This is the city wall of the prison-city Akka.














This is me and Alberta in an old inn in Akka.















This is a view of the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel in Haifa from the 11th terrace as the sun is starting to go down.

Last Day of Pilgrimage

Well, today is the last day of pilgrimage, which is quite sad. We've really enjoyed it here and made a lot of good friends, as well as meeting up with a couple of old friends. I had a fever for a couple of days, but it was when we had some spare time, so thankfully I didn't miss anything. The weather here is nice of course, in fact it's almost too hot for me sometimes. Our pilgrimage group included a young lady named Sothie that I met in India 9 years ago. Now we're both old and married. Her mother joined the four of us in going to various places around Haifa on a couple different occasions, including the cable car going up the mountain, the lower cave of Elijah and the Baha'i cemetary. Our pilgrim guide was a very kind lady of German background named Ursula. She has more stories and knowledge in her mind than anybody I've ever met. She always says: "And after that, if we have time, I'll tell you a few more stories." We spent part of another free day in the ancient prison-city Akka, where we saw the old gates to the city (both land and sea), and the Turkish baths. Akka is certainly a beautiful place for a prison, but at the same time it's easy to imagine how it might have been an unpleasant place to be confined.

Israel

Israel is absolutely beautiful. We arrived at 3am and hung out in the airport for a while before finding a hostel to leave our luggage for the day. After that we walked up over a hill,and there right in front of us was the beach. It was +25 that day so we hung out at the beach for a while and then walked to a museum, which was over 2km away. We were too tired to really enjoy the museum, but we will have some additional time in Tel Aviv before heading home.

Now we have been staying in Haifa for the last 3 nights and our days have been filled with Bahai activities as we are here on pilgrimage. Anyway, this cafe closes right now, so I have to go. We have not taken any pictures yet, public transportation and the general mood here feels safe.

Cheers

Scotland

This is Ancrum Craig, a beautiful B&B that we stayed at for two nights. It's in the Scottish countryside northwest of Jedborough.













This is Melrose Abbey, probably the most beautiful abbey of the three we saw. Robert the Bruce's heart is buried here.

Berlin

We have been very lucky with the weather for this entire trip, and this was true in Berlin as well. We stayed with our friends Anne and Nicci, and another of their friends from Canada (Thushari, who was visiting for the week as well). They showed us around their amazing city and were fabulous hosts. There is so much to see and do in Berlin, we did not even scratch the surface during our 3 days. We saw where the Berlin Wall used to be, the amazing German Parliament building, shopping centers, people and general big city life. Buildings that are architecturally beautiful are on every corner of Berlin, but the most amazing one is the German Reichstag. After East and West Germany united, the parliament was moved to Berlin, but the old parliament building desperately needed to be renovated, and this is the design that stuck.

On the Saturday night we went out with some of my friends from University (one of them a Canadian, another a German, but both studied German at U of C with me and are now living in Germany). It was really cool to see so many familiar people in one place and so the people were probably the highlight of our time in Berlin.

At the moment, we are in a Youth Hostel in Tel Aviv, the weather is beautiful, it is 20 degrees right now at 9:30 in the morning! Why didn’t I bring any shorts!! Curses…
It is time to go explore Tel Aviv now, but we should be able to update more often from here as we will have internet access from our Guest House.
(just to be clear, we went to Berlin and THEN to Newcastle, Scotland, Newcastle, London, 7 hour layover in the Budapest airport, Tel Aviv at 3am the computer kicked out just before Corey could post a blog on our time in the UK, so more on that and pictures later)

The Residenz

On our last day in Munich we went to a place called the Residenz, where the Wittelsbach family lived. They were the rulers of Bavaria for a long time, but now their house (which is a huge sprawling labyrinth of a mansion) is a museum. It was really amazing, but we didn't take any pictures inside for two reasons: 1) we weren't allowed to use a flash, and 2), photographs just don't seem to be capable of capturing the impressive beauty of these places. Even capturing outdoor buildings in a way that reflects their size and craftsmanship seems impossible. You're just crossing the street, looking out for cars or other pedestrians, and all of a sudden you see a huge amazing building that makes you stop in your tracks. Even the postcard pictures taken by professional photographers do not come close to reflecting the reality of seeing these places in person. So we're definitely glad we came, to say the least, and I certainly recommend Bavaria to anyone that wants to see some of the nicest stuff in Europe and especially in Germany.

