England 2

London (again)

Earth From the Air, Yann Arthus-Bertrand http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/us/photogra/index.htm

Outside of the Science museum was an exhibit that really grabbed both of us. Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a gifted photographer, is concerned about man's impact on the earth. In 1995, he started a powerful photo essay cataloging the state of the earth, with pictures from the air covering every continent. Both visually exquisite and intellectually stimulating, his work is immensely powerful.

He includes one magnificent photo of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska (where Fran's dad lives --Hi Erlend!), with just an autumn color splash poking through a break in the soft clouds, and mirrored in the lake. Other works includes tropical islets, Himalayan peaks, Asian marketplaces, energy plants, and highway systems. He captures the photo in a way that others would not have seen, with a great eye for light and color. He has a simple commentary for each. For example, adjacent to the Everest photos he notes that expeditions have taken nearly 100 lives, half of them Sherpas, and left 30 tons of garbage on the mountain. His note on the Kenai highlights the role of the area for salmon.

He has powerful images of the impact of man. He lets the pictures and the facts speak for themselves. He is not a doomsayer; while some pictures show the devastation caused by man, others show a neutral or positive effect of man's presence on the earth. He includes lovely pictures of dye vats, or fanciful European gardens. One incredible photo captures a line of camels crossing the ridge of a sand dune at sunset, with deep orange colors and shadows reaching out to the distance. The story simple describes the mutual relationship of the camels and human in the harsh desert environment. He tries to capture a broad range of images and let the viewer react to them on their own.

This is a stunning collection of 150 images, in a project stated in 1995. Stop right now and go look. Spend some time clicking on each picture and taking it all in. It is quite remarkable. http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/us/photogra/index.htm

Westminster Abbey

We learned a little about visiting cathedrals along the way. Instead of joining the throngs of tourists touring the cathedral, we waited until the evening service and joined it. A simple service of song and prayer, this was the way to experience Westminster Abbey. It is not just a building; it comes to life with song. Surprisingly, very few people visit this way. We actually get to go into the chapel and sit in the choir chairs. The service is small and intimate.

Les Miserables

We took in some Theatre while here. Fran really wanted to see Les Miserables (also Arlo's favorite musical, if I recall correctly). The performance is a long-standing one here in London, and was quite good. We bought discount seats the day of the show and headed to the Palace theatre. It turned out that the seats were quite high up. No, I mean, higher than that. The upper balcony is not far back from the stage, but is way up in the rafters. We could look down on the stage rather than over to it. It was kind of fun, because we got a completely different view of the sets.

London

While we did see the various tourist attractions, mostly we just took it easy. Many days were just walks through Hyde Park, or Green Park. We took in a couple of free concerts, catching some African percussion and some Salsa music.

We also settled in a bit. We read the newspapers, following along as the local stories unfolded. We followed the track and field athletes in the Commonwealth games, and then a few weeks later in the European games in Munich. We read in horror as two little girls were abducted and then found murdered (paralleling a gripping story in Oregon City at nearly the same time). We read as various little issues arose from the European Unification, and were resolved. We watched the coverage of Bush's threats in Iraq, and Israel's atrocities in Palestine. We watched as the flood waters rose in Germany and the Czech Republic to historic levels, flooding areas that we walked in just a couple of months ago.

We talked about the remainder of our travels. We have sometimes traversed the tourist path, seeing all of the sights. Other times we have forsaken the sights and just settled in to an area. We tend to like the later better, even though we see less. We feel like we experience the country more. We also develop our own routines, and feel better ourselves. We are thinking through what that means for the rest of our trip.

Looking ahead

Much of our thoughts have been directed toward Africa and India. We needed to get ready to go mentally, and used the time to do so. We also needed to make arrangements. We intended to do several activities in Tanzania, but it turns out they are much more expensive than we thought. Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro costs nearly $1000 a person, as does each week on safari in the game parks. We originally wanted to climb the mountain, and then spend a couple of weeks on safari. We grossly underestimated the cost, so needed to rethink what to do. By looking at both India and Africa, we realized that we will be hiking in the Himalayas and visiting India game reserves at a much lower cost (under 15%). The African game parks are the best in the world, and we do not want to drop them completely because of cost, but we did decide that we could scale back a little on the time and shift some of the trekking and exploring to India.

We are also talking about doing less travel within India and Australia, and maybe just settling into areas for a month or two each. Our interest in India continues to grow, and we are looking forward to a bit of a spiritual journey. Perhaps we can settle into a place where we can practice our yoga and meditation, combined with some volunteer work and access to trekking in the mountains. That sounds very attractive right now.

We are ready to move on to Africa and India.

Sweden

Sweden

We had hoped to make it to Sweden several times during our stay in Europe, but never quite made it. We had met some nice people from both Stockholm and Oland that we would like to visit, and had heard about the beautiful country. But also, we never seemed to have enough time...

Then after we delayed our flight out of London, we discovered that Arlo and Kim's family were heading to Sweden near the end of August. By waiting just another two weeks, we could join them!

We didn't do the tourist travel in Sweden. Instead, we looked forward to seeing family, and peaceful relaxation. It was perfect. We got to see not just Kim and Arlo, but also spent some time with her parents (Toby and Laurie), who we had met once before and instantly liked, her uncle John, and her sister Lisa.

Kim's grandfather, Torkel, is a wonderfully kind Swedish gentleman. He has a nice cabin on a lake south of Kungsbacka (which is on the west coast of the southern portion of Sweden, just below Gothenburg). Some of us stayed out at the lake, and a few with Torkel in his city house. We pitched our tent at the lake.

Picture-perfect weather, time with family, and a gorgeous setting. We talked, read books, and swam. A rejuvenating time out.

We stayed a few days after the others, and headed up the coast to camp on Tjorn Island in the sea and spent a little more time soaking in the sun and sights. We passed on any tourist activity, so really don't know much about Gothenburg at all!

We flew on Ryan airlines (for those of you on the west coast of the US, it is the British attempt at emulating Southwest airlines). Unfortunately, to match the excellent low fares, there were a few surprises. Ryan Air doesn't fly into the main airports, but instead operates out of small facilities removed from the cities. Also, the cheap flights either leave so early in the morning or arrive so late at night that the trains no longer connect to the city, so you spend the night in the airport. Sleeping in an airport chair overnight makes us realize we aren't as young as we used to be! Actually it was just fine, except for a few noisy people who seemed to want to party at the airport all night.

Ironically, we didn't meet any of our friends in Sweden, but did catch up with Hanna when we landed back in the U.K.! She was taking a short holiday in London.

England

London

We originally allocated three days for London. We were here for three weeks instead!

Initially, we were delayed to get some flights and visas finalized. But we had spent all of our time in Europe enjoying Europe, and were not really mentally ready for traveling in the developing world again. We needed some time to get the guide books, research the places, and make plans. We also needed some time to get mentally and emotionally ready. We know that independent travel in developing places can be difficult, and wanted to be ready so that we would fully enjoy it.

We also found that London makes it easy to just keep hanging around. We even resumed visits to museums. In France and Italy, we had visited so many museums, cathedrals, castles, and other tourist sights that we eventually just became overloaded. While in Prague and Berlin, we skipped some very famous places. But by the time we got to London we were ready for a few again. That was fortunate, because London has some of the very best museums in the world!

British museum http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/world/world.html

Turns out you can't just stop through the British museum. It is too compelling! We went back for three days, and still felt like we had only seen a glimpse. Unlike many other museums that have a particular focus (e.g. paintings of a certain time period), the British museum attempts to contain a full history of all mankind. The mission statement is to "illuminate the history of cultures, for the benefit of present and future generations".

While this may seem a bit presumptuous, remember that at one time the British Empire covered much of the world, and the British were eager to collect treasures and ship them back to London. As a result, guide books on places such as Egypt now advise that if you really want to see their ancient history and artifacts, then head for London, not Cairo. Maybe by today's standards it seems like a lot of plundering, but the result is quite a nice museum!

We were both quite caught up by the cultural history. While we are both educated people, we really didn't remember much about ancient history. This trip has been a remarkable teacher for us, as we learned and experienced the history and current implications of Asia and Europe. The British museum was great because it has everything, and allowed us to really study many different areas and also to integrate the picture into a whole. For example, we were able to combine together knowledge we have read about Arab and Muslim history with visits to Rome and Biblical stories.

The museum shows the world from many different vantage points. Have you looked at a map of the world with the Mediterranean Sea at the center and just including southern Europe, the mid east and northern Africa? Probably you studied it with respect to the Roman Empire, but instead it is good to follow it continuously from 4000 BC to now, and include the other civilizations as they flowered in Phoenicia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia. I have previously considered those as separate histories (shucks, they are separate continents after all!), but by integrating them together onto one map, and then watching the various cultures sprout and migrate over time, it all comes to life.

