Exploring Underground and a Hike in Ihlara Gorge...

Hello all!

It's me agin, we're making a habit of this daily writing, so far. It's quite cold out so we haven't been doing much exploring after dark and thus our opportunities for some quality internet cafe time!

Though the weather wasn't fantastic, today we decided to go on a tour of the Cappadocia area. First stop was a panorama lookout point. We stopped to take a few pics and then we were on our way. It was about 45 minutes in a bus to the Selime Rock Monastery. It was quite impressive with it's many passageways and rooms, and even some frescos (though badly faded) in the cathedral area.

After that we drove to a lookout point in Yaprakhisar, looking back to the Monastery. The landscape looks like a scene from Star Wars, so says our guide...so I've added a picture of it just for James (hope you enjoy, Bug)!

Then we were again in the bus for nearly an hour to the Ihlara Gorge. It was so beautiful, and the bad weather cleared just in time for us to take a 3km hike along the river to a restaurant where we enjoyed more traditional food and getting to know some of our fellow tour members.

Soon we were on our way again, and this time to the underground city of Derinkuyu...definitely the highlight of my day! It is thought that the tunnels and underground rooms (going down 8 floors) was first begun around 2000BC but has been used throughout the years for many peoples (Hittites, Christians, etc...) to escape attacks by their warring neighbors and also attacks of persecution because of their religious beliefs. The tunnels were very narrow and so small even I had to duck going through a lot of them.

Then on last stop at a panorama overlooking a place called Pigeon Valley. The "fairy chimneys" in this valley have very distinct places cut into them for pigeon nest. Pigeon dropping are used in the agricultural production of the area as fertilizer.

It was quite a long day but worth it definitely. The tour took us to many things we'd already decided to see here. Tomorrow morning we are boarding a bus for Konya, a very large city which is extremely devout in it's Islamic beliefs. Hope we can message again soon, but we'll have to see the situation in the next place.

Love you all...hope you enjoy the pics!

LuLu

ps-to my family in Switzerland...I LOVE THE CAMERA! It takes such wonderful pictures, as you can see! Thank you again!!

Reaching the Depths of Delerium....

Hello all!!

Megzi and I have FINALLY made it to our first destination, Cappadocia in Turkey...more specifically the town of Goreme. This town is charming, which is more than I can say for our hostel, hum...

Let me start at the beginning. We did board a plane in Stuttgart last night around 11PM. Our flight landed in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, around 3AM local time and we then proceeded to the main bus terminal there, which is HUGE and we waited around in a cafe with a lovely German couple until they caught their bus at 7:30AM and we got on ours at 9AM. It was excurciating...the waiting, the lack of sleep, the lack of food...it would appear that Megan and I don't cope well with that sort of stress!

So finally we were on our way and we made it to Goreme, with only one bus change in between, around 1:30PM. We checked in and rested for a bit, making ourselves comfortable with our sleeping accoms for the next few nights, and then we headed out to the Goreme Open Air Museum. It is housed in ancient formations called "fairy chimneys" which were formed by volcanic eruptions what is believed to be at least a million years ago. During the time for the Hittites, around 2000BC, the people carved into these rock formations and some people even still live in there today. It's such a special place! The Open Air Museum is a collection of churches housed in these "chimneys" which contain some of the most beautiful Bizantine frescos I've ever seen...it was amazing!!

I'm adding pictures for you all to see, I hope you enjoy! Tomorrow we are headed to one of the over 35 underground cities in the area.

Love you all!

LuLu

Day One...Lets Try That Again!!

Hi everyone!

Megan and I are currently STILL sitting in Stuttgart. Germanwings canceled our flight but as a plus put us up in a really nice hotel. So we have been enjoying that for the last 12 hours. At first we were really disappointed, then excited to find that we were staying in luxury for one more night....now the long night and potential of no sleep looms over us and are anxious to get it all out of the way and just be there already.

Just wanted to send you all this short note for an update...hope this finds you well!

LuLu

Pick an Emotion…and the Slumber Party that Almost Was!

Well folks, today was my last “official” day of work here. I guess technically it was two weeks ago, I’ve been working without a permit for the last few weeks…hum….Anyways, tomorrow I leave for my big trip.

Megan and I head out by train tomorrow, around lunch, to Stuttgart in Germany and then a flight quite late tomorrow night to Ankara, Turkey! We are so excited about this adventure!

