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August 2000 (Aug travelogue)

September 2000 (Sept travelogue) (back to top)

October 2000 (Oct travelogue) (back to top)

November 2000 (November travelogue) (back to top)

December 2000 (December travelogue) (back to top)

  • Fes - The medina and a rainy day for elegant studying.
  • Fes to Asilah - Train to Morocco's Atlantic coast and playing on the beach.
  • Asilah - At a seaside town during Ramadan.
  • Asilah to Sevilla - Back on the ferry, orange trees, the cathedral, the bull ring, and strolling.
  • Sevilla - Maria Louisa Park, Plaza Del Salvador, the Cathedral, Place De Espana.
  • More Sevilla - Around town, the Alcazar, and flamenco.
  • Hiking in Cazorla - Hike up to a monastery and the ruins of a Moorish tower.
  • More Cazorla - Hanging out and hiking.
  • Cazorla Sketching - Drawing from a hill above town.
  • To Piles (By Way of Benidorm) - It took four bus rides, and a night at an undeclared British colony, to get us to a beautiful beach and a great hostel.
  • Valencia and Barcelona - A walk around Valencia and an introduction to Gaudi.
  • Around Barcelona - The bird market and more Spanish wackiness.
  • Gaudi's Sagrada Familia In Barcelona - Under construction, modernist cathedral (following an essentially gothic pattern) was the coolest and most thought-provoking church we've seen. .
  • Barcelona to Monaco - More Gaudi and a warm welcome to Monte Carlo.
  • Monaco - Visiting the palace and the Oceanographic Museum.
  • More Monaco - Japanese garden, party at Uncle Marc's, and haircut.

January 2001 (January travelogue) (back to top)

February 2001 (February travelogue) (back to top)

  • Snowy Days in Casacastalda - A hike on a grey day turns into a white hike (to the delight of the kids!).
  • Gubbio - Traipsing around a very old city.
  • Grandma Hughes is Here! - Picking her up at the airport, a tour of Florence, and then fun in Casacastalda.
  • Assisi, Cards, and Heading for Rome - The Assisi cathedrals were fascinating, Grandma taught us a few things about cards, and then we headed to Perugia to catch the early train, return our car, and catch the early train to Rome.
  • Rome - We caught the early train from Perugia and, when we arrived in Rome, it was sunny!.
  • Palatine Hill Ruins - The ruins of the palaces of Roman emperors and a great place for a picnic.
  • St. Peter's - Visiting the basilica and the Pope.
  • The Forum - Touring and picnicking in the Roman Forum.
  • Walking About Rome - Imperial Forum, Vitorio Emmanuel Monument, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo De Firori, and Home Again.
  • Pompeii: Part I - The kids go to Naples and Pompeii.
  • Pompeii Part 2 - The kids visit Pompeii.
  • Papal Blessing and More Walking Around - The Pope, Mouth of Truth, a pretty church, and the Tiber.
  • The Vatican (again) - The Vatican Museum and a climb up St. Peter's Dome.
  • The Colosseo - Maggie's favorite place.
  • Rome to Athens - Good-byes, a subway ride, a train, a ferry, a bus, a city bus, and then Athens.
  • The Acropolis - A beautiful place (and a beautiful place for a picnic).
  • Athens - Changing of the guard and folk dancing.
  • Athens to Siphnos - Ferry to a little island in the Cyclades.
  • Siphnos - Climbing to St. Andreas (and a Mycenaean town) and around our "house.".

March 2001 (March travelogue) (back to top)

April 2001 (April travelogue) (back to top)

  • Coptic Cairo - Several churches and a synagogue tucked away behind walls in an area called Babylon.
  • City of the Dead - The living have took up residence in the mausolems and now there's utilities, shops, and apartments.
  • Sufi Dancing - A boat ride and then the dervishes. - On our last day in Cairo we visited part of the necropolis of the ancient city of Memphis and to our delight found a place reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
  • Bombay, now known officially as Mumbai - A much more interesting and easy city than we expected.
  • Kochi - Boating around a lake and the "backwaters" in Kerala, a state in southwestern India. (The backwaters are a network of lagoons, lakes, rivers, and canals fringing the coast of Kerala.).
  • Kathakali Dancing - A form of classical Indian dance-drama indigenous to Kerala.
  • Munnar - A "hill station" surrounded by tea plantations and spectacular views.
  • Bus Ride to Thekkady - Another great bus ride. This time from Munnar to the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.
  • Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary By Boat - A boat from which we watched wildlife and a swimming pool from which we watched monkeys.
  • Devi Temple Festival - Each year there's a festival for each temple, and this was one for a small temple just inside the gate of Periyar.
  • Hiking in Periyar - More wild boars, monkeys, elephant poop, and, our favorite, leeches.
  • Madurai and Its Sri Meenakshi Temple - A town filled with pilgrims and rickshaws .
  • Kodaikanal (Kodai) - A pretty little hill station town awash in Indian tourists.
  • Chennai (Madras) - The Government Museum and a festival to commemorate the birthday of Thiagaraja (a venerated composer, but you knew that!).
  • Tirumala - A most extraodinary day, walking with the pilgrims to view Lord Ventkateshwara.

