Archive for February, 2008

Back to Where it All Started

Friday, February 29th, 2008

What a fantastic past few days it has been! So much so that we nearly forgot about the blog!

Arriving in Krakow on Monday morning was fascinating because so much has changed since my last visit. The area around the main train station looks almost entirely different than it did 2.5 years ago, when I was last here. Another amusing thing has been my family’s reactions to my arrival and time in Poland. Many relatives have been terribly concerned if I’m going to “find my way around,” whether it be walking from the train station to my grandmas or doing a day trip to Czestochowa– we made it just through Africa and now in a country where I not only speak the language but have also been to several times people are so concerned! It has been a bit amusing!

Nevertheless, as it was so early in the morning when we arrived and we had our packs, we ended up just taking a taxi to my grandma’s apartment, 2 miles away, so that we could save our energy for exploring later that afternoon. I’ve threatened my grandmother repeatedly over the past few days that she is risking us staying with her in Krakow for the next 4 months because she is spoiling us so badly! Between the heaping amounts of food on the table at every meal, her adamant refusals to help her clean the dishes (“the dishes might fall off the counter if you try helping me!”), and the wonderfully soft down comforters and pillows which she lays out for us at night, we are completly recharging our batteries for the next 4 or so months of travel.

After our enourmous breakfast, we headed out to the Rynek in the center of Krakow’s Stare Miasto. Everytime I arrive in Krakow, I always walk to the Rynek in the same way as ancient traders did in the Medieval Ages, by the Barbican fortification and through the Florian Gate. One thing Katie has enjoyed about Krakow has been all of the city’s legends. When we entered the Rynek, I pointed out to her the dual towers of St. Mary’s Basilica by telling her the story of the two brothers who were competing to see who would build the higher tower, only to have the brother with the shorter tower to murder his sibling with a knife. In fact by one of the Sukiennice, (Cloth Hall) entrances, one can see the knife that was used in the murder plot! (not real) And of course, Katie got to hear the Hejnal mariacki, played every hour from the top of St. Mary’s to commemorate how a brave trumpeter warned the city of an impending Mongol attack in the 13th century.

I had arranged to meet my parents at 1:00 PM over Skype, so before we dropped in to an internet cafe we through we’d go checkout Wawel Castle. On the way, however, we went to the US Consulate to get Katie some more visa pages for her passport, as she is quickly running out. It was a much more pleasant experience in comparison to Cairo. There were no lines or “please take a number.” We simply walked up a window and the gentleman working behind the desk just told us to come back in an hour or so! Katie spent that much time just getting through security and sitting in waiting rooms at the Cairo embassy!

That afternoon, Adam and his wife Marta picked us up from my grandmother’s and we went over to Kosciuszki’s Kopiec to get some nice sunset views of Krakow. Though I had been up there many times before, I hadn’t before noticed that directly in line with the Wawel Castle, about 15 miles away, were enourmous (and ugly) coal plants. Adam told me that the Communists placed them there on purpose so that whenever Krakowians looked out from the Kopiec they would be reminded of the “glory of Communism.” We spent the evening eating pierogi and reminicing with my cousin Adam at his apartment.

On Tuesday, we spent the morning hours in a cafe, Katie studying her Polish and I reading my book. Since we had been mildly disappointed by the marching figurines at the astronomical clock in Prague, I took Katie over to the Collegium Maius where we got to see their clock, which we thought was far better. We visited the Bishop’s residence, where Karol Wojtyla lived before he became Pope John Paul II. There was a display of pictures of him in the courtyard, as well as a statue.

After a sunset stroll past Wawel Castle, we caught a bus to Adam’s apartment. I have been very surprised by how expensive Poland has become. Part of it is due to the weak dollar but part of it may be due, I wonder, due to inflation (a one-way bus ticket now costs about $1.10, a price expensive even by US standards). Adam took us in his car to Nowa Huta (literally, New Steel Mill) which was a planned city built in the Cold War to be a model of a utopian, Communist town. One thing that was missing from the plans was a church. Despite innumerable complaints and protests from the locals (including a famous outdoor mass held by then Bishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla, on Christmas Eve that was almost interrupted by army soldiers that surrounded him and the congregation). In the mid 70s however, a church, that would be known as Arka Pana (The Lord’s Ark) would indeed be built.

It is by any account a truly remarkable church. Every detail of its design was intended to snub the Communists. The entire building is built around a theme of suffering and redemption. The exterior of the church was built as a model of Noah’s Ark. During our visit, we encountered a nun who upon learning we were visiting from the US, insisted on taking us around the Church and explaining its many intricacies to us. An enourmous statue of Christ fills the center of it. It was created from a small clay crucifix that was made by a Catholic interred at Auschwitz. The Tabernacle, shaped like a moon, has supposidly a moon rock that was donated by the US government. The chapel downstairs contains a stone from St. Peter’s Basilica, a gift from then Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. Another chapel contains a statue of Mary built from shrapnel from the Battle at Monte Cassino. Adam dropped us off that night near the Rynek and we got steamy cups of drinking chocolate before walking back to my grandmothers.

