"In today's sharp sparkle"

Tuesday January 20, 2009 11pm Baku, Azerbaijan

“In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light. “ – poem by Elizabeth Alexander read at Obama's inauguration.

Listen to the MUSTN'TS
from the book "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1974) by Shel Silverstein


Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES.
Then listen close to me -
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

I don’t believe I have ever felt as patriotic as I have tonight. At 9pm Baku time I watched Obama become the 44th president of the United States of America, and I cried. I cried tears of joy for new change and beginnings, and tears of gratitude for those who have come before us. I know the appropriate thing for an academic to do is to doubt that change could ever really happen within this system, but I refuse to be handcuffed by fear. We have to believe that change can happen and is possible. There’s always time to be disappointed later so why start now? :-)

I ate nachos tonight in one of Baku’s Irish pubs (Murphy’s) and chatted with a Scotsman who travels around the world doing some kind of radio-training seminars (for communication on the oil rigs). And of course I was riveted to the television during the entire event at the Capitol Building, and I didn’t head home until I watched Bush fly back to Texas in the helicopter. I expressed my joy to the men standing outside the pub (in Russian I said- “Today Bush is finished, and America has a new president- Barack Obama!”), to the taxi driver, and to the man at the convenience store across the street from my apartment building. He was looking especially grumpy, so I gave him a big smile and told him about my new president!




Although today was a joyful day for the U.S., it was a sad day of mourning and remembrance here in Baku. On the 20th of January (“Black January”) they remember the day in 1990 when after rumblings of possible independence Soviet troops rolled in and killed dozens of innocent civilian protestors. The entire city goes up to “Martyr’s Avenue,” an absolutely stunning and beautiful monument that ends with a perpetual fire overlooking the city and the Caspian Sea. You could actually feel the sadness in the air. In 1991 Azerbaijan successfully declared its independence from the USSR.





This past weekend I was shown around Shirvanshah, a palace complex within Iceri Sheher (inner city . . . like old town, stare mesto). This palace was the seat of northeastern Azerbaijan’s ruling family in the Middle Ages. Its 15th century designs are still beautiful (having been renovated a bit in 2003. The intricate carvings and Arabic calligraphy were really quite stunning.

I was quite pleased to then be taken to the miniature book museum. Yes, you read that right, Baku lays claim to the world’s only museum devoted entirely to miniature books. The smallest is only 2mm and is recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. There were very old small books, very famous small books, small books in all different languages from all different regions, tiny religious books, tiny books of poetry, etc. We had a lovely tour in Russian, which I was mostly able to follow along with. A second visit to the Martyr’s Avenue was followed by a visit to the state cemetery where I saw the very impressive grave of Heydar Aliyev, the former president and father of the current president of Azerbaijan.

On Sunday I treated myself to a nice brunch out and then wandered about in search of the Center of Contemporary Art. It was a small affair, about 3 rooms total, but there were some very striking works. Some abstract, some clearly of people, angels, animals and some intriguing sculptures.

Then I stopped into one of the carpet shops in the inner city that clearly has tourists in mind. The salesman spoke fairly good English and we haggled over prices of silk scarves for awhile, and then discussed why some people say “turn off the light” and some people say “switch off the light,” and other such nonsense. It was enjoyable but I had to be getting back home so that I could meet Mikayil and Kenan for our adventure!

Mikayil, Kenan and I set out in search of Ateshgah Fire Temple in Suraxani, very close to Baku. The site sits in a natural gas vent that was sacred to the local Zoroastrians for centuries, and the temple was constructed by Indian Shiva devotees. It was a bit challenging finding the Temple, because apparently all the roads have been updated, with new lanes, new overpasses, new bridges, etc., but no new road signs! In fact no signs at all, so you really have to know where you are going. Luckily its totally normal to just stop in the right hand lane and ask someone on the street or a cab driver for directions. After a number of fairly funny interactions with various people we found the Temple, but sadly it had just closed for the day. Despite offers of extra money if they opened up, we were refused! So . .. we set out in search of another target- Yanar Dag.


Apparently in the 13th century Marco Polo wrote something about natural gas flames spurting out from the Absheron Peninsula (where Baku is). Most stopped after oil drilling began (something about reduced pressure), but at this one place near the international airport, fire still flames out of the side of a small hill. It is about a 10m wall of fire coming out of the side of this hill completely on its own. It was amazing. I have never seen anything like this, and it ranks right up there with the exploding Gulfoss geyser in Iceland, the mud and heat of Rotarua in New Zealand, and the vast glaciers of Patagonia. Fire coming out of a mountain, people! It was awesome.
:-)

I want to make some general comments before I head off to bed:
-People honk all the time here. It drives me crazy. In the U.S. it would be considered majorly rude to honk as much as people do here, and I often wind up taking offense.
-The owner of my apartment is wonderfully nice and had me over for tea and sweets last night. I got to play with his baby daughter and his wife showed me pictures of their wedding.
-I am enjoying living alone.
-Sometimes the power goes out or there is no water. Usually this doesn’t last for too long, and it doesn’t happen very often . . . so it still surprises me when it happens.
-Sometimes the elevator (which is scary and old and I never use) gets stuck and it won’t stop opening and closing for hours.
-Every evening when I return home from work there are three cats waiting near my door. They make me miss my cats!
- I walked to the U.S. Embassy today because I had some questions. They were closed because it was an Azerbaijan national holiday. They were also closed yesterday because of Martin Luther King Jr. It seems like a rather nice life to me, to get off from work on both your own country holidays and from the country within you work!

Soy Milk, Coffee and Georgian Wine

Posted: 5:45pm January16, 2009

January 13, 2009

7:30 pm

“When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge. . . .The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter, if you do not carry them within your soul, if your heart does not set them up before you . . .” taken from Constantine Cavafy’s “Ithaca.”

Yay! for the Continental Supermarket which definitely cheered up my day! If nothing else it made me feel brilliant for bringing peanut butter with me—they are the first grocery market here I have seen that sells peanut butter, and they were selling half-size jars for 7.9 manats, or about 10 dollars!!! Brilliant work, Anna. My goal was to buy pesto to accompany pasta dishes made at home with olive oil and garlic, but alas, the small pesto jars cost more than $10 each. No pesto for Anna. I DID buy some meringues, some marzipan, some toilet paper, some instant coffee and . . . wait for it . . . SOY milk!! I was so excited to see the “soja!” I can’t wait to have coffee and soy milk tomorrow with breakfast.

Note: As a lactose-intolerant member of society I am always thrilled to see dairy-alternatives . . . this does not mean that I support the way soybeans are grown, nor does it mean that I am unaware of the huge amount of hormones both added and inherent to soy. However, Lactaid milk is not available here. J

As I came out of the market I was surprised to see an empty road. It turned out that the whole area around the Hyatt (where the continental supermarket is) was blocked off and there were police everywhere. As I walked back to my apartment I crossed through blocked traffic and very unhappy drivers. I think some very important person must have been coming through!

As far as food adventures go, I’m still eating a lot of lentil soup, and occasionally other forms of soups as well (borsht, red pepper). At home I have tried a few just-add-hot-water soups ala Ramen, although not nearly as delicious. There is a nice restaurant right near the office that is a bit pricey but their pizzas are a deal—for 6 manats ($7.20) I get a big delicious pizza covered in toppings (including shredded chicken, which is really quite lovely). I can only finish half, and I get to take half back to my apartment for dinner another night . . . still more expensive than donor kebab, but it turns out I can’t actually eat those every night. I actually cooked last night (pasta, oil and garlic as mentioned above), but as my kitchen is not overly well equipped I won’t be cooking any feasts any time soon.

