What to Do With All Those Cannons?

England has spent many years warring with other nations. Not only did they gain a few colonies and such, but they also ended up with tons of cast-iron cannons, like this one in "Gunpowder Square". (Yup - that's actually the name of the street)

These days, there's all sorts of opportunities to recycle and organic, biodegradable stuff is all the rage. Cannons don't fit into the biodegradable category, so the Brits had to figure out a way to recycle them.

So...they decided to dismantle them, paint them, and use them as barriers and decor throughout the city.

These ones are my fave - they look so....British! :)

I Love This Place!

Question: What do you think this is a symbol for?

Here's a hint - it's not a different version of Pac-Man!

The Answer: Dragon's Den

Something you should know about me: I love dragons! It was my excitement and obsession that got Mum to hike down a 135 step spiral staircase just a few months after her bunyan surgery. She's a trooper!

It was well worth it. We spent a little bit of time exploring the Dragon's Den. There's something about a dark cave that thrills me.

Here's the story of the Dragon's Den, taken from our trusty Rick Steves' Eastern Europe book.

Once upon a time, a prince named Krak founded a town on Wawel Hill. It was the perfect location - except for the fire-breathing dragon who lived in the caves under the hill and terrorized the town. Prince Krak had to feed the dragon all of the town's livestock to keep the monster from going after the townspeople. But Krak, with the help of a clever shoemaker, came up with a plan. They stuffed a sheep's skin with sulfur and left it outside the dragon's cabe. The dragon swallowed it, and before long, developed a terrible case of heartburn. To put the fire out, the dragon started drinking water from the Vistula. He kept drinking and drinking until he finally exploded. The town was saved, and Krakow thrived.

I would love to marry the Prince and become Princess Krak. I doubt that will happen so in the meantime, I'll just pose for photos under the belly of a dragon.

Mountain Retreat

Thanks to International Labor Day last Friday, I had yet another 3 day weekend. I couldn't just sit around in Casablanca chewing my fingernails, so off I went on another adventure. Thursday after school, we left for Chefchaouen, an awesome town in the Rif mountains in northern Morocco.

This door is one of two identical doors located on either side of Chefchaouen and its image is all over the tacky tourist souvenir items.

On Saturday, we went on a hike to God's Bridge, a natural rock formation over the river. Our guide then took us to a village where he cooked a delightful vegetable tagine at the village mosque. Here's Julie, Krista, me, and Johnna after a couple of hours of hiking.

Chefchaouen's medina is the cleanest that I've seen in Morocco. It is known for its beautiful blue and white painted walls - they used to be green, but the influence of Jews expelled from Spain at the end of the 15th century changed the theme. Supposedly, the color also helps ward off mosquitoes and flies. Whatever the reason, I think it's pretty.

This is the view from our balcony overlooking the beautiful mountain city. Up until 1920 when the Spanish came, only 3 Westerners had ever entered the city. Prior to that, it was illegal to enter if you were Christian - the consequence was death. Two of the men - Vicomte Charles de Foucald from France & Walter Harris from England - dressed as rabbis on separate occasions to enter the city. William Summers, an American, was caught and poisoned in 1892.

Chefchaouen's location in the Rif Mountains make it an awesome start point for various hikes through spectacular scenery. I took a ton of pictures of the gorgeous landscapes - this sure does beat the views in Casablanca.

Plaszow Concentration Camp

On our first day in Krakow, Katie and I decided to take a tour of the Jewish history in Krakow, including various sites from the inspiring film Schindler's List. We visited Plaszow Concentration Camp, a site where more than 150,000 prisoners were held from 1942 - 1945. Prisoners were evacuated by Death Marches in 1945 because of the Soviets' approach and the camp was destroyed so there would be no evidence of the crimes there. In its current state, Plaszow Concentration Camp grounds are a place for reflection. It is an empty lot where people can walk around. The sign reads "Dear Visitors! You are entering the site of the former concentration camp 'Plaszow'. Please respect the grievous history of the site."


