Tag Archives: Museum

Part 2 – Pre-Lauch

As I am lying here, in the back of Timmy the Motorhome with a view of the beach, there is no other way than feeling our trip has just now entered Chapter 1 proper. The last week could be considered prolog, but in life – everything counts, nothing is extra. So let me tell you a bit about the rest of our first week in New Zealand.

We arrived on Thursday morning, as evidenced in our first post. By Saturday, we had pretty much settled in: All paperwork done, accounts reactivated and a motorhome purchase completed. Shoutout to Hennie, who was very supportive and patient with his personal “scammer” buying a pretty expensive vehicle for the most part remotely from Germany.

Sunday was a slow day for all of us, most of all me with the obligatory plane-pest now all the way at the fever stage. Nina: The kids and I still spent some time in Kelly Tarlton’s Sea Life Center on this Sunday.

So as Monday came round, it was time to direct our focus towards this place. Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. We decided to use the day to make good on Number 3’s birthday present and took the bus to MOTAT – the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland. He absorbed every minute of it, from opening time at 10am till the doors closed. The Agent of Entropy was less impressed but got distracted enough by some craft opportunity as part of the Auckland Anniversary Day weekend program. Her real highlight was the daring deeds to be had on the playground afterwards.

Tuesday was all preparations, getting Timmy ready for the road. It never ceases to amaze us that the unwritten NZ tradition when trading used goods seems to be that the buyer will clean. Nina: I on the other hand used the morning to get acquainted with the laudromat to do some proper washing of everything.

I was a bit high on isopropyl alcohol and glue (from fixing some sag in the headliner in the luton) when we met friends Elle and Nick in the afternoon. As perfect coincidence had it, Elle works at the Auckland Maritime Museum, so Number 3 got to see the Black Magic and America’s Cup replica first hand.

It was brilliant to catch up with old friends after 10 years. Things change, things stay the same, but everyone has a distinct memory of the covid years.

And so Wednesday came around. Nina’s first day at work and the reason (among others) why we are in New Zealand in the first place. So while she got real work done, thanks to amazing support from the Auckland Art Gallery staff, I got to play stay-at-home dad and took the little ones on a day hike up Maungawhau (Mt. Eden). The cafe up there was the perfect lunch spot. In my view, the view from the caldera beat spending over 100$ on the SkyTower any day. The Agent thought less so for all the walking up and down hill it entailed.

And so, we end our settled ways, sleep one more night at our AirB&B with Timmy ready to go tomorrow …

Even after a brief shower, the trampoline remained their favourite “toy”

Day 13 – Cradle of Democracy

Our first day in Athens. Or: Anything but the Acropolis. We drove 45 min from the Campsite out in the sticks to a big mall (where we fit into the underground parking with our hight just shy of 2 meters) and after a breakfast used the great subway connection right into the heart of the City. Or more precisely: The ancient heart …

Destination: Inner city Athens. End of our looong journey to get here

Day 3 – Gon’a in Ancona

A whole day and only 100km to go. Time to get creative!

Day 7 – Hola España

Second rainy morning on the trip. As it was on the bike, everything is just that bit harder when you are doing it in the wet. It effects the mood as well, and any bad vibe gets supercharged in the echo chamber that is the nuclear family. Somehow, we still manged to get off our camp site just in time to avoid late departure fees. It “helped” that Number 3 decided it was getting up time at about 6:30 am.

Plan of attack for today was to do a bit of light culture at the Dalí theatre museum on our way to get into striking distance of Barcelona. We archived the second part all right, at least. Oh, and we also archived the “no more bodily fluids in the car” milestone. Just a tiny bit apprehensive here …

The road was uneventful. We decided to indulge a little to be in Figueres by lunchtime – have the break, lunch and then tackle the museum. We had lunch atop a little hill next to an old fort. It definitely seemed like everyone and their aunt were out and about on this Easter Sunday.

Europe makes us war and fuzzy inside. Next country …

Same held true about an hour later, when we encountered the enormous line in front of the museum. A handy sign informed us that at that time (1 pm), entry slots around 3 pm were sold. Well, we tried. Since the parking was charged by the minute (odd?), we felt no rush to get back to the car and took at least a little stroll. It was also the first time we took our wrap for a spin since leaving. Felt like a good idea to have Number 3 in a wrap in a museum. Turned out, I kind of missed it – it was a real treat having him cuddle up close for a while.

Early check in and some housekeeping then – which tuned out to be a good idea. That way we got a nice and quiet spot before the park got packed jam full. It’s expensive, but a great platform for a full day in Barcelona tomorrow.