Another equally telling world view centers the world around the northern Indian Ocean. In this case, Africa forms the western boundary, along with Persia in the northwest, and the world extends east through India to Southeast Asia. Again, there were great cultures and movements, such as the spread of Islam throughout much of this region. Watching the ebb and flow over the millennia again reveals a lot about the areas today.

We could probably spend a whole summer at the British museum. Seriously, rather than take a history course in college, it is much better to just hole up in London and go to the museum every day. I'd recommend it to any college student --take a term off and head to the museum! There really is that much there, and everything is wonderfully displayed and signed. If you get completely hooked on something, you then head up the street to the British library to learn more.

Natural history museum http://www.nhm.ac.uk/

The Natural History museum is one of the biggest draws in London. It is great for kids, with visual and involving exhibits. The life gallery includes one of the best illustrations of Darwin's Theory of Evolution that I have seen. It includes all of the fundamental components (mutations, the strength of diversity, isolation of species, and natural selection) with the classic examples. For example, you biology majors remember the story of the moths in London (near the turn of the century, the moths in London all changed from white to brown). Not only is the story repeated here, but there are exhibits with white and brown moths flitting around light colored trees, some of which are covered with sooty grim from the industrial revolution. It is easy to see why the white moths predominated before the coal burning factories sprouted up, and then the brown survived better later. Each of the various aspects of the Evolutionary theory is brought to life in a way that everyone can see and understand for themselves.

We only saw a tiny portion of the museum, since Rod really wanted to get to the science museum. But a real hit with kids right now is the flying dinosaur exhibit! Other exhibits were probably exciting to some people, but not us. For example, in the earth gallery is a cavernous room lined with row upon row of glass topped cabinets, with numerous examples of every conceivable mineral or rock!

Science museum http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/

You already read about our trip to the Science museum in Munich. The science museum in London is the other great one in the world. Rod, in particular, enjoyed it. In fact, it just made history by being the first attraction voted as the favorite tourist destination in London two years in a row.

Some parts were a bit dated. The computing and communications sections were about the same as any science and technology museum anywhere (although they did include several old machines that Rod has programmed, including a Digital Equipment PDP-8 and an IBM 360).

But most of the museum is top notch. The optics section was fascinating. This is perhaps unsurprising since much of the optics science and technology was developed in London by early members of this museum! Reminiscent of today's consumer electronics, optics gadgets were all the rage of wealthy Londoner’s, with each new discovery or development making grander toys available. Amateur astronomy and later, photography blossomed. But there were also many stages that I didn't realize. For example, there were several early attempts at motion pictures and many different contrivances. The first of these to be scaled large enough to project images in a theatre had a particularly nasty problem --they exposed highly flammable celluloid film to a hot carbon arc, and burned down a few theatres in the process!

The medicine section is fine, but is a bit dated. Munich did a better job capturing the tremendous advances in medicine, the huge challenges such as drug resistance and HIV, and the promise of genetics. The print and papermaking section was great, although we skipped through it fairly quickly, since Rod in particular has already seen and learned most of what it had to show.

The flight section was great, with many vintage aircraft, and models of everything else. I learned a bit of American history here. It turns out that while Orville and Wilbur were busy working at Kitty Hawk, the Smithsonian was funding a major effort of its own. Once the Wright brothers succeeded, the Smithsonian effort was dropped and the failed airplanes put into storage. A few years later one of the would-be-inventors, stung by defeat, insisted that his aircraft really was the first design that could fly; he just didn't get a chance to test them before the work was halted. He began a patent fight claiming rights to flying machines, asserting that his inventions preceded the Wright brothers work. Eventually, the lawsuit reached the point where the plane was pulled out from storage to test it. Unbeknownst to the Smithsonian, the plaintiff secretly modified the fuselage, the wings, the engines, and the controls using techniques he subsequently learned from the Wright brothers’ efforts. When the Wright brothers caught wind of this, they came up with a very simple solution: they called the Smithsonian to see if it would accept a donation of the Wright Brothers original Flyer. The museum immediately sensed an opportunity to have one of the most important pieces of history, and quickly withdrew support from the rival to put their considerable weight behind the Wright brothers! You can still see the Wright Brothers Flyer featured as the first exhibit when you enter the Smithsonian Air and Space museum today!

Another fabulous exhibit is the ships. I don't know enough to fully appreciate it, but there were models of every conceivable type, and I'm sure every famous ship ever built. The oceanography exhibit had less on oceanography than I expected, but had some great displays of historical navigation equipment and techniques. It is handy to know how to use several different types of sextants, since you never know when you might get lost at sea but happen to have one in your pocket...

The museum also houses a display on the London Eye, a giant wheel on the banks of the Thames River. Originally conceived as part of the Millennium celebration, the wheel was proposed to give great views of London. The wheel looks a bit like a Ferris wheel but in place of seats at large gondolas, and the wheel only makes one revolution every 30 minutes. The result is that you slowly rise to a view of nearly 400 feet in the air, making it the most dramatic item on London's skyline.

The project was initially rejected for the Millenium celebrations, but built with private funds anyway. Officially it was allowed just a one year life, now extended to five, but it is hard to believe that it will not remain for many years to come. Ironically, the publicly funded millennium project instead is the now discredited Millenium dome, a financial and public relations disaster for which the city is still trying to find a use.

Small Wonders

Small Wonders of the World

What is it that makes life different from place to place? Language is a big factor that unites, and (as we who only know one language have found out) divides people. But it is the small things that make life interesting and that challenge your assumptions. Here's a list of what we have found....

The Smart Car - a beautifully unique European invention. A car, jazzy and economical, that is so small it can fit into your back pocket (well, that's a stretch). Its length is the same as the width of American cars, so it can park head-in to parallel parking places. While talking to a shopkeeper in Dublin, we learned that the Swatch company is one of the originators of the car...He said that they transferred the idea of changeable watchbands and faces to the car - it has changeable parts. Check this out: http://www.smartstore.uk.com/smartinfo.html. The cars are so popular that there is now a convertible limited edition model for nearly $20,000 --this for a car that is only slightly larger than a watermelon.

Food in Tubes...mustard and horseradish in tubes easy to carry on a picnic. Even without refrigeration, the contents are not exposed to oxygen and last a little while. Great for peanut butter, cheese, and everything else.

Sweetened Condensed Milk - it's the perfect antidote to the instant coffee that you are invariably served in Asia. And I thought I'd never advocate cream and sugar for coffee. But the worse the coffee, the better the cream and sugar! It's even better if it comes in a squeeze tube.

Subways...those on the West Coast can't begin to appreciate the ease of public transportation in many of the big cities of Asia and Europe. Underground trains that link to above ground trains, trams and buses get you from point A to point B without the stress of driving for hours on freeways. They are also a great way to avoid driving the impossibly narrow, winding streets of older cities. And the subways are fast, regardless of the tangles on the surface streets.

Free, clean toilets; isn't it odd that whenever we had to pay for a toilet we knew that it would be dirty? The cleanest and best stocked were free. We paid for the privilege of using the dirtier ones. A bit of a digression on toilets (squeamish readers may skip on to the next paragraph here).... It is really nice to be back to western-style toilets in Europe. We did just fine with the Asian toilets, but there were some pretty horrible ones. On one beautiful river gorge road, the roadside outhouses were simply walls around a pipe that drained down to the edge of the cliff. In another, there was simply a pit that was writhing with maggots. Another was just a pit draining into the vegetable garden (yikes). None had toilet paper, and given the disposal mechanism, toilet paper would be a problem. At best, you bring your own and then put it into a burn bin. We learned to just accept whatever we encountered!

Traffic lights with countdown timers! The signals do not have just the usual red, yellow and green lights, but also display the number of seconds left until the light changes color! That eliminates anyone running the red light, since the cross traffic is also watching the timer and acting like they are at a drag strip. Everyone knows exactly when the light will change, and traffic flies through the intersection until the last fraction of a second. Very efficient! It is particularly handy for pedestrians, since we then know exactly how many seconds we have to get across the street.

ATMs. Yea, this isn't exactly new but it virtually eliminates the old hassle of changing money at every border crossing. We rarely if ever visit money exchange offices --we just head for the ATM when we enter a new country, and poof, we have money from our credit union in the local currency, at the current exchange rate, with no transaction fees. Globalization has some nice features!

Ireland

Ireland

We hadn't planned our transportation to Ireland far enough in advance, and ended up with an expensive airfare from London to Dublin. It is particularly annoying since there are very cheap ($20) fares with longer notice. Unfortunately, we are due to meet a friend in Dublin so didn't really have the flexibility we needed.

We joined up with Alex! Many of you know Alex. He became a close family friend when he and Arlo were both in the second grade. He is one of those quality people you meet once in a while in life, that exhibits all of the ethics you hold most high. Now 25, he is traveling a little while before starting his master’s education. In fact, he landed in Europe in February and he has been to many of the same areas that we have. You can read his stories at http://groups.msn.com/TriparoundtheWorld.

