So we are back home! After 15 hours total on planes and about 2 whole days spent in airports and the lovely city of Paris, we finally made it.
We had about exactly 24 hours to spend in Paris. We stayed in a hotel near the airport and just rode the train into town. Oh, and by the way, I LOVE Paris. I did the first time I went, and still did during our short little trip this time. We had all afternoon and night to hit 5 places that we picked out to see. We headed to our first stop- Notre Dame. Before seeing the church, we ate at a little cafe near it. Mine was pretty yummy, and Todd's probably would've been if they had ever brought it! After lunch, we walked over to look at Notre Dame and its gargoyles. Lines to go in were pretty long, so we decided not to.
We then went to the Eiffel Tower. Yep, just like I remembered it. You all of a sudden look up and there is a massive tower above you. It's really a cool feeling to see it in person. Even though it was a cold and dreary day, the lawn in front of it was littered with tons of people. Again, the lines to go up to the top were massively long, so we decided to just enjoy the views from the ground.
After a while, we decided to hop on the metro again and go to the Arc de Triomphe. It was here that I realized I didn't have any "Paris book" to tell me the history behind all the things we were seeing. It really does make a difference to know background information when you see all these things. Nonetheless, the Arc de Triomphe was still pretty cool.
From there, we walked down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre. It was a much longer walk than I remembered, and we probably should've taken the metro. But the Champs Elysees is full of shops and cafes and people, so it was a fun walk.
We finally made it down to the Louvre, where we just walked around and looked at the outside (no time or money to go in....people say its overrated anyway). By this time, it has started raining....lovely. We stand under a bus stop until the rain has somewhat pass, then hop on the metro and head to Montmarte.
Montmarte is probably my favorite part of town. It's a lot quieter and seems very quaint. We stopped at an Italian restaurant for dinner. We had pizza and wine at a little table outside. Delicious! Then we walked over to Sacre Coeur- a big white church on a hill (sorry, I don't really know any more about it than that). We climbed a TON of stairs to get to the top (Todd was pretty much dragging me b/c I was so exhausted at this point!). The last bit of stairs before you reach the church was full of people just hanging out. It was almost sunset and the stairs offered a great view of the city.
We decided to end our Paris adventure with dessert....crepes! Ok, if you've never had a crepe, this is what it is....you put a thin, pancake-like crepe on a hot skillet and fill it with whatever you like. Todd had strawberry "jelly" and bananas and I had Nutella (like chocolate peanut butter) and bananas. Then you wrap them up and eat them hot. So yummy! We both decided that this was, by far, our favorite part about our day in Paris. :)
We finally made it back to our hotel about midnight. We had been up for 24 hours straight!
So now we are back. We had a great summer and are so thankful to my aunt and uncle for all their generosity over the past month and a half. We love to travel....there is so much to see and learn. There are so many people all over the world living lives that we, as Americans, probably don't even give a thought to. I mean, who had heard about a country called Azerbaijan or knew that Georgia was actually a country and not just a state? It's good for us to be reminded that the world is much bigger than just the comfy little lives we live.
So, we love to travel, but nothing beats getting to come home- getting to see our family and friends, being in our own apartment, getting to go to church, and, of course, having a car that makes going places so convenient!
So I guess that wraps everything up! Thanks for reading about our summer. I've kind of gotten into this blog thing, so if you don't mind I think I'll keep it up! Probably won't have too many exciting stories, but I'll see what I can do. :)
Last bit of pictures:
Paris: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025589&l=039f8&id=61700300
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Tbilisi, Georgia
Todd and I took a trip this past weekend to Tbilisi, Georgia (Georgia is one of the countries that borders Azerbaijan to the west). It was quite an adventure and all started with a 15 hour train ride to get there. We opted for the first class tickets on the way, and we were able to have a private cabin- two beds and a little table in the middle. We watched Grey's Anatomy on our portable DVD player and then fell asleep for the night. We arrived in Tbilisi about 11 the next morning.
We stayed in a guesthouse that was recommended by a friend. The house contained 3 rooms...2 contained about 5 or 6 beds. Our had just 2. It was just your basics....minus A/C, plus a few flies and mosquitoes.
