A place where nations and rivers unite and divide
Anna and I spent three days in Montreal. It is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the second-most populous municipality in Canada. Originally called Ville-Marie, or “City of Mary”, it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The city is centred […]
Land of Fire and Ice
Thingvellir According to the Book of Settlements (Landnámabók), the settlement of Iceland began in AD 874 when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent Norwegian settler on the island. Over the next centuries, people of Norse and Celtic origin settled in Iceland. Early on, district assemblies were formed, but as the population grew, […]
Down and (not really) Dirty
A quick trip down a coal mine We visited our friends in Gliwice. They took us to visit the Guido Mine and Coal Mining Museum in Zabrze. The Guido mine was set up in 1855 by Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck (1830-1916) to provide coal for the Donnersmarck mills. Maximum production was in 1885 […]
Krakow under the Regimes
I took a free walking tour entitled Krakow under the Regimes with Krakow Explorers. I learnt a lot. Krakow was declared an open city and was occupied on September 6, 1939, just 5 days after Poland was invaded. It survived the war relatively unscathed. This building was the German Headquarters during the occupation […]
.gif&w=593&h=199&zc=1)
Palmiry
Palmiry is a Polish national memorial. It is a shocking testimony to crimes committed by the Nazis on Polish territory during the second world war. On December 7, 1939 in the Kampinos Forest, near the Palmiry village, Germans started in secrecy a series of mass murders. In 21 executions over 1700 Poles were executed. They […]
Seagul Resort
We are now in the Seagull Resort in Hurghada, having gone full circle. Our tour of Egypt has taken us ten days and we have seen pretty much everything of importance. Now we are on three days of rest. The hotel is enormous. From the front you would never know but once through the doors […]
Alexandria
This morning we continue north and view the Mediterranean from Alexandra. This was in fact an extra. Anna and I had initially decided to pass on it and visit the new Cairo Museum. We changed our minds when we found out we were several years too early. The trip to Alexandra is like changing worlds. […]
The Pyramids
Here it is, the penultimate day of travel and we can tick off the last really big one, the pyramids of Giza. I knew they were big but, in an Ayers Rock sort of way, they are bigger than you expect. While climbing is not allowed, even the thought sends palpitations through my heart. Our […]
Cairo
The train trip was uneventful as was our arrival in Cairo. We were not allowed to carry our suitcases. It was peoples’ jobs to do this. We sat on the coach hopefully waiting for them to arrive. They did so, but in their own time. We were then driven to the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. […]
Aswan High Dam and the Temple of Isis
This morning started with a trip to the Aswan High Dam. Lake Nasser was created when the High Dam was built. Unfortunately it inundated hundreds of tombs and temples. Thankfully some of them were moved prior to the dams building. Of course these include Abu Simbel which we saw yesterday. The High Dam is 3600m […]