Since it was supposed to be raining on Wednesday in Krakow, we decided to spend the day at Czestochowa at the monastary of Jasna Gora. This is the home of the painting of Our Lady of Czestochowa, and is considered one of the holiest shrines in Europe. There are several legends and traditions associated with the painting, as you can read in these links. The new museum there housed historical treasure and gifts left there throughout the ages, as well as many things donated by Solidarity members, including Lech Walesa’s Nobel Peace Prize. John F. Kennedy donated a ring that can be seen in the treasury. We ended up spending more time there than we had originally planned, praying and visiting their museums. We returned back to Krakow around 9:00 PM.

We will write about the last couple of days soon, including our visit to the Wielicza Salt Mine, but check out our pictures.

Photos from Krakow

And some videos we have uploaded:

Car Trouble on Safari

Elephant Encounter on Safari

Birquash Camel Market

Posted in Poland | 5 Comments »

Czeching Out Prague

Monday, February 25th, 2008

We arrived in Prague in the Czech Republic around 9 pm on Thursday. I was excited to venture into eastern Europe for a change of pace from Italy and Switzerland. Besides being much more affordable, Prague has a very different cultural feel to it, as well as an interesting and tragic history. And, I might add, some very excellent beer.

Finding some was basically our first order of business after checking into our hostel. We had to hunt for a restaurant still serving dinner, but by 11 o’clock we were seated in a warm restaurant eating some hearty Czech meals and drinking two immense glasses of Pilsner Urquell.

Friday morning dawned to gray skies, but we didn’t let another cloudy day deter us. We set about exploring the winding cobblestone streets of Prague. I was shocked by the number of tourists and students we came across, far more than had been noticeable in Italy or Switzerland. It’s a popular destination. We stumbled upon the Dancing House, by the same architect who designed the Guggenheim. Then we went up to the main square to watch the chime of the astronomical clock there. While the clock itself is very impressive (its movements chart the position of the sun and moon as well as the date and much more), the chimes that the crowd had gathered to witness were a bit anticlimatic. A skeleton on the side representing death pulled a bell cord as statues of the twelve apostles rolled by two by two in a pair of small windows at the top. The entire procession ended in a flat trumpet blast. Several of the students in the audience broke into wild applause.

We wandered from there to Charles’ Bridge, a structure we didn’t know the history of but quickly became curious. It is lined with several interesting religious statues, such as one of a saint which people had touched so frequently as they passed that they were rubbing away the metal, or another of Jesus on the cross, but with Hebrew writing all around it. We began to acutely miss our PDA with Wikipedia on it (our charger was blown when our last transformer broke), but we looked them all up later. So can you, if you’re interested. We ventured across the river to locate the church of the Infant Jesus of Prague, which has English masses on Sundays. And we finished the day by doing something we’d been missing, going to see a movie. We watched Charlie Wilson’s War (subtitled in Czech, of course) and really enjoyed it–highly recommend it once it comes out in the States.

Saturday we ventured to the small town of Kutna Hora about an hour’s train ride from Prague to see the famous Sedlec Ossuary there. I’d had many people who visited Prague tell me this was not to be missed, and it certainly is something to see. Its interior has been grusomely decorated with the bones of roughly 40,000 plague victims. There are four immense bone pyramids as well as a chandelier, coat of arms, two large chalices, and a great many trimmings and decorations. We only spent about 20 minutes touring it, and about three hours getting there and back, but it was well worth it. Never have I seen something so eerie and bizarre.

Upon our return to Prague, we got lunch at one of many stands on Wenceslas Square selling artery-clogging street food. Sausages are most popular, and the only vegetarian option is a fried cheese sandwich (with tartar sauce). If you don’t think about it too hard, it’s actually pretty good. We wandered around a bit more as evening fell, making our way to Prague Castle, from which we got a spectacular night view of the city. The castle itself is also pretty magnificent, and well-lit at night. We had some more beer and Czech food for dinner.

Our final day in the city, we attended English mass and then returned to the castle for a daytime view. We didn’t tour the palace itself, but we did go in the immense Gothic cathedral, which might have been even more spectacular than the Duomo in Milan. It was just as high, and much brighter. Colored light streamed in through the stained glass windows, and a row of windows near the roof illuminated the entire church. There were many chapels and tombs.

We bought some crepes at a street stand, explored a little more around the main square, and then visited the Museum of Communism. It basically gave a history of communism in the Czech Republic, and how it eventually fell. It was really enlightening for me, as much of this trip has been so far. I’ve never known much about history, and I’m learning more and more each place we visit. The museum had a sense of humor as well, and sold postcards of Soviet propaganda posters with the text replaced (i.e. a happy woman with a piece of clothing: “There wasn’t any laundry detergent in the stores, but you could always get your brain washed!”) .

After a dinner of more street food, we boarded a night train to Krakow, Poland. We had a sleeping compartment where the seats could become beds. There was actually room for six people in the compartment… or, rather, there was supposed to be. I don’t think it would have been possible to fit six people and their luggage in that compartment, and climbing up to the third bunk on the very top would have been a real challenge. Luckily the train was practically empty and we had the compartment to ourselves, which was comfortable enough. We woke up at 6 am in the Krakow station.