We headed out to explore the city our first day....the 4th of July. We went to the Old City in hopes of following a walking tour that was in our guide book. We started off OK, but then got somewhat lost. Our book has the street names in English, but the actual street signs were written in cyrillic. Not helpful. We finally made our way uphill to an ancient fortress that overlooks the city. The views were great. The city is very hilly with a river running through the middle of it. Georgia is also a Christian country and you could see tons of church steeples poking up here and there. Really a cool sight.
Next to the fortress is the huge, silver statue of Mother Georgia. She holds a cup of wine in her left hand to symbolize Georgia's generosity, and a sword in her right to remind everyone that Georgia will fight if crossed.
After we made our way back down, we saw a few more churches and other sights around town. We were pretty exhausted and ready to eat dinner and head home. My aunt and some other people told us that we needed to eat at this restaurant called The Hangar while we were there. It is owned by an American and we figured they might be doing something special for the 4th of July. We finally found the restaurant, and with it American flags and waitresses with patriotic hats. We were early and not too many people were there. We actually got to talk to the owner, who later invited us over to her table with some friends. A local news channel was there and they wanted to ask us what the 4th of July meant to us. After a couple of us talked, they asked us to sing a national song. So, we sang the Star Spangled Banner (not the prettiest version you've ever heard).
It was a fun night full of hot dogs, hamburgers and good conversations with English-speaking people. They even did fireworks....however, we were too exhausted to stay that late. Maybe my first 4th with no fireworks!
We got up Saturday morning and headed to see the Sameba Cathedral a.k.a. The New Church. It was yet another little hike to reach it, but the church was pretty impressive and worth it.
This huge church was just built in 2004. The inside walls were white and seemed to reach forever upward. Again, great views of the city were all around.
Now, to my favorite part of the trip....the bath house. One of the oldest parts of Tbilisi is called the bath house district, where these ancient bath houses are still in use. In the past, women would spend all day hanging out at these bath houses with friends. Men also used to gather there for maybe something like a guys' night out. So what's inside? Well, basically it is like a sauna with a hot tub, showers to rinse off, and a marble bed that you can get massages on. I think most people do the public baths (they are pretty cheap), but I guess we are a little too modest and opted for a private cabin. We both got massages...yes, completely naked....a little weird, but OK. The massages consisted of sloughing off dead skin (amazing really), “bathing” us, and giving us the roughest massages we’ve ever had. It was great! I highly recommend it!
We stayed in a guesthouse that was recommended by a friend. The house contained 3 rooms...2 contained about 5 or 6 beds. Our had just 2. It was just your basics....minus A/C, plus a few flies and mosquitoes.
We headed out to explore the city our first day....the 4th of July. We went to the Old City in hopes of following a walking tour that was in our guide book. We started off OK, but then got somewhat lost. Our book has the street names in English, but the actual street signs were written in cyrillic. Not helpful. We finally made our way uphill to an ancient fortress that overlooks the city. The views were great. The city is very hilly with a river running through the middle of it. Georgia is also a Christian country and you could see tons of church steeples poking up here and there. Really a cool sight.
Next to the fortress is the huge, silver statue of Mother Georgia. She holds a cup of wine in her left hand to symbolize Georgia's generosity, and a sword in her right to remind everyone that Georgia will fight if crossed.
After we made our way back down, we saw a few more churches and other sights around town. We were pretty exhausted and ready to eat dinner and head home. My aunt and some other people told us that we needed to eat at this restaurant called The Hangar while we were there. It is owned by an American and we figured they might be doing something special for the 4th of July. We finally found the restaurant, and with it American flags and waitresses with patriotic hats. We were early and not too many people were there. We actually got to talk to the owner, who later invited us over to her table with some friends. A local news channel was there and they wanted to ask us what the 4th of July meant to us. After a couple of us talked, they asked us to sing a national song. So, we sang the Star Spangled Banner (not the prettiest version you've ever heard).
It was a fun night full of hot dogs, hamburgers and good conversations with English-speaking people. They even did fireworks....however, we were too exhausted to stay that late. Maybe my first 4th with no fireworks!
We got up Saturday morning and headed to see the Sameba Cathedral a.k.a. The New Church. It was yet another little hike to reach it, but the church was pretty impressive and worth it.
This huge church was just built in 2004. The inside walls were white and seemed to reach forever upward. Again, great views of the city were all around.
