France to go

I lived in London for six months and I now miss it dearly. The city is filled with wonderful people, fantastic sites and some of the best museums I’ve ever been to. It can be an expensive trip, but by using public transport, taking advantage of all the free tourist attractions and eating at some of the great and healthy quick-service restaurants, can keep costs low so you can splurge on a few nice dinners and trips to some of the pricier sights like the Tower of London. Now let me be your tour guide…

Transport

If you plan on using the tube or buses — and your should — buy an Oyster Card. It’ll save you a ton of money by reducing the standard £4 tube fare to about £1.50 within the center of the city; the bus fare is reduced from £3 to 90 pence. You can pick up the blue-on-blue RFID-embedded cards from most train stations and even some convenience stores. To plan your trips, use the fantastic TfL website, which will give you detailed bus, tube and walking routes anywhere you’d like to go.

From the airport, you can take the Piccadilly Line right into town in about 45 minutes’ time for £4 and if you’re staying somewhere near tourist attractions, like Mayfair, Soho or Holborn, chances are it’ll take you nearly to your doorstep. Compare that to a cab at £65 and up, or to the Heathrow Express at about £15 — and that only takes you to Paddington station, so you’ll likely need to hop on at least one more train or bus to get where you’re going. Just beware that a lot of stations have a good deal of stairs to negotiate, so make sure you can lug your own luggage.

What to See

London boasts a huge list of attractions, but these are some of my favorites in no particular order…

• National Portrait Gallery – interesting and well-organized collection that’ll give you a great overview of British history. It sounds like it could be boring, but if you have a choice between this and the National Gallery (both in Trafalgar square) definitely do the portraits. Also, except for special exhibits, the museum is free, as are all national museums.

St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge

• Tate Modern – fantastic collection of modern art in a very cool riverside setting. From here, you can also walk across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul’s Cathedral

Parliament and the London Eye

• Westminster and around – spend a day doing the classic London sights by checking out Buckingham Palace and St. James Park, then the Horse Guard’s Parade, Parliament and Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which is sort of like a mini parade and rather hard to see happens at 11 am. They also do a ceremony at the Horse Guards Parade at that time, where you’ll probably get a better view — and the Horse Guards where much more interesting uniforms. Parliament and Westminster Abbey are best seen on weekdays — they both have very limited or no weekend hours (I never actually made it inside either one, though my parents did). Also don’t miss a trip on the London Eye — the giant observation wheel.

• Soho/Covent Garden shows – the theater in London is fantastic and quite inexpensive if you call same-day (you can get prime seats for £30-£60 on weekdays). Avenue Q was my favorite show I saw when I was there — it was absolutely hilarious, though it may be a bit inappropriate if you’re traveling with kids or thinking of going with your parents.

Springtime in Hyde Park

• Hyde Park or Regent’s Park – these two parks are the biggest in central London. They’re great places to take a rowboat or paddle boat out on their little lakes, have a picnic or just take a stroll. Parks to Brits are like beaches to Californians — everyone hangs out in them on sunny days. If you’re looking for an even bigger park excursion and don’t mind heading out of central London and paying an admission fee, head over to Kew Gardens to see its Victorian glass houses, themed gardens and new treetop walkway.

• Highgate Cemetery and Hampstead Heath – take the tour of the old part of the cemetery to learn about some of London’s quirky Victorian-age history that doesn’t involve the kings and queens, then take a stroll to the heath and climb up the rather small Parliament Hill, where you’ll see lots of people flying kites.

A Tower of London Beefeater

• Tower of London – go on the most hilariously campy tour in London by letting a Beefeater guide you around this historic castle. You’ll get to marvel at the crown jewels, hear about beheadings and see a great view of Tower Bridge.

• Borough Market – go on a Friday to beat the weekend crowds to check out this foodie extravaganza south of the river. It’s also right near Southwark Cathedral and Sir Francis Drake’s pirate ship, and not too far a walk or bus ride from the Tate Modern and the Globe Theater.

Greenwich Park and the Royal Observatory

• Greenwich — if you’re into science, make a trip out to Greenwich to go straddle the prime meridian. There’s a small museum right at the prime meridian and there’s also a maritime museum, which is interesting, but a bit kid-focused. There’s also a pretty park and a footbridge under the Thames. It’s a bit out of the way, but a pretty good half-day excursion.

• Shopping – walking around places like Carnaby Street, Oxford Street and Bond Street can keep you very busy, and there are some ridiculously big department stores like Harrods, Fortnum and Mason, and Selfridges (among others) are great for food, shopping and even sightseeing. Try the fancy afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason, or mavel at the Egyptian-themed ridiculousness of Harrods.

What to Eat

London is an amazing place to eat. Some of my top recommendations…

• Make sure to go to a pub, of course! Actually, go to several. They’re everywhere and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and range from gorgeous, old-fashioned wood-and-crystal establishments to dingy, bare-bones watering holes. If you want some pub grub, go for lunch, not dinner, as they get very crowded and rowdy and are filled with more post-work drinkers than diners.

The papaya salad at Amaya

• Try some gourmet Indian. My favorites were Red Fort in Soho on Dean St. and Amaya in Belgravia. Both serve incredibly creative, beautiful and delicious dishes. You’ll get better deals if you go at lunch. Tamarind in Mayfair is also good, though the fare isn’t as fancy and the setting isn’t as nice, and Imli on Wardour St. in Soho offers tasty tapas-style Indian food at pretty reasonable costs.

• Try the innovative fast food. For lunch and snacks, there are a ton of quick-service places that offer lots of healthy and often organic options like Pret a Manger, Eat, Benugo and Leon.

