Katie not in Prague

Morning game drives

2012-02-17T20:31:00.050+01:00

During the heat of the day most of the animals rest, so if you go out on a drive in the late morning or afternoon your chance of seeing animals really isn't that great. So we'd get up super early to leave the camp when the gates opened at 4:30. We'd stay out until 7:30 or 8:00, and then come back, have breakfast, and go back to sleep. Four in the morning is an hour I haven't seen much of since I was working first shift at the plant on breaks from school. It hasn't gotten much better in the intervening years, but getting up that early was completely worth it because most of the cooler things we saw were super early in the morning.

We heard the almost grown giant eagle owl above before we saw him. We watched him call out for a minute or two and then moved up the road a hundred feet before we heard another giant eagle owl with a snake in its talon making the same noise. While we were sitting there the first owl flew over and the second owl gave it the snake. I'd never seen an owl during the day prior to this that wasn't being housed at the zoo, so to see a mother and her young feeding during the day was special.

About twenty minutes after leaving the owls we noticed several cars stopped on the road in front of us. Stopped cars indicate something close by the roadway and you can tell by the number stopped how interesting the sighting is. We slowed down by the stopped cars just in time to see four cheetahs run across the road way and stop briefly on the other side before they took off again. We didn't see lions or leopards while we were in Kruger, but we did see 4 of the park's 200 cheetahs, so I think it was an OK trade off.

Things that go bump in the night

2012-02-13T05:54:00.000+01:00

Camping isn't my idea of a good time. I've mentioned before that one of my life goals is to die having never slept outside. I've never understood the draw of sleeping on the ground with, if anything, only a thin piece of artificial fabric between you and the outside world. What if a bear or a coyote were to stumble by?

The bungalows in which we stayed in the park were great. They had all of the necessary ingredients to make me a happy camper (pun intended): roofs, walls, showers, and toilets. It's about as rugged as I get, but it was nice. I should point out that my camping-hating, keep all wild animals at a safe distance self is the most nature-loving person in the family.

One night at a bush camp we went to bed early. Around midnight I was awoken by a flapping on my leg. Because I had seen several earlier in the evening, I assumed it was a large moth. I solved the problem by kicking my leg until the flapping stopped and went back to sleep. A half hour later it was back so I kicked it off again. However, by this point I was awake enough to realize that my leg doesn't emit light and therefore it was highly improbably that it would continually attract a moth. This left me slightly fearful as to what it was, but I didn't want to turn the lights to find out because that would have meant waking Josh and explaining to my generally nature adverse husband that there was some sort of animal on the bed. So I covered my head with the sheet and tried to go back to sleep.

Sleep didn't come. Moments later Josh was yelling that there was something on his leg.

Now that the proverbial cat was out of the bag I got up and turned the lights on. Nothing. So I turned the lights off and again pulled the sheet over my head, although by this time Josh was a bit incensed over the fact that I'd felt the thing twice and left it there to flap on him, so it took a while to get back to sleep.

Two hours after this started I was awakened by the feeling of something crawling over my stomach and onto my chest. I reached out and grabbed my iPhone off the nightstand, hit the button on the top to turn the screen light on, and there it was. A bat. On my chest. Not a foot from my face. Staring at me.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I screamed, threw the covers off, jumped out of bed, and hit the lights. As nearly as I remember, the exchange that occured went like this:

Josh - "What? What happened? What is it?"
Me - "A bat! A bat! Dear God, it's a bat!"
Josh - "Where is it now?"
Me - "I think it's on the end of the bed under the comforter."
Josh, yelling while jumping out of the bed himself: "And you left it in bed with me?! Sholto, give me the car keys, we're going to sleep in the car!"

Sholto is our friend who was sleeping in the other room while all of this was happening. Sholto is the hero of this entire story. You know how someone can be entirely undaunted by something that's scaring the crap out of you to the point where you almost wonder why you were so scared to begin with? That was Sholto. He came into the room with a pillowcase, threw it over the bat, and carried the thing outside. I wish his calm demeanor had rubbed off, because I didn't get back to sleep that night.

That is the story of how I almost got eaten by a bat, thus solidifying my already formed life goal of never sleeping outside.

Staying in Kruger

2012-02-11T08:24:00.081+01:00

I have a confession to make. I didn't actually do any research for our trip to South Africa. I did quite a bit of reading for the Namibia portion that ended up getting cut, but when it came to South Africa I was just lazy. The South Africa planning consisted of our friends in Joburg giving us a list of ideas and lodging options and us saying that the options sounded great. That's pretty much it. It's a lot cheaper for a South African to book most things than it is for someone outside of the country, so they took care of booking everything too. This is how it came to pass that I got to Kruger without having a clue as to the variety of accommodations available. That being said, they did an amazing job and I can't really complain about anything.

In total, we spent four nights inside of the park. Two nights were spent at one of rest camps operated by the park called Shingwedzi. It's pretty big and has a variety of lodging options, from powered campsites to pitch a tent to a massive guesthouse that sleeps eight. If I remember correctly, the entire rest camp sleeps upwards of 300 people. We stayed in one room self-service bungalows here on Christmas Eve and Christmas. After that we spent a single night in each of two different bush camps, Bateleur and Sirheni. These are both much smaller, with Sirheni having only six or seven four person bungalows total. It's a lot nicer to sit and listen to the animals outside the fence at night when there are only at maximum of 30 other people in the camp, but the larger camps have stores, restaurants, and the occasional swimming pool, so it really is a trade off.

On Christmas, after our neighbors returned, without bothering to clean out, the grill/braai that they had stolen the night before, our friends made a lamb shank potjie. It was heaven. I can't remember the last time I've had lamb that fell off the bone like that. I now need to find a potjie pot so that I can make one myself.

Josh moments after being warned that he mustn't open the top of the pot for two hours:

One of the amazing things about staying in the camps was the amount of wildlife undaunted by the perimeter fencing that played around outside the bungalows. It was fun to just sit and watch them come around while lunch was cooking.

However, some of the wildlife wasn't as fun to see. Within minutes of arriving at one of the bush camps a ranger came up and asked if we wanted to see a snake they'd just found under the window of the neighboring bungalow. The same guide later told our friends that a few years ago a leopard had jumped the camp's fence and was walking around inside so they had to shoot it. Given this welcome to the camp, I should not have been surprised with what happened later that evening.

Elephants and roadways

2012-02-07T08:20:00.038+01:00

It's hard to believe that a few short months ago I liked elephants. I thought they were cute. I wanted to ride one. Now, after seeing them in the wild and riding one here in Malaysia, they scare the ever loving crap out of me.

Our first experience with elephants in the wild was fine. The guy below crossed the road in front of us. He looked at the cars and continued on his merry way. No harm, no foul.

About an hour later we ran into another lone bull elephant in the middle of the roadway. This one was not so quick to move along. This one felt like messing with the cars that stopped to let him pass. This one singled out the cars closest to him and began herding them in the opposite direction from which they were headed. Since an elephant can easily flip your car over if it wanted to, when one starts in your direction the prudent thing to do is leave.

Our third and by far most scary elephant encounter was a few days later. Because of how quickly it happened, there are no pictures to chronicle it. We were out on an evening game drive when we came upon a troop of elephants quite suddenly no more than seven meters from the car. They had a really small calf with them. I'm not an expert but it looked pretty new. We scared them and they returned the favor by scaring us. The head female trumpeted and began a mock charge and we broke the speed limit to get out of there.

Into Kruger National Park

2012-02-04T02:05:00.038+01:00

Kruger National Park is roughly the size of Belgium. It's massive and the maximum speed limit is 50 km/h, so it can take an entire day to drive from one end to the other. I generally don't like spending long periods of time being a passenger in a car, especially one moving at a snail's pace. From where we entered the park it took several hours to get to where we were staying for the night, but the ride was far from boring. Within ten minutes of entering the park we saw a recently dead elephant getting picked apart by vultures. Gross, yes--but also incredibly cool.

While in the park you have to stay in your car unless there is a sign indicating otherwise or you're at a designated rest area or campsite. We'd been told that December isn't a great time to see game because the brush is so high so I was expecting to not see very much. My expectations were way off base. Given how much we saw during the "bad" viewing season, I really want to go back and experience the "good" viewing season. It must be pretty spectacular.

I am still amazed at how close some of the animals came to the car. I can't count the number of times we had to stop because animals were crossing in front of us. The close proximity allowed for some amazing pictures.

If you don't want to see the dead elephant, stop scrolling now.

Bourke's Luck Potholes

2012-02-02T10:14:00.021+01:00

While we were in Graskop we went out to Bourke's Luck Potholes. The potholes mark the beginning of Blyde River Canyon, the second largest canyon in Africa (the largest being Fish River Canyon in Namibia, which I hope to see one day). There are several multi-day hiking trails that I think would be fun to go on, but that would require me to abandon my life goal of dying having never slept outside. I'm just not prepared to do that.

Around Graskop

2012-01-31T10:36:00.021+01:00

While driving from Joburg to Kruger we stopped for an evening outside the town of Graskop. It wasn't necessary in terms of getting from point A to point B as it's only a 4 1/2 hours away, but it was nice to break up the drive and see some of the natural landscape outside of the park. There were a lot of waterfalls, beautiful vistas, and some natural rock formations. It'd be a pity to drive through the area without stopping to see them.

