Mackinac Update!

So here I am again on Mackinac Island, back for summer #5. As it is apparently part of the charm, the internet here is very sporadic. I can occasionally check my email, but regular access where I can write quality responses and do extensive blogging will probably not be too often. Sorry! (Currently, I'm at a place that has free wireless downtown, but the server is being stupid and not letting me do anything but add text to my blog... no photos, no other websites... majorly sucky right now!) We are indeed working on getting wireless at the house I stay at, but we're working on logistics of that and it may not even happen this summer.

So far the summer's been going well. May was the month of school groups and of MSHP's overnight programs, which went really well. Then came June, the beginning of full season with our historic houses opening again on the Island. Our staff this year is fantastic, with any real drama mostly located outside of the crafty staff. It's been hot, and then cool, and now hot again, so it looks like this summer might be another hot and humid one. We've got mice badly in the Biddle House this year, which has been fun since I'm the one that gets to release them elsewhere on the Island as opposed to us just killing them and having to dispose of their dead bodies. The Lilac Festival is nearly over and soon it'll be the 4th of July, which means that the summer will be quickly over after that. Amazing how quickly it all goes!

Anyway, instead of me babbling on about the weather, etc., things here are indeed well. Now that I've been stationary, the travel bug is back and people are throwing around ideas for trips (not of the multiple-month kind anytime soon) sometime in the future. Hmmm... In the meantime, Jenny, Maria, Katie, and I went camping in Canada over Memorial Day weekend (saw a black bear, a bever, lots of stars, and lots of bugs!), which was great fun minus the bugs. I'll have some photos of that here soon too... I do miss London and Europe, but that was to be expected as well. Otherwise, it's been lots of work, hiking and biking, and searching for a job for the fall (though I'll probably be here til October).

If anyone wants my current contact info that doesn't have it already, please send me an email and let me know.

(photos: Geoff, me, Jenny, and Trace working at the overnights; and Hip, Hip, Huzzah! -- one of our groups of kids at the end of an overnight).)



(photos: Katie, Maria, and Jenny fresh obsessed at the A&P in the Sault; Katie hiking on our way to picnic at Chippewa Falls; at the Canadian Carver trying on hats; coming into the Lake Superior Provincial Park area, complete with big hills and Lake Superior!; Maria, Katie, and Jenny hiding from the bugs while trying to hike; teeter-tottering by the Sugar Island Ferry in Sault, MI; and more tottering.) (Katie's Blog has a few Canada pics, if you'd like to check those out, too!)

Backpacking: Spain and France

19: Nice to Barcelona – Stuck in Nice for the day (wander, lay on the beach, relax), night train to Spain.
20: Barcelona to Sevilla – confusing day-long train odyssey to Sevilla (finally arrive c. 8pm after leaving Nice the night before) with beautiful scenery.
21: Sevilla – Archivas de las Indias, Reál Alcazar palace, bullring, Cathedral, tapas, Aussie friends with us to meet Amanda and Ross for dinner, sangria, and flamenco.
22: Sevilla – day trip to Córdoba (Mezquita), siesta, Plaza de España
23: Sevilla to Granada – Andalucia countryside, old Arabic quarter, falafel, garden walk.
24: Granada – La Alhambra and gardens, shopping, Sacramonte (former gypsy caves inhabited by hippies).
25: Granada to Barcelona – another long train ride to Barcelona.
26: Barcelona to Paris – Gaudí tour, Sagrada Familia cathedral, las Ramblas, Picasso museum, night train to Paris.
27: Paris – Notre Dame and Rick Steves historic Paris walk (Latin Quarter, Sainte Chapelle, Palais du Justice, Conciergerie, Pont Neuf), Pompidou Centre, Picasso Museum, Place de la Concorde, Tuileries, Eiffel Tower, boat tour.
28: Paris – Museé d’Orsay, day trip to Versailles, Monmarte and Sacre Couer Basillica, Moulin Rouge.
29: Paris – Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysé, Louvre, up in the Eiffel Tower.
30: Paris to UK – Rodin Museum, Napoleon’s Tomb, Eurostar to London, hang with Heidi and Meredith before having last night in the UK.
May 1: UK – left for Heathrow before heading back to the US in the afternoon (via Chicago to Detroit), getting home by 2am.

By the last part of the trip, I was still having fun and enjoying it, but also was getting ready to be done and relax. Spain was impressive. I’d been excited to visit Spain for quite some time, but did not expect the countryside to be as beautiful as it was. I also had a chance to use my Spanish (tons of fun!), and even made friends with a Syrian falafel guy. Southern Spain had much Arabic influence in food, culture, and architecture (the Mezquita basically used to be the Western centre of Islam but was turned into a church… amazing architecture! Also, lots of Arabic palaces like the Alhambra and the Reál Alcazar). Granada was not as classy as Sevilla, but rather much more rugged. The former home of the Islamic Caliphate at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, it also was known as the home of “gypsies” (their legacy now taken up by tons of hippies living in their caves). Barcelona was much different, with a more rebellious, sassy kind of class, as epitomized by the Gaudí (his Sagrada Familia was one of the most impressive cathedrals that I saw). I’d been hearing quite the mixed reviews of Paris, but I very much enjoyed it. Full of art and history, it was so cool to see one of the most famous cities on the planet. It was impossible to see it all, but thanks to travel guru Rick Steves, we had three very full and very productive days.

