Burton Dane Travels

Bionicake

2007-08-24T04:14:00.000-07:00

We made this video for our nephew and cousin Jacob. Ben did all of the animation and music, I did the editing and titles.

Making these videos has been a fun way to give something to people that we love. It feels like baking for them in way. We spend a few hours thinking about what they would like and how we can make them happy.

The Orkney Islands

2007-08-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

The Orkney Islands lie just miles off the Northern tip of Scotland (what others refer to as UK). Perhaps one of the last beads in the string of ancient history we have been creating for a year, and though difficult to get to it was a delight to attain.

Time restricted our visit to the main island but it was a rich trove that included rings of huge standing stones erected almost 5000 years ago, a prehistoric scottish village in pristine shape predating the pyramids, and a burial mound so old that vikings left graffiti inside it when they were bored. When viewed under a glowering sky (weather in Scotland is intensely moody) and surrounded by fields of heather, it is magical.

We had ambitions to see more of the island the next day but were lured to the seashore--some of us needed less luring than others--where we spent hours admiring the rocky coastline and dead gorgeous seaweeds, sand and waves. Back at our hotel, it seemed there would be ample time to sip whisky in the wood and leather pub after yet another sticky toffee pudding, alas, the hiking took its toll and we slept soundly with only Orkney ale in our bellies (Ben drank squash).

Northern Scotland Zen

2007-08-10T00:54:00.001-07:00

Train from Stirling rail station to Thurso to ferry to Orkney Island

Hadrian’s Wall

2007-08-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

When the Roman Empire decided the cost for expanding its economic control was too great, it built Hadrian’s wall, two moats, three rubble berms and lots of forts. From here they could watch Scotland’s tattooed, skirt-wearing Picts rant and when the “barbarians” got too close, Romans could trap them against the wall and slaughter them. They never killed the Scottish spirit though.

When the Empire was threatened at home, they withdrew from this area taking everyone and most things with them. They left the forts, walls and buildings made of rectangular rocks. For 1600 years, the locals have been using these to build homes, stables, walls and pubs.

Recently, the locals stopped building with the Roman rocks so that tourists can pay to see them in place. It makes for a lovely walk and nice museums. Not too much said about the Picts, perhaps we’ll hear more further north.

The rocks didn’t go to waste in the pubs, they’re lovely too.

Travel Tips
1) Wild Boar is farm raised, not hunted.
2) Hound is the proper name for “dogs”. A bitch is a female, a dog is a male. They don’t take kindly to people calling them all dogs.
3) Ale is food.
4) Use a Britrail pass to travel. It’s the only reasonably priced item we’ve found here.

2007-08-06T01:36:00.000-07:00

GIFT TIME!

Ok, to handle the problem of people getting and not getting gifts, I now start a giftlist. If you are under 15 and we know you,
please leave a comment saying that you want something. WARNING!:you may ask for something that you want, but we can't get everybody exactly what they want. ok, so just leave a comment.

-ben

Copyright 2000-2007 Neopets, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission

Dartington

2007-08-06T00:12:00.000-07:00

Another few planned days turned into a week with our friends in Dartington. They are building a cob house and we were able to help. This was a fantastic stay on many levels. We got to lay cob for a few days, went to some beaches, shared lots of great food and warm human kindness. Ben acquired an older sister and younger brother while Jules and I spent the nights in their ‘74 VW campervan.

Ben was feted for his upcoming birthday. This included a crown, cake, songs and 12 hoists into the air. We’ve scheduled three family stops on the way home. Three more chances for birthday parties.

Their house is mostly made from the mud in their yard mixed with straw. It’s stirred by a large digger machine which then lifts it up onto the walls. The builders then spread it and stamp it down to almost three feet wide. After it’s dried, it’s pared back to about two feet wide. Any cob mixture that falls off gets reused in the next batch.

The pictures show Jules stomping down cob, Ivor the digger man with his dogs and brewing up a batch of cob.

A Short Tale of Travels

2007-08-06T00:08:00.000-07:00

We left Lago di Garda to meet up again with Wolfgang and Astrid near Munich. We had a great week with them, enjoying the museums, drinking the beers and hiking a rock outcropping. The pinnacle was so steep, there were steel cables and metal bars fixed to the rock to keep you from pitching off the face.

Jules was at her adrenaline limit on this hike. Our great pictures were lost when our camera’s memory card died. Instead Ben and I collaborated on an image of her. We tried to capture her nonchalant fear.

From Munich we spent a few wet days in the Black Forest. Lovely waterfalls and picturesque wooded valleys. We replaced our lost camera charger and could start taking pictures again. The next were back in the dwarf Beech tree forest in Champagne.

We spent our last night on the continent in two hotel rooms in Calais. We booked the first with the help of the local tourist bureau. It featured splattered wall decor, cool water showers, bugs in the bed, junkies on the side street and a warning about parking the car where they get broken into (yes we have a garage, sorry it’s full).

The last straw came while using the nearest internet location. It was a bar with tightly clad young girls and a huge scar faced man. Cigarette smoke and whisky wrapped up in a deserted island theme. We couldn’t do the trip planning we needed to do there and we put Calais down as the worst city of the trip.

Jules got our money back and found us a nearby hotel with wireless in the room. Not charming but junkie-free.

We turned in our Kango the next morning, ferried across to Dover and headed through London out west to Devon....

2007-08-03T01:12:00.000-07:00

hullo,

we are in devon, E ngl and.

Lago Di Garda

2007-07-17T02:21:00.000-07:00

What does this picture look like to you?

How manifest that a _____-shaped lake (complete with _______) is the site of such testosterone-ridden sport as windsurfing, kiting, sailing, diving and paraflying. SEE PICTURE IF YOU DONT BELIEVE ME.

This um, lake, is surrounded by a remarkable mountain watershed that looks like something from an adventure movie and around its edges lie be-suited (and un-suited) bathing beauties.

There is an island near the narrowest part that claims to be land-mined although it is almost a swimmable distance from the shore here. We kayaked there to explore--but did not--and learned that well into the 20th century, the area was still held by the Austrian Empire. Interestingly, Mussolini centered his fascist social republic on the Western shore of Lago di Garda in 1943.

Mark: What I like about the lake’s shape is it allows winds to build in the morning, die in time for lunch and a nap, then build again in the afternoon.

I joined up with the kiters at Xkite to get a bunch of time on the water.

Although it quickly became second nature, I marveled at their methods. They take up to 40 kiters on a pontoon boat and launch them one at a time in the middle of the lake. The calls of “primo” (first) are worth the ride itself.

They have a few smaller boats to launch less than 10 kiters or skitter around relaunching and instructing. It makes for a great way to kite cause there are few hard things around, like land.

The view from the water is of steep cliffs on one side and steep, sloping broken faces covered in olive trees and firs on the other.

The photos show us after our funivia (cable car) ride to the top of Monte Baldo and before our walk down (hey, I’m bald on Baldo...ha, ha , ha, heard that one).

There’s also one of Ben and a friend in a boat at the beach by the campground.... another great visit.

Lecchi, Italy

2007-07-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

This part of Tuscany/Tuscano is the prettiest we’ve seen. Sharply rolling and folded hills covered with olive trees and vineyards. The wild parts are forested with oaks and cypress. The buildings are exposed stone, typically set on the ridges. The new ones share material and design with the old ones to match perfectly. The towns are small, the life bolstered by tourism but still authentic.

We joined my Aunt and Uncle to enjoy the beauty, foods and weather. Lynn and I took cooking lessons from Simone, the chef at a little restaurant called Malborghetto. He taught us how to make three four-course meals then, paired them with four wines.

These were great lessons. Simone’s cooking style relies on superior ingredients and simple preparations to make delicious and beautiful meals. He taught us all we need to know to duplicate these meals at home. We also learned about coffees, salt, knives, food safety, timing and life in Italy. I added an extra day of lessons, Marilynn is looking to add an extra month next year!

The meals culminated with Frank, Jules and Ben joining us to eat for 2+ hours in the garden patio. We all ate way too much while I drank way too much. This was on moral grounds, we didn’t want any of it to return to the kitchen.

Don's Birthday Video

2007-07-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

This illustrates one of my Dad's famous chess rules.

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa

Quite a day in Delfi

2007-06-26T02:04:00.000-07:00

Must mention the night before the day as it was spectacular and serendipitous: students--a choir from Philidelphia and an orchestra from Oakland--were performing in an ancient square we happened to be walking past and so caught these fine young people experimenting with performing together for the first time in their trip through Macedonia!
The next morning started out in a fairly crappy, but still vacation-y way with the worst breakfast thus far--even the egg white was barely edible. I must say that the Hotel Hermes had a drop dead view of the mountains and gorge of olive trees stretching all the way to the Gulf of Corinth though. Before too long we were crawling the ruin of ancient Delphi, looking for the oracle (crack in the crust that emits gases and fumes) that possessed ancient priestesses and made them babble in tongues understood only by a priest. Believe it or not this was a semi-regular sight in the Peloponnese during the time of the Temple of Apollo (7000-100 B.C).
The temple pictured here is a famous shrine to Athena that has nothing to do with the Oracle but often inexplicably appears in literature for the Temple of Apollo. Athena had a powerful cult here especially during the Peloponnesian wars and she regularly hurled rocks from the surrounding mountains at folks. Watch out for the sun glinting off Mark’s freshly shaven head--he made the right choice for the day though as temperatures pushed 122 F. Luckily, we could still keep from melting the way the ancients did, by cooling ourselves in water along the way. Sacred water that the Oracle used to bathe in before she babbled.
We were also able to spend time in the air-conditioned museum (not open ‘till noon!), craning our necks around the package tourists to view remarkably Asian-influenced sculpture and metal bits found in Delphi not carried away by the British, the French or the Italians. It was back to the car en-route to Patras after that with a refreshing respite along the way where we took a soak in the Gulf of Corinth and stuffed ourselves with fried fish and retsina for the last time before taking the ferry to Venice. There was even time for a nice cool showing (in English!) of Pirates of the Caribbean 3--which absolutely rocked in our opinion, despite what the American reviews are saying. Whew!

North Aegean Water

2007-06-22T03:38:00.000-07:00

After regrouping in Ayvalik, Turkey Jules and Ben insisted we all had to do a party boat trip. This had us island hopping to swim and explore while eating way too many fried sardines. This was accompanied by house music and exuberant college kids dancing and teaching us phishte, a card game.

Alacati, Turkey

2007-06-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

I love my travel mates but after 10 months together, every day and every night we all decided I should go somewhere without them. I planned to turn the day trip to Turkey into a three day coastal exploration. That all changed when I learned that Alacati, Turkey specialized in learning to windsurf and kiteboard. Plus it was on a beautiful peninsula and near a cute town.

I knew I was in for fun the first morning while waiting for breakfast in the outdoor bar/restaurant. I was lounging on stacks of oversized bean bags, listening to sheep bells, overlooking a pretty bay and an outdoor dance floor with a disco ball.

