A Quick 3-day weekend to the ROCK!

We had such a fun weekend! We took the early flight from Gatwick to Gibraltar. It is such an interesting place! During WW2 the British dug tunnels throughout the rock and used the excavations to build a runway across the sandy land strip that connects Spain to the rock. The runway goes out to the bay and then ends at the beach. No overshooting the runway!


Another very interesting thing about the airport is that to get to Gibraltar you have to cross the runway! You can walk or drive across. When a plane is coming in the barricades come down on either side blocking the traffic. I copied the picture from Google maps and you can see to the right the runway crossing the yellow road. It is a bit grey, but the rippled grey is water that surrounds the peninsula.

Madison wasn't feeling really well so we took the rest of the day just relaxing in the hotel. Madison got some much needed rest...well, we all did. We were fortunate to find a hotel with two triple rooms. The standard size is a room for two and finding a room for even three can be a huge chore here in Europe. Gibraltar is not any different.











Triple room at Queens hotel in Gibraltar


Tangier, Morocco

We made it to Africa!!!!





After much difficulty, we took two taxi's to the
port of Tariffa, Spain. We caught the 11:00 fast ferry to Tangier. It was really nice because they offered a package deal that included the ferry ride, 4 hour tour of Tangier and it even included lunch. It was virtually the same price as the cost of the ferry alone...good deal!


We were met by a nice tour guide who spoke excellent English. A driving tour of the city led to the top of the mountain where a band of peddlers and camels were waiting for us. Amazing!


A Euro a ride (about $1.25). It was REALLY fun! Here is a funny video of me for those who think I'm not in my own blog enough... The directions were to hold the loop in the back and the rope in the front. I thought it odd but soon found out why it was necessary


After that Christina was completely enamored with camels and just had to have her own wooden camel. So we bought one. And when you make your first purchase you get your purchase in a functional black plastic bag. We didn't know, however, that when you are walking down the narrow city streets with a black plastic bag you become prime targets for the peddlers. They got thicker and thicker as the tour progressed. Scott was surprised when he had lots of offers for his Dubrovnik hat in making trades. But he really does like his hat and much to their chagrin wouldn't deal. Finally separated from the group we said "we've lost our guide!" and several of the people who had prevented us from walking forward then eagerly led the way for us back to the group.

It was fascinating seeing the culture and shopping. The lunch was very interesting. I wouldn't say it was my favorite, but there were many different tastes that weren't too bad. At the end of the meal we had peppermint tea. I was shamed into trying it by my kids and surprise...I liked it!


Bryce thought the coke bottles were interesting.









The shops were really also interesting. You never knew what you were going to find when you turned the corner of the narrow streets. There were fresh meat and vegetables, thread stores and general knick-nacks, mirrors, purses, camels, carved wood work, carpets and alladin lamps. Bryce in particular really enjoyed the bartering and pushy deal-making. Jordan was pretty easy-going about it all and did quite well with his shopping. But by the end of the tour I felt that we needed to join hands and run for the bus.

I don't say this to deter anyone from visiting Morocco because we really had a wonderful visit. In fact, we would like to go back again sometime. They spoke English very well and were friendly. As I told my kids, that the pushy sales pitches are much easier to understand when you realize that they are a third-world country and the people are desperate to make money. Most importantly, I never felt unsafe and the kids had a great visit.

Gibraltar

We had arranged a rock tour on the first day we were here. So Monday morning our guide Albert picked us up. He was fantastic. It was SO worth the money to have the van and driver especially since the entrance fees are paid with the tour.

Fascinating Fact: The rock of Gibraltar is UPSIDE DOWN! Geologists can somehow tell the direction that it grew so now they know that this enormous rock which is laying on a bed of sand is actually upside down.

It also sticks up enough into the sky that the winds blowing into it cause clouds to form. The entire time we were there the skies were sunny- except right after the rock. Once formed, the clouds stayed for awhile. I thought it was fascinating and videoed clouds forming over and over ...but I don't think it would make for very exciting video for everyone to watch :-)

Next was St. Michael's cave which actually is used for concerts! Our family loves exploring caves and these were truly beautiful. They had concert music playing and the acoustics were surprisingly good.





After that we made a quick stop at the Great siege tunnels that were used in the 1800's. With each stop we got higher and higher on the rock.

Then we drove along the spine of the mountain (and it really felt like a spine as you can see on this video)- YIKES!



Then FINALLY we came to the monkeys. Actually, they are Barbary apes and were the highlight of the whole trip. Our guide was able to persuade the monkeys to hop on our heads. Although we were supposed to stand upright for better pictures, it is really hard to stay straight when a monkey jumps on your back and head.

