franch fotos finally

a full set of my pictures from our vacation in france this fall are now compiled.

See my Tabblo>

walnut grove on the banks of the dordogne river

nate and i went to france in late september - we spent a week biking in the south, and then a couple of days in france. on the second day of our trip we left a town called gourdon in the bouriane region and headed towards vitrac, located in the dordogne river valley. nate had to try a fresh walnut from this grove.

enough of that other sarah

two SP posts in a row? inconceivable. on to other subjects - ones that don't raise the blood pressure so high.

nate and i enjoyed a very mellow day recovering from our latest international travel adventure: almost two weeks in france. in short, we had a wonderful time. we each have plenty of photos and anecdotes that will slowly leak into our normal lives. rebalancing the pressure between life at home and life on vacation always takes a bit of time, moving those images and stories into the airspace around home.

today was about a full night's rest, buying groceries for our pitifully empty kitchen, doing a few loads of stinky laundry, cleaning, cooking, and running a couple of errands. all in all, we managed to catch up to our normal frequency in time for the weekend.

on my plate for the next two days: homework, crafting, napping, and meeting up with my cousin, maggie, who is in town for a friend's wedding. if i'm lucky, maybe even some more bike riding and other bodymovin'.

oh yeah-
a BIG shout out to veronica whose help with round-trip airport transport (and support in the face of baggage claim delays) was invaluable to vacation peace of mind.

liszt

our hostel room looks over the liszt music academy. the weather is warm enough that we have been leaving the windows open, and from mid-morning until night there are all sorts of talents and skills being practiced. yesterday afternoon we heard a melange of piano, violin, flute, and a female operatic voice. tonight, some more piano and string instruments. a nice and unexpected perk of this place.

pest. buda.

things we have learned so far: malev, the hungarian airline, has a logo that makes it look like a metal rock band. when taking the metro, look on the wall directly next to the train, instead of on the platform, to find which station you have just approached. despite many warnings about the hazards of biking on the streets of budapest, compared to boston it actually looks fairly tame and manageable. the meatloaf is not to be trusted - ask nate. buda is to the west of the danube, it is the more bourgeois residential side. pest is to the east of the danube, it is the city side with lots of shops and restaurants, downtown offices, etc. both sides have places for lap dances. magaret island is in the middle, accessible from one of the bridges. it is comparable to the boston common or central park. you can find plenty of people who speak english. i can't pronounce hungarian yet, hence the preceeding lesson is very useful. this is a relatively safe-seeming and lovely, if crumbling, city.

today and tomorrow we continue to explore. then we head to west of the country to a smalland supposedly nice town, where we can supposedly rent bikes. the plan is to poke around the countryside one day, and take a train ride into vienna another.

on the road again...

nate and I are now on the plane which will soon leave the gate and head to Amsterdam and from there, to budapest! so far, the security folk helped Nate find his missing paint scraper in the depths of his bag, and we ate pizza for dinner. Vacation is always fun and full of surprises.

vacation

-clue number 2-

gotta get away

before even realizing it, both nate and i managed to take tomorrow off. thursday really is the new friday. nate deserves his little holiday - he's been working hard, and working long hours, including late into the night and on weekends. good for him. as for me, i just wanted to use another day or two of my accumulated vacation before work gets crazy and they won't unchain me from the desk. tomorrow - last friday of the month, and we'll be taking as much advantage of it as possible. my plans include some time on my bike, checkbook balancing, cooking, and a healthy dose of midday hugs, so rare in the office environment and so wonderfully abundant in the presence of my homeboy.

meanwhile...in bigger and better vacation news, we'll be going on a 9-day trip beyond the shores of this continent come mid-may. once again, off to a destination not yet explored by either of us. can you guess? some of my people come from this place, and i've been thinking about visiting it for a while, though i haven't talked a whole lot about it. nate has had his picture up for a couple of days already. here's my first clue:



there are many details to square away, so much unplanned, still malleable. we have our plane tickets, and everything else is a work in progress. this is the second exciting and nerve-wracking part of the planning. the first was buying those damn tickets. (are you sure? should we? we should, right? okay, you ready? alright, okay, i'm going to...)

eugene, oregon follow-up

my trip was super brief, and fairly last minute, and yet i still managed to get out a little and see a small slice of the place - more than any of my other business trips here have allowed for.

- lucky noodle: very nice dinner. definitely thumbs up. seems to be a good place for almost all demographics. i saw all sorts hanging out here. prices weren't too steep, and the atmosphere was nice. also, gelatto!