We continued the same style of tour --renting a car and staying in campgrounds. With three people, this becomes even more economical. It does remove us a bit from the contact with locals and other travelers, but we will resume that soon enough in Africa. We are appreciating this last week in Europe as a bit of a vacation from traveling.

We enjoyed Ireland, but honestly the fabled geography was too familiar. It really looks like Oregon or maybe a bit less. The coastline has a few areas that are as nice as Oregon, and we hiked in some wooded areas in the Ring of Kerry. This is a very popular destination, with tons of tour buses, tourist towns, and tourist bars. With so many people coming to see it, we were surprised, I guess, that the natural scenery was not more spectacular. Oregon really is a beautiful place. And it certainly was nothing compared to Juizhaigou or Guilin. All in all, I think we might have enjoyed just staying in the Rhine and Mosel valleys of Germany, skipping the extra travel time and just relaxing. (It turns out that Alex was coming from the same region of Germany and also booked a late flight --we could have just met in Germany!)

A unique thing about Ireland is the pubs, so we did sample them several times. In Dublin, they seemed to cater towards the tourist, with mostly popular American songs. (Everywhere in Europe, the radio and the pubs play mostly American songs.) But we found one little pub in the south where we were the only foreigners, and the songs were locals. After the usually lively songs (mostly about sea wrecks, battles, and broken hearts) the songs took a definite turn toward heavy nationalism. We watched as the place came to life, people jumping to their feet and singing along, as the songs recounted the martyrs of the fighting with Britain. Some songs worshiped the fallen Catholics, and others ridiculed the British army. The crowd was very animated, and the bartender even went so far as to close the shutters to the windows and doors, presumable due to the noise and the lyrics. The crowd was definitely roused to excitement!

Having spent time throughout Europe and sensing the terrible loss of war, we were not quite ready for the fierce nationalism and fighting spirit of the Irish. Much of Europe has paid such heavy prices that they now consider war unthinkable. But in Ireland, it is still a matter of honor and pride, and fighting spirit. We left the bar with decidedly mixed feelings. By far this was the most entertaining pub, the most lively, the most fun. But we also were a bit shocked at how easily the fires of intolerance can be lit.

Germany (north)

Berlin

All of my life, I heard there were two Berlins. We couldn't find them.

East Berlin just 13 years ago was drab, run down, poor, and falling apart. The wall cut a wide swath through the city, with a dead man zone down the middle. Today you can hardly tell which side you are in, and have to look hard for any traces of the wall.

East Berlin has been rebuilt. It was the historical cultural center of Berlin with the museums and theatre, and the unified Germany wasted no time in restoring it. Over the past decade, investment in the East has been so pronounced that now that is the area with the newest buildings, and the trendy areas. The downtown areas are completely unified.

The wall, once a major fortress with three different barriers, guard towers and patrol dogs, now is just demarcated by a line of bricks wandering along the streets. The area previously reserved for the wall is now refilled with building, roads, and walks. Very few fragments remain --in fact some Berliners feel that too much is gone, since much history vanished with the wall. A few reminders have been put back up, including a recently painted sign announcing that you are entering the American zone, and a corresponding sign announcing the Soviet zone going the other way.

We were hard pressed to find much wall at all. We did accidentally walk into one area with the streets barricaded off and soldiers on duty to keep everyone away. Several blocks in each direction were blocked off. There was even a tank sitting in the intersection with armed soldiers! It took us a while to figure out what was going on, but alas, we discovered that we had found the interim US Embassy, closed to anyone except diplomats.

We arrived in Berlin on Friday, during the Love Parade weekend, the largest techno music event in the world. The city was packed with young people in all manners of dress and costume. We headed 30 kilometers south to Potsdam to find a quieter campground and wait out the festivities. Even there, the techno music blared all night long. It was quite a party scene. We knew that we are getting old when our reaction was to retreat to the parks to read, waiting for the excitement to pass, before exploring Berlin.

Two days ago, a major windstorm hit Berlin. We felt it in Prague, but Berlin bore the brunt of it. There were down and broken trees everywhere, and the sound of chain saws. Some of the parks had considerable damage. However, even with the large amount of downed vegetation, Berlin remains a heavily treed city and very pretty. While there were more branches and trees on the ground here than we saw in total in some cities, looking up it seemed as if there was little missing.

We watched some would-be arborists cutting the trees. In particular, we watched several men cutting down a tree that lay over a telephone wire. They started by cutting off the base, so that the whole of the tree then dangled from the wire! There was then no stable part to work from, and the tree was fully suspended in the air, with branches on all sides of the wire, a crumpled light pole, and a utility shed. I couldn't figure out how they could possible cut it down safely now, and apparently neither could they! They left to work on other trees, and still had not returned to the dangling tree when we left four days later.

We were feeling pretty melancholy by the time we reached Berlin in our travels. In Europe, we have visited countless museums, castles, and churches. While undoubtedly there are outstanding sights in Berlin, we were more interested in just relaxing. It is reminiscent of our feelings after Japan, which we toured in a whirlwind, and led us to mellow out on the beach in Thailand.

We took an excellent walking tour, the best we have had anywhere! Kudos to Bryan of Insight Tours! He made the history fun, and come to life, especially the events leading to the fall of the wall. I also learned many new things that weren't known when I studied history. For example, it turns out that the Soviets did recover Hitler’s body and had it verified through dental records. They kept that a secret, along with other information, until the fall of the Soviet Union and the unification of Germany. We also saw the site for the new US Embassy, which is now stalled. It is in the row of other embassies, but the US now has a policy of requiring a clear zone around all sides of new embassies, and actually asked the Berliners to remove some historical buildings, reroute a major boulevard, and cut off the end of a beloved park, to create the dead zone around the new embassy. Needless to say, the Berliners said no, but the US needlessly reinforced its stereotype of arrogance.

We walked a lot, as always, but we also drove around in Berlin. The city, even the downtown, is huge. While we read tour guide warnings that driving and parking are impossible, we found no problems at all. Maybe seeing the traffic in Asia set a new reference for us, and European traffic just isn't that bad. Oh, except for Prague, which laid out the streets in a totally incomprehensible manner.

We had a great Indian dinner in Berlin. We actually set out for a Mexican restaurant, but stumbled upon the Indian one next door and couldn't resist. We are both feeling the tug of India, and further exploration of spirituality. We hope to make it to Dharamsala, the home in exile of Tibetan Buddhism. We found ourselves reading books on insight meditation and on the Dali Lama's beliefs.

Rhine valley

Berlin was the last major stop on the continent, and we planned to head to Calais in France to cross over to the U.K. We considered several routes. With more time, we would have headed up through Sweden, or at least spent some time on the islands north of Germany. But by now we were traveling fairly slowly, and not really wanting to push hard.

The Rhine and the Mosel river valleys are pretty river valleys, quiet areas with wineries and castles. We decided to make that our mid-way destination.

The area is quite touristy, but in a very nice way. The villages are tiny, with cobblestone streets lined with shops, cafes and pubs. The hills are green, and the views magnificent. The Rhine River was running high and fast, and we spent several hours just gazing at it and the river traffic. The heavy barges whipped right past going downstream, but lumbered against the upstream current barely inching upward.

The weather varied from a light misty rain to heavy downpour, but overall the area was reminiscent of Oregon, so it fit in just fine. We didn't spend enough time here. For example, we found an old castle, which is now a hostel, and would be a great place to stay, but we were already on our way out. We could imagine spending many days here, wandering up and down the hills, exploring castles, and sampling the local wines (can you guess the variety?). But we are due to meet up with an old friend in Ireland, and need to be moving along...

Austria 2

Vienna

Vienna, a short but sweet (more on the pastries later) stop on our culture tour of Europe. As the center of the Hapsburg Austrian Empire, the focused wealth created a city rich in architecture and arts. Everywhere you go you see traces of the composers who made the city their home...Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and Strauss (of the Vienna Waltz fame). In 18th and 19th centuries Vienna was the cultural center of Europe and the museum collections and buildings attest to this fact. But alas...by the time we reached Vienna we had seen far too many museums and churches. We limited our visits to the big sights while savoring our walks through the city center.

Upon arriving in the city we happened to park next to the Naschmarkt, an outdoor food market extraordinaire...one which we would return to frequently throughout our stay. It was just the best market that we had seen since Asia...picture perfect fresh fruit and vegetables, antipastos, oils, cheeses, olives and prepared food. We like sharp cheeses and have been disappointed in our search throughout Europe for cheddar. But we found one that was heavenly...Walserstatz. Another treat was the Gyros...beef sliced off a 3 foot long cylinder rotating over a grill; piled onto large hunks of foccacia bread and stuffed with tomatoes, lettuce and sauce. We had to repeat that experience more than once!

From the market we walked into the city center and discovered the Opera House. An English language tour was just beginning, so we joined the tour. The Vienna Opera stages 411 different productions a year...and they are on hiatus during July and August! They are changing shows almost nightly. The interior is stunning, but we imagine that it really comes alive during a production. The people, the musicians and singers all combine to make events that are sold out every night. But they keep 500 standing room only seats at 5 Euro that are available 1 hour before the production...making it available to all. Fran was impressed with the small piano that Mahler used when traveling…soon to be pictured on the website.

