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Is this the real life, is this just fantasy…

We have finished our safari and took a plane to Zanzibar, a Tanzanian island.

We spent 4 nights in a guesthouse in the village of Jambiani where we spent most of our time relaxing, soaking up the sun, and watching the life on the beach unfold.
During our stay we became friends with the resident dog of our guesthouse.  We named her “Freddy” after her more famous island countryman.  She latched on to us after joining us for a 2 hour walk up the coast on the first morning.
On day 3, we got up before dawn and headed out on a boat tour.
We were supposed to snorkel with the Dolphins but there were a couple of things that made us wary.  First of all there was no guarantee that we were even going to see Dolphins, and secondly we were told that if there were too many boats like ours, that the Dolphins could feel harassed.  The idea was to get out earlier than anyone else, snorkel with some amazing animals and then return to shore.
After 2 hours of motoring around we still hadn’t seen hide nor blowhole of them.

We decided to head back to shore but wouldn’t you know it, along the way we finally ran into some Dolphins…  As did the other 20+ boats that were out that morning.

It was a sight to behold.  The Dolphins would surface, boats would rush in, sun burnt tourists would dive in and the Dolphins would disappear. And repeat.  I actually never did jump in.  I was kind of disgusted with the whole thing.  I’d like to think that the Dolphins were the ones in control. Maybe they enjoyed playing the cat and mouse game.  Regardless, we didn’t want to be part of the gross display of humans and headed for home.
On our final morning in Jambiani, we said goodbye to Freddy and headed to Stone Town, the birthplace of Freddy Mercury.
We enjoyed our time wandering the streets, admiring the amazing buildings, and browsing the shops.
Stone Town is known for its intricately carved doors.
On our final morning we took a spice tour and got to taste all the amazing flavours Zanzibar has to offer.
That’s the end of the 40th birthday holiday part 1.  Stay tuned for part 2, when I surprise DawnO with a trip to… Somewhere in the world!
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Serengeti

The latest chapter in my birthday safari took place in the Serengeti.  I think we were extremely lucky not only to see all the animals we did, but to get as close as we did to most of them.  I had a short list of animals I wanted to see, understanding that it wasn’t guaranteed.  The animals are all wild and could care less who had come to see them.

  As we entered the Serengeti I was pretty concerned that I wasn’t going to see much.  It reminded me of Southern Saskatchewan, a place where you could watch your dog run away for 3 days.  I might see a lion, but would it be worth it if we were half a mile away?  To top it off our guide, Gerald, said that the grass was very high this time of year so it would be tough to spot certain animals.  There went my hopes of seeing my favourite animal, the Cheetah.
  We saw a few of the standards along the way to camp like zebras, giraffes and gazelles, and even some “big 5” animals like buffaloes and elephants.  As I was preparing for disappointment we came upon 13 lions feeding on their latest kill.  This was foreshadowing of things to come.
  We reached camp which was what DawnO called “glamping” because it was quite glamorous to have a flush toilet in our tent.  We also had a hot shower which was quite lovely.  We were in the last tent which meant we were the closest to all the wild night traffic.  Last night a couple of hyenas woke me up because they were messing around outside our tent entrance.  Not to worry, like vampires, they vanish before the sunlight can get them.
Day two in the Serengeti was amazing.  We got up early in the morning to get a head start on the morning light and right away we saw so many beautiful animals within a few feet of our jeep.
  During our afternoon run we finally got to see a Leopard that was eluding us earlier in the day.  If you look closely at the next picture you can see a baby leopard climbing around the tree.  We also watched a lioness feed on a zebra.  Afterwards she walked right past us to get a drink from the nearby watering hole.
This morning we said goodbye to our camp and spent the rest of the morning getting some close-up shots of some exotic animals.  Within the hour we had come across two cheetahs.  They were chilling out under a tree beside the road.
Later, we captured a few more feline close-ups.
   I was recently asked where this trip ranks among all our trips to various places around the world.  Top 3.  And we haven’t even finished the safari.
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We need to talk about Kevin

DawnO and I turn 40 years old this year.  We decided to plan two week vacations around our birthdays.  We agreed that we would plan each other’s trip and keep the location a secret until a week before departure.  I turned forty last week and finally got the incredible news: Kenya and Tanzania.

We arrived in Nairobi after a long 24 hour journey and got to our accommodation late at night.  In the morning we got to take a look around our place which is one of several cottages in a huge compound.  

