Syria....

On to Syria then....Aleppo was a bustling place but we had been advised that there wasn’t a lot to see so we headed straight to the old town, found a restaurant to eat and where the manager kindly allowed us to leave our bags while we explored the amazing traditional souq, nearby citadel, and environmental photo exhibition, before we collected them again and caught an onward bus to Hama.

Hama is small city most well known for the huge wooden noria, or water wheels in the Orontes River. The wheels are still used for irrigation and the like, when they turn during the summer months. Hama was a place of discovery – the most notable one being that the most recent Lonely Planet guide to Syria and Lebanon is riddled with inaccuracies! From the location of the bus stops to the price of accommodation, to the names of eating establishments, LP had it wrong. Despite this, we managed to view the water wheels, have a day out to visit the impressive Crusader Castle at Qalat al-Hosn or Krak des Chevaliers, and spend Christmas day, sharing a picnic in the park and visiting Al-Azem Palace. Daniel also gave Susanna the entrance fee to the local Hamam (bathhouse) as a Christmas present, and wow, what an experience. Definitely a huge highlight of the whole trip for Susanna. From Hama, it was South and East to Palmyra, an amazing small town built adjacent to the ancient Roman City of the same name. The ruins of Palmyra are amazing. There is no entrance fee except to the Temple of Bel, and we were free to wander the old Roman Road, past the theatre, the Agora, across crumbling buildings and past urns, and faded facades. We then got to see the most amazing sunset as well! On then, the next day, to Damascus. Damascus is a huge city but is reportedly the most continuously inhabited city throughout history (although other places like Jericho and Bethlehem contest this title)! We loved exploring the walled old town, walking down Straight Street (where the recently converted apostle Paul fled from the Jewish priests after being lowered from the house of Ananias), visiting the church near Ananias’ house, and seeing how politics influences everyday life – when we went to use an internet cafe, we had to register and give passport details as it was a legal requirement to do so and certain websites would be banned, we imagined.

Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Occupied Palestine, and Israel – what a way to start a new decade!

Our break over the Christmas/New Year period was a really great time of adventure, exploration, relaxing, and reflecting. We spent a little over 3 weeks travelling from Istanbul to Syria and through Jordan, and Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories. Here is some of what we experienced. BE WARNED, this is going to be long!

First up... TURKEY!
East meets west in Istanbul, a clash of continents, cultures, landscapes, architecture, and style. Might be a cliché but we found it to be accurate. We were impressed with the history of the place, the food, the abundance of apple tea, and the beautiful sights and sounds. The call to prayer, held at regular intervals throughout the day was actually an amazing sound, quite beautiful blending as muezzin at different mosques called to each other across Sultanahment, where we stayed, and over the Bosphorous. It reminded us, though, of the religious conflict over the centuries. We saw beautiful mosaic work that had been covered when churches were converted to mosques, and equally beautiful blue iznik tiling in the huge mosques in different parts of the city.

After 3 days of these wonders, we were hitting the road – or the rail, to be precise. We caught the train from Istanbul to Adana in South Turkey. An overnight journey in a really nice train, with our own two bed compartment, a dining car, and some free food! The landscape, unfortunately, was not that exciting but we still got to see a slice of life in the Turkish country side. The next day, the train arrived a couple of hours late so scuppered our plans to press on to Aleppo, in the north of Syria. Instead, we caught a late bus to Antakya, near the border of Turkey. There, we spent the night in a very modest travellers lodging, and then, early next morning caught the bus, across the border, to Syria. To be continued..

Flying Visit - Geneva!

In December, I (Susanna) got an email from my great friend, Jo, to say that she was coming to Geneva for some work related training but that she was tacking a few days holiday on to the end, and (half jokingly) would I be interested in catching up! Of course, I jumped online and found the cheapest deal for a trip and replied immediately, yes I would! And so it was that I spent a whirlwind 36 hours in Geneva, Switzerland – where it was VERY cold. It was great to see Jo and I really felt like we just picked up where we left off – we chatted, ate, chatted, and drank hot chocolates, and chatted.. and, oh yeah, we visited the International Committee of the Red Cross and Crescent Museum, walked past the UN HQ, and went up to the old city to watch the end of the festival that the Genevois mark the date when they defeated Savoy and his troops. All great fun. Too soon the time was over and it was back to London for me and back to NZ for Jo, but here are some pics...

New Year’s Resolutions... Keeping up to Date with the Blog!

