We've been in Fort Lauderdale since November and we're having the best of times watching David grow with each passing day.            

Past Chapters:  Damage from Hurricane Wilma, Colorado, Mediterranean Trip (Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia), Egypt, South Africa Safari, FL, NY, Romania, Israel - Spring 2005, Killington, Roatan (Honduras), Nevada, Galapagos, Israel, Romania, Alaska


 

Wilma dealt Fort Lauderdale the strongest blow in half a century. 

There was tremendous damage and people here suspect the media's relative silence about it is deliberate, in an attempt not to scare potential tourists.  To us the visible horizon looks strange.  "Bare" is the best way to describe it - without being able to tell you exactly what was there, everywhere we look we "know" that something is missing.  Some people say 50% of the town's canopy is gone and it will take decades to get back to where it was before Wilma.

We returned to our house almost three weeks after the hurricane hit and just one day after electricity was restored to our neighborhood.  These pictures of our neighborhood were taken another week afterwards, more than three weeks after the hurricane struck.  The truck in the pictures collects debris from the two piles in front of our property.  There are also a couple of pictures showing the damage done to the palm trees around the pool.

Obviously, we made the right decision to go to New York with David.  We are all doing fine, our yard is now clean and the plants are slowly returning to their usual self.  The weather is great and we are having the time of our life watching David grow and his starting to interact with toys.
 

Colorado - August 2005

There are quite a few reasons why we got to love Durango, Colorado.  Probably most "East-toast" folks would agree that a place where in mid-summer it is so cool that you have to wear a light jacket or sweater, both in the morning and and the evening, is heaven on earth.  Second, because of our love for mountains and for hiking in the mountains, we were thrilled to get to do a little walking about, at altitudes as high as 10,000 ft (3.000 m).  The air was clear (and thin), the vegetation had vivid colors, elks and deer would show up on the side of the road.  One skunk made it on the road (but not off it, as we could tell olfactorily when passing by that spot the next several days).  Of course, we tested Colorado rapids - though not on the Colorado, but on the Animas river, and at 1/20th of its normal flow.  It goes without saying that the most exciting part was enlarging our family, meeting Henner, his relatives and friends, wonderful folks who hosted us on several occasions and showed us around!

Together with Israeli relatives of Meirav and of Lilac (the Denver-based bride), we flew from the East coast to Albuquerque and then drove to Durango (it was slightly shorter than flying into and driving from Denver).  That weekend we explored "downtown Durango", a lively and active tourist market (elegant shops with modern and traditional, Native-American art, and quite a few good restaurants).  We happened to be there on the day of a street fair.  Radu was most impressed with finding a huge mural marking the building where Jack Dempsey had a fight.

For the wedding ceremony Lilac and Henner chose a superb spot, high up in the mountains, by a small pond.  The ceremony impressed us because they had less theology and more accent on the practical and moral aspects of the marriage.  Side by side with the Native American ceremony, we also had a Jewish chupa ceremony, beautifully conducted by Orr, the bride's uncle.  The ceremony included the reading and signing of the Ketuba - the Jewish bill of marriage and the breaking of the glass (successfully accomplished by Henner on the first attempt!). After the ceremony we went to the reception, at the nearby resort.

The next few days we spent touring around.  On several occasions Henner's parents graciously spent their whole day as guides for our Israeli contingent.  The bride's father, mother, and little sister have been living near Princeton, NJ, for ages, but we still consider them Israeli; the bride's uncle and two grandmothers made the trip from Israel specifically for this great occasion (to get to float on a raft on the Animas River, that is).

A unique and mandatory spot to visit in the area is Mesa Verde (see MV1 and MV2) with the famous Native cliff dwellings.  We went on three other great hikes.  One hike was by a waterfall near Ouray, at the end of a narrow canyon, another hike on a high plateau among glacier lakes, and the last one through a forest recovering from a fire which occurred a couple of years ago.

Henner's parents took us to visit an old, deserted mining town.  Around that area we had a great, mining-stories filled tour of a modern, very well equipped shaft.  It made no profit from extracting minerals, but it makes some profit as a tourist attraction.  Half way between Durango and Ouray, we went on a tour of Silverton.  It is a former mining town which survives as a tourist town today.  Tourists can visit from Durango via a train pulled by a coal engine.  The 'cool' spot was at the hot springs pool in Ouray.  Surrounded by tall cliffs (we could see mountain climbers while laying back in the pool), it uses natural hot water which comes out of the Earth at between 80 and 150 F (27 to 65 C) to warm to various degrees several large, outdoors pools.  Can't get any better treatment for your sour muscles after a hike!

Overall, the area is a wonderful place to visit and it's even better that these places are not too crowded with tourists.  It looks like a great spot for skiing during the winter, as well, so we hope we'll visit there again.       


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Northern Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia - June 2005

This was the last hurray of our year of travels.  We were joined on the trip by our Israeli friends whose home became also our home from early April to the end of June.  We chose our itinerary based on advice from relatives and friends who visited all three countries recently. 

●  Preamble

It took us four hours to fly from Tel Aviv to Milano (only three hours on the clock, as we gained one hour due to difference in time zones).  We landed early morning and it took us some time to get our act together.  By the time we finished our search for an ATM all other passengers from our flight were already in line at Europcar's office (like us, Israelis are always looking for a deal, so this line was really long at the same time that next door's Avis office had no clients).  We rented a Fiat Ulysse and then made the seven minutes trip to the parking lot where the minivan was located.  From [collective] previous experiences in Europe we knew that car rental companies are a lot stricter than US ones, that many things go wrong with rentals in Europe, and that they would charge you an arm and a leg for the minutest scratch (Nota Bene: our friends and family from Europe know from their experience that something always goes wrong with cars rented in the US and that US rental companies are ready to overcharge you for just about anything).  At any rate, we knew that a thorough inspection of the minivan was mandatory and as soon as we started it we all noticed the long scratch on the right side.  We could not wait to take the rental agreement from each other's hands and check whether the scratch was marked on the diagram (it was not).  Immediately we exchanged those looks saying "oh, oh - trouble!" and Radu dashed the four minutes trip back to the rental office for the legitimate complaint (they had nobody from the company out in the parking lot).  At the office they showed him, right under the diagram, the exact description (in words) of the scratch - which we all missed somehow - so Radu made the six minutes trip back to the parking lot, ready to leave our latest home, this Milano airport.  By this time, in the process of rearranging luggage and seats in the minivan, we noticed that the seat behind the driver's seat had a blocked wheel and could not be forced back on its rail to lock it (we flipped it earlier in order to place our luggage inside).  After all adults took turns inspecting the chair's mechanism and figuring out solutions (three of us were software engineers and the fourth an analyst), Radu had to make the seven minutes trip back to the office to lodge another complaint.  Somebody called somebody else and by the time Radu made his eight minutes trip back to the parking lot the seat was back in place.  Our great European adventure was ready to begin.

●  Day One - Sirmione, Italy 

Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy.  It took us two hours to drive to its Southern shore and then make our way up a narrow peninsula (at times just 7-800 feet wide) which reaches deep inside the lake's waters.  At the Northern tip of the peninsula is the resort town of Sirmione with its remarkable medieval castle, the Rocca Scaligera.  This place seems to be a favorite destination for Italian tourists.  We found heavy traffic on our way there (it was the beginning of the weekend) and later on we found crowded streets everywhere.  There are many sporting facilities around the lake.  In Sirmione there is a spa (during a boat ride around the tip of the peninsula we were taken to a spot where air bubbles were popping towards the lake's surface from the depth of the lake - we were told they were sulfuric gases, signs of some activity inside the Earth).  Aside from the castle there are the ruins of a Roman villa (the largest single villa we've ever seen) and on our way to those ruins we walked past many other villas, including one that belonged to Maria Callas.  We started our [planned] Italian ice cream tour with a tiramisu ice cream from some obscure shop next to our hotel and we still believe that might have been the best we had throughout the trip.  In the evening Meirav found a great restaurant for dinner.  It was right under the Rocca Scaligera, had great seafood, good wine, good service, and that romantic, unmistakable European atmosphere which makes you slow down, relax, forget yourself, enjoy the full experience of dining out.  The following morning, driving out of the peninsula was piece of cake (it was Sunday morning and traffic was still towards Sirmione; we can only imagine what driving out of there on a Sunday evening might be like).  We left the town looking forward to the discoveries that lay ahead , but we knew that we would have liked to spend more time in the enchanting atmosphere of the town and visiting its beautiful surroundings.

●  Day Two - Venice, Italy

For our stay in Venice we camped at a hotel in the town of Mestre, a fifteen minutes' bus ride to the East.  Having arrived in Venice around noon time we had plenty of time to visit and we headed straight for the heart of it, the Piazza San Marco.  From Piazza Roma where our bus dropped us off we took a "vaporetto" (waterbus) ride along the Canal Grande to Piazza San Marco.  The "look and feel" of the place impressed us, even those of us who had traveled there before.  The Piazza San Marco itself is majestic and all the main tourist spots are worthwhile.  We saw the Basilica di San Marco, the Torre dell'Orologio (the clock tower), and we walked the nearby streets.  The trattoria we stopped at for lunch had the sepia with pasta dish Meirav knew about and was looking forward to (it colors your teeth with the black ink as you eat, check out those pictures!).
The most time we spent visiting the Palazzo Ducale and the adjacent prison.  The palace was the house of the ruler and had many of Venice's offices of State.  As you make your way through this museum you get a better understanding of the evolution of Venice's governing institutions - the large rooms you're passing through were designated to specific judicial or notables' assembly functions.  Venice was one of the greatest maritime powers so we found among the museum's exhibits many pieces reminding us about it; most fascinating were old maps drawn by Venice's explorers.  We walked away from Piazza San Marco and soon we found ourselves renting a gondola and taking a ride along the Canal Grande and a few side canals, ride which we thoroughly enjoyed.
On our way back to Mestre we had to wait on the bus for more than twenty minutes before departure.  During that time Radu spotted two couples and a group of young men who were speaking Romanian.  He was to hear his native language several more times during the trip, most often from people working in services, but also from tourists (like the group of three women met earlier during the day in the clock tower).  Back in Mestre we had dinner in a second rate bar/restaurant next to a large table of local women who screamed throughout our meal.

