jefe
jeff blair Joined: October 20th 2005
Logged in: January 12th 2010
Logged in: January 12th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
Jeff and Jimmy
Across the caldera from Santorini is the tiny island of Thirassia. Its quiet, the tourists arrive by boat in the late morning and leave mid-afternoon with full bellies and memory cards. We had the pleasure of sticking around on this island after all the tourists left. Julie and I stayed with Jimmy at Zaccharo rooms for rent. Jimmy and his wife Zaccharia have about 10 rooms up on the top of the hill over-looking the caldera. It was an incredibly peaceful place Complete with the best macaroni and local island sheeps cheese anyone has ever had. Yum... read more
Santorini
Arrived in Santorini after a long overnight ride on the ferry from Rhodes, our taxi driver took us to his friend's hotel. We stayed in a room in the basement. It had a window to a cement covered alley. Charming. It smelled like basement too. In the morning we were denied the breakfast that came with our room. We caught a bus to Oia to find calm and quiet. Santorini is filled with tourists! We ended up asking a travel agent where she would go to find peace and quiet. We were instructed to go to the tiny island of Thirasia to Zaccharo rooms for rent. And so we did (after eating a gyro).... read more
Mushroom Soup
After Returning from Belgrade, Polona and I drove to Croatia where we stayed for the Slovenian Holiday. The Adriatic was a little cold but that didnt stop us from taking a swim. We made some delicious mushroom soup and spent out mornings drinking coffee at different cafes overlooking the harbour and the adriatic sea. TGiven the May Holiday (5 days off for Slovenes and honorary Slovenes ) here were a lot of festivities and live music, including the famous Oliver Dragojevic. There is a little pair of islands of the coast that are accessible by boat and have great swimming. The boat to Crveni Otok (Red Island) has a number of departures per day providing transport to the Hotel Istra, a high class hotel on the Island. Red Island is connected to Maskin Island, which ... read more
Cyrillic
Damjan and I traveled to Belgrade to give a presentation on Black Carbon and the Aethalometer. About 80 people were in attendance, and it was probably the largest audience I have had for a talk like this. Belgrade is a very interesting and beautiful city, the point where the Sava and Danube rivers meet. On the way back from Serbia we got stopped at the Croatian / Slovene Border because of a small problem at Customs which cost us ~150 euros and 3 hours of our time. It was a really long day.... read more
Shambhala
I wanted to post a few pics of Shambhala. Ill be here for another night then meeting up with Abby and Jenna to go woof at windsong... read more
Back Seat Driving on the Opposite Side of the Road
I spent a few nights in Christchurch arranging for a rental car and getting things in order - shipped a few Sout Pole Pint glasses home and caught up on some good food. My second night at the Devon Hotel was spent on the Inn Keeper's floor. Sandy didnt have any available room for Saturday night but she let me crash anyway. My friends from SFO, Sam and Jenny, got into Christchurch on Sunday and were shocked to see me there waiting for them. We didnt think we were going to catch each other but my early flight out of McMurdo put me in Christchurch at just the right time. The three of us roamed around mostly eating and drinking our way through town and taking naps in between. We went to the Volcano in Lyttleton ... read more
Prayer Flags on Ob Hill
I got up early the day before my flight north to climb Ob Hill. I had great weather and it was a nice morning hike. The USCG Polar Star cutter was making passes in the sound breaking up ice. This is the first time I have seen open water in McMurdo Sound!... read more
At the South Pole
I left South Pole on the 1300 flight back to McMurdo. I took some more photos at the pole marker and said goodbye to this remarkable place, wondering when I would be back. The flight home was easy. 8 souls on board and I got to ride in the cockpit during take off which was really fun. I napped most of the way back to station and arrived in time for a big dinner. Vessel Offload has started and Station is a little bit crazy. Lots of loaders and trucks are moving mil-vans around station and then down to the dock where they are being loaded onto the American Tern Vessel. Most of my friends in town are working night shifts and I think I am ready to head back to Christchurch.... read more
Destination Zulu
Today I woke up and drank 2 liters of water before brunch. Fresh fruit, omelettes lots of tasty pastries, a great way to start the day. After Brunch Scotty took a few of us through the tunnels and gave a tour of the off limits underground ice tunnels and facilities. The temperature down there was -66C and by the end my glasses were totally fogged along with the LCD screen on the video camera. I don’t have any pix - Ill have to get them off of the video footage later. I spent a few more hours filming some shots for the seal men movie and for the Herzog unnamed Antarctica film and then showed a prelease screening of Herzog’s Rescue Dawn. After the movie I had just enough time to pack and then get to ... read more
The Old South Pole Dome
This morning I got up in time for breakfast and got a good start to my day. I met Jason, who is the winterover science support tech at pole, at his office at 8:00 to plan for the day. We decided we would prep the site in the morning and hope that cargo would have time to bring the Thermos Flask Box out to the site in the afternoon. We walked over to Cargo and talked with Webster about bringing the flask out in the afternoon. We Borrowed a banana sled and a couple of shovels. Jason offered to pull the sled which was great because today is my second day here at Pole and I have not acclimatized yet. It is -52F out today with windchill, and Im surprised at how long I can work ... read more