We stayed the night at a place called African Silks, which is a silk farm outside of Graskop that has guest suites on the premises. It was relatively inexpensive and very secluded. I could definitely picture staying more than one night. The back balcony of each room looked like this:

South Africa

2012-01-27T10:49:00.001+01:00

Over Christmas and New Year we visited a couple of friends of ours in South Africa. The trip was originally supposed to include a week in Namibia, but when we moved from Geneva to KL Josh lost a week's worth of public holidays around Christmas and we had to cut a week from the planned trip. I'm still disappointed that we didn't have the time for Namibia, but the next time we're in Southern Africa I will make sure we get there.

We flew into Johannesburg where we met our friends before going up to Kruger National Park. We spent four nights in Kruger, after which we went back to Joburg and flew to Cape Town. We spent another four nights in Cape Town before going back to Joburg and heading back home.

I've been to Malawi before, but this was my first trip to South Africa. I didn't really have any expectations going in other than expecting to enjoy some time with friends we hadn't seen in a while, but I was blown away. It was a laid back and an incredibly relaxing holiday. There wasn't a single thing we did that I didn't like, and I can't wait to go back to see more of the country.

Outside Mzuzu, Malawi -- Summer 2006

Cape Point, South Africa -- Christmas 2011

Going back

2012-01-24T10:55:00.041+01:00

Sandwiched in between my trip to Vietnam and our Christmas and New Year trip to South Africa was a week during which I visited several friends in various parts of Europe. During this week I went back to Prague for the first time since we moved to Geneva almost three years ago. Most of our friends have long since moved on and I was expecting things to have completely changed. I've been missing Prague a lot lately and was expecting, and possibly hoping, that it would have changed to the point where I couldn't recognize it anymore and I could relegate our time there to a place in my history that's gone forever. I was hoping that this visit would help me more or less get over it so that I'd stop longing to be there.

It didn't work. The Prague of today is pretty much the same as we left it. It's still home to an amazingly fun group of expats. The Christmas markets were up selling svařák and trdlo. Saint Jan Nepomuk is still resting in the middle of Charles Bridge,

which is still packed with tourists.

And it's still one of the most gorgeous cities I have ever seen.

If anything this trip made me realize that I'll probably never get over Prague or stop missing it.

Hue

2012-01-20T12:42:00.019+01:00

I think that this is my last post from the Vietnam trip, which means that I will finally be posting pictures from our trip to South Africa next. We took the night train from Hanoi to Hue, which took about 12 hours and was comfortable enough. We had planned to bicycle around to the monuments, but we met with the first rain of the trip and gave up with the sight seeing after trudging through the rain around the Citadel to pursue other forms of entertainment.

I've heard the monuments surrounding Hue are worth a visit, so I'd like to go back and see them at some point when the weather isn't more conducive to sitting under a giant umbrella with a glass of wine.

After Hue we flew back to Saigon for the night and headed back to our respective homes in the morning. Thus concludes my first trip to Vietnam.

Riding elephants

2012-01-18T10:16:00.047+01:00

You know how something can sound like an amazing idea but the second you actually start doing it you have second thoughts and realize that it's one of the most stupid things you have ever come up with? For me riding an elephant was such an endeavor.

Since I really wanted to ride an elephant and we had guests in town, we went out to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary, which is home to orphaned, handicapped, and general nuisance elephants from Malaysia and various countries around South East Asia. It's about an hour and fifteen minutes outside of KL. If you are one of the first 100 people there you can ride the elephants. If not you can still feed them and bathe with the littler ones in the river.

You can buy peanuts from the center to feed the elephants, but since they get a lot of peanuts you'll be more popular if you stop along the way there and buy some fruit. We brought a bunch of bananas and the elephants seemed pretty happy to have them--happy enough to try and steal them from each other.

In theory I still think riding an elephant sounds fun. However, the way we did it would probably never be allowed in the US for liability reasons (the fact that this is the first thing that I thought about makes me kind of regret having gone to law school). Just look at this:

In case you can't tell from the picture, there is one rope tied around the elephant's neck in the front, and everyone was just supposed to hold onto the waist of the person in front of them. As far as Asian elephants go, the one above was pretty big. Had it really acted up we would have been on the ground and smooshed in a hot second. As you can somewhat see from the body-less arm in the bottom right hand corner of the picture, this was taken just after the elephant decided that balancing on two feet would be more fun that walking around with four people on its back. Needless to say, the next time I get on an elephant it will have a howdah on its back.

Batu Caves

2012-01-14T11:07:00.035+01:00

I'm taking a short break of my posts on recent holidays (I am almost finished with my Vietnam pictures and then I'll move on to those from South Africa) to talk about what I've been doing around KL. A couple of days ago I finally made it out to the Batu Caves, which are only a few minutes drive from our house. The caves are a massive Hindu shrine built into a natural cave at the top of 272 steps.

The best part of the site are the hundreds of swarming monkeys. They are aggressive and slightly scary, but they make for some excellent photo opportunities:

Hanoi

2012-01-11T10:07:00.001+01:00

I love Vietnam. I can't wait to go back and am already planning a couple long weekends: one back to Saigon and another to the De Nang/ Hoi An area that we missed on this trip. I do not dislike Vietnam. I do dislike Hanoi. I'm glad I've seen it but I have zero desire to go back.

I suppose that the reason I didn't particularly care for Hanoi has a lot to do with the fact that most of the attractions were entirely missable. I was originally excited about Hanoi, but none of its attractions really lived up to the expectations I had of them.

We went to the Hanoi Hilton, otherwise known as the Hao Lo Prison. I had read that it was skippable, but since it's been mentioned in many a modern history of the US class and a certain recent presidential election, I really wanted to see it.

If you are interested in the prison from the colonialist era when it was a French prison holding Vietnamese inmates, it's definitely worth seeing. It does a really good job of describing conditions within the prison during that time, some of the torture methods used, and the executions that took place within the walls. Ninety percent of the space into which the public is allowed is dedicated to the prison's colonial history. If you're interested in its more recent history, it's not really worth going to see. There are two rooms dedicated to it. One holds the flight suit and the other is dedicated to showing how humanely the prisoners were treated. If you have to put multiple signs on the wall declaring the prison to be a glorified summer camp and stating that the prisoners were treated with the utmost decency, you are protesting too much.

If you click on the picture below it will open it in a larger window so that you can better read the text:

I was also pretty excited to see Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but by the time we made it to the entrance I was over it. This was mainly due to the fact that a soldier yelled at my sister in law for linking arms with another person in our group while in line--300 yards from the entrance. Another soldier grabbed another person in our group by the arm and yanked him to the side because he wasn't walking in a straight enough line.

Behind the mausoleum is a big park containing Ho Chi Minh's home for a number of years, Ho Chi Mihn's car collection, and the One Pillar Pagoda. The pagoda is interesting, but it took a really long time to get to because there is a very specific path of the visit and everyone and their brother was there and walking at a snail's pace:

More Halong Bay

2012-01-07T13:04:00.002+01:00

The cruise company provided transportation for us from Hanoi to Halong Bay. In our van was a Canadian couple who were going on a one night group cruise. I feel bad for them because I don't think one night would have been very much fun. Once we got on the boat that evening we spent a couple of hours getting to the spot where we were going to stay for the night. Then we kayaked and swam a bit before dinner. The morning of the third day we only had breakfast and spent about an hour visiting a cave before we had to return back to the harbor. Had the first evening and the last morning been all we had done I probably would have been very disappointed and unimpressed, especially since it tends to be hazy in the mornings and evenings.

I'd definitely recommend going on a two night three day cruise. The second day was what made the cruise spectacular. The haze lifted at about nine and the rest of the day was beautiful. We visited the fishing village of my previous post and then went to a little beach where we relaxed for a while before having a barbecue lunch. After swimming back to the boat (because I wanted the exercise, not because it was the only way to get there) we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out, kayaking, swimming, laying out, listening to music on a sound system from which the crew jerry-rigged to play our iPods, and thoroughly enjoying the views.

Cong Dam, Halong Bay

2012-01-03T11:44:00.026+01:00

After breakfast on the second day of our cruise we were picked up by three ladies in row boats and taken to visit their fishing village, which floated on the bay.

This was an entirely different experience from the fishing village we saw in Cambodia. The cruise company we went through contracted with the village to bring us in. It was much more of means to help the local economy than means to profit off of the misfortune of others. In all it took about an hour and a half. We went around an island, stopped in the village, and then headed back to the boat before spending the afternoon having lunch on a beach.

2011 recap

2011-12-31T11:05:00.001+01:00

2011 has been an eventful roller-coaster of a year. In total, I visited eight new countries:

Spain--I just realized that I never blogged about this. Oops.

Luxembourg--Maybe someday I'll get around to blogging about this one too.

Monaco

Malaysia

Singapore

Vietnam

Cambodia

South Africa

I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store.

Halong Bay, Day 1

2011-12-28T11:59:00.002+01:00

We left Cambodia and went to Hanoi long enough to sleep, pick up Josh, and catch our ride out to Halong Bay. As a group we can get a bit loud and obnoxious so we took pity on everyone else who might have been visiting Halong Bay and booked a private boat through Indochina Junk for three days and two nights. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was by far the highlight of the trip.

