Photo Wall

As I've mentioned, my penchant for traveling was bred in me by my parents. My whole life my parents have been heading off to the far reaches of the globe for weeks at a time and would bring me back unique trinkets - a tiger from Seoul Korea (donned with the Olympics apparel from that year), Chinese dolls from their visit across the border into China (when visiting was still exceptional), a piece of the Berlin Wall from my dad's trip in 1989, etc. Once I turned 9 years old, I was invited to join them - the first trip was to Hawaii (quite exotic when you're growing up in Minnesota). The following year was Monaco, France, Switzerland & Italy....and there began my love affair with travel!

Next week I leave for Peru to meet my parents and my mom's best friend in Cuzco - we'll be visiting Machu Picchu together and then they'll continue on their trip from Santiago up the coast of South America, through the Panama Canal and ending in Fort Lauderdale. My trip is slightly abbreviated - 5 days in Peru with 3 in Cuzco and 2 in Lima. Whirlwind! But given the weather we've had on the East Coast this winter, I'd go even for 3 days! Snow, slush, freezing rain, ice (skating to work), hail, mist, black sludge, you name it. Being originally from Minnesota I know I've seen WAY worse but 20 years away have certainly diminished the memories! But don't worry, I still LOVE NYC despite the weather...it so beats elbow sweat in the summer.

More to come on the Peru trip next week. In the meantime, a few years back my mom and I collaborated on a wall of photos in the stairwell of their house. As we were working with 20 foot ceilings we had a lot of free wall space to work with! We picked a selection of photos from both of our travels and had a blast editing and arranging them. Below is a selection of our final product - they include photos from China, Australia, India, Thailand, The Philippines, Ghana, Egypt, Germany, Jordan, Bali & Burma ...enjoy!

March 12, 2008: Back to 92075

I'm not quite sure where or what time it is, but apparently I'm back at Casa Gallivan in Solana Beach. I've switched places with my parents who are somewhere in Southeast Asia/Middle East for the next 5 weeks. Justine and I got back to LA last night and I arrived back in San Diego late last night. I took a nice "nap" as my time clock is a bit screwy. So I figured the best use of my time this morning was a last e-mail about our final days of our 2 week adventure!     

After leaving Heidelberg, Justine and I had an awesome time visiting several amazing cities. We headed off to Bamberg, a UNESCO World Heritage City north of Nuremberg and one that I had just stumbled upon through my internet search of Germany. We underestimated the time

 it would take to get to Bamberg so we didn't arrive until about 8 PM. As we were clueless about how to get to our hotel, we phoned them and the wonderful lady there came and actually jumped in our car to direct us to the hotel. We'd unfortunately lost our reservation (in Germany, apparently if you don't check in by 6:30, they give away your reservation?!?!) but she was so helpful and took us to a charming guest house just down the street in the Old Town. Bamberg is a medieval town that went completely unscathed in World War II and Justine and I instantly fell in love. 

The winding little streets are filled with colorful half-timbered houses and the full spectrum of architecture. Separated by a river, the Old Town is on a slight hill and

 the top Cathedral offers a wonderful perspective of this great town. On our walking tour, we vsited the Rathaus, the old town hall, which the clever founders of the town had put on an island so that neither side of the river could collect taxes from them! Charmed as we were, Justine and I decided to forgo our planned hasty visit to Berlin in favor of staying another day in Bamberg and then not feeling rushed to get to our next destination in the Harz Mountains. We toured around and then found a charming restaurant along the river and adjacent to the Rathaus where we sat outside in the sun (still pretty chilly but we were bundled and joined all the other locals). The local "specialty" is smoked beer, which we tried. It was interesting...kind of tasted like drinking smoked Gouda. Interesting. Later we found a patisserie on the other side of the river and read our books for a few hours...it was very relaxing! If you are in Germany in the future, we both would highly recommend visiting this awesome city!!! 

We even picked out our "houses" where we would live in the city...mine's awesome and I'm sure you could stay in the spare room!    

The next morning after another great run along the river and through the old town, we departed for the Harz Mountains, which are in the Saxony-Ahlstat region of Germany, once part of what was East Germany. Our destination was Goslar, another UNESCO city, and we'd planned a stop in Quedlinburg en route. One aside on UNESCO declarations...in Ghana we visited several castles and forts that were designated UNESCO world heritage sites; I'm intrigued to investigate what this really means as we were quite disappointed in the maintenance of some of the sites in Africa and would have hoped their historical importance warranted more attention.     

One note about traveling in Germany...I referenced the Autobahn in my last e-mail. I've been on it before but never as the driver. I'm sold. There is a "suggested" speed which is 120 KM per hour, approximately 75-80 mph. Justine and I in our little Ibiza were trucking along at 160 KM/HR feeling pretty good and making great time. We were going quickly but still in line with other "fast" drivers on the road...for those of you who have driven with me, you know I appreciate getting places quickly! hehe. Anyway...out of the blue, a streak of light would zoom past on our left (you only drive in the left lane to pass people...another amazing concept that GREATLY frustrated me in my drive home last night from LA!)...and then another streak of light....it was an Audi, a Mercedes, a BMW...we could only speculate at their speed but they kicked our butts! We were feeling pretty "dangerous" at 100 MPH but they were barely visible as they passed us. Apparently the Spanish cars (Ibiza Seat) are as far behind in their automotive technology as they are historically! We were humbled.   

