performed in a more intimate setting.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There were two dancers, male and
female, who took a lengthy turn each, as well as a mean guitarist (mean as in rad),
and a male singer. The guitar was absolutely lovely – and then the
singer started doing his thing. Man, we weren't feeling it. We've
seen buskers flamencoing it up since then, as well as heard similar
singing in shops around Andalucia, so we've gathered that the way
this singer was doing it was indeed the way it was <i>meant</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
to sound, but unfortunately it wasn't to either of our tastes. It
mainly sounded nasally, and more like semi-melodious wailing than the
singing we're used to; it was clearly a song about heartbreak, and it
definitely sounded like the singer was voicing a complaint.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As for the dancers,
they were fairly throbbing with feeling; they seemed to feel the
music deep inside, and to have a deep well of pain that compelled
them to move. We'd seen some reviews for this place where they
mentioned the dancers' passion, and we saw what they were talking
about. It looked like the lady, especially, was engaged in a complex
interplay with the guitarist and singer sitting off to the side, like
a conversation through music and dance. The dancers seemed to direct
the speed of the music by tapping their feet, and I found it hard to
tell how much was rehearsed vs improvised, it all seemed so organic.
We would be remiss not to mention the skill involved in their rapid
footwork, too; their feet were flying so fast, yet still in time with
the beat. The only downside and distraction was the male dancer's
gross oily hair that hung down to his shoulders; the lady had tied
hers back in a ponytail, but he just let it hang loose and it went
over his face and looked gross.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJvJAtUkprtkeqMOmU0gNgCdqk3kVWc6OLrVNzTWpiIlnZNAjslYT4Moi-Qqb0VBngwBfiO1IYLgYfod9pSCPsKNlz99KMxbnh8THmZmdnxRI_XpSYOxwJPTkRinDx68I0vi0UmD-jTA/s1600/S_IMG_0488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJvJAtUkprtkeqMOmU0gNgCdqk3kVWc6OLrVNzTWpiIlnZNAjslYT4Moi-Qqb0VBngwBfiO1IYLgYfod9pSCPsKNlz99KMxbnh8THmZmdnxRI_XpSYOxwJPTkRinDx68I0vi0UmD-jTA/s1600/S_IMG_0488.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
From left to right: Mr Greasy Hair dancer, singer, lady dancer and guitar player. At least two of those should have been pretty obvious.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">The
guitar player also performed a delicate solo item about halfway
through, which was beautiful, and which we would have appreciated
more if there hadn't been an elderly gentleman a few seats down from
us who didn't seem to realise how loud his </span><span style="font-style: normal;">sotte
voce</span><span style="font-style: normal;"> comments were.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
All in all, we
appreciated the performance, were impressed with the talent on
display, and the audience was certainly happy, giving them rousing
applause at the end.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We rounded off our
sevillian visit with a first experience of tapas, at a restaurant –
you guessed it! – recommended by our hostess. She gave us many
helpful suggestions. This place was called Coloniales, and we would
also highly recommend it to anyone planning to visit Seville. We were
warned it is always full, so made sure to arrive before the normal
dinner time, which is 9-11pm. Yes, that's right, and lunch is
normally 2-4pm. Not so hard to arrive beforehand!</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We were given free
entrees, some little packets of dried bread, as well as a fresh bun.
Then we quickly chose 4 tapas, as well as a lemonade each. The little
meals came really quickly, were delicious, and we went from feeling
ravenous to feeling satisfied, but not over-full. And the whole meal
cost a mere 13 euros for both of us! What a pleasure!</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We left Seville
glad we had decided to extend our trip to include Spain as well. It
was proving most rewarding!</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-29176379188486301072014-10-26T01:03:00.000-07:002014-10-26T01:03:02.678-07:00Barcelona<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Spain is a place that I didn't really
have any interest in visiting. I didn't really see the point of it,
sitting there on the Iberian peninsula along with Portugal.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Anna managed to squeeze it in though,
and so we found ourselves trundling along to Barcelona from Lyon (Note: when booking trains to and from Spain, Leon does not equal
Lyon).</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We hit Barcelona in the afternoon, and
then Barcelona hit back. It must have been around 30, which after
France was a nice change to warmer temperatures. Also happening at the
same time was (you guessed it) another festival! This time it was <i>La Mercè, </i>a religious holiday commemorating <i>Our Lady of Mercy</i>. That evening we walked around a local park which had
some of the festival events happening. There were puppets, kids' rides, fairground games, buskers, dance routines, comic shows and acrobats who, as far as we saw, were only ever perpetually warming up - fun for the whole family.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRiORjBbpT1vB33LDmvwOkKyuFiEK3DWtF5tBX1FFH_0YLrw_4j-H3zoTfaymtvxPY82ct0CT-RbZVvejyN4Oc_McVbV_O31XNnVm1UAf1Y_FuUZmhrOwC1kKfh_eQCLj2-ItY6aI59Ycj/s1600/S_IMG_0181.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRiORjBbpT1vB33LDmvwOkKyuFiEK3DWtF5tBX1FFH_0YLrw_4j-H3zoTfaymtvxPY82ct0CT-RbZVvejyN4Oc_McVbV_O31XNnVm1UAf1Y_FuUZmhrOwC1kKfh_eQCLj2-ItY6aI59Ycj/s1600/S_IMG_0181.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyziU10f8Qea2bcRmcXyH8KtgeEtTPey3prfSWy52oatFF5hH4kALWlKZ8X8r-WqtjX57KzbZAAQcNMrtm_Nw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Here's a video of a musical fountain in action. It's quite long though.</div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Some things to be aware of about
Barcelona (and I suppose Spain in general):</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Siesta is a thing; most shops will be
shut from around 2pm till at least 4. With the temperatures we've
been experiencing, even in autumn, I can see why.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Catalunya (the part of Spain that
Barcelona is in) has its own language, and a very organised
secession movement. There are Catalan independence flags everywhere.
Perhaps this is due to the fact that they're going to be voting on it
soon. Since we're not sure about how people feel about the Spanish
language, whether or not it's analogous to the Russian language in
Lithuania, I thought I'd save my tiny smidgen of Spanish until we're
in a place where they speak it, although it sounded to me like a cross between Spanish and French.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
One thing we normally do in a city is wander around the old town. This one had opera buskers, old churches, and plenty of tourist shops with overly attentive (read pushy) salespersons. After a few of those encounters we decided to avoid those shops.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
One of the important things to see in
Barcelona is the Magic Fountain. Normally this involves standing in
front of the fountain with a group of other tourists watching as the
fountain twists the water into different shapes, morphing as the
coloured lights and the directional nozzles change the fountain from
looking like a frothing blue mouthwash golem, to a seething mass of
blood red sea serpents, or a geyser of orange juice. All of this
while accompanied by the sounds of whatever series of pop songs are
popular at the time.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Apparently there's a tradition in
Barcelona of a big fireworks spectacular accompanying the fountain on the final evening
of the festival. We were sold.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
9:30pm rolls around and we're sitting
in the middle of the road along with thousands of other people
waiting for the show. There is one road that gives the best view, and
we managed to get a spot about halfway down the road, and about in
the middle.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipeYW0Dnom21bUMFHinsDOiHHNvTb0m9_f9CAvhhQVOZjPb6TVL1wMhC0epQ4i3060fFWAQsMaCNZtN2eDKuCjtxj_fZ4n_7oA2mytQPsuX7CxDf0Sx5QTFQXzwrLAAxzPwR1riW64j63F/s1600/S_IMG_0223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipeYW0Dnom21bUMFHinsDOiHHNvTb0m9_f9CAvhhQVOZjPb6TVL1wMhC0epQ4i3060fFWAQsMaCNZtN2eDKuCjtxj_fZ4n_7oA2mytQPsuX7CxDf0Sx5QTFQXzwrLAAxzPwR1riW64j63F/s1600/S_IMG_0223.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Waiting for the show.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The show started with the face of an
old man, presumably telling the story of Catalunya.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjynpY3-rasFRW7mVqNHp6r6jELjN5iC3zntbGV4CX6HEwbY-NhcV3wJyJ4EyamFIxYQchVnkLPrslV7NiOHjDeO_3g3YHoVc621AXkz2gwfGD3b36p16EWOr2g5wi7TBU5IlEQRlFk3eXZ/s1600/S_IMG_0234.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjynpY3-rasFRW7mVqNHp6r6jELjN5iC3zntbGV4CX6HEwbY-NhcV3wJyJ4EyamFIxYQchVnkLPrslV7NiOHjDeO_3g3YHoVc621AXkz2gwfGD3b36p16EWOr2g5wi7TBU5IlEQRlFk3eXZ/s1600/S_IMG_0234.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
It felt a little like <i>1984.</i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Of course with a story of any place
there is always talk of war.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5pQjq82hTuGwWSyP3hHI6CN_Pqog5lCOaBaV0Y__mpXi_uO2qnIr_Yy0A8MpzCCY0NCqfFMqQhFFQB65pxzlXc6fY4k9dyjZVvRHJ1RbTv-MCNbX0APrfKv_MNQ89BuoNIbobe0HBmkMA/s1600/S_IMG_0235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5pQjq82hTuGwWSyP3hHI6CN_Pqog5lCOaBaV0Y__mpXi_uO2qnIr_Yy0A8MpzCCY0NCqfFMqQhFFQB65pxzlXc6fY4k9dyjZVvRHJ1RbTv-MCNbX0APrfKv_MNQ89BuoNIbobe0HBmkMA/s1600/S_IMG_0235.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
You can see everyone's cameras and phones.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtWgN49X8GXCQwDYfGQEAwuq1hGFlZd9USWN4dQG5MfDvivUqbI9Ew-KO5GpBdIG1qWJ62YNNy5euznss5KTd6FZaYSFRBBDwXgogAUmvWPLlopBs0kbYF6R1P69343dgESI8LUR-MBDt/s1600/S_IMG_0239.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtWgN49X8GXCQwDYfGQEAwuq1hGFlZd9USWN4dQG5MfDvivUqbI9Ew-KO5GpBdIG1qWJ62YNNy5euznss5KTd6FZaYSFRBBDwXgogAUmvWPLlopBs0kbYF6R1P69343dgESI8LUR-MBDt/s1600/S_IMG_0239.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Big Brother is watching you. Or is shouting at you or something.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
At the end of the show there was a
point where everyone pulled out sparklers and lit them. I think this
might have been during a national or regional song.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8iQhVuA0BQSardv2Ibj4jNhF5TawTrnM16w0RCCEA99Sz8rnRR3AXYCowIQn9_pY_oVXO0F53eabsLa2YqrnAQcRgeZli1C_cQ5ePZYXQn4-9RgVfhifYwvGr3IFDtfNr6WcvgCbfMpE5/s1600/S_IMG_0240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8iQhVuA0BQSardv2Ibj4jNhF5TawTrnM16w0RCCEA99Sz8rnRR3AXYCowIQn9_pY_oVXO0F53eabsLa2YqrnAQcRgeZli1C_cQ5ePZYXQn4-9RgVfhifYwvGr3IFDtfNr6WcvgCbfMpE5/s1600/S_IMG_0240.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
All in all I feel that it was a better
fireworks show than the one in Disneyland.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Oh, all the while this was happening
the fountain would do various things adding to the show.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjl4FmcXlbRDhXTYH0cMA-3Xyl3qP4P1fWB1vwXq1ZlJ7nsBkpPnlXN6lLrxDcz2yF2ACX_FX-g9gS7XmD3eUDvoLTZ4dUnUdjILcDeVsIA1TIjbtdzU-cPIzQkEypYDDNIuf_I_mhyAQM/s1600/S_IMG_0238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjl4FmcXlbRDhXTYH0cMA-3Xyl3qP4P1fWB1vwXq1ZlJ7nsBkpPnlXN6lLrxDcz2yF2ACX_FX-g9gS7XmD3eUDvoLTZ4dUnUdjILcDeVsIA1TIjbtdzU-cPIzQkEypYDDNIuf_I_mhyAQM/s1600/S_IMG_0238.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Another thing about Barcelona is the
Art Nouveau movement that has contributed many buildings to the city.
