We continue to use Braşov as our base to explore more of the area.
Today we got to visit one of our key target locations for this visit – Bran Castle – the supposed home of Count Dracula. Of course, Dracula is a fictional character by author Bram Stoker – but he drew on local superstitions and legends and added to the already existing infamy of the historical ruler Vlad Dracul “The Impaler” Țepeş, who was here in the late 1400s.
We are staying in a building constructed in the 1500s.. we’re up in the attic and have been admiring the original wooden beams and supports. Brenda noted that the wooden sections are joined not by nails but by wooden stakes. Even though we are staying about 15 miles from Bran Castle, we know we are safe should any bats or vampires make their way in.
Bran Castle – construction began in 1377. For several hundred years this castle served as a border crossing and tax collection point, when it wasn’t served as a garrison agains the dreaded Ottoman invaders from 1400-1650s.
Heading up to the top.. if Brenda can barely squeeze through these passageways, what chance do the rest of us have?
Out of the castle and heading toward the car – to run the gauntlet of souvenir stands. Brenda is looking for something to take home for the kids.
Biserica Neagră (the Black Church) right next to our hotel. It is so named from a 1689 fire that ruined the interior and blackened the exterior stones. Construction began in the late 1300s as a Catholic church, but during the Reformation the Lutherans took over and it has been a Protestant church since 1530.
Tomb markers of local dignitaries long since gone.
We went shopping in the afternoon and then looked for a late lunch/early dinner. We had our best meal on the trip (so far) at an authentic Romanian restaurant (Schnitzel, cabbage rolls, pickles and beer). Brenda loaded up on small meat scraps so she could make friends with the local feline population all around town.
Today we packed our bags and took a taxi back to the airport in order to rent a car for the rest of our week in Romania. We then headed north through the Ploieşti oil fields (Arge will know all about this area) and into the Carpathian mountains.
Our first stop was to visit Peleş and Pelişor castles. The main castle was undergoing significant exterior renovations and so looked like this:
Not terribly picturesque. It would have normally looked like this:
It was built for King Carol I of Romania from 1873 to 1914 and served as his summer retreat. It has 170 rooms and covers about 35000 sq.ft.
The interiors were stunning; all fittings and furniture were retained. The castle is known for it’s intricate woodwork and carvings.
The second castle, Pelişor, was several hundred yards away and was the retreat for King Carol’s nephew and heir, the future King Ferdinand (son of Carol’s brother Leopold von Hohenzollern) and Ferdinand’s consort Queen Marie.
After both tours, we found a restaurant close by for lunch – I had a dish of wild boar while Brenda ordered venison and potatoes.
Continuing our drive, we finished up in Braşov, back down out of the mountains and the first stop in Transylvania.
The building in the foreground is where we are staying.. that little window (diamond shaped) is our room.
Town square as the sun sets. There is evidence that this town has been inhabited continuously more than 6000 years ago. Some of the architecture yet existing is from the 1500-1600s.
It’s still below freezing, but that doesn’t prevent folks from sitting out in the sun and having beer and hot wine.
This is a vacation for us – I couldn’t come up with any way to mix business with pleasure. Last Fall Delta Airlines offered a sale on tickets from Atlanta to Bucharest (the capital of Romania) – with a limited range of available dates. The offer was so good that we bought the tickets and THEN started to figure out just what the heck we were getting ourselves in for. There are not a lot of tourists here in February. We think that we lucked out in that it is to be sunny for almost the entire duration of our trip – but that came with unusually cold temperatures and a lot of snow. There was a snowstorm here that hit the country just a few days ago; schools are closed and a lot of roads haven’t yet been cleared. Did I mention that it is cold? The low tonight will be 5F. Perhaps this is why the tickets on Delta were so cheap.
In the airport in Amsterdam – there aren’t any direct flights from Atlanta to Romania, so we had to fly to The Netherlands first and catch another flight on Tarom (??!) airlines going to Bucharest.
Of course this airport has a tulip store. Brenda was scoping out the tulip bulb selection and plans to get some to take home with her on our return leg to Atlanta.
It took us nearly 24 hours to get here.. once we got to the hotel we quickly showered, found a bite to eat, then collapsed for a 12 hour sleep session.
Morning in Old Town Bucharest. Our hotel is centrally located so we were able to walk to everything worth seeing today.
All of the restaurants have set up outdoor seating with heaters and covers to allow one to dine on the street in sub-freezing temperatures.
Walking along the Dâmbovița River that bisects the city.
The Palatul Parlamentului building – the world’s largest (in mass, not area) building in the world. It’s a massive marble structure with 9 floors above ground and 9 below. This was a passion project from Romania’s former dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu who wanted to show off power and majesty. It was started in 1977 and completed in 1991 – 2 years after Ceaușescu’s death (by firing squad after Romania’s liberation and freedom from Soviet control).
The building now houses several different offices and museums. We visited Romania’s museum for contemporary art.
Brenda trying to figure out what she’s looking at.
Brenda felt that this piece most accurately captured her feeling about most of the museum’s collection.
Plowing through a flock of pigeons
The city is a combination of 1900-1930’s Belle Époque and Art Nouveau with post WWII Soviet Bloc Eastern European conformity.
Lunch of meat skewers with potatoes, corn, hummus and beer.
Graveyard in 18th century monastery.
A cover of yellow glass tops this 19th-century passageway lined with pubs & restaurants.
What we’ve learned:
Everyone smokes
The men wear tracksuits and all look like Russian mob affiliates
Brenda has never seen so many tight pleather pants worn on women who really shouldn’t..
English is common second language. When I spoke to our Taxi driver in Romanian, he complimented my effort and then asked “why did you bother to learn Romanian?”
Prices are relatively expensive – on par with what we expect in the Eurozone countries.
Our final morning excursion down the river was to a family farm. Below, a cool boat on the journey. Look at that reflection in the water!
A local church.
Another doggo greeting party (my favorite kind!) at a local “Caboclo” farm. Caboclo is the common term for the people who live here – mixed race people of native Brazilian (Amerindian), sub-Saharan black ancestry, and white Portuguese, from way back in the rubber plantation days. Our guide said that there are only two types of people who live here – the indigenous tribes folk and ‘Caboclos’. (Our guide told us that he, and all the employees at the Lodge, are Caboclos.) There are hundreds of different tribes in the Amazonas state. The government protects them and will not allow Brazilian citizens, let alone tourists, enter their designated areas.
Bananas are one of this family farm’s crops. Manioc is their primary crop. (Manioc = cassava = yucca = tapioca… all depending on where you are from and/or how the root is processed.)
On this farm, they mainly process the manioc roots into farinha flour – their staple for carbohydrate rich meals — which is sold mainly into Manaus. They keep enough for themselves, and sell the rest. Their secondary crops (also mostly sold into Manaus) are bananas and pineapples.
Our guide demonstrating how the manioc roots are processed into flour. (It actually looks more like cornmeal than wheat flour when they’re done with it.) First the roots are peeled. Nothing is wasted. The peels are used as chicken and hog feed.
Once the roots are peeled, they are shredded on a machine that is essentially a giant cheese grater, then put into a huge tub and squashed to get most of the juice out of it. (Adam didn’t get photos of those machines.) The starch sediment that settles out of the juice is dried and powdered to become tapioca.
They grow two kinds of manioc (or cassava) — yellow and white. The white is minimally processed and can be boiled and eaten like a potato. The yellow variety is toxic until all the juice is squeezed out and the root is thoroughly dried and cooked. It contains high levels of cyanogenic glycosides (cyanide) in it’s natural state. This is the yellow variety. Once it’s shredded and dried, it is toasted in this huge iron pan for several hours. It must be constantly stirred so it won’t burn … it takes upwards of 10 people working all day to produce about four 75kilo bags. They get around US$90 per bag.
These are the manioc plants, a woody shrub in the spurge family. One of the reasons it’s such a valuable crop is that it’s capable of growing in very poor soils. The family have several fields of manioc in succession and rotation plantings. It takes about a year before the roots can be harvested, and then the field needs to have something else grown on it for a couple of years to re-set the soil. They have fields of manioc planted at different times and therefore at different stages of growth so they can do fairly continuous harvesting.
Manioc field with bananas in the background.
They also grow two types of pineapples. The smooth-leaf kind (which we always see in our US grocery stores) and this type below with serrated leaves. The leaves are wicked sharp! You could probably use them as bread knives, they are so sharp. The pineapples are a little smaller than we’re used to, and MUCH sweeter. I love them. It’s going to be hard to go back to our subpar pineapples at home, now that I know what the good ones taste like.
The family’s little shop. They let us sample fresh juices made from fruits on the farm.
During the months of November through January, the height of the dry season, this part of the riverbed is completely dry. The family has to walk 25 minutes to the nearest put-in spot for a boat if they want to go to a grocery store. They have a very large personal garden and they raise chickens for eggs, and fish in the river … they are almost completely self-sufficient. The only things they buy from the store are bottled water/drinks, beer, coffee, tea, and sugar. Their main diet is fish and manioc, prepared in various ways.
The house. During the wet season, the water is nearly up to their front porch.
Part of the family’s personal gardens. They grew an astonishing variety of food crops. Two kinds of limes, all the herbs you’ve ever heard of (oregano, mint, etc.), lemongrass, ginger, onions, and tons and tons of fruits, most of which I didn’t recognize. I knew the limes, starfruits and avocados … but that’s about it. Everything else was exotic.
Avocado tree.
This weird little thing is an achiote fruit, used to make cosmetics like lipstick and blush. The seeds are crushed to produce a bright orangy red pigment that can also be used as a food coloring. I tasted it and it basically had no flavor of it’s own. (It’s commonly known as annatto.) It’s full of carotenoids and has superfood health benefits.
That’s them growing on this tree.
They also had acai trees, aramanth plants, a wide variety of palms, and lots of various nut trees.
Back at the Lodge for lunch and afternoon siesta before heading out at 3:30 p.m. for the afternoon/sunset excursion.
The Lodge restaurant set up for lunch.
Grilled tambaqui. This was served at nearly every meal.
Adam indulging in a Cuban cigar given to him by a friend. The coconut-looking half-shell next to him is a brazil nut shell…. they are so hard they won’t burn, so it’s a very popular ashtray material.
[Adam] This was a common POV for Brenda and I after heading back to the cabin – splayed out on the bed in front of a blasting AC. As I mentioned before, there were usually 2 excursions each day, each lasting about 3 hours. We would always start out on boat and then sometimes land and do some inner forest exploring. We took a different route every day and so nothing seemed routine. Most of our energy was devoted to looking for animals..some trips yielded up a great number of sightings, others were complete duds. The only animal we did not see (that one would reasonably expect to see here) were the sloths. We did see 3 different species of monkeys, 2 species of dolphins, many, many, many birds, caiman, lizards, bats, iguanas and no end of bugs and fish.
Our final afternoon excursion of the trip.
We entered into a swampy area and found quite a lot of wildlife on this outing. The tree trunk below has 5 fruit bats on it … can you spot them?
While we were looking at the bats (after viewing a large group of squirrel monkeys), we heard an incredibly loud, eerie, haunted hooting. Our guide suddenly became hyper-alert and excited. He very quietly landed the boat and headed into the forest in his bare feet. (He’d told us we wouldn’t be getting out of the boat on this trip, so we were all in sandals and shorts, etc.)
The minute our feet hit the ground, we were attacked by ants. Our guide was so focused on the trees he didn’t seem to notice. He told us what we’d just heard was the call of the Dusky Titi monkey, an extremely rare animal and almost never seen in this area.
Our group tried desperately to be very quiet so as not to scare the monkeys away, but the ground was covered in dried leaves that crunched loudly with every step. We were also being eaten alive by ants, so trying to do the ants-in-your-pants dance without making sudden movements or noise. We failed.
We did end up seeing the monkeys, but they were pretty obscured by trees and too far away for us to get any photos. Our cameras were not well suited to this trip … a trek through the jungle really requires a high-quality telephoto setup. A macro lens would have been quite handy, as well.
Here is a photo I stole off the internet, just to show what one looks like.
Our guide was so excited about spotting this monkey he said of the ant bites, “Worth it. Ant bites, only 2 hours painful.” He was right, too … by dinnertime, I changed my shoes and realized my feet didn’t hurt anymore. The ant bites had all but disappeared.
It was dusk by the time we returned to the Lodge.
10 Aug 2024
We had breakfast this morning and then embarked on the 4-hour trip back to Manaus. Photo below, me using the internet in the restaurant before breakfast, which was only available in the common areas of the Lodge. That’s what the other people are doing, to0.
Remains of the breakfast buffet.
Looking at exotic fish, waiting for our boat taxi.
Luggage loaded and ready to go!
Check out these boat fenders on our boat on the Amazon – we truly are all part of a Globalized community.
One last parting gift, we saw a pod of gray river dolphins on our way back to the first car point. The photos are zoomed-in iPhone pics, so not the best, but it was a magical experience.
We’re spending one more night in Manaus, then flying to Sao Paulo where the week of work will begin. We expect it will be much less exciting, so for now we will sign off until next time.
[Adam] We settle into a routine here at the lodge. After breakfast, we head out and explore another trail in the jungle. It usually takes us 2-3 hours for each sortie we make. Most of the animal activity occurs early in the morning and just before sunset.
The middle of the day is stiflingly hot and almost nothing is out and about.
After lunch, we use the afternoon to check internet, work, do some laundry, take a nap and read.
The animals in the jungle do not wish to be seen. The guides work hard to find the animals they do – and since we’re in the wild there are no guarantees we’ll see much of anything. Such is the nature of these hikes. After our walks in the woods, we come back drenched in sweat, hit the potty, hit the showers and then lay spread eagled on the bed in front of the A/C until we feel something closer to normal. Then, head back out!
Life on the river. This was one of the larger/nicer settlements we passed.
This is the book (in electronic form) that I brought for the down times on the journey. Teddy wrote this in 1914 and it describes his journey up several unknown (at the time) rivers. His journey ends in Manaus and he spends a great deal of time stomping around the areas we are currently touring. Anything that moved was shot, stuffed and classified – all in the name of conservation! Roosevelt is an entertaining writer and such a “field naturalist” nerd – he was fascinated about everything in life and always dove right into the deep end. He could talk at length about almost anything and only shut up when someone else, speaking from a greater authority on the matter at hand, was talking. I would like to think that Roosevelt would be the preferred candidate over everyone else should he somehow run this fall.
Our cabin has a back porch that abuts the forest. Brenda can sit in a chair on the porch, enjoy a tea and watch parrots take fruit from the tree right in front of her.
More establishing shots of Turtle Lodge.
[Brenda] Outside the Lodge restaurant after breakfast, this angry-looking cat attacked my ankles as I walked by and scratched me up pretty good. One of the employees came running to my rescue, shouting “NO, Juju!”
Baby chickens running around the property.
I made it my mission to befriend Juju. I gave her a little piece of ham and now she follows me around and hangs out on our porch. No more jungle kitty attacks. She even slipped into our room when Adam opened the door, jumped up on my bed and licked my face. Now she’s a sweetie!
A cashew tree on the property. The first pic is an immature fruit, with the cashew nut hanging off the bottom.
The second pic is a ripe fruit (nut hanging off the bottom.) The fruits are edible and people make them into juices. This one looks like an animal has been chewing on it.
After breakfast, we head out by boat – sometimes for 10 minutes, sometimes for more than an hour. The guide picks a spot for us to land – we then get out and walk.
The guide knows these areas well and gives us a good variety of trees, plants and bugs to discuss. The one item he would never leave home without? A machete. He says survival without one in the woods is doubtful.
Another caiman – this one was medium sized – about 8’ long.
The tree below is a brazil nut tree. They can’t effectively be farmed because they produce nuts only sporadically, depending on the weather, rainfall, temperatures, etc. in any given year, making them an unreliable crop. They are collected from the wild.
The nuts grow inside a hard shell that looks a lot like a coconut, but thicker and much stronger. In fact, during the months when the trees are dropping their pods, it’s incredibly dangerous to walk in the jungle because if one hits you on the head, it’s instant death. The pods are really heavy.
The tree has a symbiotic relationship with the acouti (a rodent), which is just about the only animal with teeth strong enough to open the outer shell. Acoutis eat some of the nuts and bury the others, which is how the tree gets its seeds dispersed. The guide said the only other animal that can open the outer shell is a human with a machete.
Here he is showing how they use the machete to crack open the nut and peel off the shell. The raw brazil nuts have a texture sort of like jicama. I’ve only ever had them toasted. The raw fresh ones are pretty good.
Adam watching the path for creepy-crawlies.
Things to avoid. When we cross a path currently being occupied by flying bees, or ants, or spiders’ webs, the guide uses the machete to clear up a new path. We give a lot of things a wide berth. The beetle below has a nasty sting.
Huge spider web.
A different spider, on a web spun right across the middle of our trail. This guy was huge. The guides used their machetes to clear a different path for us. They were afraid that if they tried to clear the web, the spider might jump on someone.
Me taking a photo of a lizard.
Lousy zoomed-in iPhone shot of the lizard.
Cicada mud tubes. The cicadas stay underground for several years, then finally emerge to reproduce and die within about 4 days.
The mud-looking pod stuck to that tree is a termite colony.
White termites doing their thing. There are two types of termites in the Amazon … these white ones living on trees ….
… and black subterranean termites, that make these huge mounds on the forest floor. Barely visible, right near the elbow of the girl with blond braids, is a big hole made by an anteater.
Thick jungle growth.
Epiphytes growing on a tree.
After lunch at the Lodge, we went out in the boat to search for wildlife. It was so hot and humid today (97F, 56% humidity) that most of the animals were inactive. We did see a few, but not nearly as many as the past two days. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter… 99F.
Blue capped heron fishing in the river.
We also glimpsed a pink dolphin, but it was up-and-down so quick we couldn’t get any photos.
As it gets closer to dusk, the black water becomes almost like a mirror. It’s really beautiful and the photos don’t do it justice.
Twilight is a great time to be out on the river. The temperature comes down, and the animal activity increases … especially the birds. They all congregate at sundown to return to their respective roosting spots for the night. It’s a noisy, fascinating spectacle.
Back up in the morning at 5:30 to see the sunrise and look for birds.
In the middle of the water you can see the fin of the gray Amazon river dolphin.
Success.. In the photo you can see a pair of Scarlet Macaws (like the ones we used to own) plus one Toucan to the lower right of the Macaws.
Zoomed in blurry view.
Much closer view. This Festive Amazon is wild (not a pet) but comes to the camp frequently for food. People give him fruits and other yummy tidbits. He’s sort of half-tame.
View of our cabin and those of our neighbors’. Total capacity here is about 40 people, but I count no more than about 20 over the past 2 days. Our tour group is limited to 6 people – two other couples go with us, young kids from the UK and an older set from The Netherlands.
After breakfast today we took a boat to a trailhead and walked back to our camp – about 3 hours in total. It was HOT and humid.
Before we headed into the jungle, our guide cautioned us not to touch anything, step on anything or eat anything. The Amazon is full of life, but it seems as if everything out here is designed to kill humans, starting with the mammals, to the lizards to the insects to the germs.
He said, “Spiders will bite. 3 hours painful.”
“Bully ants,” holding his fingers to show they are over an inch long, “will bite. 12 hours painful.”
Then he pointed out places where bushmaster snakes like to hide. They are not intimidated by humans and won’t move out of the way like the harmless snakes will. “Bushmaster will bite. 6 hours dead.”
Then he pointed out some mushrooms. “Do not eat. 3 hours dead.”
“OK! Follow me!” and off he went.
Above is an extremely rare Brazilian rosewood tree. This wood was highly prized by musical instrument makers, particularly for guitars, until it became illegal to harvest or import/export the wood. The trees are now under heavy protection by the Brazilian government. The guide was allowed to chip off a tiny piece of it’s bark so we could smell it. It has a very sweet aroma that smells kind of like cedar, but not quite.
They cut some new fronds from the interior of those huge palms to show how people use them to make roofs for their houses, along with many other things like baskets and clothing. When the emerging fronds are cut from the center of the plant, they grow back very quickly and don’t damage the parent plant.
The stems with strips hanging down (photo below) are stacked of top of each other, which forms a waterproof mat for roofing. The roof will last 5 years before needing to be replaced.
Roof of the restaurant at Turtle Lodge. Interior….
… and exterior.
Some critter cut very neat holes in this leaf.
Below: this tree has flammable sap. When people camp in the jungle, generally during the wet season, they use this to start their campfires. You cut a gash in the bark until sap runs … it’s very sticky and reminded me of birch sap. You get a wad of it on the end of a stick, light it, and it turns into a long-burning torch you can use to start a bigger fire.
He is burning the sap wad on a stick, and letting the molten sap drip onto this leaf. It dries to a power-like consistency that you can save in a pouch for starting fires later if you want.
Below you can see the blackened sap that has dripped onto the leaf.
In this form, it acts a lot like gunpowder. He blew the powder into the flame and it sparked up like fireworks.
This evening has no scheduled activities so everyone can sit back and relax, enjoying the sounds of the jungle at night. Tomorrow morning after breakfast, a different jungle hike. Time for bed now!
We are spending the next 4 nights and five days at a lodge about 3.5 hours south of Manuas – down the Amazon and then up several other rivers to a remote location very close to “nowhere”.
In order to get to the lodge, we had to take a car to the docks. We then took a boat down the river. We then loaded into an old VW Kombi for a drive until the road ended. Then we got into another boat for the final journey. One can only get anywhere around here by boat.
Getting ready to take off.. clean clothes and showered!
Our first stop of the day – the docks to get us a boat down the river.
This is the meeting of two rivers, both part of the Amazon. One river is more acidic, higher temperature and faster than the other. The result is that there is a clearly delineated barrier between the two.. that continues for many miles downstream.
In an old VW for the road trip. This was a no frills but lots of thrills ride.
End of the road, yet to another boat loading. We have all our suitcases and backpacks with us, so we needed some help to get all things loaded and secured.
Our final destination – the Amazon Turtle Lodge. The room does have AC (thank God!), running (but not hot) water and mosquito nets. The plumbing comes straight from the river, so they told us to be careful not to get it in our mouths. It’s for bathing and flushing toilet only. Bottled water is available for everything else, including brushing of teeth.
After lunch, Brenda and I went exploring on one of the nearby trails.
The above photo is to show the massive scale of the palms. This type (I forget the name but they are a popular potted houseplant in the States) can get enormous when it’s in the correct environment.
Internet is available, but it is slow and very limited range. We have to assemble at a public location to pick up a signal from the satellite station.
Heading to the lodge restaurant.. 3 meals a day served here. It’s buffet style (all inclusive) and serves about 40 guests, the capacity of the Lodge.
View from the top of a hill down to the dock where we embark/disembark.
An afternoon boat trip around the area.
Fishing for piranhas. We have a guide and he brought along chunks of chicken guts to use as bait.
I caught two! They weren’t very big, but VERY sharp teeth. I couldn’t get the hook out of it’s mouth and had to hand it over to the guide. He treated these fish like unexploded bombs he needed to defuse, but he did get all the hooks out. The fish were returned to the river.
Adam caught one, too.
Then a frog caught Adam.
Returning to the Lodge for dinner. There is another excursion at 8:00 p.m. to hunt caimans, is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family, the other being alligators. The Amazon does not have alligators like the ones in the southern United States. The caimans can get up to 5 meters long, but are generally smaller than alligators.
Sunset on the Amazon River. We’re only about 250 miles from the equator, so the day is split almost exactly into 12 hours of daylight, 12 hours of dark. (Sunset is 6:00 p.m., sunrise is 6:00 a.m.)
The stars were spectacular. There is zero light pollution out here, and a new moon. We were hoping to see a night sky like this in the Sahara Desert a few months ago, but the mood was full and so bright you could practically read a book by it. We got our magnificent night sky here in the Amazon instead. It’s also the first time we’ve seen the stars from the southern hemisphere. We’ve been to the southern hemisphere before, but always in cities and we never went out at night and looked up. This night, we got to see the constellation Southern Cross.
Hunting caimans. They shine a flashlight into the vegetation on the sides of the river and look for eye-shine. The caimans’ eyes are reflective and stand out as a red or yellow flash. They hunt alligators in Louisiana the same way.
[Adam] Our guide has spotted something. He jumped out and trudged around in the dark until he found a target worth grabbing. When the flashlight was off, it was DARK DARK. All sorts of critters were out.. we even had a couple of fish jump out of the water and into our boat, which freaked out some of the other couples who traveled with us. During the trip, I put my hand on a railing in the dark and got stung/bitten by some bug who then flew off. I have no idea what it was, but my finger hurt for a couple of hours afterwards.
He caught one with his bare hands. These guys know everything about every animal and every plant in the jungle. He showed us that this one was female, probably about 3 years old, and demonstrated how her eyes have a second lens that closes underwater to protect her eyes. It retracts automatically when air hits her eyes. She was terrified and making squeaking noises that sounded a lot like a puppy. She was relieved and (I think, somewhat confused) when he put her back in the river and let her go completely unharmed.
We returned to the Lodge at 9:30 and went to bed, exhausted from the excitement of the day. We need a good night’s sleep because tomorrow begins at 5:30 a.m. for a sunrise boat ride (sun rises at 6:00a.m.) and bird watching.
For the next two weeks we are in Brazil. There is one week of play and then one week of work (in Sao Paulo) on the schedule.
We have traveled to Manaus, Brazil – in the heart of the Amazon jungle and right along the river. We have never been before; it’s not like getting here is on the way to something else. We’re going to spend the week in the jungle, exploring the Amazon.
Several months ago we both went in for the “traveler vaccine package.” Yellow fever vaccine, typhoid, Hep A and B, tetanus boosters, and anti-malaria pills. We were quite surprised when we showed up for our appointment, expecting to spend 15 minutes getting shots, but instead were ushered into a private room with two nurses who gave us a 2-hour counselling session about how to keep ourselves healthy for the duration of our trip and non-contagious upon our return home.
Among other things, we had to sign a solemn oath that we would not, !under any circumstances!, touch a bat. We also have to continue taking the anti-malarial medications for 7 full days after we leave the area so as not to pass malaria into an uninfected mosquito population.
Streets of Manaus on a Sunday morning.
At breakfast the waiter recommended an open market they set up each Sunday morning. We were off as soon as we finished our plates. Manaus exists due to the rubber trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. At one point, Manaus was one of the wealthiest cities in the Hemisphere… not so much now. First Malaysian rubber plantations were established that out-produced Brazilian methods (more on that later), and then technological/chemical improvements developed alternatives to pure rubber killed the industry.
In Manaus, the city elders had so much money that they constructed “The Paris of the Tropics” – including an opera hall that now serves as the city’s most recognizable landmark.
We bought these Brazilian cherry wood cutting boards to bring back as gifts (plus one for ourselves.) Brazilian cherry wood is a misnomer, considering it is not related in any way to cherry trees. It’s a tree in the legume family (Hymenaea courbaril) and produces wood with a hardness rating nearly double that of oak. It grows fast, is hard and durable, and is therefore used everywhere. It makes particularly nice flooring, since it can take a beating in high traffic areas without getting dented and scratched up. It is also popular for use in kitchen equipment (cutting boards, wooden spoons, bowls, etc.) and furniture.
Later in the day we went to the Marina do Davi to find a boat that would take us to The Museu do Seringal, a recreated rubber plantation. Figuring out all this chaos was an adventure in itself.
The boats serve as taxis along the river with defined stops. There are numerous sandy beaches along this portion of the river where people stop off to party, swim and do general weekend beach stuff. I guess they don’t have any nasty critters along this stretch of the river.
After about a 30 minute boat ride upriver, they dropped us off at Seringal Museum. This was originally created as movie set for the film “A Selva” that came out in 2002- but is based on a Portuguese book written in the ‘30s that recounted what actually happened at a nearby rubber plantation.
We found someone here who spoke English and he gave us a personalized tour of the grounds, showing us how rubber was harvested, how the business operated and the miserable conditions everyone suffered living in the Amazon during this period.
Meeting the greeter dog. She was a sweetie.
The story was a sadly familiar one of colonial times, wherein Europeans established colonies and proceeded to enslave, abuse, cheat, exterminate, and exploit native peoples.
In this case, the Portuguese established the rubber production and used all sorts of nasty tricks to enslave local people. The man who ran the plantation (called The Colonel) was essentially a dictator. The Portuguese would persuade men from other areas of Brazil to come work the rubber plantation on the promise of high wages and wonderful opportunities. (Local people could see how the place was run and steer clear.) Once the men arrived, they were turned into slaves. They were killed if they tried to escape, they were forbidden to fish or forage food in the jungle and had to buy food from the company store, at massively jacked-up prices. They were paid for the rubber they produced by weight, but the Colonel’s scale was rigged to cheat — for example, 100kilos of rubber would weigh in at about 40kilos.
In an effort to get more fairly paid, the workers started embedding rocks and bits of metal into the rubber blocks to make them heavier. This worked for a little while, until the Ford Motor Company started sending letters of complaint that when they cut into the rubber blocks to start processing them into tires, the rocks and metal bits were wrecking their machinery. At this point, the Colonel figured out what the workers were doing. He would make men throw their rubber blocks into the river — if it floated, it was pure, but if it sank it had rocks in it. If someone got caught with a block that sank, they were tortured and killed.
Meanwhile, the Colonel lived in a fancy house filled with fine furniture and fittings from Europe and the United States.
This room was the guest room where Ferreira de Castro, the author of the original book, stayed during his time in Manaus. (A reproduction for the movie set, based on drawings and descriptions from the author.)
The dining room, with Portuguese glassware, oriental china, a huge clock (not pictured) from Boston, linens from France, etc. Nothing but the best for these guys. The Colonel’s wife thought the water from the Amazon river was dirty, so she had water for her bath imported from Europe. She took a bath once a week. The extravagance and waste was appalling, considering the conditions they forced on the men they enslaved and abused to make all their money. (No women worked the rubber plantations.)
One final insult to injury, the Colonel “encouraged” his workers to convert to Catholicism and built a little chapel on the grounds (below). He doled out favors and slightly better treatment to those who converted. The priest he installed, however, was fake … he was not a priest at all, but a spy who kept tabs on what was going on in the work camps by taking confessions and earning the trust of the men who came to him. He then reported everything to the Colonel, who used the information to punish and/or kill anyone they felt might become a troublemaker.
The cylinder shaped rolls are actual rubber “blocks”. Each weighed about 22 pounds. The guide showed how you could bounce one on the floor like a basketball.
Our guide explained that the rubber trade in Brazil ended up being out-performed by rubber plantations in Malaysia, which was the beginning of the end of Manaus’s prosperity. Seeds were smuggled out of Brazil and grown on farms in Malaysia, which were able to be much more efficient. The Brazilians didn’t farm as such; they tapped trees already growing in the jungle. It took much more time to harvest the sap because they had to find the trees, and go some distances between them. The Malaysians farmed in the traditional manner, with big fields (orchards?) of trees in dense copses.
Later, in a tour of botanical gardens, we learned that the soil in the amazon forest is very thin sand. All the nutrients that support the vast jungle come from fallen plant debris that rots on the ground. Once you clear a piece of land for farming, the soil itself is so poor nothing can grow. It only works in an environment of great biodiversity. I’m guessing that had something to do with why the Brazilians didn’t farm the rubber trees and hunted for wild ones instead. Perhaps Malaysia had better soil to work with. (Just guessing, I don’t know much about it.)
For our benefit, the guide cut a fresh gash on the rubber tree and embedded the container to catch what “bled” out… not much different than how one taps for maple syrup. A single person would fill about 100 of these little cups per night. They did all their cutting at night because the sap flowed better when the temperature was lower.
The liquid sap was applied to a stick and heated up over a chimney to smoke. The material would eventually go from yellow to black, then the worker would ladle more of the liquid on the pole, always turning and adding, layer upon layer (much like making a dipped candle) until the final block was completed. A single block took about 4 hours to make. The smoke and fumes were so toxic that every worker with this particular job died within 3 years.
The structure in the background was the “house” for the workers.
It was up on stilts as a (largely ineffective) safety measure against jaguar attacks. People died here constantly — jaguar attacks, horrible working conditions, torture and execution at the hands of the Colonel, malaria and other diseases, starvation, and attacks from indigenous people who wanted the rubber-making people to go away. I made the comment that out of all of those ways to die, jaguar attack might be one of the better ones because at least it would be quick: the guide got all serious and said, “No no, ohhh no no you do not want to die by jaguar.” He then told a story that happened just about a year ago, his friends were out and a jaguar attacked a man in front of them. The group managed to chase the jaguar away, but not before it disemboweled the guy. His intestines were hanging out of his body, and his chest was so flayed you could see his heart beating through his rib cage. He died before the ambulance could get there.
Another story, his uncle came home to find his dog missing. He checked his security cameras and saw a jaguar attack his dog, drag it up on top of a high wall, and tear it to shreds. He had to go find the shredded pieces of his dog that were still left and bury them. He now takes his remaining dog with him everywhere he goes. He won’t take any chances leaving her home alone. So jaguars are still to this day something to fear.
We saw a lot of boats with these tiny outboards.
5 August 2024
We started today at the art market in Manaus. We hit the internet and got the locations of some potential sites that were pretty active on a Monday. Unfortunately, we struck out. No treasures coming home from this morning’s excursion.
From there we took an Uber about 30 minutes outside of town to the MUSA – the Museu da Amazônia – a botanical gardens in the jungle. This was more like it. Although the heat was stifling (96 degrees and muggy) the walk through the woods was well worth it.
At the Botanical Gardens, They would not allow Brenda entrance with her open-toed sandals. Too many snakes and spiders; they rent boots and socks, like at the bowling alley, for folks who did not come prepared.
We never saw any snakes, but did encounter one extremely aggressive spider.
Below: We saw an enormous dragonfly with spectacular yellow wings. He looked like a small drone. I was attempting to get close enough for a photo but I noticed a spider dangling off the brim of my hat directly in front of my nose. I went into “Eek, a spider” mode and by the time I got the spider safely off on a tree, the dragonfly was gone. (This was not the aggressive spider.)
The gardens has a tall metal tower that you can climb to get a view of the jungle canopy and then well over it. This is from the top viewing back to Manaus. It goes up some 250 feet and allows great views and a decent breeze.
However, it also felt a bit precarious; the railing swayed in the breeze a bit. I spent about 10 seconds at the top and immediately headed down. I waited for Adam at the base while he took photos. One guy at the top was sitting in the yoga Lotus pose, meditating. I hope he felt peaceful up there… I certainly did not!
They had a small section with replicas of dinosaurs fossils found in the area. Below is an enormous pre-alligator. It weighed between 10 and 15 tons.
The giant sloth weighed around 5 tons.
There is an aquarium at the gardens as well. This fish is a Tambaqui, a freshwater white fish found in the Amazon. These are a staple of the diet here – they can get quite large. The flavor reminds me of halibut.
Orchid and bromeliad house.
Our final meal in downtown Manaus. This restaurant (Tambaqui de Banda) is listed as the #1 joint in town. We tried to get in on Sunday, but it was packed. Late afternoon on a Monday was better. We tried two special, local foods:
An appetizer called “Caboco Enrolado” – made from an eel called “Pirarucu” wrapped in fried plantains and cream cheese. It was better than it sounds, but not great.
Typical grilled tambaqui meal. Just fresh fish with salt, other dishes served on the side. Usually some rice and a salsa or two, plus limes for squeezing. The bones in these fish are quite large. You can pull the meat off of them like you do with spare ribs.
Tomorrow morning we are being picked up by a tour company and going to a place deep in the jungle on the Amazon river called Turtle Lodge. This will be the adventuresome, “rustic” part of our trip.
Adam has work in Frankfurt, Germany next week. We found very reasonably-priced tickets from Frankfurt to Marrakech, Morocco on a budget airline, so we came a week early to add a Moroccan leg to the trip.
We are excited to make this journey … we had an extensive trip to Spain and Morocco planned for the summer of 2020 with all three kids, but had to cancel it because of the Covid pandemic. We’ve been looking for another opportunity to visit Morocco for years now, and this seemed too good to pass up. It would have been even better if the kids could have joined us, but all three of them are “adulting” now and have work/college obligations at home. So, this time, it’s just Adam and me on our own.
Äit Benhaddou
25 February 2024
[Adam writing here…] This is our first, full day in Morocco. After breakfast, we were picked up by our driver to whisk us off on a 5-night, 6-day journey through the southern part of the country. His name is Khalid and his English is better than my Moroccan Arabic (called Darija). Khalid is a Berber from a small town in the Sahara and does these tours up to 4x a month during the busy season. During the summer, when no-one wants to be here because of the heat, he heads home to relax before things pick back up again in the fall.
Brenda and I do not need to share the ride with anyone else. We can come/go/stop to suit our interests.
This morning we left the big city of Marrakech and headed into the Atlas Mountains. Temperatures: Lows are in the 40s, which is why we started the trip in coats. It kept pretty cool throughout the day in the high elevations. We stripped down to our shirtsleeves by mid afternoon when we were climbing up and down village stairs.
A surreal landscape stop along the way, showing off the salt and other minerals deposited by water that bubbles up from deep below the surface. It’s very similar to Yellowstone National Park, but without the sulfur smell.
Touring some ruins of an old Kasbah (fort).
Khalid giving Brenda some history lessons about the Berber tribes that live high up in the mountains in these little villages.
Kasbah Telouet. This was built in the 1800s but is degrading. This area was hit by the big earthquake last September that killed almost 3000 people. We saw a lot of remaining evidence of the quake, rock slides along the roads, building damaged & etc.
The pass through the Atlas mountains here is the highest point in Northern Africa, just over 7,200 feet above sea level.
A view of one of the valleys. Where there is water, there is green. One can zoom into this photo and find little houses built along the river and into the rock sides. The principal crops below are Almonds and Saffron.
Brenda getting a lunch at a buffet restaurant near our final destination. There were a lot of tourists in the town to see the famous Äit Benhaddou ksar (fortified village). Most of the tourists here are French or German. French is the second language of Morocco and one can get around pretty good if you happen to know more than about 40 words of French (I don’t…).
Sunday is laundry day in the rapids of the river.
The narrow streets of Äit Benhaddou, full of vendors hawking their wares. Brenda did not leave empty handed.
Shot of the village itself. It is a World Unesco site that was built sometime in the 1100s as a trade stopping spot between the Sahara and Marrakech. Most of what you see now is from the 1700s and 1800s.
This town has been used as a backdrop in more than 50 movies and TV shows, including Lawrence of Arabia, Cleopatra, The Mummy, Gladiator and Game of Thrones.
View from our hotel room, looking over to one range of the Atlas mountains. Where we are staying tonight is about 4500’ up.
At our hotel. As is customary, we are welcomed with Moroccan tea and snacks.
View of our next door neighbors from the rooftop of our hotel.
Foum Zguid
26 February 2024
We continue our journey south, out of the Atlas mountains and to the southern edge of Morocco, along the Algerian border.
Sunrise in Äit Benhaddou. You can hear the chant of the call to prayer about 10 minutes prior.
Along the way we stopped at a Berber village that has a Women’s Cooperative to make rugs. There are numerous styles and materials used, depending on the source. Local Berbers do it one way but there are also rugs made by Cave Berbers, Touregs, Nomads and Bedouins. I used to think those were all pretty synonymous, but each is a different “race” and there are numerous tribes within each sub-category.
All dyes are made in-house from natural plants. Typical dyes are made from indigo (blues), saffron (oranges and yellows), henna (reds) and mint (greens.) Other plants (berries, flowers, bark, etc.) are mixed in to get other colors. Most rugs are woven on a loom and then embroidered, using sheep or camel hair. Brenda is getting a lesson and doing it wrong.
Upstairs is the shop; we couldn’t leave without finding something small and colorful that wasn’t too much money and would fit in our suitcase. (We bought the small blue one on the floor, between the yellow and multi-colored rugs. The primary dye used for ours is indigo.)
Further on we stopped at a spot where date palms grow. We ate a few, but it’s too early in the season. They were very sweet, but astringent.
In Foum Zguid (pronounced like “Fomez Gade”). Brenda did some last opportunity shopping. We also picked up food and water for a picnic lunch. This town is the last stop before the roads end and the rest of our trip is done by 4×4 on trails. Eventually, there aren’t even trails.
Later that afternoon Khalid stopped at the only shade for miles to give us a chance to eat lunch and go potty.
Nomad house on the way
A well in the middle of nowhere… but with solar power to run a pump that will fill the basin when needed.
We’re now in the sahara. I took this photo from the top of the dune after “using the facilities” on the other side.
Now we’re talking. The seed goal for this entire trip was to “Go riding camels in the Sahara” … and we finally got to do just that.
On the way to our camp. It was very windy this afternoon and a sand storm developed; the scarves weren’t just for looks. You need them to protect your skin from the abrasion of flying sand and dust. Temperatures are not bad.. 80s in daytime and upper 40s at night. We’re told the camels actually prefer this type of weather because it’s cooler and sand/dust doesn’t bother them.
The final leg to our camp is about an hour’s ride by camel from the car dropping off spot.
Our final destination coming into view.
The tents are very nice. They call this place “Nubia Luxury Camp” and, considering where we are, it is quite luxurious. Each tent has electricity, running water, a toilet and rudimentary shower, and wifi. No A/C or heat, but plenty of blankets for when the sun sets. The floor is covered with Berber rugs.
What was special about today was that we had the entire camp to ourselves. We are staying here two nights – the second night 12 other people arrive. But for our first 24 hours, we were waited on to an embarrassing level.
Dinner for two in the communal meal tent. The food was fantastic.
A better view of the tent with me making my “I’m having the time of my life” face.
Sahara Desert
Feb 27, 2024
We are spending 3 days / 2 nights somewhere in the Sahara. This range of dunes is called Erg Chigaga, but it’s more of a region than a specific location. (Broad, flat regions covered with wind-swept sand or dunes, with little or no vegetation, are called ergs or sand seas.) The Berbers all know where they’re going. They grew up here, work here and live here. We certainly wouldn’t be able to find our way anywhere without a guide.
It’s not hot, but very dry. Sand gets everywhere… and the older you get, the more nooks and crannies the sand finds.
Photo taken about 1:00 am. There was a sand storm yesterday afternoon which kind of ruined things for stargazing. Things finally calmed down a bit at night. The moon is full and it was SO BRIGHT that you could go anywhere you wanted by moonlight. Other than this, there isn’t a light around beyond the led lights on the tree.
Just before sunrise.
Tracks from the camp’s resident cat. I read that the Berbers keep cats to chase away snakes and scorpions from the camps. They have more wildlife here than you might think, but most are nocturnal.
Our camp’s camels. There are no fences here; to keep the camels from wandering off, they tie up one of their legs. (You can see it on the two camels in the foreground.) They can walk on three legs, but don’t like it much. Therefore they stick around.
Entire view of our camp at sunrise. We stayed at the tent just to the right of the main tent in center. All of the other ones were empty last night.
Hot water heater… of a sort. Showers this morning were rather brisk, but maybe if we had waited another hour or two it might have warmed up.
Breakfast. Way too much food for just the two of us.
Campfire in the center. This will be a locus of activity later tonight. (Our first night was too sand-stormy to be outside.)
Going for a walk before we start our day. They asked us what we want to do today and we said “Ride more camels.” So, we have plans for a journey to an Oasis about 10 miles away. Getting there by camel.
Photo of the camp manager going over to tell the camel shepherd that we’re ready to saddle up.
This one is my guy for the day.
A handy place to keep some water.. .and you need it.
Brenda is in heaven.
Some of our convoy’s camels. The shepherd set the riderless camels free to graze while we continued on. They bind their legs to keep them from running off too far. He will pick them up on his way back to camp later in the evening. The two camels we were riding were none too happy about having to continue walking while the others all got to stay in the grazing grounds. They did a lot of grunting and moaning.
Wild donkeys.
At our final destination. We rode 3 1/2 hours to get here… a Nomad camp that is set up to receive tourists to look around, share a tea with a local and get some food. Here she is demonstrating how she bakes bread.
She has an open fire/charcoal pile and the loaves are cooked on top. Later she scrapes off the charcoal and they’re ready for eating. We had some with our tea. It was delicious.
At the Nomad camp. This is a pen for baby goats. The mothers are herded off to the mountains to eat during the day and then return to give milk to kids and humans alike.
Brenda remains in heaven.
The garden.
The kitchen.
The guest area for meet and greet.
Our hostess making traditional “welcome” tea – a mixture of black tea and frankincense. Most of the other teas we have had this trip are from mint. The frankincense added a delicious and exotic flavor to ordinary black tea.
Lunch for us. Vegetarian, with even a few things Brenda couldn’t identify. Once again, though, the food was great.
More of the Nomad working areas.
Solar power is a wonderful thing out here. Our camp is run from it, and the Nomad camps have put this technology to use as well.
After the 3.5 hour camel trip in + lunch + time to rest, we decided not to ride the camels back. Our bottoms couldn’t take more of the punishment, and the rate at which we travel it would be after dark before we made it back to camp.
They generously offered to drive us back… only 20 minutes return trip by car. We were sore, but so happy to have experienced the rides. What we asked for is not “on the menu” from the tourist company, but I told them this was our principal goal of the trip and they went above and beyond to accommodate us. (We became under the impression that most people think one hour of riding camels into the camp is quite enough, thank you very much, and a lot of people even opt out of that.) It isn’t the most comfortable mode of travel, but it is ever so cool!
Along the way back we stopped at an honest to goodness Oasis; water year-round that is percolating up from somewhere deep underground. A very popular spot for animals and humans alike. Khalid told us that an oasis has a permanent water source. Most areas with green trees do not have permanent water; they are areas where rainwater collects and sinks into the sand enough for trees to grow, but they do not have spring water. You can see how people dying of dehydration in the desert would see trees and get excited, only to be devastated to find there is no water to drink once they got there. You’d only get that at an oasis, like this one.
A well created to capture some of the Oasis water. There were frogs living in the well and the oasis spring … how on earth did they get there?!?
Back at the camp.. and the rest of the guests arrived. 12 “Woo Girls” from the US and Canada, mostly in their 40s and 50s, arrived to the camp hanging out the windows of trucks, Dukes of Hazzard-style, whooping and hollering and all dressed up in turbans. The camp got quite animated and our hosts immediately started apologizing to us for the noise and general behavior.
We were just fine with the group, but the hosts sheepishly kept asking us if we were ok, if we wanted to go stay somewhere else tonight, when we wanted to eat & etc.
Brenda and I went for a long walk (long for sand, that is) to find a nice spot to have a sit and watch the sun set. It was the “magic hour” for light, so lots of photos were taken of the dunes.
With no wind and nothing for miles, it is often dead quiet. One can sit and listen only to one’s tinnitus. The opposite of snow, the sand amplifies sounds; if there is activity around, each dune acts like a sound dish and reflects and reverberates any little noise from very far away.
Our last sunset in the Sahara.
After dinner, the hosts lit up the bonfire and treated us all to a concert, using Berber instruments and songs.
View of the bonfire. Brenda’s back is to the camera. It gets cold quickly here. The Woo Girls are running around, singing and dancing and chugging from the individual bottles of wine each brought with them. (Moroccans are not big drinkers; if you want alcohol, you have to bring your own. It can be found in the bigger cities, like Marrakech.)
The camp just before bedtime.
As they promised, the Sahara offers an unparalleled view of the stars. Not a great photo, but you get the idea. Bed time….
Agdz
Feb 28, 2024
Today is the day we pack up and leave our Sahara camp. We’re slowly making our way back to Marrakech, but hitting some interesting stops along the way.
Hey, it’s my birthday today! 55 years old. I now qualify to buy a house in an “Active Lifestyle” senior citizen community.
Loading up and out at daybreak. It’s another 75 minute ride back to the place where we meet up with the truck that takes us on. The camp staff drives our luggage in a separate car so we don’t have to load it onto the camels.
Ho hum, yet another Camel ride for Brenda.
We are heading east toward a town called M’Hamid – where the road begins again. On the way, high up on a hill, we stopped to see these Nomad women selling scarves and little toy trinkets they make by hand. Brenda is trying to figure out how to buy and thank the woman for some little treasures she is bringing home to the girls.
Another of Brenda’s goals was to buy a Tagine – the earthenware pots used for so many meals here. She wants a real one that can be used in our oven at home, not the ornamental ones that are usually sold at the tourist traps.
In Tamegroute, in the Draa River Valley, we stopped at a pottery factory to find what she was after. Tamegroute is known for their pottery, made with traditional techniques and knowledge passed down for generations.
A man demonstrating the pottery wheel techniques.
Kids mixing the dirt and water & etc for spinning. This is the factory.
Product going into the kilns. The black coating is a glaze made from copper, magnesium and a couple other minerals, all locally sourced. After firing, the glaze becomes bright green and is the traditional finish. Other colors are offered, as well, also made from local natural materials.
The processes have not changed in thousands of years. As far as we could tell, men make the pottery and women do the painting.
The final product in the warehouse.
Brenda deciding on her selections.
.. and of course, finding the one animal to play with while the owner wraps up our pottery. (Let’s see if they can somehow make it back to home in one piece.)
In Agdz… this is our hotel for the night, surrounded by stunning gardens.
A 50 yard walk out of our compound yields an abandoned village of Ahslim Ksar. No one has lived here for about 70 years – modern citizens moved a bit south and live now in “the city”. This entire walled village can now be explored, at your own risk.
An old well, next to a field of date palms and saffron crocus.
Another Kasbah that is still in use down the way.
Back at our hotel. We have found that if you can get water here, things grow amazingly well. The soil is rich, just bereft of moisture.
Dadés Gorge
Feb 29, 2024 (Leap Year!)
We are now making a lazy return trip to Marrakech. Today we headed back up deeper into the Atlas mountains to see how many of the Mountain Berber people lived… they have carved out a life wherever there is water, and built villages into the steep rock walls. They are efficient at capturing the melted snowfall to irrigate farms. All of southern Morocco is oranges and browns except where there is any small amount of water – and then you get lush greens and huge varieties of plant life. Top elevation was over 7200’ and most of the villages we visited were above the 6000’ level.
Heading out this morning. Brenda purloined a sugar cube from breakfast to give to the hotel donkey. His braying was our wake up alarm in the dark at 6:00 am today.
We had some time to explore again the deserted ‘ksar’ village.
Down one alleyway we encountered a dog seemingly guarding the pass (hanging out the second-floor window opening). His body language got more and more nervous as we approached, so Brenda made us turn back.
This photo could have been taken yesterday or 2000 years ago.
Roadside vendor. Brenda is negotiating final pricing on some more trinkets for the girls. (Khalid was translating.)
Goats in the Tinghir gorge.
Better shot of this gorge… a creek running through a pass flanked by impenetrable, steep walls.
Small town where we got lunch.
On the rooftop of our restaurant. Khalid knows all the “best kept secret” places that are off the tourist path. Brenda can just be seen, tucked deep into the shadows. The Arabic writing on the mountain side says “Allah, Country, King”.
Teapot vendor further along on the trip.
Shot of a typical village in the mountains. Tallest tower is always the mosque. Green in the center of the valley where the water flows and the crops are grown.
Back up over another mountain.
Our final stop for the day, in the Dadés (pronounced “dads”) Gorge. We are calling this the Riggins of Morocco… a small town at the bottom of another gorge with walls of mountain on either side. We walked up and down the road for an hour to get some exercise (long car trip day). I wanted to buy some Moroccan candy to bring home to the kids.
Marrakech
March 1, 2024
Today is mostly a travel (drive) day back to Marrakech – where we will spend the final 2 days of our time here in Morocco.
Leaving our hotel in Dadés. Built into the hillside, level space comes at a premium. One has to take many stairs (sometimes both down and up) to get anywhere in the hotel.
Stork nest on top of the mosque tower. Mom is on eggs and dad stands guard (on one leg, of course).
Even roadside bathroom stops are photogenic. (Those blue doors lead to the bathrooms.)
Back in Marrakech – at the Jemaal El Fna, the renowned square and marketplace in Marrakesh’s medina quarter (old city). This has been a marketplace location since at least the 1100s.
Brenda in one of the souks of the medina, haggling over a teapot. (Most of these vendors speak a little English.)
There are “districts” where certain types of merchandise are sold, but we couldn’t discern any organization.
We did find an artist Brenda liked and are coming home with a painting rolled up in our suitcase.
Metal light fixtures and lanterns.
Evening brings out the food vendors for dinner.
Stall selling Moroccan flags in front of the mosque.
March 2, 2024
Our last day in Morocco. Our flight back to Frankfurt is scheduled for the evening, so we had most of the day to wander around town, do some last minute shopping, and look for cool things to photograph. We put in over 15 miles of walking all about town, eager to see all we could before we took our flight out. Most of the time was spent wandering through the alleys of the medina, visiting all of the souks.
Momma kitty standing over her baby.
Leather factory; the guy above was loading up with tanned hides, presumably off to deliver them to the individual leather workers in the souk stalls.
Artisans work in the back of their stalls, sell finished goods in the front.
Le Jardin “Secret”… a Riad in the middle of the marketplace. Built about 450 years ago, it fell into ruins until about 10 years ago, when it was restored and turned into a museum.
Medersa Ben Youssef: Islamic school for boys built in the 1300s. For hundreds of years it was the largest school in North Africa.
Dyed wool being delivered into the market.
View over Jemaa el Fna. We stopped for one last serving of water, tea and some banana juice.
We have arrived to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia on our first full day of fun. This is a special trip for us – all 3 kids are with us as well as our younger dog, Winston. Max is too old, deaf and grumpy to travel anymore. John and Elaine are babysitting him at home while we are away.
We left home on Saturday afternoon and drove the first three hours to Knoxville, TN. On Sunday we slept in, took a leisurely breakfast and drove the rest of the way to HF – arriving her around 4pm. Just enough time to get settled and unpacked, find dinner and begin hard core relaxing.
Our house was built in 1830 and overlooks the Potomac river. The building served as a hospital for both the US and Confederate troops during the civil war. HF was changed hands 8 times from 1861-1865. HF is also the site of the famous John Brown raid and failed black uprising.
Our parking spot and rented house – it’s the brick place on the left with the large, central fireplace.
View of our front room.
Isabella is grading papers. Finals week is over, but she has to get all papers graded and into the computer by 5:00pm today. She hasn’t yet been able to relax on this trip.
Down one of the main streets near our house.
Out on our first hike of the day. Cold (38 degrees) but sunny and not much wind.
Much of the town is preserved as a national park; most of the buildings have been restored/renovated. Many are re-done just as they were in the 1860s.
Interior of dry goods store, as an example.
The firehouse now known as John Brown’s fort: It was in this building that John Brown and several of his followers barricaded themselves during the final hours of their ill-fated raid of 1859.
Abandoned railroad bridge piers. They were built in the 1830s for the B&O railroad. The Confederates blew up the bridge in 1861 and it was rebuilt and destroyed numerous times throughout the war, sometimes being replaced by a temporary pontoon bridge.
We attempted another hike across the Potomac into Maryland to walk up the Maryland Heights. Winston was NOT happy about this walkway and when we got to the far end, there were several steep series of open grate stair steps. We could not get him to walk the gratings and could not carry him. He got into a full, wiggly panic and could not be comforted. We had to abandon our hiking plans and turn back.
We found another hike more to his liking; along the Shenandoah river.. this is part of the Appalachian Trail. HF is just about halfway between the starting point in Georgia and the end point in Maine.
Brenda’s dinner – CBD salad full of marijuana leaves. She did NOT expect that. The leaves don’t have any of the THC, smell a bit like mint and did not taste good.
Our houses mantelpiece – with cap lock rifle and real cannon ball and shells.
Left over equipment from the 18th and 19th century armories – HF was ground zero for the nation’s arsenal and factories that produced much of our countries arms and armor. These lathes were turning gun stocks and rifle barrels.
20 December 2022
Our first, full day in Newport. We are staying here for three nights before continuing on to Maine. We have another AirBnB house with plenty of room for 5 + dog and within walking distance to the main, touristy part of the town.
Morning walk; this graveyard is a block away from where we’re staying.
One of the main purposes of this stop is to tour Salve Regina University (in Newport). Josie has been accepted here and been offered a very generous scholarship. Even so, it’s still a bit of a stretch, financially.
In addition to a campus tour, we visited with the Financial Aid office and (in a reasonably-well-off, white family way) begged for more money. We walked away fairly encouraged and will be looking for more letters and information coming from them in January. Salve is small (2100 students) liberal arts university that has a good Education program (Josie’s intended major) – a Catholic school that takes in all types.
View from the campus green behind the admin building.
The girls impressed with the admin main hall.
Typical classroom we found that was open.
More campus buildings.
On to even fancier stuff… The Breakers – summer residence for the Vanderbilts. Built in the 1890’s. I think most of you have toured this place, no?
The music room all fixed up for Xmas performances.
Main hall. We purchased a package that will get us into three mansions.. The Breakers today and two more (Marble House, The Elms) tomorrow.
Driving around Aquidneck island. Apparently we come from the less well-healed branch of the Jeffery family tree. These folks would not allow us to crash like a group of Cousin Eddys.
Typical houses in the area. My co-worker, Alan, who has lived in the area for many years tells me that even if we won the lottery, we still couldn’t afford to buy these places.
Brenda was anxious to see if Winston took to sheep like fish to water. He did not. I think we bought a dud in the sheep herder department.
Brenda, however, always has an ability to get the animals to do her bidding.
Doing some Xmas shopping along the waterfront in Newport.
As the day progressed, Brenda has begun to feel worse and worse – likely food poisoning. The day before, she bought a veggie wrap at a New Jersey Turnpike truck stop. Who knew that might carry risks??!!
The kids and I went out to a seafood dinner and we turned in early to watch Christmas movies and South Park re-runs.
22 December 2022
Brenda was ill today (stomach bug) and so we adjusted to a more mellow schedule. (She’s getting better now..)
Starting out in Newport, RI again.
Picture of the house where we are staying.
Taking the dog on a morning walk.
The four of us (less Brenda) toured “The Elms” – another late 19th century summer “cottage” built for the Berwind family – he was Big Coal.
After that, we decided to drive up to Providence, RI on a lark. Bella wanted to find some places to shop. Josie wanted to see RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) where one of her friends is hoping to attend. We parked in downtown and just wandered about.
We found a nice bookstore. Bella bought a couple of books for her job. Next door was a Korean place and the kids wanted to have lunch. Providence is about 35 minutes away from Newport.
That afternoon, we toured the 3rd and final mansion open this time of year. Brenda was feeling better and really wanted to see “Marble House” and so she joined us. This was another Vanderbilt house – different brother or cousin or such. It’s hard to keep track of them all.
More really fancy rooms.
It gets dark here about 4:00pm; after that it’s wine time. We got take out pizza from a place a block away and watched “Four Christmases” on the tube.
This morning we pack up and head for Maine. It is VERY warm this morning (53 degrees) but very windy and wet. We’re going to miss all of the winter snow and ice just by hugging the seaboard all the way north. The temps drop sharply over Xmas weekend, though. We’ll hopefully be safely ensconced in our next place for the next 3 nights.
23 December 2022
A comfortably short 3.5 hour drive from Newport up to Maine. The winter storm finally arrived, but the narrow strip of land along the seaboard managed to stay warm. We drove through Boston with temps in the upper 50’s.
We saw our first snow after entering Maine (from a former storm) and made it to Portland by early afternoon.
Over Xmas we are staying on an island (Peaks Island) off the coast of Portland. We arrived at the Ferry terminal by 2:00pm and were the first and only vehicle to make the crossing. I learned later that the ferry service had been closed all morning due to the extremely high winds. After a choppy 20 minute boat ride, we made it to Peaks Island and on to our house for the next three nights.
View of Portland from the cozy confines of our car during the ferry crossing.
It was warm all day but very windy. The news that evening reported sustained winds at 30-40 miles per hour and gusts over 65.
Our house. Built in 1914 as a summer cottage. It has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths.. very well modernized and appointed inside. After unloading our gear we went to the island’s only grocery store to get food. All of the restaurants and other stores are already closed for the weekend.
Typical houses. Based on my dog walks I would guess that only about 1 in 5 are currently occupied.
24 December 2022
This morning (the 24th) most of the storm has already passed by. The temperature is now 14F with windchill at -2F. The weather will dictate much of what we can and can’t do over the next several days, but we have a great place to hunker down for Xmas day.
It is cold here now. Sunny but windy with wind chills below 0. Early morning dog walk. Winston doesn’t seem to mind the cold.
Today we took the ferry back to Portland ME to get our Xmas Eve lunch and do some shopping.
Ready to brave the elements. It’s about a 30 minute trip to the mainland.
A bit of background here. Usually we try to build our vacations around some theme or principal goal. This fall when we asked the kids what they wanted to do, Josie said she wanted to go somewhere cold. Check. Holden said he wanted lobsters in Maine. Check. This was our big meal of the trip.. the kids just love the things. I don’t but was happy to let them dig in.
Back home and hunkered down for the next day. Everything is closed today; our larder is full, the heat is on and we have games and cable TV.
Merry Christmas!
25 December 2022
A quiet day that went by way too fast. Everyone got to sleep in a bit longer than usual. We watched some TV in the morning and then explored the island. The highlight (for Winston) was our time in the woods near the center of the island. We could take him off leash and let him loose for awhile to burn off some excess energy.
Frozen pond
Brenda and Isabella going for a walk.
Before we left on the trip, Brenda purchased a dog coat and booties – in case we encountered ice or snow. Winston tolerates the coat but hates the booties. Fortunately, we didn’t need the latter on this trip.
For Xmas dinner, Brenda made Jambalaya. After that we burned away the afternoon with a calm, quiet game of Risk. Bella won and won’t let any of us forget that.
We leave Maine this morning and begin our return trip South. We will take 4 days on the return trip to have time to see some fun things on the way back.
Dec 27, 2022
Our travels today began in Trenton, NJ and finished up in Richmond, VA. We had to navigate through Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore and DC traffic.. but the worst stretch of all was between DC and Richmond where 4 accidents on the Interstate. It took us longer to make the 100 miles to Richmond than it did McClellan.
This is near the location where Washington crossed the Delaware on December 25, 1776. We’re on the New Jersey side, near Trenton. This is the Johnson Ferry house; it waas used briefly by General Washington and other officers at the time of the Christmas night crossing. Brenda is checking out their frozen vegetable garden.
The location where Washington & Co crossed the river. The kids were unimpressed – no where near as wide and dramatic as seen in the famous Leutze painting, but we did see some ice floes. I guess you had to be there. Josie wondered why Washington didn’t just take the bridge shown in the far left of the photo above.
On the previous travel day, we did little but drive and make occasional pit stops. Winston never got a chance to stretch his legs and it showed in his behavior later that night. With the weather improving and an ideal place to hike, we stopped in DC to do a walk around the National Mall.
Of course, as soon as we arrive, President Biden boards Marine One and heads off for Edwards Air Force Base. The town isn’t big enough for the both of us.
On the Lincoln Reflecting Pool.. frozen over. This shot took a bit of work as Winston is not a fan of the ice.
