Category Archives: June’s Posts

June's Posts

So many Chateaux!

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Hill view of Langeais
Hill view of Langeais

Lately it has been far more difficult to find time to post blogs. We’ve been extensively sightseeing, and I’ve also been working on manuscripts. So I’ve completely missed reporting on our time in both Austria and Germany. To sum up: wonderful.

Now we’ve moved on to France. We picked up a car in Munich, and drove it here. We will have the car for two weeks, as we explore the Loire Valley (last week), Brittany (where we are currently) and Normany (our next stop). I thoroughly enjoyed legally driving very, very fast, particularly in Germany…

The picture above is the town of Langeais, on the Loire River. We spent a week based there and exploring the area. We explored Cheverny, Chamborg, Clos du Luce, and other wonderful castles and chateaux. It is hard to choose just a few pictures, as there are so many beautiful places here.

Cheverney
Cheverney

Jack was in his historical glory, and we realized just how much he knows, as he taught us facts we didn’t know about some of the locations we visited. While visiting one of the oldest castles in the area, which has been turned into sort of an medieval interactive location, Jack and Joe got to try on chain mail, see a trebuchet fire a water ball at the castle, and learn sword fighting techniques. (Actually, I think Jack used some of his karate skills, which surprised and winded the sword instructor…)

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One of my favourite places in this area, although it is hard to choose, was Clos du Luce, where Leonardo da Vinci lived for the last few years of his life. They have turned the park behind the chateau into a working demonstration area for many of his inventions/machines. The kids really enjoyed trying them out, and it’s a beautiful park as well.

Dan and I enjoyed the best meal of our lives in Langeais on my birthday. We just turned our choices for food and wine pairings to the chef. Escargot risotto with peas, goose, chicken live pate… five courses of delicious!

We are in Brittany now. Although only a few hours away, it’s a very different vibe here, and not only because it has turned rainy and cool. The seaside/marina feeling is very different. More on that in the next post…

June's Posts

Crowded, stressful Venice

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Our hotel, Hotel Marconi, foot of the Rialto Bridge
Our hotel, Hotel Marconi, foot of the Rialto Bridge

Venice was a challenge. No other way to put it. I had fond memories of Venice from my last trip. However, that was in 1988, before mass tourism. It was crowded then, in the heart of the summer. This time, we were there “pre-season” and yet it was one of the most crowded places we’ve been (and we’ve been to some crowded places this past year). The water “buses” that I recall offering cheap and relaxing rides down the canal have become jam-packed, pushing and shoving matches. St. Mark’s Square, one of the world’s most beautiful man-made sights, is now filled with hawkers, aggressively approaching everyone with junk to sell, and throwing pigeon food in women’s hair so the pigeons land on them… sigh. It wasn’t a great visit, for any of us, frankly. It’s still gorgeous, it’s still very unusual, but it’s a challenge to visit. Watching out for the kids in crowds, and on and off boats, was stressful.

Joe and Jack loved pigeon-wrangling.
Joe and Jack loved pigeon-wrangling.

Now to the positives: when we did turn down little side streets, off the beaten track (sometimes intentionally, sometimes when we took the wrong boat) we relaxed a little. It seemed then the sun would come out even warmer, we could sit and enjoy some gelato, and just soak up the atmosphere. Here are some of my favorite images from this intriguing place.

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Classic Venice view
Classic Venice view

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June's Posts

Corniglia, Italy

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This week we had far too short a stay in the Cinque Terre area of Italy. We spent a couple of nights in Corniglia, on the western coast of Italy. We absolutely loved it, and would have loved to stay longer, but that is what happens when you are trying to stay spontaneous in the summer…

The area is full of beautiful hiking trails, and we had a gorgeous apartment, with a beautiful view you can see here.

The view looking left.
The view looking left.
The view looking right.
The view looking right.

There are gorgeous hikes throughout, and although it was cool, it made me happy to get out a do a nice strenuous hike.

Me happy, hiking!
Me happy, hiking!

And although our time in Corniglia was too short, we still had time to smell the cacti!

Ouch!
Ouch!
June's Posts

Rome in Two Days

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Jack is loving it!

If someone should ask me, “Can you see Rome in two days?” I will answer most emphatically, “No, no you cannot.” But we tried…

The Coliseum
The Coliseum

We thought we weren’t being too aggressive with our plans: the Coliseum/Forum/Palantine Hill (which we could walk to easily from our hotel) on Day 1, and walking to Vatican City, sightseeing along the about 4.5 km walk along the way, on Day 2. What we didn’t count on: temperatures of about 33 C, and two boys who suffered horribly from seasonal allergies in Rome. (Well, in Greece too, the truth be told, but Rome was the zenith we think). Jack and Joe really enjoyed the Coliseum, which, while far more crowded than we expected, still seems alive with history once you get inside. (I’ve included a picture of Jack here. While taken in Siena, it demonstrates how excited he was in Rome).