●  Day Three - Venice, Italy

We started our second day in Venice the same way as the first - a vaporetto trip from Piazza Roma to Piazza San Marco.  In Piazza San Marco we visited the Museo Correr, which had on exhibit a few Modiglianis, collections of old maps, coins, and (among other statues) a fascinating sculpture of a giant bird copulating with a woman.  Our main destination that way was Murano, a separate island which we reached after another vaporetto trip.  We went there to see glassmaking, the reason Murano is world renowned for.  We toured the museum of glassmaking then stopped in a couple of shops by the main canal and joined a tour of a glassmaking factory.  After lunch in Murano we headed back towards the main island.
Our vaporetto destination this time was the North most side of Venice, Sant' Alvise.  From there we walked South traversing three bridges over canals to reach Campo Ghetto Nuovo.  This is in fact the oldest ghetto.  In Italian Geto means foundry and the area where the newest foundry was located is where the first (oldest) ghetto was established to start with.  As the population grew, the Jews were allowed to live in an adjacent area (which became the new ghetto), which by chance happened to be the area where the oldest foundry was located.  So we wound up on a tour of the oldest synagogues, those located in the oldest ghetto, i.e. in Campo Ghetto Nuovo.  The "Corner Synagogue" had paintings depicting nature and animals and scenes from the Torah, which may be due to the fact that it was non-Jews who built it.  Jews were not allowed to join the professions and were restricted to usury, at least initially.  The Ashkenazi community was always restricted this way, which lead to most of its members living in poverty.  At some point in time established Sephardic merchants were welcomed into the city and that part of the Jewish community thrived during the glory days of the Venetian republic.  We also visited the "German Synagogue" and the "Italian Synagogue", the latter being famous for its hidden corridors (linking it to other rooms within the same building and with neighboring buildings) and for the quotes on the walls, which were selected and painted so that symbolic words would form vertically by reading letters lining up under each other from the consecutive rows (like in cross-word puzzles).  Because the buildings have frail foundations the heavy weight of the 'bama' (ornate platforms from which sermons were conducted) made the floor tilt towards the end where they were located (they were removed or repositioned later on).  The proximity of the canals, right underneath the synagogues' windows, made it convenient to "make tashlich" on the third day of Yom Kippur (throw bread crumbs into the water as a symbol for casting away the sins of the previous year).  In the same main square where all these synagogues and the Museo Ebraico are located there are also a nursing home caring for elderly Jews, a Lubavich, and a Chabad house.
After a long, relaxed walk, we found a gondola on the interior canals and started an even better gondola ride than the previous evening.  We saw more of the interior canals.  The gondolier was accompanying the frequent tight turns with loud shouts of "Oy!", meant as a sort of warning horn for boats that might be arriving into the same intersection from around the corner.  He was also more communicative than our previous day's gondolier and he told us that twenty percent of the city's roughly two hundred canals had been blocked to become streets.  They still bear the name of "Rio" (river).  The gondolier also told us about the extra resistant stones used in building houses by the water line, the two ornamental towers on certain houses that indicate a naval captain's home, and pointed to us the interior garden, and pointed to us the houses of Casanova and Marco Polo, and that where Wagner composed Tristan and Isolda.  Our observation that many facades are tilted towards the inside was confirmed by him to be due to the fear that foundations may shift and walls may wind up tilting outwards.  Many of the buildings we saw were in renovation, though many more were in pretty bad shape.  Some of the investors in such renovation projects are American.  The architectural styles differ depending on the era when a building was erected.  Sometimes several styles are seen within the same facade, often an indication that floors were added at later times, when styles had changed.  Some of the features many buildings have in common are the shapes of the arcs and crosses on the facades.  A few windows sported the multicolor flag associated in the US with the gay and lesbian movement.  In Venice the word PACE (peace) was inscribed on it and it was another sign reminding us of the anti-war feeling of Europeans (there was also some nasty scribbling at the address of US troops on some wall, which upset Radu).  The restaurant recommended by the gondolier, somewhere on the on the Canale di Cannaregio was probably the best we ate at during the trip.  The walk at night from the restaurant all the way back to Piazza Roma was amazing.  We walked across several bridges and traversed piazzas with open garden restaurants filled with tourists and residents out for a late dinner.

●  Day Four - Bled and Vintgar, in Slovenia

In the morning we drove away from the Ambasciatori Hotel in Mestre and reached the border of Slovenia in no time.  The Italian countryside had beauty and charm, with many buildings of medieval or Roman provenience.  You could also see many industrial structures.  Despite such picturesque scenery, to us it did not equal de beauty of the Slovenian countryside.  There was something about the place that made it look cleaner, pristine, with purer colors, and more welcoming.  The roads were in great condition, though the highway system needs to be expanded (at times there was only one line in each direction).  Passing through Bled, we went to Bohinsca Bela where we were told we could find a B&B.  We chose one of the several available in town and wound up being very happy with it.  We had lunch at the restaurant in the same village, which our host had recommended.  The soup was amazing, as was the huge meat platter.  We knew we were going to return to this place for other meals.  We had time that afternoon to visit Vintgar Gorge.  Though the skies were cast with clouds and the photos came out a bit flat, we enjoyed the walk and commented what great shape we would all be in if we lived nearby.  From such thoughts we came back to the reality of a great bakery back in Bled, where we had delicious cremeshnit and ice cream.  To [yet again] atone for our sins, we completed a full round of Lake Bled on foot, on the latter part of which we ran into probably the world's mosquito general assembly.

●  Day Five - Slovenian Caves

Because it was a rainy day, we decided to "stay indoors", so we drove for almost two hours South to reach the region of the Karst, world renown for its caves.  First we visited Postojnska Jame, a long series of tall caves following each other and at one point spiraling so that you find yourself in a huge room just underneath a huge room you were in ten minutes before.  What makes Postojnska special is its sheer size.  In fact, the first two and a half miles (four kilometers) we went by train and only the last mile by foot.  The second cave we visited, Skocjanke Jame, seemed more impressive.  Though we did not see the huge number of cave structures (stalactites, mantles, etc.) that we saw in Postojnska, here we walked the whole distance of the cave (the part available for viewing) inside a gigantic room which reached three hundred and sixty feet in height (one hundred and ten meters).  The terrain was more difficult and slippery.  The walking trail was half way from the bottom and the torrent which we could see on that well lit bottom was making a deafening, eerie noise.  That torrent is diving into the ground right there, only to resurface twenty five miles away (forty kilometers) as a large river in Italy.  On the hill on top of the cave there are a couple of modest museums, but the view across the gorge in front of the cave, with the waterfall of the tumultuous torrent and the church on top of the hill is absolutely magnificent.  We crowned the evening by dining at the restaurant next to our B&B.

●  Day Six - Bohini Lake and Soca Pass, Slovenia

We discovered the beauty of Slovenian mountains climbing by cable car up the Vogel, with Bohini Lake in our view.  After descending from the mountain we went to see the waterfall which is the source of Bohini Lake.  We then had a choice of driving around the mountains or taking a "car train" through a tunnel.  We chose the latter, but before "embarking" on this unique means of transportation we got some great pastries from the local bakery in the village of Bohini Bistrica.  Arriving on the other side of the tunnel was like arriving to a different world.  We rode along a narrow valley with beautiful villages and well kept agriculture lots, surrounded by thick forests.  The land cut by the Soca River is magnificent, but its valley and adjacent peaks saw some of the fiercest battles of World War I.  This is the famous region where the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies were in a stalemate filled with casualties for the better part of the war years.  The museum dedicated to the history of the valley (mostly to the events of World War I) is very well designed and maintained.  We had to climb through the pass at the end of the Soca valley in order to reach the highway on the other side.  Back in Bled we took a gamble with the local, glittery, "tourist" Chinese restaurant.  We did not win.

●  Day Seven - From Bled in Slovenia to Pula and Rovinji in Croatia

Finally, we visited Bled Castle which had been in our view for the last couple of days.  From there we drove to Croatia and were pleasantly surprised by the ease with which we crossed the border (we had anticipated big delays based on stories we heard).  The other pleasant surprise was that right at the border, in the middle of nowhere and by some improvised offices shacks, we found an ATM!  As we approached the coast we started noticing "Tourist Information" booths and after visiting a couple of them we found out that they were basically the front shop for the B&Bs next door.  The more we drove through Croatia the more we realized how much it lags behind Slovenia.  To Radu it looked more like being back in Romania.  We saw the Amphitheater in Pula, which resembles the Colosseum in Rome, and were amazed by Pula's numerous Roman vestiges.  From there we drove North, but still next to the coast, to the medieval town of Rovinji.  Like other old towns in the Istrian peninsula, this town had signs of its Italian past.  The walk through its medieval streets all the way up to the church and back down to the main square was very pleasant.  On our way we stopped for dinner in Piazza Grande, where one could easily imagine ghosts from the town's past.  The next morning we had breakfast in the main square and stopped for a last photo opportunity by the anti-fascist monument built in Yugoslav times.