Day 1: Giraffe Center
First up was a visit to the Giraffe Center.  In order to do that we decided to try and master the local bus system.  We quickly learned that the Nairobi bus system works almost identically to the Guyanese one (see 2006-2007 blog entries).  There are numerous rickety old vans that blare music, fit as many people inside as possible, and have a “conductor” who takes everyone’s payment and somehow remembers where everyone is going.  The only difference I could see was that the Kenyans obeyed the rules of the road, for the most part.
Once at the Center we were immediately taken by the scene before us.  Ahead of us stood ten giraffes side by side being hand fed by tourists.  Everyone was given a handful of pellets to feed them with.
I will admit, at first we were on a feeding frenzy.  Giving out as many pellets as we could as fast as we could.  Once we settled down we put away our cameras and began to enjoy the experience.  After a while we learned how to hold the pellets so that you didn’t get slimed by their black tongues.  We even  got brave enough to put the pellets in our mouths for a giraffe “kiss”.
We learned that each giraffe had a name and a personality.  The staff would only allow people to turn their back to some of them, but not all of them.  Our favorites were Kelly and Daisy. They were quite gentle and calm.  
Then there was Kevin.  He suffered from short giraffe syndrome.  He was short in stature and on charm.  He enjoyed spitting water on people and head butting humans.  Kevin was a jerk.
Kevin:
Before we left, we took some more pictures and enjoyed the spectacle of it all.
Day 2: David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage
Today we made our way to an Elephant orphanage.  It’s a Center that rescues abandoned elephants and nurses them back to health (if needed).  The goal is to eventually release them back to their wild habitat.
Some elephants have lost their mothers to poachers, others were found trapped in a well after their moms gave up and left them.  Each is named after the region where they were found.  All of them are very lucky to have been rescued.  They said it could take up to 5 years before an elephant is released back into the wild.
In the middle of the presentation, a thirsty warthog barged through the crowd and took a drink from the elephants’ mud hole.  Afterwards he pushed right past DawnO and went about his business in the park.

Later this afternoon we went to a Center that put on traditional tribal dances.  On the way back to our bus we caught these two routing around in the grass.

Tomorrow we catch an early shuttle to Tanzania where we will start our 5 day Safari!  Stay tuned…
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Hasselcough

Our last few days in Berlin have been spent riding bikes around to various points of interest in the city and eating some pretty delicious food.  DawnO got to taste the famous currywurst and said it wasn’t the worst wurst.  She talked me into sampling the fries with curry seasoning, mayo and ketchup.  Yum!

Currywurst

Pomme frites

We spent some time walking along the section of the Berlin Wall that has murals painted along each section.  This walk is known as the East Side Gallery.  It was fascinating to see the artwork in person and realize how large and detailed each mural was.
I have to admit, I always thought this was a picture of Richard Nixon kissing Leonid Brezhnev (the leader of the USSR during the 1970s).  It turns out I was only partially correct.  The guy that looks like Nixon is actually Brezhnev, and the other fellow was Erich Honecker, the general secretary of the Socialist Unity Party (East Berlin).  Originally painted in 1990 and repainted in 2009, ‘The Fraternal Kiss’ is a recreation of a photograph taken of Leo and Richie in 1979.  The caption translates as “My God, help me to survive this deadly love”.

 

The Wall is just another example of how Berlin features the scars of its past as warnings for the future.
Later in the day we visited a relic of WWII that barely survived a Soviet air raid.  Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was almost completely destroyed in April of 1945.  What remains has been restored and new buildings on either side of the church now serve as a place of worship.

The ceiling of the original building.

Inside the newer octagon-shaped church.

We also made our way to the Templehof airport which is no longer in operation.  The city has turned this airport into a giant park where people can walk along the Tarmac, visit the food trucks, and stroll through the fields in between.  They have also designated a portion of the airport as housing for incoming refugees.
All-in-all I enjoyed my time in Berlin.  I will say that it is not the city for me.  I had high expectations after so many people recommended it.  However, the constant barrage of second hand smoke is making me quite nauseous.  I guess I prefer Berlin in smaller doses.
I will leave you with a few more pictures, and will blog again in October when I surprise DawnO with a trip to… stay tuned.

