I'm still here

My apologizes to those who 7 weeks ago were looking forward to a bi-weekly or even weekly update on my blog while I have been in Australia for work.  Just take my lack of ability or drive as a sign that I've been having way too much fun.

I don't know what the date is anyday, everyday.  I think due to the weather my strong internal clock rejects the idea that it is (*checks calendar to ensure*) Dec. 4th at 8pm.  Its just not a possibility really.  Or is it.  I'm generally just confused.

Tomorrow starts my last week in Australia and I have made a bucket list of things I want to do within the Sydney area while I am here.  My work assignment should allow for a flexible schedule so daytime activities should be not ruled at in the least.  So, here is what I did today on the T-8 day left in Australia.

December 1st marked the first day of summer but it has been so much hotter here before then.  In fact the first 3 days of summer were just rain.  Hard rain - none of this "English rain" which I define as light drizzle.  It's like the Brits are all going to melt if they get wet at all and if the sun should shine on their wet skin like an ant under a magafined glass on a hot sunny summer's day.

So today being the 2nd beautiful day out of summer- yesterday I was in the office -, I asked my manager if I could work in the evening instead of during the day today.  As soon as he gave me the thumbs up I was in the shower getting ready to hit the beach.

It was the most windy on the beach then I have ever experienced here yet.  I laid on my towel reading a book for an hour while the wind blew across my body from the left.  When I sat up to move, the left side of my towel not protected by my body was not just covered in sand but was growing into little mounds of sand.

Also while on the beach, there was a siren that sounded.  My first thought having come from Indiana where you practice more for tornado drills then you ever experience of tornadoes, was that it was a tornado horn.  But that couldn't be because its beautiful and sunny out even though the wind is fierce.  SHARK!
Thats right, shortly after the horn the lifeguard was on the beach's loudspeaker instructing all swimmers, particularly surfers to get out of the water due to a shark siting somewhere a couple miles, give or take as I really am not sure exactly where he was talking about, from the Manly beach area.  Heck it could have been that area and he just called it something different.  A helicopter over the next 30 minutes circled the area of Manly Beach as well as a near by beach, I believe looking for more sightings.  On that note, I am still glad I booked my first surfing lesson for tomorrow morning 2 hours prior to this.

I walked around Manly, got a massage, did some souvenior shopping, and had a great cajun burger as a late lunch.  Then I took a nap.  It's now almost half after 8pm and I haven't started work yet, BUT I will as soon as I get back from visiting the nearby bottle shop for a bottle of white wine.

Apologies there are no pictures.  I have limited internet bandwidth from the company and they have asked me not to upload or download too much.  I do believe I already cost them a pretty penny doing some internet TV streaming last month while in Melbourne, so out of guilt the pictures are not posted here.

Some can be seen on my facebook page and there are 2 photo albums of my trip so far on my shutterfly page. http://sarahjames.shutterfly.com/

G'day Mate!

I think I am legally required to say "G'day Mate!" now at least 2 times / day.

I have arrived in Sydney, Australia! :)

I flew from Chicago on Sunday at 5pm CST time to London; an 8 hour flight  I arrived home Monday about 8am (2am CST) GMT / London time.  I was picked back up to go back to the airport at 7:30pm GMT (1:30pm CST) on Monday and flew out at 10pm.  The first leg of this flight was 11-12 hours.  After a much needed 2.5 hour layover for refueling in Bangkok, Thailand -

 we reboarded for another 10.5 hour flight to Sydney - arriving at 6:30am local time.

I had to wait to get my hotel room for 2 hours but had some breakfast and checked some emails.  After getting my room I decided a nap was necessary; unfortunately it was one of those 'not very good sleep' naps but it did last on and off for 3 hours. 

I have since pulled myself out of bed and am on my computer trying to stay awake.  I was feeling adventurous and wanted to go out to a nice dinner by the Sydney Habor tonight, but I think I will pass and will have some comfort food in the comfy space of my own room - while laying in bed and watching Grey's Anatomy or Family Guy.