The Plaszow Concentration Camp is perhaps most famous for the crimes of SS commander Amon Goeth. You may remember Goeth from Schindler's List - he was known for shooting people from his home for sport, among other atrocities.
Goeth's home is still standing - it cannot be torn down, but understandably, no one wants to live there or turn this site into a place for people to visit. It just sits, staring out at the concentration camp that he was in charge of for years.

This is the view of Goeth's house from Plaszow. He had to use a high powered rifle to shoot people from such a distance. After being tried and sentenced to death in 1946, Goeth was hung at Plaszow, the site of his many sins.

The Plaszow site is not entirely empty. This memorial stands as a reminder of the horrors that took place there. The people are Jews facing the ground, because of the incredibly demoralizing evils that they experienced. The torn out bit is intentional - it symbolizes their hearts having been ripped out.

There are no words to describe the emotional experience of visiting these sites from such recent history.

Fat Tire Bike Tour - Berlin

Sister Katie and I had a marvelous time in Berlin, Germany. Not only did we partake in copious amounts of sausage and beer, but we also were able to spend 5 hours touring around Berlin on bikes - by far the best way to see a city. Well, at least a city that's as flat as Berlin. I don't think a Seattle bike tour would be as pleasant.

The best part about the bike tour was the distance that could be travelled. There would be no way to see all that we were able to on our bike tour if you were just walking. We travelled on sidewalks, bike lanes, bus lanes, down busy roads and our guide actually stopped traffic at uncontrolled intersections simply by standing in the middle of the street. I've gotten kind of used to Casablanca traffic, where cars won't even slow down for pedestrians crossing.

One of the many stops on our tour was Checkpoint Charlie, which marks the spot of a famous border checkpoint between the Soviet and American sectors of Berlin. Checkpoint Charlie was the third checkpoint (after Alpha and Beta, of course) when travelling from outside Germany to the American side of Berlin. In addition to a museum chronicling escape attempts, there is also this living representation of the US checkpoint just hanging out in the middle of the street. These actors pose for pics.

The Berlin Wall is a 100 mile, 13 foot high wall with a 16 foot tank ditch and a "no man's land" that was 13-160 feet wide. It was erected in 1961 by the Soviets so that East Berliners wouldn't keep streaming over to West Berlin. Not much is left.

The Berlin Wall was knocked down in November 1989 and was celebrated with a concert in December 1989 that included what I'm sure was a delightful musical performance by David Hasselhoff. He performed his song "Looking for Freedom" while standing on the wall. All throughout the city of Berlin are double lines of cobblestones that mark the former location of the Berlin Wall.

Along the wall were 300 sentry towers. These towers were manned by multiple guards that were ordered to shoot people trying to get over the wall immediately. Many deserted their posts in order to selfishly escape to West Berlin. Some escaping guards were caught and others chose to join their colleagues so that they didn't have to shoot them. Of the 5,043 documented escapes over the Berlin Wall, 565 were East German guards. Here's a pic of our tour guide, Mike from Colorado (gray shirt), telling us about the life of a tower guard. We also rode our bikes by the Brandenburg Gate, which was built in the late 18th century and eventually became a gate through the Berlin Wall. On November 9, 1989, people crammed through the gate, marking the end of the barrier between East and West Berlin. The chick with the horses on top is the Goddess of Peace, later named the Goddess of Victory.
These are only a few of the many stops on our bike tour through Berlin. One of our favorite stops was the biergarten where we sat back and relaxed with sausage and beer. We also saw many other interesting monuments and historical sites throughout the city. I highly recommend doing a bike tour, particularly a Fat Tire Bike Tour, if you're ever in Berlin. I'm planning on doing the Fat Tire Bike Tour in Barcelona when I go there at the end of May. Hopefully, I'll get to ride another bike with a name as cool as Beyonce.