Sunday, May 27, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Weekend plans.
I have decided to take this weekend and not do (too much) work. I have been totally busy and overwhelmed at work. I guess you don't get to the last 3 weeks of your PhD without being a little busy, and I not only have to write a thesis and prepare a defense talk, but I have to arrange to do all of this half a world away, since I am in Zurich and my defense and committee are all in Minnesota (except Kris, my advisor, who will be going back to Minnesota for my defense). Not only that, but I have a Master's student to advise who is also writing her thesis. And I will go from my defense to a conference to field work in Alaska. I have been developing all new methods in the lab for this field work in Alaska, and I have an undergraduate student arriving this weekend, who I am supposed to train in our field methods for two weeks, before we both head to Alaska. Except these methods aren't quite... working yet. Which means I can't order all of the supplies that I need in Alaska (because I don't exactly know what we'll need, because I don't exactly know how the experiments will go). But these supplies are supposed to take 4 weeks to deliver, which means they might not be there when we get there. And I'm getting a cold.
So, basically, there's a lot going on. But I am going to Ticino this weekend to visit my former flatmate, Stefanie, who works at the film festival in Locarno. Ticino always feels like a vacation land to me, so I'm pretty excited. However, the weather in Zurich is supposed to be lovely:
While the weather in Locarno is supposed to be... not so much.
There is something wrong with this picture! On almost any other weekend, the opposite would be true, since Ticino is further south and tends to get better weather.
But, I'm still excited to go and maybe take a day or two off and rest a little. Because, after this weekend, I have the feeling that there's not going to be many breaks before I'm back in the US and defending my thesis!
So, basically, there's a lot going on. But I am going to Ticino this weekend to visit my former flatmate, Stefanie, who works at the film festival in Locarno. Ticino always feels like a vacation land to me, so I'm pretty excited. However, the weather in Zurich is supposed to be lovely:
While the weather in Locarno is supposed to be... not so much.
There is something wrong with this picture! On almost any other weekend, the opposite would be true, since Ticino is further south and tends to get better weather.
But, I'm still excited to go and maybe take a day or two off and rest a little. Because, after this weekend, I have the feeling that there's not going to be many breaks before I'm back in the US and defending my thesis!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Rosh Ha'Nikra, Haifa, and Easter.
I have finally reached the last post on my trip to Israel- only about two months after starting out for my trip! Anyways, the day after our trip to Caesarea, we again headed up north, this time up to the border with Lebanon. I had read about some cool blue lagoon-y caves (called Rosh HaNikra) up north that I wanted to go see, and, since Brian and Jessi and Jessi Jr. hadn't seen the caves either, we decided to make a trip of it! I was lucky enough to sit in the back seat to keep the darling baby company. She really is 100% adorable! We had a few hours of driving until our destination.
At first, our tour took us through the caves, and then along a path on the rocks outside the caves. The white rocks were really stark and beautiful, I thought.
After our tour, we took pictures at the border sign, had lunch, and then drove back south to Haifa. We stopped at the base of the Baha'i gardens, took some pictures, and then drove to the top of the gardens to watch the sun set. The gardens looks really gorgeous, and I wished that we could've gone in! Sadly, they were closed. After sunset, we had a delicious dinner at a Lebanese restaurant (my favorite was the fresh mint lemonade) and then drove back to Tel Aviv.
The next day was Easter Sunday, so we dyed Easter eggs and had a special Easter dinner to celebrate. Jessi Jr. even got dressed up in a super cute Easter outfit!
The next day it was time for me to leave, so Jessi and Jessi Jr. came to drop me off at the train station. It was supposed to be really easy to get to the airport, and I was in good time to catch my train. Of course, I asked lots of people to check if I was getting on the right train, which, athough it was arriving at the correct time on the correct track, actually took me the opposite direction of the airport, to the south! I realized after over half an hour on the train, and hopped out. A very expensive taxi ride later, I did end up at the airport, thankfully! I was put through my paces again at security- they inspected every single item that I had, swabbed my dates for explosive residue, confiscated my brown sugar, and turned over each Bananagram tile individually. In the end, I finally made it through and safely back to Zurich.
I had a really great visit with the Pattons, and I am so thankful to have had the chance to see them in Israel before they move!
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| Coastline south of the caves. |
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| The water was so pretty! |
At first, our tour took us through the caves, and then along a path on the rocks outside the caves. The white rocks were really stark and beautiful, I thought.
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| Rock formation called the elephant. |
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| Cable car that takes you up and down from the cliff above. |
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| You can sort of see the monitoring buoys that mark the sea border between Israel and Lebanon. |
After our tour, we took pictures at the border sign, had lunch, and then drove back south to Haifa. We stopped at the base of the Baha'i gardens, took some pictures, and then drove to the top of the gardens to watch the sun set. The gardens looks really gorgeous, and I wished that we could've gone in! Sadly, they were closed. After sunset, we had a delicious dinner at a Lebanese restaurant (my favorite was the fresh mint lemonade) and then drove back to Tel Aviv.