The Alacati beach is dominated by beginner and intermediate windsurfers. It’s flat water conditions with hip high water out almost a kilometer from the beach. There were Turks, Europeans and Australians. All either babbling from a great session high or sitting around surly waiting for wind.

The kiting beach was across the bay, keeping us dangerous traitors away from the pure people learning to windsurf. It was a bit of a scene with beginners knocking kites and macho locals showing off. This provided motivation to learn how to get and stay upwind.

Eight days later, I learned all of the skills needed to kite in most places. This has been an elusive goal of mine for two years. I had five windy days to have fun on the board and a few low wind days to sight see.

Back with my travelmates, we are ready to power on. Heading west to Greece.

Back to Turkey Meraba and Yassus!

2007-06-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

Imagine our delight to find we could easily get to yet another bazaar in Ayvalik, Turkey from Mytilini, Greece! The two countries share baklava, volcanos and a great deal of animosity but they are separated only about 12 miles of Aegean sea. The ferry lines hold the key to tourism through Greece and the Greece/Turkey line is especially controlling as the fare doubled during the week, ironically, for us to return for a joint Greek/Turk culture festival.
As the Greek flag waved on the boat, the boat departed a stunning two hours late (no explanations or expectations) and we amused ourselves by watching the port scene. A handsome tern wheeled, almost grazing my face, among the fishing boats dipping at mini fish playing in the warm, satiny water. This fell away as we sped toward Turkey and the Greek flag rolled closed while the larger Turkish flag spread open.
The festival was delightful and well-meaning and we met a fascinating Turkish illustrator, watched diverse Greek dances and 2 movies documenting the population swap between the two countries in 1922. Ben was able to play chess for hours with the local Turkish club and there were displays of Greek ceramics and handicraft. A surprise addition for us was the shadowplay puppetry--Turkish AND Greek--that we fell in love with in Athens but were not able to see. In the Fall, the event switches to Mytilini to host. No doubt the festival took a great deal of trouble on both sides to bring on and we thank them for the effort.
We had a full plate of things to do in Turkey. There are day excursions, swimming and boating along the islands of Turkey after which we were fed exhorbitant amounts of the best fried anchovies and salad--swimming over open ocean is not something Ben or I do lightly but we really had a great time. We went to Troy, legendary city of Homer and wars--apparently the WWI Gallipoli stand-off is considered by some to be the last Trojan War--then staggered back to Ayvalik in the wee hours.
On our return, after the ferry boat driver rolled away the Turkish flag and rolled out the Greek flag, we walked across a soapy welcome mat (Avian Flu) before landing again in Greece.

Lesvos

2007-06-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

Two weeks into our idyllic respite here on Lesvos, we were jarred by reality. GHW Bush and his Kennebunkport entourage emerged from a huge ship and waddled down the strip.

There’s a nice picture of the house that changed a two day stop into a three week stay. More later when we have the energy......TWO WEEKS OF ENERGY LATER... Skala Eressou (and a plumper Christina, the cat) stay among our favorite places (and cats) during this long trip, maybe we are just ready for roots. We spent long periods lounging at Breez Bar with cherry juice and “gin and toxin”s and enjoying thin pizzas from the place next door (whose Greek name I could not spell or pronounce). I (Jules) am pathetic as this place was one of the few places we noted on our journey making attempts to deal with the stray cat and dog issue that ravages everywhere, but they offered me a chance to throw money at the problem, so I did.

Sappho Travel did everything possible for us, including locating our rental on Vigla and accepting delivery of our mail AND they had the only automatic bank teller in miles and miles (once when the machine was down they loaned cash out until it was fixed!).
Hiking with Patricia was a delight as she shared Eresou’s past, present and pirates for hours hiking through oaks, olives and pines with us. Fist-size acorns are scavenged by red squirrels as goats and sheep clink by the dusty roads. Her husband, Thanasis works neolithic shapes from sheet metal and is an expert at creating coin replicas from all over Greece and he was gracious enough to share his processes and studio.

The pictures also show us in front of a petrified tree trunk. There's a great museum highlighting the petrified wood from the area. Much of it winds up as rounded beach rocks, but you're not supposed to take any with you.

Mark: My brother came to visit for 10 days. It was a great time to catch up on each other's lives. I'm also hoping I can be as buff as him when I get older!

Athens

2007-05-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

The downside to traveling to the lesser traveled islands is they are tougher to get to. We had to pass back through Athens to get to Lesvos. This time we spent two days walking the Acropolis and shopping.

There were 8 cruise ships in the harbor and 80,000 people coming in for the football championship. We got to tour and shop with many of them. But Athens can handle a lot of people so it wasn’t too bad.

The photos show a tourist train that winds around the old town, providing access to all of the souvenir shops and souvlaki restaurants.

We don’t know if there’s symbology in the graffiti or if it’s just fun to look at.
Two quick days, a new camera, some fun puppets and we’re on the overnight ferry to Lesvos.

More Milos

2007-05-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

We’re leaving Milos on the Highspeeed ferry to Athen’s port of Piraeus. It’s raining heavily but the winds have died down. The picture shows what the sea looked like when we decided to postpone our departure. Our ferry rides have been too enjoyable to ruin them with an avoidable gut wrenching passage.

There was a lot to like about Milos. Low key tourism on an island of great beaches, rock formations, interesting villages and friendly people. There was more to see and do then we got around to. I guess our time went into laying around and swimming. And jumping off of rocks. That’s why there are so many bubbles in the water behind me. It has nothing to do with the fava beans we’ve been enjoying.

On to Athens for a few days before heading to Lesvos. We’re hoping to avoid the impact of the upcoming national football final. It’s between Britain and Italy. The Greeks have a plan to make the Brits travel from the airport by train while they Italians travel by bus, They’ll wear color coded bracelets to match the color coded signage. There will be undercover police traveling with them to identify the trouble makers. All so much better than the historic national fights that ended in rape, pillage, slavery and genocide. Long live the EU!

Milos

2007-05-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

We came to Milos hoping for a beautiful island shared with fewer tourists. It’s here. So are extraordinary beaches, sulphur hot springs and great geology.

The island was created by volcanic action and the extinct caldera forms a bay that must be 10 km across. It left behind pumice, volcanic flows and minerals, easily visible since the vegetation is sparse. Jules is covering the horizontal surfaces of our flat with colorful rock samples.

One of the stand out beaches is Paleohori. We were drawn to it by the beautiful red and yellow cliffs and its long stretch of sand. We parked by a taverna who’s sign read “Volcanic Food”. Oh good, I like spicy food.

When we hit the beach there was a closed metal box on the sand that we took for a solar oven. Our barefoot stroll across the sand turned into a hot foot run. After great swimming and more foot burning, we finally realized that the beach’s heat was not coming from the sun but was rising up from the earth. It got hotter the deeper we dug in the sand. We couldn’t even get down a foot before it burned our hands.

The volcanic food wasn’t spicy, it was cooked by geothermal heat in the metal box! To control the temperature they just shoveled the sand around. There must be ancient explanations for this phenomenon involving angry gods and underground monsters. And there’s no need to look for clues of fiction in this blog. It’s really true.

The same monsters (or whatever the cause) are releasing heated, sulphur rich water in the surf. These show as yellow-orange patches on the seabed. The water is nicely warmed around these spots. There aren’t bubbles, just warm water.

Another surreal sight during our visit has been the submarine that appeared and has been floating in the bay. We’ve been assured that the island has not been reclaimed by the Turks. Too bad, I found a Turkish lira stash in my backpack was hoping to spend it.

Milos is the Milo in the Louvre’s “Venus de Milo”. There it’s promoted as one of the top three pieces to see (along with The Nike and The Mona Lisa). A farmer found it here in the 1820’s, complete with arms. Seems the French ambassador to Istanbul (or Constantinople as it’s known here) took a liking to it and forced it to be “sold”. The French King gifted it to the Louvre. The arms seemed to have been lost in transit to France.

The Greeks have been trying to reclaim it to no avail. Instead, the French made a replica for them from the original. It’s here in the Archaeological museum. It’s known as the “Venus de Mea Culpa”.

The focus on our camera is on its last legs. Many of our pictures are coming out blurry. We should be in Athens this weekend and I expect to get a new one. Then it’s on to Lesvos (we think).

Crete

2007-05-15T11:11:00.000-07:00

Crete is about 5 hours long by 2 hours wide in a car. Much of the easily accessible coast is fully developed for a July/August tourist season. In May it’s a light mixture of tourists midst the construction and clean up.

We stayed outside of Chania, a beautiful medieval city of restaurants, jewelry and clothing shops, hotels and ice cream cafes. Our studio in the Ammos Hotel had a patio by the pool, which was by the lounge chairs on the beach. We met our basic needs with the kitchenette and internet in the room. It was here that we truly started the island phase of our trip. May it go on much longer than planned.

The highlight of our week was the daylong hike down the Samarian Gorge. This loop trip was a daybreak bus ride to the head of the gorge, the 16 km hike, a boat ride to a village and another bus ride back to our start point. It was all public transportation but mostly used by hiking tourists. This eclectic group included some Greek men that insisted on booming out “romero”. Maybe that means “spectacular” or “beautiful” or “I should have worn better shoes”. I bet it was cathartic given it’s repetition and volume.

We also thought the gorge was “romero”. No sightings of the endangered Kiri Kiri goat but we did find some cool plants. The maroon, lilly looking plant contained a putrid smelling liquid inside the flower. This attracted flies which appeared to pollinate the seeds hidden down there. A few of these flowers could make an area smell like a rotting dolphin (you’ll have to return later for that story).

We made it through the gorge safely, then Jules broke her toe by stubbing it on a chair in our room. This mostly healed after a few more days of beach time. I should have taken a picture. It looked like a little eggplant.

The other highlight was the Limnopoulis Water Park. Huge slides and winding tracks that you could ride down on rubber tubes. All with a loose notion of safety by US standards.

We allowed our cynical side to take over at the Knosis ruins. This is an important Minoan site that was uncovered and reconstructed under the directions of a Brit named Don Evans. Out of at least five successive cities on the same site, he partially rebuilt one of them. To the extent of recreating complete rooms with frescoes and wooden pillars in vivid colors. To us, it came off a little bit too much like “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

We left Crete on an evening ferry to Milos. We used a different ferry company than the one Ben praised in his post. I think that's why he didn't want his picture taken. This trip included a stop at Santorini but it was dark and barely visible. Kind of like peering through the windows of the Louvre.

We’ve now spent five days on Milos, a beautiful island. Our camera is failing so we’re missing some great pictures. Hopefully, we’ll get a new one soon in Athens.

Mark
+30 6939 099411
skype: markdane

ANEK ferry lines

2007-05-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

If you are going to Greece or traveling in Greece use ANEK lines to go there.
“how I love thou ANEK, shall I count the ways,”
PROS
1) ANEK lines have satellite internet terminal.
2) For an iffy $500 you can get a 3 person room, a spot in the garage for your car, and a room with a window . (these prices are for the 24 hour ride , the 1-9 hour ones are much cheaper.)
3) there are about 5 restaurants.