We visited two of these, and while they're amazing, and you should
definitely check them out if you get a chance, I don't really dig the
aesthetic.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Casa Batllo is one such building. It's
amazing to think that such a thing was designed in the late 1800s but
not only designed, actually built too, and it was lived in.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6kNafW2tr0D2RhJ2nOyVQ48z6JAiMm06lGC0is3nWy6zHSZlGrkeLrF53NkbVZ-hl1RS0YZvZkP5W-UctgSLXkt6yzmkCcVjPKYCXXgUILzCd90XCxqdZ-2wQNyNnJxskAV9ilYXaVXlv/s1600/S_IMG_0248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6kNafW2tr0D2RhJ2nOyVQ48z6JAiMm06lGC0is3nWy6zHSZlGrkeLrF53NkbVZ-hl1RS0YZvZkP5W-UctgSLXkt6yzmkCcVjPKYCXXgUILzCd90XCxqdZ-2wQNyNnJxskAV9ilYXaVXlv/s1600/S_IMG_0248.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
No straight lines. The audio guide kept telling us that it was a <i>jewel</i> of Barcelona.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzlRXES6XILlaeVuqeqThy07ZNHlCo1nsjz-GDyFlY2AdyxlVh_PG5DLH6R_vFd8mZ9gpx76offxjd6yJfGfGHpaQEJoHhwrVoQgmvZ51IIRqN4kW1qyMNvzwnZ0lDT3As0gFjsR2ApXNv/s1600/S_IMG_0256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzlRXES6XILlaeVuqeqThy07ZNHlCo1nsjz-GDyFlY2AdyxlVh_PG5DLH6R_vFd8mZ9gpx76offxjd6yJfGfGHpaQEJoHhwrVoQgmvZ51IIRqN4kW1qyMNvzwnZ0lDT3As0gFjsR2ApXNv/s1600/S_IMG_0256.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The Lightwell - basically a skylight that goes all the way to the bottom floor. The tiles are lighter at the bottom than the top to make it look bright all the way down.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The other building is the Sagrada
Familia. If you're going to visit the Sagrada Familia, make sure that
you book ahead of time, or it might be difficult to get access.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Sagrada Familia is a church
building designed by Gaudi in the late 1800s. Its construction has
been a bit stop and go, due to funding difficulties, so you
can see the parts that are recent and the parts that are over a century old.
It's still under construction, and seen from a distance it looms over
the city. It'll be much taller once it is complete. I hope to visit
it once it is finally finished, although at the historical rate of
construction it might be for my 100th birthday.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As for the building itself, it's
something you'll have to see pictures of to appreciate. Here are
some I prepared earlier:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wbFPTqMLF05JNCxzIzzH9d5HUoJRmftlq9kv21wlaJlJ5RPPVs6w5M5yDqyoVbxtQSM-i37zx4tO1lkm_ttdu26tOwNI5LqFgHQaqxVkvmIrZLcGq-3YcEGUSeSFyfHo7O06zbNgLaH4/s1600/S_IMG_0285.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_wbFPTqMLF05JNCxzIzzH9d5HUoJRmftlq9kv21wlaJlJ5RPPVs6w5M5yDqyoVbxtQSM-i37zx4tO1lkm_ttdu26tOwNI5LqFgHQaqxVkvmIrZLcGq-3YcEGUSeSFyfHo7O06zbNgLaH4/s1600/S_IMG_0285.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Under construction.</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbWmA-RuOCSSFsMUSDCz0TgEThvhUBz-iok4ynOTWA1fovG0T6YYLrUicbSbCNO9UWTdKRi4YLdlFTjfStUqsDC6N_XgqywIsawUWq0tIPDp2LOnmd8Egq388yiLWhIBZDnoHCcsWrZ_7j/s1600/S_IMG_0287.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbWmA-RuOCSSFsMUSDCz0TgEThvhUBz-iok4ynOTWA1fovG0T6YYLrUicbSbCNO9UWTdKRi4YLdlFTjfStUqsDC6N_XgqywIsawUWq0tIPDp2LOnmd8Egq388yiLWhIBZDnoHCcsWrZ_7j/s1600/S_IMG_0287.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7TLjVnRG_GrIr5w1YHf44VbHXe168RkYdxDow91dKGwyt8pF68VKPw7vJ-tCvnZWZp4A6nQhJflmglPwmo69X2FySi0CeMw8U8pRkpqudHsbbYshLiNuGF9rCqfpA8A1XKZDE-Cf4wCby/s1600/S_IMG_0289.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7TLjVnRG_GrIr5w1YHf44VbHXe168RkYdxDow91dKGwyt8pF68VKPw7vJ-tCvnZWZp4A6nQhJflmglPwmo69X2FySi0CeMw8U8pRkpqudHsbbYshLiNuGF9rCqfpA8A1XKZDE-Cf4wCby/s1600/S_IMG_0289.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the Nativity facade</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUWgpdViwq450UlhyphenhyphenYrmXaKKaNy1qhrRV1OswBOrP-s7NynMU9Urs_Qzjo5t-RxSrbWO2WZ8IBJktNQJ1XGPwLwRlyUGFVAZIIrPwgim3hhB0LSGCsfxhLbpKMHZHCu2SfKynMFE536Nq/s1600/S_IMG_0292.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUWgpdViwq450UlhyphenhyphenYrmXaKKaNy1qhrRV1OswBOrP-s7NynMU9Urs_Qzjo5t-RxSrbWO2WZ8IBJktNQJ1XGPwLwRlyUGFVAZIIrPwgim3hhB0LSGCsfxhLbpKMHZHCu2SfKynMFE536Nq/s1600/S_IMG_0292.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
inside, with pillars designed to look like graceful trees</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXoiArCZ5Ci1XC3as9tG5QDFZMzJjYiHrCX5h8f90wHpXYr7xonfLalc6CYU62Q2vZB2lL7CJRGcqU1p6aa8VeWSGBqcqn_RMZbleUX9u9avfupeGQT7Jlqg1SHlNdP4sBLUuI5fKXmnk0/s1600/S_IMG_0293.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXoiArCZ5Ci1XC3as9tG5QDFZMzJjYiHrCX5h8f90wHpXYr7xonfLalc6CYU62Q2vZB2lL7CJRGcqU1p6aa8VeWSGBqcqn_RMZbleUX9u9avfupeGQT7Jlqg1SHlNdP4sBLUuI5fKXmnk0/s1600/S_IMG_0293.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the ceiling, in the distance</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
stained glass windows</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhBVcI10G-sC5a3Snv8TONqOOjkzMzRdvizwQyF7BtF3C0KfJT1fF3onfqSrmedNMrHPFadMImfNutmCSbwaTi7NBukcH4p0_4EpFp7_0T_J0cbAPyoF5uObxdIIZMbeS1Bo4Ej9bvyv4s/s1600/S_IMG_0297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhBVcI10G-sC5a3Snv8TONqOOjkzMzRdvizwQyF7BtF3C0KfJT1fF3onfqSrmedNMrHPFadMImfNutmCSbwaTi7NBukcH4p0_4EpFp7_0T_J0cbAPyoF5uObxdIIZMbeS1Bo4Ej9bvyv4s/s1600/S_IMG_0297.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbxnOO0Oiphl1wuXUa_SRgLJNyPCyun-GjFow6F5KbBJYQXp0ohxpiuK9rzSeZ4iJDdTmVCHK1v_XzLo9kmipHi1iua0hFEdOUK5CcAblF3XGAIJurPw_RRaQC11xrbQO4Yw099CGNdRY/s1600/S_IMG_0307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTbxnOO0Oiphl1wuXUa_SRgLJNyPCyun-GjFow6F5KbBJYQXp0ohxpiuK9rzSeZ4iJDdTmVCHK1v_XzLo9kmipHi1iua0hFEdOUK5CcAblF3XGAIJurPw_RRaQC11xrbQO4Yw099CGNdRY/s1600/S_IMG_0307.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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The details were amazing. Here's a door.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So far on this trip we've tried to keep
costs down by doing free things. The problem with this is when things
cease to be free. I'm assuming it's to do with economic reasons
(“Well duh,” I hear you say. “<i>Macro</i> economic reasons,”
I reply, “Global Financial Crisis et.al”) but out of the three
free things we'd decided to do that afternoon, all of them have
recently started charging an entry fee. Since we were still on the
whole Gaudi kick, we visited a hospital that he designed (and found
out that they now charge for entry) and Guell park (another Gaudi
design, they charge for entry for some of it). We're not such huge
fans of Gaudi that we'd pay the entrance fees (these things add up),
so we walked around in the park and managed to see the main sights in the paying section by peering over the fence, then decided to go to the Castle
Montjuic, and got hit with the prospect of another entrance fee. Lame.