When you boil the water here (as you must if you want to drink it—I drank some the first few days and didn’t get sick, but apparently you aren’t supposed to drink it), the calcium separates out and you are left with quite a bit of white sediment. Very strange. I was much reassured when I learned it was just calcium.

Jan 15, 2009 9:00pm.

I have been enjoying a very fun week filled with “English Conversation Clubs” that have been very exciting. My “students” ask me all sorts of things, including how I think we should solve the problem in Gaza, and if I think Jesus was really God or just a man. We are solving world problems and discussing the fundamentals of world religion. We’ve also discussed the genetic factors in physical attraction, and why love might or might not defy such factors (they are a romantic bunch). I have learned a great deal about the history of Azerbaijan (did you know that in 1918 Azerbaijan declared its independence, and as such was the first democracy in the Muslim world? It lasted for 2 years until the Soviets showed up), the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and education in Baku. Everyone is very interested in the graduate school offerings in the U.S., and how it might be possible to get a Masters without spending a fortune.

While usually I head home after work, yesterday I had some energy so I went walking in downtown Baku. I have been trying to find a Russian restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet, but have continuously been coming up empty-handed. Instead I found a Georgian restaurant (“Duxan”) which was lovely. I had absolutely delicious eggplant with walnut sauce, and then a spicy beef and rice soup. I must say that the highlight of the meal was my glass of Georgian semi-sweet red wine. An absolute knock-out. I have to figure out where I can purchase some to bring home!

This past Sunday I had a lovely time walking around Baku, and just exploring and poking around in shops. It was a lovely sunny day, upper 30s and not too windy . . . ideal for wandering. I found myself in a fancy coffee shop where I had a delicious cappuccino and had an interesting encounter with an elderly American gentleman. We wound up going to the ballet later that evening, where we watched a very interesting Azeri-style ballet. As I predicted, it was a love-tragedy. I was only surprised that only 2 of the 3 people in the love triangle died, and not all three. The literary and artistic forms here seem to be heavy on the tragedy and the romance.

I finished Ali and Nino, which ended in tragedy, but overall was an excellent introduction to Arab culture, and to Azerbaijan in the 1917-1920 era. I am now reading my fifth Paulo Coelho book, “The Zahir,” which I am enjoying. Having limited my baklava intake, I am now devouring marzipan . . . I must find a happy medium. Work is fun, and the office has heat (yay!), and we are busily preparing for the conference.

This weekend I believe I will be shown some older bits of Baku that I have not yet seen, and hopefully on Sunday I will go with some friends to see the “Fire Temple” in a nearby town.

For further information on Azerbaijan, please see the NISA website: nisa.az, which may be under construction but should have information under “Country Profile.” I just wrote it today.

Cheers!

Baku- the City of Wind

5:45pm January 10th, Baku

“Few cities in the world are changing as quickly and nowhere else in the Caucasus do East and West blend as seamlessly or as chaotically. Battered Ladas race shiny Mercedes past illuminated stone mansions, shiny glass towers and tatty old Soviet apartment blocks.” –Lonely Planet on Baku

“Some scholars look on the area south of the Caucasian mountains as belonging to Asia, while others, in view of Transcaucasia's’s cultural evolution, believe that this country should be considered part of Europe. It can therefore be said, my children, that it is partly your responsibility as to whether our town should belong to progressive Europe or to reactionary Asia.” – a fictional and less than neutral professor in Baku on the dawn on of WW1, in Kurban Said’s classic novel “Ali and Nino.”

It has been a cold and windy week here in Baku. The wind actually has the power to blow you a few steps this way or that . . . having never traveled to Chicago I have no idea if we have the same strength of wind in the U.S. I arrived to a few inches of snow and ice that turned into slush and mud over Sunday and Monday. The city was beautiful under the snow, a little dirty after it melted. Baku is a strange mix of modern buildings gleaming with glass and metal, and old sturdy soviet buildings . . . some that have been revamped and some that have not.

I had a lovely reception by my hosts here at NISA, and I have been very well taken care of. My apartment is nicely decorated, warm and comfortable, and only a 5 minute bus ride from the NISA office. In addition, I am about a 5 minute walk from the upscale Hyatt Regency area where upscale Italian and Chinese restaurants are excited to take rich oil exec’s money.

My first day in Baku, Mikayil, the executive director of NISA walked with me all over downtown Baku and in the old town area. Iceri Seher, the historic Old City has small cobblestone streets and is much less developed than stare mestos (Old Cities) I have visited in Eastern Europe. It manages to maintain some of its traditional atmosphere in a way revamped Old Cities do not. The hamams (bathhouses) are hundreds of years old but are still active and used by the males of the town. Mikayil and I climbed the Maiden’s Tower where we were afforded a view of the Caspian Sea as well as of Baku and its surrounding hills.


We strolled along the Bulvar, the road along the Caspian where street vendors sell cotton candy and balloons to families. The wind and cold drove us back up towards the busy modern city center where we wandered past expensive stores, restaurants (and McDonalds!), and through the Tourist Bazaar. We had donor kebab in pita bread which was delicious and peach juice to drink.

On Sunday I went bowling with NISA alum and students who will be attending the NISA Winter Session that I am helping to organize. It was great fun, and the bowling alley was newer and more shiny than any bowling alley I have ever seen in the U.S. We played two games and then I went for a walk with a few new friends. We took a bus up the hill to Martyr’s Lane which is a very somber (and clean) memorial to the Red Army’s 1990 attack in Baku after an attempt at independence. There is large ever burning flame at the end of the walk that we crowded around to get warm! We took the funicular down the hill (very exciting, I don’t think I’d ever been in a funicular before!) and found a restaurant to eat in as we were all desperately hungry!

I’ve spent the week in the NISA office, going out for fabulous lunches of lentil soup and traditional Azeri foods (yum! Meaty!). My favorite meal was xingal, meat and sour cream served over some kind of gooey-flour-made substance. It is dark, cold and windy in the evenings, so only twice have I been brave enough to explore a bit, since my warm apartment is so inviting. I have developed a bit of an addiction to the baklava which is delicious but very expensive. This does not bode well for my wallet or my waistline. Also, it is very cheap (around $2) to get a yummy lamb meat and a salad mix wrapped up in lavash (sort of very very thin pita type bread) for dinner.

I have been reading “Ali and Nino” which is a very intriguing story of Ali, a Muslim Azeri schoolboy from an aristocratic family who falls in love with Nino, a Christian from a wealth Georgian family with European sensibilities. It is the time of WW1 and they are living in Baku. As the story is told from Ali’s point of view, I am exposed to all sorts of cultural norms and practices that I have never before researched much or learned about. I have never personally made a study of Arab culture or customs, and I find myself encountering a very different kind of world (at least for fictional Ali in WW1 era Baku). I have drawn no conclusions as of yet, but generally I am very worried for the long term possibilities of Ali and Nino’s relationship.
Just a few things I have noticed—I am sure I will have more things to share as the month progresses . . .