Apologies but there are probably no other pictures of Turkey I will be posting as last week my computer's hard drive died *moment of silence*.  I was in the middle of editing the photos so they are gone.  Luckily I let Matt go on the vacation with me so I will post a link to his pictures when he puts them on the internet - possibly this century.

Biggie & Ebbie are Hitched!

Whadda wedding!

Not only celebrating two really great Marquette friends of mine getting married, but also celebrating friendships with so many people across the board. 

 

Nalani Violeta Rivera

One evening during the fall of 2001, my best friend Katiera and I decided to ask my other friend Cisco to shave our heads.  I didnt know that evening their introduction would not only lead to a beautiful marriage but now even a stunning little girl, Nalani Violeta Rivera.
I had the chance to spend 3 days with the Riveras at their home in Florida last week.  This also means I was able to love and cuddle what is probably the cutest baby ever.  She has her Papa's curly hair and his smile and she has her Mama's big blue eyes.

What's next??

I have a lot to schedule and organise the next 5 days. This coming Friday I am traveling to the USA for a friends wedding in Chicago and multiple other visits, including Milwaukee for friends and my brother Zack as well as a trip to Florida to visit the Rivera family.
Immediately on my return to the uk on the 12th, I will be departing to go to Australia for the next 2 months to work on 2 work related projects. In other words, stay tuned.

Day 9 - Istanbul, Turkey & Return Home

The unplanned taxi ride was due to a mistake by the hotel's booking agency. They will be getting a call from me requesting a refund on the hotel room since our taxi rides last night and back to the opposite side of Istanbul to the correct airport was 2x the cost of the 1 night stay.
Nonetheless, I am finishing typing these last few days up now on our 3 hour flight back to London Gatwick. We will take the train from the airport for 10 pounds each to arrive home within an hour and start washing clothes. It has been a culturally amazing trip and an equally fun adventure.

Day 8 - Selcuk & Istanbul, Turkey

Today we woke to a shining sun. We organised and packed our bags in preparation for the travel back to Istanbul.
During our last bit of shopping, we ran into what we think is the only mean person in turkey. The shop owner did not like that we asked to pick out our things in his shop and then talk price. When it was time to talk price, he gave a price and we countered that price; as usual haggling goes. He didn't counter again and just became angry. We walked out of his shop and he cursed at us on the way out. His neighbour got our business; not only because of the vicinity of his shop but he also had what we wanted at a price we wanted.
Next we hit the beach for a few hours before taking a taxi, a 3 hour bus, another taxi, a plane and then a very unplanned and expensive 2 hour taxi back to our hotel in Istanbul; arriving at 1am.

Day 7 - Alanya, Turkey

An over night bus ride proved for very little sleep, but we did see a little of the sunrise over the black mountains during the ride. After 1 bus switch, we arrived in Analya, a Turkish beach resort. To avoid a deep sleep on the beach and avoiding getting burnt during such, we napped a couple of hours and made it over to the beach. I spoke to Josh on the phone to wish him a happy 16th birthday just when my pina colada arrived. Unfortunately it was 6am his time and he was on the way to pre-school basketball practice. Luckily he did have a very full day ahead of him.
Beach, playing in the water filled our day.
We cleaned up and got ready for the evening. We walked around the town's bazaar area and then made our way to the harbour to a lonely planet recommended restaurant known for its seafood and steaks. Matt had 8 king prawns the looked grilled and roasted with flavour; most were so tender they just about fell out of their shell. I ate a lovely fillet doused in a pepper gravy.
Afterwards we walked along the harbor, taking in the sites of a lively and bustling bar and club night life.
Once arriving at our hotel we enjoyed a nargile pipe with cherry tobak as well as a traditional drink, Raki.

Day 6 - Epheses & Selcuk, Turkey

To the right - this is the currently closed citadel which we could see from our hotel room.   This photo was taken from the ruins of St. John's Bacilica.

Finally. Stunningly full sunny day! One of our first as it has been unreasonable rainy and cold in turkey this year.


Today we explored Ephesus. You must read about it to get the full understanding of where we were.


 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephesus


In short, it is an ancient walled city.  In some of its last days, John the baptist brought the blessed virgin Mary to a few times and it is believed it is where they both spent the last of their days.