This amount of ice is more his speed.
In all we got in 4.5 miles of hiking which did a world of good for everyone. Subway sandwiches for dinner.. we got in after dark. Only enough time to sort out the beds and watch a little TV before bedtime.
Dec 28, 2022
Our final day of rest/play this trip was in Richmond, VA. There is quite a bit to see and do here; we could easily have spent several more days here if we weren’t also kind of anxious to get back home. You will note a marked lack of Civil War photos below.. The rest of the family vetoed all of my great suggestions – and there is NO shortage of great CW things to see and do in and around Richmond. That will have to be saved for another trip.
We did visit the Edgar Allan Poe museum – for some reason I always thought he was from Baltimore (that’s where he died), but Poe grew up in Richmond and lived here on four separate occasions throughout his brief, 40 year life.
We then toured Agecroft Hall – a tudor manor house first built in the late 1200s in Lancashire, England and expanded over the next 600 years. By the 1920s it sat derelict but was then purchased by a rich Richmondite who packed it up and shipped it to here, brick by brick.
Brenda smelling herbs in the nearby garden.
We got a lunch downtown in a restaurant that was dog friendly.
After lunch we shopped in the Carytown urban retail district.. over 200 quirky shops full of used clothes, antiques and small restaurants. We then returned for an early turn in.
The long drive home from Virginia.. We left at 4:00am and got in just before 1:00pm yesterday.
Map of our path.
All of us went to John and Elaine’s this morning for waffle breakfast and a review of our events. Isabella drove home to Savannah this afternoon. Josie goes back to school on the 5th and Holden on the 9th.
The four of us are in Guatemala for a bit less than a week. It’s Holden’s and Josie’s first of two spring breaks they get this year so we made a quick trip to the land of humming birds and volcanos for some adventure. This is our first international family adventure without Isabella … her college (UGA) spring break isn’t for another two weeks. We felt awful about going without her, but then she ended up organizing a trip to Disney World with her boyfriend for her spring break and then we felt less bad. She’ll get to have fun on a different trip a couple of weeks from now.
Map showing Guatemala relative to Mexico and rest of Central America. Rectange on map is zoomed in below.
Map showing our planned route/destinations.
We flew to Guatemala City (the Capital) on Friday night and stayed at a hotel near the airport. The next morning, after breakfast, we got our rental car and started loading.
The white Kia (below) is our clown car HQ for the trip. There’s barely enough room for 4 of us plus luggage and it’s not exactly the lifted 4wd vehicle we really need where we’re going.
On the way to Lake Atitlán, where we’ll spend 3 nights, we decided we had some time to stop in Antigua and see the sights.
Antigua is known for its preserved Spanish Baroque-influenced architecture as well as a number of ruins of colonial churches. It served as the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala until too many earthquakes drove the settlers to move toward calmer ground – now known as Ciudad de Guatemala or Guatemala City. The entire town of Antigua has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We don’t know if this is a daily thing or just because we were there on a Saturday morning, but folks had set up scores of tables and booths in the town square to show off their wares. Brenda bought several pieces of art, Josie bought an amethyst and jade bracelet and Holden bought chocolate.
More weekend markets.
We then continued our journey toward the house we rented on the lake. This drive took FAR more time than we had figured. This part of Guatemala is very mountainous. We spent our time going up and down switchback roads ranging from 5000ft to 7000ft elevation. Even though we spent most of our drive on the Panamerican Highway, we found that we could not rely on any form of decent roadways. There were many traffic jams and roads partially to fully blocked with landslides. At one point we were driving along when a sign read “Puente destruido. Pasar por el rio.” (Bridge destroyed. Go through the river.) We figured that couldn’t possibly be true.
It did turn out to be true.
We came up to a ford in the river, but couldn’t tell how deep it was. Mind you, we have this clown car with no clearance and weak front wheel drive power. We stopped and tried to figure out what to do next. There was no other way to continue. We waited until some other car came (similar in size to ours) and watched them do it. After that, we loaded up and just followed them, hoping for the best.
(Little blue car in distance drove through with no trouble.)
All turned out well, but who knows that this poor rental car will look like when we get it back.
Heading toward the lake, we had to descend several thousand feet to the lakeshore down miles of switchbacks. I managed to start overheating our breaks and the car began acting strange and making unpleasant noises. I had to slow down to about 5 miles and hour and keep it in first gear (manual transmission) down the rest of the way.
We finally arrived to our rental house (miles of dirt roads in at 5mph to keep from destroying the tires and suspension) in a small indigenous mayan village called Tzununá. We made it several hours late, but got there safe and before sunset. You do not find this place by accident.
After figuring out where to park and finally getting down all the stairs to the front door of the house, we could go no further because a dog was standing by the front door growling at us. He wasn’t barking and frantically hopping around like most dogs do to announce a visitor … this guy had his shoulders squared and nose crinkled up ever-so-slightly to show his teeth and that low grow deep in his throat. We stopped on the stairs not sure what to do next because this dog clearly meant business, but right then the groundskeeper, Pascual, came out of the house and told the dog to stop it. (After that, the dog spent the remainder of our visit with this expression of pure contempt every time he caught sight of us. He loathed us.)
I had previously made arrangements for a local woman to come there and cook us dinner. We were tired, hungry and cranky but could sit down immediately to a great meal of chicken stew, rice, platanos, and some other funky (but yummy) traditional Guatemalan dishes that we never quite caught on what was in it.
Views of the lake during wine time from the deck of our house. Lake Atitlán and two volcanos.
Sunday, 16 Feb 2020
For the next three days, we’re staying at a rented house on the shore of Lake Atitlán.
The lake is about 50 sq. miles in size and located at an elevation just shy of a mile high. Our house is at 5,240 feet, so we’ve been huffing and puffing anywhere we go. Lake Atitlán is renowned as one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, and is Guatemala’s most important national and international tourist attraction. German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt called it “the most beautiful lake in the world,” and Aldous Huxley famously wrote of it in his 1934 travel book “Lake Como, it seems to me, touches on the limit of permissibly picturesque, but Atitlán is Como with additional embellishments of several immense volcanoes. It really is too much of a good thing.”
Our view when having breakfast.
The house is built into a cliff (as they all are). The wall facing the lake is one long expanse of glass doors that open to the deck.
Very serviceable kitchen.
Two sets of decks, one on the main floor and one on the bedroom level above.
The parking spot is way above the house. You park here then walk down a long, winding stone path/staircase to get to the house.
Lake Atitlán’s most prominent attractions are two (still) active volcanos. The rest of the lake is ringed by steep cliffs. It is impossible to travel around the lake at lake level; the main form of transportation are water taxis that constantly go to and fro from one village to another. Transportation is cheap if a little spotty.
We are staying near a tiny Kaqchiquel Mayan village of Tzununá. The locals (according to the internet) speak K’iche rather than Spanish. Tzununa either means “hummingbirds of the lake” or “land of the sparrows.” Either description fits the place really well, so I guess it doesn’t matter which of the translations is the correct one.
From our house we walked the half mile or so into the village to look around; mostly we just got stared at. Never have we felt more obvious. Josie observed that we stand out here more than we did even in Japan and Korea. She observed: “Our culture is a lot more similar to Japan’s than to Guatemala’s.”
View of Tzununá from our house deck. The boat dock at the left-most collection of white buildings.
Fisherman in what looks like a hand-hewn wooden boat.
Most of the housing looks like this. Some have electricity, most do not. The weather is always spring-like here, so no heating nor A/c is required. Everyone uses wood for cooking and heating.
Coffee cherries drying in the sun.
Sunday morning laundry day.
This must be the best view from a laundry facility in the world. It sure beats rinsing stuff out in a bathroom sink (which is what I’ve been doing.) The water is probably pretty clean; we’re at a very high elevation here with nothing up-stream to contaminate it.
A collection of Tuk-Tuks crossing the bridge. This is the primary mode of transportation. They’re all taxis and are cheap to use. There are almost no cars in any of the lakes villages – no one can afford them, they’re practically useless for getting from village to village, the roads are terrible and small and almost also too steep to be safe to navigate.
Tzununá dock from where we caught a boat to San Pedro La Laguna, across the lake. More on that later.
Street scene in Tzununá.
On the boat ride to San Pedro, you can see in the distance a smaller, active volcano with a steady puff of smoke coming out. The two volcanos right next to us (Volcan San Pedro and Volcan de Atitlan) haven’t erupted since the 1850s. They were quite active from the 1400s to the 1800s, but have been quiet since. Nobody seems to know when/if they will wake up again. The entire lake is a result of a huge eruption of the entire region about 84,000 years ago.
Boats in San Pedro. This is a larger town and is better suited for some tourist time – there are a few restaurants and bars. We went there on a Sunday and the place was crowded with locals selling all sorts of food and clothing. Brenda bought an aluminum pot in order to cook eggs and hot dogs back at our house. I bought a couple bottles of cheap wine before heading home.
Street scene in San Pedro.
At a restaurant right near the dock, we ordered garlic fish. It came with head, tail, bones and all — which I should have expected but forgot that it’s usually served like this in a lot of countries. In 2011 (when Holden was 8 years old) we ordered fish off the kid’s menu at a restaurant in Tobago. It arrived looking just like this and Holden burst into tears. He got down from the table and refused to even sit until we’d taken the head and tail off, removed them to another plate and covered them with a napkin. I remember him saying “I thought it was going to be fish sticks.” We told him that fish sticks were the same, just with the heads cut off and the meat cut into strips. He looked horrified and yelled “FISH STICKS USED TO BE ALIVE?!” Today, we were reminiscing about that story and Holden joked, “Well, get ready, because I think all that’s about to happen again.”
Local outdoor market. We don’t know if this was an every-day market or something set up just on Sundays. It was packed with people selling food products … very much for the locals and not for tourists. We’ve noticed that most families in this area seem to have gardens and are using traditional growing methods. A lot of people have chickens, too. We’ve seen a couple of cows, but fruits, vegetables and chicken (meat and eggs) seem to be the dietary staples. This market had a few stalls selling fish, as well, but not as much as I expected considering how prominent the lake is.
No shortage of avocados.
The ice cream cart was popular.
La Igleasia Catolica de San Pedro la Laguna. This church has some really pretty gardens and a park-like area in front of it. People were hanging out, enjoying the afternoon.
Most of the buses appear to be imported decommissioned school buses from the United States. Most of them are blinged out like this one, but the plainer ones are still yellow and have ” ____ County School District” written on the side, with the name of the county blacked out with spray paint.
Back at our house. After lunch and some exploring in San Pedro, we caught a boat that headed back to our village. Late in the afternoon, we started wine time with some lounging on the lake and then leftovers of what Maria cooked for us the night before.
Holden enjoying the late evening atmosphere while the internet works. (It’s been a bit spotty.)
Monday, 17 Feb 2020
Today we took a number of water taxis to towns along the Lake Atitlan shore.
Josie waiting for everyone else to get ready for the day to start.
Panoramic view from the upper deck of our house.
The path from the house’s dock up to the house.
View of our house from the water taxi.
People walking into the village in the morning. This little baby watched us the entire time we were behind them.
Another family of morning commuters.
Houses along the way.
At the Tzununa docks waiting for the next water taxi to Panajachel, the biggest town on Lake Atitlan.
On the boat, we got stared at by another baby.
Arriving at Panajachel docks.
There was a small photography museum in town; this building used to be a hotel called El Cakchiquel. It was built in the 1940s and hosted movie stars and dignitaries. Che Guevara spent a lot of time here. So did Ingrid Bergman.
The photography exhibit is mostly photos from the early 1900s of life in the Atitlan towns. It was interesting to see that not much has changed since the 1910s and 1920s.
Panajachel has lots of markets selling goods aimed at tourists. The most common items are textiles. This town also has lots of items made from glass beads that have been strung together. At first I thought they were mass-produced (in spite of vendors assuring us “my wife made this”) but as I got to looking at each individual booth, the beaded items were, indeed, different from each other. The themes were common to all (little hummingbirds, lizards, necklaces and bracelets) but each vendor had a slightly different style.
Textiles were by far the most prevalent. In a different town, we saw women weaving these on big looms.
According to people on the internet, the best restaurant in town is a Japanese place, so we decided to have lunch there. Unfortunately, when we arrived they were still serving breakfast. We wandered around a little more and decided to get a snack and drink at a little cafe while we waited for it to be lunchtime.
We had virgin pina coladas and ordered a couple plates of crepes to share. The portions turned out to be very large, so after our “snack” we weren’t hungry anymore. Below: Holden finally talked Josie into tasting his. She kept saying, “No thanks, I’m good with mine” but eventually she caved in and have his a try. (It reminded me of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry is miffed after his girlfriend refuses to try a bite of his apple pie.) But then Adam emailed this picture to people with the caption Josie grabbing more than her fair share in Panajachel. Poor Josie!
Leaving Panajachel. The boat was overloaded and I ended up getting stuck in the prow.
Dock at Santa Cruz.
View heading up the hill. We got a lunch at a restaurant near the water and decided to walk to the top of the village. We didn’t get half way up before our huffing and puffing and sweating was too much. We turned around and headed back to the docks.
Poster (and kitty cat) in the restaurant.
After Santa Cruz, we got another boat back to Tzununa and our house and called it a day. The views during sunset are stunning and we’ve really enjoyed spending our evenings in.
Fisherman out on the lake right before sunset.
Tuesday, 18 February 2020
We packed up our things and left the house on the lake. Getting out was easier that getting in and soon we were on our way. We had enough time to make a side trip to the north to a Mayan town called Chichicastenango. Even though it was only 17 miles as the crow flies from our lake house, it took us 2 hours to get there – such are the roads.
One last view from our house.
One of the first things we did when we arrived in “Chichi” was to hit a pharmacy to restock our supply of Amoxicillin. You don’t need a prescription and a complete 10-day series only costs about US$15.00.
Chichicastenango hosts huge market days on Thursdays and Sundays (we were here on a Tuesday, so the vibe of the town was considerably more calm). Vendors sell handicrafts, food, flowers, pottery, wooden boxes, condiments, medicinal plants, candles, pom and copal (traditional incense), cal (lime stones for preparing tortillas), grindstones, pigs and chickens, machetes, and other tools.
We were just about the only tourists in town and the markets were clearly set up to serve locals only. There wasn’t anything for us to buy, but it was fun to watch everyone else doing their daily shopping.
Getting a late breakfast – empty restaurant. It was starting to fill up by the time we left.
Every marketplace we’ve seen is bursting with fresh fruits and veggies.
The flower markets are gorgeous, too.
This stray dog adopted us and followed us all through the town – all the way back to the car to continue on with our trip. Josie was really trying to figure out a way to bring a Guatemalan stray back home to the United States.
The 400-year-old church of Santo Tomás. It is built atop a Pre-Columbian temple platform, and the steps originally leading to a temple of the pre-Hispanic Maya civilization remain venerated. K’iche’ Maya priests still use the church for their rituals, burning incense and candles. In special cases, they burn a chicken for the gods. Each of the 18 stairs that lead up to the church stands for one month of the Maya calendar year.
We continued on back to Antigua – about 2 hours away from Chichicastenango. We’re staying here one more night at a bed and breakfast called “Casa Bella”.
In the late afternoon, we visited an artist’s workshop where paintings are made and sold. It is a cooperative of 35 artists, some of them working right there on site. Both Josie and I are bringing something home from this place. (Josie is beginning to curate her own art collection.) This is one of the better artist co-ops I’ve seen, anywhere in the world. Almost all of the works were original paintings (just a few prints), very affordable, and there were a nice variety of artistic styles to choose from. We spent a lot of time in here — way more, in fact, that Holden could stand.
We arrived in the afternoon and had some time to walk around and do some end-of-the-trip shopping. We then met up with Sal and Ana (they live in Guatemala City) who joined us for dinner in one of the many fantastic restaurants in Antigua. Sal is retired now, but I’ve worked with Sal since the late 90s and we still do some projects together in Central America.
Dinner at Los Tres Tiempos, a restaurant Sal & Ana picked out. It was by far the best meal we’ve had on the whole trip — everything was excellent and the outdoor courtyard setting was beautiful.
Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Most shots below are from a couple of “walkies” around town this morning. Antigua is a photographer’s dream location. We had about an hour to wander the streets before we needed to head out.
We then drove back to the airport in Guatemala City and boarded a plane back home. The plane wasn’t full on a Wednesday afternoon, so we got $10 upgrades to Comfort Class. Leg room! Our seats were also right by the toilet, which turned out to be a blessing because Holden got a touch of Montezuma’s Revenge and was grateful for the easy bathroom access. He wasn’t the only one, either … one guy was so desperate he cut the line and banged on the door until the person in there came out, then he dropped trou and hit the seat without closing the door. The lady next in line was horrified but trying to react in such a way as to preserve what was left of the man’s dignity.
Josie and Bella both love the fake painted sky in the pedestrian mall here. This was another pic snapped on my phone for Bella.
Lunch at a BBQ place.
Seasonal display at The Bellagio. The theme this time is Japanese Garden.
31 March, Sunday
Hoover Dam
Dinner at wood fired pizza kitchen
01 April, Monday
shopping for boots and sunglasses, dinner at Royal India and Penn & Teller
Josie shopping in Hot Topic. We took this photo to send Bella to make her jealous, but instead of being jealous she gave us a shopping list. We ended up buying her a T-shirt.
Penn & Teller allow fans to go onstage prior to the performance. Penn (behind the kids) plays the bass as his own opening act.
Fans are encouraged to check out some of the magic tricks.
02 April, Tuesday
hiking Valley of Fire, dinner Hell’s Kitchen
03 April, Wednesday
breakfast at Eat, old Las Vegas downtown, Pawn Stars, Neon Museum, botanical gardens
04 April, Thursday
Bonnyie and Clyde’s car
This saloon is featured in the video game Fallout:New Vegas and Holden was excited to visit.
The five of us drove up to Chicago and rented an apartment downtown to ring in the New Year. It was cold, with only a little sprinkling of snow.
Our apartment was in a fantastic location (our front door: right between the sushi place and the ramen place, below) within walking distance of almost everything neat about downtown Chicago. We were on the first floor, the bay window immediately on top of the Friends Ramen restaurant.
While the location was perfect and the apartment was very clean and nice inside, they were having problems with their heating system. It is an old building with lots of architectural charm, but the radiator heat is controlled somewhere in the bowels of the building and not from the individual apartments. The boiler failed and our place was freezing cold. The owner/super (not sure who?) managed to get it fixed by the middle of the second day, but our first night and the following morning were so cold we had to wear our coats and boots inside the house. When you’re on vacation it’s easy to start fantasizing about leaving life in the ‘burbs for a little apartment in one of the world’s great cities. This was a good reminder that apartment living in a big city has some downsides and isn’t all fun and magical romance.
The other reminder: the kitchen window looked out over an alley where dozens of garbage bins were located. We saw enormous rats scurrying around down there … they looked cat-sized. (HUGE bodies, at least a foot long not including the tail?) They could jump from a sitting position on the ground to the top of an 8 ft. fence like they were teleporting. It was actually rather impressive. But watching rats dumpster-dive while you’re preparing food in your kitchen isn’t the most appetizing view.
Wandering up and down Michigan Avenue – the Miracle Mile.
Hot chocolates at our favorite shop – Leonidas Chocolate Cafe. We always return to this store when we’re in town.
I tried their Mexican hot chocolate: Extreme dark hot chocolate with added cinnamon and a hint of chili powder. It was fantastic. I liked that it wasn’t quite as sweet as the regular hot chocolate the kids ordered.
Dark and short days, foggy with light snow sprinkles.
Dinner tonight was at RAMEN-SAN. They served the best ramen we’ve had outside of Japan. Unfortunately we didn’t get any photos, but this place is well worth visiting.
We went to the Garfield Park Conservatory – built in 1907 and has more than 2 acres of plants inside WARM glass buildings. A great place to get out of the weather. (Also, admission is FREE.)
The Palm House (below). From their website: “At 65 ft high and 90 ft wide, this is the largest room in the Conservatory. It is designed as an idealized tropical landscape, featuring more than 70 graceful palms, as well as other plants from warm habitats all around the world.”
Brenda imagining what she wants her own backyard to look like (below.) This is the Fern Room. “Jens Jensen, who designed the Conservatory in 1906, wanted to give visitors a glimpse of what Illinois might have looked like millions of years ago. Lush ferns, rocky outcroppings and an indoor lagoon evoke the swampy landscape of prehistoric Chicago.”
Our next stop was lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Here is Holden rushing to catch up with us as we were leaving. It takes him a long time to get his hat and gloves on.
Shots of Chicago on the first days of 2019.
Navy Pier Winter Wonderland – all indoors; this wasn’t as great as we had hoped – it was geared more toward little kids. Still, our jaded teenagers managed to find some fun.
Our kids are just left of center frame: you can see Isabella’s orange jacket. Holden is the one with his arms out; Josie is next to him in her green sweatshirt.
Inner tube slide, the indoor version of sledding.
Back outside – on our way to ride the Centennial Ferris Wheel after a stop for lunch at Bubba Gump’s.
View of the city from the top.
A little shopping at Forever 21’s after-Christmas blowout sale.
This was a quick 3-day trip, just to get out of the house a bit and be together as a family while we still have all three kids willing to go. Now that we’re into the college years, these opportunities will come less and less frequently as “real life” consumes our kids. I am grateful for every moment we get!
Adam: Our final full day of this Asia trip is back in Hong Kong. We’re staying in Discovery Bay on Lantau Island – a small, isolated expat community a ferry ride out from the center of town.
Tomorrow (Monday) we leave HKG in the morning and arrive into Sea-Tac a couple of hours before we left. Then, another flight will get us back to ATL before midnight tomorrow.
That’s it for me and my posts. Thanks for reading this summer.
Brenda’s working hard to get her blogs written and updated while everything is still fresh. The memories fade quickly.. we were reviewing photos from the beginning of the trip and it already seemed like a lifetime ago.
Everyone had a wonderful time, but we’re all ready to get home and burrow in for awhile. This summer, like many of our previous trips, was “too much of a good thing” and now we need to get home and recover! The kids start back to school just 15 days after we get home.
Final trip map:
Josie, Brenda, and I walking to breakfast in the rain. Hong Kong has continued with its rainy season the entire time we were away. The kids appreciated the cooler temperatures, though.
Sunday breakfast at a cafe. Everything is in walking distance in Discovery Bay. In fact, private vehicles are banned from the village.
The community has capped the number of licensed golf carts available to 500. As a result, the cost of these golf carts now exceeds US$255,000. For those on a smaller budget, you can rent one for about $9,000/month. See, this is what I hate about HK (a place I really like..).. it’s impossible to actually live here.
As I said, everything is in walking distance and we walked.
Public bus routes are plentiful and cheap. We left Discovery Bay and went to a fishing village, Tai O, on the far western part of Lantau.
Tai O is known as the “Venice of Hong Kong” – and has become a tourist spot. Many of the buildings are on stilts to allow for the tides. Most traffic through the town is managed via boat. The day we arrived, after so much rain, many of the streets were flooded.
We walked around as much as possible, but often our routes were blocked by standing water, forcing us to double back and find other routes.
The village is full of shabby looking seafood restaurants and small shops selling all sorts of un-identifiable (to us) items and creatures drawn up from the depths.
Mahjong game in session.
Flooded street emptying into one of the canals.
Discovery Bay has a beach, ritzy waterfront shopping district with many al fresco dining restaurants, and a direct ferry link back to HK Island.
Rich (is there any other?) foreigners live here and commute by ferry to downtown.
View of our condo building. Most are ugly on the outside and not all that great on the inside, either. Even so, 600sq.ft. apartments typically rent here for about US$3k/month. Buying that same condo starts at US$3.3MM and goes up from there.
Monday, 16 June 2018
We flew from Hong Kong to Seattle, where we had a 7 hour layover before our connecting flight to Atlanta. Fortunately for us, our good friends Rita and Randy live in Tacoma. They agreed to pick us up, take us to see their new house, and have a lunch together before we had to return to the airport for our last flight.
We five were exhausted after a 12-hour flight and a severe time-zone change but were thrilled we got an opportunity to see Rita and Randy. When we walked into their house, Rita had a huge bowl full of grapes and another bowl full of blueberries and strawberries set out for us. She knew we’d been fruit-deprived and that Josie, in particular, had been craving grapes. Josie fell on the grapes like a thirsty man finding water in the desert. Rita also had put out towels so we could take showers and refresh ourselves. It was heavenly and so thoughtful.
We loved their new house and got to see all of the home improvement projects they’ve been working on. Their daughter Angela and her two children were able to come over, as well, for a really nice lunch and we got to meet her son for the first time. (Her kids are so cute!!!)
When Rita and Randy dropped us back off at the airport, we realized that not ONE of us had thought to take even a single picture. We were all so excited about seeing each other and visiting that we just didn’t think to get out the cameras. So — Rita, Randy, Angela THANK YOU for giving up your day to spend a few hours with us. We love you guys.
We arrived home without too much trouble. Those 24-hour travel days are really hard, but when we get to feeling sorry for ourselves, we make sure to remember just how special it is that travel like this is even possible. In Japan, we visited the ship Hikawa Maru — it took 13 days of notoriously rough seas to get from Japan to Seattle as recently as 1960 and cost a fortune. Today we made an even longer journey than that, with a combined air time of a mere 16 hours. (12 hour flight from HK to Seattle, 4 from Seattle to Atlanta.) What a luxury jet lag is in comparison to two solid weeks of sea sickness!
Adam: Today we visited the Tsujiki Fish market (pronounced skee-jee). It is the largest wholesale fish and seafoodmarket in the world. Some 60,000+ workers are employed plying 700,000 metric tons of seafood annually – 400+ different types of seafood from cheap seaweed to the most expensive caviar, and from tiny sardines to 300 kg tuna and various whale species.
But Brenda was only looking for a knife. On our last visit, we purchased a chef’s knife at the market that Brenda says is the best knife she’s ever owned/used. She loves it so much that she’s afraid to use it for fear that it will break.
The knife doesn’t have a brand (that we can read, anyway). We decided to search the many acres of booths and stalls to see if we can find the vendor again.
Note the gift-wrapped square watermelon.
Today was unbearably hot. The market was so crowded it was hard to maneuver or even see anything.
Fruit in Japan tends to be very expensive so we haven’t been eating much of it. Josie has been craving grapes lately and finally found some … but they came with a nearly $30 price tag for one pack.
I thoroughly searched this knife store, but it wasn’t “the one.”
The market has many food stalls. People were lined up to buy various delicacies on sticks, which they had to eat standing out in the blazing sun, battling the crowds. It didn’t look like fun to us so we didn’t end up trying any of the foods.
This area is famous for it’s small sushi restaurants. People line up and wait a long time for the opportunity to sit down and enjoy the freshest, most “authentic” sushi in the world. Most of these places at least have counters. You have to wait for a seat, but you get to eat your food sitting in the shade once it’s your turn.
Some of the stalls sell weird things that seem unrelated to fish.
But mostly it’s stall after stall of seafood and kitchen equipment.
A glimpse of the loading docks.
This warehouse is where fish shipments come in and get packed for distribution. The general public is allowed to wander through some of the aisles but it’s pretty clear they don’t really want looky-loos hanging around getting in the way.
I insisted on taking one last pass though the selling area before leaving, dragging my hot sweaty family behind me. The kids were desperate to get out of there. BUT …. success! I couldn’t believe I finally found the same knife. It was in the very last store I checked just as we were about to leave the market.
It’s the second one from the left on the top row. I briefly thought about getting one that was a little different than the one I have at home, but ultimately decided to just get an identical one. I already know I love it, and this way I will have a replacement lined up for when my old one inevitably gets ruined. This type of knife is made from a harder steel than Western-style knives, which means it has a sharper, thinner blade but is more brittle. Last time I was here, the guy warned me never to cut meat on the bone or something that might have frozen spots — hitting something hard can chip the blade. I use mine every day, but am very careful not to cut anything but vegetables with it. Nevertheless, I just know that someday it will get dropped on the floor and the tip will break off or something. For three years now I’ve been babying that knife because I couldn’t replace it …. now I have a back-up! This was a treasure hunt well worth the effort. I am giddy!
For lunch we found a little hole-in-the-wall place across from the fish market. It was the type of restaurant where you order from a vending machine, which spits out a ticket that you hand to the chef. It was yet another spectacular meal. In this case, each bowl came with 3 or 4 sheets of that dried seaweed. Holden loves that stuff and after he ate all his, begged more off the rest of us.
Josie was happy because they had a (mostly) vegetarian option. This meal came with a single medallion of pork placed on top, which was easy to pick off and give to someone else. This was called “dipping noodles.” The soup ingredients are served in a separate bowl and alongside you get a smaller bowl of soup/sauce. It was thicker than regular broth and coated the noodles sort of like a marinara sauce — although it wasn’t made of tomatoes.
We all got slightly sunburned yesterday at Disney in spite of copious sunscreen applications, shade-seeking, and (for me) carrying an umbrella around. Today is even hotter and sunnier.
Conditions have gone from unpleasant to literally sickening. During lunch, we were trying to decide what to do next and Isabella said, “Actually, I don’t feel very good. I kinda want to just go back to the apartment for the day.” Holden said, “Me, too” and then Josie said, “Me three.”
We decided to go back for siestas, and made plans to return to the Shibuya district after sundown to take in the night life and get some night photos for Adam. Once he and I were sitting on our beds at 1:30 p.m., he said “Who are we kidding? Nobody is going back out today.” And we didn’t.
Later that evening, while making himself a peanut butter sandwich in our little kitchenette, Holden said, “I’m just loving being at home for awhile. It’s so relaxing after more than a month of doing so much stuff every day.”
Wednesday, 11 July 2018
Before we left Georgia this summer, I went to Target and loaded up on sunscreen because I’ve found that it can be very expensive in other countries. I bought so much of it that Isabella and Josie were embarrassed to be seen with me, and the girl at the checkout counter said, “Wow … are you taking a vacation on the surface of the sun?”
We went through ALL of that sunscreen three weeks into the trip … I had to buy a bunch more in Korea. Today we used up most of what was left of the Korean batch and I had to buy even more this afternoon. Nevertheless, we are all battling sunburn now. It just keeps getting a bit worse, a bit pinker, a bit more itchy and stingy, each day. I was unhappy that a single bottle of a sunscreen brand I recognised (La Roche Posey) was $40 but paid up anyway because we NEED it.
When we got back to the apartment, I decided to research Japanese sunscreen brands and discovered that most of them are far superior to American and European sunscreens, and also (in Japan, anyway) much cheaper. Japan is a world leader in sunscreen technology, largely because they so highly prize pale, unfreckled skin and there is an enormous demand for ever better options. The Japanese developed a rating system for measuring UVA protection, called the PA rate. PA stands for protection grade of UVA and is based on the Persistent Pigment Darkening (PPD) reaction reading at 2-4 hours of sun exposure. PA is a protective level of strength, ranging from PA+ to PA++++.
Other countries are slowly adopting this measurement and rating system, so maybe we’ll be seeing it in US stores one of these days. Anyway, I am now armed with a couple of brand names and will try those tomorrow. If we like them, I can load up before we go home.
Adam: Today we made plans to visit the Imperial Palace and then finish up with the Tokyo Science Center. They are near to each other and both (we felt) were within walking distance of our apartment.We started out fairly early and hit a Starbucks for breakfast and drinks.. and then got to walking.
Adam: In Hibiya Park – a unit of currency from Yap Island. I remember as a kid reading about different currencies of the world – and they always mentioned the Yap Islanders and their large, round limestone disks.
This stone was donated to Japan in 1924 and, at the time, was supposedly worth the equivalent of about US$500 (in 1924 dollars). I have no idea what you could buy with $500 on Yap Island in the 20s, but it’s apparently not worth enough now to be worth appropriating.
On the way to the Imperial Palace. We visited here the last time we were in Tokyo and we remembered fondly touring the castle and walking up 6-7 floors to get good views. We thought we would check this out again.
Classic view of part of the Imperial Palace buildings. Looking across Nijūbashi bridge.
Same spot, three years apart: June 9, 2015 and July 11, 2018.
In the picture taken today, Josie is standing on a curb because she’s tired of always being the shortest one in the pictures.
Adam: We tried to enter the grounds, but the gates were blocked off with guards. I thought I remembered we needed to sweep around clockwise around the moat to find the proper entrance.
We walked for miles, circumnavigating the entire 300 acres.. but each time we found an access point, they were blocked off.
We decided that the Palace was closed for the day and pretty much gave up. It was hot and humid and we were all dripping wet with sweat. Going to plan B, we decided to walk to the Science Center. It would be inside (a/c) and would surely have some drinks.
Holden finding a fountain on the way.
Adam: When we got to the Science Center a guard told us that, being a Wednesday, this place was closed. We’ve just learned that all that walking was for naught. I’ve emptied my change pocked buying drinks for everyone.
We sat down in defeat to reapply sunscreen and suck down cold drinks.
We continued our walk through the gardens of the Imperial Palace – they were at least open.
A hill of tea plants.
Even the crows are sick of this heat. They just sat at the water’s edge panting like dogs.
There were about a dozen people standing around looking at the crows, which were all of 2 feet away because they were too heat exhausted to move. I was standing right in front of the one in the above photo, making little cooing noises at him (as I am prone to doing when I see birds.) A man standing next to me enthusiastically poked me on the shoulder, gestured at the crow, and said, “Do you see that huge bird?!” Um, yeah Buddy. I see it.
Adam: Brenda spoke to a police officer at the front gate and he confirmed that the Palace wasn’t open. It wouldn’t be open tomorrow, either.
We did a little research after lunch and learned that the Palace is NEVER open. It is, of course, the current home of the Emperor (Akihito, son of Hirohito) and his family.It is as if we walked all around Buckingham Palace and never found a way to get in, all the while wondering why these guards keep preventing us from wandering around the palace.
After we got back to our apartment, we re-read the blog from 2015 and learned that we KNEW it was closed back then – the false memory I had turned out to be a different castle that we toured in Osaka.
In the end, we put in about 7 miles of walking and had yet to find any indoor activities. Got some good photos, though.
We took the subway to Ginza, a popular, high end shopping district. We got lunch and figured out our strategy for the afternoon.
This restaurant was called “Casual Tempura Restaurant.” Here we are at the counter casually waiting for our tempura.
Isabella couldn’t resist teasing Adam a bit.
In Ginza, there was a store called Tokyu Hands that Josie discovered online. They have an entire floor dedicated to stationery, pens and other art supplies. Both Isabella and Josie left with their wallets lightened a bit.
More cheap Copic markers!
Tokyo is already getting ready for hosting the Olympics in 2020. These posters are all over the city.
Our total mileage today was 9.4 walked. Exhausted by 2:00 p.m., we bought some groceries and turned in for the rest of the day. We found a specialty store in the subway station that sold imported foods … mostly French, but that didn’t stop them from blaring Mexican mariachi music over their sound system. The only “Mexican” food I found were little packets of Old El Paso taco seasoning. They were on a shelf next to Spam and some kosher pickles. I also got excited over what I thought was hummus but turned out to be “4 type pork paste.” Thank goodness for the translator app! We loaded up with olives, camembert cheese, crackers, garlic pickles, wine with a real cork instead of a screw cap, a baguette and several French pastries. Holden remarked, “This looks exactly like what we ate for dinner every night in Paris last summer.”
Thursday, 12 July 2018
Adam: We started the day with a return to Shibuya – without much of a plan. Brenda wanted to revisit some of the high end, second-hand stores that dot the city. I had convinced the kids that we ought to try out Karaoke in Tokyo.
Adam: Karaoke turned out to be the highlight of the day. I had to twist Holden’s and Josie’s arms to participate, but once we got into the room, they took over and had a blast. I picked (purposefully) the same location as the Karaoke scene in the movie “Lost in Translation” with Bill Murray and Scarlet Johansson. We did better (less sexy, more goofy and screechy) than them.
The Scarlett Johansson / Bill Murray scene was filmed in rooms 601 and 602. We were in room 604 at the end of the hall.
Holden and Josie figuring out how to search for songs on the playlist. Holden chose Tom Jones “It’s Not Unusual.” Then the kids made me sing “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Adam sang Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and then the kids took over completely. They quickly discovered that Disney songs were the most fun and ended up spending most of the hour singing different tunes from Alladin, The Little Mermaid, etc.
The Disney songs are easy to do silly — they already knew the lyrics by heart so they could stand up and dance around without having to look at the words on the TV screen for help, and best of all they could sing as characters (e.g., do voices and accents.) They had such a great time they want to come back and do it again tomorrow, but for longer than just one hour.
After karaoke, we ran into another location of the Mexican restaurant Guzman y Gomez and decided to give it a try this time. (We saw one at Disney Ikspiari a few days ago.) The food was far more authentic than we would have guessed … they even used corn tortillas instead of flour. As with almost all Mexican meals, I had to dodge bits of cilantro that ruined the experience for me, so that added to the authenticity as well. We were impressed.
Then we hit another huge stationary store. The girls loaded up on some more of the unbelievably cheap Copic markers.
We finished the day’s outing with a return to Harajuku and the crepe vendor.
Below is a picture of the giant cotton candy you can buy. Holden wanted to try this, but it was more than $9 and Adam and I refused to pay it. Holden decided he didn’t want it bad enough to spend his own $9 and was satisfied watching other people walking around with theirs. We figured we all knew what cotton candy tasted like already and the only thing special about this one was the size.
Adam: For the first time on the trip, Brenda and I actually went out on a date in the evening. Within walking distance of our apartment, there was a restaurant that focuses entirely on Gyoza. We bought a plate to share, some pickled vegetable appetizers and we each had a small glass of Sake.
The gyoza on this trip has been amazing, and this place that specializes in it was the best of all. We didn’t get any photos, sadly. I’m going to try making gyoza at home along with the ramen soups.
Friday, 13 July 2018
Another blazing hot day. We decided to visit the Ueno Zoo, thinking that if we went right when they opened, we could beat the worst of the heat. The zoo is in a neighborhood we’ve never been, so we went a little early to get in some wandering around time.
This area is full of markets and seems to be the unofficial Second-Hand Clothes district.
Holden already needing a break.
The park in front of the zoo entrance has an enormous swampy area filled with lotus. They are finally starting to bloom here and are probably only a few days away from being spectacular. They are already impressive.
We’re already sweaty.
We arrived at the zoo entrance about 10 minutes before they opened, so we wandered over to this nearby shrine.
Some old guys had packed the nooks and crannies in this tree with birdseed. We sat in the shade and watched the chickadees for awhile.
This guy had a baby turtle that he offered to let the kids play with. It was such a cute and curious little creature!
In front of the shrine.
After entering the zoo grounds, this is the first animal we encountered. He is a Steller’s Sea Eagle. They typically spend their winters in Japan, then migrate elsewhere during the summer. This guy had been severely injured on some power lines a few years back and can’t fly. He is a permanent resident of the zoo now. He has his own little island that is sort of not really a part of the zoo … it’s the area near the entrance adjacent to the public park. He is not in a cage. The zoo feeds him and has provided a shelter for him on the ground.
We read a sign saying that the panda exhibit is first-come first-served and that when the lines get too long, they will turn people away. Since we were practically the only visitors in the zoo, we decided to head over there before it got crowded, but took our time looking at animals along the way.
North American prairie dogs. These were pretty much the only animals in the zoo who weren’t acting too hot. In fact, the prairie dogs were basking in the sun even when they could have chosen shade.
We should have hustled. By the time we got to the panda area 15 minutes into our visit, the line was already 80 minutes long! We couldn’t believe it. Where did all these people come from? We never saw anyone else enter the gates.
We’ve seen pandas before, so we opted to skip the pandas and take advantage of the fact that practically every other person in the entire zoo was standing in that line. It gave us the rest of the zoo to ourselves.
Indian elephants. Even the elephants were acting over-heated.
Misters! It was already so humid that the misters didn’t provide much relief.
Mama gorilla ….
…. and her new baby, Riki. He is only about 9 months old. Here he is chewing on a stalk of celery.
Meanwhile, the panda line is now even longer. People are hoping to get a glimpse of the female giant panda cub Xiang Xiang, born on June 2, 2017. She’s just a tad over 1 year old now. Note all the people standing under umbrellas, trying to provide just a little relief from the heat.
After the zoo (which is quite a nice one, although would be better if it was about 10F cooler) we checked out another video game parlor.
On to lunch. We love these noodle restaurants all over Tokyo.
Table setting commonly seen at the Udon noodle shops. Jugs of ice water, chopsticks, and the little pots and dishes containing all the condiments — soy sauce, vinegar, grated garlic paste, chilli powder (Shichimi tougarashi), some green stuff that we never identified, pickled ginger, sesame oil, etc. (Edit: I later learned that the green stuff was probably Yuzukosho — a paste made from fermented red or green chili peppers, salt, and peelings of the Japanese citrus fruit yuzu.)
Kids gulping down glass after glass of ice water.
Udon noodles, and they even had a vegetarian option for Josie.
Walking through Ameyoko market on our way back to the train station. It’s “a bustling shopping street where the distinctive calls of market sellers can be heard selling everything and anything from clothes, spices, cosmetics and fresh fish.”
For all your seaweed needs.
Back at karaoke! Different location, same chain. This time we booked the room for 90 minutes. This is the only place we’ve found where you can be LOUD in Tokyo without consequence. The kids took full advantage.
They had a fantastic time, but when we left Holden said, “That was fun, but I don’t think I need to do it ever again.” They got it out of their systems.
That’s it for Tokyo! Tomorrow we catch a flight back to Hong Kong in preparation for our long flight home to Georgia on Monday.
Today sucked. We left our little house in Kamakura and drove 30 miles to Tokyo. The plan was to return the rental car at Tokyo Station (one of the main train depots), take the subway to our hotel, and spend the majority of the day having fun. Instead, we had an all-day affair of frustration and expense.
I don’t recommend driving in Japan. For one thing, Japan requires foreigners to have an International driver’s license, which you have to get before you leave your home country. Adam went thought the process months ago during the planning stages of our trip.
Secondly, driving in Japan is stressful. They have some strange road rules and the roads themselves are narrow — they seem too narrow for two-way traffic, but that’s how they are used anyway. The country doesn’t seem to be set up for cars well; parking is hard to find, expensive, and they have a lot of indecipherable rules about it. We were constantly afraid we’d return to our parking spot and find our car booted or towed. It also made finding Airbnb’s more difficult because we had to get places with parking spots. (In the case of Kamakura, our designated parking spot was nearly 1/2 mile from the house.) And the rental car agent in Kyoto stressed to us that every time a car is involved in any kind of problem, the police MUST BE CALLED. She repeated this probably 8 times. We were worried about what on earth we’d do if we had to deal with police when we can’t speak Japanese.
And lastly, many of the roads are toll roads, and the tolls are really steep. One was US$70, another was $US50. Most were in the $13 – $20 range, to go just a few kilometres. Gas was nearly $6 gallon.
In short: driving in Japan is frustrating, inconvenient, and expensive.
We had the address of the Toyota rental agency in Tokyo, the place we were required to return the car. We keyed it into our GPS; and then found ourselves driving around in Hell. It kept saying “You have arrived at your destination” when we clearly hadn’t. It was like a video game when you’re standing right on the map dot, but the thing you’re looking for is. not. there. At least with a video game there is a great online community that gives detailed instructions on how to fix your problem. In this case, each time the GPS told us we were at our destination, we were inside a tunnel. There was no online walk-through to help us out (and believe me, we looked for one!)
This particular tunnel had a toll booth near the entrance with a $13 fee each time you drove through. The first time, the guard let us through without paying since we’d gone such a short distance (like 100 feet or so). We didn’t find the Toyota Rental Agency inside the tunnel (You have arrived at your destination — “What the hell?!?”) , and the GPS re-routed us 5km through the city — back to the exact same tunnel. This time we didn’t even have a toll ticket because the on-ramp didn’t take us back onto the highway where the tickets were issued. The guard looked annoyed, but wrote something down on a clip-board and let us through again.
This time we saw a dingy little off-ramp midway through the tunnel that looked like a maintenance access area for authorised personnel only, but it was for an underground parking garage. We drove by, looking for another off-ramp, and ended up outside the tunnel again, and again were re-routed 5km through the city (which in traffic took around 30 minutes each time). Adam quit using the car’s GPS and switched to the one in his phone.
Now we were sent to a different location, but the result was more or less the same: we weren’t in a tunnel this time, but the thing said you have arrived at your destination with no sign of a Toyota Rental Agency. Adam pulled over and tried to call the number on our rental agreement, but it took several calls to get an actual human, and when we did, he barely spoke English and had no idea where the Tokyo Station rental agency was located. He just gave us the same address we already had.
By this time, we’d been driving the same 5km loop in Tokyo for nearly 3 hours. We finally had the idea that maybe the rental return was inside that parking garage back in the tunnel. Back we went; this time the guard was none too pleased and made us pay the $13. We pulled into the parking structure and found several rental car agencies (success!!) which turned sour when none of them were for Toyota. I finally got out and asked at a different agency, and the girl (who spoke no English at all) understood “Toyota” at least, and gave me a little map — all in Japanese. We spent some time deciphering that, and realised we had to take an exit from inside the parking garage into a different part of the city and drive to a different parking garage to find Toyota. That cost us another US$3 to drive though the first garage. In total, $16 to drive through a parking garage we never parked in.
At last we found the correct rental return agency. We were frustrated, stressed out, hungry, and now hauling all of our luggage through the city. (As we walked away, shed of the car we now hated, Adam muttered “That was a total clusterfuck.” All three kids wide-eyed and open-mouthed: “What did you just say?!”)
It was after 1:00 p.m. by then and all the nearby restaurants had lines out the door, so we couldn’t even get food. We headed to the train station to go to our hotel.
Our hotel is another frustrating issue: unbeknownst to us, Tokyo instituted some new licensing rules for Airbnb that took effect about 3 weeks ago, and more than 50,000 places were shut down while they waded through the bureaucratic red tape to get their license renewed. A couple days ago we discovered this highly unpleasant surprise when we could only find ONE place to stay in all of Tokyo and surrounding areas, and that place was over US$2,000 per night. We finally found a regular hotel out by Disney that could take us, but could only get 3 days there.
As far as hotels go, this one is actually pretty nice. It’s connected to the train station and the ride into the city is only about 20 minutes, so hopefully it won’t be too inconvenient.
Anyway, the whole ordeal killed an entire day and left us in terrible moods. We turned in fairly early and hope that tomorrow is much better.
(Below) On the train to our hotel. Holden now travels the trains like a local.
Our hotel: Urayasu Brighton Hotel Tokyo Bay.
View from our window. That’s the train station, so it’s really convenient for getting around.
Adam’s take on the day:
We’re finally in Tokyo – and will be here for about a week.
The origins of this trip are based on Isabella’s graduation from high school. Although this trip isn’t her graduation present, we did allow her to have a strong say in where we spent this final summer before she heads off to college.She wanted to return to Japan and, specifically, Tokyo.
We have kept our travel itinerary pretty loose on this trip. We wanted the freedom to wander as it pleased us and determine the amount of time we stay in any location based on our feelings at the time.The week in Korea was a last minute side trip just because we found ridiculously cheap airline tickets to Seoul, for example.
It never occurred to me that we might have problems finding lodging in Tokyo. It is the world’s largest city and has a robust AirBnB community. However, what I didn’t know was that a new law went into effect on June 15 in Tokyo that essentially shut down AirBnB for awhile. All landlords must now go through a new process to register their locations. The new law’s backers are a combination of the Hotel Industry (which hates the competition) and the residents of local neighborhoods (who hate having an endless string of foreign lodgers come and go).
The result of this was that more than 80% of eligible AirBnB locations were shut down and there was NOWHERE in all of Tokyo for us to stay. We had to start having discussions on avoiding Tokyo altogether or fly off to some other country & etc. In the end, we found a hotel outside of town (20 minute train ride) near Tokyo Disneyworld that could accommodate the 5 of us. We decided to stay here for 3 nights and then see what else might come available…
****
Friday was a travel day, and a lousy one.. probably the low point of our vacation. It took far too long to get into Tokyo (bumper to bumper) and finding the Toyota-Rent-A-Car location in downtown Tokyo, in some underground garage that wasn’t marked, was a real stress builder. By the time we got to our hotel and got some food in us, it was already 2:00pm. It was raining and a bit cold. Everyone (mostly me) was testy. By the time we got to our room, all we wanted to do was shower and hunker down in our beds and watch TV.
I did manage to drive successfully through Japan without any incidents (that I’ll admit to). 1400km driven, including several hours in downtown Tokyo. I earned my merit badge.
Some good news, we have found an AirBnB for us to stay MON-FRI nights of this week.. it just came back online after having been registered and I grabbed it the minute it came available. These apartments are not only cheaper than hotels, but we get several rooms (the 5 of us in one hotel room really tests the love we have for each other..), a kitchen, fridge and can do laundry. This is a huge upgrade and has saved the final week of our trip.
Saturday, 07 July 2018
Adam: I told the kids that we don’t have any agendas or “must see” places this time.. so they’re going to get to decide the majority of the itinerary. Isabella and Josie wanted to return to Harajuku and the famed Takeshita Street (pronounced “talk-esh-ta”, not like it reads…)
Harajuku is known internationally as a center of Japanese youth culture and fashion. This is where all the freaks let their flags fly. Shopping and dining options include many small, youth-oriented, independent boutiques and cafés.
We got their early in the day (a common complaint from my family) and it was too soon to get real crazy.
On the way: Holden putting on sunscreen, me copying what the Asians do to avoid the sun.
There is practically no graffiti in Japan. The only place we’ve seen it had a sign posted reading No! Graffiti Any violation is punishable by law. It seems that passive-aggressive notes are not appreciated in any culture.
Harajuku is known for their creperies and there is no shortage of options.
The streets when it’s “too early” to be crowded. A lot of the shops weren’t even open yet.
This little shop, CalbeePlus, specialised in potato chips, cut and fried right in front of you. We chose “pizza taste with melted cheese.” They were pretty good. They tasted a lot like nachos.
People in costumes are starting to come out.
We just happened to stumble upon a restaurant specialising in tonkotsu ramen: Kyushu Jangara Ramen Harajuku. They had room for 5 at a counter, so we took it. Best of all, they offered a bowl of vegan ramen for Josie. Finally something for everyone!
Adam ordered a spicy version called Budo-Karabon. — Menu description: I put a spicy in rich soup “Bonchan”. I just pursued “the depth of taste” not just painful. As a result, we decided to blend ten kinds of spices. People who are “regulars who love to spice” are regularly “bunny” straight lines. A moderate spicy leaves a faint and lingering finish in the mouth. Please try by all means once.
I ordered Kobonshan, a garlic variety. Menu description — Please enjoy the sense of unity of “Homemade Mercer Oil (Garlic Burning Oil)” and “Mild Tonkotsu Soup Boiled Crisply”. The material is Tonkotsu, License. “Kumamoto ramen” is the roots. Especially it is rammed with a characteristic flavor/sweetness. If you sip a soup, you will find “fragrant garlic fragrance” in your mouth. Its mellow richness is captivating the people of “Gobon Mania” throughout the country.
This meal was a treat for all of us. It was one of the best meals we’ve had on the whole trip. We also got really lucky to find seats; after we’d ordered but before we’d been served, the place filled up and people were being turned away. I am going to try my best to recreate this type of ramen dish at home. (All the food close-ups from now on are because I want to remember how they are supposed to look.)
After lunch we walked back through Takeshita Street going the other way so we could see some of the shops that had still been closed on our first pass. Now it’s starting to get crowded.
Holden (on balcony, greenish shirt) signaling to Adam that Mom and sisters need him inside the store. Adam is the keeper of all the yen.
Adam: After lunch, we traveled to another part of town for one of Josie’s choices – a return to the largest Pokemon themed store in the world. This place was also crowded – People can’t get enough of this stuff and it rivals the cult-like-fervor for Disney gear that we sometimes see in the U.S. The kids didn’t buy anything – they said that everything was low quality and too high priced. Since all of their purchases on this trip come out of THEIR pockets, they’re much more discriminating. With regards to Pokemon gear, I think they’ve all just outgrown the interest – what was cooler 3 years ago when we were last here is now not as interesting.
Inside the Pokemon store.
The kids’ chief complaint was that most of the merchandise was Generation 7 (whatever that means) and they don’t know any of the characters. Our kids were into Pokemon during Generations 1 thru 4, and apparently the Pokemon people aren’t making merch for Gen 1-4 anymore. “We can’t be expected to pay money for something that isn’t nostalgic” Isabella declared. Josie said, “That was kind of a letdown. I was really looking forward to this and I’m disappointed.”
It was too early to go back to the hotel for the day, but we were all getting tired of being out. We decided to visit Tokyo’s version of Disney Springs, in Orlando — Disney Ikspiari. It’s the free part of the Disney complex where you can shop or go to restaurants without buying a park ticket. Ikspiari is only one train stop from our hotel, so when we were done it was a quick trip back home.
People like to dress up here at Disney, too.
They have a Mexican restaurant! Guzman y Gomez. This display of plastic food is sitting outside the door so people can see what they might be served. We thought about eating here just to see what the Japanese take on Mexican food is like, because we’ve found that other countries typically butcher Mexican food. America does a pretty good job, especially if you’re fairly close to the Mexico border, but even in the US you usually get TexMex instead of authentic Mexican dishes. It was too early for dinner, though, and we ended up deciding not to. We were also a little afraid that we’d end up paying a lot of money for not-very-good food.
More people all dressed up.
Adam: We have not suffered from the huge rainstorms in Southern Japan. All of the deaths and destruction are taking place well to the south of us. Saturday was a very pleasant day in Tokyo and the weather looks to hold fairly well.. slight chances of rain each day, but we won’t get socked in.
We did, however, “enjoy” an earthquake last night. It hit about 8:20pm and rocked our high-rise hotel building for about 30 seconds. The kids have never experienced an earthquake and THAT got them jabbering well into the night.
Richter 5.9 earthquake. No recorded damage. I know well that the buildings in Tokyo are designed for this, but it’s still always a bit unsettling. My last earthquake experience was in a high-rise in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and I do NOT know how well their buildings are constructed.
Sunday, 08 July 2018
Today we walked around some of the kids’ favorite locations, Shibuya and Akihabara.
Adam (below): Inside one of the video game parlors in Shibuya – an active neighborhood in Tokyo. The kids are always eager to see these… “They don’t have THIS in the U.S!”
These places are loud, dark, overwhelming, and filled with smoke. They may be one of the last places left in the world where people can smoke indoors. Whenever I walk into one of these parlors, I am brutally yanked back to my childhood. This is what the late 70s smelled like.
Shibuya is famous for its scramble crossing. Three large TV screens mounted on nearby buildings overlook the crossing, as well as many advertising signs. This is the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. Its heavy traffic and inundation of advertising has led to it being compared to the Times Square intersection in New York City.
This is what the street looks like when the crosswalk signal goes green.
All of us were getting a little tired of noodle dishes, so for today’s lunch we chose a place inside Shibuya Mark City mall called BiKiNi TAPA, a Catalan Spanish restaurant. Adam and I shared some paella, Josie found a grilled vegetable platter, and Holden & Isabella both ordered a pork chop with rice. The food here was quite good.
Isabella picked up Adam’s camera while he was in the men’s room and started snapping pictures even though she doesn’t know how to work his Leica. This was the best shot she got, and the only picture we have of the restaurant.
Below: Interior shot of Shibuya Mark City. It’s like a mall, only bigger and has more stuff. One entire floor is dedicated to restaurants (good ones!), it has a huge train station, a hotel, and Toyota Noren-Gai (Foods) — “opened in 1951. It is a very famous food shopping street with its long history. We’re offering genuine articles and high quality food for the gifts, providing with nice taste and Omotenashi, perfect service.” The place is so big they have little kiosks with map booklets in multiple languages peppered throughout the complex.
The kids found a pet store with the most adorable Shiba Inu puppy we’ve ever seen, with a US$2,000 price tag. The door to the left is for some seedy sex-parlor thing. You can see the signs showing “18” as minimum age. (Oddly, “Baby Doll” is the pet store, not the sex store.)
Adam: An eight-storey guitar store… Great place to wander, but the rest of the family was bored.
We didn’t have any agenda this afternoon. We just wandered from street to street, up and down alleys. There is more than enough to see and every once in awhile we find something crazy or new that keeps us interested.
Adam: Like gay boy singers with two horse-headed accompanying dancers. The sign says “Spread with Asobi virus and Horses!” Does that help?
I looked up Asobi virus when we got home because I thought maybe it was a public warning about something like Mad Cow disease. Nope. Asobi Virus is the name of this band and apparently they are kind of a big deal here. They have a large online presence and you can download their albums on iTunes. Their webpage, as translated by Google, says “A boy running around the country with my short blond freckles blonde lives in my head.” Is that more helpful than “Spread with Asobi Virus and Horses!”?
These three guys were doing something, but we couldn’t figure out what. They were dressed like Native Americans — sort of, in what looked like repurposed bed sheets and flip-flops, along with the feather headdresses — but had heavy black-face makeup on. It was really weird and probably wildly racist, but we couldn’t tell which race of people were supposed to be offended. (Or honored?)
On to Akihabara. This neighborhood has dozens of stores specializing in anime, manga, retro video games, figurines, card games and other collectibles. It plays to the “Otaku” culture – the nerds/geeks that come here for electronics, games, books & etc.
Inside the Mandarake store – 8 more storeys of toys, collectible items, books, DVD’s & etc. Each floor is packed with cases and full of people.
Our kids are looking at collectible Pokemon cards. Some of these go for more than $1000 each. Isabella could hardly believe it when she saw a Charizard card from the initial Japanese release in 1996. These cards weren’t released in the US until 1999. They wanted ¥120,000 for it.
For all your toy car needs.
Narrow staircases between each floor.
Adam: Endless Manga books. In this store, each floor had a specialty. For example, a floor of books for girls, another floor for boys, another floor just for girl-on-girl love books, another one with sex themes and other strange, naughty habits. These books are definitely for adults and we skipped a number of floors altogether, but not without loud and chattery observations from our 3 kids.
Below: This floor made the least sense to me. It was all about these dolls. They were incredibly creepy, partly because they didn’t have eyes. There was a bin filled with eyeballs by the cash register. The deal is you pick out your body, eyes, hair, outfit, face shape, etc. to create your own character. The bodies were all female, but they ranged from the ones in this photo with small boobs to the ones around the corner (not in the photo) with boobs so big the dolls couldn’t sit up without a special back brace. They all had nipples. It was gross and creepy and definitely had a fetish vibe, but was also weirdly innocent. What are you supposed to do with these things? They are too small to be sex dolls, but too sexual to be anything else. The straight-up porn floors are easier to handle just because they at least make sense. I don’t like porn, but I understand porn. These dolls, though. They’re fucked up.
Back outside, a restaurant specialising in caviar. The Beluga course will run you ¥63,000 — about $570 per person.
Monday, 09 July 2018
Today we visited the Tokyo DisneySea. This park is unique in design and rides and has received strong reviews from folks who travel all over the world to enjoy theme parks. The tickets are reasonable (about half what you pay in Orlando) and the weather held up.
We ended up having a great day. We didn’t stay too late because we still needed to return to our hotel, pick up our luggage (which they were storing for us), and take several trains back into Tokyo downtown to find our next apartment.
Adam didn’t want to lug his good camera around all day, so these are all iPhone photos.
The biggest impression we had of the park was how beautiful and well designed it was. Here are some shots of the views..
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride.
Of course there were lines.
Many of the rides were set up to let people do their waiting inside air conditioned buildings with lots to look at. It was so hot outside you didn’t mind getting into a long line because it meant you could stand inside where it was cool. This is the line for Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull.
It got so hot in the afternoon — nearly 90°F, 79% humidity– that they started making safety announcements over the loud speaker system urging people to drink enough water, stand under umbrellas, and take frequent rest breaks to avoid heat stroke.
Standing in front of the roller coaster Raging Spirits. It is the only coaster in the park with a 360° loop.
The only real disappointment of the day was that the park’s most popular ride, Journey to the Center of the Earth, was closed for repairs. It’s underneath that volcano in the background.
Venetian canal rides.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was going popcorn hunting. Throughout the park they had small stands selling various flavors of popcorn. The kids walked all over looking for new styles. In total, we sampled: Curry, Strawberry, Milk Chocolate, and Garlic Shrimp. We’d buy a small box at each stand and all share.
The small container (in Holden’s hand, above) was ¥350. For between ¥2500 – ¥3100 (US$22-$27, depending on how fancy they were) you could buy a souvenir popcorn bucket. They were elaborate affairs with different themes depending on where in the park you bought them. We initially thought you could get free refills all day with the purchase of a bucket, but then found out that each refill was another ¥500. (The refills were more than 2x the volume of the small container above, but still!) Holden spent quite a bit of time doing the math to figure out how much popcorn you’d have to eat to come out ahead on the purchase of a souvenir bucket. When we thought the refills were free, he figured you’d need to eat the equivalent of 7 or more small boxes. When we found out the refills actually cost money, he gave up. He couldn’t do the calculations in his head.
Below:
Adam: Here the kids are coming off one of the rides where you get real wet, Aquatopia. I wanted to go and the kids actually balked for awhile, but finally relented. I told them that they wouldn’t get THAT wet … but we all did.They were mad for about 30 seconds until they realized how nice they felt after a good soaking.
We had a fantastic time and got to ride on almost every attraction we wanted. By 3:30, we were hot and getting tired, and still had a couple hours of train travel ahead of us — with all our luggage — in order to move from our current hotel to our new Airbnb in a neighborhood more centrally located in Tokyo. We stopped for this one last photo before heading out to the train station.
Today was short travel day, driving from Hakone to Kamakura. It’s a slow, 50km drive along the ocean. They call the highway “1” and it travels much like US1 in California.
Loaded up for another trip down the road.
Adam: From all of our driving, we can see that Japan has plenty of room, they just don’t have very much level space. If you must build, you’re going to have to build on steep inclines.
Kamakura is another resort town, on the beach. It gets a lot of Tokyo weekend crowds. All beach towns sort of look the same wherever you area. The same surf shops and salt-water worn buildings, a lot of wind, and even the normally uptight Japanese here have a relaxed look to them.
Our place while we’re here.
Another hot, humid day.
Lunchtime!
Adam: We couldn’t check into our house until the afternoon, so we parked downtown and visited one of the recommended sights – Hase-dera Temple. This place boasts a massive collection of hydrangea plans of all varieties.
It was a large letdown for Brenda – almost all of the hydrangea plants had recently had their flowers clipped. There were a lot of green plants, but no flowers.
There are three sets of these impossibly cute Jizo statues at Hasedera Temple. If you can find them all and take pictures, good luck will come to you. We didn’t know about the “take pictures” part until afterwards … and we only found two sets anyway. I guess it was not our lucky day. (Edit: I could only find one reference to these guys being lucky, so I don’t know how accurate it is. Everything else I read about them was actually pretty tragic and depressing.)