The police are everywhere . . . walking, standing, guarding, and of course in their police cars pulling over traffic violators. As my new friend Yalchin says, “We have many traffic regulations, but no one fully implements them.” The strangest thing about these cop cars is that they have PA systems from which they broadcast instructions to offending drivers. Imagine you are walking down the main street in Baku, past a billboard of a smiling President Aliyev, and you hear a siren followed by loud, angry directions in Azeri (loud enough on the PA system for everyone within two blocks to hear). I have to say it is very strange, and it happens quite a bit, especially at rush hour.

The traffic is indeed quite scary and my most invigorating moments of the day are often when crossing the street. Does anyone remember the game frogger? Well crossing the street here is just like “frogger” only with humans. Mom, please don’t look up the game.

Luckily I usually take the bus which costs only 20 kopecks and deposits me very close to my apartment and work. The only trick is that you must tell the driver when you want to stop (except for a very few large fixed bus stops), and if the bus is packed and you are at the rear, that can be very difficult. The trick is to secure a spot near the front and to not be afraid to voice your need to STOP. :-) Having missed my stop once and been forced to hail a cab to make my way back (luckily every taxi driver knows where the Hyatt is), I am now a bit more vocal!

I spent today (Saturday! no work!) wandering around Baku and poking in bookshops and clothing stores- it was lovely! I had a very expensive but delicious burger at the Sunset Cafe, which is very American in style. I found the only English-speaking bookstore and purchased a "Learn Azeri" cd-rom that I hope to delve into soon.

I have had the feeling all week that something is very basically different about being in Baku, then any where else I have ever been while traveling (or at home). I think I finally figured out the basic reason why things just feel so DIFFERENT . . . there really aren't tourists here. It is the largest city in the Caucasus, and if there are any tourists, you certainly can't tell them apart from the locals. In every capital city in the world that I have been to there have tourists. I also, very clearly, am not a local. This is easily seen by the color of my skin, my eyes, even my hair. I think there is some chance that at times I am passing for one of the small members of the Russian population here, but most of the time I think I just look like a blond British doll. Thank goodness I speak some Russian so I am able to communicate, order food, etc., and not completely stick out.

I have noticed that whenever I am in a big-city (well, "big" is a relative term), I tend to adopt the "city" affect-- bored and slightly irritated as if I am thinking that I may be too cool to even be in this city. I think I learned it in New York.

Hopefully pictures will come soon, the internet is slow for now.

:-) HUGS!

Cold and Rainy Istanbul

Posted: Jan 10 5:30pm

Jan 2nd 7:15pm Ataturk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey

“Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else." — Lawrence Block

I arrived at the airport quite early this evening for my 11pm flight to Baku. It was cold and rainy in Istanbul today, and I had a hard time shaking the chill, even in coffee shops and museums. The day started off with a bang as I explored Topkapi palace, where sultans, viziers and concubines lived for centuries. I started off visiting the Harem, and while it was beautifully tiled with amazing ceilings and decorations, etc., I just couldn’t help shaking the feeling that there was something very, very wrong about this place. My little Lonely Planet guidebook mentions one sultan, who was rumored to put all 280 of his concubines into bags and throw them into the Bospherous when he tired of them. WHAT?!? Somehow I couldn’t appreciate the humor of this, and was disturbed on a basic level. These women were trapped in this Harem that I paid admission to visit . . . kept there as slaves. *Shiver.*
On a happier note, I then visited the royal treasury where I got to see the Prophet David’s sword, Prophet John’s skull, a number of things that Mohammed touched or owned at one point, and . . . wait for it . . . the very rod that Moses used to part the Red Sea in 12th century BC. It was in surprisingly good shape for a wooden rod that was used extensively 32 centuries ago. :-)


Eventually I was too tired and cold to continue in Topkapi (which was not heated) and I walked up the tram street to find the restaurant I had been recommended for lunch. I had donor kebab on rice pilaf, which was very yummy (and some Turkish tea to try and warm up). Then I walked up to the Grand Bazaar, and strolled around, although to be honest, it was really a bit much. If you’re in the mood to buy carpets, jewelry, or leather goods, its probably an ideal place for you. The mix of tourists, salesmen, and wet & cold Anna was not ideal, and I left to walk back down the tram road.

At this point I found a coffee shop, ordered a cappuccino and sat and read my novel for over an hour. It was lovely.

As I grew tired of sitting and reading in public, I remembered that there was a museum that I had not visited – the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art. It had not even been mentioned by Lonely Planet, so I thought it might serve as an interesting cultural detour. At the time anything heated and indoors was sounding pretty good. The museum had a vast array of ancient and falling apart carpets, in addition to many half-destroyed doors, tablets, and various forms of older “art.” I was not terribly impressed, but on my way out I discovered that in the corner there was an “anthropology” wing, so I made a detour. It was an exhibition devoted to portraying the life of regular people throughout time in Turkey. It had real-life size exhibits of the different kinds of housing, clothing, looms, work tools, etc., that would have been used by different groups. There was a section describing the different kinds of herbs and flowers used to create the natural dyes for the carpets. I very much enjoyed this section, and it made the museum trip well worth it.

I walked slowly back to the guesthouse, stopping to buy some roasted chestnuts from a street vendor. I had a lovely last chat with my host and he called a taxi for me to head to the airport.

On to Baku!

Istanbul (not Constantinople)- Happy 2009!

9:30 pm January 1st, Istanbul, Turkey.

"Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have traveled." -Mohammed

“The climate is delightful in the extremist degree. I am now sitting, this present fourth of January, with the windows open, enjoying the warm shine of the sun, while you are freezing over a sad sea-coal fire...”
Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu, 1763, on Istanbul

Note: I don't think its as warm now as it was for Lady Montagu. It was lovely and sunny today though and maybe high 30s.

Also: For some reason I'm having a hard time loading pictures to here and to facebook- I will try again tomorrow.

At the moment I am sitting in the terrace breakfast room of my guesthouse . . . without moving I have a lovely view of the Blue Mosque all lit up against the grey night sky with seagulls flying around the dome, and of the Bospherous with the lights of the Asian side shining. If I twist to the right I can also see Haggia Sophia, also glowing and lit against the night sky. Down below I can see a row of hostels, hotels and restaurants, all decked out with blue and white lights for the New Year, and looking very snazzy. I'm in the neighborhood of Sultanahmet which is right in the heart of the oldest bits of Istanbul, complete with cobblestone streets, ancient mosques, churches, obelisks, and the hippodrome. My guesthouse- the Terrace Guesthouse- is right around the corner from the Four Seasons, and for a much lower price I still have an excellent location. My room isn't amazing, but it is covered from wall to floor to bedspread with deep colored carpets . . . this added to the fringe that hangs from the bed alcove serves to make me feel a bit like some kind of ancient Turkish royalty.

I arrived exhausted yesterday and took a cab to the guesthouse from the airport (Along with the usual mushrooms, tomato, and hash browns, British Airways served lamb and scrambled eggs for breakfast . . . strange). Actually I took a cab to the Four Seasons, because that was the easiest way to describe the location to the cab driver. The doormen at the Four Seasons took very good care of me, even when I explained that I had no change to pay them with and I could handle it myself. The most dressed up doorman, Morat, insisted on carrying my larger suitcase to the Terrace Guesthouse himself, which was very nice. I was greeted by Doghan who immediately had me sit down and engaged me in a friendly conversation (by the way, everyone likes Americans again now that Obama has been elected!). I knew I needed to eat before I collapsed so I asked for a recommendation-- preferably for Kofta (Turkish meatballs) which I had read about in my lonely planet. Doghan recommended Selim Usta (Tarihi Sultanahmet Koftecisi Selim Usta), which turned out to be the same place recommended in the guidebook! It was maybe an 8 minute walk or so, and I walked passed the Haggia Sophia, Blue Mosque and many roasted chestnut sellers on the way! The meatballs were served with chili sauce and were very tasty (although to be honest I think I prefer the Swedish kind- soaked in gravy).