- collins cycles: lovely bright and open space for a bike shop. great new models on display, a good selection of sale items, both bikes and clothes, as well as all the usual supplies and gadgets, shoes, bags (messenger, backpack, and panniers), along with a helpful and friendly staff. kids section was well stocked, too.

- the main branch of the library: on ann's recommendation, i carved out time for the library to check out the courtyard. so glad i did. the outdoor space, even without greenery yet, was really lovely. bench seats and tables in kids' sizes, and a couple of sculptures, all covered in gorgeous and unusual mosaic stylings, including poetry about reading and books, and built-in chess/checker boards. the focal point on the open patio is the elephant laid out on the ground, it's entire perimeter taken from "oliphaunt" by tolkien. worth noting also: the entire children's section was very well done and seemed to be actually used and liked by both kids and parents.

- many a beer place. regional beer: quasi-religion out this way. would have stopped in, but i settled for the regional wine and snack tasting on the puddlejumper between eugene and seattle.

- eugene hilton and conference center: location of our meeting. had bikes outside the main door for use by it's guests. staff were very helpful and friendly. the room was standard and suitable. but let me say again - the staff were extremely competent and good folk.

- democratic convention: there was a picture of chelsea clinton on the nytimes homepage standing in the lobby of above hotel. i was there! (i was there a day earlier, but still...)

- also: mountains/hills in the background, bike friendly streets, i spotted an orange lotus, public art all around.

a nice place to visit. since i have friends in portland, it's likely if i go back to oregon it will be there and not eugene, but if i found myself back there i would not be so sad.

a christmas miracle

today i drove stick shift for the first time on real roads, from medford to lawrence: about 23 miles. i'm still getting the hang of the gas and clutch dance that starts groovin' at every stoplight and rotary. it was a somewhat stressful experience, but i was smiling as soon as i stepped out of the car, and stopped feeling shaky about ten minutes after we arrived. according to nate, i had the same expression on my face the entire time:

("hoooooooooooooly crap")

snaps of turkey: the fairy chimneys

nate, ann, and i biked through some of cappadocia and visited the famed fairy chimneys. two different layers of volcanic rock have eroded at different rates, leaving unique formations in the sandy, rocky landscape in the center of turkey.





d.i.y. diplomacy - we talk travel with some people visiting turkey from iran.

snaps of turkey: avanos

avanos is known for it's pottery. the nearby riverbeds are rich with various clays, and the town with various pottery shops. after wandering up one street, we are met by a runner and quickly sheparded into one such shop filled with beautiful goods in the front. and in the back...


...the Hair Museum. locks of hair, all from women, line several rooms. most accompanied by a name, town and country. some with all manner of contact information. the creepiest phone book ever.


one of a million or so submissions.


nate trying his hand and foot at the potter's wheel.


nice ashtray, nate.


this way.

snaps of turkey: goreme

morning in goreme.

cave church



exploring some carved dwellings



ann, totally relaxed after her time at the turkish bath house.



downtown goreme.

snaps of turkey: antalya

want a hint that you're in antalya? look for the famous fluted minaret. it's a dead giveaway.


view from the roof balcony of our second try at digs. after a night in a less than satisfactory hotel, we find a grandmotherly type running this place, and decide to stay with her and the lovely view, despite the ceramic figurines of dolphins and cherubic black boys lining the shelves in room number 7.



yummy coast.


we go to the pebble beach. arrive in the late afternoon and hang out with the locals.



look past nate's spectacular farmer's tan - see the droplets of water on his skin? proof nate went swimming in the sea! hooray!



you can lead a horse to water... a lady brings a horse to the sea, apparently trying to get it to go swimming. it's more than reluctant. after trying a few times to see if the horse will change it's mind, they start to leave, delayed by several kids who run up to say hello.



when special people came to visit our household when i was growing up, we might make a special dessert or perhaps take our honored guest out on the town. if you were emperor hadrianos, you had a massive monument in stone made and named after you. hadrian's gate is a good landmark for entering or exiting the old city of antalya. within the old city walls, small and personalty-filled cobbled streets lined with buildings restored as hotels and shops as well as ruins. outside, a bustling modern city, complete with fast food chains, internet cafes, and boring office building landscapes.