Walking further down the street, we stopped at one of the many street cafes and had coffee and one of those famous Vienna pastries. Coffee houses are a traditional favorite meeting place for the Viennese much like the beer gardens are for Munichers. We just had to follow the crowd and sample coffee and chocolate... ah, what a treat.

Vienna is very architecturally interesting. The Hapsburgs, remember them? Well, as they had lots of money, power and influence, the city they built is very impressive. I've included a link to a picture gallery that you can check out: http://www.vienna.cc/english/index.htm .

What is it that many people who have been traveling for some time miss the most? Books. In your own language. We have talked to fellow travelers that were so excited about the next hostel they would visit because there was a book exchange. Well, we hadn't seen a book exchange since Thailand, nor seen a used bookstore with English language books. What is all this build up about? While we were walking the shopping area we found an English language bookstore and entered its hallowed reaches. There we remained for many an hour, not escaping without a few new books tucked under our arms.

After the bookstore, we visited the Schloss Schoenbrunn, a mere 1400-room castle where many generations of Hapsburgs lived. We found it quite cozy and considered taking up residence there. We found it interesting that once again in Europe the wealthy found it necessary to copy something that they saw elsewhere. In the palace gardens is a duplicate of the Trevi Fountain in Rome with Poseidon grandly leading his legions. (Elsewhere in Germany Mad Ludwig tried to duplicate the Palace of Versailles! But that's another story).

In the evening we enjoyed an outdoor classical music concert at the Rathaus (city hall). It was actually a film of a performance, but we thoroughly enjoyed it any way. If you didn't know, you could mistake the Rathaus for a church. It is a neo-gothic affair with spires and an ornate ginger work facade.

Food, music, culture and books...what more worthy things are memories made of?

Croatia

Croatia

Maybe we spent too much time getting wet and cold in the Alps. More likely, we spent too much time in cities looking at buildings, churches, castles, and museums. We are outdoor people after all, and at some point we needed to get back out and just relax in the sun.

We heard about beautiful vacation beaches in Croatia, and found that it is now a very safe area to visit, so we headed out. We had a couple of ideas of possible destinations, and figured we'd decide along the way.

Well, I have to hand it to the Croatian tourist agency. Or more correctly, the agency for the province on their northern border. When we crossed the border, along side of the passport control officers were tourist information agents handing out brochures to every car. They were the most complete, information brochures we had found anywhere yet, and as we drove on we decided to stop at the beach in their province. Marketing works!

We headed to the southern tip of Krk islands (yes, they seem to lack a few vowels too). Turns out that this is a popular area. The beach is huge, maybe a mile and a half or two long, and is absolutely packed with people. The campground is right on the beach, and has maybe a thousand campers. There are several loud bars and even a little circus area with loud rock music playing late into the night. We realize that our initial image of a quiet retreat on the beach isn't going to happen, but the sun, sand and water are great anyway. We find that we can get up early in the morning and do yoga and meditate. With our earplugs, we get to sleep early, and have the beach to ourselves in the morning. Rod swims and swims. The day consists pretty much of the morning routine, followed by alternating swims and naps in the sun. This is a good time for us. We just regret not having enough books to read, which we fix subsequently when we head back to northern Europe.

If we were in Asia, we would be trying to learn more about Croatia, but we really are just here for the relaxation. Later, we regret that we didn't perhaps learn a little more, since this area has had such a traumatic history recently. We probably should have gone to Sarajevo. But we had decided to give such areas a wide berth, probably overreacting to safety concerns.

Slovenia

Slovenia

What, Slovenia? How did we get there! Isn't that where they shoot each other?

Well, we have consistently said that we wouldn't go anywhere where there are risks to us. But it turns out that much of the Balkans has cooled down very rapidly and returned to being vacation destinations. Even the US State Department has no warnings anymore cautioning against travel to Slovenia or Croatia (except a few border areas with land mines, which we gave a wide berth).

Slovenia is not part of the EU, so we had a real border check, and had to exchange money. Well, sort of. The border check consisted of waving our passports (they didn't open them), and many places already accept Euros in anticipation of joining the EU someday. The place is full of vacationing Europeans. In fact, this is the first place where we found English is the not the second language --after Slovenian is German and Italian, but little English.

Speaking of language, Slovenia needs desperately to buy a vowel on (Wheel of Fortune) Jeopardy. How in the world do you pronounce names like Ljubljana?

We stopped at the Karst caves in Postojna. We didn't really know much about them, but with Fran's love of dark, confined spaces (ha) we figured we'd check it out.

Turns out that the Karst limestone formations we have seen throughout the world (such as Guilin China) are named after this region, the Karst region, and this is the granddaddy of them all. The cave we entered is 20 miles long!!!! And there are many other caves in the area also...

The cave tour starts with a toy train ride in two miles, where you then have a walking tour with a great guide. The place was gorgeous. Caverns 100 feet across were connected by a labyrinth of passageways. Many areas were white stone, others red. Some areas were very smooth, as the limewater poured over puddles, and others were very jagged, as drips fell from above. The water table has dropped so that the water now runs through additional passageways deeper below, and nearly everywhere we go is fairly dry.

The caves are definitely worth a visit. Check them out at http://www.postojnska-jama.si/en/cave.htm or http://www.postojnska-jama.si/en/cave.htm.

Austria

Salzburg

We weren't going to go to Salzburg, but we wanted to check email and there aren't many internet cafes in the Alps. Salzburg is a wonderful little city, with a well-preserved old town closed off to cars. We couldn't resist a walk around.

Salzburg is the town of Mozart. There are museums, concerts, and his birthplace all highlighted. I think that Mozart must be a major source of income for the city even today.

The core of the old town is below the fortress, Festung Hohensalzburg. We hiked through the narrow alleys and discovered the old buildings, and the cathedral. We watched people playing chess in the plaza with chess pieces several feet tall.

We hiked up the hill to the castle. The sign said it was closed, but the gateway was open, so we hiked on up and in, through one gate after another. We strolled along and enjoyed the view. Eventually we found a few people at the top. Apparently there had been a concert, and the last few musicians were leaving. They hopped down the tram, but we needed to go back down the footpath. Just as we exited the last gate, the gatekeeper arrived to lock up the door. Whoops! We almost spent the night in a castle!

Germany (south)

Munich

Munich is a vibrant city of 1.4 million, alive with the new, while treasuring its past. It also helped that it was sunny during our visit of three days...a fact that always improves our impressions of any new place.

At the center of the city is the Altstadt (old city) with the Marienplatz at the very center. Here we visited the new Rathaus, a neo-gothic creation of churchlike proportions. We didn't take pictures, but you can find one at this link: http://www.alltravelgermany.com/Germany/Destination_Guides/Cities/Munich.htm. It features a glockenspiel that chimes at noon and 5 PM. Some found the sequence of moving characters a yawn, but Fran found the re-creation of historical jousts, dancing figures and crowing rooster at least a little interesting.

The sounds of the street musicians in Marienplatz attracted many tourists. Imagine, if you can, a chamber music ensemble (cello, bass, violin, etc) dressed in tuxedo ...or a marimba duo performing classical music...playing for money in front of Burger King in the mall. That is Munich.

There are also many world-class performances. While we were there, one of the biggest plazas was cordoned off for the open-air symphony to be performed that evening.

Munich is highbrow music, but it is also beer gardens and polkas. A visit to Munich is not complete without lifting a few liters of beer at the famous Hofbrauhaus, site of the world's biggest beer drinking event...Oktoberfest. Not to leave any experience undone, we visited and hoisted our liter glasses with all the other tourists assembled there. The umpaah band belted out the polkas and the American country favorites (we didn't know that "Country Road" was a traditional German favorite!) The crowd lived up to its reputation of shouting drinking songs at the top of their lungs and generally having a whopping good time. Even the food was good...weiner schnitzel, würst, dumplings...standard Bavarian fare.

And lest you think that I am focusing too much on beer, think on this. The city logo is of a monk hoisting a tankard of beer. This harkens back to the days when the Benedictine monks were the major beer distillers. You see the logo everywhere...on city hall, on the buses and on information pamphlets.

Germany is wild about football (soccer, for us Americans). What better place to watch the deciding game of the World Cup, Germany vs. Brazil, than in Munich? On the big day, we found ourselves walking through the park looking for a place to watch the game. We entered a large outdoor beer garden (of course) with a big screen TV and settled down with the locals to watch the big game. The sun was shining brightly, the beer was cold, the fans waved large German flags and shouted cheers -- anticipation was high. Even the three Brazilian fans, though far outnumbered, were seen and heard in the crowd. All become quieter though in the second half, after Renaldo pushed the game irrevocably in Brazil's favor. What was truly amazing to us was that the Germany fans did not lash out after the loss, and the few Brazilians were allowed to enjoy themselves. The jubilation of Germany's victory that we hoped for was instead stillness in the city. All was so quiet, as if everyone went inside to sulk.

