Wrap Up

Finally on the plane home. Had one more chance to have a look around Cairo yesterday. We had a client move a meeting in the afternoon to a dinner. So we had a couple hours to kill in the city. We went up to the Citadel, which is a fortress from when the Turkish kings were ruling. We had a look in the Mohammed Ali Mosque there. It is Byzantine in style but built in the mid 1800's (see picture). Quite something. It is high above the city and the air was clear enough to see the pyramids many miles away.














From there we paid a very fast visit to the Egyptian Museum, which is mind-boggling. Every square inch is jammed with antiquities. It would take days to do it justice and they only have a fraction of the collection displayed. All you can do is shake your head as you just can't take it all in that this is the real stuff. The facility itself is pretty run down. I don't know where they get the funding to preserve all this - clearly they don't get enough. Saw the royal mummies, the highlight of which is Ramses II, who is excellently preserved. However the ultimate highlight is King Tut's treasures. These are just incredible for not only quality, but massive volume. Of course the best are his golden coffins and mask. I doubt we could reproduce the craftsmanship today.














So Cairo is well worth the visit for the history. Driving on the roads is unreal. I wouldn't make the moves in a video game that people do for real here. I saw a car wrap itself around a tree and a truck smash into a barrier in one day. That doesn't mention fenderbenders. The other negative is the airport. While Egypt Airlines has a beautiful new terminal, the other airlines are relegated to a dump. So your first impression of Egypt is that you've just arrived in the 3rd world - which is actually the case, so maybe a good reminder! Everyone raves about the trip of a couple days in Cairo, then a quick flight upriver to Luxor and a 4 day cruise up the Nile to Aswon - taking in the Valley of the Kings along the way. Most of the passenger boats were built to ABS Class. So there are trade-offs, but I'm sold.

TWG
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent December 11, 2009

Bucket List

Another check mark on the bucket list.














Have finally reached Cairo, the last leg of this week's mideast junket. We finished our last meeting this afternoon a bit early and dinner got pushed back to 8pm. Hmmm, what to do. Discovered that (along with me) our Country Manager for Egypt has never been to the Giza Plateau. Where was our last meeting? Giza! Turns out our Cairo based surveyor, Esmat El Komy, is a real amateur Egyptologist, so how could I say no to his excitement of taking the boss of the boss' boss' boss sightseeing for an hour. So we headed through the slog of Cairo/Giza traffic up to the plateau (it is really surprisingly high above the surrounding area around the Nile) to the pyramids. This is one of those classic places where you see the pyramids from across the Nile and they look big, and just keep getting bigger and bigger as you get closer. Unfortunately, we arrived at 4:15 and the police had the road up to the plateau blocked off as closing time is 4pm (keep in mind sunset here is about 4:30). Damn. However, I once again underestimated the tenacity of ABS surveyors. Esmat was in his own car in front, followed by the Country Manager, Regional VP and myself with our driver in the car behind. While the police were enthusiastically waving us off, Esmat was out of his car talking to one of them. 5 minutes later one of the cops joined Esmat in his car as an escort and they pulled back the barricades and we were off up the hill. Hmmm, interesting.














The beauty of our timing was that we had the entire Giza Plateau to ourselves. I mean we were the ONLY ones. Way beyond cool. This brought us up to the foot of the Great Pyramid of Khufu itself (the one withOUT the remnant of the limestone facing still clinging to the peak - the pyramid of Khafre - perspective is very deceiving up there trying to tell which is the biggest pyramid). You can easily see both the entrance blasted by the Arabs when they first raided the tomb and the higher original entrance of the Egyptians. We were short on time otherwise you can go into the pyramid. We then drove around the Great Pyramid, alongside the pyramid of Khafre and the smallest of the 3 major pyramids, the pyramid of Menkaure, and up to the top of a rise to look back over the 3 main pyramids as the sun was setting. Truly awesome. The most difficult part was trying to keep it in scale as there isn't anything around to indicate just how huge these things are. The Great Pyramid is 450ft tall, compared to 555ft of the Washington Monument, but of vastly, vastly greater volume.



















































From there we drove back down the rise and down between the Great Pyramid and Khafre's pyramid, past the shelter covering the Sun Ships of the Pharaohs that have been excavated alongside the base of the Great Pyramid, and down the hill to the Sphinx. He sits in an alcove in the rock he was carved from looking down the plateau to the city. Watching the sunset behind the sphinx and the second pyramid was staggering. We were all just looking at each other with really ridiculously pleased-with-ourselves glances. 25 brownie points to Esmat.







































The cops were very happy to have given this special out-of-hours tour to Obama's special representative to Egypt.

So that was my whirlwind, 30 minute tour of Giza. We will be coming back here for sure.