Completed pictures from Lauterbrunnen

Pictures from Geneva

Pictures from Prague

Posted in Czech Republic | 10 Comments »

Neutrality and Humanity

Sunday, February 24th, 2008

We left Lauterbrunnen Wednesday morning, hiking with our backpacks in the cold morning down to the train station. We caught a train to Interlaken and another to Geneva, about a three-hour journey. The scenery was lovely; we passed through many quaint Swiss towns and beautiful lakes, all with the snow-capped Alps peeking through the background. When we arrived in Geneva however, it was overcast and dreary. Still, even just on our short walk from the train station to our hostel, we could see that it was an interesting city. The home of the United Nations in Europe as well as the Red Cross, it has been called home by many foreigners, and this was reflected in both the people we passed on the street and the buildings lining it. For one thing, on a single block we passed Indian, Greek, Thai, Vietnamese, Egyptian, Chinese, Moroccan, and Japanese restaurants, an assortment of ethnic food that we haven’t seen in any other city on the trip thus far. We were eager to do some more exploring. Unfortunately, the dreary day persisted and it even began to rain a little, so we spent most of the rest of the day catching up in an internet cafe and making fondue in the hostel kitchen. We briefly went out in the late evening and thought about getting some drinks, but the sight of $25 cocktails persuaded us otherwise. Switzerland may be beautiful, but as we’ve mentioned before, it isn’t cheap.

Thursday we set out to see the town. We walked down to the banks of the Rhone and Lake Geneva, watching as people fed the swans and seagulls. We treated ourselves to some excellent coffee in one of the many little cafes, and then caught a tram to International Hill, where the United Nations and Red Cross buildings are situated. There is a nice museum in the Red Cross building, and I really enjoyed learning about its history. It was originally conceived by a Swiss man named Henry Dunant who witnessed the neglect experienced by wounded soldiers at the Battle of Solferino. He concieved of a society that would indiscriminantly give aid to anyone in need, and which could be considered neutral by both sides of any conflict, ensuring protection of the wounded and those providing help. It is perhaps fitting that the humanitarian society that was born is centered in Switzerland, famous for its neutrality in international conflicts. It was an enlightening visit.

Following the museum we took another stroll around the lake to see the Floral Clock and the Jet d’Eau, supposedly Europe’s highest fountain. After a lunch of crepes, we had to pick up our luggage and head to the airport. Geneva was a lovely city, and probably a place that deserved more than 24 hours of our time, but it was time to head to Prague.

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Lovely Lauterbrunnen

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Hoping to get the most out of our Eurail pass, we spent Saturday jumping around greater Switzerland trying to soak up as much of the scenery and sights for as cheaply and quickly as possible. In about 6 or so hours, we ended up literally crisscrossing the country its entire length and nearly half its width. This was partially due to our own error– we were confused as to why our timetable book mentioned that the Como-Zurich train mentioned a stop midway in its route. When we arrived later in Basel, not Zurich, we sheepishly realized our mistake. Fortunately, due to Switzerland’s small size, we were in Zurich in less than 45 minutes.

We spent about 2 hours exploring Zurich, largely window shopping at the beautiful watches, jewelry, and other expensive, credit-busting toys available for purchase. After picking up some groceries, we returned to the station and took a series of trains that eventually led us to Lauterbrunnen, deep in the Jungfrau valley. We had about a half mile hike with our backpacks and we were actually quite glad to have them because they provided a bit more insulation from the cold! The thermometer on our backpack read about 23 degrees Fahrenheit! It was exciting walking in the dark. The moon was getting close to full and it illuminated quite beautifully the snow-capped peaks that surrounded us.

The hostel/campsite we stayed at was fairly unremarkable except for the fact that the bathrooms could only be reached by walking out in the cold and that they seemed to want us to pay for every little expense. We were suprised when we entered the communal kitchen to see a coin slot next to the cooking range. 15 minutes of cooking cost two dollars!

Our first day we decided to spend quite lazily. After a late start and even later breakfast, we chose to spend the day hiking north, deeper into the valley. It was a very nostalgic day for me as I was here only 2.5 years ago. I still remembered many geographic landmarks, even though much of the surroundings were covered in snow or ice.

When we boarded a bus later that afternoon, we were shocked to learn that the fare for the 5 or 6 mile journey was 4 dollars per person. I was worried that we would have to walk and miss mass because I didnt have any small bills. As we are however quickly learning, Switzerland is a high price, high income area. When we asked the driver if he had change for a 50 dollar bill, he shrugged and simply replied ¨Of course!¨ I never thought I’d pay for such a short distance with a 50!

Switzerland lies in the heart of Protestantism so finding a Catholic mass was a little challenging. We learned that morning that one mass was being held in the area– it was in a small village called Wengen, up above the western side of the valley. We arrived a bit early and were delighted that we had. Imagine the perfect Alpine village powdered in snow and amongst spectacular surroundings and you will have a good idea of what Wengen looked like. It was a bit late when we arrived so we weren’t able to snap off too many pictures, but believe us when we tell you it was great. I think we know where we will stay on our next Swiss vacation….