During dinner (at which I noticed there was a serious overabundance of waiters-- this has been repeated at every place I have been in, even sweet shops-- why are there so many waiters?!?) I started to get the spins from jet-lag. I took my leftovers back and passed out in bed. I woke up at midnight to the sound of fireworks! I had hoped to go stroll about before midnight, but having missed my chance I rushed up to the rooftop terrace to watch the fireworks over the Bospherous. People went wild in the streets- dancing, singing shouting . . . many terraces were shooting off their own fireworks or sparklers, and there were a few fancy black tie parties on rooftops that I could see. All in all there was much cheer. Then I went back to bed.

A delightful breakfast greeted me this morning here in the terrace room, where the sun was all but blinding. Cheese, cucumber, olive, tomato, boiled egg, bread, (chocolate bread?), and yogurt coupled with Turkish chai were a great start. I immediately headed to the Haggia Sophia, were I spent a great deal of time wandering around. I found it to be a very strange place-- originally constructed as a grand cathedral, then transformed into a Mosque, the UNESCO building is now a museum. The mosaics of Mary and Jesus coupled with the golden mihrab that points to Mecca was . . . strange. Beautiful, but strange. Add to that many tourists and the museum-type set up, and I would have to say that this was definitely NOT one of the most holy-feeling places I have ever been. Immediately after visiting Sophia, however, I headed over to the Blue Mosque which DID feel holy. You are required to remove your shoes, and women are supposed to wear a shawl on their head . . . many of the European women seemed to be ignoring this (even though there were multiple clear signs). It seemed quite disrespectful. The mosque was lovely, and walking around in stockinged feet somehow made the experience all the more better. This is the first mosque I have ever visited!

I also visited the tomb of the Sultan (there were many of them there), the Egyptian Obelisk, the Hippodrome, and some local shops. There were many very pushy men in this area, some trying to sell things, others offering "personal" tours . . . and some women were taking them up on the offer! After a pit stop at the guesthouse to eat my leftover meatballs, I headed out to see the Basilica Cistern. This had to be my favorite stop of the day, with its magical atmosphere and dark lighting.

I quickly headed back to the Haggia Sophia to hop on a bus that would take a group of English speaking tourists down to the Eminonu area where we would take a 2.5 hour cruise of the Bospherous. I know you are supposed to sail on the Bospherous when you are in Istanbul, but one look at the boat (and the tourists) and I changed my mind. Luckily I had just scored a free bus ride down to a different part of town! I strolled along the water, watched the fishermen and the crowd on Galata Bridge. Eventually I found myself to a sweet shop, Bolulu Hasan Usta Sut Tatlilar, where I had some of the best rice pudding I have ever tasted. Then I wandered down towards the Spice Bazaar, on the way sampling Turkish Delights and other yummy bits at Ali Muhiddin Haci Bekir (they gave me some free of my favorite- chocolate covered-marzipan type confections), and then I purchased some baklava at Hafiz Mustafa Sekerlemeleri (which I am eating right now and are HEAVENLY). They are also known there for their helva (a cheese sweet), but I couldn't quite enjoy the sample I tried, so I stuck with the baklava (let me repeat, HEAVENLY).

I had a quick stroll in the Spice Bazaar, and talked to a very nice young man who warned me that the saffron was fake (and let me sniff the real saffron), and who was very upset to hear that I was divorced. He tried to sell me the special "love tea" to help remedy this problem, but I insisted that it was no problem at all, and I wasn't in the market for tea. :-) This same young man would not believe that my eyes were a natural color until I insisted I inherited them from my Polish mother (Polish/Polish-American, what's the difference?).

It was still only 3:30 so I headed to the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, which were great fun. The outside was swarming with cats, just like the rest of Istanbul. In fact, at times it seems there may be more cats than people in this city. People are very affectionate with the stray cats however, and I have seen many small piles of cat food sitting out on the sidewalk with cats happily noshing away.

I came back to the guesthouse to rest for a bit and then headed out to have dinner. I had a very good lentil soup, and a mediocre Iskander Kebab (lamb). The owner of the restaurant was trying very hard to convince passerbys to eat at his establishment, and it was almost comedic how he tried to fill every table. After eating I took a walk around the block and felt myself once again pursued by aggressive restaurant owners and carpet shop salesmen. The ruder, more aggressive ones act hurt when you walk away (as if you are being rude if you don't buy a carpet), but the nicer ones just say things like "Excuse me. Someone has told you this before? You are very beautiful," and they let you walk by.

Tomorrow I head to Topkapi Palace and I fly to Baku in the night!

My 2009 has started with a lovely day, and I hope yours has as well! Cheers! Love!

Oh!--- I was going to paste a youtube link to the They Might Be Giants song "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", but YOUTUBE IS BANNED in Turkey!!!! I can't access the site. Crazy!

Hello from Heathrow! And the travels of 2008 in review . . .

December 31st, 2008 7:45am Heathrow, London

"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it." Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.

I feel as if the entirety of the past year has been a lesson in this message from The Alchemist. Again and again this year I have decided what I want and have worked towards it successfully. I feel so blessed to have had such a fantastic 2008, and I have no idea how 2009 could ever top it!

First a quick sum-up of the last 24 hours or so . . .


For a major international airport, things certainly were dead last night in Heathrow Terminal 3. Apparently all of Heathrow shuts down at midnight and there is an 11:30pm landing curfew for arriving planes. While it is a very civilized way to run a business, it seems like a rather odd way to run such a major airport.

Things were open and bustling this morning when I arrived just past 6am on the shuttle from the Heathrow Lodge Hotel. While I had hoped to sleep a bit later since my British Airways flight to Istanbul doesn’t depart until 9:45am, all the later shuttles from the motel were booked when I checked in at 1am last night. The plane from Chicago arrived just under curfew into Heathrow . . . an hour later than expected because there were some last minute repairs done to our flaps (better to have things repaired than not, I think). The motel was a bit on the dirty and dodgy side, but it was very cheap and I did manage to sleep for about three hours.

British Airways check-in was blessedly quick and easy with a personal attendant who did everything for me. Such a difference from the madhouse that Laguardia was at 6am yesterday (*shiver*). In a couple of hours I fly to Istanbul, and I am growing more and more excited by the minute.

Yesterday I realized that since I will arrive in Istanbul today (December 31st) it will in fact be the 17th country I will have been in during 2008 (including the US). Last year on this date I was in County Clare, Ireland with my parents, Nick and Eric. That trip was an amazing way to start 2008, and I can't imagine a better way to finish it than by visiting a country I have never been to.

An attempt to quantify the level of spectacularness that was 2008:
17 countries
26 (+?) airports
15 major world cities (NYC, DC, Galway, Lima, Buenos Aires, Auckland, Canberra, Florence, Krakow, Budapest, Prague, Stockholm, Paris, Reykjavik, Istanbul)
Countless new friends
14 hours of graduate school courses completed


I can't help but feel ridiculously blessed and happy. What has made this year possible?

A loving and supportive family.
A belief that the universe is constantly conspiring with me towards my dreams and the greater good.
A general avoidance of guilt, fear and worry whenever possible (its not like they really help anything).
Regular attempts to give back to the universe.
A whole lot of prayer.




Hopefully I will be blogging again soon in Istanbul.

A Happy New Year to all!!

Remember: Life really is generous to those who pursue their destiny.

Love,
Anna

And She's Off . . .

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
~ Goethe ~

December 29th, 2008.

I should be asleep but I'm not quite yet . . . tomorrow in the early morning I head out on my January adventure. First a quick overnight near Heathrow followed by two and a half days in Istanbul. On January 3rd I will arrive in Baku, Azerbaijan where I have an internship for the month. I'll be returning to the states on February 1st!

Stay tuned for pictures and travel tales!

"Load the ship and set out. No one knows for certain whether the vessel will sink or reach the harbor. Cautious people say, 'I'll do nothing until I can be sure.' Merchants know better. If you do nothing, you lose. Don't be one of those merchants who wont risk the ocean!" – Rumi

(unless you are in charge of the financial future of the global market . . . )

There and Back Again.

"I should like to spend the whole of my in life traveling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home." — William Hazlitt

"A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places."
-Isabelle Eberhardt


I'm well into my first semester as a graduate student at the Center for Public Policy and Administration at UMass, Amherst. Although I'm very much enjoying my studies I am also missing traveling very much. I'm generally trying to plan my future career plans around the possibility of continued travel.

I hope to use this blog on occasion to document short trips abroad that are in the works.

Top of the List for future adventure travels:
1)Peru
2)India
3)Trans-Siberian Railroad

Adventure traveling may have to wait unfortunately while I focus on career-oriented traveling.

As a final note- I would HIGHLY recommend traveling alone to all considering it. I discovered so much about myself, my own abilities, and my own general awesomeness. The four months I spent traveling solo were the best of my life.

"Dream big, and dare to fail."
~ Norman Vaughan ~

Fun Feature

Back home, and since I still haven't completely processed everything I haven't written a final blog. I have, however, found a website (http://wordle.net/) that will cleverly sum-up my travels in a fun format. Without further ado I give you . . .
Europe . . .

Iceland . .. cold, sun, Björk

"Better weight than wisdom a traveller cannot carry. The poor man´s strength in a strange place, worth more than wealth."
and
"He is truly wise who´s travelled far and knows the ways of the world. He who has travelled can tell what spirit governs the men he meets." - both from Hàvamàl Eddaic poems (AD 700-900) (Viking sayings)

(oh! if you want to smile watch the videos on wherethehellismatt.com)

Reykjavik, Iceland June 29th, 2008
9:30pm

Somehow when I was planning this trip (errr . . .. "planning") I somehow forgot to even think about Iceland. It wasn´t until I was in a library in New Zealand that I even picked up a guidebook to see what things there were to see and do in this far-north country. I definitely did not look up what the average temperature would be here in June. So . . . as it turns out . . . it is COLD. Seriously cold for someone who mostly has a summer wardrobe. As luck would have it, I managed to buy a nice coat and sweater in the Paris sales immediately before arriving here. The biting wind and 8° C weather didn´t catch me unprepared! Just surprised.

In addition to cold weather, Iceland at the moment has 24 hour sunlight. Pretty wild, when you think about it. I´ve only stayed up past midnight one night, but sure enough it was still bright and light out. It darkens slightly between midnight and 2am, but not enough to really obscure anything. The amount of partying that goes on here is madness . . . such intense nigth time debauchery that even the grocery stores can´t bring themselves to open before 10 am. It is a bit strange, however, to see people stumbling about drunk in full light . . . that sort of thing should really be hidden by darkness, shouldn´t it?

So, cold weather, sunshine and . . . CRAZY expensive prices!! When I calculated that the shuttle bus from the airport to downtown Reykjavik was going to cost $30 and that a regular take away type meal would cost close to $20 . . . well the nice young man selling me my shuttle bus ticket said, "I hope you brought your platinum!" Sure enough, Chase Rewards is going to be quite happy with me. Even eating cheaply and self-catering are still pricey in this island country. A beer is easily $10 making Iceland one of the most expensive places to go out in the world. Apparently it is second only to Tokyo.

Despite all this I have been enjoying Reykjavik and using it as a quite time to reflect and enjoy being by myself. I have had some seriously lovely days wandering around, having a coffee (about all I can afford), sampling a cheap hot dog (I got one from the same stand that Bill Clinton did on his visit), and strolling around the wharf and flea market. I visited the National Museum and learned that the majority of women in Iceland share genetic markers with women from the British Isles, but the majority of men share genetic markers with men from other Nordic countries, mainly Norway. What does this suggest? You guessed it . .. vikings settling here with their Irish brides. It makes sense that Icelandic people are ridiculously gorgeous - possibly even more beautiful than the Swedes although it is a tight race. Blond, blue eyed, with the occasional ginger splash and freckles . . . everyone is über-good looking. Also . . . they all speak English in addition to Icelandic, which is quite helpful!

On Saturday night I went to the free Björk concert here in Reykjavik, which was really quite a big deal for Iceland. Björk and Sigur Ròs got together with some other artists to do the concert as an environmental awareness statement. Here in Iceland they are worried about their natural resources being destroyed for aluminum smelters and big ugly hydroelectric plants, etc. Anyway, the crowd was HUGE, Björk´s outfit was WILD and of course it was sunny out for the whole thing. And freezing.

Today I went on a tour of the so called "golden circle" which visits three of the most important natural sights of Iceland all in one day. First the Gullfoss waterfall which was big and beautiful, followed by the geothermally active area of Haukadalur. This area reminded me of Roturua in New Zealand . . . bubbling mud, steaming hot water, sulphur smell . . . but Haukadalur was different. Mainly the geyser, Strokker, which every four minutes or so hurled boiling water up to 20 meters high. Pretty amazing stuff, folks.
Oh! And I got to have some traditional Icelandic meat stew for lunch (lamb) and it was delicious.

We ended the day with my favorite place - Þingvellir National Park. Not only is this the spot on which Iceland´s parliament started meeting in 930 (it is one of the oldest parliamentary institutions in the world), but it also happens to be where the continental plates of North America and Euro-Asia meet. Err, well, they aren´t so much as meeting as tearing away from each other. So basically, today, I stood on the continental rift and looked down into the canyon separating North America from Europe. I found this fairly exhilarating.

The only thing that kept me from jumping for joy was the extremely sobering thought that tomorrow I will be back in the U.S.

That´s right folks, Anna´s great round the world adventure is coming to an end. I imagine I will post at least once more with conclusions, overviews, etc. (plus I have a ton of quotes still to use), but this will be my last post from the road.

While I am looking forward to seeing people, and to living in one place for awhile, I have to admit that I am sad that this adventure is over. The past four months have easily been the best of my life. I just have to remember that as this door closes another opens . . . this is just one more beginning, one more fresh start.

Thank you, for traveling with me. Hopefully I will see you soon!