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Looking into the animal and gladiator pits.

Day 1, which included far more walking than we anticipated, ended for the boys partway through the Forum, with so many sneezes the crowds were giving us a wide berth as a potential contagion group. We took them back to chill at the hotel while Dan and I did a dinner out and an evening walk up to the Trevi Fountain. After a lovely meal, we spent about 30 minutes dodging hawkers aggressively selling selfie sticks, then finally found some peaceful streets and enjoyed most of our walk. But it was longer than we anticipated (sensing a theme?) and we arrived to find 1) more hawkers, and 2) the fountain dry and under scaffolding. On the way home, we did pass by one of the city’s beautiful churches though, and it was lit gorgeously at night.

The light streaming into the ceiling in St. Peter's.
The light streaming into the ceiling in St. Peter’s.

Day 2 began well, with allergies somewhat under control, and a gorgeous walk to Vatican City, through simply beautiful small streets near the river. Disappointingly, the crowds were simply too big heading into the Vatican museum, so no Sistine Chapel on this visit. But St. Peter’s was simply incredible, as you can see from some of these pictures. We walked a different route back, right along the river, which was gorgeous, and empty of crowds. It was about a 10 mile day, in the end, in very hot weather, but still, gorgeous. Moral of the story: Rome is crazy, beautiful, crowded, anxiety-provoking, crowded, and worth the frustration. I think…

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Walking home along the Tiber.
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St. Peter’s – check the tiny heads for a sense of scale.

Now we are in Siena, in a beautiful hotel that is a (short) walking distance to everything. Temperatures have dropped to the mid-twenties, perfect for strolling. Time for some wine and pasta…

June's Posts

Jack and Joe, brothers and friends

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We are currently in Santorini, Greece. How can it be colder and rainier here than in London, Ontario? Odd, but that’s the way it goes sometimes… we do hear it’s supposed to warm up, but the 5 days we spend here may be quite chilly. It’s a mountainous island, so cool weather is good for hiking, but it’s no longer beach weather. Add to that we all have either allergies or colds, and it may be a long stay here. Okay, enough whining…

Temple of Apollo, Naxos
Temple of Apollo, Naxos

However, last week we were in Naxos, another island. It was glorious. It’s just before the tourist season, so there aren’t many visitors. Not everything is open yet, but it was great to walk the streets with very few people. All the pictures today are from Naxos.

How cool is this beach?
How cool is this beach?

But I thought I’d write today about the boys, rather than the place. It’s been a couple of weeks now since we left the Semester at Sea program and began travelling “alone” as a family. The kids miss their friends from home, and their new friends from the ship. They have only themselves again, as in Sedona, except now they are stuck with Dan and I all in one hotel room. There is no escaping Mom and Dad; which really isn’t good for any of us! Okay, so it’s not that bad. But it is close quarters and we all have to get used to that. It’s going to be about 8 weeks on the road, so we better get used to it soon!

Laughing in the waves
Laughing in the waves
Deep thoughts on the city square
Deep thoughts on the city square

They enjoyed Naxos, as we all did. Glorious weather, beautiful beaches, and gorgeous small villages. Add in fantastic local wines, citron, all the lamb Joe can eat, and all the gyros Jack can eat, and it adds up to a fantastic experience.

Cold water? What cold water?
Cold water? What cold water?
Huggy
Huggy
Check me out!
Check me out!
June's Posts

Athens

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This week we spent four days exploring Athens. Glorious weather, and we did it right: explore in the morning, rest in the afternoon, back out for late dinners. We focused on the ruins, as we stayed in Plaka, at the foot of the Acropolis. This was my first visit back to Athens since 1988, when I travelled with Lisa Penner. The city has changed a lot, but mainly it was a much better trip when I had a little bit more money! The wild cats are the same (Jack says “still great”) but there does seem to be less of them. And visiting when it’s maybe 25 degrees is much nicer than visiting when it is about 42 degrees, as it was when I was here in the summer. Much more civilized. Spent the afternoons in Athens catching up on some writing projects, with the ever patient team of co-authors I am currently working with. Thanks again for understanding: Aimee Huff, Miranda Goode, Jodie Whelan, Matt Thomson, and Jeff Rotman. On to Naxos, then Santorini, then Rome!

June's Posts

London

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We had a very brief (two night stay) in London. If we thought the ship was crowded quarters, the hotel room in London was even smaller! I think the room we all slept in was about 150 square feet. You know it’s small when it is smaller than the room in Japan…

The very first night we arrived we took in Wicked, which was a highlight of the visit for all of us.

We also had great weather. Although cool, it was nice and sunny. We packed a ton of walking into two days, visiting the Tower of London and the British Museum, along with sites along the way such as Buckingham Palace. The kids were exhausted, so maybe we pushed them a little hard. For those of you who know London, this means walking from the Tower of London all the way back to the Pimlico neighbourhood we stayed in. Are we too tough?

