Classic Egypt - Pyramids and Sphinx

Pyramids of Giza, with our traveling group

Guard on a camel, with the pyramids in the background

Sarah, Brian and a Sphinx that has his nose

Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza

This is one of Sarah's favorite pictures...
A step pyramid (the oldest type of pyramid)
with cobras in the foreground to serve as protection.

This is one of Brian's favorites....

Hieroglyphics

Brian and I have really enjoyed all the travel that we have been able to do. But somehow traveling to Egypt was different. Really different. "Traveling" itself was easy. We traveled in the tourist areas and had Mohammad with us at all times. We always knew where and when we were going, and someone figured out the logistics.

Interesting (and total side note) by Egyptian law, because we were Americans, we were required to have an armed guard (to include semi-automatic weapons) with us at all times. It didn't feel necessary, but it's kind of like getting a free drink while out at the bar: thanks, and why not?!

ANYWAY - Hieroglyphics. They were AMAZING. And everywhere. Once the wall/column was constructed, they would cover it with a plaster, and either "stamp" or carve in the hieroglyphs.

This is documentation of what offerings were made to the god each day. A temple may have been to honor numerous gods, but it was all about keeping them happy.


This is a cartouche:

According to Wikipedia, "a cartouche is an oblong enclosure with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name." Because the figures inside are facing the left, you would know to read this from the left to the right. I don't remember exactly who this is for, but the circle represents the sun, pronounced "Ra" and I think it represents Ramses.


Now this one? Not a clue. Brian took the picture and then included it in the post, but it doesn't mean anything particular to me. I can tell you, the symbol in the center is the key of life representing eternity. The bugs? They look cool, though...


Now this one is from Karnak Temple. This is the first spread sheet. Okay, not really, but it looked like it to me. Back to documenting offerings. The symbols across the top were offerings, down the left are days, and where they intersect is how much. Now that's cool!

First Spread Sheet

Besides these pictures, we saw amazing hieroglyphics in the Valley of the Kings and we visited a tomb of a noble that was incredible. We couldn't take pictures inside though, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Cruising the Nile

We disembarked the live aboard to our next adventure of a floating hotel. We flew to Aswan and our new lodging was a boat on the Nile. Well, it's called a cruise, but it feels like a hotel from the 70's that floats down the Nile.

The boat was nothing special, but the views of Egypt from the decks were beautiful. Peaceful, and definitely showed how water means life. We passed all sorts of little villages and farms.
For three days we cruised down the Nile. We would stop periodically (one to two times a day) to explore temples of the ancient Egyptians. It was very cool to hear the stories of the hieroglyphics, how and why the temples were created, and how they changed over the years.

This was the first temple that we visited. It was in Aswan, and was one built after the Romans invaded Egypt. In general, temples were built by the Pharaohs to show the people that they were favored by the gods. Mohammad (our guide) was an Egyptologist - and he traveled with us, so we learned as we went and he was able to build on the things that he taught us.

Underwater Video - Red Sea

Turtle

Wrassi

SCUBA Diving the Red Sea

We were looking for a SCUBA vacation, and Sarah and our friend Seon, got to scheming...the end result: 2 weeks in Egypt, one week of SCUBA diving and one week exploring pyramids, temples, the Nile and Cairo. Between Sarah and I, Ki and Seon, we were a troop of four. But Seon had seven other Seattle-ites who were also interested, so we ended up with a group of 11. Totally fun! And now we have new friends!

The first half of our trip was on a live aboard boat on the Red Sea, which was chartered by Emperor. This was my (Brian's) first live aboard so I wasn't sure what to expect, exactly, other than a plethora of diving. Long story short, I was pleasantly surprised. The food was fabulous! Simple, but definitely tasty. The accommodations were good. We've been married now for over a year and a half, so Bert & Ernie beds for a few days was okay. We would wake up early to make use of the sunlight. The cycle of activities went like this: Sit through a dive briefing, gear up, dive, take off the gear, relax, eat, repeat. A great way to spend a week!