The architecture and stunning history aside in this blog to spare a horribly written novel,
















we also saw the remains of the first church named after Mary, the original tomb of st john the baptist and later built bascillica on the spot,

 
and the ampitheater where st paul the apostole came to the Ephesians and spoke to them of Christianity. The Ephesians cheered for 3 hours in favour of Artemis. Paul was forced to leave to an island in exile for a while after this.

In Ephesus we also visited the terrace houses which where destroyed by an earthquake and around 1950 started the digging and reconstruction; the completion is many decades off but if I visit here again, I will make a point to see the progress. The money into the marble, frescos, and fully mosaic floors is incredible. The floor mosaics are the largest from such an early time period that have been uncovered.










After our day visiting ruins and sites from BC and ad times, we made our way back to our hotel.
When passing by Denis' bar, our British and Dutch friend were found having a beer. Of course they treated us to one as we sat to chat with them. Before we knew it, we were being taken with both our new friends to the British man's home in the hills of farms only 10 minutes away. His wife was there to greet us and made up some snacks and glasses of beer on their wrap around porch. This was a dream home and the porch, for me, was the icing on the cake. I am in love with this house. The British friend showed us his hobby of magic tricks of which his best trick failed although I did find it still impressive and I was not sure how he did the trick that far!
The hilltop ranch included ducks, cats, and dogs. They used to also have a donkey, turkeys, and chickens but the ability to keep them as farm animals instead of pets became an obstacle. They also have a dream orchard. I am not sue I remember all they types of trees they have but there definitely were grapefruit, TONS of olives, figs, apples, and pomagrantes. As he said, "fruit for every season."
The really fun evening at a beautiful place which was so welcoming it felt like home, had to come to an end. Matt, the Dutch friend, and myself were taken back into town where we gathered our luggage and went over to Denis' bar for a few pints. This extra visiting with the Dutchman and the many people of every age he had made friends with at Denis' bar was fun. He walked us about 23:00 to the bus station and saw us on the bus.
If there is any place in turkey I want to revisit and explore the mountains, it is here.

Day 5 - Goreme & Selcuk, Turkey

The goreme open air museum was the highlight of our

day. It is an area of the cappadocia fairy chimneys that is preserved and open for touring. Most of the byzantine carved caves in this area are functional areas for meetings and mostly churches or chapels. The frescos on the walls and ceilings are beautifully preserved, except for he more recent graffiti of the scratching out of the faces or eyes of the

Christian iconics. Not a single face of Jesus was untouched.

A flight took us to Izmir, a seaside town. I really wanted to leave our bags somewhere and have the evening on the promenade and have dinner there during the sunset. We walked for about an hour and a half with our backpacks and other and luggage. Per a suggestion we found the tourism office to ask for advise on where to leave our bags. Thank goodness for 8 years of German studied because they did not speak English but spoke German. After more walking we changed out minds and got a taxi to the main bus station and took an hour bus ride to Selcuk.

Our hotel room was very cool - with a large balcony we did not really use except to take a few photos of the ancient citadel and pillars left from Roman aqua ducts. These aqua ducts are some if not the worlds oldest and best preserved. The pillars are used by storks today. There are giant nests on the top of each pillar; the storks come in April to lay their eggs and all, even the new babies, leave in September.

Our travel book suggested a romantic and naturally rustic decorated restaurant. We were referred to. A neighbouring bar post meal for a drink and nargile. The bar ended up being on 3 doors down from our hotel and the staff was very attentive.

In turkey you almost always get mixed nuts with drinks and quite a few places also bring fresh fruit plates. At this bar, Denis' Bar, we got fresh popcorn, and an apple and pear plate. We started chatting with the two neighbour tables, one being a British husband and wife and their close Dutch friend. All 3 were definitely living local and were regulars at this place; the Dutchman was even serving and cleaning tables. A passing man was a friend of the Brit and introduced us to him ad he is a Texan who is teaching groups of students philosophy and history in the area. We talked and drank and play backgammon until late and went home to bed.