Now, to my favorite part of the trip....the bath house. One of the oldest parts of Tbilisi is called the bath house district, where these ancient bath houses are still in use. In the past, women would spend all day hanging out at these bath houses with friends. Men also used to gather there for maybe something like a guys' night out. So what's inside? Well, basically it is like a sauna with a hot tub, showers to rinse off, and a marble bed that you can get massages on. I think most people do the public baths (they are pretty cheap), but I guess we are a little too modest and opted for a private cabin. We both got massages...yes, completely naked....a little weird, but OK. The massages consisted of sloughing off dead skin (amazing really), “bathing” us, and giving us the roughest massages we’ve ever had. It was great! I highly recommend it!
**NOTE: The following story is MUCH better told in person. Please ask us about it!
It was time to head back to Baku. We got 2nd class train tickets this time because they are cheaper. This means we were in a cabin with 2 other people (“bunk beds”). We got on the train to find no one in our cabin yet. We rode that way to the Georgian border where we stopped to go through customs. As they came around to check our passports, Mr. Customs informs us that our visas are expired and we will have to stay in Georgia til we get new ones. What?!?! Almost immediately, I start crying (I was ready to go home....what if we missed our flight back to the US...it was too much!). Finally, after a lot of confusion, worrying, crying and a phone call, it turns out that Mr. Customs read our visas wrong and we were OK. Close call.
By this time, the whole train is interested in our business and keeps assuring us that everything will be OK. One man in particular feels the need to be our friend....
Imagine a huge burly guy with his shirt unbuttoned to his big pot belly with chest hair hanging out. He has a towel around his neck to catch all his sweat, and he smells like alcohol and smoke. This is the man who makes himself at home in our cabin and tries to speak a little bit of English with us. He even brought a huge bottle of beer to share. Thoughtful. Of course, we didn't want the beer but it would've been very rude to refuse (actually, I got to refuse because I'm a girl, but Todd really couldn't be rude...this guy might have beaten him up!). So, after the guys had a couple drinks, (while Mr. Burly slings his sweat on the floor and spills the beer on my leg) we thought he would leave. He did, but returned often trying to get Todd to come down to his cabin to hang out. By this time, the 2 sweet older ladies, who we shared our cabin with, were on the train. With their help, we finally got Mr. Burly to go away...only after Todd promised to hang out the next day. We shut the door and locked it for the night.
Todd and I were still asleep on the top bunks at 7:30 the next morning. The ladies had opened our door and Mr. Burly comes and thumps Todd on his foot to wake him up. Seriously?!?! We finally get up and Mr. Burly just won't go away, so Todd gives in and goes down to his cabin. Come to find out, Mr. Burly has tons of food and beer and even a big bottle of vodka (or maybe moonshine?) in his cabin. After some broken English conversations, lots of toasting, and a cucumber and piece of sausage eaten, Todd finally returns.
Our last encounter with Mr. Burly happens the last 30 minutes of our ride. He comes in and nearly sits on me. We think he wanted to have tea with us when we got off the train, but we booked it out of there and he never caught up.
Long story (sorry so long)...but that was our trip to Georgia!
Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025469&l=aabe4&id=61700300
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Marshrutkas
I (Todd) want to tell you about the Marshrutkas, or mini-buses, in Baku Baku
Four manat each way can start to add up though. After a few weeks, I noticed that inBaku
I have to walk about ten minutes to a bus stop to get on my Marshrutka, number 327. I walk past construction, slums, through a medical school, over the hills, and through the woods. This morning the bus was arriving just as I got to the stop and I had to run to get on. When the door opened, several Azerbaijani men tumbled out and then pushed back on. I also squeezed into the bus while imagining what a circus clown must feel like. I sat smushed against the front windshield and contemplated my spinal injuries if the Marshrutka wrecked. To exit the Marshrutka you signal the driver to stop anywhere you want, hand his 20qepik, and get off. This morning I was sitting in a position so that I had to collect the other passenger’s money as they exited the bus. I got off the bus about two blocks from my office in the middle of a street during rush hour. Another interesting and incredibly inexpensive ride to work.