TWG

Originally sent December 9, 2009

Kuwait

The whirlwind week continues. Today was Kuwait City to meet with Kuwait Oil Tanker Company.

I tried to get a picture of the iconic towers that formed the background of the pictures from the Iraqi invasion but couldn't get a look. Instead included a pic out of my dusty hotel window of what I thought was an unusual open sandy lot behind the hotel in the middle of the city. After looking at it for a while I came to realize what it is with the thousands of regularly spaced mounds. Spooky.















There are 3 million residents in Kuwait, but only 1.2 million Kuwaitis. Nice people, but they generally don't get their hands dirty. Unless it's political corruption, which seems to be the national past time. The Prime Minister was getting grilled in parliament today and the Emir may dissolve parliament shortly. What a mess.

Weather was delightful. High of 68F under a cloudless sky.

TWG
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Via Blackberry

Muscat

Today in Muscat, Oman, just outside the Strait of Hormuz on the ocean.

What a very pleasant surprise this has been. After the superficial atmosphere of the hyperbuilding of Dubai and Doha, Muscat is a refreshing breath of a more genuine Arabia. There are no buildings over about 6 stories. Most are in a traditional Islamic decorative style with very intricate screening.

It's still very dry but very mountainous, so more rain off of the Indian Ocean/Gulf of Oman, so no where near the dust of Doha. A rainbow of petunias and grassy medians lining the roads. Very nice. The infrastructure regarding roads is much better developed than Dubai and Doha.















The people are also wonderful. Very friendly. If they see you on the street looking confused they'll stop to ask if you need help. Very low crime and probably the safest of the Arab countries.

The mountains run straight into the ocean, so all sorts of hidden coves. Look out towers and fortresses hanging off of cliffs all over the place.















TWG
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Via Blackberry

Qatar

Middle East this week. Today is Doha, Qatar. A bit of the new and old in the pics. One of downtown and all the new skyscrapers. Second of the Souk Waqif. A 1930's recreation, but still pretty neat.















TWG
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent December 6, 2009

Athens

Even over rooftops and between buildings, not a bad view to wake up to from your hotel room.
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Via Blackberry

Bosphorus

View looking from the summer palace an Ottoman Sultan built for his sister c.1857 on the Asia side of the Bosphorus. This is looking back towards the central part of Istanbul that's on the other side of the bridge. Asia is on the left shore and Europe on the right. Crossed the bridge this morning making it the first time I've driven between continents. You can see all the ships in the picture transiting the Bosphorus between the Mediterranean and Black Sea. One of the busiest waterways in the world.

We rented the palace for me to host a dinner tonight for 130 clients in the area. The 2nd picture is of the set up for the evening. Pretty cool being able to have a selection of palaces to choose from.















TWG
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Via Blackberry

The tallest building in the world is due to officially open in January. It is unbelievably tall.
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent November 15, 2009

Am I losing it

No kidding. This is on my train tonight.
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent November 13, 2009

Hamburg

Picture shows the spire of St. Nikolai Lutheran Church completed in 1874, which is all that remains of the church after the Allied bombing of July 1945. After the TV tower here it is still the 2nd highest structure in Hamburg.
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent October 27, 2009

Venice Day-4: Acqua Alta

Well the rains finally came. But rather than the rain being an issue, the wind associated with the front pushed the Adriatic into the lagoon an extra couple feet at high tide and we experienced an actual Acqua Alta (literally "water high") today.

We started out this morning in Dorsoduro to visit the Scuola Dei Carmini, where Lacey's favorite artist, Tiepolo, (learned about from a "Magic Treehouse" book) painted a ceiling in the 16th century. Unfortunately, they decided to open several hours later than usual (this IS Italy), so had to go with Plan B and visit the Doge's Palace first.

When we got back to Piazza San Marco we could see the lagoon waters were already right up to the top of the wall with 2 hours remaining to high tide. Workers were already setting up the boardwalks in anticipation of an Acqua Alta. Meanwhile, we ducked out of the weather into the palace.

This place is yet another opportunity for sensory overload. It is huge and way over the top in gold leaf and renaissance paintings on just about every flat surface. We lost count after 30 rooms. A lot like Versaille in that there are no furnishings in the place - Napoleon made off with most of it. Much to the kids' satisfaction we did get to walk across the Bridge of Sighs to the prison.