Munich does like to party. While there we attended Tollwood, a 2-week music festival with musicians performing on many stages each evening. There were no big name artists when we were there, but we heard reggae and 1970's American music. (Funny how much American music is everywhere!) The festival takes place in the Olympic Park and includes craft and food booths and yes, beer. The night ended with a spectacular fireworks show as we filed into the tram to return to the city center. The party continued on the tram ride...waiters served cocktails while loud music excited the riders to dance in the aisles. (Can't imagine this on Tri-met in Portland!)

Munich also has a darker side that it does not try to hide, but rather accepts as part of its history. That is the history of the Third Reich in Munich. On a very informative walking tour of the city, we were able to see many of the sites that were important to the early development of the Nazi party, balanced in a wider perspective of churches, museums and buildings important throughout the city's history. Hitler (an Austrian) started his rise to power in Munich. We stood in the very plaza that Hitler marched his troops and where the great book burnings took place. We saw the window to Hitler's bedroom in the large building he called his home. We saw many buildings, which housed different arms of the Nazi party. It was sobering. And it is very important to the future that we never forget this dark era of mankind.

Lest you think that Munich is all museums, churches and buildings, take in this fact. The city center is ringed with parks. One of them, the Englisher Garten is the largest city park in Europe. It is perhaps the same size as Forest Park in Portland, but with a big difference. It is filled with joggers, university students listening to lectures from their professors, people meeting after work in the beer gardens, cyclists, horseback riders, people out to enjoy the sunset sitting on a bench near the lake, and elderly people walking their dogs. There is even one youth hostel in the park...a big communal tent with indoor shower facilities. And don’t forget the modern art gallery at the southern end! Rod and I were one of those enjoying the sunset near the lake (yes, just after a beer garden) while the swans inspected us.

Just across the Isar River from the Englisher Garten is a green space that stretches for at least 5 kilometers. In it are the Zoo and the campground where we stayed. It consists of canals, rocky beaches for sunbathing and wide-open spaces. Here, if you are lucky, you will have a view the surfers. Yes, 1000 km from the ocean, in the midst of Munich, you will see surfers. At one particular canal, the water is channeled in such a way as to provide standing waves perfect for surfing. We saw it ourselves early one morning and have it documented on film for you non-believers!

Munichers are not in the least bit inhibited. In the same park you will find nude sunbathers. And not just a few, but many of the people. At least most of the fifty and sixty year old men are naked. The postcards show a rather different physique laying au naturale in the sun...

One of the great wonders of the world is the Deutsches Museum (http://www.deutsches-museum.de/e_index.htm). It is a science and technology museum unparalleled...six floors of in-depth displays covering everything from Aeronautics to Zirconium. The mining display took you down in the depths of the mines and you felt firsthand the history of mining. (No, Fran did not go down in there!) Chemistry, textiles, glass making, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, boating, metal making, optical, bridge building, a planetarium...we could have spent days there. The aeronautics is on a par with the Smithsonian Air and Space museum (well, almost). Many of the displays were set up for school children, but they also included good educational material right up to the level of a short Scientific American article. Some things would be so easy to learn there, such as optics, since all of the principles are laid out. Other fascinating areas included civil engineering, such as dams and bridges. Again there was the simple stuff for kiddies (build an arch bridge from seven wood blocks) to wave tanks of river sand, which allowed you to construct bridges and barriers to attempt to create sand flows and bars, and lastly exhibits with the explicit formulas for calculating the stresses on bridges. There were also fascinating facts, like the Roman aqueducts that crossed mountain passes with tunnels and bridges and were perfectly level with under 30 feet of drop every mile --that required exquisite precision lest a bridge be just a bit too low in relation to the next one on the other side of the tunnel. And then there was ...well, you get the idea. Rod had a great time, and we obviously stayed until they kicked us out at closing time.

Germans are very social. Where else would you find chess games played on large boards painted on the plaza with two foot high pieces, watched aptly by spectators?

All in all, we found Munich to be a lively city full of surprises and much to treasure.

South of Munich is two castles, the famous fairy tale Neuenschwanden castle and the Hohenschwangau. They were both impressive, particularly the furnishings. Both are actually fairly recent creations imitating medieval castles, and are largely just a facade. For example, the stone block walls are really concrete, the gold is paint, and the marble is fake. Since we have already seen quite a few authentic European castles, this did feel a bit like Disneyland. (And yep, the Snow White castle in Disneyland is patterned after Neuenschwanden castle). On the other hand, it was built by a real King and was quite lavishly decorated. Unlike the royal palaces in France, which were all empty (looted during the French Revolution), these were full of lots of cool stuff, like magnificent dining tables, center pieces, paintings, etc.

Berchtesgaden

Berchtesgarten is a national park in the farthest south east corner of Germany, containing the highest mountains in the country. The border with Austria runs along of the crest of these Alps, also forming the edge of the park.

Almbachklamm Creek

We arrive mid-day, without enough time for a full hike. But after encountering rain in Interlaken we know to take any sunny day in the Alps that we get, so we find a nice half-day hike up Almbachklamm creek.

The creek flows through a narrow gorge, dug into marble. The walls are polished white, pink and creamy marble. The water is crystal clear green, probably due to mineral content such as malachite or copper. Or maybe it just looks green in contrast with the red of the walls.

At the base of the trail is an old mill, which uses waterpower to polish marble stones. Using an old wooden waterwheel to turn a polishing bowl, odd chunks of marble are reduced to polished spheres, large and small. The sound of the rocks tumbling in the bowl rises above that of the rushing water.

The trail is a metal walkway hung on the side of the canyon, built to support a constant stream of visitors, and to keep them on the trail. We meet young couples, older people, fitness buffs, and groups of school children. The later take the simpler route by starting at the top and hiking down, but it is prettier to hike up and see the gorge ahead of you, and many of the kids seem oblivious to the surroundings. Hopefully, it at least helps start a lifelong love of the outdoors.

The water slips over polished edges into perfect green pools, and then gently slips down a raceway to splash into the next pool. The water rarely goes more than a few meters before dropping again, but in most areas, it is gentle as it slides down the marble faces.

We climb up the canyon, through the lower oak forest into the higher pines. We joke a common refrain at this point --why do all of our hikes go uphill?

We reach a cascading waterfall, with maybe seven or eight sections and a total drop of over a hundred feet. It provides a serene backdrop for a quiet lunch.

We decide to climb up out of the canyon and return along a trail down the face of the mountain rather than backtrack down the canyon. The trail exists in some places, follows the roadway in others, and has disappeared in a few. At one spot we follow the map past a farm house and down his pasture road, thankful that we find the signpost at the other end and aren't really trespassing. At another the trail disappears completely, so we backtrack around a gully.

The top of the hill is a green patchwork of meadows and forest. The pine and fir forest is dense, helping to keep the racks of cordwood full for the winter. The meadows are bordered with brambles and hedges, and everywhere is green. This is the "Sound of Music" country! We follow the route back down the hill, and are the last car to leave the parking lot.

Schneibstein

The next day we want a "real" hike. We pick a 12-mile (20 km) hike over one mountain and along the ridge, with a gain of 5000 feet (1200 meters). We pack light and hit the trail early.

The initial trail follows a roadway up through the ski area. During the summer, the ski runs are perfect dairy pastures, and we encounter many grazing cows. At this lower elevation there are also many huts, farm homes and restaurants, and most advertise fresh milk.

We quickly climb up past Jenner Mountain. At this level we encounter several hikers in their seventies, some obviously quite stiff. A ski lift brings people up to this level in the summer, and they can then walk the trails in the alpine meadows, and catch the ride back down. One older lady excitedly points out the Marmots to us. They are quite far away, but she has spotted one, and we soon discover another, standing on top of a rock in a field. Later we cross through a deep grassy field that is literally crammed full of marmot trails, bordered on all sides by harsh barren rock.

Even as we climb, we encounter a few more huts (more accurately called restaurants and hotels). The last one is deep in the pass at the Austrian German border, as we begin the final climb up Schneibstein Mountain. For the rest of the climb, the trail is just a scramble across boulder fields. It is very slow going, continually picking our way through the rubble and looking for the trail, delineated with a pattern of painted stripes on occasional boulders. This mile or so takes several hours, and climbs a couple thousand feet. It is not arduous, since the pace is so slow. As we continue through the boulder fields, we begin to see a couple of other groups of hikers ahead. The gap closes as we reach for the top.

An unspoken understanding of silence is in effect at the top. We join several other couples and groups, and settle down for a quiet lunch. Scarcely a word is spoken by anyone as each stares out in the infinite space below, and a few nap in the alpine sun. The clouds are forming, but not ominous. The ravens sweep in, knowing it is lunchtime on the top, and looking for a handout.