●  Day Eight - Opatija, Senji, and Lipice in Croatia

The B&B we stayed at near Rovinji was reminiscent of Communist-era hotels through its rudimentary interior.  Nevertheless, it was pricier than the much nicer Slovenian B&B we had stayed at.  In another gesture that reminded Radu of the Romanians who used to rent a room in their house back in Communist times, the owners (who lived in a modest house next door) gave us a bouquet of flowers upon departure.  The evening before we had commented on how beautiful those flowers looked in their garden. 
We were told by Israeli guide book to park at the Millenium Hotel and take a walk down along the shore and back on the hill through the center of the town of Opatjia.  It was worth every moment of it!  We were also lucky to have a beautiful, sunny day, which allowed us to enjoy the vivid colors everywhere about the town.  At the Millenium we had again delicious ice cream.  From Opatjia we continued driving along the cost to Senji and then turned away from the shore and had to start heading East.
At that point we were presented with the option of taking the highway towards the North (towards Zagreb) and then back towards the South, a detour of several hours, or a dive across the valley and Vratnik pass through the hills towards our East, via a road marked as identical in difficulty with the one we just came from.  We chose the latter.  First, signs on the highway told us to start towards the North, not exactly the direction we thought we should go towards.  After ten miles and after paying the toll the highway disappeared, without any signs for the road we were looking for.  We figured out where we were, far [North] from the road we were looking for, so we chose a road of same difficulty (according to the map) and started heading East through the valley, towards the village of Lipice.  As we progressed, the road narrowed, until there was no room for two cars side by side.  "Thankfully", there were no other cars around ("what a great road!" we thought).  In lipice the road split, so we chose to go to the left (i.e. on the road that continued to be paved).  Soon we were higher up on the hill, in the village, with the road ending shortly ahead.  We asked some villagers in English how to get to Plitvice (our destination).  They opened with a laugh and quick talking in [probably] Croatian, which got them more and more amused (it's strange, but it had the opposite effect on us...).  Of everything they said we understood [the German] "Zurruch" (go back) and their circular signs with the hand indicating we should go around.  We understood, so we went back to the previous intersection and started on the unpaved road.  As we climbed up the hills ahead of us the road narrowed until there was barely enough room on the road for our appropriately named Ulysee minivan.  The taller bushes were scratching both sides of the car, but worrying about the rental agreement was the last thing we had in mind.  We were already in up in the forest, climbing even higher, seeing no horizon or sign of an upcoming descent.  We had already passed the rusting carcass of a truck turned upside against a tree and what seemed only natural followed - signs for landmines.  The next half an hour was the longest, most stressful, and most quiet part of our trip.  As we started descending we nearly collided head on with a yellow vechicle resembling a car.  The two ruffian-looking passengers of that thing on wheels had their eyes coming out of their sockets in anticipation of the impact, probably a mirror image of our own faces.  Without coming to a full stop we somehow managed to pass by each other, it seems without leaving the one-car-wide road.  On the other side of the hill, just as the paved road was starting again, we saw a last sign for landmines, indicating a place six miles in the direction we came from.  Drained but in one piece, we joined the main road for Plitvice.  What puzzled us the most is that throughout this time we seemed to be exactly on the road we were following on the map and we wound up exactly where we were supposed to get to on this other side of the pass.  Was it really a road they think tourists could safely drive on?

●  Day Nine - Plitvice Jezera, Croatia

We arrived at the huge, elegant, "Communist-style" hotel at Plitvice the previous evening.  The meal was good, but the waiters and especially the shift manager reminded us of party activists.  We got to meet the shift manager because we nearly broke our teeth in remains of shells found in our walnut cream crepes.  In the morning we took a "train" up the hill to the highest of a series of lakes.  Situated in the middle of forests, the water of Plitvice lakes flows from one lake to the next through a series of waterfalls.  The clear water of these lakes is home to scores of trout.  Again, we missed the sun so the photos came out a bit flat.  The sights were beautiful though and there were many visitors.  After the three days in Italy Radu's "bon giorno" was good enough to get an "Oh, Italiano" sigh of satisfaction from an elderly Italian from a larger group.  His French accent is probably not that great, as he did not et any reaction from the "bon jour group".  The evening meal was not as good as anticipated. We went to a local "authentic" restaurant and had the "licka" soup, but we were not impressed.

●  Day Ten - Drive From Plitvice in Croatia to Cortina D'Ampezzo in the Italian Alps

We just drove and drove, most of the time in the rain, sometimes inside a cloud.  It was mesmerizing and tiring.

●  Day Eleven - Italian Alps to Milan Airport

Despite the weather and the fact that we were exhausted, we stepped into town (Cortina d'Ampezzo) the previous evening when we arrived there.  The mountains (the Dolomiti) are scenic and impressive.  We climbed with one of the numerous cable cars to one of the peaks and we enjoyed a snow fight in June!  This is definitely a place we would like to come back to for hikes during the summer or for the skiing they are world renowned for.                

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Egypt - May 2005

We got to see lots of fish in the Red Sea, several times what we went through made us feel like fish out of the water, and something fishy happened to Radu's stomach, so to summarize this trip as succinctly as possible, "we had to deal with a lot of carp".  Our "learning experience" started the moment we landed in Cairo and it continued throughout the trip.  We adjusted our modus operandi and our attitude, so we managed to get things more and more under control.  By the end of the trip we felt quite comfortable, though the stress was always there.

Because we were not part of a group, we found ourselves in the middle of a fluid situation where what we thought we purchased from the travel agency turned out to be sometimes an "extra" that we'd have to pay for again, where schedules changed and our guides tried to translate the "full day" guided trip into a ninety minutes affair, where what you were promised by the "man in charge" in the morning was different from what you were told in the afternoon by the guide you were touring with.  Add to this the constant hassle from twenty new faces every day, each of whom would try to do you the slightest "favor", or give you at least the minimum attention that would get a baksheesh.  Walking by the alleys filled with tourist stores (and our guides made sure we would walk around there), we would be addressed in French, Russian, German, and mostly in English [in quick succession] and often asked where were we coming from.  Saying "we're a couple of Jews coming from Israel" was out of the question, so we went with the "Romanian" and "German" version (Meirav has a German passport).  Due to what transpired as of late and the subsequent warning by the State Department, we avoided saying we were from the US as much as we could (in Luxor that would have earned us a personal guard, one more way of labeling us as a target and one more worry for us in terms of keeping schedules and dispensing baksheesh).  By the end of the trip we went through trying to answer "Australian" and finally settled for "South African".  Egyptians have no clue what a South African accent is supposed to sound like and they would invariably tell us that they liked Nelson Mandela and then leave us abruptly, without any more hassle, as if saying "Mandela" was too much of an effort and they needed a rest (probably they don't expect an African to be as much of a big spender as an Australian).

Having said all these, we're content that we got to see many famous sites up close.  Maybe it's better to be there during the winter, as temperatures are already creeping over 100F (40C) on a daily basis.  Much of the time we were somewhere on the sand, with no shade, as Egypt is mostly a dessert.  Almost all seventy million Egyptians seem to squeeze in a narrow band following the South-North flow of the Nile River.  That is where most ancient Egyptian sites are located, as well. 

I.  Cairo - The Starting And Ending Points Of Our Egyptian Tour

Both times we stayed in Cairo we were at the Ramses Hilton, a fivesh staresh hotel past its prime, but located in a good spot - across from the Egyptian Museum - though not such a good spot for the three tourists who lost their life in the early April bombing.  The morning after our arrival, after a twenty minutes ride South of Cairo, we visited the capital of the Old Kingdom (2663-2195 BC) at Memphis.  There is not much left to see today (a giant statue of Ramses, a sphinx,  pyramid, a few other artifacts), as the place was deserted after the Muslim invasion.  On its outskirts we were taken to a "carpet school" where we watched how carpets were made for four minutes and went through a sells pitch drill of half an hour.  The burial/ceremonial complex at Saqqara, located half way between Memphis and Cairo, is better preserved.  It contains the Step Pyramid of 3rd-Dynasty Pharaoh Zoser (2654-2635 BC).  The other plus: there was no carpet school around.  From Saqqara you could see in the distance the Great Pyramid of Giza (Pharaoh Khufu) and those of his son Khafre and grandson Menkaure.  That was our next stop, on the same side of the Nile as Memphis and Saqqara (its West bank).  The pyramids at Giza were built around 2500 BC and standing next to them should impress anybody because of their sheer size.  Next to them stands the Sphinx, which is of obscure origin.  We drove around the pyramids and descended into Khafre's pyramid to the burial chamber.  The descent itself was no easy task, as you'd have to crawl through an inclined tunnel with a square cross-section of less than four feet (1.2m) a side, for quite a while.  The burial chamber itself is empty.  Though it is tall and deep, you still feel suffocated by the heat and lack of ventilation.  You can't wait to get back up and when you reach the touch of the scorching sun you're finally relieved from the heat inside the pyramid (especially if there's a light breeze touching the layers of sweat on your body).  At the end of that first night in Cairo we went back for a "lights and laser" show at the pyramids.  The sights were magnificent, the British narration too theatrical and somewhat cheesy.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside the pyramids and this rule was to follow for all interiors of the sites we visited.  We got to drive a bit through Cairo's heavy and noisy traffic and Radu noticed with amusement that many Cairo taxis were old Romanian Dacias or Russian Ladas.  Inbetween they had us take a couple more educational visits (and "had" us they did ) - to "learn about the making of papyrus and of perfume essence".  After a day of hassles and swindles, our tour operators decided to offer us a complementary felucca sail on the Nile, which brought our hearts back a bit.  Half an hour after that we found out from the next guide that the boat ride had not been free after all and that we owed them 200 Pounds (Egyptian), about $37 (US).  That is about 30% of an average monthly salary in Egypt...

At any rate, by the time we got back to Cairo after almost two weeks, with two days left to tour the city, we knew exactly what to ask for and how to go about it.  We had one day of guided tours and we declined a tour of the Egypt Museum (which we could take and did take on our own, on the last day).  Instead, we opted for tours of Coptic Cairo, the Citadel, and the tourist part of the bazaar, with the mention "and no more learning tours in any shops".  The churches have an interesting architecture.  Same as the old synagogue we visited in Coptic Cairo, most of the interior woodwork is reconstructed with very beautiful artwork consisting of Arab patterns intermixed with the Coptic Cross or Star of David (where appropriate).  Unfortunately, with one exception, the rule about no pictures indoors applied everywhere.  In terms of picture taking, we had more luck with the two beautiful Mameluk mosques in the Muslim Citadel.  That is primarily because of the open architecture and because they have long been used only as a tourist site.  From the vintage position at the top of the Citadel, we could see other beautiful mosques (functional as places of worship) spread in a sea of older slums interrupted here and there by newer apartment buildings.  From there we left for a tour of the bazaar.  Though we started in the "tourist area", we ventured more and more into the area frequented primarily by locals, until we were eventually the only tourists we could see around.  By that time we were getting less of the constant hassle we had as we entered the bazaar, but we also felt that the looks we were getting were angrier ones (here we were assuming strictly the South African identity...).  We thought it prudent not to take our camera out in view, so we don't have any pictures of those sights, but they're still vivid in our minds.  Back in the square at the tip of the bazaar we knew we had only one more outing, unguided, the following day.  In that square we took the last pictures of our trip, including one of a poster of Egypt's president in a "Napoleonic" pose.  The last day we visited by ourselves the Egyptian Museum.  It is a worthwhile stop and the exhibit of the treasures found in Tutankamen's tomb is quite impressive.

