Last Day in Europe

Today is my last day in Europe. I wish I could make the most of it but I do not feel well at all.  I am thinking that the best thing for me is to just hang out and relax. Tomorrow I'll be getting a taxi to the airport at 5:30 in the morning and fly to London, change planes, and then begin the journey back to Boston.

Thanks for hanging out.  See you all at home.

A Walk in the Sun

It was a gorgeous day today in Amsterdam.  The sun shone all day and the air was crisp and dry.  Naomi and I set off at 10 am and walked to the Foam_Fotografiemuseum (Photography Museum) which I found to be really nice. The whole of the museum and it's exhibits were of high quality. The museum is small and very accessable from all points, a quality I love in museums. The work was good as well, with exhibits from artists of the past, as well as today. Afterwards we went to a few gallerys and saw some good, and not so good, exhibits. 

I started feeling bad again in the afternoon. By early evening I was flat out in screaming pain again.  Naomi called the hospital and spoke to someone who suggested we come to them pronto. We took a taxi to the place and spoke to the receptionist, only to find we were in the wrong place!   Not to worry, we were able to see the doctor anyway, and I was able to explain my problem (by now, the pain had subsided, thank God!) coherently, and without moaning. He seemed to think that the problem was more than just the ulcer, which should have begun to heal by now anyway, and suggested it could be a gall baldder/gall stone problem.  So, after writing me a prescription for some pain medication, and plopping down 95 Euro for the visit, we said good bye to the handsome doctor (a bonus, of course) and came back to the house, where Nurse Naomi cooked me up some nice warm oats.

More than ever I can't wait to get home to resolve this problem.  It is unbelieve how bad this pain is. I can be pretty stoic when it comes to pain, but this is on a whole other level altogether.

Four more Days

I am ready.  Sitting here in the early morning light, listening to the sweet sound of the cathedral's bells, I know in my heart that it is time to go home.  The sound is sweet and melodic, and paradoxically, strange and forlorn.

I miss my family, my kitty, my bed. I miss my bathroom, my comforter, and my little (albeit broken) car.  I miss a great big cup of tea in the morning while watching the news.  Television.  I miss television.  I am not a big TV person, but it's nice to have if you want it.

Busy Day along the Canals

Today I ventured forth on my own to discover Amsterdam in the only way I could...with a map in my hand and some Euros in my pocket.

I set forth at 9am this morning in the cold and damp (it's perpetually like this) and walked the few blocks to visit the Anne Frank House. It was a little building/house that stands fairly empty. I didn't know this prior to my visit, but after the group was captured by the Nazi's, they had stripped the house of all it's furnishings.  Many years later (I think around the 1960's) when they turned the house into a museum, Otto Frank (Ann's father) insisted on leaving the house as is...unfurnished. The most compelling item for me was the movable bookcase.  When I was young girl I had seen the movie that starred Millie Perkins as Anne, and was deeply affected by what I saw. I had not known anything about WWII or the Nazi's or the Holocaust prior to this movie.  I will never forget the sound of the Nazi's coming up the staircase, and the discovery of the hiding place behind the bookcase. It made an impression on me that has stayed with me to this day.
All in all, the house is a moving tribute to Anne, her family, and the others who were in the hiding place during the occupation.

After visiting the Frank House, I took a canal boat to the museum district.  I found my way to the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk Museum of contemporary art.  I liked this museum better than the Van Gogh!  To tell the truth, together, the Metropolitan Museum and the MOMA in NYC have more Van Goghs!  The Met has a ton of his self-portraits, which are my favorite, along with the Olive Grove paintings. I will say one thing, though...putting those Van Goghs under glass is a damn shame.  You can't see the textures very well or experience the glistening of the oil paint when they are under glass. They had a few that were not under glass and there was a huge difference. My favorite Van Gogh there?  "Wheat Field with Crows".  Beauty.

After this I made my way back to the canal boat for the rest of my tour, but had an hour to kill so I went to lunch in the American Cafe across from the boat dock.  I have not had a cheeseburger in I don't know how long and thought it sounded good.  They claimed that this burger was the "Classic American" burger.  I must
protest.  This burger comes with a sunny-side-up egg on top.  Hello????? Are you serious?  This was supposed to come with bacon...it didn't. So, they removed the egg and the bacon and left on the tomato, which I told them to remove from the order, along with the egg.  Hmmm.  Not so good.  I had a few bites and left to catch my boat.

So, that's it for today.  I got back at 3 in time for tea, and here I sit, counting down the days until I go home...

Happy Thanksgiving all...

Big House Boat

Reflections

Canal

Anne Frank House

Clock Tower next to Frank House

More Reflections

View from the Boat



Along the Canal



Romanian Success Story

While I was traveling in Romania, I met a man (a friend of a friend) who spoke excellant English. I asked him where he learned to speak so well and he said that when he was a teenager in Moldova, there was a Peace Corps Volunteer that taught English at his school! I mentioned I was going to be teaching in Ukraine and he told me the story of "Miss Ruth" who came from Hawaii with her big American smile (no one had ever seen such white teeth!). He talked about how wonderful she was...that his entire class could speak excellant English by the end of the year because of her.  They had been leaning it right up until then, but he said her method of a "student centered" classroom make a big difference in how the class progressed.

He said she was a big influence on his life, and I must tell you that today, Radu is an intelligent, successful Graphic Designer who owns one half of small advertising firm in Bucharest. How about that, huh?

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is quite beautiful...and very cold!  It's exactly like New England in November, only there is no sunshine. And it rains.  All. The. Time. My friend Naomi says it's like this all the time.  There is a lot to see, but it's very cold and damp so I am going to try to pick one thing a day and go to see it, rather than spend all day walking about. It's bone-chilling cold, and once it settles into my feet, I am miserable. Here are a few things I saw today.