(FYI: these monkey pictures show the cloud formations well. We are on the top of the rock and the skies all around were predominately blue. But behind Scott you can see the clouds forming to white. Behind Jeanne you can see the thickness that remains for awhile across the bay to Spain)



We each got a chance to have a monkey on our back.








This one looks like it wants to shake hands






Even Christina braved the challenge... as long as it was a "liddle monkey"


We were then dropped off at the WW2 Tunnels for a 2.5 hour tour.

The day ended with a mandatory stuffed animal monkey purchase on our way to the airport (well, mandatory in our girls minds). It was a perfect amount of time to see the sights there and I think ranks very high on our favorites list.

Bloopers

For all of you blog-followers...we've created another mini-blog of bloopers. Just a bit of fun. If you want a look click on the Shaffer bloopers link to the right.

Cruise to Greece, Turkey, and Croatia

Last spring we planned for a cruise and found MSC cruise line that offered free kids. When you have three kids it isn't that great of a deal since you still have to have two paying "adults" per room. We came up with the idea of inviting some friends along and have Bryce bunk up with them. So we invited Hank and Pat Pillard from Illinois who are friends of both of us and Jeanne's parents. Actually, Hank worked with Jeanne's dad for many years in wrestling events and organizing. And then when Scott's job moved to Joliet for a few years we got to know them again as adults! They are a really fun couple who actually are VERY much like Jeanne's parents. It is incredibly uncanny!



We didn't begin the trip very well. I forgot to put Madison's suitcase in the car, I forgot to LOCK the door (at least I set the alarm) and then when we did arrive at the airport some light was left on in the car. (Yes, we came home to a dead car). Then the Pillard's left their prescription medicine bag in the taxi to the hotel and it took the next taxi almost two hours to come and pick up the rest of us stranded at the airport. The joys of travel! BUT we did all arrive at the hotel eventually and the medicine bag was returned much to the relief of Pat!

Venice, Italy


The next day we took a train into Venice and checked in at the boat. We had a few hours and walked around Venice again. We were starting to feel like experts as we walked the streets without a map! The departure from Venice was spectacular. No streamers and Love-boat fanfare, but it was spectacular because the boat was SO TALL! We sailed out with an airplane view of the city of Venice at sunset. WOW!



Bari, Italy

First stop was Bari, Italy. It was not that special of a city we had heard so the family stayed aboard enjoying the pool and amenities while Jeanne went out clothes shopping for Madison. It wasn't easy since it was a Sunday, but Jeanne found a department store that was open and even found a grocery store with bottled water. We previously had located a bikini on the ship which was acceptable when worn with a t-shirt. So we finally got settled in after the initial problems got worked out. WHEW!

We had two interior rooms that slept four each. The boys slept with the Pillard's and the girls with us. It didn't take the girls too long to discover that their travelling toys (littlest petshop figures) actually stuck to the ceiling above their bunks.
So there was a nightly party on the ceiling. Above is a video of Christina celebrating their petshop party on the ceiling. Kids can be so creative!


Olympia, Greece

Olympia, Greece was next. We rented a Fiat Doblo and drove to Olympia which was about 40 minutes away. It fit 6 people which was perfect, but more importantly was a point of humor in the Turkish history DVD that we had watched before we left. (FYI: the series is called "Drive thru History with Dave Stott". It is in association with Focus on the Family and was FANTASTIC to watch before we went).



Once we arrived at Olympia we were able to walk through the archeological site and the kids even ran around the first Olympic Track! Madison was proud that she completed the FULL circle!





This was the home of the infamous Nero.








We also got to see the temple of Zeus (one of the ancient seven wonders). I thought it was really interesting to see the domino effect of the pillars that once held up the roof over the statue of Zeus.





Ephesus, Turkey

Day three brought us to Izmir where we had pre-arranged on-line a personal tour and of Ephesus. The personal tour was only slightly more than the mass bus system that the cruise offered and was well worth the extra money.

We drove straight from our port in Izmir to the ancient city of Ephesus. The bus dropped us off up the hill and we got to walk through the town downhill...nice!


We saw the school...


















and the goddess "Nike". Did you know that this is where company NIKE got it's name?








I love libraries and books. So visiting the library in Ephesus is a treat- even if there weren't any books in it any more. It was truly amazing to walk down the marble pathways that date back to biblical times...




We even saw but didn't use :-) the Roman latrines! There were 24 "stalls" with no walls...but they did have water that helped flush. Such modern convenience!









The coloseum in the background had great accoustics. The pillared road led straight to the ocean a short distance away. (the ocean has since retreated 4 miles away).



Wouldn't you like to be the proud owner of a GEN-U-INE fake watch?



Istanbul, Turkey

Then came the highlight of the trip... Instanbul, TURKEY! We had been warned that many shops would be closed and we would see a lot of Turkish flags because they were celebrating their 85th year of independence.

