A week in Tunisia

We had an incredible time in Tunisia the first full week of April for spring break from school. We packed a LOT into that week too...including two days of travel to the Southern areas on the Libyan and Algerian borders. The first day we took a train to Tunis, about an hour away, and negotiated with a taxi driver to show us everything in Tunis, Carthage, and Sidi Bou Said. (a seaside, cobble-stones town with all blue doors and white houses) Nice guy, and a good way to see everything without the hassles of driving or tour buses. The ruins in Carthage rivaled the forum in Rome. I had to relearn about the Punic Wars. (The "Punics" were the Phoenicians, from Lebanon) The old residential areas, temples and baths were from 800 BC, and you still walk on the mosaic floors! The Roman baths there were second only to those in Rome, although more was intact here. We spent too much time walking around the medina (less sale4s pressure than Morocco here) and ended up taking the 1940's era train home around 7pm, when it was SO full that we had to stand all the way. The next day we walked the beach to Hammamet, and saw a big old fort and THEIR medina, and ate their national dish,couscous, for lunch. Later that week, we joined a tour bus to go down to the southern parts of the state. (It's about the size of Indiana) The first stop was El jem, the 3rd largest Roman amphitheater. The highlight for me was going for an hour long camel ride into the Sahara in Douz. My definition of "desert" has totally changed: not all cacti, but lots of other vegetation. There were lakes, mountains, lots of oasises, and marshy-like areas of sand in pink, all shades of tan, rust, and even black. The sand had different feels too...in the southern Sahara, it was like tan baby talcum powder. It sparkles in the sun because many little rocks are actually Mica crystals. The rest is "dust-like" and gets in everything...your watch, camera, hair, ears! (I could go on and on!) Very quiet though, and windy, with huge temperature variations. We rode LandRovers up and down the huge dunes, which was like a roller coaster! We ate lunch in one of the troglodyte underground homes. No wonder Steven Spielburg came here to film Star Wars! It's almost another-worldly.
Then we drove to Keballi, where they filmed young Luke Skywalker's home. If it were in the states, they'd have a gift shop nearby. It was refreshing that they didn't, but they did have a little porta-potty and sold tickets for the toilet for 1 Dinar that said "Star Wars Toilet". The date wasn't on it, so I'm planning on going back someday! We spent one night in the desert (at a hotel though...I couldn't wait to get in the shower and watch the sand piles form at my feet!) The next day we went to Chebika, on the Algerian border, and saw the ruins of an ancient Berber village, another oasis, desert mountains, and ate yet more couscous. It was a busy two days, but we had one more day to spend up north,(we went to the Bardo Museum in Tunis) so we went to look at the beautiful mosaics. It wasn't warm enough for a beach day anyway, but I did get an hour in the sun before the rain started. An early (3:15 AM!!) wake-up call got us to the Tunis-Carthage Airport and home in a few hours. It was a wonderful trip, the people were not pushy, very kind and helpful. Some of the women wore veils, some didn't. There were churches, synagogues,and mosques. It was very tolerant of differences and you could get a glass of wine or beer in the hotels and restaurants.

