India (photos)

I finally got the memory uploaded. Here is some of what we saw in India. As Dara said, we stayed in Delhi for a few days and then did a little driving tour of some sights. Most people we've met since then are amazed that we only gave a week to India. It was definitely a mistake since it takes quite a while to acclimate to the culture. We really only started catching our stride right at the end, and then it was over. People spending months there note it as the best place they've been, and people spending less time often have less spectular reactions, but, it is definitely an interesting place.

I saw this in the airport and thought it was funny.

So there is one crappy street that most travellers end up on. Here we are at our hotel. On the street, you are constantly being harrassed, someone wanting to sell you something, or be your guide or give you a motor rickshaw ride. It took us the whole week to finally learn that if you say "no", you are acknowledging the person and they persist. The solution is to not even respond. It takes about a week to be able to do this without feeling rude. It's just how it works. But, the motor rickshaw rides are great. There are not traffic rules and huge numbers of vehicles nearly collide on each other at each intersection and everyone just muscles their way through. No one gets mad and no one gives way.

The best part was probably the food. The peanuts taste kind of funny though, kind of like farts or something.

Anyway, here is a pedal rickshaw and a man in front of a store and another guy.

After a few days in Delhi, we headed south to Jaipur, which was a nice. We didn't do much in the town. Most of our experience was just watching the landscape and people from the car. We spent 6-10 hours in the car each day. Here is a straw house and a guy giving bunny ears to a woman.

From Jaipur, we headed over to Pushkar, where there was a huge camel fare. The town was pretty busy with people bathing in the holy lake and markets and then we found the camels. It was a huge field full of them. There were women walking around collecting the turds (about the size of a billiard ball). They would lay them out in little sections of sand roped off with string. Each turd would be duly rotated for even drying. Then, they are carried off in shallow baskets carried on the head. I think they use them for fuel. I was standing there, watching a woman rotating the small turds, and then it dawned on me.

Peanuts.

Anyway, here are some photos from Pushkar. The connection here is too slow for me to look at the photos I uploaded, so I am just going by the file names. Camels and more camels.

A nice monkey family.

Here is Dara and a camel
and then Jim with a camel.

The camel fare.
And a wider view.

Some guys smoking.

Pushkar camels.
Camel fare.
Camel fare again.

A street scene in Pushkar and some Pushkar women. In India, it is very normal for men to hold hands.

Next, we went to see the Taj Mahal. Here is the two of us there. When we were there Albert Brooks was filming a movie. I was wearing a blue long sleeve shirt and think I should be in the background. But, I thought the big bald guy was Albert Brooks, so I took a picture of the wrong guy.

Here is sunset at the Taj.

Delhi, India

November 19-25

dara / Jim & I arrived in Delhi on Friday, November 19. We toured around Delhi for about three days. We ate lots of fabulous Indian food and wandered the markets for hours. The markets are a fun place to watch cows wandering the streets, venders cooking up spicy foods, rickshaws flying past the market-goers, kids selling anything for a rupee, and Westerners ignoring other Westerners because they are trying to experience "the real" India. We would need to escape back to our room every now and then for a little peace. :)

We checked out all the main tourism sites outside of Delhi. We went to Pushkar for the Camel Fair. It is a 10-day festival where camels are bought and sold every year. The owners are walking around and showing off their camels, while the bidding process happens between the interested buyer and the owner. It is quite fun, and camels are everywhere! There was also a fabulous market place too!

We also went to Fatehpr Sikr and the Taj Mahal. Fatehpr Sikr is a large fort in good condition, and it was the capital for a short time. The Taj Mahal is absolutely beautiful marble memorial, and we were there for sunset. The sun cast hues of orange onto the white marble. The reflecting pool and the gardens were an amazing sight too.

I like India! I spent a month in India with Habitat for Humanity about nine years ago. It was a great way to be introduced to the food, the people and the culture. I was able to learn alot about the country in a short time. However, near Delhi, the tourism business is out of control. The people, the government, everyone is out to make a buck. If you are looking for good experience of India, I would recommend spending a little more than a week in India and checking out other parts of the country.

The Nebelhorn (mm)

October 30

Ok, this goes way back to late late October, but if you have a good connection, here is some video from our 6 hour descent of
The Nebelhorn (30M)
as described earlier.