I vaguely remember pigging out on Pringles on the ride there because I wasn't sure what the food quality on the boat was going to be and thought there was a good possibility I'd be surviving on rice for the next few days. The Pringles turned out to be entirely unnecessary as the meals we had onboard consisted of the best food I had in Vietnam. I hardly ever do this (actually, I'm pretty sure that I've never done this on this blog), but if you are looking to cruise around Halong Bay, I would definitely recommend Indochina Junk.

The first day was pretty hazy and I hesitate to even post pictures because the next day was much clearer, but here they are anyway:

Motorbikes

2011-12-26T08:45:00.001+01:00

Before I starting driving in KL the motorcycles and scooters that populate the road here scared me. They ride in between cars on the highway and act like they've never driven a car (they probably haven't), meaning that they get really close to cars, weave in and out, and hang out in a driver's blind spot. In my first three months here I saw two motorcycle/scooter fatalities. The image of someone lying dead in the middle of the road is difficult to get out of your mind and the bikes on the road terrified me.

Now that I've been driving for a while, the bikes don't scare me anymore. I've realized that you just need to be mindful of where they are at all times, cognizant of the fact that traffic laws are treated as suggestions, and always look over your shoulder instead of relying on your side mirrors.

I am OK with driving in KL. Never in a million years would I drive in Vietnam. It seems to me that every grievance you could possibly have against driving in Malaysia is multiplied by 100 when talking about Vietnam because of the sheer number of bikes on the road. The road between Hanoi and Halong Bay was especially scary, and, not surprisingly, I witnessed my third motorbike fatality.

If only these pictures could convey the chaos that is an intersection.

Saigon:

Hanoi:

I am continually surprised at what you can fit onto a bike. The only real limit is your imagination. Doors, families of five, and full sets of tires are all transportable via motorbike.

Miscellaneous temple photos

2011-12-24T10:14:00.000+01:00

Vaclav Havel

2011-12-21T12:00:00.000+01:00

On Sunday before I flew home from Prague it was announced that Vaclav Havel had passed away at his home that morning. I've been in a bit of a state of shock since I heard. In a round about way, Vaclav Havel has impacted my entire adult life. It was my interest in him that made his role in Czechoslovakia's democratization process the subject of my honors thesis, and the subject of my thesis is the reason I chose to study abroad in Prague during college. While I was there I met Josh. Had I not met Josh I never would have moved back to Prague the second time. Had we not moved back to Prague Josh wouldn't have gotten the job in Geneva and we wouldn't have been sent to KL. It is because of this that I feel compelled to say something.

He was born into one of the wealthiest families in Prague and his grandfather was friends with the then Czechoslovak president Thomáš Masaryk. After the Communists were voted into power in 1948, young Vaclav was kicked out of school and later denied entry into a university because of his family background. Instead of studying full time he worked during the day and briefly took night classes at a technical school. He later joined the army, but again, because of his background he was assigned the duty of carrying around everyone else's gear. Havel grew to hate the total Communist control of every aspect of life within his country.

In 1956 he was invited to aconference of young writers. He himself wasn't sure why he had been invited as his only published piece at the time was an opinion letter criticalof the literary magazine hosting the conference. Regardless, Havel got upin front of the crowd and criticized them for ignoring all pre-communist Czechoslovak writers and stated, in not so many words, that writers should express a variety of opinions, not just those of the party. For Havel,sitting in the crowd and remaining silent was not an option, "Since they’d invited me and were putting meup for three days, I felt I had to take advantage of the situation and tellthem plainly what I had against them; it would have been shameful of me to accept their invitation and remain silent” (Disturbing the Peace 31). This compulsion of Havel's to speak out against oppression would get him into trouble time and again over the next 32 years and bring criticism the world over during his presidency.

By 1968 Havel was working at a theater and had penned Garden Party. He had reason to hope for the future. Alexander Dubček was instituting "socialism with a human face" and Prague Spring was in bloom. When Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia to crush the loosening of government control, Havel and a friend locked themselves inside of a Liberec free radio building and began to broadcast, calling for civil disobedience. He appeared on television several times with the same message and for a time it worked. Street signs were changed and Warsaw Pact troops were given wrong directions, but after a week the resistance began to falter and Dubček was arrested and taken to Moscow. By the time he was returned to Prague, its spring was dead and the Soviets were firmly in control.

Havel withdrew to the countryside and concentrated on writing plays. However, now his plays were banned. For the next two decades, his plays were staged rarely, and always clandestinely in someone’s home or in a hastily converted commercial space.

Although he claimed to have only desired to write plays, he wrote political pieces as well. In 1977 he penned what would get him thrown into jail for the first time, Charter 77. It was written partially in response to the trial and conviction of Czech psychedelic rock band, the Plastic People of the Universe (who, by the way, are terrible). The Charter called on the government to respect the rights guaranteed by the Helsinki Agreement and it angered the Soviets enough to try and sentence Havel to four years in prison.

He was sent back to prison in 1989, but due to failing health was released just a few months into his sentence. In November Czechoslovak students were attacked by the police as they attempted to march to Wenceslas Square to commemorate the death of a young Czech medical student named Jan Opletal at the hands of the Nazis fifty years before and the Velvet Revolution had begun. In the following days hundreds of thousands of people crowded into Wenceslas Square, and Havel was one of the few who addressed them. By the beginning of December, the Communist Parliament, full of many of the same people who had been instilled by Moscow in the wake of Prague Spring, elected Vaclav Havel president of a democratizing Czechoslovakia.

His presidency wasn't always pretty. Opposing the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992, he resigned from his position only to beelected the first president of the Czech Republic shortly thereafter. His two terms saw their fair share of scandal, but in all things Havel put the needs of his country above his own. It is partially for this reason that the man who only wanted to write plays probably won’t be remembered for them. In today's world there aren't a lot of Havels, which underscores his passing all the more.

The River of a Thousand Lingas

2011-12-20T15:46:00.050+01:00

Since the temple pictures are probably starting to run together at this point I thought I'd take a break and put up pictures of something that isn't a temple. While in Siem Reap we took a side trip to the River of a Thousand Lingas, which is a Hindu religious site. A Linga is a phallic symbol and a representation of the god Shiva. As the water of the river flows over the Lingas it's turned into holy water and you can bathe in it further downstream.

From the parking lot it's a kilometer and an easyish gradient to the part of the river with the Linga. It wasn't a difficult hike, but given that nobody actually told me that we were going to be hiking that day I did it in my Michael Kors driving shoes, which did complicate things a bit. All things considered however, they worked pretty well.

Angkor Thom

2011-12-17T15:16:00.033+01:00

Angkor Thom is not a temple but a large city which encompasses nine square kilometers, several temples, and a massive swimming pool. It was built in the late 12th century by the same king who constructed Ta Prohm to be the capital city of the Khmer Empire. The city originally had five entrance gates for use by various groups of people, the best preserved of them is the south gate pictured below.

The temple of the Smiling Faces (I'm sure it has an actual Khmer name, I just can't remember it):

The Elephant Terrace:

I'm back

2011-12-15T22:51:00.002+01:00

I interrupt the previously scheduled postings from my Vietnam/Cambodia trip to say that for the first time since we moved three years ago I am back in Prague, and it is great.

Ta Prohm

2011-12-14T10:43:00.009+01:00

Ta Prohm is my favorite of the temples we saw because it's been overrun by nature and they have left the trees where they were found. The massive fig and silk cotton trees growing on top of the stones of the temple are breathtaking. If it looks familiar, it's because this is where Tomb Raider was filmed.

Angkor Wat

2011-12-11T11:59:00.081+01:00

Angkor Wat is probably the best known of the temples around Siem Reap. I don't think that it's the most spectacular of the surrounding temples, but it's the largest and the most well preserved and it is pretty amazing. Built in the beginning of the 12th century, it's Angkor Wat that appears on the Cambodian flag.

I especially enjoyed the details of the temple. There are walls upon walls of hand carved scenes and incredibly intricate reliefs. It's almost difficult foe me to comprehend that they were able to build and decorate by hand something that would require computers and heavy machinery today. On top of that, it was built in a fraction of the time it took to put up most of Europe's grander cathedrals. I find it fascinating that the Khmer empire had the means and ability to build these massive complexes at a time when it wasn't safe for people in Europe to travel to the next village.

We went back to Angkor Wat a second time the next day to watch the sunrise.

It was worth getting to the complex at 5 am for, but we definitely weren't alone in doing so.

Chong Khneas

2011-12-08T00:00:00.004+01:00

After spending the evening in Saigon we flew to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. We didn't have any particular plans for the day we arrived, so when our cab driver suggested going out to a floating fishing village on the lake we decided to check it out.

It was a gorgeous day and the weather was perfect for a boat tour. We were far from the only people with the idea to see the village and there were around a hundred large tour boats just waiting for passengers.

The ride out was really nice, but it soon became apparent that there were a lot of boats following the same route. Boat after boat of tourists was passing through what was essentially a street of water with boats turned into houses lining either side and it left me wishing I hadn't gone. The boat ride itself was worthwhile. The scenery along the lake was beautiful. The subject matter of the tour was troubling. In the end it felt a bit/a lot like slum tourism. If I thought the people living there were actually getting the money from the tickets sold to tourists I'd feel differently about it, but as it stands the whole thing left me feeling off.