We did have a few crazy crossings of the Red Sea. However, the bumpy crossings (moments when the crew tells you to just go to sleep...doesn't matter that you slept all night, just go to bed again otherwise one might get seasick) would have happened no matter who we decided to dive with. Red Sea in September, apparently the chance of waves is high. It didn't dampen our fun!

The boat

Before arriving in Egypt we were expecting to see large life while we were diving. A good example would be schooling hammerhead sharks and manta rays. When we got there the conditions had changed, bumpy instead of nice and calm, so most of the big life was at depth or had moved to different areas of the Red Sea. Bummer, but we were excited to see how beautiful the coral reefs were.

Despite the wild conditions, this is how we would start the day.

We spent our time with some large life, gray reef sharks, and a bunch of fun and interesting smaller life like anemone fish (below), octopus, lion fish, cuddle fish, and more. Some of the coral reefs that we encountered were amazing! 20-30 feet of cascading tabletop corals, fan corals, and hundreds of types of soft corals. Having been there, now, and diving for a week, I can understand why the Red Sea is some people's favorite spot to dive in the world.

Anemone Fish

Anemone Fish

To Egypt and back again

Over the past few weeks we've been traveling throughout Egypt. We spent the first week SCUBA diving the Red Sea and the second week in Cairo, Aswan, Hurgada, and Luxor. This was an amazing trip for us and over the next few days we'll share some of our memories and pictures.

For now we'll share a picture that we took in Cairo.

Peurto Vallarta, Mexico

It's been a year of traveling, but we were really looking forward to this trip. Laura and Ryan were to be married on May 19, 2007. The Ruhwedel's used to travel here on Spring Breaks from school, and Sarah's been here since with friends. But as always, it was fantastic to be on vacation together.

We stayed at Playa Los Arcos, which is in the "romanitca" part of PV. It was a perfect place to be because everything was in walking distance. The pool and the ocean were wet, the sun hot, and the beer cold.

Brian and I had the mornings to ourselves. We enjoyed the local coffee shop and spending time with our books in the morning. We would venture out for breakfast/lunch depending on when we actually got moving. You know, vacation.

What was different this time, was every time we turned around, there was family...Mom, Beth, Aunt Barbara, Uncle Mike. You had to love it! Seriously, it was fun.

We took a morning and went scuba diving. As it is with scuba diving boats, everyone was pleasent and talkative. It is always interesting to hear where people have been diving - now Bonaire has moved up on our list. =) Then we spotted grey whales (or we think they were grey whales). One breached and then did it's lazy swim and blow and ended up 20 yards from the boat. It was so cool! For all the whales I have seen, I swear this is the closest that I have ever been. THEN there were areas of the surrounding water that was populated by smaller, black dorsel fins...Mantas! Now for all the diving that I have done, I still haven't seen a Manta ray. Over the next 15 minutes, we saw 4-5 of these guys, jump out of the water. CRAZY! I didn't know they did that. They were airborne, and I swear some came down on their "stomachs" and some on their backs. Mantas are definitely light on the underside, and we saw that side of them pointing up at the sun. It was amazing...and no, no pictures. We couldn't be distracted with a camera =)

The diving...definitely not our favorite location, the visability was poor, the water temperature was warm then cold, and our gear was...definitely rental gear. BUT we saw numerous moray eels, rays and even a guitar fish. Guess I will have to continue on my treck to see a Manta while scuba diving.

Italy - Part III Venice

Venice is a magical city. If you have been there you know that pictures and words can only describe a portion of what Venice is really like. For those of you that haven't I hope that I do the wonderful city justice enough to entice you to want to experience it for yourself.

I (Brian) had never been to Venice until this trip. As we approached by train all of my preconceived notions were thrown out the window. However, soon after we hopped off the train I knew that something was different about the city of Venice. But, I couldn't put my finger on it until the first night as we were walking home from dinner and Sarah brought it to my attention. It was the fact that there was no regular city noise. All the noise that one could here was people walking, talking and of course the water in the canal. The city echoes with the excitement of people.