II.  Aswan

We arrived in Aswan at 10:00am, after a twelve hours train ride from Cairo.  Our contact, the coordinator for this leg of the trip, told us that we could go to the hotel for a rest and start our 'full day tour' at 5:00pm!?!  Meirav smelled a rat and despite the coordinator's insistence that nothing happens before 5:00pm because of the heat, changed the departure time for 4:00pm.  Before arriving at Isis Hotel we decided to visit the Aswan Dam.  At 4:00pm we started our 'full day tour', in a felucca.  It took us almost an hour to travel to Elephantine Island, a distance that should have been covered in less than fifteen minutes.  Ours was the only boat without a cover and (we were told) the only "unlucky" boat to find itself all the time exactly in the spot with no wind.  By this time we also found out that we could not enter the botanical garden after 5:30pm (and that was to be our second stop!?!) and that the third (promised) stop, the Aga Khan Mausoleum, is just something you look at from the distance, as it has been closed for the last five years!  By this time Radu had too much dehydration and later on stomach problems that lasted for the whole following week.  We called the coordinator in Cairo and complained.  It was the turning point in our trip, but we did not know it yet.  From here on we were to scrutinize everything we were told and we were adamant about having things done the way we wanted, as they had originally been promised.  We were no longer afraid (or maybe did not care anymore) about "having a good relationship" with our guides and, most importantly, we were resolute about having to "fight'em" continuously from here on, to the last minute of the trip.  At that point in time though, our hearts were heavy and we were angry, so we couldn't let ourselves fully enjoy Elephantine Island, the original site of the town, called Abu (elephant) in ancient times.  The island is the site of the Temple of Khnum and it has a small museum and a Nilometer.  By the time we arrived at the Kitchener's Island, our felucca had a cover and was navigating swiftly.  Many of the beautiful trees in the Botanical Garden were planted by Lord Kitchener, who had collected them in Sudan.

The next morning we woke up at 2:30am, in order to get on the 4:00am convoy of tourist buses going to Abu Simbel (the minivan ride was three hours each way).  This was the Southernmost point we reached during our Egyptian journey.  The famous story about the salvage and reconstruction of the temples above the level of the waters of what was to be the Nasser Lake is probably known to you.  Ramses II built the Abu Simbel temples (one for him, one or his wife), on what was his kingdom's border with Nubia.  Their huge size was meant to impress and probably intimidate the defeated Nubians.  The reconstructed interiors are awe inspiring.

III.  Luxor

It was a three hours train ride from Aswan to Luxor, just enough time for us to get our act together.  By the time we arrived there we knew exactly what we were supposed to see and, more importantly, how we wanted to see it.  We were on the same page with the plan and spent the last half an hour with high-fives and improvised cheers (not really, but we were ready for action)!  The local coordinator did not get to say much before we said what we wanted to say, and we had plenty (not just what we expected to happen, but also made a full review of what we did not want to happen).  It turns out that this was the most professional, Western-like, tourist agent of anyone we met in Egypt (and we dealt with a couple of Italians in Sharm El Sheik, as well).  We had a much easier time on our tour the following day.  We saw the Colossi of Memnon, which used to sit in front of the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III (1388-1348 BC).  Most of that temple was destroyed by earthquakes and floods in ancient times.  Next we went o the Valley Of The Kings.  The tombs themselves have plenty of ornaments on their walls (base-relief and painting) and some of the tombs have the initial stone sarcophagus.  It is difficult to say what part of what you see is the original and what part is the reconstructed (or what "reconstruction" actually means - starting with some found artifacts, or based on preserved drawings, or simply inference).  Again, we could not take any pictures inside.  You could visit three tombs with one entry ticket and our guide chose for us the tombs of Seti II, Ramses IX, and Ramses IV.  On our way back we decided to try our negotiating skills, encouraged by our resolution not to let ourselves be swindled, and so accepted the challenge of a stop by an "alabaster carving school".  Radu's masterful negotiating skills made the conniving shop keepers come down from 950 Pounds (Egyptian) to 600 Pounds (Egyptian).  That was for a few pieces of carved scarabs which we now believe to be worth about 200 Pounds (Egyptian).  Our self-esteem restored by the successful negotiation, we left for the next site, which turned out to be the one we probably liked the most - Queen Hatchepsut's Mortuary Temple.  It is a remarkable building constructed during the reign of Egypt's only female Pharaoh (1472-1457).  We liked it because of the stories associated with it.  The Queen is depicted as a man in every mural, because it was against tradition to have a female ruler.  Many scenes tell the story of the expedition to the fabled Punt, a land filled with treasures, a sailing journey that occurred during her reign.  The temple is set in a valley with a backdrop of the Theban Hills.  Without a doubt, the most impressive ancient Egypt structures are the temples of Luxor and Karnak, in Luxor.  As in the previous descriptions of places visited, we'll use the information from the "Nile Map", which we bought in Abu Simbel.  "The temples of Karnak are dedicated principally to the Theban Triad of Amun-Re, Mut, and Khonsu.  Most of the buildings were constructed in the 18th and 19th Dynasties.  Additions were made by the Ptolemies and the Romans."  This is one of the many sites where Ramses II is believed to have appropriated the monuments of his predecessors in order to promote his own image as god.  One of the obelisks seen in the pictures is the twin of the one taken by the French to Paris.  "Luxor, or Thebes, was the capital of Egypt during the New Kingdom (1540-1060 BC).  Luxor Temple, dedicated to Amun-Min, Mut, and Khonsu, stands inside the remains of a Roman brick own.  There was a temple here in the 12th Dynasty but most of the existing buildings date from the New Kingdom onwards."  We ended our evening in Luxor with an exciting horse-carriage ride which took us at times through narrow side streets, the bazaar, and by the open doors of mosques, at prayer time.

IV. Sharm El Sheik - the Sinai Resort At The Red Sea

Before those last two days we spent in Cairo, we flew from Luxor to Sharm El Sheik.  We spent there eight days, staying at the Ritz Carlton.  This is where our whole trip was supposed to take place initially, but Radu's contention "once we visit New York, we're in the US, so let's see Dallas and Alaska, as well" won over so we wound up with the whole tour we just described above.  For us it was important to come to Sharm because Meirav wanted to share the memories of the days she spent here as a teenager.  Her military unit was here and her dormitory was right above Ras Umm Sid, where we went snorkeling one day (for Meirav it was the Nth time snorkeling at that site).  Just above the water line you can still see scrap from some of the vehicles the Israelis threw in the sea before returning the Sinai to the Egyptians, in 1982.

The snorkeling is indeed a treat.  The coral reef is beautiful and very much alive, there is usually great visibility, and there are many fish (though Meirav believes it was even more amazing before the onslaught of tourists).  The views above water are colorful, with the sea in tones from light green to deep blue in the foreground and the sand dunes and mountains of the Sinai in the background.  Each day we would travel by boat to a snorkeling spot.  We enjoyed snorkeling at Rad Muhammed and at Ras Umm Sid, but we loved it in Dahab (at "the Blue Hole" and at "the Canyon") and had the best time near Tiran Island, especially on the Thomas and Jackson reefs.

We don't know what will happen to Sharm in the future.  It has a myriad of hotels, restaurants, and entertainment spots typical of a seaside resort.  Europeans flock here, but it is primarily a Russian [and to a little extent Italian] town.  The Egyptians working here can not afford to have their families live with them and, if they're past their early twenties, can't wait to make enough money to finally call it quits and go home (where the main prospect is unemployment).  The truth is we spent enough days there for Radu to understand what a magnificent place this was before it was "discovered", after the Israeli departure.  Though there's not much of a chance we'd be snorkeling there again, stay tuned for our pictures of sergeant majors from some other coral reef in the world...                               

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South Africa Safari - April 2005

We left for Africa wondering if we could reach the same level of excitement that we had during our Galapagos trip.  As soon as we were out in the savannah and had our first encounter with its wild life we knew we would have a tremendous trip!  Each subsequent encounter was different because of circumstances like timing, location, weather conditions, and subsequently amount of daylight, each of them affecting animal behavior.  For us some of those moments will remain alive in our hearts for a long time.  We find it difficult, if not impossible to convey them in writing, so we decided to only show you a selection of our pictures from South Africa, to fill you in on where exactly we were and on our daily schedule, to list the side trips we took, and to tell you a story or two about what happened and what we learned during our trip.  We did not engage our gracious hosts on any local topics, either about the present or the past.  Due to the nature of the places we visited, we did not learn much about the way people in South Africa live.

I. Locations

We left the new Tel Aviv international terminal and after eight hours we landed in Johannesburg.  Straight from the Johannesburg airport we headed by van to Sun City, a Vegas - like resort about 100 miles North.  We stayed at the Palace Of The Lost City Hotel.  After three nights there we went back to Johannesburg and took a nineteen-seats plane to the Ngala Private Game Reserve, where we stayed at the Ngala Tented Camp for three nights.  From there, with a smaller four-seats plane, we took a twenty minutes flight to the Londolozi Private Game Rezerve, where we spent the last four nights, in the Londolozi Safari Lodge Camp.  From there we flew back to Johannesburg ("Jo-bugh").  The game reserves we stayed at are to the West of Kruger National Park, with unrestricted flow of game between them, Kruger, and the other private reserves in between.  Both camps we stayed at (and others) are managed by Conservation Corporation Africa ("CC Africa"), probably the best source for information on safaris in African countries. 

II.  Trips From Sun City

No, we did not spend any time in the casinos.  Instead, we preferred to check out the outdoor attractions.  We walked quite a bit, but compensated (and more) in the evenings, at a great buffet-restaurant (Calabash).  Our first trip at the crocodile farm was exciting, as we arrived there at feeding time.  We were warned about the dangers there (in case we got too close to the reptile by jumping over the short walls), but that did not discipline us well enough.  Forgetting the rule to be careful when being around wild life, the next day Radu got bit by a lion while visiting a lion farm.  OK, it was not a lion, but a lioness.  OK, it was a three months old cub.  But the skin on the left big finger was punctured and there was a drop of blood!  Ok, half a drop of blood, about half an hour after the actual biting.  The most exciting trip in Sun City was the elephant ride.  The sensation is that you will slide off on one side of the elephant, then on the other, with every step it takes.  It feels like riding a bull in slow motion.  During the ride we had a first glimpse at a few animals that we would see again later during the safaris, in numbers.  We then visited a park with savannah birds and nearby there was a field with many sacred Ibis birds.  It then started to rain and the only other thing we got to do the last day was visit the "cultural village", where we learned a bit about the traditions of the local tribes and witnessed a highly entertaining music and dance show.  To get the real feeling for it you'd have to see the videos we took.  