CONS
1) People are allowed to sleep in the halls if they didn't buy a cabin. It reminded me of alot of bums.

-ben dane

"Copyright 2003 Neopets, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission"

Corfu Veggies

2007-05-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Corfu Town was lovely with good food, neat old forts and a labyrinth old town. There was lots to see and do on the island but we had a Sunday, followed by a rainy day followed by a holiday. We stayed in town and left the rest of the island for another time.

I liked these veggie pictures because they were different then what I normally see. The squash blossoms reminded me of Jules’s cheese filled, fried blossoms. I assume the roots were left on the lettuce to show it was handpicked. The beans had justed been stacked, and I like the handmade sign.

Ferry to Corfu

2007-05-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

We did a long drive on Saturday from the lakes in the middle of Croatia through Slovenia to Trieste, Italy. We were hoping for an overnight ferry to Corfu, Greece. When we got to Trieste, the men at the ferry dock told us to drive to Venice and take the ferry from there. They made distasteful faces about their ferry having to stop in Albania. We thought if they didn’t think we should take their ferry, we really should listen.

We figured we could race to Venice before the sun went down and if the ferry was gone, we’d get to enjoy some time in Venice. On a Saturday night. On a holiday weekend. We suspected rooms would be tight and envisioned having to splurge for a 4 star room. Something over the top with a really nice bathroom. Or we could make do with a noisy hostel if we had to.

We found the hotel we had stayed at on our last visit but they were full. At the next stop they told us Venice was very full and they had just called three other hotels trying to help out some other travelers. As we left, he said “every room can’t be taken. Just walk around”.

We walked many of the neighborhoods, canals and bridges. Afterwards we realized we had searched for four hours. Venice was lovely but full.

After midnight we went back to our car and drove back to the mainland. We set the GPS for the Holiday Inn we had seen five hours before on the way in. They had a room and we stumbled in and slept for 5 hours. For some reason they charged us 125 euros instead of the max rate of 265 euros. Jules didn’t use any of my negotiating skills and she got a better than 50% discount on a night when all rooms were booked. Hmmm...

It all ended well with us drinking tea and coffee in the morning while holding cabin tickets for the Corfu-bound ferry.

Central European Water

2007-04-30T23:44:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have had a definite water theme. We started with a water park in Krakow. This indoor pool had seven serious slides, four of them started on the third floor, went outside then came back in. They included a black tube with worm-hole style lighting and two pitch black “racers”. Lots of active fun.

The next time we “swam” was in an outdoor bath in Budapest. We took the waters with hundreds of others. This mostly involves standing amongst people who should wear bigger bathing suits. The building was huge, old and beautiful. Inside were steam rooms and smaller mineral pools. We didn’t take pictures of either of these.
We next hit Rab Island on the northern Croatian coast. The pictures show the roofs of the medieval town center and of course Ben in the sand. It looks like we caught up with summer again.

After the beach, we went inland to the Plitvicka Lakes. This place is good enough to plan a trip around (though I’d throw in Krakow and a few others). A dozen or so lakes cascade down through a gorge. They are damed by travertine covered in plants and moss. The water comes over the dams in curtains, drizzles, stair-step cascades, inside tubes, chutes and pulsing squirts.

The Croatians have built raised wooden pathways that follow the contours without disturbing them. There are no developments on the lake shore. It’s all nicely done.
The pictures include one of our submissions for the Oregonian’s Travel section. We have a few others in case this one doesn’t make it.

Budapest

2007-04-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

Ben and I spent 6 days in Budapest (Jules was in Romania for most of the time), eating goulash and ice cream, drinking good beer and learning more about humanity’s finest moments.

The aptly named Terror Museum shows the brief reign of the German and Hungarian Nazi parties and the 40 year reign of Communism. The Nazis killed Jews and other unwanteds through disastrous labor and extermination camps. The communists turned he people on themselves. In the name of self-preservation, they turned in their friends, neighbors and family members. One “hero” was a little boy who turned in his father. Others were told to emulate him.

Communism is referred to as a “coup” that was defeated by a revolution in ‘89. The Russians used tanks to quell revolutions in the 50’s. They removed benevolent leaders and installed ruthless ones to keep control.

Once they left, their statues were removed. Many are in a statue park that makes them look silly. Their remaining war memorials have been modified to remove the names of their dead. I can see they are getting mad about this now in Estonia.

Current day Hungary is pretty, friendly and vibrant. We had a fine time.....

Transylvania, bwooa-ha-ha-ha

2007-04-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

Dracula’s Dream is a multi layered concoction served in Vlad Tepe’s boyhood home in Sighisoara, Romania--I swear it sort of throbs, like a heart.

Drac Gula (son of Drac, the Dragon), prince of nearby Wallachia, famous for impaling Turks to repel the Ottoman Empire, and is, inexplicably, the poster-boy for Bram Stoker’s vampire character. Sadistic qualities aside, he is not remembered for bloodsucking. In Transylvania and most of Romania and Hungary, he is considered a national hero for his leadership qualities.

Those of you who know me also know that I had to see this for myself, so a ten-hour train ride later, I found myself wandering the cobblestones of this UNESCO World Heritage site. The fortified citadel contains wonders like a 16th century walkway and a 14th century church with a 12th century crypt, not to mention the totally creepy graveyard next door. The clocktower is dated 1099 and it has a real torture chamber in the dungeon and a display of medieval dentistry instruments in its remarkably well-kept museum. Horses still pull wooden wagons full of people along the roads in Sighisoara next to more modern vehicles, and you can still sample palinche (fortified brandy) from plastic soda bottles while you watch owls and bats wheel through the sky.

Caves, Mines, Lairs and Liars

2007-04-18T01:25:00.000-07:00

We’ve recently taken a lot of underground pictures. Not sure why. The weather and architecture have been great. But these are what wind up in the camera.

Unlike our April Fool’s posting, these are all true. Really. From here on out all blogs will be true. No more stolen vans or turning off gravity. All images will come directly from the camera (with just a brief pause in PhotoShop).

If there are any postings that aren’t true, they will be labeled. Or obviously untrue. Like singing statues. Or ancient civilizations with advanced knowledge of mathematics.

Whew... I feel better.

The first image is of stalagmites in a cave in the Eastern Czech Republic. We got there by typing the name into the GPS unit and following the directions. It’s a real test of faith in technology because the road signs don’t mention the caves till you’re right there. We couldn’t even pronounce the name of it if we had been asked. There aren’t enough vowels.

We just went driving along between fields, down unpaved roads and through the centers of small villages till we got there. Inside, we walked through rooms and passage ways accompanied by a guide speaking non-stop Czech. Every now and then she’d turn on some music or turn off the lights.

She took us to dock where a long electric boat carried us the rest of the way. Our first navigable underground river. Really. She said we couldn’t take pictures cause of safety reasons.

The next two images are in an abandoned salt mine in Krakow, Poland. Almost everything in the place was carved out of salt. Even the chandelier crystals, statues and floor tiling. Ben licked the walls and confirmed they were salty. We were assured it was a bacteria free environment. Talk about a hoax!

The last image is of a dragon, a symbol of Krakow. We walked through it’s underground “lair” below the Wawhel castle. It was a believable lair.

Before Krakow, we visited Auschwitz. We were stunned by the mounds of human hair, suitcases, shoes and brushes. This is were the SS carried out the processes they developed in Dachau. In Auschwitz and down the street in Birkenau, they murdered 3 million people. We left much of it unseen. It was too much sadness, pain and confusion. Humanity at it’s worst. But not out of character.

Clocks and Whips

2007-04-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

We’re seeing a lot of public clocks of unusual design. The Hebrew one runs counterclockwise, presumably since Hebrew is read right to left. The other is an astronomical clock showing planet positions, a sky map and death (skeleton) with its non-stop hour glass. There's also an astronomical clock made during communist times. It features industrial workers and farmers as the characters.

Here in Olomouc in Eastern Czech Republic we are having a few recuperating days over the Easter holiday. The Czech’s are celebrating with what must be a pagan rite. The males look for females to slap on the behinds with their decorated willow sticks. The women are then supposed to give them an egg (or perhaps the egg forestalls the beating). In any case, there were many more males visible than females. We only saw one “attack”.

Czech Republic

2007-04-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

We flew from Turkey to Zurich so we could drive to Eastern Europe. Not the most direct route but one that allowed us to fly into a non-EU country and still pick up a long term rental car. Our plans matched those of Catherine and Jessie so we got to spend some time together traveling across Germany to Plzen in the Czech Republic.

When we arrived in Plzen it was dark and deserted. We rented a flat that must have been outfitted for party bosses. It had huge rooms, high ceilings and little furniture. Surreal and disquieting. It felt like they still had the eavesdropping tape recorders hooked up.

The morning brought sunshine, and showed Plzen to be a vibrant city. We toured the town and later the Pilsen Urquell brewery. They still brew a few batches according to their original 150 year old process. The brew-master uses this beer to ensure the taste from the high-volume process is correct. We tasted this special brew, drawn unfiltered from the old time barrels. Ben looks happy with the taste, but in fact thought it was too bitter and cloudy.

The following three days we ran around Prague with Jenny and Debbie. It’s a beautiful city. Well preserved and seemingly comfortable hosting a lot of tourists. Among the castles and synagogues we also visited the Museum of Kommunism. It showed the repression and paranoia that the people endured from WWII until 1989. Another dismal period in humanity’s past.

Communism came on the heals of Nazi repression, round ups and exterminations. Hitler left several Prague synagogues and Jewish landmarks intact with the intention of displaying them as the remnants of an extinct people. The Pinkas synagogue’s walls had the names of those exterminated from this region. It was relentless. We plan to visit Auschwitz in Poland and I expect it to be horrific.

Mark
+420774271538

Izntrh

2007-04-01T02:24:00.000-07:00

We can only show you fuzzy pictures of this place since they were taken with a Soviet era camera.

We visited the site where the USSR used to train their cosmonauts for the weightlessness of space. In addition to a huge water pool, there’s a tunnel down deep in a huge iron ore deposit.

The ore is heavily magnetized and the tunnel is bored horizontally through its center. When they close massive iron doors, it almost perfectly counteracts the forces of gravity!

We stored all of our metal objects at the entrance above ground, then took an elevator down 2 kms to the tunnel. There we put on heavily padded clothes, gloves, boots and helmets till weightlessness was the last thing from our minds.

As soon as they closed the doors, we started floating! The slightest push and you went from one side to another. It was outrageous! It reminded me of scuba diving except you could breathe (and there weren’t any fish). We flew around for about 15 minutes before they opened the doors and gravity returned. This was by far our most unbelievable experience of the trip.

If you ever have a chance to visit Izntrh, don’t be foolish enough to miss it.