Along with the city being unique, the people in Venice were very friendly, especially our host Riccardo from the little bed and breakfast Corte Campana. He talked us through the area, shared some of his family with us, and seemed to be excited to see us wandering through the streets. Wandering the streets was the best, and in Venice, we seemed to be eating constantly. We would see a good looking panini shop, get one to go, and have to share. This allowed us to stop again, relatively soon, and try another one. The ingredients are fresh and the grill makes everything melt together into heaven. We didn't worry about what was inside, we looked through the glass and just pointed at what we wanted. We fooled ourselves into thinking we'd be able to find the same place twice...maybe it's a good thing we didn't. And don't forget the gelato!

I was in amazement every minute and I was trying to soak up as much of the feeling of Venice as well as the feeling of being on vacation that I could. In our bliss we went to the top of clock tower in St. Mark's Square, took the water bus to see the grand canal, and even fed the crazy pigeons! It was a fun experience having those little birds climbing on us and looking for another piece of corn.

Italy - Part II Florence

Before I get into how much we enjoyed Florence, this little story still has me smiling. Brian's dad met us at the train station, and we took electric bus "A" back to his apartment. He loves these little buses. They are cute, energy efficient and he thinks they're quiet. So, we all jump on the bus and start heading through Florence. Now on the bus, you can hear this high pitched noise that warns people the bus is approaching, because it's electric, it doesn't have the engine noise of other vehicles. Brian and I had to look at each other and smile, because he thought these little buses are so quiet, but for those of us that can hear that pitch of sound...it is anything but. =)
Okay....Brian's dad (we'll just call him Dad from here on out) was living in Florence for the first semester of 2007. He taught a finance and a new venture class for the Gonzaga in Florence program. It allowed him to live in Florence, enhance his teaching skills, build up stamina for his walking muscles, make use of his amazing eye for photographs and remember when he was a student at the Gonzaga in Florence program - and we benefited from all of these attributes.

Dad has a cute little apartment right past the park with the sycamore trees. It was perfect, with two Bert and Ernie beds just for us. Dad has been able to audit a history of Florence class, so as we perused the city, he knew all sorts of interesting things and this translated into him being the best tour guide in town!

Florence, itself is an amazing city. The history, the architecture, the artwork and the food are all incredible. It's easy to walk everywhere (although, Brian and I were sore after day 1 - but we pressed on to keep up with Dad). We visited the Duomo, David (which is still amazing to me) and the Uffizi. We went to Dad's favorite, the Medici chapel. The time, energy and money these people put into the remembrance of their own legacy was incredible.
Brian and I really enjoyed ourselves in Florence partly because Dad asked us to be apart of his teaching experience. Brian and I were the guest speakers for his new venture class. We spoke about our experiences working with start up and small companies and how that varies from other work environments. It was fun to talk with the students and to see their enthusiasm for the future.

Undeniably, the best part of Florence was spending time together, all three of us. We had no problem talking it up. We would talk while we walked and talk while we ate. You know you're on vacation when you can stop in for a late lunch, order a carafe of wine and stay for three hours. We talked about history, our interpretations of today and some of the future. You had to be there...maybe next time...

Italy - Part I ROME

It has been a beautiful spring in Williamsburg, and before time really gets away from us, we did want to post some highlights about our Spring Break trip to Italy. We flew to Italy, primarily to visit Chuck (Brian's dad) in Florence. It was Brian's first trip to the Italy, so we also spent some time in Rome and Venice.

We had problems getting to Rome, but we finally arrived a day later than planned. Being the flexible folks that we are, we just decided to visit Rome for the first day instead of the last. Brian was mainly interested in "Caesar history," so that is where we focused. We arrived late in the afternoon, but didn't waste any time...we visited the Colosseum, and then saw the Forum from the road. After the long day(s) of travel, it was nice to get out and stretch our legs, so we walked to the Pantheon. Since dinner is truly an evening affair, we sat down and watched the crowds of people enjoying our first gelato of the trip.

The Italians (and their visitors) are shoppers! The shops were alive at night, so we just followed the flow of people and ended up at the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain and did a few laps around Rome before we called it a night.

Definitely a great first day in Italy.The next day we planned to catch a train to Florence to visit Dad/father-in-law/Florence guru. In order to catch a train to Florence, we had to leave Rome around 1:00PM. We considered visiting the Vatican, but the line was hours long at 8AM. (One of the only times that spring break traffic was apparent to us.) So instead, we spent over two hours exploring St. Peters.

