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June 11-13 (Montreal)
I'm in Montreal for the Formula 1 race! I've never watched F1 before,
and really, I know nothing about it, but when I got the invitation from
D and S, it seemed like the thing to do! :) The pics above show my view
from my room, and also the globe that was built for the World Fair in
1967, which was close to the F1 race track.
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On the Saturday (June 12) qualifiers were held. All of the cars and drivers
race around the track trying to get the best time possible. This is held in
three stages, with each stage successively knocking people out. The fastest
time achieved by each car is used to determine their pole position. The pics
above show my view of the track from my seat and the crowd that was there.
(Actually, it's D and S's seats, not mine, since mine was up in the far
corner of that particular grandstand. But I was able to sneak down with
them with no one being the wiser.) The pic to the left shows one of the
qualifying rounds.
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On Sunday (June 13) was the actual race. This started at 10am with a
parade (shown to the left) where each of the drivers are in the back of
the fiat waving to the crowd. The support staff (also in the pic) all
come out by the track and wave to the drivers as well. The guys in white
in this pic are wearing a black ribbon on their arms in memory of one of
the colleagues who had died earlier in the week. The fun thing about them
is that they didn't only wave but were jumping up and down and acting really
excited.
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The race itself started at noon, and goes for 70 laps or two hours, whichever
comes first. The pic to the left shows the cars on their first lap of the
race. Pole position went to Lewis Hamilton, who was also favourite to win
the race and who has been winning a lot recently. The car in the lead in
this pic is Lewis Hamilton. A friend of D & S's (another D) knows a lot of
the guys in the F1 circuit, including Lewis Hamilton, and actually owns an
F1 car (although he doesn't race it). He had some great photos showing the
pit from the day before.
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This pic shows the race in action! The interesting thing about the race (to
me) was (1) how quickly the cars come down the stretch to the right just to
brake really fast so that the hairpin turn is slow, and (2) how loud the cars
are. In particular, there's a very high-pitched whine to the cars that is
actually really annoying, even with ear plugs. The other thing I found funny
is that somehow watching the race just reminded me of a video game, and I
found myself wanting a controller!!
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This pic shows lap 70. The car in the lead (you can only see the rear of it
on the track on the left) is Lewis Hamilton. The car that shows clearly is
Jenson Button, also from team McLaren-Mercedes. The time for the race was
somewhere around an hour and thirty-three minutes. Later that afternoon,
we (D and S and their son J) met up with the other D at a roof-top bar, where
team McLaren-Mercedes was celebrating, which was kind of cool. Lewis wasn't
there, but Jenson was, so J got his picture taken with him.
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June 20 - July 1 (Greece)
So I had a paper (written with Matt Bishop) accepted to PETRA, a conference
on health care technologies. Our paper focused on the security and privacy
implications of using social networking technologies for group therapy support.
(I think that the paper was kind of interesting, but the others at the
conference, who were not security people, were more interested in other
things.) The picture on the left shows some olive trees. I arrived a day
before the conference started, so went for a walk from the hotel into town
(less than a kilometer away), and this pic shows the view along the way.
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Not far from the hotel there were some old ruins (Thalemea), through which
I ended up wandering. The ruins are of an old bath house and, while fenced
in, are free for admission. The pics below show more of them.
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I wish I knew what this ruin says! There were a number of pieces of
stone like this with writing on them. And as you can see from the
above photos, there were a number of ornate pillars as well. The pic
of the cross was from a stone that was part of a very well-preserved
small (one person) bath. And for some reason I seem to have a fascination
with the ground / floor lately, so I have a pic of how all the marble
fits together. The other interesting thing I noticed was that part of
the structure had been made with brick instead of stone. I'm not sure
what that means in terms of when things were built, or why there was a
change like this, but I thought it was interesting none the less. Some
time I should travel through places like this with an archaeologist!
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In the hotel complex there is the main hotel, along with several villas.
In addition to the standard pool, beach, bar, etc., there is also a little
courtyard with a cafe, a couple of stores, flowers (see right), and a really
sweet little chapel (see the pics below). The paintings in it were actually
quite marvelous.
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And again with my fascination with floors.... (This time the floor in
the chapel.)
And in other happy news, I had a late lunch that day at one of the cafes
along the harbour, where my waiter told me that I look like Cameron Diaz! :)
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On Thursday I played hookey from the conference and spent the morning with
Holly exploring the two things about Samos that seemed the coolest things
to see: the monastery and the tunnel. The picture on the right shows the
monastery barely visible through the trees. We took a taxi to it (since it
was quite a ways up the hill), and browsed.