• If you want great burgers, try out Gourmet Burger Kitchen. It’s a chain, so there are quite a few. There’s one on Frith Street in Soho.

• For the city’s best coffee, go to Bar Italia on Frith Street in Soho or Monmouth Coffee near Borough Market. There are tons of chain coffee places around, including many Starbucks, though if I was going for a chain, I’d usually choose Nero or Costa.

• For good pizza, try Delfino’s in Mayfair

Chocolates at a Melt tasting class

• Indulge your sweet tooth. London has incredible chocolate shops. Two of my favorites were Melt in Notting Hill and William Curley in Mayfair.

Trip-Planning Resources

• Check out restaurants and attractions at review sites like Qype, Tipped, and Trusted Places.
• Check out pubs at Fancyapint?
• Know how to get where you’re going via tube and bus at the TfL website.
• Get the heads-up on news and events on Londonist.
• Get train schedules for heading beyond London at the National Rail site (note: it doesn’t accept foreign credit cards).

Beyond London

If you can’t find enough sights to occupy yourself in London or you just want a break from the city, you can easily take some day trips by train or bus to Brighton, Cambridge, Oxford, Leeds Castle in Kent, or Bath. All are well worth visiting.

Do you have anything you’d add to this guide? What are your favorite london sights? Let me know in the comments below!

Getting to Kyoto from Bangkok involved a very long day of traveling, which seems to be a recurring theme on this trip. First we took a 5-hour flight to Tokyo, then had to hop on an hour-long train to get to the 3-hour-long Shinkansen — where we had to stand in the unreserved smoking car for about 45 minutes before getting seats. We also had a bit of a failure in planning here — we had no baht left to exchange for yen, so we didn’t get any in Bangkok. Then we missed the exchange counter at the Tokyo airport, leaving us with 0 yen, and thus no food or drink possibilities. We thought we’d be able to find an ATM at one of the train stations, but that didn’t happen, and when we finally got to Yamashina, where we just needed to take a Kyoto subway 4 stops to Daigo, we got stuck. Our Japan Rail passes wouldn’t cover the trip, the ATMs we found wouldn’t take foreign cards and at 10:30 p.m., we didn’t have any exchange options we could see. We were also caught in a thunderstorm. Thankfully, we were able to call the person we were staying with, Ted, to come pick us up. He even had dinner ready for us when we got to his house.

The front gate at Kiyomizudera

We spent our first few days in Kyoto exploring the city — going shopping, eating at vegetarian restaurants and checking out the temples. Kiyomizudera was my favorite, with its pretty trails, beautiful views and quaint wooden shrines. The complex also has a waterfall that people drink from to gain luck and knowledge — we made sure to drink up! We also spent some time in Gion, where we saw a Geisha in her full get-up, with white face makeup and all. Tons of people were snapping photos of her just crossing the road. There were many other women in traditional kimonos, but not many were fully made up.

We visited some other temples in the hills that form the city’s border, like Nanzen-Ji, where we walked through an enormous gateway and under a red-brick aqueducts and up into the woods to visit a small shrine by a waterfall. And we walked down the Philosopher’s Path, a quiet walkway by a canal, until we found Honsen-In, another temple, which was closed for the day.

A temple garden in Kyoto

We were able to scramble over to the Ginkaku-Ji, the Silver Pavilion, shortly before closing time, but were disappointed to find the structure undergoing a complete restoration — it was basically a shell of a building covered in tarps. The gardens, however, were well worth the visit, with clear ponds, stone steps leading up to a view point, sunny and shady areas, plenty of moss groundcover, and a sand garden shaped to represent Mount Fuji and the sea. We took a second loop around the grounds because we liked it so much.

The rest of the time we were based in Kyoto, we took day trips to nearby cities. Also, we were surprised by how hot Kyoto, and Japan in general, was — the heat and humidity made Thailand feel temperate, and we had to buy little towels to wipe the sweat from our faces. Who knew?

August 11, 2008

First, we took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima, where we visited the peace park. We saw the A-Bomb Dome, the ruins of a neoclassical building that was very close to the hypocenter of the blast, which was eerie — parts are still standing, other parts are totally mangled, and there are Japanese families taking photos giving the peace sign in front of it. From there, we walked on to the island where most of the park is, and saw all the paper cranes that comprise the children’s memorial, then went by the eternal flame and the cenotaph, which looks back on the A-Bomb Dome.

The A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima

We also visited the museum, which gave a detailed history of Hiroshima and a good amount of insight as to why it was bombed. It also had a lot of information on nuclear weapons and really showcased the devastation of the city through photos, models and artifacts from the day it was bombed, like warped metal girders, burned clothed, melted roof tiles and some gruesome victim portraits. The museum isn’t only a memorial of what happened there, though — it is truly a call for peace and an end to nuclear proliferation. It was very powerful to see such a tragedy turned into a positive mission.

After taking in the museum, we also checked out the memorial hall, a large, echoing sunken space with a fountain at its center and the names of Hiroshima’s neighborhoods set around it. Also, we noticed that water played an important role at the peace park — many visitors were leaving water bottles at the memorials — and we learned that it’s because many of the bomb’s victims died begging for water.

The floating gate in Miyajima

Once we’d toured the park, we were ready for some lighter fare and headed to Miyajima to see the tori gate in the sea. We took a ferry over to the island and were surprised to find lots of deer to greet us. We walked down the coast to the shrine, which was closed because it was a bit late in the day, then watched the sun set pink behind the bright orange floating gate.