We got to see the Mediterranean though, so that was nice.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
One more place that we went to: Poble
Espa<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">ñ</span>ol. It's a
collection of buildings which replicate some of the different
regional styles of buildings in Spain, with restaurants, clubs, and
souvenir shops populating the inside of the buildings. We paid the
night rate to get in, and wandered around the streets looking at all
the buildings.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMESI_h9b-fTqzXh-UG21atspmvVNrze9o6h-jByz6EaqX6kJP3NSDHH80OQUbYNCHzN2u79XmHPon35L3UApb9kzPHip3GIYeztr97rdGGM8FaTVAIH5z3GL6sjv-hh4LqMw6veyPofct/s1600/S_IMG_0271.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMESI_h9b-fTqzXh-UG21atspmvVNrze9o6h-jByz6EaqX6kJP3NSDHH80OQUbYNCHzN2u79XmHPon35L3UApb9kzPHip3GIYeztr97rdGGM8FaTVAIH5z3GL6sjv-hh4LqMw6veyPofct/s1600/S_IMG_0271.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
That evening we saw the regular version
of the magical fountain, and while it was magical, it didn't really
come close to the one we'd seen the night before.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
That about wraps it up for Barcelona.
We really enjoyed it, and would recommend that you come some time that's
not during the heat of summer, like we did.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-32154072485107680162014-10-20T10:33:00.000-07:002014-10-20T10:33:35.456-07:00France
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We didn't just want to see the capital
city in France and nothing else, so we decided to hire a car and
explore a few of the surrounding towns. In order to avoid having to
drive much in Paris itself, which looked like a frightful experience
from what we saw as pedestrians, we collected the car from Orly
airport. This car rental office had the added bonus of being open on
Sunday evening, when we wanted to return it.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our first stop was Tours, where we
stayed in an Airbnb place in a semi-rural area, owned by a very nice
lady who spoke very little English. With my broken French and her
broken English, we were able to communicate quite well! The house was
in a very nice setting, in the big garden area at the back of the
main house, which was a nice change after our Parisian apartments.
Our hostess also had a lovely, friendly dog who got used to us pretty
quickly.</div>
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<br />
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0pqjEHJ-SYiw5PqNQWLoPcTrtnzhAAIJZBdxRupVCRzKIfcYJkHyw-kxcn5Z3a4oSSWSnUG43SFHEU6CSN9WIrjPJ8fCnx9UNu3wKcn9qpw4uyUJw4ORdrdEzmCdfOit0JweNkd97g/s1600/S_IMG_0096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj0pqjEHJ-SYiw5PqNQWLoPcTrtnzhAAIJZBdxRupVCRzKIfcYJkHyw-kxcn5Z3a4oSSWSnUG43SFHEU6CSN9WIrjPJ8fCnx9UNu3wKcn9qpw4uyUJw4ORdrdEzmCdfOit0JweNkd97g/s1600/S_IMG_0096.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
cathedral in Tours</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We paid a brief visit to the centre of
Tours and to the little town of Amboise from our base, but our main
excursion was to the chateau du Chenonceau. After seeing Schonbrunn
and Versailles, it was going to be hard for a provincial castle to
compete, but again, it was interesting to read all about the castle's
history, and the stories of the different owners. Among the past
owners were the mistress, and then the widow, of Henry II, who had a little tug of war over the place, as well as the devoted
widow of Henry III who spent the rest of her days in perpetual mourning
here, having her bedroom decorated in black and with symbols of
death, with a little place to pray for her departed husband's soul.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJyST_YdB4SIDvDp2vdYtoQfTPLC0SfTjmqX-RjCOdieHO1bLCZibwaW7hAldqv1D5bvXgehatlM7GP3omWQ_Tz2T713wFhTwQAH1UDMby2j0C-uzZWwU-qEvvwdzzYeq_XGnY1Ei0hw/s1600/S_IMG_0083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJyST_YdB4SIDvDp2vdYtoQfTPLC0SfTjmqX-RjCOdieHO1bLCZibwaW7hAldqv1D5bvXgehatlM7GP3omWQ_Tz2T713wFhTwQAH1UDMby2j0C-uzZWwU-qEvvwdzzYeq_XGnY1Ei0hw/s1600/S_IMG_0083.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
le chateau and les grounds</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The grounds were very attractive, with
one garden made by Henry II's mistress, and one by his wife, as well as a
“16th century village”, a little labyrinth clearly designed for
children judging by the height of the hedges, a flower/vege garden and some caryatids in the park. The setting itself was
gorgeous, the castle situated right on the river Cher. John assessed
it would be a reasonable base in case of a zombie apocalypse, as
well, as the castle was surrounded on several sides by a moat.</div>
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<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
sitting astride the river like a boss</div>
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The next day we made the long journey
to Mont St-Michel – longer than necessary, I suppose, as we
deliberately avoided travelling on any toll roads with the aid of our trusty
GPS. The internet advises that the cost of avoiding the toll road may
effectively equal the toll, with longer routes with more braking, but
the prospect of having to pay 10 euros or more for a shorter motorway
just felt too steep for us.</div>
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<br />
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Speaking of steep... The island with
Mont St-Michel looked fantastic as we approached, rising up like a
fairytale fortress from the flat surroundings. I think the outside
view was the most impressive. I suspect our tour of the inside would
have been more memorable if we had got an audioguide, but when we
went to buy tickets we found out they were free that day, as it
happened to be the weekend in France when all public monuments are
free?! Anyway, we were so surprised I think we just wanted to get in
quickly while our good fortune lasted. And on the inside, it just
looked like lots of stone rooms leading on from one another. We had a
good time exploring the tiny surrounding streets, though, and walked
a short distance around the fortress wall.</div>
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Impressive!</div>
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View from the abbey on the island, of the rather barren landscape and cool sky!</div>
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The next day, we headed back toward
Paris to explore Monet's house and gardens in Giverny. As this was
still on the magical weekend, although it wasn't free, it was a
reduced rate of 5 euros each. Monet certainly had a beautiful
property in a beautiful village – it was a popular place to visit,
it seems, but it wasn't overly crowded. It helps that his gardens
were surprisingly big, so even in the famous lilypond area we were
able to stand on the bridges by ourselves for a little bit. Monet's
house had lots of artwork, both his own and the Japanese works he got
so interested in, so I felt like we got a bit of art gallery thrown
in for the same price – bonus!</div>
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the famous bridge (I think)</div>
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some of the main gardens<br />
</div>
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We successfully dropped our car back
off in Paris, and endured another early start the next day, 5.30am,
for our 7.30am bus down to Lyon. This was our last stop in France on
our way down to the tropical land of Spain. This journey featured the
first female bus driver we've had so far, and I think she wore black
heels throughout the trip. If not, she was at least wearing them
beforehand, afterward and during the break halfway through, so
definitely gave that impression. Heels or not, she skilfully navigated a very
tricky, narrow bend in the road, packed on both sides with parked cars, in the
final length coming into the Lyon station. I was glad I wasn't in her
shoes (sorry).</div>
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On a more sombre note, we heard on our
way down that John's grandmother had just passed away, at age 101. It
was both sad and happy news; she had been getting slowly more frail over the last few years, and more so recently. We were glad to be able to be there for her 100th last year. It's sad that we won't be able to see her again on this side, but happy that we know she's gone where frailty and pain have no more power.</div>
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Upon our arrival, we checked in to an
hotel with the friendliest receptionist we've ever encountered, then
walked across the bridge to check out a couple of Roman ruins; a
smaller and larger ampitheatre. It was a bit strange to just be able
to walk onto these ancient remains – even more so to do it for
free. Apparently, although the back wall has gone, the acoustics when
speaking on the stage are still excellent, wherever you sit in the
ampitheatre. The boards also informed us that when in use, the bigger
theatre would have been able to seat 10,000<b></b> people!</div>
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We also visited the Notre Dame church
here, and were taken aback with how elaborate it was. With the
exception of the Royal Chapel in Stockholm, this is the fanciest
church we have seen yet. There were huge, beautiful, sparkly mosaics
on the wall, fancy ceilings, detailed columns – basically beautiful
details wherever you looked.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
the ornate ceiling</div>
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Having restricted our culinary
experiences in Paris to sweet snacks and bread for lunch, as we had heard how
expensive French food can be, we finally splashed out in Lyon and had
dinner in a restaurant. We felt it was fitting, Lyon being the
gastronomic capital of France.<span style="font-weight: normal;">
All of the special Lyonnaise meals sounded gross, so John ordered a
“grilled poultry”, and I got a salad! with chicken in caramelised
honey. It was the best meal we've had out on this trip; Lyon lived up
to its reputation!</span></div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-16228323851876348662014-10-18T13:38:00.001-07:002014-12-07T09:47:38.166-08:00Paris<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>
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Capital City #13 <br />
<br />
Our stay in Paris was marred, initially
at least, by our difficulty in finding accommodation there for our
week-long visit. After several requests through Airbnb expired or
were declined, we ended up still accommodation-less on the morning we
were due to arrive there. We had had similar difficulties finding
accommodation in Berlin, with several hosts not responding or
declining our requests, so in that case we had just selected an
instant-book room the night before we arrived. We decided to do the
same for Paris, so we booked a (relatively) cheap hotel for the
night, and locked in an instant-book on Airbnb for a week from the
following day – not our first choice, but we hoped it would
suffice.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We would never find out. Shortly after
we'd booked it, we got a call from the hostess, who said the listing
wasn't meant to be instantly bookable – she was living in the
apartment herself, and would have to move out and stay with her
parents to accommodate us! We assured her we would cancel the
booking, and try to find somewhere else to stay. What a quandary!</div>
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<br /></div>
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On the bus portion of our journey, from
Lille to Paris, the bus had quite good wifi and a power socket –
what a blessing! We spent a good half of the 3+ hour trip researching
alternatives. Thinking outside the box, we ended up booking one place
for the first 4 days, and requesting a second place for the last 3.