We visited Pope John Paul II's tomb, which really touched Sarah. We explored the main portion of the church at a leisurely pace and admired Michelangelo's Pieta. We climbed the duomo and had a great view of all of Rome.

Lunch was one of the major reasons we love Italy. A cut out of a place, only 10' by 10', serving hot fresh pizza by the ounce. mmmmmmmmm!

The train ride was relaxing, the country side was absolutely beautiful. We played a few games of cribbage (and I believe I double skunked him =), plus had time to read... It was great to be met by a friendly face.

An Italian monument of sorts...

Actually, we would like to dedicate this post to our friend, Cory, back in L-Town. He has a certain love for a certain designer and there happened to be a monument, of sorts, in Rome. We ran into this monument, with the initials LV all over it while in Italy (more about this trip coming soon), and had to take a picture for our friend Cory! It is actually an up and coming store front for Louis Vuitton.
The lighting was really bad at the crazy hour in the night when we found this priceless monument. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good distance shot, so you'll just have to imagine how amazing this soon to be store front was from a distance! We did get a detail shot to show the craftsmanship that our friend Louis' is known for and how far and wide his name has spread among the fashion industry.
Lastly, Louis V you better watch out. There are some talented folks out there making some incredible reproductions of your famous work...but never fear there will always be someone out there defending your reputation!

Roatan...diving, diving, more diving, and some new friends

photo by: Scott Johnson

For the last week of our Honduras adventure we were on the island of Roatan! The water was beautiful, the weather was wonderful, the company was perfect, we got in a few dives (a day), and Brian almost saw a whale shark!

One of the best things about getting to Roatan was there were no more fried plantains with every meal. At the beginning of the trip I thought they were great, but after a week of plantains I've had enough...But the rumor is there are some good place to eat in West Bay, so off we went the first night to the Argentinean Grill where we met Andy and Anne. We talked with them through dinner and then shared a taxi back home where we met up with the rest of the cast of characters for a beer or two. This is when the stories began...The most memorable was how Eric got Tiffany with the conch shell mating call and then clubbed her to drag her home and marry him. So some of the stories were a little outlandish, but a fun night was had by all.

The rest of the week included a bunch of relaxing scuba diving into the ocean. One of the highlights was going on a night dive w/ a couple of night dive virgins. Tina and Armen were another incredibly nice couple that we got to enjoy some time with, but the night dive with them was one to remember. Tina was a bit concerned, but once she saw a few creatures in the coral, she relaxed a little and took her nervousness out on her flashlight. So for those of you that have never been on a night dive, or SCUBA diving for that matter, there are a bunch of hand signals that one uses to communicate. Many of these hand signals get replaced with flashlight motions during a night dive considering its pitch dark underwater. For example, to get your buddy's attention one would swing the light beam back and forth on the sea floor in front of them. Back to Tina. She apparently saw something amazing and was shaking her flashlight back and forth nearby Armen like she was going to run out of batteries so we decided to go check out what she found. None other than the elusive sea cucumber, which she thought was the leg of an octopus. Long story short she had another flashlight convulsion, and guess what she found...Yup, another octopus, oh wait, sea cucumber! Other than the entertainment that Tina provided it was a nice and relaxing night dive with some incredible phosphorescence as we swam without our lights off.

I mentioned earlier that West Bay had some of the best places to eat. Well surprising the best restaurant we ate at in Honduras was an Indian place called Ooloonthoo. The food was magnificent and the service was good too. This is definitely a place that will make your eyebrows sweat and that isn't even with the dish that says "This preparation is very hot and definitely not for the uninitiated!"

Before I forget I saw two out of the three signs that there is a whale shark in the area. First one sees the birds off in the distance swooping down at the water picking up fish. Once you are nearby the swooping birds, then you get to see the living room size circle of fish jumping out of the water and into some of the birds mouths. Those are the two signs that I saw. The third and most important one is the whale shark swimming by or near the surface...no luck, however, maybe next time.