August 12, 2008

Our second day trip was to Himeji to see the castle. From the train station, we walked right up the main road until it stopped at the big, scenic moat. We walked across the bridge and onto the castle grounds and went to the main tower — a big, white, multistoried building on a tall stone foundation. There were lots of small spaces for people to throw rocks or boiling water down on invaders, and these came in square, circle, triangle and rectangle shapes. It was also a no-shoes building, so we climbed the stairs to the top barefoot, carrying our shoes in bags. I don’t know why they insist in putting metal caps on the ends of the stairs for people going barefoot — it’s quite an uncomfortable climb.

Himeji Castle

The view from the top wasn’t all that great — Himeji looks pretty industrial — but it was nice to see the castle.

When we returned to Kyoto station in the evening and took the escalators up to the roof garden on top top of the cool modern bulding to take in the nighttime view, then walked across its glass walkways.

August 13, 2008

Our day trips started feeling like doing suicide sprints backwards — we started with the longest, Hiroshima, and just kept on the same train lines, going shorter and shorter distances each day. We definitely made the most out of our JR passes. The bullet train was basically our daily transport, which really helped us get back and forth quickly, though we wish we could have ridden the super-speedy Nozomi trains, which had better, longer routes.

Osaka is only a short ride away from Tokyo, yet it feels quite different. It’s much more modern, and much more crowded. We first went to the aquarium, since it was highly recommended. Apparently it was highly recommended to all of Japan, though, since there were some really incredible crowds. There were people blocking every tank and sign and women on bullhorns yelling announcements every few feet. It made for a pretty stressful visit, though we did manage to at least get a glimpse of the dolphins, otters, penguins, rays and whale sharks. The best part was a smallish exhibit with baby otters, which was set apart from the main path and nowhere near as packed.

Looking up at the Osaka Sky Building

Next on our sightseeing tour was the Osaka Sky Building, a transformers-looking structure, with two tall buildings attached at the top, with long escalators running to the roof garden observation point and a thin bridge at the 22nd floor. We made it to the top just in time for sunset, when the clouds and sky turned a beautiful pink over the sprawling city. And riding up to the top in the glass elevator and then taking the glass escalator the last five stories was quite a thrill.

Check out more photos in Evan’s Facebook gallery.

Golden Buddha at Wat Pho

Sorry again for the long delay between posts — it’s tough to get a good deal of time to blog while on the road. I did keep up my journal, though, so let’s take a look at the rest of my around-the-world adventure, starting with 3 days in Bangkok, Thailand.

On the night of August 4, we took the sleeper train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok because we’d heard it would be a fun way to travel. In retrospect, we probably should have just spent the money on booking a flight. We rode in a second-class car, and I had an upper bunk while Evan had a lower one. The food was inedible, and there were no veggie options, though we had the good sense to bring some snacks. The car seemed to be infested with what looked like baby cockroaches — I squished quite a few, and saw many more scurrying about under our seats and on the walls. And sleeping on a train is no real substitute for sleeping in a bed, especially when there’s some anxiety about vermin, so we arrived in Bangkok exhausted.

Ronald McDonald saying “Sawadee-ha”

We caught a cab to our hotel — the New Siam III in Banglamphu, the backpacker area, but the room wasn’t ready. To keep from falling asleep, we went for breakfast at a nearby cafe, then went downtown to buy our Japan Rail tickets. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the downtown malls, and went to visit the Ocean World Aquarium, which is conveniently located in the basement of a mall.

The underground aquarium was surprisingly expansive, and we even got to ride a glass-bottomed boat around the top of the biggest tank. We also saw the sharks and sting rays at feeding time from the tunnel that goes through their tank.

The Grand Palace

The rest of our time in Bangkok, we visited more classic sites, like the Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun. The palace was as extravagantly and elaborately decorated as I ever could have dreamed, though a good deal of it was off limits, and at Wat Pho, we put coins in the long row of bowls along the giant, temple-sized reclining Buddha for good luck and a long life.

The towering Wat Arun

We climbed up the pottery-encrusted Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of the Dawn, which is the oldest temple in the city. And we spent a lot of our time traveling between sites on the express river boats, which aren’t too fast, but have good views, though the river is a scarily murky brown color, and they don’t get stuck in traffic. Still, we did take a cab across town once, and we ended up paying only a little more than we would have had we taken the sky train-express boat combo that we would have needed to get back — and got a comfy, clean, air-con ride for about $3.

Check out more Bangkok photos in Evan’s Facebook album.

We left Ko Samui on July 31 from its adorable, superbly landscaped, hut-based airport. It’s really very charming. We flew through Bangkok to Chiang Mai, where we rode in the back of a pickup truck, also known as a songthaew here, to our hotel — Your House Guest House — where we got a nice, big room with a big bathroom, air conditioning and a balcony for about $21. The only drawback is that we’re right next to 2 bars, which play competing loud music until 1 or 2 a.m.

Our first order of business was getting lunch, and we went over to Aum vegetarian restaurant and used book shop for our best meal in Thailand so far — eggplant, mushroom and tofu stir fry, and khao Soi, a peanutty noodle dish that’s a northern Thai specialty. Yum!

A temple in Chiang Mai

Then, we wandered to the river, where we were hoping to catch a boat. The boat was broken, though, so we turned back and explored some of the temples that were on our way. They all had elaborate dragon banisters, lots of gold Buddhas and plenty of colorful and shiny decor.

Temple ruins, Chiang Mai

We continued our temple tour the next day, with some of the larger temples in the city center — an area surrounded by a square moat and some old and crumbling defensive walls. Once again, there were lots of big Buddhas, dragon ornaments and red and and gold decor. We even got to see some young monks chanting in the main temple, then go on a procession around the buildings carrying flowers.