Along the flights of steps leading to the Main Hall are countless Jizo statuettes made of stone. They are called Sentai Jizo, meaning literally ‘one thousand Jizo’. Historically, parents came to Hasedera to set up these statues in hopes the deity would protect and watch over their children. More recently, they have come to represent miscarried, aborted and deceased children. Jizo Bosatsu is the god who will comfort the souls of these children and guide them to Paradise. According to Japanese Buddhist stories, children who face judgement in the afterlife are doomed to stack rocks on the riverbed of souls in purgatory because they didn’t have a chance to build up good karma on earth. Jizo helps these children to cross the river in the sleeves of his robe.
Kannon-do Hall.
Nice views of the town from up here.
This area has posted signs warning people about the kites. (This photo came from the internet; we didn’t think to get our own photo while we were there.)
Isabella said, “I kinda would like to be injured by a kite. Can you imagine how cool of a story that would be? People would say How did you get that huge scar on your arm? and you’d say, ‘I was attacked by a falcon at a Buddhist Temple in Japan.’ Then when they said, Wait … WHAT?! you could get all mysterious about it and say, ‘It’s not something I like to talk about.’ You’d be a legend.”
These slopes were covered in hundreds of hydrangeas, almost all of which had recently been pruned. There weren’t very many flowers to see.
This is the area where the second set of three cute Jizo statues were, but we didn’t get a photo of them.
I asked Adam to get this photo because I loved this guy. I don’t know who he is, but with his fire and sword and mad fist and grouchy eyebrows, he’s awesome. This is a dude to be reckoned with. He doesn’t even need to get out of his cross-legged sitting position to let you know he means business.
Going into a Benten-kutsu Cave filled with carvings of the sea goddess Benzaiten and her 16 children. These carvings are an unusual style that’s not typical of Japanese sculpture. Benzaiten is the Goddess of water and wealth, and the only female among the Seven Japanese Gods of Fortune. When she was adapted from Buddhism, she was given the attributes of talent, beauty and music among others. She is the patron of artists, writers, dancers, and geisha, among others.
It’s very dark in here, but Adam got a couple of shots.
Just a short walk away, there is another Buddha at the Kōtoku-in buddhist temple. What is significant is the age (constructed in 1252) and the “high tech” bronze casting and construction techniques they used. They allow visitors to go inside the hollow Buddha and see from the inside how he was built. (More on that below.)
Some stats on the Buddha.
The copper-colored part is added reinforcement to help support the head from inside.
That his robes look like from the inside.
Josie in front of some huge obelisk that is old and has a lot to say, but there wasn’t any sign to help us understand the significance.
Another purification station.
Thursday, 05 July 2018
Adam: Today we drove to nearby Yokohama – one of Japan’s major ports. Almost 2/3 of Yokohama was destroyed by US bombing during WWII, starting with the Doolittle raid and running right up to Japan’s surrender. Japan invested heavily in the rebuilding and growth of this port. Yokohama and Tokyo are rivals. That is to say, if you ask anyone from Yokohama they’ll tell you that Yokohama is better than Tokyo.
Yokohama’s population of about 4 million people is big enough to make it a major world city on its own. Yokohama and its massive port are the industrial heartland of Japan. In the 1960s, Yokohama came up with a bold plan to transform its industrial cityscape into a futuristic city to rival Tokyo. Train lines were built, warehouses torn down and man-made islands were created. Attractive architecture and parks filled the Yokohama port area.
We got a late start (by Mayse standards) and were already hungry by the time we arrived. Our visit started with the Shinyokohama Raumen Museum. The top floor has signs and displays that lay out the history and significance of Ramen to the Japanese. But it’s 2 downstairs floors that draw the crowds.
We were able to explore a 1:1 replica of some streets and houses of Shitamachi, part of old town of 1958 Tokyo, when the popularity of ramen was rapidly increasing. Nine ramen restaurants can be found there, each featuring a ramen dish from a different region of Japan.
Ramen is the fusion of Chinese noodle dishes and Japanese food culture. Undoubtedly, the root of ramen is Chinese. Cuisine from many different countries entered Japan after 1859, when its ports were opened. The father of ramen is Chinese noodle dishes, and the mother is Japanese food ingredients, such as dashi (Japanese-style soup stock) and shoyu (soy sauce), which have been used in Japanese traditional noodle dishes like soba and udon.
You can walk from restaurant to restaurant and try out their specialties. A guide helps you decide what type of Ramen they serve (different bases, different noodles, different spices, etc). The restaurants also sell 1/2 servings of their dishes so that you can eat at one and then move on.
We chose one of the restaurants equipped to seat 5 people, Komurasaki. It turned out to be fantastic. It was the only restaurant featuring tonkotsu-based broth — the others were either soy or salt based, and one was pescatarian-based (the only one with fish broth.)
“Founded in 1954, this historic ramen restaurant serves a mild-flavoured soup that combines chicken bone and vegetable broth over a tonkotsu (pork bone) base. The soup includes its own specially-flavoured garlic oil, and home-roasted, crumbled garlic chips scattered on top; whose fragrance really piques your appetite.”
The kids slurping away.
It was VERY good. I spent quite some time trying to identify flavors and ingredients so I can try to make it myself at home. The recipes I’ve found online in the past mostly use miso-based broth, but we liked this one a lot better.
Unfortunately, after all of us had our 1/2 service (with a side of Gyoza), we were already full. We wanted to try another of the restaurants, but it had gotten crowded while we were eating our first serving and we couldn’t find another place that could seat all of us. We gave up and left.
The shop offers all the dishes and utensils you could ever need to properly serve ramen.
People lining up to wait for their turn, which could be 30 minutes or more. This is what chased us out after our first (and only) serving.
Adam: On to the Yokohama waterfront – it never rained today, but was extremely windy. Holden and Brenda spent more time battling their umbrellas than enjoying them.
The ferris wheel and roller coaster weren’t running today. We assume it was too windy to safely operate them.
Adam: We walked to the Hikawa Maru – a Japanese ocean liner built in 1930 and used until 1960. At its start, this was the only method of trans-Pacific travel. It’s now a museum and it turned out to be the highlight of our day.
There were NO visitors – we almost literally had the boat to ourselves. It allowed us to explore with complete freedom and made for a very enjoyable afternoon.
The Hikawa Maru also has some extra significance – it’s main route was from Yokohama to Seattle and back. A one-way journey took 13 days and the first class cabin rate cost the equivalent of a recent college graduate’s 7-months’ salary.
3 Ships of this class were built. During WWII, two were sunk. The Hikara Maru served as a hospital ship during the war and survived three separate incidents of mine collisions. It was built to handle the notoriously rough seas on the Tokyo-Seattle route with extra steel plates and a stronger hull … therefore it survived three+ mine hits.
The first-class hall.
The first-class dining room.
This is the “social room” where evening dances were held for the elites to socialize with each other in a refined atmosphere. There was no internet, so they had to make do with paying attention to each other IRL.
The kids enjoying their internet in the 1st Class Lounge area — something the fancy-pants people of yore couldn’t do.
The more seasoned a traveler was perceived to be, the better treatment s/he received. People kept luggage long past it’s best-by date just to keep the stickers.
The men’s smoking room. Women weren’t allowed in here.
Adam’s version of a selfie.
Deluxe Cabin. There was only one: it had a bedroom (two twin beds) and a sitting room connected by a full bathroom. One of the Hikawa Maru’s most famous passengers was Charlie Chaplin, who sailed to Japan in 1932. We got to go into the rooms that he used and took photos of his personal bathroom. Charlie Chaplin, as well as a Princess and other assorted royalty stayed in this cabin. It cost roughly the equivalent of US$28,000 for a one-way (13-day) trip.
The sitting room. I loved the stained-glass window birds.
The bathroom. Just drink in the elegance! All kidding aside, it was much better than what everyone else got. When you were seasick during the notoriously rough passage — and you would be — you could barf privately into your own potty or sink. Even the ship captain’s bathroom was not quite as nice. I said, “Just imagine … Charlie Chaplin peed in here!” The kids said, “Ew, Mom, why do you have to be so gross?”
But this bathroom was actually special; the furniture in the first two rooms were replicas, but the tub/sink/toilet were original to the boat. Charlie Chaplin didn’t sleep in that exact bed, but he totally peed in that toilet and showered in that bathtub and brushed his teeth in that sink. Charlie Chaplin!!
As lousy as that bathroom looks, the Deluxe Cabin was the only one that had a private facility (aside from the captain.) The regular 1st class rooms just had a sink between the two twin beds. For shower and toilet they had to use communal ones.
The Wheelhouse.
Engine Room
Third class cabin. 8 bunks per room. You stayed with strangers, had no privacy, shared a communal bathroom down the hall, and weren’t even allowed to set foot on the upper deck where the first class cabins were. When you got seasick, I guess you barfed into a sack right in front of everyone. It makes me feel la wee bit queasy just to think about it.
Birds still use the ship.
Yokohama skyline from Tokyo Bay.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking up and down the waterfront, checking out parks, the rose garden, and other shopping areas.
Adam: Getting on near dinner time, we found a large mall that had one floor dedicated to all things Hawaii, including a restaurant that served hamburgers. Holden and I have been aching for one for weeks and Brenda finally gave in.
Josie does do things besides look at that phone.. but she’s suddenly become quite camera shy and, while she won’t race out of the camera view, she will quickly look down and not pose in any other method than this one. Like Isabella before her, I now have to be much more clever to get any photos of all three girls. Holden continues not to care.
The burgers were only OK. At the risk of sounding smug and patriotic, I’ve never had a truly good hamburger outside of the USA. If I had to think of just one thing the United States does better than everyone else, it would be the hamburger. There basically is no point in eating a burger in any other country. (Well, I take it back — I’ve had a very good burger in Canada. Not quite as good as an American burger, mind you, but still worth eating.)
Desserts, though! Other places certainly can put together a treat.
Monday was a travel day – we packed up our stuff and left Takayama and headed south (and then east) to Hakone. About 320km (200 mile) drive.
Highlights were figuring out how to get gas (it’s all automated, different system than in US and no English) – US$5.41/gallon gas equivalent. Adam spent some time watching youtube videos (“How to get gas in Japan”) so he’d know at least a little bit how things were supposed to work.
Hakone is a resort town up in the mountains. It is close enough to Tokyo that it gets the weekend and vacation crowds from the big city.
We arrived a bit too early to check into our house, so we parked and did some browsing, grabbed lunch and killed some time. Almost everything in this town centres around the train station.
Adam: This is a typical coffee dispenser in Japan.. Nowhere can you get a simple “cup of Joe.” You have to have an engineering degree (lucky me) to get it to dispense.
Our car and where we’re staying (in the sunlight to the left of the car), plus a member of the local wildlife. This neighborhood had a lot of cats and dogs, all of whom decided to make a bunch of noise around 3:00 a.m. Cat fights, which set off several indoor dogs who clearly wanted to be outdoors and in on the action. It wasn’t so much “woof woof woof” as it was mournful “roooooooooooooooo”ing going on until sunup. How do people in this neighborhood sleep?
This house had enough rooms that everyone got their own … the kids had to sleep on the typical floor mats but were thrilled to have some privacy (that’s Josie, enjoying her space).
And Adam and I were more than thrilled because our room had real beds! We’ve spent the past two+ weeks sleeping on the floor, which is all fine and dandy when you’re pre-college but not all that great when you’re within rock-throwing distance of 50 years old.
Tuesday, 03 July 2018
Adam: One of Brenda’s goals on this trip was to see Mt. Fuji. On our last trip to Japan, it was never in view. The thing is, Mt. Fuji, in all it’s majesty, can be a hard thing to view on any given day.
The mountain is only about 12,400’ high, but because it sits alone (not as part of a range) and due to it’s nearly perfect symmetry, it leaves a strong impression.However, it also has its own climate and clouds tend to gather and clump about this protrusion. We timed our trip a bit to take advantage of some clearer weather and hoped for the best.
So, for today, we went hunting for a decent Mt. Fuji picture.
The first thing we found, though, was a little wild animal … they do exist in Japan!
He was clinging to the bathroom door leading into the men’s room in the parking lot of Chureito Pagoda (near Fujiyoshida). I was going to move him to the nearby woods, but Isabella and Josie both freaked out and begged me not to touch him in case he was one of those frogs that exude deadly poison or hallucinogenic compounds from their skin, like Hypnotoad. (“Seriously, I’m gonna freak out if Mom starts trippin’!”)
I’m pretty sure all those frogs are in the Amazon rain forest over in South America, but then I got to thinking that perhaps this little ribbiter was exactly where he wanted to be. What if he’d spent the entire night getting to that spot, hoping to move into the men’s toilet where he’d be safe from birds and big fish? In the end I left him right where he was.
[Later edit: I think he’s a Japanese Tree Frog.]
Although nothing as poisonous as the South and Central American Poison Dart Frogs from the Dendrobatidae family, Japanese Tree frogs do have mild toxins within their skin for protection against predators and disease.
Despite this, they can be handled relatively safety without too much of a problem. Be sure to wash hands after handling any specimens and do not allow the slime from within the frogs’ skin to get in the mouth or into open cuts and wounds.
And as a final safety precaution, don’t stick frogs in your eyes… the slime causes pain and permanent blindness.
Don’t stick frogs in your eyes?! Ummm … ok. (But seriously; if you are the type of person who thinks “I’m gonna stick this frog in my eye” — would someone telling you NOT to stick the frog in your eye stop you?) Whatever. It didn’t occur to me to stick the frog in my eye, or rub it’s slime in my mouth or on my open wounds so I probably would have been ok.
Anyway …. on to Chureito Pagoda. You have to climb 398 steps to the top. At the base of the staircase they have a little shop, snack/drinks stand, and a place to leave prayer ribbons at the Arakura Fuji Sengen Jinja shrine before you embark on your hike.
Somebody has to rake the zen garden each morning so the rest of us can find inner peace.
Up the stairs we go! It was already nearly 90°F this morning so we took our time. We got incredibly lucky, though, and the clouds cleared enough to give us a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji.
There it is, along with Chureito Pagoda. This view was well worth the climb.
From a plaque at the site: The Fujiyoshida Cenotaph Monument, also known as the Chureito Pagoda, was built by the mayor of Fujiyoshida …. in 1958 to enshrine about 960 citizens from Fujiyoshida who died in the wars which occured after 1868 (the First Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, and the Pacific War of World War II).
Back down at the base: the purification fountain for cleaning your hands before you enter Arakura Fuji Sengen Jinja shrine.
By the time we walked back down all those stairs, clouds had already formed to obscure the top of the mountain. We got unbelievably lucky to see it at the exact time we were at the top.
Adam: Here’s another typical view of Mt. Fuji – we drove more than an hour north to lake Kawaguchi for this shot. This lake is the most famous of the five lakes that surround Mt. Fuji, and images of this lake are usually used in posters and commercials. A large number of hotels line its banks, as do locals providing boat rides to the tourists. We did arrive to enjoy the Herb Festival that happened to be going on at that location.
I was thrilled at our good fortune to arrive during their Herb Festival. The garden was packed with various types of lavender (some of which I’d never seen before) and smelled heavenly.
As luck would have it, I was even wearing the right color outfit today.
The shops were selling lavender products, including lavender ice cream and this lavender float that Adam bought. It was a shot of lavender syrup, sprite, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was quite good; much better than we thought it would be.
Other lavender products: lavender-filled pillows, huge bags of dried flowers to make your own potpourri, perfumes, soaps, essential oils, cleaning products, etc.
Another shot of Mt. Fuji from the south, facing north, on our way to Lake Ashinoko for lunch and to look around.
Adam: Mt. Fuji is still considered an active volcano, although the last eruption was in 1707. However, the surrounding area is still quite alive. Ōwakudani is a volcanic valley with active sulphur vents and hot springs. It was created around 3000 years ago, as a result of the explosion of the Hakone volcano (about 20km away from Mt. Fuji).
Owakudani is actually inside the crater of the volcano Mount Kamiyama. Owakudani translates to “the Great Boiling Valley,” though some locals refer to it as Jigokudani, meaning “Hell Valley.” Here you can see the cable cars operating to give people a good view over the sulphur springs.
Adam: It is a popular tourist site for its scenic views, volcanic activity, and “Kuro-Tamago” — a local specialty of eggs hard-boiled in the hot springs. The eggs turn black and smell slightly sulphuric; eating one is said to add seven years to your life. The moutaintop views were great, but the place really smelled of sulfur. Due to volcanic activity in 2015, they had to shut the place down for about a year. Even now, there is limited access to the areas and (from what I read) you used to be able to wander a good deal more up the hills and get close to the volcanic vents. Now, no longer.
Owakudani’s hot springs contain rich amounts of sulfur and iron. When the eggs are cooked in it, these elements react with calcium in the egg shells. It results in the chemical compound iron sulfide which adheres to the egg shell and turns it black. The eggs are soaked for an hour in the springs with a temperature of 80°C (176°F). Since this process doesn’t fully cook the eggs, another 15 minutes of steaming is done in a caldron.
We bought a package of five eggs, but Adam refused to eat his. He does not like eggs and can only manage to choke them down if they’re scrambled. I ate his for him, so maybe I’ll get an extra 14 years instead of 7? We couldn’t decide if the eggs would add up or cancel each other out (the Japanese do not like for people to be greedy).
The only difference was in the shell. The hard boiled eggs inside looked and tasted completely normal.
[Later edit]
The internet to the rescue again:
Each egg is believed to add seven years in a person’s life. However, eating more than 2 1/2 eggs can give you bad luck.
Phew! I only ate 2, not 2 1/2. I’ll probably be ok.
The sulphur springs. They weren’t too stinky … if you’ve been to Yellowstone National Park, you know exactly what it smells like.
There was quite a lot of steam coming out of the vents, but it was windy enough today that the air stayed pretty clean.
We had a very late lunch (early dinner?) at a nearby lake. We saw the pirate ship sailing around and pulled over on a whim. Sadly, the lunch was really expensive and not very good. The area was far too touristy. You can’t win them all.
Time to head back to the apartment for the evening. Tomorrow we leave for Kamakura, a little seaside town near Tokyo.
Adam: We rented a car in Kyoto (Toyota Isis) and checked out of our house. All loaded up, we headed for the Gifu Prefecture and what is known as, in the tourist guides, “the Japanese Alps.”
Here is our car. It’s just about the biggest car you can rent in Japan, and it barely fits all of us and our luggage. We had to squeeze to make it fit, but we did get everything in. The parking lots here are a bit strange … you park in the space and then that green barrier pops up and traps your car. You can’t leave until you pay at the meter; paying the fee triggers the green thing to go back down, but only for a short time so you need to hustle once you’ve paid up.
Adam: We wanted to get out of the urban areas and see a bit more of Japan – what you can’t see from taking the bullet trains or airplanes.
Driving in Japan is just like in the US – except that it’s on the British side of the road, the road rules are different and I can’t read any of the signs.
Our homebase is a house in Takayama – situated in a valley amongst several ranges of mountains. Here, the elevations are not terribly high (we’re up about 2000 feet) with the highest mountains topping at around 10,000 ft. There’s no snow on them now – but we have had our fair share of rain. It poured during most of our drive to Takayama, and once we arrived, we were entertained that evening by lightning and thunderstorms.
Map of our trip from Kyoto to Takayama.. Side trip to Shirakawa-go and Ogimachi.
The terrain in these mountains is very rugged. The trails to get from one place to another must have been nearly impossible to cover. It gives these towns a somewhat isolated feel. These areas get a LOT of snow – the houses are designed to withstand more than 2m of snow cover. In modern times, the Japanese have solved the road problems by digging tunnel after tunnel right into the mountains. As an example, our side trip from Takayama to Shirakawa-go is only about 46km, but we went through 12 different tunnels, the longest of which is 11km in length. More than half of the trip to our destination was underground.
Here’s a shot of our house, with a garage space for our car.
Saturday, 30 June 2018
Adam: Our first outing was to Ogimachi, part of UNESCO’s World Heritage Site: “Historic Villages of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama.”
These villages are well known for their clusters of farmhouses, constructed in the architectural style known as gasshō-zukuri, which are designed to easily shed snow from their roofs. It takes the village 4 days (working together) to build a roof and, if well made, they can last up to 60 years.
The Wada House (below). For a small fee you can go inside this one.
From the brochure: “The Wada family had passed down the name Yaemon from generation to generation since 1573. During the Edo period, the head of the Wada family assumed the role of village headman and was the official at the guard station. The family also prospered in the potassium nitrate business. During this period, potassium nitrate was an important source of cash income for the Shirakawago area. Promulgation of the organisation of municipalities in 1888 produced Shirakawa Village, and Yaemon Wada was appointed the first mayor of the village. The Wada House is the largest of the Gassho-zukuri settlement in Shirakawa Village. It has prestigious structure, including an entrance featuring Shikidai (steps in a Japanese entranceway), conveying the stylish, architectural culture of the early Edo Period to our day.”
They have it set up in the old manner so you can see how people would have lived in houses like these. Here is a fireplace … they put sand pits directly in the floor in the middle of rooms. A huge iron plate hangs from the ceiling to catch sparks, and also act as a warming shelf.
The attic area was used mostly for raising silkworms.
An example of the clothing villagers would have worn. Most of these clothes are made of woven grasses and straw.
Silk worm cocoons.
Repairs being made to one of the thatched roofs.
Our family contemplating a rice paddy. We were looking for frogs and such, but didn’t see any animal life — not even little fish. Most of the houses had their own vegetable gardens and paddies. I’m very surprised about the lack of animals, though. Our entire time in Japan so far we’ve seen only wild birds and fish (stocked in ponds, like carp and koi), plus the Snow monkeys we hiked up to see. No squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, deer, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens … not even roadkill that would indicate animals live in the woods. We passed a “Livestock Research Station” on our drive yesterday and saw two cows — just a huge field with only two cows in it. Where are all the animals?
I made Josie stand next to the hollyhocks to show scale; I planted a bunch of hollyhock seeds at our house before we left Georgia earlier this summer and not a single one of them sprouted. This is how impressive they were supposed to be.
You can hike up a long hill to a viewing point. The village looks like something from a storybook.
Holden enjoys the view, but is now getting concerned as the rain has picked up and we’re starting to get wet.
Adam: Brenda was the only person with foresight to bring an umbrella.
Not only did I bring my umbrella, but several of the little shops near the parking lot were selling $5 umbrellas and I urged everyone to consider buying one. It was starting to sprinkle at the time and I said, “Don’t you guys want to buy some umbrellas? We’re going to be walking around a lot today and it looks like it’s going to start raining a lot harder.”
“No,” said everyone … “I’m not going to spend $5 of my own money on an umbrella when I already have one at home.”
“I hope you don’t mind getting wet, then” I said. “The umbrellas at home aren’t going to do you any good right now.”
Adam: (Below) The rest of us are seeking shelter in a Buddhist shrine, while Brenda enjoys the views. It rained off and on during the visit, but really started to come down when we were returning back to the valley floor.
At this point everyone started demanding I give up my umbrella to someone else because I had a hat. “This is a straw hat,” I’d say. “It’s meant for sun protection and isn’t supposed to get wet. Water will ruin it.”
“So what?” they’d say back. “It’s better than what we have, which is nothing. We should get the umbrella.”
This started to become a testy issue, which got testier and testier as the rain intensified.
Adam: The Sho River lies in the centre of this region. It rises in the southern mountains, then flows northwards towards the Japan Sea along a deep, winding and narrow valley, surrounded by mountains rising to a height of 5000’. As a result of this steep terrain, the majority of villages in this area are situated in the narrow strips of land along the valley bottom.
Photo below: kids are still irritated that I won’t give up my umbrella. Later in the day we were discussing economics and the ways different societies distribute goods and wealth. One of the kids (I don’t remember who, Josie or Isabella) said, “The way socialism is supposed to work is that the gulf between the haves and have nots isn’t too wide. You don’t get some people with nothing and someone else getting everything.” Holden said snarkily, “Yeah, but then there is always that one person who has a hat and an umbrella.”
This is now apparently a new shorthand phrase to be used in our family when someone tries to take more than their fair share: “You’re getting a hat and an umbrella!” (I still maintain that I didn’t take anything from anyone … I planned ahead and it paid off. Big difference!)
After lunch, we returned to Takayama. The sun came out and the heat returned.
View of the Hida mountain range.
Adam: In Takayama, we went to the “Hida no Sato” (Hida Minzoku Mura Folk Village). This is a sort of open air museum – buildings from all over the region were salvaged and brought to this park. You can walk a lazy trail from building to building – all are accessible (must take off shoes in every building, which gets pretty old after the 5th or 6th time) but have neat displays of what life was like in this region over the past 600 years.
There were also some fun things to do as well – Japanese stilt practice.
Picture postcard beauty shot. They had free parasols for visitors to use. (They also had free umbrellas for general use, which by this point nobody needed. It did spark some new grumbling about how the other village was going to charge $5 when they could have offered free “rentals” like this place.)
Adam: Here is an example of a what passed for “middle class” in the 1600s. Inside are rooms for the family, sunken hearths that are constantly lit (for heating and cooking – also the smoke keeps away bugs and preserves the roofs), and your livestock.
I found it amazing that any of these wooden houses could survive for 400 years.
The horse paintings (Ema) displayed in the building below were important:
(Closer view)
View from inside the house, looking out at the kids sitting on the steps. They didn’t want to take their shoes off.
Holden working a live well. There were signs all about begging you not to drink the water.
Close up view of the Gasshō-style thatched roof (below).
From a sign at the village:
It took all the village people 4 days to make the thatched roof, which is said to last for 40 or 60 years. The fire at the hearth is always lighted not only because it reproduces the atmosphere of the old days, but also because the smoke is very important for preserving the house in a good state. The smoke protects it from harmful insects, keeps the ropes tight, and gives the house moderate moisture.
The fires going in all the houses added a new dimension to our understanding of what it must have been like to live back then. I never really understood before what these old houses we tour through across the world would have really smelled like. I’m so sensitive to smoke that I got a headache just from quickly walking though the first couple of these homes today, and so did Josie. We both ended up needing to take an Advil about halfway though our tour. If I’d been born back in the old days, I would have spent most of my life ill, I think. I would have probably ended up being an outdoor cat, constantly seeking out fresh air.
Small shrine (Buddhist statue – the apron colors and type all have significance) in front of one of the Hida houses.
It’s getting late in the afternoon – hot (but dry) and promises of ice cream to keep this party going.
Adam: Holden is re-energized with any opportunity to get active and make a lot of noise. Bonshō are large bells found in Buddhist temples throughout Japan, used to summon the monks to prayer and to demarcate periods of time. Rather than containing a clapper, bonshō are struck from the outside, using either a handheld mallet or a beam suspended on ropes.
The procedure is to bow, ring the bell, and then make your wish before the resonation fades away.
The upper floors of the bigger houses were used almost exclusively for silk worm farming. From a flyer at one of the buildings:
“As Hida region is mountainous, the cultivable land was so limited in the past. Although people had managed to harvest rice and vegetables, sericulture (the production of raw silk by breeding silkworms) became more important source of income than farming, particularly in North Hida area. Grandfather & mother, father, mother and children — they all lived in the same house, worked together and helped each other. They used many tools and found efficient ways to gain as much raw silk as they could.”
Inside, a couple of women give demonstrations of how the silk was worked.
Silk worm cocoons on a rack.
In one of the homes they had some photos of people farming silkworms — feeding them mulberry leaves and showing the different stages of the silkworm life cycle. I didn’t realise (actually, never really thought about) the silk “worm” is a caterpillar, with the adult being a little whitish moth. I rather suddenly realised that these people lived with and worked every day with millions of caterpillars. The photos of people handling huge trays of them was kind of gross. Even grosser, it said that people collected the worm poop (another thing I didn’t consider — worms poop), dried it, and ate it as medicine. They call it an “herb.” It contains chlorophyll, phytol, β-sitosterol, cholesterol, ergosterol, lupeol, amino acid, carotene, and vitamin B and C — which probably was sort of like a vitamin pill for people who didn’t get a wide variety of fresh produce during the long winters. But still — EW.
This man (in a different house) is demonstrating how straw is beaten until it’s soft and pliable, then woven into clothing, baskets, kitchen utensils, brooms, floor mats, etc. This work was done in the winter when they couldn’t do much outside. Whatever they were able to make out of straw that they didn’t need for their own use was sold to help bring in extra money.
Adam: We finished our day with a visit to central Takayama – the old town Sanmachi Suji district. There are three pedestrian-only streets just to the east of the Miya-gawa River. The streets are lined with traditional merchant houses, shops selling traditional crafts, restaurants serving local specialties, and sake breweries, with many of the buildings over 400 years old.
Brenda doing some shopping.. she walked away with several new sets of chopsticks and some wooden tongs. Wood-crafted products are very big here.
Sunday, 01 July 2018
Today we headed about 50km east to Matsumoto – in the Nagano prefecture and is in the area where the 1988 Olympics were held.
.. But not in July.. the temperature hit 90 again today.
Most of the day was spent on the road – going there and back again. The views were gorgeous but the roads narrow and the Japanese don’t construct places on the sides of roads where you can stop to look around/take photos.
Matsumoto Castle – started in 1504, it is Japan’s oldest existing castle. It has 6 floors and we were able to go through the entire building, all the way to the top.
Below: The Cherry Tree to Which Lord Kiyomasa Tied His Horses. While stopping by at Matsumoto Castle, Kiyomasa Kato, the lord of Kumamoto Castle, received two horses from Matsumoto Castle’s Lord Yasunaga Ishikawa. It is said that he tied the horses to this cherry tree at that time.
Standing in line inside the castle, waiting for our turn to go up the stairs. The staircases were incredibly steep and very narrow, and had to accommodate people going both up and down.
By the time you get to the very top, the 6th floor, you’re up quite high.
A quick shot of the room. It was hot and crowded in here. The interior of the castle has not been retrofitted with air conditioners.
View of one of the roofs from the 6th floor windows.
Castle grounds. The 6th floor had 360° views of the surrounding area.
View of the rafters from underneath.
After we left the castle grounds, we walked around the little town. This antique bookstore is in a very cool old building on one of the side streets.
Nawate Street is lined with cute little shops, almost all of them selling frog merchandise. One of the vendors gave us a brochure:
The History of the “frog” on Nawate Street:
Before the Meiji ERA, Nawate St. was just a bank lying between the river and moat. After the Yohashira shrine was built in the year Meiji 12 (1879), the bank became an approach to the shrine. Horse carriages were not allowed to pass through. The shrine began to promote various entertainments to gather visitors and prosper. People began to start businesses there, which attracted many visitors. Because of the vehicle-free street, shop owners on the street said that visitors can buy (Kaeru= 買える) and go home (Kaeru = 帰る) safely. Since then, people started to call the street “Frog (Kaeru = frog) Street.” So they, shop keepers, put a big frog statue at the entrance of the street to watch over us, and keep us safe.
This guy is giving me the flyer with the frog history on it that I typed above. I don’t really get it; it must be a clever play on words in Japanese that doesn’t translate well into English.
Josie fell in love with these owl mugs. She bought a white one that reminded her of Hedwig in Harry Potter.
Holden wanted a picture of this sign (below) because it sounds like Drury Lane from the muffin man song. We saw another street in Kyoto named Brewery Lane, too … both times we then had to listen to the kids (led by Holden) perform the scene from Shrek:
Little kids having fun in a public fountain.
Tomorrow we head over toward Mt. Fuji for a couple of days.
Today was a travel day from Seoul to Kyoto: flight to Osaka, couple of trains to Kyoto, which is actually a lot closer to Osaka than I remembered. We were here almost exactly three years ago.
We are staying in a traditional, minimalist house (style: minshuku) that offers tatami rooms with futon bedding to sleep on. During daytime, the futons are usually stored in a closet in the room. We’re too lazy. There are photos of the place below. You’ll note that there is no furniture to speak of in the house … no chairs, cabinets, dressers, etc. This certainly is quaint, but one can sit cross-legged on the floor for only so long.
Entrance. All shoes are to be left here.
Hall to lower bedroom (which is also the living room, dining room, and pass-through to the shower which is outside in the courtyard.)
The hallway has a little nook for a tiny kitchen, and the brown doors lead to a toilet.
This kitchen is tiny but at least it has a sink!!
The master bedroom. The white doors are a closet and the little table in the nook is the dining table. You’re supposed to store the mattresses in the closet during the day and move the table into the middle of the room. The little green pillows stores underneath the table are the dining room “chairs.” The glass door at the end opens into a small courtyard, which is where laundry is put out to dry. At the end of the courtyard is a shower room.
Master bedroom looking toward the kitchen/hall. Those rice paper doors close for privacy.
Door at end of courtyard is shower room.
Upper floor. This part of the house reminds me a of a ship. The brown doors at the top open into Holden’s bedroom.
Girls room, doors at the end.
Holden’s room.
Isabella and Josie’s room. They have a tiny balcony that looks down into the courtyard.
We didn’t do much today besides get here, check in, and find groceries. Tomorrow we’re ready to hit the town.
Tuesday, 26 June 2018
We spent some time this morning walking around our neighborhood, getting our bearings. We found a Starbucks for breakfast.
(Starbucks across the bridge, green logo in the window.)
The guy on the bike was throwing food of some sort to the crows. Then a hawk (eagle?) showed up and got in on the action. He must have been throwing fish to attract a bird of prey.
A European-style bread shop.
Our main attraction for the day was a visit to the Golden Temple – Kinkaku-ji. This is a zen Buddhist temple that originally dates to 1397… however, the original structure was torched by an arsonist in 1950 and what we see now is a re-construction.
This place had the coolest tickets. They looked like works of art. I would have brought one home to frame except they were so big I couldn’t get them in my purse without creasing them.
The upper two levels are covered with pure gold leaf on lacquer panels. I learned in Korea that the lacquer (which comes from the resin of a tree) is so durable that they’ve found lacquer boxes and other furniture items in sunken ships that are still in near-perfect shape despite being buried at sea for 150 years.
Gold foil on lacquer covers the upper two levels of Kinkaku and a shining phoenix stands on top of the shingled roof. he first level is built in the shinned style of the 11th-century imperial aristocracy; the second level is in the buke style of the warrior aristocracy; and the top level is in the Chinese zenshu-butsuden style. Overall, Kinkaku is representative of Muromachi-period architecture.
The phoenix on top. I thought it was a rooster (like on the world’s fanciest weather vane) until I read differently later.
Little fishing dock off the back.
Some other buildings in the park.
The pond with the Golden Pavilion, and islets large and small, is the center of the garden. Rocks donated by various provincial lords of the period are placed throughout the garden. As a pond garden designed for strolling, it is typical of the Muromachi period. The garden is listed as a National Special Historic Site and Special Place of Scenic Beauty.
People were trying to toss coins into that little cup in front of the biggest stone carving.
It was really crowded today. Too crowded, in fact. It was so hot and miserable to start with, and then add combat-viewing … ugh. It made for an experience we sort of rushed through.
Taking a break to sit in the shade for a few moments.
People could try their hand at ringing a replica of the temple bells. You had to get the timing just right in order to make a gong sound. Most people failed.
Holden tried, too, and also failed. Right after Holden gave up, a muscle-bound Australian guy hopped on and rang it perfectly on his first try. The entire crowd was impressed.
Our lunch restaurant. These little hole-in-the-wall places almost always serve up great food. Another thing that makes travel for the non-Japanese speakers easy is the Japanese tradition of putting plastic replicas of their food out on display. In this photo you can see what looks like a deli case sitting out front: this is filled with representations of their dishes. You can get a real good idea about what will likely show up in front of you once you order. They also put photos of nearly everything on their menus (on the left side of the picture) out front, too.
We took a train back toward our house, and then walked from the station to the Teramachi Kyogoku shopping arcade – something we did on our last visit. It was a chance to wander around under a covered roof and do some shopping for supplies. Both Isabella and Holden bought backpacks that they can use now as well as when they get home.
The kids were excited to find a manga store. This became the highlight of their day when …
… Isabella and Josie discovered Copic markers on the second floor of the shop that are about 1/3rd the price in the U.S. Both of them loaded up and I can guess we might be back again before we leave. You can also see Isabella’s new backpack. (It was made in Korea, which we had a little laugh about.)
Our little group meandering around the shopping arcade.
There are also some pretty nice looking restaurants in here.
For all your sushi needs.
Holden and Josie skipped the raw fish and bought some candy to share instead.
A Buddist Temple right in amongst the shops.
This was a weird statue. We never did learn what it represented.
Our house is the squished white and dark brown building directly to the right of the sign with red lettering. It’s so nondescript it’s easy to walk by and not even see the entrance.
Once it got dark, Adam and I went back out for an evening stroll in the Gion district. Here is a guy just sitting in his jam-packed front room, reading his book.
An Irish pub. We were still out way too early at 8:00 p.m. and nothing much was happening.
Street lamps.
Geishas on their way home.
We decided not to hang out for several more hours to see if the nightlife started hopping. Maybe this was as busy as it was going to get — it is a Tuesday night, after all.
Wednesday, 27 June 2018
Today we took a longer train out of town to the village of Arashiyama. We had visited there 3 years ago, but Josie wanted to return to walk through the bamboo forests and to re-visit the snow monkey reserve.
Isabella on the train.
The town of Arashiyama. It’s a cute little place, although very touristy.
A river runs through the center of the town.
Fishing boats.
The monkeys are up a very, very steep hill. It’s strenuous enough they caution people to take water with them, and then have many seating opportunities on the way up, along with vending machines filled with cold beverages. This is not a hike for the weak.
We had to stop frequently to catch our breath and cool off. It wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t so darned hot.
One of the many resting places. Even the youngsters in the bloom of peak health can’t make it up without cooling off periods.
They even have a special air-conditioned break room at the steepest point. It was filled with gross sweaty people breathing hard and smelling bad … including us when we got there.
Finally at the top! This baby was having fun keeping cool.
Being early summer, all the mamas were milling around for free food (apples and peanuts) with their babies. Their birthing season is early spring, so most of the babies were between 1 and 2 months old. A couple of females were still heavily pregnant (late bloomers.)
This was the baby seen jumping into the pool in the first photo. He loved apples best of all.
The feed station. The monkeys are very aggressive and are taught that humans will only give them food from inside the “cage.” It’s a reverse zoo situation, but it seems to work. The monkeys will grab and beg from the people inside the cage, but leave you alone once you leave.
Such a hot day. Most of the monkeys were well into siesta mode.
The monkeys not sleeping or preening each other were taking refreshing dips in the pool.
Preening time.
Nap time.
“I’m so pregnant I’m about to pop so please give me apples” time.
View of the natural monkey habitat.
Back down by the river.
Heron.
Traditional Japanese couture.
The reason we came back to this town in the first place: Josie wanted to see the bamboo forest again. Bamboo is her very favorite plant. She has several stalks of bamboo in a pot in her room at home and someday wants to have her own bamboo garden.
It is gorgeous. Unfortunately, it’s also full of bugs. I started getting bug-bit within minutes of entering. The photos don’t show it, but there were hundreds of people here. I asked Adam, “Why is nobody but ME getting bug bites?” Eventually, on our way out, I saw a little girl about 3 years old, slapping at her legs and scratching like mad at a mosquito welt the size of a grape on her arm. I thought, “You and me, little sister!” Why is it only such a few of us who suffer from the bugs so? Why do the bloodsuckers choose only us?
Here is a very small example of the crowds: Adam did an artful job of timing and framing his shots to avoid most of the people.
Out of the bamboo forest and back on the river … cormorant fishing. I never thought I’d see this in person. We stood in the heat, battling the bugs for quite a long time watching these guys.
Egret fishing. He caught a lot of them.
Back to the cormorant fishermen.
“How long do we have to stand here, Dad? The sun is right in our faces.”
“Holden, stop squinting.”
“I can’t help it. Don’t you have the picture yet?”
Guy giving rickshaw rides.
Adam: After lunch, we split up for about an hour. Everyone but me wanted to do some shopping along the main drag. I visited the Tenryū-ji – one of two main Zen Buddhist temples in Japan.
Brenda: I don’t know anything about these next photos. The kids and I all combed through the tourist shops … Holden and I each bought a pair of chopsticks and all three kids bought ice cream. We met up with Adam afterwards and headed back to our house.
Thursday, 28 June 2018
Long final day in Kyoto – we covered 11.0 miles of walking. Very cloudy and always threatened to rain, but never did. Still hot has Hades, however.
We made a large, clockwise circle around Kyoto, hitting some locations we’ve never been to before.
Some shots around town …
Adam: Sign in the Gion district (below). I like how you are both instructed not to touch the Geishas as well not to hang out and hit on them, giving your best Jersey-style “how you doing?”.
AND – most significantly – no Selfie Sticks. In fact, if I was in charge, I would ban the use of all iPhones and equivalent. If you want to take photos, do it right or don’t do it at all. Things were better when all we had was film and one had to make a major economic decision with each click of the shutter.
Wonderful houses of the Nineizaka district.
Starbucks. It blends into the area so well it’s hard to find even when you know it’s there and are looking for it (which we were.) Here is Holden saying, “Are you sure this is it?”
This was our breakfast destination this morning.
Even the inside of the Starbucks keeps with the architecture of the street.
Entrance to the Buddhist Kiyomizu-dera temple (“Pure Water Temple”) and grounds (below).
The temple was founded in 778 by Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, and its present buildings were constructed in 1633, ordered by the Tokugawa Iemitsu. There is not a single nail used in the entire structure. It takes its name from the waterfall within the complex, which runs off the nearby hills. Kiyomizu means clear water, or pure water.
Ema votive tablets. People write their prayer or wishes on the backs of these little wooden plaques. 2018 is the year of the dog, so all the pictures on the front were of various dogs. Most of the wishes we could read in English were “to do well on my exams.”
That orange building way off in the distance is the “Easy birthing pagoda.” Visiting the Koyasu pagoda is said to bring pregnant or prospective mothers an easy and safe childbirth.
Holden discovered you could buy a stick of incense to light for only ¥10 (about US$0.09)
Both Holden and Isabell bought some incense to make a wish/prayer at the Buddhist temple. You light the incense on a candle and then stick it in the iron pot.
Women wearing traditional yukatas, the cotton kimonos worn during summer.
Unfortunately the main temple building was under renovation. The majority of it was covered in scaffolding and mesh cloth.
On our way to find the Easy Birthing Pagoda, we made a wrong turn and got lost in the woods. We stumbled onto this cemetery.
Realising we were in the wrong place, we turned around and headed back the way we came. It was a nice, relaxing stroll though … no crowds and it was cooler in the forest.
Another view of the temple all covered up for it’s restoration.
Jizo statues, the protectors of women, children and travelers. Statues were adorned with red bibs by parents who were grateful for saving a sick child or to ask for the Jizo’s protection of a child who has died in the afterlife. Red was believed to banish demons and illnesses.
The flowing Otowa Waterfall below Kiyomizudera’s main hall base. It’s actually three separate streams of sacred Otowa Water. Drinking from each stream yields different advantages which were success at school, luck in love or a long life. One must pick from the three since drinking from all of them is thought to be too greedy.
More walking around town. Our next destination is the Nishiki Fish Market.
People having fun.
Lots of tourist shops along the way.
A refreshing snack: a cucumber on a stick soaked in salt water. This is a surprisingly refreshing snack on a very hot day.
More tourist shops.
We wandered by a temple we visited last time, the Maruyama park and the 1350+ year old Yasaka shrine.
These girls walked through this archway three times, I assume for good luck of some sort. I didn’t ask them. They were reading instructions on how to do it correctly on their phones.
Nishiki Fish Market.
Holden found a vendor for roasted chestnuts, which he loves. In Europe we only ever see these in winter so it was a pleasant surprise to find some here in summertime. We bought a bag.
We did not buy baby octopus on a stick.
We also didn’t buy roasted sparrow on a stick. (Sparrows — 2 on a stick, or whole quails to go. “Eel inside.. heat it.”)
A vintage clothing store — note the Idaho Meridian jacket!
After lunch we visited the Kyoto International Manga Museum. Manga are the Japanese comic books for adults. Both Isabella and Josie are interested in this sort of thing, so we visited.
While it claims to be a museum, most of the 3 floors displayed a collection of more than 40,000 rare Manga books that you could pull off the shelf and read – sort of a reference book library. 99% of it was in Japanese, but they did have a small English section.
Lastly, we visited Nijo-jo Castle. This is one of the gates leading into the Nijo Castle compound. The castle was erected in the early 1600s (started in 1601, completed in 1626) by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It was built as the Kyoto residence of the Tokugawa Shoguns.
Visitors are allowed inside the buildings but photography is strictly prohibited. You have to take off your shoes, too.
The floors have built-in squeaks so that nobody could sneak up on anybody else in the castle. The wikipedia page about Nijo explains: One of the most striking features of the Ninomaru Palace are the “nightingale floors” (uguisubari) in the corridors. To protect the occupants from sneak attacks and assassins, the builders constructed the floors of the corridors in such a way as to squeak like birds when anyone walks on them. (It sounds funny with hundreds of people filing through … everyone shuffles along in their socks, very quiet and respectful and somber, with a background noise that sounds like dozens of cartoon mice.)
The inside of the Castle looked a lot like the rooms where Po lived and did his training at the Jade Palace in Kung Fu Panda. (Yes, I know that’s Chinese and we’re in Japan, but the style is remarkably similar — mats on the floors, no furniture, walls made of paper, etc.)
The entire building is made of wood, which is impressive because it’s so old. Wood structures generally end up being destroyed by fire or rot after a relatively short period of time. In the European castles, the stone structures are still around but most of the wooden parts are long gone. This entire thing is wood, and still in fantastic shape. (We couldn’t read the signs, so perhaps a lot of it has ben replaced or restored since the early 1600s.)
[note: I did some online research when we got back to the apartment. “The central keep, or Tenshu, was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in 1750. In 1788, the Inner was destroyed by a city-wide fire. The site remained empty until it was replaced by a prince’s residence transferred from the Kyoto Imperial Palace in 1893.” So, not all of it is original to the early 1600s.]
Best part of the way-too-hot visit: the mist tunnel on the way out.
Time to go back to the apartment for a rest. We walked 11 miles today and 12 the day before. In this intense heat, we’re worn out and ready to call it day by around 3:00 p.m. Adam and I ended up walking to McDonald’s later in the evening just to see if a Big Mac in Japan is any different from a Big Mac back in the States. (Turns out they are almost exactly the same.)
Tomorrow morning we rent a car and head over toward Mt. Fuji. More later!
Today we took a guided tour to the DMZ – the De-militarized zone that separates North from South Korea. The zone was set up as part of the armistice of the Korean war in 1953. It runs roughly along the 38th parallel, is 160 miles long and about 2.5 miles wide.
In order to enter the DMZ, you must go as part of a tour. You are entering into military territory and so our bus was boarded on a couple of occasions; South Korean soldiers did passport checks and headcounts on all of us coming and going.
You don’t actually get to go right up to the border – that is strictly prohibited.
We got the sense that South Koreans view the North Koreans as suffering, long lost relatives that have been captive against their will in an abusive relationship — in other words, they very much want to reunite the two Koreas and blame politicians and despots for the divide rather than the people themselves. Our guide said that the North Koreans have been so effectively isolated that whenever one escapes and defects to South Korea, they are quite difficult to understand. They are still speaking Korean, but the accent has evolved into something foreign and they use new words she’s never heard before.
The DMZ is filled with monuments brimming with hope for eventual reunification, such as the one in the photo below.
Ribbons at Imjigak Park. Our tour guide said, “People tie ribbons on the fence with letters or hopes written on them. Most of them are sad. Many are from old people who were separated from their North Korean family and wish to see their hometown once more before they die.”
Adam: Bridge of Freedom going north – it does actually cross the Imjin river (into North Korea) and connects with the North-South railway. Before and during the war it was a railroad bridge which was used by repatriated POWs/soldiers returning from the north.
At present, the bridge is unused, but kept in ready condition to be used upon unification. In general, the South Koreans are anxious for unification. I’ve seen plenty of signs in Seoul advocating for peace, love, understanding and a unified Korea.
The Bell of Peace
The Stones of Peace Wall
(For those with small screens..) “This sculpture is made from stones collected from battlefields all over the world that have witnessed the suffering and grief of war. It is my sincere wish that the bringing together of these stones collected from 86 battlefields in 64 different countries will be a stepping stone for the reconciliation of the Korean People and mark the beginning of a century of peace and harmony for all mankind.” — January 1, 2000: Lim, Chang-Yuel, Governor of Kyonggi Province
Meanwhile:
Kids goofing off.
Wrecked train. I’ve typed out what the plaque at the site said below the photo.
This steam locomotive stopped at Jangdan Station on the Gyeongui Line on December 31, 1950. According to Mr. Han Jun-gi, who was the last person to drive this locomotive, the train was going to Pyongyang from Gyeongui Station with a cargo of military supplies. In the process, the train reversed direction at Han Station in Pyeongsan-gun, Hwanghae-do, and arrived at Jangdan Station, where it was damaged. The locomotive has been left damaged and neglected for over fifty years in the DMZ, bore the traces of 1,020 bullet scars, and its wheels were bent and broken. The locomotive was recognised as a symbol of armistice condition of South and North Korea, and was listed as Registered Cultural Heritage No. 78 by the Cultural Heritage Administration on February 6, 2004.
Below: Mangbaeddan enables displaced people whose hometowns are located within North Korea to bow down to their parents or family in North Korea as a sign of respect during cultural events such as New Years and Chuseok (Korean Mid Autumn Festival, usually entails paying respect to your elders and ancestors). This memorial holds many sorrowful memories of separated families during the Korean War.
Across the rice paddies, Camp Bonifas – UN Military command post. The ROK have closer installations, but US soldiers are garrisoned here, 400m south of the demarcation line.
Our tour guide told us there are two towns for civilians in the DMZ — one for South Korea and one for North Korea. The South Korean town has about 500 people living in it, but up until recently the North Korean town was built just for show … lots of buildings that were never lived in. Recently N. Korea has allowed people from a nearby factory to start living in the buildings.
In the South Korean town, the civilians living there are almost all rich farmers. They must go through military check points each time they leave and enter and have other restrictions that our guide called “very inconvenient.” They put up with it because they have two really great perks: they don’t have to pay any taxes, and boys don’t have to do the mandatory 21-month military enlistment. For the rest of South Korea, all boys must serve a minimum of 21 months in the military. Typically, they go to University for two years, then do their 21 months, then go back and finish their University degree.
Sculpture of hope for reunification near the “3rd Tunnel of Aggression”: one side has a raised map of North Korea on the inside, the other has a map of South Korea. If the two sides ever come together, the pieces will fit together like a puzzle.
We don’t know what these were supposed to signify.
Josie with a nice stash of gatorade and pringles from the snack kiosk at The Third Tunnel stop.
Adam: In 1978, South Korea discovered that North Korea had been quietly digging tunnels into South Korea as part of an invasion plan. When confronted with the evidence, North Korea blamed South Korea for doing the digging. Now, one of the tunnels is open for tourists – no photos were allowed, but you can walk down a steep 1/4 mile ramp to access a mile-long tunnel about 250 feet below the ground.
Our tour guide told us a story about what they tounge-in-cheek call The Flag War. When the DMZ towns were initially set up, South Korea hoisted a South Korean flag over their town. North Korea responded by hoisting a North Korean flag over their own town (the fake one with no people in it) but they made sure their pole was taller and had a much bigger flag. South Korea didn’t want to get into a pissing contest over something as stupid as the height of a flag pole, so they just let it be. Their attitude was, “Fine. Let the baby have his bottle.” Unfortunately I don’t think we have any photos where the flags are visible, but you could definitely tell the difference in size. Even though the North Korean flag was further away, it was easier to see.
Adam: For what amounted to $0.40, you can use these binoculars to get a better view of what’s going on. Time magazine has reported that North Korean artillery, located in the DMZ and within range of our view, could flatten Seoul in the first half hour of any confrontation. North Korean artillery pieces of calibers 170 millimeter and 240 millimeter could fire 10,000 rounds per minute into Seoul and its environs.
Recent polls in South Korea show a majority (53%) want their own nuclear missiles to act as a deterrent to Kim Jong-eun. The 35MM folks in Seoul are only 35 miles distant from the border.
Adam: Another sign of hope – Dorasan Station. Currently, this is the end of the line in South Korea – but was constructed to be ready for unification. If/when there is access allowed, this would be the border crossing for most and the first terminal to reach the rest of South Korea by train. They optimistically display a sign showing the route to Pyeongyang, North Korea’s capital. George Bush 43 was here as president, in 2002, to inaugurate the opening.
Barbed wire everywhere.
Back in Seoul: Changing of the Royal Guard at Deoksugung Palace. This is a re-enactment from the Joseon Dynasty (from 1392 until 1801) – royal guards were responsible for guarding and patrolling the gates of the capital city and the royal palaces. They were responsible for protecting the king by guarding the entrance gates of the primary royal palace where the king resided.
Adam: This is a photo of where we ate lunch – typical location for us. (Restaurant in center below the yellowish circle-logo) The restaurants are all small – they can usually only accommodate the 5 of us if there are few other customers. We’ve usually been eating our lunch late in the day (2 or 3 o’clock) so it hasn’t been a problem. We sit down, get a menu, and start a-pointing! Picture boards out front help us get some sort of sense as to what they serve.
Saturday, 23 June 2018
(Much of today’s post was written by Adam. His comments appear in italic font:) Today was a day of bargaining and negotiations. I dragged my family to The War Memorial of Korea in exchange for a return to the shopping areas in the afternoon.
Half of the museum is outdoors, the other half in. Half of the museum is dedicated to their war between 1950-1953, the other half is dedicated to all of their other wars from 5000BC up to 1950.
152,000 South Korean soldiers died in the Korean war. 36,574 American soldiers died as well – and there is plenty of representation and honoring of the US marines (and the various other UN nation participants).
The monument in the photo above had plaques inside recognising every country that came to South Korea’s aid in the Korean War. Here is the plaque for the United States. (I absolutely LOVE that they included Alaska!! It’s not fair that Hawaii got left out, but neither Alaska nor Hawaii were states in 1953, so technically Alaska probably shouldn’t be here, either. They were both granted state status in 1959.)
Another memorial dedicated to countries that came to South Korea’s aid. This one had monuments to Australia, Canada, and Northern Ireland, among others.
The girls are ignoring all of that fascinating armament behind them and watching the fish in the pond.
Directly across from the fish is this battleship. The red painted circles are holes made by artillery shells.
From a plaque at the museum: “In the midst of the World Cup co-hosted by Korea and Japan on June 29, 2002, North Korean patrol boats crossed the Northern Limit Line. South Korean patrol boats were immediately dispatched and warned them to turn back. Without warning the North Korean patrol boats opened fire sinking PKM 357 and killing six sailors. South Korean patrol boats countered the attack sinking two North Korean vessels and inflicting 30 casualties on them. The exhibited PKM 357 is a life-size replica. The Original PKM 357 is exhibited at the park of the Second Fleet Command, ROK Navy.”
I’d like to note we aren’t the only ones watching the fish and ignoring everything else.
Now the school field trip groups begin to arrive … and just look at what what grabs their attention! The fish were the biggest draw in the entire museum.
Adam: I kept screeching at them “This is a B-52! These are Katyusha rockets! This is a T-34!” but I was ignored.
Entering the building, they have two halls with plaques listing out all of the Korean dead.
There was so much more at the museum – thousands of years of history, changing dynasties, kings and nations that have come and gone in this area. The names and locations are completely unfamiliar to me – so it all just sounds like gibberish. I have absolutely no knowledge of Eastern history through the ages – but stuff happened in spades.
The museum was filled with groups of school-age children. Some were in school uniforms, some were in club uniforms, and some were in regular street clothes. Here is a Taekwondo (karate?) club … a good number of these boys had black belts, the others were all red. I looked up belt colors when I got home and discovered that black is the highest (which I already knew) and red is second-highest (which I did not know.) I wonder if this trip was a reward for the boys who did really well?
Group of musicians. They set up after this photo — band, orchestra, and choir. We left before they performed, but if their warm-ups were any indication, these kids were GOOD.
On to the part of the museum that I found most interesting … the ancient history.
Back outside … the Taekwondo boys feeding bits of their lunch to the fish. Again with the fish!
After the museum we headed to the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market. Brenda and the kids had got such a kick out of the Tokyo fish market that we thought it would be worth it to make a stop. On the way, we went through an underpass with women selling all sorts of vegetables and other foodstuffs.
At one location, a woman was displaying a large bowl full of tiny, live crabs. Our kids weren’t doing anything wrong, but once the old woman decided that none of us Gringos were going to buy anything, she started hollering something that made it clear we were to get the hell away.
In the fish market. Nobody wanted us to get away. Quite the opposite – it was like the Jade market in Hong Kong. We weren’t left alone. Everyone was confrontational and thrusting live creatures in our faces and trying us to get to buy their catch. We’d only just wrestle our way from one stand to get accosted by the owner of the next. After about 5 minutes of this, Brenda had had enough and we made our escape.
Josie was appalled at what she considered fish abuse. An octopus escaped from one of the tanks and fell into another tank … the lady running the booth grabbed it and tossed it across the aisle to another tank. Josie wanted to buy all the octopuses (octopi? octopodes? octopuseseses?) and release them back into the ocean.
We went back to the center part of town and found another great place for lunch. Brenda has been picking small, modest looking places for lunches. Every one of them has been wonderful – and we can feed a family of 5 for $25-30, leaving food on the table.
Here is an example of the type of restaurant where we can’t eat — they are always packed and therefore probably very good, but they don’t have a menu with pictures you can point to. We are incapable of placing an order.
After lunch we returned to the Myeongdong districts for more shopping and people watching. Being Saturday afternoon, the place was packed and the food vendors had set up their rolling carts to keep the crowds fed.
Kids frolicking around Cheonggyecheon Stream.
Just this past Thursday (21 June 2018) a South Korean court ruled that killing dogs for their meat is illegal.
Excerpt from an article that came out yesterday in The Guardian:
“It is very significant in that it is the first court decision that killing dogs for dog meat is illegal itself,” said Kim Kyung-eun, a lawyer for Care.
The precedent paved the way for outlawing dog meat consumption entirely, she added.
Dog meat consumption is a grey area in South Korean law. Despite no specific ban, authorities have invoked hygiene regulations or animal protection laws that ban cruel slaughter methods to crack down on dog farms and restaurants ahead of international events such as the Pyeongchang Olympics.
A lawmaker from the ruling Democratic party introduced a bill in parliament this week that would effectively ban killing dogs for meat. There are about 17,000 dog farms in South Korea, and operators have called for the government to bring in laws explicitly to legalise dog meat consumption and license dog slaughter houses.
A survey last year found that 70% of South Koreans do not eat dog meat, but only about 40% believe the practice should be banned.
A cause I am less enthusiastic to support: The fear-based brand of Christianity distilled down to its repugnant essence. I was happy to note that the crowd seemed to be ignoring this booth and everyone refused to take the brochures they were trying to foist upon passersby.
We returned home to rest and get groceries for the night. After several hours of Netflix, we headed back out into the night to get the kids some gelatos.
Holden is just trying to find a gelato flavor that he recognizes. He settled on chocolate.
We’re staying in what might be considered “the U-district”. There is a long, narrow park that fills up with the kids every evening. They buy food and beers and set up picnics. Everyone gawks and is gawked at. People are on dates, musicians are playing and everyone is having a good time.
Sunday, 24 June 2018
On our last full day in Seoul we started with a visit to the Trick Eye Museum.
The museum specializes in “Trompe l’oeil” – describing an art technique intended to create the illusion of a three-dimensional object. The Trick Eye Museum is a recreational space where visitors can interact directly with the paintings. It’s also one of the first types of museum to incorporate AR (Augmented Reality) into its exhibits, creating a whole new kind of experience for its visitors. Before we entered, we were instructed to download a special app on our phones that would sense our position and add videos and other elements to the photos we were taking.
This was a museum for kids, but the adults had a good time as well. We were all running from room to room, shrieking at each other to get into position and figure out how to react to make the best photos.
Here is a picture Adam took with his regular camera. You can see the painting on the wall ….
… and here is a photo of the same painting taken through the app on the smartphone. The bird comes alive and eats the person in the jar.
Next to the Trick Eye Museum is another art installation made entirely of ice. The room is kept at -5C.
The toilet even has a frozen poo in it.
Upstairs is the Love Museum — we did not go here. The kids were grossed out by the sign. (They deemed a museum that needed to specify “Yes, touch” and “No, sex” disgusting enough to condemn most of humanity; Isabella ranted, “Why are they devaluing the word “love?” Why don’t they just call it what it is; the Porn Museum. Or the You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself for Coming Here Museum. God, sometimes I just hate people.”)
At the entrance to all three museums.
On the train to our next location.
After lunch it got really hot in town. The main road had been blocked off for a skateboarding competition. Everyone looked wilted and miserable.
We ate lunch at a restaurant specialising in Ginseng chicken soup, a specialty of Seoul. This restaurant ONLY served variations of Ginseng chicken soup, so Josie was stuck with no other option than to put up with being served chicken. She figured she could just pick the chicken bits out and give them to someone else. However, when the soup arrived, each bowl contained an entire chicken (as in a whole, intact chicken, not chopped up.) The chickens were tiny; about half the size of a cornish game hen, and they were stuffed with rice, ginseng, and other vegetables. There was no way to get at the main contents of the soup without dismantling the chicken with chopsticks. The little tin garbage cans with plastic liners on the table were bone buckets. The kids were all sports, but didn’t like having to pick out hearts and livers and necks, etc from their soup. They all know where food comes from, but don’t like being reminded they’re eating something that used to be alive. (Years ago Holden had a complete meltdown in Trinidad when he was served a fish with the head still on.) Josie really was a trooper and didn’t complain much, but her body language shows pretty clearly how she felt about this meal. (And by the way, it was delicious … probably the best chicken soup I’ve ever tasted.)
A better view of the soup itself. (The red stuff on the plate is kimchi.) The soup was served in earthenware bowls fresh from a huge oven. The liquid was still on a full rolling boil when it was served to us.
Korea has proven to be a tough place to get vegetarian meals. Even dishes with names such as “vegetable rice” often show up with bits of meat in them. They do serve kimchi and other pickled or fermented vegetables alongside almost all meals, but those tend to be very spicy (some of them really spicy) and I haven’t seen anyplace that serves those things without ordering a meat-based meal to go with it. If you are a strict vegetarian or vegan, I’d recommend bringing some nutrition bars from home just to fill in any meal gaps. It was even hard to find decent fruit in grocery stores, and unless you can read Korean, you’ll be unable to tell what the ingredients are in the packaged foods. We had to do a lot of guessing based on pictures, both in grocery stores and in restaurants. Most of the time what we ended up actually getting was a bit of a surprise. You need to approach eating in Korea with an attitude that it’s all part of an adventure.
After lunch we made our way to Gyeongbokgung Palace – another iconic location in Seoul – completed in 1395 at the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty during the reign of King Taejo.