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| Baha'i gardens. |
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| View from the top down the gardens. |
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| Sunset over Haifa. |
The next day was Easter Sunday, so we dyed Easter eggs and had a special Easter dinner to celebrate. Jessi Jr. even got dressed up in a super cute Easter outfit!
The next day it was time for me to leave, so Jessi and Jessi Jr. came to drop me off at the train station. It was supposed to be really easy to get to the airport, and I was in good time to catch my train. Of course, I asked lots of people to check if I was getting on the right train, which, athough it was arriving at the correct time on the correct track, actually took me the opposite direction of the airport, to the south! I realized after over half an hour on the train, and hopped out. A very expensive taxi ride later, I did end up at the airport, thankfully! I was put through my paces again at security- they inspected every single item that I had, swabbed my dates for explosive residue, confiscated my brown sugar, and turned over each Bananagram tile individually. In the end, I finally made it through and safely back to Zurich.
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| Saying goodbye to Jessi Jr. |
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| On the wrong train! |
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| Airplane home! |
Monday, May 14, 2012
Tel Aviv and Caesarea.
I am pretty sure that it has never taken me this long to finish blogging about a vacation, but, in my defense, my thesis is due in three weeks (during which time my Master's student will also finish her thesis and I will have an undergraduate student to train), I leave for the US in four weeks, my thesis defense is in five weeks, I have a conference in six weeks, and I go to Alaska in seven weeks. Needless to say, things have pretty much been crazy, and I start to hyperventilate a little if I think about it too much. But, I decided that I needed to finish blogging about Israel if I was going to post about my weekend in Strasbourg, so here we are.
After our lovely visit to the Dead Sea, Jessi and I had some more fun hanging around Tel Aviv. We went to the beach with pretty much the cutest baby ever, we had the best hummus that I've ever tasted in my life, and we baked an incredible strawberry cake. And, yes, all of these superlatives are well-deserved.
On the first day of Passover (Good Friday), we were invited to Brian's boss's house to celebrate Seder with her family. Brian's boss lives north of Tel Aviv, so we decided to rent a car and visit Caesarea on the way up. We were told that it would be closed due to Passover, but we decided to stop anyways. It turns out that all that "closed" meant was that no one was taking our money and there were not many people other. Otherwise, we pretty much had the place to ourselves and didn't have to pay! Not bad!
I find it really incredible how well-preserved this ancient city was: the way the mosaics were still intact and the colors were still brilliant, and they way all of these arches were still free-standing. We even found the arches on the front of our guidebook, so, of course, Jessi and I had to take a picture with them.
From there, we took a few minutes to go to a beach that happens to have an old aqueduct that is very well-preserved. We enjoyed the time wading in the sea (although I was stung by a wasp on my foot!) and enjoying the novelty of being on a beach with an aqueduct.
From there we had to hurry to get changed into our Seder best, but I got this Patton family photo before we went in to the Seder. It was really nice of Brian's boss to host us for the Seder, and I really enjoyed seeing this tradition and getting to know the family a little bit. I think the best part of travel is meeting people and developing connections, and the Seder was perfect for this!
After our lovely visit to the Dead Sea, Jessi and I had some more fun hanging around Tel Aviv. We went to the beach with pretty much the cutest baby ever, we had the best hummus that I've ever tasted in my life, and we baked an incredible strawberry cake. And, yes, all of these superlatives are well-deserved.
On the first day of Passover (Good Friday), we were invited to Brian's boss's house to celebrate Seder with her family. Brian's boss lives north of Tel Aviv, so we decided to rent a car and visit Caesarea on the way up. We were told that it would be closed due to Passover, but we decided to stop anyways. It turns out that all that "closed" meant was that no one was taking our money and there were not many people other. Otherwise, we pretty much had the place to ourselves and didn't have to pay! Not bad!
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| Random columns. Apparently there were extra. |
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| Power plant smoke stacks in the distance. |
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| I love the color of the Mediterranean. |
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| Mosaics! |
I find it really incredible how well-preserved this ancient city was: the way the mosaics were still intact and the colors were still brilliant, and they way all of these arches were still free-standing. We even found the arches on the front of our guidebook, so, of course, Jessi and I had to take a picture with them.
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| Arches! |
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| They had horse races in the flat, open space in the distance. |
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| I can race horses, too! |
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| Cover of the guidebook, right here. |
From there, we took a few minutes to go to a beach that happens to have an old aqueduct that is very well-preserved. We enjoyed the time wading in the sea (although I was stung by a wasp on my foot!) and enjoying the novelty of being on a beach with an aqueduct.
From there we had to hurry to get changed into our Seder best, but I got this Patton family photo before we went in to the Seder. It was really nice of Brian's boss to host us for the Seder, and I really enjoyed seeing this tradition and getting to know the family a little bit. I think the best part of travel is meeting people and developing connections, and the Seder was perfect for this!
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