That is it for Honduras, but here is to many more adventure to come!

Traveling to Tela

With Brian's appetite fully restored, we were on our way with Gus at the wheel.
We stopped at Pulaphanzak Waterfall, which was incredible!

Then it was up to the cloud forest. We only hiked for a few hours, and both Brian and I wished we could have spent more time here. We were on the lookout for birds and learned all about the forest.

This absolutely AMAZED us:

This is a fern. Seriously. A fern.
And when you looked closely at the "trunk" (which is hairy) there are spiders. Spiders with tiny bodies and LONG thin legs. Brian eyed those guys and Sarah wanted nothing to do with them.

We hiked down to another beautiful waterfall.
Then it was lunch time. This place still has us cracking up. There were no menus or anything that might have led one into the back of this place in order to find the lady by the freezer who was in control of the fish...But, dang it was good!

Lake Yojoa, Honduras

Brian wasn't feeling so hot when we left Copan. We planned to stop at a coffee planation, but after an emergency roadside stop, he wanted nothing more than to get to the lake and relax.

During our time in Honduras, it was time to pick coffee beans at the highest altitudes. The people of the highlands, seem to plant coffee plants everywhere. All along the hillsides. As we traveled, the hillsides would catch your eye because the bushes were moving something fierce. They pull the plant over, pick the beans which grow near the top, then release the plant which causes it to spring upright. (Think "weebles wobble, but they don't fall down.") Once the beans are collected they are laid out to dry. Throughout our drive, the houses along the road had huge cement slabs as "driveways," but that is where they spread the beans out to dry. Often the whole family was involved with spreading out the beans in the morning, and then shoveling them back into bags at night because of the moisture in the air. Once the beans are dried, then the outershell is removed and two coffee beans (like we think of them) are inside. Brokers will pay the individual families for their beans and the price goes up the further into the process they get.

We arrived at Lake Yojoa, which was a beautiful lake. Brian slept and I relaxed in the hammock and explored the grounds of our hotel. The most interesting aspect was the wedding that took place that night. The ceremony was outside, so we conviently sat down for dinner as things were getting started. (Well, I ate dinner, Brian was able to keep down a Sprite and few bites of my dinner.) The ceremony had two efficients, one from the state and one from the church and they both had speaking parts. There was dinner and lots of dancing, for the guests, which unfortunetly didn't include us.

Copan, Honduras

Okay, I know it's taken us forever to get our honeymoon pictures posted, but we promise it is worth the wait. We really had a great time in Honduras. If you're planning on or thinking about visiting, give us a call because we can help you make the most of your trip.

We arrived in San Pedro Sula and were greeted by Gus (short for Gustavo). Gus would be our personal tour guide for the next week. It was great having someone that we could ask our questions to, but it was tough having someone listen to all the inane things you end up talking about.

Straight from the airport we headed to Copan. To get to Copan, it's a three hour drive. The road is two, undesignated lanes. Primarily, one for each direction, but we found that there are no rules as to when passing on hilly, curvy roads is appropriate. Once we learned not to pay attention to Gus's driving style, it was all about the scenery. The drive is up 3,000 feet over the mountains and then down into the valley where Copan is located.Our hotel had a beautiful view, and after a long day of traveling it was nice to relax.


Then next day we learned of Gus's extensive knowledge of the local flora and fauna. Which of course, was very cool when we heard it and now we can't remember much. I think the palms of this tree was used to build homes.

Anyways...there were lots of Macaws (Scarlet and Emerald) throughout the country. These happen to be tame ones.


Copan is famous because of the Mayan ruins that are located there. Extensive research has been done and the history is amazing. It was interesting to explore Copan, because two years ago we were at the Yucatan Pennisula and explored Chitinetsa.Besides the ruins, the most memerable picture is that of the tuk-tuks. These little red taxis were all over the place. Apparently, the people of Copan scoffed at them, but quickly became so acustomed to them, they hardly walk from place to place now.

We never actually caught a picture of one, but here is approximately what they looked like

From Honduras

Zip Lines + Hot Springs = Crazy Delicious

Oh, and white water rafting in the rain is pretty cool too...