Arrival in Norwich

We arrived in Norwich one week ago.  We unpacked and started to look around.  We knew previously that there was a library in Norwich and we went and had a look inside.  I found a lot of books, some Star Wars and other science fiction but Kegan struck out.  There is an outdoor market in Norwich which carries a variety of things from food to clothes.  We started homeschooling on Monday and afterwards I usually head down to the library for a couple of hours.

 Us in Norwich

The Cow Tower in Norwich (odd name)

First trip to London

Yesterday, Mama, Logan and I took a day trip to London.  We took a two hour train , and then a subway to Trafalger Square.  On the square are huge statues of lions, as well as a giant, neon blue chicken.  Apparently a German artist won some sort of prize, and got to put up a statue or something on Trafalger Square.  Why she chose a giant neon blue chicken is anybodies guess.


On Trafalger Square is the National Gallery, but no pictures were allowed.  Afterward we had lunch, and went to the Tower of London, where we went on a walking tour (led by a guy in a funny costume), saw the bloody tower, and guards whith huge fluffy hats.  At the tower eight ravens are kept, because there is a myth that says  if a raven is not always kept there, than the monarchy will fall apart, and now it is actually a law!
 



Then we saw the crown jewels, which were quite impressive.
Afterward we went to the Museum of the City of London, which was quite cool, but unfortunately it closed before we had a chance to look at everything, so we'll go back later.
It was a long day, but fun.

Random leftovers about Greece

We are now in Norwich, England and as I look out at rainy skies with 45 degree temperatures I am remembering Greece more fondly than is probably realistic!  We spent 2 and 1/2 days in Athens seeing the famous sights and museums (lots of large structures and statues).  Logan described the Acropolis but we also saw the Museum of the Acropolis where they have the friezes that no one had destroyed or, to quote the museum video "those that Lord Elgin violently removed."  Major campaign to get those back from the British!  Lots of years of temples at the Acropolis and surrounding area meant lots of leftover pottery that had held offerings.  It was interesting.  We also saw the National Archaeological Museum and the Byzantine Museum (everyone was museumed out when we left Athens).  Athens is a crowded, noisy and somewhat smoggy city that is fascinating and beautiful. 

 

So when Reuben and Kim tried for coffee in Athens this is the size they got!  Needless to say, the next morning we had to hit Starbucks!

The state religion is Greek Orthodox and there was a whole street with stores that sold all the stuff you might need to stock a church or dress like a priest or have cool religious stuff.

 

The athletic stadium in Athens which was built and used by the Greeks for original "olympic" games, had marble seats put in by the Romans and used, then refurbished for the first modern Olympics in 1894, and refurbished again and used (for archery and the end of the marathon) for the 2004 Olympics.  

 

 If you zoom in on this picture you can see that they were tired of answering questions about the stadium and just put every piece of data on this info board!

 

 The guard outside parliament in Athens at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  This is a formal, elite guard that does a changing of the guard which we watched.  It was overseen and inspected by a guy in regular army clothes.  But the clothes worn by this formal guard included a skirt with 400 pleats and pom poms on the shoes.  Logan said this did not seem like an elite formal unit but rather where one would be sent for punishment!

Visiting the island of Rhodos was more in the nature of a vacation.  Our all inclusive hotel made everything easy.  All inclusive meant three meals, a snack bar that was open from 10 - 6, three bars that were open from 10 am - 12 midnight which served all types of beverages, organized "sport" activities throughout the day, and evening entertainment (Greek dancing and music one night, two different "skit" nights, jazz one night, and a Mr. Lindos Princess contest which I am grateful neither Reuben nor Jonathon participated in).  When Kegan wrote that we had to dress formally all that meant was no bathing suits in the dining room, and for dinner no flip flops or shorts.  Not exactly formal...  Most of the guests at the resort were German, then quite a few British, and then some from France, Italy, Eastern European countries.  Earlier in the summer apparently there were a lot of Russians whom the locals were not pleased with because they don't spend much!  The entertainment was conducted with English as the "main" language but translated into German, Italian, French and Russian.  Very impressive language skills (and skill choosing things that didn't need much speaking!)!