After giving up on listening to every detail of the audio guide after 3 hours we finally finished up in the palace to head back to Dorsoduro. When we got to the exit we were greeted by the entire Piazza San Marco under solid water (see pic). Before leaving home we received a good tip to bring the Wellies along given the time of year. Good use was made of these today. You can see everyone up on the board walks. In the middle of the square there was a good foot of water. With a whole city living with canals and no streets, you see a lot of unique things afloat: ambulances, the fire brigade, hearses, refrigerated barges for food, etc. In the square you also have police in waders at the intersections of the boardwalks directing all the foot traffic to keep people moving. Once out of the square we had to go weaving through the rabbit warren of alleys to find a non-flooded route to Dorsoduro. Actually, kinda fun. By the time we got back to the Scuola the sun was back out and the water was retreating quickly. An hour later when we got back to the Vaporeto landing on the Grand Canal they were already stacking the boardwalk.

After our last dinner tonight we made one more trek via a new exploratory route across to Piazza San Marco. We realized that here we were, feeling our way through neighborhoods we'd never been to before, had no idea exactly what was there, in the dark, and feeling perfectly safe and at ease. You have to love this place. When we got to the piazza it was all lit up for the night and dry again. Music also filled the air from an orchestra serenading one of the restaurants. Very pretty.

Found out tonight that public transit is all on strike tomorrow, which will make it interesting getting to the airport. When I asked the hotel for suggestions on this their first was to simply stay an extra day. Tempting, very tempting.

TWG
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent October 22, 2009

Venice Day-3: Atmospheric Overload

Well the weather cooperated after all by staying dry until this evening. Headed across to the north end of the lagoon this morning on a 45min boat ride to the island of Burano. This is much smaller than Murano (you canwalk across the whole thing in 10 min.) and a whole different environment from Venice. It's a sleepy little town that was just starting to wake up when we landed at 10:30 (my kind of people). The houses line the small canals and are all manner of bright colors (see picture). A very cheerful place and dripping with atmosphere. The main attraction here is that Burano is the lace capital of the world, with the specialty being needle lace. Lacey loved it because "they sell Me without a Y". One of the shops has a huge display of very antique lace - some from Napoleon, some from 15-1600's. Incredible. Watched a lady doing needle lace for awhile. One piece about 14in in diameter takes 7 women about a month to do.

Had a look at their church with the 200ft bell tower that's leaning over at a crazy angle (several like this around Venice given the 4 ft of subsidence over the last century), ate too much lunch as usual, had yet another Michigan Grad ('60) yell Go-Blue! at Miranda with her Michigan sweatshirt on, then headed back to Venice.

With the weather closing in we had one more outdoor thing to do and that was a gondola ride so that mom wouldn't disown me. So after picking a gondola parked near the hotel, and getting through the 30 second business negotiation....

Me: "How much?"
Cool Gondolier Guy: "80 Euros"

Me: "How about 70?"
Gondolier Guy: "How about 80?"

Me: "How long?"
Boat Guy: "30-40 min"

Me: "Gee, how about 55 min. for that price?"
Pirate: "How about 30-40 min?,

Me: "Since we want to go towards Dorsodura how about you go that direction
and drop us off after 40 min instead of coming back here"
Mafioso: "How about 100 Euro and I not make-a you swim?"

Shipowners are all the same.















Well, it felt like that, but it was indeed 80 Euros for 30 min. It was actually plenty long enough (especially if you do the math, which is too depressing) and quite pleasant. We went out onto the Grand Canal for just a couple minutes right by the Rialto Bridge, then spent the rest of the time on the small internal canals. He took us by Marco Polo's house. Every time we went under a bridge the tourists (we are NOT tourists, we're independent travelers and I have the empty wallet to prove it) were taking our picture (so not just enjoying the atmosphere, but BEING the atmosphere). We all smiled and waved. When we passed other gondolas the ladies all smiled at each other thinking "isn't this the most romantic thing ever". We guys also smiled a each other thinking "Hey look! Another schmuck!" And all doing the calculations over being taken to the cleaners for this boat ride, but wondering how we are going to cash in the points scored.

Gondola maneuvering is fantastic and the best part was the total silence. The gondola belongs to the gondolier. He then belongs to a union. I'm not going to explore the business structure beyond that. His boat was beautiful (you can see just a bit in the attached). Built in 1983 it is 36 ft long, 4-1/2 beam and only 700 lbs. Stepping into it was like a big black canoe. The girls wanted to go right back and do it again. Sorry, this ain't Hershey Park.

Finished off the day with a walk through the Opera House, appropriately named the Phoenix Theater, as it has now burned down 3 separate times over the last 200 years, most recently in 1996. The restoration was to bring it back exactly as it was. It took 7 years and is impossible to describe just how spectacular it is. It seats 1078 in 5 tiers + main floor. It is ornate beyond belief. Thanks to Tami for that heads-up as, from the outside, it is totally innocuous and tucked away amongst houses and shops. No grand square or approach, just alley ways to get to it. I'm sure most people walk right by it.