Royal relic tombs, Chiang Mai

We also visited a temple out of the city center that had a royal graveyard (or at least tombs for royal relics), which consisted of a lawn full of white structures that looked like a play palace complex.

Since it looked like it’d start raining (and it did soon after), we headed to the mall to go see The Dark Night, which we’d been meaning to see for a while. The tickets? 180 Baht for the 2 of us (about $5). Thankfully, there was no intermission, though we did have to stand for the national anthem before the movie started.

It was still pouring when we got out of the movies, so we hired a tuk tuk, a three-wheeled motor cab, to take us to the night bazaar. We shopped, ate and marveled at the expansiveness of the nighttime-only stores that sell everything from toys to clothes to dried fruits and more.

While walking home, though we got the surprise of the day — we saw a baby elephant and some people (its owner?) just hanging around outside of a convenience store. We didn’t go over to gawk or ask to touch it.

See more Thailand photos in Evan’s Facebook album.

Sunset on Bophut Beach

Our first stop in Thailand was an island in the gulf called Ko Samui. We stayed at the Smile House for the first two days on Bophut Beach at the north end of the island, which was a nice place, set back a bit from the beach, then we moved a bit farther out in Bophut to the Cactus Bungalows where we had a bungalow just steps from the sand.

Bophut Beach, Ko Samui

We spent the July 25 to 29 sitting on the beach, reading, napping and not going very far from our hotel. It was only on our last day on the island that we actually got out to do something — we went to Ang Thong Marine Park.

We took the Action Islanders Adventure speed boat tour, and somehow got on the slow boat. Well, the boat itself went quickly, but we had to make a stop at a neighboring island before heading off to the marine park, which was quite a bit detour. The ride between the islands was quite choppy and Evan was NOT happy — he’s not exactly a huge fan of boats or water. About 5 minutes into the ride, he turned to me and said, “I regret coming out here.” He decided to stick it out, though, even though our driver said that the trip to the marine park would be as bumpy if not more so than our first leg, and he took some Dramamine, which helped a bit.

When we got to our first stop — a cove to go snorkeling in — we relaxed on the boat for a while before going in. When we decided to put on our masks and head in, we both ended up having a good time. I was a bit scared at first, since I don’t like fish very much, but I steered clear of the biggest schools and the areas where people were throwing bread in the water, and some quite a few types of fish as well as lots of coral.

The Lagoon

Our next stop was an island with a saltwater lagoon in its middle — the island that inspired The Beach. We hiked up to a viewpoint, then hiked down to the lagoon, though you can’t go in. The hike was short, but it was on some super steep and treacherous staircases.

We then boated a short ways over to a picnic area for lunch where there were wooden swings between the beachside palms and beautiful views of other islands.

Kayaking — does the pose look familiar?

The best stop, though, was our last — kayaking. Evan and I shared a kayak, and our guide took us around a small island, going into some seaside caves on the way. It was beautiful and peaceful, except for when the guide started splashing everyone. We also stopped at a very small and quiet white sand beach to do a bit of swimming — definitely an island paradise.

Thankfully, the trip back couldn’t have been more different from the trip out — it was essentially flat, totally smooth cruising to Ko Phra Ngan. Evan said it it were always like that, boating could possibly be considered pleasant. The shorter inter-island trip was a bit bumpy, but it was pretty quick, and a one-eyed van driver took us back to our hotel. Thank goodness the sea got calmer and our activities were fun because aside from the trip over Evan did end up having fun.

Exhausted when we got back, we had a little snack, then while Evan napped, I read and napped on the beach, then had a Thai massage in a hut on the beach. It felt like I’d imagine a visit to a chiropractor would — lots of stretching and pressure — and I felt very relaxed when it was done.

Next stop: Chiang Mai.

See our photos from Ko Samui and our first days in Chiang Mai in Evan’s Facebook album.

Sorry I haven’t written in a while — the keyboards in Istanbul are a bit hard to type on because some of the letters and punctuation marks are in different places, and I just haven’t spent too much time in front of the computer lately. Good thing I’ve been writing about my days in a journal. Here are some of the highlights…

The Blue Mosque

July 13, 2008

After our adventures in Jordan, we headed over to Istanbul on a very annoyingly timed 3:30 a.m. flight, which left us with no sleep for the night and brought us into Istanbul so early in the morning, we had to wait about 5 hours for our hotel room to be ready. In our waiting time, we had breakfast at our hotel, Hotel Tashkonak, on the rooftop patio, and took a short walk through Sultanahmet, the old part of the city where the Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque and plenty of the other tourist sites are. Then once our room was ready, we slept the rest of the day.

July 14, 2008

Once we were well rested, we started exploring Istanbul in earnest. We started out with the Little Aya Sofiya, which is a pretty church-turned mosque with a graveyard surrounding it and a pretty domed roof. Then we visited the tomb of a bunch of sultans, which we happened to come across. All their individual grave markers/sarcophagi were standing like little houses under a domed roof.

Next we went to the Blue Mosque, or  Sultanahmet  Mosque, which is one of the most beautiful sights in the area. It has soaring minarets, domes everywhere you look and a lovely courtyard and garden. Inside it looks like a pretty standard mosque, though it does have some nice tile work, with mostly blue floral designs on the tiles. I’m glad I bought a head scarf when I was in Egypt so I didn’t have to use a loaner.

We couldn’t go in the Aya Sofiya, which is right across from the Blue Mosque, because it’s closed on Mondays — we explored it a few days later — so we headed across the street to the Basilica Cistern, an ancient roman cistern with a hodgepodge of columns taken from across the city and a vaulted roof. There were some carp swimming around in the water, and in the far corner, there were two columns whose bases were upturned Medusa heads. The theory as to why one is on its side and the other is upside down is that the Romans, being Christians, meant to show that they were just using the blocks as building materials, not worshiping false idols.