Ingenious! Having learnt our lesson, we also sent out 4 simultaneous
enquiries for the second booking, and 3 were declined, which made it
an easy choice, and confirmed Paris as a terrible location for
finding Airbnbs. As it turned out, the two places were quite close
together, so on the day we shifted, we packed all our stuff up,
walked for half an hour, checked into the new place and unpacked
again. Easiest move ever!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Part of the reason for such a lengthy
stay here was that we had designated Paris as the place where we
would apply for our Russian visas. From the research leading up to
our stay there, it sounded like it would be impossible to apply for a
visa in any place we didn't have residency for over 90 days, so it
seemed like the only option was to send our passports and
applications back to New Zealand. Our stay in Paris was therefore
further marred by the trauma, difficulty and stress (not to mention
expense) of trying to make sure our application was perfect, and
sending it off. It was far too traumatic to talk about it now, so
instead – on to the unmarred parts of our visit!</div>
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<br /></div>
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On our first afternoon of sightseeing,
we set out to stroll down the Champs-Elysees. We got distracted by
the Winston Churchill avenue, though, which looked more interesting,
so we wandered down there first. We've discovered that sightseeing
doesn't always go according to plan, as the weather on the day and
physical considerations all play a part you don't necessarily
consider when planning ahead. This particular day, it was hot, and we
passed a grand palais and a petit palais, both housing free museums.
Figuring they would be shady and would also have free toilets, we
decided to visit the succinctly titled Musee des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris in Le Petit Palais – turns out we were right on both counts! It housed a
collection of fine art. It was fine. We also had lunch there, with John eating the best sandwich he thinks he's ever had. High praise!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We completed our mandatory walk on the
Champs-Elysees afterward, and beheld many fancy shops with stuff we
would never buy. We were privileged enough to see the Louis Vuitton
store, which had a bit of a line outside to get in – we just stared
through the windows at the various items, including handbags for
around 3,000 euros. One worthwhile aspect of the avenue is the
wideness of the paths – it accommodates the hordes of people
admirably, unlike the narrower streets further out in the city. Our
walk culminated in gazing at the massive Arc de Triomphe – the most
impressive arch we've seen yet.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
John in front of the Triumphal Arch</div>
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That night we had decided to have a
social night, so 9 o'clock saw us hitting up the town in a crazy way
– visiting my little brother and his friends in their hostel, that
is. My little brother, who is 19 going on 20, has also been touring
Europe, and we deliberately timed our visit to Paris to coincide with
his. It was a bit strange to hear other New Zealand accents again! We
had a great time, talking with him until midnight, when the hostel's
communal area closed. It was reassuring to see they had avoided getting themselves killed, and it was just really nice again
to have a good catch up with a loved one.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We saw a variety of sights during the
rest of our time in Paris; most of them can be grouped into pairs.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Not this one, though. This is a sole obelisk, with John in front.</div>
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<b>Two flea markets</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We made sure to visit a couple of flea
markets on the Saturday – a smaller one that was just packing up,
and a really massive one you could spend all day at. I'm sure there
are gems hidden amongst all the goods, but the first one reminded me
of junky garage sale-type markets back home; as for the second, I
felt it was kind of too big for its own good. Half of the wares
seemed very samey – sneakers and t-shirts, mainly. This part
generally had aggressive rap music playing at the stalls. The rest of
the wares were antiques, including big items of furniture and
overpriced smaller items. I confess, I preferred the smaller, more
varied markets in Krakow, especially, as well as in Riga and
Budapest.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Two museums</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We selected two further museums to
visit, the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay, spending about 3 hours at
each. In neither case was it long enough. As expected, the Louvre was
massive, but our strategy was to see certain items and sections, and
not naively attempt to cover the whole thing. The Mona Lisa was
appropriately enigmatic but still not my favourite artwork; we also
saw The Coronation of Napoleon, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the
Seated Scribe, and other famous pieces that didn't really look all
that different to scores of other paintings/statues from the same
period. We definitely had an interesting and enjoyable time there;
I'm just not sure why certain pieces of art gain such prestige when
we saw plenty of other art that looked just as good, to my untrained
eye. We also saw the interior of the Louvre palace (which houses the
museum), worthy of note as well as the art it contains – very
impressive!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Lol at this dude's mo' in the Louvre</div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The Musee d'Orsay was smaller in scale,
and I preferred the styles of art here – we focused on the
naturalism, realism, symbolism and impressionism areas. We saw some
of Monet's waterlilies paintings, Rodin's “the Thinker”, and
briefly glanced at Van Gogh's self-portrait.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Two churches</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We also visited a couple of (free)
churches; the grander Notre Dame, and the more beautiful Sacre-Coeur.
Each time, we seemed to time our visits with some sort of ethereal
singing during the service, by a group of nuns at the latter; it
really enhanced the atmosphere of the buildings as we walked round in
hushed silence.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Quasimodo's hood</div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
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Our own church service on Sunday was
not as formal, and it was in English, but I'm afraid we didn't really
appreciate it much. The repetitive choruses, all in the same key,
made it seem like we were singing the same song for the entire half
hour at the end, and the preacher misstated some parts of Scripture,
and didn't seem to preach from the Bible as a whole very well. On the
positive side, it was an afternoon service, so we didn't have to get
up early for it!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Two patisseries</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
To avoid doing just seeing touristy
buildings and museums, we also visited a couple of patisseries, as
well as several boulangeries around the place, to sample local French
food! They were delicious. We tended to get a baguette for lunch and
just eat it plain, it was so tasty, and so fresh, sometimes even
still warm when we bought it. As for the amazing sweet baked goods we
bought from the patisseries, we decided they were fine for a special
treat, but would NOT be good to get used to.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Two gardens</b></div>
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We experienced some of the natural
beauty in Paris by strolling through le Jardin des Tuileries, right
by the Louvre, and le Jardin du Luxembourg.<span style="font-style: normal;">
In the latter, we felt somewhat out of place walking through, as
everyone else was either </span><i>running</i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
with gym gear on or sitting in one of the numerous chairs dotted
around the place, chatting, reading or resting. It looked like an
ideal place to relax – presumably a good place to get fit, too.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Some of le Jardin du Luxembourg</div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Two cameras</b></div>
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Since our last camera broke, we'd been using cellphone cameras, which kind of work for what we want to use it for, but don't really do justice to some of the scenes. We got a replacement camera in Paris, so you should see some more and better photos from this point on. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Versailles</b></div>
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On our last full day in Paris, we took a day trip out to Versailles.
It was interesting to learn about another royal family and the
history of the palace, and it sure was impressive. I think we both
preferred Schonbrunn, still, as I found the rooms and grounds there
to be prettier, but Versailles was just as fancy, and vast, with
grounds so big it would be impossible to explore them on foot in a
day.</div>
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<br /></div>
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fancy</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The Hall of Mirrors!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;">
some of the grounds</div>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
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highly manicured gardens</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Eiffel Tower</b></div>
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</div>
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We had one last task to accomplish before leaving Paris; we felt it
would be remiss of us not to visit the Eiffel Tower. So on our last
evening, we took the elevator up (as the stairs closed at 6pm) and
experienced the fun and view from the second floor, as well as from
the platform right up the top. Surprisingly, it was John who suffered
more from vertigo up the top, not loving being too close to the edge
for too long.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Tower was bigger than we expected! Look at those tiny people!</div>
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</div>
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Selfie at the top</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Thus
our long, comprehensive visit to Paris concluded. We had experienced
buskers on subway trains for the first time, playing a quick song or
two between stops, which made us thankful we didn't have a headache
to exacerbate; we also noted the lack of escalators in many of the
subways – a bit backward of them; and we encountered more weird
people here than anywhere else, I think. We also really enjoyed the
prestigious attractions Paris had to offer, at not too </span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">precipitous</span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
a price.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
An instragammy pic John accidentally took while exploring our new camera's settings. Goodbye, Paris!</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-30666082619440883732014-10-16T13:36:00.000-07:002014-10-16T13:36:24.659-07:00Zwolle and Bruges<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Zwolle</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Some of you may be aware of my
ancestry. Nana and Grandad emigrated to New Zealand from the
Netherlands sometime in the '50s, from a city called Zwolle to a