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Keeping Portland weird

  The city slogan, “Keep Portland Weird”, is more than just a quirky saying.  From what we have seen, it’s a way of life.  However that is exactly what makes this city so charming.  Portland has been recommended to us by many people that must know our travel style.  We are living in a flat built in a garage that we rented through AirBnB.
  The streets are designed to handle the traffic of both bicycles and cars (what’s plural for Prius? Pri-eye?). We have already rented bikes from our neighbourhood shop and get this, they were already named!  I’m riding Sonny, and DawnO is mounting Dan Marino.

So far we have yet to have a bad meal.  Yesterday we went to a highly recommended taqueria named, “por qué no” (why not) and it was a home run without the runs.

Today is DawnO’s birthday so we have built the day around a few of her favourite things.  We started out at a coffee shop and then biked to a tennis specialty store where she got new shoes and 3 racquets on loan for her to try out.

  She then proceeded to kick my sorry ass all over the public tennis court with all that new equipment.

We decided to try another critically acclaimed restaurant for her birthday dinner.  This time we went for Thai Food on the main strip in our area.  Here are the before and after shots:

Afterwards we went to the popular “Salt & Straw” ice cream shoppe that creates unique (aka intimidating) flavours of ice cream.

  After sampling “Pear w/ Blue Cheese” and “Caramel Corn on the Cob”, I settled on the more normal “Sea Salt w/ Caramel Ribbons” + 1 squirt of hot fudge.  DawnO was having a tough time deciding but after numerous samples chose “Almond Brittle w/ Salted Ganache”.
  On our way home we encountered what I can only describe as a poor man’s The Weekend, Korean Frieda Kahlo, and John Lennon during the ‘bed in’ days walking down the street blasting “Chattahoochee” by Alan Jackson.   Keep up the fine work, citizens of Portland.
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Spanish Flies

It has been a great 5 weeks vacation for me, but sadly I fly home tomorrow while DawnO heads to the UK.  We are spending our last stop together in Madrid, Spain’s capital.  We’ve done our best to explore this international city which included a trip to a museum, a tour through the Palacios Real, and sampling food at a local market.

Palacio Real/Plaza de la Armeria (indoor photos were taken incognito):

Museo del Prado (incognito):

This was the best part of the museum for us.  Throughout the gallery, other artists had set up their own easels and were either creating their own replicas, or were making their own versions of the painting they were studying.

Cathedral de Nuestra Señora de la Almudena:

 

 

 

Crystal Palace/Parque del Buen Retiro:

 

Other random pictures:

I’m pretty sure children were crying at the sight of this headless Mickey.  You can’t really blame the guy when it’s 37 degrees out.

DawnO will be blogging soon about her Sense holiday.  We will be reunited mid-August.

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Alhambra and Graffiti Streets

We keep visiting these historic landmarks and we are beginning to see a pattern in their histories.  Each place’s story has some combination of the following occurrences:  If it was not built by Romans, it was most likely conquered by Romans, the Christans/Catholics take over and add their own flare to it (usually this cheapens the original), throw in some mass murder, maybe the area is abandoned for a century or two, Napoleon probably conquered it, more murder, eventually things get unearthed/restored, and when it’s all said and done you can avoid long lines if you buy your tickets online for a few Euro extra.  Obviously that is a gross over simplification of what are very significant and rich histories, but I don’t think the point of this blog is to tell you what you could read in a guide book.  I hope that we give you a taste of what we have experienced in order to inspire you to visit these places yourselves.

With that in mind, yesterday DawnO and I went to the Alhambra, one of the most visited spots in Europe.  Though it has nothing to do with Romans, this Arabic palace/fort was conquered by the Christians who believed it was so beautiful, they could not destroy it.  Over simplification?  Yup.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story.
The Alhambra:
Inside the Palicios Nazaries:

Views from the Fort:

Notable favourites:

We are staying in the heart of Granada in an apartment where we are close to everything.  One of the highlights of this city is all the amazing graffiti that is on display.  Today we did a walking tour of the most impressive works of street art.

Tomorrow we are heading to Madrid.  It will be my last stop before heading back home to Canada.  DawnO still has a couple of weeks to spend in the UK before she comes back home.

I will leave you with a picture of DawnO’s churros that she had today.  They are basically fresh doughnut-like sticks born from a play-dough fun factory.  They are then dipped into the provided cup of steaming hot liquid chocolate…  and are consumed with a shit-eating grin.
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Seville, or: The continuing search for our place

We have found DawnO’s place.  Allow me to explain.  We have a reoccurring conversation every time we arrive somewhere new.  We try to determine if the current place we are in is somewhere that feels like a home away from home to either one of us.  To be fair, I think almost every place we have been to on this particular trip has been noted as her place, but we seem to be getting closer to DawnO perfection as we go. I admit, Seville is certainly a beautiful corner of the world.