Middle Eastern Adventure

We got up on a Saturday morning and drove to Amsterdam airport (30 min)and boarded a plane for Dubai, United Arab Emeritus (UAE). It was a six hour flight going east. When we arrived we took a taxi to our cruise ship. The airport was FULL of people at 10pm, I saw later that it got even busier at 1 or 2 am! After hitting an ATM for some UA Dinars, we made it to King Rashid Port in a short time. The Costa ship, Luminosa, is less than a year old, so it smelled a WHOLE lot better than the Costa ship we took to north Africa a couple of years ago. In the morning we sailed to Muscat, Oman. The day started out right (it was my birthday!) with champagne in our cabin (from the travel agent?) and blue, sunny skies. (27 degrees C-which is about 80 F) That sure beats the Dutch weather! Rather than taking a cruise excursion with a big bus, we went it alone and started negotiating with a taxi driver about what the price would be if he took us to the places on the list I had made up. This also gave us a chance to see which one of the many drivers could speak English best! We chose "Moon" a Pakistani man in full Arab dress. He had been living in Oman for several years and was very knowledgeable. I went to my first mosque, very peaceful and beautiful. Moon went with us to the souk (shopping market stalls) where he negotiated for us and bought Fred an Arab hat and me a shawl. I bought a little camel, since I seem to have started a collection from the Middle Eastern countries I've been to so far, or the ME children I've taught. He took us to a little mall by the sea, and we remarked about all the westerners who were there...lots! Blonde-headed babies in strollers, ladies in jeans and flip-flops, you could've been in Chicago if not for the warm weather! The sea was beautiful (HAD to stick my feet in the Arabian Sea!) with pale sand and mountains up to the coast. I want to always spend my birthdays as the first day in a new country! Once back on the ship, we were placed at a table with Dutch-speaking people, probably because we booked the trip in Holland, and they had me listed at Dutch in the paperwork (?) so after dinner we asked to be changed to a table where people spoke English. The next day we arrived in Abu Dhabi, and I was AMAZED at the shipping going on in the port! There were HUGE ships unloading thousands of containers, and I could see big, shiny colored buildings with "Arab Shipping" printed on everything. There was a parking lot FULL of thousands of new Toyotas, mostly white. I could see the skyline was lots of big skyscrapers, not what I expected. We found another taxi driver (same routine!) and headed straight for the mosque. Abu Dhabi is the capital of the UAE, and is known as the "New York of the Middle East" as opposed to Dubai, with all its glitz and glamour, which is the "L.A. of the Middle East". The grand mosque is the largest in the country, and is open to non-Muslims. You have to wear the traditional coverings, as a woman) So, after donning the black robe (very hot over my white jeans and top!) I put on the head scarf and Fred took my picture. We were totally blown away by the beauty of the place! We removed our shoes and stood in this huge courtyard surrounded by white. As I took a picture, my "low battery" light flashed, and that was it for my pictures. I got a couple more of the beautiful inlayed marble floors, walls, and the incredible chandeliers, but the rest is just going to be in my memories, or I'll have to go back with my camera! I would recommend this to all Americans. We have many misconceptions about the Muslim faith. I found the people to be very kind. Friday is their holy day,(and closed to non-Muslims) and the mosque is only open to non-Muslims for a half day on Sunday, so we're lucky we got to see this incredible place. We then went to a mall which blows away any I've ever been to in the U.S. It was full of stores, but even though I tried, I couldn't find a dressy dress for a wedding I'm going to in Milan in April. Prices are not cheap either, even though there is a country-wide bi-annual sale. Lots of big-designer shops. Discouraging, since shopping in Holland is an exercise in futility. Clothes are either cheap and not made well, or outrageously expensive, like 140 euros for a pair of MK jeans! ANYHOW......Abu Dhabi was beautiful, incredible, and I would go back in a minute. The next day we sailed to Fujurah, UAE. I had wanted to go snorkeling, but the ship said there wouldn't be anything to see. So, we took a taxi to a nice hotel on the beach, and spent the day sun bathing and I took a couple of dips in the Arabian Sea. It wasn't the sandiest beach, but rather pebbly. The rest of the town was rather run-down and seedy-looking. This was my least-favorite stop, especially when we passed the Mariott with a big sign for their "Dive Center... to see the great coral reefs that surround the shoreline". Guess I'll have to come back here, too!
Our new table-mates were all from England. I thought we spoke the same language,but no. They laughed and laughed at some of the things we said, and we didn't always understand the point they were making. One was a young couple working in Dubai who just took the cruise to get away from work. So many big international companies are based in Dubai. (banks, engineers, and of course, oil, which, by the way, gasoline cost less than one euro per gallon!) No wonder everyone drives over there! The roads were excellent, and gas is cheap!
We sailed for Bahrain City next, in Bahrain. It's an island, and there's one road that leads to... Saudi Arabia. We could go up to the crossing, but were not allowed to go into the country. Again, we taxi'ed it. Our driver, another Pakistani, was very responsive to our political questions. He didn't feel they were treated very well by the Arabs. He said that most all of the labor jobs are done by East Indian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi men. He said that the Arab men own everything and sit around drinking tea or coffee all day. These taxi drivers can't become citizens either, so they work for a while, fly home to visit their wives and children, and come back for another 6 months. They do this for YEARS! We later saw this at the Dubai airport. Not ONE woman on the plane to Delhi. In Bahrain we went to the (free, thanks to the king!) camel farm where we saw more camels than we need to see for the rest of our lives! The cutest were the new 2 week old babies with curly brown fur! Unlike the rest, they didn't smell and had no flies. The mothers were curious about us, and the big males had to have one foot tied since they are aggressive. They're funny looking animals...but a big part of their culture and development here. Our driver took us to the place where the king's grandfather lived until 1961 and we were amazed that as a king in recent years..he had a sand floor home with no electricity and a big clay jug in another room to keep the water cool and an outdoor platform made of palm to sleep on in the summer when it's 120 F. They went from rags to riches that quickly. Now the king's homes are not to be believed! They're actually marble palaces with gold everywhere. A grandson in Dubai even turned his father's palace into the highest priced hotel in the country!
Last port was Dubai again. We hit the malls (OMG!!!) and took the hop-on, hop-off bus all over the city for 2 days. The place is like Las Vegas. It has skyscrapers x10, the world's only 7 star hotel (one of my students was staying there, I later found out) world's tallest building, (observation tower closed due to electrical problems), and just about the biggest, flashiest place you've ever seen! It's overload, but we did find one old part so we could see what it used to be like before all the new buildings, none of which is more than 10 years old! We flew out at 2am, and arrived at Amsterdam at 7am Sunday, February 28th. In all, it was a great trip, and I happily updated my TravBuddy map with 3 new countries, which put me at 30% of the world that I've seen...long way to go!