Day 4 - Cappadocia Region, Goreme, Turkey

We arrived at midnight at our pension in goreme cappadocia. We were greeted by one of the staff saying they were not expecting us for another two days; the only reason he knew we were coming was due to our tour calling to confirm the day before.
This was the last evening of ramazan festival and the pension was full. Luckily someone else had checked out a couple hours before so we were able to have a room with 5 beds to ourselves.
The alarm the next morning was set for 5 am. It was a rough start but worth it as we were picked up by a shuttle and taken to a large field where about 20 hot air balloons were being laid out and preparing for flight. We had some chocolate marbled homemade cake with tea and were signed to a balloon.

We walked over and were astounded by the beauty of our and the other balloons preparation; it was like watching it come to life.

The balloon trip took us high and low in valleys and over the cappadocia region for over an hour and half. It will take a while to sort through the couple hundred of pictures matt and I both took. We finished the trip on a plateau and enjoyed a glass of champagne while taking it all in. All this before 9am; talk about productivity! :)

After a nap, we travelled by 2 buses to Derinkuyu; a medium sized village where there a an 8 level underground city. There are 5 of the underground cities in this area but this is the largest. All were used to hide Christians during a Muslim invasion by the Persians during the 6th and 7th century ad. 10,000 people lived there for months at a time. The sign outside the city ironically said people went here to escape from invaders but the personal classification of either was not mentioned. A mosque is situated very closely as well.

A long return on the buses brought us back where we moved into a proper double cave room in the

pension; which is carved out of a

cappadocia chimney rock. A lovely dinner, wine, and to bed early ended our day. We walked 6 miles this day.

Istanbul, Turkey - Day 3

With an early - and thankfully so - jumpstart, we went to the Topkapi Palace - where the Sultans lived, wined & dined, and even kept their harem. This palace's construction was started in 1453 by Mehmet the Conqueror. Our travel book suggests 1/2 a day here to visit at a minimium, and they arent joking. Luckily they suggest not only to get there early but also the main highlights.

We visited the Harem's quarters - which was a beautiful blue tiled palace in itself; it is also where the Sultan slept and spent most of his living time too.

In the palace treasury - the amount of gems to be see is uncountable. The biggest is a 86 carat diamond which is the 5th largest in the world. It was found in the trash and later purchased by a street pedlar for 3 spoons; hense the setting and the stone is called The Spoonmaker's Diamond.

The Sacred Safe Keeping room was my favorite and was the most inspiring; God - or Allah, something Holy was felt in this building. It houses relics such as Moses' staff, something of King David's and Abraham's, St. John's (Baptist? We arent sure) arm bone and portion of skull, as well as many other relics for Muslim prophet Mohammed. Many other relics as well. No words come to mind to really grasp what this was like.

Next we went to the Grand Bazaar - and thought we started to find it... after walking in what was a local's clothing, shoes, accessory market for 2 hours we were told and realized that since it was day 2 of Eid, the Grand Bazaar would not be open until after Day 3 of Eid.
With disappointment, we walked to a near by and more tourist area where lots of shops were situated - we haggled more there but it just was not the same. Still was fun.

We had a 19:55 flight from the smaller of the two Istanbul airports.
Our shuttle mini-bus was about to drop us and other passengers off at the International Departures when we all reminded him we needed Domestic Turkish flights. He apologized and smiled. We all piled back into the mini-bus to have him drive us 50 yards to the next door for Domestic Departures. :)

As if our adventure was over yet, we were hungry for some hot food for dinner - we looked around and found somewhere advertising pizza. I asked how big it was and the girls at the kisok laughed at me. I didnt understand. They said "It's a cone!" and laughed more.
We looked for other options and finally it was Cone pizza or French Fries for dinner - so we went with the Cone pizza experience.

After the flight we picked up our bags in the what is the smallest airport I have ever seen - although Matt has seen at least 1 smaller; this one at least had 4 walls unlike the one he arrived at in Thailand.

We arrived at 23:00 at our hotel to find out our travel agency booked the incorrect dates for us and only did our tour group for the next day flag this up to the hotel staff and owner with a tour reminder phone call. So we got very lucky to have a room at all during this festival time and stayed in a 5 person dorm room - just the two of us.

We walked around 8 miles this day.