Mass was pretty neat, too. The church couldn’t have been filled with more than 15-20 people. Before it began the priest came out and asked for a show of hands of what language people understood best, three times, in English, French, and German. Since apparently there were more German speakers than anything else, he determined that he would say mass in German. Though Katie and I are pretty sure that we were the only English speakers there that evening, the priest reread the Gospel in English after he had read it in German. He also came up to us and gave us the sign of peace, in English. We were very impressed by his gestures of hospitality. We got to speak a bit more with him after mass when the small congregation went over to a side room to share coffee and pastries.

Monday began a bit earlier as it was my ski day! We took a cable car up to the opposite side of the valley, the eastern side, to the village of Mürren where a fantastic set of slopes are situated. After her last experience on skis, Katie opted for hiking while I headed for the ski lift. I was a bit dismayed, however, to find out how fast the slopes here are! The beginner slopes here are like intermediates in Colorado. A bit unprepared for this, my first time down one of them was a lot faster than I was planning for. Many of the turns were also quite sharp with precarious drop-offs behind them! Though I had to be a bit more careful, the day was a lot of fun and at the end of it, Katie even got to use my pass to go up to the Piz Gloria, a revolving restaurant on the top of a huge mountain, where the views were amazing. Exhausted but happy, we had a wonderful cheese fondue dinner at a restaurant in town. We have been impressed by how efficiently we packed for the trip. We have had appropriate clothing for temperatures ranging from the tropical to the subzero. By just layering our clothing and wearing a rainsuit on top, we have been totally warm during the day.

A bit sore from the skiing, the third day didn’t really start until noon. We took a train to yet another part of the valley to the village of Grindelwald the site of, amongst many things, some of the best “sledging” runs in the area. We rented sleds and went down a track called the Eigen run multiple times, making up for our snow-deprived childhoods in Louisiana. It struck us that afternoon just how fabulous of a time we were having. After spending a day skiing, we were now spending a day sledding. Pure and guiltless fun for 6 months. Going on this trip is probably one of the best ideas we’ve ever had!

Our last few runs on the sledding trails weren’t as much fun as the first because the loads of snow that had managed to get into our shoes were seriously starting to freeze our ankles and the paths, wiped free of powdery snow, were now covered in ice that was near impossible to brake on. Much like the ski paths from the day before, many of the turns on the sledding run had little safety netting so we at times we’d walk the sleds down or just roll down on our pants.

Though a bit frozen, we ended the day quite late, returning to the hostel around 10:00 where we then made a steamy tortellini-pesto dinner before falling asleep one last time in Lauterbrunnen.

Photos from Luxor

Photos from Milan

Photos from Lake Como

Photos from Lauterbrunnen (a few more to come)

Posted in Switzerland | 7 Comments »

This Post Cost Us Five Dollars

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

We’re in Lauterbrunnen in the Swiss Alps, and internet here is about 15 dollars an hour (at the cheap, slow place). Needless to say, we won’t be posting for three or four days. If you miss hearing from us, then go out and buy some cheese fondue and Swiss chocolate and stand in front of your air conditioner for a while.

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Beautiful Towns, Beautiful People

Friday, February 15th, 2008

After one month in Africa, we arrived two days ago in Europe. Getting here was no picnic, actually. As Tommy mentioned in his last post, since all the train tickets from Luxor to Cairo were bought up by hotels and tourist agencies who would only sell them for some extra baksheesh, we took an uncomfortable and loud overnight bus, leaving both of us a little sleep deprived. Our flight from Cairo to Berlin the next night was from 2 am-6 am, followed by a six-hour layover in Berlin Tegel (which, I must say, has the least comfortable airport seats for sleeping I’ve ever encountered) before our flight to Milan, leaving us even more sleep-deprived. To make matters worse, I came down with the same 24-hour illness that had affected Tommy two days prior and spend much of the journey in a nauseous haze.

However, I’m happy to say that after collapsing upon our arrival in Milan and sleeping until the next morning, we both woke up feeling wonderful. We had only one day in the city, but it was fantastic. It was such a lovely place–and, perhaps it goes without saying, but so different from anywhere we visited in Africa! The streets were charming and filled with the most interesting stores. There were bookshops everywhere, some that only sold books on theater or art. The city is also a fashion center, and everywhere we went we passed expensive and beautiful clothing stores. All of the people were so stylish and well-dressed. While we don’t speak Italian, we have been able to communicate with most people we have encountered in either Spanish or English. Spanish has been particularly useful, and we’ve enjoyed speaking it and being able to interact better with locals. Coming from Luxor, it was like night and day, and it was a nice change of pace.

The first thing we did was visit the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie to see The Last Supper. Visits are very controlled to help preserve the painting. We purchased tickets and returned at an indicated time, when we were ushered into an antechamber with a group of about 25 people. From there, some automatic doors opened to let us into another glass room. When everyone had stepped through, the entry doors closed and another set opened. This process was repeated twice more before glass doors actually opened the way into the church. It’s a very small, plain room. Most of the walls are white, but as you enter the first thing you see is the painting to your right. It’s very large, much larger than I imagined, and restoration efforts have left it in extremely good shape. We had about a half an hour to study it, and it remained fascinating the entire time. We even took out my binoculars to examine its texture from where we were standing, which worked really well. There are also some Andy Warhol works based on The Last Supper that are currently on display with it, which made for an interesting contrast.

