During all of our travels over the last 20 years, we have always strived to do more than sightsee, and truly experience the culture of the places we are visiting. What better way to fully emersed in the local culture than by the food they eat? Today, was a day devoted to total emersion in the food of Mexico.
But first, alarms went off at 5:30, sounds early, but I had the best night of sleep since Read on...
After leaving Khartoum, we made our way north to head to the true purpose of our trip: Meroe. We had to go through multiple checkpoints, where they checked our exit visa for leaving the city of Khartoum (expensive). Along the way, we stopped at a couple of roadside areas, and met our cooking crew who prepared all our meals from this point forward: lunch on the road and our camping meals. We had lu Read on...
I decided to spend my last full day in UAE visiting Abu Dhabi. It is about a 1.5 hour drive from Dubai. The roads were great and the traffic was pretty light. Abu Dhabi is the political capital and makes up 87% of the land area of UAE. Their population is 2.2 million. No surprise that oil is over 50% of their GDP followed by construction.
Our first stop was the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.The mosqu Read on...
I was only 17, when I matriculated to UC Berkeley in the Fall of 1964. The Free Speech Movement took over our campus, creating protests, sit ins, faculty strikes, and lots of tear gas. I knew I could only observe from a distance, since my parents were back home watching on TV. A guy next door to me in the dorms was arrested during the big Sproul Hall sit in. I made sure that I was always a safe di Read on...
PERSEPOLIS WAS ONCE THE RICHEST city on earth - the glittering capital of the Achaemenid Empire. At the heart of the city lay the royal palace - a wonder of gold and silver, ivory, and precious stones. From there, Xerxes planned his war against Greece - and the treasure of a vast empire piled up in the
In 330 BCE, Persepolis was captured by Alexander the Great. Before he left the city, he ordere Read on...
Visiting Stepantsminda means the obligatory visit to the Gergeti Trinity Church. It sits atop a mountain and stares down at anyone passing through the tiny town. While in the Khevi province, we spent our mornings, afternoons and evenings admiring it from afar as it caught the sunlight and hid behind the clouds. It only seemed fitting we make the trek to the top of the mountain to get a closer look Read on...
We had a lovely breakfast then joined the bus after filling our bottles with water. The Mirage had a filling station with sparkling, cold or warm water. I filled my bottle with sparkling which caused much laughter when I opened it later and it went pop!! I was asked if I had champagne in it. Unfortunately NO.
Our first stop was the Mossman Gorge Visitor Centre and were taken on a dreamtime gorge Read on...
Riding about in the Cotswolds and ran across these folks house. Lot of thatched roof houses here, but this one is particularly lovely.
Yes, we know you have been disappointed by the lack of Roman ruins pictures. They exist, but are rather disappointing to the continent. We largely do not visit these sights or not burden you with images if we do. We have driven on a Roman road many times near Stow Read on...
Today, John did errands and I him. We needed to go to the Omani consulate for my visa to visit the Musandam Peninsula (Straits of Hurmuz) on Thursday. So, I got up at 7:00 and we dropped Peggy at work (Dubai Womens College).
Then we went to the Omani consulate. Outside, there was a little building for visas. We were apparently the first there, and no one was inside to help. After a brief wait, tw Read on...
As I scrunched my way to the Bridge to survey the height of the river I met an elderly couple . Its slippery underfoot on the bridge Indeed it was . The cobblestones took on a shiny appearance underneath the covering of snow . Snow which had been falling steadily for the last hour or so. The sky was white. It looked full of the snow . It was going to fall throughout the day . Sometimes heavy . Ot Read on...