The Street where Naomi Lives

Chocolate in Chocolate Containers

Enroute to Amsterdam

I left Romania yesterday in the cold, wind, and rain.  Amazing.  I get there and it is like spring for the entire month with no precipitation to speak of, and the day I leave it is like New England in November!  I also left with a parting gift...some kind of urinary tract infection!  Thank goodness for the people of British Airways..they were kind and helpful and, get this...they informed me of an OTC remedy I could buy at Heathrow in the pharmacy!  What a relief! This stuff is call "Cystitis Relief".  These are little packets of powder that you mix with water and drink 2x a day for 3 days. So when I landed in London, I grabbed some before changing planes to go to Amsterdam. So far things have settled down a bit.  The pain has subsided but not the pressure. I am praying for a miracle here folks. I don't want to go anywhere near a hospital until I get home next week. Unbelievable.

Bucharest Cemetery

We went to visit Daniela's husband's grave today.  A beautiful cemetery in the city, just for veterans.  He was a major in the army, but died an unfortunate, untimely death at a very young age.  The graves, much like those in Sighisoara, are above ground and quite beautiful, but with two distinct differences: most of the headstones had pictures of the dearly departed, and there were lanterns everywhere.  The lanterns hold the candles that visitors light for the dead.

Like in the United States: A wife buried with her husband

Fighter Pilots Buried Here! (These are miniature airplane wings)

Candles Burning on a Grave



Some are wonderfully landscaped.



A Sea of Headstones

English Ivy out of control.

Husband and Wife

 Lantern

End of the Line

I have 2 more full days in Romania and then I am off to Amsterdam. I am looking forward to moving on and hope to find some delicious cuisine in the Netherlands.  I can't get my mind off a toasted and buttered "Everything" bagel with a fried egg and melted swiss cheese. YUM! I also can't wait to drink some fresh milk.  This morning I had to toss out yet another quart of 'turned' milk that was freshly bought and had an expiration date of at least 10 days away. I have tossed out at least 4 quarts of milk.  I think the problem is they don't refridgerate it properly. When you go to the dairy case it feels quite warm, not like at home when you need to don a winter coat to stroll down that aisle in the supermarket.

Back in Bucharest

I got back into the city today and I was feeling pretty great about it.  It's not home, but it's familiar. The train was right on time...Romania time! Translation: 1 hour late.  I have to say, that although the tranportation system is terrible here (slow trains, no interstate highways, bad connections) the trains haven't been half bad.  As a matter of fact, since I left last Saturday to explore the country a bit, every train I have been on has gotten better and better...cleaner, more comfortable, more...first class..which is what I have been paying for.  When I left Bucharest, I rode in a compartment with 6 other people.  I didn't consider this to be first class, but when I saw everyone standing in the corridors, I changed my mind.  When I left Brasov to go to Sibiu, the train was up to western standards...no compartments but single seating and much more comfortable and private. The next train was actually a commutor train, which was really awesome!  This was the first train I had been on where I could see out the windows!  (All the others were streaked with dirt) It was very clean and comfortable. The train today was absolutely awesome...like riding on Amtrak, except for the speed, of course. The seats actually reclined and every one had a tray and a foot rest.  This was plush...nice! There was also a dining car, although I was not too interested in that.  I think it was because it was an IC train...I think it means inter-city.  (International) This train started in Budapest  and ended in Bucharest.
So...I'm back now, and intend to spend the next few days with friends. I am leaving here Tuesday and I find it hard to believe almost a month has passed! Next...Amsterdam!

Sighisoara

I am in the last town on my mini-tour of Transylvania. The town of Sighisoara is rich in history and full of Medieval architecture. It is a small, amazingly intact 15th century Citadel (3 sq. miles) that has 9 towers, narrow passageways, and cobbled streets. The Citadel was a fortress that protected the town from outside invaders. It is also the birthplace of Vlad Tepes (Dracula). This is the most incredible place I have seen in all of Transylvania. I am walking around in a fairy tale. It is so hard to describe. I have taken hundreds of pictures, but will only show a few here.  I have also shot a little video because the view from my room cannot be described adequately.  I am located in the heart of the Citadel at the Clock Tower.

I visited the birthplace of Vlad "The Impaler" Tepes yesterday. It is a nice cafe, of all things. I had a lovely cup of tea, rare for Romania. I also went inside the Clock Tower, which is how I got the birds-eye view of the town. The tower is now the Museum of History, and for a small fee ($2.60 +/-) I got to see some amazing artifacts from the middle ages. My favorite items were from the pharmacy section. They had a surgeons tool bag, an amputation tool bags (ick!) and, most uncomfortable of all, a gynecological tool bag. Talk about your instruments of torture!  It made me squirm not a little.

I toured the edges of The Citidel and took pictures of many of the towers, but I have declined to name them in case I mix them up. There is The Taylor's Tower, The Butcher's Tower, and others, but wasn't sure which was which.  I ran into a beautiful cemetery, filled with new, old, and ancient graves. These are not buried in the ground, but interred above ground like in Louisianna. There were about 7 tiers of graves here...a beautiful, peaceful, green and hilly cemetery. On my way back to the Inn, I spotted my small installation...it had been moved to a new place, but it's still there and in tact. Here is a small taste of what I saw on my stroll around the Citadel.

View from my Window

Clock Tower

Vlad's Birthplace

Clock Tower

Leaving my Feet in Sighisoara

Little Matt





Wall thickness approximately 3 Feet

Original Citadel Wall...13th Century!