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The view from the Spiliani Monastery was fabulous! The buildings on the far
right in the photo are the hotel where I am staying. You can see a glimpse
of the pool. Note that I am right on the beach - so nice! (The beach here
is actually stone, not sand, so not so comfortable in bare feet, but the
water was gorgeous!) You can also see the ruins in this photo, in the bottom
center, that I explored the day before.
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When you enter the monastery there is a small courtyard area, with the
bell tower, some tables (see pics below), a small chapel and a small store
(see more pics below). The really interesting part is that there is an
entrance to a cave here, and that there is a chapel for worship built in
the cave. You enter the cave, where there is a small area for worship
(first three pics below). You descend some stairs (pic four) and go
further into the cave, where there is a chapel. (I'm sorry for the
fuzziness of the pics for this - I didn't want to use my flash, and I
didn't have a tripod.)
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The cave was very cool and damp, but it was just fascinating!
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I probably shouldn't let my mom see this pic, but I think it's really cool -
I saw my first ever wild scorpion on the steps going into the cave here! How
cool is that?! :)
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Back in the courtyard I visited the store and bought one of the
Pythagorean mugs (see pics below) from the priest in the pic to
the left. He wrapped the mugs for me, then went to hand the bag
to me, and pretended to drop it, laughing at the look on my face!
After that, I convinced him to have his picture taken, but he
insisted that I be in it! :)
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The views from the courtyard were absolutely beautiful, looking out over
the town of Pythagora. The picture to the left shows the view looking
back towards the hotel. The two pics immediately below are of the town.
The town itself is really sweet, with a number of open air cafes and
restaurants along the harbour front. Then there is the obligatory picture
of me (!) with the town in the background. I'm not sure what the dust on
my shoulder is from - obviously I leaned against something that I shouldn't
have! And finally, there's the cat. There are a lot of cats in Samos, most
of them very thin and obviously not cared for. But there were two cats in
the monastery that were obviously well loved, this being one of them.
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The picture to the right is the view walking back along the road down the
hill. The hills you see in the background across the water is Turkey. Yes,
I was that close to Turkey. But again, I didn't get to go. Let me tell you
about my luck with visiting Turkey this year. I was supposed to go to Turkey
(Antalya) at the end of April for a NATO conference. The conference was
cancelled five days before it was scheduled to start due to flight disruptions
from the volcanic ash from Iceland. Then there was a work trip to Istanbul
that was right beside my Samos trip, so the timing worked out. But, it was
the first visit to Istanbul to establish some research ties and I was told
that I'm "a girl", and therefore it probably was not wise to have me go. Then
the conference was offering day trips to Turkey, so I signed up for one of
those, just to receive a call on the night before to tell me that the trip
was cancelled. Somehow, I'm just not meant to see Turkey this year!!
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After the monastery, we continued along to the Efpalinio Tunnel. Along
the way down the hill (technically after we visited the tunnel, but in
terms of making the pictures and text flow, I'm putting the pic here on
the left), we saw a horse grazing by the side of the road and enjoying
the sunshine. Given my love of horses, I *had* to take a photo!!
Anyway, there is a tunnel that has been built through the mountain in
500 BC as an aqueduct, feeding water from one side of the mountain to
the other. Given my security background, I was looking at it initially
for its military applications, noting places where soldiers could sleep,
etc! The five pics below show the inside of the tunnel. You enter a
cave, go down a very steep set of stairs, and then you are in the tunnel.
The first three photos are actually taken further in the cave. Note how
wet the rocks are, and the angle of the floor, which meant that we did
not go all the way back in the tunnels because it was just too slippery.
The last two photos show the entrance into the tunnel, with me in the
last photo to give an idea of how small the entrance really is.
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After exploring the tunnels, we took a leisurely walk down the hill to
the town, where we had lunch at one of the harbour-side restaurants. The
picture on the right shows the view from our table - very peaceful! And
I got to have some very very good moussaka (one of my favourite Greek meals)
and a Nescafe Frappe freddo, medium, with milk, which is one of my favourite
coffee drinks here. If you are ever in Greece, I recommend that you try one.
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After lunch we browsed through a number of jewelry stores (where I bought
myself a necklace), as well as one of the grocery stores. There were a
number of spices here (e.g., nutmeg, powdered vanilla, spice mix for moussaka,
etc.) as well as tea, and I kinda wish I had bought some now as gifts. Oh
well, maybe I'll find some on Mykonos! At any rate, it was about two in the
afternoon by this point, and people were starting to siesta, such as the
woman in the picture on the left.