Istanbul, Turkey - Day 2

Started our day with breakfast on the roof terrace of our hostel. The bread is delicious - especially topped with sour cherry jam. Matt had mystery meat but I declined.

The first day we arrived was the last day of a holy month for Muslims, Ramadan. They do not smoke, eat, or drink (not even water) until after the sunset for a month. This first day, after 7:30pm, everyone was eating (as my dad would say) like they were going to the gas chamber and it was their last meal.

This festival of Eid is 3 days long. What we did not realize was that this means a lot of things are closed.

On day 2, we saw the Blue Mosque which had lovely soft carpet; to enter you must remove your shoes of course. The decoration is beautiful.

We then visited the area where the Hippodrome used to be; the hippodrome was where the sultans would watch chariot races. In this area now, we visited the Rough Stone Obelisk, the Spiral Column (which used to have bronze serpent heads as part of a fountain but is gone after being stolen during the 4th Crusade), Oblisk of Theodosius (stolen by Theordosius from Egypt),

and the Kaiser Wilhem Fountain, which was not stolen but was a gift from the Kaiser.

We tried to visit the Grand Bazaar - a Townsend woman's dream come true - bargains you continue to haggle over, but it was closed.

I was lured by my curiousity into a shop where a Kurdish tribal man spoke to us of this project he and his family run. In short, they work to keep the carpet making business a tradition thing so each carpet is unique and made with non-synthetic materials. He laid 20+ carpets for us to just discuss and talk about the culture.
After seeing many carpets and learning many different things -- I started asking prices and preparing myself to haggle. After much debate and some words exchanged in German or English whispers, Matt and I bought a Kilim carpet (traditional Turk Kurdish) which serves traditionally as a table, tablecloth, and chairs. All houses in the traditional Turk Kurdish areas serve guests and share meals this way. We purchased a design called the tree of life.
I haggled him down 25% and realized that I have money some people dont and felt bad for further haggling.

Next was visiting the old town's cistern - where water and even if you were lucky, a fish - would be accessible after dipping your bucket in. There are 363 columns supporting this under ground structure which was built in 1532 AD by Emperior Justian. It measures 70 yards x 160 yards.

There are 2 Medusa heads carved from stone in the back of the cistern - one is upside down and the other is on its side. There is reason why but too much to type now... Google it.

We took a nap and planned to go to the Aya Sofya; currently a mosaic museum but used to be the capital's mosque (before the Blue Mosque) and BEFORE that it was a Christian church or catherdal. Nonetheless - it is amazing. It was built in 1537 AD by Emperior Justinian.

We started walking out of the old Sultanhamet town to cross a bridge towards the Galata Tower as a recommendation by our London friend (who is originally Turkish) Havva. As her suggestion, go visit it at sunset. It has been very rainy here and there was no sun and thick clouds. We got half way across the bridge and changed our minds so turned back.

Next stop was Hamdi Restaurant - as per Havva's suggestion(she actually gave 90% of suggestions on this trip - THANK YOU HAVVA!). It was very lovely as we sat on a 3rd floor of the restaurant looking out over the Bosphorus River.

Afterwards we walked back towards our hostel and had shisha (Nagile) pipe at the restuarant next door. The tea was free - why? Well,... we had lunch at this 2nd day at the restaurant next door to our hostel - it was great food for a great price and the host, Fiko, was fun and chatty. Both of which we like in people. He invited us back for a tea later and we took him up on that as well as sat on his comfortable couches and smoked our mint apple pipe.

On day 2 we walked between 11-12 miles.

Istanbul, Turkey - Day 1

Matt and I have fınally made it on our very much needed vacation.

We saw a concert ın London last nıght featurıng Gırls Aloud, Jay-Z, and Coldplay - ıt was amazıng and made me realıze how much musıc ıs alıve and flows through me.

After 2.5 hours of sleep, we were pıcked up at 4:30am by the taxı to take us to the aırport.
Matt of course slept well on the plane and I had to try to wake hım a few tımes to be awake to order food on the plane; I dıd not sleep very well. Although once we arrıved at our hostel, a 2 hour nap was the medıcıne we needed to keep goıng.