Continuing our super-tourist day, we went to Topkapi Palace, a huge complex for the sultans and their families. The treasury had an interesting collection, with lots of rubies, emeralds and diamonds, and there were some very elaborately tiled walls in the harem. It was also neat to learn about the palace’s history, complete with scheming concubines, murdered princes and the sultan’s mother ruling the roost while the sultan walked around in silver-soled shoes.

We also walked around the hippodrome, which isn’t much to see, except for two obelisks, a column and a fountain. It functions more as a pedestrian thoroughfare and makes a pleasant place to stroll.

The Basilica Cistern

July 15, 2008

We decided to head out of the city for a day to explore the Princes’ Islands, a set of 9 Islands in the Sea of Marmara where people from Istanbul keep summer villas. The only transport allowed on the small, hilly islands are bicycles and horse cards, though there are some motorized vehicles allowed for the police, garbage men, etc.

We went to the biggest of the Islands, which we got to by ferry, and got some ice cream straight away, since it was a hot day. Then we started our walk to the monastery up in the mountains, which ended up being more of a church than a monastery, but maybe we missed something. The walk was really lovely — the big houses had huge gardens, and because of all the trees, we had lots of shade. There were also great views of the sea, the other islands and Istanbul.

When we finally got up to the monastery area, we had a nice lunch, explored the small Greek Orthodox church where people had left little trinkets, like watches and jewelry, in hopes that their prayers would be answered. There were also lots of white bags, papers and cloths tied to the trees and bushes on the path leading up the hill, which apparently also symbolize prayers.

July 16, 2008

We woke up to rain for the first time on our trip, but by the time we had breakfast and set up a lunch date with a friend who lives in Istanbul, it had stopped. Before lunch, we decided to tour Aya Sofiya, which is much more impressive from the inside than the outside. Outside, it looks old and staid compared to the blue mosque, but inside, it’s all gold and there are some incredibly detailed mosaics in its gallery. It would have been amazing to see it in its original glory, with its large open spaces and soaring dome, which were unfortunately obstructed for us by scaffolding put up for reconstruction work.

By the time we were ready to leave, there was a thunder-and-lighting storm raging outside, so we ran to the nearby tram stop, getting soaked in the process, and trammed and funiculared to Taksim to meet our friend who took us out to a lunch of traditional Turkish food. We had dishes like “The Imam Fainted,” a tasty cold eggplant dish, dolmas, stuffed peppers and pureed eggplant. I also had Turkish coffee with dessert — strong and bitter as expected.

July 17, 2008

It was time to see something of contemporary Istanbul, so we went to the Istanbul Modern, a great museum that showcases Turkish modern art. We were introduced to plenty of talented artists we’d never heard of, and toured the temporary “Design Cities” show, which showcased important works from cities that influenced popular design over the years. The museum also has a fantastic cafe overlooking the Bosphorus, though it seems like just about every restaurant in Istanbul has some sort of water view, which is always a nice touch. The rest of the day’s tour included a trip up Galata Tower and down the Kamodo Steps.

July 18, 2008

We thought we might avoid it because of our crazy experience at the bazaar in Egypt, but we ended up going to the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market anyway, and boy were we surprised. It wasn’t crowded, the shopkeepers didn’t hassle us too much, and the shops had some really interesting and colorful items. We also went in to a bunch of mosques, though at this point they all started looking a bit the same.

July 19, 2008

We had a nice relaxing day of sleeping in, then sat at a tea garden eating ice cream and baklava and playing checkers for most of the afternoon. Evan beat me every time.

July 20, 2008

We went to tour Dolmabahce palace — another home for the sultan’s, though newer than Topkapi and in a European style. The grounds were beautiful, with manicured gardens, fountains and little ponds with lily pads and an expansive view of the Bosphorus. Touring the interiors of the buildings, though, we needed to go as a group with a guide. The groups were pretty big, and the palace’s big rooms echoed and made it hard to hear our guide. We also kept running into the group ahead of us. Still, the building was impressive, with huge chandeliers, carved ceilings and a lot of trompe l’oeil painting. Touring the harem, our guide did a better job, though we had some rogue tourists who kept arguing with her and trying to strike out on their own.

After getting lunch at a vegetarian restaurant near Taksim, we took the metro to Levent to go to the mall. The Kanyon mall was huge, modern and gorgeous. It’s an indoor-outdoor multi-level space with posh shops, curving walkways and a spherical movie theater. We shopped a bit and saw Hancock — with an intermission that included commercials (not cool to interrupt a movie so abruptly like that and then make us watch even more ads!).

July 21, 2008

Lazy day lounging at the hotel, researching Thailand and reading. We ordered in food with the help of the super-nice staff at the hotel and spent a lot of time using their free lobby computer.

View of the Bosphorus

July 22, 2008

It was time to get out of the city again and go on a Bosphorus tour. We caught the ferry at Eminonu and took it up to Anadolou Kavagi, where we climbed up a hill to a ruined castle, where we had great views of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea, which were both a  tranquil turquoise blue.

When we got down from the mountain, we caught a bus down to Kanlica where we had a strait-side lunch featuring the town’s delicious yogurt, which really was better than any of the yogurt we had elsewhere in Turkey. We watched plenty of ships passing by and even saw a dolphin. By the time we were done with lunch, it was too late to visit any of the other sites we’d hoped to get to — just about everything around Istanbul closes at 4 or 4:30 — so we hopped on another bus to Uskudar, then took the ferry back to Eminonu.

We walked along the coast back to our hotel, passing swimmers and sunbathers on the rocks (there’s no beach there).