Istanbul

2007-03-29T22:34:00.000-07:00

We’re spending a week here in Istanbul at the Metropolis Hostel at the tip of a peninsula. It’s easy walking around to the mosques, museums, the Grand Bazaar, restaurants and the ferry dock.

The first picture shows an underground Roman cistern. This was recently discovered and restored. They did a pretty nice job of lighting it. There’s even a nice cafe for tea.

They sell pretzels for cheap on the streets. Along with lots of other goodies like baklava, lookum (Turkish Delight) and yogurt with honey.

Turkey and the city of Istanbul are in Europe and Asia. We took a ferry up the Bosphorus bouncing between both continents. That’s Europe off of Ben’s shoulder while my head blocks Asia.

Ben enjoys Turkish keyfit on the roof of the Metropolis Hostel, overlooking the Sea of Marmaris.

Authentic Trojan Horse reproduction in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum show cases the bickering between Anatolia and Greece eight centuries before Jesus Christ.

Whirling Dervishes

2007-03-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

We saw this Sema ceremony in Istanbul.

Efes Ruins

2007-03-25T09:53:00.001-07:00

Our last stop before Istanbul was Selcuk and the ruins of the city Efes. Efes was a major Ionian city and a source of much of the classical world’s great thoughts. It includes streets, houses, temples, baths, public toilets, pleasure buildings, markets and a theater. It changed nationhood several times but seems to have impacted the conquerers as much as they impacted the city

We toured Efes in some pretty strong winds with Gundoz a local guide. We had to duck behind ruins to avoid the dust clouds and avoid downwind of Gundoz to dodge his spittle. He explained the inspiration and background of the architectural styles and symbols.

A recurring image was a spoked circle surreptitiously carved by Christians. This symbol had layers of meaning that used the latin word for fish as an acronym to proclaim that Christ was God’s son and he died for human’s sins. We also saw a hastily carved menorah in the library steps. It looks like religion is a founding source of graffiti.

The simple white statue piece is a Roman’s foot on a sphere. Gundoz explained that this showed the Romans knew the world was round (and that they controlled it). I bet they thought is was older than 5000 years too.

THE CALCIFICATION VACATION

2007-03-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

hello, nice of you to stop and read this blog, THIS ONE IS BY BEN!!!! Thank you.

so, you are wondering probably why I named this blog entry “THE CALCIFICATION VACATION”, we are currently in Hieropols , and not too far away are the travertine pools, a vast place of wonder once occupied by romans, and as usual they left there ruins. Look at some of our pictures , imagine what its like . Now a imagine that all the natural pools of pure white water are clogged by a mass of speedo donning, sunburnt, 60 to 70 year old mainly american and british tourists, all wearing sunglasses. Yes, I too let out a scream of horror. Luckily , this Hichcock-like scenario was the demon of a few years ago. When we went most of it had signs saying that you can only WALK here,without shoes. Ahh it was great. after our second day we went to a ancient roman bath, which was amazing.

Look at the photos of my and mom in that pool. That was the roman bath, it was a hot spring with chunks of old roman tooled stone architecture. Although there was the occasional piece of floating algae, there was also a kind of algae underwater that felt like VERY slippery wet plush carpet. It was also a natural history lesson, If you look closely at the pics of the pure white of the travertine pools, you can see a strange pattern, this is caused by archae bacteria, and it is a great way to see something amazing (the pure water ) and something amazing (the strange shape of the bacteria colonizing we loved it.

read the blog more often, its good for your health-ben dane

Hodja

2007-03-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

Whirling from Today to 7000 bc

2007-03-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

Konya is ground zero for the fascinating belief of Sema, or whirling. Disciples are called Dervishes and they believe since so many things in our world revolve, so should they. The leader of this sect, Mevlana, would describe his beliefs in poetry couplets while entranced in Sema. We were able to wander through the now museum (former headquarters) to see not only his sarcophagus but leaf skeletons inscribed with golden characters, and The April Bowl (collected spring rainfall is believed sacred).

We took a taxi to the ancient city of Catal Hoyuk, that dates to around 7000 bc and were delighted by the construction of the homes. There were no front doors, the entrance was on the flat roof and accessed by ladders. People and animals roamed there, popping in and out of doors in the roof. They believed in being close to their ancestors too and kept them close by planting their bones in the floors of their dwellings, sometimes underneath the dining table. We wandered in this active archaeological dig with the best audio guides thus far, alone through 3000 years of human history.

Thought that was enough? I did too but we decided to take a bus to a restaurant in Sille (yup, pronounced silly) for dinner. Buses in Konya are an adventure so after seemingly missing bikers and cars along a dark, windy road the restaurant appeared and we got off, really wondering if this was a huge mistake. The place came to life when we walked in and soon was feeding other diners delights unfamiliar but wonderful. The staff even walked us to the “bus stop” we would have never found on our own! On board the bus, a quiet ride back and the bus driver, like many on our trip, noticed Ben and gave him a gift of his prayer beads.

Wow, what a day.

A few times a day an adult cups Ben’s chin, squeezes his cheeks and murmurs some adoring words. It’s very cute and he endures it well. We think he’s part of the reason we get such a warm welcome here.

Ali, the proprietor at the Otel Ulusan in Konya, spent a couple of hours planning our trip with us. It was fun to hear his stories and plan to make some new ones of our own. He also helped arrange a taxi to Catal Hoyuk and had free Wi Fi in the otel. Another good stay.
So now we’re on a five hour bus drive to Antalya, a seaside town near Olympos. We’re passing through some dry, snow covered mountains. Small, fertile fields near a stream have been recently planted. The rock is green, making us wonder if they are the source of some of the original copper smelted. The locals are using a mix of medium sized tractors and donkeys to work the fields.
We’ve now surprisingly transferred to a local bus to take us the last 75 km to Antalya. We’re in a new climate with palm trees, broad plateaus and wide, slow rivers. It’s much warmer and we’re down to shirts. Maybe we’ve seen the last of winter.

Cirali

2007-03-17T02:24:00.000-07:00

Cirali is situated in a small, serene space separating a stony beach and gray, cut cliffs. The development is limited to small, two story buildings surrounded by orchards and gardens.

Most of the 50 or so pensions are starting their restoration work to open for the season. We are at the Azur Hotel, one of the few open year round. This area is popular with German tourists in season. Now we are accompanied by two dogs, a cat and some chickens.

A little south of us are the ancient ruins of Olympos and a backpacker shanty town near it. At the ruins we wandered through thick growth over ancient walls and canals. We went through domed rooms and past small shelters for cremated remains. There are tooled stones and mosaic floor pieces laying around. This was a chance to fulfill another lifelong desire to be in an unrestored ancient city.

Last night we hiked to the Chimera. These are a dozen or so places where gas escapes from a mountain side and feeds flames. At night, the flames cause a glow that can be seen from miles away, even out at sea. Up close, they are like eternal campfires. It was a moonless night with no people around. It’s not hard to understand these as a source of worship and myths.

Goreme

2007-03-10T22:47:00.000-08:00

We continued touring the sites here in Cappadocia where people lived inside the rocks, underground and amongst the aliens.

There may be 100 underground cities in this area, possibly linked by long tunnels. These were siege holdouts that the civilians used for months at a time. Possibly up to 30,000 people in some of them. The cities extend six stories below the surface with all you need to outlast your attackers. Stables for animals, kitchens, baths, meeting rooms, sleeping rooms, food storage even wineries. Ben is shown 4 levels down, sitting on a rock used for food preparation.

Our tour also included some requisite tourist “opportunities”. Ben rode this camel (and stayed dry). He got to play on a potters wheel and Jules got to run from a sales guy. They reviewed the documentation on alien encounters while I got a haircut and shave. I’m not sure who saw the weirdest stuff during that one.

Mark
+90 539 424 2674

Ihlara Canyon

2007-03-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

Today we joined a tour group to see some of the sites around Cappadocia. We’ve seen a lot of tours come and go during our travels. Usually happy to see them go. I’ve been shouldered aside, stood in front of and corralled. A few weeks ago I started to bait them. You just stand right in front of the next famous painting. Act like you are so engrossed in the artist’s message and technique that you don’t notice the thirty people staring at the back of your head. OK, perhaps you’d call that passive aggressive..... I don’t know.

Yesterday we watched a Chinese tour file one-by-one out of a tiny stone doorway for minutes. It looked like a variation on a clown car.

Our tour got off to a weird start when one of the Americans asked pointed questions about the Kurds. Turkey has a few tough geo-political problems and this is one of them. They also aren’t too happy about the mess Americans are making next door in Iraq and threatening to do in Iran (another neighbor). But on to the tour

We hiked through the Ihlara Canyon for about 7 km next to a stream and past many 8th to 13th century cave dwellings and churches. These are carved out of the live volcanic tuffa rock. We saw hundreds and hundreds of these. Some as high as 100 feet off the ground.

The frescoes included Egyptian influenced images that predated the Byzantine ones. The most developed one was a monastery that housed up to 10,000 people at one time.

We ended the trip in the Church of Guzelyurt. This was built around 360 for Saint Gregory. This is the oldest Christian church we’ve been in. It’s now an active mosque and this was the first time Ben and I have ever been in one (2nd time for Jules). No pictures were allowed.

Mark

Goreme Turkey

2007-03-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

We just weren’t ready for what we saw here in Goreme. In the 10th to 12th centuries, the Christians lived in this valley. They actually lived IN the valley. Inside the volcanic tuff rocks! We don’t know much about it yet but will spend the next few days learning.

The pictures show some of the homes and churches we saw. These were in a valley called the Open Air Museum. Most had frescoes inside. The great stone table with benches that Jules and Ben are seated at is a common feature. I want one in our house!

Our trepidation about traveling in Turkey is quickly fading into the friendly, unhurried reception we’re getting. We are trying to learn some phrases but they escape us the minute we stop repeating them. Hopefully, we’ll keep a few soon.

We ate a huge hot pita with some great meat and vegetable kebabs. More to come....

Amsterdam is a trip

2007-03-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

I didn’t think we could leave Paris for anywhere I would like as much but (again) I was wrong. We stayed at Mae’s B&B, you should do this too! (www.bedandbreakfastamsterdam.com) We felt immediately comfortable--comfortable enough to act pretty immature if you know what I mean. Larry King and mushrooms are a disturbing combination.

This is Ben ripping the streets of Herenstraat and all of us at the Hortus Botanicus butterfly reserve and remarkable garden arboretum. This is the home of the 300 year-old cycad and seed bank for all that palm oil now taking over Sumatra and penninsular Malaysia. If you look closely at the coffeeshop picture you can see someone having a toke of legal drugs, Amsterdam is visual enough without stimulation...

Jules

We turned our van back in to BW Campers. It was sad to see it go. Camping was a great way to move when we wanted to without reservations. And the van fit us well. The guys at BW Campers were great. I'd recommend them to anyone looking to rent a camper.