A Day in Antwerp

Saturday morning we drove (only 1.5 hrs) to Antwerp, Belgium. I love Antwerp, because of the legend. And who doesn't love a good legend? OK...centuries ago (during Roman times) there was a giant (Antigone) who stopped the boats going down the Scheldt River right at the part where the river makes a "U". (Guess where that is?) Anyhow, this nasty giant demanded a HUGE (50% of the value of the goods being transported!) tax for the boats to continue down the river. Naturally, the sailors were ticked and decided to fight the giant. Naturally the giant won. Always. AND to add to his nastiness, he would cut off the hand of each sailor he fought and toss it into the river, as a warning to others. Then he moved into the nearby castle, killing everyone inside. So along comes Brabo, the hero, he fights the giant for DAYS, and with the help of the god Mercury, kills him. In the name of justice, he cuts off the giant's hand and throws it into the river. The city is named Antwerpen (in Dutch) and that stands for "hand twerpen" or "hand throwing" in English. Good story, huh?
There's a statue of Brabo in the city center (tossing the giant's hand) and you can also see the castle in my pictures. We went through the cathedral of Our Lady looking at Ruben's masterpieces. Ruben's home is in Antwerp too, you can still go through it. We found a wonderful Italian restaurant for lunch. (Southern Italian..yum!) and of course, another Christmas market. Love that glug wine! One more week of school, and the kids in my class are going everywhere from Bangkok to South Africa,London, the U.S., and I'm off to Italy to meet Brad !

German Christmas Markets

We decided to drive into Germany for the 4 day Thanksgiving break from school and visit the Christmas Markets. They're all over the country, very traditional, and people walk around drinking glugwein (hot red or white spiced wine) , eating sausages, and shopping the booths. Last year we went to Cologne, and there were seven huge markets, so this year we went to a small town, Ahrweiler. That way we could also go to the spa in nearby Bad Neuenahr. We combined this with a trip to Oberhausen to Centro, the largest mall in western Europe, which was decorated beautifully for the holiday, AND had it's own Christmas market just outside. We shopped, we drank and ate, and we drove our pooped bodies to the spa to recoop! What a fun weekend! Now we have school until Dec. 18th, and then yet ANOTHER break!

The Chunnel, Stonehenge, Bath and Amiens, France.

Since I had a week off of school for fall break, we decided to drive through the Chunnel from Calais, France to Folkstone, England, and drive to Stonehenge. It was amazing that "the crossing" as they call it, took less than a half hour! They announce that "It's almost time to disembark, turn your clocks back one hour and drive on the left!" The roundabouts were the MOST fun...trying to figure out who had the right of way! I HAD to drive in England though,as a personal goal since learning to drive stick-shift, and even drove us back on the Chunnel when we left England. Stonehenge was amazing, and there are other stone circles around the area too, just not with stones quite as large. We loved seeing the abbeys at Salisbury, Bath, Wells and Lacock. (The Harry Potter movie was filmed there!) We enjoyed the thermal baths in Bath, and were amazed by the Roman Baths there that are STILL airtight and holding water hundreds of years later there. After England, we drove to Amiens, France for two nights to see the largest cathedral in the country. The symbol of World War II, the weeping angel, was there. It took only about four hours to drive back "home" to Holland (after we fixed our flat tire)...another great trip!

A Trip to Maastrich

We finally got away and took a drive down to the southeastern tip of The Netherlands Saturday morning and went to Maastrich. It's a stones-throw from Belgium to the west, and Germany to the east. Even with the Tom-Tom, I think we crossed the Maas River river seven times! Still, it was a lovely old walled city, (the Romans were here!) and we enjoyed walking around. The weather cooperated too, which is unusual for this time of year. Sunday morning we went to the oldest thermal spa in Holland, Terme 2000. We spend four hours in the different pools, and even went in one that was outside. Total destressing needed for standardized testing in school this week. (A first for third graders!) Looking forward to October break when we take the Chunnel to southwest England.

A Day at Rijksmuseum

This Saturday we took the train to Amsterdam to spend the day looking at Rembrandt's masterpieces at the Rijksmuseum. One of the most famous paintings...The Kitchen Helper by VerMeer, was on loan to the Met. Museum of Art in New York. We did get to see The Night Watch, which is gigantic, dark, and typical Rembrandt. It was a nice day, but usual Dutch weather. We always bring an umbrella! We passed one on the street that died a sudden death due to the wind which can be brutal this time of the year. We're planning Oct. break in England, and got tickets for the Chunnel. That should be fun!