 

Reuben at mini golf at the resort.  We were pitiful.

 

We "escaped the compound" for two days and took trips around Rhodos.  The town of Lindos was built for pedestrians and donkeys with all the "roads" being 10 feet wide winding between stucco houses built against each other and all having sun awnings so it was cool and shady everywhere.  Gorgeous setting that looked like a movie setting.  Of course most of the lower floors had shops for tourists or restaurants for tourists...  The tourist season was coming to a close (really, most things closed til April by the time we left!) while we were there.  That meant that George's Car Rental just had a phone number on the door.  When called, George's mother answered and passed onto George that we wanted cars!  When George came to rent the cars we found out that after tourist season he has a bit of a break then harvests and presses olives.  That is about the extent of the economy in Rhodos.  In Greece overall the unemployment is 28% but youth unemployment is almost 50%.  Lots of talk of leaving to go to the US to work because there is family there.  Many people we spoke with had lived in the US at some point already.  As we drove around we saw an enormous number of partially built structures that were started when the economy was good but abandoned when things went bad.  Lots of rebar sticking out of concrete.  The landscape overall was more arid than I had imagined it would be.  And lots of goats!  Along the side of the road there would be the yellow caution signs that indicated to watch for deer and some signs for cattle, neither of which exist on Rhodos but apparently there are no signs made that have pictures of goats on them!  Greece was an interesting place to visit, with good food (especially the restaurants we ate at when we "escaped the compound") a relaxed culture and friendly people, and stunning landscapes and art. 

The Lindos Acropolis and some of the town of Lindos (astonishing that we could get a picture here that did not include a cat!)

The Acropolis

We (us and the Gershenzons minus Jonathon who was away for work reasons) hiked up to the Acropolis (the word acropolis actually only means a presidio on top of a sheer cliff) on our first full day in Athens.  The hike up was about 20 minutes long but the grand view of the Proplyeae (a fancy word for the gate) was well worth it.  During the entire hike I listened to a Rick Steve's podcast describing the Acropolis in detail.  

Papa also listening to Rick Steve's guide on the monument of Agrippa (second time I am typing this because Mama did not believe I actually knew this and deleted it)  The monument was topped originally by the winner of the 178 B.C. chariot races later Marc Antony replaced it with a statue of himself and Cleopatra on top, however when the Roman general Agrippa conquered Athens he modestly replaced it with a statue of himself.

There used to be a 30 feet high statue of Athena Promachos (the protector form of Athena) but it was moved to Constantinople and was destroyed by a mob who thought it was beckoning to the crusaders (very odd considering it was a Christian city).   Behind the statue would have stood the temple of Athena Polias (patron deity of the city of Athens) but it was destroyed by the Persians in 480 B.C. 

Kegan in front of the Parthenon

(Just for the record Kegan took an astounding 48 pictures of cats, dogs and turtles while we were in Greece and a pathetic 2 of the Parthenon, both featuring herself I might add)

The Parthenon was dedicated to Athena Parthenos (the maiden).  I though the coolest thing about the building was the fact that they understood the illusion that when two parallel lines intersected two other parallel all four lines have the illusion of bending outward.  The architects of the Parthenon countered this by giving the columns a slight outward lean to counter the illusion. Inside the temple there was a 3 sided room that contained the statue of Athena Parthenos the statue was over 50 feet tall and gilded with an astounding 1,100 kilograms of gold.  The Parthenon was framed by friezes around the top however some of them were destroyed by the crusaders and the Muslims.  Later Lord Elgin carried off the some of the more impressive friezes and shipped them back to England where he sold them to the British Museum (the Greeks want them back but it is unlikely that the British government will ever return them).

 Us in front of the Erechtheion.  This was a temple to Athena Polias and Poseidon and in legend is where Poseidon and Athena gave their gifts to the city of Athens (for those who don't know the story the two Deities competed to become the patron of the city) and supposedly you can see where Poseidon created the spring.  On the other side is the Porch of the Caryatids which is a porch with a roof supported by 6 statues of women used as pillars.

 The temple of Athena Nike

(it is remarkably small compared to the other buildings on the Acropolis)

Me with fruit and ice cream, everyone else just with ice cream

View from the Parthenon

Rhodes

Before we came to England we took a holiday with the Gershenzons, a family that also lives on the Park Platz(Julia, Camille, Kim and Jonathon), to Greece for a little over a week.  First we spent a few days in Athens (which Logan’s writing about).  Then we flew to the island Rhodes.  There we stayed at a resort called the Lindos Princess.

In Greece cats and dogs are pretty much treated as wild animals, and one cat (we called him Christopher), would stop by our room every day.
 
For breakfast, lunch and dinner there was a huge buffet to eat at (much to Logan’s delight), and they required the guests to dress sort of formally, especially for dinner.
 
Also, every night their would be some sort of entertainment, either a play put on by the staff members, or music and dancing at one of the bars.
There were three outside pools at the resort, but they were all even colder than the ocean.  Luckily there was also a indoor pool that was heated.  Other than that we hung out at the beach, played ping pong, pool, vollyball, and there was also soccer for Papa, zumba, water arobics, basketball, tennis, mini golf, water polo, and many other activities.  Sometimes we also just hung out in our hotel room.
 
 
 


 
 
One of the days Julia, Papa, Jonathon and I went on something called the crazy couch, which is a big blown up couch thingy that gets pulled by a boat, and was really awesome!
 
Another day we rented kayaks and peddle boats and explored a little rocky point.

 
We also rented cars one day and went to visit a little Greek town, saw an old olive press, and then to another beach.
 
 
Another time we took a bus to see the Lindos Acropolis, and Julia and I rode donkeys up to it.
 
At one point our donkeys escaped the guide, started running, and mine attempted to pass Julia’s in a very, very small alley way.  Anyway, once at the top, the view was quite impressive.
 
 
 

Then we walked to the square, ate ice cream, and caught the bus back to the resort.

It turned out to be a truly awesome trip!

Last things from Jena

Only a few days left here in Jena!  It has been a nice visit, although the weather is definitely better in the spring and summer!  We have enjoyed seeing some of our friends from previous visits and meeting some new people.  My German has deteriorated and I am sad to say it is not like riding a bicycle, it is like I forgot and cannot remember.  The kids, thankfully, are another story.  And our legacy here will be some German families making zucchini muffins and sweet potato muffins long after we leave!  German cakes are drier and not as sweet as what we are used to and they don't usually enjoy the switch but somehow the vegetable muffins are the exception.  Odd huh? 

Last weekend we went to a Carl Zeiss Jena Football (read soccer) game at the stadium here in town.  It was kind of cold but fun to watch the game.  Possibly more fun to watch the fans!  Each team had a large area at the end where the hardcore fans sat.  They each had a "conductor" as Kegan called him, who perched on the front of the fencing in front and directed them in group cheering.  Mostly men, and each had drummers, they sang, jumped, swayed, held up scarves (and twirled them in unison!), chanted and I am pretty sure even watched some of the game.  It was quite a production.  At the beginning of the second half the opposing team set off red and white smoke bombs (their team colors).  The stadium announcer said in the most resigned, bored voice "At the Ernst Abbe stadium it is forbidden to set off smoke bombs."  And then everyone waited till it cleared.  Clearly not the first time!  There were many riot police there and after the game they used a truck with a fence attached to the front, to ensure that the fans left by different roads/paths from the stadium.  It was fun!

Last weekend we had some American families over for dinner and ordered in pizza and it is an interesting thing that pizza is not delivered cut up, you must do it yourself.  It was a lot of work to cut up that much pizza and I have to say that for a while I will remember to be appreciative of that little service!

I am grateful the US government is no longer shut down.  Kegan is the only one who wasn't asked often to try and explain how this could happen.  Sigh.  But I suppose it was a good civics lesson for Logan! 

And finally, for some pictures that didn't fit anywhere else...

 We are living where there is a restaurant called the Scnitzel Paradise - definitely Germany!

 I believe this little camper is even smaller than the Scamps at home!

 

A few weeks ago when we hiked the Dragon Gorge, we noticed that the German penchant for orderliness even extended to their timber cutting!  These will all be hauled out soon but in the mean time there is no need for the logs to be untidy or cut to unequal lengths!

 When the kids and I visited Berlin we saw this street musician using all these glasses to play music (they were filled to varying heights with water).  It was quite an improvement over running your finger around the rim of your beer bottle!  And impressed us with the time it must take to set up and tear this down each day.

 At the Pergamon Museum there was a display about Uruk, the ancient city in Mesopotamia where Gilgamesh lived.  Kegan and I were entertained because the statue was labelled (as were other statues in the exhibit) as an iconic hero so known because of the six curls of hair and the lion being held.  Those six curls of hair were frequently mentioned.  Very odd!

 Logan mentioned walking by vineyards a few weeks ago but failed to mention that he did his share of sampling.  It was neat that along the path there were one or two plantings of all the different grape varieties, over fifty different ones at least.  It really was possible to taste the differences between them.  And it kept everyone pleasant til we got to the restaurant.

Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin

Last Saturday we (Mama, Logan and I) went to Berlin for the weekend.  We caught a 1:00 train, because that Friday night I had been at a sleepover with some of my friends from school.  Though getting to sleep in helped, the trip was still tiring.  We had planned to go to the Neues Museum right when we got there, and Check Point Charlie after dinner, but since no one was that interested, we decided to skip it and go straight to Check Point Charlie, my personal favorite museum in Berlin.  The museum is inside of a building that used to be an apartment that overlooked the check point.  My favorite part of the museum is the section that described some of the way people escaped to West Berlin.  Of course, not all of the attempts were successful, but some were.  A common way, it seemed, was to hide in the front of a car, where the engine should be.  A simple little spring thingy was attached to the bottom of the car so it wouldn’t sag down, since the border guards mostly only checked the heavier looking cars.  Also, they sometimes arranged for heavily loaded cars to go before and after them, so that they could pass through unchecked.  One car got through by coming up slowly like the other cars, and then speeding through at the last minute.  Many bullets were fired, and though several of the window were shattered, no one had gotten hurt, since the escapees had taken the precaution of filling the car doors with cement, making them bullet proof.  One man helped his wife escape by cutting out the ends of two suitcases, attaching them, and having her lay down in it.  One woman had a pass to West Berlin, and decided to smuggle her child with her.  She didn’t however inform her husband, since he was with the DDR.  She simply put him(the child, not the husband) into a small shopping cart/suitcase and covered him in a towel.  Since the border guards assumed she wouldn’t try to stay in West Berlin, since her child was still in East Berlin, she and her child passed without a problem.  One time the border guards found a log that had washed ashore, presumably across the river from East Berlin to West Berlin, and in the side of the log were hinges that revealed a hollow section, big enough for a person to hide.  These were my favorite ways of people getting to West Berlin, but there were many more, including flying, and digging passages.

After Check Point Charlie we had dinner at a little Italian restaurant.  The next morning we went to the Pergamon, which has a bunch of cool, big stuff (that Logan wrote about).  After the Pergamon we had lunch, and then went to the Deutsches Historic Museum,  It was cool, but we had to see in only a little under two hours.  Unfortunately, the only pictures of our trip we have, are ones that were taken inside of the Pergamon.  Though tiring, it was a good, fun trip.