Quedlinburg and Goslar (again UNESCO cities), the final stops on our whirlwind trip were another bright spot on our trip. We departed the autobahn in favor of the county roads, traveling through many small burgs and along surrounded by vast valleys of green farms. So picturesque! Quedlinburg offers the most half-timbered homes in one city and was a nice pit stop on our way to Goslar, our favorite stop of the day. Another medieval city, Goslar is at the base of

 the mountain and offers another enjoyable walking experience through the winding streets admiring the fantastic homes with their engraved and painted facades and a charming stream that ran through the old town. In the Markplatz (market square), there was a really unique orange building with sculptures along the second story of the building. One had a woman, the goddess of abundance. Apparently the sculptor had a sense of humor and had a smaller sculpture below of a little man that had coins emanating from his derriere! We wandered around and found a fun dinner spot in the Ratskeller (cellar of the old town hall) and had our last German meal. It was a bittersweet moment...sweet with the apple strudel and apple beignets served for dessert! So good!   

We were so fortunate with the weather while in Germany. It was dry and mostly sunny throughout our visit, in the 30's-50's most of the time. Our last night the winds blew about 20 MPH and the rain started to pour. We got a quick run in the morning we left but were almost blown off the road when the winds caught us! Our 3 hour drive back to Frankfurt was a bit stressful - I was sure our little car was going to be taken away by the wind. But we made it. The trip was fantastic and JW and I had an awesome experience. Having the juxtaposition of Africa and Germany made the singularities that much more apparent and helped us appreciate even more the way we've grown up. I have several hundred photos (obviously) and videos so I'll compile them this weekend and send them out. I've attached just a few to give you a snapshot of our trip.   I hope you are all doing well and I can't wait to talk to you all on the phone! (But not having my crackberry was fantastic too!)

March 8, 2008: Gutten Tag!!! Greetings from Heidelberg!

I only have a few moments but wanted to send out a short email. Our last days in Africa were the best of our trip and were truly amazing. We went on a guided tour to Kejetia market, the world's largest open air market covering more than 12 acres. It sold everything you could think of and was more eye opening than anything I have ever seen. Our guide, Comfort, took us to the top of a building adjacent to the market and showed us the perspective and it was almost too much to take in. Then she walked us through the market stopping to explain things to us and introduce her "Bruni" to friends from her local village. It was hysterical, but also overwhelming. I'm not sure Justine and I could have made it through there on our own. Being in Europe now, a place I am very comfortable in, I realize just how exhausting Africa was. We were constantly aware of our surroundings, the people around us and trying to stay "safe" even though most of the people we were encountered were the nicest and kindest people I have ever met. Regardless, it was foreign territory and the conditions were so foreign and unfortunately so "third world", that it was better to be safe than sorry. 

One thing I never did comment on was what we DID eat in Africa. Per Anthony Bourdain's suggestion on "No Reservation" and the reality that the Ghanaian diet consists of mostly carbs, we did try two specialties. One was Banku which is basically a ball of sticky pounded maize (think uncooked bread dough) that you use as your eating utensil. Banku, similar to Fufu (made of cassavah) and Kenke (cassavah with maise..baked), is served with some sort of stew or protein. I had mine with fresh grilled fish and a pepper tomato sauce. Really good but the banku can get to be too much. Bean stew with whole fish and rice is another typical meal we had. It's good I got over my "thing" with fish because the whole fish does include the eyeball and the teeth that "grrrr" at you while you eat it! 

After a very long and hot overnight flight back to Europe, Justine and I arrived in Germany at 5 AM yesterday. Luckily, we were able to shower in the airport and hit the autobahn in our Seat Ibiza! Having control of our "destiny" (i.e. ability to drive ourselves) is SO underrated! We went first to Wiesbaden and did a day trip up the Rheine River Valley stopping at a Cistercian Monastery that used to grow Riesling wine and several castles and charming villages along the way. Although we are a bit early for the tourist season in the Rhineland, it was almost more fun as we were among the very few to walk within the castle walls and to tour the villages. 

We ate a very late lunch in Bacharach, a medieval village surrounded mostly by the original walls and traipsed up and down the hills looking at the old ruins and the vineyards (most are on the side of the steep hills that line the valley. Our drive along the Rhine brought us to Koblenz where we stayed last night. After a great run along the Rhine this morning, we did a quick tour of the city and hit the Autobahn again towards Heidelberg.

PS...the weather (about 40 degrees) is awesome as opposed to sweating all day! Justine is a bit in shellshock after 5 weeks in Africa but she's slowly coming around. Warm and inviting food is a great help...and fruit! I'll admit...I hit up the Starbucks in Wiesbaden yesterday for a latte! 

We toured through Heidelberg today, which is such a charming city, and we are about to leave for Bamberg, a UNESCO city just north of Nuremberg. We are planning a "picnic dinner" in our room tonight...very exciting for us apparently. 

I'm not sure I'll email again before I come home and if I don't, I will send photos when I get back. This has been an amazing trip and I can't wait to tell you more about it!!!