city called Nelson, so since we were on the correct continent, I felt
like it might be nice to visit their old stomping ground.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
For various reasons, we weren't able to
stay with my relatives, so we found a place on AirBnB, and took the
train into Zwolle.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
First thing we noticed: It's not a very
big place. It's not tiny or anything, but it definitely had that
small town feel about it. Many observers have talked about all the
bicycles in the Netherlands, but no amount of knowledge on that
subject readies one for the actual experience of seeing at least
five times more bikes on the road than cars. The footpaths were
cluttered with the things.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Bicycles.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We arrived in town just as the Zwolle
festival was winding down. In case you're wondering, no we didn't
plan our visit to coincide with the festival, but we're glad it turned out that way.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After checking in, and carrying our
bags up the ridiculously steep staircase, we went out to see some of
the festivities.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Stairs.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There was an orchestra on a bridge over one of the canals in the old town, and both sides, and the next
bridge down were filled with people enjoying the music. Nana would
have loved it. The canal itself was filled with little boats which
were in turn filled with people who were filled with glee.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The orchestra played some classical
pieces, putting their own spin on some, with the inclusion of modern
drums and guitars. While this type of shenanigans is anathema to
some, I felt that it was appropriate. Heavy metal/Vanilla/Electronic versions of Rossini, and some sing-along parts made it quite memorable.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
There was a short interlude and then a group of girls on a boat floated slowly down the canal singing along to a guitar. I assumed that they were going to take the stage, but they just hung out on the boat once it got to where the stage was, singing folk songs, and some modern pop songs. It was a unique performance - a cool use of the river.<br />
<br />
Then the band started up again with more classics, including a sing-along version of <i>Blue Danube.</i> Bizarre, but bizarrely enjoyable.<br />
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnblF0LPSLC0uO79vvccbKBGTbzaG8ydK5Thl8QX0lvCbP9N7zzY35X6aTCFjtk3IWex7LMe1Y5PQ5Sb4s3bXYTvKXMWJpyTq00yfBTBr3bSJT7sv2INWbcMAA3L5UHDidnZ6PMyOkxb8/s1600/S_DSCF2337.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTnblF0LPSLC0uO79vvccbKBGTbzaG8ydK5Thl8QX0lvCbP9N7zzY35X6aTCFjtk3IWex7LMe1Y5PQ5Sb4s3bXYTvKXMWJpyTq00yfBTBr3bSJT7sv2INWbcMAA3L5UHDidnZ6PMyOkxb8/s1600/S_DSCF2337.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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So many tall people. Sometimes I felt short.</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0r6xuzkKrYFu_XLEIgFmoS06iZEhzxmZhjG5eqJ6D1vRMAq0GEAWGB9zKUsasxW2JiBpUykSyd_6LoyqXOLyhL90ALosjz1qIX6TQ9lDogH9S4IOIVjVBLrIIUoZfMUWLG53gpHbTauR/s1600/S_DSCF2344.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB0r6xuzkKrYFu_XLEIgFmoS06iZEhzxmZhjG5eqJ6D1vRMAq0GEAWGB9zKUsasxW2JiBpUykSyd_6LoyqXOLyhL90ALosjz1qIX6TQ9lDogH9S4IOIVjVBLrIIUoZfMUWLG53gpHbTauR/s1600/S_DSCF2344.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Everyone lining the canal.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next day, having failed to find an
English speaking church, we decided to try our hand at a Dutch one.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It turns out that Dutch and English are
related closely enough that we were able to pick up a bit of what the
sermon was. I think it was about Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, but
also about when he said <i>“Before Abraham was, I AM.”</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
We were able to sing along with a song we both recognised though,
which was nice, although from now on we'll probably stick to English
speaking churches when they're available.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Most of the shops
were closed on Sunday, but we found a Vodafone shop. We needed SIM
cards because you need a UK credit card to purchase credit for our
Three SIM cards (Three the company, not the number), or you need to
get a top up which you can only purchase from shops in the UK. I
digress. Vodafone has what we needed, so we got that. We also got served by the friendliest and most helpful shop assistant ever.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our AirBnb hosts were a
nice young couple who plan to visit NZ some time next year, doing a
sort of OE. They had a theory that everyone speaks such good English
in the Netherlands because movies that have been dubbed into Dutch are hard to
come by, so mostly they use Dutch subtitles while the English still plays in the background. Anyway, they provided us with
lunch for one of the days.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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Chocolate sprinkles on bread. Mmmmmm. I didn't realise this was actually a Dutch thing, I thought it was a Nana thing.</div>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Some of the
highlights:</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY9hL7ctf_OjXPbQJUzC9CMxyoY5vgagZHK6YRuTxrx6UYx23eLFUSZZf4F8PSrOLHlFev2qT_LPbVeYMYf7NOira-Du6FlJsiJIq5F2JFdUJBzBz-wG5Bi6b4q9qWpq8UDlbl9h-_Ma-y/s1600/S_IMG_20140907_132132.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY9hL7ctf_OjXPbQJUzC9CMxyoY5vgagZHK6YRuTxrx6UYx23eLFUSZZf4F8PSrOLHlFev2qT_LPbVeYMYf7NOira-Du6FlJsiJIq5F2JFdUJBzBz-wG5Bi6b4q9qWpq8UDlbl9h-_Ma-y/s1600/S_IMG_20140907_132132.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Spaceship on top of the museum.</div>
<br />
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Sassenpoort.</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYU-QdgHkj8KfBYpLgDjac08BnqOVzPV2OVCisr5SfNd1iGeGXybACNYi8ZValUjJUXMGWMQrjtSTFAFyQkzsG_EHKO_umvLVoo6EQQnqTKawFRykopfj5hOoNN2iABSCsE_MTEelEKkQ/s1600/S_IMG_20140907_161254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpYU-QdgHkj8KfBYpLgDjac08BnqOVzPV2OVCisr5SfNd1iGeGXybACNYi8ZValUjJUXMGWMQrjtSTFAFyQkzsG_EHKO_umvLVoo6EQQnqTKawFRykopfj5hOoNN2iABSCsE_MTEelEKkQ/s1600/S_IMG_20140907_161254.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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A church.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLk8LrfV3aknhqNgi1lcUCyUGheXUBQI942W_jvXMLFChIcRyy_30pfKOVjrwAFkFg7BiBW8FtKBgUJI-goVsKcVeRKa0Je9LtxSyFfUaOlQPUcUPthVwYnQl6TI95-NN9I3uvw_qVJ7Oy/s1600/S_IMG_20140907_183732.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLk8LrfV3aknhqNgi1lcUCyUGheXUBQI942W_jvXMLFChIcRyy_30pfKOVjrwAFkFg7BiBW8FtKBgUJI-goVsKcVeRKa0Je9LtxSyFfUaOlQPUcUPthVwYnQl6TI95-NN9I3uvw_qVJ7Oy/s1600/S_IMG_20140907_183732.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
It's nice to see a fully clothed statue, even if it is made of glass and has wings.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzzoDpTpNcw69wsaXDbkU5hWFDUby6cVOsJ0OuzrsqavBA6OAZG1prYyGhG8OiR6Wo7-48M5q0iq0Wab36BgxTWjLLr48y3t1Q-HQpyIE2kctxog7tK15KCx91s4KN5wKdiPWcUKxX1pk/s1600/S_IMG_20140907_172915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzzoDpTpNcw69wsaXDbkU5hWFDUby6cVOsJ0OuzrsqavBA6OAZG1prYyGhG8OiR6Wo7-48M5q0iq0Wab36BgxTWjLLr48y3t1Q-HQpyIE2kctxog7tK15KCx91s4KN5wKdiPWcUKxX1pk/s1600/S_IMG_20140907_172915.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
More bicycles.</div>
</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We were able to see
a little bit more of the Netherlands on the train as we left, and on
the ferry across to Zeeland. I really liked Zwolle. It felt more like
a holiday than many of the places we've been. It's not exactly the
action capital of the world, but sometimes that's nice. 10/10. Would
recommend.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<h3>
Bruges</h3>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
We'd been told that Bruges was the
place to go in Belgium, so off we went.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We arrived in Bruges in the late
afternoon, and after checking in decided to have a wander around the
city. The streets were quiet, and after looking at all the
restaurants around the main square we were able to find a takeaway
stall that wasn't selling ridiculously expensive food. It was perhaps
the tastiest takeaways we've had, too! We were most impressed.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOi8eiceaSa29_fCqxFy40mCnD1VWKonlUKuR92RteL_xOyK9PvFuMCSdWYtUm-cPb7AdEXT1CD8BP2RRU0whmzN0am9ux6fP_mzmIB_67fb3gf7v-FhQ9jtBK8TlWjvCzLHn5uHseZvzp/s1600/S_DSCF2351.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOi8eiceaSa29_fCqxFy40mCnD1VWKonlUKuR92RteL_xOyK9PvFuMCSdWYtUm-cPb7AdEXT1CD8BP2RRU0whmzN0am9ux6fP_mzmIB_67fb3gf7v-FhQ9jtBK8TlWjvCzLHn5uHseZvzp/s1600/S_DSCF2351.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
A whole row of restaurants.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It was a nice place to be in the
evening with the streetlights and atmosphere.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next morning I had to walk to the
supermarket twice, since the first time I left my wallet at home, so
by the time we actually decided to do things I was tired and slightly
grumpy. Not a good start.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Belgium is famous for chocolate, beer,
waffles, the neutrality which Germany violated to get to France at
the beginning of the Great War, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Tintin. Of
the aforementioned list, we did enjoy a proper Belgian waffle, one
with cream (actual proper cream that had been whipped, not out of a
can, and not tasting like marshmallow). I had a beer. We visited a
comic shop that was selling Tintin prints which were out of my price
range.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizvZAzwbvdU_6SnOu8rz8cza7pEtBOnstlhTAE5j5symsFLnYxzkNFavAm8Z5m8JiwGzUIE60cEPhG73eMg7hun3OjY23RJcaDaHoRKWcF0bgHM7vrjcqGodegWOv2LWmEoD2uNILHQFuL/s1600/S_IMG_20140909_143605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizvZAzwbvdU_6SnOu8rz8cza7pEtBOnstlhTAE5j5symsFLnYxzkNFavAm8Z5m8JiwGzUIE60cEPhG73eMg7hun3OjY23RJcaDaHoRKWcF0bgHM7vrjcqGodegWOv2LWmEoD2uNILHQFuL/s1600/S_IMG_20140909_143605.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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Some canals.</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmejvyzzMXtubTYWtGqs02W8mX-xfilNpMtPcfp6t55xSeXdruqYYGepC9NXhvCwt9gg1ZkulvmbIDAAaGlpDTIq3HPzVFWZLMeSn9WTwlet9Kp69KocKAGC6tpbMFjlK-PIeERfDV1v3F/s1600/S_IMG_20140909_151654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmejvyzzMXtubTYWtGqs02W8mX-xfilNpMtPcfp6t55xSeXdruqYYGepC9NXhvCwt9gg1ZkulvmbIDAAaGlpDTIq3HPzVFWZLMeSn9WTwlet9Kp69KocKAGC6tpbMFjlK-PIeERfDV1v3F/s1600/S_IMG_20140909_151654.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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This fancy building...</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9FhMTGp3YU5Sjc39FCqRd31588IvNr98BmpxdcGL5WLzkGCtcj-xG9W3280BH5Ea3E5NxcIjNvqywvSEA6flVE0nWReXft7bB7SturFrKPKh6hxje2rN5ctvzq38fDI6NPnLwj5kmglK/s1600/S_IMG_20140909_153009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9FhMTGp3YU5Sjc39FCqRd31588IvNr98BmpxdcGL5WLzkGCtcj-xG9W3280BH5Ea3E5NxcIjNvqywvSEA6flVE0nWReXft7bB7SturFrKPKh6hxje2rN5ctvzq38fDI6NPnLwj5kmglK/s1600/S_IMG_20140909_153009.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
and from the other side.</div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Bruges has a rather large old town
area; almost all of the winding streets are cobbled, and narrow
footpaths cosy up to the old brick and stone buildings. All very nice
and picturesque. Hordes of tourists agree with this assessment.