One thing we encountered time and again around Siem Reap were small children swarming around and wanting to sell you things; or in the case of the girl below, pose for a picture with you and her snake for a dollar. I felt conflicted about this as well. On one hand, the kids are working for their parents because kids can earn a lot more money out of sympathy than can adults. Part of me doesn't want to financially support child labor. On the other hand, it's not like these kids would be in school anyway and I'm sure their families need the money for survival. It's something I've been going back and forth on for a couple weeks now and still haven't come to any sort of conclusion about it.

One thing I will say for the boat ride though, the sunset over the water from the boat was spectacular.

Cu Chi Tunnels

2011-12-05T00:00:00.021+01:00

My first day in Vietnam was spent taking a two hour boat trip up the Saigon river from the city and visiting the Cu Chi tunnels.

The tunnels are an extensive underground system outside of Saigon used by the Viet Cong during the war. Before allowing us to tour the tunnels we were ushered into a theater and shown an old propaganda video. It was difficult to keep a straight face during the viewing and I failed miserably--to the point where I was slightly worried we were going to get kicked out because I couldn't stop laughing. If you're interested in the video someone taped it and put it on Youtube. You can find part of it here.

There are some 75 miles of zig-zagging tunnels under the ground with entry and exit points concealed under trap doors in the jungle. They are really small. Really small. The ones they take tourists through have been widened to accommodate westerners. Even with the added room, my 5'4" self came out of them with a large scratch on my shoulder from scraping against the side of the tunnel.

While on the tunnel tour you can purchase ammunition to shoot out of the M16s and AK-47s that they have on the premises. Judging by the pile of spent shell casings the size of a large dining room table, shooting is pretty popular with the tourists. It was certainly pretty popular with me, although I was disappointed that the AK-47s were not fully automatic. Had I known that before hand I might have elected to shoot an M16 instead.

Vietnam and Cambodia

2011-12-03T12:56:00.003+01:00

My sister in law has been planning a trip to Vietnam with a side trip to the temples around Siem Reap in Cambodia for about a year. Once we found out we were moving to KL I decided to take her up on a fleeting and casually mentioned invitation and crashed her trip. I am really happy I did because the location is one I've always wanted to see and the company was top notch. There were parts of Vietnam that blew me away and there were parts I have no desire to see or experience again, but because of the people I was with the entire trip was amazing.

As I first flew into Vietnam I was keenly aware of the fact that the last member of my family to enter the country returned home in a body bag--it mades me realize how quickly the world can change and wonder if my nieces or nephew will one day go vacation in Iraq or Afghanistan without it being a big deal.

Anyway, I have about a thousand pictures that I need to sort through but since I promised my parents pictures I thought I'd put a couple up now. The rest will be coming soon.

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Ta Prohm, Cambodia

The weather

2011-11-03T08:53:00.001+01:00

Monsoon season has started and lately the afternoons have been full of a whole lot of this:

On one hand the rain is nice because it provides relief because it serves to cool the air, but it is really making me miss the cool crisp air and changing leaves of autumn.

Singapore Grand Prix, take two

2011-10-23T05:58:00.001+02:00

I have lifetime sporting goals. These are sporting events I want to experience live before dying. Seeing the All Blacks play at home is one. Others include the 24 hour race at Le Mans, a World Series game in Cincinnati (I know. I'll keep dreaming.), and the Grand National. Yet another was crossed off the list a few weeks ago when we got to see the night F1 race in Singapore.

The entertainment surrounding the race was fantastic. They had free concerts by Shakira, Ludacris, Rick Astley and Linkin Park every night before and after the practice laps, qualifications, and after the race. There were also several other things to see in addition to the race itself, including these guys drumming while being lifted hundreds of feet in the air:

Our seats were right across from the Old Supreme Court. It's this aspect of street races that had me place this race on my list of sporting life goals. If you want to see a race in the middle of a city overlooking buildings like that your only options are really Singapore and Monaco, and Singapore was more convenient.

All in all, I'm glad I have seen it but I think that in the future I'd prefer to watch from my couch. Our seats were just across from a giant monitor that showed what was going on around the track with the rest of the race. Had that not been there, I wouldn't have been able to tell what was going on after the first lap. It'd be a shame to completely miss the race because you were there.

After the race they opened up the track and let people walk it. It was interesting to be walking where cars had been flying by at over 200 mph just a half hour previously.

Singapore Grand Prix

2011-09-26T14:00:00.002+02:00

We just spent the weekend in Singapore for the Grand Prix. I haven't begun to sort through the pictures yet, so in the meantime here is a video I took of the first lap. It was spectacular!

Melaka

2011-09-07T17:12:00.000+02:00

Last week the end of Ramadan coincided with the Malaysian independence day resulting in three consecutive public holidays. We decided to take advantage of it and leave the KL area for the first time since arriving, so we hit the road and drove down to Melaka. Melaka is one of two Malaysian cities to gain UNESCO World Heritage site status in 2008.

At one time the most fought over port in Southeast Asia, it was at different times held by the Portuguese, Dutch, and English. In the older parts of town the city's history shows in the architecture.

A fountain in honor of Queen Victoria:

Melaka is home to the oldest church in Malaysia. St. Paul's was built by the Portuguese in 1521, although it's now in ruins. St. Francis Xavier spent a considerable amount of time there and was even interred in the church for nine months before his body was removed to Goa.

Next up: some snapshots of Chinatown

Ahrweiler

2011-08-21T10:43:00.001+02:00

Several weeks prior to moving I spent a few days visiting a friend in Bonn. We took a day trip to Ahrweiler, which is in the valley around the Ahr and is known for its red wines. Being that I am a fan of red wine, we went to explore and taste. The town is very cute and we had a lovely afternoon just sitting in the main square trying local wines.

The morning was spent just outside of Ahrweiler touring the bunker of the government of West Germany. If you didn't know it was there you would never find it. You have to hike up a hill to a location that isn't on the tourist office's map until you get to some German flags and a door in the side of the hill. Beneath the door rests almost a hundred kilometers of corridors and rooms into which the government of the Bundesrepublik could have retreated and operated from in case of nuclear war. The tour is fascinating, as 1950's and 60's state of the art technology always is.

Neuchâtel

2011-08-18T11:50:00.000+02:00

I realize that I have been slow in posting recently. We've been here in KL for almost two months but since things move a bit slowly here we are still not completely moved in. I haven't been able to explore much of the city because I've been waiting in our apartment most days for someone to come fix something, set something up, or deliver something. Hopefully that will be finished after tomorrow as our shipment of goods from Geneva is finally set to be delivered, which should complete the move. After that I anticipate exploring more and updating more frequently.

Until then, here are some pictures from a day trip we took to Neuchâtel a few months ago. It sits on another lake to the northeast of Geneva and is easily reached by train. It's a cute town and worth a visit if you're in the area.

The Matterhorn

2011-06-29T21:07:00.002+02:00

I have wanted to see the Matterhorn since I was a little kid and first learned that it was a mountain with a crooked top in Switzerland and not just a ride at Disney. My sister came into town to visit me with the sole request that we do some hiking. Channeling my childhood dreams, I suggested that we head down to Zermatt to try and catch a glimpse of the Matterhorn.

We a borrowed a book of hikes in Switzerland from a friend and off we went. The book suggested that for the best views in the shortest amount of time we take a 5 1/2 hour loop from Zermatt up one of the peaks that could be reached with minimal effort. It listed the hike difficulty as medium and the gradient as gradual. Either I am entirely out of shape or it lied. Majorly. But after 4 1/2 hours, a 45 degree gradient at times, and stopping every 15 steps because the air was so thin that we needed to catch our breath, we reached the top and I got to see the Matterhorn.

Unfortunately there were some clouds covering the Matterhorn's defining feature, but I got to see it nonetheless. The view at the top made all of the effort worthwhile.

I went to Asia for three days

2011-06-14T13:38:00.000+02:00

and took exactly two pictures.

We just got back from our house hunting trip to Kuala Lumpur. We spent most of that time looking at properties and didn't get much of a chance to actually explore the city other than the area in and around the Petronas Towers. At least I'll have plenty of time to explore next month after we move.

On the road again

2011-05-23T16:07:00.000+02:00

It's official. We are moving on again. This time we're leaving Europe and heading to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a couple years. I am very much looking forward to using this opportunity to explore southeast Asia. I'm also up for hearing any recommendations of places to visit while we are there.

Mont-sur-Rolle

2011-05-22T14:00:00.001+02:00

When late spring comes to Suisse Romande it is time for caves ouvertes. Last year we had a great time at the one held by the canton of Geneva. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to Geneva's this year as I'll be out of town, but yesterday some friends and I went to the caves ouvertes held in the commune of Mont-sur-Rolle in the neighboring canton of Vaud.

Mont-sur-Rolle's caves ouvertes is infinitely better than Geneva's. For 10 CHF (about $11ish) you buy a glass, complete with neck pouch in which to carry it. With the glass you can sample the wines of more than 30 vineyards and wine cellars located within a compact area. The entrance fee includes a bus service to and from the train station as well as to the caves that are not within easy walking distance. Unlike in Geneva, there is no pressure whatsoever to buy a bottle after you've sampled the wines. The day, even with the cost of train tickets taken into consideration, was much less expensive than the one we spent at last year's caves ouvertes in Geneva.

Gruyères

2011-05-17T20:56:00.001+02:00

I love cheese. One great thing about living here is the ready abundance of my favorite cheese: Gruyère. It has geographically protected status and is only made in the dairies around the town of Gruyères in the Canton of Fribourg. I had heard good things about the town and I love the cheese so when we had a free Saturday we decided to check it out.

