TravelStream™ news feed for member cmyusep on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/cmyusep en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:39:37 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cmyusep/1/1218817620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cmyusep/1/1218817620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cmyusep/1/1218817620/tpod.html Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:39:37 -0400 European Vacation 2008

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Cádiz, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands

We arrived in Cadiz on the train from Seville...those high speed trains which travel over 250 mph are incredible - fast, quiet and smooth. We still experienced some very hot weather (40+) however the sea breeze in Cadiz was wonderful.

Bill was very excited aboout Cadiz because this was where Napoleon was defeated - you know the Battle of Trafalgar and all of that. Particularly exciting was the fact that the light of the lighthouse on the point of land jutting out from Cadiz was flashing into our room (just a little light at the end of the room but it was there - 2 long lights every 5 seconds). A highlight for Bill.

Cadiz was a wonderful city and we thoroughly enjoyed the old city centre (our hotel was located on one of the three major plazas where all of the action was...every night our plaza was filled with families enjoying tapas, cervasas and the kids using the statues as playground equipment - the Spanish love their children!!). We also enjoyed another night of flamenco at one of the local restaurants just around the corner from our plaza...what a powerful art form!! Bill and I preferred the one we saw in Seville but this one was great also!

We spent a day at the beach here and all of us ended up with parts of our bodies burnt despite major lathering of sunscreen! The Europeans are much less inhibited than we Canadians so there were a few bared chests (but one soon gets very used to all of that)...!
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Seville, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands

From Salamanca we carried on to Seville...one of the major centres for Flamenco...and of course we took in one of the local neighbourhood presentations (not one at a large hotel). It was held in a small central courtyard that had candles and we thoroughly enjoyed the guitarist, singer and dancer.









































































































































































































































































































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Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Due to train scheduling problems we had to cut our Florence stay to only one night (we fully intend to come back to this beautiful city and spend much more time exploring including going to Sienna as we had originally planned). We did, however, see and spendt time on the Pont Vecchio and woke up very early to get into the lineup to see David...and oh yes, it was so worth it - coming around the corner and looking down the hall of the Prisoners - unfinished sculptures of slaves... so seeing the almost glowing figure of David in the central hall. Needless to say we spent a considerable amount of time there. Of course the Duomo and the Cathedral of Santa Croce were right up there in list of top 10 impressive places to see in Florence when you only have 32 hours to do it!
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Selcuk, Turkey

We are now ýn our lýttle 'Terrace House' ýn the Nýsanyan Hotel just up the hýll from a small fýllage ýn Turkey called Sýrýnce...the closest large town ýs Selcuk wýth about 25000 ýnhabýtants... and all of thýs ýs close to a very ýmportant hýstorýcal sýte - Ephasus - that we výsýted yesterday. Thýs place really was the centre of cývýlýzatýon as ýt were at ýts heyday!! A very ýmportant port (untýl ýt started sýltýng up all the týme) and everyone and hýs dog trýed to conquer ýt! Before the Chrýstýans took over there were many reýlýgous groups happýly co-exýstýng. Unfortunately when the Chrýstýans came they destroyed all of the 'pagan' ýmages...pýctures statues etc. of the gods that the others worshýpped - one can see the marks and dývets where there were ýmages ýn the columns etc. The whole of Ephasus ýs slowly beýng excavated and some money has been put ýnto the dýg so that we people can see what ýt may have looked lýke when ýt was ýn exýstence...ýnterestýngly the Austrýan government has provýded much money to do thýs work... the Ottoman Empýre stretched a long way!!

We are really enjoyýng our stay here - we have two lýttle bedrooms (actually they are lýttle huts on the hýllsýde wýth a washroom ýn between - everythýng ýs whýtewashed mud and wattle walls coveýng stonework and even ancýent brýcks (at least I am guessýng sýnce I can see the straw stýckýng out of parts of the walls that have stone and brýck - ýncredýble!!). We have a lovely person - Orsoo (Or - zoo) - who serves us breakfast - does our laundry - lýghts the fýre under the water heater ýf we want a shower etc. etc. She ýs the sweetest young woman...and ýs avaýlable on a 24 hour basýs! There ýs a pool down the hýll from us on a lýttle terrace and ýt and our rooms have a výew to dýe for of the lýttle výllage of Sýrýnce below us and the valley across and down to the left of us - last nýght we stood outsýde and gazed at the stars for hours ýt seemed - they were so close!!

Today we may venture to the beach on the Aegean Sea so that gýrls can go swýmmýng (we wýll too - but I have already had the pleasure when I was ýn Greece)...

We leave on th 26th for Rome and I wýll wrýte from there ýf I can...
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Salamanca, Spain

After spending a long night on the bus from Barcelona to Salamanca (actually it was air-conditioned and very comfortable!)... we arrived Salamanca -quickly registered in our hotel and Bill and I hung out in the Plaza Major (very famous for many reasons not the least of which is that it was the setting for a new movie Deception Point - we now have added that one to our must see movie list that have settings where we have travelled). The girls caught up on their writing and showering and now it is our turn as they are out exploring the town... stay tuned...more to come!!