A thought about the housekeeping: I guess that is one of the differences between travel and holiday. A holiday is an indulgence for us – where you shed the responsibilities of everyday life for a couple of days. Traveling is more like everyday life for us. You cook, you wash and tidy the house. But it’s a different life – one where we are just a bit more free. But an attainable and sustainable freedom (apart from the money thing, of course) compared to the beautiful illusion that is a holiday.

Speaking of chores: I whipped up a delicious dinner from fresh asparagus from the market and a bunch of leftovers we still had in our pantry …

Our first glimps at the Pyrenees
Europe makes us war and fuzzy inside. Next country …
quick(ish) lunch break at a fort
So close …
… and yet so far
The little one all wrapped up and close
some installations were set up around the place
There were signs, graffiti and tags for catalan independence everywhere
look number 3, a mommy
cosiest spot on a cramped campground

Day 317 – Holy Wisdom

Hagia Sophia, now a museum, from a distance

Istanbul, Byzantium, Constantinople … Rome of the East. More than any other city has this place sparked our imagination. Rulers like Emperor Constantine and Justinian, Sultan Suleiman and even Mustafa Kemal Atatürk have made their mark.

Few places stand for the colorful history of this region like the Hagia Sophia. It was the third imperial church built on this spot. Later converted into the imperial Friday mosque for the Ottoman empire and finally turned into a museum in the new found Turkish Republic. If I ever had something of a bucket list, seeing this monument was definitively on it. So today, we did. It was only tainted by our apparently eternal sight-seeing companion, the scaffold. Well, needs must and renovations have to happen at some point.

The inner sanctum: Built as a church, used as a mosque, now a museum

All in all, those were two hours well spent. This building more than any other for me showed the marks of its impressive history. From the Roman era over the crusades up to the Ottoman times, each century has left a mark and left a piece that became part of the whole of what we see today. It feels like a great analogy for the city as a whole.

We went for a quite disappointing lunch afterwards, the second time in a row, and promised ourselves to ignore the Lonely Planet for the rest of the stay. We would rather check out the lovely looking places near our hotel on the southern end of Sultanahmet.

It ended up being just that for the rest of the day. After an afternoon rest in our room, we could not really muster the energy for more sightseeing today. Instead, we did check out a beautiful place up the road called mitara cafe & art. We had brilliant mezze and I had a huge glass of good Turkish red. A beautiful way to let the day fade out.

: Wednesday market with fresh fruit in Sultanahmet

: An original obelisk from Egypt

: A detail of the ceiling of the German fountain

: The Hagia Sofia, now a museum, from a distance

: Sultanahmet Camii or the Blue Mosque

: A remain of the second Hagia Sofia: The 12 apostles as sheep

: Beautiful ceiling in the entrance hall

: The inner sanctum: Built as a church, used as a mosque, now a museum

: Emperor Justinian’s monogram on the capitals

: Looking up at the Upper gallery

: Intricate inscriptions on the stained glass windows

: The walls are clad in marble; each panel framed and separated from the next one

: One of the places at the ceiling were the erased cross shines through

: Half of the main nave and one of the aisles were taken up by scaffolding

: The view from the Upper Gallery

: Part of a rediscovered mosaic from the 13th century

: Most of the Hagia Sofia is painted in yellow with different pattern but at some places the underlying mosaics have been freed

: Inlays in the Upper gallery arches

: Again, the crosses have been erased leaving some uninspired sticks standing

: Ablution fountain in the courtyard

: Inside one of the sultan’s tombs

: Mother of pearl inlays in a window shutter

: Great splashes of colour in this sultan’s tomb

: Our tiny looking up excellent hotel

: A piece of the old city walls with hiding holes

: The second level of a beautiful cafe which we had all to ourselves

: Food arrived and it tasted as delicious as it looks

: Three of the mezze in a blaze of light

Day 255 – Turtle-y awesome

Oh blissful sleep in a real bed. How we had missed you (and showers)! Not that we had any lack of sleep on the road. Going with the sun gives you plenty of that. But there is something to be said about having more than 50x180cm piece of inflated foam the thickness of my thumb for a resting place. Best of it all, we did not even have to pack anything until tomorrow!

Looking along the coast further west

Under such good starting conditions, it was not even too hard to get motivated to go on an excursion to explore west of Salalah. We thought of going about 75km towards the Yemeni border, where the mountains meet the sea once more. It was still relatively early but already sweltering hot. After some initial confusion that landed us near the harbour, we were on our way along the coastal plain baring west.

The first spot were some active blowholes at Mughsail, right where the first limestone cliffs meet the sea. In the end, the blowholes were nice but not overwhelming. What really got us squealing like school kids were the sea turtles feeding off the rocks right below one of the viewing platforms. The spectacular view westwards helped as well. Continue reading →

Day 71 – First world problems and an enchanting city

Flo woke me up at 7am after a good night’s sleep. I had been very tired the evening before as the 3.30am start into the day did not go down well with me.