Next we walked east to the Duomo, an immense Gothic cathedral. Tommy said that of all the churches he has seen in Europe, this one struck him in particular, and I can see why. I’ve never seen a church with such an elaborate exterior. It’s like every possible inch of roof space was covered with Gothic speirs and crosses. Its interior was similarly breathtaking. Immense columns support a roof so high I could barely believe it. There are many lovely altars and statues lining the nave, and an organ on the altar with hundred of pipes, covered by elaborately painted panels. Tall and elaborate stained-glass windows illuminated the interior.

From the Duomo, we passed through the immense Victor Emmanuel II shopping plaza, where we finally found an item we had been hunting for all day: the international version of USA Today. In case you don’t know why, click here. And here. We took a quick stroll through the fashion district and gazed in the windows of Prada, Chanel, and Armani stores. Then we picked up our bags and headed to the train station for a half hour ride to Como in northern Italy, just a stone’s throw from Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Como.

It seems as though whenever a movie includes a beautiful mountain lake scene, it is invariably filmed at Lake Como (Casino Royale, Ocean’s 12, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, etc). The area is a ritzy vacation ground for all of Europe, and we could only afford to spend a couple of nights on the lake’s shores. But it has been well worth the trip. The bus ride from Como to our hostel outside of Menaggio alone was unbelievably lovely. We arrived near sunset, and had dinner at a pizzeria nearby.

The next day, we took a ferry across the lake to Bellagio. It was an absolutely charming town, with many tiny cobblestone streets lined with restaurants and shops. Because it is the off-season, many businesses are not open, and most hotels are closed and undergoing renovations. We still had a wonderful time wandering around all day and taking in the scenery.

Italy has been absolutely lovely, and we look forward to returning in a few weeks. Tomorrow: Switzerland!

Posted in Italy | 4 Comments »

Hello! Baksheesh?

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

We arrived in Luxor early on Saturday after a relatively restful 11 hour train ride. Our entire experience in Luxor has been markedly different from that of Cairo. With a relatively small local population and high tourism influx, tourists are far more vulnerable to the annoyances and discomforts of commission-seeking touts here than in Cairo. Immediately upon exiting our train, we felt as though we had stepped into a mangrove of flailing arms, each holding out countless numbers of business cards promising “great deals” on hostels or tours. Eventually though, we arrived to our hostel and after a three hour mid-morning nap, we were ready to venture out to the city again.

Throughout our stay in Cairo over the previous week, we were amazed at how friendly the locals were. Whereas nearly all the Caireans we encountered were sophisticated and honest, we literally felt as though the citizens of Luxor just viewed us as walking ATM machines. When we walked along the streets, fairly well-dressed individuals would fall in step with us, welcome us to Luxor, ask us where we were from, and after about 30 seconds or more of small talk they would ask us for baksheesh (an Arab word meaning tip or bribe) as if they had done us some favor in talking with us. That afternoon, we booked a felucca (sailboat) to take us on a sunset Nile cruise and as we approached the West Bank we were humored when we heard the children incessantly yell to us, “Hello! Baksheesh?” And though we found little amusement the first time someone asked me how many camels Katie was worth, it became intolerably annoying the time the 50th individual inquired.

Despite the frustrations we encountered that first day there, we reminded ourselves that the citizens were responding in a somewhat predictable way to the situation in which they found themselves, namely wealthy westerners constantly entering a city filled with a poor and uneducated populace, and that despite the unwelcome stares or comments that Katie received, the timeless beauty of the Ancient Theban ruins were the real reason why we had come here.

Unfortunately, not only did the locals seem to be out to get us, the local bacterial flora proved to be as well. I woke up on Sunday feeling a bit feverish and nauseated, food poisoned perhaps from the day before, so I ended up spending the entire day in bed while Katie practiced her Polish and made a few harassment-filled trips to the pharmacy. We must emphasize though– we have felt extremely safe throughout Egypt, far more than any other country we have visited thus far, so any troubles we have had here have been more of an annoyance than any real cause for concern.

The new day brought new-found energy, so we left the hostel early Monday morning and headed to the ferry so that we could cross over to the West Bank, the ancient necropolis of the New Kingdom Pharaohs! They chose a desert valley, known today as the Valley of the Kings, to be their resting place. Though they didn’t want their riches or bodies to be disturbed, they still wanted to still be remembered, so many fantastic temples exist a few kilometers outside the valley. We visited two– the ones of Ramses III and Ramses II. They were absolutely amazing. Despite having been exposed to three millenenia of sandstorms and adverse weather, the hieroglyphs are still vividly clear and those that were protected from direct sunlight are still vividly colored from their original paints (if only Sherwin-Williams lasted that long!). Also, the enormous collapsed statue of Ramses II at his temple was supposedly the inspiration for Percy Shelley’s poem, “Ozymandias.” Finally, it was a sight to see so much 19th century graffiti left by fellow travelers almost 150 years ago.