Happy Thanksgiving

November 24

When we were in Rotterdam, we saw the church that the pilgrims prayed in before setting off to the New World. We met some people who said they were told the same thing about a church in Delft. So, I think the way the story goes is that they left from Delft in a boat that proved to be leaky, and then stopped in Delfshaven (Delft's port), which is part of modern day Rotterdam. Then, they prayed real hard and took off. Anyway, not sure what the real story is.

But, we'll be missing everyone on Thanksgiving.

We are in the airport in Delhi. We woke up at 3:45am to leave the hotel at 5:30am to catch a 8:45am flight which has been delayed for three hours. Luckily, they have broadband internet machines at the airport for only 50 rupees an hour (44 rupees = 1 dollar). I'm in a foul mood, so I won't write about India right now.

OK, so since we can't be there, here is a video of us enjoying cocktail hour in Venice (8.2 M).

Venice (photos)

November 14-17

We are leaving India today (Thanksgiving) so more on that later, but here is an entry that I just discovered was saved as a draft.

We were told there would be flooding. The first night, I noticed
water in St. Marks square.
The next day it was flooded.
St. Mark's Basilica had good mosaic.
another one.

Here is Dara in front of St. Mark's (hires).

Nice canal shot.

we live on fat and salt... self-catered lunch(hires).

We went to a presentation of Leonardo Da Vinci machines.
These are too edgy (and too big) for roverthebear.blogspot.com, but
Cammed Anvil Machine (2.8M)
Rover Lives (3.5M)

Venice, Italy

November 14-17

(dara) Jim & I are in Venice for three days. I have never been to Italy (aside for the brief entry over Slovenia's border). I love Venice! Jim, when are we coming back to Italy?!?

On a crazy note, Venice has been flooded for the past couple of days. It has only flooded for a couple of hours in the a.m. though. It is rather wild! We have been walking around on these small tables throughout San Marco Square. But honestly, it does not affect the beauty of the city in any way!

There are plenty of great churches, paintings, marble & wood carvings, and architecture. We enjoyed seeing Leonardo da Vinci's models yesterday. That was pretty cool. What a genius! We also checked out a special exhibit of Salvador Dali's work. My favorite paintings were The Madonna of Port Lligat, Soft Self Portrait with Fried Bacon, Gala's Christ (three dimensional), Fifty Abstract Paintings ... , Women Lying on the Sand and The First Days of Spring. Fun overall!

We are going to enjoy one more fine Italian meal tonight and a glass or two of wine. Then, we are off to Munich on an overnight train. We then will catch another train to Frankfurt at 6 a.m. Our flight to Mumbai leaves on Thursday afternoon from Frankfurt. We have a six-hour layover in Mumbai. Then, our flight to Delhi finally leaves Friday at 10 a.m. Should be a long couple of days! :)

Slovenia and Croatia (photos)

November 6-14

see posting for details, but here are some photos:
here is the "other" pass of the Julian Alps
we had to take since they closed the road to film "Heidi" in our first choice

A Slovenian town.

On the Croatian coast, we stopped in Piran.
Here is the the view from our room.

A Croation roadside town.

We went down the middle of Croatia on a new hiway open only two months.
The rest stops weren't even done yet. Here is
the view from a rest stop.

Next was Makaraska, on the coast.
see family
row of facades
church

We crossed the
Bosnian border.
Here is a
Bosnian road sign.
and some islands.

We passed a place with orange stands.

Then we went to the medieval town of Dubrovnik.
Absolutely recommended.
We splurged on a nice hotel. Here is the town
as seen from the hotel terrace.
You can walk the walls of the town. Here,
looking east.
The town was heavily bombed during the war, but they fixed
all the roofs.
One night, walking through the old town of Dubrovnik, they were filming a movie.
It is Cassanova, produced by the BBC ??? (we were told).
Here is
the actress.
they were fixing her dress.

Dara got up early to take this sunrise shot and this one.

Slovenia and Croatia

November 6-14

(dara) Jim & I met his parents in Vienna on Saturday, November 6. We decided to rent a car and drive through Slovenia and Croatia. What beautiful country! Slovenia has some amazing views! There are lots of rolling hills, snow-capped mountains (the Julian Alps), glacier lakes and teal-colored water running down the mountains into rocky river beds.

We went to Lake Bled, which is one of our favorite spots. It is a deep blue lake nestled in the mountains. There is a small island with a monastry on it, and the castle sits up on a cliff overlooking the lake. Quite peaceful and magical - really! One of those perfect places to let time slip away!

