Where the East meets the West

My summer adventure started with a rendezvous with Kerry & Chris in the capital city of Istanbul. This is the only city in the world which spans two continents – both Asia & Europe. We joined an “On the Go” tour for a seven day journey along the fairly well travelled tourist trail in Western Turkey.

Istanbul is an easy city to travel around and is full of culture. A few of the main sites we visited included the Grand Bazaar (top left), the Spice Market (bottom right), the Blue Mosque (above right) and Hagia Sofia (below left). The dome of this building is the third largest in the world, following St Paul’s Cathedral & St Peter’s Basilica. It was built in 537AD and was the largest Cathedral for almost 1000 years. It was converted a museum in the 1900’s after being a Mosque for 500 years.

From Istanbul we headed West following the Dadenelles strait, a narrow yet major thoroughfare for cargo ships travelling to the Black Sea. It is understandable why this area was of such strategic importance in the Battle of Gallipoli. Below are photos of Anzac Cove and the Lone Pine Cemetary, one of the many memorials in the area. It was a privilege to visit the site where the Brits, French & ANZACs endured an eight month long campagin in WWI and also to pay respect to the c40,000 fallen soldiers. We continued our journey south with a car ferry ride across the Dardenelles. After a morning stop in the ancient city of Troy, known for the Trojan wars in Greek mythology & the infamous Trojan horse, we drove to the ancient city Pergamum. The photo to the left is of the Hellenistic Theatre. With seating capacity of 10,000, this is the steepest seating of any known theatre in the ancient world. On the right we have the boys on tour (including the eldest member of our group affectionately known to all as Grandpa) posing as sculptures.

With our trusty local tour guide Erol leading the way we headed towards the coast, to the seaside town of Kusadasi. We had a great view of the harbour and the cruise boats from our hotel. In addition to visiting the ancient city of Ephesus (which is highly recommended for anyone in the area!) we treated ourselves to an authentic Turkish bath, including a sauna, full scrub & wash down and massage. Below is a photo of us drinking apple tea as we wait for our massage!

From the coast we headed inland to Pamukkale. This is an intriguing natural wonder. Over time the sedimentary rock deposited by water from the hot springs (known as travertines) covered the mountain with white terraced pools (see below left). People have bathed in the pools for thousands of years and continue to do so today. In addition to wading through the pool terraces, we walked around the ruins of the ancient city of Heirapolis which was built on top of this “white castle”. The photo below right is of the reconstruction Domitian gate.

Dutch humour

What a perfect time to be sent to Holland for work. I have been working in the city of Rotterdam which is home to the second largest port in the world. With the start of "Le Tour de France" tomorrow in Rotterdam and the World Cup fever, it has certainly been hopping in town. Below are a few pics of Rotterdam, including the introduction of the race teams on a special built stage. The bottom left photo is of Lance Armsrong who is competing in his final tour.

On a final quick note, the Dutch certainly have a good sense of humour... just after Holland's success against Brazil this afternoon, the ground control at the airport showed his true colours as he directed the plane into its hold with a set of inflatible orange hand gloves!

The art of queuing

There is no doubt that the English love a good queue. Last Saturday morning, I joined arguably the most famous queue in England - the queue for Wimbledon. This is my third year of living in Wimbledon while the championships have been on and I was pulling out all stops to get there this year!



The queue is like no other. There is even a 40 page booklet which provides a "Guide for queuing for the Championships". Basically, if you want to secure the show court tickets (i.e. Centre Court, No.1 or No.2 courts) you need to camp overnight. While it would have been great to see Nadal play, I was quite happy with having General Admission tickets which allow you to roam around the outside courts. I arrived at Wimbledon Park just after 5am and received my queuing card - #3065. It was a relaxing morning of chatting & reading the paper while we all waited for the ticket counters & gates to open. We made it inside about an hour before play commenced at midday.



Our morning kicked off on the now infamous court 18 (where the marathon match was played last week) to watch two promising single females. After a shaky start, Petra Kvitova from Czech Republic took control over the match over Victoria Azarenkawith a 7-5, 6-0 win.

Wimbledon is certainly a classy sporting venue with flowers, tidy grounds and plenty of areas to relax and enjoy the tennis and of course eat the local specialty - strawberries & cream! In the afternoon, we watched Paul-Henri Mathieu beat Thiemo DeBakker on Court 5 followed by a mixed doubles match. It was a North American fight with Lindsey Davenport & Bob Bryan being outclassed by Daniel Nestour & Bethanie Matek-Sands.

It was a superb, albeit very long day out. I highly recommend it to anyone who is in town at this time of the year!

3000 miles, 14 states, 2 countries & quality time with 1 sister...

[... what can I say... I'm a 'numbers' girl!]