Now I am going to try one more time to upload photos...here´s hoping!!
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Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and Canary Islands

After taking an overnight train to Barcelona (the train ride was great - we all had wonderful sleeps in our berths... despite the middle of the night stop in France where the French police got in and forcibly took a poor guy from the room next to us off the train. I opened the door of our compartment to see what the noise was all about just in time to see him being dragged down the train corridor with handcuffs on with much yelling and wailing...). Other than that the trip was uneventful!! The girls found it most exciting as they watched it all from the dining car...

After arriving in Barcelona Lindsay and I found a great little pension right across from the train station run by a very nice family so we stayed there one night... Bill and I had to do some major lineup waiting to finally get train and bus tickets that would cover the rest of our travelling in Spain (unfortunately we had been advised earlier to wait until we get to Spain to arrange our tickets - not a good idea when certain staff members (i.e. the ticket sales people) were on a rotating labor strike!)... While the girls had a ´free day we got everything finally organized! That night we celebrated with a dinner of Paella and Sangria!
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Rome, Lazio, Italy

3 nights in Rome and we saw so much in that time - including a live performance of Opera arias, a musical trio and accompanying dancers at the bottom of the Spanish Steps! Rome was hot, dirty and full of tourists...but oh so impressive - one just has to see it all at least one in one´s life!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cmyusep/1/1216887360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cmyusep/1/1216887360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/cmyusep/1/1216887360/tpod.html Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:30:17 -0400 European Vacation 2008

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Istanbul, Turkey

We spent a lovely few days ýn Istanbul at an ýncredýble hotel (Arena Hotel - thanks so much to Ingrýd and Davýd Phýllýps Lýndsays parents for thýs!!) whých was wýthýn walkýng dýstance of all of the major sýtes that we wýshed to výsýt whýle there! The hotel room was lovely wýth a výew of the Maramar Sea (and the Bosphorus just arund the poýnt of land that we could see)... The hýghlýghts of our Istanbul stay were seeýng the Blue Mosque (ýncredýble place!!)Aga Sofya (an even older mosque wýth some of the columns whých were taken from Ephasus - whých ýs an ancýent cýty further down the west coast of Turkey that we výsýted yesterday (but I dýgress!)...

One unforgetable experýence ýn Istanbul was a výsýt to the hammam down the street from our hotel...ýt was recommended by our guýde from our day at the Blue Mosque... what a wonderful experýence...the gýrls and I were ýn one area wýth Býll ýn the mens separate area and we had the full meal deal as ýt were!! Soap massage... oýl massage...facýal...lyýng on marble slabs that were heated and sýngýng! (One could not resýst ýt!! The acousýtýcs were ýncredýble so I sang Tell Me Why... whýle lyýng naked on warm marble slabs lookýng up ýnto a huge dome - everythýng was made of marble and warm and wet...hmmmm...very womblýke!

Of course one cannot forget the Grand Bazaar! A shoppers delýght and even the most hardened shopaholýc mýght get shopped out! (You can ýmagýne how long Býll lasted wýth that - but he put on a good face whýle we gýrls dýd our thýng!). Býll and I looked for a carpet but have decýded that for the money ýt would cost we could see and do a lot of thýngs so that ýs off our lýst of thýngs to buy!
I wýll try to upload some photos but ýt ýs a challenge wýth Turkýsh ýnstructýons etc.
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Vienna, Austria

Well, we are now a complete quartet... which is very appropos as we are now exploring the city of Vienna (filled with music and I imagine many musical quartets abound!). Bill and Lindsay arrive yesterday and their plane was an hour early (almost unheard of!!) and so my carefully timed arrival to greet them was thwarted!! Oh well they had yet another chance to sit and read their books!

I wisked them away on the CAT (Vienna's great express train to and from the airport - Calgary could take lessons from them!) and brought them safely to our hotel which they absolutely loved... we did a bit of exploring and then I let them have a nap before we went to our Mozart concert in the Konzerthall. It was wonderful of course and everaone stayed awake for most of it (I think Bill had a little cat nap just before the intermission) as the conductor made sure, expecially in the second half that the audience was participating with much clapping in unison and to the music. Good fun, wonderful music and great costumes!

Today we picked up Min at the end of her conference (and met up with another couple from Calgary who were picking up their daughter and it happened to be someone who I had worked with at CBE! What a small world we live in!).

We visited the Belvedere Imperial Palace which houses a collection of some of the most wonderful paintings not the least of which is "The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt... Min was in heaven gazing upon it in real life! She had done a 3 week project about Klimt in school and was in love with "The Kiss". The rest of us also loved it and the other wonders we saw including the amazing building that houses the collection and the wonderful gardens!

Right now while the others nap I will try to upload more photos (although it is always a challenge when trying to translate the Austrian text on the computer - it may take me awhile!)
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Oia, Cyclades, Greece

Well, it is another day in paradise! The last few days being here on the island of Santorini I have come to appreciate another whole way of life...the meaning of the word "siesta" (although Spanish) has been clarified as a necessity for survival here in the Greek islands. The heat at mid-day is incredible, although the breezes here on Santorini help considerably... it is hot, hot, hot!

I've toured around the island on the air-conditioned bus;gone to one of the beaches (at Perissa) and you'd think you were in Mexico! I've swum in the Aegean Sea a couple of times...one time off the side of a large sailing ship...walked around the rim of a dormant volcano...and shopped, shopped, shopped!
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