1-1/2 days to go. The hole in my pocket is starting to look like a black hole.

TWG
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent October 21, 2009

Venice Days 1 & 2

Landed in Venice about 1pm on the mainland on Monday and took a taxi from there across the causeway to Piazzale Roma, the only place where cars have access to the island. From there it was a short walk to the landing stage for the Vaporeto (ferries), another 15 min to the stop closest to our hotel, and a 10min walk from there. We were in the hotel just over an hour after landing. We dumped the bags and hit the streets as the weather was perfect and Wed-Fri. looks bad. Grabbed a bite to eat (luckily avoiding the McD's that we were amazed to find right at the boat landing). The attached pic is looking up the Grand Canal from the top of the Rialto Bridge.

Made our way from there across to Piazza San Marco. Spent an hour in San Marco Basilica. Over 400,000 square feet of mosaic covering everything top to bottom. Floor mosaics that would make incredible quilt patterns and gold tiling the ceilings/domes. With late afternoon sun shining through the windows onto the gold, the otherwise dark Byzantine nave was spectacular.

Walked around the Doge's Palace so Lacey could see the Bridge of Sighs (disappointingly covered in scaffolding that was in turn covered in fashion advertising). Then up to the top of the bell tower to finish things off at sunset.

The comment of the day - if not the decade - was from Lacey. We were walking by a clock tower just as it gonged 2 o'clock. She asked "what was that for". I said it was chiming 2 o'clock. She gave me a very confused look then hit me with "but I thought Venice was timeless!"

Tuesday I had to meet with a shipowner for the morning, so Kim and the girls visited the Rialto Market and saw all manner of fish and produce fresh off the boats. We all spent the afternoon across the lagoon on Murano, famous for its glass works. Watched a team of 4 workers in a coordinated blur of shaping glass for a chandelier. Then proceeded to buy enough glass that my knuckles we scrapping pavement by the time we lugged it back to the hotel. Happy to report that the glass museum that Roger Moore and foe destroyed in "Moonraker" is still in one piece.

Finished off the day with too much food again. Shock of the day was Lacey deciding she likes calamari and scampi.

TWG
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent October 20, 2009

Name That River

Any guesses? That's a canal in the foreground emptying into the river
under the bridge.
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent October 8, 2009

Copenhagen

Looking north. My favorite spiral steeple on the right and the new opera house in the center by the water. You can see Sweden on the horizon.
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent October 7, 2009

Vesuvius

A little closer and clearer today. Visited one of our shipowners whose office is right up on the slopes of the volcano in a villa that ought to be a museum. There are lava bombs sticking 15ft out of the lawn. Very cool - right up to the next eruption.
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent October 1, 2009

Flying Low

Roma to Napoli in 75 min. and no security check. I love the EuroStar.
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent September 30, 2009

Napoli

Hot day in Naples. So, while I could see Vesuvius, it was so hazy that a picture only looked like smudge. Oh well, will be back in Naples tomorrow night and Thursday so will try again.

Good day of meetings, but had to re-adjust to Napolitano time. E.g., for a 2pm meeting you sit in the office chain drinking espresso (I lost count after 5 as my brain can't concentrate on any numbers higher than 2 right now with all the caffeine), then at 2pm you decide it's time to leave for the 2pm meeting, then drive like total maniacs to try to make the 2pm meeting on time with the 2 million others trying to do the same thing. Think of NY taxis on too much caffeine where traffic signals are simply something to gesticulate about. The guys I'm with from Genoa refuse to drive here.

Anyway, since I failed on a picture of redeeming natural beauty, attached find something of infinitely more practical value. One of our owners is sufficiently cost conscious (I.e., "tight") that he likes to encourage people to use the stairs rather than pay for the electricity to run the elevator. So the enclosed picture is of the coin drop in the cab where you have to pay 10 cents to get the thing to move. But you also have to ensure that you poll everyone else onboard to make sure no one wants to get off on a lower floor first as you have to drop another 10c to get to the next floor. Luckily that's not usually a problem as the cab is only rated for 3 persons, so you only have to deal with 5 others onboard.

Have to say this is the only place on the planet I've seen this contraption.

Off to Rome.

TWG
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent September 29, 2009

The Big and the Little of it

We're all contemplating how Josh will fit, though we did get a sun roof.

2004 1600cc Mini Cooper

I made the mistake of letting Kim try it.
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Via Blackberry

Originally sent August 22, 2009

Intro

For the past couple months, my Father-in-Law has been keeping the family up-to-date on where he's traveled and what he's seeing by sending a picture and brief description from his Blackberry. They've been supremely interesting for me, so I thought we'd set up a blog and see what kind of travel diary emerges.