That evening was a Greek barbecue hosted by the conference. In addition
to the food and wine, there was Greek music and dancing. After dessert
there was what I can only describe as Greek line dancing. We were taught
two different steps, both seeming to be to a 3/4 beat. One was step step
step pause, and the other was step step step left right, where you kicked
on the left right with the appropriate foot. It was a lot of fun! I even
got called into the center of the circle a couple of times to dance with
the professional dancers, doing spins! Although in retrospect, I'm glad
there is no video! And the look on my face probably alternated between
laughing hysterically and intense concentration. :)
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Mykonos!
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I'm staying this time at a very cute little pension called La Verandah,
which is on the hill above the town with a patio that has stunning views.
The host and hostess are absolutely wonderful, and I would highly
recommend this place. The only drawback (well, the jury is out on whether
this is actually a drawback, or a feature) is that the only internet access
is via a single wire in the reception area. So, no skype for late night
con calls for me, and VERY limited email! Maybe I'll have to actually take
a couple of days vacation after all!
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So, I don't have a lot of photos of Mykonos, since I was here last year. In
fact, I was here exactly one year ago, which I find rather ironic. It's made
me reflect on the past year - what's happened, what's changed, who I was then
versus who I am now. In the past year a lot has actually happened: I've lived
in three cities (Heidelberg, San Diego, New York), visited three new countries
(Czech Republic, India, Australia), visited three new cities (Portland,
Honolulu, Idaho Falls), fallen in love, said good-bye to someone who used
to be very important in my life, gone to a Formula 1 race, suffered a slew
of losses, kissed someone I shouldn't have, found someone I can learn from,
and jumped out of an airplane. All in all a rather busy year!
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On the other hand, there's a lot that hasn't changed. I still have no home.
I'm still rather aimless. I still have the same job. (Although don't takethat as a complaint! I actually - still!!! - love my job!) I even think I'm reading the same book this year as last! (Although, admitedly, with a different perspective this time around.) At least this year on Mykonos, while I've been asked if I'm married, I have NOT been asked (yet) if I'm a lesbian! :)
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So, given that I've been here before, I've been trying to find a few things
different to do or take photos of. So I went for a walk over the hill to the
other side of the island and took photos of the plethora of little chapels
that dot the island.
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There is a cute little chapel along the harbour front near the wharf (the
one with the light blue highlights pictured above), which was open one day
while I walked by. So, of course, I went inside. That's where this picture
of the stained glass is from.
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Today I ended up in a cemetary. I don't know how I hadn't stumbled across
it last year, but it's actually very cute. Like places such as New Orleans,
the coffins are all above ground, but here they all have built-in shelves
(protected by glass) that contain momentoes of the dead person, such as oil
candles (lit) and photographs and komboloi. It was interesting, and made me
wonder what would be appropriate for me - what is it, what little momentoes,
really signify me?
There were kittens in the cemetary playing, and they looked soooo cute! I
got a picture of one of them (below) who was missing an eye. :(
And, for some reason, I particularly like the last photo in this series, the
one with the sunflowers....
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And in case you were wondering what I've been up to for the time I'm here,
this is a pic of my view... from the bar... drinking a mojito.... :) (This
pic was taken just for Tim....)
And below are couple more photos of the views in that area....
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And lest you think I didn't also shop.... :) I bought for myself
a really nice painting (painted by a student at the art school on the
island - it turns out that the owner of the shop where I bought the
painting has one by the same artist of the same view, but at sunset)
and a beautiful gold heart pendant designed and made by a local artist
(who was actually who I bought the pendant from). And a silver bracelet
for a friend who recently had surgery. And that's it! No gifts for
other people! Ha! :)
Anyway, below are a few photos of different views taken around Mykonos:
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And this is the face I could see in the wood in the ceiling of my room....
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And, for some reason, this is my absolute favourite photo that I took
on this trip.
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Another piece of interest: locals tend to be the targets of crime, not
foreigners (or at least not obvious foreigners). There were 6000 murders
last year in Honduras, and they were all locals. Essentially, if the crime
is against a local, it's largely ignored by the police force. But if a
foreign national is involved, then the embassy gets involved, and the police
need to do something. So criminals target locals in order to avoid the
trouble! (See Mom - I'm safe here!! Even the signs say no guns allowed!