The town is really cute and what I would consider to be a typically Swiss village built up on a hill and surrounded by some breathtaking scenery. It takes about an hour and a half to drive there from Geneva, so It's perfect for a half-day trip. If you want to tour the dairy and see how the cheese is made you can make a day of it.

La Jonction

2011-05-06T09:52:00.001+02:00

There are two rivers that run through Geneva. The Rhone begins up in the mountains in Valais. It runs through lake Geneva and eventually dumps out into the Mediterranean. As it leaves Lake Geneva it looks like this:

The other river is the Aarve. Its source is on Mont Blanc and it converges with the Rhone not far from our flat. Because it isn't mixed with lake water like the Rhone, when snow is melting up in the mountains it tends to look like this:

We live in the area of town that gets its name from the convergence of these two rivers. You can walk along a footpath as the land gets progressively narrower and the rivers get closer until the point where the dirty Aarve and the pristine Rhone join.

Driving through the French countryside

2011-04-29T11:18:00.000+02:00

We drove home from Monaco on back roads through France. Not only did we save the 100 Euro in tolls it costs to use the motorway over that distance, but we were also able to stop whenever we wanted and take in the gorgeous countryside. I now completely understand why the French are so in love with France. It is a beautiful country.

Monaco Cathedral

2011-04-27T14:53:00.004+02:00

It rained for most of the day Saturday and was pretty windy, so we stayed inside as much as possible. We ended up doing some things we probably would have skipped otherwise (like visiting the aquarium and touring the palace) because they allowed us to stay out of the rain. It ended up being a fun and relaxing day, which was exactly what we needed.

The cathedral sits on a cliff directly overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The entrance doors are plain glass, allowing you to stand in the front of the church and look through the closed doors to the sea.

The princes and princesses of Monaco are buried inside of the cathedral, including those of Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly.

Monaco

2011-04-25T11:50:00.010+02:00

Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays in Switzerland, so we decided to take advantage of the four day weekend and drove down to Monaco for a few days. I am not sure what I was expecting, but I was impressed. The way that the city is built into the cliffs and the waves of Mediterranean catch on the rocks below is stunning.

The view from our hotel room:

According to my very unscientific observations, 75% of the yachts in Monaco's harbors are out of the Cayman Islands. Coincidence? I think not.

Old town:

Monte Carlo:

There were no fewer than five Ferarris and two Bentleys parked in front of the Casino. The crowd of people standing around taking their pictures with them never seemed to dissipate.

They were already setting up for the Grand Prix. (Although I suppose when you're dealing with a road course as opposed to a purpose-built course it takes more time to prepare). There were safety rails and fencing set up along the roadway that will be turned into the course. After seeing the course, I am getting very excited to watch this year's Grand Prix.

Spring is in the Air

2011-04-06T17:13:00.008+02:00

The weather was quite nice today so I took a walk around the lake and up to the botanical garden. The flowers are in bloom and it made for a lovely afternoon. If only it could stay like this all year long.

Festival of Chocolate

2011-04-02T16:28:00.014+02:00

Yes, that's right. This weekend marked the 7th anniversary of the Festival du Chocolat in the commune of Versoix, just outside of the city of Geneva. It sounded exotic and exciting so we went to see what it had to offer. We braved this sea of humanity:

to see what amounted to a medium sized tent housing the stands of various chocolatiers from around the country. It was possible to take a tour of a nearby chocolate factory and there were a few other attractions, but overall it was a bit of a disappointment. There were just too many people in far too small of an area without a sufficient amount of things to do.

Inside the tent you could buy any kind of chocolate your heart desired. It was amazing to see the things that you can make with chocolate. Some of the displays almost made the swarms of screaming children worth it. Almost.

Chelsea v. Manchester City (2-0)

2011-03-22T13:15:00.009+01:00

Over the weekend we were in London for my first Chelsea match at Stamford Bridge now that I have finally been deemed worthy of attendance. It was an amazing experience. I have to say that watching live football is so much better when you know who all of the players are and you know exactly what is going on. The atmosphere inside of the stadium after Chelsea scored was phenomenal, and this is coming from someone who grew up going to professional sporting events. I can't wait to go back.

Montreux's Christmas markets

2011-03-16T12:17:00.004+01:00

It appears that I am a bit behind in updating this blog. I shall attempt to remedy that from here on out.

At the beginning of December we decided to check out the Christmas markets in Montreux because we had heard nothing but positive feedback about them. The Christmas market in Montreux is actually comprised of four different markets. The main market takes up most of the town's waterfront area. There are also a Christmas village and Santa's Workshop up in the mountains behind the town. Additionally the Château de Chillon hosts a medieval market.

We didn't go to the markets up the mountain, but the main market was one of the best I have visited. It is huge and carries just about anything you can think of. The food options seemed endless, with everything from roast boar on a spit to fondue on the menu. I'll definitely be heading back to the Montreux market this year.

I was not, however, very impressed with the medieval market in the château. To get in you have to pay the entrance fee to the château, which seemed to be higher than the non-sesonal price. The medieval market is comprised of a handful of displays of medieval life, such as archery shoe making. While they were interesting to see, by themselves they weren't worth the entrance fee and I wouldn't go again unless I actually wanted to visit the Château itself.

Queen used to record in a studio in Montreux, so there is a statue of Freddie Mercury down on the lake.

La fête de l'Escalade

2010-12-12T20:21:00.010+01:00

In the early hours of the morning of December 12, 1602, the army of the Duke of Savoy marched along the river Arve and stopped just outside of the walls of Geneva. The plan was for a contingent of the Savoyard to scale the walls of the city under the cover of darkness and open the gate, allowing the army could march in unimpeded. Apparently they weren't very quiet in scaling the walls and were heard by the night watchman who alerted the city that it was under attack. The soldiers who were captured were hung the next day. It was an abysmal failure for the Savoyards.

Today Sovoy is part of France and part of Italy, but at the time it was a relatively strong Catholic part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was the growing strength of the Duchy of Savoy that prompted Geneva to join the Swiss Confederation in 1526. Ten years later Calvin moved in and the city and canton became Protestant. Needless to say, had the Savoyard soldiers been a bit more quiet or had the Genevois watchman been asleep at his post, the political make up of the area, and consequently Europe, would have been drastically altered.

This sets the stage for the biggest fête of the year in Geneva. My Friday began when a smurf got onto my bus. I mentioned something about it in my French class and was told that during the fête it is traditional for kids to dress up. It was either a school holiday or a mass ditch day as every teenager in the city was wearing some sort of costume and running all over the place, smashing eggs on the sidewalk and pelting each other with shaving cream.

Saturday and Sunday saw the Old Town transform into the early 17th century. I think that the pictures describe it better than I could.

This is the canon being fired:

It's that time of year again

2010-12-05T13:30:00.004+01:00

The Christmas markets have opened! We were up in Trier at the end of November for the markets' opening night. I put my generally strict "no thinking about Christmas before Thanksgiving" rule aside for the weekend and had a great time. Between glühwein and the killer food that they were selling in the market, it was a decision for which I pat myself on the back. This time of year really makes me wish that I lived in Germany.

Some of the stall designs were absolutely amazing--I loved this one.

Well hello December

2010-12-01T16:04:00.010+01:00

I'm not thrilled with you at the moment because you brought with you a little something that closed the airport and caused the bus service to stop running. Please stop.

Annecy

2010-11-07T12:18:00.002+01:00

Shortly after we bought a car this summer we heard a rumor about a town just south of us that has an actual sandy beach. Since all of the "beaches" around Lake Geneva are either comprised of pebbles, slabs of rock, dirt and grass, or some combination of the three, we had to check it out. It ended up being a really nice day. We stumbled upon a massive street market and enjoyed the beach's sand and the lake's crystal clear water. We liked it enough to make plans to return and to recommend it to others.

Yesterday I went back with a few friends to do some shopping in the market we had come across. I bought rhubarb jam there and am in love. However, yesterday I realized that the last time we were there we completely missed what I assume is the city's biggest attraction:

Now that I am aware that Annecy has an old town and a château, I like it even more. We'll probably be making another trip at some point in the future to see what else there is to discover.

Château de Chillon

2010-09-26T18:34:00.000+02:00

At the beginning of the summer when I was studying for the bar, I would occasionally take some time off and get out of town for my sanity. Because I was busy I never actually got around to loading the pictures then. I eventually forgot that they existed and only just recently rediscovered them. This is from the late spring:

On the exact opposite side of the lake from Geneva is the Château de Chilion. It's just outside of a town called Montreux, which hosts a rousing jazz festival every summer. The château itself was built prior to the 12th century, and from its construction played a major role in controlling Lake Geneva. This is an easy day trip from Geneva and it's worth a trip. The castle can take several hours to completely see because it's both big and well preserved. If you're in the area, the château and Montreux are worth visiting for a day or so.

Does anyone know what this is?

2010-09-23T17:44:00.002+02:00

There were a bunch of them growing on vines outside of our building about a month ago.

Chamonix

2010-09-07T18:08:00.002+02:00

We tend to do most of our grocery shopping in France because things tend to be cheaper there. Last Saturday when we were in France for shopping we drove into the French Alps and visited Chamonix and Mont Blanc. Chamonix ended up being an incredibly enjoyable place to spend the afternoon. I am not quite sure what I was expecting, but the town is lovely and the view is breathtaking. I am now really looking forward to ski season.

