Wow! What a trip! What a rush!
I left home in San Francisco on July 30th, visited 8 countries in just under 6 weeks (I must be turning into a good American!) and arrived back home on August 6th.
Naturally I took lots of photos (2300), of which I decided to put selections in albums per country. Some of these will still be pretty hefty, but then again… you can always just look at the thumbnails!
I started in London where I stayed with Heleen. We enjoyed walks in the City, Holland beating Brazil and Uruguay, a concert of Snowboy at Cannizaro Festival, where we were joined by Silvia and Wayne.
On 5/6 July I made a little trip to Doncaster to catch up with my long time friend Bruce. I also met his wife Ann and our (Stephen’s and mine) godson, Sonny.
On July 7th I flew from London to Lisbon where I met Kristien at the airport. Together we boarded the ship that would take us from Lisbon to Bordeaux over the course of 7 days. Sightseeing in Lisbon, Hendaye and Bordeaux, where we were for the 14 of July fireworks on the Garonne river. We took the train from Bordeaux to Brussel Zuid on July 15.
I was met in the station in Brussel by Gina and Sven and stayed with them for 2 days. We visited Mechelen and Grimbergen. Sofia and Steven joined us for dinner in Humbeeck.
On July 18th I arrived in Eeklo to spend time with my mum and brother, family and friends.
On July 24th I boarded a plane to Frankfurt. I found Stephen in the lounge at the airport and a little later we flew onto St Petersburg together. We spent 3 lovely days of sightseeing and walking around together. And boy was it hot… Russian heatwave…
Stephen’s Mt Elbrus adventure started on the 28th and I took off to my next destination.
In Tel Aviv I was met at the airport by Hilde. I spent the first night at Yaron’s parents’ in RishonLeZion. On the 29th Hilde and I took the bus to Jerusalem. Walked around the Old City walls and did a 2 hour bus tour of the city.
The next day we took off on our 3day/2night trip to Jordan. The Ancient Roman City of Jerash was impressive; the absolute highlight was without a doubt Petra.
On Aug 1st we arrived back in Jerusalem. Spent the 2nd sightseeing and made it to the lowest point on the surface of Earth on the 3rd, The Dead Sea (incidentally the same day that Stephen made it to the top of Mt Elbrus).
On the 4th I went to Tel Aviv for the day and the 5th I flew to London where, on the 6th, I caught my flight back home.
No need to say it was also very hot in Israel and Jordan but I actually enjoyed the heat; so much so that I dreaded getting back to San Francisco’s notoriously cold summer!
So here are the photos, I know there are quite a lot, but it was quite a trip! Enjoy!
Caroline.