Many of the guards that have welcomed us have told us (as have other locals) “Welcome to Alaska.” When we asked one why on earth they told us that, he replied, “because it is so hot here.” Seeing as it has been coolly comfortably in the 60s and 70s here, we’re still not sure what they mean, but we’re just heaping it onto the Luxor pile along with our other favorite nonsensical phrases, “Lucky man, how many camel?” and “baksheesh!”

After having sufficiently explored the temples, we headed over to the burial sites in the Valley of the Kings. We ended up entering three tombs, Ramses IX, IV, and Thutmose III. These were even more spectacular than the temples because they have been underground for so long–the details of the frescos have been amazingly well preserved.

By this point it was late in the afternoon so we began to head back to Luxor proper. We got some falafel sandwiches and visited the also very, very well-preserved Luxor Temple. Two giant oblelisks used to mark the entrance. Now, only one remains as the other sits in the Place de Concorde in Paris.

Though we had hoped to catch the comfortable night train, when we tried to purchase our return ticket on our first day in Luxor, we were shocked to learn that all the train tickets were sold out till the 17th. We had to settle for a rumbling bus that played blaring Arab movies all night long. Right before we departed, our hostel owner informed us that if we wanted, he could have probably secured us some tickets if we had wanted. For some baksheesh, of course.

We were so relieved, though exhausted to arrive back to Cairo on Tuesday. We had about 20 hrs to kill before red-eye flight so we spent the day visiting the last bastion of Cairo we had really wanted to see, the ancient Christian area of Coptic Cairo. Having been able to save a lot of money on meals and lodging, we managed to spend only about half of our allotted budget. So before changing out our last remaining Egyptian pounds for Euros, we are planning on treating ourselves to a fancy dinner at the Intercontinental in celebration of my pick to USA Today, our past few days of thriftiness, and simply….life in general.

Photos from Cairo

And check out our finished albums:

Photos from Dar es Salaam

Photos from Safari

Photos from Zanzibar

Posted in Egypt | 7 Comments »

Walk Like an Egyptian

Monday, February 11th, 2008

Last Monday, we flew from Zanzibar to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where we had a 12 hour layover before our flight to Cairo. Initially we were excited about this free stop; we thought we might leave the airport and go get some Ethiopian food. But a visa for an American, even for just a few days, costs upwards of $50. That would have been an expensive dinner. So we landed in Addis Ababa Monday night resigned to find some comfortable-looking airport seats and huddle up there for the night. Much to our surprise, Ethiopian Airlines provided us with a free hotel voucher, including dinner, breakfast, transport to and from the airport, and a transit visa. The hotel was comfortable, and we even got the Ethiopian food we had been hoping for. I think we have a new favorite airline.Tuesday morning we continued on to Cairo, arriving at our hostel around mid-afternoon. We set out into the city as soon as possible. After Tanzania, walking around Cairo was like a breath of fresh air. It’s such a big city, it’s very easy to just blend in. We did not feel conspicuous and constantly on-guard as we had in Tanzania. We were able to just walk the streets and enjoy ourselves. We were never overcharged for street food or taxis, and only rarely approached by touts. Meanwhile, the city was vibrant and fascinating. Like Zanzibar, most of its citizens are Muslim. However, instead of the very traditional garb of the women in Zanzibar, many women in Cairo walk around in typical clothing with their heads covered fashionably to match. Storefront windows display mostly mannequins in long skirts with something on their heads. Men also dress in more modern garb, although is not unusual to see them in long tunics called galabeyas.

The city is busy and bustling. Our hostel is in the center of downtown, and the streets surrounding it are filled with shops. Much as it was in Buenos Aires, window shopping is a big activity at night. Stores display nearly everything they are selling in the windows with prices, so one does not have to enter in order to browse. It does create some sidewalk congestion, though! Taking the subway was an experience. When the doors opened, a crowd would spill out while everyone on the platform began pushing madly to get in. People shoved others aside without discrimination, trying at all costs to force their way onto the train. As Tommy and I were getting on, the doors began to close with loads of people still climbing through. They held them open as long as possible, squeezing into the car before it took off. I have seen busy subways before, but nothing like this. Similarly, there are a few pastry shops near our hostel that were positively insane in the evenings. The entire store would be packed with people trying to buy chocolates and cakes. There was a crowd at the pay counter of people just holding out money and tickets. Orderly lines are scarce here, and we have frequently been blatantly cut in front of when we were about to reach a ticket window or checkout. And people cross the street as if they are suicidal, walking right out into oncoming traffic without a glance in either direction. Somehow the cars just seem to whip around them harmlessly. It’s as if everyone is in a hurry all the time. It’s very, very different from Tanzania, where we would marvel at the numbers of people just loitering around at all hours of the day, not really doing anything.