Another interesting facet of the Marshrutka is that men always get up to let women sit down. Younger women also get up for older women. One day I stood up so a young woman could sit down and she insisted on holding my bag in her lap until I exited the bus. Why? No idea. Needless to say, the sights, sounds, and smells of the Marshrutkas are an experience every Baku traveler should have.
Four manat each way can start to add up though. After a few weeks, I noticed that in
I have to walk about ten minutes to a bus stop to get on my Marshrutka, number 327. I walk past construction, slums, through a medical school, over the hills, and through the woods. This morning the bus was arriving just as I got to the stop and I had to run to get on. When the door opened, several Azerbaijani men tumbled out and then pushed back on. I also squeezed into the bus while imagining what a circus clown must feel like. I sat smushed against the front windshield and contemplated my spinal injuries if the Marshrutka wrecked. To exit the Marshrutka you signal the driver to stop anywhere you want, hand his 20qepik, and get off. This morning I was sitting in a position so that I had to collect the other passenger’s money as they exited the bus. I got off the bus about two blocks from my office in the middle of a street during rush hour. Another interesting and incredibly inexpensive ride to work.
Another interesting facet of the Marshrutka is that men always get up to let women sit down. Younger women also get up for older women. One day I stood up so a young woman could sit down and she insisted on holding my bag in her lap until I exited the bus. Why? No idea. Needless to say, the sights, sounds, and smells of the Marshrutkas are an experience every Baku traveler should have.
Love,
TJ
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Grey's, the 4th & Maiden's Tower
Todd and I were bored on a certain Thursday night before we left for the summer. We flipped through the channels, but couldn't really find anything that we both wanted to watch. Then I noticed that the 2-hour season finale of Grey's Anatomy was about to come on. We've never seen a single episode of the show, but have friends who love it and know that season finales are always good. So, we decided to watch it and see if it was a show we could maybe get into.
Well, we go into it! Since we've been in Baku, we have bought the 1st and 2nd seasons and are almost done with both! You can only buy "illegal" copies of movies here. There is no Blockbuster or video store where you can buy videos. Instead, they have stores of DVD's and you ask if it is a "good copy" (not one that is shaky & you can tell they were taping in the theater). I'm not sure they have any laws against this business...so that makes it legal here?
Anyway, although the DVDs are much cheaper, they don't always work on regular DVD players. Like our seasons of Grey's Anatomy. But it does work on our computer! So Todd and I usually become unsociable at some point every night and crawl in the bed to watch Grey's on our laptop. DVD set seasons of any show can be very addicting!
This past Saturday, we attended a 4th of July party put on by the American Chamber of Commerce. I was pretty excited to go (even though Todd wasn't going to be there...he was out of town with work) because the 4th is my absolute favorite holiday (of course, Christmas is close behind). It was held at the Crescent Beach Club and my aunt said there would be hot dogs, hamburgers and music & fireworks. What more could you want?
Well, I should've known to never expect certain things in another country, because you really never know what you will get. We arrived and there were already a ton of people there, but , strangely, almost more Azeris than Americans. First thing I saw were 3 American flags. Good start. We ventured out to look at the "beach". It was pretty rocky and contained tons of sea shells (obviously not a thing to collect here). And again, the Caspian Sea showed her true colors up close....dirty water...but we still touched it just to say we've touched the Caspian Sea! We went to find a table (that we had to fight for because of the number of people there) and then set off for food. Guess what? They ran out of food! Completely out! They kept putting some out little by little, but every time we made it over to the food table, it would all be gone! Craziness.
But the band was good. My aunt finally got us (Kim & me) to dance when they played YMCA. After that, we had fun people watching.
So, no food, no real beach, no patriotic music and no fireworks (they weren't doing them til 11:30 & we were ready to go by 9). Not my favorite 4th of July, but definitely an experience.
On Sunday, we did a little more sight seeing. We went to the top of the Maiden's Tower. The tower was built sometime between the 7th and 12th century AD. There are lots of stories behind why it was built. I like the one that says a father wanted to marry his daughter, and she said she would if he built her a tower. He started building, but she didn't really want to marry him, so she kept saying it needed to be higher and higher. Finally, she said it was high enough. She climbed to the top of it and jumped off so she wouldn't have to marry him. Kinda morbid and probably not the true story behind it, but oh well.