July 23, 2008

One of Evan’s brother’s friends who we’d met for drinks earlier in the week played tour guide for us all day. She brought us to a Greek Orthodox neighborhood where we visited a church and an impressive large high school on top of a steep hill. We also toured Bosphorus University, which as its name suggests has some beautiful views, then had a long and relaxing lunch at a waterfront cafe in Ortakoy.

We spent the rest of our day in Istiklal, hanging out in a cafe reading while avoiding some rain, then going out for a makeup birthday dinner, since in Jordan we never had one, at a rooftop restaurant.

July 24, 2008

With our flight to Thailand in the evening, we had one last day to spend in Istanbul and I knew what I wanted to do — go to a hammam/Turkish bath. Evan didn’t want to come, so he went on his own errands while I headed to the Cemberlitas Hammam, right near the Grand Bazaar. The Hammam dates back to the 1500s, and the men’s side is supposed to be grander than the women’s, though it was still a neat experience.

The main bathing room has a warm raised central platform, where most of the activity takes place. I started out relaxing there in my bath sheet while others were getting bathed around me, staring up at the small circular skylights in the pink domed ceiling, and soon an attendant came in to give me my bath. There was lots of water, soap and scrubbing with a loofah mitten. There was also a bit of a massage and I also had my hair washed in an adjacent alcove. The most surprising part of the experience, though, was that the attendants don’t really wear much clothing. Like only bikini bottoms. The guide book did not prepare me for that — I thought I was the only one who was going to be exposed.

Well, I chalked this one up to being an interesting cultural experience, and I despite some initial anxiety, ended up enjoying myself and feeling squeaky clean and relaxed by the time I was done.

Evan and I spent the rest of the day relaxing at the Dervish Tea Garden, drinking tea and playing backgammon. I won every time.

When it was time to finally leave, we had a nice time at the airport, hanging out in the Turkish Airways lounge, which was really nice (we somehow managed to fly business class to Thailand — our longest flight!). There was a business centers with computers to use, a big dining/drinking area, a separate kids’ room, a TV lounge and a sleeping lounge. The flight itself was fine — we both slept most of the way — though Turkish Airways has the worst business class food I’ve ever had, worse than most economy meals I’ve had. There were at least huge TVs, and on their flight monitor, we could check out the front and rear views from the airplane — it was quite cool to see it approach the airport and land!

Check out our Istanbul photos in Evan’s Facebook album.

King Zoser’s pyramid at Saqqara

June 29:

Today, Evan and I went to Saqqara, Memphis and Giza. Our guide, Sahar, and a driver came to pick us up early in the morning, and we headed to Saqqara first, passing Giza along the way, to see the oldest Pyramids in Egypt. We saw the step pyramid of King Zoser, which is nearly 5000 years old, and which was almost eclipsed by the palace structure leading up to it (photo coming as soon as we are able). There were also a bunch of stray dogs, who followed our tour guide around. She usually feeds them, and today was no exception. We also went to see a tomb that had some amazing designs on the walls, and some even with the original paint.

We left the desert to head back past the “green line,” which marks the boundary between the lush irrigated land and the barren desert, and went to a carpet school. We saw people making knotted and woven carpets, and I learned how to make a knot, and made my mark on a carpet! Then, of course, we went to the shop where we looked around, got quite a sales pitch, and ultimately left without anything, though they did have some very nice carpets.

Statue of Ramses II at Memphis

Next it was off to Memphis, where we saw a few ruins and statues in an outdoor museum. The most impressive piece was a giant statue of Ramses II.

After Memphis, where the Pharaohs ruled, it was off to a papyrus store to see how the world’s first paper was made. We got to see papyrus plants, then see our guide to the store slice off the outer skins, cut the center into strips, soak the strips (which would normally take six days), arrange them in a criss-cross pattern, then press them flat (which would normally take another six days). Then we got to see the finished product, write on it, test its strength, and get it wet.

We browsed the artwork, and saw plenty of the expected Egyptian themes, as well as some Christian ones and even two Jewish ones - a Happy Hannukah one and a Ten Commandments one. We settled on a plain sheet for us to decorate with our own artwork.

The Sphinx and a pyramid

We finally made it out to Giza, bought our tickets and stepped out to see the pyramids. They were huge, as expected, and we got to stand on some of the lower steps. We opted not to go inside, because from everything we’ve read and heard, walking down a steamy claustrophobic passageway to an empty room was not worth the extra cash. Our guide took some funny photos (coming soon) of us “holding” pyramids, and at one point hung out of the window of our moving van with Evan’s camera to take a photo for us.

The one disappointment was that being at the pyramids felt like being back at the bazaar. We couldn’t turn our heads without being asked to ride a camel - “Egyptian Cadillac! Its name is Michael Jackson! No? Will you come back later?” We stayed off the camels, didn’t buy any plastic pyramids, and weren’t lured by a boy yelling, “Ice! Ice!”

We also saw the Sphinx, which seemed to be home to quite a number of pigeons. There was also a great view from the Sphinx to the three pyramids in the background.

Oh, and guess what’s right in front of the Sphinx? A Pizza Hut! That must be the most scenic Pizza Hut in the world.

We ate dinner in Zamalek (a district on the island in the center of the Nile) at a restaurant called L’Aubergine. The food was good, and upstairs there was a bar packed with people watching the Euro 2008 finals (¡Viva España!). It seemed to be a bit of a Westerner’s haven.

Now we’re back at the hotel, figuring out what to do tomorrow.

Last weekend, we went to check out the Treetop Walkway at Kew Gardens on its opening day. The line to climb the stairs snaked down a pathway, but it moved pretty quickly, and we were soon up in the trees on the sinewy metal structure.