Kids hanging out in a shady spot, ignoring the palace.
Another ornate ceiling with a dragon motif.
Dressing up isn’t just for the youngsters!
But mostly it is for the youngsters.
Changing of the guard ceremony.
Next to the palace is the National Folk Museum of Korea. I loved this one, as it was dedicated to cultural history. I love seeing how people lived back in the day. Most of the following pictures are just plaques from the museum explaining Korean domestic life. I am putting them here for myself so I can remember the information later. Most people will probably want to skip to the end.
Examples of traditional Korean home interiors.
(The bridal room was called a sinbang. Tee hee hee!!) An example of a typical bridal room, below.
Recreation of a 60th birthday party. Those things that look like candles were made of various foods and candies.
Funeral bier. The biers used for conveying the corpse to the burial site resembled palanquin and had long poles on both sides to be shouldered by 12 to 24 pallbearers. Most villages had such a bier for common use, which was designed to be disassembled for storage in a house removed a short distance from the neighborhood.
(From the wall plaque below) The late 20th century was a period which demanded a new and dynamic life. Taking account of the fact that Korea’s per capita income surged to $20,000 from merely $45 in 1945, the year of liberation, the vitality of Koreans resulted in the nation’s rebuilding and development dubbed the “Miracle on the Han River.” Along with economic development, the social atmosphere began emphasising an open and practical mentality and advances in digital culture have transformed the Korean way of life. The development of popular culture in the diversity of new and old, western and Oriental cultures has invited different kinds of the patterns.
Admidst gloomy realities under brutal Japanese occupation, changes in everyday life crystallised into remodelling and had a direct and indirect impact upon people’s lives. Trains and railways allowed modern space and time. Hygiene and cleanliness alleviated the pains of disease. New and strange foods and condiments converted traditional appetite. In the streets, the sound of the phonograph could be heard. Western suits, dresses, shoes and cosmetics overflowed and reorganised the life of people.
We flew from Hong Kong to Seoul on JinAir, an airline we’ve never used before. The one-way tickets were a mere US$58 each for a 3 hour 20 min flight. This airline had a few idiosyncrasies … for example, when you go back to wait in the bathroom line, the steward sits you down in the flight attendant’s jump seat because they don’t want people standing. (If more than 4 people show up, the extras are told to go back to their seats and wait a bit.) They also offer you water or tea while you wait.
Another thing: when food is served, everyone is asked to put their seats back into the upright position. This is annoying if you want to sit reclined, but very nice if you want to eat and the person in front of you has their headrest in your face.
When the flight landed, the pilot made the usual announcement “Flight attendants prepare for landing.”
(approaches runway)
(wheels touch dow...𝄞♬ op-pan gangnum style ♫)
Isabella said, “Oh. My. GOD. Did that just happen??!” Indeed, it did. The second our wheels hit the ground, they started blaring K-pop over the plane’s sound system. Welcome to Korea!
Tuesday, 19 June 2018
Korea is the weirdest place we’ve been. It’s certainly the most foreign. Last night we got into our Airbnb around 8:30 p.m., tired and cranky. The place was hotter than Hades and, despite an air conditioner in every room and a thermostat on every wall, we couldn’t figure out how to get them to turn on. Eventually Adam found a remote control that did the trick.
Then we couldn’t get logged onto the internet. The apartment came with a KT Egg (personal hotspot) but it’s battery was dead and we couldn’t find a charger. Adam contacted the host and she told us, “The last guest lost it. I can bring a new cord by in the morning.” The kids were going nuts because being without internet for 12 hours was going to kill them, and, even worse, it had a 15 gig limit which allotted them each about 15 minutes of internet video per day for the duration of our stay. “I am really not loving Korea,” Isabella announced. Adam emailed the host to see if we could possibly get more than that, and she said she could see about increasing it by 10 gig … and then mentioned quite off-hand, “Or you can just use the unlimited wifi in the apartment. I can give you the name and password if you want.” Ummmm YES PLEASE! Crisis averted, but it would have been nice if she’d given us the wifi name and password when we checked in. It created a problem that needn’t have happened.
The washing machine is also nearly impossible to figure out. It has a strange combination of electronic controls and old-fashioned buttons. The phone app translated the labels with instructions such as “standard clothes dehydrator, “mild cleanliness” and “pause but go.” I did the best I could. (I figured out from trial and error that “dehydrator” means spin cycle, which is something you have to choose separately when the wash cycle is finished. Not super convenient.)
Grocery shopping is also proving to be difficult. There aren’t many grocery stores and the ones we managed to find have crap produce and very little in the way of cheeses, deli meats, hummus, fresh breads, etc.; the stuff we usually eat for Wine Time/dinner when we’re on the road. They are basically glorified 7-11s. Almost everything is prepackaged Top Ramen-style fare. We found a some grapes but they were very expensive and the ones on top were moldy. The bananas were all so overripe they were fit for nothing but banana bread.
I ruined the first “just add hot water” meal because I couldn’t understand the instructions and they were not intuitive … I’ve been making “just add hot water” meals for the better part of four decades and thought I knew what I was doing. Nope. These were different. The instructions, as per the translator app, said things like, “For 10 minutes enjoy heat” and “Packet of happy spices into.” (Into what!!? The boiling water? The drained noodles? The rice packet?) I ruined one of the meals by adding boiling water to the whole kit and caboodle. It was a sloppy mess and I finally realised you were supposed to submerge the unopened packet of meat sauce in hot water for 10 minutes, then open it and mix it in to pre-cooked rice that sits in another hot water bath. It was more of a sous-vide situation than a Cup-A-Soup situation. Once I got that figured out, the meals weren’t half bad. (But they weren’t good, either.)
The toilets are strange, too. They look like those fancy Japanese toilets that double as bidets, but the instructions are all in Korean. (The Japanese toilets at least have little cartoon icons for each button showing you what to expect, presumably for foreigners and illiterates. Not so on the Korean toilets.) When you sit down the toilet turns on, which in itself is something that takes getting used to. Then little green lights appear on the toilet’s arm. Yesterday I ignored the lights because I was too tired to deal with them. Today, I figured I might as well push the first green button because the toilet seemed like it really wanted me to.
Japanese toilets give you a warm, misty cleansing of your undercarriage, followed by a gentle blow-dry. It’s like a relaxing spa treatment. The Korean toilet blasts a pressure washer right in your bullseye. “WOO HOO HOO!” Instead of a spa treatment, you get a violent enema. I figured it would stop on it’s own after a few seconds but it kept going and going. If I stood up, it would send a water jet into the opposite wall about 18 inches below the ceiling. I started desperately jabbing at all the buttons, trying to find the off switch. I was approaching panic mode when I finally got it stopped. I came out of the bathroom, all jittery, and Holden said, “Yeah, I made that mistake yesterday. I stood up because I thought it would stop if there was no weight on the seat. It didn’t. That’s why the bathroom floor was all wet last night.”
The bed in the master bedroom is also strange. It’s the size of two queen mattresses shoved together and hard as a rock. It’s a lot like sleeping on the floor, but boy do you have a lot of room to stretch out. This is actually quite nice; Adam sleeps like a log, but I toss and turn so much I probably burn more calories while I’m asleep than I do when I’m awake.
Adam: The one thing Josie wanted to do in Seoul was to visit the aquarium. She had seen (when back at home) some YouTube videos showing one shark eating another shark at this particular aquarium. We normally wouldn’t bother, but I thought it was as good a destination as any to start our week here – a good chance to sort out transportation, meals and to flex my now greatly expanding 5 word vocabulary of Korean.
A fast food restaurant that specializes in all things Octopus. It’s right outside the entrance to the aquarium, which itself is inside a mall. The whole set-up is strange.
Feeding Koi in the aquarium.
Josie and a groundhog regarding each other.
This was a tank of Doctor Fish. They are the little ones that eat dead skin and are sometimes used in spa treatments.
Josie taking a picture of the Doctor Fish eating the dead skin off her hand.
Pocari Sweat is popular in Korea, too.
Sparkly piranha.
Josie and an otter regarding each other.
A pre-school group getting a show at the sardine tank. Divers performed a little skit. The girl dressed as a clownfish (aka Nemo) didn’t get an oxygen tank and had to hold her breath the whole time.
Isabella and a manatee regarding each other.
Adam: After the aquarium, we went to a neighborhood called “Gangnam” – known for its youthful population; a hip and modern place to see and be seen. This area is known internationally through the annoying song that took the world by storm in 2014. You’ve surely seen it before. (More than 3 Billion views… Ugh. The Video has some scenes of the city and is entertaining in the “what the hell am I seeing, here?” sense.
Brenda wanted to take a picture of the kids with the statue (below) striking poses. The kids vehemently rejected the request. They even turned down offers of money just in case someone back home accidentally saw the photo, so great would be their mortification.
This city is huge and I was surprised to read later that Seoul is the 5th largest city in the world. (for context, the NYC Metro Area is down to 16th in the world). These Asians know their big cities. South Korea has a population of 50MM and about half of those live in the Seoul area.
Wednesday, 20 June 2018
The weather is much nicer here than it was in Hong Kong. It’s still getting hot (upper 80s in late afternoon) but the humidity much lower. It’s cool and welcoming in the morning. We can walk around for 15 minutes without becoming drenched.
Today we decided to hit the #1 tourist destination in Seoul – Changdeokgung and the Huwon Secret Garden.
This is a series of royal palaces – Today there are 13 buildings remaining on the palace grounds and 28 pavilions in the gardens, occupying 110 acres. The oldest was built in 1405. It began as a secondary palace of the Joseon Dynasty.
Much of the grounds were destroyed during the Japanese invasion (1592-1598). They rebuilt in 1610 and it served as the main Palace for 270 years. The Japanese again took it over in 1910 … this time they didn’t destroy much, but “defaced” the grounds by adding stone walls and erecting modern (for the time) buildings. In general, the Koreans are still pretty sore about their neighbors to the east.
These people don’t work here: there is a costume shop nearby where people can get dressed up so they can walk over to the palace and tour it in old-timey garb. This group was having a lot of fun and taking a lot of selfies.
This building is the only one with a blue roof. It was the king’s office, where he held his meetings and so forth.
Meanwhile, in the mundane real world ….
Holden: “I have a big bump on my head. Can you feel it?”
Me: “No. I don’t see anything.”
Holden: “Nevermind. It’s gone now.”
Back to royal things: the king’s throne. This is where he sat while receiving officials and doing his king work.
The figures on the roof appear to be a tiger chasing a group of monkeys. We never heard an explanation or learned of the significance.
Slate tiles (I think.) They looked like they’d been carved rather than cast. There were thousands of them.
Behind the palace lies the 78-acre Huwon Secret Garden. You have to purchase special tickets to see Huwon and walk through via a guided tour. It was about 75 minutes long, but well worth the expense. The tour was in English, so we got a chance to get some Cliff’s Notes history lessons on an era and culture we know absolutely nothing about.
From the brochure: The Secret Garden was intended as a place of kings and royal family members to relax, but it was also a venue for various outdoor activities. The early Joseon kings would join in military exercises here and archery contests were held, along with banquets for the queen dowager, prominent relatives of the king and high-ranking ministers.
These gardens were called “secret” because of the topography; there is no vantage point where you can see all of it at once. You must meander through, with each area revealing itself as a new, separate space. These gardens are the reason this became the main palace in the first place. It was loved more than any other palace by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).
(Brochure:) Preserving the original topography, garden areas were planted in each valley and a series of lotus ponds were built. Small pavilions were also built along the stream that flows through the rear garden. Through this, the natural quality of this Secret Garden has been enhanced.
This pond was artificial and constructed with a very sophisticated system of aqueducts to keep the water level stable at all times. Water continuously flows through the dragon’s mouth (photo below.)
The kids can’t get too far from Adam, the keeper of the KT Egg. They lose their internet connection if he gets out of range. It acts as both an invisible leash and a homing device. If Adam gets too far away, you’ll hear, “Dang it! Lost my internet. Where’s Dad?” “I don’t know but he must be close because mine still works.” [holding phone at arm’s length] “It works here but not here … he must be that way.”
Lotus and water lily pond. The water lilies were blooming but the guide said the lotus won’t bloom for another 4 to 6 weeks. They are currently blooming in Hong Kong, which is quite a bit further south.
Below: Yeongyeongdang Hall. This was a place for the royal women to live along with all of their servants. It’s architecture and non-coloring style are close to those of gentry level even though they are part of the Royal Palace. These unadorned buildings add to the special atmosphere of the rear garden.
And here is the obligatory photo of Holden fixing his shoe.
Adam: After touring the grounds, we were hot and hungry. We found a Thai restaurant nearby that had room for 5 and served us a fantastic lunch.
After this, we did some shopping along Insadong-gil. Brenda has been doing some research on the Korean hand-made lacquer boxes. She had read that there was a great location to shop for these items and admire all of the artwork.In the end, she didn’t find what she was looking for, but the girls enjoyed a chance to look at all the strange stuff along the way.
The Korean lacquerware is gorgeous. I found a little box at the aquarium mall the other day, but am still hoping to find another trinket or two to take home. It’s not cheap, but also not nearly as expensive as I would have guessed. (More on that below …)
From The Art of Korean Lacquer: Evidence suggests that lacquer works were produced in Korea by the Neolithic period (6000–1000 BCE) as both China and Japan had lacquer by that time. Lacquerware is produced by layering the processed sap of the lacquer tree onto a core of wood, bamboo or other material to create a variety of items including furniture and other household decor. Each thin layer must dry completely before the next is applied, resulting in resistance to heat and moisture. Pigments can be mixed into the lacquer for different colors in the finished product. Because of the many layers involved and long drying times, a single piece can take months or even a year to complete.
The technique of mother-of-pearl inlay (najeon) also originated in China, and evidence suggests that the technique had reached the Korean peninsula by the eighth century. Today, this is a dominant feature of Korean lacquerware. In this technique, the thin inner layer of shells like abalone are carefully cut and inlaid on the lacquerware. Sometimes the design will be laid on top of the many base coats of lacquer and coated until submerged. Then, the top layer of lacquer is ground down until the mother-of-pearl is exposed. Alternatively, the design is carved into the surface and the material inset, and again more lacquer is applied and ground down. Occasionally other materials such as metal, tortoise shell or sharkskin, are used alongside the mother-of-pearl. Artisans in the Goryeo period (936–1392 CE) began using copper-alloy wires in their inlay designs, and this has remained unique to Korean lacquerware.
It is gorgeous. This enormous armoire is in our apartment.
Armoire detail:
More stunning pieces used as a TV stand. Each little panel is actually a drawer or cupboard.
TV stand detail:
Thursday, 21 June 2018
Today’s mission is to visit the “Make-up district” (for Isabella and Josie) and find a special ice cream treat that Holden scoped out. The two areas happen to be at the same subway stop — the Myeongdong shopping area.
Below: the exterior of our apartment, which is the yellow part of the building at the top. It sits on top of a restaurant and is accessed by that set of stairs hidden on the left. (That’s Josie in the yellow dress.)
A lady selling handmade things outside our place.
These cupboards filled with gas masks and fire extinguishers are all over the subway stations.
Before we hit the shopping district, we took a cable car trip to the top of Namsan mountain – about 900 feet high and located centered within Seoul – which provides great 360 degree views of the city and gives you an idea of how big this place is.
On top of Namsan – love locks on the fences a la the Ponte des Arts in Paris (which are now removed).
Beacon Hill. There are 5 stone chimneys that used torchlights at night and smoke during the day to send urgent military information from remote areas to the central government.
This form of communication was called Bongsu (bong=torchlight, su=smoke). The Bongsu system consisted of five stages: one beacon was lit on normal days; two when an enemy appeared; three when the enemy approached the border; four when an enemy invaded the border; and five when a battle with an enemy had broken out at the border. This hill (Namsan Bongsudae) was the most important bongsudae as all it’s signals could be seen from every corner of the country.
School field trips having a picnic lunch.
The gift shop sells the love locks so you don’t have to think ahead and bring your own. Each kit comes with a lock, a plastic tag, and a waterproof marker.
Kids obliging Adam by posing for a picture with the love locks and Seoul in the background.
I liked how the Japanese maples graduated from green to red.
Downtown Seoul.
A replica of the pagodas we saw yesterday at the Palace.
Noon – and the changing of the guard at the Namsan Bongsudae – Beacon Fire Lighting Ceremony. Note the smoke coming out of the central chimney.
Lacquerware doors! This was an entrance to a building.
Korean lunch where we ordered a number of local plates to try: Kimchi, Bibimbap, Korean pork and some other things we never quite figured out. Most of it is spicy and that scares the kids away. They at least tried most of the dishes, but in the end ate mostly plain white rice.
Josie with her “vegetarian” buckwheat noodle soup that came with one large piece of beef in it. Holden ate the offensive beef so that Josie could enjoy the rest of it with her morals intact.
On to the make-up district!
Catholic church. They were having some kind of fundraiser today.
Church-sponsored music for everyone to enjoy. Josie plays clarinet and loved seeing this clarinet quartet perform a classical music piece.
More of the make-up district. They also had a lot of clothing and accessory stores.
After stomping through street after street of cosmetics, skin care, dresses and handbags, we never ran into one of the shops selling the super-tall ice cream cones Holden wanted. Here he is trying to find an address (Google maps) for a 32cm tall ice cream vendor, in front of policemen guarding the Chinese embassy. They look more stylish than intimidating.
Food on sticks, none of it ice cream.
And then success!! We finally found the 32cm ice cream.
They are happier about posing for this picture.
Most subway stations have one of these booths for shoe polishing and repair. Adam managed to catch this guy on his break.
We finally found a fantastic grocery store! It had everything under the sun, from imported foods (like actual cheese and jars of olives) to slimy, mucus-coated fish.
That monstrosity in the center (below) is bigger than you’d guess from the photo. I think it is a monkfish but I don’t know for sure. Anyway, it was oozing slime that froze when it hit the ice it’s packed in. It was sitting in a revolting puddle of it’s own frozen mucus. It reminded me of a scene on The Big Bang Theory:
Amy: Isn’t that gross? I mean, a hagfish can produce enough mucus to fill a bucket in a minute. Sheldon: I know. It makes its own gravy, it’ll slide right down.
This store is only 5 subway stops from our place so it will probably be our go-to for groceries for the remainder of our time in Seoul. They had a fantastic selection of fresh produce, a huge salad bar full of a wide variety of additional dishes and soups (like at Whole Foods back home) and the Korean version of Ready Meals.
Tomorrow’s itinerary is a tour of the De-militarized Zone between South and North Korea. More later!
The boat ride today was much better than it was last Wednesday. The seas were calmer, or perhaps the boat was heavier because it had a full load of people … for whatever reason, nobody got sick this time. (With weekend traffic, the boat was at full capacity. Wednesday it was only about 1/4 full.) The lines for immigration to get back into Hong Kong were a lot longer, too, but I was so relieved to have the ferry ride safely behind me that standing in line felt like a treat.
This time, we rented an Airbnb on HK Island. Most Airbnb rentals have a 3-night minimum, so we ended up in a very fancy place up on the hill, one of the few places willing to rent for only two nights.
This is the most expensive real estate in the world. As far as we can tell from snooping around the apartment, it’s likely corporate-owned and occupied only part-time by an Irish business man. He has family photos scattered around, but only men’s clothing and a bunch of business magazines are here. In his family pictures there are three young children, but no sign in the apartment that a child has ever set foot here.
This apartment also has a live-in maid, Luceilma, which we did not know when we rented the house. The owner told us in an email after we’d booked it. When we saw all the Filipino maids hanging out on the streets last Sunday, we had no idea we’d end up having a personal experience with one of them.
The apartment is large by Hong Kong standards. It has three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a big living room/dining area. There is plenty of space here for us to spread out. (And yet Holden and Josie are clumped together like horses in a field.)
Isabella and Josie’s room. They each get their own bed!
The master bedroom.
The sitting area in the master bedroom. The views from this room are amazing, and even more impressive at night.
Then on to the kitchen, the domain of the “helpers” (as the maids are called here.) It’s small and cramped, but well-appointed. It would be hard to prepare a large family meal because there is very little prep space, but other than that it has everything you’d need.
The laundry room/maid’s room. When she was showing us around the apartment, we asked where she lived and she showed us this room. We thought we’d misunderstood because earlier we mentioned that we desperately needed to do a bunch of laundry. We figured she was showing us the laundry facilities because we’d asked about them. When she left the apartment for the afternoon, I got in there to use the washing machine and realised that she does, in fact, live in that teeny tiny room, sleeping in a bunk bed across from the washer and dryer. The door in the back leads to a very, very small bathroom.
I feel weird about this. For one thing, in order to do laundry I have to go into her private space, and that feels like a violation. She has so little space to begin with, and now she has to put up with strangers using it? But we are desperate for clean clothes … it’s just so hot here and everything we own stinks of sweat. We haven’t had access to a washing machine since we left home 11 days ago; we’ve rinsed a few things out in bathroom sinks (using shampoo or dish soap), but that’s a poor substitute for a real laundering. So, into the laundry room I went.
The washing machine took a long time to run through a cycle. I put the clothes into the dryer while Luceilma was still out, but by the time they were dry, I think she was back in her room. The door was shut and I didn’t want to disturb her. She also offered to cook us breakfast on Sunday morning — her one day off — and we told her she didn’t need to. When she leaves for the day Sunday, I can get in there and do the rest of our washing. I don’t want her to feel like she needs to do it for us on her day off.
Considering the circumstances, I read up a lot more on the Filipino domestic workers. Here is an interesting post by a lady who went out and interviewed some of these women. An excerpt:
These ‘helpers’ (the common term for domestic laborers in Hong Kong) are expected to work twenty four hours a day, six days a week, but government regulations dictate they must be given twelve consecutive hours of free time each Sunday. Since the women cannot afford to go to movies or eat in restaurants on their day off, they gather in Hong Kong’s train stations and parks or outside public buildings.
I discover some of the women in the group have been here for as little as four months while others have lived in Hong Kong for as long as twelve years. Most have young children at home and are university educated. They are nurses, teachers, physiotherapists, pharmacists, computer programmers and business women. They speak several languages. However they can make three times more money in Hong Kong (the government dictated salary is about $600 US a month) than they can practicing their professions in the Philippines. They tell me they need money to pay for their children’s education. “To give our kids hope for the future”, one woman says. They all send a substantial portion of their salary home to their families.
A view (below) from our apartment windows.
New construction across the street. It’s anachronistic to see such a modern building completely surrounded by primitive-looking bamboo scaffolding.
Walking around our neighborhood to find a place for lunch. They tell it like it is here.
Pricing on some available properties.
We found a Szechwan dim sum restaurant for lunch (photo of Holden below). The building also had a grocery store on the lower level so we were able to kill two birds with one stone.
The grocery store has fancy imported cheese!
View from the master bedroom of our apartment after dark.
Sunday, 17 June 2018
Adam: Today was a transition day for us … just one free Sunday to take care of chores (laundry, organizing bags, finding things that keep getting lost but somehow carried amongst the 5 of us.)
We head back to the airport tomorrow, so I spent a good part of the morning figuring out how to get there, what to do when we’re there, what we’re going to do once we land in Seoul & etc. My total knowledge of Korean is one word – and only because we were fans of the show Arrested Development. “Annyong!” It’s an inside joke; I do need to get a couple more words down to keep the whole “pointing and grunting” routine with any human interaction down as infrequently as possible.
Side note from Brenda: Adam usually spends several months in advance studying the language of the places we visit so that he can communicate basic things when we get there. On this trip, our itinerary is more loosey-goosey and we didn’t know we were going to Korea until we got here and found cheap airline tickets from HK to Seoul. It seemed too good an opportunity to pass up. (Our trouble in Macau stemmed from the fact he thought they would speak more Portuguese than they did. In the end, we got by well enough in English.)
When we woke up today, all our laundry from yesterday evening was neatly folded in the front room. Luceilma noticed our now half-full bag of remaining dirty clothes and offered to wash them for us today, too. I declined, saying “Oh no, I can do them. You shouldn’t have to work on your day off. You should go enjoy yourself!” She said, “I don’t mind!” and took the clothes. I didn’t insist on doing it myself because I thought maybe she’d rather do laundry on her day off than have me (a total stranger) poking around in her room. That’s certainly how I would feel.
Some of the cars parked at our building: Rolls Royce, BMW, Mercedes, and (not pictured) several Porsches and at least two Ferraris. Most of them have a layer of dust and clearly aren’t driven often.
Walking down the hill to the train station. We’re headed to the Kowloon side to visit the bird and flower markets. Hong Kong Island is steep everywhere. Any north-south movements require stairs. Fun going north, punishing going south. East and west is relatively flat. Why don’t pictures ever adequately show slope? The photo below looks level, but it was straight down.
Beautiful park.
Bella headed into the fountain. Note the couple watching her in the background. I didn’t want her to go in there but all three kids insisted those steps were for walking and the bench inside was for sitting, even though it was wet.
Ta da!
The Mong Kok Flower Market. I’ve never seen so many exotic plants in one place. Josie and I were beside ourselves trying to take it all in. A lot of the plants had identification tags in English and we were making mental notes on species, arrangement techniques, bonsai styles, growing mediums, etc. We were giddy! It was a riot of beautiful color and no city street in the world smells as lovely as this one.
When we got back to the apartment later, I found out that Adam only had four pictures of the whole place (and two of them didn’t turn out). I couldn’t believe it. How could he pass up such a magnificent photo opportunity? At the time, I assumed he was taking pictures left and right. If we see a fancy parked car, we have 50 pictures to choose from. Different interests, indeed!!
A little further down the street you come to the Yuen Po Street Bird Market. This was what I really came here to see … the magnificence of the flower market was just a lovely surprise.
In addition to vendors selling birds and bird-related items, local people take their pet birds for “walks” in the park. It’s a chance for the birds to get some fresh air and sunshine, and for the owners to sit around B.S-ing and playing mahjong. We didn’t see a single bird owner that wasn’t an old man. Our friend Randy likes to say that every town has a Dead Pecker Corner; a place where local old men gather to sit, drink coffee, and not talk to each other. In Hong Kong, the bird market appears to be it.
I am so excited to be here! Judging from Holden’s body language, he is less enthusiastic.
One of the vendors.
Group of men “walking” their birds.
The birds get to socialise, too. They chirp and sing like mad, eyeing each other and dancing about in their cages.
Amazon parrots (and three cockatoos in the background) all getting baths. Parrots LOVE bath time. Watching them today made me miss my own birds.
Live crickets. The vast majority of birds here are little songbirds and most of them are insectivores.
Lovebird and parakeet booth.
The selling side of the street. (Holden in red plaid shirt.)
Each bird cage is equipped with these little ceramic dishes. The come in sizes ranging from thimble to tea cup and some of them are really pretty. I bought a pair of hand-painted cups as a souvenir/artwork.
One last view of the tail-end of the flower street as we leave the bird market.
One of the things the kids like to do when we visit places is try local desserts. This time it’s “Sawdust Pudding” (木槺布甸); vanilla pudding with powdered cookie layered in it. It was a little dry.
The things in the lower right corner are dried animal penises. From left to right: sheep, deer, seal. Two other trays contain dried sea horses. We used Adam’s phone app translator to read all of these, with the kids screeching out in disgust as each item’s identification was revealed.
According to this blog post on Chinese medicine and healing foods:
Sea horses should be slowly boiled in a soup and this is good for the kidneys. Anything good for the kidneys are also good for the sexual organs according to my Chinese colleague.
Speaking of “sex-drugs”, we have to mention the famous seal’s penis (with balls) and deer’s penis. When we pointed at the seal’s penises and asked what they were, the owner called it seal’s kidney. My colleague doubted it and so we checked our Introduction to Chinese Medicine 101, and learnt that seal’s penis is nicknamed seal’s kidney. The terminology really explains how closely the well-being of kidney and sex are related. Both seal’s penis and deer’s penis can be sliced for making soup or soaked in liquor for drinking. We asked the owner which one is better and he answered “Look at the size and you can tell”. We compared the sizes and learnt that the bigger the merrier (for the seller).
Whatever the case, these things don’t come cheap. The sheep penises are HK$3,080, while the deer penises are HK$570. The seal penises are a whopping HK$4,150. (In today’s exchange rate, that is roughly US$392 for sheep, $72 for deer, and $528 for seal.) We don’t know if that is per each, or per gram.
On to lunch: nothing fancy.
Maid’s day off in the metro station. The Muslims are mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia. Most maids in Hong Kong are from the Philippines (including Luceilma) and are predominantly Catholic.
This afternoon we spent a couple of hours relaxing in our apartment before going out to see the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. Isabella opted to stay in and have some “me” time.
Below: the Peak Tram going up the mountain. This is the same one we rode on our first day here.
Fountain in the zoological park. Hong Kong has very lovely green spaces tucked in amongst the high-rise buildings and cityscape.
The zoological park has a huge section full of aviaries and a different area with mammals — mostly monkeys. They have a really nice facility here but the mesh on the cages is a very tight weave that doesn’t make for good photos.
Holden: hot, tired and ready to go back to the apartment.
I have been dreading today for more than a week. We’re leaving Hong Kong and taking a boat over to Macau. I am terrified of vomiting and boats trigger my anxiety attacks because of the high likelihood of people getting sea sick. I’ve been on boat journeys before where many of the passengers got sick and it’s horrifying. Even if my party takes dramamine, I can’t force everyone else on the boat to take it. It’s the stuff of my nightmares.
There are two options for getting to Macau: the ferry (US$20 per person): or a helicopter (US$550 per person). So, the ferry it is.
Here we are, in our assigned seats.
Later: The ferry was horrible. Other passengers started loudly ralphing less than 10 minutes into the 1:15 trip. I put on noise-cancelling headphones and turned up the sound on a movie as loud as I could stand it, but I could still hear people. Gah! I am going to have a hard time not letting the spectre of the return trip ruin my three days in Macau. (For any of you who suffer from panic attacks, you know how hard it is to force yourself to do something that you know in advance will trigger one. They are awful and leave a residue of exhaustion and depression that can last for hours long after the initial attack is over.) It more or less ruined my whole day.
Adam: Macau is a Special Autonomous Region of China – but you can yet consider it a separate country. It’s only 11.8 square miles in size – and ranks as the most densely populated region in the world.
Macau is much older than Hong Kong – it was founded as a trading port by the Portuguese Empire in the 1550s (recall they were most powerful European empire at that time, only to be exceeded by Spanish Empire about 50 years later) and was only turned over to China in 1999 – the last remaining European colony in Asia.
The primary language is Cantonese, but Portuguese is still spoken in some areas – and I’m hoping that my rough Portuguese will get us around.
Macau is best known as THE resort city in Southern China; known for its casinos and luxury hotels. It is known as the pre-eminent gambling capital of the world, dwarfing other gambling centers- in fact, as measured in gambling dollars, it is now 7 times larger than Las Vegas.
According to The World Factbook, Macau has the fourth highest life expectancy in the world. Moreover, it has a very high Human Development Index, ranking 17th in the world as of 2016. Macau is among the world’s richest regions and its GDP per capita by purchasing power parity was higher than that of any country in the world, according to the World Bank.
Once we landed at the Macau ferry terminal, we grabbed our bags, hit the ATM for the local Macanese Pataca (currency) and took two separate taxis to our hotel. We’re staying at the Grand Lapa Hotel – on the 17th floor in a 2 1/2 room suite. There is a separate bed for everyone and three bathrooms! After a week in HK, this place is roomy. After an early lunch, we headed out to get our bearings.
View (below) from our hotel window. It’s raining and foggy today.
The rain stopped enough for us to walk to Od Town, Macau’s historic district. It’s a UNESCO Heritage Site as of 2005.
There is very little English here. We haven’t had too much trouble communicating in Hong Kong, but Macau is a different story. Their secondary language (after Cantonese) is officially Portuguese, but very few people speak that, either. Adam tried using Portuguese (which he learned for doing business in Brazil) but nobody understood him. We still find a few people who speak a tiny bit of English, mostly related to numbers and prices. We’re getting by with a lot of pantomime and pointing at things.
Checking out some jade jewelry. I’d love to buy a jade piece but I’m put off by the prices. The nice ones are not cheap.
The Grand Lisboa Casino (below).
Senado Square – named after the Leal Senado, a meeting place for the Chinese and Portuguese in the 16th to 18th centuries
The Grand Lisboa looks weird and out of place looming over the historic buildings and cobblestone streets.
Lots of people out and about. In the background is the facade of the Church of St. Paul. (More on that later.)
What is left of The Church of St. Paul. (It was never designated a cathedral but is often mistakenly referred to as one.) Jesuits originally built the church between 1602 to 1640. It was one of the largest Catholic churches in Asia at the time. It was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon on 26 January 1835. This facade is all that’s left.
The carvings include Jesuit images with Oriental themes, such as The Blessed Virgin Mary stepping on a seven-headed hydra, described in Chinese characters as ‘Holy Mother tramples the heads of the dragon’. (Panel on the left in the photo.)
The dragon is really fat and looks kind of like a chicken. The Holy Mother isn’t trampling so much as she’s floating above it’s head. She reminds me of a refrigerator magnet, just sort of stuck on.
From this website (BTW, fantastic read for anyone interested in a comprehensive history of the Ruins of St. Paul): On the east side, the Chinese characters are 念死者无为罪. Beside the characters, you can see a skeleton lying on a sickle and with an arrow stabbing into the body. This is to remind people that death can happen to us at any time, so we must constantly stay away from sin.
On the west side of the Holy Mother, the Chinese characters are 鬼是诱人为恶meaning “ghosts lure people to do evil things.” There is a fierce-looking demon with a tail and wings on its back carved besides the characters. It has a female body with prominent breasts and it has been shot with an arrow. Along with the accompanying characters, it illustrates that the devil, which represents all kinds of temptations, induces people to commit crimes but was eventually defeated.
Detail of demon.
Monte Forte (also called Fortaleza do Monte.) Of all the forts in Macau, the Monte Forte is the oldest, lying to the east of the Ruins of St. Paul’s. Built in 1616, it originally belonged to St. Paul’s Church and was used to defend the church from pirates. It later became solely a military fort.
St. Paul’s as seen from the old barracks.
It was really hot and humid. By the time we reached the top, we were quite wilted.
Back down.
The specialty of Macau seems to be this jerky. Everything about it looks wrong … it’s square shape, the fact that it’s made of pork, and why oh why is it shiny? Is it covered in slim? But lots of shops are selling it and all of them are packed with people buying it up in droves. Maybe we’ll try some before we leave. (Edit from later: We did try a free sample one of the shops was handing out. It’s not terrible, but not great either. We didn’t buy any. It tasted kind of like a Slim Jim.)
Thursday, 14 June 2018
Everyone slept well last night. Holden is in the living room of our hotel suite on a rollaway bed, but he’s thrilled to have his own room during the night and a real bed. All of last week he was stuck on a couch. Sometimes being the only boy lands him on the couch, but other times it scores him the best bedroom and more privacy than anyone else in the family gets, so overall he doesn’t complain. The two girls almost always have to share.
Josie and Isabella. Note the pillow barrier in the middle.
Adam: I got up early this morning to prepare for my daily teleconferences. I make calls via SKYPE most every morning.. starting at 4:30 or 5:00am – which is late afternoon San Diego time. Thankfully, in a casino town, a lot of places are open 24 hours – including a Starbucks that is within walking distance. I headed over there and got my morning coffee – but a grande coffee here costs almost US$4.00!
After the calls, I went to the lobby to ask about breakfast. Because we’re cheapskates, the room we purchased did NOT come with free breakfast buffet. However, I was able to whine a bit and they allowed Brenda and I both to go for about $20 each – and all 3 kids (since Isabella is, ahem, 17) got in for FREE.
The Grand Lapa has a truly fantastic breakfast buffet. (You can see us in the background … my hat is always a marker. I’m wearing it at breakfast so I don’t have to fix my hair.)
After breakfast we headed down to the hotel pool.
The kids spent the morning swimming while Adam and I read in the lounge chairs.
It has a water slide!
One of the things we want to do in Macau is see a show called The House of Dancing Water. We were unable to get tickets online because their website was malfunctioning, so we decided to go to the ticket office on the other side of the island, over by the famous Venetian Hotel. The hotels provide free shuttle buses between them, so we were able to get from our hotel to the Venetian very easily. That is a fantastic service.
I don’t know why Holden is sleeping; the ride only took about 10 minutes.
Adam: These two shots (below) are the view across the water to Mainland China (the PRC.) The amount of construction and development always amazes me and it is just continuing unabated. We’ll all report to them in the future.
The Venetian Hotel has a massive shopping complex. It is the largest hotel in the world and, when it was built, the 2nd largest building in the world. (Several in China have since surpassed it in size.) We spent most of the day wandering around, taking it all in. We did find the The House of Dancing Water ticket office (in another complex across the street) and were able to get tickets for tomorrow evening. The seats she offered in person were better than the ones available online, so in the end we were glad the website didn’t work correctly.
They even have an indoor canal, complete with gondola rides. The gondoliers serenade people … this guy was singing O solo mio.
Luxury everywhere you look.
Dim sum restaurant where we had lunch.
The kitchen was visible through a huge window. Here they are making pork dumplings. We had a fabulous meal.
Giant video game outside the restaurant. It senses your body position/movements and portrays them on two big screens on the wall. You have to pose, wiggle, dance, run & etc. The goal is to make your body match the shape (on the left side) and on the right, you run through a cityscape, jumping from one building to another collecting coins.
This guy demonstrated how it works.
Our turn! This was really fun.
I was excited cheering Holden on.
Bella’s turn.
My turn. It was a lot harder than it looked. The girls and I were at a disadvantage because we were wearing dresses. Some of the poses would have required us to show the world our underpants. Our modesty hindered our performance.
Through the arches you can see the casino floor. The tables were hopping, even at 1:00 p.m. This place must be a madhouse in the evening.
McDonald’s, with the golden arches being the only hint at what kind of restaurant this is to anyone who can’t read Cantonese. It didn’t look very McDonaldsy inside.
Different restaurant. We loved her chef’s hat.
Isabella and I checking out a sale at a huge (like seriously enormous, massive) Victoria’s Secret. The prices were higher than at home.
People taking pictures of Victoria’s Secret.
Holden not giving a rat’s behind about Victoria’s Secret. He’s had a lifetime of standing outside stores like that while his sisters shop.
Back on our side of the island, we walked to the Fisherman’s Wharf across the street from our hotel. It’s styled as fake ancient Roman ruins, with weird modern touches such as this “LOVE” sign …
…. and this flock of giant rubber ducks.
I searched for information on the ducks and discovered that they were most likely replicas of “Rubber Duck” created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. “The Rubber Duck Tour (Macau)” occurred in 2016.
Wikipedia: Hofman’s sculptures are temporary—even the Rubber Duck, which makes appearances in cities around the world, is created anew locally. He likes this because wealthy private collectors or those who see art solely as an investment are not able to buy his sculptures. In a 2013 interview, he stated “I’m not a big believer in ‘art is forever’. A lot of art is bought by people who have money. But I’m a supporter of public art in public spaces.” He is also strictly against commercialization of his art, and only sells miniature replicas, whose profits go to local nonprofits. In Hong Kong in 2013, it was the Joyful (Mental Health) Foundation; in Pittsburgh in 2014, it was the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
The gold building is Sands Macao. (Apparently both spellings are OK. Macau is Portuguese and Macao is English.)
Some repairs being made to the “ancient” ruins.
Friday, 15 June 2018
We started out after breakfast to wander back to the old part of Macau to see some things we didn’t get a chance to look over the day we arrived.
This is a pharmacy – plenty of herbal solutions, but for what ailments?
The fire hydrants remind me of Kenny from South Park.
St. Paul’s Church is still busy, even at this early hour.
Walking up any hills/stairs in this weather is unpleasant.
Bamboo is used everywhere for scaffolding and other structural supports. Here they are building a new scaffolding.
The material truly is just long sticks of bamboo — no engineered joints or anything.
Behind St. Paul’s is the Na Tcha Temple, constructed in 1888. The Na Tcha Temple was built in homage to the child god of war. It is believed that it was built to put an end to the plague ravaging the region during that time.
The kids taking a break while I read the temple’s history.
Back at the hotel – the maid was busy cleaning our room, so we went down by the pool and read for about an hour. Isabella is making art with her digital drawing pad.
Those red boats are the floating hell trap vomitoriums we have to get back on to return to Hong Kong tomorrow. I hate them so much I don’t even like looking at them from here.
Adam: We then headed for Taipa village. This was a Portuguese enclave since the mid 1850s but is now known for a wide variety of restaurants. We ate lunch here at a Portuguese restaurant and it was the best meal I’ve had on this trip.
This tiny alley wasn’t neglected by the street lamp people.
By happenstance, we are here during Macau’s annual Lotus Festival. During the week-long event, you can visit any major square, park or sightseeing spot and you will be treated to the sights of thousands of potted lotuses. There are flower-arranging and photography competitions, exhibitions, lotus floral art lectures and demonstrations, guided tours, children’s activities, lantern-making, fan-painting, even face-painting workshops.
(More here🙂 The lotus has been part of Asian culture for millennia. In ancient China, writers lauded the aquatic perennial Nelumbo nucifera as a flower that ‘grows untainted from murky waters.’ Its longevity, ability to return to vigour after hard conditions, and the humble roots of the parent plant that produce bright blooms, are perfectly analogous with Chinese familial values. The lotus happens to be part of the tropical Asian diet as well, and it is wholly edible, from the seeds and rhizomes to the petals and leaves.
They are stunning.
Through the mist.
This person is even more dedicated to sun protection than I am! Not a single ray will mar her visage.
After the lotus fields, we raced back indoors to glorious air conditioning.
We had a couple of hours to kill before our 5:00 p.m. show time for The House of Dancing Water.
Below: The Parisian Hotel/casino/mall
They have so many beautiful dresses here, but the prices are sky high. We quit going into any of the shops and must be content with widow shopping.
Josie watching an impromptu performance in the mall.
This guy was a talented acrobat.
Some warrior princesses(?) hanging out.
The kids found a free photo booth. You can take your picture, then give the machine your email and it will send your photo to you. Clever little data-collecting technique.
Back at the giant wall video game we played with the other day.
The House of Dancing Water theater – seats about 2000 and is circular, built around a large and deep swimming pool. Construction of the theater took 5 years and cost US$250MM. It then took another 2 years to train/practice for the show. Over 80 gymnasts, circus artists, dancers, divers, actors, and motorcyclists are featured in the show. The performers work alongside 160 production staff, technicians and professional scuba divers from around the world.
Waiting for the show to start. We got there early.
Those in the first 4 rows are provided towels in case of splashing. The first two rows are provided ponchos, as well — because you will get wet. We were only one row out of the splash zone.
An enormous sunken ship is resurrected from a watery grave, crawling with the ghosts of deceased pirates.
Leaping off the ship from great heights. It was a combination aerial/water choreographed dance.
“Swans” dance around fountains.
You can see how the dancers arms become the swan necks, their hands become the faces.
Another spectacular set that rises up from the depths of the pool.
Divers flying through the air.
The show also had strong elements of ballet. This dance was performed in fountains with rain pouring from the ceiling.
We all agreed – this is easily the best show we’ve ever seen. Think of it as Cirque du Soleil with water. Amazing acrobatics, diving, dancing, swimming, lights and sound.
Last shot of the evening before retiring to our hotel.
Tomorrow morning we take that awful boat rode back to Hong Kong. We have two days there before we get on a plane for Seoul, South Korea.
We finally found a breakfast place! This restaurant was not prepared for non-Cantonese speaking foreigners …. they had to scrounge around for an employee who spoke enough English to take our order, and even then we had to do a lot of pointing at the menu. (We were conspicuously the only non-Asians in the whole place. For the record, the waiters were courteous and professional. I can only imagine that there was a spirited round of “NOT IT!” in the back room before the loser had to come out and deal with us.) Holden ordered ice water and somehow what the waiter heard was coca-cola, so Holden got soda for breakfast. Otherwise it was a delightful Cantonese meal — noodles and wontons.
Holden asked for ice water specifically because everywhere we go, we’re served little plastic cups of boiling water. According to different web sources, this is either supposed to be for washing your own utensils at the table (everything is already clean, but apparently people in Hong Kong like to have extra control over their hygiene) or for drinking. We’ve seen people drinking it, but boiling water is not very refreshing when it’s 90 degrees outside and you’re dehydrated. Other web sources say that the Chinese think drinking cold water is bad for digestion. In any case, they look at your like you’re crazy if you want cold water. “Ice. In water.” they repeat with perplexed expressions, clearly sure they must be misunderstanding what you’re after. They drink all sorts of other things cold, so the water issue must be a cultural throwback to times when water sanitation wasn’t up to modern standards. (I’m guessing.) We’ll quit asking for it now that we know it’s a faux pas.
After breakfast we had about an hour to kill before our main event of the day: a virtual reality game by a company called Sandbox VR. Adam and I decided to go to the Hong Kong Museum of Art to fill the extra time. The kids opted to stay home as art museums are not their cup of tea. The museum turned out to be closed for major renovations, so we instead went across the street to Kowloon Park to wander around.
(Below) Root system of the Indian Rubber Tree plant, yet another species of ficus (Ficus elastica).
Kowloon Bay.
Kowloon Park has a number of areas designated for working out. This (photo below) was a senior class of some sort of tai chi-type exercise routine. They had a special area just for seniors, another area for children, etc. The entire park is essentially a free gym, with equipment, for anyone who wants to exercise. Today was 89F with 95% humidity, so very sweaty and uncomfortable even for just sitting around. Kudos to these senior citizens for showing up and doing the work.
Adam has Google Translate on his phone that “reads” foreign language and translates it to English. This has proven invaluable. For example, we can’t read anything on that bottle.
But here you can see that, with the iPhone, it translates the characters right before your very eyes … the bottle says “no sugar” as well as “scented tea” (the character on the bottom that isn’t translated yet in this shot.)
Kowloon Park has an aviary with some pretty special birds in it. Many of them were parrot species, which I particularly love. Pictured below are Nicobar pigeons, the closest living relative of the extinct dodo bird. I wish we had a better photo.
Elegant high-rise building.
Me standing in front of yet another Chinese banyan tree for scale.
Wild bird taking an interest in us. I think this is a red-billed blue magpie.
On to our noon appointment at Sandbox VR! The kids were especially excited about trying this. We chose their newest game, Curse of Davy Jones. They strap sensors to your wrists, ankles, chest, and head, then hand you weapons with more sensors on them. Everything is powered by a backpack.
You enter a green room and let the adventure begin!
We were five pirates onboard our ship and had to defend ourselves against round after round of incoming skeletons, ghosts, little furry trolls and all sorts of other evil creatures.
After each round we would advance to another level with a different setting and different goals. There was some puzzle play involved, but mostly you were just trying to survive. Each of us was armed with weapons, but you could also punch and kick the monsters. If you took too much damage, you would “die” and it would require other teammates to “lay hands” on you to be healed.
Here we are wandering around the room in our full gear.
The vests had haptic sensors on them – so if you got shot or hit by a monster, you could feel the blow. If someone jumped you from behind, you could tell in order to turn around, push the monster away and then shoot him with your gun. Good fun! The red figures are “dead” players. Another player can revive them by placing a hand on their shoulder for a period of time, but this was risky because it made the healer vulnerable to monster attack. From the player’s point of view, you could tell you were “dead” when the game went from color to black and white and your weapon quit working. If all 5 of us died, a parrot would show up and squawk “I’ve got holy water!!” and heal our entire party.
This is a bird’s eye view of what we were seeing (photo below).
We all look like idiots jumping around a green room, but the effect was quite real and amazing. We finished sweaty, sore and full of adrenaline. The kids were wired up the rest of the afternoon and couldn’t quit talking about it.
Here is a quick (1:53 minute) video of our experience.
Holden was our designated Team Captain. At the end of the game, they show all the player stats. Holden was the big winner, earning the title MVP. Adam came in second, followed by Isabella, me, and lastly Josie.
Lunch back at Mik’s Noodles.
Our afternoon entertainment was to wander through Singapore Street. We eventually ran into the Jade Market again and this time it was crowded enough that we were able to quickly browse through. The only thing I liked and inquired about buying turned out to have a US$8,000 price tag. (In a covered market stall???!!) When I balked, the lady offered to cut $1,000 off the price. It could be mine for merely US$7,000. Hard pass.
Right off Shanghai Street is a side street with an enormous farmer’s market. It was really busy and appears to be a popular way for locals to buy groceries. Here is a fish guy.
Stall after stall selling fresh fruits and vegetables.
Butcher stall for raw meat.
Another stall for roasted meats and poultry.
A network of bamboo scaffolding.
Adam and Isabella went back out after dark to see A Symphony of Light — a light show put on each evening at 8:00 p.m. over Kowloon Bay, and to get some night photography shots.
Isabella got an evening treat.
Tuesday, 12 June 2018
Adam had a business meeting this morning over on HK Island, so the rest of us opted to hang out in the apartment until he got back around lunchtime. Not much is open in HK in the mornings anyway, so we didn’t feel like we were missing out on anything.
The other day we had a fantastic meal at a restaurant called Tsui Wah on HK Island. We discovered they have another location very near our apartment here in Kowloon so we walked over for lunch. Sadly, this time our experience was not a good one.
So far, we’ve noticed that restaurants here serve food as soon as it comes out of the kitchen, rather than waiting for all plates in a party to be ready at the same time. The result is that some members of your party get served before others. Until today this hasn’t been a problem because food generally comes out quickly, and getting it piping hot and fresh from the kitchen is a nice touch.
Today, Holden and Josie received their meals right away, but Adam, Isabella and I sat and waited … and waited … and waited. We knew the waitstaff hadn’t forgotten about us because they did come back with hot chocolates the kids ordered (which were terrible … it tasted like they’d split a Swiss Miss cocoa packet between three cups; very watery and disappointing.) Eventually my meal came out, long after Holden and Josie had finished eating. I, in turn, finished my meal before Adam and Isabella were finally served. In the end, we sat in that restaurant for more than an hour and half. As we walked out, Holden said, “I’m hungry. I could go for a snack.” Adam said “YOU. JUST. ATE.” Holden: “For me, that was nearly 2 hours ago. I’m hungry again.”
The weather took another turn for the rainy, but we decided to do our afternoon activity anyway. There is a Goldfish Market I’ve been wanting to see and today is our last day in Hong Kong (for now, at least) so it may be my only chance.
Rainy streets.
The Goldfish Market did not disappoint! A more apt name for the area would be The Pet District, though. This entire street is filled with pet shops, selling everything from ordinary goldfish to extraordinarily exotic fish, turtles, frogs, cats, chinchillas, fancy hamsters, puppies. Many of the animals are quite rare. They had Bengal cats, Sphinx cats, and Scottish Fold kittens (that came with a price tag of more than US$2,000 each.)
We have very few photos because most places had prominently placed “No Photography” signs.
The typhoon seems to have passed and the weather today was fantastic. We decided to go ahead with our plan to visit the Big Buddha (officially Tian Tan Buddha — Tian Tan means “Alter of Heaven”) and the Po Lin Monastery. You reach the buddha via the longest bi-cable ropeway in Asia. You can also hike up the mountain or take a bus, but the hike is 6 miles one way and the bus sounds boring.
The Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car was opened in 2006 and is a very popular tourist attraction. I read that the lines can be several hours long so we decided to arrive when they opened at 9:00 a.m. and try to be first ones there. Mornings seem to be the best time to do much of anything in Hong Kong …. people here are definitely night owls. By 2:00p.m. the streets are so packed they are hard to walk though and are still busy well after midnight, but at 7:00 a.m. we have the city to ourselves. The downside is that nothing is open at that hour.
We found a new breakfast place to try that opens at 7:30 a.m. so our plan was to eat first, then take the MTR (subway) out to Lantau Island for Big Buddha. Unfortunately, we walked to the address for the restaurant and couldn’t find it. We couldn’t tell if it was no longer there or just so hidden we couldn’t figure out where it was. The area was under construction and store-front signs had been taken down or obscured.
After walking around looking for something else open and finding nothing, we gave up and decided our best bet was probably the MTR station. We could take the train to Lantau and hope to find some food in a train station stall.
From our walk this morning (below:) Chinese Banyan tree (ficus macrocarpa, part of the fig family.) The biggest one in the world is in Hawaii and is 28 feet thick at breast height, so they can become truly enormous. I love these trees, growing all over town. The tree provides it’s own structural supports, starting as little wisps of aerial prop roots that mature into thick, woody trunks. Wikipedia: The prop roots develop over a considerable area that resembles a grove of trees, with every trunk connected directly or indirectly to the primary trunk. In a banyan that envelops its host tree, the mesh of roots growing around the latter eventually applies considerable pressure to and commonly kills it. Such an enveloped, dead tree eventually decomposes, so that the banyan becomes a “columnar tree” with a hollow, central core. In jungles, such hollows are very desirable shelters to many animals.
It was a good thing we went to the train early. From Tsim Sha Tsui you have to go 9 stops on one train, then switch to another train for an additional 3 stops. The first train takes a long time because of all the stops and the second train covers way more distance than we expected. It took nearly an hour to reach Lantau Island. We arrived at Lantau’s Tung Chung MTR station right at 9:00 a.m. We grabbed some quick to-go food from Pret A Manger and hurried across the street to the cable car station.
Hong Kong in green, Lantau in red.
You have two choices for the cable cars: Standard Cabin and Crystal Cabin. The Crystal Cabin is a little more expensive and has a 2-inch thick glass floor. Reviews online suggested that the crystal cabin is well worth the extra money so we sprung for the upgrade. A round trip in the standard cabin is HK$210 (US$26), the crystal cabin is HK$290 (US$36).
We lucked out — there was practically nobody else there that early. We bought our tickets and walked right on to a car, which we had all to ourselves.
The crystal floor was a lot of fun.
Josie sitting on the floor. She was worried that since she was wearing a dress, people on the hiking trail would be able to look up and see her underpants. She chose her sitting position very carefully.
Spectacular views.
The ride takes about 25 minutes and is 5.7km (3.5 miles) long.
Part of the hiking trail viewed through the cabin glass floor.
Roadway for cars … it goes down into a tunnel underneath the water so boats can cross at their leisure. You can see where the road comes back up again on the far side.
Our first view of the Po Lin Monastery.
You exit the cable car into Ngong Ping Village, a series of restaurants and shops. It is very neat and clean. The kids were a little disappointed with it because it feels like a sparkly, sanitized theme park version of China. Isabella looked around and said, “If you blindfolded me and dropped me here and told me I was in the United States right now I’d believe you.” That said, it was a relief to go into shops and be allowed to browse at our leisure without salespeople bombarding us like hungry seagulls.
Po Lin Monastery. The lower floor is open to the public and the upper floors are home to monks. It’s a working monastery.
268 steps up to the bronze Tian Tan Buddha. After 12 years of construction, he was completed in 1993. He is the second-largest outdoor sitting Buddha in the world (the biggest is in Taiwan.) He faces north which is unusual (towards mainland China). Most of the great Buddha statues face south.
From the Po Lin Monastery website: The right hand is in the mudra of “imparting fearlessness”, indicating the compassion of the Buddha to save all sentient beings from their sufferings. The left hand rests on the lap, with the palm turning up and fingers pointing slightly downward. This is called the mudra of “fulfilling wishes”, implying the vow to grant blessing and happiness to all.
The Buddha sits cross-legged on the lotus throne, like a lotus which grows out of sludge, symbolizing that the Buddha is pure and without any defilement. He can live in this world of turbidity and save all recalcitrant and unyielding beings.
The 卍 sign on the chest represents that the Buddha possesses all virtues. (Personal note: This symbol was effectively ruined by the Nazis. It’s hard, as a Westerner, to see that symbol on something and not be filled with revulsion.)
Six smaller bronze statues surround the Big Buddha in a circle, called The Offering of the Six Devas. Each holds up a different item: flowers, fruits, incense, music, ointment, and light (a lamp.) These symbolize the Six Perfections and represent patience, morality, wisdom, charity, zeal and meditation, all of which are necessary for enlightenment.
View from the Big Buddha platform.
Adam: The three kids jibber-jabbering about complete nonsense and ignoring the views. Brenda keeps getting mushy about the time the 3 kids spend together – knowing that Isabella heads off this fall. She’s worried the five of us will NEVER be together again!
View of Po Lin Monastery.
Time to hike back down.
We’re thrilled it’s not too crowded.
Huge incense sticks.
Lots of people come to pray outside the temple.
Po Lin Monastery. (Po Lin means “precious lotus.” The lotus represents purity.) The small temple was originally built in 1906 and initially called “The Bug Hut.” It was renamed Po Lin in 1923.
The biggest structure is the Hall of the Ten Thousand Buddhas which has been built behind the original main shrine.
Photos inside the temple are forbidden. They have a huge shrine to Buddha and some impressive architecture. It’s solemn, beautiful, and quiet.
Incense offerings.
Very hot and humid. Time for a water break back down in Ngong Ping Village.
It was starting to get crowded by the time we were done. When we exited the cable car at the end of our visit, the line to go up was huge. We were so very glad we got there early!
Massive apartment high-rise in Lantau as seen from the cable car.
In our neighborhood after the long train ride back, we chanced upon Mak’s Noodle, a Cantonese wonton noodle shop near our apartment. While we were waiting for our food, we happened to notice a magazine article framed on the wall: Anthony Bourdain ate here and recommended it in one of his articles. Bourdain committed suicide yesterday and we just found out about it today, so it felt a bit like kismet that we should happen to eat here.
Adam and I were both up most of last night and therefore exhausted today. We went back to the apartment after lunch with the intention of taking short naps and heading back out later in the afternoon to visit the Goldfish Market. That didn’t happen. We both woke up at 5:30 p.m. (three-hour long naps!) to find the kids all asleep, too. We ended up staying in for the evening, eating fruit, ham and crackers and watching Netflix. Hopefully we’ll all be refreshed for tomorrow’s adventures.
Sunday, 10 June 2018
Holden at 5:00 a.m. at the “technology center” on the kitchen table of our apartment. His bed is the couch against the wall in the background. The two curtains on the back wall are the two “bedrooms.”
A view of Adam’s and my bedroom … glass half-wall and curtain as barrier, Holden’s couch/bed in the foreground.
Isabella and Josie’s bedroom on the other side of the glass partition.
Living room, entrance, kitchen table.
Living room (aka Holden’s bedroom) and kitchen.
Holden’s life revolves around meals. At 15 years old, he is constantly starving. He has been pretty vocal about his disappointment regarding our bad luck finding breakfast. Adam got tired of hearing it and said, “Then why don’t you get online and find something?” So, he did. He found a great looking place that serves traditional Chinese breakfast foods and he was quite excited about the experience. The restaurant’s website said they opened at 8:00 a.m. so we waited around hungry for two hours at home, then headed over and found the place. They were, indeed, open, but … “We don’t serve food until 8:30 or 9:00. You come back half hour.” Holden was piiiiiiiiiiiissed. “WHY?! What kind of restaurant opens but doesn’t serve food? They couldn’t be bothered to put that on their website? That’s some bull shh-sorry mom but come on, I mean really …” He was still muttering about it when we ended up at a Starbucks a couple blocks away. Arms crossed, he mumbled “Guess I’ll have a blueberry muffin.”
On to the ferry station. This food booth near the terminal may be our best bet for breakfast in the future!
Today we went to visit Lamma Island. This island gets few tourists; it still qualifies as “sleepy” in every guidebook you read. Archaeologists have found evidence of settlements here since 4000BC.
Map of Hong Kong and path we took on two ferries to get to Lamma Island.
Wikipedia: In contrast to Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, Lamma is peaceful and tranquil with an abundance of natural scenery. Buildings higher than three storeys are prohibited and there are no automobiles but diminutive fire trucks and ambulances, as well as distinctive open-back vehicles to transport construction materials. The community’s only means of transport is either by foot or bicycle.
We took a 5 minute ferry over to HK Island to catch the bigger ferry over to Lamma. I was worried about sea sickness on the longer ferry rides because the water around Hong Kong tends to be choppy, but the ferry to Lamma only takes about 20 minutes (to the closest of it’s two ports) and the sea was calm today.
Side note: I’ve noticed there are no seagulls in Hong Kong. Usually places like this are swarming with them. I finally looked it up online and discovered that here kites have taken over the ecological niche usually occupied by seagulls. In addition to being scavengers that will eat just about anything (just like seagulls do), the kites are also birds of prey and will eat the seagulls, as well.
A sea of bicycles near the Yung Shue Wan ferry terminal.
The ferry dumps you out into a small fishing village called Yung Shue Wan. The walk through town is lined with seafood restaurants and shops, and a lot of dogs.
This is the place to come if you want fresh seafood.
A shop selling amber jewelry. It was beautiful but way too expensive.
We attempted to do The Lamma Island Family Walk, which meanders through the village to a beach and ends at the other ferry terminal. It said on the sign it was a little more than an hour’s hike. It started out nice, but once we got further away from the water I started getting eaten alive by bugs. It was also much hotter away from the water and we soon found ourselves miserable. We gave up and turned around.
One of the most unusual flowering shrubs I’ve ever seen. The orange flowers look almost exactly like little butterflies. After some online sleuthing, I finally identified it as the peacock flower tree (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), a member of the pea family.
Jungle residence.
We made it as far as the beach before heading back to the town.
Adam and Holden had to giggle at this sign.
Preparing today’s catch.
This appeared to be the most popular restaurant on the island. It was packed.
Homes near the Yung Shue Wan ferry port.
After leaving Lamma Island, we returned to HK Island for lunch and to do some sight seeing. A restaurant we just happened by (Tsui Wah Restaurant) turned out to be the best meal we’ve yet had on the trip.
We then walked up the hill toward Hollywood Road – it is famous for antique stores – but, being a Sunday, almost everything was closed. Built in 1844, it was one of the very first roads in Hong Kong, named for the holly trees that lined it.
It looks like they are building a new road/underpass. The top of it is covered with vegetation.
Every Sunday foreign (mostly Filipino) domestic workers stage a protest along the sidewalks of HK Island. Thousands of them line the streets, all sitting on cardboard boxes they’ve turned into makeshift picnic areas. They’ve been doing this for years. Sunday is their one day off each week and they spend it socializing: doing each other’s hair, nails and make-up, eating, napping, doing needlecrafts and artwork, singing, talking to people back home on their phones.
Another gorgeous banyan tree.
This guy was painting scrolls near the ferry terminal. “Hang one in your home to bring good luck” he told me when I bought one.
Ducks for sale in a shop window.
The girls shopping in a cosmetic store in the lobby of our building. (They are worried about aging?!)
Tomorrow we have an appointment to play a virtual reality video game at a place called Sandbox VR. We signed up for their newest game, Curse of Davy Jones. Until tomorrow!
Hong Kong is a weird combination of opulent and seedy. Adam and I were last here exactly eleven years ago, in June 2007, for a business trip. We stayed in a massive and luxurious Holiday Inn. As we walked down the corridors to our room after checking in, we heard theatrical sex noises coming from room after room. The hotel bar was filled with elegant, bespoke-suited businessmen from all over the world, hookers buzzing around them like flies on a corpse.