Hordes. Mostly over forty, camera-wielding tourists. You know the
type. The ones that walk slowly (or not at all) while using the whole
footpath, causing others to have to walk on the road to get past. I
think we overtook some people who were overtaking some people who
were in turn overtaking someone who was standing there looking at
waffles or chocolate in some display window. That wouldn't be too bad
normally, but the roads weren't closed to traffic, so we had to
constantly listen out for the clipping and clopping of hooves on the
cobblestones. I think during the day there were probably as many of
the horse and cart tours on the road as there were cars.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Normally we don't mind touristy areas; the crowds are there for a reason, and it means that you don't stand
out as the only tourist, and that there's always someone else who would
make a better target for pickpockets. In this case though, there
wasn't really the room for everyone, and it became a game of dodge
the pedestrian while simultaneously dodging horses and the things
that horses leave behind.</div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Perhaps that's why
we didn't really dig it. To be honest, if you want to visit a
medieval town, go to Zwolle. It might not be quite as large, and it's
not exactly set up for tourists, but that's part of its charm.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-64354574245899748492014-10-13T12:23:00.002-07:002014-12-07T09:47:08.131-08:00Bavaria and Berlin<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'm going to assume that you've read
the post on transport in Germany. If not, please read before
continuing.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Bavaria</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
One of the nice things about having a
car is being able to go where you want, when you want. One of the
good things about having a car in Germany is being able to do this
quickly.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We decided to do what's called the
<i>Romantic Road</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> which is not so
much a road, but a series of towns and villages to visit in Bavaria.
We managed to visit about five, due to transport woes (see previous
post about transport) and also due to Anna being somewhat unwell.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
First up were the
castles of Hohenschwangau<b> </b>and Neuschwanstein. Fog
blanketed the valley on the day that we visited, so the photos aren't
great, but it was interesting nonetheless.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The websites that
we looked at suggested getting there early, otherwise the queue would
be bad, so we arrived earlyish and only had to wait about half an
hour.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The first castle
was interesting; rebuilt a few hundred years ago, it was never really
a defensive castle.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The second castle
was built by an interesting character, King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He grew up in
the first castle, his younger brother was declared insane at 12 years
old, and he lived way out in the wops in this castle. He was a
medieval enthusiast, and really felt a connection to the tale of the
knights of the holy grail, identifying himself with them in a way
that, to be honest, was unhealthy. This fascination with medieval
myths led to his building of (as he saw it) a medieval castle. His
conception of what those castles were meant to be like was more on
the romantic end of things, so he ended up with a castle design that
looked more like the castle in Disneyland than anything else (rumour
has it that the Disneyland castle is based to a large degree on this
castle).</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtjryMrHSsAwgTJ0kXdzKelptHmwBLwf1bSmVzlnqI8HPreKJPXfIdv6fZlIJc51HBZjJptYJzwm8d9mi8g5FInkzZSsj_u_HhZQkVNQtfW1XEEK0wll5RpOW2LgxHdZuLTFB0JGhY36dV/s1600/S_IMG_20140901_140244.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtjryMrHSsAwgTJ0kXdzKelptHmwBLwf1bSmVzlnqI8HPreKJPXfIdv6fZlIJc51HBZjJptYJzwm8d9mi8g5FInkzZSsj_u_HhZQkVNQtfW1XEEK0wll5RpOW2LgxHdZuLTFB0JGhY36dV/s1600/S_IMG_20140901_140244.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
By the time we
climbed the hill to the castle it was raining, and we were glad we'd
brought our rain jackets.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The tour group was
very large, and we weren't able to hear what the guide was saying
sometimes because he started before everyone had actually entered the
room he was in.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The castle had an
incredible throne room, like nothing I've ever seen before. From the
mosaic on the floor to the painted ceilings it was amazing. There was
so much detail everywhere, it was impossible to take it all in. I'll
spare you the pictures (not least because they're verboten). In
addition to the throne room, there was a room with an artificial cave
that used to have a smoke machine and a waterfall streaming down the
rocks. That's definitely something we haven't seen in any other
castles we've visited.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The castle was
unfinished when Ludwig moved in, and a few short months later he was
told by a group of psychiatrists that he was insane (probably a politically motivated diagnosis), and the next day
he was found drowned in a lake. Officially a boating accident, but as
you can imagine, conspiracy theories abound.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After the tour we
stepped outside into the rain. Proper rain. Ever since this day in
Germany I've had the umbrella we bought in Poland in my bag
constantly, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. We ran down the hill
dodging other umbrella-wielding tourists and while our jackets
stopped the rain on our top halves, the rest of us was soaked by the
time we got back to the car. Two out of five stars; would not
recommend.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We cruised through
another couple of towns, admiring their architecture, and finished up
wandering through the Residenz in Wurzburg without any
real idea of what we were looking at.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNv5OgYopqX_cHSgE1vBEGYLUCLu7ZQOx9x_RotDX0wqhq514sFOovf0TDasp32NxSoYnmoVLlsPrP38uW8HkzasAAD4rCsUlJiE_GzMJdvQ7Pf1Sjjs-obuRvg9FmEuw3CbdtHgORTEH/s1600/S_IMG_20140902_125052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNv5OgYopqX_cHSgE1vBEGYLUCLu7ZQOx9x_RotDX0wqhq514sFOovf0TDasp32NxSoYnmoVLlsPrP38uW8HkzasAAD4rCsUlJiE_GzMJdvQ7Pf1Sjjs-obuRvg9FmEuw3CbdtHgORTEH/s1600/S_IMG_20140902_125052.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
One of the little villages.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Finally we reached Berlin after a harrowing bus ride (see previous
post about transport).</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Berlin</h3>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Capital City #12 <br />
<br />
Berlin is an
alright place, if you can understand how the transport system works.
They seem to have two different metro systems, the U-bahn and the
S-bahn. Both of these sometimes go underground and sometimes go
overland, and both of them cover most of the city. It may be a
throwback to the days when there were two Berlins.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The city itself is
very spread out, or at least the interesting things are.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Visiting the
museums quarter, we were approached by a couple of young girls who
handed us a petition to sign about an orphanage, or a school or
something for the deaf. They indicated to us that we should sign. I
was reading the part at the top which was meant to explain what it
was for while Anna said “No” and I wondered why she was being
mean. At that point a police car drove past with sirens blaring and
the girls went off – I thought initially they were going to ask
someone else to sign, but no – they were hiding behind the pillars
of the museum.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">We
went into the church we'd been standing outside, and Anna explained
her rejection. Wisely she's been researching scams that tourists get
into, and this is one of them. Apparently once you sign the petition,
they'll pressure you into making a </span><i>donation</i><span style="font-style: normal;">
implying that now that you've signed, you must donate. We came across
them another couple of times. FYI: petitions presented by young girls
who should be in school, act mute themselves, and who hide when a
police car drives by are probably scammers, and should be avoided.</span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXl8ROJZ_Kf8bQMOGxdcxOfYe2BRtyMl0oz095VGe1WfZS39DNk06M-uGCHXRVfqhh-zpAdrxBrFuxqLDfglgrJGJqN8MCkWoPAXoYa4xJi-EgDRtSPRBNx1T_otHDVjs0j1msVIUVrvve/s1600/S_IMG_20140904_175926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXl8ROJZ_Kf8bQMOGxdcxOfYe2BRtyMl0oz095VGe1WfZS39DNk06M-uGCHXRVfqhh-zpAdrxBrFuxqLDfglgrJGJqN8MCkWoPAXoYa4xJi-EgDRtSPRBNx1T_otHDVjs0j1msVIUVrvve/s1600/S_IMG_20140904_175926.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Church where we met the scammers.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The museum we ended
up going to was the Deutsches Historisches Museum, which believe it
or not is about the history of Germany. It's rather quite
interesting, but we only managed to get up to Napoleon's time before
the museum was starting to close. Such a vast amount of information.