Coming back to the UK was very bittersweet. I missed it quite a bit, but also realized that I was ready to return home. It was an exhausting journey back to the States, but was great to be back. I had a few days then to reorganize myself before heading to Mackinac.

(photos: the promenade in Nice; Hermanio at the beach in Nice; bullring in Sevilla; Reál Alcazar courtyard; and an "Effigy to Christopher Columbus," potentially his grave, but who the heck knows...)






(photos: Sevilla Cathedral tower, part of the mosque that used to occupy the same location; flamenco; the Mezquita, one of my favorite parts of Spain (the really white part is the church in the centre of the former mosque); dome detail in the Mezquita; and amazing Spanish countryside.)






(photos: cool street in the old Arabic quarter of Granada that our hostel was off of; a courtyard of La Alhambra; Trace, Amanda, Ross, Hermanio, and I at the Alhambra; Nun, I win!; and the Alhambra from the old Arabic quarter with the Sierra Nevada faintly in the background.)






(photos: Hermanio and some Gaudí architecture in Barcelona; Gaudí's Sagrada Familia cathedral; the Sagrada Familia under construction (still in progress and one of the coolest cathedrals I've ever seen); spring in Paris by Notre Dame; and the Seine.)






(photos: Sainte Chappelle, church with more glass than stone in the walls; Steph in Paris; relaxing at a park in Paris; Trace and I; La Maison Rose, where I had french onion soup in France!!!; mmmm... pastries by the Arc de Triomphe; and having a think at the Rodin Museum.)

Backpacking: Italy

9: Milan to Naples – early train and long ride to Naples, walk through city, walk through mob territory, pizza dinner at the home of pizza, movie.
10: Naples – day trip to Pompeii, churches, best pizza ever, movie/chill night.
11: Naples to Rome – train to Rome, hard to find hostel, Vatican shortly, Rick Steves walk through Rome (Campo di Fiori, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps), best gelato ever.
12: Rome – Vatican and Vatican Musuem (including the Sistine Chapel), Ancient Rome (including the Roman Forum and Colosseum), meet Anna and Shauna and re-walk Rick Steves walk to dinner.
13: Rome to Florence – to Florence, walk around town, laundry (at last!!!), Piazzale di Michelangelo for Rick Steves geek-a-thon, “Mexican food” for dinner.
14: Florence – Michelangelo’s David, day trip to Sienna; train ride through Tuscany and Chianti regions, bell tower, gelato, shopping, etc.
15: Florence – Medici chapels, meet up with Anna, day trip to Pisa (v. touristy, cool buildings, nice Rick Steves tour through town), run into Morgan and cousin, Duomo, Uffizi.
16: Florence – EASTER, Florence Easter firework show and procession, Piazzale di Michelangelo, dinner, gelato.
17: Florence to Venice – to Venice, Churches, wander, feed pigeons, bell tower, Rialto bridge.
18: Venice to Nice – Rick Steves canal tour, museums, churches, gondala ride, night train to Nice.

I had v. high expectations for Italy after all the hype I’d heard, and it wasn’t really anything like I’d thought it be. However, I did enjoy it immensely. We started at the opposite end of the country from where people usually began their visit, thus immersing us in the Southern Italian culture and startling us quite a bit. Naples was a very dirty, fast-paced, and unorganized city (though apparently the home of organized crime), but it grew on me after a while. Pompeii was surprisingly humungous and impressive, more so than the Roman Forum simply because it to me demonstrated both the wealth and ordinariness of the Romans. We were rushed in Rome, but had plenty of time to relax in Florence and enjoy the city. Venice was again not what I expected. It was small, and v. touristy, but beautiful in a sad and faded-glory kind of way. The train system was a pain to deal with, but the food and wine were amazing, with us eating gelato as much as humanly possible.

(photos: Trace at the Bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the background; old woman eating gelato in Naples; Pompeii and Vesuvius; one of the casts of bodies found at Pompeii; and me and Hermanio in the streets of Pompeii.)






(photos: the Saccanapoli - v. old, v. busy, v. narrow, and at times v. dodgy part of Naples; Trace, Rick Steves, and Hermanio at the Vatican; the Trevi Fountain; the "School of Athens" fresco by Raphael in the Vatican Museum; and Rome from the top of St. Peter's.)






(photos: Ancient Rome (the Forum and the Colosseum in the distance); me and Hermanio at the Colosseum; Hermanio meets Shauna and Anna at last; Il Duomo in Florence; and Rick Steves nerds and a look-alike at the Piazza.)






(photos: sunset over Florence; Il Campo in Sienna; view over Sienna and Tuscany; Trace and me at the Leaning Tower of Pisa; and Easter procession in Florence after fireworks.)






(photos: Trace double-fisting the gelato; me on the Ponte Vecchio with Hermanio and and a nearly-devoured cone of gelato... mmmm..; Morgan and Anna at the Piazza; Grand Canal in Venice; and feeding the birds at the Piazza San Marco.)






(photos: Grand Canal again; gondola jam; Anna and me in our gondola with our gondoleer Luciano; and some of the less-touristy parts of Venice.)