Another great location in Slovenia was Piran, a small town on the Adriatic Sea. There were fabulous narrow, stone walkways that winded through the town. The water was an amazing blue! And although it was on the cooler side, there was someone swimming in the water. Surprisingly though, the water was warmer than the air.

Croatia is a beautiful country too! There are over 1,000 islands off the coast, and the drive from Split to Dubrovnik is awe-inspiring. I would imagine the drive is similar to the Pacific Coast highway, except Croatia's view is of the islands, off in the distance. The mountains fall away into the Adriatic Sea, and the water are all shades of blue.

Dubrovnik is definitely worth a mention. "Enchanting" is how Jim's mom described it. She is right too! It is a walled-in castle city on the Adriatic Sea. The only one that exists today. It is a completely funtioning city with stores, restaurants, banks, etc. One of my favorite characteristics of the town is the red-tiled roofs, and how they look with the outer wall and the backdrop of the Adriatic Sea. Quite lovely!

There are plenty of fabulous views! Croatia just finished a major road from Rijeka to Split. The drive is all scenery, and the rocky hillside goes on for miles. There are a couple of fabulous lakes too. My favorite part is how the country is still untouched. You can drive for miles, and there are not any roadside towns built up yet. That is really what I love --- lots of fabulous scenery and no fast food restaurants off to the side of the road.

If you would like to see more on either country, check out any of the two upcoming two movies.

Movie #1
Heidi was being filmed on the major pass of the Julian Alps in Slovenia. We actually had to cross the border into Italy to continue on our route to the coast of Slovenia.

Movie #2
The BBC was filming Casanova while we were in Dubrovnik.

Art Movies (mm)

October 21

Finally found a good upload connection, so these are oldies but goodies.

The warm, enchanting
Girl With Pearl Earring(4.5M)
by Vermeer.
c. 1665-1666 Oil
on canvas 44.5 x 39 cm (17 1/2 x 15 3/8 in.)

The intricate, stupefying
Tower of Babel(18M)
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
c. 1563 Oil on panel 60 x 74.5 cm Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam

Prague (photos)

November 3-6

In the center square, there is The Tyn.
Also, there is the an Astronomical Clock.
I will need to look it up to learn how it works, but here is some detail.
I recognize Saturn.
There are things carved all around it.
It's Jerry's face.
Each day is dedicated to someone, and some symbols.
This is the tower above the clock.

Also very cool is the Charles Bridge.
Here is the view from Charles Bridge Tower.
Here is Dara on the Charles Bridge.
You can read about it here.

Here is some random stuff:
Spires
Towers
Castle

Here is the View from outside out apartment door.



To keep our costs down, we drink beers in our room and play a lot of Yahztee.
I took the lead 9 to 8 today with a whopping 330, but Dara just tied it up.
Check out these Big Fives.

So, given the crazy astronomical clock, and the numeralogical significance of the bridge tower, check this out:
I wanted to create a view of the whole trip on one journal page.
The trip is 156 days, my journal has 26 rows, so I broke it into 6 parts. I laid it out on the page, evenly on either side of the middle,
and started filling in the days putting in the trip day number and the number of the month for each day.
Here is beginning,
and here is the end.
Check out where the middle is...
last day of first half...
first day of second half!!!

St. Vitus I presume?

Prague

November 3-6

dara / Jim & I arrived in Prague on Wednesday afternoon. We found this one-bedroom apartment near Old Town. The location is fabulous, and it is only a couple of blocks from Old Town and the Charles Bridge. It is central to alot of the main sites in Prague.

On Thursday, Jim & I purchased fresh veggies from the local market and bought some juice, ham and eggs from the local grocery store. We were able to actually cook a meal for a change. What a treat! Honestly though, it gets old eating out day after day (especially if you happen to pick a bad meal on the menu).

We also decided on seeing Prague on a four-hour walk through town. The tour was a good overview of the city! We saw the Old Town Hall with a Gothic astronomical clock from 1410. We also toured around New Town, the Jewish Quarter, the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle. The Charles Bridge is one of my favorite sites, and from the tower, it is a great central location for fabulous views of the castle and Old Town.

Quite honestly though, it has been a relaxing visit. We have been hanging out, wandering around town, sitting in a cafe and enjoying the sites.