This time we’re here for a much more fun reason than a business trip: Isabella’s high school graduation gift from us is a 6-week family trip to Asia. She graduated with honors and earned the Zell Miller scholarship. She will be attending UGA in the Division of Biological Sciences in the fall. This summer may end up being the last long trip the five of us ever take together so it feels a bit more poignant than other trips.
Our first stop is Hong Kong. We found an Airbnb apartment that happens to be across the street from the hotel Adam and I stayed in last time.
The street level of our building contains glittering luxury shops; Rolex, Patek Philippe. We found the elevator to our 6th floor apartment and crowded in. When the doors opened again, it was like steeping into Bethesda’s video game Fallout.
The halls are a rabbit’s warren of dingy, corroding concrete. CCTV cameras in cages hang from the ceilings. The building opens in the center to a huge grungy courtyard, the windows from every apartment open to it and their occupants visible. Across it we can see a boxing club operating in the gloom, shirtless gloved men punching each other in the face. Drying laundry hangs in the corridors and on lines criss-crossing the courtyard. Tired-looking people drift through the halls in a daze. If this were a movie set, the atmosphere is what they call “gritty.”
Our apartment is very small but clean and comfortable. The only water available is in the bathroom; there is no sink in the kitchen, which we neglected to notice in the Airbnb photos. (We didn’t think to look specifically to see if the kitchen had a sink.) It does have a small refrigerator and freezer, a tiny microwave, and a little station with an electric tea kettle. By contrast, the bathroom is huge. It has a fantastic shower, two sinks and high-end finishes. The air conditioning units work well, which is a necessary luxury in Hong Kong’s oppressive heat and humidity.
There is a 12-hour time difference between Atlanta and Hong Kong. We arrived at 7:30 p.m. in Hong Kong (7:30 a.m. to our Atlanta-acclimated bodies) but we’ve been awake for nearly 24 hours and fell gratefully into our beds.
Thursday, 07 June 2018
The girls and I slept almost all night and woke up around 6:30 a.m. feeling relatively refreshed. Holden and Adam were up for a large portion of the night so the time change may be harder for the two of them.
Our building’s grungy and depressing courtyard. This is an interior shot, not the outside of a building.
We woke up early (around 5:30 a.m.) and discovered that most breakfast places don’t open until after 9:00 a.m. Adam found a place serving early called Cafe de Coral (Hong Kong’s largest, most successful Chinese fast food brand) and we walked over. We weren’t expecting much but were pleasantly surprised. The food was very cheap and quite good.
Hong Kong is under a typhoon warning for the next few days (Typhoon Signal No. 3). The weather is gray with intermittent rain, very hot and humid.
In spite of the gloomy weather we had a very enjoyable day. The kids love Asia better than any other region we’ve visited and all three were palpably excited just to soak in the atmosphere.
Before we left home, Isabella was a bit reluctant to spend the summer traveling because she felt she should stay home and get a job to earn money for college, which is what most of her friends are doing. We told her that by earning the Zell Miller scholarship she paid for more school than she could ever earn at a teen’s summer job and should just enjoy the opportunity to see another piece of the world. Once we landed in Hong Kong, all of her doubts melted away. On the taxi ride last night from the airport to our hotel she looked out the window and said, “I want to live here someday.” This afternoon she said, “Hong Kong is now my favorite city in the world.”
Buying water. The kids are working out HK money and the vending machines that are all over town selling water and other cold drinks.
Statue of Bruce Lee.
Hong Kong is very lush. View of the area near where we are staying – we’re in the neighborhood Tsim Sha Tsui – on the peninsula and just north of Kowloon bay (two block walk to the water).
We took the ferry to Hong Kong Island. The ticket prices come to less than $1USD per person and the ride is only about 5 minutes long. Anyone over age 65 rides free. HK has 261 islands, but HK Island is the largest and the center of their banking and commerce sector.
Getting ready to dock the boat.
Kids taking shelter during a sudden downpour. It rained on and off all day, but luckily the heaviest rain only lasted about 15 minutes.
Waiting for the Peak Tram.
On the tram. The kids spent the entire day jibber-jabbering with each other over every topic under the sun.
Views from Victoria Peak (locally known as “The Peak.”) It is the highest mountain on Hong Kong Island. In the 1800s, prominent European residents built houses up here because the weather is quite a bit cooler and the views are spectacular. It’s still mostly a residential area for rich people, with tourists being able to come up on the tram to see the views and visit a large contained shopping area. (Wikipedia: In addition to being a major tourist attraction for Hong Kong, The Peak is also the summit of Hong Kong’s property market. At the peak of The Peak, properties are more expensive than anywhere else in the world.)
Despite the heavy cloud cover, the views were still good. In fact, the weather added an eerie, atmospheric quality that made it special.
We all love the rain forest. This path at the top of The Peak is unique in that you can see a huge, cosmopolitan city from a place that feels like nearly-abandoned jungle.
Walking along this path, Isabella said, “Hong Kong is kind of a utopia, but also a little dystopian, too.” I told her I made the same observation last night, but I used opulent and seedy. “I like your description better, though” I said. “Maybe we could call it a dystopian utopia.” She said, “Please don’t write that in your blog. It sounds pretentious and people will think you don’t know what those words mean.”
Viewing area sponsored by the Lion’s Club of Hong Kong.
Back down on main part of Hong Kong Island.
Ferry back to mainland Peninsula. (Blue dress and straw hat is me.)
Adam found Budaoweng Hotpot Cuisine on the 23rd floor of a building across the street from our apartment for lunch. Fish (grouper) for Josie, beef for everyone else (plus a huge basket of leafy greens and mushrooms). Josie is a pescatarian these days, for ethical reasons. She feels guilty eating animals with self-awareness but figures most fish don’t really have any so she feels less bad about them being killed. This menu offered frog and she was faced with having to decide if frogs are dumb enough to be eaten or not. She decided “no amphibians.”
The vegetable basket and beef platter. Everything is served raw and you cook it in that big vat of boiling broth in the center of the table. The darker side is a VERY spicy chili mix in what I think was beef broth, and the lighter side is a mild vegetable-based broth with tofu and greens in it. Both were delicious.
After the meal, the waitress brought some little soup bowls of orange liquid that looked suspiciously like raw beaten eggs. She put them in front of us and said, “Dessert.” I asked, “What is it?” She said, “Dessert. You eat.” The Chinese don’t use an upward inflection at the end of sentences, questions or otherwise, so everything they say sounds like a command. Every encounter ends with me feeling like a little kid who just got yelled at by a teacher. If their speech was in text form, there would be an angry face emoji at the end of every sentence. Have a nice day. 😡
The dessert was warm, and the best we could tell it was mango puree thickened with tapioca or rice flour. It was weirdly sweet, slimy, and felt like it shouldn’t be warm. Holden took a little taste, glanced at the waitress hovering near our table, and whispered to me, “Are we going to get in trouble if we don’t eat it?”
After lunch we went to Marks & Spencer (in the same building across from our apartment) and bought some things for dinner: fruit, cheese and crackers, a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter, a box of weird little banana cakes, box of cereal, bottle of wine, apple juice, tea. We don’t have much in the way of a kitchen in this place so we had to get things that need very little preparation to eat.
We dropped our groceries off at home and headed out for one last stroll in our neighborhood before calling it a day. By 3:00 p.m. Adam was dragging pretty hard. The kids and I felt surprisingly good considering our jet lag but everyone was done by 4:00 p.m. We went home and ended up not bothering with Wine Time or dinner. We figured out how to get our Netflix account working and the kids watched SpongeBob cartoons and reminisced about their childhoods while Adam took care of some work and I did this blog. By 6:30 everyone had turned in for the night.
Friday, 08 June 2018
The weather today was awful. A South China Sea typhoon changed direction overnight and hit land just to the east and south of Hong Kong. All last night and well into today’s afternoon it POURED.
Winds were up to 35mph and the weather service says it rained an average of 2” each hour. We headed out with umbrellas which quickly got turned inside out. Even when they worked, it was the kind of rain that still got you wet no matter what you were carrying or hiding under the eaves of stores.
We walked to the ferry terminal near our apartment and headed back to Hong Kong Island because they have a huge covered shopping area. We needed to find something to do inside.
Josie trying to fix her umbrella after the wind turned it inside out.
I am reading about a Falun Gong protest and trying to figure out what Falun Gong is and why people are protesting it. A girl handed me a brochure with some stilted English in it saying that Falun Gong is a cult that becomes addictive and makes people hack up their parents with an ax and then set themselves on fire. (According to wikipedia, this is not the case; it sounds sort of like a quasi-religious mindfulness practice, combining elements of Buddhism and yoga. Falun Gong practitioners have been persecuted and killed by the Chinese government for years.)
We found a beauty supply shop that carried a special facial cleanser Isabella likes. They had a lot of new products that we don’t get in the United States so we spent some time looking them over.
Inside a big mall on Hong Kong Island they have a T-rex skeleton. This one (an actual, not a mold) was dug up in South Dakota, USA.
Asia always gets the best new electronics first. This is a new 100” VLED 4K TV by Sony. The picture was simply amazing. It can be yours for US$76,000. Adam told the kids that everyone will have one on their walls in the next 10 years.
We spent some time figuring out how to buy Octopus cards (cards for the subway system; the same thing they call Oyster cards in the UK). We took the train back to an area a couple stops away from our apartment to visit the Jade Market.
It would have been fun to browse around and take it all in, but the salespeople are so aggressive they ended up chasing us away. They grab you by the arm and won’t let go, or try to clip bracelets on you so that you can’t leave their stall. It was the worst market I’ve ever been to. Some of the markets in South America have fairly aggressive vendors, but nothing like this … it was downright ugly. The jade they were selling may or may not have been cool; we didn’t get the chance to find out, although in one booth near the entrance, the lady was a little less physical and easier to deal with. Isabella bought a small jade bracelet for a friend back home and Josie bought a jade ring. Then we high-tailed it out of there.
I was disappointed because those are the kinds of markets and stalls I really enjoy poking around in. We thought maybe it would be easier to go on a day with better weather or a weekend when more shoppers were around so we could melt into a crowd (today we were nearly the only customers there) but when I looked the Jade Market up online later, it got terrible reviews on Trip Advisor from nearly everyone, citing the freakishly aggressive vendors. I certainly would not recommend anyone go there, which is a shame because it looked like it could have been quite interesting. As it was, we felt like we were being attacked and held hostage. It was awful.
Interesting fact I learned about jade on the internet, though … in Chinese culture jade represents good luck. If your jade piece breaks, it’s because bad luck was headed your way and your jade charm took the hit for you. You give it a sincere thank you and buy a new piece for future protection.
Dim sum for lunch. Everyone liked their lunch except me. I ordered a bowl of soup (black bowl in photo) but the broth smelled like dirty dishwater and I couldn’t stand to eat it. I don’t know what it was. Today is not shaping up to be my day. Josie’s vegetarian rice dish was delicious, though, and she shared with me.
A few more pics of our building’s corridors: laundry, garbage, armored CCTV cameras, a rat’s nest of wires, prison bar door grates …
Waiting for the slowest elevator in the world. (FYI, we’ve not yet seen a living soul outside Joyful Guest House.) This place’s vibe is post-apocalyptic.
Weird tangle of wires(?) and an orange hat near the elevators. Plus a purple wire hanger with nothing on it. The hallways in this place are downright creepy even during the middle of the day.
Tomorrow, if the weather is decent, we plan to visit the giant Buddha.
This weekend, Arge and Judy are in town. We (Brenda, Adam, John, Arge, Judy, Isabella and friend, Cassandra) travelled about an hour north of our home to visit the Resaca battlefield and view a Civil War Re-enactment battle.
The Battle of Resaca was fought in May of 1864 with largely inconclusive results. There were more than 7,000 casualties combined for the Union and Confederate armies. The Union lost more soldiers, but the Confederates were forced to retreat and dig in further south toward Atlanta.
There were vendors selling 19th century items and the re-enactors had camped all over the grounds for the full weekend. It was a lot of fun to see all of the gear and speak with the people there – who were very eager to share with you their hobby/passion.
The day terminated with a full battle – solders maneuvering and firing, attacking, cavalry charges and LOUD cannon fire on both sides.
This guy’s homemade sign: PROVOST HQ No smokin’ No drankin’ No cussin’
We talked to several of these guys and learned that for most of them, this is their one weekend away “from the women” when they can drink, smoke, sleep in the woods, and play with guns. There were a small handful of women participating, but not very many. I was really surprised at the number of young boys. I assumed it was going to be mostly Old White Guys (and there were plenty of those) but a large number of the re-enactors were boys who looked to be ranging in age from about 12 to 20.
As we passed one group of teenaged boys getting ready for the upcoming battle, one of them saw me walking by and gave me a “howdy Ma’am” head bob; then I saw him spot Isabella and Cassandra a few paces behind me. He was suddenly very alert and I heard him hiss “GIRLS!!!” to his buddies, followed by a round of elbow-nudges and an abrupt end to their conversation. They watched Bella and Cassandra walk by. (Maybe “gawked” is a better word than “watched.” In any case, the girls were completely oblivious.)
That’s when I noticed that Bella and Cassandra were, quite literally, the ONLY teenaged girls in attendance. I saw a few young women participating in the calvary event on horseback, but that was it. This was, by and large, an event appreciated by boys/men. The few women there to watch as spectators were my age or older (i.e., mid-40s and up.)
One of the few families participating with a couple of children.
Getting ready for the cavalry competition. This guy said, “It’s just so much fun. You try not to take the competition too seriously, but when you get out there you turn back into a 12 year old boy and can’t help yourself.”
A few of the women participants.
There weren’t very many spectators at this event so we stuck out like sore thumbs in our modern clothes. The vast majority of the people here were part of the re-enactment. It was 91 degrees in the shade; very hot and muggy. The participants were all wearing heavy wool clothing. One guy showed me that he had flannel pajama bottoms from Target underneath his wool pants because even in the intense heat it was more comfortable to add more clothes than to itch from the rough wool cloth directing touching skin. The same guy (wearing a Union uniform) said to me, “I’m so sorry I’m in the wrong uniform, Ma’am. But some of us had to take one for the team and play the bad guys. I truly do apologize.”
The cannons to be used for the Confederate side of the battle later in the day.
Below: Doing weapons checks prior to the start of the re-enactment.
Practicing the drumming and flute playing. (They played Battle Hymn of the Republic during the majority of the battle.)
John, Brenda, Cassandra and Isabella headed across the field to the location of the calvary competition. On the horizon you can just barely see the earth works used for the battle.
As we sat down to watch the Calvary competition, the battery in Adam’s Leica camera died. He went to get his back-up battery and it was not there … turns out it was sitting at home. For the remainder of the day (all of the cool parts where people were doing interesting stuff rather than just getting ready) he had to use the camera in his phone. That was a huge disappointment. Anyway …..
This guy was by far the best horseman and very impressive to watch. That horse could run like the wind and it was breathtakingly beautiful.
Here come the Confederates.
The battle has begun: Confederates behind the earthworks in the distance and Union standing to the right in the field. The smoke is from their muskets.
Union army.
The figures in the grass (middle of frame) are injured and dead. They’re “out” for the remainder of the battle. Most of them propped up on their elbows so they could see the action and sipped water from canteens with huge grins on their faces.
Battle is over — cavalry headed back to camp to pack up for the weekend. The lone figure to the left is Arge taking a photo.
Below is a 3:39 minute video Adam compiled of the battle. The sound from his phone doesn’t do justice to the experience. The cannons were so loud your ears would ring for minutes afterwards and the sound echoed through the valley like thunder.
At the 2:24 mark the cavalry got into a sword fight right in front of our position. The riders were having a ton of fun, grinning from ear to ear. (Many of the cavalry were women … I didn’t see any female foot soldiers but there were several on the horses.)
Our friends Rita and Randy have come down for “second spring break” so we can indulge in another version of our Blues Tour from last year. This year we’ve decided to visit The Carolinas (north and south: specifically Charleston and Asheville.)
Our first day we didn’t make it out of Georgia: Isabella is going to attend UGA next fall, so our first destination is right outside of Atlanta in Athens. On the way over, we made a quick stop in Madison, GA to visit the historic little town and see Heritage House. What we thought would be a 45 minute pit-stop turned into a nearly-all-day visit because there was so much to see.
Heritage Hall. An adult ticket is only $10, but for $15 ($10 for students, under 12 free) you get to tour two more historic houses within walking distance in the town; Rogers House and Rose Cottage.
Heritage House is supposed to be haunted. Our tour guide said she’d seen a lavender “hazey” circle with shooting orbs of light inside it on the staircase. They have a “ghost room.” Even if you don’t believe in the supernatural (like me) this tour was fascinating. The guides are local volunteers who love their town and love sharing their history with people.
Rogers House and Rose Cottage
Rose Cottage
Easter Sunday, 01 April 2018
Quick visit to Athens to poke around UGA and familiarize ourselves with the town.
The idea behind the double-barrel cannon is that two cannon balls connected by a chain would be fired simultaneously, acting like a scythe that could mow down anything in it’s path. In the end, they could never get the two balls to fire at the exact same time and the thing never worked.
The UGA arch.
The Tree that Owns Itself.
“For and in consideration of the great love I bear this tree and the great desire I have for it’s protection for all time, I convey entire possession of itself and all land within eight feet of the tree on all sides. William H. Jackson”
We had lunch in a hamburger joint that served roasted brussels sprouts as a side dish. My favorite!
Monday, 02 April 2018
Charleston, South Carolina
We arrived in Charleston last night and settled into a nice Airbnb house. This morning we headed out early to be first ones there! for a tour of Fort Sumter. It was a good, thing, too …. we weren’t the only people with that idea. You have to take a ferry out to the island and it’s quite slow. There is a lot of standing in cattle lines waiting for your turn to buy a ticket, then to get on the boat, then to get off the boat, etc.
Below: on the walk from our house to the Ft. Sumter ferry terminal.
Around two hours later: finally here!
Adam asked the kids to sit here for a photo and they got yelled at by a guide. No sitting allowed.
The raising of the flag ceremony. It was a surprisingly somber occasion.
My opinion of the Ft. Sumter experience is that it’s not worth the amount of time, money and hassle. There are neater forts to visit (The San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico springs immediately to mind, just as one example.)
Visiting Ft. Sumter takes up at least half your day and most of that is spent on a very boring ferry ride. The fort itself is quite small and (in this Philistine’s opinion) they didn’t do a good job of bringing the history to life. I’m not a history buff but I’ve been to places where the hosts made it so interesting you get lost in the story and go home to read up even more on the thing you just saw. This was not one of those experiences for me. You’d need a pre-existing emotional reason to enjoy the outing and get much out of it. For American history buffs it’s probably worth it, but for us common folk there are much more fun ways to spend your time in Charleston. This, for the kids and me, was the equivalent of standing in line for 3 hours at Disney World to get on the teacup ride.
Below: Back on the mainland visiting the Charleston City Market after a quick lunch. This is a series of covered booths in a very long alley-like series of buildings. Most of the stalls sell junk but there are a few treasures to be found here. It’s worth it if you like browsing bazaar-type markets. It’s not worth it if you don’t particularly enjoy shopping and very much not worth it at all if you get claustrophobic in crowds. Randy is the latter … he and Rita took one look at the tourist traffic here and opted to go do something else. We met back up with them later in the day.
The remainder of the afternoon we walked around Charleston’s historic homes area and ran into Calhoun House.
The kids on the front porch of Calhoun House, waiting for the tour to start. They didn’t allow photos inside the mansion, but it’s VERY much worth seeing. This is a good example of a tour guide bringing a story to life; she was fantastic and the house itself was fascinating.
Tuesday, 03 April 2018
This morning we drove out of town (about 10 miles) to visit the Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. For us, this was the highlight of the Charleston portion of the trip.
The plantation dates back to 1676, but after the Civil War, they opened their doors and grounds to the paying public. It is the oldest public tourist site in the Lowcountry, and the oldest public gardens in America.
They also have a petting zoo to visit and free-range peacocks all over the place.
Bald eagle hanging out in the gardens.
Wildlife photographers very excited about the bald eagle.
Egret.
Geese! At the petting zoo.
Magnolia Plantation also has a quite nice plant nursery.
Man proposing to a woman. She said yes. (Good thing, too, since there were a lot of people watching and taking candid photos. He chose a spot where it was sure to be a spectacle.)
We met back up with Rita and Randy and spent the remainder of the afternoon walking around Charleston. They opted out of Magnolia Plantation to go see something else and squeeze in a yoga session.
Porch swing on our Airbnb house.
Wednesday, 04 April 2018
Before leaving the “low country”, we paid a visit to Boone Hill Plantation, about 10 miles outside of Charleston.
After this tour, we hit the road and headed west toward the Great Smoky Mountains.
Thursday, 05 April 2018
For the next 3 nights, we have rented a house near Asheville, NC – up in the Great Smoky Mountains.
This was a view from the deck of the house we rented. We sat out back in the afternoons for wine time and eaties.
One morning, we made a hike up to Purchase Knob – elevation 4,850’. The total hike was about 5 miles.
The kids are eating granola bars at a cabin built originally in 1874.
Randy coming out of the woods into a clearing near the top – the first full views of the mountains and great 270 degree views.
After the hike, we drove in to Asheville to do some shopping and get chocolate treats for the kids. The city was busy with plenty of pedestrian traffic and the most dogs we ever remember seeing out and about. Asheville is a dog town!
Friday, 06 April 2018
Today we drove all through the Great Smoky Mountains national park – over the mountains and into Tennessee.
We visited the tri-cities of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville and stopped at the largest knife store in the world to re-stock our underground bunkers.
While in the park, we made a couple of short hikes.
Most of today was spent driving from Boston to Montreal. We took a route through New Hampshire and Vermont. The roads were quite good and the scenery was gorgeous. This is the most snow our kids have ever seen.
Once in our apartment, Adam and I walked 0.4 miles to the nearest grocery store for provisions. It was so cold and miserable (-4F) we’re having big concerns about what we’re going to do tomorrow. Even with all our layers of clothing, we simply don’t own gear that can handle these temperatures. By the time we’d walked the less-than-one-full-mile round trip, my legs were so red it looked like I had a sunburn. We don’t have long johns or snow pants.
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017
For the first time in Adam and the kids’ lives, they experienced negative-degree weather. It is bringing back so many memories of Fairbanks for me. (For those who don’t now, I went to UAF my first year of college, back in 1990-91.) I’d forgotten how much this kind of cold physically hurts …. much like having the flu, you remember that it’s miserable and you hated it, but when you actually get it again you realize you’d forgotten how much it truly sucks. Today was -5F. We walked around outside as little as possible and bundled up in all our clothes. We had so many layers it was difficult to move around.
The first two or three minutes you think, “Hey, this isn’t too bad!” — then a slight breeze kicks up and you think, “Oh my god, I’m going to die.” Isabella was seriously worried about her blood freezing as we stood outside for 6 minutes waiting for an Uber; I told her it doesn’t freeze up unless you fall asleep in a snowbank or something, like you have hypothermia so bad you pass out, THEN your blood starts to freeze, but she didn’t believe me and had to look it up online just to be safe. Josie, who has had a love affair with Canada for years in spite of never having been here said, “This is not what I had in mind. I think when I grow up, instead of moving to Canada I’ll live in one of the southern states, maybe California.” Her dream of Canada isn’t matching up with the reality of Canada. She loves Canadian culture but wants it to swap places with Mexico.
Today was sort of a bust because walking around outside was so awful. We ended up calling it day after lunch and spent most of it in our apartment playing Cosmic Encounter and drinking wine. (Holden won both games.)
Street in front of our apartment.
Our apartment. Our door is the one on the middle floor with the light on. Once inside the door, you walk up another set of stairs and our apartment was the entire third floor. Isabella stayed in the bedroom with the balcony (unused since it was so cold) and the lighted window looked out of the front living room.
Street view from our living room widow. That bueish-gray car had a really hard time getting out of that parking spot, but eventually succeeded.
Holden getting some breakfast before we head out for the day.
Montreal has a series of locations called collective “La Ville Souterraine” – or the Underground City. There are roughly 20 miles of underground passages that connect various malls and other plazas to give folks a chance to get around downtown without ever having to go outside.
Our idea was to wander around the Underground City but it was not as neat as we’d hoped. Nearly half of the shops were closed until January 8. Holden likened the experience to just walking through concourse after concourse at the airport.
Big chunk of the Berlin Wall.
Art gallery that was closed. We had to be satisfied just peeking in the windows.
Waiting for an Uber. Isabella has two coats on underneath that big sweater.
For lunch we went to the famous (locally) Schwartz’s Deli – the equivalent of NYC’s Katz’s. It is the oldest deli in Canada. There is always a line out front and it took a lot of arm twisting to get everyone to stand outside for 15 minutes before we could get a table.
Almost our turn!
But the wait was worth it. Their signature dish is the Viande Fumee – smoked meat sandwich. We each ordered one with a side dish of poutine.
After Schwart’s, we took another Uber to the old part of Montreal. The intention was to walk around and see what we ran into, but quickly found a Starbucks and settled in.
The kids and I refused to leave Starbucks, so Adam took off on his own because he wanted to get some pictures. When we came back about 15 minutes later, his face was so frosted over that he looked like a White Walker, minus the creepy blue eyes. He bought a hot coffee to warm up and we decided to just call it day and go back to the apartment.
In for the day. Josie huddled by the window to get warmth from the sun and also from the baseboard heater by her feet. The curtain made a nice pocket of warm air so she could check in with her friends in comfort.
Someone must have texted something funny.
In light of the ever-worsening temperature forecast — tomorrow is supposed to be -16F — we’re leaving Montreal tomorrow morning (provided our car will start) and heading to Philadelphia instead. When we mentioned Philly, the kids started singing the theme song to Fresh Price of Bel Air and won’t quit, which is kind of annoying but better than hiding in our apartment from the cold and wasting two days of vacation doing nothing. We’re chalking this one up to “experience,” knowing that the kids will never forget it. We got that out of it, at least!
Thursday, 28 Dec 2017
Our car won’t start.
Adam: I’ve already called CAA and they’ll be by in an hour or so. (CAA is the Canadian version of AAA. They have reciprocity.)
We need to pack up and be ready because once this truck gets going, I’m not turning it off until we reach the relatively balmy temps of the upper 20s in Pennsylvania!
Today was a bust. We got an hour late start because of the dead battery. We drove all day to Philly and arrived after dark, and then couldn’t get into our hotel. It was a boutique hotel and they didn’t have a concierge and nobody to check us in. Every phone number we called put us in touch with a computer and we couldn’t get an actual human on the phone.
Cold and mad, we had to get alternate lodging at Residence Inn, all 5 crammed into one small room (and grateful to have a place at all.) For dinner we ordered delivery from Chili’s and the girl who brought the food forgot Josie’s salad meal. Josie ordered salad because she didn’t want heavy, greasy food for dinner but she ended up having to eat part of Isabella’s pizza and part of my pasta. She sprawled on the bed saying, “Ohhh, I’m so full I don’t feel good. I wish I’d gotten my salad.” Just then someone knocked on the door — it was the delivery girl. “I’m so sorry, I forgot to bring your salad. Here it is!” We thanked her and once the door was shut, Josie said, “You’ve got to be freakin’ kidding me!” Crap day for the most part, although the roads were good and we’re safe, so can’t complain.
Philadelphia, PA
Friday, 29 Dec 2017
Philadelphia is much warmer (+25F or so) than Montreal so we’re able to actually get out and do things today. It feels downright balmy!
View from our hotel room window.
Holden on his couch bed.
Independence Hall
Courthouse room in Independence Hall
Room where reps met. There are 13 green tables, one for each of the 13 colonies (2 guys to each table.) George Washington sat in the big Chippendale chair at the raised head table (back wall.)
Birthplace of the USA – where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where our Constitution was argued, edited and finally written.
Staircase up to second level, not always open to the public. We got lucky.
Upstairs were some very nicely appointed rooms where the big-wigs of the day could do important things in luxurious surroundings.
Banquet hall
This room was both a library and a munitions storage.
Next up was the Liberty Bell building (all this stuff was free, which was really nice.)
Isabella is thinking deep thoughts about the Liberty Bell with her Shrek hat on. To her left is the Honorable Senator Marco Rubio (R) of Florida. He showed up after we were there, with family and secret service entourage in tow.
Adam: We then made our way to view Benjamin Franklin’s grave and then did a full tour of the Philadelphia Mint. I wish Jason was here today for that tour – we could have nerded out together in all things coin related. The factory there is not unlike my factory in Mexico.. except they literally make money while we lose it in a more roundabout fashion. (No photos of the Philadelphia Mint — no photography allowed.)
Betsy Ross House
Formal sitting room in the house Betsy Ross rented rooms. This home was shared at various times by a myriad of renters. Note the Delft tile around the fireplace.
One of the bedrooms.
Betsy Ross’s bedroom where she likely sewed the flags. She was officially an upholsterer and made other things like curtains. Producing American flags was considered treason (back when the British were still in charge) and she could be hanged for it. Therefore flag projects were hidden in private rooms and quickly stashed away if anyone came over. It was a dangerous undertaking, but poor women took the risk anyway because the pay was good.
Actress portraying Betsy Ross (below), telling the story of her life. General Washington originally wanted 6-pointed stars on the flag, since a General’s star has six points. Betsy told him that a 6-pointed star was much harder to make than a 5-pointed star and would take a significantly longer time to sew each flag. Then she showed him a trick to make a 5-pointed star with one snip of the scissors. He was in a big hurry to have as many flags produced as possible, so he agreed to the 5-pointed design. The American flag uses 5-pointed stars to this day, thanks to Betsy Ross.
Cellar level kitchen.
The kids are waiting outside the Ross house, next to the tomb of Betsy and her third husband. (The first two both died.)
Adam: We then went to the Barnes Foundation museum – I’ve been before and it’s probably my favorite art museum. The place is just obscenely lousy with Gauguin, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, etc.
As always in the presence of the world’s finest art, our kids are bored.
The city of brotherly Amor, while the original sculpture is out for repairs and renovation.
After lunch we did some shopping at the Macy’s next door – because it was indoors and we were all too cold to spend more time outside.
The entire store was having massive (like 75%-90% off) after-Christmas sales.
Kids resting in the mattress department. I haven’t looked at mattresses in years and was surprised at how different they are now than the last time we bought one back in 2001 or so. Technology hasn’t passed the mattress industry by.
Macy’s tree and lights display
Girls buying super cheap discounted makeup and lotion in the double-clearance area on the top floor, way back in a corner.
Appomattox Court House, VA
Saturday, 30 Dec 2017
Appomattox Courhouse (name of the village, not just one building) had a population of about 150 during the civil war. Apart from the famous McClain house (where Lee surrendered) the rest of the village is numerous other houses and structures that are either authentic, restored or re-created. I love visiting parks with little to no tourists, and we got just that this afternoon.
Main building with Park Ranger station and museum on second floor.
Wikipedia: One of the first battles of the American Civil War took place on the farm of Wilmer McLean at Bull Run, Virginia, the First Battle of Bull Run (First Battle of Manassas). Soon after that battle the McLeans, seeking to avoid the war, moved to the village of Clover Hill, Virginia (the name of which was changed to “Appomattox Court House,” having just become the county seat). Because of the name of the village, many mistakenly think the surrender was signed in the courthouse building. (In years past, the county seats of many rural counties, especially in Virginia, had names that were simply the name of the county plus “Court House”; some of these remain today.
Because the First Battle of Bull Run, fought on July 21, 1861, took place on Wilmer McLean’s farm about 120 miles (190 km) to the north in Virginia, it can be said that the Civil War started in McLean’s backyard in 1861 and ended in his parlor in 1865. (Neither event, however, marked the true beginning or ending of hostilities.) McLean was a retired major in the Virginia militia. He was too old to enlist at the outbreak of the Civil War and decided to move to get away from the Civil War. After the war, he would say of himself that he moved because he loved peace, but he made a small fortune running sugar through the Union blockade. He was also a slave owner, and there are slave quarters next to McLean’s house.
The McLean House, parlor: Terms of surrender were discussed and approved in this room. Lee sat on the left with the marble table. Grant sat in the wooden chair on the right.
Upstairs bedroom of the McLean son.
Across the hall is the shared bedroom of the 4 McLean daughters, aged 2 to 20.
McLean parent’s bedroom, downstairs.
Cellar level: kitchen with door opening out into the courtyard where the slave quarters were.
Celler level across from kitchen, formal dining room.
Slave quarters behind McLean House. This building housed a main room and a large kitchen/dining area. Another smaller building next to it was all bedrooms.
Kitchen/dining inside slave quarters. The McLeans were wealthy and owned 9 slaves.
Outhouse.
Appomattox Court House General Mercantile.
This is where you’d buy your stuff. They had an odd assortment of things ranging from doorknobs to ham.
Interior of the tavern, where the 30,000 parole passes were printed.
This building was their prison. It had cells on the top floors. The bottom floor looked like the place where the guards would hang out.
Map of our round-trip. Green is first half, red is second half.
We went through a lot of states on this trip. Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, Delaware, Washington, D.C., North Carolina, South Carolina.
After a two-day drive from Atlanta, we arrived in Boston Friday afternoon just in time to beat the snow. We settled into our AirBnB, a 3-bedroom apartment in a building dating to 1850 just south of Boston Common park. It’s in a fantastic area, within walking distance of a lot of the wonderful things Boston has to offer.
The apartment itself has a distinct 70s feel to the kitchen and bathrooms, including the appliances in the kitchen and the heating system (which also appears to be the last time the space was updated.) It has a microwave nearly identical to the one we had in my childhood home in the late 70s-early 80s. I’d forgotten they ever used to look like that, so it’s actually been kind of fun to putter around in the kitchen and stick my feet under the baseboard heaters to warm my toes. It’s bringing back a lot of old memories.
The microwave control panel: check out that lever-style open button!
The main areas of the space look much older … original wood beams, creaking floors, brick fireplaces in every room, and not a straight line in sight. The floor is so slanted it reminds me of trying to walk on a ship deck.
Adam, Holden and I walked about 1/2 mile to a Whole Foods and bought our typical vacation “Skyrim Dinner” supplies for the next few days — salami, eggs, ham, olives, bread, strawberries, applies, bananas, wine, (and some things not found in Skyrim: coconut water, hummus, pepperdews, pickle-flavored potato chips, and eggnog.)
Adam: Saturday, 23: Today’s weather was not good.. light snow which then turned to rain. It was mostly just wet and slushy everywhere, so we focused on as many “inside” events as we could manage.
Getting suited up with sweaters, coats, boots, hats, gloves. It’s cold here!
Hiding from the rainy drizzle while we wait for our Uber.
We started with a trip to Cambridge to see Harvard and visit the Harvard Museum of Natural Science. The place was great and we nearly had the whole museum to ourselves.
This was very different from our experience last Christmas in New York when we tried to go to the natural history museum … it was so crowded we couldn’t get in. Boston is a dream when it comes to neat locations with no crowds to battle through.
The very first exhibit you see after buying your tickets is about bird nests and their evolution. I held up the entire group as I insisted on reading every word.
Big dinosaur fossil area.
Modern animals of the world, organized by continent/geographical range.
Whale skeletons suspended from the ceiling — one of the best exhibits of whales I’ve seen. They even had the baleen intact, situated where you could get a really good close-up look.
More birds. I am loving this museum!
The other wing of the museum is dedicated to minerals and cultural (human) exhibits.
(Photo below:) Walking through Harvard Square. Wikipedia: John Harvard is a sculpture in bronze by Daniel Chester French in Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Massachusetts honoring John Harvard (1607–1638), whose deathbed bequest to the “schoale or Colledge” recently undertaken by the Massachusetts Bay Colony was so gratefully received that it was consequently ordered “that the Colledge agreed upon formerly to bee built at Cambridg shalbee called Harvard Colledge.” There being nothing to indicate what John Harvard had looked like, French used a Harvard student collaterally descended from an early Harvard president as inspiration.
Legend has it that you rub his toe for good luck. Consequently, the toes of the stature are rubbed completely gold-colored (the original non-weathered bronze showing through). However, this is a legend believed by tourists only. Harvard students know better, and luckily for us so did Adam because he researches everything in advance … (from The Harvard Crimson)
“John Harvard’s statue enjoys a peculiar fate. From the moment the sun rises, tourists come by the busload to stand before him like pilgrims gazing upon a relic. From the moment the sun sets, people pee on him. This combination of veneration by day and urination by night is one of Harvard College’s most pregnant idiosyncrasies. It reveals the startling contrast between the way the world perceives Harvard and the way that we perceive ourselves, and an arrogance more rank than the sewage drenching John Harvard every Saturday night.
It is ironic that so many visitors feel compelled to have their picture taken next to a glorified outhouse. But Harvard’s favorite late-night pit stop is considerably more than just a statue. To outsiders, John Harvard represents the pinnacle of success and academic achievement. When tourist after smiling tourist rubs the famously shiny foot, it is almost as if he pays homage to the American Dream itself. As a Harvard undergraduate, it is difficult not to be tickled by the attention. The clicks of the flashbulbs serve as a constant reminder that we are students at a remarkable place capable of inspiring profound emotions in many people. John Harvard’s stern gaze tells us where we are.
So naturally, we pee on him. And not just once. We pee on him with such great frequency that from dusk until dawn the urine rains down like a biblical plague. Urinators comment that the statue can be difficult to mount, since it is already dripping wet from previous visitors. I know a room of boys that peed on John Harvard three times a night for an entire week—it was the primary activity of their evenings.”
“We pee on him with such great frequency that from dusk until dawn the urine rains down like a biblical plague.” What a sentence! We watched as tourist after tourist rubbed the pee-soaked foot of John Harvard, while our kids gagged. We did not touch the foot. (Or anything else in the vicinity, for that matter.)
Adam: We ate lunch at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage – a famous haunt on the main drag across the street from Harvard. It has been the scene in several movies that take place at Harvard.
Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage has a very entertaining menu and fun decor. The prices were a bit high for hamburgers (which honesty were only OK, although not deal breaker; I’ve eaten overpriced underwhelming food before) but the biggest mark against Mr. Bartley’s — and a sin I will never forgive — was that they had no bathroom. Seriously, no bathroom. That ruined the meal for me. I had the same feeling I get on airplanes when they announce you’re not allowed to get out of your seat … even if I don’t need to go potty, just knowing I can’t makes it inevitable that I’ll have to go right nooooow! (I also wanted to wash my hands after walking by the pee statue.)
Adam: We then went to Faneuil Hall to do some shopping. Josie wanted a new jacket. Holden needed shoes. Holden and I needed some warmer socks.
We found one of Boston’s UNIQLO locations and Josie was able to replace the jacket she bought last Christmas at UNIQLO in New York. She’s nearly worn her old one completely out, so the chance to replace it with an identical one made her extremely happy. (Although this time she bought the dark navy blue instead of the dusty rose pink.)
Next up was a shoe store for Holden. His old shoes have a hole in the bottom, which in this weather means that his foot is soaking wet 30 seconds after we leave the house. We found a Pay Less Shoe Store and got him set up with a new pair, so cheap they’re practically disposable. Adam said, “Even if they only last long enough to get us through this trip we’ll have gotten our money’s worth.” Then Josie found a pair of lavender Converse knockoffs for $12 and Isabella found a pair of navy blue faux suede boots for $19. As we left the store, Josie was positively giddy: “This day sure is going my way! Best day EVER!” Holden was less enthusiastic. He was happy to have dry feet, but felt that portion of his afternoon was wasted “doing chores.”
We wandered about a bit until we got tired of being cold and wet and then Brenda had the great idea to go see the new Star Wars movie in the afternoon. (The Last Jedi.)
After the movie, we walked back home and are now settling in for the night. It will be colder tomorrow, but clear and dry. Perfect for our “Freedom Tour” around the historical highlights of Boston. It is supposed to snow 5-7” Xmas eve night.. so we hope to wake up to a truly White Christmas.
Street view near our apartment.
Sunday, 24 Dec 2017 (Christmas Eve)
The Freedom Trail is a path through downtown Boston that takes you past 16 historical locations. The official distance of the trail is supposedly 2.5 miles, but we put in a total of 9.3 miles walking all over the original, historical part of Boston. I don’t at all understand where they come up with 2.5 miles. It seemed much, much longer than that and was closer to 8 miles according to the walking app on Adam’s phone, if you discount a generous one mile for our detours to find Starbucks and etc.
The Freedom Trail begins in the Boston Common; dating from 1634, it’s the oldest city park in the United States. The park is filled with the fattest squirrels I’ve ever seen. One was sitting on the rim of a garbage can and I decided to see how close I could get before he ran off. Rather than scampering away, he actually came forward to meet me and was clearly expecting me to offer him a treat. He reached out to check out my gloves.
Close-up of squirrel; he’s nibbling my glove, trying to determine if it’s edible or not. (He concluded it was not, but he sure gave it a good try.)
Several others squirrels came toward us after this one. We didn’t have any food, so they were disappointed. While Adam was trying to tell us about the substantial historical significance of the park, a squirrel climbed up my leg … I think with the intention of perching on my shoulder. It startled me and I did a little “eek” dance and he jumped to safety. This was far more interesting than the history lesson and Adam gave up trying to enlighten us while squirrels were around.
The streets are still iced over from yesterday. Some areas are practically ice rinks, lots of fun to slip and slide around on.
“Don’t crack your skull open! We’ll spend the whole vacation in the hospital!”
The steps up were completely iced over — Isabella, Holden and I made it up by clinging to the hand rail, but even then it took some doing. Adam and Josie decided not to risk it.
Across from the park is a Dunkin Donuts. I insisted we make a detour to buy some squirrel treats. The kids and Adam shared chocolate glazed donuts. I bought an apple fritter, thinking it was probably the healthiest choice for squirrels because it at least has some fruit in it. (Nothing at Dunkin Donuts is a particularly healthy choice.)
Aaaaaaand …. the squirrels are so spoiled they didn’t want my fritter. I finally found one taker, a scraggly-looking little guy with a deformed tail. A man out photographing the park told us that he has a friend who brings bags of almonds, which the squirrels LOVE. He said it creates a “squirrelnado.” Every squirrel in the park races over to get in on it. I wanted some almonds but didn’t know where to buy any.
The fat little guy in the picture below rejected my offering. He’d sniff it and then turn his face away with his ears pinned back, like Max does when you offer him a pickle.
Adam finally tore me away from the squirrels and we continued on our Freedom Trail walk. Granary Burying Ground (below). About 5000 people buried here, starting in 1660. Notable tombstones for Sam Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, Peter Faneuil and Crispus Attucks.
Feeding the rest of the apple fritter to birds in the cemetery. Unlike the squirrels, the birds were thrilled with their treat. Birds are the best.
In front of the old City Hall. Republicans can “stand in opposition” against the repressive asses. (Note: the donkey is a whole big statue, while the “republican opposition” is a paltry pair of tiny shoe prints.)
Text from above photo:
The Democratic Donkey and the Republican Elephant When, in 1828, Andrew Jackson established the Democratic party and ran for president using the populist slogan “Let the people rule”, his opponents thought him silly and labeled him a “jackass”. Jackson, however, picked up on their name calling and turned it to his advantage by using the donkey on his campaign posters. Over the years this donkey has become the accepted symbol of the Democratic party.
The symbol of the Republican party in 1874 was born in the imagination of cartoonist, Thomas Nash, in Harper’s Weekly. Soon other cartoonists used the elephant to symbolize Republicans, and eventually, Republicans adopted the elephant as their official symbol.
Below: Statue of Benjamin Franklin near the site of the old Boston Latin School, established in 1635. It’s the first and oldest public school in the United States. The original building is gone, but the Boston Latin School still exists. (From wikipedia:) As of 2016, the School is listed under the “gold medal” list, ranking 51 out of the top 100 high schools in the United States (more than 20,000 public high schools from 50 states and the District of Columbia were analyzed) by U.S. News & World Report magazine.
Adam: In front of the old State House. This building was the seat of British government in the colony until the revolution. The Declaration of Independence was first read aloud in MA on that balcony. The stone circle marks the location of the Boston Massacre.
Faneuil Hall – long history here but briefly the meeting place where the fathers of the Revolution got together, made speeches, and plotted.
The first floor of the building is a market selling mostly tourist junk; the second floor (shown below) is open to the public as long as nobody has rented it out for a private function. Nearly all of the US Presidents throughout history have visited here, and many have given speeches … standing behind that very podium sitting center stage.
Adam: (below) The kids are quietly and patiently listening to a Park Ranger giving us our own, customized tour of the Halls history and significance. We were the only people visiting at that time. In fact, we have felt like we have the city to ourselves.. very few tourists and we’ve had access to all sorts of wonderful things without crowds or delays.
The Park Ranger said to us, “Do you want the one minute lecture or the 30 minute lecture?” Adam said, “Probably the one minute lecture, since we have the kids with us.” The guy said, “OK!” and started on his one-minute lecture … 30 minutes later he was apologizing for being long-winded but was clearly nowhere near done talking. He was fascinating to listen to, in no small part because he was so excited about the subject matter. He could probably have talked Boston history for days without stopping to sleep.
It’s always fun to listen to people when they get jazzed up about subjects dear to their hearts. He would have made a fantastic professor. The kids look kind of bored in the photo below but they were actually listening and interested in what he had to say. He did a really good job of bringing the stories to life.
Paul Revere’s house (below). They didn’t allow photos inside (huge bummer!) but this was by far my favorite historical location. My attention span for political history (all the war stuff) is pretty limited, but I’m fascinated with glimpses into the day-to-day life of people from different periods. The interior of the house is set up just like it was during the time the Revere family lived there, including several pieces of their original furniture.
The Reveres had an “updated” kitchen in their house, which meant it was on the main living floor instead of in the cellar, and it had two separate built-in ovens next to the main fireplace. The old style ovens were in the back of the fireplace so you had to lean over the fire to get food in and out. (By “oven” they mean built-in hole, like an Italian brick pizza oven.) With the new-fangled oven off to the side, you could reach the food without risking your skirts catching on fire.
Below: photo I found on the internet here: You can see the two ovens on the left side of the main fireplace. Bread in the top one, firewood (and other food items) in the lower, and cauldrons hanging in the main fireplace.
An image of the old-style kitchen. You can see the oven on the back wall. One would have to step into the fireplace opening and reach over the open flames to get stuff in and out. You can see how the above design is an improvement.
The Reveres were a middle class family and therefore didn’t have servants. Paul went through two wives: the first one died after having 8 children. The second wife had 8 more children (total of 16 kids for Paul) and not only did she have to take care of her own 8 babies, she raised the first wife’s children, too — without domestic help. Only 11 of the 16 kids lived to adulthood but the museum didn’t say which ones lived and which ones died.
The steeple (photo below) on the Old North Church is the one from the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (excerpt):
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch
Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,--
One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm.”
Getting a live demonstration of an old printing press at Captain Jackson’s Historic Chocolate Shop And the Printing Office of Edes and Gill.
Demonstration (and servings) of colonial-era “drinkable chocolate” utilizing a recipe from the 1750s (I think … maybe she said 1770? I can’t remember.) The spice recipe consists of cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, chili pepper, anise, orange zest, salt, and annatto, as well as a small amount of sugar. It was very good.
Walking across the Charlestown Bridge. Most of the path is a metal grate you can see through to the water below. This “acrophobia friendly zone” was a little oasis right in the middle.
Josie loving her new UNIQLO jacket, Holden enjoying dry feet in his new shoes.
The Battle of Bunker Hill 17 June 1775. This tablet marks the point where the British reinforcements landed.
Bunker Hill memorial (below). We climbed up all 294 steps to the top and were breathless and sore as a result. The steps are very narrow and steep, and there are no stopping spots to rest and catch your breath (without blocking traffic going both directions.) Therefore you must soldier on, hoping you don’t drop dead from exertion. We did longer and steeper climbs in cathedrals in Paris and London, but those weren’t as strenuous because they have rest spots built in between levels. This one is a relentless slog with no mercy.
(Below:) View back towards Boston from the top of Breed’s Hill – site of the Battle of Bunker Hill. They have a small bench at the top of the tower which everyone collapses on for several minutes before they even bother to look out the windows. It takes awhile before you can care about the view. But once you get your heartbeat and breathing back under control (and feel pretty confident that you’re not going to have a heart attack after all), the view is quite spectacular.
Kids resting their wobbly legs once we were back down. They’re waiting for me, across the street in the museum shop using the bathroom.
Standing back up again, testing the “noodles.”
We took an Uber over to Whole Foods to get last-minute supplies for Christmas day — a package of 4 logs for the fireplace, a Boston Cream Pie, some extra fruit and bread. We spent the rest of the evening playing Cosmic Encounter — Holden and Isabella tied for the win.
Monday, 25 Dec 2017 (Christmas Day)
We woke up this morning to snow. It’s the first white Christmas Adam and I have had since we got married (I think my last one was Christmas 1992, the last time I went back to Anchorage for the holidays during college.) It’s definitely a first for our kids. When we chose to go north for our vacation this year, the kids were all hoping we’d have a quintessential snowy white Christmas and it actually happened.
We got a nice fire going in our 1850s fireplace. It was so nice and cozy, a perfect snowy New England Christmas atmosphere … but after awhile the smoke started making me feel a bit sick and I had to open a couple of windows. Then the room got too cold and snow started blowing in and getting the floor all wet. I am really grateful I live in a time when open fires aren’t the sole source of heating and cooking. I love the campfire smell, but the smoke always ends up bothering me, which is a shame.
Heading out for lunch in Chinatown. This is the entrance to our apartment. First ones to put footprints in the snow!
The alley our front door opens onto. It’s called Knox Street, but it’s too narrow for a car. (How is this a street and not an alley?!) You have to park elsewhere and walk to your front door.
Heading out to the real street from our “street.”
Unlike Atlanta, when it snows in Boston people just get on with their daily routines. Out come the snow blowers, the street sweepers and plows, and the salt trucks. Even on Christmas day, it’s business as usual.
Like in New York, Boston’s Chinatown is open on Christmas Day and hopping with activity, even though it doesn’t look like it from the photo below. There were lots of people out and about.
We ate lunch at Q Restaurant, specializing in Mongolian Hot Pot. Those huge vats of broth in the middle of the table are on heaters that keep it boiling. You dunk your meat, vegetables, and noodles in the broth to cook it at the table, then scoop it out onto your plate and season it with soy sauce and other condiments. It was fantastic. The kids really loved it.
The kids had “basic beef broth” with no spices in it. Adam and I ordered a broth with a 3-chili rating (you can see it in the foreground, full of red chili peppers.) The kids all have plates of very thinly sliced raw pork, udon noodles, and assorted vegetables. Adam and I had beef and lamb; otherwise our meals were all the same. It only takes about 20 seconds to cook the meat, but the noodles and veggies take around 2 minutes.
Our evening’s entertainment was a third game of Cosmic Encounter: Isabella and Adam for the tie.
Holden having the best time of his life. He loves this game.
Our special Christmas Boston Creme Pie (even though it looks like a cake.) According to wikipedia: A Boston cream pie is a yellow butter cake that is filled with custard or cream and topped with chocolate glaze. The dessert acquired its name when cakes and pies were cooked in the same pans, and the words were used interchangeably.
It was delicious.
Tomorrow morning we head out for Montreal, Canada — roughly 300 miles NE of Boston.
This week is the kids’ first Fall break. We rented a cabin in the woods for a few days and spent a long weekend up there — Saturday to Tuesday. (Adam had to leave on Wednesday for work.) We had a fantastic time. We stayed in the foothills of the Appalachians, on a lake near the top of the intriguingly-named Double Knob Mountain.
We actually had to use 4WD on this trip – all of our hikes were well off the highway on USGS service roads. It was fun to get the truck a bit dirty.
Kitchen area.
Main sitting/TV room.
The covered/screened porch at the back of the cabin. This is where we spent most of our time. We had perfect weather all 4 days … highs in the low 80s, lows in the high 50s and sunshine.
We couldn’t figure out how to get the stove in the kitchen to work (it had some weird deal with the gas turned off) so we cooked all of our meals on the deck grill.
View of the lake from our back deck.
Adam discovered the existence of an old board game called “221B Baker Street.” It is basically a Sherlock Holmes themed version of Clue … a little different, but the concept is the same. He bought a copy on eBay for $0.99 and we brought it with us. It was printed in 1977 but still in it’s original plastic wrapper — nobody had ever opened it, so it was like a brand new game. It was weird to see such a new looking game in such an old-fashioned style. We played it every evening at Wine Time. We also found a scrabble board at the cabin and played a few games of that.
Isabella when she wins – and she did win the Sherlock Holmes game on night 3. (Adam won the first game, I won the second.)
24 Sept 2017, Sunday
On our first full day we hiked the Benton MacKaye Trail. The highlight of this hike is the swinging bridge across the Toccoa River. This is the longest suspension bridge east of the Mississippi and it rocks and sways just like you would want it to. Even more when there are 3 kids on it.
Max did NOT like the bridge and we had to leash him up and drag him across.
Now that the swinging bridge is behind him, Max is having the time of his life. Running top speed through the forest is what he was born to do.
Something about water brings out everyone’s quiet contemplation instincts.
Max is doing his best to maneuver the rocks and not get wet. He does not like water or bridges. He’s much more of a run-wild-in-the-woods kind of dog.
25 Sept 2017, Monday
Breakfast – eggs, chicken and bacon with apple/cinnamon bread from Mercier Orchards.
Max isn’t too proud to scrounge on the floor for crumbs.
Fishing dock in the back yard.
Holden trying his hand at fishing early in the morning before we head out for the day. The lake was stocked with fish, but they were all too small.
For our second hike, we headed deeper into the mountain to Long Creek Falls. This hike is actually part of the official Appalachian Trail. It was fun to run into some hikers who were clearly better geared up, grubby and tired from the long haul.
Holden with his inevitable shoe problems on the Appalachian Trail.
Gorgeous forest, gorgeous weather.
Long Creek Falls. Not much to do but look at them and rest up for the trip back down to the truck.
Back to the cabin for Wine Time (one of our favorites, Pezzi King), 221B Baker Street, dinner (filet mignon, sauteed mushrooms, onions, spinach and tomatoes), and Scrabble.
26 Sept 2017, Tuesday
Our last hike was the longest – 3.5 miles – doing a circuit walk of Amadahy, a peninsula that juts into Carters Lake. Carters Lake is the deepest of the numerous reservoir lakes in North GA created in the 60s and 70s to provide hydroelectric power and solid water supply to metro-Atlanta.
The kids and Max ahead of us on the winding trail.
Adam and I caught up. We spent the rest of the hike talking about college, college applications, future jobs for all three kids, hopes, dreams, and fears. Max sniffed things.
Max runs back and forth enough to do the hike 2-3x what distance we covered.
Then it was the 2-hour drive back home. Adam had to leave the next day for work, but we managed to get a wonderful mini-vacation full of fun, laughter, relaxation, and memories.
We were going stir-crazy at home and have three weeks left of summer before school starts, so we decided to take one last mini-vacation to New Orleans. Through AirBnB we found a neat old Victorian-era house in the Lower Garden District big enough for 6 people, so we invited Isabella’s best friend, Cassandra, to come with us. The floors creak and the rooms smell like old books. I love it.
We didn’t do much today. We arrived around 3:00 p.m., figured out where we were allowed to park, found a little grocery store to stock up for breakfasts and dinners, and then Adam, the three girls and I walked down to the French Quarter just to wander a bit.
The weather is hot and muggy with pop-up thunderstorms every once in a while. (The “feels like” temperature is 110F, the actual temp is around 90F.) After walking back from the grocery store, Holden wanted to take a shower and opted to stay home with Max instead.
Max doesn’t like crowds or noise, so downtown New Orleans isn’t his cup of tea. It’s usually very crowded, there are noisy street performers and musicians, and many open-air restaurants wafting food smells into the air. It’s either festive or chaotic, depending on your disposition. We took him once and he was clearly overwhelmed, so now we leave him in the apartment which he likes much better.
Below: view of our neighborhood through the front room window. You can see the moody weather … pretty blue sky on one side, ominous thunder clouds on the other.
View of our back yard. It was crawling with hundreds (if not thousands) of baby lizards. They were generally less than 1/2 inch long and cute.
The walk from our house to the French Quarter is 1.4 miles. There are a lot of shops along the way so it makes for an interesting and fun journey. Below: a seersucker suit: $700.
The girls giggling over naughty t-shirts in this store.
Being Thursday, most of the artists aren’t out at Jackson Square. That’s more of a weekend thing. I’m hoping tomorrow afternoon, which is a Friday, will bring the artists out.
I was a little disappointed about the lack of art (although not surprised), but across the street Cafe du Monde was less crowded than we’ve ever seen it. Usually there is a huge line you must wait in to get a table, but this time we were seated immediately. Score!!
Cassandra’s first beignet.
Corner of Jackson Square across the street from Cafe du Monde.
We wandered around for another half hour, then took an Uber back to the house for wine time and a light dinner. (Salad, brie and crackers, fruit.)
07 July 2017, Friday
Adam woke up before everyone else (as usual) and walked to Starbucks for his morning coffee. Nothing else really opens before 10:00 a.m., so we waited around in the apartment and let the kids sleep in until 9:00 or so. Then we all walked over to Jackson Square to check out the Friday morning action.
I like this photo (taken near our apartment) because to me it represents New Orleans; the juxtaposition of fancy sitting right next to shabby.
Hand-rolling cigars.
Festive decorations on the upper balcony.
Run-down building, but the occupant cares enough to decorate.
Below: The Magnolia Sugar & Spice Praline Kitchen & Hot Sauce Bar. They have warning signs (“taste at your own risk!”) and let you try them all out. I tried a couple made with ghost peppers (they actually weren’t too bad) but none of the kids were brave enough after they discovered that you are supposed to sign a waiver before you start tasting. They just watched me to see if I was going to die.
My favorite was called Satan’s Rage. It had a nice front flavor, and the heat wasn’t bad enough to obliterate your ability to taste the next bite. Holden eventually tried that one, too. We would have purchased a bottle except nobody wanted to carry it around all day.
We ate lunch at Cafe Pontalba, right on Jackson Square, and tried an appetizer of alligator — half of it blackened, the other half deep fried. It was good, although it was nearly indistinguishable from chicken. It is a healthy meat: it has nearly twice as much protein as the same amount of beef; about 1/3rd the amount of total fat, very little cholesterol, very little saturated fat. (I don’t know why we don’t have any pictures of it. I guess we were too busy eating and just forgot.)
In the afternoon, we headed to Barataria Preserve, about 30 minutes out of town. We wanted to see alligators or some other kind of wildlife. What we did do is go out into the swap and then get drenched by a downpour. I saw one small alligator that quickly hid underneath the boardwalk (nobody else saw it) and we all saw some enormous grasshoppers.
It started out really neat — you could hear intense, rumbling thunder off in the distance. It gave the swamp a great “swampy” atmosphere.
Then the rain came. It was bone dry, then suddenly it was pouring. It was as if Mother Nature had turned on a shower faucet.
I gave Holden my shawl, which he wore like an old woman. He has never liked getting his head or face wet. He handles it much better now than he did when he was a little boy, but he still grumbles quite a bit. By the time we got back to the car, the rain had stopped.
Soaking wet, we drove back to the apartment. Holden and I walked to the grocery store a few blocks away for dinner items. By then it was wine/snack time. We ate brie, crackers, ham, salad, popcorn, mac n’cheese, and fruit. Our evening’s entertainment was a rerun of Happy Days and a couple game shows.
08 July 2017, Saturday
We started this morning with the Honey Island Swamp Tour of the nearby Old Pearl River and various bayous that branch off the river.
We’ve done this same tour in the past, but the kids always have a good time and it was a first for Cassandra to see wild alligators.
Every time we’ve done this tour, the swamp is different. The first year, during late summer, the water was covered in a carpet of green plants. We went once at Thanksgiving when the alligators were hibernating. This time, the water level is 7 feet higher than normal due to copious amounts of extra rain, which changes the habits of the wildlife yet again. Since it’s different every time you go out, it’s something we like to do each time we visit. It’s fun to see the changes.
Holden and Josie waiting on the front porch to be called to our boat launch.
On the water: here comes an alligator approaching the boat. You can barely see him — he’s right under the spot where the tree branch originates. (It’s easier to see the wake he’s leaving behind.)
Now he’s much closer.
Pretty reflection of the trees in the water.
Wild hogs hiding in the tangle of tree roots. It was a mama and three babies. Black piglet swimming (middle of frame) and brown piglet peeking out from the roots.
The tour guide said yesterday there were four babies, and today they are all acting skittish and cautious. He figured one of the babies got eaten by an alligator and it spooked the others. They really wanted the treats (marshmallows) the tour guide was handing out, but they were scared to swim up to the side of the boat out in open water to get them. They stayed in the protection of the tree root area.
Mama (right in the middle of the frame) keeping a close eye on her babies.
Little brown piglet hoping for one more marshmallow to be tossed where she could reach it. The other brown piglet never worked up enough nerve to leave the safety of land. The third baby was black, like the mother. He was the bravest.
A sudden and rather violent downpour. The extra water didn’t bother the alligators.
Fishing shacks/cabins lining the river. Many are only accessible by boat and many of them don’t have electricity.
If the river level gets too high, your house gets wet.
Waiting for the your guide to get the waterproof tarps out to protect everyone’s legs and feet from getting drenched.
We returned to the city for lunch at Cafe Pantalba …
… and afterwards, on our walk to the next destination, ran into a parade. When it got closer, we discovered it was a Celebration of Life. In proper New Orleans style, instead of a solemn funeral procession, there is a jazz brass band and people marching, dancing and singing to celebrate the life of someone recently passed.
In this case, the purple and turquoise ribbon is for suicide prevention and awareness. Juston Hornsby was only 26. When I learned that, it was hard not to cry. The “parade” suddenly wasn’t fun anymore. You could see tourists getting excited, “Ooh, a parade!” and then realize what it actually was and quickly stop taking photos and clapping along to the music.
Our afternoon activity was Clue Carré, a New Orleans “Escape Room.” We did one of these 3 years ago in Manchester, UK. You enter a room and have 60 minutes to solve various clues and puzzles to figure out how to escape the room with the correct combination on the door. Everyone had a blast doing this (no photos allowed inside).
It was really fun. We did the Vampire Hunter Room: (from Clue Carrè’s website) The vampire has traveled to his hiding place to hibernate and hide his family’s riches. He has been resting for quite some time. The power is out in his estate. You have exactly one hour before he wakes. You are the team of hunters tasked with navigating through the darkness and killing the vampire with a stake through the heart before he wakes.
In this room, you won by staking the vampire rather than escaping the room. Their stats (at the time we played) are that 44% of people succeed in this room. The record time was 25:28 … the average escape time is 55:59. We managed to stake the vampire with 7 minutes to spare. #killedit
Taking a break to celebrate our hard-earned success: fresh pralines on our way back to Jackson Square. We headed back in that direction because I wanted one last chance to see if the art scene had improved.