Madison was telling Christina of our visit to Istanbul when Christina interrupted and said "we're not going there...we're going to Chicken! It's the Chicken's birthday!" Below is a video re-enactment. Just press the triangle play button on the lower left of the picture below. She was much more determined the first time...it was hysterical.



For those of you who don't get it read the last two paragraphs again.

We went to the Palace first, but were somewhat unimpressed. We bought the tickets to see the Harem area. Scary to think that girls were introduced to the harem to begin their education between the ages of 5 and 10.





We were also able to see the cisterns that had been designed to save water for the city. It doesn't sound very exciting does it? But when we went down there we were amazed. The vaulted room was enormous. They had wooden walkways that took us back to the far end where you see scavanged stone faces of Medusa (who was turned to stone). If you can't tell by the picture...Bryce has his hand on Medusa's chin.










Then we went to the Hagia Sophia. That was incredible!!! To fully appreciate the site, you have to know the history. It was one of the first and grandest of the Eastern Orthodox churches. Rebuilt in 532 AD it stood as the largest Cathedral for over 900 years. But when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks instead of destroying it, because they thought it so beautiful, they decided to convert it to a mosque.

All of the mosaics they plastered over (thus preserving them from future moslem conquerers) were discovered when the mosque was turned into a museum in 1932. Under the crumbling plaster they found the incredible golden mosaics depicting Jesus and various saints.

Another interesting thing is that the mosaics of Jesus were probably emulated by so many other
later churches and artists when they depicted Jesus...thus they are very similar.We decided that it was our favorite stop on the cruise. As we sailed out of port I got some fantastic photos as the sun set. It was beautiful!

Dubrovnik, Croatia

After a day at sea we landed at our last port, Dubrovnik, Croatia. It was a fantastic walled city located right next to the ocean. The waves broke and sprayed on the rocks next to the wall. It was truly beautiful!.








Again the weather was wonderful. Blue skies with a few clouds. Couldn't ask for better. We walked around the city and then walked the circle wall around the city. It was truly beautiful.








This is the view into the center of the city from the city wall











We could see a few bombed rubble areas within the city that perhaps were destroyed during the 1991 war. We could also tell the difference in the tile roofs. The newer roofs were bright orange where the older roofs were lighter and more dappled. It was a quick visit but appropriate for what we got to see.





Madison and Christina had made some friends named Isabelle and Sophie on the ship and we had some goodbye pictures.











Pisa and Florence, Italy

But our vacation wasn't over yet! We still had Pisa and Florence to see! Upon landing we traveled back to the Treviso airport to rent a van for all 8 of us! Jeanne had rented a three bedroom apartment in the Tuscany area. It was really a really beautiful setting!. Located on a farm used for a vineyard and olives, the views were spectacular.





We had one day to see both cities, so we got up early and went to Pisa. The Baptistry, Cathedral and Tower were all located together. The Baptistry had fantastic accoustics as you can tell by the video below (click the triangle play button).



We got to the Cathedral right when their Sunday service started so we got to see the bishop? processional. Funny thing was some of church helpers had digital cameras in their hands as they marched in...well I thought it was funny anyway.

The leaning tower was all that you had seen in snapshots. But I didn't know we could purchase tickets to go to the top!

We waited around for our time slot having lunch (pizza of course!) and then went up. So much fun!










We arrived late in Florence and were only able to walk around the Cathedral. I remembered climbing up the dome last time we were here and the spectacular view of the city below. But we didn't have time for that this trip. The amazing thing about the Cathedral that I had forgotten was the extremely ornate bi-color marble exterior. They used white and green marble along with carvings. The doors were amazing too. It was a short visit. Here is one more video of the church (press the play button).


Our last meal together was ....SPAGHETTI! Jordan cooked dinner for us all since he is the expert spaghetti cooker...and eater!

Arrivaderci!

Horse Riding Lessons for the girls

October 19, 2008

For Madison's birthday in July we promised her horse riding lessons...but had trouble actually following through with the gift as we were traveling so much. But when the fall rolled around we finally found a horse riding instructor for her. It actually was the instructor for our neighbor (and good friend of Madison's who is now a nationally ranked teenager rider!)

Anyway, Madison now has the chance to learn about horses and horse riding. In England you really can't believe the amount of horses and trails that are all over. It is so common that our driving test had several questions about what you do when you come across a horse and rider on the road. The British are serious about their horses!

When Madison finally started the lessons she instantly loved them! It didn't take long for Christina to start asking for herself too.

Due to the flexibility of the riding facility we soon had two girls happily taking lessons. It has been a fantastic opportunity for them!

The girls are now pulling for a horse back home... (now what do we do?)