May 2001 (May travelogue) (back to top)

June 2001 (June travelogue) (back to top)

  • Good-bye Varanasi; Hello Nepal - A walk around Old Varanasi and a car trip into Nepal.
  • Starting Our Trek - Five interesting hours by bus from Pokhara to Beni and then a short walk to Galeswor.
  • Galeshor to Tatopani - Mule trains, bridges, and green hills.
  • Hanging Out In Tatopani - We spent a day in Tatopani goofing around by the river, sleeping, and celebrating a birthday.
  • Tatopani to Ghasa - Up the Kali Gandaki gorge on a path barely hanging (and occasionally falling off) the cliff face.
  • Ghasa to Lete - Some photos of what a nice guest house looks like. Ghasa is the first Thakali village we come to - prayer wheels and Buddhism - and we stop for lunch in Lete.
  • Lete to Kalopani - A tiny inn surrounded by huge mountains.
  • Kalopani to Marpha - We wade the river, stop for lunch in Tukuche, and watch as the landscape becomes harsher. We also see many more Buddhist shrines.
  • Marpha - A cool Buddhist village.
  • More Marpha - Up the hill behind the town and back to the monastery.
  • Marpha to Kagbeni - Up the river to a medieval-looking oasis.
  • Rest Day in Kagbeni - Playing in the river, walking around town, watching the wheat harvest, and a visit to the monastery.
  • Kagbeni to Multinath - Up the pilgrimage route to a sacred place for Buddhists and Hindus.
  • Muktinath - Muktinath is a pilgrimage center for Buddhists and Hindus. We've seen sadhus headed here for the last few days. Beautiful views and lots of prayer wheels.
  • Mulktinath to Jomson to Pokhara - A quick walk down to Jomson and then a flight to Pokhara.
  • Pokhara to Kathmandu - Nice ride through green hills, past the site of a fatal accident, and into the city.
  • Kathmandu - Tourist shops, wood carvings, temples, and toothache cures.
  • Walking to Swayambhunath - Monks, monkeys, and monuments.
  • Swayambhunath 2 - More monks, monkeys, and monuments, this time with music.
  • Durbar Square - A walk around Kathmandu's main square.
  • Bhaktapur Part 1 - Founded in 865, the town that was for 200 years the most important settlement in the Kathmandu valley.
  • Bhaktapur Part 2 -  .
  • Overland To Tibet - Waiting at the Friendship Bridge and then an incredible truck ride to Nyalaam.
  • Nyalam to Tingri - Through Nyalam Pass (3800 m) and Lalung-La Pass (5050 m) to our first taste of tsampa.
  • Tingri to Lhatse - Tibetan lunch and a barren landscape.
  • Lhatsa to Shigatse - Beautiful stark landscapes, barren places, and yaks.
  • Tashilumpo Monastery - The Panchen Lama's monastery and full of chanting monks.
  • To Gyantse and Pelkor Chode Monastery - Founded in 1418, Pelkor Chode has an amazing number of books and is home to the Gyantse Kumbum.
  • Gyantse Kumbum - A grand chorten at Pelkor Chode Monastery.
  • Gyantse to Lhasa - Glaciers and swimming in Turquoise Lake with the Himalayas as a backdrop.
  • Potala Palace - The White Palace once served as the seat of the Tibetan government and the main residence of the Dalai Lama; the Red Palace houses several chapels, sacred statues, and the tombs of eight Dalai Lamas..
  • The Jokhang Temple - In the center of old Lhasa, considered the holiest temple in Tibet, the Jokhang was temporarily converted into a guesthouse by the Chinese after 1951..
  • Drepung Monastery - Once the largest monastery in the world, it's now home to abou 600 cheerful monks.
  • The Norbulingka - Summer palace of Dalai Lamas.

July 2001 (July travelogue) (back to top)

  • Linghor Kora - A traditional sacred circumambulation of Lhasa. Tote helps paint Buddhas.
  • Around Lhasa and a Visit to Sera Monastery - Prayer wheel repairmen and debating monks.
  • Chengdu - Interesting, comfortable, modern city that reminds some of us of Denver -- it has about the same population.
  • Emei Shan Part 1 - A bus ride that was an act of faith and then, in the words of one of our party "the stairway to hell.".
  • Emei Shan Part 2 - From the lovely (and, shall we say, "rustic") Elephant Washing Pool Monastery to the Golden Summit.
  • Chengdu to Xian to Beijing - After we failed to get train tickets, we flew to Xian where we resumed the quest for train tickets. While tracking down tickets, we went to a water park (we were so surprised to find one in China that we had to try it, though we've never been to one in the U.S.!) and paid a visit to the famous terra-cotta warriors.
  • Temple of Heaven Park - A pretty but relatively incomprehensible set of buildings used by the emperors to propitiate or worship or get favors from heaven.
  • Beijing's Yonghe Gong, Kong Miao, and Guozijian - (Or, in other words, Lama Temple, Confucian Temple, & Imperial College).
  • Beijing Nights - Dinners (one of Peking Duck) and a night at the Opera.
  • Forbidden City - Where emperors once roamed, and as the less than interesting signs repeatedly informed us, "attended to state business and received officials," or sometimes vice versa.
  • The Summer Palace - We were smuggled into one of the most beautiful places we have visited. Unfortunately, by the time we struck had negotiated the metro, the bus, and the smugglers' van, it was evening..
  • The Great Wall - One of the most fantastic places we have ever seen and one of the most frightening hikes we have ever taken.
  • Beijing to Hong Kong - Twenty eight hours on a wonderful train.
  • Hong Kong - Big, expensive, and it comes with dried lizards.
  • Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur - We spend a day walking and busing around Hong Kong. We have no problem with the typhoon and our flight to Malaysia was marvelous - so is Kuala Lumpur!.
  • Kuala Lumpur to Manila - A relaxed, easy city and another great plane ride.
  • Manila - A nice hotel and wonderful "jeepneys".

August 2001 (August travelogue) (back to top)

  • Back in the USA - Grandma's, dirt track racing, the Ten Acres, and a county fair. - Greetings, reunions, and life slips back to normal
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