Herman was already up and back from his morning run (shame on me) so we had breakfast together before he headed off for work. Breakfast was delicious but I started to feel really unwell. Most of the morning saw me in bed with stomach pains. I am unsure if it was a reaction to the malaria prophylaxis in the morning, the local food yesterday or the crushed ice (aka tap water) in my juice last dinner. Whatever it was, it was most definitely a reaction of my body to something new.

Pretty and convincing for fake flowers.

So Flo had to go out without me to procure lunch which he did while I took a nap. He made it to a Vietnamese bakery close by where he bought some kind of sweet treat for me. When the lady at the counter asked for $1, he was sure that he was being ripped off because he’s malae but then he came home with a whole plastic bag full of the treats! More than enough for both of us for lunch. It turned out to be several quartered bananas wrapped in dough and then deep fried in oil. There was probably some honey put on it as well. Sweet, fatty and quite delicious.

Continue reading →

Day 64 – MAGNT

Not all here is idle procrastination and tropical weather today. For the first time in more than 25 days, we woke up to a properly overcast sky instead of the usual sunshine and puffy clouds.

No idea, should read more …

We cut our good morning skype call with our good German friend Sven short when Tig offered us a ride into town. Since we have been pretty laid back about exploring the city so far, I hopped on to the opportunity to get to town and check out the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. It turned out that I may have under consulted Nina on that decision – and most of that field trip was quite a drag for her, probably suffering a little from the after effect of the vaccination the other day.

The museum was nice, but nothing to get too excited about. The collection of aboriginal art was quite cool, but we were not in the right mood to engage with it properly I guess. In the end, we most enjoyed the exhibition about cyclone Tracy. This cyclone hitting the city on Christmas day 1974 led to the second almost total destruction of the City within 25 years (Japanese bombing raids in WWII marking the first one).

After a bus ride home, we spend the afternoon catching up on some youtube channels we really enjoy and got ready to cook another dinner for our generous hosts. I am glad to report that the amount of cheese in Jamie Oliver’s Italian pasta dish was universally well received, as was the strawberry-and-ice-cream dessert that Nina added to the mix.

: art … still too tired

: No idea, should read more …

: Modern aboriginal art

Day 27 – low

Thoughts

The Touratech gear was needed (as much as anything ever is to meet ones level of comfort and security), but it was still a massive hit to our budget. Combined with the painful exchange rates and the fallout of our recent spell of misfortune, we are about $3000 to $4000 over what was in our rough budget.

What to do? We know that we could slum it much harder than we are. But what then? Is that still the trip we want to take? What good is it to have a 12 month trip if 6 month of it are not what you want out of life? On the other hand, what is the alternative? For now, our conversations always come back to one point: We want to have the trip that we want, and if the money we had only takes us to Asia, then so be it. We set our own goal and we are accountable to no one but us if we want to change it. Or if circumstance dictate we have to.

The big ? as well as part of our hope is that we don’t know how the money situation will develop from Timor on-wards. It may all work out fine, or we may have acquired a debt in the “developed world” that we can not pay back. Nothing we can do for now, only to move on.

The day

Still smiling 🙂

With the money low and both of us not 100% fit health wise, we decided to have a low key day. First, another round of shopping to get us the paper maps we need for Australia. In the end, I decided on Hema “handy maps”, scaling roughly on a state level. Nina also picked up some obligatory post cards.

The sightseeing part of the day was set aside for a visit to the Melbourne Museum. One of these museums of a bit of everything, we focused on the Geological and the First People exhibition at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre (part of the Museum). While the exhibits in the geological section kept our interest and were cool to look at, it was none the less a very traditional museum experience. Glass boxes and text blocks. Maybe I am a bit spoiled by Te Papa … 🙂

In an atrium right behind the entrance they have re-created a small patch of native rain forest, complete with a couple of native fish and bird. I am looking forward to get out and experience some of this first hand sooner rather than later.

The visit ended on a real downer for two of us with a walk through the First People exhibition. It was a bit like reading the latest reports on climate change: All very depressing and the small victories all have a bitter taste. On the chance that I will offend someone: The story that cut deepest for me, coming from a very different remembrance culture of WWII: After all the injustice of colonization and fighting a “just war” against a people led by a mad man and his ideology of “lebensraum”, the returned veterans got land grants further cutting away at “Aboriginal Stations / Reservations” – only the white veterans, of course …

One good thing: New Zealand, I am proud of you. Not all peaches and roses, and hard battles had to be fought, but looking at your competition, you have done mighty well. Ka pai (and keep it up!).

: The first parliament was held in this building.

: Super creepy stuffed animal gallery

: Nina’s verdict: OCD

: Installation explaining the creation myth.

Chaos roaming the world

random pieces of life of Nina and Florian