This is the second time we've just got up to speed with the earlier
history of a country, and have missed the modern part – what on
earth has happened in Hungary and Germany in the last 100 years?! We
don't know.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We saw the
Brandenburg gate:</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZf6TcHk1n5G4OrOXq97R1ste8pcrSJILiN-9lcN-MkRloX-qGTuPKd7HYEygBuDVj3R4Faf_HoDDXwZRYffRKoTJsa07XyFXia5AorgfCR8LaoFA7CP5Ue6e-yg5hyphenhyphenULDY4g7IFTtHcrG/s1600/S_IMG_20140904_201457.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZf6TcHk1n5G4OrOXq97R1ste8pcrSJILiN-9lcN-MkRloX-qGTuPKd7HYEygBuDVj3R4Faf_HoDDXwZRYffRKoTJsa07XyFXia5AorgfCR8LaoFA7CP5Ue6e-yg5hyphenhyphenULDY4g7IFTtHcrG/s1600/S_IMG_20140904_201457.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The gate.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">We also saw the Reichstag:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuAjMi8IsWUi2uYUA09QmOZSixpwrH4re9H1DOqeq3RhXT8DGTuO11uV0YPuauFEeyNg8kiZ46WRkw3PucqzqqMtEYRQ5Rk8dxE0BV6cXBLEPTYrzjReosH9WIPqilXtz9_7XPwglMkxWx/s1600/S_DSCF2332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuAjMi8IsWUi2uYUA09QmOZSixpwrH4re9H1DOqeq3RhXT8DGTuO11uV0YPuauFEeyNg8kiZ46WRkw3PucqzqqMtEYRQ5Rk8dxE0BV6cXBLEPTYrzjReosH9WIPqilXtz9_7XPwglMkxWx/s1600/S_DSCF2332.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The 'stag.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;">The
Berlin Wall was of course something we both wanted to see. We spent a
couple of hours walking along the former lines of the wall, reading
all the plaques and exhibits that are dotted along the section of
wall that remains, and thereby partially making up for what we missed
in the museum.</span><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
Many of the exhibits detailed the escapes from East Berlin. Exciting
stuff. Early on, the Berlin Wall incorporated existing buildings,
blocking the doors and bricking over the lower windows. Some people
escaped by jumping out of the third story windows into the waiting
arms of the West Berlin fire department who used ladders and catching
nets, and were patrolling the likely areas in case people decided to
jump.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCA8CJAaltnXSLS8g1JauY3W4qxF6B8ozinuUbz6_egwML0KKBFlwpvw_OiVvnsnFXxpU25YscPpHVzFtzEzZL_JBEHIJV2U4soawmrU9d0VIzj_OEDDSku9sF9yHI-qYhihzjhjs1Tusg/s1600/S_IMG_20140905_140926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCA8CJAaltnXSLS8g1JauY3W4qxF6B8ozinuUbz6_egwML0KKBFlwpvw_OiVvnsnFXxpU25YscPpHVzFtzEzZL_JBEHIJV2U4soawmrU9d0VIzj_OEDDSku9sF9yHI-qYhihzjhjs1Tusg/s1600/S_IMG_20140905_140926.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This remaining section is around 4 metres high and has been designed to be difficult to climb without looking all spiky and forbidding. All the better for public relations.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We were also able
to visit the Holocaust Memorial. It's quite effective. It's a field
full of black granite obelisks of varying heights, with footpaths
between them all. From further away it looks small, but when you're
standing amongst the obelisks, some of which are 4 metres tall or so,
you really get a sense of the scale of the thing (the memorial, that
is). As to how it commemorates the holocaust, it's hard to say, but
the place does exude a sense of gravity, of sorrow. Perhaps that's
only because I know that's what it's meant to convey, though.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQLIIQRi-kTYboidW498QN5dtPojcvkEFvtLFynS6uDH0vRZsVsaNEnEL0QrW59lpukJJRUUGMa2U3l9GtJaeXgE9K16FAxBjluun0_nYQ7xQXxBqvBq1yIpYLSzHV9QDlB1iPD4MTyy2/s1600/S_IMG_20140905_165638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQLIIQRi-kTYboidW498QN5dtPojcvkEFvtLFynS6uDH0vRZsVsaNEnEL0QrW59lpukJJRUUGMa2U3l9GtJaeXgE9K16FAxBjluun0_nYQ7xQXxBqvBq1yIpYLSzHV9QDlB1iPD4MTyy2/s1600/S_IMG_20140905_165638.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgHhnUEJD0AUA8hR00qNWwmLlVAiUy8HtKL66BESdi_xu4mJxDyCWhChW4i1ViZ1iwZCwR2EqHdJ7VHEeMyQZttWw6g9CP7rjgG6Kb6cz_NTKbhGKl8oskrA1T3ZYP5BgY083no9nLjHUx/s1600/S_IMG_20140905_165926.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgHhnUEJD0AUA8hR00qNWwmLlVAiUy8HtKL66BESdi_xu4mJxDyCWhChW4i1ViZ1iwZCwR2EqHdJ7VHEeMyQZttWw6g9CP7rjgG6Kb6cz_NTKbhGKl8oskrA1T3ZYP5BgY083no9nLjHUx/s1600/S_IMG_20140905_165926.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
On
our second afternoon in Berlin we stumbled into the preparation for a
premiere of “Sex Tape”, the movie. As you can imagine, this is
exactly the kind of movie that we're just aching to miss, not quite
on the <i>anything-with-Eddie-Murphy-from-the-last-decade</i>
end of the scale, but still. My number one rule when deciding not to
watch a movie is to ask this simple question:</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;">
<i>Q: Does the movie poster consist of </i><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>BOLD
RED TEXT IN ALL CAPS</b></span></span><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>
</b></span><i>with a white background?</i></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.25cm;">
<span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">If
</span></span><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">Yes,</span></i><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
then I'm probably not going to be interested. Of course there are
exceptions to the rule, but it's helpful anyway.</span></span></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There were a few
people already camped out around the barriers on the red carpet, but
I think the size of the crowd reflected the (presumed) quality of the
movie.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Following our
whirlwind tour of Berlin, it was time to head to the Netherlands.
Because of our experiences on the buses in Germany, we thought we
should try the train. Surely we would have better luck with good
old-fashioned railways. Right?</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Apparently there
was some union action on the day that we left Berlin. We heard
mention of a drivers' strike, and lo and behold, the departure board
said that our train was late by half an hour. Half an hour is
something we can deal with, it's no big deal, although we did hope
that our connection in the Netherlands would still be available.</div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-style: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The half hour
passed, and now the board said 45 minutes, then 60. Eventually we
left 70 minutes late. The conductor came past to punch our tickets,
and gave us an envelope with a form to fill out to
get some compensation. Yay, at least it isn't a free ticket for German trains that we won't be able to use.</div>
Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06026719748042404874noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-8300554103555651942014-10-06T12:03:00.000-07:002014-10-06T12:03:06.228-07:00It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; direction: ltr; }P.western { font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; }</style>
<br />
<h3 lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
a.k.a. Travelling in Germany</h3>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
German motorways: where an
unbroken line of trucks and/or campervans pose a terror to no one,
but thousands upon thousands of people returning home at the end of
the school holidays do.
<br />
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
If you can't handle posts
without pictures, skip this one. Hopefully for the rest of you, my
lively writing style can pull you through.
</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>A series of unfortunate
events</b></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We have found it's
considerably cheaper so far, especially without a Eurail pass, to
take buses around Europe instead of trains. Consequently, we were
delighted to discover we could buy two bus tickets in person for 29
euros each for the journey from Ljubljana to Munich, a deal that
wasn't available online. We didn't realise that the day we were
travelling, however, 31 August, was apparently the last day of school
holidays in Germany.</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We got up at the sprightly
hour of 6.15 in order to drive the hour's length from Bled down to
Ljubljana, in good time for our 9.20am bus.</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
An omen of things to come
was when our bus hadn't arrived by its scheduled departure time. John
enquired and found out that it was just delayed; 50 minutes later it
rolled up and we boarded. The road out of Slovenia was fine; then
came an hour's wait at the Slovenia-Austria border, before a long
tunnel. Perhaps the delay was due to something big coming through the
tunnel? I had given up my hopes of arriving in Fussen early enough to
visit some castles that day, but we still presumed our rental car
pick-up in Munich would be fine. Our bus had been scheduled to arrive
at 2.15pm, and the rental car office shut at 5pm.</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Long periods of being
immobile or travelling very slowly on the motorway ensued. While we
travelled, John tried in vain to transfer the downloaded map of
Germany onto the GPS. [Technical reason: internal memory not
sufficient for map size, microSD card not formatted in a way that the
GPS could see, and no way of formatting it properly.] By the time we
arrived in Munich at 6.30pm, a 5-hour journey having transformed into an 8 and
a half hour one, we had cancelled our rental car booking, devised and
discarded a plan B, and now determined to head to the airport, where
rental car offices should still be open. We had no car and no map of
Germany on the GPS – our prognosis wasn't good.</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Again, it seemed our plan
would be thwarted when the stupidest ticket machine in the history of
mankind greeted us (of course, any manned offices were closed); it
took only coins and certain debit cards; no credit cards, and no
notes, even though there was a slot for them. This made it difficult
to pay the hefty 20.80 euros for John and me to get to the airport.
Upstairs we went, to the only place that was open, where we had
grabbed some takeaway tea before; the very nice girl at the counter
kindly changed a 20 euro bill into coins for us without complaint.</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Arriving at the airport,
now around 8.30, we investigated the various car companies, and
realised that the cheapest option here was going to be 100 euros more
than the deal we had booked. Never mind; it's only money, right?