Lots of Love! Anna

and maybe . . .
". . .the grand tour is just the inspired man's way of heading home."
- Paul Theroux

Paris!! (a quick review) (in more ways than one)

"Paris is always a good idea." - Sabrina (the movie)

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” - Miriam Beard

(Reykjavik, Iceland June 30)


Last Wednesday I took the train (Castillion to Bordeaux, Bordeaux to Paris) up to Paris. I met Dorothee, a German friend I had made in New Zealand, at our hostel in Montmarte around 4pm . . . and we didn´t stop going until Thursday night! With only a day and half in Paris we made every moment count! Luckily Dorothee knew Paris well enough to get us quickly and efficiently to the main sights, and we managed to spare plenty of time to wander through small charming streets and stop regularly for coffee and or crepes. Thursday we wandered around Montmarte, visited Sacre Coeur, saw the Arc de Triumph on Champ Elysses (many apologies for poor French spelling!), passed by the Grand and Petit Palais, saw the Eiffel Tower, grabbed cheese, baguette and wine and picnicked in the Tuilleres, and went out to a Jazz club in Montmarte. Quite amazing for having only arrived at 4pm!

Thursday we headed out to the Louvre first thing and arrived around 9:30. No waiting in lines for us, we got our tickets and headed straight in! We only spent about two hours there, not wanting to be completely overwhelmed. We did the obligatory Da Vincis, and visited a lot of other important and interesting bits. The whole time I kept thinking "I am in the Louvre!!!!!"
The whole Paris/Louvre thing felt fairly surreal to be honest. One of the places you hear about all your life, and then . . . to actually BE there. Well, anyway . . . it was fantastic.

After the Louvre we headed over to the Left Bank for some shopping and gallery hopping. The Paris sales had JUST started so we enjoyed quite a bit of poking in shops. We had lunch near Sainte Michel Boulevard (I think!), followed by a visit to Notre Dame. By this point there were lines, but they moved relatively quickly. Then we headed to Sainte Chappelle which was beautiful. More leisurely walking on the islands was followed by a coffee & creme brulee stop and then more shopping!

Friday morning before my flight I headed back over to the Left bank and visited St. Sulpice . . . of Da Vinci Code fame. Took a picture of the "rose" line and headed off to Charles de Gaul . . .

Wwoofing at Chateau Brandeau, otherwise entitled, "Whatever you´re doing - stop doing it!"

June 29th, Reykjavik, Iceland.

I spent almost two weeks working (volunteering in exchange for room and board, really) at Chateau Brandeau, in Castillion, France. Castillion is a small area in the Bordeaux region, in between Libourne and Bergerac, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Despite the fantastic countryside, after three days of partying in Stockholm, facing a seven hour work day of hard labor in the vineyard was a bit shocking. On Friday we working in the pouring rain for hours, weeding, grabbing, pulling, bending, clipping. At the end of seven hours of work I was ready to get on the next train out of there . . . I didn´t really care where to, just anywhere I wouldn´t have to work so hard!

Luckily Saturday and Sunday turned out to be lovely days. The family who runs the organic vineyard at Chateau Brandeau is really very nice, and they took us Wwoofers to Sainte Foy for the market on Saturday morning. Wandering through this 12th century French town, amidst the cheese stands, butchers, spices, books . . . I fell in love with southern France. Everything was lovely, old, and just full of character, romance and beauty. I had never really been interested in France before, but a love affair was just beginning. My interest more than doubled the next day when we attended the féte in Saint Emillion. For 2€ each we sampled dozens of Saint Emillion wines, including some Grand Cru. There was also cheese, olives and chocolate to sample, and the entire experience was a ton of fun. In addition to the wine tasting, we also had time to explore the town, which was even lovelier than Sainte Foy. We explored caves underneath the town that had been turned into wine cellars, a lovely cloister and a gorgeous church. Live music and lovely cookies with marzipan added to the glory of that Sunday.

The next week was filled with 7 hours work days, long delicious lunches, dinner full of wine, clue tournaments, cards, conversations and friends. I really enjoyed the people I met at Brandeau. I wish I could say I enjoyed the work, but to be honest it was the hardest physical labor I have ever done. I definitely think it was character-building, however. Every day I wanted to just bolt and go back on vacation, but I stuck it out . . . I could just feel my character growing!

In addition to working in the vines (levage, relevage and enpomprage) I also helped feed the chicken & collect eggs. Some Canadians and I had the fun task of labeling and packaging bottles of wine for a large Japanese order. I´m not being sarcastic, it was actually really fun playing with the giant labeling machine, however finicky its behavior!

I was lucky enough to get to meet up with my brother Nick and his girlfriend Valerie at the end of my time at Brandeau. It was amazing to see them and to meet Valerie for the first time (she is terrific!). They are planning on working at Brandeau for THREE months. All I can say is that I couldn´t do it. My love and best wishes are with them and the family at Brandeau - thank you!

Stockholm: Beer, Chokladbollar, and Meatballs

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” - Tim Cahill

“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” - Mark Twain

June 29, 2008 Reykjavik, Iceland

I am very late in updating my blog, but the last few weeks of my trip have just been too fun and busy to be sitting at a computer!

Stockholm, Sweden - June 9-12

Early on a Monday morning I took a cab from Hostel Elf in Prague to the airport. I arrived in Stockholm and was greeted at the airport by Josephine (see: New Zealand) and her mother, Suzanne. It was fantastic to be met at an airport and driven home- I felt so well taken care of! We picked up Michael, Josephine´s brother, and went out to lunch at a terrific seafood restaurant on the water. The whole time I was in Sweden it was spectacularly sunny . . . that first day was fairly warm despite a breeze. I had some amazing salmon, and the restaurant even served me an individual Swedish meatball when Suzanne told them I had never tried one before. It was delicious as well, served with gravy and some cranberry sauce.

The four of us picked up some pastries on the way to Josephine´s grandfather´s house in Saltsjöbaden. Thus, my introduction to the glorious world of Swedish sweets began . . . chokladbollar, biskvier, kanelbullar . . . it was an absolute delight and everyone stuffed their faces! I also tried some pickled mackerel, but did not find that quite as enjoyable :-)

Josephine and I caught the train back to Stockholm and headed out to the Gondolen . . . a bar/restaurant high above the city with fantastic views. We had cosmos while we enjoyed the view and then headed to Josephine´s father´s pup to catch the end of the Holland euro cup game (her father, being Dutch, was very excited for this initial win!). We finished the evening at Little Persia where we devoured some delicious hummus, tahini, stuffed grape leaves, etc.

On Tuesday Josephine and I took the ferry over to Djurgården and had a walk. I tried a typical Swedish hot dog wrapped in some kind of a strange pita-like bread that also held lettuce, tomatoes, mustard and . . . mashed potatoes!! It was yummy, but strange and a little heavy on the carbs! We ferried back to the mainland and explored the old town a bit . .. saw the castle, cathedral, lovely little cobblestone streets, etc. Some beers by the water proceeded dinner at Herman´s vegetarian restaurant that overlooked the city. The vegan garlic butter absolutely blew my mind! That night we hoped to watch the Sweden-Greece match on the big screen downtown, but it was all full-up by the time we got there. We headed back over the river and found a bar to watch the game - there was much celebration in Stockholm after Sweden won!

On Wednesday we slept in and then went out to lunch with Suzanne (who, by the way, looked exactly like the actress Lena Olin) for typical Swedish meatballs (yum!). Josephine then taught me how to make Havrebollar or Chokladbollar, or Chocolate Balls. Yum!!! So good! We spent some time shopping and sampling various Biskvier (I will miss this pastry forever, and I do not think I can recreate it) and coffees. We had dinner at her father´s pub and met up with Josephine´s friend Jonathan. It was an absolutely amazing few days and I was so sad to leave! I can´t wait to go back and visit!