We haven't yet finished five miles out of twelve, and it is one o’clock in the afternoon. However, this is due to the boulder fields and the elevation climb. We figure that seven or eight miles downhill shouldn't be more than two and a half hours. Regardless, we decide to get moving. We don't want to spend the night at the summit of the Alps! We quietly slip away from the rest of the hikers as they rest at the top.

The route continues along the crest, and consequently the trail remains largely a boulder field. Even though it is downhill, it is slow going. We are glad we started early, and hope we started early enough.

We do not have a good topographic map. All we have is the tourist information center map, which outlines the entire trek on a map about three inches across. We are careful to use all of the visual clues we have, such as direction to nearby mountains or canyons, and search for trail signs. Still, it is difficult to follow through the boulder fields, so we go slowly and carefully. We see one group of three younger hikers going down a canyon that we think is incorrect. We can't know for sure, but we continue on the ridge a bit longer, pretty sure that we just need to circle one more mountain. We drop down into a ravine and find a lake that is not on the map. It is getting late, and the clouds are forming. As we stop and pump water through our filter into our water bottles, the other hikers from the top appear at the lake. It is reassuring that we are all on the same trail. Soon we catch up to an older man hiking by himself, quite red and sweaty. He is noticeably relieved to hear that we are headed the same way as he is, as he was beginning to fear that he had missed a turn. He relaxes, and after hiking with us for a bit he drifts off ahead.

After rounding the last turn and sliding down a snow field, we are pretty sure that the trail is the right one, and we can finally make some time through the forest and meadows. The boulder fields are gone, and the trail is easy. We are still six miles from the end, but it is easy hiking and goes fast. The rain starts just as we reach the parking lot. We get a gentle shower, the older man before us is dry as we see him climb into his car, and the groups behind us get drenched. Ten hours of hiking, and what a difference a few minutes make!

Konigsee

We plan to leave the next day, but somehow we just don't. Not right away, anyway. It is just too beautiful. We head down to the lake, and rent a rowboat for a couple of hours. The exercise feels good. The oars and oarlocks are excellent quality, allowing a strong stroke. We row full strength into the wind for an hour, figuring to coast back the second hour.

We read about the various folklore of the lake, and are in the perfect spot to hear the magnificent echo as a ferryboat parks below the arcing concave rock face of the mountain, and a trumpeter plays against the resounding echo of the wall. There are at least three echoes for each note.

We watch small waterfalls plunge into the lake. Fran spots a Grey Heron. As we turn, the wind stops. But the current provides the assistance we need and we still get back in under the remaining hour. It feels good to row hard for two hours. Time to leave the Alps again...

Switzerland

Interlaken

Few places on earth are as majestic as Interlaken, in the Swiss Alps. Intense emerald green meadows. Rough jagged peaks poking holes in the sky. Charming villages with Alpine houses --steep tiled roofs, dark wood shutters, porches and flower boxes. Flowers everywhere, in vivid red bloom.

Interlaken is a large tourist destination, a perfect destination for the winter skier or summer vacationer combining outdoor activities with partying. Activities include paragliding, gondola rides, boat trips, and day hikes. It is a bit too touristy for us, so we continue south to Grindelwald. Even there, it is a bit touristy. The hikes recommended by the information center are rides along the ski gondola and trains, and walks back through the ski runs, huts and hotels. Friendly bear loves the tourist center (see the photo), but we are looking for more rugged hiking in the mountains, so we just head up a canyon on a well-marked trail towards a glacier. We don't have a map, but this seems more like what we are looking for.

We are not disappointed. We hike across some meadows, past farming houses, up a foothill, and climb into the canyon. We meet a few hikers who took the Pfingstegg gondola up. We continue into the Gletscherschlucht canyon, not really sure how far the trail goes, but it is a good trail with no chance of getting lost. We just keep heading upward. In fact the trail rises on the side of the canyon above the glacier, so we look down on it and don't get to touch it. The season is well advanced with no white snow left. The glacier surface is dirty, and the cracks show the blue ice. Water comes from underneath. The glacier tells a story to those who read it. You can see the recent breaks and tumbles, and ones from long ago, and the ones to come. Some of the canyon walls are solid rock; others are sand deposits from the glacier and the creek. We think about how much you can learn directly by observing nature, and how rarely we do. We keep an eye on the clouds, which swirl through the peaks, hiding the very tops.

We continue hiking, and stop for lunch. It is time to turn around, but there is always one more curve that we must peek around.... There we find the Stieregg restaurant, which just closed. It sits on a gravel meadow, and a few sheep wander outside. The people that we met on the trail earlier had probably taken the gondola up, walked the moderate hike to the restaurant for a leisurely lunch, and then descended back to town. Not a bad way to hike. We find that most hiking in Europe is indeed hiking from hut to hut, staying and eating at established places along the trail. Some huts are small, but many are in fact full-scale hotels. This makes hiking very accessible to many people, and in fact maybe half of the people we encounter on trails are in their fifties or older. But then, there is also something special about spending the night in the quiet with just the stars, and the wind blowing through the tent...

We are thankful that we have our health and can enjoy such sights, and wish for our friends that they could or would also get on the trail more. There are simple hikes everywhere in the world, and the trails cleanse the mind as well as strengthen the body. At least it does for us, so we want to share it with others.

The rain comes by nightfall, and looks like it may stay for a few days. The last rain stayed a week. We know that we have more stops in the Alps ahead, so we leave paradise for now. This little 8-mile hike with 2200 feet of climb was just a tease and we want more, but we'll have to wait for better weather in the mountains.

Italy

Cinque Terra

Sometimes we just stumble upon stuff.

Fran saw a small sentence or two in our Guide Book on the Cinque Terre on the coast of Italy. It didn't say much but sounded intriguing. While writing up this page, I looked online and found the following description of it that is quite good (http://www.5terre.com/FrameSet.php?LeftPriMenu=001&LeftSecMenu=001&LeftFile=index.php):

"The Cinque Terre form one of the most unspoilt areas of the Mediterranean and one of the most extended areas in Liguria. They are a kingdom of nature and wild scents maintained as in the past.

"To visit the Cinque Terre means to visit five villages suspended between sea and earth, clinging on to cliffs and surrounded by green hills; it means to know the history of whom, for centuries, has fought against difficult land but it also means to taste the results of this millenarian struggle and in particular wine and produce.

"To visit these villages means to learn about the culture of the dry-stone walls and of the vineyard, of the fishermen and of their fishing nets, of the steep valleys and of their paths.

"Who visits Cinque Terre can choose between a dive in the sea or a hike on the hills, between a walk in the narrow alleys called "carruggi" or a boat trip, a pilgrimage to a sanctuary or a seafood lunch. It is a landscape unique in the world in which man and nature live together in harmony since the beginning of time."

The area is one of great natural beauty, with cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean. The natural oak forest cover is long broken, and the area has been terraced and planted to grapes and olives. It is unusual, in that it is a National Park, but is not a natural area. It reminds us of Sichuan province in China, where the beauty is stunning even though heavily modified by man.

The area consists of five farming and fishing villages plastered onto the rocky hills. For hundreds of years, these people have worked a rough life against the elements, as there is no flat ground and all farm area has been cut from the rock and developed into arable land. Even the fishing is difficult --one village has such a small harbor that the boats cannot be stored in the water and instead are hoisted up the cliff and stored on the street when not in use. The charm of the cities is magical. Many of the places are now Bed and Breakfast places, and it doesn't get much more romantic than this. This could easily be a honeymoon destination, or anniversary (that's right, this trip started on our 25th anniversary!).

The Cinque Terra has become quite a tourist attraction recently. We see more Americans here than we have seen since leaving Los Angeles. But then we saw very few in Asia... Some of the outlying trails are a bit rugged, but the main paths have been paved and are very simple hiking. We laugh at the number of tourists outfitted with fancy hiking boots, walking sticks, and expensive day packs. The hike is really more like a walk in a city park, albeit somewhat longer and steeper. The wealth of Europeans and Americans is still a bit shocking to us, as these travelers spent more to outfit themselves for this simply walk than most Asians hope to earn in a year.

We stay just north of the park in Levanto (no camping is allowed in the park). A convenient train runs between the cities, and we buy a pass so that we can hop off and on anywhere, and hike as we wish. We hike from Riomagiorre to Manarola, ride the train to Corniglia (the trail is closed for upgrade), and hike on to Vernazza. We hike up and down the trails, the sun shines and the wind gently blows, we eat a Gelato (Italian ice cream). 

Ah, life could be worse....

Florence

Fran wanted to go to Florence. Rod wasn't really sure why, since it had to do with all of that cultural stuff...

We arrived in Florence to the sound of blaring horns and people cheering and waving Italian flags as they drove by. We thought they were happy to see us until we found that the football (soccer) team had just won a match in the world cup. (Unfortunately it would be their last). We checked into a campground right across the river from the heart of town. The partying went on in the nearby Michelangelo Plaza well into the night.