III.  In The Savannah

Undoubtedly the most colorful pictures of this trip are those of the savannah sky.  At sunrise or sunset, and especially when there are isolated clouds, the light reflected turns into amazing colors.  We had a chance one night to learn about the Southern sky, how to spot the South (by using the Southern Cross) and the North (by using the Orion constellation).  Because we were so far from any [earthly] light source, on that clear night with no moon we had a great view at the stars and not only the stars.  We spotted several satellites crossing the sky and a brighter one which - our guide told us - was the space station (it was moving quite quickly).  What caught our eyes in the savannah were also the shapes of the trees.  Their shapes give them a unique personality.  We still haven't figured out whether the many contorted limbs are part of that personality or just traces of their adolescent encounters with ravaging elephants.  The reserves we visited were filled with termite mounds.  We'd have to read about these insects to learn the real facts about them (we got several different stories), but the signs of their activity are indeed amazing.  Their mounds are so much a part of the savannah because once the queen dies and the workers and soldiers die or disperse as well, the mound is taken over by many kinds of animals (usually at first by an aardvark who digs and enlarges entry tunnels).

IV.  Our Safari Life

Aside from Sun City where we planned our own daily activities, we had the same daily routine.  We would wake up at 5:15 - 5:30 am, have a cookies and coffee snack at 6:00am and head out for the Land Rover at 6:10 - 6: 15am.  The morning safari had a cookies with hot chocolate (or juice) break at 8:30 – 9:00 (on the side of the road; usually preceded by “bush breaks” – watch out for snakes!).  Back to camp at 10:15 – 10:45am, we would have breakfast at 11:00am (omelet, cheese, fruits, nuts, toast, jelly, coffee, juice, ice tea, etc.), a nap from 12:00 to 1:30pm, lunch at 2:00pm (or a safari on foot - "bush walk"), snack with cookies and drinks before leaving on the afternoon safari at 3:30pm, roadside snack with beef jerky (South African version), cookies, and drinks (juices, alcohol) at 6:00-6:30pm, back to camp at 7:30pm and dinner between 8:00 and 9:45 (we usually had our lights out no later than 11:00).

We rode with the Land Rover on these outings and were impressed with the skills of our guide and tracker (Marlon and Adam at Ngala and James and Bennet at Londolozi).  Watching them start from some tracks in the road to finding the actual animal who left them was quite a treat.  On one occasion we went out on foot through the savannah with Marlon and once with Bennet, who told us about the uses his Shangan tribe give to some of the plants we found in the field.  During the trips with the Rover we obviously also took numerous pictures of ourselves with the game in the background.  If you have the patience, you may want to scroll through the quick log of the trip we typed the day after we returned to Israel, while sorting the pictures. 

V.  Wildlife - birds and animals

.......................

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Florida, New York, Romania, Israel - Spring 2005

The oldest story of this chapter is that of our resident iguana in Fort Lauderdale.  Though our friends had spotted it several times, this was the first time we got to see it.  Unlike the iguanas of Galapagos, this one knew to take off when we were still at a considerable distance.

Though too few, the pictures from our latest party in New York indicate that our crowd is growing...

Radu kept on saying he did not care anymore about his birthday.  He claimed 39 is not a memorable number (i.e. an age to talk about).  However, after parties in New York, birthday presents, etc., he found more occasions for libations in Romania.  One of them was the party at Calin's place, a party for both Steve and Radu's birthdays.

In Romania, Radu visited with his mom at Brasov, then spent a few more days in Bucharest, with family and friends.  The trip by car from Brasov to Bucharest, with his friend Eugen, was an occasion to see the snow-capped Bucegi Mountains (yes, in April), along the Prahova Valley.  Back in Bucharest, maybe too little (but not too late), Radu got another taste of a once favorite pastime: Romanian theatre.  Tickets were arranged for at the last moment, at two of the best running shows - performances of Manlio Santanelli's "Regina Mama" and Cechov's "Mascariciul" ("The Clown").  "I am more than indebted to Raluca for getting the tickets on such short notice, for her being such a good friend, and..." - said Radu - "...for arranging for Horatiu Malaiele, one of Romania's leading actors, to place his hand on my knee."

All along, in a little corner of New York, Meirav was working hard, finishing the last arrangements for the upcoming South Africa trip.  The same glorious day that Meirav was arriving into Tel Aviv (in the morning), Radu was flying to Tel Aviv from Bucharest (in the evening).  Now we can continue to roam this Earth together!  It did not take us long to start on our first trip.  At the weekend we revisited Akko (Acre).  For the first time in his life, Radu got to visit a mosque (and this one was quite a beauty).  The end of the weekend we spent in Rosh Haain, with Meirav's little sister (and with half the town!).  It was the 10th anniversary of "Ogen" ("Anchor"), Tamar's Scouts troupe.  Seeing so much youthful exuberance expressed in an un-offensive manner reestablishes our trust in the younger generations! 

Sunday we left for Hahula Valley, just North of the Sea of Galilee and underneath the Golan Heights, next to the borders with Lebanon and Syria.  The last time we visited there (see pictures from Agamon Hahula last Fall), we were greeted by the tens of thousands of migratory birds.  They were using the area as a pit stop for their trip from Europe to Africa.  We were told that during the winter many of them decided to forgo the trip to Africa because they had great conditions right there in Hahula Valley (plenty of food, warm weather, enough water).  Some claim that half a billion birds passed through during the last eight months (whatever the actual numbers are, bird watching has become a huge source for Israeli tourism).  Now only the locals are left to spread their wings. 
We spread the wings of the Mazda 6 and took off for Hahula, riding flying towards the North on the newest highway, No. 6.  In no time we reached the side-of-the-highway restaurant where Radu's chumus dependency had started eight months ago (Sde Eli'ezer on Route 90).  For the afternoon Meirav quickly booked an ATV ride in Dishon, ending at a spot with a great view of Hahula Valley.  We stayed at a Tzimer (B&B place) in Ramot Naftali, above the valley.
The next day we hiked upstream on the banks of the Jordan River, North of Kfar Blum.  We went further up, along the Bannias (or Hermon) River, a tributary of the Jordan, past the spot where Bannias joins the Hatzbani (or Snir) River, the other tributary.  From Ma'ayan Baruch, further upstream the Hatzbani, we went for a two hours rafting trip in a rubber something shaped like a canoe.  It was even more fun than the ATV ride!  We figured out two main lessons from this adventure.  The first is that unless it's waterproof, you shouldn't take your camera with you (we did figure this out beforehand).  The second is that you should not attempt to constantly point the front of your "canoe" downstream.  We figured this out half way downstream, when we couldn't lift our arms up anymore.  Afterwards we learned that going backwards or sideways can be as much fun and that, anyway, one out of 3.82 bangs on the river banks points the front of your "canoe" properly (at least for a few seconds).
Paying tribute to the other tributary, we went on a hike along the Bannias River, from its springs to the fall (which we saw last Fall).  At the springs there are impressive ruins of Greek/Roman temples associated with the god Pan (supposedly Pannias entered Arabic as Bannias) and the ruins of an elaborate palace/fortification which was abandoned in Ottoman times.  In between Radu "went patriotic" with a brand new Israeli T-shirt.  At the root of his strong feelings on the issue stood his conviction that the brand new coffee stains on his yellow T-shirt would not look good in the pictures. 
The last day of the trip we traversed the beautiful series of waterfalls in the Ayun Reserve (on the Ayun River, another tributary of the Jordan),  hiking both on the way up and down.  On the way we found colorful wild flowers and we passed within a few meters of the Lebanese Border.  At lunch we stopped for the second day in a row at Abu Nidal's [chumus] restaurant in the Druze village of Mas'ada (best chumus so far this trip).  On our way back to Tel Aviv we visited the fortifications on Mount Bental on the Golan Heights, site of fierce battles with the Syrians in '67.
Checking our mail at our friends' home in Ramat Chen, we found out that Radu's best friend in Manhattan is the proud new father of a baby boy!  Mazeltov, Bentzy, sorry we are missing the ceremony!



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Roatan Island (Honduras) - February 2005

This was our consolation trip (instead of snorkeling in Thailand, which we gave up after all).  Sites and cultures are significantly different.  Roatan is a Caribbean island where time (schedule) loses its meaning.  If you need to catch a boat ride, you'll be told it's "at a quarter past" by the staff uphill and "at a quarter to" by the staff by the shore.  After you miss a boat - which by a miracle we did not do - you start figuring out which people you need to ask in order to get accurate information.  Sounds like the usual miscommunications characteristic of hospitals, but Anthony's Key Resort is not that big of an organization.  Half the staff (and here it does not matter whether it's "uphill staff" or "downhill staff") don't seem to enjoy their job and through various, sometimes not so subtle hints, they let the tourists know it.  It may be the result of the "industrial tourism" having taken over another natural beauty spot (Roatan is famous for its coral reef) and forcing the local population to give up their centuries-old fishing lifestyle for service industry jobs.  Some of the local population may be also forced off the island, given the tourism development's push on real estate prices (reaching up to $250,000 for one lot!).  

For us the opposite could have happened - we might have ended staying some extra days on the island, had we relied on the wakeup call we were promised for the morning of our departure.  Luckily, we already had failed (or forgotten, or disregarded, or muted, or whatever) wakeup calls, so Meirav stayed up pretty much most of the night to make sure we would catch the early [and one and only] bus ride to the airport.  Everything else went great.  Everything else except for the fact that this is the rainy season (the travel sites fail to mention that)... and the mosquitoes. 

Had that been all that happened, we might have regretted this last moment booking.  However, we had a wonderful time snorkeling!  Lots of fishes, of every color, complemented the various corals which make up the reef.  Our underwater camera did pretty well with the coral, but not as well with the fish.  While beautiful, tropical fish does not stand still for the shot.  Chasing for the right shot questioned sharpened our swimming and short range diving skills.  We believe the few underwater movie clips that we shot complement the photos, to give you a better idea for what was in front of our eyes (see http://www.apple.com/uk/quicktime/  if you need to download QuickTime software).  