We fly to Goreme, Turkey today. We plan to be in Turkey for a month. Hopefully we'll shed our heavy clothing when we hit the coast there.

Mark

Paris 4th Week

2007-03-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

We got to spend a great time with Feliza during our last week in Paris. We saw some more museums, cafes, restaurants, the Paris Catacombes and neighborhoods.

These pictures are from the Louvre, Pont Neuf over the Seine, and the Maubert market. Doesn't that fishwife look cute. Remember, these are the women who bolstered the revolution with their long, sharp knives. The creepy monotone image is a nightshot of Ben in the Catacombes that turned out even creepier than I thought it might.

Parisian Mysteries

2007-02-25T09:47:00.000-08:00

Here are three mysterious pictures. What are these men doing? What is that big wooden ball behind Jules and Ben. Why is there a tower of bunnies?

Answers:
These men are running a scam in the flea market. One is playing a version of three card monty while the other three appear to be winning and losing money. They each have a character to play. There’s a rube, a friendly guy, a serious guy. They are “betting” 20 to 50 euros while they congratulate and console each other. Eventually, they attract tourists who see how easy it is to pick the right card. If the tourist is reluctant, they’ll offer them money to bet with.

Of course the pay off is when the tourist reaches for their wallet. I saw one young girl quickly lose 20 euros. I wanted to warn her but figured I couldn’t handle the repercussions.

If you look closely you can see one of the guy spotting me taking the picture. He quickly came over and told me “no pictures”. We left....

The ball is a cleaning ball they use in the sewers. Over time, the sewers fill with a “hybrid mixture” and “sand”. They insert balls that are slightly smaller than the sewers. The water flows around the ball in a high pressure flow sort of like putting your thumb on a running hose. This squirts the solids forward into a clean out bin.
We learned all about this and the dredging boats they use to keep it all moving under the streets of Paris.

The bunnies were for sale and probably just cold. We think they are sold as pets, not for food or coat trimmings.

Judean Kings

2007-02-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

Before the French Revolution, Notre Dame was ringed with statues of ancient Judean Kings. While ridding themselves of symbols of their royalty, the revolutionaries mistakenly cast these statues off of the walls.

Someone gathered the heads and buried them in the yard of a house under construction. They were recently discovered and put on display in the Musee du Moyen Age...... (where they sing their tale)

Paris ENCORE

2007-02-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

I love Paris in the Springtime, I love Paris in the Fall, I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles...have yet to be here in Summer though.
It is our good fortune to be in town for an exhibition of Herge, creator of Tin Tin stories! The Pompidieu Center provided this show for free, guess there really is no question you won’t be buying a Tin Tin or two before you depart. We also enjoyed the contemporary art collection in the upper floor that was recently remodeled in chronological order of art movements. An excellent way to spend a homeschool day (poor Ben)!
Am I the last to realize that looking towards the Arc de Triomphe (de l’Etoile) from the Louvre Museum, you can see a straight line (called the Triumphal Way) of big-deal Paris sites? Makes sense in the light that this museum was once the royal residence, before the French Revolution. Now, a modern-looking glass pyramid designed by IM Pei, sits in the courtyard and looking West, framed by another arch with pink columns built by Napoleon Bonaparte, you see the Tuileries gardens; a 3300 year-old egyptian obelisk; and Place De La Concorde, where the king and queen of France met “La Guillotine”.
There is a museum fashioned from famous scientist Pasteur’s lab that turned out rather more interesting than we had thought it would. Original glassware and collections of medals (there is not much Pasteur missed) in addition to his body--entombed in the basement along with extensive mosaics and marble work. This is a shot of the mad dogs he faced researching the rabies vaccine.
For those out there feeling poor Ben is constantly beseiged not only by parents and museums, here is another data point for you: He was driven out of a french playground by a pack of ravenous toddlers bent on destruction of his sand creations but it didn’t kill his appetite for delightful escargots!

Paris Images

2007-02-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

Some free standing "treehouses", the Pompidou reflection, La Defenseur du Temps and nice blue bowler.

Pere Lachaise

2007-02-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

We were greeted by rain, wind and a menacing raven in Pere Lachaise, Paris’s hillside cemetery. Many outstanding family burial houses in a city-like setting.

We passed a large group of rockers no doubt heading for Jim Morrison’s grave. It had a guard nearby.

Found out that it’s a ritual to kiss Oscar Wilde’s monument. And that rubbing the seemingly well-endowed Victor Noir gives fertility power.

La Tour Eiffel

2007-02-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

Lots of steps up then you have to take a glass elevator. Packed like bloaters (sardines). Watching the grid work around you come closer and closer till it seems like the tower is too narrow to hold more than an antenna.

We expected the door to open onto a narrow catwalk much too high above Paris. Luckily, you step out into an enclosed walkway before climbing up one level to get blasted by the wind.

They say it only sways a few inches at the top. That may be but, but you sure can feel it move.

Reims

2007-02-09T23:18:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a couple of cold, clear days in Reims, the largest city in the Champagne region. The Notre Dame church had some of the best stained glass windows we’ve seen. The pictures show two that are different from the others.

Marc Chagal worked with a local stained glass artist to create the windows in one of the chapels. I love the abstracted colored light coming through these windows. They tell stories without being too precise.

I don’t know the artist for the other window. It used the lead lines to create motion and divide up space. I don’t know if there is imagery there or not. I just found it appealing.

We also had to stock up on some of the region’s products. Turns out the French drink 80% of the champagne they make. Only a few big companies export. We sampled the ones that don’t and they’ve been delicious.

We stood in the War Room where Eisenhower planned the last few months of WWII. The maps and battlefield status charts are all still on the walls. I found it amazing to see how they displayed the information they worked from. Wall size maps with little movable pads. Six foot charts showing troop and soldier readiness. Lots of space dedicated to food logistics. One of the most important planning rooms of the last century and it’s just markers and oversized charts!

This was also the room where the Germans negotiated and signed the surrender papers. Eisenhower wasn’t in the room because there was no German of equal rank available. The Russians insisted on repeating the signing the next day in Berlin. I guess the Cold War started in this room as well.

Dachau Concentration Camp

2007-02-07T00:59:00.000-08:00

The entrance is through the original gatehouse with an iron gate that cynically says “work sets you free”.

Cold drizzle and quiet matched the sadness of this place. The only vivid color was of the crematorium brick, gas room tile and the triangles used to identify the class of prisoner (yellow for jews, pink for gays, etc.).

Dachau was the “pilot” camp for the rest of the camp system. They figured out processes and procedures here, trained on them, then used them elsewhere.

The museum included the overall story and individual accounts of victims and perpetrators. It’s devastating.

It was terribly sad

Muenchen

2007-02-06T10:16:00.000-08:00

We had a great time catching up with our friends Astrid and Wolfgang at their home outside Munich. Jules and I met them 19 years ago when we all lived in California. We had a few fun years together then. 17 years later it seems like we never stopped seeing each other.

We toured downtown Munich, spent two afternoons in the Deutsches Museum, Jules got a new look and I got to snowboard in the Austrian Alps.

The pictures include some high power electrical demonstrations at the museum, we got to see them twice. It also shows Wolfie with me, “his little friend” (he really isn’t 7 feet tall).

Dolomites

2007-02-04T12:44:00.000-08:00

We detoured (as if the whole trip hasn't been a detour) into the Dolomites to see some snow. We weren't disappointed. And there was some more great Italian road building.

Venezia

2007-02-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

We left Roma and Firenze for the third city on Italy’s tourist route. We found it easy to camp on the mainland the first night, then take a vaporetto over to the island for 2 nights there.

It’s just like in the pictures!

We got chased out by horizontal snow flurries in Murano. Ben's face shows how much he liked it.

Roma

2007-02-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

We took a two day side trip to Rome because we couldn’t convince ourselves we would do it in the summer heat and crowds. No pictures cause of the dead camera battery. We walked the Roman Forum at night, saw the Vatican museums, Sistine Chapel, Colosseum and a bunch of great statues.

We took the Eurostar train there and back. Relaxing and comfortable. Much better than driving.

We had a funny dinner in a restaurant where we (accidently) woke up an old man who cooked for and served us. We ate what he suggested and it was great. Some other non-italian diners didn’t take his suggestions and hardly got anything to eat. We learned a lesson the easy way.

Firenze

2007-02-04T12:20:00.000-08:00

Our flat in Firenze was a few steps from a main plaza, Piazzala Della Signoria. Florence is a great walking city and this put us in the middle of it. We spent two weeks enjoying the museums, streets and buildings.

Our stay here deserves so much more description then we’re going to give it. We couldn’t charge the camera battery so we didn’t take pictures for most of the time. As I write this, it’s been two weeks since we were there.

It was a great stay in a great city. There were no lines for the museums and we often had rooms to ourselves. We got to know the area and a few people. Marusca took us to a dinner theater with her husband and daughter. We saw the chef make fun of the diners and how much food they ate. The entertainment included a parody of tourists of different nationalities. The american described everything as “wonderful, wonderful wonderful”. We do that now too.

We had wifi problems throughout Italy. Marusca fought with the Italian telecom almost everyday. She finally succeeded after 4 weeks (two weeks after we left). There was a free hot spot in an Irish pub but they couldn’t get it to work. The password was “missing” in our first flat. We used the Internet Train cafe which was a brightly lit hallway with shoulder to shoulder terminals. At least it was close to our flat.
Many of our days included a morning of homeschooling, an afternoon of a museum and an evening stroll with internet time. There was plenty of gelato mixed in.

And we did see the fashion models. It was a men’s fashion show and we saw a group of models out walking one night. One looked familiar. I think I’ve seen pictures of him in his undies.

Mark
+33674727745

La Specola

2007-01-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

Up front warning that there are some realistic-looking dissected body images in this video.

This video was shot after two of four visits that Jules and Ben made to La Specola Museo in Firenze. He completely got over his fear of stuffed lions. And developed a keen interest in crabs.
Mark

Firenze and Siena

2007-01-08T12:57:00.000-08:00

I made a big mistake in our travel plans and booked us into Firenze one week later than I thought. In order to make our non-existent reservation, we raced across Spain, France and part of Italy in two and a half days.

The trip included great evening and overnight stops, fog filled valleys and one return for a left behind item. The highlight for me was a life-like, 3D video game drive along the Italian coast. This path is part way up the steep hills along the ocean. It alternates between tunnels, bridges and cliff-hugging blind curves. It seems like the Italians had to better their Roman ancestors by showing off how to really build a road.

It was made more amazing by the speed and proximity that is Italian driving. There are no roadway shoulders. The speeds start at 130 km/hr or about 80 mph. And the drivers often snuggle up next to you as they pass. Maybe they are drafting off our behemoth of a van or just sucked in by its vortex. In any case, it required lots of calming breaths.

