Category: Travels for Fun
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CELEBRATING THE HUMAN LIFE CYCLE AT VIGELAND PARK
Visiting Oslo in July with family, I spent a hot but enjoyable morning walking through Vigeland Park, a monumental outdoor work charting the human life cycle. The park contains more than 200 sculptures in granite, bronze, and cast iron, all designed by Gustav Vigeland between 1924 and 1943. Vigeland conceived the layout as a single, unified work, charting the human life cycle from infancy to old age through realistic, unclothed figures. Key elements include the Bridge, the Fountain, and the Monolith, a 17-metre granite column carved from a single stone block.…
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A NIGHT IN COPENHAGEN
Padma and I preferred to drive everywhere in Europe, rather than flying. So when we decided to visit Norway and meet my family, we decided to drive. We arrived in Copenhagen in early evening after driving all day from Bonn. Just enough time to enjoy the long summer day and take a stroll through the city.
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A LIONESS ALL FOR MYSELF
It’s Sunday and I’m not working on finger millet so I took the morning off to visit the Nairobi National Park. This is almost an urban park as it is a mere 15 minutes south of Nairobi with its skyline visible from the park … and yet it truly is the home to some very wild critters who are well protected by the Kenyan National Park Service. It’s easy to spot where the lions are. Just look for the other vehicles. Everyone comes to see the lions. After entering the park…
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BAALBEK, THE CITY OF THE SUN
While on assignment in Lebanon, I took an afternoon off to vist the ruins of Baalbek, located in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. They are among the world’s most impressive and best-preserved Roman archaeological sites. Once known as Heliopolis, or the “City of the Sun,” Baalbek was a major religious center dedicated to Jupiter, Venus, and Bacchus. The sprawling complex features towering columns, massive stone blocks, and ornately carved temples, including the Temple of Bacchus—one of the best-preserved Roman temples anywhere. The sheer scale and craftsmanship reflect Rome’s imperial power and architectural mastery.…
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SPRING INTO SWITZERLAND
Padma and I had a severe case of spring fever, so we drove to central Switzerland over the long May Day weekend for some hiking in the Schwyz Alps. The hike around Mount Rigi was really quite stunning and Spring really was showing off its true colours. The area around Lucerne is marked by numerous lakes which give the area a most special appeal.
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ON! ON! IN ALGARVE
After a long hiatus, the Halab Hash House Harriers re-grouped and held a run on 8 April. Regrettably it was not in our home base of Aleppo, Syria. Instead, we ran in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. Long-time ICARDA staff member and current resident of Praia da Luz, Peter ‘Beep Beep’ Eichorn, asked his new family, the Algarve Hash House Harriers to adopt the H4 for the run. The combined group numbered almost 50 Harriers. Beep Beep and John ‘Strutting’ Peacock were the hares and set a course in the…
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THE FATHER/SON ADVENTURE DRAWS TO A CLOSE
DAY 26. Tbilisi International Airport. There is nothing more important in my life than my wife and son. And nothing more valuable to me than having quality time with Padma and Joseph. Padma and I have had 24 years of quality time together but having quality time with Joseph has been elusive. It isn’t easy being a father. For 20 years Joseph has probably only known me as the mean old ogre who is always yelling at him to get out of bed, finish his homework or take out the rubbish.…
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MADLOBA, GEORGIA
DAY 26. Tbilisi. Our last day in Georgia has been very special. Tiko invited us to her home and to meet her parents. This was special for Joseph as he could personally thank Tiko’s mother, Marian, who provided the motherly advice to help Joe overcome his bout with food poisoning. We were surprised to find Tiko’s 84-year-old father, Zarobi, at home. He is a maize breeder and refuses to retire. Every day he travels to the research centre to work in the fields to improve the maize hybrids that he has…
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BATUMI
From the Greater Caucasus we travelled to the Black Sea. Joseph was keen to hear some good music during the Black Sea Jazz Festival but due to our fluid, i.e. always changing, plans by the time we got around to booking all of the performances were sold out. But we wanted to check out Batumi anyway and get a taste of the Black Sea. Batumi is Georgia’s primary sea resort but it was never intended to be. For much of its history it has been an important shipping port, while Georgia’s…
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