nate's pictures from antalya

snaps of turkey: kayakoyu, a ghost town

inside the church. indicative of the rest of the town, anything removable has been removed. no efforts to repair or restore evident. and, like the rest of the town, no part is off limits. climbing, scrambling, and generally playing adventurer raises no eyebrow. the town is described as having been first populated by people whose ancestors were christian greeks who were then relocated (perhaps they were "relocated"), and replaced by a population of muslims from macedonia, who decided they prefered their own, more fertile, lands better and moved back.



detail from mosaic flooring outside the church, made from black and white stones laid on their sides.



the steep road paved with large stone slabs running from the flat of the land near the church up to some of the highest-placed structures. nate soldiers on ahead.



on the highest hill is a lookout tower. on one side of the hill you can see all the many structures dotting the land of this town once inhabited by people of greek descent. and on the other side...



...the uncleared land leading down to the clear blue mediterannean sea, and other hilly parts of the shoreline. follow the hillside down for about 2 hours and you would make it to the oludeniz beach, a destination in it's own right for many of the other tourists who crossed our path.



lots of thistle on this hilltop.

snaps of turkey: fethiye

i love visiting local grocery stores to get a feel for the food priorities of a place. in fethiye we discovered high concentrations of olives ( all varieties, most available fresh at the deli counter), much cheese, lots of yogurt and fresh produce, as well as plenty of bread baked on the premises. also interesting, this special deal: 2 bottles of coca cola with a free package of coca cola branded rice.



at the waterfront promenade people-watching and snacking on sesame-covered breadsticks and fruko soda, so potently carbonated we were belching like big rigs.

nate's pictures from fethiye

snaps of turkey: ruins at efes

sitting in the theater and looking out to a wide avenue lined with columns.



from inside a covered passageway into the theater on the hill.



too bad i don't know that dude on the hill, would've been the perfect shot. nate kindly took my direction and climbed around, but i made a mockery of that shot, so i refuse to show it.



one small detail of carving from the entire city site.



beautifully restored facade.




the site at efes is a paltry few kilometers from selcuk. to get there we took a dolmus (shared minibus with low prices that go around and between towns). on the way back, we walked. armed with water, head coverings, and the tree-lined main drag, we survived the heat of the day. we also stopped to watch the herding of some cows.

nate's pictures from efes

snaps of turkey: selcuk

a large percentage of turkey's pupulation still makes it's living through agriculture. we saw a lot of people using tractors as their main form of transportation. nice parking job with this one in the heart of town.



the view over the countryside by selcuk, from the ruins of the basilica of st.john.




still at the basilica, a great view of the the citadel on the hillside in the distance, which sadly is closed to the public due to the lack of structural integrity.



al fresco dining at a small restaurant on a side street overlooking the site of one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world - the temple to artemis. however, to see any artifacts of the temple, one must go to the british museum. the site is now a very famous grassy field. dinner was tasty, and removed from the more touristy part of town.

nate's pictures from selcuk

snaps of turkey: airport and izmir

my first taste of turkey. hot, strong tea and a not-too sweet pastry filled with sesame paste and topped with sesame seeds. i think i'm gonna like it here.

stelfi is the brand of bathroom hardware favored at the airport. elefants everywhere! i know i'm gonna like it here.

after a flight from istanbul to izmir and a good night's rest, we explored some of Izmir (formerly known as Smyrna). we walked through the bazaar and ended up at this big square.

we checked out the aegean and walked along the coast briefly. besides the sea, and a few back alleys, we weren't all that keen on what we saw and had no plans to stick around. so we busted out of Izmir towards the greener pastures of Selcuk.

nate's pictures on the road to turkey
nate's pictures from izmir

pcitures/no pictures and tastes of turkey

nate has pictures up from our two week turkish adventure! and he will be adding more soonly.

i, on the otherhand, have barely just loaded my snaps to my desktop, and will require more time. in the meantime, some quick and dirty highlights from our trip:

boston to london to istanbul to izmur - all by plane. we arrive tired and ready to sleep. the inn-keeper insists on turning on our tv to a turkish soap opera, and standing in our room to watch for a minute or so. our first night in turkey and we start awake to what we think are gunshots. nate thinks it could be backfires or potentially the izmirian way of providing the early-morning wake up sounding call for ramadan. sounded like gunshots to me.

izmur - we wander around the bazaar, eat mini-burgers of lamb (kofte) at a corner eatery where nobody speaks english except the recruited restauranteur from next door, and visit the aegean sea. on our way out of town towards selcuk we get taken for a ride, both literally and figuratively. nate can tell that story.