After Munich we stayed in Berging, a farming village composed of roughly ten houses and surrounding fields. We stayed with the Loidl family (pronounced like 'ladle' but with they vowel from 'boy'), who Alberta knows from her student exchange during high school. Berging is 4 km from Isen, a town of 3,000 or so, and Alberta and I rode borrowed bikes there to check out the local church and shops. When we rode back a thick fog had rolled in, and we couldn't see much more than 10 feet in front of us. It was really cool.

Last night we took the overnight train from Munich to Berlin, and now we're going to check out the capital. We also have some toys and a book to deliver to the wife and daughters of one of Alberta's German friends who is currently living in Calgary. I think we'll all be happy when the goods get delivered; the girls will get their toys and we'll have a little more room in our luggage. But we still have a special delivery for Alberta's friend Holli in Newcastle.

Left: British Museum in London, amazing architecture, amazing statues.

Below: Some river in the Bavarian Alps

Below Left: Baha´i House of Worship in Germany. This is looking up in the centre of the Ceiling.

Below Right: Corey and our excellent host Andreas in front of the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz.


Left: Baha`i House of Worship from the outside. The tree is said by locals to have special powers, and lots of Germans who are not Baha'i go to the tree first and then inside the House of Worship!

Photo Blog

Picture from Schloss Linderhof fountain.

Left: Picture of Corey and Jochen in Jochen´s 400 year old house - he has a lot of work to do!
Below: Picture of my foot beside the footprint of the monk



Both of these are from Schloss Linderhof.

We want to Move to Germany

Not really, but we are certainly enjoying our time here. The photograph, which will hopefully show up, is of my foot, beside a 'footprint' in a rock. There is an old legend that a monk was running away from something and his footprint got imbedded into a rock. I don' t think that it is true, but it certainly looked like a real footprint in a boulder!

We also saw several castles in southern Germany - Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, and Linderhof. All of them were amazingly ornate and beautiful. Anja (my sister´s exchange partner) and her family were fantastic hosts! We also went to see her brothers 'new' house, which is actually over 400 years old. He is working to restore it right now.

For the moment, we are in Munich. Yesterday we went to Dachau, the concentration camp. It was a very sobering experience. We also went up to the top of the olympic tower, where we had an amazing view of the citz. We are staying with mz friend Marie and her boyfriend Matthias who are both just awesome people and live in a great part of town. This afternoon we will travel to Berging where I lived while I was on exchange. So far it has been a very relaxing and enjoyable trip.

Lunch with Neve Campbell

Yes, that is right, we had lunch with Neve Campbell (spelling) at a Museum in London. Well, she was sitting at the table beside us in the cafeteria. Anyzway, that was about the most exciting part from our visit to London. From London, we flew to Frankfurt-Hahn airport, which is nowhere near Frankfurt, and went to the Baha'i temple. It was very beautiful, and we spent the afternoon having tea in the bookshop with the man who works there and enjoying the view. From here, our friend from couchsurfing.com came and picked us up. He showed us around the beautiful city of Mainz. This city has several beautiful churches that were used during the time when the Niebelungenlied (a famous German fairytale) was written. The city is also famous for the Gutenburg museum, and as the city where the first modern printing press was made. We had dinner in an old monestery, which had been decorated to look like a very modern and classy restaurant, with prices suitable for most students.

yesterday, we spent most of the day on the train (6 1/2 hours) to get from Mainz to Kaufbeuren, where we will stay until tomorrow.

Safe Arrival in London

Quick post.

London is really cool. It is rainy of course, but otherwise very warm and humid. We went to the Baha'i Centre here so Corey could buy a prayer book, and then went and found a B&B and went to sleep. Today, we are going to wander around more of London, to the River and Buckingham Palace. Will post picture later as Corey took off with the USB cable!

Cheers,
Alberta & Corey