Though it was a shorter pathway than I anticipated, I really enjoyed being up in the trees, feeling the structure sway with the wind and getting to enjoy the great views of the Temperate House and other Kew Gardens sites.

Not everyone was as thrilled to be up in the trees, though. For those with any discomfort with heights, the walkway made them a bit queasy, and there were quite a few people clutching on to the railings or their partners and waiting eagerly to get down.

The biggest thing I would change about the walkway would be to add an additional entry/exit point, since there was only one — a single staircase only big enough for people to go single file each way, which caused quite a backlog on the narrow walkway. There was a lift right across from the stairs, but it wasn’t ready to be used yet.

We also went to check out the other summertime special tree exhibit, the Rhizotron, which was supposed to teach about root systems. We were unimpressed. It was really directed toward little children, with a cute mosaic, a few metal roots on the walls of the tunnel and some cartoony bugs. It seemed like an afterthought compared to the treetop walkway.

Check out more photos of the walkway on Flickr. And check out all the photos from day as well.

King’s College from the River Cam

Yesterday, Evan’s parents and I took the train out to Cambridge. It was only about 45 minutes away from London on the express train, which made for an easy trip, and we took a taxi into town since it was a bit of a walk from the train station.

The first thing we did was take a walking tour offered by the visitor’s center. Our guide, who knew a ton of trivia — much of it likely town lore — showed us around town, took us to a few of the colleges, including Trinity, where we got a nice glimpse of the courtyard, and King’s, where we got a tour of the immense chapel, which is strangely devoid of much religious iconography in favor of having kings’ and queens’ crests, symbols and initials around. It also had some very old graffiti from the English Civil War, which was interesting.

The tour ran a bit long — the guide sure liked to chat! And afterward we took a bit of a break for lunch.

Punting on the River Cam

After lunch we were on our own. We walked down to the River Cam and hired a friendly punter to take us on a river tour, which was relaxing and a lot of fun. He knew a lot about the city, answered lots of our questions and did a good job of maneuvering around the less experienced punters. We also helped two people get their poles back.

Inexperienced punters who resorted to dragging their boat from the riverbank

And remember the Bridge of Sighs from Oxford that went over the road? Cambridge has another version, though it’s not quite as ornate, doesn’t have glass and actually goes over the river. I’m guessing that it’s a just a common bridge name at this point because though tour guides like to claim they’re replicas of the one in Venice, neither looks anything like it.

Another Bridge of Sighs — though this time over the river

Unfortunately, we were visiting during exam time and most of the colleges were closed to visitors, so we didn’t get to really spend any time exploring them. We spent a bit more time walking around town, but it was after 5 and most attractions seemed to be shutting down, so we walked to the train station and headed back to London.

See more photos on Flickr.

When I was in Brighton, I couldn’t help but notice some very loud buildings and other outdoor art. Take a look…

A building-size tribute to James Brown

Close-up of some more graffiti-style art

Different styles coming together on different parts of a building

Graffiti on a wall: Who needs actions when you got paint. Are those CCTV cameras stenciled on the right?

Take a look at the rest of my Brighton photos on Flickr.

It’s been a busy weekend! After my trip to Oxford yesterday, I was inspired to venture out of the city yet again — this time, taking advantage of the lovely sunshine and heading to the seaside — to Brighton.

The train was packed on the way down. I was lucky enough to get a seat, but there were lots of passengers left standing or sitting on the floor. When we finally got to Brighton, there was this huge flow of people heading downhill from the station toward the water.

West Pier

The first thing I did was check out the coastline. I was surprised that there was no sand, just pebbles. I took some photos of the old, twisted metal pier frame still standing in the water (though just barely), and also photographed the current pier, with its rides and arcades and traditional piery things.

Brighton Pier

It seemed like every shop was hawking fish and chips, and there were signs for eels and puns with plaice and even a giant lobster by a poster that said “I got crabs in Brighton”!

A giant lobster, lots of fishy signs and beach kitsch

I decided to do a little sightseeing before relaxing, so I went to the Royal Pavilion, the bizarre Asian-inspired seaside palace of George IV. From the outside it was striking, with its white pointed domes, and from the inside, it was truly spectacular.

The Royal Pavilion

Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos of the inside, but the highlights were the dining room, which has a 30-foot-long chandelier with dragons holding lotus-flower light shades in their mouths suspended from a giant dragon’s claws in the middle of a domed ceiling painted with plantain leaves. (Seriously, it’s sort of shockingly insane.) The music room was also interesting, with a similar shockingly dramatic look. And it was interesting to see the king’s chambers and some of the more private areas like the kitchen, which came complete with stuffed animals (including rats!) to make it seem like it would be used today.

After the Pavilion tour, I went to check out the Lanes, a shopping district of alleyways, which was once a fisherman’s village. I was surprised by the quality of goods there, especially their fair trade, locally made and recycled/reused offerings. I was tempted to buy a lot, though I didn’t indulge. There were also some spectacular looking bakeries and ice cream shops. One particularly cute cupcake shop even sold little felt cupcakes and other goodies.

Cute fake cupcakes!

Once I was done window shopping, I took a stroll down the crowded pier. It seemed like everyone had an ice cream cone with a flake bar sticking out of it in hand, and everyone also had a sunburn. Almost as soon as I started walking the pier, I saw some guys jumping off and even diving — a big no-no according to all the signs posted. There were some angry looking security guards around and tons of spectators.

Boys jumping off Brighton Pier

Some of the guys tried to climb back up onto the pier, but I think they all ended up just swimming to shore. There are plenty more pictures, including ones of divers and the boys climbing back up on Flickr.