It hadn’t. Not too many artists out today, either. I wonder if they are all taking a break because it’s the weekend after the 4th of July celebrations. They may have had an exceptionally busy last weekend that spilled over into the beginning of the week (July 4th was a Tuesday this year.) I guess I’ll never know. A few people were out, but not many.
In the end, we came home with some great memories but no new paintings. Maybe next time!
Adam got up at 5:00 a.m. and escorted John and Elaine to the airport this morning.
Today turned out to be a big disappointment. It felt weird not to have John and Elaine along, and everything we planned to do ended up not working out for one reason or another.
The kids wanted to go up to the bell tower in Notre Dame Cathedral, so we took a couple of trains over there first thing, only to find the line so daunting we had to give up. With our morning activity scratched, we were at loose ends and didn’t know what to do with ourselves. The second thing we’d planned was to visit an artists’ squat, but that didn’t open until 1:00 p.m.
So, we walked around aimlessly hoping to run into something interesting. We found one thing: near the Seine, they have stationary bikes set up for public use. Pedaling the bike produces an electrical current that will charge your phone. People were actually using them, and it seems like such a good idea. I’d love to see things like this in the United States. (It reminds me of the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I loved that book.)
We meandered until restaurants started opening up for lunch. We chose a cool-looking Italian place and went in. It turned out to be the worst meal we’ve had on the whole trip. Adam and I both ordered Provincial roasted chicken and it was awful. If I’d cooked chicken like that at home, we would have thrown it out and ordered a pizza instead.
Below: wonderful atmosphere, terrible restaurant.
But the day is not yet lost! We still have the artists’ squat to visit. People on the internet say that anyone interested in authentic art, being sold directly by the artists that created it, should go to 59 Rivoli and schedule yourself at least an hour to go through it all.
This is a real cultural alternative way to present art that allows for a more democratic access to it’s creation, both for the artists and for the public. Right in the center of Paris, 59 Rivoli creates interest by it’s fun, unique, and creative facade which changes every few months.
We showed up slightly before 1:00 p.m. and stood around waiting. By 1:15 p.m. it was still closed and Adam was getting impatient. Long story short, there was a handwritten sign on the front door that said, in French, that they were closed due to unforeseen circumstances and would re-open on Sunday. We didn’t understand the sign until Adam finally thought to use the translator on his phone … as you can see in the picture below, the entire building is covered in handwritten signs, graffiti-type art, etc. and we assumed the little sign stuck to the door was part of the decoration. I am super bummed.
Disappointed and defeated, we went back to the apartment and called it a day. We’ll try again tomorrow. Here is a picture of Holden finally enjoying himself today: plugged into his computer and eating tiny pickles straight from the jar.
10 June 2017, Saturday
Today was a much better day. We had a couple of things on our itinerary, but our schedule was pretty loose and had a lot of built-in room for improvisation.
Our first destination was Victor Hugo’s house. For those who may not know, he’s the guy who wrote Notre-Dame de Paris (in English translated to The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and Les Misérables, both of which have been made into movies that our kids love. We took a train to that area of town, which is also known for a high concentration of small art galleries, and walked the rest of the way to see what we could stumble onto. The weather is absolutely gorgeous and perfect for wandering around outside, admiring the atmosphere.
We liked the name of this place. The kids were surprised the French allowed such a “racist” sign, which triggered a too-loud sidewalk conversation on our part about the difference between racism and culturism (which probably isn’t even a real word.)
Cool piece of street art. The English translation is The Dream to the Wolves.
I spent some time looking up what this might mean in French, which took a lot longer than was probably warranted because I don’t understand French and had to run everything through a translator. This is what I eventually found, although I’m still not sure it’s quite accurate; there is a book by Jordan Diowe with that title. The one review it had gave it 5 stars and provided this word salad synopsis:
Portrait in the vitriol of a motley generation. Counterculture, there is something magical in the fulgurence of your verb and in your freedom of tone and thought: road-book …
So … yeah. It may also be a musical album by the same guy.
On to more street shots of Paris.
Window shopping, art and antiques.
Victor Hugo’s house. His apartment was on the second floor. This is the staircase.
The apartment was very much worth seeing, but visually busy and fairly dark, which doesn’t lead to good photographs. I spent way more time in there than the kids (or Adam, for that matter) wanted. They ended up hanging out in the staircase waiting on me. Here they are bored …
… here is Isabella “ruining the picture so you can’t post it.” It didn’t work out like she thought it would.
Nearby, we ran into a rather nondescript doorway that lead into The Hotel de Sully’s courtyard.
Us (below) entering the side door that leads into a town square near Victor Hugo’s apartment. The hotel is a little hidden gem, at least from this side. You can tour through it at specified times during the day but the next tour was at 2:30 p.m. and we didn’t want to wait that long. We had to be satisfied wandering around the outside gardens.
More bored kids waiting on me to read all the historic markers.
In Village St. Paul – founded in 630 (now part of Paris). It is full of small quaint streets with hidden away cafes and antique shops. More art window shopping — none of these places were open.
Kids playing ball at recess in one of Paris’s schools.
This place had a little bronze bird sculpture I wanted, but it didn’t have a price on it. Usually when something in an antique or art shop doesn’t have a visible price tag, it’s way too expensive. I had to be satisfied just admiring it through the window.
More walking around.
The art stalls selling mass-produced-in-China souvenirs to tourists — Notre Dame in the background.
Searching in my purse for fingernail clippers. For some reason it’s really interesting to all three kids.
We found a tiny, hole-in-the-wall restaurant for lunch. After yesterday’s fiasco, we weren’t very confident about this place but decided to give it a chance anyway. We were the only customers in there — did we discover a hidden gem or was it empty for a reason? It turned out to be delicious. Adam ordered beef bourguignon and it was fantastic. Onion soup for me (equally good) and duck confit for Holden and Josie. Isabella had pasta with mushroom sauce. Everyone loved their meal.
The streets are starting to get busy.
Charlie Hebdo is still doing their thing. Theresa May just had a political upset in England’s election last week. That’s her, beheaded in the picture, with a caption in English that reads “Too much is too much!”
Looking over the art for sale alongside the Church of Saint Germain des Prés. The tall guy in the white suit was the artist. His stuff was good and he had several newspaper articles featuring himself posted on the wall, but he was only selling prints here.
11 June 2017, Sunday
The Marché Parisien de la Création (open-air art market) was our first destination today. They only gather on Sundays. The quality of the art on exhibit was delightfully good. We bought two oil paintings by the same artist, Sultana Dimopoulou. One of them was large so we had to take the trains back to our apartment to drop them off before heading out for our next stop, the Catacombs.
Below: we purchased the yellow painting of Provence, right, behind the artist’s head, plus another oil depicting the Arc de Triomphe.
More of the artist stalls.
First, lunch
We made our way to the Catacombs, but the line was well over 2 hours long. We will go back on Tuesday first thing.
Our last stop, and one I’ve been looking forward to for days, was the artists squat at 59 Rivoli. It was finally open! It was a cool, young space that was fun to see, but none of the art was our cup of tea. We toured through it pretty quickly and left empty-handed. It made me even happier about the paintings I bought this morning.
The artists at the open-air market were, on average, quite a bit older and their work was a little more … mmmmm, developed, is perhaps a good word. The works of each artist were consistent and they’d all found their groove/vibe/voice/whatever. I admired the exuberance of the younger artists, but most of them still had the “art student” look to their work, as though they were still working through who they wanted to be. Some of them may eventually mature into something good but they just weren’t there yet (in my layman’s opinion.) Adam didn’t take any pictures because it didn’t seem polite.
12 June 2017, Monday
We headed out early today, determined to make Take 3 (or it is Take 4?) of the Notre Dame bell tower part of our Paris experience. They open the upper levels at 10:00 a.m. so we showed up at 9:30, expecting to be first ones there. We were not.
We ended up standing in line for more than an hour (half of that waiting for it to open, and another 30 minutes because people in tour groups kept getting higher priority) but we finally got our turn.
Below: a dad taking his daughter on a tour with a private tour guide. The little girl was so cute in her Parisian outfit! (They were Americans, judging by their accents.) We figured it was some single dad sticking it to his ex-wife big-time. How can anyone compete with private guided tour of Paris??
We finally got our turn to hike up the punishing staircase to the first of the upper levels. It’s full of gargoyles.
Oh, and you’re in a cage (below). Nobody is falling off this thing. I couldn’t help but giggle when I overheard another family talking about how this was actually a lot better than the trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower they’d done the day before, where the cage issue is seriously claustrophobic. We did the Eiffel Tour thing in 2012 and hated it. Apparently it hasn’t gotten any better. The people who did it yesterday hated it, too.
More gargoyles.
Low-light photo of Isabella in front of the bells … they have two big ones …
… the smaller is named Marie and was installed in 2013 (weighing 6.2 tons)…
… and the larger is called Emmanuel which dates dates from the 17th century and weighs 13 tons.
These two are only rung on major Catholic feast days, whereas eight other bells in the north tower peal out several times a day. The kids tell me that in the Hunchback story, Quasimodo is nearly deaf from ringing those enormous bells.
Below: on the way back down the steep, winding staircase.
View of the cage.
View of Paris from the upper level. Looking down on the “roof” and transept of Notre Dame.
Staircase. This thing was treacherous. The stairs aren’t mathematically perfect, so you have to hold onto the railing to avoid tripping yourself up. There are a total of 400 steps; no toilet facilities, no lifts. “Not recommended for pregnant women, or people suffering from vertigo or a cardiac complaint.”
Back outside, having survived the staircases. (It was slightly easier than the St. Paul’s Cathedral in England. That cathedral was a doozy.)
Below: a photo of some cops. Every police officer in Paris (about half of them are women) look like they could compete in back-to-back Iron Man marathons without breaking a sweat. No Chief Wiggums here. They all look like super heroes and there are a lot of them patrolling and protecting Paris.
Next up was Cimetière du Père-Lachaise (Père Llachaise Cemetery) where Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried. So are Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Honoré de Balzac, Sarah Bernhardt, René Lalique, Modigliani, Molière, Camille Pissarro, Seurat , and at least one of the Stroganoffs (Russian aristocrats.)
The cemetery is enormous at 110 acres. The cobblestone roadways are ankle-twisters, so step carefully.
Marcel Proust’s gravesite.
Oscar Wilde’s gravesite. They had to enclose this one in plexiglass to keep people from defacing it with their tributes. There were signs all over the thing asking people to please be respectful and not leave marks on the stone since the family has to pay for the cleaning, but even so people didn’t obey. They stood on the gravestone next to it to reach over the plexiglass wall to put lipstick kiss prints on Wilde’s marker (you can see the red marks to the right of the statue’s face.) Jerks.
This graveyard is truly huge. We’ve been wandering around for a long time.
On to Jim Morrison’s grave. They had to erect a fence around it to keep people from defacing not only his stone but all the stones around his. Instead, now idiots are sticking their disgusting chewed gum to the tree in front of it. WHY???? What does gum have to do with Jim Morrison? These people are no better than dogs peeing on fence posts … they can’t resist the urge to mark territory “I was here.” So gross.
Jim Morrison’s gravestone.
The fence around it and the disgusting vandalized gum tree.
The kids don’t know who Jim Morrison is. Adam and I, plus two other older couples, were paying our respects while our kids sat on the curb and waited for us to be done already. They didn’t get it. At all.
Now for lunch. Our beautiful Josie.
Finally, we went to the Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouen, known locally as “Clignancourt.” This is a huge flea market that is open on weekends and Mondays. There are hundreds of small stores and stalls that sell all varieties of items. Much of this stuff is junk …
… and a lot of this stuff is definitely NOT junk. You could deck out your new apartment here in town complete with 18th or 19th century treasures, but only if you’re seriously wealthy. The apartment listings we saw started around $1 million and went up from there, and all these antiques carry hefty price tags, too. But boy are they gorgeous!
The orange pod (partially pictured here) was the weirdest thing in the whole market. We had to guess what it was for … retro-futuristic backyard parties? The inside of the pod had built-in chairs that looked like they came out of the Starship Enterprise and the staircase folded up to make it completely enclosed.
Edit: Jean-Baptiste in the comments identified the orange pod (thank you!!): it was created by Finnish designer Matti Suuronen. Called the Futuro House and designed in 1968, Suuronen was “commissioned to design a ski lodge for a slope in Finland, Suuronen produced what he and many others believed was the prefabricated home of the future. An 8m-diametre “rotating ellipsoid” – geometry jargon for “like a 1950s Hollywood flying saucer” – the Futuro remains an emblematic image of the 1960s, despite having been a total sideshow as far as architectural historiography is concerned. Though they went into production in both Finland and America, only around 60 were ever produced (no one knows exact numbers). (Quote from article in attached link.)
Kids getting a gelato treat near our apartment.
Display in the Office Depot. Looks weird to us, but “recharges tampons encreurs” means “ink cartridge refills” in French.
13 June 2017, Tuesday
Our last day. We’re heading out early to hopefully be first in line for the Catacombs. The other day, the line was well over two hours long. They open at 10:00 a.m., so we plan to be there no later than 9:30 to get a spot.
The kids sunscreening up. We may be standing in the sun awhile.
We arrived at the Catacombs line at 9:20 and there were already around 150 people ahead of us. An FYI for anyone planning to do this: there are no pubic bathrooms, the lines are always long, and there are no facilities in the catacombs until you get to the very end. You’ve been warned. People in line — including me — started to get desperate for a potty. I finally found one in a McDonalds down another street. (They have locks on the bathroom door and want €1 to use their facilities, but at least they give you the chance.)
After waiting in line for more than an hour and a half, we got our turn. The reason the line moves so slowly is that they only allow 200 people in the catacombs at a time, and it takes around 45 minutes to walk the whole thing. It’s 1.5 km, has over 200 stairs, and very uneven ground in poorly-lit conditions. It takes awhile to go through it. (From their brochure: “The Catacombs are not accessible for persons with reduced mobility.” They aren’t kidding.)
Having said that … it’s cool! We were really glad we endured the line.
Limiting the number of people down there at one time means you can go through at your own pace and it’s not at all crowded.
Over 6 million people are entombed here. The short history version: During the late 1700s, the city was undergoing a lot of growth and the cemeteries located throughout central Paris were causing concern for public safety. Also, the Catacombs (as we know them now) were actually abandoned 15th century limestone quarry tunnels that were beginning to collapse and causing a lot of trouble above-ground. Something needed to be done, so they solved both problems by shoring up the tunnels and repurposing them as an ossuary. They dug up most of the cemeteries in the city and moved the remains into the tunnels. They’ve been a tourist attraction since the early 19th century when the Catacombs were opened to the public.
Each section is labeled with which cemetery the remains came from, as well as the date they were moved to the ossuary.
It’s weird to know that these used to be people. These particular people died long before the United States even became a country.
From the brochure: The first bones were thrown here haphazardly into an abandoned quarry shaft. It was only around the year 1810 that Hericart de Thury, Inspector General of the Quarries, developed this area. The long bones and skulls were arranged decoratively to form a back wall behind which the other bones are piled. These bone walls are called hagues, making reference to the walls built in the quarries using the stones remaining from the quarry operations.
Sign indicating from which Parisian cemetery the bones originated, and the date they were moved here — September 1850.
Back up in the world of the living. We took a train to the Arc de Triomphe. Below: guy playing a harp in the metro station tunnel. He was really good.
The Arc de Triomphe. You can stand in line and pay to up (you can see people standing around the railings at the very top if you look closely) but we’re tired of going up things. We admired it from the ground.
We ate an OK-but-not-great lunch at an Italian restaurant — we’ve had bad luck with Italian food in Paris. Paris seems to be utterly fantastic for French food, and real spotty with any other type of cuisine.
The rest of the afternoon we walked and walked and walked down the Champs-Élysées.
Kids with Eiffel Tower and the Seine in the background.
I love these guys so much!!!
Cool old apartment building.
We’re back in the apartment now, pretty much done with our last day in Paris. Adam has some work he has to do at 4:00 p.m. Paris time so we needed to be in this afternoon. The kids and I are getting all packed up for tomorrow. We plan to go downstairs to the restaurant below our apartment for one last dinner since we’re mostly out of groceries, but that will be it.
Lighter activity for us today, D-Day. Cooler weather, blustery winds and a constant threat of rains kept us fairly close to home. We decided to do some shopping and explore around as long as the weather held.
We started by visiting a famous vendor, Pierre Herme, of Macarons – a sweet, meringue-based confection. We bought a box and saved them for wine time later that night.
A little further on we found the flagship Hermes location on 24 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
They sell so many Birkin and Kelly bags they’ve had to institute a new shopping policy. If you are there for one of the bags, you have to stand in line (you can see the line of people here, wrapped around the corner of the building). After standing in line for sometimes more than an hour, you reach the front and get assigned an appointment time. They take all your information and then text you your time slot. Apparently it can eat up an entire day.
We could hardly believe the length of the line. The Birkin bags run from roughly $10,000 to $100,000 — depending on the material — and not only are people lining up to buy them, Hermes has also instituted a rule that a single customer may only purchase two bags per year. No hoarders.
We didn’t have to stand in line because people interested in anything aside from bags can be escorted in through another door. I love to admire their silk scarves and cashmere shawls.
After Hermes, we walked back to the train station to head to another part of town. The weather was cold and windy, but we’ve managed to avoid rain (so far).
Pretty street view.
Photos below: Le Jardin du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Garden) in the 6th arrondissement. It was created in 1612 by Marie de’ Medici for a new residence she constructed, the Luxembourg Palace. Today it’s owned by the French Senate, which meets in the Palace.
These gardens are famous as settings in films and literature. From wikipedia: The gardens are featured prominently in Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables. It is here that the principal love story of the novel unfolds, as the characters Marius Pontmercy and Cosette first meet. Henry James also uses the gardens, in The Ambassadors, as the place where his character Lambert Strether has an epiphany about his identity. The final scene of William Faulkner’s novel Sanctuary is set in the gardens. Patrick Modiano heard the news he had won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature via a mobile phone call from his daughter while walking through Paris, “just next to the Jardin du Luxembourg.”
Non-literary references include as the setting for a few episodes of French in Action, the cover of Tame Impala’s 2012 album Lonerism, the title of a song by the band The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger and the gardens and palace being added as a mission in the video game Assassin’s Creed Unity.
Sitting on a bench while the adults admire the flower beds.
Sailboat races in the fountain.
Spring flowers just being set out.
The Luxembourg Palace.
One of the first castings of the Statue of Liberty. It’s tiny.
Purely by chance, we stumbled on Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas’s apartment building, which appears to still be a private residence. We didn’t see any sign that it’s been turned into a museum we could go into.
Stein and Toklas are both fascinating characters and worth looking up. Most interesting to me is that Stein’s apartment in this building once housed a phenomenal art collection.
Here are a couple of old photos I lifted off the internet. Elsewhere, an article called Stein and Toklas’s apartment “the first modern art gallery in the world.”
Stein and Toklas together.
Shortly after that it started raining.
Found a very small outdoor market. Isabella bought a bracelet for one of her friends back home.
Since the weather was unpleasant, we found a place for a late lunch and then decided to call it day. We went back to the apartment to do some chores (laundry, etc.) and then settle in for Wine Time/dinner.
07 June 2017, Wednesday
We got up early and took a series of trains to Versailles. We arrived about 15 minutes before opening. We stood in line to buy tickets, then stood in another line to get into the palace.
Long lines.
Luckily the kids brought some entertainment.
Still waiting ….
Finally in! Now it’s our turn to engage in the combat viewing. (Insert previous Louvre rant about cell phone cameras. What is wrong with people?!!? You jerkwads are ruining it for everyone and your uninspired, poorly-lit selfies are boring. I hate you all.)
Lots of ornate decor and liberal use of gold.
Hall of Mirrors.
I asked Adam to take a photo of this table. The stone (granite?) top is one of the most gorgeous I’ve ever seen. It was semi-translucent and looked like caramel.
Painting depicting the French saving the Americans during the American Revolutionary War at the Battle of Yorktown. France was the first country to officially recognize our independence and status as a sovereign nation. (They were mostly doing it to give a big middle finger to the British.)
Outside in the gardens. We have been here before, back in 2012. Kids today …
Kids nearly in the same spot, January 2012.
On to explore the gardens. The weather was windy and cold, which drove a lot of people back inside. We loved that it was finally not crowded.
Having fun on the walk.
The gardens were the hunting grounds for French royalty. Much of it is still woods.
Walking paths through the woods, fenced off to keep people from wandering.
Holden getting a rock out of his shoe.
None of the fountains were on which was a little disappointing, but they were still fun to see.
Stopping to smell the roses.
Gardens closer to the palace.
The sky getting more ominous.
Photo taken by John: rare glimpse of the entire Mayse family all in one shot. From the back …
… and from the front.
John and Elaine, on the train back to Paris.
Some miscellaneous shots from Adam’s phone: The train yard near our apartment.
View of our building from across the street.
Interior of Pierre Herme, the macaroon store. We bought a few more treats.
Typical Wine Time (i.e., dinner) back in our apartment. We do this every evening. It’s relaxing and saves a lot of money on restaurants.
Adam and John buying bread.
08 June 2017, Thursday
This is John and Elaine’s last day. They fly home tomorrow morning, while the rest of us will stay for another week. The last things Elaine had on her must-see list were the Notre Dame cathedral and the Musee d’Orsay.
Since our itinerary was mostly museums, Josie and Holden opted to stay back at the apartment. We would meet up with them again later for lunch.
We returned to Notre Dame and, getting there earlier in the day, were able to walk right in.
On the way, we passed this fountain. It’s real name is Fontaine du Palmier, but for us it’s “Snot Fountain” because it looks a lot like the water is coming out of the figures’ noses. In the case of the four Egyptian-looking things (one of them pictured below) the water is actually coming out of the mouth, but in all the other figures the water bubbles straight out of the nostrils. It’s rather disgusting. Unfortunately Adam didn’t get a picture of any of the runny nosed figures. (From wikipedia: It was designed to provide fresh drinking water to the population of the neighborhood and to commemorate the victories of Napoleon Bonaparte.)
Walking to the entrance of Notre Dame cathedral. The reason Isabella came with us this morning instead of staying home with Holden and Josie was that she wanted to see the interior of this particular cathedral. Her favorite animated movie of all time is Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
She walked in and said, “Wow, the real one is WAY bigger.” The stained glass windows were familiar though and so was the layout. Disney usually does a good job with that kind of thing.
The stained glass in this cathedral is spectacular and worth seeing, even if you have to stand in line for awhile.
John and Elaine, taking it all in.
They do allow people to walk up to the bell tower but the line for that is around the side of the building and separate from the line to get into the main entrance. By the time we were done touring the lower floor, the line to climb the stairs was so long we decided to skip it. (Also, the main entrance is free but you have to pay to go upstairs.)
So, we left and made our way in the general direction of the Musee d’Orsay. Below: cool old pub that was established in 1766.
We stopped for a snack in this place:
None of us were very hungry but we wanted a reason to sit and rest our feet for awhile before heading into another museum. I had a fantastic bowl of onion soup. Adam and Isabella split a Nutella crepe and texted pictures of it to Holden and Josie, just to make them jealous.
The jealousy text pic …
Musee d’Orsay houses the impressionist collection. It’s my favorite museum in Paris (so far, anyway). Adam and I have been here before, but it was all new for John and Elaine.
This painting has been Adam’s screen saver for years: Claude Monet c.1873 “Poppy Field near Argenteuill” Seeing the original was fun after looking at it on a computer screen for so long.
Isabella and I resting our feet in the giant dinosaur foot.
We weren’t the only ones resting. These guys were wiped out.
Interior shot.
Now for the long walk back home to collect Holden and Josie for a nice lunch.
Today was largely dominated by the train journey from London to Paris. We arrived in the London station early and got a fantastic breakfast at a restaurant in the terminal.
View of the international train station in London. One of the nice things is you clear customs here, so you don’t have to go through immigration lines on the arrival side. It’s very efficient and handy.
We arrived in Paris and found our rental apartment without much trouble. It’s absolutely gorgeous and HUGE by AirBnB (and European) standards. Outside our windows we have a view of both the Eiffel Tower and La Basilique du Sacre Coeur (henceforth known as Sacre Coeur.) It’s probably the most romantic apartment we’ve ever stayed in. Movies about Parisian romantic entanglements could be filmed here. Huge windows open up to the street (and also the curious pigeons!) The building was erected in 1875.
We even have a big dining room!
Modern kitchen with yet another eat-in breakfast table. We’re swimming in places to sit and eat.
Elaine and I in the front TV room — me on the computer, Elaine perusing one of the many art books in the apartment.
Holden loving his private bedroom. As everything worked out, he has the biggest bed in the whole place.
Josie and Isabella sharing a room, once again. They both feel cheated because our family had two girls and only one boy. Holden ends up with the privacy when we say teenage boys and girls need space from each other. At least the girls don’t have to share a bed this time!
Elaine and I both loved this fireplace grate in the front room. It’s bronze and is really heavy.
View out our windows. In the photo below you can make out the Sacre Coeur (rainbow in the middle of the frame — gorgeous and magical! — and the Sacre Coeur snugged right up to the side of our building just about in the center-right of the frame.)
The Rome stop of the Metropolitan subway train station is directly across the street from our place. Here you can see the stairs leading down to the trains. I adore the “Metropolitan” signs they use. According to the internet, almost all of them were designed and installed between 1900 and 1912.
From wikipedia: The simpler type of entrance is framed by a “Métropolitain” sign held between two ornate, sinuously curved lampposts. These are designed strikingly in the form of plant stems, in which the orange lamp is enclosed by a leaf (resembling a brin de muguet, or sprig of lily of the valley).
The apartments on the adjacent street, view from our window.
We can even see the Eiffel Tower! They light it up at night and it’s gorgeous.
A slightly better view of the Sacre Coeur (again, view out our window.)
Everyone was quite tuckered out from the trip, which actually wasn’t too bad all things considered but did eat up an entire day. The train ride from London to Paris is less than 3 hours but it takes a lot of smaller train stops to get to the main international station, waiting in lines, checking in early, clearing custom, etc. — much like airline travel. Navigating the international train hall on the Paris side and figuring out how to buy tickets on the local Metropolitan trains is a bit tricky until you get the hang of it, and the French Metro system isn’t quite as easy to use as the London system, but still it’s not too bad.
We arrived at our place, met with the guy to take possession of our keys & etc., found a grocery store and bought provisions for dinner (bread, cheese, fruit, orange juice, milk, yogurt, cereal, eggs, wine, whiskey, chocolate treats) and stayed up marveling at the view until nearly 11:00 p.m.
Our one bit of ill fortune today was that Josie’s phone got liberated by a pickpocket on the Metro train (we think). She noticed it was missing almost immediately and we went looking for it with no luck. Adam got online and discovered that someone was attempting to hack into our accounts with it, so he shut down her number and alerted the phone company. They shut her account off on their end and changed a bunch of our passwords. Josie spent quite a while in tears over it because we don’t have any way of determining the last time it backed up to the cloud. We did a back-up before we left home, but there is a good chance all the pictures she took in London are gone. She is super bummed and mad at the entire country of France right now.
04 June 2017, Sunday
We woke up this morning to a gorgeous day in Paris and horrific news about another terrorist attack on London Bridge last night. We spent some time reading the news and then headed out to do our day with slightly heavy hearts.
Our apartment is within walking distance of the Moulin-Rouge. We headed that direction … it’s the red(ish) light district and the streets are lined with sex shops. The kids were giggly and grossed out.
Found the Moulin-Rouge!
Hanging on inside the train car. We’re headed for one of the Sunday art markets near the Sacre Coeur.
French recycling drop off point. Lots of wine bottles.
Walking up the hills to Sacre Coeur.
Here it is.
Around the corner, a Sunday art market. It’s similar to the art market in New Orleans around Jackson Square. This market in Paris was quite nice, but doesn’t hold a candle to the one in New Orleans. (I’ve yet to see a better one anywhere. Nothing compares.)
I bought a small watercolor of a watermelon slice. (Isabella and me on the left looking through paintings, Josie’s back, Elaine in the front.)
Artists discussing important artist things … or perhaps just deciding where to go for lunch. It was all in French, so I have to guess.
The kids love the French street art (“it’s too good to be called graffiti.”) Isabella especially liked the message of the piece “The urge to destroy is a creative urge” (below.)
Back on the train, headed to another Sunday market … this time a bird market. We don’t know what to expect. Do they really sell live birds?
Yup!! And fish and baby bunnies, too.
The vast majority of birds for sale were finches, canaries, and parakeets.
This market is immediately off the train stop. You come out of the station and are right in the middle of a bird bonanza. Perfect for me!
Canaries. They seem to come in 3 colors: orange, yellow, and (more rare) white.
The Seine.
Holden, being incredibly bored while I spend more time than he’d like looking at birds.
The Pont des Arts bridge used to be the one with all the “love locks” on it. The weight of the locks — apparently 45 tons — was destroying the bridge, so they were removed and the bridge was given a face-lift with a new design that nobody can put locks on. They appear to have created a new area for the love locks that sits over the ground and isn’t suspended over the water.
We found an appealing cafe. Sitting down feels fantastic after being on our feet all morning. Their onion soup was delicious.
Next up: Notre Dame. The line was too long so we didn’t go inside. Adam, the kids and I have been here before. During the winter we had the whole place to ourselves. Summer is a very different story.
05 June 2017, Monday
We’ve been to Paris a number of times now and never seen the Louvre. The lines always scared us away, but we figured this time we needed to suck it up and stand in the line no matter what. It’s the only way you’ll ever get to see it. The Louvre opens at 9:00 a.m. and we showed up around 10:00, hoping that the first rush of people who got there right at opening time would have had a chance to get through.
The wait wasn’t too bad — a total of 35 minutes to stand in line, get through security, and purchase tickets. The line for people who bought their tickets in advance (online, I assume) was much shorter. We didn’t think to do that, but in the future it looks like a better way to go, if we ever find ourselves wanting to do the Louvre again.
A fashion shoot to watch as we waited.
Inside the giant pyramid. John and Elaine are standing beneath the spiral staircase (John in greenish shirt, Elaine holding a brown hat).
Adam: The place is huge. There are large portions of the museum that are practically empty. There are also halls that are so crowded you can hardly walk through – everyone crowds at the “popular” exhibits – Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged victory of Samothrace, etc.
I didn’t take very many pictures of the art itself – we all have the internet for that. I more enjoyed taking pictures of people taking pictures with their crappy iPhones.
I was so irritated by people using their phones to take pictures that I became a fan of banning phones outright in the museum. You couldn’t see a darned thing without someone shoving a phone in front of your face, blocking your view. People would also suddenly stop walking right in the middle of a big, slowly moving crowd because they decided they needed to take a selfie right now!!! causing a massive pile-up in their wake. The rude behavior associated with phone use was enough to ruin the experience. As Adam mentioned above, every piece of art in there can be found on the internet with much higher quality images than anything these crowds are getting with their phones. Put your phone away and look directly at the art, please. If you want to look at photos of the art later, find professional pictures online. If you simply must take a selfie, stand off to one side and get out of the way! (It’s worth noting that very few people with a real camera behaved this way. Photographers serious enough to bring proper equipment also used proper etiquette. Mostly.)
It doesn’t take long for the kids to get their fill of paintings.
Although they did perk up when they spotted this one…. by Joseph Ducreux called Self portrait in the guise of a Mockingbird.
It has become an internet meme along these lines:
and this (updated to Steve Buscemi):
The kids were delighted to find the original painting. It made their trip to the Louvre worth it.
And then on to see yet more regular, non-meme art.
Interior courtyard under a dome.
Back outside. The lines to get in are even longer now.
Adam: After we had exhausted ourselves walking through the Louvre, we left and ate a great lunch (duck confit, etc) at a nearby restaurant.
Re-energized, we walked through the Jardin des Tuileries, along the Seine and over to the Eiffel Tower. By that point, we had reached almost 8.5 miles of walking and everyone wanted to catch the Metro back home for rest and wine time.
Taking a quick rest break to enjoy the nice weather and the examine the ship (behind the trees.)
Giant public hammocks for people to play and relax in. All three kids piled into one.
We finally made it! The Eiffel Tower.
Guy making bubbles, and behind him four extremely well-armed police guards. Machine guns, hand guns, tazers, etc.
This morning we got up early and caught the first ferry on the Thames over to Greenwich. Our destination was the Royal Naval College and the Royal Observatory.
Our little group waiting to cross the street to the ferry docks.
Ready to go!
The ferry taxis are a good way to see the city, but are MUCH slower than the underground train system. They are great if you aren’t in a hurry.
We walked up to the Royal Observatory. Below: John and Elaine standing on the Prime Meridian. Located right at 0°00′00″… one foot in the East and one foot in the West.
We all had to take a turn. Sometimes you just have to do the dorky thing.
Up in the observatory itself.
This old telescope had a little photo of Saturn stuck to the end so you could “see” something cool.
The most accurate/precise mechanical clock in the world, John Harrison’s “Clock B.” Harrison designed it in the 18th century, but nobody built it until the 20th century.
Excerpt from their website: Instead of being celebrated, Harrison’s plans were chastised and ridiculed by his peers. A clock that was accurate to within a second over a 100-day period was unheard of, and a mechanical clock that precise wouldn’t be developed until the 20th century.
In 1737, Harrison — a self-taught clockmaker — invented the marine chronometer, which revolutionized long-distance sea travel during a time when the developed world was rapidly becoming a larger place. But despite his accomplishments, Harrison’s declaration about Clock B’s accuracy was so far ahead of any clock during that time it was considered “an incoherence and absurdity that was little short of the symptoms of insanity” by the London Review of English and Foreign literature.
“It was a claim that Harrison made and a claim nobody believed because the best clocks of the day couldn’t do better than about a second a week, if they were lucky. It was only in the 20th century that people thought that Harrison may have been right.” Martin Burgess, a master clockmaker, used Harrison’s mechanism and design along with modern materials like duralumin to construct the Martin Burgess Clock B, which has been sealed in a Perspex case at the Royal Observatory. In the 100 days since it was sealed, Clock B has only lost five-eighths of a second, setting a Guinness World Record for “most accurate mechanical clock with a pendulum swinging in free air.”
Harrison’s accomplishment, designing a clock in the 18th century whose accuracy hasn’t been surpassed by the thousands of watchmakers who followed him, is truly remarkable and cannot be understated. Clock B even went against conventional clockmaking wisdom. A heavy pendulum bob and a short swing was thought to keep the most accurate time, but Harrison’s design uses a wide swing and a lighter bob. It’s akin to someone building the world’s fastest car in 1940 with a diesel engine, and still holding the record for top speed today.
Old Royal Naval College (white buildings in foreground)
Giant map of the world. We are standing on Cape Horn, South Africa, a place we’d like to visit someday.
Hula hoops. We don’t know why they were there, but everyone was doing it so we did it, too.
Adam: he insists that, despite his facial expression, he’s having a fabulous time.
After the Naval Museum, we stopped at The Greenwich Tavern for lunch. It was fine, but nothing special.
On to the Cutty Sark, one of the last sail powered clipper ships built. She principally made tea runs from the UK to Australia to China and back.
Below: example of the lead-lined tea boxes stored in the cargo hold. These boxes are replicas because very few of the originals survived. They weren’t worth anything, so people stripped them for the lead lining. Most of the lead went to make bullets and other ammunitions.
Second level of the ship, above the cargo hold. They have displays of items used on the ship, as well as examples of cargo other than tea the ship would have also carried. On their Australia leg, they often hauled marino wool. It was so lightweight they had to save room in the ship for rocks and other heavy objects as ballast.
Ropes and Pulleys.
The dining table in the Captain’s quarters. Those circular disks suspended above the table were to hold drinks. The rope suspension allowed the drinks to move with the ship and not spill or slide around.
Kids and John & Elaine on the main deck. All of the sailors’ quarters were on the main deck. They were small, but far less claustrophobic than other ships we’ve visited because you could step out of your room directly into fresh air.
Figurehead collection.
The below-water portion of the Cutty Sark was clad in brass sheeting. The smooth surface helped prevent barnacles from attaching and lasted longer than lead plates used on other ships. It was also a lot more expensive.
Interior of the building housing the bottom portion of the ship. You can walk up those stairs to get a good look at the ship parts that are usually under water.
On the ferry back home at the end of the day: view of The Tower of London from the Thames and the bricked-over entrance to the Traitors’ Gate.
31 May 2017, Wednesday
Adam and John got up before everyone else this morning and took a 2 mile hike to visit Abbey Road. Adam: Here’s dad crossing at the same locations the Beatles crossed almost 50 years ago. (I couldn’t get him to go barefoot.)
John and Elaine didn’t sleep well last night and wanted to stay in the rest of the morning. We have tickets for Romeo and Juliet at the Globe Theatre this afternoon and everyone wanted to be fresh and ready for it. The girls wanted to go walking around/shopping, so 4 of us headed over to Piccadilly. Holden hates shopping and elected to stay home with Grandma and Grandpa.
Uniqlo has become our favorite clothes shopping venue. The girls and I spent quite a bit of time in here while Adam made work phone calls outside.
Trendy, well-made clothes at surprisingly low prices. I don’t know how they do it … if there are sweatshops involved, I’m happier not knowing.
St. James Church bazaar.
I lost the rest of the family. I didn’t see them behind all these trees. They thought I was shopping but I was really just looking for them. We finally found each other.
Josie at the Burlington Arcade
The Burlington Arcade houses a lot of antique jewelry and watches.
Chinatown. We were running low on time and had a quick lunch here without exploring much. The lunch was disappointing. We needed to hurry back to the apartment to meet up with John, Elaine and Holden so we could all leave by 1:00 p.m. to make Romeo and Juliet on time.
Back at our apartment, getting ready to leave for The Globe Theatre. Our accommodations are the entire left side of the building, all three floors (grey-blue door.)
The Globe Theatre interior. The stage is set for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Juliet: Kirsty Bushell; Romeo: Edward Hogg
It was EPIC. We thought it was going to be old-fashioned — white wigs, big skirts, corsets and tights, etc. Instead, they did an updated goth/steampunk version that blew everyone away. They made it FUNNY!!! I never knew Shakespeare could be so entertaining. During the first act, Isabella turned around and said ” I LOVE THIS SOOOOO MUUUCCCHHH!!”
Romeo was the epitome of a surly, angsty teen (goth make-up, ignoring his dad because he was listening to music on his headphones, etc. He looked and acted a lot like Jimmy in Raising Hope when he went through his “Drakkar Noir” phase.) The lines of the play suddenly came alive: his friends were trying to get a sullen Romeo to go to a party (the one where he ends up meeting Juliet) but he doesn’t want to go because he’s suffering from that teenage phase where everything in life is boring and stupid. “We must have you dance” they say. Romeo slumped on the edge of the stage, sullenly eating a bag of doritos and said “Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes with nimble soles: I have a soul of lead so stakes me to the ground I cannot move.” Mercutio and Benvolio stood behind him rolling their eyes at his silly and overly-dramatic show of existential angst. Even the kids in the audience were laughing. It was the first time I’ve truly understood in an emotional way that nearly the whole play is about typical teenage kids.
By the end, during the scene when they both die, the whole audience was crying. The audience was full of little kids, too, and they were just as moved as the adults. I never in a million years would have thought that a Shakespeare play could be so accessible and simply breathtaking. (And they didn’t change the old-time dialogue. The modernization was all in costuming and acting.) We loved every minute of it.
Walking across Millennium Bridge back to the train station.
St. Paul’s Cathedral up ahead.
01 June 2017, Thursday
One of Josie’s goals this trip was to revisit the National Museum and see the Egyptian exhibits, the dinosaurs, and the the blue whale skeleton. (Edit: We realized subsequently that the Egyptian stuff was in the British Museum, not the Natural History Museum.) We headed out this morning early enough to be first in line for their 10:00 a.m. opening time.
Adam finally looking like he’s having fun!
We were thwarted at The National Museum by long lines. We took one look and said, “uh, no” like we have in the past for the Louvre and various museums in New York. Not only is standing in line to get in frustrating, the combat viewing once you get inside ruins the experience. We quickly re-grouped and went on to Plan B.
Adam wanted to visit Purdey’s (famous mostly for their guns, but they make other sport gear for the English gentleman) to get a new cap. We had a good time looking around the shop, but ultimately they didn’t have a cap in Adam’s size. It was the wrong time of year for the winter hat collection and they were running low on inventory.
More underground train travel.
John and Elaine had never been to Harrod’s, so we ducked in for a quick browse. The store was much less crowded than we’d ever seen it. In the past, we’ve visited around Christmas time. During summer they seem to do a slower business.
Admiring the work of Dale Chihuly, which was kind of funny to see here in London since Chihuly is an artist from Washington — right in John & Elaine’s (Oregon) back yard.
J&E admiring the latest and greatest Sub-Zero products.
The perfume section. Nobody leaves here stinky.
John and Elaine in front of the American Embassy in London.
We walked by Selfridge’s but didn’t go in. Adam got a photo of their famous clock.
Nearby, a giant Apple Store. John, Elaine and I sat on a bench and waited while the kids looked at all the newest electronic goodies Apple has to offer. This is one of the biggest retail spaces I’ve seen for Apple — two levels and tons of floor space. The place was packed.
Walking around.
We happened upon a shoe store selling these strange creations. The shoes were expensive, and the store was packed with people buying them. The girls and I all thought they looked like something we could recreate at home (if we wanted to) by getting cheap shoes and investing in a hot glue gun and a few trips to Michael’s.
We found a shoe store that specializes in the Mephisto line quite by chance. I ended up buying two pairs of new walking sandals (no plastic flowers or bling in sight.) The kids were complimented by the store salesman on their fantastic behavior. (As you can see, they were tired. They sat down and were quiet — what every proprietor wants out of children in their establishments.) By this time, we’ve walked several miles and all of us have worn out feet and aching backs.
02 June 2017, Friday
Isabella got sick last night (fever, headache, thankfully no stomach problems) and we had to change our original plan for the day, which included a train ride to a nearby town to see a royal palace. Bella needed to stay in the apartment and sleep, and we didn’t want to leave town just in case she needed us to come home for some reason. We ended up doing a walking tour of sites in London, but it was A LOT of walking and most of the buildings were not ones you could go inside. It’s kind of boring to look at the outside of a building and say, “Yup. Here it is.”
We did get to go inside St Paul’s Cathedral (near the Globe Theatre), which turned out to be cool. It had 528 stairs up to the tippy top … we hiked up there (it was SO FAR UP!!! The stairs went on forEVAH!) The rest of the whole day we had spaghetti legs. Holden ran up the first set of stairs (230 or so) and ended up giving himself exertion-induced nausea and headache. After we left the cathedral we had to go to Starbucks and get everyone a drink. He felt a lot better after a whole bottle of water. He learned his lesson, though, and paced himself better the rest of the day.
This cute little group of school kids was on a field trip, holding hands in what we call the “buddy system” but here in England they call a “crocodile formation.”
Photography is prohibited inside the cathedral. Adam took a few sneaky shots from the hip. Pictures of the interior are available online, so we figured they just didn’t want tourists jamming up the flow of foot traffic by holding their phones out constantly, rather than trying to keep the interior a secret. Adam was quick so he wouldn’t bother anyone.
Just a few of the 528 (steep!) stairs we faced.
Down in the crypt area.
Wellington is interred here.
Back outside, stopping to smell the roses.
Guildhall – since 1411 the offices of the Lord Mayor of London.
At Guildhall, we stumbled on a small art museum we had not heard of before.
During the Guildhall renovations, the ancient ruins of London’s Roman Amphitheater was discovered. They revised the architectural plans for the art gallery to preserve the amphitheater underneath it.
St. Stephen Walbrook Church, a predecessor to St Paul’s Cathedral. The organist was practicing for a concert later in the afternoon, so we were treated to some really neat music.
The Royal Exchange, founded in 1566. It’s in the banking district and now a luxury shopping center.
Leadenhall market. It was used as Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter films.
Lloyd’s of London.
At the base of 30 St. Mary Axe – better known as the Gherkin.
After this, John and Elaine split from us and went home to rest. The 4 remaining Mayse’s went over to the British Museum. Josie wanted to see “Mummies and things from ancient Greece,” so that is what we did.
The Rosetta Stone (below).
Mummified people.
Mummified cats.
After all the walking and star climbing we did today, our legs and feet were worn out. Standing around in the museum was getting to be no fun, so we decided to call it a day and go home to rest.
Isabella is feeling better and we’re all hopeful that she’ll be in good shape for tomorrow’s journey to Pairs.
Today was the last day of school (Josie 6th, Holden 8th, Bella 11th) and goes down in history as the semester all three of our kids earned straight As. (YAY KIDS!!) They’ve all individually earned straight As before, but they’ve never managed to do it together in the same semester. It’s also the day we fly to London to meet up with John and Elaine for an early 50th wedding anniversary celebration. We left our house as soon as Holden and Josie got off the school bus. (The flights from Atlanta to Europe are almost always overnight.) Today is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for the kids.
Our first time flying on Virgin Atlantic. (They codeshare with Delta Airlines). Adam had heard wonderful things about Branson’s airlines, but this one was a dud. The flight was fine, but the seats were not comfortable (less so than normal) and the plane wasn’t clean.
The next 8+ hours were spent exactly like this:
Adam: We landed into Heathrow at 7 a.m, but it wasn’t until nearly 10 that we made it to our apartment. It took more than an hour to stand in line at Immigration (they’re claiming stricter policies now in light of the Manchester bombing at the Ariana Grande concert a few days ago), then get luggage, walk to train station, take train back into town, walk to flat, etc.
The place we’re staying will be perfect for us – plenty of sleeping room for 7. It’s a bit cramped in the main living room, but that is to be expected. The neighborhood is “ok” – quite ethnic (probably 50% Arabic/Muslim) but clean and bright and not seedy feeling. Lots of good restaurants and grocery store options. Most importantly, it has good access to the Underground to get us where we need to be.
Weather here was “hot” yesterday at 80 – since nobody has AC in England, it did get warm last night, but cool breezes kicked in around 7 p.m and it wasn’t uncomfortable to sleep.
After we got in, some of us showered and then we crashed for awhile. I only slept for about 20 minutes, then took care of work email and went out to explore a bit and get some early shopping done. Brenda and I went out later and bought more supplies to get us through a day. For dinner, Josie and I went out and bought “take away” fish and chips from a recommended restaurant. We only bought 3 orders, but each was huge and just 2 orders fed the 5 of us. We ended up throwing away what seemed like a couple of pounds of fish.
We spent the evening watching TV; cracking up at UK game shows (kids love these), and flipping channels since there’s never anything good on in the UK, but we have fun remembering shows we watched the last several times we were here. Brenda and the kids were in their jammies by 5, everyone had bloodshot eyes and walked around lethargically, so we didn’t explore much except for our immediate surroundings.
View of our living room
View of our kitchen
View from front hall; living room/kitchen is off to the left, directly ahead is John & Elaine’s bedroom, and the stairs lead up to the rest of the bedrooms.
John and Elaine’s room.
Proof Adam is here, too!
26 May 2017, Friday
Our first full day in London. We are all jet-lagged so our plans are fairly loose and not too demanding. The weather is gorgeous, so we decided to do a good bit of walking. In the end, we covered 8.6 miles today before taking the Underground back to our house.
We decided to walk through Hyde Park on our way to the Science Museum.
Swans! And many of the grebes had babies. (Grebe babies aren’t very cute, poor things. Water birds are usually adorable. Grebes got the short end of the stick.)
Grabbing an early lunch before heading into the museum – Japanese. The kids love the noodle shops – leftover from our stay in Japan several years ago. Makes getting lunch for 5 easy and not too expensive.
On to the Museums. The kids wanted to go to the Science Museum (first time) and then the Natural History Museum (3rd or 4th time).
The Science Museum is geared towards little kids and therefore not quite as interesting as our older kids had hoped, but it still had some moments of brilliance in it.
They did have some pretty cool items – the first 2 steam locomotives in the world. A V-2 rocket, space rockets and satellites, items from Apollo 10.
Below: the actual DNA model Watson and Crick developed to explain the double helix shape and interaction.
The Science Museum boasts the oldest clock and watch collection in the world. The collection was assembled by the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers: this remarkable array of timepieces traces the story of the capital’s clockmakers from their first marine chronometers and mechanical clocks through the evolution of the wristwatch. (excerpt from the Science Museum’s website)
One of the first locomotives.
Famous photo by Nick Ut (taken in Trang Bang, Vietnam) of a little girl burned in a napalm attack, along with the other photos on that same roll of film. The Leica camera he used to take the photographs is in the display case as well.
Apollo 10 return module.
After awhile we all started “jet-lagging” and unanimously decided we weren’t in the mood to visit the Natural History Museum next door. Also, the day is getting hot. On to Gelatos.
We’re all tired, but it’s too early to go back to the house and be in for the day, so we walked to the Leica shop in Mayfair a couple miles away to see if they had the new Leica camera body in stock. They didn’t.
Adam: I had been on a waiting list in the US for almost 4 months this year – hopeful to get the new model before this trip. Unfortunately, it didn’t arrive in time, so I cancelled my order and am using my same ol’ “crappy” gear for this trip.
Time to head home – taking the train. Josie and Isabella found some new skirts and dresses at Uniqlo. We hit the Marks & Spencer grocery store near our house to re-supply and then spent the evening watching zoo documentaries and The Simpsons in our jammies. Dinner was fruit and cheese.
Adam: My folks arrive Saturday – around 11:00 a.m. We’re going to do some more grocery shopping in the morning, take care of laundry, garbage and other chores to get ready for them. Plus another morning of sleeping in won’t hurt anyone. I’ll go to the airport to greet them and bring them back to our flat this afternoon. I’m guessing they’ll want a) Shower b) Nap c) Food and then d) More Sleep. That’ll pretty much be our day.
27 May 2017, Saturday
John and Elaine arrive today at 11:00 a.m. We had planned to do something this morning before we headed to the airport, but we all slept in way too long. (We needed it!!) Adam left around 11:00 a.m. (allowing time for his parents to make it through the long immigration line and collect their luggage) and the girls aren’t even awake yet. Holden wandered down a little while ago for some food, then went back to bed.
We’re suffering a little bit from “city noises” that make sleeping difficult. It’s very hot, so we have to sleep with the windows open. Unfortunately, people here don’t go to bed before 3 a.m. Each night (so far, anyway) we’ve been treated to drunken and very loud fighting in the street in front of our house. At one point, Josie was skyping with one of her friends and the profanity streaming in through our window was so bad she had to hang up.
This weekend is a three-day Bank Holiday so we’re hoping the shenanigans are going to be over by Monday. The neighborhood actually has a lot of families with small children and (of course!) the noisy troublemakers are all young adults. City neighborhoods tend to be more age-diverse than suburbs. ♫ You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have … the facts of life. ♫
John and Elaine arrived tired but it was too early to call it a day. We decided to take a walk through Hyde Park and find a place for early dinner.
Spring in London is gorgeous.
People were holding out fruit in their hands to lure down the feral population of Indian Ring-necked Parakeets. I was disappointed that I didn’t have any fruit. We had to stand by and watch like lonely birdless losers.
John and Elaine.
The massive crowd surrounding the Princess Diana Memorial fountain.
28 May 2017, Sunday
We headed over to the East End and the famous Sunday Columbia Road Flower Market.
Really cool door knocker we saw on the street.
The Columbia Road Flower Market.
The array of fresh-cut flowers and plants were mind-boggling. The picture below doesn’t do it justice. The place was so crowded Adam couldn’t take many pictures.
Elaine and I both would have gone nuts in the flower market had we lived here. It was truly a gardener’s paradise.
Our next stop was The Geffrye Almshouse. (From their website:) The Geffrye is set in almshouses built in 1714 by the Ironmongers’ Company, with a bequest from Sir Robert Geffrye, twice master of the Company and former Lord Mayor of London. For almost two hundred years the almshouses provided homes for around fifty poor pensioners. They are now recognised for their historical importance as Grade I listed buildings.
Many of the rooms have been converted into displays representing daily life in the middle classes of London through the ages, starting in 1630 (hall, pictured below) and going up to the 1990s and 2000s. It was an interesting visualization of how family life changed over the decades between the early 1600s and the early 2000s. This museum is well worth visiting.
Drawing room, 1830
Afterwards, we decided to revisit The Clink. We really enjoyed it the first time we visited several years ago (blog here) and John and Elaine had never seen it. It’s still as awful, fascinating, disgusting and disturbing as it was the first time.
Holden sitting in one of the torture chairs. (He’s 14 1/2)
Holden sitting in the same chair 27 Dec 2013.
Bloody heads displayed to keep the other citizens in line.
Replica of an old man who managed to survive The Clink longer than anyone else. He developed a thriving business inside the prison selling rats that he raised himself as food to other prisoners.
29 May 2017, Monday
Today’s docket: the National Museum, the Imperial War Museum, and our favorite cafe in Piccadilly.
First up: The National Museum in Trafalgar Square.
This is how the kids take in art. (John, me, Elaine in background; irreverent children in foreground.)
The beauty of Seurat juxtaposed by the philistinism of our kids. You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.
John and Elaine wanted to spend some extra time in the museum, so Adam and I took the kids for an early lunch at a pub across the street. Afterwards we walked around the block to take in some sights before our meet-up time with John & Elaine.
Guard at the Household Calvary Museum.
I loved this bus advertisement: “Be the CEO your parents always wanted you to marry. (then find someone you actually like.)”
Extra police in front of 10 Downing Street.
The kids climbing on the statue in Trafalgar Square while we wait for grandma and grandpa to come out of the National Gallery.
We then visited the Imperial War Museum. The kids declared it “much more interesting than we ever expected.” This museum has a Holocaust section that comes with what is, essentially, a trigger warning; kids under 14 years of age need parental permission. Adam didn’t get any photos of that section because it seemed inappropriate. They don’t pull any punches; this section is depressing, horrifying, and every other word you can think of that means “awful.” What struck me the most is that had a wall with photos of “The Killers” on it, with actual head-shots of the most sadistic guards at Auschwitz. You can see what the face of evil looks like. Joseph Mengele was one of the people. Several others were there, too (including a woman), but I’d never heard of them. They were despicable characters, every one.
The rest of the museum was a little less depressing (as “less depressing” as war can be) and Adam took quite a few photos.
World War I Artillery piece.
Looking up from underneath a German V-2 Rocket.
They have lots of documents and memorabilia on display – below: One of Rommel’s actual North Africa maps noting troop movement during this effort to move on Egypt in 1940.
Field Marshal Montgomery’s staff car. He was famous for wanting his troops to have a good breakfast to start their day and insisted on a large full English breakfast for everyone. This was the origin of the term “The Full Monty.”
This eagle was mounted at the top of the Reichstag in Berlin – subsequently torn down by Russian troops when they invaded.
It’s full of bullet holes.
Submarine torpedo from WWII.
After leaving the war museum, we found a pharmacy that was open and had all the little bits we’ve been needing and didn’t think to bring: good shampoo, sunscreen, Dove soap, blister guards.
We took the train back to Piccadilly Circus and visited a cafe that we used to go to frequently when we stayed here over Xmas one year. We got a late lunch/early dinner and then headed back to our apartment for wine time, laundry and TV – game shows and “Britain’s Got Talent.” Early bed.
The corner restaurant with the red awnings has turned into one of our favorite places to stop for a late afternoon treat: Caffe Concerto.
This morning Adam went to Brooklyn for the meeting he was supposed to do on Tuesday. It’s raining and windy so we’re not sure what we’ll do in the afternoon. Holden is still feeling queasy, and Adam and I both aren’t quite 100% either.
Since the weather was unpleasant, we decided to go to the Natural History Museum. After a long Uber ride in heavy traffic, we finally arrived and saw this line of people waiting to get into the museum.
Here are our dismayed faces, struggling to come up with a Plan B on the spot. We’ve been Louvre’d out of yet a second museum in New York City.
All of these people wanting to do an “indoor” activity today are going to stand outside in the rain for probably 2+ hours
The Arch in Washington Square Park.
We ordered another Uber and went down to Greenwich Village. This is the where Monica, Chandler, et al. supposedly lived in Friends. A lot of other famous people, mostly artists and musicians, lived here for real.
But first, Isabella needed to go potty. We found a Starbucks and ordered a couple of drinks so we could use the bathroom. The barista told us they didn’t have a public bathroom and we’d have to either go to Chipotle across the street or a different Starbucks several streets away.
Then she screwed up our drinks order. We ordered a tall black coffee and a tall black tea. She served us grandes, which was OK although we hadn’t wanted to carry the big ones around. Once I got outside, I discovered she’d given me Earl Gray instead of black tea. I hate Earl Gray. I held onto it long enough to get into the second Starbucks as a paying customer so we could use their facilities.
We found the other Starbucks a few blocks away. They had one unisex bathroom. Isabella went first, then Holden, Josie, and finally me. When Josie came out, she said to me, “It STINKS in there. Holden really messed it up.” I rolled my eyes, thinking he’d done a #2. Instead, the place reeked of urine so badly it literally made my eyes water. There were ammonia fumes. It smelled like several weeks of pee that had never been properly cleaned up. It was revolting. When I came out, Josie was bouncing around the door saying, “See? You see? I told you he messed it up.” I said, “Holden didn’t do that. That is what happens when you don’t clean a bathroom.” She said, “Ew. That’s even more gross than when I thought Holden did it.”
Here is me, smiling because I don’t yet know just how bad the bathroom is going to be.
NYU is right next to the Village – and the place has some cool shops to see along Bleeker Street. Great old names in Jazz clubs and comedy clubs, but nothing was going on when we were there.
This is the building used in the establishing exterior shots for Friends. They lived on the 5th (top) floor and that little coffee shop at the bottom was supposed to be Central Perk.
Hard to see: the archway made of lights over the street that reads “Welcome to Greenwich Village”
We walked around for a bit in the cold rain, didn’t find much of interest, and decided to Uber back home.
Adam keeps calling Greenwich Village “gritty.” I think a better word is “dirty.” Also acceptable: ugly, disgusting, stinky, gross. Now I can say that’ve been there, but that’s pretty much all I got from today’s outing.
Adam and I have reservations for dinner at Delmonico’s. Delmonico’s is considered the very first fine dining restaurant opened in the country, back in 1837. From their website: “In 1862, Charles Ranhofer was named Chef de Cuisine inventing many original dishes during his time at our stoves. He is most noted for his innovative creations, Eggs Benedict, Baked Alaska, Lobster Newburg and Chicken A la Keene.” If you enjoy any of these dishes, now you know who to thank.
From Adam: Later that evening, Brenda and I went out to dinner – one of the things I most wanted to do on this trip… reservations at Delmonico’s. We had to book a table at 5:30 in order to get in, but that suits our time schedule anyway. I have been reading about Delmonico’s my entire life and wanted to experience it. This restaurant was THE place that the men of power met and ate throughout the 19th century. Lincoln, Roosevelt, Morgan, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens & on and on. I had the steak, Brenda ordered the lamb chops.
The Baked Alaska for dessert (below). It was delicious. Walnut cake base, banana gelato interior, meringue exterior. I am not certain how banana flavored gelato translates into “Alaska” but it was delicious nonetheless. Maybe the originals looked a bit like snowballs — although the way they piped the meringue on this one made it look more like a sea creature you’d find in the Tokyo Fish Market. The stuff around the plate edge is apricot preserves.
Me in front of the entrance after dinner with our doggie bag. Adam was able to eat only half his steak. We both overindulged considering our still-sensitive stomachs and had to bring about half of our meals home. The kids polished off everything within 5 minutes of us walking in the door … except for my side order of roasted brussels sprouts. Those were all mine.
Friday, 30 Dec 2016
Today we went to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Adam: We got up early and hit the ferries just after they opened. It was COLD and already crowded, but the visit turned out to be fun. We were especially grateful after we returned to Battery Park near lunchtime to see the lines extend several city blocks (no exaggeration) which must have been at least a 3-4 hour wait. Just crazy.
As early birds, we even got a spot on the bench for the ferry ride to Liberty Island.
View of New York City from the ferry. The tall building with the spire on top is the new Freedom Tower.
Lady Liberty.
Proof they were actually here.
City skyline behind the kids. I was off looking at birds. There are a lot of seagulls and geese on this island.
Here are some now.
After Liberty Island, you get back on the ferry and land at Ellis Island. This (below) is the Great Hall/Registry Room where millions of immigrants were processed from the 1880s up to the late 1920s. The entire island is a museum now and very interesting – more so that we had imagined. It is well worth spending several hours going over the exhibits.
We didn’t get to spend as much time here as we would have liked. We didn’t expect this part of the tour to be so neat and didn’t budget the time into our schedule. Isabella and I had tickets to see Liev Schreiber in Les Liaisons Dangeruses at 2:00 p.m. and we needed to get back.
Some of the most interesting exhibits (in my opinion) are on the 3rd floor. They have a collection of personal items from immigrants, examples of the luggage and household items, etc. they brought from their home countries to start a new life here in America.
Back in the Wall Street area right off the Ellis Island ferry. This is the famous Wall Street bull. People were actually lined up to take their picture in front of it.
All those people, just waiting their turn for a photo with the Bull. We’ve discovered that if you want to do anything in New York City, you need to get there really early in the day. If you wait until 11:00 a.m., you will spend most of your time either standing in a line or (like us) scrambling for something way less popular to do instead. The same goes for meals. If you eat early, you can get in almost anywhere. Wait until a “fashionable” hour to dine and you’ll starve.
With that in mind, we made a beeline back to Koreatown and had lunch right before the noon crowd started forming. We’re still all on a soup diet for the most part.
Isabella and I went to Times Square/Broadway for the 2:00 p.m. matinee of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. We took an Uber, but traffic near Times Square was so bad we were forced to ditch the car and walk the rest of the way if we were going to make it on time. A bunch of the roads were already shut off in preparation for tomorrow’s New Year Eve festivities. People dressed in costumes were already out doing whatever it is they do: Elmo, Mario, the snowman from Frozen, several male Statue of Liberties, Minnie Mouse, Spiderman — there didn’t seem to be much of a theme going on, but it was chaotic, crowded and festive. They are expecting more than 2 million people to be here tomorrow night. Police are EVERYWHERE.
We made it to the theater on time and were treated to a truly wonderful show. Most of you already know the storyline of Dangerous Liaisons, but Isabella did not. She was most scandalized (especially by the partial nudity) but loved it in spite of her prudish tendencies. She kept saying, “This is awesome, but so embarrassing to be watching with my mother!” I said, “With whom else would you be here in New York watching a Broadway play? Would you rather be watching this with Daddy?” and she said, “Fair point. It could be worse.”
Note: we originally bought the tickets for Adam and me. We both wanted to see Ray Donovan (Liev Schreiber) on stage. (Side note: he was excellent!) We felt so rotten for Isabella missing The Lion King that Adam gave her his ticket so she could see a Broadwayplay in New York, even if it wasn’t the one she wanted. She really enjoyed it, so I’m glad she got this experience. And in her case, a little de-prudification is probably good for her.