The river above is the Arve. It begins here on Mont Blanc and ends a few hundred meters from our flat in Geneva, where it joins with the Rhone.

Cross one off the list

2010-08-31T15:45:00.001+02:00

Previously, I have lamented the fact that there are a lot of really interesting things in the United States that I have never seen. I can now knock the Everglades National Park off of that list. When I was in the U.S. this summer I talked my parents into driving me to the Gulf Coast side of the park. We went on a boat tour into the Ten Thousand Islands, which are essentially thousands of islands made up entirely of mangroves. There are so many mangroves that the water is stained brown from the roots. It was really beautiful and I hope to go again and maybe go a little inland in an airboat to hopefully see some gators.

I didn't bring my camera with me, so the pictures below were actually taken on my iPhone.

I honestly can't believe that I captured this with my iPhone:

Bern

2010-08-29T11:59:00.017+02:00

Earlier this summer, around the time I had just started studying for the bar, we went to Zurich. I can't count the number of people who have told me how much they enjoyed Zurich and how great of a city it is. My hopes were high and I ended up quite disappointed. To me, Zurich was essentially just a larger, more concrete version of Geneva. If I had wanted to see another Geneva I would have stayed home and slept in my own bed, saving the 80 CHF it costs to get from Geneva to Zurich and back with the half-price card. The experience left me with little desire to see the rest of the country.

I have a friend who came to visit this week and she wanted to see Bern, so we drove out there yesterday. I had never heard glowing reviews about Bern. As a result of this and my less-than-stellar Zurich trip my expectations were as low as they could have been. Bern, however, turned out to be a really neat city and I can definitely see us going back. It's only about an hour and twenty minutes from Geneva by car, but the differing architecture and language add to a completely different vibe that makes Bern seem like it is much farther from Geneva and France than it actually is.

The moral of the story is this: if you come visit us, don't be surprised if we take you to Bern.

The Cantonal flag of Bern depicts a bear--the city and Canton actually take their name from the bear. Bears have been continually kept in the city as pets/mascots since the 15th Century. They used to be kept in a pit but now are in a park that gives them quite a lot of space. They seem a lot happier than the bears guarding the castle at Český Krumlov. Those poor bears had almost no space and just looked sad.

Niagara Falls

2010-06-17T00:06:00.001+02:00

The most common advice regarding visiting Niagara Falls has got to be not to bother with the American side and just hang out on the Canadian side. I have to respectfully disagree. Yes, Niagara Falls, Ontario, is far more built up than Niagara Falls, New York, but the view of the actual Falls from the New York side is not to be missed--especially since you've already schlepped yourself out to the middle of nowhere.

Hiking Devil's Hole

2010-06-10T00:25:00.003+02:00

When last I was in the U.S. my sister and I hiked down into the Niagara River Gorge from Devil's Hole to the Whirlpool. The Niagara river flows between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. In between the two, beneath the river's falls, are some pretty nasty white-water rapids. They are category VI rapids and it is illegal to run them. In the seventies a rafting company was given a special license to operate between Niagara Falls and the whirlpool, but their raft capsized on the eleventh run and three people were drowned, causing the company's license to be revoked. No one has been permitted to go down the rapids since.

The hike down the gorge is somewhat strenuous but provides amazing views. It's definitely worth it if you are in the area. You can park at the Devil's Hole State Park in NY and hike down the marked trail to the Whirlpool. Just be careful at the bottom on the rocks and stay on the trail. A 12 year old slipped on a wet rock slightly off of the trail in 2008 and fell into the river. Her body hasn't been recovered.

Caves Ouvertes

2010-06-03T08:36:00.008+02:00

Once a year since 1987 nearly every vineyard in the canton opens their wine cellar during the same hours on the same day for what is essentially a giant canton-wide wine tasting. The idea is that you can go sample the new wines and decide what you want to purchase in the coming year. There are too many vineyards in the canton to make it to all, but with the shuttle busses, tpg, or bicycle, you can be sure to visit several.

We went to the village of Anières because it contains three vineyards and a private cellar within a very short distance of each other and is very easy to get to via public transport from the city of Geneva. We ended up spending the afternoon between two vineyards. Both had seating put up for people who wanted to buy a bottle of wine that they had sampled and sit and enjoy themselves. It was a really fun, really inexpensive day out for Geneva as the wine wasn't subjected to a mark-up. We found some really lovely local wines and now know exactly what I am going to go buy to bring back to the U.S. as gifts.

Buffalo

2010-05-28T13:39:00.017+02:00

Last fall when I was headed back to finish school I received a comment from a concerned friend who was sad about the prospect of only seeing pictures of Buffalo on my blog. (Pat, I am looking at you ;)). Buffalo is actually a great place, and, much to the amazement of most Americans I tend to meet, well worth a visit. It's a city with a great and rich history. It's the final resting place of Millard Fillmore and was home to Grover Cleveland. It's the place where McKinley was assassinated and Teddy Roosevelt was sworn in. If you go down to the court house you can see the room in which they tried McKinley's assassin Leon Czogosz. The massive metal bars that they had to construct to keep the people of Buffalo from dragging him out onto the street and carrying out vigilante justice still guard the court room.

It's home to an excellent modern art museum, more great local restaurants than you can possibly eat at in one trip, a well preserved Frank Lloyd Wright house, two professional sports teams and a minor league baseball team. Down by the harbor is the terminus of the Erie Canal. Yes, Buffalo has its issues, but all in all it's well worth a visit. You would be surprised, so if you are in the area go and check it out.

These pictures were taken in the very late fall when the boats were in dry-dock. Most of the year the harbor is packed with sail and motorboats.

A few years ago a winter storm struck the area in October. The leaves were still on the trees and many fell or lost branches from the weight of the ice on the leaves. The felled trees were carved into statues of famous Buffalonians and various objects that in some way relate to the city. Most of them are actually quite good.

As American as Apple Pie

2010-05-06T04:51:00.006+02:00

It's baseball season! About a month ago I had a date with my dad at the Opening Day of Great American Ballpark, which is the current home of the Cincinnati Reds. My dad has had season tickets for as long as I can remember, and when I'm lucky (or in town when the Reds are at home) he takes me along. Some of my best and most vivid childhood memories revolve around my dad and the ballpark. Most involve getting hopped up on cotton candy and popcorn and then driving home in the eighth while listening to Marty and Joe call the rest of the game. Some aren't so happy, like the first Opening Day of the new park. I was a senior in high school. My dog had died that day and my dad and I sat up in the Riverfront Club and watched the Reds get pummeled. Despite it being an all around bad day, what I really remember is that I was at a ball game with my dad, and that's really all that matters, isn't it?

Opening Day is a big deal in Cincinnati. As the first professional baseball team ever, the Reds have the distinction of being the only major league team that opens at home every year. Opening Day is sort of a city-wide holiday. There is a massive parade before the game (or so they tell me, I have never actually been myself) and festivities that go on all day long. Cincinnati is probably one of the few places in the country where "we took him/her to Opening Day" is a perfectly legitimate and acceptable excusable absence from school (this I can personally attest to as it worked for me on multiple occasions). The park and the people have changed. The experience has not. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if the Reds won or lost (they lost), because the day is about the ambience and the return of return of a home-grown sport for the summer.

St. Nicolas, Fribourg

2010-03-20T15:13:00.002+01:00

It's probably quite obvious by now that I have a thing for churches, as I do tend to photograph and post about them quite a lot. I love the beauty of it all: the architecture, the stone work, the way that light reflects through stained-glass windows and onto the walls inside, and the little touches that nameless architects, artists, and builders left on them over the span of hundreds of years. Knowing that hundreds of thousands of people have walked through the same doors and shared some of the most intimate moments of their lives, from pouring out their hearts to celebrating births and weddings to saying goodbye to loved ones leaves me in a sense of awe.

This is the Cathedral of St. Nicolas in Fribourg. It's in the same style as the Cathedrals in Geneva and Lausanne, but since Fribourg has always been a Catholic canton, it's walls were never stripped. The ornate and detailed painting on the inside gives an idea as to what the other two churches looked like 500 years ago.

La Dôle

2010-03-17T16:22:00.004+01:00

We went skiing over the weekend at La Dôle, which is in the Canton of Vaud and sits right on the French border. It took about an hour and a half to get to by train and bus. I have officially graduated from the bunny hills! I am off the green (which don't exist in Switzerland) and blue runs and am onto the reds (which apparently don't exist in the U.S).

I am more than a little proud of myself. Look what I skied down:

I promise that it is much steeper than it appears in the picture.

Cimetière des Rois

2010-03-12T09:09:00.014+01:00

Not far from our flat is a cemetery known as the Cemetery of Kings. It was originally a graveyard attached to a hospital that was built outside of the city walls during the time of the plague. Over time the hospital and the graveyard fell into ruin. The cemetery portion was later reclaimed and today it is the final resting place of the famous and historically significant Genevois of the last five centuries. Artists, authors, diplomats, Swiss politicians, and John Calvin are all buried here.

It doesn't have the feel of your typical cemetery and is very much like a city park. It's completely open, and unlike every other cemetery I've ever been in, it's not full and it's not littered with headstones and it's not overly structured. I have never seen so much space in a cemetery. As the pictures below show, it's more of a quiet park with a few graves scattered throughout.