Early on Thursday morning I headed for Arlanda airport to catch my flight to Bordeaux . . . .

Castles, Churches, Communism, Oh my!

"Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out." -Vaclev Havel



Prague, Czech Republic June 8, 2008 10:30 pm

Greetings from beautiful Prague, with its winding medieval streets, lovely old churches, art nouveau stained glass windows, and live jazz bands on Charles Bridge. This city is gorgeous, and the old town is overflowing with a character unique and fabulous, despite the throngs of humanity that fill it up every day.

[Quick wrap-up on Hungary: My last night in Budapest I went climbing up to the top of the Citadel, which afforded a lovely view of the city at night. I went with a girl I had met at the hostel, and we wandered back down to the hostel around 10:30 or so. I managed to sleep, and I got up before 6am to take public transport to the bus station. The metro turned out to be reasonably navigable, and the bus to Prague was lovely . . . I slept during much of it. The countryside wasn't as beautiful as I expected, maybe because we were on a major highway. My hostel in Prague (Hostel elf) turned out to be VERY close to the bus station, so that was lovely.]

My first day in Prague I was still feeling a bit rough from the bus ride, so I just had a bit of a wander down through Stare Mesto (old town) and through the big old square. I got to watch the astronomical clock change the hour, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Astronomical_Clock), had a bite to eat, and wandered back to the hostel to get a good night's sleep.

Yesterday was a big full day! I crosses Charles Bridge and headed to Prague Castle at around 10 in the morning. On the walk there I bumped into a Canadian from the hostel and we explored around the castle together for a bit. We saw the changing of the guard at noon, that included lots of marching and a brass band. After that the Canadian took off and I bought a discounted student ticket to see a bit more of the castle. The most exciting part was the cathedral of St. Vitus which had an incredible Art Nouveau stained glass window by Alfons Mucha. I also came across a toy museum within the castle grounds/area, that advertised a Barbie exhibit. Well, this may come as a surprise to some of you, but I actually collected Barbies when I was younger. I was thrilled to visit the Barbie exhibit, which started with the very first Barbies (from 1959) and worked up to the present. The outfits were fun, and it was interesting to see how Barbie had changed . . . I was exceedingly happy after viewing it! It made me want to go home and get out my Czechoslovakian Barbie (which was only possible in the short few years after communism fell but before the Velvet Divorce -- the split between Czech Republic and Slovakia).

I grabbed a gelatto to keep me going, and I headed for the Loretta, a Baroque place of pilgrimage, filled with religious bits and pieces. The most exciting parts were the skeletons of two saints that had been dressed in outfits, and had wax melted over their faces. Also their was a large painting of St. Starosta, a crucified bearded lady. The Loretta treasury was filled with gold, silver and diamond monstrosities that were somewhat interesting to look at.

Next, I headed further into Mala Strana and visited the Strahov Monastery which looks down on Prague. In addition to affording lovely views and photo ops, the library of the Strahov is particularly impressive. Although the libraries themselves were gorgeous, I think the most interesting bit were the whale penises that were on display amidst other strange things from the sea.

At this point it was almost 4pm and I was desperate for food. I ate in Maly Buddha (little Buddha) and had some delicious eastern food. Before crossing back of the Charles Bridge I visited St. Nicholas Church which was large and lovely. I think I visited a couple more churches as well on the walk home, but at this point it was mostly a blur :-)

This morning I took a guided tour of the Municipal building, which had been highly recommended by lonely planet. Mucha was heavily involved in the decoration of this building which was built at the beginning of the 1900s and was an important work of Czech nationalism. It was lovely, although I'm not sure it was worth the $10 tour. It did get me fairly excited about Mucha, however, and later in the day I visited the Mucha museum which was lovely. I had a traditional Czech lunch . . . beer, beef and bread dumplings. I spent a good bit of the day wandering, visiting random churches (including, Our Lady of the Snows), and stopping at cafes for a cappuccino. I spent the early evening poking around in English language bookstores before getting some food at a vegetarian cafeteria for dinner.

Tomorrow morning I fly to Stockholm to visit Josephine!

Lots and lots of love
Anna

The midnight train to Budapest

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Two of the greatest gifts we can give our children are roots and wings." –- Hodding Carter

June 5, 2008, 11am Budapest, Hungary


Okay, so it was a 10:30 train. Now that I am safely in Budapest I have to admit how absolutely freaked I was to take a night train in Eastern Europe. The stories you hear are not good, and contain all sorts of crazy tales of druggings, robbery, rapes, murder, gang muggings and of course the big scary story- gassing! When I wrote my last quick blog in Krakow I was already gripped with fear having googled "night train krakow to budapest" over and over in different variations. I was of course slightly relieved to be reassured by some that the idea of a "gassing" is ridiculous- how could someone actually manage to pull it off without killing people (unless they had been trained in anesthesia), how could people actually acquire and lug that much gas around, etc. Of course the idea of organized pickpockets, etc., is warned about in Lonely Planet, etc., so you know to be on your guard. At some level I knew that it was highly unlikely that the train ride would be anything but uneventful, but I managed to work myself into a minor dither. The only thing that kept me calm was that I saw a "damski" notation on my ticket, suggesting that I would be in one of the nicer cabins with all women . . . and possibly a door that locked!

When I asked the guy working at the hostel about a taxi to the train station (it was 10:00 at night!) he laughed and said I would be fine walking the 5 blocks there. Even though I was a little nervous about it (and I knew my mom wouldn't be happy), I walked there anyway. Of course it turned out to be ridiculously well lit and the last couple blocks were in this extremely fancy mall area, complete with H&M and other fun western stores. When I got to the train I was guided to by car by the porters . . . the train car was filled with retired Americans chatting in the hall . . . English everywhere. I was in a lovely three-bed room that I shared with Barbara, a Brit with Polish ancestry. The bed was comfortable and the door locked- quite a relief! I felt very foolish for having been frightened!

At about 1 am when the train pulled to a stop in the middle of nowhere and the porter began slamming all the windows in the entire car shut. The slam woke me up, and my first thought was "they must be shutting the window's for safety since we are stopped in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night." Then the air conditioner turned on. My second thought was, "Shit! We're being gassed! The porter has organized with local hooligans and they are going to break in and . . ." at this point the thought ended because I realized we had both a bolt lock and a chain lock on the door and it would take a lot of time for them to break in, etc., people would have to be pretty drugged to not wake up with doors crashing, how could they really get THAT much gas, etc.

I still cracked open the window and kept my head by the fresh air :-) I went back to sleep after the train started moving again.

I slept terribly and woke up feeling foolish for all my fears. For awhile I thought I had lost one of my camera's memory cards (which I had cleverly(?) kept with my cash and credit cards in my bra, just to fool those train thieves!), which upset me a good bit. Just as I had come to the conclusion that, as we all know, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" and I should be lucky to be safe and healthy . . . I found the memory card in my wallet. Phew.

I'm not sure why I was so much more nervous about this trip then about any of the traveling I did in South America. I was in Lima for goodness sakes, and I'm afraid in Poland? It hardly makes any sense, and I'm trying to figure out where that fear came from. Maybe I just need to avoid websites discussing backpacker myths!