Once I was done on the pier, I went to North Laines to walk around a bit and see the artier side of the city. I caught an interesting street performance where people dressed as mimes were putting on a show for a person sitting in a peep-show sort of contraption that had lots of windows that someone would open to tell the story. I only watched it from the outside, but it was pretty funny and most certainly absurd. There was also lots of street art to check out, and I took some good photos of the graffiti and graffiti-style murals in the area before catching the train home.

Take a look at the rest of the day’s photos on Flickr.

In Oxford today, I took some nice close-up pictures of architectural detail and reliefs. Check them out…

Reader at Balliol College

Couple with a skull at Christ Church Cathedral — they look, probably appropriately, distressed

Angel playing lute at Christ Church Cathedral

How did Donkey from Shrek make it onto University Church?

Giving the peace sign at University Church

Golden Pan gracing a doorway

See the rest of my Oxford photos on Flickr.

Today I finally made it to Oxford for the day! I took the X90 bus, and got there in about an hour and forty minutes. I met up with friends (well, connections — I’d never met them before) and wandered around the city with them for a bit, then went out on my own to explore the many colleges, churches and gardens Oxford has to offer.

Christ Church College and gardens

I started with the obvious choice — Christ Church College, the biggest and most renowned of Oxford’s colleges. I got to go into the dining hall, a room full of historic portraits, excessively long tables and a giant pump bottle of Heinz ketchup. Yes, it’s still in use for students today, who all eat their meals in the hall — on Christ Church-imprinted plates, no less!I also checked out the large quad and the cathedral. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many churches crowded into a small town like at Oxford. Each college seems to have at least its own chapel, and there seem to be spires everywhere you look in the city.

The colleges also all seem to have their own beautifully manicured gardens, which are off-limits to visitors, and I could spy students picnicking, tanning and drinking beer beyond the gates in many of the colleges.

Punts in Oxford

After Christ Church, I wandered into a few other colleges, then walked down to the river, where I watched people going punting. I would have loved to go, but I wasn’t going to try to manage a boat on my own or hire someone to push me along in my romantic ride for one. I considered just trying to make friends by asking strangers to hop in their boat, but I never got up my nerve. (For anyone who doesn’t know, Evan is out of town this weekend, so I was exploring on my own.)

After checking out the river, I walked down a long alleyway by Magdalen College and ended up walking under a replica of Venice’s Bridge of Sighs, which curiously just crosses over a street. This brought me to the concert hall and library. I could hear a concert going on, but it was well underway and the doors were shut.

Bridge of Sighs

From there, I walked to the Radcliffe Camera and University Church, where I climbed the tower to get a view of the city.

View of the Radcliffe Camera from University Church tower

I walked around a bit more, back through the center of town, and went to check out “Oxford Castle,” which is apparently a center full of chain restaurants — quite disappointing.

The best parts of the day were definitely seeing all the gardens and Christ Church College, and climbing up the tower at University Church. Just walking around town was also really nice, since there are lots of beautiful buildings with ornate details and the weather was perfect. Some close-up shots are on their way!

You can check out all my photos on Flickr.

Winter finally decided to loosen its clutches on the city of London, and we’ve had some lovely weather. The first really gorgeous day, Evan and I took an excursion down the road to Hyde Park. While we’ve been to the park plenty in the winter, and we knew it was a nice park, it was pretty chilly and barren save for the grass.

Two weekends ago, though, it has a fantastic facelift — there were tulips, cherry blossoms and daisies in bloom, the lake was full of row boats and pedalos (what the Brits call pedal boats/paddle boats — you know, the plastic kind you power like a bicycle), and there were plenty of children, pets and friends soaking up the sunshine. Even better, we left our jackets at home and were even able to go without our sweatshirts for much of the day.

Evan and I went out on the Serpentine on a rowboat, which was very relaxing (I did some rowing, too). The only thing missing was a picnic and some sunscreen — I unfortunately managed to get a pretty decent sunburn.We also took a tour of the Serpentine Gallery, which had a very intriguing exhibit of Viennese artist Maria Lassnig’s work. Though the gallery was very small, it was perfect for a 15-minute detour in the park, and Lassnig’s works were very intriguing — the first paining that greeted us was a self-portrait titled “You or Me,” where we were confronted by the naked octogenarian artist pointing guns both a the viewer and at her own head (you can see some more images of her work here).

And here’s a great photo of a duck Evan took while we were at the park…

For more photos of the day at the park, visit Evan’s site.

Saturday, I went on a lovely trip to Kew Gardens with Annie, Mex, Nikki and Julian (the links go to their photos). Unfortunately, Evan had to work.

For the bank holiday weekend, there is a Woodland Fair going on at Kew, and there were horse-drawn carriage rides, craftsmen, Morris dancers and a falconry show. I didn’t get to see all of the different gardens in the park, or go in the palm house, though, so hopefully I’ll get back there soon.

We got to touch an owl — its feathers were soft.

There were woodworkers turning wood by foot power — those long sticks attached to a strong wrapped around the piece of wood, and turned it back and forth.

There were also cute crafts like these wood May flowers.

We saw bees emerging from their pupal cases — this one was had only popped his head out. I also bought some pollen collected from the bees’ legs, and there were many different types of honey to buy.

There were morris dancers putting on a show — they danced around with bells on their shoes and legs and smacking their sticks together.

In one of the stranger moments of the day, these two wandering musicians were encircled by some very enthusiastic people who danced circles around them. If only I’d videotaped it…

There were also lots of yurts — here’s a wooden tiger overlooking the accordion player in front of the puppet show yurt.

Check out the rest of my photos on Flickr.