We made it into Firenze at dusk with just a few Euros in our prepaid Spanish phone accounts. We had some abbreviated conversations with Marushka, the flat coordinator, that drained our accounts. We finally got the van parked. It was then that she told us the flat was occupied and must have been double-booked. This was all done through text messaging as we didn’t have enough money left to talk. And you can’t recharge an out of country phone account. We had all of our stuff in our hands and no place to stay. This was the Saturday night before New Year’s eve and the city was packed.

Marushka rescued us by coming to where we were and leading us to a beautiful apartment in the hillside. In a winery and olive oil pressing villa. As she looked at our paperwork, she laughed at how the dates were for the following week. I tried to laugh too. We’ll see if I make that mistake again during the next 8 months!
The flat was great and so were the three days we went to Siena. It’s a small, medieval town. Pedestrian friendly with incredible architecture and religious artwork. The pictures show us on a tower of the Duomo and Ben in its stone spiral stairway.

We also toured the bapistery like a Pope. By that I mean we used mirrors to look at the ceiling frescos. It keeps you from looking like a starving baby bird calling “wow, wow, wow”.

We’re now in our flat in Firenze. It’s at Via dei Calzaioli 2, Firenze Italy. Google Earth shows a nice image of it. Next weekend is the Pitti Fair. Some sort of international fashion show. Oh no.... this town will be filled with models even more stylish than the natives!

Mark

Ben's Iberian Experiences

2007-01-07T08:41:00.000-08:00

Here's Ben's summary of the prior two weks.......

Lisbon

2007-01-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

We surprised ourselves by camping in Lisbon. We expected to need a room, but it was sunny and warm during the day. Nice cafe weather. At night, we ran both heaters in the van. We spent six nights in a huge campground with few people around.

People in Portugal were incredibly friendly and polite. The food, especially the seafood and cheese was great. I’m embarrassed to say I only had one glass of port.

We took some cab rides as they were cheap, easy and quick. Perhaps a little too quick. Kind of like a 3D video game with realistic effects. The busses seemed to travel in packs. Three an hour, all within ten minutes.

A highlight of our stay was the Star Wars exhibition in the old electrical plant. They had hundreds of models, props and costumes used in all six episodes. They showed a lot of out-take footage of green screens and miniature sets. Very inspiring for the videographer looking to understand how to do special effects. My favorite part was seeing the colored Q tips that stood in for people in the arena shots.

As I listened to Jules and Ben name all of the items and places I thought I was in another archeological museum. “This is where the blleters defeated the fringers” “look, it’s an etheriena fighter”. We all loved it......

We also enjoyed the Oceanarium and its huge interior tank. That’s where Ben and this bird met. Can you identify its species Homeschoolers?

Somehow we ran out of time. Sure could have stayed longer...
BTW, we have to recommend the downtown Heritage Hotel. They had free wifi in the lobby. They served us drinks while we caught up on mail and downloads. It also looked like a great place to stay (if you can spend 400+ euros a night). Oh, and the Hard Rock Cafe is worth a visit if you need a dose of good old American commercialism.
Off to Madrid...

Evora, Portugal

2006-12-18T10:12:00.000-08:00

We visited a chapel lined with human bones and skulls. Remains of over 5000 anonymous people line the interior surfaces. Built by three monks, it’s intended to show that death always wins. And that regardless of talent, achievement and stature, after a we die, we’re all the same.

Translation on the entryway writing, homeschoolers?

Giblog

2006-12-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

The Peninsula of Spain contains not one country, but three. At the Southernmost tip is British Gibraltar and at the Westernmost edge is Portugal. The Greeks believed Hercules set the Rock of Gibraltar and its African companion chunk to mark the end of the known world--The Pillars of Hercules. Islamic adventurer Jebel Tariq came there in 711 and gave it his name.

We spent a few days in Gibraltar in early December to add yet another animal to our chain of beast sightings. There has been a colony of Barbary Apes living on the “Rock” for some time, its often quoted that if the Apes were to leave the Rock, the British would also leave Gibraltar (there are similar quotes about the ravens at the Tour of London). George Orwell, in The Ides of March, quotes that Julius Caesar’s time, chickens indicated whether the Romans would win or lose, so I suppose we are still pretty superstitious. So these macaques have lived on the big chunk of limestone since the 18th century, we think, which roughly corresponds to the date in 1713 that the Rock was ceded to Britain by Spain.

What we know is that these beasts enjoy a good game. After hiking the Rock one afternoon and enjoying the drop-dead (literally) views and gun batteries, we dropped down to St. Michael’s Cave for soup and bread. The white bread attracted the beasts like chum attracts sharks and before we could even get into our soup, there was a macaque that JUMPED UP,GRABBED OUR BREAD, LEAPED IN THE AIR , and after other acrobatic feats jumped up on the table and grabbed a hostess “sno-ball”(a sort of round twinky covered with sugar) and then ran out--this action-packed part provided by Ben. (Back to mom now) Ben suffered most as he still had vivid memories of being rushed by macaques in Malaysia, his instincts told him to lock himself into the toilet until it was all over with. The bartender and her stick convinced him all was well, so we slurped down the soup as fast as we could (between laughing fits) but as we left we heard a crash and a beast came galloping out with a white styrofoam cup of sugar packets that it enjoyed on the roof.

Gibraltar also was a great place to score books--in fact, Horrible Histories!--and there is no VAT, so diesel was cheap, AND there is a Safeway that sold us a big chunk of Red Leister cheese for the road--speaking of roads, everyone who comes in or out of Gibraltar has to do so across the airport runway!

Granada

2006-12-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

We’ve been through some great cities the last few weeks but the stand out for me was Granada and walking through the Alhambra. First, we had our favorite campground situation. Small, with simple facilities, quiet and dark at night. The showers had an adjustable mix and were regular valves, not time-release pushbuttons. The restaurant was upscale and the people at reception were friendly and helpful. Of course they had fresh baguettes every morning. It was walking distance into a small town (La Zubia) and there were buses every 20 minutes into the main city (Granada). They even had Wifi at the campsite (I couldn’t connect to it, but not for lack of trying).

Granada is inland at 2000 feet and has the snow covered Sierra Nevada mountains in the background. It has great plazas with fountains and broad tree-lined walking streets. We had clear, crisp weather that made us sit at sunny cafe tables. The good restaurants, shopping and street entertainment made for city fun.

The main attractions are the Alhambra, the Generalife and the Albaizin. The Alhambra is a palace and fortress built by the Moors (Muslims from Africa) then occupied and added to by the Catholic Royalty. The outstanding parts are Moorish. The Sultans ruled these lands for 500 years and when the Catholics defeated them, they obliterated their mosques and other buildings. The Alhambra must have been too nice to destroy cause it’s in great shape. Washington Irving wrote a book describing his stays xxxx years ago. Fascinating, fantastic history. Our pictures don’t show how appealing it is.
I’m drawn to how understated it is. There is water running throughout it in channels, fountains and pools. There are little rooms with sweeping views of the valleys, walled gardens with fruit trees and intricate tile, plaster and woodwork.
The Generalife is a series gardens and buildings mostly built by the moors. For us, the main attractions were the immense labyrinth gardens and the water flowing throughout.

The Albaizin is the old Islamic quarter on a hillside near the town center. It’s a maze of shops, tea houses and restaurants. I turned us around the first time we entered because I couldn’t find us on the map. A few more turns and I wouldn’t know how to get back. We tried again using the bus to get us to the top and easily walked down. We had sweet mint tea and bought evil eyes and scarves before leaving.

Our campsite started to fill with skiers and snowboarders. Nearby was the only open Spanish ski area. It only had 2 out of 76 km of runs open and was limiting the tickets to 1500 a day. I imagine the crush was horrible. All of the ski (and garden) talk here is of global warming. Austria’s ski areas are mostly mud. It seems all of Europe will have a late start to its ski season. The news stories are about what the changes will be as opposed to whether they are going to happen.
We are off for the tiny mountainside village of Pompenaria then Gibraltar (and its apes!)

Viva Catalunya!

2006-12-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed Andrew Condon’s hospitality in his remarkable villa of Omellons and thank him for his extraordinary generosity in showing us favorite Catalonia sights. Among them visits to a Cistercian Abbey and a mountaintop village with drop-dead vistas and most excellent Bavarians (Bavarian beer ROCKS). We even had good wi-fi at an excellent spot for food and libation called Slavia. Ben, particularly, enjoyed our stay and reaps benefits daily (CREATURES!) We have raised all of our music I.Q.s dramatically, much excellent food was eaten and and we continue to enjoy Europe’s best olive oil and spectacular almonds from Les Borges Blanques.

Of Valencia and the El Sager’s Devesa Garden “zoo”, well, its just fortunate we put off seeing it until the last as I began formulating a monkey-wrench plan almost immediately. Instead, I’ll have to express my disgust in a rap song I am working on:

YO LISTEN UP! El tig-res no son jug-etes. En abso-luto. Its something YOU know--You can’t for-get it. What-what?!

Tigers ain’t toys. Not at all. Ain’t THEIR fault, eatin’ little girls and boys--Where DO you get the gaul? DIGAME, Devesa Garden! Its in Val-encia, s’where we WENT-sia, oh yeah I’m BENT, ya-ya-yah. LIB-RE EL TI-GRE!

We did enjoy the sand, it made good sand castles.

Of Cartagena and the elephants:

After tigers, we became possessed by elephants and the Barca family and events surrounding the third century battles for settlement of Spain between the Carthaginians and the Romans. The Romans called these, the three Punic Wars and Emperor Claudius, was so impressed by the Barca effort that he used it to subdue the Celts in Britain 300 years later (it worked).

It’s 750 b.c. and Ibiza (Spain) attracts the nacent Roman civilization, before it kicks Gaulish butt in France. The problem is that Carthage, Africa, has the same idea, so around 700 b.c., they start to make pacts. Pacts are broken, people are slain and by 264 b.c., Amilcar Barca attacks the Romans in Sicily. He fails and is slain along with a Roman General, Escipio (Punic War I). Amilcar established alot of territory in southern Spain which is consolidated by another Barca, Asdrubal, who founds the Carthaginian city, Qart-Hadast (or modern-day Cartagena). Meanwhile, Rome is demanding increased tributes and Amilcar’s son, Anibal, decides to attack the Romans again but this time, at Rome. He leaves the now walled city of Qart-Hadast in 218 b.c. and leads elephants over not just the Pyrenees but also the Alps. Through winter. He attacks the Romans in Italy and wins (Punic II) but the Romans make multiple attacks and finally fell Qart-Hadast under the leadership of the son of slain Escipio (we’ll just call him Skippy). The problem is that Anibal really thinks he has won so he figures he doesnt need to sack Rome itself. Noble, but one of history’s big boo-boos. Rome tricks him and attacks at Carthage (Punic III), trapping Anibal without the army he needs. Anibal languished in Italy for years, unable to help when Carthage was being leveled by Rome, he finally committed suicide before Skippy could take him too. Rome rewards its successful legionnaires by giving them Orange, France and setting up a mini-Rome there for them--see our earlier post.