We snacked on Taco Dorıtos before headıng out to wonder around and explore. Tomorrow we have specıfıc hıstorıc sıtes pınpoınted that we want to see.

We are stayıng only a 5 mınute walk from the hıstorıc sıtes ıncludıng the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar ın Sultanhemet - Istanbul at a very lovely and clean hostel. We are able to step out of our room, walk up 6-8 steps to a roof terrace that looks out on the sea.

After wonderıng we ended up at an outdoor cafe and restaurant that had a patıo couch to sıt on, we ate a tradıtıonal mıxed grıll, cazık (yogurt, garlıc, and cucumber) sauce, grılled bread wıth a sweet feta or goats lıke cheese, and lots of water. We fınıshed wıth a glass of Turkısh tea (çay) each and shısha pıpe - we sat and relaxed and lıstened to tradıtıonal lıve turkısh musıc.
There also was a tradıtıonal male dancer (he was fully clothed thank you!) whıch twırled ın cırcles makıng hıs tradıtıonal dress spın around all to the tımıng of the rhymıc musıc.

Our turkısh ıs almost nıll except we learned and practıced pronoucıng thank you wıth the cafe staff.

On the way back to our hostel we stopped and took nıghttıme pıctures (of whıch I wıll later post on my return) of the Blue Mosque & Analya Sofıa; both of whıch we wıll vısıt the ınsıdes of tomorrow.

We are fındıng thıs to be a stunnıng place so far where the culture and people are more than ınvıtıng. If ıt stays thıs amazıng, who knows, maybe we wıll lıve here after beıng ın the UK :) jk

Day 8 - Munich

May 2nd

Our last half of a day was spent sighting some of the churches and other tourist points of interest before heading back out on a long drive back southwest into the Alps again.

Below are snapshots of some the things we saw:

More picture at http://sarahjames.shutterfly.com/5329

Day 10 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen & die Zugspitze

May 3rd

The church in Garmisch-Partenkirchen we attended 8:30 mass at was large, antiqued old, and was being re-painted on the inside at the time of our visit. There were not many people at the mass and it was in German, but luckily Grandma's own mass book helped her and Matt follow the readings.

Afterwards we headed to a get a train that would take us higher up into the Alps on a cog railway than we already were. Specifically we aimed for die Zugspitze, Germany's largest mountain at 9,718 ft.

At the end of the cog railway ride, we took a cable car which took us the rest of the way to the peak.

At the peak of die Zugspitze, we had brunch at the highest pub / restaurant in Germany.

We spent most of the afternoon enjoying the views and the natural beauty of being so high in the mountains.

The scenery was breathtaking and indescribable.

At 3pm we started our 8 hour driving trip back to Brussels. We got to our hotel at 12:30am and slept a bit before our flight the next morning at 7:30am. The cost to get to the peak was well worth it and we all agreed it was the best thing on the entire trip.

More photos at http://sarahjames.shutterfly.com/5442

Day 9 - Fűssen & the Alps

May 2nd
We traveled this morning to Fűssen where two of the most famous castles in the world are situated; one being the fairy tale castle which Disney modeled their signature castle after.

Maximilian the II from Bavaria married Queen Mary of Prussia; they both adored nature

and found a fairly destroyed castle and rebuilt it as their summer home.







When Maximilien died, his son Ludwig the II took rule and started the construction of 4 other castles; one which was directly able to be seen from his inherited home- this allowed him to keep a close eye on the construction. This specific castle was to become the fairy tale castle, Schloss Neuschwanstein. Ludwig lived in this castle for 6 months before dying at the age of 41.


We toured to the smaller - family summer residence - castle.










In order to get to Neuschwanstein, you can take a horse drawn carriage or walk up the mountain. Needless to say we waited in line to get a horse drawn carriage.





We toured what parts of the castle were finished and decorated - it was very glamorous even for today's standards.

Our journey continued on with a drive further up into the Alps.
Sunshine turned to gray, gray turned to rain, and rain turned to snow, and rain & snow turned to hail all in a matter of 45 minutes.


We stopped at an Aldi to get spaetzle and other food before heading to our hotel, where we spent the evening sipping wine and chatting.