There are also a few clips from our "dolphin encounter". The dozen or so dolphins being raised there seem to enjoy coming up to the snorkeling tourists.  The area the dolphins have reserved for them can be exchanged for the open seas if they wished, as it is surrounded by a low fence.  It seems that one of the dolphins is taking advantage of this, disappearing once in a while, for one-two days at a time. 

The time we were not snorkeling we got to hang around in the hammocks and read, walk around the resort, and paddle in the kayak.  The last day we made a short visit to the island's nearby town of West End.  It was a pleasant stroll in a typical Caribbean setting (the town on the beach, the main street with its souvenir stuff).  As pleasant was also our return home to Florida. 

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Las Vegas area - January 2005

We finally figured out that there is another Vegas and that the Red Canyon is part of it.  We went hiking there for two consecutive days.  The first day we started on an easy trail and quickly lost our way.  We found ourselves on a difficult hike towards Turtlehead Peak.  Halfway through we realized we would need more time to climb it and decided to come back the next day.  Starting earlier and better equipped, we reached the top and were treated to an amazing 360 degrees unobstructed view of the whole Red Canyon Valley, Vegas, and even Lake Mead!  
On the last evening in town we finally took our camera with us and got a few shots of the Strip, with the water show in front of the Bellagio.  The day we flew out towards New York was the day of the winter storm.  After two hours on the plane we were turned back to Las Vegas (we were through over Kansas at the time).  And that is how your humble narrators found their way back to Florida, to spend more of this winter there.

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Quito, Cotopaxi, Galapagos, and Guayaquyl - December 2004

The setting of Quito on sloping terrain between mountain chains and its being so spread out make any view of it spectacular.  At an altitude of 8800 - 9400 feet, it stretches for 36 miles North-South, on terrain covering several mountain peaks and the valleys in between.  Add to these a population of almost two million people and a rich history involving the Incas, their predecessors, and the Spanish conquerors.  The main attractions in the old city center around imposing churches and the government buildings in the center of the old town.  Walking among the multitude of inhabitants of various backgrounds is quite a spectacle and the visit to an Indian market was full of flavor.  The document in a golden frame is one of three copies of the first declaration of Independence in South America (though Ecuador would be the last South American country to gain its independence, after their first attempt was crushed).  The red buss is one of the "chivas" busses, used by partiers every evening to trumpet and toast for the foundation of Quito about 500 years ago.  They were also instrumental in not allowing us to sleep until late after midnight.    

Cotopaxi is a courtesan teasing you into traveling around her for the perfect view, only to draw clouds around herself every time you think you can see all her splendor.  This is the tallest active volcano in the world and it is part of the "Eastern Andes".  The plateau in between the Eastern and Western Andes is made up of a series of valleys interrupted by mountain ranges.  These valleys are mostly inhabited in this area (Quito lies in one such valley).  We reached Cotopaxi after a stop in Soliqui at the market.  Pigs seem to be an everyday item on the menu.  Also in Soliqui there is a giant monument honoring an Inca fighter. 

Finally, Galapagos!  The day we flew to the archipelago we boarded our ship and sailed out from San Cristobal, the Easternmost Island, towards the west.  Before sunset we circled around the majestic Kicker Rock, home of many winged creatures and their guano.  The real deal started the next day, when we stopped at Bartolome Island for a climb on top of a [shield] volcano crater (and the first encounter with a seal) and for snorkeling (saw shark, giant turtle, and many fishes, but had no underwater camera...).  In the evening we toured the Western side of Santiago Island, a paradise for crabs, seals, iguanas, and many birds (snorkeling here caused a second encounter with a sea turtle).

Monday morning we landed on Fernandina Island, on which we learned more about shield volcanoes.  Here we were greeted by sea lions, lava lizards, crabs, and hundreds of endemic iguanas.  We saw many non-flying cormorants, also to be found only on the Galapagos.  The lava cactus is also endemic to the Galapagos Islands and is a "pioneer" plant - it breaks down the lava into ashes that other types of vegetation can use for nutrients.  On the dingy trip of a coastal area of the island we saw pelicans and the Galapagos penguin, a relative of the Humboldt penguin (it seems these are relatives of he Humboldt penguin who left home on the Humboldt current and couldn't figure out how to get back).  The other birds we saw were the endemic booby and cormorant.  In the water we spotted turtles and eagle rays.
In the evening we went for very cold water snorkeling at Punta Vicente Roca on Isabela Island (the Humboldt current touches here, after all).  We saw there more fish and turtles.  Later on we went on a dingy trip through the same area.  The rock formations were impressive, with many dikes.  These are infusions of magmatic material through crevices formed by air bubbles in older lava flows.  On the walls we spotted many birds, primarily boobies, and in the water we saw turtles.  A sea lion accompanied us on our way back to the ship, doing many acrobatics along the way.  Back on deck, we celebrated the crossing of the Equator (though we were told we had crossed twice before, during the previous night).  

On Tuesday we went across Baltra Island, then over the channel to Santa Cruz Island and drove to an old, huge lava tube, which we traversed on foot. Nearby we met for the first time with the famous giant tortoises, in their natural habitat.  Right after that we were treated to a folkloric show.  In the afternoon, we hiked on North Seymour Island to the nesting area of the Majestic frigates.  The courting ritual involves the male's inflating a skin balloon, located on the front of its neck, under its beak.  The healthier ones display the best color, thus more easily attracting a mating partner.  On the same island we saw many land iguanas, sea lions, pelicans, and other birds.

Giant tortoises are the most famous species from Galapagos.  Galapagos means 'saddle' in Spanish and the naming of the archipelago comes from the shape of the shell of several giant tortoise subspecies found on these islands.  Please note the usage of the scientific terms "species" and "subspecies".  As our 'Galapaganoes' travels unfolded we became more and more educated in evolution, adaptation, "and all that other 'mumbojumboing' type of stuff".  Not that we really know what it means, but hopefully it will make us seem more educated...  At any rate, while the ship was fueling, back on San Cristobal (the starting point of our Galapagos trip), we visited a giant tortoise shelter.  We managed to account for all twenty residents, as we arrived at mealtime.  Back in town we captured the colors of the local acacia trees and the colors of the rustic streets.  In the afternoon we had the best snorkeling so far, inches away from sea lion puppies, as curious about us as we we were about them (though they were much better swimmers than us)!  One of our friends from our group had an underwater camera and managed to take some great shots!  We snorkeled until sunset next to a nearby beach and witnesses great dives for fish by boobies and pelicans.

We usually woke up at 6:30 am, but for some reason on Thursday we woke up at 6:00.  Dazed and confused, we landed on Espanola, a smaller island located in the archipelagos' South.  This is the home of a colorful subspecies of marine iguana.  Its colors come from minerals found in algae which live only around this island.  Espanola is also the nesting home of the waved albatross, which was found traveling all over the world (in various spots with cold water), from December to April, when the Humboldt warms up and they have to look for food elsewhere.  The male lava lizards (endemic to Espanola Island, as are the waved seagulls) are the longest in the Galapagos.  We also bumped into local sea lions and the usual frigates, hawks, hummingbirds, finches, nesting boobies, etc..  Worth mentioning and easy to observe from the pictures is all the poop we had to go through in our hunt for the perfect shot.  This was a main feature of all islands hosting birds.  In the afternoon we made a trip to the Charles Darwin Station on Santa Cruz Island.  The local tortoise farm hosts individuals of several subspecies from throughout the archipelago.  The famous resident is "lonsome George", the one enjoying his own swimming pool.  He is the tortoise of ET fame as he supposedly was the model for the movie's main character.  The last survivor of his species, he shows no interest in the two females of a closely related species that were introduced to him.  Will his subspecies survive?

Genovesa is an island a bit isolated towards the North of the archipelago  (though there are two islands which are even farther away).  We spent the last whole day on Genovesa watching the multitude of birds (here we saw the red-footed boobies for the first time) and snorkeling the Pacific waters inside its collapsed caldera.  The last morning we returned to San Cristobal and witnessed again the sea lions napping in empty fishermen's boats.  We said goodbye to our fellow travelers and to Alex at San Cristobal's airport and flew into Guayaquil.  

The last evening on Ecuadorian soil we walked the river promenade in Guayaquil and took a full hour's worth of a 'pedal-boat' trip (great exercise).  It felt eerie to be surrounded by people and not boobies or sea lions.  However, a couple of other things happened.  First, we had a better eye for spotting the nature around us (we just had a whole week of training for it, after all).  Second, the terrain was rocking gently.  It continued to do that for a couple of days.  It's funny what a week on a boat will do to your senses...      

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Trip To Israel - October-November 2004 

Israel has more to offer tourists than one might think.  After two previous trips during which we took no chances and clung to the Tel Aviv area, this time we ventured throughout the country, starting with a tour of Northern Israel, visiting Jerusalem and the Dead Sea area after that, and finishing in Eilat, at the Southern tip of Israel, at the Red Sea.

The weekends (Fridays and Saturdays) we spent at our friends' home in a suburb of Tel Aviv and visited with friends and family who live in that area.

Israel Part I - Northern Israel

Soon after you leave the Mediterranean coast and head East, within the first 10-15 miles, you run into dry, almost barren terrain.  When you find yourself out there in the heat (October heat), you get a better understanding of the phrase so much used in the area - "scarce water resources".  For this reason alone Tel Dan is a marvel, as from the ground comes a torrent of water which provides half of all of Jordan River's flow!  The water is sometimes flowing furiously in streams and in other parts spreading over large areas in an inch-deep, faster - and yes, much narrower - version of the Everglades.  The trees gathered in this oasis are hosting many birds.  Where there's water, there also goes man, so we get to the second reason why this place is a marvel - the archeological findings.  The oldest structure uncovered (surrounded by scaffolding when we visited) is "The Canaanite Gate", a mud-brick structure with Roman arcs constructed 1500 years before the Romans invented "the Roman arc"!.  There is also an "Israelite Gate" with stone walls of up to 15 feet width.  Here can be found one of the only two Jewish temples where animal sacrifices were practiced - aside from the Temple in Jerusalem and as an attempt to shift political power away from Jerusalem and to the Northern kingdom, named Israel.  A part of the "paving" and control of water flow which allows us to stroll through the area today was work done by Christians who had a monastery there, in Byzantine times.  From Tel Dan we traveled to Mount Hermon.  To Radu's surprise, at about 9200 feet, the highest peak in Israel is more than 800 feet taller than the highest peak in Romania.  On our way back we passed by Druze villages (this is close to the Syrian border) and we had the most amazing figs ever, bought together with other fruits from Druze farmers selling on the side of the road.     