Anyway . . . Budapest is beautiful. I'm still not feeling my best so I won't manage the full Budapest-tour, but the buildings are absolutely gorgeous. Yesterday I walked to St. Steven's Basilica which was amazing, and the practicing choir made the experience even better. I walked up to the Parliament building and could not decide whether it was gorgeous or an architectural monstrosity. Pretty amazing, no matter what. There were great memorials to the 1956 uprising, and I remembered learning about Hungarian history under communism during college. The Imre Nagy monument was my favorite, and I enjoyed reading up on him again. Nagy was an anti-soviet communist who believed in freedom of thought and expression, and that the market needed room to grow on its own a bit. His "new course" communism helped Hungary for a couple of years but ultimately the soviets invaded, shot innocents, and executed Nagy. His monument portrays him standing on a bridge with his back to the Soviet monument in the square behind him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Imre_Nagy%2C_Budapest_statue.jpg

The hostel I am staying at has possibly the worst beds ever, but I finally managed to sleep aided by antihistamine. Today I had a long wander which included visiting the large marketplace, sampling some gulash stew, some cherry and poppy seed strudel, and some marzipan. This afternoon I may either go see the castle over in Buda (I've been in Pest so far) on the other side of the Danube, or take the metro up to the baths. Tomorrow I take a 7am bus to Prague!

Lots of Love, and hopefully I will blog on my trip with my mom soon!
Anna

Krakow and back again

But do not ask me where I am heading,
As I travel in this limitless world
Where every step I take is my home
~ Portion of a Poem by Eihei Dogen ~

Krakow, Poland June 3, 2008 9pm

Here I sit in the basement of lovely Mama's hostel waiting to depart for my night train to Budapest. There is so much to cover from the trip across southeastern Poland and eastern Slovakia, that there is no way I can do it justice at the minute. My mom and I had a fantastic amazing time, and the rural areas of these two countries were beautiful! I have many pictures and stories to share, and I think my mom may even be contributing some! I have been back in Krakow for the last two days nursing a cold I picked up in Slovakia and planning my next two weeks before I begin my Wwoofing at Chateau Brandeau in the Bordeaux region of France. Krakow is lovely, but having spent over 5 days here, I am ready to move on!

I will update more in Budapest! Lots of Love!
Anna

Florence . . . .

(posted June 3, in Krakow, Poland)

Florence, Italy- May 19th- May 22

I arrived in Florence on May 19th (my dad's birthday) and was THRILLED to see my parents at the train station! It was so fantastic to see them and 4 days were not enough to catch up on almost three months! They took great care of me, and my dad wore my huge pack all the way to the hotel (a good 12 blocks or so . . . and its a HEAVY backpack!). Hotel Bretagna was gorgeous - converted out of an old Gianfigliazzi family palace it sits right on the Arno river and was decently close to everything. Our room was full of character, and the breakfasts were good! It was so nice to be in a hotel instead of a hostel, I couldn't get enough of it!
(sideways parents in hotel room)

Okay- Florence was incredible. The buildings, the museums, the FOOD, and just the general atmosphere. It was definately a strolling-around kind of place, and we planned our days by when and where we would stop for our next cappacino/gelatto/pizza/pasta, etc.

We celebrated my dad's birthday the first night I was there, and we shared a few seafood dishes. I finally tried a little pulpito (tiny little baby octopus), after having only eaten a leg in Lima, Peru. It wasn't too bad actually. The squid was better, however :-) I couldn't handle the after-dinner grappa, however, and my dad had to finish mine!

Museums included the Uffizi where we saw Leonardo da Vinci's, Botticelli's, Michaelangelo's, Raphael's and Rembrandt's. If only there had been Donatello's we would have had all 4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle's spoken for! The Botticelli's were amazing and definately my favorite.

We also visited the Galeria del Accademia where Michaelangelo's "David" is housed. I had no idea how HUGE the statue of David was, and it was really fairly incredible to behold. The detail on the arms and hands was amazing, but very much lacking on the legs. We came back there a second time after my parents randomly made friends with the manager of the museum bookshop in a nearby park.

Many beautiful churches were also visited, and other museums, but I didn't keep a running list as I should have!!

Our favorite cafe (I think) was Za-Za, which I would highly reccomend. Everything was fantastic, the bread, steak, wine, truffle ravioli, walnut ravioli, appetizers- everything! The decor inside was fun and quirky as well, absolutely perfect!

The hot chocolate at various cafes was definitely on par with anything I tasted in South America. Its amazing how terribly we do hot chocolate in the U.S.!

The people in Florence were not particularly friendly but the men were solicitous enough. Not in an offensive manner, but in a sweet flirtacious kind of way. The waiters were generally very nice and helpful, and many people spoke English. Most of the menus had English translations as well, which helped a great deal. I had actually spent time trying to learn some basic Italian while I was in Canberra, but in the end it wasn't really needed.

I had an absolutely incredible time with my parents, and my mom and I were sad to say goodbye to my dad on the 22nd. She and I took a train to Bologna where we caught a flight to Krakow.

Well, I've been at this internet cafe for over 2 hours and I need a break . . . Mom, Dad, maybe you would like to add comments with other places we visited? Other adventures had?

Anna with Florence behind her

Anna and Dad with the Ponte Vecchio bridge and the river Arno behind them

Canberra, revisited

(posted June 3, 2008 in Krakow, Poland)

Hi folks! I know I should be terribly ashamed of how far behind in my blog!! How are you going to know what amazing places I've been visiting if I don't tell you? Well luckily for you (although rather unluckily for me) I've been stuck in Krakow with a nasty cold, so I finally have time for some blogging!

Canberra- May 6-May18!

I had a grand time with Annika and Michaela who took super good care of me. It was great to spend time with them and get to know them better- I miss them already! Their boyfriends, Rob and Nick, respectively, were lovely as well. I spent a lot of time wandering around the National Gallery which was fantastic, and I spent a lot of time in downtown Canberra where the shops and cafes are! Canberra has some great cocktail lounges- I didn't even realize I like cocktail lounges, but I do!

For my birthday Annika, Michaela, boyfriends and roomates took me out to a restaurant where I got to sample some native Australian food. In one meal (including various appetizers) I samples crocodile, emu, kangaroo, baramundi, and king prawns (big shrimp!). The emu was a proscuitto and was delicious, and I enjoyed the crocodile and the fish. The kangaroo was good, but I felt to weird about eating it to really enjoy it! I mean . . . they are so cute!! Also, they were hopping all over the place in Canberra after dark . . . like deer in Westchester, NY!

There were many fun and varied excursions with Michaela and Annika including the National Museum, a fun trip to the zoo (we saw a snow leopard!!!) where I was frightened by strange small monkeys, and a trip to Cockington Green Gardens which is filled with miniature buildings of famous edifices from Britain and around the world.

sideways Annika and Anna on the little train at Cockington Green (the nice conductor took us around a second time for free :)

People were friendly in Australia, and the food was lovely. The girls took me to many cafes that were surprisingly upscale and served amazing food (especially breakfasts!). I made cookies twice at Michaela's and Annika taught me a number of recipes (she's a fantastic cook!).



Michaela, Anna and Annika

I was sad to leave Annika and Michaela, and not at all prepared for my 33+ hour trip to Florence (although I was excited about Europe and seeing my family!). I had a 3 hour bus from Canberra to Sydney, 3 hours at the Sydney airport, a 15 hour flight to Abu Dhabi, a 2 hour layover in Abu Dhabi (NOT my favorite airport!! I was so miserable I was forced to purchase junk food from the duty free shops!), a 7 hour flight to Milan, a 1 hour bus trip to the train station, and a 3 hour train to Florence. Whew.

On to Florence!