As our journey progresses, I will be checking in periodically from different cities throughout Turkey and Eastern Europe. I am hoping to add some pictures as I do, we’ll see how my new fandango card reader works!

As it was my last night here “officially” my girls, aged 5 and 8, and I were planning a big sleepover with all the things they aren’t usually allowed (i.e.-watching all the movies they want, eating popcorn in my bed, staying up as late as they can, etc…). However, it didn’t quite go to plan as girl aged 5 was nearly asleep in her dinner and girl aged 8 was not that much more enthusiastic either. Hehe…so we’ve decided instead to wait until I return from my trip and they’ve been missing their LuLu time!

I arrive back here in Switzerland on November 20th and then I will have three more weeks here with the family before returning to America for good. My flight home is on December 11th.

I have very mixed emotions about all the things happening around me lately. I’m excited to be finished with work and starting this big adventure with Megan. I’m sad at the thought of leaving Switzerland in December. Angry at myself for not figuring out yet a plan on getting a job, or what I will be driving, or even a cell phone…at this point I have none of those things. I’m overwhelmed/exhausted at the thoughts of two months on the road and at the same time I’m anxious to get there to see all the amazing sights we have planned for exploration!

I’m sure if you picked any emotion you can think of I feel it in some way. I’m confused about life in general but happy with the way the last two years have been and ready to see where the next ones will take me.

If you all need to get in touch with me over the next two months please feel free to email me or post comments on the blog. My trip itinerary is available through this link at TripIt.com. I hope you are all well!

Love you!!

LuLu

Alpfahrt in Urnäsch

Today I went to witness a very special tradition in Switzerland. I went to the village of Urnäsch, which is in the Appenzellerland area of the country, to see the farmers bring their cattle down from the summer alpine (mountain) grazing. This event is called Alpfahrt (mountain journey, roughly translated).

This is a tradition which dates back many centuries. I’m not sure how many because I can’t seem to find very many English translations talking about this experience. If you click on the link above it will give you a brief description of the event, only that one is from the spring perspective-when they take the cattle up the mountain for the summer. Also, if you click on this link you will get a few translations of different German words used on the other page. It’s all quite interesting.

I am told that before making their descent the farmers choose their most beautiful cow and it is chosen to lead the herd and wear the very big, and very beautiful, traditional bell. Most all of the farmers dress in time-honored attire and walk alongside their herd. The first farmer (and maybe others also, I don’t know…) is also accompanied by children who are herding the special Appenzeller goats which are hornless. There is also usually a wagon carrying the traditional cheese-making things behind the herd as well. And…there was, of course, the Appenzeller dog that accompanies every herd, keeping the cattle in line as they walked through the streets!

The day didn’t go as I’d expected it to, quite frankly. I’d thought others would join me, but they didn’t. I asked a few of my friends and all either had obligations or financial difficulties which wouldn’t allow them to go with me.

Secondly, it was a nice day when I left my house, though still a little bit chilly. I wore a long sleeve shirt and a light jacket…but, as the train grew nearer to Appenzellerland I began to notice the fog…not a good sign. A day might be perfectly lovely everywhere else, but when there is fog in a certain place it becomes gloomy and usually a good bit colder there! This was definitely the case…I ended up freezing, thought I might just shiver to death right there on the streets of Urnäsch! Because of this, and the fact that I was alone, I left just before lunch.

Lastly….I’d imagined the parade to be a continuous one. The brochure said it started at 10:30 so I arrived well ahead of time to find a good spot to see it…this was not at all necessary. I thought it would be much like a parade at home…no, not throwing candy and political candidates riding on the back of convertibles…but something of a steady flow. The way it actually happened was this: the first farmer would arrive with his cattle and pass through the village, a little later (maybe 25 min, in this case…) another one would come through…then another a little after that. There wasn’t any rhyme or reason to it, as I should have expected…it’s not like they’d all get together at the bottom of the mountain and then start off together again, now would they?!?

So, the Alpfahrt, as I now see it, is a day where the villagers (and some tourists, like me) come to the town to welcome the cattle from the summer grazing. It’s a time of leisure where people sit at the outdoor cafes and enjoy a coffee or sandwich and wait for the next herd. There is also a market set up for buying local wares and traditional foods. It’s a day of seeing your neighbor and enjoying something time-honored by the Swiss people.

