Photo above from Iolanda & Dwight
View From A380
I love booking window seats so that I can watch the changing landscape below, but this was my 2nd flight on the doubledecker A380, a majestic plane, and there's no real point to the window seat because the massive wing takes up about 80% of the windowframe.
NA Reunion Tour, Part 3: Toronto
From Vancouver, we flew to Toronto for a few days in one of James' former hometowns. It's a city that I have only explored on a few daytrips many years ago, so I was eager to get the guided tour of all the fun places, like:
College Street, the Islands, Saint Lawrence Market, Kensington Market, Spadina, Queen's Park, Yorkville, Yonge & Eglinton, the tunnels and the Blue Jays!
NA Reunion Tour, Part 1: Brooklyn, Manhattan, Rutherford
I love little notebooks and journals, and at a favourite stationery store in Granville Island, we found the "One Line A Day" diary, wherein you write a sentence once a day for the next five years. This will be really neat a few years in, when I can compare one day's summary to the previous years.
As there are way too many stories and photos to share from our North America Reunion Tour, I'll copy the daily summaries that I wrote for the NY part of the journey here. Seeing how much we did leaves my breathless once again, what an exciting city, what a terrific reunion back with such great friends!
May 4 - DUBAI TO NYC: Landed at JFK, taxi to Brooklyn Heights, met Shaleen & Ian at S&Shanty's amazing apartment. Subway to Village, High Line walk, Amy's Bread lunch (fake $50!), Tim Hetherington exhibit, Standard Biergarten, Mets game, Delta Club Seats and sleep.
May 5 - NYC: Woke early, James and I walked Brooklyn Heights Promenade to Dumbo, Almondine Bakery. Brunch at Felix, back to High Line, strolled Bleecker, Suresh & Kay joined us, saw Alison. Over to Chuckie's Kentucky Derby party. Dinner @ Momofuku Ssam.
May 6 - NYC: Woke early again, James and I walked to Smith St. Brunch at Spitzer's Corber. Quiet afternoon at Moma. Back to Bowery for drink at The Wren and dinner at Hecho en Dumbo.
May 7 - NYC: Caught bus to Rutherford, did my banking, bus back to Port Authority. Lunch at Amy's Bread, subway to Washington Square, saw Monsieur Lazhar @ Angelika, dinner at Spotted Pig. Photo Institute pinhole camera gift.
View From The Seabus
I fell asleep in front of the TV last night, after the first day back in Dubai and back in the office following our North America Reunion Tour. The waves of jetlag had me in a deep sleep by 9pm, and when James woke me at 10 so that I could crawl to bed, I was thoroughly disoriented, certain that I was still in Canada, confused that I was seeing the Burj Khalifa outside (maybe I was still semi-asleep). Two weeks of holiday plays tricks on the brain, crystallizing the Canadian DNA and causing every work-related concern to evaporate in the clear fresh air.
So many stories and photos to share, including stories and photos of all of the changes that happened in Dubai in the two weeks we were gone (they work fast, those builders).
For now, a view to remember out the Seabus window, heading across the water to Vancouver.
"Seeing Them As Something So Purposeful"
My reading this year has mainly consisted of a series of "Best American Travel Writing" books. These collections feature several dozen travel-related long reads from magazines and newspapers, and they are consistently excellent. Be it a travelogue of an eat-and-drink walking tour through villages in France, a story about a trip to Vostok in Antarctica, a study of Moscow's traffic problems, or an article about Tristan de Cunha (the most remote place in the world, an island right in the middle of the Atlantic, in between South America and Africa), the writing is excellent and the stories are compelling.
Today, I read Susan Orlean's "Where Donkeys Deliver," about the role these animals play in Morocco. You can read the story here, there are interesting parts about medina and the vet clinic that takes care of the animals.
One excerpt that I particularly enjoyed, as it reminded me of our donkey encounter high in the Hajar Mountains in Oman a few weeks ago:
But seeing them as something so purposeful - not a novelty in a tourist setting but an integral part of Moroccan daily life - made me love them even more, as flea-bitten and saddle-sore and scrawny as some of them were.
Sunday Morning in Munich
We're back from a quick weekend getaway to hang out with Fred in Germany, and it was exactly the type of weekend in Munich that I was hoping for: nice walks through the old town and parks, blossoming daffodils, a cuckoo clock, and when the air got chilly on afternoon walks, plenty of cozy beer houses filled with friendly people.
It was also chilly, refreshingly so, our lungs filling with brisk air. And then, I woke on Sunday morning and walked over to open the window, and gasped in happiness and magical surprise: It's snowing!
A Few Last Details From The Hike
The canyon walls on our drive back.
Along the trail, there was the occasional tiny tiny wildflower. You can see one on the center of this photo.
Crossing Paths Along The Trail
Another highlight of the trek occurred when we were past Aqabat Village, but had found it empty of inhabitants (other than goats and roosters). Our guides said they were probably out getting supplies, since their donkeys weren't there.
Further along the trail, guess who came around the bend.
And then the two guys walking up behind them.
Look at the loads these donkeys are carrying.
After I took this photo below, the donkeys started to scatter a bit and one of the men had to hustle to herd them back onto the right path.
Scattering and chasing.
Onward!
Amazing to see, and it really made me wonder about what it's like to live such a remote lifestyle. The efficiency of day-to-day resources must be so precise so that they're not having to do this crazy hike up and down the mountain every day.
Aqabat Village
As I mentioned in the previous post, our hike took us to Aqabat Village, which was a highlight of the trek. We could see the buildings in the distance after coming around a corner, and a few goat bleats were heard here and there. Descending closer to the village, the bleats got louder and a few little faces were staring at us from above our trail. And then, stepping around the corner, we saw ALL of these guys.
We walked closer into the buildings.
Lots of little baby goats in one pen, and a bunch of roosters too.
I liked the dishdasha scarecrow.
We saw their wells for water, their terraced plains built to plant some crops, and their graveyard, marked with simple stones. From here, we wandered a bit farther and enjoyed our lunch, shooing away a few goats who came by to sniff the food.
Sounds of the village