The Tower has 8 floors inside, and just a short 124 steps to the top. Once at the top, there are great views all around. Well worth our 2 manat we paid to go up!
Kim left this morning. Yes, she is my uncle's niece and not really related to me, but I refer to her as my cousin (it made things less confusing when we are being introduced to people over here). She is going to be a sophomore in college this year. And a print journalism major. It's really cool that she got to be here this summer. Like I mentioned before, she interned with a magazine here- In Baku Magazine- really, it's equal to our People Magazine. :) She is just 19, and already has been published worldwide. That's quite a thing to get to put on your resume!
She even extended her stay for 2 weeks when her boss offered to pay to change the flight and get her another visa.
All that to say... I'm glad she was here. We had fun.
Check out our latest pics:
Maiden's Tower & Azeri Dinner- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025283&l=624f2&id=61700300
Todd's work trip to Quba- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025285&l=a685e&id=61700300
Well, we go into it! Since we've been in Baku, we have bought the 1st and 2nd seasons and are almost done with both! You can only buy "illegal" copies of movies here. There is no Blockbuster or video store where you can buy videos. Instead, they have stores of DVD's and you ask if it is a "good copy" (not one that is shaky & you can tell they were taping in the theater). I'm not sure they have any laws against this business...so that makes it legal here?
Anyway, although the DVDs are much cheaper, they don't always work on regular DVD players. Like our seasons of Grey's Anatomy. But it does work on our computer! So Todd and I usually become unsociable at some point every night and crawl in the bed to watch Grey's on our laptop. DVD set seasons of any show can be very addicting!
This past Saturday, we attended a 4th of July party put on by the American Chamber of Commerce. I was pretty excited to go (even though Todd wasn't going to be there...he was out of town with work) because the 4th is my absolute favorite holiday (of course, Christmas is close behind). It was held at the Crescent Beach Club and my aunt said there would be hot dogs, hamburgers and music & fireworks. What more could you want?
Well, I should've known to never expect certain things in another country, because you really never know what you will get. We arrived and there were already a ton of people there, but , strangely, almost more Azeris than Americans. First thing I saw were 3 American flags. Good start. We ventured out to look at the "beach". It was pretty rocky and contained tons of sea shells (obviously not a thing to collect here). And again, the Caspian Sea showed her true colors up close....dirty water...but we still touched it just to say we've touched the Caspian Sea! We went to find a table (that we had to fight for because of the number of people there) and then set off for food. Guess what? They ran out of food! Completely out! They kept putting some out little by little, but every time we made it over to the food table, it would all be gone! Craziness.
But the band was good. My aunt finally got us (Kim & me) to dance when they played YMCA. After that, we had fun people watching.
So, no food, no real beach, no patriotic music and no fireworks (they weren't doing them til 11:30 & we were ready to go by 9). Not my favorite 4th of July, but definitely an experience.
On Sunday, we did a little more sight seeing. We went to the top of the Maiden's Tower. The tower was built sometime between the 7th and 12th century AD. There are lots of stories behind why it was built. I like the one that says a father wanted to marry his daughter, and she said she would if he built her a tower. He started building, but she didn't really want to marry him, so she kept saying it needed to be higher and higher. Finally, she said it was high enough. She climbed to the top of it and jumped off so she wouldn't have to marry him. Kinda morbid and probably not the true story behind it, but oh well.
The Tower has 8 floors inside, and just a short 124 steps to the top. Once at the top, there are great views all around. Well worth our 2 manat we paid to go up!
Kim left this morning. Yes, she is my uncle's niece and not really related to me, but I refer to her as my cousin (it made things less confusing when we are being introduced to people over here). She is going to be a sophomore in college this year. And a print journalism major. It's really cool that she got to be here this summer. Like I mentioned before, she interned with a magazine here- In Baku Magazine- really, it's equal to our People Magazine. :) She is just 19, and already has been published worldwide. That's quite a thing to get to put on your resume!
She even extended her stay for 2 weeks when her boss offered to pay to change the flight and get her another visa.
All that to say... I'm glad she was here. We had fun.
Check out our latest pics:
Maiden's Tower & Azeri Dinner- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025283&l=624f2&id=61700300
Todd's work trip to Quba- http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025285&l=a685e&id=61700300
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