selcuk - a landlocked town next door to the ruins at efes (ephesus) where we hang out hat (nate) and head scarf (me) for a few nights. it has it's own ruins of st. john's basilica, which have been/are being restored by an evangelical group from ohio (sweet!), and also hosts the isa bey mosque, built in the 14th century. nate and i peeked inside, but didn't stay too long. we also ate at an outdoor garden restaurant within spitting distance of the ancient temple of artemis (one of those no-longer-standing wonders of the world). of course, we visited efes, too, and were suitable awed. then we ran for cover as the sun beat down too hot and the hordes of tourists made us claustrophobic. too bad we couldn't hang around until winter for the camel wrestling championships.

fethiye - hooray! we make it to the mediterranean area, also know as the turquoise coast. not as big a resort town as boddrum or alanya, it's still pretty touristy along the waterfront - jampacked with seafood-laden restaurants and moored gulets and yachts ready for hire. we gaze happily at the sea and mountains from our hotel, wander the coastline, and take a day trip to the abandoned ruins of kayakoy, a mountain-top town which was relieved of it's christian inhabitants of greek ancestry around the 20s, and replaced with muslim macedonians who decided they weren't happy with the new digs. we scrambled around for hours, and stood at the look out tower at the apex - turning left to look down at the town, and turning right to peer into the clear blue waters of the mediterreanean. dockside fethiye is also where nate and i killed a 2.5 liter bottle of orange-flavored potently-carbonated chemical sludge called fruko and had a burping contest.

antalya - to reach antalya we stoically survived a stormy night of bus travel which included 7 or 8 hours of the air filled with loud incantations, mutterings, and crazed outburts of a sadly disturbed woman who spoke in tongues and cursed everyone in sight and may have been a witch. nate tamed her and may be a shaman. he will have to tell that story, too. another seaside town, this time much bigger and grander with a much more sophisticated tourist feel. outside the old city was a bustling modern metropolis. and by modern, i mean dated to the 60s or 70s. we changes accomodations after a night of rock-hard mattresses and waterbugs sightings in the bathroom. our new mama in antalya gave us a break on a room and mother-henned us with all her might. we took a long walk to the pebble beach for some people-watching and swimming in the sea. vendors came around with corn on the cob, and a lady caused an exciting scene as she brought her horse to the water. the horse neither wanted to drink nor, apparently, swim. they left soon after all the kids fed the beast the remains of their cobs. antalya is home to hadrian's gate, and a very nice all-you-can-eat buffet at the hotel Alp Pasa. we also watched amusement park rides in action, and a potential secret-policer shakedown of a gang of teenagers in a playground - looked suspiciously like 21 jumpstreet.

goreme - away from the coast and into the heart of anatolia, we arrive early in the morning to see a sky full of hot air balloons floating lazily amonst the weather-worn rocky outcrops that resemble nothing i've ever seen before. goreme touts pension after pension of cave rooms for you to stay in. some of them even real and not from cement or concrete! we have a lovely time for three relaxing days. we scramble and hike around the hills and into caves and take a lot of pictures of spaces that look like adobe huts on acid. we meet up with ann, also from cambridge, ma. we rent mountain bikes and go for a cruise to avanos, famous for it's pottery. nate tries his hand at the pottery wheel, and we pedal our way from avanos to urgup, going through devrent valley. ann and i walk our bikes in a few tough spots. we all chat with a tour group from iran, and we all get back to goreme good and freckled. ann and i both take advantage of the hamam for a traditional turkish bath, though on different days. nate and i rent a motorbike to visit the underground city in nigde. nate and i play a few games of backgammon.

istanbul - you know, the bosphorus, the sea of marmara, the blue mosque, the aya sofia, the city walls, the grand bazaar... we also get travel tummy on our last day and have to cut some of our itinerary short. a shame, but as grandma would say, always leave something for next time. however, we did get to wander around the area between the blue mosuq and the aya sofia around sunset - festival every night with picnickers ready to end their fast as soon as the sun said goonight. vendors and people everywhere. quite nice.

istanbul to london - after getting to the airport early, we almost miss our flight. several trips to the bathroom.

6 hours in heathrow - after triangulating, we get to spend several of them over lunch with diana, which is a great bonus. get to see bathrooms here, too.

london to boston - sleeping and eating and running down the aisle to the bathroom.

ah, boston - manage to stay awake until about 11pm. good to see our own bathrooms again.