Here are some pictures from the two day visit. Lots of great history!

June's Posts

The Last Week on the Ship

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As I write, we are already aboard another ship, the Blue Star Delos, heading from Athens to Naxos. But I am very far behind in blogging, so I will quickly write a few today.

The last week aboard the MV Explorer was fairly emotional for most people. The undergraduate students had seminars about “re-entry,” preparing to return to real-life. Even the Ship Kids had a discussion about this. A lot of the discussion centered on how to talk about this journey to those who haven’t experienced it. Also, how not to bore everyone to death droning on about how incredible it is. So, I will be brief.

This was, indeed, a pivotal experience in my life, and the life of our family. The close quarters with so many people, the quick-in and quick-out nature of the port visits, the endless ocean… it can’t help but have a profound effect. For me, the effect was to simultaneously make me feel like the world is so vast it is hard to grasp, yet small enough to see commonalities across cultures and countries that made me feel the earth is smaller than I thought. It’s an odd feeling, and hard to explain.

For Jack and Joe, it has been a sad farewell to the ship. They made great friends here, and although they liked London (more on that in the next post), saying good-bye to everyone was hard. And, perhaps not surprisingly when 800 people disembark in the same city, we continued to see “SASers” (slang for Semester at Sea people) at major tourist sites in London. So it was a constant reminder of what they were leaving behind. So this post, I include some pictures of their new good friends, and one that shows that their cabin was “kid center” for much of the voyage.

I also had to include a picture of one of the most spectacular rainbows I have ever see, which we viewed from Portsmouth, England.

June's Posts

Morocco post

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Now to actually write about Morocco.

I am sure the kids will blog about our trips here, so I will focus on a bit of a travelogue. The first day in Casablanca I had my last (of four) field labs, which are academic experiential learning days with my students. The day went well, and Dan and the kids did a tour of the city while I was away.

The following day we did a very long day trip to Marrakesh. Although I had already decided that these SAS trips would be my first and last experience with “tour bus” travel, this trip, and the overnight one we took to Fez the following two days, solidified that decision. We just do not enjoy travelling in a pack. In both Marrakesh and Fez we were in groups of about 25, and shepherded through souks/medinas/markets like we were on some sort of military manoeuvres. Although we saw more than we would have alone, we never got to spend quality time anywhere. We felt over-scheduled, over-crowded, and just sort of over-everything. We are very much looking forward to the next phase of our travel, where we scale back to a family of four. Of course, then we have to make all our plans ourselves…

Morocco is a gorgeous country, and some of these Arabic and Islamic sites are simply outstandingly beautiful. But honestly, it was more difficult to travel here than it was in India. The old city section of Fez, for example, has over 9500 small winding streets, with many dead ends. Some are so narrow it becomes dark. And although it is (thankfully) the largest car-free area in the world, the donkeys have free reign. Being a little more reflective on the experience, I think our difficulties mainly came from the tour aspect. I would have loved to just find a lovely place in Marrakesh and stay there a few days, as some of our friends did. We would have seen far less, but enjoyed far more. At any rate, here are some final images of this complex place.

June's Posts

Random things

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Some things we did not expect to see in Morocco, but should have:

1) Fantastic beaches (one in Casablanca pictured here), and

2) Roman ruins. Here are just a few of the pictures of the restored site of Volubilus, which was once the southwest extreme end of the Roman empire (in about 700 BC I think).

I am also including a funny picture of Jack doing part of the Logistical Pre-port lecture before we arrived in Morocco. Why is he doing this, you may ask? Well, it’s a funny story… Each voyage there is a ship-wide auction held to raise money for future Semester at Sea scholarships (this isn’t a cheap voyage). Things that get auctioned off range from the mundane but surprisingly valuable (a jar of Nutella went for $65) to the exotic (5 nights in a hotel in Madagascar) to the unique to SAS (first to leave the ship in England, which went for $1200 I think). One of the SAS items was the chance to be the “Voice” of the ship for a day. Let me explain: each day, three times per day (at least) there are ship wide announcements. These cover things such as the sea depth and temperature, distance travelled since the last port, nearest land, as well as announcement of the day’s activities. Usually completed by Kevin Sternsberg, Assistant Executive Dean (shown in the picture with Jack) this was something Jack really wanted to do. The bidding was fierce, but we won that item, and Jack did the announcements for a day. He loved it, and everyone thought he was pretty funny. (When I get better internet, I will post a short video). Kevin very nicely followed up with a chance for Jack to do the opening of the logistical announcements necessary before we arrived in Morocco (we’ve got that on video as well). Jack improv’d pretty well, and it was funny.

So, here are some pictures of the beach, the ruins, and Jack speaking in front of about 500 students.