Don't miss Rover's latest update

[jim]

Rover the Bear

And, if you are not seeing new updates, (then how could you see this?) you can hold down the Control key and press F5 to Refresh completely (this works on any page, clears cache or something).

Munich, All Saint's Day [day 18]

November 1

[jim] we have a nice room here... we used the tourist office's room finding service, and we ended up with an excellent deal. and, the breakfast is great. they have cottage cheese. we decided to stay an extra day in munich because it's nice and we have CNN. We made the plan today, and we will train to Prague early on the third, so that we can walk election results on Tuesday night (we are six hours ahead) and then be on the train while America sleeps, and get to Prague around 2:30pm as America wakes. Then, the next step will be to find a hotel with CNN in English.

But, anyway, we figured all this out in front of the Neue Pinakothek.
Click on this link and then click Rundgang on the right and then click on any room to see what they have. Neue Pinakothek. Check it out.

Outside the museum, in a park near the Greek columned building museum, there was a chess board made from pavers, about 10" square. Next to the chess board, there was a bench, where the top hinged open and inside where very large wooden chess pieces. People pay big tax here.

I had a great dinner tonight:
Bayrisches Tellerfleisch - mit Gemusestreifen, frisch geriebonem Kren, Rahmwirsing und Salzkartofflen.

prime boiled beef with potatoes and horseradish with crazy cabbage on the side.

ToDo: get a german (bavarian) cookbook
ToDo: make giant chess board in backyard
ToDo: AudioTour of our house

Germany

October 26 - November 3

dara / Jim & I took the train from Brussels to Frankfurt. Then, we hopped in the rental car and headed for Wurzburg (the beginning of the Romantic Road). The Romantic Road is this road with fabulous views of Bavaria, Germany. It starts in Wurzburg and ends in Fussen (near the Bavarian Alps). The countryside changes from farmland to valleys to hills to mountains. It is fall in Germany, and the trees are fabulous colors of red, orange and yellow. There are many cute and quaint untouched towns. Definitely a great way to spend a couple of days.

We did detour for a day to view half of the Castle Road. We went from Rottenberg to Heidelberg. There were tons of castles on rivers and above valleys. Some beautifully preserved, while others were a little more rundown. Pretty fabulous to view overall.

The best part, though, was our weekend. We spent the weekend in Oberstdorf in the Bavarian Alps. As I mentioned, it is fall, and the weather was perfect. We found this great room with a patio overlooking the mountains. It was off season, and there were plenty of reasonably priced rooms in the city.

On Saturday, we took the cable car to the top of the mountain and hiked down all day. The mountain was covered by clouds. At the top, the sun was shining down on the mountain tops and the clouds below. The mountain tops of the Bavarian Alps could be seen for miles. It was amazing! We hiked through the clouds to the forest below. A six hour hike in total. But, worth every minute of it.

On Sunday, we headed up to Munich. We stopped at Neuschwantstein (King Ludwig´s famous castle). It is the castle that Disney based their castle on. Pretty amazing detail and worth the trip (although full of tourists).

Jim & I are now hanging out in Munich. Tons of great architecture, great museums and great beer. We also found a good little hotel near the center for a good price. We went to Neue Pinakothek Museum (the 18th and 19th century museum with painting and sculptures). A couple more favorites are Van Gogh's The Weaver, Moritz Von Schwind's Wandering Minstrel Visiting a Hermit, David Wilke's Reading of the Will, Petrus Van Schendel's Market in Antwerp by Night, Adoph Von Menzel's Living Room with Artist's Sister, Johan Christian Dahl's Morning After a Stormy Night, Thomas Gainsborough's Portrait of Mrs. Thomas Hibbart and Johann Heidrich Fussli's Satan and Death Separated by Sin. We are planning on checking out two more art museums tomorrow (classics and modern art). Jim also wants to see the antiques museum. Should be fun!

More importantly, we have CNN to view the election coverage tomorrow, or actually, Wednesday morning. We will be up at the crack of dawn to check out the coverage. No worries though, we voted absentee for those friends and family concerned about our absence. From what we have heard on CNN, there are some election concerns about the ballots in both Ohio (hanging chads) and Florida (faulty computer systems due to the hurricanes).

We are off to Prague on Wednesday for three days. Then, we are meeting Jim's parents in Vienna this weekend. We are headed to Slovenia and Croatia for the following week. We are looking forward to it!