Something to be witnessed definitely! I enjoyed seeing all the people in traditional clothing and all the frills brought out by the community for this occasion. If you are in Switzerland during the time of Alpfahren (whether spring or fall) I highly suggest you see it...

Also, my host family bought me a going away gift…It’s a new camera!! I was so happy for it, the old one, while it worked just fine, was a dinosaur. This is the most amazing camera…I’ve added some pics to this post taken with my new camera…hope you enjoy!!!

LuLu

Trip to the Rheinfalls and Missing Madonna!

Last Saturday my friend, Dawn, and I decided to take a trip to the Rheinfalls (the largest waterfall in Europe-see previous posts!). This was my third visit to them but I’d never gone on the boat across to the middle and, since it was on my to-do list before I leave, I wanted to check it off! The weather was perfect!! Seriously, we couldn’t have asked for a better day to go.

We took our time getting up and around that morning and finally met around lunch time at Zürich HB (main train station). After taking a few minutes to organize her train ticket (I have one for the entire state of Zürich which got me there) we were on our way. We took two train connections to get there and finally arrived at the tiny station just down from the falls.

Because of the nice weather we weren’t the only ones around that day. There were so many tourists there, we were definitely in the minority as locals (at least that’s how I like to think of myself!). We walked along a bit of the scenic path, which I’d never been on before, and then down to the docks where we caught a boat to the other side of the Rhein River.

From the other side we were able to catch another boat that took out us out the middle of the falls. This was the bit I’d been waiting for! This was the thing I’ve wanted to do since I arrived in Switzerland two years ago! It is a bit intimidating when you are actually on the boat moving right into the largest waterfall in Europe, especially when you have an enormous fear of drowning, as I do. The water was so clear and beautiful. If I were a swimmer I might have been tempted to jump right in!

Our boat was filled to capacity and mostly with Italian tourists. That day, they were everywhere with their beautiful language and excess amounts of hair gel. Dawn and I decided that we’d sit right at the front of the boat and when it docked at the massive rocks in the middle of the falls we hurried to get off to be the first ones at the top. It turns out that this is not an advisable plan. First of all, there are about a bazillion stairs to climb to get there; secondly, everyone else is rushing up behind you and you feel a considerable pressure to make it to the top as quickly as possible…what a workout!! The worst bit of it all is the size of the platform at the top. I’d say about 10 people might fit comfortably up there. But, there were more like 30 packed up there on the day we went, with little more to hold you in than a few metal bars and they are flimsy at best! So taking pictures is difficult and posing in any sort of comfortable fashion was out of the question completely. The people after us, the last ones to get off the boat, had the best situation I think…they took their time and didn’t rush down for the next boat back to the river’s edge.

After the experience in the middle, we made our way back to the other side of the river to the viewing pavilion. I’ve been there before but Dawn hadn’t so it was a fun time taking pictures and enjoying the sunshine! All this took a few hours and by the end of it we were tired and hungry (and maybe a little bit sunburnt!). However, we had plans for the evening…(scoping out the Madonna concert near Zürich)…so we hurried back to my house for a quick dinner.

It turns out that Dawn and I aren’t very good with planning out our time. By the time we arrived at my house (food in hand, still uncooked!), we were only an hour out from the start time of the concert. We’d never make it in time, of this we were certain. So, we made the decision to stay in and watch movies at my house. And, well….that never happened either. Something I’m beginning to notice when I spend time with Dawn is that we never get the things done we want to get done because we are too busy talking…about life, work, the US…you name it, we’re gonna talk about it! So we did nothing all evening and it was perfectly lovely.

I do wish we could have made it for the concert scoping, though we weren’t planning to pay to get in so I’m not sure how much we’d have seen anyway. But, apparently there is a hill overlooking the outdoor concert area so hearing it would have been definitely possible and there was a very good chance of seeing it as well…ah well, sometimes things don’t work out and sometimes it’s even for the best.

Well, I’ve attached some pictures to this post of our time at the falls. Hope you all enjoy. I’ll be updating a little more frequently in a few weeks…this time from Eastern Europe. Megz and I leave for our trip to Turkey and Eastern Europe on September 27th. We will be gone for nearly two months, returning back to Switzerland on the 20th of November…should be an interesting experience, hope the money holds out! I’ll be accepting donations beginning next Monday…hehe…..

Love you all!

LuLu