Wednesday we spent walking around the city some more, and also at the Egyptian Museum. Contrary to what our guidebook implied, it was very well kept-up and labeled. There was so much there, it was impossible to give everything the attention it deserved. Like everyone else, we particularly enjoyed the treasures from King Tut’s tomb, and the mummy room. We made lunch and dinner from the wonderfully cheap and delicious street food available. The most popular items are schwarmas with chicken, beef, or liver, ta’amiyya (falafel sandwiches), fuul (bean sandwiches), and kushari (a unique bowl of many types of pasta, rice, lentils, chickpeas, fried onions, and tomato sauce). Juice stands are very common, and for a few pounds you can purchase a delicious glass of juice to drink there. The locals can positively guzzle them. Everything we’ve ordered has been delicious, except one experience where inability to speak Arabic earned us two glasses of carrot-grapefruit juice. Yum.

The transformer we bought in Durban broke, but as it turns out, Egypt has RadioShack! We bought a new one Thursday morning and then went to the Khan al-Khalili market in Islamic Cairo. There is a local market and also a more touristy section. We ate fatir for dinner (stuffed flatbread, very good) and went to a free sufi dancing show nearby. The whirling dervishes were unbelievable–one of them spun for a full half hour without stopping.

The next day was reserved for the Pyramids of Giza, which are actually only a short bus ride from Cairo. We had no trouble knowing when to get off, either–the pyramids loom huge over Giza. You never see photos of them from that angle; on one side they are bordered by desert, but on the other the city comes right up to the base of the plateau. From the bus stop we walked right up to them, pausing only to pay admission. We were bombarded by salesmen and touts, people trying to sell us horse and camel rides or cheap souveniers. We firmly ignored them all. The pyramids were magnificent. Just being there was incredible. We took our time and wandered around the area, finally settling on a distant spot to take some photos from. It’s difficult because they’re so big. They’re also more worn-down than I imagined. People give the impression of them as structures untouched by time, but the many huge stones crumbling off of them, and the remnants of limestone covering at their tips and bases gave me the impression of something very much affected by the passage of years and the toll of many visitors. One thing that struck Tommy and I was that not only are the pyramids old (roughly 4500 years, which is actually pretty hard to grasp), but they have also never been lost. They’re so big and breathtaking, they’ve probably been a tourist attraction throughout the ages.

We walked down the plateau to visit the Sphinx, which was also really spectacular. Nearby there are hundreds of chairs set up for a nightly laser lights show, which we hear is actually rather tacky. From there we walked out into the desert to a nearby dune for a more panoramic view of all three pyramids. There’s a good view of Giza and Cairo from the plateau. Twice, once at noon and again at three, the clamoring sounds of prayer and song drifted up from every mosque in the city until they filled the air where we stood. It was a nice day; we took our time and really enjoyed being there.

The next day, we took a taxi out of the city to the Birqash Camel Market. After reading about it in our guidebook (“If you went to Egypt to see camels but feel like an ass because all you’ve seen is donkeys, the Camel Market is for you!”) we knew we couldn’t miss it. It really was an experience. For one thing, it’s not a tourist attraction. It’s a real local market, far enough out that only really determined visitors make it. There was a walled in area with some low buildings and pens, and there were camels everywhere. They’re really quite big, much bigger than we thought. They tie one of their front legs up so they can’t run, but it doesn’t stop one from trying to hobble away every now and then, only to be brought back into place by angry keepers who whack them with bamboo sticks. Every now and then a truck would drive through with five or six camel heads peering out from the bed. It was such a unique sight.

We managed to find a minibus to take back to the city, and we visited the Citadel of Salah al-Din where we saw the spectacular Mosque of Muhammed ‘Ali. Its entire exterior is covered in alabaster–a gorgeous building. From the high Citadel it was also possible to get a spectacular view of Cairo, and in the distance the Pyramids were visible as well. That night, we took a train from Cairo to Luxor. Being in Luxor has been quite an experience, one we’ll write about soon.

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No Hurry in Africa

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

Several months ago, I planned to spend Wednesday in Moshi at the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology, so that I could perhaps get a feel for the kind of work being done in an East African health clinic. So that morning, I parted ways with Katie around 07:00 and then hailed a taxi to get to the clinic.

I must say, I am impressed by the flagrancy and boldness of the locals in their negotiations with tourists. Prices are almost universally quoted at 4-5x above the normal price; the results is that often the amount one pays is the same if not more for how much one would pay in the States or Europe. It took me awhile to find a taxi willing to take me to the clinic for only double the normal amount ($6 instead of the normal 2 or 3).

The complex in which the clinic lies is quite impressive. It, the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, was founded by Christian missionaries about 40 years ago. It has since evolved into an entire health science center, with a teaching hospital, outpatient clinic, medical school, and other training departments and space for (mostly foreign) research groups.

When I found my ophthalmologist contact, I was a bit disappointed to learn that she had incorrectly written down my date of arrival by a day, so rather than go out with a team into the field, I would end up spending most of it at the centre. It proved to be an interesting day, nevertheless though. I spent a few hours on her grand rounds as she supervised residents and also had time to interact with her Tanzanian staff which I also thoroughly enjoyed. They nearly all had masters degrees and I found that we had quite a lot of things to talk about. During lunch I noticed that I also wasn’t the only mzungu there; I saw a few young residents from UV and a handful of other young, idealistic visionaries.