She and I walked home afterwards. Weaving through the intense crowds (which were even worse at 5:00 p.m. than they were earlier in the afternoon) took a long time but it started to snow and created a rather magical experience. It felt like a gift after our disappointments earlier in this trip.
We finally made it back to the apartment and Adam had the place cleaned up, a fruit and cheese platter ready, and a good bottle of wine open. Today was a really good day.
Saturday, 31 Dec 2016 NEW YEAR’S EVE
Trinity Church on Wall Street – this is actually the 3rd iteration on this property. The first was constructed in 1697.
The inscription on this tombstone for William Bradford cracked me up. He was a printer and, among other things, started New York’s first newspaper, the New-York Gazette. I have typed out the inscription below the photo because it’s hard to read.
I’ve never seen a tombstone inscription quite this blunt. I’ve also never seen a tombstone that included a reality-check for those of us still alive: “Reader reflect how soon you’ll quit this Stage. You’ll find but few attain to such an Age. Life’s full of Pain.” In other words, “He made it to 92 but you shouldn’t get your hopes up… just sayin’.”
Here lies the body of Mr WILLIAM BRADFORD Printer who departed this Life May 23 1752, aged 92 Years: He was born in Liecestershire, in Old England, in 1660 and came over to America in 1682, before the City of Philadelphia was laid out. He was Printer to this Government for upwards of 50 Years and being quite worn out with Old age and labor, he left this mortal State in the lively Hopes of a blessed immortality. Reader reflect how soon you’ll quit this Stage. You’ll find but few attain to such an Age. Life’s full of Pain. Lo here’s a Place of Rest. Prepare to meet your GOD then you are blessed. Here also lies the body of Elizabeth Wife to the said William Bradford who departed this Life July 8 1731 aged 68 Years.
His poor wife, also buried here, is nothing more than a footnote. That doesn’t seem fair.
The photo below is the burial place of Alexander Hamilton. He was interred here after he lost the duel with Aaron Burr. Right next to him is a plaque telling us that Hamilton’s oldest son is also buried somewhere in this same cemetery but the exact location has been lost to the ages. His son also died in a duel after he took offense to someone making disparaging remarks about his dad. Holden remarked: “The men in that family seem to have a genetic flaw with anger issues. They keep engaging in duels when they aren’t good at them. That’s bad survival technique.”
Walking along Wall Street. The old City Hall (now a museum) is coming up on the left. It’s where George Washington was sworn in as our first President.
A statue of Washington, and banners telling us “This place matters” in case we weren’t suitably impressed.
The New York Stock Exchange. It’s closed today.
This is probably as close as our kids will ever get to it. They look like weird long-legged creatures because of the wide-angle lens.
The Christmas tree in front of NY Stock Exchange.
This is the Federal Reserve (below). They keep this building relatively nondescript. No signs or anything identifying it, save a single American flag.
Adam: Probably the most important building in the world – the Federal Reserve Bank of NY – the Fed. There are no labels on the building and it’s built like a fort.More than 7000 tons of gold are buried in the vaults below ground. What decisions take place in the building affect everyone in the world, daily.
Now we’re coming up on the new One World Trade Center (aka Freedom Tower) and the memorial for Ground Zero.
Memorial fountains outlining the base of the original twin towers.
The metal edge has the names of all who perished that day.
Josie studied the new tower in her social studies class this semester. She informed us that almost everything about the design is significant; for example, the building is 1776 feet tall (including the spire) to represent the year the Declaration of Independence was signed. The actual top floor is exactly the same height as the World Trade Center that was destroyed on 9/11.
Adam: We didn’t go up to the top because (as written before) we don’t go up stuff and they wanted $34/head for the pleasure. Plus the lines. Someone else go and tell me how great it was.
The interior of St. Paul’s Chapel nearby (photos below). This is where George and Martha went to Sunday services each week when he was President. It is an offshoot of Trinity Church that was built when more people started moving into the area and didn’t want to walk that far.
This is one of the first seals of the United States. It features a turkey instead of an eagle because Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey as our national bird.
From there we walked to Chinatown. This store had some gorgeous, delicate gold jewelry.
We toyed with idea of getting lunch here, but noticed that many of the restaurants didn’t have very good health code ratings. In New York, apparently it’s a law that restaurants much conspicuously display their health code grade in their front window. Every single one we’ve seen throughout the city had a grade of A. In Chinatown, many had a grade of B and we were making fun of them … then went a little further and found several with grade C. We decided not to take a chance.
Onward to Little Italy. We were starving and stopped at the first restaurant we came to. (It had a grade A rating. Yay.) Signed publicity photos covered the walls, including pictures of Sinatra, Ray Romano, and Steven Van Zandt from The Sopranos. (He played Silvio Dante.)
Holden waiting for Josie to make up her mind so we can finally order.
The food was fine, but not spectacular. We were a bit disappointed considering where we were. We expected something better and more authentic from an old, established-in-1904 place in Little Italy. If you happen to come here, maybe skip Vincent’s and try one of the many other restaurants instead.
Next stop: back to Ferrara Bakery to get some cannolis to take home for our New Year’s Eve treat. This place is phenomenal.
Pretty, old-fashioned fire escapes.
Love the name of this shop.
We walked all the way back home, nearly 11 miles in total today. We rested for a couple of hours in the afternoon (Adam watched half of a football game) and then headed back out around 5:00 p.m. to see what was going on in Times Square.
The Empire State Building, all lit up in it’s New Year’s Eve finery.
Nearly every street is blocked off. They brought in 7,000 police officers and trucks filled with sand as a precaution against terrorists driving into the crowds like in Nice, France on Bastille Day and Berlin a few weeks ago. Getting to Times Square is difficult as they are funneling everyone through just a couple of entrance points and doing security checks.
We gave up and walked home. We had no intention of standing in one of the holding pens for several hours. They manage the crowd by setting up corrals that contain 3,000 people each. Once you are assigned to a corral, that’s where you stay. The very idea gives me the creeps. I don’t want to be crammed into a corral like a sheep waiting to be sheared. (And if animals are crammed 3,000 deep into corrals, receiving a nonconsensual haircut is the very best thing one could hope for.) No thank you.
We thought we’d be able to hear the festivities of 2+ million people from our balcony since they weren’t that far away. Much to our surprise, we couldn’t hear a thing. We couldn’t hear or see the fireworks, either. In fact, our area was strangely quiet until around 1:00 a.m. when 2 million people all tried to leave at the same time. We watched the ball drop on TV just like everybody else, and went to bed. We got about one hour of sleep, and then the mass exodus reached our street. After that it was angry yelling and constant car horn blaring for nearly three hours straight.
Sunday 01 Jan 2017
We saved Central Park Zoo for today because I was afraid the streets of New York would be filled with barf after last night’s festivities and figured the zoo would be nice and clean. A few years ago we rang in the new year in Paris. The city on New Year’s Day was …. well, you can read about it on our blog post France, Dec 2011 and Jan 2012. It was revolting.
My fears turned out to be unfounded. New York avoided the vomit problem by banning drinking in Times Square. I’m sure the purpose was to prevent a drunken mob from spiraling out of control, but a nice side effect is that the streets are surprisingly clean this morning. Sober people don’t make such a mess.
I wanted to see Central Park Zoo because I’ve heard about it my entire life. The kids wanted to see Central Park Zoo because they like Madagascar. The zoo is much smaller than I expected, but quite nice and they have a wonderful bird collection. I could have spent hours in their Tropical habitat (nice bonus, it was warm in there.)
Rules are you can’t touch the birds, but the birds are allowed to touch you. Here we are trying to convince some ducks that we’ve just love to be petted. They didn’t oblige.
Back outside to the sea lions.
This clock and archway was featured in the movie Madagascar. It’s one of the only recognizable things from the movie. What the real zoo lacks are any lions, hippos, giraffes, or zebras. They have not a single one of the main character animals. They do have a lot of penguins and lemurs though.
At the Tisch Children’s Zoo (part of Central Park Zoo but in a different area; a general admission ticket gets you access to both parts) they have domesticated animals kids can feed and touch, as well as some other interactive features designed for little kids.
Or, in the case of our own children, not-so-little kids.
The kids were so loud for this photo they scared the nearby Patagonian cavies and I had to tell them to be quiet.
Me feeding an alpaca. She was my best friend until I ran out of pellets.
After we explored the zoo, we walked further into Central Park and found the Balto statue. Anyone who has little kids and has seen the movie Balto will be familiar with this one. (Anyone who grew up in Alaska and knows about the Iditarod will know about Balto, too.) A plaque at the bottom of the statue reads: Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through Arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in the Winter of 1925. Endurance · Fidelity · Intelligence
Pretty view of bridge in Central Park with the Manhattan skyline in the background.
A little further along we came to Strawberry Fields and the John Lennon memorial. He was assassinated in front of his apartment very near this section of the park. Lots of people gathered here to pay their respects, and a guy sitting on a bench was playing Lennon songs on an acoustic guitar. (And we got to meet a mini Aussie puppy that looks just like Max!)
John Lennon’s apartment building, The Dakota.
Tom’s Restaurant, which most everyone will recognize as the diner as Monk’s Cafe from Seinfeld. Tom’s Restaurant is a few blocks from Columbia University and Barnard College, where Suzanne Vega studied. Tom’s was a frequent haunt of hers and she wrote the 1987 song Tom’s Diner about this place. It’s open really late and has been a hang-out for college students for years. It’s Upper Manhattan college district’s version of a Denny’s.
The inside looks nothing like the Seinfeld set. They serve Greek-inspired diner food — gyros, hamburgers, grilled cheese, fries.
Isabella is going to be a senior in high school next year and has started thinking seriously about colleges. Since we were in the vicinity, we walked to Columbia University and poked around a little. With total annual tuition and board more than $70,000, she will not be attending Columbia, but she was interested in seeing it anyway. We walked around the campus but on New Year’s Day, not much was open.
Pictured below is the Biomedical Engineering building.
The doors were open and we went to the 3rd floor and wandered the halls of the Biomedical Engineering department. Every door had “biohazard” written on it and heavy-duty locks. Many labs had emergency showers right outside their doors in the hallway. The posters show projects different student research teams are working on. We were all suitably impressed. Isabella is excited about college and hopes she can find a less expensive school that has a research facility with (almost) this much opportunity.
The girls want to revisit Koreatown and buy some lip balm at the cute little bookstore/cosmetics counter we saw on our first day. We decided to walk so we could see things on the way. One of the things we saw was Tiffany & Co. We went in, just to say we’d been there.
….And left with a little treat from their housewares department to start 2017.
Today was our last full day in New York. Our flight tomorrow isn’t until 6:00 p.m., so we have the morning to do one more little activity before we leave for the airport at 2:00 p.m. (just to be on the safe side.)
Monday, 02 Jan 2017
We have one final morning to do something fun before we head to the airport this afternoon. We spent the early hours packing and straightening up the apartment. Once the city began stirring, we went to Katz’s Deli — an old-school delicatessen in SOHO that is probably most famous for the “I’ll have what she’s having!” scene in When Harry Met Sally.
The sign in the photo above (“Katz’s, that’s all!”) has become one of the deli’s catch-phrases. It started out as a mistake; (from their wikipedia entry) the sign maker asked Harry Tarowsky what to say on the deli’s sign, and Harry replied “Katz’s, that’s all”. This was misinterpreted by the sign maker who painted the sign as it stands today on the side of the building.
The interior.
The deli counter.
The sign hanging from the ceiling reads: Where Harry met Sally … hope you have what she had! Enjoy! The table directly below (red arrow) is the one used by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan for that scene.
Above Holden’s head: a photo of young Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker with the deli owner on one of their visits. Katz’s celebrity photos cover the walls of the entire restaurant.
We ordered the pastrami on rye (what else?!) and shared it amongst Adam, Holden, Josie and I. Isabella ordered a bowl of chicken soup. We needed to pace ourselves because all we have on our docket this morning is eating.
I loved this mural.
Some less talented street artist’s work.
Possibly the ugliest chaise lounge I’ve ever seen. Holden noted, “Not only is it ugly, it also looks uncomfortable and too fragile to sit on. That’s pretty much everything you don’t want in a piece of furniture.”
Street scene in Little Italy.
Our next stop was Caffe Napoli. The kids ordered hot chocolate, Adam had an espresso, and I had an order of bruschetta.
Continuing our walk.
Our last stop was back to Ferrara Bakery for one last dessert.
Josie weighing the risks/rewards to finishing the entire chocolate mousse cake. She had to yield about 3/4 of the way through.
Holden ordered the black & white cake this time.
Cannoli for Adam and I. Isabella tried the New York cheesecake. (No photo of that one.)
Stuffed but happy, we ended our visit to New York on a high note. This trip had some bumps in it, but overall we had a wonderful family vacation and made a lot of memories.
This year we are spending our Christmas break in New York City. We’ve basically never been to one of the greatest cities in the world even though it’s right in our back yard. (The flight from Atlanta to NYC is only 1 hour 40 minutes.)
I was here very briefly with my parents in 1986 or so, and Adam has been here a couple of times for business but he hasn’t had time to do anything other than work.
My own memories of New York mostly revolve around how much my dad hated it here. I distinctly recall that our hotel room cost $122, which he found to be an outrage. (On that trip through the US, our hotel rooms were usually around $30 per night, for comparison.) We took the ferry over to see the Statue of Liberty, which was no fun at all. We spent all afternoon standing in lines, then were informed we’d arrived too late to go up inside Lady Liberty to the crown. They were gearing up to close, so we had to make do with milling around the base. It was also the pre-Guiliani days before the city was cleaned up. The streets were filled with puke and other bodily fluids, garbage and general grotesqueries.
We’re counting on our experience in 2016 to be much better. We rented an Airbnb apartment on Park Avenue in Midtown, very near the Empire State Building and within walking distance of Central Park, Rockefeller Plaza, and Times Square. The apartment is very small, but well-located, clean and efficient. It will be the perfect headquarters for our 2-week stay.
View from our balcony
The Empire State Building
The only item on Josie’s list of things to do in New York was to go ice skating. The weather was fantastic today so we decided to make the skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza our opening activity.
The famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
Our kids only have the opportunity to ice skate on our Christmas vacations, so they’ve been a grand total of three times. They are not good at it but that doesn’t stop it being fun!
Isabella and Holden spent most of their time hugging the walls.
Holden thrilled to be upright and not using something/someone for stabilization.
And then it’s back to the wall.
Josie was a lot more adventurous. She started to get the hang of it by the time our 40 minutes were over. In the picture below, I’m the slightly taller red coat (with hat) and Josie is right behind me, also in a red coat.
Isabella ventured off the wall near the end.
After ice skating, we headed around the side of the building to the NBC Studios entrance. We went inside (they give studio tours) and poked around for a little while, but decided against taking the tour. Rockefeller Plaza is surprisingly dark and gloomy inside.
The kids standing outside, waiting for Adam and I to decide where to go next.
A hot dog cart, of course! I’ve been watching 30 Rock on Netflix lately and I wanted to get a hot dog from a cart in front of Rockefeller Plaza, just like Liz Lemon. They are quite good and, at $5 each, probably the cheapest food available in New York outside of a grocery store. It was only 10:30 a.m., so we bought two hot dogs and two pretzels to share amongst the 5 of us, just as a snack.
Radio City Music Hall is right across the street.
We happened by a UNIQLO store and decided to do a bit of shopping. The sweaters Isabella and I bought in Chicago last month quickly became favorites, so we wanted to pick up a couple more. At $15 each, they are a great bargain.
Self-portrait of Adam in the mirror above the escalator. (Holden waving with white glove, Josie in red jacket, Isabella’s face visible behind Holden’s head.)
On to Central Park. We just visited the entrance today. We’ll go back on another day to really explore and go to the zoo. The kids wanted to take a rock-climbing break from walking around the city.
Josie was more adventurous than the other two on the ice rink, and way less so on the rocks.
Isabella taking a photo of Josie with the city in the background for Josie to text to her friends.
Holden photobombing.
Lunch in Koreatown. We ate at a place called Shilla. It was good, but our general consensus (so far) is that Korean food is a lot like Japanese food, but not quite as good. We’ve only eaten one meal though, so we’ll give it another chance or two in case it’s the sort of cuisine that needs to grow on you.
I’d never heard of Koreatown, but a quick internet search informed us that Koreatown has the second-largest population of ethnic Koreans outside of Korea. (I think the largest is in LA.) It really is like stepping briefly into a foreign country.
A little books & make-up shop near the restaurant. That seems like a strange combo, but there it was nonetheless. They have some very strange lotions and facial care products in here. One was called “Snail Repair Cream.” I looked it up when I got back to the apartment, and YES, the active ingredient is the slime from a sea snail. It’s supposed to do wonderful things for your skin, but ew. The snails produce slime when they are stressed, so I have a vision of tanks of poor snails being tortured and essentially living in hell to keep them producing slime, like a horrifying real-life version of the monsters on Monster’s Inc. scaring kids to collect screams to power their city. I shan’t be buying any.
On the way back to the apartment, we stopped at a Best Buy and Adam bought an Xbox One. He wanted one anyway, and decided to buy it here so he and Holden could play games when they get up hours and hours before the girls do (and way before anything else in the city is open.) An added bonus is that we can now access our Netflix account. We went home after the late lunch and he set it up. Then we had wine time and a little dinner in the apartment. (Restaurants in general — and especially in big cities — are expensive, so we only eat out once per day, almost always at lunch. We loaded up on food at a Trader Joe’s near the apartment for the rest of our meals.)
A word about Trader Joe’s: it’s cheap. They have a sign on the wall saying they have the same prices in all of their Trader Joe’s locations across the country, so people in New York don’t have to pay extra based on location. I don’t know how they sell food this cheaply; I pay more at the Publix by our house in Georgia for most things. We are shocked at how low the prices for nutritious food are.
After dinner and a movie (our annual viewing of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation) we went back out to see the lights at Times Square now that it was dark.
We passed through Koreatown again on our way. This BBQ place had a line out the door, so we’re going to try it for lunch one of these days. It must be really good.
Times Square!
Mounted police in front of the Times Square police station.
We ducked into Grand Central Station on the way home, just to see it.
We went across the street to Pershing Square Cafe, located underneath a bridge. We shared a couple of warm brownie sundaes to cap off our evening. (No photos.)
We walked a total of 12.2 miles today, not including the ice skating. Time for bed!
Saturday, 24 Dec 2016 — Christmas Eve
Today it is raining, which makes it a good day for a nice indoor activity like a museum. We got an Uber and arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) only to see an enormous, winding line snaking way out down the sidewalk. We took one look at it and said, “Nope.” It’s the Louvre all over again.
We all huddled under an awning while Adam got on his phone to find something else to do. The Guggenheim would be open in one hour, so we headed over in that general direction on foot and poked into a few shops to kill time. Dean & Deluca (pictured below) had some loose-leaf tea I like, so I at least was able to cross that off my grocery list for the day.
The Guggenheim building is weird. I am not a fan. The quality of light seemed a little bluish/harsh and the white was too stark and sterile.
A few paintings in the Kandinsky collection. These stood out because they have actual color in them.
The kids, who don’t generally like art museums much anyway, were really bored in this one. The visiting art collection was boring (in our opinion) — a series of paintings by a lady called Agnes Martin. She went in for a “minimalist” approach, which translated to a bunch of huge canvasses with nearly nothing on them. Every single one looked like a wallpaper sample aimed at people who want a neutral interior, a la “white on white” and beige popular in the 1980s . If you look closely at the photo below, you can see a couple of her works — you can sort of make out the square edges. The paintings themselves are almost exactly the same color as the white walls.
Standing outside the Guggenheim trying to determine if the rain has slackened enough that we can walk to the Neue Gallerie down the street.
The Neue Galerie New York is small and doesn’t have a very big collection, but they have a lot of works by Klimt, with the most famous piece being “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” (aka “Woman in Gold”). We don’t have any photos because they had a strict no-photography policy. We enjoyed The Neue Galerie a lot more than we did the Guggenheim.
Now off in another Uber to Chinatown for lunch. We chose the Nom Wah Tea Parlor, one of the oldest dim sum restaurants in New York.
Even in an off-hour for lunch, the place was packed. The ordering process is to mark off numbers on a list (as in, “#4″ or #32”) and each dish is brought to your table as it’s ready. The plates are small and around $4.50 each, so you can order a lot of different things for the table. That way everyone gets to try everything.
After lunch, the weather had improved quite a bit. We went exploring.
This shop (pictured below) is the oldest store in Chinatown. They sell porcelain. I bought a couple of tiny wine cups. They probably hold about 2 teaspoons each, so I’m not sure what kind of wine one would serve in them. I intend to use them for soy sauce.
Another shop was packed with all sorts of odds and ends, including a huge jade penis statue. The kids giggled over that one.
Across the street is a store with imported items from Nepal. I bought a blanket/shawl made of Yak hair, although the tag on it said “made in Tibet.”
Chinatown abruptly ends and turns into Little Italy. Josie pointed out that while Chinatown had zero Christmas decorations, across the street Little Italy was lit up like nobody’s business.
Dessert in Ferrara, one of the oldest bakeries/cafes in New York. They opened their doors in 1892. We were seated upstairs and had what is possibly one of the best desserts we’ve ever tasted.
Adam and I both had a cannolo Siciliano. Josie and Holden chose Chocolate Truffle Cake “Death by Chocolate” and Isabella opted for White Chocolate Raspberry Ribbon cake. The kids also each had a scoop of vanilla gelato.
People lined up downstairs in the bakery portion, buying treats to take home for Christmas Eve.
Across the street is Alleva, the oldest cheese store in America. We bought half a pound of artisanal cheese to take home for wine time.
Sunday, 25 Dec 2016 — Christmas Day
Our Christmas day is off to a rotten start. Josie woke up at 2:43 a.m. vomiting and continued to be sick all night long and well into the day. She’s being a real trooper about it, but it did put a damper on the Christmas stocking celebration. Adam put together Xmas socks back at home and brought them in his suitcase, so Santa could deliver a little something to the kids here in New York. Ever since we started traveling for Christmas, we don’t do gifts. The socks are pretty much the whole shebang. “Santa” couldn’t put the socks out last night because Josie was camped out on the living room couch so she could be near the bathroom.
It’s now nearly 10:00 a.m. and we’re very thankful we bought the Xbox here rather than waiting until we got back home. Josie is laying on the couch playing Battlefield One with Adam, trying valiantly to get her mind off her bad tummy. She also used it to watch Netflix cartoons all night while she couldn’t sleep.
By 11:00 a.m., Josie thinks the only food that sounds remotely appetizing is watermelon and maybe some Gatorade, neither of which we have. Adam and I set out to find a grocery store open on Christmas day so we could take care of our baby. The one the internet said was open today turned out not to be (big disappointment) so we returned to the apartment and had to break the news to Josie that we had failed in our mission. She was so gracious about it that we felt even worse, so headed back out — this time to Koreatown, hoping that a Korean market would be open.
As it turned out, the nearly-deserted streets of midtown Manhattan gave way to a bustling mob in Koreatown. Not only was everything open, it’s seems to be where everyone in the midtown area went for lunch. We found a Korean grocery store that carried watermelon and also bought a bag of rice and some eggs. We returned home victorious and the watermelon actually seemed to help Josie feel a little better.
For lunch, Adam, Holden, Isabella and I went back to Koreatown to try the Korean BBQ joint we spotted the other day. It was packed … Adam stood in line for 5 minutes or so to get to the front of the line, only to be told it would be at least another 30 minutes before we were to be seated.
Photo below: handmade dumplings.
We ditched the Korean BBQ idea and headed in the other direction to find the Italian restaurant, Vizzo, where we ate dinner on our first night. On the way Adam snapped a couple of pics:
The sign reads “Jews for Jesus: Who Says You Have to Choose? They’re Both Jewish” We’re not sure what exactly this is, but apparently it’s a thing.
If strange amalgams of mainstream religions aren’t your cup of tea, you can go across the street and consult a psychic for $10.
Back to the apartment to check on Josie and hang out for a little while. This is an interior shot of our dining area-slash-kitchen. The balcony above is Holden’s room. It’s actually a lot more private than you’d expect and he’s thrilled not to have to share a room with his sisters.
The four of us headed back out for a brief afternoon walk after Josie asked us all to leave. (“I feel better when the apartment is really quiet.”) We walked over to see the Flatiron Building. The city was way more crowded at 3:00 p.m. than it was earlier in the day. Most of the stores along Broadway were open, as well.
Isabella and Holden posing …
… which led to a “king of the hill” situation on the big rock …
… and Holden emerged victorious. Isabella’s response to losing: “You cheated by being bigger and stronger than me.” Holden: “YEP.”
Once again we are near the Empire State Building. We keep intending to go inside, but still haven’t found a convenient time. It was around now that Josie texted “I’m feeling really horrible” and we knew it was time to head home.
Christmas evening we ate leftover pizza while Josie nibbled on watermelon bits and drank Gatorade. We didn’t feel up to watching a movie that required much attention, so we just watched several episodes of 30 Rock instead, and headed to bed around 8:00 p.m. Hopefully tomorrow Josie will feel better. We have tickets to see The Lion King that we bought months ago and can’t change.
Monday, 26 Dec 2016
6:00 a.m. Day 2 of our big disappointment begins. Josie is feeling much better, but now Isabella is down for the count. She is devastated because she wanted to see The Lion King more than the rest of us combined. After her first puke at 6:00 a.m., she emerged from the bathroom and announced, “I’ll be better by this afternoon. I’m still going to The Lion King today.” I looked into changing the tickets for another day but it isn’t possible.
10:17 a.m. She’s now on puke #7 and has given up all hope of making a 2:00 p.m. showing. We’re really feeling the pinch in only having one bathroom, too. Thankfully the grocery stores are all open again today. Adam and I were able to load up on more Gatorade, disinfectant spray and disinfectant wipes, toilet paper, ginger ale, and (for some reason that I don’t really understand) watermelon. Who eats watermelon when they are sick? My kids do, I guess. It’s the only thing they want.
It’s pretty clear we’re dealing with a virus now and not random food poisoning. Josie’s been blaming some sushi she ate from Trader Joe’s and went so far as to declare she was off sushi for the rest of her life. Now she has to grudgingly admit that the sushi was probably innocent and that the poor people of Trader Joe’s didn’t deserve the curses she put on them.
I disinfected the entire apartment, although it’s probably way too late. Adam, Holden and I will just have to wait and see what the future has in store for us. Either our immune systems will fight off the virus, or we will join Isabella in the bathroom. I think our fates are sealed one way or the other by this point.
In the meantime, Josie is starving after not eating anything but a few pieces of watermelon yesterday. She wants to go to that Korean BBQ place we tried to go to yesterday without her, but then skipped when the wait was too long. The short duration of her illness (roughly 24 hours) is at least a small comfort.
12:28 p.m. We didn’t feel like walking back to Koreatown, so we went to a Greek place near our apartment. Adam and I loved it, Holden hated it, and Josie suddenly started feeling a little green around the gills after her first bite. The food was a bit too flavorful and rich for her delicate stomach. I tried to get her to stay home and eat bland foods instead (banana, rice, watermelon, a bagel, maybe a hard-boiled egg) but she wanted something fancier. That turned out to be a mistake, but luckily a small one. We had her food boxed up to bring home and someone else can eat it for dinner.
Meanwhile, Isabella is significantly sicker than Josie was yesterday. We walked into the apartment after lunch to the sound of retching. She no longer has the energy to make it to the bathroom and is instead laying in bed with a large saucepan. She said she was feeling slightly better while we were gone and ate one piece of watermelon and one strawberry, then almost instantly regretted it. She’s back on Gatorade and ginger ale.
1:00 p.m. We leave for The Lion King. Josie was feeling a bit sick and decided to stay home. When Holden, Adam and I got to the street, she texted us that she changed her mind and wanted to come after all.
4:30 p.m. The Lion King was fantastic.
8:00 p.m. Holden is now sick.
11:29 p.m. Adam is now sick.
11:43 p.m. Josie is sick again. We are in hell and it only has one bathroom.
Tuesday 27 Dec 2016
Final score: Virus 5, Mayses 0. I got sick in the wee hours of the morning. Today was spent with all of us trying to fall asleep in between mad dashes to the bathroom. Misery.
Adam had to cancel a business meeting set for this morning and reschedule it for Thursday. With all these lost days, we are running out of time to do everything on our list.
On the bright side, there is a deli across the street that serves several different kinds of soup. All five of us are on a liquid diet.
Wednesday 28 Dec 2016
Today the world is looking a little brighter. Our original plan was to visit the Statue of Liberty today, but we decided that was a bit ambitious and we should probably stay within walking distance of the apartment. We also figured it would be prudent to do things that were free in case we needed to leave in a hurry.
Holden getting ready to leave the apartment for the first time in two days.
The famous New York Library is near our place. You can almost feel the excitement of the kids.
Outside in the library’s courtyard. Adam calls this one “Sleeping Man, Sleeping Pigeon.”
Bryant Park is around the corner from the library. They have a winter market set up here similar to the ones in Vienna. This is the other ice skating venue in the city and it was really crowded today.
People in line to skate. It doesn’t even look like a line.
Isabella and Josie checking out one of the jewelry stalls.
This shop (below) specialized in items hand carved out of tagua nuts from a type of palm tree found in Ecuador. The seeds are known as “vegetable ivory.” It really does look like ivory or bone. I bought a little hummingbird.
Josie loved this curved building and asked Adam to get a photo of it.
The Chrysler building. We entered the lobby, which is art deco gorgeous, but couldn’t go any further without an ID badge. They don’t want looky-loos traipsing through their building.
The kids are fascinated with how many steam grates there are in New York. This one was undergoing repairs.
Another angle of the Chrysler Building.
We walked by Grand Central Station again…
… and eventually ended up by the UN. This place is heavily guarded and nobody is getting in without proper credentials. They do have tours for the public down on one end, but the line was long and we were tired and hungry.
We thought there would be a nice selection of international restaurants near the UN, but there wasn’t. Instead we saw this …
… so we hiked back to Madison Ave to find a decent place to get some more chicken soup.
(Below) In front of UNIQLO. They had a fire scare that turned out to be a false alarm. The firemen then let little kids sit on the front of the fire truck to get their pictures taken.
It’s hard to see in the photo below, but if you look closely you can see the lit-up cougars on the Cartier building. It was really pretty.
This sculpture is one of the establishing shots used in the show 30 Rock, so we felt compelled to copy it.
We walked a total of 8.2 miles today. It feels like a major victory after the past few days.
The second half of our trip will be continued in the next post. Hopefully it will not contain any illnesses. Fingers crossed!
This week we’re in Chicago – our first time back as a family since we moved away in 2004. (It’s Josie’s first time ever.)
We had some airline miles to burn and nothing planned for Thanksgiving, so we thought it would be fun to find a condo downtown and be good Chicago tourists.
We’re staying in a highrise one block off of Michigan Avenue, 11th floor. Everything you could need is a short walk outside the front door.
We got in this afternoon and had just enough time to get unpacked, get some groceries and then head out at night for Chicago’s annual Magnificent Mile Lights Festival and parade.
By the time we got to the parade route, the streets were packed with people and the route was lined with crowds 6 people deep. The kids couldn’t see much of the parade so we didn’t spend too much time out in the 32 degree weather.
After missing most of the parade, the kids consoled themselves with hot chocolates. This little shop is called Leonidas Chocolate Cafe and is right around the corner from our apartment. They are a Chicago business and only have 3 locations — all in the greater Chicago area. (The other two are in Evanston and Northbrook.)
Sunday, 20 Nov 2016
Today we visited the Field Museum – Chicago’s natural history and science center.
Holden checking his phone inside a simulated pre-Jurassic jungle.
Checking out the viscosity of the La Brea tar.
This afternoon we walked down Michigan Avenue, did some shopping and sightseeing and bought more groceries for a night in.
It’s COLD here.
This restaurant, right across the street from our apartment, specializes in soup. This place was a big hit with the kids. Holden: “The older I get, the more I appreciate a really good soup.”
Trump tower, off to the right. That bridge below it was full of protesters.
Monday, 21 Nov 2016
Today we headed out to walk around the city and see what we ran into.
Inside the Hershey’s store. They want a lot of money for their goodies here. We didn’t buy anything.
At the Daley Plaza Christkindlmarket… reminded us a lot of the booths and fun we had last year in Vienna. Holden got a bratwurst.
Looking over the wide variety of Christmas tree ornaments.
They even had souvenir mugs of hot spiced wine.
City shots.
Dylan’s Candy Bar, another very high-priced candy store. We didn’t buy anything here, either.
Approaching Navy Pier
Tuesday, 22 Nov 2016
At the Art Institute – Isabella listening in on a college lecture about Seurat.
Josie getting her own excellent training (below).
From the Art Institute of Chicago’s website: “Van Gogh painted his first Bedroom just after moving into his beloved “Yellow House” in Arles, France, in 1888. He was so enamored with the work, now in the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, that after water damage threatened its stability, he became determined to preserve the composition by painting a second version while at an asylum in Saint-Rémy in 1889. Identical in scale and yet distinct from the original, that second work is now one of the icons of the Art Institute’s permanent collection. Van Gogh created a smaller third version, now at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, as a gift for his mother and sister a few weeks after making the second. While the three paintings at first appear almost identical, when examined closely, each reveals distinct and unique details.”
Me telling Josie everything I could remember about Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He was one messed up dude.
Holden and Josie studying Monet’s hay stacks.
Family self portrait at the Cloud Gate
They have ice skating … we plan to head over for our own turn at skating tomorrow if the weather is decent.
Free piano performance at the old Chicago Library (now the Chicago Cultural Center) – sitting under the largest Tiffany glass artwork (a dome) in the world. Isabella wanted to sit here for awhile and listen to the pianist.
The panes are modeled on fish scales and the center contains all the signs of the zodiac.
All of the light fixtures are also by Tiffany.
It’s cold out — even the pigeons are all fluffed up and conserving energy.
Sampling Chicago deep dish and meatball subs at Giordano’s.
We had such a wonderful time in Chicago! It was just a short visit, but it’s got us all excited about New York for Christmas break. Only three more weeks!
This week is the kids’ first fall break and we wanted to do something fairly close to home. We had a really good time in Memphis a year ago with Rita and Randy, so we got together with them again and are doing a Blues Tour, Part 2.
Adam chose Clarksdale, Mississippi, as our starting point because it is “ground zero” for the birthplace of the blues. It’s in the middle of the Mississippi Delta with cotton fields as far as the eye can see.
Our first lodgings of the trip are in a unique hotel called Shack Up Inn. It’s on the old Hopson cotton plantation and the rooms are old sharecropper’s cabins that have been renovated just enough to meet modern needs (running water, electricity, wifi) but otherwise have been left largely as they were when sharecroppers lived in them.
Shack Up Inn has a bar and is also a music venue … they have a “no under 25” policy because they had trouble with kids in the past. We talked to the owner and he made an exception for us: he said they initially had to institute the policy because none of the shacks have TVs, so kids would wake up early in the morning and go outside to play in the cotton fields. Their laughter and shrieks from having so much fun bothered the older folks who “may have stayed up a little later than normal and are laying in bed with a headache in the morning.” (Presumably the 21-24 age group annoyed people with a different type of antics.) Adam was able to convince the owner that our kids would be quiet and not bother anyone, plus we were staying on Monday and Tuesday nights, which typically are quieter. The real parties happen on the weekends. I highly recommend staying here, but if you have children be aware that you must get permission first, before you make the reservation.
Hopson Plantation (from their website) In 1935 the Hopson Plantation began a monumental changeover to become one of the first completely mechanized cotton operations in the world. In the fall of 1944, International Harvester introduced the first cotton picker on the Hopson farm making it the first in the world to grow and harvest a commercial acreage of cotton produced completely by mechanical methods.
Since we have such a large group (7, including Rita and Randy) we had to stay in two separate houses. We Mayses stayed in the Rich House: “This spacious 3-bedroom, 2-bath (1 with a shower, 1 with a claw-foot tub) house was built in 1883 in Rich, Miss., for the attorney attending to the new railroad construction. The wraparound porch completes the shack-lurious experience. This shack is pet friendly.” (Note: some of the units are pet friendly and others are not. They specify for each unit on their website.)
The dining room
Rita and Randy are staying in the shorter grain bin (you can see Holden in the doorway)
More shots of the interior of Rich House:
Some shots around the compound:
Rita had a tractor exactly like this one when she was a girl.
One of the cabins.
Cotton fields all around us.
The stage area adjacent to the lobby at Shack Up Inn.
Josie eating yogurt on the front porch.
We spent almost the entire evening sitting on the front porch. The interior of the house, although it does have electricity, is very dark and not well-lit. (They have old timey light fixtures.) We all suddenly understood why people used to hang out on the porches — inside is rather gloomy and, as Holden noted, without TV or good internet connections, there is absolutely nothing to do in there. “It makes you want to go out and see the world and do stuff,” he said.
Before we lost the evening light, Adam, Rita, Randy and Isabella went on one last photography walk. Isabella wanted to lay across the rail road tracks like in the old cartoons.
Tuesday, 27 Sept 2016
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Adam got up early to take some photos of the grounds in the morning light.
I love the Shack Up Inn’s posted rules, especially the last one: Be nice or leave.
This bird nest was built on the light fixture on the front porch of The Rich House. It’s made out of cotton from the fields.
Holden and I went cotton picking this morning. I wanted to collect a little bit with the idea of carding it to get the seeds out, spinning some homemade yarn and crocheting a hot pad or some other small kitchen item, just to see what it’s like to make something totally from scratch. Holden came out to help me.
I loved listening to him talk; he noted that some of the cotton bolls had four segments and others had five, which lead to a speculative conversation about plant genetics. He figured since some plants had 5-segment bolls and other plants had 4-segment bolls, one must be a recessive gene. Since the 4-segmenters seemed more common, he figured the 5ers must be recessive. Then he became aware of how tedious it would be to pick the entire field and the conversation turned to how depressing it would be to live a sharecropper’s life of toil.
After breakfast, we headed to the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, about 45 miles from Clarksdale.
One of B.B. King’s first entertainment jobs was as a radio DJ. One of his duties was performing advertising jingles on air. He became the spokesperson (before that was really a “thing”) for Pep Ti Kon tonic. It’s supposed to cure whatever ails you, with it’s main ingredient being 10% alcohol. It was quite popular.
All of his guitars were named Lucille.
The Mississippi Delta has some swampy areas in between the cotton fields.
Back in Clarksdale during the afternoon, we stopped by a local gallery called Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art. The proprietor told us that just across the street was the Ground Zero Blues Club, jointly owned by Morgan Freeman and Bill Luckett, the Mayor of Clarksdale. They are normally closed on Tuesday nights, but were going to be open for a special engagement and recommended we check it out this evening.
Rita (far left) waiting for the musicians to begin. Mr. Luckett was talking to the group who rented out the venue for the evening, telling them that Ground Zero was rated the #1 Blues club in America. #2 was a place across the street. Blues musicians from all over come to play here.
Since it was a private event (and they were generous enough to let in party crashers like us), we were allowed to bring the kids. Adam looked up the club online and discovered they don’t allow children, so we headed out without them thinking that we’d pick them up later to see another band playing in a different venue that did allow kids. When we got to Ground Zero, on a whim I asked the guy working the door if we could bring our kids (expecting him to say no) but was delighted when he enthusiastically said, “Yeah!! Bring ’em!!” Adam and I left Rita and Randy to secure a table, and we raced back to the plantation to get the kids. I am so glad we did, as this evening was so special it will probably be remembered as the highlight of the entire trip.
Below: the kids filling up on coke and pecan pie; me with an iced tea (I was designated driver), Randy with his gin and tonic.
The musical act this evening was Super Chikan and The Fighting Cocks.
James “Super Chikan” Johnson’s uncle was Robert Johnson, he of the old fable of the blues man who sold his soul to the devil at the Crossroads.
Two of Super Chikan’s younger brothers were at the concert. One of them spent almost the entire 30 minute break between sets talking with us. He told us all about their childhoods. Super Chikan was the first of 11 kids, and that his mom was 14 when he was born. The brother (I never caught his name) was a born story teller and entertained us with tales from his childhood. Some of the things he said didn’t exactly match up with details given by Super Chikan himself in online interviews [like this one] I read afterwards (for example, by Super Chiken’s accounts, his mom was 16 when he was born, not 14) and the stories about how the name Super Chikan came about varied, but everything he said was entertaining.
According to the brother, Super Chikan got his name from his mom sending him out at 9 years old to catch chickens in the yard for supper. He had such lightning fast hands he could snatch chickens better than anyone else, so she started calling him Super Chicken and the name stuck.
“My mom was Native American,” he said. “She had long, straight hair that hung down to here (pointing at his hips). That’s where I got my pointy nose and wide cheekbones.”
I asked him if any of his other siblings went into music. “Nah. Each of us has our own thing. I love hunting and the outdoors, horseback riding and catching bullfrogs. I got that love of nature and hunting from my Indian blood I suppose. My brother over there [the other brother in attendance] dances. He’s a much better dancer than I am. It’s in his soul.”
They grew up in tiny cabin much like the ones at Shack Up Inn. “All of us sleeping in one room, littlest kids on the floor. Mama had a stick she put the end of in the fire to get it good and hot, then said “Everybody get in bed!” If you didn’t get in bed fast enough, she poked you with the hot stick. I tell you, we learned to go to bed! And if you wiggled too much, you got kicked out to go sleep on the roof. So we tried hard to lay real still.”
“When Chikan was a little boy, he made guitars and instruments out of anything he could find. I told him, “You crazy, making all those guitars out of garbage!” but he wouldn’t stop and it turned out good for him.”
“I love people, I just love people,” he said. I believed him. Over the course of the evening, he made his way through the room introducing himself and talking to each and every person in attendance, and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it.
The black and white photos are all by Randy — he has a fantastic lens for taking photos in low light.
Wednesday, 28 Sept 2016
Memphis, Tennessee
Before heading out of Clarksdale, we visited the Delta Blues Museum. That was really worth seeing but they have a strict no-photos policy so we don’t have any pictures of it.
Our next stop was Memphis. We did this town almost exactly one year ago, so it was interesting to visit a couple new places and revisit a couple other places, like the B.B. King restaurant.
Our first stop was lunch, Huey’s. It’s a fantastic burger joint with great food. They have a tradition of people blowing their hamburger toothpicks through a straw into the ceiling. A couple times a year, they take all the toothpicks down and hold a contest to see who comes the closest to the actual number. The winner get a prize, and all other proceeds go to the Memphis Zoo … so far, over $80,000 has been donated.
Holden felt the need to contribute to the zoo. It only took him 3 tries to lodge his toothpick in the ceiling. His sisters mocked and trash-talked him through all three tries, so when he emerged victorious he felt as though he’d won a major battle. Score one for manliness and perseverance!
We had some time to kill in the afternoon, so we walked down along the river to the pyramid – now a Bass Pro Shops. The place is enormous and worth visiting once.
Inside the pyramid – it’s a complete town. You could spend an entire day looking all over the sporting displays, eating in the restaurants and shopping for clothes. They even have a hotel and elevator that takes you to the top for aerial views.
The elevator that takes you to the top of the pyramid, for a mere $10 per person. That was too rich for our blood considering there were 5 of us, but Rita and Randy decided it was worth the outlay. Randy said the views of Memphis from the top were OK, but the real treat was the views of the interior of the pyramid from the elevator. He’s never seen anything quite like it.
The Cotton Exchange building – where we’re staying on this visit.
Josie wanted this picture because of the artist painting pigs on the display window.
Beale Street – overrun with motorcycles tonight. They have bike gatherings on Beale once per month.
People try to out-weird each other so everyone will want to take photos. This guy was one of the weirdest and got a lot of attention. Bikini Skeleton was a pretty big hit …
… until everyone saw Chihuahua Daddy. Then he was the biggest hit. Nobody else stood a chance.
Randy walking down Beale for that next, perfect photo opportunity.
At the B.B. King Blues club – the opening act “Memphis Jones”.
We were seated in the upstairs section right next to the sound booth.
The main event, blues legend Preston Shannon. (All b&w photos are Randy Kelley’s.)
Adam and me.
Bella and Holden, having a marvelous time.
Josie and Adam; Josie was a little bashful about having her picture taken.
The headlining act this evening is blues legend Preston Shannon.
Bella and Holden joining in. They knew some of the songs and were able to sing along.
Preston Shannon …
and his bass player, who was also phenomenal.
The gang eating, drinking and enjoying Memphis blues at its best.
Thursday, 30 Sept 2016
Nashville, Tennessee
Adam: This morning, we left Memphis and drove to Nashville – about 4 hours away. After getting checked into our house and settling down to check emails and take some naps, we headed out in the evening for some fun.
We started by visiting a couple of vintage guitar and musical instrument stores. I’ve heard before that Nashville is great for used equipment – lots of broken dreams and abandoned careers keep the used market hopping.Brenda found an antique store along the way that provided some entertainment for most of the others in the group.
We then headed down for dinner to Lower Broadway in Nashville – a renowned area of clubs and bars that all offer live country music acts.
After dinner, we walked over to the Ryman Auditorium – the “Mother Church” of country music and host to the original Grand Ole Opry House.
Tonights guests included Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers, Jimmy Fortune (Statler Brothers), and a couple of acts I didn’t know. They closed with Charlie Daniels and His Band. He’s 80 years old and he rocked the place – woke everyone up after an hour and a half of slower country tunes. Even Isabella is a convert after seeing him jam on guitar and wail away on his fiddle to fast beat swamp music.
People getting ready to have some fun tonight.
Holden checking his game stats after lunch.
Walking to the Ryman Auditorium.
Isabella and Brenda up top, walking along the row of stained glass windows at the Ryman – it was once the Union Gospel Tabernacle.
Larry Gatlin & his brothers.
Charlie Daniels playing his fiddle.
Packed streets after the show. Took us awhile to get back to the truck.
Friday, 31 Sept 2016
Our final day of travel play. We visited Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
We started the day with breakfast at Sky Blue Cafe. It was highly recommended by The Internet, and with good reason. The food was the best we’ve had on the trip. They offer some unique breakfast dishes — I had the Tuscan 2.0 (two eggs over easy on toasted French bread, topped with pesto, tomato, garlic, chiles, melted parmesan cheese & a drizzle of olive oil.) It had a spicy kick to it and was fantastic.
All three kids ordered the Stuffed French Toast Pancakes with bananas and Nutella.
Stuffed to the gills and happy about it, we headed over to The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s plantation.
The kids waiting to get into the main Hermitage house for a guided tour.
Restored slave cabins.
The Hermitage is well worth seeing (we were here two years ago, as well) but you don’t come out of this museum with a very good feeling about Andrew Jackson. He was a quite awful human being. I assume at this particular museum they even had a vested interest in portraying him in the best possible light, and he still came across as a hot-headed, violent, stubborn man who pouted and sulked whenever he didn’t get his way. His go-to solution to conflict, in way too many cases, was to “use force if necessary” (and he seemed to think it was necessary most of the time.)
There were many references to his chronic ill health throughout the museum, with much of his suffering stemming from a bullet lodged in his chest. I assumed he was shot in a battle, but if you keep reading you finally find the reason, which is rather hidden away in a bunch of text in the middle of the museum: he was shot in a duel over a horse race. He killed the other guy. Even under the more violent standards of manliness back then, people in his own time considered him too hair-trigger and easily offended. He was in a lot of bar fights. They also indicate (very diplomatically and discretely) that he was abusive to his slaves and liked physical punishments when people didn’t please him. He was also a champion holder of grudges.
On to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.
Carl Perkin’s blue suede shoes.
In the Taylor Swift portion of the museum, they have a sound booth where people can try out singing and see what it’s like to record a song. (You can hear yourself through the headphones, but as far as I could tell, there is no actual recording going on.)
Thus ends our Blues Tour Part 2. Early tomorrow morning we head back home.
We went to New Orleans for the Labor Day weekend. We hadn’t planned to go anywhere, but hurricane Hermine scared people out of making travel plans near the coast and New Orleans (which was not on the path but people were freaked anyway) had super cheap hotel rooms as a result. We threw Max and the kids in the car and headed out rather on a whim. The weather over there wasn’t the best — it rained pretty hard in the late afternoons, but the mornings were quite nice.
In a turn of events that thrilled me to my bones, we ended up buying four paintings at Jackson Square. Years ago, I bought a watercolor by a guy called Michael Smiroldo that is one of my favorites, but each time we’ve been back to New Orleans since that first visit, he hasn’t been there. I figured he retired, or moved, or started selling through a gallery or something. Anyway, he was THERE this time!! He said he was only there this weekend because he was back in NO visiting his kids for the long weekend. He showed up at Jackson Square in the mornings before the rains came.
We bought two paintings from him (an acrylic on canvas and another watercolor) and one painting each from two other artists. (I feel like running into Smiroldo the one time he was there was like winning the lottery!)
Hanging out at one of the covered outdoor cafes to wait out a mini rainstorm. Beignets and lots of water.
We circled Jackson Square numerous times hunting for paintings.
Once the rain chased away all the outdoor artists, we headed into the city to explore the galleries and antiques shops.
Kids waiting with Max outside one of the galleries.
Adam purchased an etching by Knute Heldner in one of the galleries.
04 Sept 2016 (Sunday)
Sunday morning, back at Jackson Square. We bought a painting from the grouping you can see here on the fence. (Middle row, second from end.)
The artist, Gustavo Trujillo, showing us Pirate Alley, the location depicted in the painting.
We bought a painting from this guy, too, but I never caught his name. The weather was starting to turn ugly at this point and we didn’t feel like we had much time for chatting.
St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square.
We got caught in a downpour on our walk back to the hotel and had to stand in a shop window alcove to keep our paintings dry. Even with umbrellas, we managed to get thoroughly soaked. But the art has made it home dry and ready for framing.
New Orleans never fails for lots of good food and great atmosphere.
Addendum: Sept 8, back home and (mostly) framed.
The Michael Smiroldo acrylic on canvas.
Smiroldo watercolor.
Gustavo Trujillo, oil on canvas of Pirate Alley. He said to wait 4 months before framing so the oils could properly cure.
Small acrylic on canvas (sadly, I didn’t get the artist’s name.) St. Louis Cathedral in the background.
Additional painting of New Orleans: We bought this one from an artist called Kamal Givian when we came through NO for just one afternoon earlier this summer (May 25) on our way to San Diego. This painting also depicts St Louis Cathedral.
We made our biannual visit to the Georgia Renaissance Festival held in Fairburn, GA. The festival opens on weekends mid-April and runs through early June each year. (More information here.) We always intend to go every year, but for some reason we only seem to make it every other year. Our last visit was in 2014.
This time each of our kids wanted to bring a friend, so we had a big group of 8. None of the friends had ever been to the Renaissance Festival before, so it was a fun first time for each of them.
Entering the park, you are greeted by these ugly ladies drumming up interest in their show. They have truly awful hairstyles, blacked-out teeth, dirty clothes, etc.
The kids all scattered the minute we got inside the gate. Adam and I ran into Josie and her friend Delaney just about five minutes later. Delaney had already purchased a flower garland/headband and Josie was torn mightily between wanting to have one also, and wanting to save her money.
A little further in, we found a camel ride. This is their first year offering camels and I was desperate to ride one (never having ridden a camel before, I figured I needed to take advantage of any chance that presented itself) so I talked Holden and his friend Jordan into riding with me. They agreed, but only if I would pay the fee.
TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!
The boys were trying really hard to be cool and nonchalant about the whole thing, but finally the sheer awesomeness of the experience couldn’t keep the smiles from breaking through.
The boys parted ways with us after the camel ride. Adam and I headed over to The Peacock Tea Room located near the back of the park. I think it’s the only sit-down restaurant in the park. (If they have another one, we didn’t see it. There are a couple of beer halls but I’m not sure if they serve full meals or just bar snacks. We didn’t go in.)
While we were waiting for our food, King Henry VIII showed up with his entourage and was seated nearby. The entire waitstaff stayed in character and yelled “Huzzah!” whenever King Henry did anything, and he got served before anyone else.
It must be good to be the king.
The ugly wenches managed to attract a huge crowd. Here is one of them leading a poor festival-goer to his embarrassing doom. Nobody is safe at the festival!
The next time we ran into Josie and Delaney, Josie had caved in to temptation and purchased a flower garland for herself, and Delaney had added some latex elf ears. These two were having a blast, but had run out of money. Each group of kids had a phone and we got periodic calls to meet them at various locations whenever they ran out of cash. At one point, Adam was handing out $20s to all 6 kids at the same time and a lady walking by stuck her hand out good-naturedly and said, “You’re handing out free money???”
Josie and Delaney deep in conversation about really important topics.
Stilt walkers.
Little kids learning how to work a traditional Maypole.
Holden and Jordan had my old, dying phone which did a terrible job. Adam and I couldn’t get a call to go through from Adam’s phone and all our texts were coming back as undelivered, so Josie gave it a try from her phone. No dice. (Note the marshmallow and chocolate-on-a-stick treat.)
As a result, Holden and Jordan spent a good part of the day with empty pockets. They couldn’t find us to replenish their funds. (All of this money came from their own savings, we just acted as the ATM. They blew through quite a bit of their own money today.) Luckily there are plenty of free things to see and do. They weren’t bored, just hungry.
The wheel of torture and punishment, alongside the stocks.
King Henry doing a public appearance and taking questions from the peasants and commoners.
Visitors go all out with their costumes.
A rare Isabella and Dylan sighting (blue plaid shirts). Those two disappeared into the park and we hardly saw them.
We did find Josie and Delaney again, this time having fun on the barrel ride. It seemed like we ran into these two every time we turned around.
It tossed them around hard enough that Delaney’s elf ears started to come off. Here she is sticking one of them back on (middle, blue shirt).
We arranged for all 6 kids to meet us at the jousting tournament at 2:30. The day started out nice and cool, but by the afternoon it was boiling hot in the sun. We’d seen the jousting exhibition in years past so we decided to stand up on the grass in the shade.
Dylan’s big splurge of the day was this Mad Hatter hat.
Once the jousting started, we realized they’ve dramatically changed the show and were doing all new stuff. We ended up standing in the sun anyway, but it was well worth it … they put on a truly excellent and impressive show.
They began with an exhibition of horsemanship, doing circus-like stunts to display their athleticism, balance, strength, stamina, and precision control over the horses. Here they are balancing on two galloping horses, one foot on each horse.
Next was the joust, complete with real armor. The two knights got into a fight after one accused the other of poor sportsmanship during the joust and it devolved into a sword fight on foot. (Unfortunately we don’t have any photos of the joust.)
The green knight lost — he got mortally stabbed and was left scrabbling around in the dust.
While he was down, the black-and-silver knight went to retrieve his dagger from the chariot. He then slit the green knight’s throat (complete with spurting blood packet) and the crowd went absolutely nuts. It was such a fun show! The rivalry between the warring knight factions was going to be settled once and for all — at the 5:30 p.m. joust. Come back at 5:30 everyone!! We had to leave since we’d promised all the kids’ friends’ parents we’d be back home by dinnertime. Next year maybe we’ll build in time to stay for the last joust. It was the best show at the entire event.
Even Deadpool showed up.
Holden did well enough in the strong man game to win a free axe throw.
The Insulting Jester getting tomatoes thrown at his face.
Along with the regular festival foods (hamburgers, ice cream bars, hot dogs, etc.) they also sell old-timey foods like fried mushrooms, spinach pie, and giant roasted turkey legs.
On our way out of the park. Isabella and Dylan way in front, Holden and Jordan in the middle (alongside me) and Josie and Delaney bringing up the rear. I think we all had a really fun, special day.
For the kids’ second spring break, Adam got online and searched for cheap tickets we could buy with frequent flier miles — any destination in the world. We ended up choosing Nassau, Bahamas. It’s only a 2 hour flight from Atlanta with no time zone change — perfect for a quick 5-day getaway to enjoy some Slug Life. Our plan is to park ourselves in beach chairs at a rental house and not move much.
We found a fantastic house right on the ocean through Airbnb.
03 April 2016, Sunday
The house was designed to take full advantage of the fantastic weather and gorgeous views. Nearly every room opens up to the outdoors and a great deal of the living space is outside.
A rare shot of Adam relaxing. This covered porch has a view of the ocean (as reflected in the bedroom windows) and we plan to spend most of our time sitting right here.
Our first day, we drove a rental car the 6 miles from our house to downtown Nassau to do some exploring and get our bearings. We needed to find a grocery store to get provisions for the week, too.
Food on the island is really expensive. For example, a gallon container of orange juice is $11. (The Bahamian dollar is pegged to the US dollar so prices require no mental calculations. Most businesses here accept US dollars, too.) This being the case, restaurant food is outlandishly expensive ($15 for a basic hamburger) so we are eating almost all of our meals at the house.
Cruise ships docking in Nassau harbor.
Selling conch shells straight out of the ocean to tourists at the end of the ramp where people get off the cruise ships. These are unbelievably cheap — $5 for a big one.
Back at our house, Isabella sending a “Life is Awesome” selfie to her friends.
The living room and kitchen as seen from Holden’s private sleeping balcony. This house has three bedrooms plus this balcony, so we all get a lot of privacy and space.
The house is right up against the water. Waves slam the foundation of the building. The water is a little rough at certain times of the day but not too deep, so the kids are able to paddle around here.
Nothing says ‘fun’ quite like eating pizza in the Caribbean.
Enter/exit the water from the private boat launch at the side of the house.
Boat launch.
Holden and Josie swimming. The ladder (off to the left) is another water access from the house.
Front yard.
View from the upper balconies. You can see me (green dress) leaning over one of the lower balconies to keep an eye on the kids in the water.
04 April, Monday
This morning we drove out of Nassau to Jaws Beach. It was the filming site for the final installment in the “Jaws” movie series, hence the name. We read that Jaws Beach is far enough away from the resort areas that it’s usually deserted and we did, indeed, have the place all to ourselves the whole time we were there.
The water is really shallow a very long way out. We swam here for over an hour and at that point I started to worry about the SPF 50+ failing. After seeing the Parade of Lobster People filing off the cruise ships yesterday I’m not taking unnecessary chances. Wicked sunburn can ruin a vacation. That extra 30 minutes of fun is not worth the risk.
Time to come out!
Holden and Josie trying to rinse sand off the flip-flops so they will be clean for the walk across the beach back to the car. This is an impossible feat.
We headed back to the house because it was forecasted to rain all afternoon. We arrived home as the first drops started to fall and it rained hard for more than three hours. I fell asleep and missed most of the storm. It stopped right around Wine Time.
We spent hours and hours sitting in our deck chairs today, which for Adam and me had been a big part of the plan. Isabella and Josie, however, decided neither of them are truly cut out for Slug Life and need a more stimulating environment. Isabella’s favorite vacation so far was Japan last summer, and Tokyo was her favorite portion of that trip. She said, “I’m a city girl. I need the activity and excitement. Slug Life is not the life for me.”
05 April, Tuesday
Adam gets up early and enjoys the sunrise each morning.
Nassau has a zoo that specializes in birds, so of course this became a necessary destination for me. I’m glad we went. It’s quite small but is probably the best zoo I’ve ever been to as far as bird exhibits are concerned. They have a lot of the birds wandering around free or sitting out on perches — no cages. You have to be careful not to get bitten (and if you do it’s your own fault) but being able to interact with them made my day. None of the following photos were taken with a zoom lens.
This black Australian swan swam over to inspect us. Right after I snapped this picture, he jabbed his face over the rock wall with a nasty hiss and tried to bite Josie. We’ve had run-ins with mean white swans in the past and Josie was wondering if perhaps black swans had a better disposition. Nope. Swans are swans no matter the color.
I brought a camera of my own on this trip. I quit taking photos years ago because I was so busy managing kids and diaper bags, etc. that managing camera gear was just one thing too many. The kids are old enough now that I can start doing some photography of my own. (Realistically, I could have done years ago but I’d gotten so used to Adam being the family photographer that it didn’t really occur to me that I could start taking pictures again, too.) A bird zoo seems like a fitting place for me to start up again. Maybe from now on our blog posts will finally include the occasional photo of Adam, if I manage to keep up with it.
Meerkat.
These two peacocks were having some sort of rivalry. They were wandering around the zoo irritating each other.
The Bahamas are famous for their flamingos. Like the peacocks, the flamingos are allowed to wander around wherever they want.
They will let people get very, very close but they don’t like to be touched. Reaching out your hand will earn you a little warning nip.
An adult flamingo is around 5 feet tall (neck stretched out) with a 5 foot wing span. They weigh only 8 pounds.
Peacock, coming through!
Humans in this area were all marveling over the flamingos, so the peacock did his best to get some attention, too.
Once he got it, he promptly folded up his tail and walked away.
Moluccan cockatoo. This guy loved to whistle.
Blue and Gold Macaw.
We went back to the Flamingo Pavilion for the March of the Flamingos. The zookeeper tells them to march, about-face (turn around) and halt. I didn’t know flamingos were trainable.
Near the end of the demonstration, the announcer asked all the kids in the audience to enter the ring and pose like flamingos alongside the birds. Adam: My favorite part of this is how Josie is completely embarrassed by her older siblings, but still a sport. See how she half heartedly lifts one leg?
Leave it to Josie to find the pigs!
This goat was trying to determine if I really had food in my hand or was just teasing before she made the effort of coming closer. (I did have food.)
Feeding apple slices to Rainbow Lorikeets.
After the zoo, we went to The Green Parrot for lunch, as it seemed the proper choice for the theme of our day. The restaurant is right by the docks where all the yacht people park.
Adam: Nassau marina – you can see the “Atlantis” complex of hotels, casinos, shopping & etc across the water on a separate cay. That is THE place to be if you’ve got big bucks to spend.
Our plan was to go back to Nassau’s main shopping district after lunch to wander around and maybe get some ice cream, but after 40 minutes of circling through heavy traffic unable to find a parking spot, we gave up and went back to the house. We’ll try Nassau again tomorrow morning. Hopefully it won’t be quite so busy.
On the drive home we stopped to enjoy the view at a particularly pretty stretch of coastline.
The volcanic rock here is heavily covered by tiny snails. I initially thought, “Hey, cool, this volcanic rock is crunchy!” and then realized the crunching was the sound of hundreds of tiny snails being obliterated by my feet. I murdered so many snails just walking out to take a look. I felt like a monster. Once I realized what I was doing, I tried my best to minimize further damage but there was no avoiding it.
While everyone was sleeping or lazing about this afternoon, I took a quick swim in our backyard by myself. It’s much more relaxing for me to swim without the kids because I don’t have to worry about them drowning or being bitten by some horrible sea creature.
Later on, Holden and Josie took a dip. After they were done and drying off up on the balcony, Josie spotted a “huge fish” in the water and called everyone over. It was a shark. I just about wet my pants. There it was, plain as day, a shark right next to the boat launch, dorsal fin skimming the surface just like in the movies. It was only about 2 feet long, but still a shark. I never thought I’d see one outside of a zoo aquarium.