Sometime during the Punic II, there was a huge wall built to contain Qart-Hadast and we were able to crawl around in of the last remaining chunks in Cartagena. Walls just never seem to work forever, do they?

JB

Living with the Unknown

2006-11-28T05:08:00.000-08:00

The previous 24 hours provided some extreme examples of one aspect of this type of travel. There are many enigmas. It’s due to a combination of not understanding the traditions, culture and language and having to fill in the blanks from an incomplete database.
For background, this starts on our second night in a campground 20 minutes south of Valencia. It’s a fully developed campground in a rural area near the beach, some flooded fields and a lagoon. It includes tightly packed cabins, trailers, a market (closed), a restaurant and bar, conference rooms, horse stables and riding fields, 6 tennis courts, a pool, a bull ring and a min- zoo. Here’s what happened:
1) Around 10:00 pm on Friday night we heard a rash of explosions lasting 20 seconds off in the distance. These were echoed a minute later from a different part of town. Not a big deal and we’ll probably never know the reason. Is it a holiday or perhaps a football celebration?
2) Around 2:00 am, “Grease is the Word” started blaring from the campground bar. This was followed by songs equally horrible in other languages. I had to move to the lower bed to avoid the “music”.
3) At sunrise I heard shotgun blasts going off. There were singles, doubles, triples and some that must have been ten blasts in two seconds. There are a lot of flooded fields full of ducks, snowy egrets, great blue herons, plovers and grebes. I went out to look and listened but didn’t see anyone. The blasting went on for at least two hours on a constant basis. I can only imagine machine gun shotguns or guys standing shoulder to shoulder just blasting away. There must be thousands of dead birds around here.
4) Accompanying the shotgun blasts at dawn were birdsong, brays and roars. The zoo icon out front had a lion on it. Surely, there isn’t a lion next door!
5) Any good food market leaves us wondering what some things are, how you would cook them and what they would taste like. These are fun questions that we can answer by eating. Valencia’s Central Market had fish with eel bodies, many dried animal limbs and shrimp with moth like tails. I bet it’s all tasty.
6) When buying a new coffee pot, the shopkeepers (an older man and a younger women) were in what seemed like a heated argument. If this was at home, I’d be witnessing the moments leading up to his violent murder. In this case, she went into the backroom and he seemed to joke about her to the other customers. Or maybe he was joking about me. I won’t ever know.
7) The English Pub with free wifi was closed even though the sign said it would be open a few hours ago. Are we misreading the sign? Is this a holiday we aren’t aware of? Should we try back later? There’s enough draw between the Guiness and Wifi that we will be back.
8) We tour the cathedral and enjoy the stories and explanations on the audioguide. At the end we come into the room holding the Holy Grail. This is believed to be the cup Christ drank from during the last supper. It seems plausible that it’s true. Ben drops a coin into an electric candle bank with thoughts of Nat’s recovery.
9) As we leave the city, the bus departs 10 minutes before it’s scheduled time. We are lucky to be onboard. We don’t fully understand how to use mass transportation.

These open questions challenge my equanimity. Some really need to be answered or you wind up stranded or in a dangerous situation (or hungry). Others are interesting but we’ll just never know. A few days like this though and we crave some more familiar activities.
Eventually, we do get answers to some of these questions. It really is bird hunting season (though I don’t know if machine gun style shotguns are used), they really do have a tiger and a cougar in tiny cages, the bus stop wasn’t the terminal point and the pub just opened late. We’ll just have to keep learning Spanish to know what people are saying and we’ll have to leave it to others to verify the authenticity of the Holy Grail. And the more we eat, the more we find tasty new treats (and some that we haven’t acquired a taste for).

Ben curtailed his outdoor time after seeing the tiger. We left the next day and are now at a heavily used campground near Cartagena. It’s full of retired British, Dutch and German snowbirds and we are developing a whole new set of stories involving WiFi that isn’t, muddy beaches and multi-language Karaoke!

MD

+34 660257284

Ben's Neopets Cartoons

2006-11-22T14:16:00.000-08:00

Hello, Its Ben again, and to cheer up the blog I added neopets gifs.(also to practice computer skill) Its very nice staying here, in Catalonia with Andrew,CATALONIA IS NOT SPAIN , IF YOU THINK IT IS , GO EAT CAT LITTER.OR A DUNG SLORG.I am wearing sandels
that have the Catalonean flag on them. As another unpleasant story , the Catalonean flag was made when a Willfred the Harry reached into his bleeding heart and the resulting wipe on his gold sheld was a great flag! sit back and enjoy the show-ben

and also a creepy never ending syrup

"(c) 2000-2006 Neopets, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used With Permission"

Our Stolen Van (again)

2006-11-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

Here's the truth about our van saga.......

CARCASSONE AND BARCELONA

2006-11-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

Hello, this is ben and I am writing this from our hotel room before we leave. I have my feet propped up because I banged one on a rock and twisted the other one funny and I think I sprained it . Ouch. Oh,have to go ,we’re going to Barcelona. YAY!!!!

A FEW HOURS AND ALOT OF GRIPING LATER.....
Ahhh... finally we have reached our campground, and when we stopped at our parking spot (YES THE VAN STORY WAS FAKE TRUST ME ,I HATED THE VERY IDEA OF THE VAN-WAS-STOLEN STORY,TO PROVE IT A PICTURE OF THE VAN IS INCLUDED)Our campground is filled with stray cats who try too hard to look cute. mom just fed one.Though this place is far away from the city its close to the beach......dunno ‘bout going tonight though,it ‘s starting to get late.Mom and Dad met some fellow campers from England,and then they had some ginatonics( gintonic?ginetonic?gin-a-tonic?)but did not get drunk.Before I go here ‘s a legend about Carcassone :
Once a time lord Carcass became a carcass.Lady Carcass was in charge. Then Charlemange began a seige against Carcassone. The people began to starve.So Lady Carcass came up with a plan ; she took the last of the rare corn and feed it to a pig. Then she threw it off the wall.It spatted the corn everywhere and seeing the village had enough food the feed the pigs like that, the soldiers gave up. sweet dreams about splattering pigs, I mean butterflys
signing off; ben dane

From Digne to Carcassonne, one hotel at a time...

2006-11-08T23:40:00.000-08:00

Ok people, the van is fine. We are only staying in hotels because its cold and we are sick. I gotta say the CNN access is pretty cool though. How about those DEMOCRATS! How about that Don RUMSFELD?

Anyways, my convalescence began in Digne-Sur-Bains after two rough nights with the Mistral winds in Arles. Mark, always thinking of me, thought he had just found a nearby hot springs to help me recover fast. Alas, it appeared closed, at least until the following Monday morning. We went on to enjoy an excellent provincial market, The Gorge du Verdon (largest gorge in Europe), and multiple Andy Goldsworthy exhibits! In the picture above, we had also inexplicably become the lucky free visitors that day at the Musee Gassendi, and the Reserve Geologique showcased several cairn installations along an outdoor trail. By Monday morning, the springs were looking too crowded to pursue so we opted out.

Our next stop was Carcassonne, a spectacular castle in South-western France. The place began as the Gallic village of Carcaso in the second century; then as the Roman fort, Castellum (they kicked the Gauls out); finally,it was held by the Visigoths for awhile and they named it Carcassona (after they killed off the Romans). The place became a full-on feudal fort with multiple defensive walls and devices enough to repel the Franks in the 6th century but not the Saracens in the 8th century. In Charlemagne’s time it belonged to the Franks, a fellow called Trencavel who lived during the 13th century. In Trencavel’s day there was a religious heresy in place known as Catharosy--as opposed to the Catholic brand of heresy--it was a fascinating thing, adherents believed the soul was God’s and the body was the Devil’s so most of them ended up starving themselves to death.

Well, anyways, religious beliefs notwithstanding, this 13th century civilization had a really big problem because Pope Innocent III sent a crusade against them and though Trencavel was sheltering a variety of besieged people (Cathars, troubadors, Jews, intelligent women) all were killed by Simon de Montfort and his 20K+ crusaders (and assorted mercenaries and tag-alongs hoping for salvation). By 1240 it seemed obvious to the French Kings they needed to beef-up the defenses and they added another circling wall that worked against the British during the 14th century, but by the 17th century, the place was abandoned and crumbling. It was “restored” to some level of fashion a hundred years later so it now resembles every fairy tale you can think of. It was occupied by the Germans during WWI and WWII, but folks moved right back after they left.

Now THATS a STORY! Its taken three days of convalescence here to figure all this out! What a blast to touch 1800 years of construction and wander it freely, though I have no idea how we are going to get the van out of here tomorrow!

JB

Western Provence

2006-11-07T22:44:00.000-08:00

We completed our time in Provence focusing on the Roman amphitheaters, aquaducts and smaller towns. We even went through a cave with pancake stalagmites and a great prehistoric museum. Jules has Ben filling out a timeline and sketching what he’s seeing. Maybe some of it will stick for a few years.

We did reach a burnout point with the ruins. Since the Romans intentionally built their buildings from similar plans, there is some truth to “seen one, seen them all”. But this was only after seeing an incredible stage wall in a theater in Orange, The Pont du Gard aquaduct and remains of some villages.

Ben was lamenting missing Halloween while we were in Arles. As we saw kids starting to trick or treat in the stores downtown, we got a brainstorm. We unzipped this funky bag Jules bought and wrapped it mummy style around Ben’s head. He then went store to store mumbling something (not knowing the proper thing to say). He did pretty good in the stores and bars. It paled compared to our normal Halloween, but at least we had a taste of it.

The pictures show the type of wall Jules wants at home. It is a huge vertical wall on a marketplace building with plants growing directly out of it. We don’t know how they do it but it looked great. These towns were great and we had a lot of fun till the cold Mistral winds started blowing. We hunkered down then decided it was time for some thermal baths to nurse our colds.

Provence

2006-11-02T06:46:00.000-08:00

We camped for all of October, pretty much looking like this. An awning with a couple of sheets gives us some privacy, protection from the rain and makes us look like gypsies (we think). We use the built-in appliances and cabinets to cook and store our food. The heavy dish cleaning is done in a campground sink.
We’ve become fond of breakfast in the van, lunch in town and dinner and a movie in the van. There are great tratieurs or caterers that prepare meal fixings ready to be warmed and eaten. These include soups, meats in sauces, and great side dishes. This has been a fun way to enjoy the local gourmet food without the difficulties and expense of a late restaurant meal.
The other choice for dinners is buying and cooking ourselves. Ideally, this is done after hitting a street market or at least a few specialty shops. While there are lots of top quality ingredients our favorites so far are the mushrooms. They are fresh (and dirty) and varied.
When I wanted to make one of our favorite dishes, fried fish filets, I selected a meaty, white fish called congre. In my baby french, I asked for a kilo. The fishmonger pulled out a piece and it just kept coming. She weighed this three inch by three foot long piece and it was near a kilo. I was too deep into it to back out so I asked her to remove some and happily bought it. It wasn’t till I bought a cookbook that afternoon that I realized it was a type of eel. It was tasty.

