Egypt

Egypt has been in the news a lot lately, and I've been thinking how lucky we are to have visited there in 2007.  We went in July with a French tour group, Nouvelles Frontiers and cruised down the Nile.  It was hotter than hades, but the sights were incredible.  Cairo is the filthiest place I've ever seen, and a bathroom I used there at a hotel near the train station is seared in my memory.  It was quite the experience, highlighted by a memorable overnight train trip from Cairo to Luxor.

Here is a link to our pictures from that trip.  My pedestrian understanding is that it is a very complicated political situation there, so I won't get into it more than to say while I do not at all support (and actually fear) the Muslim Brotherhood, I do support democracy as a concept as well as the preservation of innocent lives.

France summer vacation: Part II, Corsica

Having traveled all the way over to France, we decided to tack on a few days to the end of the trip to have a little beach vacation for just us three-- a kind of "baby moon" before we are once again inundated with sleepless nights and dirty diapers.  Raphael suggested we go to Corsica, fabled island of the French and Italian coasts and home of Napoleon.

Classic view in Corsica

It sounded exotic and wonderful to me, and I readily agreed.  One of the first things I did (after we had already booked the flight) was google Corsica to get inspired about the trip, and I came across this article, from BBC, proclaiming that Corsica has the highest murder rate in all of Europe.  Lovely.  I asked Raphael if he had an ulterior motive to get rid of me, permanently! :)   Sure enough, we learned from other French friends and family that Corsica has a reputation for having a highly organized mafia, however it is not directed at tourists... unless said tourist buys property in Corsica but does not utilize local builders, contractors, etc.  Then the Corsicans will bomb your house.  Apparently this reputation is so well known, there are tee shirts depicting a house being blown up, on sale for tourists.  Another main tourist export, on sale in every shop, is a hand-carved switch blade knife with the word "VENDETTA" carved into the handle.  I am serious.  The guidebook spoke about all this, and we learned that basically because Corsica changed hands so many times (Italian, French, and other conquerors) and were always far away from the "main land" of whatever ruler, they developed a kind of protocol of meting out their own justice and distrust of foreign rule.  The region is extremely separatist.  Evidence of this includes the official logo of Corsica (a black revolutionary head with a white headband), as well as the street signs, which are all written in both French and I suppose the local dialect, however with the French eradicated by graffiti.  (Another tourist tee shirt depicts the signs with bullet holes strewn through the French name of the places).

Despite this, we truly found the people extremely friendly and helpful, we never felt in danger, and we had a wonderful time.  Tourism is their main export, and clearly owners of $25 million yachts feel comfortable docking there, so I think it is more legend and touristic reputation than reality (despite the BBC report of the murder rate....?).

We stayed in Bonafacio, the southern most point of Corsica.  Our hotel was really lovely (for the most part... our room was next to a farm so we had a small fly problem as well as roosters waking us at 5 AM), and the beaches were other-worldly.  We stayed four full days and I think that was the perfect amount.  It is not the easiest get from one town to the next because of the extremely winding roads, and other than beaches, there is not much else to do.  After a full day at the beach, we were all exhausted anyway.  The highlight was traveling one day by boat to an uninhabited island, Isle Lavezzi, off the coast of Bonafacio.  It is a nature preserve, so there are no buildings, no shops, nothing for sale.  We packed a picnic of cheese, bread, bresaola , cantaloupe and chips and had one of the best days I can remember.  Henry had a blast on the (treacherous) boat ride, calling it "the best day of [his] life!"  (He also declared the next day the other best day of his life on account of the copious volumes of french candy we bought him.)

The boys at the beach on the Isle Lavezzi.

The last thing of note about Bonafacio is the town itself is perched on the cliffs.  It is quite the sight to see from the water below, and it is a charming and very small little town, perfect for dinner and strolling around in the evenings.

Bonifacio

All in all we had a really lovely, relaxing time.  I will definitely think back on this trip fondly and remember chilling at the beach with my two favorite guys.

Here is a link to all the pictures from Corsica.

France summer vacation: Part I, Provins

A few weeks ago we traveled to France to celebrate the 90th birthday of Raphael's grandmother, Nelly. 

Aaron, Henry, Nelly & Alena

Ten years ago, we took a similar trip for her 80th birthday, which was my first time meeting Raphael's whole family.  (Come to think of it, it was around that time that Raphael was getting into photography... I should create an album and upload it here!)  This time the whole Cohen clan traveled from near and far and descended upon Provins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which is a medieval walled city.It is located about an hour and half East of Paris.

The town is extremely small and has a handful of fabulous medieval reenactment type shows.  For instance, we attended one show where "real knights" demonstrated the various weapons of the time.  Many of these weapons had German sounding names, which Annie informed me was because Germany introduced these weapons to France (I leave you to draw your own conclusions about that tidbit).  

Our own knight in shining armor..... this helmet was just the beginning.

Another show we attended also had "real knights," damsels in distress, and monster-like bad knights who all battled.  The story line, from what I followed in French, seemed to me a cross between something from JRR Tolkien, Harry Potter and Star Wars.  The costumes of the bad guys looked like they were right out of one of Johnny Depp's Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  Also, if I'm not mistaken, I believe the bad guy was named "Champagne."  All in all, it was quite a scene and the kids loved it.  Henry even got to meet and greet the "REAL knight"!!!!

This picture only begins to capture the essence of these shows.

In addition to being known for it's medieval aspects, the town is also renowned for its roses.  Interstingly, the color of the roses planted had strong political implications, and I think demonstrated one's allegiance to a particular monarch or the like.  Pink roses were the official rose of so-and-so, while white roses represented so-and-so, so you better be careful which roses you decided to plant.  (I think I got the gist of this correctly- the tour was all in french).

Me with some ubiquitous pink roses

Finally, my favorite part of the visit was the "Live Spectacle of Eagles."  It sounds silly but it was really cool.  It was essentially a falconer show, where these falconers presented and handled a wide variety of birds of prey.  There were all types of hawks, falcons, eagles, vultures.... all swooping right overhead.  To Henry and Raphael's great amusement, more than once I reflexively ducked and shrieked as these huge creatures swooped a little too close for comfort.  While I declined to do so, Henry and Raphael held one of these lovely birds on their arms.  Alena was set to do so next, but instead, the darn thing jumped onto her head, causing much panic and nervous laughter in both her and me.

In sum, we had a wonderful time gathering with family from France and Israel to celebrate an extremely happy occasion. A huge thank you to my father-in-law for organizing the entire trip.  If he ever truly retires, he should be a travel agent planning family vacations.  I think he has a real calling.



Here is a link to all our pictures from Provins.