It was great to explore more of America. I have a greater understanding of American history and a new appreciation for the various sub-cultures that exist across America.

My intrepid sister and I set off our road trip our road trip from Florida. While we had sketched out a draft itinary, we were flexible to take each day as it comes and drove to whatever caught our eye or where 'Maggie' (our trusty GPS) directed us. We covered plenty of ground, but here are some daily highlights:

Day 1: Rondevu with my sister at Miami airport, remembering how to drive on the right hand side and enjoying a coconut mojito on Miami Beach.
Day 2: First beach swim for the season at Miami Beach (glorious!) and an airboat ride along the Everglades. We met Lily (below) who is an 11 year cutie. We topped off the evening with a fabulous seafood dinner with a friend who lives nearby.

Day 3: We drove by NASA on Cape Canaveral as we headed to Savannah, Georgia. We had a horse-drawn carriage ride around the old town which has been popular for movie location shots, including the opening scene of Forrest Gump where the feather floats around the church and Forrest is sitting on the park bench with his box of chocolates. Following dinner, which included the local delicay of fried green tomatoes, we ventured on an ghost tour which highlighted some of Savannah’s more gruesome past.

Day 4: Driving through Atlanta, we stopped to visit Martin Luther King Jr's home & visitors centre. MLKjr was instrumental to the African-American civil rights movement in the 1950-60s. We then continued to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where we enjoyed the company & hospitality of our Southern friends, the Wright family. They'all live on Signal Mountain, which was used the Union Army to send fire signals across the valley in the American Civil War of the 1860s.

Day 5: We had a short drive up to Nashville to enjoy a Saturday evening with some local country music.

Day 6: We drove East to the Great Smokey Mountains, which is near the southern end point of the Appalachian Trail - a 2,000 mile walking trail which extends from Maine to Georgia. We admired a few of the local waterfalls as well, including: Looking Glass Falls, Sliding Rock and Moore Cove Falls.

Days 7 & 8: Drove to Washington DC and enjoyed wandering around the sites of capital, including walking along the Mall, a 2.5mile grass land which links the Lincoln Memorial to Congress. We also watched Obama being picked up in his helicopter from out the front of the White House while Michelle was entertaining the media & a bunch of kids on the front lawn.

Day 9: We had a long drive to Ohio. We did manage a wee stop along the way at a Pennsylvania winery which was a treat.

Day 10: We realised on the previous night that we had a spare day up our sleeves so, as you do, we decided to venture into Canada for lunch. We found a great little spot for coconut shrimp near Point Pelee National Park, which looks over Lake Erie. We eventually made it back into the US (Border control is always fun!) and had a balmy evening on Lake Michigan.

Day 11: We completed the last section of the road trip (well, for me anyway as Jen was heading onwards) and drove to Chicago. We went on an architecture cruise along the Chicago River and had some of the local specialty (ie. pizza) in the old part of town.

Day 12: On our final day together, we had more time to explore down town Chicago and took the train into town. It was Memorial weekend, so we watched the Memorial parade through town to pay respect to those who have participated in wars across the centuries. We were then entertained by the stars of Billy Elliott in a matinee performance and completed the afternoon wandering around the city's park.

Road Trip!

They are two words that excite me. I’ve always been a fan of the "road trip" as they offer both flexibility and adventure. Over the past two weeks I have been on a road trip with my sister in the Eastern states of America. Before I met up with my sister, I had a few days to explore Boston and New York. Here are a few highlights:

• I can now say “I went to Harvard”, albeit only for a few hours. I joined a tour with a couple of lively students giving us a few stories about the history of Harvard. I also visited Christ Church, one of the original churches in the area founded in 1759. Below are photos of the oldest surviving building on campus (Massachusetts Hall) and the John Harvard statue. There were many stories about the statue, including the incorrect plaque and the legend of rubbing his feet before an exam for good luck.
• Boston is a neat city with a beautiful city park. I enjoyed wandering around town and lazing in the sun listening to jazz in the riverside amphitheatre. I also joined a tour which took us along the “Freedom Trail”, a 2.5 mile painted red pedestrian path which leads to various historical areas around Boston. As the only non-American on the tour, the tour guide appreciated having me there so she didn’t feel bad about giving the 5th grade lesson in American history. The walking tour took us to the Granary graveyard thought to have over 2,000 gravesites (including 3 of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence), the Old State House where the Declaration of Independence was read on 18 July 1776; and Faneuil Hall, a marketplace and meeting hall where several speeches have been held to encourage their independence.

After my visit to Boston, I took the scenic route to New York on a 4 hour train trip via Connecticut and Rhode Island. Once in New York, I had just enough time to go to the top of the Rock – i.e. the Rockfeller Centre. The 70 floor building boasts impressive views over Manhattan, including Central Park in uptown and the Empire State building in downtown.