Hi everybody, We made it! The jetlag was not as bad as we thought but the lines (plural) in the Sydney Airport were worse. Also, watch out for those fruit-and-veggie police in customs. They took away our carrots, one bruised apple, a bag of sunflower seeds, some melted cheese, and a half a raw zucchini, and threatened us with $220 in fines. Luckily that was 220 Aussie, so really only about $175. Whew! We're staying at a great little hostel just outside of the main tourist area called Cairns City Backpacker Hostel. We'll be here for the 20th and 21st (Aussie [View Full Entry]

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Hi everybody ! This isn't really part of the travel blog -- I'm just posting it so that you know where to find us, since so many people have asked. So ... hopefully we'll be able to post every couple of days, and you should get an email when there's something new. Love, Karen. [View Full Entry]

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Beginning as we ended -- the airport bathroom, this time in Amsterdam, doors done with details from a Rembrandt. We got up at 3am, found that the power on our block had gone out, collected our (luckily completely packed) luggage in the dark, and got into a car driven by the father of the hotel owner, whose only English seemed to be "OK?" (he did however use his cell phone to light up the stairs!) Drove to the airport (0.5 hours), went through about 5 lines to get onto the airplane (2 hours), flew to Amsterdam (5 hours), wandered around the [View Full Entry]

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We got up today feeling like old hands at the transportation thing and headed (almost) straight for the ferry to Princes' Islands, arriving 30 minutes in advance to get good seats on the outside, which had a nice breeze. The ferry trip was about an hour and a half, but biking through pine forests on an island with no cars sounded so alluring... Hmm. By now we should have been skeptical of the guide book. But anyway, we got off the ferry into streets as crowded as Istanbul's. First souvenir stands, then a sold half-block of ice-cream stands, then restaraunts. After [View Full Entry]

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We left Sugar Beach Club and the tour at 2:30 in the morning (!) for a one hour ride to the airport and a one hour flight to Istanbul. We got in around 6, left our luggage at the guesthouse, and then had about 6 hours to walk around until the rooms were ready. We walked through the cisterns -- a huge underground complex with pillars and walkways, and a few fish. Its quite interesting to walk though, although Silmarien is still confused about where the "underground sister" went. After wandering around somewhat aimlessly for a bit longer, we decided to [View Full Entry]

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Today turned out to be museum day. First we went to the Archeological Museum, which Art wanted to see. Silmarien enjoyed the seals (small ceramic cylinders that are rolled in warm wax to provide a "signature" guaranteeing a trade good -- especially used over the opening of a bag or chest as a sort of tamper-proof indicator, which I thought was pretty smart) and the sarcophagi and the reconstuction of the Trojan horse (child size, including ladder and window). Then we went out to the docks to get a ferry to Princes' Islands, where you can rent bikes to pedal [View Full Entry]

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After we left the gulet, we spent about a day and a half at a beach "resort" called Sugar Beach Club. As resorts go it was pretty low tech -- small cabins, an open-air bar/restaraunt, beach chairs, and beach. The water was shallow and We were hopeful about some fun activities (like a beginner scuba course or a jeep safari) but for one reason or another everything got cancelled, so we saved a lot of money and went hiking instead. Unfortunately nobody at the resort could tell us exactly where to find the trail (it was supposed to go to an [View Full Entry]

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So then we got on the gulet, which is apparently the name of the type of boat in the picture. It has two masts, but nowadays it is pretty much exclusively sailed under diesel power. We slept on the gulet for three nights. On the first night we slept on the highest deck and had a really good view of the Milky Way. The next night the captain said we'd be going over open sea from 5 to 9 in the morning, and it would be reasonably calm. Luckily we intuited that the crew's idea of reasonably calm and ours might [View Full Entry]

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After more driving, we stopped at a National Park with a waterfall. Jershon climbed a few trees, and Silmarien did some more playing in the sand. We attempted to follow directions as given by the signs, but we're not really sure if we strinked to the border or not... The water there is a fairly bright green from some sort of mineral. I snapped several pictures of the fish because I was struck by the juxtaposition of fish and the reflected leaves. As you can see, Silmarien was excited about her climbing prowess (and in fact got totally soaked in the [View Full Entry]

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Today we mostly drove. And drove. I snapped a picture of an old building sandwiched between two newer ones at a stoplight. Drove some more. Got to an old Roman Amphitheatre. Apparently it was well preserved because after the Romans, it was used as a caravanserai. It was really hot -- like being in an oven steam bath. However, we dutifully climbed to the top to admire the view, Jershon and Silmarien practiced their gladiator skills, and Art judged. Silmarien was most taken but a black adn white pet bunny (too shy to get a picture of) and the chance to [View Full Entry]

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