For quite some time later all three kids sat here scanning the water for more ocean wildlife.
Josie outlasted them all.
06 April, Wednesday
We headed into Nassau fairly early this morning and still had a really hard time finding a parking space. This town was not built with car traffic in mind. We finally found a public parking garage and spent about an hour wandering around the tourist district.
Cruise ships docked. We’re under the impression most of the people in Nassau come in as pedestrians on these ships.
A little artists enclave down one of the side streets. Each stall had a different artist; this one was a woodcarving booth.
A stop for ice cream on a balcony overlooking the town square.
One departing shot of the tourists in the town square before we head back to our house for our last day of relaxing by the ocean. Our flight home to Atlanta leaves very early tomorrow morning.
We had a very relaxing time in Nassau. Adam and I enjoyed it more than the kids did: they would have liked if we’d done more activities. The Bahamas do have an endless supply of activities and adventures, but be forewarned they all cost a fortune.
The kids have two spring breaks this year. We could only afford a big trip for one of them but didn’t want to sit at home doing nothing for the other. We decided to make a return trip to Savannah/Tybee Island for a mini-getaway. Tybee Island is a very pretty little beach community, so popular during the summer it’s hard to find a place to stay. During February, however, a visitor can have their pick of fantastic condos for very reasonable prices.
We also wanted to bring Max with us this time. He usually gets left home when we travel and either goes to a boarding kennel or he stays with some friends of ours (if they are not gone themselves) so at least once a year we try to take a “Max vacation” so he can enjoy some of the things this world has to offer, too.
We rented a three-bedroom condo right on the beach. Ours is the middle floor (brown deck furniture.)
The weather on our first day was a bit on the stormy and windy side. We also learned that dogs are not allowed on the beaches on all of Tybee Island, which is something I wish I’d known earlier. Just a few miles away is Hilton Head, SC … nearly the same beach experience, but dogs are welcome. I chose Tybee Island because we’d been here before and liked it, and I was focused on finding an apartment that allowed dogs. It didn’t occur to me to check if dogs were allowed on the beach. I just assumed they would be.
The beach immediately outside our building.
Cold and windy this morning.
We drove into Savannah to spend the morning. The weather was actually a little nicer than we expected. The forecast was for rain today, then beautiful near-70 and sunny for Tuesday and Wednesday.
The kids checking out a place offering airbrushed tattoos. (Aside: if it doesn’t involve ink injected into your skin, can it really be called a tattoo? If the image is painted on, isn’t it just a drawing?)
Fountain in Savannah.
In the afternoon, we made a return visit to Fort Pulaski. We visited this Fort several years ago, but the kids didn’t remember it (therefore this was “new to them”) and, most importantly, they welcome dogs. Max could go, too!
Holden standing in front of the moat.
Isabella and I trying to decide how deep the water was.
These little hidey-holes cut into the berms were used for storage of munitions and other goods. They are open for exploration, but Max hated them. In the first one, Isabella went in first and then jumped out and yelled “BOO!!” at the rest of us. It was dark and her loud voice created a creepy echo. After that, Max refused to go into any of them. Isabella felt bad.
Obligatory photo of a cannon.
This portion was where all soldiers lived. The row contained sleeping quarters, a couple of mess halls, a chapel, a medical room, Officer’s quarters, etc.
A peek at what the rooms all looked like on the inside.
Upper level cannons pointed at the ocean to protect against seafaring bad guys.
Outside of the Fort itself, they have walking trails and a few other points of interest. This was one stretch of beach Max was allowed to walk on.
It wasn’t much of a beach and he had to stay on leash, but at least he got to feel the sand between his little toes.
He also enjoyed a bit of woods exploration.
Tuesday, 16 February 2016
Since dogs aren’t allowed on the beach at Tybee Island, we drove about an hour away to Hilton Head, NC. I figure there are a few things every doggie should get to do in their short time here on Earth: run through the woods, run on a beach, play in fresh snow, eat some really good meat. This was Max’s big chance to do a beach run; he actually didn’t seem to like it very much. He started out excited, then realized the water chases you back. He hates getting wet.
Here is where he began to realize the water was coming for his feet.
He didn’t move enough and got caught. He did not like it.
After that, he was done.
Brushing sand off everyone’s feet.
Back on Tybee Island exploring the shops. You could walk here from our apartment. The kids stayed to do some shopping and Adam and I went back to the apartment.
Wednesday 17 February 2016
Today we visited the Oatland Island Wildlife Center. It’s sort of a combination animal rehabilitation center/zoo. Most of the animals here have been injured, are ill, or were abandoned as babies. The Center fixes them up and releases them back into the wild when possible. Animals that can no longer survive on their own stay here.
The Wildlife Center is a 2 mile walk through a marsh and some woods, with a few side-walks you can take if you want to. We had a really good time.
A crocodile nest.
Holden trying to grab some Spanish moss.
Cabin on homestead built in 1837. The farm raised sugar cane and processed it on site. (This was one of the side-walks available.)
We worked up an appetite with our long walk at the Wildlife Center (we took every side detour available) and headed to lunch at the Crab Shack in Tybee Island. We are typically not seafood fans, but this area of the world is famous for it so we figured it would be a shame not to have at least one seafood meal here.
Aaaaand, I was the only one who ordered seafood. Holden and Isabella split a rib platter, Josie ordered a chili dog, and Adam got a pulled-pork sandwich. I ordered the house speciality, a seafood sampler, and ended up eating nearly the whole thing by myself because everyone else was grossed out ….
…. as evidenced by the expression on Josie’s face. She did end up eating a little bit of the crab legs, but refused to try the crawdads because they had eyeballs. The mussels “look like snot” and the shrimp still had legs.
This is a great restaurant; their motto is “Where the Elite Eat in Their Bare Feet.” Most of the seating is outside (the part we saw, anyway) and they have friendly cats roaming around hoping for tidbits. They have a swamp/pool-type area near the front with baby alligators in it.
They also had a fantastic salt scrub for removing the seafood smell from hands. I examined it and I think it’s just table salt mixed with a little bit of carrier oil and essential oil (for scent). I’m going to try making some when I get home.
Back to Savannah for one more trip to the candy store and to give Max a chance to sniff 10,000 new smells.
Note Holden’s huge bag of candy.
And that’s it for our mini trip! Tomorrow morning we head back home.
This morning we were greeted with snow. Not much, but enough to say it snowed while we were here. The kids raced up to the roof top to have a little fun.
All morning the kids announced everything they did: “Our first day of 2016 we played in the snow in our pajamas!” and “The first food we ate in 2016 was a bagel with cream cheese from Starbucks!” etc.
Every New Year’s day, the Royal Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna Boy’s Choir put on a big show – it’s broadcast all over the world, including in the US on PBS, hosted by Julie Andrews.
We didn’t stand a chance of getting tickets, but could watch the show live outside the opera house.
Adam: Brenda and I waited until 1:00pm to visit the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts). The kids opted to stay home – which suited all 5 of us just fine. We were nearly the first ones to get in – which made our visit there thoroughly enjoyable just from a lack of crowds. It was fun for me to have many of the more famous paintings “all to myself” to look over without pushing and shoving.
The museum opened in 1891 and houses the primary collections of the Habsburgs – the result of over 700 years of family collecting.
When we arrived, the lines were out the door and we almost turned around and left. I’m so glad we didn’t; the museum opened today at 1 p.m. (we arrived at 1:05) so these were just the handful of people who had been waiting for the doors to open.
The foyer entrance is splendiferous.
By far my favorite painting in the entire museum was this Vermeer. They had only one of his paintings, and it was incredible.
This is my kind of “not crowded” at the museum.
“Oh, look … a Rembrandt self portrait. Oh, here’s another one. And another… and…”
[Below] One of Adam’s favorite series at the Museum – Diego Velázquez and his 3 paintings of the Infanta Margarita Theresa.
Poor Margarita Theresa … she was just a child when she was betrothed to her uncle Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. Velazquez was commissioned to paint some portraits of her at various stages of her childhood in the court of Madrid so they could be sent to Leopold while he waited in Vienna for his fiancee to get old enough to marry. I guess he wanted to keep track of what she looked like. That struck me as really creepy.
When she was 15, she left Spain and went to Vienna to marry her uncle. He was 26. They had four children together, but only one of them survived. “After giving birth to four children, and weakened by many miscarriages, Margaret Theresa died at the age of 21.” A tragic story.
Collection of sculptural facial expression studies.
Adam: We returned home from the museum to grab the kids and have a late lunch/early dinner…
Because tonight, we’re heading back out!
We couldn’t get tickets for the New Year Philharmonic show, but we did get the next best thing … tickets to the Weiner Konzerthaus to see a special performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony – all four movements.
The symphony was performed by the Vienna Symphony which as been the “house band” at the Wiener Konzerthaus since 1913. Accompanying the 60 piece orchestra was the Wiener Singakademie, a 120-member mixed choir performing in Vienna since 1858.
(Skating rink we saw along the way – we might have to check this out tomorrow if there’s still time.)
Cameras were forbidden, so I could only take a few, furtive iPhone shots. We arrived early enough to find our seats and listen to the symphony warm up. We were up in the cheap seats, but grateful we got tickets at all. It was another standing room only crowd.
Detail of the ceiling. The Konzerthaus was built in 1913 and the largest hall accommodates 1840 seats.
You can gauge Holden’s excitement level long before the conductor takes to the podium.
I took one decent photo of the entire ensemble after the performance had finished. This was something special – I enjoyed it more than the opera a couple of days ago. The orchestra was magnificent. Anyone who doesn’t get chills when 120 voices burst into the “Ode to Joy” in the fourth movement should just pack it in and call it a day. Ludwig could throw together some notes.
Saturday, 02 January 2016
Today is our last day. Isabella wanted to go back to that military supply store to buy another couple of €3 shirts for her friends. When she texted them pictures of hers, they all wanted to know if she could pick some up for them, too.
It was a tight schedule, since the military store opened at 10:00 a.m. and we had tickets to the Lipizzaner Stallion show at 11:00 a.m. We headed out early and got to the military store 15 minutes before he opened, so we found a gourmet cupcake store that was open and — most importantly — warm inside. The kids couldn’t believe their good luck.
After successfully obtaining the shirts, we raced back to our hotel, dropped off the stuff and then headed out to the Spanische Hofreitschule – the Spanish Riding School, home of the Lipizzaners.
Adam: On to the main event – Performance in the Winter Riding School. This building/arena was built in 1735. The Spanish Riding School has been performing continuously since 1572.
The show was about 1 1/2 hours long – with a series of different “acts” – starting with the young horses only partly trained, then on to the “naughtier” horses that are more spirited, don’t always behave, but are great at jumping and kicking.
These were the young horses. The host announced, “You will see them make some mistakes, but you must remember they are still children.”
Josie and I, far right side of the photo. We couldn’t get 5 seats together, so Josie and I were by ourselves. All through the first half of the show she kept giggling and I finally whispered, “What’s so funny?” The show was elegant and regal, set to classical music; there wasn’t anything funny about it. She whispered back, “All the horses are farting, really loud!” I said, “They’re snorting air through their noses … those are snorts, not farts.” After that piece of information she didn’t find the rest of the show nearly as humorous but I was having a hard time stifling giggles.
These guys performed a two-horse ballet, Pas de Deux, in which the horses and riders mirrored each others movements the whole performance.
The next group demonstrated a series of movements based on a horses’ natural body language, the “Work in Hand,” to show how the horses are trained for the school jumps levade, courbette, and capriole.
After each horse came to center stage and performed his movement, he was taken to the side of the arena and it took two men to manage each waiting horse.
The “Airs Above the Ground”; all horses are under saddle, but the riders do not have stirrups. When Adam and I took riding lessons last year, the teacher made us learn how to ride without stirrups for safety reasons (in the event that our feet fell out, we would not lose control of the horse and fall off.) It was hard. These guys were doing jumps; the balance and leg strength necessary for these movements is mind-boggling.
The last performance is the “School Quadrille,” — “8 riders working in formation at the walk, trot, and canter, with flying changes, pirouettes, the half pass and the passage. The ride is performed to classical music. Lasting 20 minutes, the School Quadrille of the Spanish Riding School is the longest and most difficult in the world.”
A few shots of the building interior.
On the way home, we saw one last Christmas tree that hadn’t been put away yet. Nearly everything celebration-related in the city has been packed up. The festivities are over and everyone is getting back to real life in the new year.
Since we have to get up at 3:30 a.m. tomorrow, we called it day early. We saved the best movie for last: Forrest Gump (1994), which wasn’t strictly an 80s film but close enough to suit us. The kids were under the impression it was a comedy (all the others were) even though Adam warned them right from the outset, “This movie is going to make you cry.”
And cry they did. Through sobs Isabella said, “I thought this was supposed to be a comedy … it’s making me feel things!”
I’d forgotten what a powerful film that was. Hours after it was over, Holden said, “Boy, Forrest Gump sure was a good movie. I’m really glad we watched it tonight.”
It was a heartwarming end to a fantastic family vacation. The kids all three declared it the best trip we’ve ever taken. It exceeded even our already unreasonably-high hopes. We dearly hope to be back soon; possibly as soon as this summer. Until then … Goodbye, Vienna!!
Today was a much better day as far as Holden was concerned. We got to do everything we set out to do, satisfying his desire to have things go according to plan.
First, a couple shots of our apartment’s “lobby” in the mall. This view is directly adjacent of our entry door. The chocolate shop is the on the left where that lady in black is tidying a table.
The front doors (brown ones) into the elevator area for the private apartments. The computery-looking thing on the left is an ATM, which has proven handy.
Today turned out to be fantastic, in spite of crowded conditions at the venues we chose. Schönbrunn Palace is the place we visited a couple days ago but were chased away by the massive crowds. This time we arrived earlier in the day and the crowds were just as bad (if not worse) so we figured we had to just grin and bear it if we wanted to see the palace at all. It is, after all, the most visited location in all of Austria.
Adam: Schönbrunn Palace is a former imperial summer residence of the Habsburg family. The palace was first started in 1638 but was remodeled and expanded in the 1740s – and that is largely the version that we can now see.
Our tour took us through 40 rooms – total size of the palace is 1441 rooms. Photography inside the building was strictly prohibited… which means I had to be sneaky with my wide angle lens and a series of coughs and deceptive misdirections to sneak just a glimpse of the splendor indoors. This place is well worth a visit for anyone wanting to come – on the order of Versailles or Windsor.
[Excerpts from the palace tour guide, in blue text]: This first room is the billiards room, just off the room where the personal guard of Emperor Franz Joseph was stationed to keep watch over the entrance to the emperor’s apartments. The billiards room served as a waiting room for people attending an audience with Emperor Franz Joseph. The billiard table, which belonged to Franz Joseph’s grandfather, Emperor Franz I of Austria, was used by the army officers to pass the time.
The Walnut Room. This room gets it’s name from the precious walnut panelling … It was in this room that Franz Joseph received individuals who had requested an audience…. Franz Joseph would receive up to a hundred people in a morning and was famous for his phenomenal memory, never forgetting a name or a face. These audiences lasted for a few minutes and were brought to an end when the emperor inclined his head slightly.
Franz Joseph ascended the Austrian imperial throne when he was only eighteen. He dealt with a phenomenal amount of work each day: starting before 5 o’clock in the morning, he spent the day at his desk. He even had breakfast and lunch served to him at his desk. This was how the first public servant of his state, as he liked to describe himself, spent most of his time.
Salon of Empress Elizabeth [below]. Elizabeth was considered to be one of the most beautiful women of her time, and was well aware of this. Her beauty regime and sporting activities to preserve her slender figure dominated the empress’s daily routine, with the care of her magnificent ankle-length hair occupying several hours a day.
(Note from me: Franz Joseph was lauded for his work ethic and memory, while his wife was valued only for her beauty. In the guide’s description of a family dining room, it notes“The emperor sat at the centre of the table, with the empress opposite him on the rare occasions she was present. As Elisabeth often fasted in order to preserve her slender figure she seldom attended family meals.”I find this incredibly sad. In the photo, you can see a mannequin dressed up to look like her, complete with her long hair.)
Hall of Mirrors; “In 1762 this room saw the first concert given by the 6-years-old Mozart to the empress. After the performance, according to his proud father, ‘Wolferl jumped onto her majesty’s lap, threw his arms around her neck and smothered her with kisses.'”
The Rosa Rooms, named for Joseph Rosa, the painter of the landscapes that hang there. They mostly depict scenes from Switzerland, the ancestral seat of the Habsburg dynasty.
The Great Gallery, which was used by the imperial family for balls, receptions and banquets. The frescos are by the Italian painter Gregorio Guglielmi.
[Below] Napoleon Room: Once the bedroom of Maria Theresa, Napoleon resided here when he occupied Vienna — twice; once in 1805 and again in 1809.
Maria Theresa was an interesting character. In all of her portraits she looked like a fat old grandma, but she was in a lot of ways the real mover and shaker for the Habsburg family during her time. She had 16 kids, 11 of whom survived into adulthood. Through brilliant diplomatic maneuvers, she managed to marry 7 of them into other royal families across Europe. She was known as “Europe’s mother-in-law.” She was Marie Antoinette’s mom … it blew my mind that Marie Antoinette grew up in this palace, in some of these very rooms. (It was only their summer home, but still!)
Exterior view of only part of the buildings. This place is HUGE.
Your basic “backyard”: Neptune fountain down the path and concluding the the “Gloriette” (1775) at the rear of the grounds. We are contemplating altering our summer plans to come back in July when everything is warmer and green. We’ll have to wait and see if another big trip is something we can work into our budget and schedule. It’s nice to dream and talk is cheap.
Kids standing on the palace steps looking out over the grounds.
After visiting Schönbrunn Palace, we headed towards the zoo (also part of the Palace grounds) — and ran into the Palmenhaus Schönbrunn: a hothouse/greenhouse first erected in 1882. It now houses more than 4500 species of plants.
Inside the Palm House. It was warm and humid in there (and frigid outside) so glasses and camera lenses immediately fogged up.
Holden looking at the fish species in one of the water lily/plant planters/tanks.
This was one of those rare days when the kids thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company. They usually squabble like pigeons fighting over stale bread. I don’t know why today was so special, but I’ll take it. Everyone woke up on the right side of the bed, I guess.
Leaving the Palm House …
… and entering the Desert House (Wüstenhaus Schönbrunn) – a greenhouse with plants and animals typical of the world’s desert environments. This greenhouse had quite a few animals in it, so it was my favorite.
In what turned out to be the coolest activity of the day, they had a tank of Doctor Fish (Garra rufa) in the Desert House. Visitors are invited to stick their hands in the tank and let the little fish eat off all their dead skin. It’s creepy and weird and also weirdly sweet — you feel like the fish are doing you a favor by cleaning you of all your grossness, just as you feel you are doing the fish a favor by feeding them. It’s a relationship and transaction that is in perfect balance, which is hard to find in life. This was really, really special.
We finished the afternoon with a visit to the Tiergarten – the Vienna Zoo – and the oldest zoo in the world (opened as an imperial menagerie in 1752).
Much of the original architecture of the zoo still exists.
The underside of a sturgeon.
You can get close to the animals in this zoo. There is a very thick pane of glass between the lions and the humans, but they are right there.
The kids cracked up over this sign [below]. They observed that a few someones in the past must have done something horrible with a selfie stick in order to have it specifically forbidden in sign form. No feeding the animals and no climbing the fence are obvious enough, but I can only imagine that in this selfie-stick scenario a few seals must have stolen some iPhones. My thinking is that if you stick your phone in a wild animal’s habitat at the zoo and the animal steals your phone, you deserve it for being such an idiot. As my dad used to say when I did something stupid and had to live with the consequences, “Some actions naturally provide their own punishment.”
On to the elephant enclosure. We’ve all seen elephants before, but Adam captured my stunned face when I noticed ….
… a baby elephant nursing. What luck to be here today! This sweet baby was in a pen with what I believe were three adult females. The two in this photo were both taking care of the baby. I assume the one nursing it in this photo is the biological mother. A much larger elephant with fairly impressive tusks (and therefore male?) was in another area, closed off from the baby.
The kids having fun on some elephant sculptures specifically put out for kids to sit on. Who says entertainment has to be electronic?
One last shot of the palace as we were leaving. The sun finally came out and the sky cleared up. Tomorrow is supposed to be clear and the coldest day yet.
We spent most of the late afternoon in the apartment. 4:00 p.m. in Vienna is 7:00 a.m. in Tijuana. Adam needs to spend several hours each evening working, once the factories back in the San Diego/Tijuana start their day. I generally use this time to do laundry, tidy the apartment, make dinner, and work on this blog.
We’ve had to skip our 1980s Wine Time movie ever since the Christmas holiday in the States ended and people went back to work. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, though, so Adam will get another couple days of very light work and we’ll be able to spend more of the early evening playing again. We’re all really grateful, though, that his work can be done by email, Skype, and phone calls … it makes trips like this possible.
Around 7:30 p.m. we headed back out for our evening stroll. Holden was starving (even though he had dinner) so we stopped at Nordsee, a fish-and-chips take-away restaurant. It was so cold outside that all of us ended up eating some of Holden’s piping hot snack just to warm up a little.
The porta-potties are making their appearance in preparation for the massive crowds of New Year’s Eve partiers expected tomorrow.
We found ourselves back at the world’s prettiest grocery store and this time it wasn’t so crowded.
Part of the cured meats department.
The tea and imported candy department.
This is the strange fruit I bought: a Buddha’s Hand. It’s a fingered citron originating in either the Far East or China. I thought it was going to be like a lemon, but it very much was not. The inside is solid white pith with no juicy part and no seeds. I’d intended to take the seeds home to try to grow my own tree, but no such luck. I read on the internet (after I’d already purchased the fruit) that this plant can only be grown from a cutting. If I want one, I’ll have to find a nursery that has some. The fruit is highly fragrant and mostly used in perfumery, but the “fingers” are also candied and eaten as a treat. The skin makes a great zest, as well, that people say has a lot more complexity and floral notes than regular lemon. It did smell heavenly.
The equestrian accordionists. Everyone needs a gimmick, why not this?
Josie dropping some coins in their tub. She’s blurry because she was bashful and wasted no time in tossing the money and then scurrying back to the safety of her family.
Thursday, 31 December 2015 (New Year’s Eve)
This morning we went to a kids’ attraction called Time Travel Vienna. It was pretty cheesy, but the kids enjoyed it. They use animatronic puppets, a 4-D movie, a simulated bomb shelter, and various other gimmicks to get kids interested in the history of Vienna. In terms of getting the kids to pay attention, it was successful.
Adam: The general theme was a brief history of Vienna, from the Roman times to the present. It was mostly hokey, but had some interesting facts presented. The most interesting (to me) was for us all to get packed into a WWII air-raid bomb shelter. (The actual location, underground did serve as a bomb shelter during the war). It was the first time I’ve had to hide from Allied bombing raids. The bombs exploded outside and the shelter shook and rattled to simulate what it might have felt like.
Today was the coldest day yet. We passed by Cafe Griensteidl (where we had lunch on Christmas day) and the line wasn’t very long, so we stopped in for an early lunch. We were glad we did, too … by the time we left, every cafe (including this one) had lines out the door. People were stuck waiting out in the cold.
Adam: This shot is for Arge – the Bundeskanzleramt (Federal Chancellery). It is in here that Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated as part of a failed coup attempt by Nazi agents in 1934. His successor Kurt Schuschnigg maintained his regime until Adolf Hitler’s annexing of Austria in 1938.
We spent the early afternoon in our apartment, drinking hot beverages and resting up for going back out later. All five of us headed out around 3:00 p.m. to inspect the festivities and gauge how crowded everything was going to be. Authorities in Vienna have issued warnings that people with claustrophobia should avoid coming into the city center because of the crushing crowds so we weren’t sure what to expect. The crowds definitely were the worst we’ve seen, but you could still walk around comfortably.
They were selling the alcoholic punsch again, this time in souvenir pig mugs. Neither Adam nor I wanted the punsch, but Josie was desperate to have the pig mug so we bought some anyway. This one had a higher alcohol content than the Christmas punsch did. We offered the kids a sip, just to taste it. Holden and Josie both declined after they saw Isabella’s face when she took her sip. (An FYI that Isabella loves pointing out: the drinking age in Austria is 16. Isabella is a couple months away from her 16th birthday, so not quite yet technically legal, but nobody seems to care one wit about checking IDs. “Everything in Europe is so much cooler than at home!” She hates the taste of alcohol and is way too Puritanical in her personality to actually drink, but she loves knowing that she could if she wanted to.)
People dancing a waltz in the square. The guy is wearing a lucky pig hat.
Things getting crowded.
It is REALLY cold today. Holden and Josie both hated the crowds, were uncomfortably cold, and wanted to go back to the apartment.
Adam didn’t have much work this afternoon because of the holiday, so we were able to resume our 80s movie Wine Time. Today’s selection was National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) — the original. The kids had never seen it and it’s been years since Adam and I had. It was a little naughtier than we remembered (and naughtier than the others in the franchise) but the kids enjoyed it. I usually see it on TV with those bits edited out; I’d forgotten they existed. We winced a few times during this viewing and hoped the jokes were veiled enough that they would sail unnoticed over Josie’s head.
We decided to go back out after it got dark so Adam could take some night shots. Isabella also wanted to see some of the live bands performing at various points throughout the city center. Holden and Josie both decided to stay home, so just Isabella, Adam and I went back out around 6:30 p.m.
One of the bands along the way – each stage has a different “theme” or style of music highlighted. These guys were big into German-language Reggae. They just sounded angry the whole time. The crowds loved them.
A shot of the lucky New Year’s pig mugs being sold all over the city.
There was loud music EVERYWHERE. We could barely communicate with each other, no matter where we went. Since Isabella couldn’t do as she normally does and holler, “Daddy! Don’t take my picture!” she was reduced to making faces so the pictures would be unusable. Joke is on her.
We walked the entire New Year’s celebration loop. There was a very strong police presence, but they were all full of smiles and managed not to seem scary and threatening in spite of the fact they were armed to the teeth and wearing bullet-proof full body suits. The crowds are predominantly families with small children and elderly couples. We figure the young hard-partiers will come out closer to midnight. I was thrilled that nobody seemed excessively drunk and nobody was throwing up. The atmosphere was festive and joyous without sinking in debauchery.
In the place where the biggest Christmas market is still going strong they erected a huge stage and had a U2 cover band.
The proprietors of this booth selling punsch in pig mugs went the extra mile and dressed up in old-timey costumes.
People were also consuming staggering amounts of sausage. Everyone wants to eat and drink something hot.
Demel set up a booth selling their famous sacher-tortes, slightly modified to make them easy to eat as a to-go treat. We bought three of them to take back to the apartment for later in the evening.
We were hoping that we’d be able to watch the fireworks displays from our roof. Rarely does reality far exceed what you imagine is possible — we were stunned by the fireworks over Vienna. The entire city lit up as far as the eye could see in every direction.
The city itself put on at least three professional pyrotechnic shows, and thousands of individuals set off fireworks from their rooftops. It was so spectacular it nearly defied belief. The only other phenomenon I’ve seen that captured the same majesty was brought on by nature itself, the aurora borealis in Alaska. The fireworks were impressive in a different way, of course. The unbelievable noise and camp-firey smell of cordite was part of the magic.
All across Vienna people were in the streets and on the rooftops, dancing waltzes and singing. At the stroke of midnight, all the church bells in the city rang out, too.
The Opera House displayed a huge countdown clock on their screen. We could hear people in the street counting along with it in multiple languages.
Photos can’t do justice to the majesty, pageantry and general atmosphere of tonight. The sky was alive. We stood on our roof spinning in circles, trying to take it all in.
Adam: The night ended with a fireworks show that will be remembered by us all of the rest of our lives. I don’t often succumb to hyperbole, but last night’s viewing was truly something special.
We took to the rooftop to see the entire city alight with thousands of individual fireworks events as well as some larger, more organized performances at some of the key touristy areas. The result was a constant and stunning show of fireworks everywhere you looked. People were shooting off fireworks from their rooftops – both far and near, so we had rockets shooting out over our heads, close by, and way off to the horizon. This show started around 7pm and didn’t quite end until sometime around 4 this morning. Clearly, the most intense period happened right after midnight.
At midnight, the booms and light were constant. The church bells through the city all chimed. There were klieg (search) lights waving around. Waltz music was being performed live next door and was piped by speakers throughout the city center. People were dancing waltzes in the street and rooftops every where you looked. Folks, this is how you celebrate New Year’s. Now, off to bed.
Finally – a video link here: https://vimeo.com/150466024 Adam took this with Josie’s phone – the video is blurry and of poor quality – it doesn’t do the show justice but does give you a sense of the constant barrage of fireworks all over the city – and our spectacular 360 degree view of the entire show that went on for hours.
The grocery store is still closed for the third day in a row. We’re starting to get desperate since we didn’t know this lengthy closing was going to happen. I came into the kitchen this morning and found Holden standing in his underwear eating a raw carrot; that’s how low on food we’ve gotten. It’s raw carrot bad.
On the bright side, the mall this Sunday morning was filled with an antiques flea market. People set up tables in the mall aisles (the stores were closed) and offered all kinds of treasures. It was by far the highest-end flea market we’ve ever encountered. Hermes scarves, antique alligator suitcases, a brass telescope from 1850, paintings, and lots of jewelry and china. We spent a good deal of time browsing — Isabella fell in love with an old Zeiss brass microscope from the 19th century. Adam bought it for her as a Christmas/straight A’s gift since we didn’t really do presents this year, and she had fantastic grades this semester — straight A’s in all AP classes.
I bought a pair of antique oil portrait studies: two old men. I liked them because, in addition to being well done, the one with the white beard reminded me a bit of my Uncle Leon.
We wanted to eat lunch today in another locally famous cafe, Cafe Mozart – serving coffee and cakes since 1794. Around the corner from the cafe we discovered the coolest street in the world… roughly translated as “Mayse Alley”.
Waiting for a table in the Mozart Cafe. They make you stand by the tantalizing dessert case.
The interior of the cafe is quite nice. We had a good meal (albeit on the expensive side).
We got there at the right time, too. By the time we left, the line was out the door.
On the walk to the Belvedere Museum (our main destination for the day), we passed the French Embassy. The little fence outside is adorned with displays like this one. It felt real and immediate, especially considering that Vienna itself is under a terror watch right now. Most of these signs were touching and sober; but one said “Fuck ISIS” and is probably the sign that came closest to saying what everyone is actually thinking.
French Embassy.
We spent most of the afternoon in the Belvedere Palace. The Baroque palace complex was built as a summer residence for Prince Eugene of Savoy, staring in 1712.
They have a large collection of Klimt paintings, including The Kiss, which is impressive in person. Klimt used real gold leaf on a lot of the surface, so the painting glows and sparkles. It’s the best example of a painting I’ve ever seen that deserves the quote “you have to see it in person.” They didn’t allow photography inside the museum, so we don’t have any pictures. We got a couple shots of the exterior.
We went home for wine time and our afternoon entertainment — National Lampoons European Vacation (1985). We’ve inadvertently stumbled into a tradition on this trip of watching a movie from the 1980s in the late afternoon as a way to rest for awhile before going back out for the evening.
The kids haven’t seen a lot of these movies and for the most part Adam and I have been surprised at how good they still are. They kids are enjoying them, mostly. The evening we tried to watch Back to the Future II (1989) was a dismal failure. That was so bad we all gave up on it after about 20 minutes.
Later this evening, we walked to #18 Elizabethstrasse [photo below]- the actual home of the family Bloch-Bauer, the original owners of the Klimt painting Woman in Gold. Adele Bloch-Bauer and her husband (owned several sugar factories) lived on the 2nd and 3rd floors. This is the very house the Nazis looted.
We enjoy trying to give the kids multiple exposures to a story (movie, museum, house) and hope that some of it sticks.
Tonight the stalls began to sell New Year’s celebration junk. In Vienna, pigs are a sign of good luck for the upcoming New Year – as such we find many stalls filled with all things pig related. This has put Josie in heaven. She’s coming home with a bag full of pig trinkets.
A misty photo of St Stephen’s Cathedral. I’m beginning to understand why Monet painted so many versions of the Rouen Cathedral in France. The mood changes dramatically depending the weather and light. You never see quite the same scene twice.
Monday, 28 December 2015
Holden dubbed today our day of “Oh … never mind.” We had a long list of things we wanted to do, but as events unfolded we ended up saying, “Oh … never mind” about almost all of them.
Our first stop today was the Kunst Supermarkt (art market), which was finally open. Visitors are greeted with a sign that our friend Randy would adore: “Enjoy your fucking sushi, Love the fucking art.”
The market has all these bins, each filled with the work of a different artist. You could spend a very long time in here sifting through it all. Some of the work was impressive and some of it was crap and most of it was just meh. The prices were too high, in my opinion, so … “Oh, never mind.”
We next visited Austrian hatmaker Mühlbauer (in business since 1873) to find just the right hat for Arge to wear on the golf course. We’ve already sent him a photo of what we picked out and he seems pleased. This, at least, was a stroke of good fortune.
Adam: You’re all aware of my dad’s involvement in Vienna regulator clocks – clocks made [in Vienna] from roughly 1790 to 1910. Long before we planned our trip here, we talked about the exotic name and address listed above – the clockmaker F. Prihoda and his shop’s address at 63 Stumpergasse in Vienna.
Once it was set that we were coming to Vienna for Christmas, we knew we had to track down the old address… #63 is the door above on the left – allowing entry into the building in yellow-ish stone. The old clockworks from 1900-ish is now the “Lowcarb Shop & Bistro”.
31 Stumpergasse, Hitler’s residence when he was still a hopeful starving artist in Vienna in 1908.
Last night, we passed in front of the Academy of Fine Arts (below) – where Hitler was rejected for enrollment in 1907.
Vienna is thick with Hitler history – although you won’t find any sign of him here. His name and influence has been erased from history. It only takes some research on the internet, however, to find that his time here (1908-1913) was significant. Most of his remaining art depicts Vienna architecture and daily scenes – very recognizable to us now.
Hitler ultimately left Vienna dejected and moved on to Munich – joining the military, fighting in WWI and then moving into political life. Our kids rightly observed that the world would be very different today if that academy had only accepted his application to paint under their tutelage.
Waiting for the train. Isabella is sharing her favorite band with Josie: Panic at the Disco. Isabella feels it is her duty as an older sister to expose Josie to the world of “good” music.
Outside the train station these two guys were playing theme songs from various movies as a violin/flute duet. They performed the Harry Potter theme song, Star Wars, and a couple of others. The kids liked it so much they made us stand there long enough we felt obligated to put money in the little box. Isabella videoed the whole thing on her phone.
Schönbrunn Palace. The line just to get tickets was so long it scared us away. Combat viewing is no fun. Yet another location today was “Oh … never mind.”
They did still have a Christmas market open in their courtyard. The prices were slightly higher than what we’d been in the other markets and we left with nothing.
Our plan was to visit the zoo after the castle, but it started getting really cold and we were all getting tired of standing. We unanimously decided to try the zoo on a different day. “Let’s go to the zoo! Oh … never mind.”
We headed back to the apartment to rest a little before heading back out for the late afternoon. I needed to get some laundry done and the kids wanted to just relax a bit. Adam did a little work and then headed back out by himself to the Leica store around the corner to see their exhibit of Elliott Erwitt prints.
Adam: This afternoon, I went alone to the Vienna Leica store to see a special exhibit of signed prints by photographer Elliott Erwitt – one of my two favorite (still) living photographers. They had about 25 prints available for purchase running from €4400 to €9500 each. Another return empty handed.
Our goal this afternoon was to visit a grocery store that has earned the reputation as the prettiest grocery store in the world, and get a hot chocolate at a cafe that is reputed to have the best hot chocolate in Vienna.
Below: The police presence is much greater now than it has been previously due to the terrorist threat. They are checking every single vehicle that comes into the pedestrian squares. We are also now seeing 2-man teams of Polizei walking around the crowded areas, most carrying Steyr AUG assault rifles and wearing bullet-proof vests. The good news is that the officers seem very relaxed. They have smiles and friendly head-nods for everyone.
Pretty architecture and building decoration.
More kiosks selling the Viennese lucky pigs. Josie can’t get enough of these. (That’s Josie, me and Isabella in the photo below, checking out all the pig offerings.) Isabella and I each bought a little glass pig figurine and Josie bought four more to give out to her friends as gifts.
She had a hard time choosing. They were all so cute!
This is the front of the world’s prettiest grocery store, Julius Meinl am Graben.
Interior shot.
The people shopping here were fancy, too. It’s hard to see in the photo below, but there is a dog with a very intricate dreadlock hairdo at the feet of the black-haired lady wearing the white fur coat. Yes … people brings their dogs into the grocery stores here. They bring dogs everywhere here, including restaurants. I love that about Europe.
I looked up the dog breed when we got back to the apartment. It’s a Komondor. Wikipedia: The Komondor breed has been declared one of Hungary’s national treasures, to be preserved and protected from modification. I’ve never seen one in person before, and they are quite striking.
The fruit section [below]. This grocery store was deceptively large and so crowded we ended up abandoning our plan to buy stuff for dinner here. We took one look at the checkout line and said, “Oh … never mind.” It opens early in the morning so we intend to come back on another day before the afternoon crowds make it no fun. The smaller grocery store near our apartment is finally open again so we’ll go there for tonight’s dinner instead.
And then in the crowning failure of the entire day, as far as Holden was concerned, we couldn’t find the place selling the best hot chocolate in Vienna. We looked and looked and looked, until we finally gave up: it was another “never mind.”
Our 1980s Wine Time movie selection for today was Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989). We chose it because Bill & Ted travel to Vienna to collect Sigmund Freud: “the Frood Dude.” (Our plans for tomorrow include the Freud Museum.) The kids kept hitting pause to talk about the plausibility of the story line and pick apart the time travel plot holes, but they really enjoyed the film. That movie was the one bright spot in Holden’s otherwise disappointing day.
Adam and I had fun today, but Holden did not. He’s hoping that tomorrow will be more successful. He was so defeated that he didn’t even want to come out for the evening stroll. Isabella and Josie wanted to go and found yet another booth selling pig stuff. Josie bought a little ceramic piggy bank.
After pig shopping, Adam and I dropped the girls off at the apartment and went back out by ourselves for a while. We noticed that the Hotel Sacher (directly across the intersection in front of our building and the hotel featured in Woman in Gold) didn’t have enormous out-the-door lines to get into the cafe like it usually does, so we decided on the spur of the moment to duck in for an evening espresso and tea.
It was a lot fancier than I expected, though … the maitre’d showed us to the cloak room where we were supposed to check our coats and hats. I hadn’t planned on going somewhere elegant (we initially were going to stand in line at Starbucks to get something to go) and I was basically wearing pajamas under my coat. I just couldn’t take my coat off and go sit in an upscale, lavish dining room in my ratty old t-shirt and jeans. My hair was a fright, too, from being smashed under a hat all day. When the maitre’d wasn’t looking, we snuck out and went to stand in line at Starbucks with the rest of the hoi polloi, where I could keep my coat on and preserve my dignity.
Tuesday, 29 December 2015
We started our day visiting Demel – an 1888 salon serving specialties such as cream cakes, scones and strudels. It is also a confectionary/bakery where you can watch the chefs making their treats. This was recommended to us by a couple of people so we had to make a special stop to let the kids try out their version of the hot chocolate drink.
Bar downstairs. When we arrived (around 11:00am) we only had to wait about 5 minutes to get a table. By the time we finished, the building was so full we couldn’t leave without pushing and shoving. The line to get in went out the door into the cold.
Crowd gathered in front of Demel.
Vienna has turned cold on us – the low is now 20 and the high 30. The locals have broken out the covered carriages, along with the New Year festival flag decorations.
After fueling up at Demel’s, we made a long walk over to visit Sigmund Freud’s original office and living quarters. This is where Freud spent his most prolific years and developed his groundbreaking theories; moving here with his family in 1891 and staying until he was forced into exile (he went to London) by the Nazis in 1938. He died in London about one year later.
The original front door to Freud’s private apartments. His professional offices were just to left.
Staircase patients would have walked up to get to Freud’s second-floor apartments.
Adam: On the way back from Freud’s, we ran into a small military supply store. The kids wanted to stop and look over the old excess army gear. Isabella purchased a small denim/canvas jacket similar to the one she bought in Japan. She paid all of €3 for a new (never used) coat and now has a Japanese military jacket and an Austrian one.
(Brenda: The proprietor said the jackets were so cheap because the army changed the design earlier this year. He ended up with the surplus jackets in the discontinued style for next to nothing, which is why he was selling them for only €3. Isabella wants to find this store again and buy a couple more for her friends. The only problem was that all the big ones — that would fit a teenage boy — were gone and all he had left were extra-small. Isabella has two guy friends she REALLY wanted to get jackets for, but they would never fit into the little ones. She has a couple girl friends who would like them, though.)
Adam: They had two coats that I very much wanted to buy – two authentic WWII leather coats – the long leather trench coats issued to Gestapo Criminal Inspectors. These were the real deal and were reasonably affordable, too. In the end, I passed because I just couldn’t come up with an occasion or situation where I could actually be out in the public wearing it without attracting attention – and none of it the good kind.
After this, we returned home for a late lunch and some grocery shopping. We all needed to get ready for the big night’s event – the Opera!
Before coming here I bought tickets online for us to attend Rossini’s opera “La Cenerentola” – first performed in 1817. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra provided the tunes.
This was the first opera for all of us and it exceeded expectations (although Holden might pass on the next offer, if ever made.) We all got dressed up in shirt and tie, dresses & the lot and headed across the street to the Staatsoper in style.
I couldn’t bring my good camera to the event, but snuck a few crappy iPhone photos to capture the evening. [Photo below] Part of the foyer and stairs leading up to the several levels.
Seats for the 3 of us – top balcony, 1st row, hanging out over everyone else. They didn’t have 5 tickets all together so Holden, Josie and I sat in one area and we gave the better 2 tickets to Brenda and Isabella.
There are Brenda and Isabella – opposite us in one of the balcony boxes. 3 rows up, second over from the left. Brenda is the white figure in the middle of 3.
La Cenerentola is performed in Italian. Outdoors, they broadcast the opera with German subtitles. Fortunately, each seat had a little screen like the one above that also printed the text in English. This helped A LOT to keep up on what was a 3 hour performance.
Vienna Philharmonic in the pit, lights dimming curtain about to go up…
Holden and Josie during the intermission. Holden’s face sums up his attitude about discovering the show wasn’t over yet and was going to resume after a break.
Adam took this photo of me [below] during the intermission with the zoom on his phone. I had the box all to myself for about 10 minutes as everyone else in our area headed out for the bathrooms. Isabella and I shared this box with three other people; one single guy and a couple. The couple left after the intermission so we had even more space. Each box has it’s own private coat room in the back with a long upholstered bench and mirrors so people can check their outfits.
The guy sitting next to us knew this opera by heart. If fact, he knew it so well that I have a feeling he may have been an understudy for the performer that played the Prince Charming character. I’ve never seen a person watch a performance quite the way this guy did … if he wasn’t a professional performer himself, he was a hard-core aficionado.
There were no fat ladies in this performance, so the two little ones kept asking me when the show would be over (especially after the 2+ hour mark) but they were good troopers.
Isabella loved the show and Brenda couldn’t hardly drag her away at the end.. there was one standing ovation after the other that went on for more than 10 minutes.
It was fun to see the Opera, grab our coats from the check girl and then just walk across the street to our apartment.
We’re getting late starts each morning. The time change has us still awake at 1:30 a.m. and still in bed at 10:30 a.m. Considering it starts getting dark at 4:00 p.m. this time of year, we really need to get up earlier to start our days. Today it was nearly noon before we finally made out the front door.
This guy is selling roasted chestnuts and potato “chips” — roasted spiral potato slices on a stick. He’s there when we leave our apartment in the morning (well … noon) and he’s still there past 8:00 p.m.
Isabella coming out of our building. We exit into this covered walkway with a small Christmas market.
A lot of people were buying their Christmas trees today.
We began our day figuring out how the Vienna subway system works – with our destination being the Kunstmarkt – art marketplace. The subway system here works just like the one in London, although it’s unclear where the tickets are supposed to be collected. We bought tickets but never saw a place to scan them, so we didn’t.
While Adam was buying the tickets at the ticket vending machine, I noticed the kids giggling by the drinks vending machine a few feet away. Isabella said, “Mama, they sell pot tea.”
“They sell potty? What?”
“No — pot tea. Weed tea. As in marijuana. They have a picture of the leaf and everything.”
By this time we’d walked out of the vending area and over toward the train platform. I said, “It can’t be tea made of marijuana. It was probably a picture of a dandelion leaf or something.” The kids don’t know anything about plant leaves and to them they all look pretty much the same. Holden said, “No, it was definitely marijuana. It even said ‘cannabis’ on the label.”
So, back we went to the vending machine. Sure enough, there was cannabis tea in a can like Red Bull. We didn’t buy any. I looked it up when I got back to the apartment — it’s called C+Swiss and according to wikipedia: “is a hemp based icea tea which is legal in the United States. C+Swiss contains 0.0015% THC and is environmentally friendly.” According to general internet users, it’s a disappointment and doesn’t taste very good. We may have to buy a can just to see what it’s like.
Once we got to the art market we found out that it was closed for the weekend – we’ll have to return some other time. I peeked in the windows and didn’t see anything as good as the Polish watercolor guy, so my hopes for finding the next Van Gogh have been dashed a little. We’ll still go back after Christmas and paw through the bins. They have most of the paintings stacked like vinyl records.
[photo below] Cool Fin de Siecle designwork near the Naschmarkt.
We decided to walk the long way back and just see what we ran into. We stopped off at the Naschmarkt – about 1.5km of stalls selling all sorts of food goods – fruits, vegetables, meats, spices, etc. The market has been in the same location since the 16th century.
Spices, salts and herbs from all over the world. I bought a bag of garlic sea salt and a bag of Viennese salt, probably harvested from the alps but it doesn’t say on the package. The salt itself is very coarse and dark grey.
Some of the fruits and vegetables were exotic. Holden really wanted to buy a dragonfruit, but we didn’t want to carry it around all day.
Still debating on where we could put it and who would have to carry it. In the end, nobody wanted the responsibility. Carrying a bag would mean not being able to put your hands in your pockets and it was quite cold.
We found a nice cafe for lunch and had the best meal of the trip so far. The waiter remembered to bring Josie’s meal, too. She had a much better day today.
We walked and walked for what felt like forever, just taking in all the new streets — and then suddenly realized we were very near our apartment. We’d been headed toward Mozart’s house but all thought it sounded like a nice idea to pop back upstairs first to rest our feet for a few minutes. Once all the shoes were off, Holden and Josie decided they didn’t want to go back out to see the Mozart house and opted to stay home. Isabella still wanted to go, so just the three of us went.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral again. Mozart’s house is right off the St. Stephen’s square.
Isabella bought a little leather-bound handmade notebook for one of her friends. Even the paper inside is handmade.
A few more shots of the shops and Christmas markets around St Stephen’s square.
[Photo below] Mozart’s apartments on the 2nd and 3rd floors.
This museum was a disappointment. We were hoping it was going to be like the Charles Dickens house in London, furnished fairly close to how the Dickens family would have had it so you can get a sense of what their daily lives may have been like.
In this case, the apartment is almost completely empty. Mozart only lived there for 2 1/2 years and there are no written descriptions of how he had it furnished. They don’t even know for sure what he used each room for. One of the rooms, for example, said that historically it was where they figured he had his study, but recently have decided it was more likely to have been his bedroom. Other plaques said, “This was probably a guest room” or “It’s assumed this was his living room because it’s the biggest room in the apartment.”
They did have some handwritten sheets of his music and some of his letters, which was really neat to see, but in the end you left without any real sense of what his life was like while he lived there.
A couple more shots of the buildings along the pedestrian area near our apartment.
After dinner Holden and Josie, once again, opted to stay home. Isabella, Adam and I went back out just to see what was still open on an Austrian Christmas Eve. The whole city was lit up and beautiful, although most of the shops and Christmas booths were closed. A few of the fancier restaurants were open and they were packed.
St Peter’s Cathedral was open. They were preparing for Christmas Eve services so we just took a peek and left. Tomorrow night (Christmas day) they have an 8:00 p.m. organ performance accompanied by a soprano. Adam and Isabella may see if they can get in to see that performance.
We wandered further than we expected we would …
… and ended up back at the big Christmas market furthest from our place. It was still very much open and hopping with activity.
Some of those gorgeous glass Christmas ornaments.
Adam and I finally got around to trying the “punsch” for sale all over the city. It tastes a lot like hot apple cider, although there are no apples in it. Weihnachtspunsch – black tea, red wine, rum, sugar, lemons, oranges, cloves and cinnamon. It was quite sweet and I ended up drinking most of it. Adam doesn’t care much for sugary drinks and he hates tea. The alcohol content (in this one, anyway) was so low I offered to share it with Isabella but she took one sip and declared it “gross.” More for me! It even came in a ceramic souvenir mug you get to keep.
Isabella chose this candied apple as her treat instead. She thought it was going to be sticky, like a caramel apple, but the candy coating was rock hard. It was basically an apple suspended inside a lollipop. She had to lick a hole through the candy shell to get to the apple.
Even the trees in this neighborhood are decorated and themed. This one was covered in hearts. Another had guitars (which Isabella insisted were actually cellos and she may have been right), one had candy canes, etc.
Vendor selling fancy French soaps and assorted bath products.
The guitar/cello/giant violin tree.
Fog was starting to set in, which gave the church a misty, watercolor quality.
In what turned out to be the best part of the day, Adam’s camera malfunctioned and we don’t have any photos.
We were all in bed when every church in the city started ringing it’s bells. I went up to our rooftop deck to see if there were processions of people or anything going on, and was treated to a magical view straight out of a storybook. Every church and historical building as far as the eye could see was lit up and all the advertising signs and ugly modern stuff was turned off. A misty fog made everything look like it was glowing. The Opera House adjacent to our building looked like a jewel and we could see all the people dressed in their finery walking around. It was a painting from 1800 come to life.
I went back in to get Adam and the kids. We all stood outside in the freezing cold in our pajamas, mesmerized. Then, on the stroke of midnight, all the lights went out and the bells stopped ringing.
Friday, 25 December 2015 (Christmas Day)
We slept in again and got another late start, which is unusual for a Christmas morning. That is generally the one day of the year the kids wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to go long before the crack of dawn. We’re not giving each other gifts this year because this trip itself is pretty much the gift. I guess the kids figured sleeping in was a better use of their morning since there weren’t any packages to tear open.
I made scrambled eggs, potatoes, onions and mushrooms for breakfast. It’s the first meal I’ve cooked in this apartment and I ran into the same trouble I always do in AirBnB rentals — terrible cookware and knives. I understand why they all have such awful kitchenware … the good stuff is expensive and people would either ruin it or steal it. (If I were letting strangers stay in my place, I’d equip it with cookware from the equivalent of Walmart, too.) It does make for some improvising in the preparation of meals though.
After showers and getting dressed, we headed over to the Albertina Museum – something open today. Every other tourist in the city had the same idea. The place was crowded.
This month, the Albertina is exhibiting a special collection of Edvard Munch. I didn’t realize The Scream was a wood print and there are several different iterations of it. This is the one they had on display. You can see in the photo below that Holden and Josie didn’t bother to look at it, even though so many people were trying to get photos of it that a huge crowd had formed. People were queueing up and taking turns.
My favorite piece was this painting of a horse done by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He was only 17 when he painted it. The description next to the painting reads in part:
“Due to his long sick bed in 1878/79 because of complicated bone fractures that eventually led to the deformation of his legs, Toulouse-Lautrec started drawing at an early age. … Encouraged by his father’s passion for hunting and riding … Henri initially mostly drew dogs and horses…. This painting was made in 1881 at the Chateau de Bosc near Albi, where the artist frequently spent the holidays.”
Poor Toulouse-Lautrec was born into a noble family but suffered some sort of bone disease that stunted his legs. The trunk of his body grew to normal adult proportions, but his legs remained weirdly short. (He was only 4’8″ tall.) He developed an affinity for drinking and prostitutes, which eventually led to his untimely demise at age 36. He died from complications of alcoholism and syphilis. His signature drink was a cocktail made from equal parts absinthe and cognac, and he had his cane hollowed out (which he needed for walking) so he could fill it with booze and never be caught without.
The Albertina was originally a part of a late 17th century palace built for royalty. One wing has been preserved with original rooms and furniture from the period, as well as the most significant pieces of art in the collection – originals by Da Vinci, Dürer, Rembrandt and Bosch.
I think the wall coverings are all made of silk cloth, but I’m not sure … these rooms didn’t have signs with English so I did a lot of guessing based on the few German words I recognize.
The floors were the most exquisite I’ve ever seen. They are wood inlay, each room with a different design. Most of them were covered with rugs to protect them.
Holden and Josie once again sitting on a bench instead of taking in their spectacular surroundings. You can lead a child to great works of art and culture, but you can’t make them look.
The painting Young Hare is a 1502 watercolour and bodycolour painting by German artist Albrecht Dürer. The hare is the unofficial mascot of Vienna and we’ve seen it throughout the city.
View of the horse carriages from the steps of the Albertina.
On the way to the cafe for lunch, we walked down a new street and found several art galleries and antique shops. They were all closed for Christmas so we’ll go back in a few days.
Then we suddenly found ourselves passing by the stables were they house the Lipizzaner Stallions of the Spanish Riding School. This city has a delightful surprise around every corner.
Cafe Griensteidl – one of Vienna’s original (19th century) cafes – and open today for our lunch. We had a fantastic meal here. I ordered gnocchi in a pumpkin soup that was so good I’m going to try recreating it once I get back home.
After lunch we hired one of the carriages to take the five of us on a 30 minute tour around the city. The kids had fun bundling up under the blankets and seeing the sights in style. Isabella looks like she would rather be just about anywhere else, but she insists she was so taken by the scenery and the clip-clop of the horses — the whole sensory experience, really — that she was completely lost in thought. When the ride was over, all three kids wanted to immediately do it again.
As for me, I realized while we were riding in the carriage that all this time walking around the city, I haven’t been looking up to truly appreciate the buildings. Everyone has a tendency to look down while walking, so you see mostly what is on street-level. (Navigating through crowds of people, too, you have to watch where you are going.) The carriage ride gives you a chance to sit back and look UP, and it’s well worth the price. You get an entirely new perspective on the city. Streets we’ve been walking through several times each day suddenly looked completely new.
By this time it was after 4:00 p.m. and I wanted a chance to relax a bit before I had to get started on dinner. It was also starting to get really cold.
We went back to the apartment for a few hours. I baked chicken tenders with butter and garlic, new potatoes and carrots with butter and garlic, and brussels sprouts with butter and garlic. When you don’t have an extensive spice rack at your disposal, you can work miracles with butter, garlic, and salt.
A view of the Opera House from our deck. The fog rolls in each night and gives the city a mystical quality.
Around 7:00 p.m. we headed back out. Adam and Isabella wanted to see if they could get in to see the organ concert at St Peter’s Cathedral at 8:00 p.m. and the rest of us wanted to walk around the city and see what was there to see. It was quite cold this evening, so we got out our gloves, scarves, and warmest coats.
The chestnut guy outside our apartment door always has a crowd. He must make as much money during the Christmas holiday as he does the rest of the year put together.
Every corner you turn reveals magical sights like this one.
We ended up back at the Christmas market Isabella, Adam and I went to last night. They were still open. Holden and Josie both wanted to get candied apples after they saw Isabella come home with one yesterday.
Here is the full Christmas moon! Mere moments after Adam took this photo, we looked up and the moon was gone. Clouds rolled in and simply erased it. We got really lucky with the timing on this one.
Found the candied apple stand!
Isabella wanted to try something new, so she chose this enormous pretzel covered in chocolate and almond shavings.
One last shot of the Christmas market. We read that it was closing down after Christmas. We were actually surprised it was still open this late … a lot of the markets had already been dismantled and New Year’s Eve decorations erected in their places. I was surprised at that — it means some poor schmucks had to spend Christmas day working hard outside in the cold. I assumed they would just do all that tomorrow, but no.
On the walk home.
Giant ribbon on the building outside our apartment.
We ran into the Polish artist again on our way home. We ended up buying another 5 of his paintings, with the idea of giving them out as gifts.
I got to looking at them once we got them home and became convinced they were from a printer — they were just too perfect. I was mad and pretty sure the guy had lied right to our faces. I spent a couple hours angrily googling “how to tell if a watercolor is original or a print.” In the end, someone said a sure-fire way to tell is to wet a q-tip and see if any pigment comes off the painting. A real watercolor will re-paintify and come off on the q-tip, whereas printed ink won’t. I tested one of them and it was definitely real paint.
Then I felt bad for thinking evil, un-Christmasy thoughts about the Polish guy … yet I’m still a bit skeptical in spite of the kinda/sorta-scientific test I conducted. I don’t know how anyone can paint that precisely and evenly with watercolors. If something is too good to be true, it usually is. Here is one example: just look at how well he rendered the horses.
Saturday, 26 December 2015 (St. Stephen’s Day)
Austrians celebrate Stephanitag (St. Stephen’s Day) the day after Christmas. In England, they call it Boxing Day. Apparently Stephanitag is nearly as big a deal as Christmas itself.
Adam made several trips to the grocery store this morning thinking they would eventually open – but they never did open. Much of the rest of the city was closed, too. I ended up cooking a batch of potatoes, onions, sausages and our 4 remaining eggs to make our breakfast because we were out of cereal and milk.
Our first destination was to take a ride on the Weiner Riesenrad – the oldest extant Ferris Wheel in the world. Built in 1897, it is a popular tourist attraction and has appeared in many movies through the years – from Orson Welles to James Bond. The Wheel is part of the Prater park, which is much more of an amusement park than we thought it would be. The kids were thrilled.
Holden looking at the city from inside one of the old ferris wheel cars, which looked kind of like 1/4th scale old-fashioned train cars.
Some of the cars (pictured below) were equipped with dining tables. People can have a romantic dinner if they wish.
Our public car was much less romantic. They packed people in.
Isabella, Holden and me enjoying the sights. Once again, Isabella insists she was having a great time, listening to her music and marveling at her surroundings.
Next up was a funky rollercoaster. We’d never seen one quite like it. All of the rides cost €4 each and we’d told the kids they could do ONE ride. This is the one they unanimously chose.
Riders lay down in a prone position on their stomachs, like Superman flying. You can’t see from the photo, but their legs are sticking straight out behind them.
Off they go!
Slowly up the corkscrew …
… and then it goes like mad.
We left Prater park to find a cafe suitable for lunch. Then we walked a few blocks to see the Danube. It actually was blue.
Back near our apartment in Stephansplatz they have their New Year itinerary posted. Each of the yellow dots is a location that will have a different musical artist performing. Listed below are the artists and their genre of music.
With the grocery stores closed these last two days, we’ve been stocking up on “Nachtschwärmer” (means either night owl or nocturnal reveler, depending on which you prefer) sold at a nearby kiosk. Cheap! Careful when asking for that brand by name in your local store.
While in the subway station today, we bought a can of the cannabis tea to try. We haven’t had it yet, but here is the picture to prove I’m not making it up.
I cooked a repeat of our Christmas dinner (chicken, potatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms) after wine time.
For our pre-dinner Wine Time entertainment we watched Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds. It’s (based-on) a true story of a wealthy Austrian Jewish woman forced to flee the Nazis at the beginning of WWII. She escaped to America and settled in Los Angeles, but the Nazis plundered her family’s Viennese estate. They stole, in particular, a painting titled Woman in Gold by Klimt, which was a commissioned portrait of her Aunt Adele. As an old woman, she sued the Austrian government to return the painting (among others) in 1998.
A lot of the scenes were filmed in Vienna so we wanted to watch the movie while we were here. The infamous stolen painting hung in the Belvedere Gallery for years as the crown jewel of their Klimt collection. We’re going to the Belvedere Gallery tomorrow.
It’s so much fun to be able to watch a movie/show and then immediately go tromp around the filming locations. A couple years ago we spent Christmas in London near 221B Baker Street, so we re-watched all the Sherlock episodes and then dedicated a whole day to retracing Sherlock’s steps around the city. It was fun!
Around 6:30 p.m. we headed back out for our evening stroll. We took a different route this time to see if there was anything new, but struck out. The buildings were impressive, as usual in Vienna, but there wasn’t anything going on.
We did find this statue of Johann Strauss. He looks nearly identical to Mark Twain. We’ve seen pictures of him in various places throughout the city and each time I think, “Why do they have a picture of Mark Twain playing the violin?” Here he was, larger than life, in statue form. We had to get a picture.
Back outside our apartment the Opera House is broadcasting a live performance so everyone can see it. They are playing La Cenerentola (Cinderella) — sung in Italian and shown here with German subtitles. We have tickets to this performance next week.
If you are willing to sit out in the cold, you can see a world-class performance for free. Quite a few people were doing exactly that.
From our rooftop deck you can see the Opera House and the projection screen. We could hear the singing from inside our apartment, which was incredibly cool.
Later in the evening, we learned that Vienna has received news of a terrorist threat (along with several other unnamed European cities) to take place sometime between Christmas and New Year’s. That news cast a pall over our evening.
I spent some time looking up all the details I could find, which wasn’t much. The main New Year’s celebrations are taking place in Stephansplatz, just a couple blocks from where we are. The city is shutting down most of the subway system after 10:00 p.m. on New Year’s Eve so that anyone wanting to get to Stephansplatz will have to walk there. The subway system will be reserved for the exclusive use of the police and ambulance services so they can get around quickly if necessary. The police have announced they will increase security but so far will not cancel any of the events.
Excerpt from article in The Guardian: Police in Vienna have stepped up security around the city after a warning to several European capitals about a possible attack between Christmas and new year. They said that the warning, about a gun or bomb attack, did not specify any targets and that authorities in Vienna did not intend to cancel any specific events.
The warning did give several names of potential attackers, the statement said, but an investigation into the names had not produced concrete results.
Christoph Pölzl, a spokesman for Vienna police, said: “We do not know if these people exist in real life, or if they are only names with no real person behind them. We have no evidence that they are in Vienna, and we have no evidence that they are even in Europe.” Pölzl refused to say which other European capitals had received the warning.
City authorities said they would increase surveillance of places where crowds are expected to gather, including transport hubs, and pay closer attention to suspicious bags or suitcases.
Anyway, this is sobering and unwelcome news. The New Year celebrations in the city center begin at 2:00 pm. and go through midnight. Our original plan was to go out early in the afternoon before people started getting drunk and rowdy, then come back to our apartment for a dinner in. We expect we’ll be able to see several different fireworks shows from our roof balcony, so we plan to view the festivities from up there. Unless further news about a more concrete threat surfaces, we’ll probably stick with that plan.
MayseStomp 