When John Calvin was buried here in 1564 it was still a common graveyard, and by his request his grave was marked with a simple stone inscribed, "JC". Centuries later as the cemetery was transformed a plaque identifying the grave was placed at its foot.

There was quite an uproar a couple years ago when the Canton exhumed the body of a prostitute who had campaigned for better treatment of sex workers and reintered her in the Cemetery of Kings. The problem? This cemetery isn't exactly overpopulated and they put her fifteen meters away from John Calvin.

I am quite intrigued by something I saw in the cemetery. Right in the middle of it are the headstones of two American women who died in Geneva at the end of the 19th century. I have no idea who they are or why they are here, and I really wish they didn't have such common names so that they would be easier to research. I have gotten so far as to guess that they are mother and daughter. If anyone has any ideas feel free to share them. I transcribed the headstones below the pictures of them so that you needn't strain your eyes.

"In loving memory of Mrs. Mary S. Kelly who died in Geneva Nov. 8th 1895. Born in Franklin--Kentucky--U.S.A. 1849 / Eternal rest give unto her O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon her"

"Katharine W. Smith born Lancaster Penn U.S.A. August 13 1826 Died Geneva August 1, 1897 / I have finished the work which thou givest me to do--John XVII / MOTHER"

If you are visiting Geneva and wish to visit the cemetery, the address is Rue des Rois 10. The best way to get there is to take a bus to Palladium and walk three blocks.

Fribourg

2010-03-08T21:26:00.003+01:00

Fribourg is the capital city of the canton with the same name. It sits on the border between the German speaking part of Switzerland and the French speaking part, and the Canton uses both as its official languages.

The Canton holds an annual festival in the summer that involves local wineries opening up their vineyards along a 4 k trail. Local restauranteurs and cheese makers set up booths along the way, so it's essentially a giant walk filled with wine, food, and cheese. I am thinking that I need to go check it out.

We took a day trip there a month or so ago and enjoyed the old medieval makeup of the city itself. The architecture alone made it worth just wandering around.

Geneva Auto Show

2010-03-07T19:25:00.007+01:00

Geneva hosts the first European auto show of the year. It is going on now and it the talk of the town so after church this morning we we trekked out to the convention center. After paying 14 CHF a person we waded through a sea of humanity to look at some cars. It was actually pretty cool to see some of the new models. I can't think of a single auto-maker that wasn't there and it wasn't a bad way to spend the morning. The crowd did get to be impossible to deal with though, and we left without having seen half of the show. We were getting bumped into all over the place and after a while it just wasn't worth it anymore.

Said mass of humanity:

There were a handful of F-1 and rally cars, which excited both me and a group of ten year old boys.

Köln

2010-01-24T13:00:00.005+01:00

My recent trip to Germany also included a day trip to Cologne. My friend and I spent most of the day strolling around town and stopping for coffee. While we didn't spend a lot of time sightseeing, we did check out the cathedral and the Roman-Germanic museum. The city isn't the most beautiful in the world but it has a great vibe. After being bombed to bits during the war the city rebuilt itself as quickly as possible without regard to aesthetics. The main concern was providing shelter for the multitudes of homeless before they all froze to death.

The cathedral is quite impressive. It stands alone and juts into the sky. According to my friend it was the tallest building in the region until the post office built one a meter taller in Bonn. Apparently this created quite the scandal in Cologne.

For some reason every single picture I took inside of the cathedral save one turned out blurry. Alas, I have no pictures of the shrine that is claimed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men.

The Roman-Germanic museum has some impressively well preserved artifacts that were unearthed in the area. They have several beautiful mosaic tiled floors, but for the amount it cost to get in, I kind of expected more than just a few rooms of exhibits.

Aachen

2010-01-14T08:00:00.000+01:00

It was overcast and snowing for most of the weekend, so most of my outdoor pictures didn't turn out so well. I'm putting a few of them up anyway, and I apologize for the quality issues.

The statue of Charlemagne in front of city hall.

There are unique fountains forged out of metal all over the city. Some are whimsical while some convey a message.

I have seen Charlemagne!

2010-01-13T04:30:00.001+01:00

I have seen I have seen Charlemagne! Well, I have seen the golden casket that hold his bones. To this history nerd, that is huge.

Over the weekend I took a trip to the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany to visit a friend. Her father suggested that we visit Aachen, located close to the Belgian border. Aachen is important because it was the city in which the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned. Charlemagne himself chose the city to serve this purpose. In 792 he began construction on the church in which he is now buried. The cathedral is officially called the Royal Church of St. Mary in Aachen and is the oldest surviving church in Northern Europe. It is also the most beautiful building I have ever entered in my entire life.

From the outside it has been rebuilt and fixed several times. It is quite unassuming and by looking at the facade alone you would never imagine the beauty that lies within.

These are actually the ceiling. Every piece of the ceiling, including arches, holds a unique mosaic. Every arch is different. The designs are complex and beautiful, causing visitors to walk around the dome looking only upward.

Honestly, the pictures do not do this place justice. It is so different stylistically than any church I have ever been in. I really can't even describe it in words. Should you ever find yourself in this region of the world, it is one place that you should definitely go and see.

Tour de Flat

2010-01-06T07:00:00.000+01:00

I promised my mother and sister pictures of our new apartment, so here they are. We're still in the process of decorating and putting in actual light fixtures, but I think that these pictures give a pretty good idea of what everything looks like.

The front entryway:

The kitchen:

The view of the courtyard behind the flat from the balcony off of the kitchen:

Bathroom off of the entryway:

Guest room:

Our room:

Dining room:

View from the dining room:

Living room:

View from the front balcony off of the living room:

Beneath the Cathedral

2010-01-05T18:10:00.028+01:00

There is an archeological site here in Geneva located beneath St. Peter's Cathedral. The spot on which the cathedral sits has been constantly inhabited for over 2,000 years. Thirty years were spent excavating the land upon which the cathedral sits and the findings are open to the public.

The land under the church has been the site of Christian worship since the 5th century, and was structurally occupied well before that time. Essentially, the cathedral is a church built upon a church built upon a Roman home built upon a tribal burial mound.

This is one of the coolest things that I have seen in Geneva. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a giant history nerd. Take from this recommendation what you will.

It is unbelievable how well preserved some of the artifacts are:

By far, the coolest part of the site is the remains of a tiled floor that was laid in 400 AD. The mosaic adorned the floor of the Bishop's reception hall in the first church on the site. In addition to being incredibly beautiful, the floor was heated by a series of pipes running beneath the floor. Yes, that's right. There was a heated floor in Geneva in the 5th Century.

At the bottom of the excavation a skeleton was unearthed. From the manner in which he was buried and the building later constructed over the remains, they theorize that he was an Allobrogian chieftain who died in 100 BC. The archeologists uncovered the remains, put some glass up, and left him exactly where he has been for the past 2,000 years: directly under the nave of St. Peter's Cathedral.

For further information you can go to the official website.

Verbier

2009-12-30T18:25:00.014+01:00

We just got back from a few days spent skiing in Verbier--my first Alpine skiing experience.

We didn't book the trip until last week so we ended up staying in the town of Martigny and taking the train in each morning. We were not the only people who were doing this and it ended up working quite well. The area is where St. Bernards were originally developed and used for Alpine search and rescue. Although they are no longer used for rescue, the kennel from which they were deployed in Martigny is open for tours and has been turned into a museum.

Unfortunately it rained for about half of the trip. Because of the rain, conditions on the slopes got pretty bad for all but one morning. There were four separate mountain/valley combinations that you can ski from Verbier but we never made it off of the mountain above the village. I would definitely go back later in the season when the weather and conditions are better.

Lausanne

2009-12-27T13:55:00.003+01:00

The day of Christmas Eve we hopped on the train and travelled the forty five minutes to Lausanne. Lausanne is a city in the Canton of Vaud and sits just on Lake Geneva. The city began life as a military camp for the Roman Army. In the 1500's what is now the Canton of Vaud became a territory of the Canton of Bern. It only gained Cantonal independence when Napoleon reinstated the Cantonal system in 1803.

The city's Cathedral, Notre-Dame, is a steady walk up the hill from the train station. The weather has been dreary as of late, but I am sure that on a clear day the view of the Cathedral looming at the top of the hill must be amazing.

Lausanne is also home to the IOC (International Olympic Commission), which means that the city is also home to the Olympic museum. They sell the official posters from every Olympic Games in the gift shop, and we are now the proud owners of a poster advertising the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo.

This is set to the height of the world record held in the high jump (2.45 meters or 8 feet 1/2 inch).

Festival of Trees and Lights

2009-12-26T23:13:00.007+01:00

When I was a kid my parents would take me to the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo. I looked forward to it every year and requested that we go on my birthday. I still love light displays. Geneva has a giant light display through the city and along the lake, and I have greatly enjoyed wandering the amply lit streets in the dark.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T15:21:00.002+01:00

Merry Christmas everybody!

Last year we started a tradition of buying a Christmas ornament in every city we visited. This year as we decorated the tree I had a difficult time remembering where we had gotten some of the ornaments. There are still two I'm not entirely sure about. As a way to prevent this from happening in the future I've decided to post a picture of new ornaments here so that I will have a record of sorts. This is the one we found yesterday in Lausanne:

Brewed in Geneva

2009-12-23T18:58:00.003+01:00

View From the Top

2009-12-23T18:27:00.007+01:00

The 175 steps and 4 CHF it takes to get to the top of the tower of St. Peter's Cathedral are well worth it. It's the highest point in the city and provides for the best view.