We have been here for 4 days and have made use of the bikes that came with our latest place to stay.  We go out exploring in the morning, come back in the afternoon when the temperature reaches 40 degrees C, and we head out again in the evening time once the sun starts to make its decent.  Here are a few pics of our time in Seville.

This is my bike ‘Mustachio’, Dawn’s is ‘El Rocket Rojo’ (the Red Rocket)

Here I set a world land speed record on Mustachio.  No officials were present to confirm this.

DawnO going not-quite-as-fast-as-I-did-but-still-swiftly at Plaza de España.

Seville is the birthplace of Flamenco.  We took in a show the other night and got a front row seat.

Last night we headed across the river to Triana, which is only a 10 minute ride from our place.  Every night this week there is a party along the river where locals drink cervesas, listen to live music, and party like it’s 1999.  We saw the fiesta from the impressive bridge we took pant loads of pictures of.  We preferred the bridge.

La fiesta

So where is my place?  As long as DawnO is there it doesn’t much matter.  Also, there needs to be access to Nachos and guacamole.
Here is a parting shot of us at a spot DawnO will talk about in our next blog:
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Tarragona

We have left the big city of Barcelona for Tarragona, which has been a change in pace.  Tarragona is a smaller coastal town that once was the Roman capital on this side of the Balearic Sea.  It has plenty of beaches, outdoor patios, gelatarias, and history in the form of Roman ruins.

Our place is very charming.  We are staying right across from the cathedral, whichs means it’s close to the action.  We have been getting used to the Spanish timetable of resting in the afternoon and eating at 9 at night.  As a rookie, I have gotten into a bit of trouble when I start sipping sweet Sangria on an empty stomach at 9:30pm.  Now I take a few bites of food prior to drinking the sweet nectar.

The cathedral

My rookie campaign.

We increasingly find that timing is an integral part of the highs and lows of travel.  Last night we happened upon a group of performers creating a human tower.  We had seen a sculpture of this on the main Boulevard and it was quite thrilling to watch it happen from a crowd.  They did about 5 different towers, and it was quite a well organized process.  Each one required coaching and specific placing of key people.  There was a section of the group that played music while they climbed. It was one of those things that we could have easily missed had we arrived five minutes later.

Tomorrow we head to the Montserrat area for some hiking and Sangria!

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Oh My Gaudí

We have arrived in Barcelona and have spent the last few days exploring this beautiful city, enjoying the cuisine, and touring as many Gaudí structures as we can.  I’ll admit, I had never heard of Antoni Gaudí until a couple of days ago when DawnO said, “Are you freaking kidding me?  You’ve never heard of Gaudí?”  Anyway, for you cotton-headed ninny mugginses like myself who have no idea who this guy is, allow me to explain what I’ve learned so far.  He was an architect genius in the 19th century who was a student of nature and incorporated what he learned into his architecture. He proved that his structures could be functional, efficient, and works of art, all at once.  He had the support of a few well-off friends who allowed him to have free reign over his creations.  His eye for detail and his brilliant mind helped create some of the most elegant structures in the world. We have been going absolutely crazy with touring all of his buildings, and here is what we have seen so far:

Palau Güell
This home was built for the Güell family, the patriarch was one of his greatest supporters and friends.
Casa Batiló
This home was renovated by Gaudí to feel as if the family lived under water.
La Padrera
This apartment building was originally panned by critics of the time because it was quite strange.  It features underground parking which was unheard of at the time.  There are people living in this building today.
Casa Vicens
This house isn’t open for tours so I don’t know too much about it.  We could see that they are currently renovating the building.  Hopefully they are restoring it.
Park Güell
This green space was meant to be part of a residential area.  Unfortunately the residential area part didn’t work out as planned.
Sagrada Familia
Gaudí’s ‘Ode to Joy’. He started as the chief architect for this massive undertaking in 1883. Unfortunately he died in 1926 after being hit by a street car so the project was sidelined.  The city is currently trying to assemble his vision but estimate 2040 as a potential completion date.
Gaudì was a master at controlling the amount of natural light he let enter each building.  In the Sagrada Familia he perfected it by using stained glass to create a beautiful atmosphere of colour.
We got to go up one of the towers and this was our view of Barcelona