Florence is where the Renaissance began. Statues by Michelangelo adorn piazzas, marble cathedrals and churches with gilded interiors on almost every corner, masterpiece paintings by Boticelli and Raphael are in the churches and museums. Florence is art, refined and sometimes overdone, but it is art. In two short days we manage to visit many places.

The dome of the Duomo, the fourth largest cathedral in the world, dominates the center of the city. Its colored marble facade and carved figures are amazing in their detail. The interior is plain in comparison.

We visit plazas with dozens of masterpiece statues in one area. Michelangelo’s David is just one of the many.

We visit the Uffizi museum...here's the link to their main page: http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/welcomeE.html. Even those of you who are not interested in art will have seen reproductions of these paintings. Here's one to check out: http://www.uffizi.firenze.it/Dipinti/botveneE10.html. Even Rod enjoyed learning about the development of Renaissance art, because it all could be seen in one place!

Secret tip- Florence also has superb gelato (Italian ice cream), well worth a trip to Europe just for that! The gellaterias are especially beautiful. It seems that they also take seriously the art of displaying their wares. Each flavor has a piece of the fruit artistically placed on top. I even saw one flavor with marzipan lizards on it!

Rome

We only planned on a couple of days in Rome, but we were waiting for a package to arrive (which never did) and stayed seven days. That was nice; we began to feel more familiar with the place as we saw the same thing repeat itself day after day, and we could relax and enjoy Rome rather than just spend time on the tourist route.

We stayed at a campground north of town, and bought the city metro pass that gives unlimited access to trains, trams and buses. We got our money's worth!

Roman Forum, Coliseum

The Roman Forum is now an archeological site downtown. To the naked eye (meaning before you buy the guidebook), it looks largely like a rubble pile. But with a little help, you can find the Senate building, where the Romans met to decide matters of law, temples, churches and arches.

One troubling sight is the monument to the Diaspora, celebrating the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews. The monument dates from the Roman Empire and is still intact. At first it troubled me that it is still there, since it is so offensive, but on reflection it is important to keep such things so that we hopefully do not repeat the past. Sometimes politically incorrect can also be very important and educational.

The Coliseum stands at one end of the Roman Forum ruins. With continual restoration in process, the building is stable. It is perhaps less impressive simply because everyone has already seen it. However, inside it is easy to imagine 20,000 people shouting and screaming during the entertainment --it seems to come alive. It is massive, but also quite compact. I expected that the seats would be quite distant from the central floor, but with very steep sides and four levels of seating, even the worst seats were pretty close. You can look at the barren rock and still imagine the pulse of the place. Ignoring the type of entertainment, it is quite remarkable.

You do not get to ignore the type of entertainment for long, however. The floor of the Coliseum is open, revealing the system of tunnels and passageways underneath, through which the beasts and slaves were forced on their way out to the Coliseum floor for savage entertainment.

Considering the Coliseum and the nearby horse racing track, Circus Maximus, which could seat 100,000 people, it is interesting to think about the politics. Certainly these were events for the masses, not just the nobility or wealthy. Both were provided by the officials for the purpose of keeping the masses happy. This is quite different from the approach of many later European leaders (such as the French Kings) who relied on pure power to maintain control, and keeping people happy didn't really seem important.

Above the Forum ruins is a museum with a nice plaza overlooking the city. We had a nice quiet moment, sipping a beer....

The Pantheon

The Pantheon is a stone building that is 2000 years old and still stands! Unlike the other ruins, it is still intact and in use today!

The Pantheon is considered a revolutionary building because of the enormous dome structure. Such a large stone dome had previously been thought impossible, and part of the fascination of the Pantheon is the engineering behind the architecture. The dome is over 130 feet across, and is open at the top, with a sky light 30 feet across. (This cannot be closed, so the marble floor below has small drain holes for the rain.) The Pantheon has great visual tricks to hide the construction details. For example, the sides have numerous niches, which lead us to believe that the wall is further out than it is. In between the niches are stone walls 25 feet thick! And some of the niches are not openings at all, but just the doorway arch, again hiding the supporting detail of the building. Likewise the ceiling has a nice patterning to it, which is in reality a structure of stone ribs that provides the strength for the roof but allows the spaces in between to be much thinner and lighter.

Spanish steps, Trastevere, walking in Rome

Rome is a great walking city (although it is hot). There are numerous little streets and alleys, and as long as you aren't in too great of a hurry, and are willing to get lost a few times, it is a lot of fun. There are many small water fountains with drinking water, sidewalk cafes, street musicians, little plazas, and other surprises. (But not many trees!) We ended up on the Spanish steps a couple of times at the end of the day, and it seems that many Romans finish their day hanging out there, people watching. We also found the Trastevere region charming to walk in, especially at night.

Tivoli Gardens

We are not great lovers of the European gardens, which are quite formal, or have large expanses of grass or shaped hedges. We like more natural gardens, and moving water. We heard that Tivoli Gardens outside of Rome has great fountains, so we headed out.

The Villa d'Este is interesting in itself, but the gardens are the main draw. They are a great mix of formal and informal. In one setting, there will be formal archways, and a series of regular water fountain, combined with moss, ferns, and informal water flows. And it works!

The gardens include over 500 fountains, on a hillside in a park like setting. Check out our pictures.

Italian Beach

Well, camping in Rome was okay, but at some point you just can't be this close to a beach and not get in the water. We spent two nights at the beach, getting up early the next morning for yoga on the beach and a swim. The beaches fill fast by mid-day, but the early morning swim was great.

US Consulate

We had stopped in a couple of US Consulates in other countries, and found them to be pretty useless for a traveler. But we had a problem in Rome. Fran was out of her thyroid medication, and the new shipment from the US was lost in the Italian post. We kept getting "come back tomorrow" day after day. Finally, the day her prescription ran out we happened past the consulate, and Fran immediately veered inside. A very helpful chap spent literally hours over the next couple of days on the phone with the Italian post. Ultimately the shipment turned up back in the US, after the Italian post stamped it undeliverable. In the meantime, the Consulate connected us with a local English speaking doctor who wrote up another prescription (and charged $80 for the privilege) and we found a pharmacy and were back in good shape. Kudos to the Consulate!

I have to also describe the guard at the Consulate. The US Consulates are always very heavily guarded, even more so after the embassy bombings in Africa and then 9/11. This Consulate had the usual fencing, barb wire, and soldiers armed with machine guns. But the most impressive obstruction was one unarmed guard. Muscles bulging through his tight T-shirt, this body builder could have been Mr. Universe. His quietly forceful demeanor also gave the aura of a master martial arts champion, and instructor in the Special Forces. If I were a terrorist, I'd rather take on the armed guards!

Vatican City

Canonization of Pedre Pio

We planned to visit Vatican City on Sunday, to attend mass. However, we inadvertently picked a very special Sunday. This was the feast celebration for the Canonization of Pedre Pio. Instead of a mass within the Basilica, the mass was held outside in the massive St Peters Square. Hundreds of thousands of people crowded the square, and overflowed through adjacent blocks to nearby plazas where the mass was broadcast on large video screens.

Watching the mass, we couldn't help but be moved by the Pope. Here was a man who has arguably been one of the best communicators of the past century, spreading his word through ambitious tour schedules to all parts of the world. But today he is very frail, as Parkinson’s disease reduces his words to mumbles. His presence is still very powerful. We already know the words to the mass, and we fill in the words he cannot say. The man really does touch your heart, and when the time comes he will be a very difficult Pope to follow.

The mass is so large I expect communion will be reserved just for a few. But instead, at the proper time hundreds and hundreds of priests all appear from behind the altar, each with ready to serve communion. Hundreds of thousands of people get the very special moment of receiving communion in St Peters Square. We have bypassed the very central rituals of religious temples in Asia out of respect, and do so here also.

The heat and the crowds are stifling. At first I am impressed with the foresight of the Italians --there are first responders and Ambulances available on site for anyone who overheats. But after I watch them respond to one older man who feels faint, I get worried. They arrive quickly, but do not seem to know what to do. The man is still wobbling on his feet, but they talk with him for several minutes rather than laying him down immediately. They do not check his pulse. Eventually, they get him water and take him off to the medical area. We really are spoiled with the level of training in Emergency Responders in the US.

To cool the crowd, huge water cannons are aimed above the crowd. The water is just a mist as it lands, providing a welcome relief to those in the corner that the water reaches.

We had not heard of Pedre Pio, so we look it up later. We also look up the Beatification and Canonization process. It turns out that Canonization (officially, the process of writing a saint’s name in the Cannons of the Church) was much less common before Pope John Paul II, who has canonized nearly 400 people. The requirement for canonization is proof that a person had supernatural powers, for example providing miracle cures, which cannot be explained by normal means. The most recent group of saints performed a variety of unexplained actions. By doctrine, followers are not to worship anyone unless they are officially declared a saint, and no photos or relics are to be displayed or sold. In practice this means that when a saint is canonized, a huge pent-up demand for such trinkets is released, and we can report that there were trinkets and photos of Pedre Pio for sale everywhere.