Apartments in Switzerland

2009-12-02T00:22:00.000+01:00

I think I've mentioned before that Geneva has a ridiculously low rate of vacancy among apartments. This causes the competition (and it is a competition) to get an apartment to be somewhat fierce. Here is how the process works: First, you go and look at an apartment. Then, if you like it (or if you don't depending on how desperate you are), you apply to the owner for the lease. The application includes all sorts of fun things like your salary, company, job title, citizenship, marital status, number of children, etc., etc. Yours is one of dozens to hundreds of applications that the owner receives and (s)he is free to choose between them as (s)he likes for whatever reason (s)he sees fit. You never know what that reason might be. One landlord might want to rent to a family, another might not want to deal with a couple with kids. One might be looking for someone of a different nationality. You just never know what they are looking for. If the owner accepts your application and all goes well you can sign the lease.

Our apartment search did not take as long as others about which I have heard. We did have some bad luck though. We were accepted for an apartment after our second round of searching, but after several days the owner decided to give it to someone else and it was back to square one for us. By this time I was back in the U.S., so Josh had to go apartment hunting by himself. Once again he picked out a flat and signed a lease sight unseen to me. He did a great job and I love our new flat--it's perfect.

Once we're close to being all settled in I will take you on a tour of the flat. Until then, does anyone know how one would go about replacing these with actual light fixtures?

Romantic Getaway in Tobacco Country

2009-11-09T01:48:00.005+01:00

What do "romantic weekend away" and tobacco have in common? The answer is Winston-Salem, North Carolina. To say that I was skeptical at the outset of the weekend is an understatement, especially since the highlight of the weekend was to trace landmarks having to do with one R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The thing that I didn’t really realize at the time is that the entire area was built up around RJR, and therefore everything has some sort of connection to the family or the company. For example: take Wake Forest University. The University is located in Winston-Salem because Mr. Reynolds had it relocated to the area.

We ended up having an amazing time. We had some really good meals, one at a tavern in Old Salem that has been around since 1771 and the other at Noble’s Grille. Both Old Salem and the tavern in which we ate are National Historic Landmarks. The best way to describe Old Salem is probably like Colonial Williamsburg but without the excessive crowds and hoopla. It’s a quaint area of town that still stands as it did in the 18th century. It was lovely to walk around, especially with the changing of the leaves.

The next day we went and took a tour of Reynolda Hose, the home of R.J. Reynolds. It was interesting to see and compare to the Biltmore Estate. Though both were built in the same state at around the same time by families in roughly the same financial situation, they are vastly different places. Where Biltmore is more like a museum than a home, Reynolda actually feels like people lived there. The house and surrounding gardens now belong to Wake Forest University.

Winston-Salem is also the home to the archetitectural prototype of the Empire State Building. Once completed, it was the tallest building south of Baltimore and served as the office building of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

On the Lake

2009-10-19T03:12:00.002+02:00

United Nations

2009-10-13T22:26:00.002+02:00

Geneva is home to the European headquarters of the UN. Its main building, the Palais des Nations, was originally constructed for the League of Nations. You can take a guided tour of the building, which I plan to do at some later date. The opening hours vary throughout the year, so it is best to check the website for specific information.

There are generally people protesting something in front of the main building. On this particular day, they were 66 days into a anti-UN's current handling of the Iranian situation protest.

Out in front of the Palais des Nations are hundreds of water fountains in the ground throughout what would otherwise be an open square. They look very serene and fitting to the location, but I can't help but wonder if the purpose of their existence is to keep crowds of protesters from getting too large and out of control.

Lungern

2009-10-10T15:33:00.003+02:00

A stop on the road to Interlacken:

Outside of Luzern

2009-10-09T15:14:00.005+02:00

We had originally planned to take the train to Luzern from Geneva. Then we did simple math and realized that it would be much cheaper for the three of us to just rent a car. It ended up being a really good decision because we had so much more freedom to make our own schedule than we would have had with the train. We were also able to decide upon our departure from Luzern to drive home via Interlaken, just to see the area. The drive between the two cities was less than an hour and absolutely beautiful. It would have been even shorter than that, but we kept stopping to take pictures and they were working on the road in places. The following pictures were taken just outside of Luzern.

Church of St. Leodegar in Luzern

2009-10-07T20:51:00.008+02:00

Luzern

2009-10-07T10:00:00.002+02:00

Over the weekend we rented a car and drove to Luzern in Central Switzerland. I have more pictures to add, but will have to put them in another post later when I have some more time. I can't wait to go back and take a cruise on the lake. This place is gorgeous. The lake is the border between Switzerland's four forest Cantons, which is reflected in the Lake's German name, Vierwaldstättersee. This lake borders the three Cantons that founded the Swiss Confederation: Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden (which has since split into two separate Cantons). The forth Canton is Luzern, which joined the confederation just about 60 years later in 1351.

The lion is carved into a cliff in the middle of a park. Above him in Latin is the inscription, "To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss". It is dedicated to the hundreds of Swiss mercenaries who died defending Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette at the beginning of the French Revolution.

Cathédrale St-Pierre

2009-10-06T20:09:00.011+02:00

Geneva's cathedral sits on a site that has been home to a place of Christian worship since the 4th century. There is an extensive archeological site underneath the cathedral that you can visit that supposedly has beautiful mosaics intact. I will make a trip to see it the next time I'm in town and let you know how it is.

Saint Peter's was begun in 1160 AD. It was converted into a Protestant church in 1536, at which point John Calvin preached here for almost thirty years. After the church was transformed, the statues, paintings, and other decorations, along with the altars, pews, and other furniture were removed from the building, leaving the inside conspicuously void of any and all decoration. I have never seen a stripped church on this scale before. I do have to say though, even stripped, the way the light shining through the stained glass and onto the bare walls is beautiful.

Storage spaces

2009-09-24T04:08:00.004+02:00

If you ever feel the need to rent a storage space, don't. Trust me on this one. It is not worth it.

I am in the process of liquidating our storage space. Moving our furniture out of our house and into the storage space a year ago was a nightmare. I still can't believe how easily stuff accumulates and how small storage spaces are. Josh left for Prague before our house sale closed, so I was left alone to move everything. My parents came up from Cincinnati to help and we spent a day moving dresser after bed after dresser after table after bookshelf. My mom spent the better part of said day alone in the storage space organizing things so that it would all fit while my dad and I made multiple trips between the house and storage transporting the never-ending pile of stuff. I definitely could not have done it without them.

A year past and the storage space became a faint and distant memory. It became such a faint memory that we decided to get rid of the storage space because we don't know how long we will be gone and nothing in there is really worth what we are paying to store it. Last month I went back to the storage space to assess the situation all by my lonesome self and found it exactly as I had forgotten about it being:

Needless to say, I opened the door, took one look at it and started to cry. It took me four hours to get to the back of the storage space so that I could get to the bed so that I will have something to sleep on while I am here finishing school.

This picture was taken at the beginning of the process of single-handedly dragging everything out of the storage space and into the hall. By the time I was finished there really wasn't room to walk and it was quite the fire hazard.

Four hours later: the final result. Does anyone know anyone in the Buffalo area in need of gently used and expertly stored furniture and/or household goods?

Things I had missed about home

2009-09-22T15:50:00.001+02:00

1) Screens in windows

2) Grocery shopping at midnight

3) Banks opened on Saturday and Sunday. Hooray for 5/3 inside of Kroger. Banking and groceries in one location 7 days a week. What more can you ask for?

4) Niagara County Produce. Where else can you get three large paper bags of locally grown produce for the low price of $20.00?

5) Apple Cider

6) Being able to understand everything that people are saying.

7) Service

Antietam

2009-09-18T21:50:00.010+02:00

I have an abnormal and morbid fascination with battlefields, which you may have noticed from my visit to the battlefield of Bila Hora. It all stems from a childhood vacation to Yorktown. I distinctly remember my dad buying a taped narrative of the battle and driving around the fields listening to the account of what had happened there. I also distinctly remember getting into a fight with my sister and my father threatening to turn the car around and leave, but that is a different story for another time.

There is something strangely odd about being in such a calm and beautiful place where so many people lost their lives. In a single day in 1862 in a field in rural Maryland 23,000 Americans lost their lives. Today it's just a quiet country lane about fifteen minutes off of the highway with gentle rolling hills on either side, but then it was the site of the bloodiest day the United States has ever seen.

Antietam happens to be off the highway between Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati, so my mother, sister, and I stopped on our way back from a visit with my brother, sister, and new niece Margaret. I really don't know what draws me to these places, but I am always glad when I get to see them.

Last night at Longboat

2009-08-29T03:38:00.003+02:00

Longboat Key

2009-08-27T22:47:00.013+02:00

I love this place. My parents have come every year since I was about four years old. Even though I have been here more times than I can count I always enjoy coming back. It's nowhere near as crowded as Siesta Key to the south which makes it the perfect place to just relax.

This year there is a fair amount of seaweed on the beach, which is uncommon. Longboat is known for its stretches of white sand beaches and the clear water of the Gulf. Of all the beaches I have been to, this is my favorite.

Longboat Key, Florida

2009-08-23T20:56:00.002+02:00