The first two nights we stayed at a 'tzimer' in Rosh Pina (boarding house, or "agroturism" in Romanian).  The house was actually built by a wealthy Romanian family.  Rosh Pina, together with Zichron Yaakov are the first two towns build by Zionists in Israel, in the 1870s, these Zionists being from Romania.  In the same area we visited the birds' paradise at Agamon Hahula.  There were thousands of cranes, pelicans, cormorants, egrets, and numerous other birds, like in a river's delta.  This had been marsh land later drained for agriculture.  When the ecological balance was upset, the Israelis decided to stop the draining and the water's return was followed by that of the birds.  Close by at Bannias we witnessed another of those water marvels - a jet of water coming from the earth, diving at this waterfall, only to disappear back into the ground further downstream.  From there decided to go to Metula, Israel's Northmost town, on the border with Lebanon.  Though there are many accommodations, the place was dead.  It seems people like to go there during summer's weekends, running away from the heat (the theory goes that the higher to the North and the higher in the mountains the lower the heat you'll have to deal with).  All we saw was a UN vehicle on the Lebanese side of the border.

Before heading West we stopped at Nimrod Fortress, a large fortification built and upgraded by various Moslem rulers and which survived all Crusader attempts at conquering it.  We also visited Mount Bental, on the 1967 Syrian border, just across from Qumran.  Many politics are being played there.  "Anan" means "cloud" in Hebrew, and given the fact that the Israeli trenches were built on top of the mountain, the adjacent coffee shop is aptly named "Coffee Anan".  

Near the town of Carmiel we passed by the countryside where the Zealots originated from and we witnessed the extraction of olive oil.  From there we reached to the coast and toured Akko (Acre), with a guide.  This town has a distinct Arabic atmosphere.  The bazaar trip came with its expected flavor.  We visited the Hospitaller Knights' stronghold, one of the most impressive structures we've seen during the trip, by sheer size.  It was recently unearthed, so Meirav had no recollection of it from her previous trips to Akko.  We toured a restored Turkish bath and finished passing through one of the Knight Templar tunnels, underneath the city, to the spot on the sea where their famous fortress once stood.  That fortress is said to have been able to take a ship under its roof and was destroyed to the ground by the Moslems so that "no Crusader will ever come back". 

Rosh Hanikra was our next stop, the Northenmost Israeli spot on the Mediterranean coast, on the border with Lebanon.  Through the tunnel that can be seen in the pictures, trains used to link British territories in colonial times, the rail following the Mediterranean coast.  The grottos of Rosh Hanikra are a spectacular sight.  The sea carved them in softer rock which in this place was around the sea level.  The last stop of this 'Northern tour' was in Haifa, where the most spectacular sight has become the Bahai Gardens, built in the last few years as the center of a more contemplative religious offshoot of an ancient Persian religion.  Of the pictures we've taken, those of the Bahai Gardens seen from Haifa have come out with the most spectacular combination of colors. 

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Israel Part II - Jerusalem and the Dead Sea

On our way to Jerusalem we stopped to see a cave, Mearat Netifim.  The geological structure of the area - many soft sedimentation rocks - makes it very likely that other such caves may be found nearby.  This one is special because it has an enormous amount of formations of various types, including massive columns and mantles.  It was uncovered accidentally, after an explosion for mining created a first opening.  When we reached the outskirts of Jerusalem we also stopped for at the Yad Vashem Memorial. 

Finaly, Jerusalem!  The first three pictures look towards a nearby village, from Mount Scopus.  That is because we had a guide and started our tour circling on Jerusalem's hills, beginning with Mount Scopus, site of Jerusalem University.  We made our way to the Mount of Olives.  From there we could see the Temple Mount for the first time.  We drove towards the valley separating the two hills through the steep street that Jesus is thought to have made his entrance in Jerusalem through.  Across can be seen the gate through which Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, now walled in, but in Jewish tradition thought to be the one through which Messiah will enter the city.  
Religious tradition required Jewish burials to take part outside city walls.  The Mount of Olives was back then outside the city walls.  Tradition has it that the closer one's grave is to the gate through which Messiah will enter the city, the earlier that person will be resurrected.  That is why there is located an ancient Jewish cemetery, the largest cemetery we've ever seen.  
Also on the Mount of Olives we stopped at an Impressive church built in the olive garden where Jesus is said to have been arrested.  Some think the olive trees there witnessed the events.  Once we crossed over to the Temple Mount we got another view of the ancient Jewish cemetery.  A couple of the monuments of the more important personalities (Jewish rulers and high priests) can be seen at the bottom of the hill.  They display obvious Hellenistic features.  Right outside the old city we stopped at a place designated by some as King David's tomb (most likely it is not) and further up into the room thought to have hosted Jesus' Last Supper.  We entered the city through a gate which - like many of the nearby buildings - bears the signs of the heavy shootings of 1967.  After a stop at the Kotel, the Western Wall of the Jewish Temple - where Radu put on the tefillin - we entered the Arab area of Jerusalem, with its famous but now almost deserted bazaar (Radu was actually pulled away by the arm by an Arab merchant desperate to have his store visited).
We followed Via Dolorosa to the Church of Holy Sepulcher, the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.  It is an impressive structure which combines many different styles.  With such a rich history, it was bound for this place to have a multitude of rules for sharing time and space among the various denominations.  For tourists though these pose no inconvenience.  We were also pretty lucky to visit at a time when there were no crowds.
For lunch we stopped in the Arab area, where Radu had his daily humus.  Later, our friends told us we were crazy to go there.  However, our guide had told us that it is still safe and that "in the ten years he had been a guide, he had not 'lost' any of the tourists he brought there".  Guess his record is still 100%...
We went back through the bazaar, bumped into a small group of protesters who tried to rally support against the decision to evacuate the Gaza settlements (the 'yes' vote came a couple of days after that), saw a women pull up a small basket on a string from the third floor of a house in the Armenian quarter, and exited the old city, passing by a camel dressed up for photo opportunities.
We went to the Gilo neighborhood and stood right across from Bethleem, in front of the apartments that Arabs were shooting at not that long ago.  The wall that is being built seems very appropriate, as being there and knowing that a madman could shoot towards us at will was an eerie feeling.  After such a stop, the tzimer in Ein Kerem where we spent a couple of nights, with its quiet, relaxing evenings, was quite welcome.  

Driving South of Jerusalem, we entered the desert.  The tectonic plates meeting here on the Syrian-African fault line caused part of the soft terrain characteristic of this area, terrain already weakened by water carving underneath it, to collapse.  This created the deepest depression in the world, into which the waters accumulated to create the Dead Sea.  The lowest point on earth is about 1500 feet under sea level and keeps getting lower, as the sea's waters evaporate and the fresh sources of water are being diverted by Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians, for their other pressing water needs.  From the nearby hills (which are the edges of the plateau from which this terrain had collapsed) you get the occasional stream of water.  Such a stream is David Wadi at Ein Gedi, a popular climb for tourist and ibex.  Also at Ein Gedi we saw the remains of a synagogue, with impressive mosaics.  After the strenuous hike, we were definitely happy to reach our hotel at the Southeastern edge of the Dead Sea, in En Bouqueq.  Though Radu declined the invitation to go dip in the Dead Sea, we did swim (float) in Dead Sea water, in a pool at our hotel. 

The following day we went on another hike though, climbing Massada.  This fortification is famous for the story of the hundreds of Zealots (including women and children) who committed suicide rather than surrender to the Romans.  While this may be a myth (similar legends abound in the area), there is no doubt that this had been an important fortress.  There are many water cisterns and even pools (aside from mikvas), wall paintings, and the vestiges of the Zealots themselves - damage to interiors for utilitarian reasons.  The Roman encampments on the perimeter are said to be the best preserved Roman siege structures in the world.  On our way back to Tel Aviv we stopped in Arad to see [yet another] fortress and to try some of the local wine.  Israel is known for its tradition of less than so-so wines, but things are changing rapidly in the right direction...

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Israel Part III - Eilat

That weekend our friends took us for a tour of Jaffo, the Arab neighborhood that Jews moved from to establish Tel Aviv (during the Ottoman period, for safety reasons).  It is a picturesque place, from which you can also get a good glimpse of Tel Aviv's beaches.  Next Sunday we traveled again through the Neghev desert to Eilat, at the Red Sea.  The pictures from the desert are actually of yet another area which collapsed to form a crater-like depression.  From the balcony of our hotel room we could see the port of Aquaba, in Jordan.
This was "the relaxation part of our trip", so we watched the exotic fishes at the Oceanarium, strolled through the town in the evening, hanged around by the pool and by our bedroom's balcony photographing the time passing by.  

We toured along the Egyptian (Sinai) border in a Jeep and our guides took us hiking through a red canyon alike to those we hiked in Utah (though with less of the fine sand and with less vegetation).  Another day we went boating on the Red Sea and snorkeled above a coral colony 500 feet from the Egyptian border.  The last morning in Eilat we went snorkeling with the dolphins at the local Dolphinarium.  It was awesome, as the two of us swam behind a guide, holding hands (we were told to, but it wound up being a unique, enjoyable experience, which we might repeat) and pointing to each other the dolphins appearing and passing through our range of vision.  All along we were hearing the high-pitch dolphin calls.  That same evening we made our way back through the desert, to Tel Aviv.  Our friends there prepared a last supper of our own, before we headed back to New York.      

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Trip To Romania - September-October  2004

It was Meirav's fourth visit to Romania in less than three years!  This time we got to travel to some of the areas most popular with tourists - we went hiking in the Carpathians near the city of Brasov, we visited Maramures County in Northern Transylvania, and saw many of the famous painted monasteries of Moldavia (Bukovina).  