Pedre Pio was an Italian of the past century, so quite important locally. His fame had produced a cult-like following. As a youth, he was known to have had fainting and dizzy spells, which continued after he joined the priesthood at 31. He would fall into a trance-like state, and was a severe ascetic. He had wounds on his chest that cynics say were self-mutilation, but were deemed by the church to be supernatural wounds reflecting Christ's chest wound (the doubting Thomas story).

I read a little on what is considered mystical in the Catholic Church, and how the Church decides what is supernatural. I am taken back by the similarity to Buddhist mysticism. Here's a synopsis of one treatise on the mystics, outlining some of what the Catholic Church looks for in evaluating a saint.

Most mystics go through the same stages. First, there is a rejection of the material world. The mystic withdraws in order to purify their spirit, rejecting the entire material world as a distraction from the spiritual, and accepting only the barest of sustenance to keep alive. Then typically comes a trial phase, where it appears that both the world and God have abandoned the mystic. There is often very genuine suffering at this stage, and the mystics have both doubts about themselves and about their faith. Eventually, the mystic has transcended the material world and no longer suffers, and is able to receive God. At that point, miraculous powers are attained. This rejection of all things material to be united with the spiritual is very similar to Buddhism. 

I must admit to being a skeptic --this level of withdrawal from the world followed by incomprehensible actions also all sounds a bit like a mental illness to me.

Saint Peters Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum

We returned the next day to see the buildings, since we couldn't even get close to them yesterday.

The Basilica is the largest Catholic Church in the world (maybe the largest of any church?). It takes your breath away. We experience it on many levels. We look at the architecture and the art. We feel the power the place has on the faithful. We think about the role of such places in individual’s lives, and also in supporting the church. We spend time in a small chapel within the Basilica for personal reflection. We both quietly say prayers for loved ones in need, unsure if there really is a personal nature of God to hear them but sure that there is a need to say them.

The centerpiece of the Basilica is St John's tomb. A huge altar stands above his crypt. While it is massive and ornate, it is in balance and harmony with the size of the Basilica. It is at the center of the great cross.

The Basilica is very much a living place. Unlike temples in China (and even Japan) where the structure remains but the religious people seems to be missing or at least tempered, here in the Basilica you see the active heart of Catholicism. People have come from around the world. Small prayer chapels are filled with people. Older men and women pray reverently, middle-aged people go in for a few minutes, and teenagers try to hang around outside waiting for their parents before reluctantly following them inside to pray. Confessionals are abundant and busy, with every language available. It reminds me of the story of the Tower of Babble that supposedly started all of this confusing language stuff.

The Basilica also is a mausoleum for important Catholic figures. It seems that all of the Popes are here, as well as saints and notables. The most recent Pope is displayed in a special area with a lighted, glass casket. I can't help but think that he will be replaced soon by John Paul II.

We take the elevator up the Basilica Capula (the dome) to see the art. Once up there, it still seems a long ways up to the ceiling, but the people below are now just ants. Again we stare off at the crowds, watching as each person fulfills their personal mission, whether that is an once-in-a-lifetime religious experience for the faithful, or a quick snapshot for the tourist. The ceilings are mosaics. Up close, you can see each little tile. These blend into arms, faces and figures, which make up a collection of images, each telling part of a story. Most are stories of the Old Testament. Most of them are unrecognizable to us, much like in the temples and shrines of Asia.

We visit the Sistine Chapel, expecting to just bop in and see the frescoes. Instead, we go through room after room of fascinating art works. We tag along with a tour group because the guide has such deep knowledge, and brings things to life. She also has a loud voice so we can hear her!

The riches of the Catholic Church are quite amazing. I knew that the Church was rich. But I didn't realize that over the centuries the Church has also been a collector of art (through purchases, gifts, and in the old days through war and pilferage). The Vatican has one of the most complete art collections in the world. The Vatican Museums are unable to display it all, and what is displayed is still too large to view in one day. We skip through the museums and finally enter the Sistine Chapel.

Again I think of the current Pope. It won't be long before this room serves one of its most critical functions. It is in the Sistine Chapel that a new Pope is selected, signaled with the puff of white smoke from the chimney.

Michelangelo was a professional artist from the age of 13, and lived until 78, allowing him to be incredibly prolific. Sometimes it seems that everything we see is attributed to Michelangelo. But the Sistine Chapel is special. It is the work that Michelangelo most hated and agonized over. He had not done painting before, and preferred sculpture. He originally refused the commission, and only took it after persistent requests from the King. He quickly got in over his head. The original contract was to paint the ceiling using dozens of assistants, but Michelangelo was not satisfied with their work. He fired them all and insisted on painting it completely himself, which took several years. It is incredible to think that he learned to paint, and mastered painting on plaster, with this being his first major work. He complained the rest of his life that standing and painting overhead, and the dripping of plaster in his eyes, had permanently disabled him.

Painting on the ceiling was technically hard also because of the angles of the ceiling and the viewing. The ceiling is not flat. Nor is it curving continuously. Instead it consists of a series of arches. Viewed from below however, all of this is not noticed. Michelangelo designed the paintings to be viewed from below, so they are in fact distorted to match that viewing angle. That means that he mastered perspective to the point that he could subtract the effects of the ceiling shape, adapt to the viewing angles from below, and then stand on scaffolding painting one little bit at a time and get it right. Or better than right.

Michelangelo also suffers no fools. He was not only very talented, but he knew it. We have heard stories where he told patrons and sponsors that they could not have the work they commissioned because they were not worthy. The Sistine Chapel includes one funny story about Michelangelo’s eccentric personality. He was commissioned to paint the front wall of the Chapel. When he included considerable nudity in the angels, many people were upset. But the only person who really mattered was the Pope, and Michelangelo cleverly drew him in the painting right next to God at the Pearly Gates, helping decide who would enter and who would not. The Pope loved the painting. Only after twenty years of criticism from one particular person, and a new Pope, was Michelangelo forced to obscure the nudity. In spite, he took the face of the critic and painted him into the area of hell, clothed with a serpent. The critic was furious, and took his complaint to the Pope. The Pope cleverly responded that he only was able to deal with things in heaven, not in hell, so the painting remains, and Michelangelo got his petty revenge.

Venice

We arrived late at night and camped on a sand spit north of Venice. The next morning we caught the ferry into Venice. The sun was bright, the water crisp, the breeze gentle, ... We pulled up to the main plaza, with the Dogge palace and the cathedral overlooking the plaza with street musicians, outdoor cafes, ... This is a romantic city.

We start with a ferry ride that loops through and around the whole city. It is hot (nearly 100F), so staying on the water sounds good, and we get a great introduction to the city. We chuckle when another American on the ferry comments about the large number of posters a local politician bought (they are instead advertising an art exhibit of Jackson Pollock, a name even Rod recognized as an artist). Then we wonder how many things we also have interpreted totally wrong throughout our journey, with our limited knowledge of places, cultures, and language....

I knew that Venice had lots of canals, but, good grief, what were these people thinking? Unlike the zillions of cities that claim to be like Venice, this isn't a city on the land with canals dug out. Instead, they built the city out in the sea, in a marsh, to escape German invaders. The buildings are all on foundations on the sea floor, and instead of streets there are waterways. Many buildings have doorways opening only to the waterway, so the only access is by gondola! Alleys and plazas are built from fill dirt, and the alleys are tiny. No cars are allowed in Venice, and some of the alleys are so narrow that it is difficult for two people to pass walking. There are no straight streets, and the names change every block. It is easy to be a few blocks from your destination, but to take an hour to find it...

We camp near the beach, planning to swim and do yoga. We do the yoga, but the water is a bit dirty for the swims, at least near our campsite.

We use the ferries, and enjoy the rides. It is a bit long back to our campground, but not bad. Except that somehow we manage to repeatedly come to the ferry docks just as the ferry is leaving, and have to wait for the next one. We have a ferry schedule in our pocket, but we are pretty carefree and laid back, and don't look at it much. We just wait for the next ferry. Hey, compared to Asia travel, what's a 30-minute wait?

We find an internet cafe with "bulk rates". If you login non-stop for five hours, you get a big discount. They are surprised that we actually want to do so. That was June 24, when most of the European web pages appear on our site.

We attend a mass with Gregorian chant at San Gregorio church. Again, it follows the same recipe as the US masses of thirty years ago, and it is easy to know what is being said at each stage, even though it is in Italian. (Except, of course, the sermon.) The language and the Gregorian singing combine to create a mystical effect. We are getting used to not understanding language, and are quite comfortable...

We continue to talk about spirituality between ourselves. We intend to let this journey lead us wherever it may, and spirituality is a part of it. We both were raised Christian, with some exposure to other religions in the college years. In Pasadena, we found a very comfortable place in the Unitarian church. The fundamental beliefs there seemed to be the importance of living an ethical life and serving others. Maybe the human compassion and service to others is what we found missing in the sterility of Thailand Buddhism. On our journey, we continue to explore.