(This was actually the entrance to a popular - with the locals - Mexican
restaurant/bar.))
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Having said that, the Lonely Planet for example recommends that you dress
like a local in order to not attract attention, particularly pick pockets.
Locals wear jeans and tank tops or t-shirts (at least the girls do - I didn't
see any guys in tank tops!). But, I'm white and blonde, so very obviously
already not a local. Add to that my lack of Spanish. So I said screw it
and wore shorts. :)
And, like every foreign country where I'm obviously a foreigner, I attract a
lot of attention. This trip I had one guy grab at me (which is actually
reasonably unusual for me), and another time I had a guy lean out a car window
and yell that he loved me. And of course I often have people saying hello
and wanting to talk to me on the streets, or walking by and saying "beautiful".
Funny, no one did any of this when I was walking with K!
I also have a few mosquito bites, which are a bit annoying. Turns out there
is concern in Tegucigalpa for malaria and, even more so, dengue fever.
Recommendation: if I get sick any time in the next two weeks, go see a
doctor and mention that I've been in Honduras!
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July 16
Shopping! :) My last call ended at 4pm, and K was already back since everyone
leaves the office early (2-ish instead of 5-ish) on Fridays. So we went to
the tourist shop and I bought a bunch of stuff. Honduras is known for Lenca
pottery, mahogany, coffee, and matrix opals. So I picked up a wooden box for
a birthday gift for dad, which might not actually be mahogany, since I'm not
that good at recognizing my wood grains. I also picked up some coffee and
coffee liquor that we can enjoy at the same time. :) For myself I bought a
matrix opal on a leather chain. Matrix opals apparently are only found in
Honduras and Australia (which, of course, makes them expensive - $88 for mine,
and I'm sure that it's pretty low end), and are black stones with flecks of
colour in them. Apart from that, I picked up a couple of pieces of Lenca
pottery as gifts for various people. (View to the left is of the river that
runs through Tegucigalpa.)
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Earlier in the day I hung out at Cafe Honorares, which was a very short walk
from the hotel. What a great little cafe! K and I went there for dinner
last night, and I went back today just for a change of scenery while working
(free wireless), and so I could have a licuado. There's indoor seating with
air conditioning, and an outdoor covered patio (in case of rain, which of
course, it did). The food is great! Although it is a little pricey. For
dinner K and I shared a ceviche and two types of quesidillas (shrimp and
grilled chicken with avocado and cheddar cheese), plus two mojitos and a double
rum and coke, and it came to about 850 lempira (around $45). Drinks are cheap
though - the mojito was only 65 lempira (less than $4).
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July 17
K and I went for a walk downtown today after breakfast. Given that I had
him with me (I teased him about being my bodyguard!), I felt safe to take
my camera and take some photos (although K still got after me for taking too
long to take photos, saying I was asking to be robbed, and making me be
quicker - which is why they're a little crooked and the exposure isn't what
I'd like). Tegucigalpa is not a particularly picturesque city, although
Parque Centrale was nice (see two photos below, which shows the church and
a bit of the park), and there are some nice cathedrals (see left).
I also stopped off at the tourist shop again and bought myself a painting,
which cost 3000 lempira ($150). I had been eyeing it, but wasn't sure I
wanted to spend that much on a painting. But then decided to buy it anyway.
It looks very much like Honduras to me, and was painted by an artist who lives
in Tegucigalpa.
Oh, and did I mention that there was a bomb scare at the airport today? Which
is really unusual here. Turns out it was just a hoax, but I guess it's a good
thing I'm leaving tomorrow and not today!
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July 18
I had mentioned earlier that Tegucigalpa is a dangerous airport. This is
because of the short runway plus being surrounded by mountains. In order
to take off, the plane needs to fly light. Well, it turns out that my flight
out was full (overbooked by 7 people). This is normally not a problem, but
it was compounded by having a southerly (and therefore head) wind instead of
the usual northerly tail wind. So need to be extra light. How do you lighten
a plane? Well, you can fly with less fuel as an option. But... there were
storms in Atlanta, so we needed extra fuel in case we needed to circle for
a while. What do you do with a contradiction like this? You make a fueling
stop in Tampa! To add to the perfect storm, rain showers were happening in
the area, so we needed to take off quickly - if they runway was wet, we would
not be allowed to take off. The upshot of all this for me? A night in
Atlanta. On the plus side - I saw a rainbow while landing in Tampa and
another while landing in Atlanta. :) (The pic on the left was sunset while
landing in Atlanta.)
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