Romania Part I - Brasov

We started in Poiana Brasov, which is a favorite destination for skiing during the winter and for cooling off from the city heat during the summer.  There was a rush to build accommodations for tourists in the last few years and it reached the point where some think it's become overbuilt.  'Poiana' means 'the Clearing'.  It covers a wide area with magnificent views as it is located at about 3000 feet (probably 1000 feet above 'old town Brasov'), it's surrounded by alpine forests, and towered by a couple of peaks reaching up to 5400 feet (yes, we climbed the 2400 feet and yes, we managed to do it in one day).  The building boom may be starting to take away from the place's charm and [previously] apparent intimacy with nature, but at the same time it forced the older (Communist era) hotels to refurbish and upgrade.  With Poiana Brasov as a base (and driving a rental with shift stick) we also went on hiking trips starting from the nearby resorts of Busteni (short hike to waterfall and hike on the Bucegi Plateau at 6200 feet, inside a cloud) and Sinaia (we drove through serpentines to a height of 4100 feet, where we started climbing from, passing by many superb, early 20th century villas).  

Zarnesti is a less known town and tourism in the area had not been encouraged.  Even though tourism facilities are lacking (or maybe because of that), the nearby Piatra Craiului mountains are favorites of Radu's and of tourists interested in challenging trails and rock climbing.  We spent a day there with Radu's mom and relatives, going on an easy, pleasant hike, and dining by 'Wolf's Cabin' - yes, my cousin Simona has real wolfs there, but the one who had to be chained was her 'fierce' Tom.  That evening we entered a canyon which gives a good prelude to what's coming up higher up in the rocky, barren cliffs.  This is the area of 'Cold Mountain' fame and we revisited that canyon ('Prapastii') several days later, with friends from Bucharest.  

In between, Radu ran to Bucharest (i.e. by train) one evening, for a reunion with several high school mates.

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Romania Part II - Baia Mare in Maramures County (Northern Transylvania)

The trip to Baia Mare was a trip.  It took us ten hours to get there by train.  We thought that the sleeper car would help, but the beds were perpendicular to the direction of motion, so momentum threatened to roll us from our beds at every deceleration.  Guess how much we slept that night.

Maramures County is famous for wooden structures, especially for the [property] gates and churches.  The gates are symbolize social status, more so than the houses themselves, so in many villages there's a perennial competition to have the most expensive gate.  Some of the churches we've seen have their wooden walls painted, which Radu previously thought characteristic only of Moldavia -  which we visited later.  We stopped at such a church on our way to Sighet, where Elie Wiesel's childhood home was recently turned into a museum.  After that we visited the "funny cemetery" at Sapanta.  The wooden crosses on the graves are each carved and painted with a scene meant to extract what was significant about the deceased's life (a woman's weaving, a man on a tractor, or - more often - a man at a table in front of a bottle, or someone's sliding under a vehicle on the road).  The words on the crosses use common rhymes in local (folk) language to tell us the name and profession of the departed, and a few other details about that person's interests.  

Uncle Oscar (not to be confused with the uncle Oscar of the Academy Awards) showed us around on that trip to Northern Maramures.  The next day he took us to the Mineralogy Museum in Baia Mare, to which he was a contributor (as a geologist).  Later on that day we were treated to dinner at a trout farm.

One day we visited nearby Lapus County, where Radu's great-grandparents once lived.  The scenes are bucolic.  The Jewish cemetery in Targul Lapus Town impressed us because on a couple of the tombstones of those deceased in the 30s or early 40s words were added to commemorate those family members who perished at Auschwitz in the spring of 1944. 

After that we left Transylvania for Moldavia, traversing the Carpathians through Prislop pass.  On our way we saw the most beautiful foliage of this year. When we returned to New York, one month later, we saw similar colors in Central Park, the day of the New York Marathon.

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Romania Part III - Monasteries in Northern Moldavia

We toured the popular monasteries circuit with Radu's high school friend Calin.  The monasteries are treasured for the artistic value of their exterior paintings but also for their historical significance.  They were built by strong rulers, 300-600 years ago, as symbols of power, fortifications against invaders (primarily Turks and Tatars), and as a means of maintaining the support of the masses.  As a sign of the politics of that time, most representations of devils have Turkish features.  Today these monasteries are points of pilgrimage for a new generation of Christian Orthodox for whom  religious observance was in great part denied in Communist times.

We stayed at Gura Humorului and traveled by car to each of the monasteries, which were less than an hour away.  We took pictures of the monasteries but also of the scenic rural areas.  Cacica salt mine saved us from being completely 'monasteried out'.  Though it had its own altar and chapel underground, it broke the monotony of doing the same thing every day.  

Don't tell this to my mom and everybody else who cooked for us: the culinary highlight of our Romania trip was the wild boar dish we had at the Best Western (a fancy Best Western) we stayed at in Gura Humorului.

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Cruise To Alaska - August 2004


We've been in New York for a week now, enough time to get this site up and running, but barely enough time to let the thoughts about our Alaska trip to sink in.  Those of you who traveled to South-East Alaska on a cruise know that two-three days spent up there are merely a tease, especially when you are on a cruise and get to be in each port for only a few hours.  As a matter of fact, we spent two complete days at sea, the second day (after leaving Seattle) and the penultimate one, both times off the Canadian coast.  In between we got to visit Ketchikan ("where men and fish come to spawn"), Juneau (the first real contact with Arctic locations), and Skagway, the Northernmost port we visited - though just about all of Alaska lies North of it.

We were on boat the Sapphire Princess (launched at sea in May 2004), a quite elegant cruise ship, loaded with what I guess is the usual stuff - gym with treadmills, bike, and weight machines, spa, several pools including one of the newer ones with counter-current, casino, restaurants, nightclub, a performance stage, and a theatre where we saw the second Shrek a second time.  Our cabin was comfortable and had a small balcony.  Radu got a chance to practice his Romanian pretty much everywhere (restaurants, shops, casinos), as he kept on bumping into crew who were his countrymen.  It is even more fun to be on such a trip with someone you know, so we were lucky that our good friends Batia and Claudia came along.

We had part of nice weather for most of our trip and started with a sunny day in Ketchikan, where all the rivers were filled with salmon that came back to the spot where they were born, to "lay the foundation for a new cycle" and then die.  It's here we bought smoked salmon, in a touristy spot on Creek Street, formerly a red-light district.  In emphasis of our post-DFC (Duke Diet and Fitness Center) lifestyle we decided to walk uphill (instead of taking the tramcar) and we got to see a few totem polls (carbon-dated to within the last few years) on our way.  In de-emphasis of our post-DFC lifestyle, we then went on a "crab-culturing" small boat trip which ended in an all-you-can-eat, "Dungenesque" (the local crab) feast. We participated in it not because we wanted to have as much of the delicacy as we could, but only because, you see, we had to build this pile of crab legs' shells and if you had the tallest one then your table got this big cheesecake with blueberry... ... we mean, hmm, you got this cool prize... (digging ourselves in deeper and deeper)...

The next morning Alaska's majesty hit us "like a big pizza pie" when we navigated up Tracy's Arm, among the first icebergs we saw on our trip.  It' s probably worth mentioning here that with the exception of the first and sixth day, when we were partly at sea, we navigated only through the "Inside Passage", a series of canals stretching all the way to Skagway, separated from the Pacific Ocean by a chain of islands with mountains reaching as high as 7000 feet.  Captain Vancouver spent three years here in late 1700s charting every one of this myriad of canals in an attempt to find a suspected passage ("the Northeast Passage") that would link to the Atlantic Ocean (we know now that such a passage does not exist).  Many of these canals are fjords or were fjords leading from glaciers.  So is Tracy's Arm, but we were slightly disappointed when we turned back before reaching a view of its glacier.  We were to meet the glacier up close later on when we took a chopper trip from Juneau, over the mountains, and landed right on top of one (we actually stopped at two spots, on two different glaciers).  This is the trip we definitely recommend.  With a good guide (and our pilot was one) you could find out and understand all the basics of "glacier life" (how they form on the top, from snow that has never melted completely, how the top "overflows" in streams that are "flowing" through passes and on mountain slopes, at speeds of inches to feet every day, how they erode the mountains and carry debris close to the ice's surface, learn that blue is the color refracted by "pure" ice - when it has no air permeating it) and you could get a history of the local glaciers (we found out that they are withdrawing since the last ice age, at an accelerated pace, some of them by more that three miles per century).

Our whale watching trip for that evening had been canceled by Princess on account of early darkness (we thought they should have known what time it gets dark on that day long in advance, but it seems they did not (?).  So we found something on our own and without whining we went whale watching whimsically (whoopee!).  We got to see and follow quite a few humpbacks and orcas (which though surnamed "killer whales" are in fact the largest dolphin, probably the fiercest marine hunter, indeed - more appropriately they should be called "whale killers", as they sometimes do kill whales).  This turned out to be one of the best evenings ever, with successful "hunting", mesmerizing waters, and amazing colors at sunset.   

It turns out the next day was going to feel even more like a dream, as we went by boat to a peninsula which used to be covered by a glacier a century ago and we took a canoe trip to the glacier's edge, now more than three miles inland.  The amazing, tropical-like forest we walked through [to the stream where the canoes were waiting for us] is on land that was barren forty years ago and until 1900 had been under ice forever!  The fog made the atmosphere seem eerie but majestic at the same time.  Eventually the lens of the camera became foggy as well, after cold droplets of rain started falling as we got closer to the glacier's edge.  Our canoe navigated among 'growlers', the proper name for the blocks of ice that get dislodged from a glacier into fresh water (though they may become 'icebergs' if they make it to salty water).

Back in Skagway we had a glimpse of what a Far West town used to look like.  140 years ago it was the starting point for the adventurers going on the Yukon trail.  Too bad it was time for our ship to start on its way back and we didn't get to explore more, to take a train ride to the mountain pass along the trail followed by 100,000 during the gold rush.  Like the canoe trip to the edge of Mendenhall glacier near Juneau (on a lake with big growlers), the day before - which we also did not have time for - the train ride is something we want to go back for.  

The highlight of the next day was a competition among "food carving artists" and the last day we had another whale watching trip scheduled off Victoria, British Columbia.  Supposedly there was a gray whale somewhere in there and we might have seen its blows or the blows of some device (there's a "see a whale or your money back" guarantee on most of these whale watching trips).  At the same time, the gray whales are not exposing much of their body when they come up to breathe (in contrast to the humpbacks), so who knows...  We got to see instead a juvenile bald eagle and a colony of sea lions.  It crossed our mind that the sea lions may be the ones we saw in California in February, as that is where they spent their winter.  Maybe the humpbacks we saw are the same ones we saw in Hawaii when we got married in January 2003?  We'll have to post those pictures here, too, and let you decide...

Pictures From June 2007

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