Well we realise that we have been very remiss with long gaps in between filling people in on our comings and goings. So remiss in fact, that we didn’t share one of the highlights of the year. At the end of September 09, Susanna’s parents, Peter and Ruth, arrived in the UK for a stay of about 5-6 weeks! It was amazing meeting them at Heathrow and hearing all about their travels en route and then being able to welcome them to our small home to use as a base for their time here. Peter and Ruth travelled throughout the UK visiting family, friends, new places, and old places and, in between, spent time with us here. While in London we enjoyed showing them some of the sights like, London Borough Market, Regent’s Canal, Thames Barrier Park (which we’d never been to either), and Primrose Hill. We also got to show them the joys of travel on budget airlines when we flew EasyJet to Spain for a week’s holiday in Andalucia. Wow! While there we stayed in a house in a small village in Los Guajaros about a 50 minute drive south of Granada and the magnificent Alhambra. We also were able to visit Jaen and Cordoba on our holiday and it was a really special family time. We miss them now they are back in NZ and we do miss the whole of both our families. At the same time though, Peter and Ruth reminded us how blessed we were to have all the opportunities to explore and travel and grow while here in the UK. So that eased the sadness when they left. Here are some of the pics of our trip last year:

Beaches and Brides in Bournemouth

Towards the end of September, we travelled down to Bournemouth to celebrate with our friends, Jimmy and Esther, as they got married in Boscombe, a suburb on the edge of Bournemouth. It was a beautiful wedding and a really happy day.

As we were staying in a nearby BnB, we met up with some of the other people we knew at the wedding the next day to explore the Bournemouth Pier, the city gardens, mini putt, and the amazing beach. Yes, that's right, the amazing beach - Brits do have 'em! The beach on the Dorset coast lasts for miles and miles and it is beautiful warm golden sand. Sure there are the token piers and a few sections of more pebbles and deckchairs than actual sand, but it is definitely a beach to rival the shores of New Zealand. We really enjoyed our fish and chips there on the last evening before heading back to London. Here are some pics so you can see what we mean!

The Summer of 09

Since returning from Berlin we have spent a fair bit of time in London as we are saving up leave for later in the year when Susanna’s parents come to visit. It has been a really enjoyable time though and we have explored some new haunts, had more regular attendance at Church, and enjoyed just chilling out.

Latterly, we have had some really good weather, which was timed perfectly for the arrival of Susanna’s brother, Andrew, who was visiting London for 2 weeks. The first weekend he was here, he stayed with us and we showed him around some of our favourite London spots – Regents Park and Canal, Camden markets, and Hampstead Heath.

Last weekend was the British ‘summer’ bank holiday and we spent the long weekend at Greenbelt festival, which was held at Cheltenham Race Course. It was a lot of fun. We camped with some friends from Church and also got to spend more time with Andrew and Jemma, who had arrived during the week. There were some great bands and great speakers and we were really challenged by a lot of what we heard – really made us think. The highlights for us were probably:

• Shlomo and the vocal orchestra – amazing beatboxing and music making; and
• Alistair McIntosh – who spoke on “the climate of our times” and really challenged us to think more seriously about Climate Change

Rob Bell was also there – he is a really great speaker and shared some new insights about Christian thinking on suffering. The weather was a bit colder than anticipated but we survived! Now the season is definitely turning – more blustery winds and cooler evenings – farewell summer.

East Meets West

There's 2 sides to every story - not least the story of Berlin. Many of our fellow antipodeans living in London (and elsewhere) have rated Berlin as one of their top European destinations. Initially we had not thought of visiting Germany but after such rave reviews we decided to add it to our "must see" list and when better to see it, other than when Susanna's friend from NZ, Danielle, was going to be there as part of her European holiday? We flew (at silly o'clock on a Saturday morning with Ryan Air of course) in to Schonefeld Airport and met Danielle then took the S-Bahn into the Eastern side of the city. After dropping our bags at a random but good value hostel, we met up with other friends in Alexanderplatz. We then meandered down Unter den Linden, towards the Western part of the city, past Checkpoint Charlie, and on to the (in)famous Judisches (Jewish) Museum - a history of all things Jewish - including a particulary grizzly special exhibition on the Eugenics programs that were researched and practiced during WWII. It is an amazing building and very interesting exhibitions but left us feeling a bit downhearted - nothing, however, that a hearty meal and good German sing-a-long at the oldest pub in Berlin, Im Letzen Instance, couldn't fix. We met a great group of German guys who were singing merrily away and invited us to join them. We parted with a rough but heartfelt performance of the haka and really felt this was the highlight of our time here. Other good points:

• Seeing the original wall at the East Side Gallery with some cool murals and grafitti;
• Catching up with old friends,
• Visiting K'dam on the west side;
• The German parliament building, the Reichstag; and..
• The food!

Enjoy the pics....