MD
http://burtondanetravels.blogspot.com
+33 (0) 676686824
+ 9 hours from PST

Shoulder Season Travel

2006-10-26T02:38:00.000-07:00

Part of our goal for this trip is to be in the shoulder season at the heavily touristed spots. We got a little behind in northern Europe and found most of the campsites closed, some of the museums remodeling and a little more rain than I wanted. Another downside is there aren’t many kids around. I’m sure the campsites are full of them during the summer. That’s all been a little frustrating but the trade off has been no waiting in lines and being alone or close to it at many sites and stores.
The picture of the Fontenvraud Abbey shows Jules and Ben at one end with no one around. We were even able to test the acoustics in a 250 foot long 30 foot high chapel (they were pretty good!)

Another plus is some of the prices are much lower. Our van is renting for about 1/3 of the summer price. It’s about the same as renting a small car. Since the campsites now cost between $20-30 per night we’re able to shift our budget from lodging and transportation to wine, cheese and meat. We won’t camp the whole time but so far so good.

We’ve now had two months with two different GPS systems. They allow us to do incredible things. We are driving through big and little cities, down one lane cobblestone roads and winding between farm fields all while heading exactly somewhere. Usually, we’ve spent a lot of time figuring out where the somewhere should be. But that’s a lot more fun than figuring out road to road navigation. It hasn’t eliminated the stress of driving, but we wouldn’t see as much if we didn’t have it.

Loire Valley

2006-10-26T02:33:00.000-07:00

Traveling east through the Loire Valley to Geneve, Switzerland, we visited some great chateaus, abbeys and gardens. We’ve never seen anything like these in the states. They must truly be the settings for fairy tales we’ve heard. I mean, come on, a chateau (Chenonceau) built over a river where the Queen of France ran the country in the 16th century and people snuck between occupied and free France during the second World War! Real labyrinth gardens, moats with drawbridges and crypts. We learned that “relics” in a church often means bones. We saw where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last years of his life (very comfortable) and what some of his inventions would have looked like.
We spent a few days in Beaune, Bourgogne (Burgundy) which had the best wine so far. Nice modern/medieval city but lots of tourists (it was a weekend). We couldn’t find good WiFi so we didn’t stay long. It’s certainly a hotspot for food and wine but maybe a little too much so.
We went on to Geneve, Switzerland to stop the clock on our EU visas. We now have stamps showing us leaving the EU. We only spent a day in Geneve but it looked like a great place to go back to.

Saumur, France

2006-10-15T05:28:00.000-07:00

Now we’re goofing around in the Loire Valley. The attitude at the campground is great (they even deliver fresh bread in the morning), we have two bikes with racks, we have a great view of the a lit-up chateau at night and a lovely ride into town during the day. We’ve gotten a little structure with some home-schooling in the mornings and sightseeing or errands in the afternoon.We often have breakfast in the van, lunch in town and a dinner of fresh prepared foods warmed up or cooked in the van. I’ve been looking for the gastonomique part of France and we’ve definitely found it.

I hope to do a video on the campground bathrooms. There are enough funny quirks to keep it interesting. It all works very well, it’s just different from home (and we like that).
The pictures show us in front of the town’s main chateau, biking to the mushroom and sparkling wine caves, Jules in a mushroom cave and Ben in a sparkling wine cave.

Normandy, France

2006-10-15T05:26:00.000-07:00

Our first stop in France and more learning. We picked a four star campground but quickly learned what that means to us. We are at the end of the shoulder season and much of the tourist stuff is closing or closed. The campground is slightly outside of town with no public transit. It’s like a destination resort with its own bar, restaurant, pool and playground. Now it’s all closed and we felt like we were holding them up from taking their holidays.
At least we were close to the beach. A short walk brought us to a beach infested with some sort of jumping crab-fly. Probably our shortest stay at a beach. A long walk to some mediocre food convinced us to make it a short stay. The free Wifi was the only redeeming quality.
We bought a second-hand accordion in Amsterdam and are able to put our piano lessons to good use. Ben is polishing a mournful dirge while I work on Fur Elise. That’s kinda fun....

Belgium

2006-10-15T05:25:00.000-07:00

Brugge Belgium offered lots of shopping in a clean, touristy city with beautiful old buildings. Really beautiful and really touristy. But clean and with good bus service. One of the highlights was discovering high-speed wirelss access in the campground. We only needed to open the computer and we were online.
This quickly brought us back into touch with home via Skype calls (with lots of echo), movie and tv downloads, podcasts and streaming radio shows. We watched John Stewart’s Daily Show, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Strong Bad, and Pirate’s of the Caribbean. We listened to some of our favorite Public Radio shows.
Before leaving Amsterdam we bought a second phone. Now we could come and go as we pleased and still find each other. No more waiting outside of a store instead of wandering towards something interesting. And the bike now meant we could go to the store or into town easily. Life is getting good.
Except for Jubie. We received news that she has a serious liver and pancreas illness. Laura, Frank and Mary Ellen are doing all they can and we’re all hopeful but very concerned. We lost Scully, Jules’s turtle to a coyote a few weeks ago so this is especially painful.
The pictures show Ben and Jules’s new sweater complete with 3 foot long cap and tassel. Ben is playing in a tornado of leaves (Not trying to get home I hope) and in front of a nice planting of marigolds.

Amsterdam

2006-10-15T05:22:00.000-07:00

Aahh Amsterdam. It’s nice to be in a tolerant city with lots to see and do. We picked up the campervan (with GPS) and parked it at the end of a metro line. For six days we visited the city and enjoyed its treats. Great beer, art museums, canal walks, markets, tulips and more. Ben bought an old guy’s hat for only 2.5 Euros, one of the better scores of our stay.
Camping in the van has a huge learning curve. More humorous than frustrating. Most things are different enough to make you stop to figure them out. But we didn’t make any huge mistakes and we’re personalizing the van as we go along so we think we’re going to like it.
The other learning curve was walking. There are streets, bike paths and walking paths. All are used to the max. It didn’t take us long to realize that a change in color and a border on the sidewalk means it’s a bike path. You get a two bell warning before being run over. Everyone has defined right-of-ways and is expected to go or stop accordingly.
There are masses of bikes parked all around the city. Most are simple beater bikes with only three gears. The only “hills” are the canal bridges so it doesn’t take much to get around. And everyone except the oldest get around on bike. The bikes have fenders and side guards to protect clothing and even allow bikers to wear dresses.
It would be a great city for Halloween, but we moved on.....

London

2006-09-29T03:04:00.000-07:00

London is “Full On”. The museums, attractions, meeting places, beer and shopping are first rate. Prices were about twice those at home so it wasn’t a place to sit around. We did a lot, hopefully much more then we’ll do in other places.
We enjoyed using the Tube to pop up anywhere in town that we wanted to, disappear and then pop up somewhere else. Even the backpack-laden, commuter crush on our way to Heathrow was ok.

I’ve got a new found appreciation for stained glass after taking a class with Peter McGrain. The Victoria and Albert Museum had fantastic displays of 900 year old pieces.

They also had a 3500 year old Egyptian face murini. For the most part, this art died out until Franchini briefly resurrected it 150 years ago. They had some Franchini portrait canes and murini which are the original inspiration for Loren Stump’s shaded face murini which are the original inspiration for my silly face murini. Nice to make the connections. Loren’s Madonna on the Rocks murini should be alongside these, mine will have to stay in my pocket.

South Devon

2006-09-29T02:51:00.000-07:00

After leaving North Devon with its rolling hillsides and fields we headed south through the ancient town of Bath and on to our friends Paul, Ivana, Mia and Sol. We had a great time playing with them, touring the National Aquarium with their home teaching group and picking plums for marmalade.
They set up stays for us with Paul’s mom near the New Forest (wild horses) and Ivana’s sister Nadia in Newbury. In Newbury, we saw an outrageously creative version of Taming of the Shrew by an all male acting troupe called Propeller.
I have to mention the GPS system in our rental car. It did a fantastic job directing us in and around the countryside and cities. In a lovely British accent, she told us when to turn and if there was traffic to avoid. We spent little time off course and could focus on the terrifying small streets, roundabouts and tiny parking spaces and single lane.

 

North Devon

2006-09-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

This is the middle of 5 days in our stone cottage in North Devon. We went to the cliffside village of Clovelly with it's stone pavings and cute houses. It could show LA how to build on a cliif, it's survived since early medeival times. The bench is on the walk down to the village.

The racing and shore pictures are in Westward Ho, a town that changed it's named based on a movie. This area has regular 9 meter tides so there are beached boats laying around half the time.

Cotswolds

2006-09-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

We’ve just spent a week in the Cotswolds, England’s gorgeous rolling hills countryside. We spent much of the time walking through fields, past lakes and through villages. We’ve had fun sharing the fields with horses, sheep and cattle. A little unnerving at first but we survived with few attacks and no sightings of the drear dun cow.
We’ve spent two nights each in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Chipping Campden, outside of Stow-on-the Wold and are now in Bath. All are dominated by stone buildings in a style that’s been pretty consistent for about 800 years. We even found a sod roof home like the one I may have to live in someday.
The pictures show Ben saving a pug dog from a wayward hay roll. I’d hate think what would have happened if we had been a bit later.
We are heading south and west from here for parts of Cornwall yet to be determined. We do have a mobile phone with us that costs nothing for us to receive on. The number is 07857 015789. I think you need to dial 01144 in front of that.....
MD

A Tough Cut

2006-09-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

This video shows our first night in Stratford-Upon-Avon after our flight and jet lag fighting.

Los Angeles or bust

2006-08-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Dinner with old friends and new triplets (see photos) on the Bay. We left the Fort Barry Hostel, Sausilito, before the fog lifted but survived the "5 minute red light"--you sure dont want to wait 4 and a half minutes instead, it's a popular place for a half-mile tunnel with no side exits--to be shocked by the condition of California highways. Many potholes later we had a great view of the Altamont pass wind farm on the way to Newhall to check in with Joan and Don for a few days.

JB

On Our Way

2006-08-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

The turn onto Interstate 84 was a Neil Armstrong moment (one small turn for the car, one giant turn for our lives). It was a tearful moment with Ben and Kissy (our cat) both wailing. I didn't expect that and it hurt to see him in pain. Jules and I felt similar but didn't show it.

In order to make it positive in my mind, I took it as a huge confirmation of our decision in the late 90's to move to Hood River. We thought it would be really good, we just didn't think high enough.

Last night we saw "Two Gentlemen from Verona" in Ashland's great outdoor theatre. More silliness of mistaken identities and people doing everything for love. Funny updates to modern times that included Mennonites and punks.

We're back at the Columbia Hotel, a sweet little place on the main street. After a bookstore or two, we'll keep heading South to LA.

MD