We Love Paris

Free airmiles, flights of fancy, and Feb the 14th Landed us in Paris - well actually we arrived on Friday night for the weekend and flew back to London on the Sunday. First impressions - beautiful but BITterly cold! Sub zero temperatures, grey skies, intermittent snow meant that saturday was spent alternating between freezing and thawing as we walked down the Seine and darted inside the museum of fine arts and jumped on to the metro! Saturday night and some more layers, saw us recover in time to climb the Butte over Montmatre (where we were staying) to see the Sacre Coeur Church and a view of Paris and Sunset and then on to the Town Hall to ice skate. This was the warmest we got all weekend! We then meandered down the Champs d'Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe and it is rather spectacular! Sunday morning, fortunately, dawned, clear and crisp and we made a bee line for the Eiffel Tower. We barely had to queue before we were climbing up to the second floor for some amazing views and then on up to the top for the full experience. It was amazing. We then retraced some of Saturday's path and went along the river to the Musee Quai de Branly - a fantastic collection of culture from around the world - and the Musee d'Orsay. The latter was a bit touristy for our liking but still some really lovely pieces. We then enjoyed the Chinese New Year celebrations near the Pompidou centre before grabbing a quick bite to eat and heading to the airport for the trip home. Here are some of the highlights:

Israel and Palestine

So this was our first taste of the impact of having compulsory military service. The Israeli Military is large and, apparently, all under the age of 25! After a relatively worry free crossing, we caught a sheerut taxi on towards Jerusalem, where we were dropped at the Herod Gate to the Old City. We meandered on to the Damascus Gate where we heard all the budget accommodation was centred. As it was heading toward evening, accommodation was definitely a top priority. After wandering through the old city and being redirected a number of times by well meaning stall holders and passersby, we finally accepted an offer of tea from a local Arab stall holder, who chatted with us and directed us back out to the Damascus Gate, across the road, and to the Palm hostel. Phew, we were definitely grateful to find a place. The next day, we visited the Mt of Olives, including, the Paternoster Church, the Dominus Flevit Chapel, and the Church of All Nations in the Garden of Gethsemane. It took a while for the reality to sink in that we were walking in Jesus’ footsteps! We then meandered back to the Old City, through the Lions Gate and to the Western Wall. Jerusalem is definitely a melting pot of a city – whichever way you look you see orthodox Jews walking to school, Muslims responding to the call to prayer, Orthodox nuns walking on to the Holy Sepulchre, or Franciscan brothers leading tour groups along Via Dolorosa. The market place is a hive of activity with the noise of birdsong and children’s laughter permeating every alley way!

Day 2 and we made a foray in to the West Bank by visiting Bethlehem and Hebron. It was definitely an experience. We felt quite discouraged and demoralised by having to pass through the huge separation wall to get to Bethlehem and to see all the messages that people had left in graffiti – “Love Each Other” or “Hope Builds Bridges, Not walls.” After visiting the very tourist – filled Church of the Nativity, we travelled on to Hebron where we met some lovely people - stall holders chatted with us and offered us free food, and it was a real contrast to the man who watched from an army tower in the Hebron division wall as we ate our lunch in the market square. That evening we liked being able to reflect on our way back to Jerusalem and remember that many of the people we had seen that day had not been able to visit Jerusalem in the last 7 years, if ever.

We also got to visit the Garden tomb, a possible site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, before leaving Jerusalem and heading to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee in time for Shabbat. Fortunately, we were able to find some food when we arrived which set us up for our meals for the following day. On Sunday, we spent a great day, heading to Tabgha and Capernaum, where we visited the Mt of Beatitudes, and several Churches. It is truly a beautiful spot and we can totally see why Jesus chose that place to settle for a large part of his three year ministry. We managed to make it back to Tiberias to catch an evening bus to Nazareth, Jesus’ childhood home. We decided, in the end, to take a room at the Sisters of Nazareth Convent (!!) for the night, where there was an amazing view over the town from the roof. Before having to leave Nazareth for Tel Aviv to catch our homeward flight, we managed to have enough time to visit the Church of the Annunciation and the Church of St Joseph. The former was a really impressive church with very interesting mosaics depicting the Annunciation sent from countries all round the world. We also got to visit “Little Nazareth” a village that has been set up to depict what life might have been like in the time of Jesus. A guide walked with us through the village and gave us information and a new perspective on some Biblical teachings. Then it was off to Ben Gurion Airport for a flight back to cold, wintery, snowy London. What a trip. Enjoy the pics.

Jordan....

Alas, farewell to Syria, but hurrah, hello to Jordan. We both really enjoyed Jordan for its natural beauty and historic sites. We spent a day in Amman before picking up a hire car and hitting the road south to Madaba, where there are some amazing mosaics in the churches there, and up to Mt Nebo, where Moses was shown the Promised Land before he died. Then it was back down, way down below Sea Level, to the Dead Sea, where we bathed, and spent New Year’s Eve, chilling in the Wadi Mujib chalet, overlooking the salty lake and across to the lights of Jerusalem.The next day we went up hill again to Al-Kerak and another Crusader castle – definitely not as impressive as Krak des Chevaliers but still pretty good views – before heading south towards the Dana Nature Reserve. The next day, we visited Dana Village and meandered around the terraced hillside into the valley a wee way before we were told we would need a permit (costing an exorbitant amount of money to go any further). So we drove on to our next stop, Al Nawatef Camp, which is right on the southern edge of Dana reserve, and where we were welcomed with a much needed cup of tea while seated precariously on chairs right on the edge of the hill side in the most astounding quiet we had ever known with gorgeous views across the valley. After a bite to eat and a wee nap, we joined a French couple who had arrived shortly after us, and followed a guide down in to the valley for a walk before dinner. It was amazing getting across what appeared un-navigable scree, seeing old tombs, scorpions (!!), plants, and hearing the distant bells of a local herd of goats.

The next day, the 3rd of January, was our 5th wedding anniversary and we celebrated by heading down to Petra! Wow. After the shock of the price hike that had come in to effect on the 1st we made our way down into the old Nabatean settlement. It was incredible. The colours, and the detail, the skills, and the ingenuity. We marvelled at the Treasury, climbed up to the High Place of Sacrifice, and picnicked on a rock ledge looking across to the Palace tombs, before checking out the excavations near Qasr-al-Bint. In the evening we made it back to Al Nawatef in time for a lovely dinner. We were the only guests that night so we felt really privileged to be able to talk with the staff a bit and then go back to our cosy tent hut feeling like we had had a great day. We packed up the next day and headed back towards Petra, where we checked in to a hotel before going back down to Petra itself. This time we climbed up to the Monastery – and wow! That was definitely a highlight. It is a huge monument, some 50m high, and we saw some of the locals climbing up to the top and jumping from one ledge to the other as if it was nothing! We then headed further up to an amazing view point across the neighbouring wadi (or valleys). After farewelling Petra and Wadi Musa, we drove back up the Desert Highway to Amman to return the hire car and then grab a taxi to the King Hussein Bridge – the border crossing in to Israeli occupied Palestine.

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: