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Vienna: Care to waltz?

July 5, 2010 By Jillian

Vienna is probably best known for its high culture: theater, opera, classical music, dance and museums. The center of the Austro-Hungarian empire for hundreds of years, we weren’t actually interested in seeing the cultural side of Vienna. Perhaps we’ve been in the “bush” too long, but I couldn’t really picture going to the opera in my chaco’s and convertible safari pants. Maybe that’s just me.Lucky for us there is a lot more to Vienna than it’s high culture.

Vienna is called a “green” city, and when you look at the map it’s not hard to figure out why. Our first day in Vienna we took a hiking trail, accessible by public transportation, which wound through mountains and into vineyards. Seriously. No more than an hour after leaving the city we were in the middle of the woods atop a mountain overlooking Vienna. Climbing Kahlenberg-Leopoldsburg wasn’t a technical hike, the steep trail was paved most of the way, but the views were spectacular and we had to remind ourselves we were in one the largest cities in Europe. We picnicked in a vineyard and watched deer steal a few grapes for themselves.

Not satisfied with a hike through the vineyards, we convinced our couchsurfing host to come to hike in the “viennese alps” with us. Hiking through alpine meadows up Schneeberg (snowmountain) was the highlight of our trip to Vienna. Especially when we saw the snow at the top. Let’s just say our African wardrobe was rather inadequate. Fortunately the alps are dotted with rest huts, which serve beer, schnapps, and even food.

We did get in a little musical culture while in Vienna. The Danube Island Festival, a huge annual 3 day concert with over 2000 artists, the Viennese really know how to throw a festival. It’s the largest outdoor festival in Europe. Crowds of people, from teenage punks to toddlers and grandparents roamed the island moving from stage to stage listening, dancing and rocking-out to the music. On one of the stages, we caught a German 1950’s rock and roll cover band, complete with hair gel and combs. Like Elvis the front guy doo-wopped across the stage, while his bassist and guitarist performed acrobatics with their instruments. It was like back to the future when Marty rocks the under the sea dance. Not exactly Mozart.

Berlin: Something’s different here.

June 17, 2010 By Jillian

We landed in Berlin bleary eyed after getting up at 2 o’clock in the morning for our flight. (Danny never went to sleep) and immediately something was different. No less than 10 minutes after getting off the plane, we stood in line to buy train tickets, customs and immigration completed, luggage in hand. Right on schedule the train appeared, opened it’s doors and we were whisked away to the center of Berlin. It worked like clockwork. “German efficiency, welcome to Europe,” I thought.

There’s a lot to see and do in Berlin, but first on our list was actually the Egyptian museum. Crazy, I know, considering it has been two weeks since we stood in the Egypt Museum in Cairo. Of course we wanted to see Nefertiti’s head after reading the rather belligerent request for it to be returned on a billboard in the museum in Cairo. For the record, her head was very nice, but not nearly as incredible as we had hoped. In the Sudan we slept under the stars next to the pyramids of Meroe, almost all of which have been destroyed by an Itialian fortune hunter in the 19th Century. Taking the gold jewelry and treasure back to Europe, we assumed while at the pyramids that it had been sold and lost to history. You can imagine my surprise and frankly excitement when I stumbled upon her treasures in this museum. Like a kid in a candy shop I examined every piece with such excitement that I think I scared the guy next to me.

Honestly we spent most our time in Berlin at the museums, given that there are more than 70 of them and both of us are history buffs isn’t too hard to understand. We saw Checkpoint Charlie, remaining sections of the Berlin Wall, road our bikes around the Bradenburg Gate, the German History museum, the site where the Nazi’s famously burned books, and spent nearly three hours exploring the Isalmic Art museum in the Pergamon. By the time we left we were museum-ed out.

Besides the more traditional museums, we also spent a lot of time at museums and sites dedicated to World War II. As Americans it was interesting to see the scholarship and academic work on World War II from a German perspective.

Having hosted, traveled and met several German’s along the way, we were not surprised at the frank and sometimes painful displays related to World War II and the Holocaust. We found the Topography of Terror Museum, on the site of the old SS headquarters in Berlin to be particularly interesting for the displays told a complete history of the SS’s actions during the era with facts and images that we had never seen. We appreciated that the Jewish Museum didn’t focus only on the Holocaust when telling the story of Jew’s in Germany, instead providing a chronological history since the medieval period. We ended our visit to Berlin at the Holocaust memorial located symbolically near the Bradenburg Gate.

Somewhere in there we had time to grab a pretzel, a few beers and cycle all over Berlin. In fact the couchsurfers we stayed with kept us out late each night, not that we’re complaining, beer tasting in the park, barbecuing with friends, playing cards and having some rather deep political conversations. We thought Europe would be a relaxing break for us, but if Berlin is any indication we’re going to be exhausted by the time we leave this continent.

Khartoum

May 17, 2010 By Jillian

At the convergence of the Blue and White Niles, Khartoum seems to straddle an invisible line separating sub-saharan Africa from Arabia. Geographically it may not be so, but there is a certain cultural divide that comes together with the Niles. White robed men linger in the souk with their brightly dressed East African brothers while women from the west and the south- their faces scared by ritual cuttings sell delicious tea (chai) on the side of the road. Khartoum is in many ways a reflection of Sudan’s place in Africa, it is the largest country with perhaps the most visible regional diversity on the continent.

Khartoum was lovely. We spent nearly a week camping by the banks of the Blue Nile, walking the length of the city several times over, exploring the Omdurman (Arab section of town) souk courtesy of a local couchsurfer, drinking gallons of fresh juice and even enjoying an ice cream or two where we could find it. From the wonderful couchsurfers we met up with to the market stall owner who invited us in for tea, and the men who invited us to lunch at the sailing club (which was delicious!), we were constantly meet with gracious hospitality and genuine interest.

Walking back from the Sudan National Museum, Danny and I were stopped on the street by a local family. Introducing himself to us, and then in turn his two boys and his veiled wife, the man welcomed us to Sudan and wished us a pleasant stay. This scene was to be repeated time and time again in Khartoum. Instead of taxi drivers following us down the street honking and yelling: “Taxi! Good price!” the drivers in Khartoum waved at us out their window and yelled, Welcome! It was a delightful change of pace.

Standing at the Whirling Dervish (sufi dance) ritual at sunset on Friday, we were fascinated not only by what was in front of us, but enchanted (thats really the only way to put it), by the people of Sudan.

Addis Ababa

April 26, 2010 By Danny

This is probably the most African city in Africa. It is big and loud. Sidewalks run incomplete into beautiful buildings. It is among the 5 largest cities on the continent yet there is a donkey that eats grass out of the road median near our hotel and today we had to walk around a flock of sheep being herded the opposite direction. It is where the Africa of old meets the Africa of new.

Addis is unique in Africa for the same reason Ethiopia is unique in Africa. Ethiopia is the only country in Africa never to have been conquered or colonized. Every other country we’ve been to on this trip, including our own USA, is a country born from colonization. This lack of European influence (save Mussolini’s occupation during World War II) has yielded a country that can say it is wholly African. As a result, Addis Ababa, the capital city, is the only one on the continent free of European history and thus serves as a beacon for the rest of the continent, as the center of African diplomacy.

This role as the diplomatic center of Africa gives Addis Ababa its modern edge. It is the reason Addis is home to one hotel (a Sheraton) rumored to be one of the nicest in the world, with a night in a villa starting at $12,000. It is the reason every country we’ve ever heard of has an embassy here. It is the reason I was just able to enjoy good ice cream with chocolate cake for the first time months.

We’ve had a lot of time to pass here in Addis, waiting for visas to Egypt and then to Sudan so that we can complete the remainder of our trip. It is the first time, in over a year of travel, that we’ve set foot inside a US Embassy (to get additional passport pages) and I can honestly say I was never so happy to see a photo of Hilary Clinton in my life. We saw a copy of the famous ‘Lucy’ skeleton, ate a lot of Ethiopian food, and even watching Ethiopian dancing. This is a nice city, a real city, but it still doesn’t make me want to spend more time on the continent.

Nairobi: A small series of unfortunate events….

April 14, 2010 By Jillian

After too few days in Lamu, we returned to Nairobi to drop Nikki off for her return to the US. Nairobi is the opposite of Lamu. Loud, chaotic and cosmopolitan we were immediately caught in the middle of the biggest city in East Africa. Awful traffic, drizzling weather and finding a place to stay well after dark, our initial impressions of Nairobi were awful. Nairobbery it’s often called, and on that first night we were on guard against everyone and everything.

Things are always better the next morning, especially in a city where there’s the opportunity for some retail therapy. You may remember in Zimbabwe we purchased some beautiful stone sculptures. Shipping them home, we were devastated to find out that not only had they broken but in fact they were “pulverized.” Unable to console ourselves, we’ve made it our mission to figure out how to get back to Zimbabwe on this trip and purchase more- suggestions are always welcome! In the mean time, we’ve looked for similar art everywhere and although it’s mostly copycat stuff made from soapstone here in East Africa, we took a chance and headed to the City Market in Nairobi to have a look around.

If you hate hard bargaining, stay away from this place. Seriously. It was a nightmare of pushy salesmen, vendors and hawkers who not only shouted at you, but also tried to physically pull you into their stores. Prices started at nearly 10 times a reasonable price and after just an hour we could hardly stand it anymore. Fortunately a year of practice has given us the ability to sniff out a fair deal and a genuine tradesman, so although it was a harrowing experience, we came out loaded with crafts, paintings and even a stone sculpture or two. Thankfully we had a very willing courier and a very large plastic duffel bag to transport everything safely home.

Feeling better about Nairobi and a series of small unfortunate events that have been plaguing us the last few weeks, we put Nikki on her plane and returned to the city. Only to find our room key missing. Astonishingly, this is the first time in more than a year of travel that we’ve lost a room key. Unable to find a working spare, we spent the night in another room and waiting to break in until the morning. The hostel people were wonderful about the key, and had a working spare made for us so we didn’t have to destroy anything to get to our toothbrushes. Twenty minutes later we realized that we had made a costly mistake in our travel planning- Ethiopia does not give visas at its land borders. Gathering our passports, we rushed to the Ethiopian embassy to try and get our visas processed before the weekend. Of course, they were closed for an extended weekend…until Tuesday which meant we’d have to wait at least five more days in Nairobbery.

It seems as though everyone comes through Nairobi, so although we were stuck for five days waiting for the embassy to open, we had plans nearly every day with other travelers, ex-pats, friends of friends and colleagues who happened to be in Nairobi the same time. It’s weird to realize that we’re nearly half way around the world and we know a bevy of people here. On top of that we have half decent internet here for the first time since leaving a continent with the word “America” in it and have enjoyed walking around town a bit.

The manager of the hostel we’re at told Danny that he’s been here for 23 years and that 10 years ago travelers like us were mugged on a daily basis. Now however, he hasn’t had a single mugging amongst his clientèle in the last 8 years. Maybe Nairobi is getting better after all.

Vienna: Care to waltz?

Berlin: Something’s different here.

Khartoum

Addis Ababa

Nairobi: A small series of unfortunate events….

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