Money that we were trying to save by booking the bus in the first
place... We asked if they rented out GPSes, as well, and he said he'd
include that for the same price! Yay! (Turns out it was built into
the car.) We located our car, walking past an absolute fleet of
rental cars to get there, eventually figured out the German-speaking
GPS, and John drove the 2 hours to Fussen, to our place of
accommodation. We were so thankful we had booked one of the random
places where you just get sent a key code to let yourself in, so you
don't actually see anyone and it makes no difference what time you
arrive. We arrived shortly after midnight, and decided to go straight
to bed. Our 18-hour day had been rather tiring.</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>The best of times</b></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Over the next couple of
days, we discovered how German motorways were <i>supposed</i> to
work. We had inadvertently hired a relatively powerful diesel car – much more grunt than our first (cheapest) choice would have been – and we made good
use of it. Fantastic roads, permanent two (or three) lanes and open
speed limits saw us trucking along at an average of 140kph. Slow
vehicles were a non-issue; slow vehicles passing slightly slower
vehicles was the problem (slow = 120kph or less). Three lanes were
the best. The fastest speed we got up to was 200kph, briefly!</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Driver's perspective: I
can see why some cars come with a sixth gear. The inbuilt GPS was in
German (obviously) so we got to listen to a robot lady telling us
things we didn't understand. At least arrows are universal, and we
got an audio warning when we were meant to do something. I'm not sure
if that speedo was accurate, but it was beginning to feel unsafe
travelling at 200kph, so we didn't do that for long. It's strange
when travelling 140kph becomes the norm and anything less feels like
dawdling.</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b>Another unfortunate
event</b></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Then it was back to sedate
bus-travel from Munich up to Berlin. We had initially considered booking a
9-hour trip, 11am-8pm, but when we looked again the next day a
shorter trip, 11.30am-6.30pm, was available for the same price! Done!</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This trip was with a
different bus company, so I was sure it would be better. As soon as
we boarded, I was convinced I was right; this was a double-decker –
instantly cooler! We sat on the top level, of course. Furthermore, we
had a power socket for the laptop and even internet, at least to
start with. We were sorted.</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
There were a few minor
traffic delays, mainly due to roadworks, where we were going truly
slowly, not just 100km-slowly. Then, at about 6pm, the bus got a flat
tyre. At various points throughout the trip the bus driver updated
the passengers on what was happening, and evidently he was a funny
guy, 'cos there were always chuckles from the passengers when he
spoke, but we had absolutely no idea what was going on. The helpful
texts in German we received from the bus company didn't really help
either. The flat tyre, however – that was something we could work
out ourselves.</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
After a two-hour wait by
the side of the road, we were off again! A wee while later, the bus
driver said something again, and everybody clapped at the end, so we
presumed that was a good sign. We finally arrived in Berlin at
9.30pm. And so, again, a 7-hour trip became a 10-hour one. We are
considering booking trains more frequently in future. [Update: the
bus company this time, Meinfernbus, sent us a code for two free bus
tickets from them in the future, which was nice! So we may yet board
another bus!]</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Our final transport
challenge that day came once we arrived in Berlin and got on the
underground train. It travelled to two stations, then stopped and we
heard an announcement that due to construction works, the train
stopped here. We almost couldn’t believe our fortune. We worked out
that there were signs pointing to where a (very crowded) bus waited
to transport us overground to the missing stops, before dropping us
off at a subway station further on, where we got back on the
underground. This experience wasn’t too dramatic, but the
combination of everything made me wonder if coming to Germany would
prove to be worth it!</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
For an account of what we
actually did and saw in Germany, come back next time!</div>
<div lang="en-CA" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1696954583954277907.post-66550908320288364692014-10-04T13:05:00.001-07:002014-10-04T13:13:02.753-07:00Notes from Underground<h3>
<style type="text/css">P { margin-bottom: 0.21cm; }</style>Slovenia</h3>
Our voyage to Slovenia was a long and
semi-complicated process. Our train tickets indicated we had two
connections to make, which turned out to be an hour-long segment in the middle that
was completed by bus; everybody hopped out of the train, made their
way over to about 6 waiting buses all going to the same destination,
loaded everything on, and then got back on another train to finish
the journey.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
For us, this particular leg ended in
Zagreb, where we had booked a little hotel apartment. Our kind
hostess had provided some homemade Croatian strudel for us, as well
as some homebrewed<b> </b>fruit brandy! Being the adventurous soul that I
am, I decided to try not only the strudel, but to break my
teetotalling ways and sample the alcohol – got to try the local
delicacies, right? The strudel was actually very nice. Then the
liquor – OH MY WORD. One little sip, and the intensity was
overwhelming – down the drain went the rest of the little cup! I don't like the taste
of alcohol at the best of times; this stuff, though, tasted closer to
meths than alcohol. John tried his and just about choked on it as
well. He was fool enough to try it twice, though, before the rest of
his ended up in the same place as mine. The drink had a very strong
licorice flavour, and after some research John found what the brew
probably was, Rakia,<b></b> and that the alcohol content of our
concoction was probably between 50-80%!</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next day we had a mere two-hour bus
trip to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, from where we picked up
our (very cheap) rental car and headed off down to Postojna. That
same day we were able to visit the main attraction in the region – the Postojna Caves. Our English-speaking tour
through the caves lasted about 90 minutes and was well worth it. The
intricacies of the natural structures were just amazing; just like
some of the overly fancy buildings we've seen, it felt like you could
stand in one spot for ages and still not be able to take in all the
detail around you. We learned that Postojna was the first explored
cave in Slovenia, and that it got its first tourists in
1819. I'd never really thought about what tourism would've been like 200 years ago.<br />
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipOk4lVMBssFfl87Qa8Gb6N-JgRZUDQ3Np0TWSAVFM-OizR8YKDrE4sTBCEJP6lcq2syWgW-q1t-woLgUyIn2ArRUht4AivkrjU5MnHrxZZUbKylejasGug2vHEYUZCVsjYpDvSlgBiw/s1600/S_DSCF2241.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipOk4lVMBssFfl87Qa8Gb6N-JgRZUDQ3Np0TWSAVFM-OizR8YKDrE4sTBCEJP6lcq2syWgW-q1t-woLgUyIn2ArRUht4AivkrjU5MnHrxZZUbKylejasGug2vHEYUZCVsjYpDvSlgBiw/s1600/S_DSCF2241.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
the vast size of the cave </div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
such detail! </div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
such detail!!</div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
The next day we decided to mix it up by
visiting... another cave! This time the Skocjan Cave, a cave system
where the underground river actually comes through part of it.
Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos on the main tour, but
we paid a bit more to be able to do an extra bit on our own, and
snapped away there to our heart's content.<br />
<br />
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<br />
In comparing the two, the Postojna cave beat the
dry part of Skocjan, but the parts of Skocjan where the river came
through were just spectacular; the cave was so vast, the water so
majestic, I could well imagine an epic fantasy scene being set there;
it was one part <i>The Hobbit</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> to
two parts </span><i>The Silver Chair</i><span style="font-style: normal;">.</span>
The surrounding area was beautiful, too, although our camera, lasting
valiantly through the caves, now decided it had snapped its last. Hence, from now on for a while, it's all smartphone
photos.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
the path leading out of the cave</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
some of the surrounding area </div>
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</div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
That evening we also visited the
Predjama Castle, another tourist staple, and marvelled at the way it
really seemed to grow out of the stone. Seeing it in person was more
impressive than through a screen.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
The next day we drove up to Lake Bled,
determined to tick off all the tourist sights in Slovenia. We had
received an email from our hotel there, saying we couldn't stay in the room we'd booked
due to a leaky pipe, and that she had booked us into another hotel
room close by for the same price. This one also had kitchen
facilities, so we were happy; it was only the next morning that we
became aware that, ironically, the shower in this place leaked out
onto the bathroom floor. Never mind – it wasn't as bad as in
Budapest!</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Lake Bled</div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We visited Lake Bled that day, and
immediately saw why it's so popular. The setting is lovely, and it
has a cute tiny island in the middle, with a dramatic cliff-top
castle. Despite the number of people there, the lake still felt very
calm and peaceful. We paid for a boat to take us out to the island in
the middle, a fun excursion, and also climbed the steep path to the
castle, for some good views.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
view from the island in the middle </div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
sunshine!</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
possibly the creepiest poster known to man</div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
We continued the theme of beautiful
scenic tours by visiting the Vintgar Gorge the next day, near Bled,
an absolutely gorgeous defile. It cost 4 euros each, but we
felt it was worth it, as we followed the narrow wooden walkway beside
the river for about an hour return, loving the surrounding greenery,
clear water and spotting some fish as we went.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
the clarity of the water </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPq2Cja1KA8FcM1MqP7fsFGLHCE6Psu8OLCpVO7MZMokTPTvvNOw-8aVgXcGeORt-hABAVrFyKycWqNUXjQPWGuu1D3CDHnkXER0_QbxAfTow_yxlBMyHvMNSg_lre7k_lSsmdv9zN5Q/s1600/S_IMG_20140830_133028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPq2Cja1KA8FcM1MqP7fsFGLHCE6Psu8OLCpVO7MZMokTPTvvNOw-8aVgXcGeORt-hABAVrFyKycWqNUXjQPWGuu1D3CDHnkXER0_QbxAfTow_yxlBMyHvMNSg_lre7k_lSsmdv9zN5Q/s1600/S_IMG_20140830_133028.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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There is also another lake near Bled,
Lake Bohinj, so we checked this one out as well – supposedly less
touristy, though it didn't seem that way to us. Perhaps it was just
because we visited it on a Saturday, and there also seemed to be a
triathlon going on that weekend. Parking at the eastern end,
we paid the fee to be able to climb a lot of steps to see the Savica
waterfall, the most famous in Slovenia (apparently). If you've read
our Banff/Jasper/Iceland posts, you probably have an inkling as to
how many waterfalls we've seen elsewhere, so this excursion probably
wasn't worth it. Also, unfortunately, I seemed to have come down with
a minor virus that day, which made me feel achey and made me very
slow going up all the steps, and then made my legs feel very sore
going down again (that's normally the easy part)!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjQkt6EPNRx0tliKqqaeOXT6XCUPDz4IOaofHOwinuc5Rd0h_F-TGWHG8ADjGBj4tYd1tRMoxyBQs5CJ_e0QyO5hrZP9xiDSfZUmAVLj5FvYCE624UyK38zAt9XkCso9xr1cmTcFsahQ/s1600/S_IMG_20140830_162434.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjQkt6EPNRx0tliKqqaeOXT6XCUPDz4IOaofHOwinuc5Rd0h_F-TGWHG8ADjGBj4tYd1tRMoxyBQs5CJ_e0QyO5hrZP9xiDSfZUmAVLj5FvYCE624UyK38zAt9XkCso9xr1cmTcFsahQ/s1600/S_IMG_20140830_162434.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
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The waterfall we paid to climb up to see. That means: photo = a must!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1p8mzRVzphTFibHFhTn1kICQFDPLBIlM46un24OXPOtId4sMA1eTA9i-s_Hu4-X3wqP3d1VmoNEj1PnleZyyQfvWhvdgqU3aWPxhcsuY7EYOy9t1dnXX4kE6jx27J3iqj4R9gL31ofA/s1600/S_IMG_20140830_162615.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1p8mzRVzphTFibHFhTn1kICQFDPLBIlM46un24OXPOtId4sMA1eTA9i-s_Hu4-X3wqP3d1VmoNEj1PnleZyyQfvWhvdgqU3aWPxhcsuY7EYOy9t1dnXX4kE6jx27J3iqj4R9gL31ofA/s1600/S_IMG_20140830_162615.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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the view from the top</div>
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Despite my weak end to our visit, we loved Slovenia, and its natural
beauty, and felt refreshed after all the cities we'd been visiting to
get out into the countryside again.<br />
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Also, for all those hanging out for the other gem from our tourist book in Prague, which I forgot to post there, and is now kind of irrelevant, here it is anyway: "Aristocratic palaces lie across Hradcanske namesti (name of the street) like a pod of beached whales." Hahaha!!</div>
Анечкаhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12560839300413793709noreply@blogger.com1