The most striking sentiment that I heard was one that has become increasingly more common for me to hear. Many of the Western doctors had also worked in Asia and they expressed a certain frustration with the work they’ve done in Tanzania. They said that Africa’s health problems are unique because of its relatively low population density as well as what they characterized as a significantly decreased sense of “work ethic,” or more broadly speaking, perhaps less driven towards the self-help route. Amazingly, each cataract surgery costs about $75 (almost all the supplies are imported from India); the clinic usually gets about $15 of payment from the patient. In spite of this, many people opt not to get the surgery. Generally speaking though the clinic was quite well stocked and the physicians sufficiently proficient.

Not wanting to pay a lot to return back to the hostel, I simply crammed in with the locals into a daladala. Interestingly, along the road from the hospital were a number of tiny shops selling coffins. It was quite eerie seeing them outside, just along the road as one left the hospital.

We were thrilled when Thursday arrived and, by midday, we finally made it to Zanzibar via a noisy dual propeller plane. What immediately struck us as soon as we arrived was the island’s Muslim population. Our guidebook suggested that perhaps around 90% of the island is Muslim and I would certainly believe it– every woman had her head covered
and some still wore a full nigab. Though we were a little disappointed in our hostel as it didn’t have quite the beachfront that their pictures online seemed to suggest, we figured that its prime location in the center of the island would be very conducive to making day-trips.

Stone Town, the largest town and capital of Zanzibar, is a fascinating city. It’s streets are unable to accommodate cars but not bicycles or scooters, so it is often necessary to hug one of the alley’s walls as someone unhesitatingly zooms by. Much of it reminds me of Venice, at least the eastern residential sections. Though a few maps exist of the city, it is unlikely one would even find one to be useful– few of the alleys are labeled and to find something in the city one must really just walk in that general direction and hope to find it. Shops are quite narrow and the owner often just peaks through a small opening in his huge wall of goods to speak with a customer.

One thing we are a bit exhausted of is the the innumerable touts that we encounter. We almost wish we could just be invisible– it is impossible to walk seemingly anywhere without some “friendly”individual offering to take us to his “favorite” shop. Worse, it makes us a bit jaded whenever we do encounter genuinely friendly people who simply want to meet and chat with foreigners.

To combat this ever growing problem, Katie and I while in the city speak to each other in Spanish and whenever a tout approaches us wanting to buy something from him, I speak to him in Polish and claim that my English fluency only extends far enough for me to be able to say, “No English,” all the while giving him an innocently huge smile. It has been fabulously successful.

On Friday morning we crowded onto a daladala to head to the northern-most point of the island, the village of Nungwi, where some of the best beaches and diving spots are supposed to be. It is interesting how comfortable we have become with our surroundings; namely, getting cramped in the back of a converted pick-up trucks ($1.10 one way, per person, 90 min drive), or seeing cows stroll alongside the road no longer surprise us.

We were thrilled when we finally arrived at the beach—the water was the clearest blue-green we had ever seen. It actually didn’t take too long to find a reputable diving center either. I ended up spending the better part of the next several hours diving off two coral reefs. What surprised me as well was the number of Slavs here. One older gentleman on my boat was from Warsaw and several of the other people my age were Slovakians living in the UK. The diving was superb except for the very strong current and choppy waves on the surface. By the time we finished, I was quite exhausted.

What has been most striking in the past few days has been how limited the “infrastructure” is. Very few receipts are ever given for financial transactions, sidewalks don’t exist, and roads are limited. Along the way to the beach, the bus was stopped at several police “checkpoints” and I saw a lot of bills being discreetly handed out by the driver. That night after we had gotten some food in Stone Town, to turn on the bus’s only light, there was no switch to flip. The daladala boy simply twisted two metal wires together. It is also quite sad to see how much trash is simply left alongside the roadway.

We had planned to spend our Saturday on a completely different side of the island, in the eastern village of Paje. We had made a mistake in not asking our hostel how much to expect to pay for the ride over there. Since hardly anything in Tanzania seems to ever run “by the book,” we learned later that we had been overcharged twice as much, though it still frankly wasn’t that much.

Pretty much all of Saturday was spent lounging on the beach and reading on some empty lounge chairs we had managed to find for ourselves. We also ran into the two Polish physicians that we had met on our safari several days prior.

Obliged to accept their offer to share a drink with them in the late afternoon, we returned to Stone Town in the later evening and made a dinner from various street-vendors by the wharf. Of particular note were these inventions they called “Zanzibar pizza” (bread filled with cheese, vegetables, and meat that was baked in a charcoal oven) as well as fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice that was also infused with spices and lemon!

On Sunday morning, we were struggling to find the Catholic church that we had passed by several days prior. When we started to get worried that it was only a minute or two before mass was scheduled to begin, I noticed that on one alley were several women who were walking with neither their heads nor their arms covered- nearly scandalous by the standards that we have seen thus far. We thought that perhaps we should follow them at a distance. Sure enough, they were Catholic and heading to mass as well. An interesting note about mass is that the church was separated by sex. We spent our final hours in Zanzibar taking pictures of all of our favorite buildings. Upon returning to the hostel, sweaty and dirty, all I could think about while showering before the flight was that Cairo would be having cool weather!

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