Kartchner Korner

6,000 miles from Rathdrum, Idaho is the pyramids of Giza!  The only remaining wonder of the ancient world was remarkable, especially inside!   The great pyramid is 4500 years old and while riding a camel, it doesn’t seem like much has changed.

The Sphinx

Can you find the gun?  Security was- let’s just say, interesting.

The 1st pyramid- the Step Pyramid built by King Djoser.  Notice the desert, not a weed or any form of life just sand.

Egypt had the craziest driving system I’ve ever seen, yet it seemed to work for them.  Sometimes it felt like we were walking through the pages of “National Geographic.”

Who knew pigeon was such a desired meal?  I became a vegetarian for the first time in my life.

Mosque of Muhammad Ali- ruler of Egypt in the 1800s.

Inside the mosque was immense and stunning.  Egypt in a few words is completely foreign, ancient, mesmerizing, dirty, unbelievable, sunny, and a tad scary but- I’d do it again!

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Next stop Izmir, Turkey!  It was an impressive place clean and friendly.  Mosques were abundant with the call to prayer being heard all over the city.

The bizarre

I love their ornate clothing.

One of my favorite things- hand painted dishes.  This set had old Ottoman Empire tulip designs.

Next we drove an hour south to the ancient city of Ephesus, the 2nd largest city in the world during the 1st century B.C.

The Library of Celsus

Notice the keystone and all the intricate work carved into stone.

The theater which held 50,000 people were Paul preached.  The book of Ephesians in the New Testament was written to the people of this area.

The book of John may have been written in Ephesus.  This is the location where John supposedly brought Mary, the mother of Jesus for her safe hiding after his death.  It was a beautiful location high on the hillside, peaceful and private with a view of the sea.

The Turkish government will pay all shipping costs if you buy one of their rugs which lasts for generations.  They only cost a few thousand dollars…

Our marvelous home away from home, the Norwegian Jade.

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On the way to Greece we sailed right between the toe of Italy and on the right side, Sicily.

Sicily- we didn’t stop here just saw it from the ship, maybe next time…

It’s all Greek to me!

The Parthenon finished in 432 B.C.!

Olives

This is Mars Hill where Paul preached as recorded in Acts chapter 17.  It’s quite a feeling to think that Paul stood there on the same slick marble hill we climbed.

The Acropolis high on the hill behind us can be seen throughout most of the city.

Yum, yum, yum!  Baklava to die for!  It came out in much bigger pieces than we thought we ordered, oops- but a great mistake.

The Platka shopping district, notice the marble street.

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Next stop- St. Peter’s Basilica, enormous!  See the little people entering the church?

St. Peter holding the keys to the priesthood.

I saw things differently this visit, such as the robe here made of marble.  How this was done without our modern tools is mind boggling.

We had a tour within the Vatican, down into the

necropolis to see St. Peter’s bones, it was fascinating, highly recommendable.  If you’ve read “Angels and Demons” it may appeal to you as does the next picture.

Do you remember this place?  (It’s where she was hid…)

Ah ha!  The amazing camera man getting a rare picture taken of himself with the Pantheon.

Kamm loved the “junk piles” aka the Roman Forum, right in the middle of the city.

See the little people- bottom left, talk about big!

Ah, and a gallon size jar of nutella!  Love anything with nutella…

more to come…

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The next leg of our adventure took us to Barcelona.  It was a sunny, beautiful city with lots of fountains.  We have so many pictures, it’s hard to narrow them down to portray the area.  Here’s just a few…

We love cathedrals, this gothic one was filled with plenty of

Spanish GOLD!

Las Ramblas- look closely and you’ll see shopping stands and seating for the cafes in the middle of the street with driving lanes on the outside, a great place to stroll.

Tiny tile mosaics, I love seeing the local crafts.

The Christmas hams were a bit different- it was the entire leg, foot and all!  Grocery stores can be very amusing…

Casa Batllo- designed by Gaudi the master of art nouveau architecture.  He has many unique buildings throughout the city as well as

the Casa Mila that looks like ocean waves with seaweed iron patios. (click on the image if you want to enlarge it)

This is Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia that was started in 1877 and still not complete.

The Mediterranean coast with Christopher Colombus pointing to the new world.

Ah, the constant hunt for a mail box.  I had to send one more postcard to the kiddies before we got on the ship!  More to come…

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We took our favorite mode of transportation, a high-speed train, to Paris.  Kamm’s GPS clocked us at 182 mph, made for a nice short ride.

Gare du Nord station

Ah, Kamm found his old favorite Turkish food- durum!

We explored a new section of Paris to us, The Opera House and Galeries Lafayette.  Why, because our luggage was lost for 4 days and we needed some clothes!  Thankfully it did come.

This tree is gigantic with huge presents suspended in the air.  We thought a certain someone would love the PINK!

And here’s our new chateau in Fontainbleau, southeast of Paris about 30 miles.  Ha ha!  It would be perfect with a beautiful forest, small town life and…

patisseries all around!

more to come…

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Here’s our old home (well, one of them) 3rd section from the left at the top of 4 flights of steep stairs.

We had so many great memories here in Brussels, Belgium.  It was nice to see it hadn’t changed.

Our dear friends, what a joy to see them after 4 years.  Sorry to post the pictures in your pjs, it was all we had- but you’re still cute!

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Kamm and I were able to go on an amazing vacation, one we’ll remember all our life.

Our first stop was a layover in NY City.  We went to Radio City Music Hall and enjoyed,

“The Christmas Spectacular” starring the Rockettes!  It was a wonderful show

that started the Christmas season perfectly.

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Back in November the kids were super excited to go on an airplane ride to AZ for Uncle Kyle’s wedding!

We had a great time seeing family- all four generations.

Hmm, I don’t think this needs a caption- just a laugh.

And here’s the beautiful bride, Katie, with all her new siblings.  What fun, what fun!

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Better late than never right? Ha ha!  As you can see here’s Halloween, the kids don’t look so sure…

Not just any witch, a “Princess Witch!”

Caroline’s preschool is held at a Lutheran Church and scary costumes weren’t allowed, witches included- oops.  So we had a lot of fun making Cinderella come to life out of the dress up box.

Kamm took this great night shot with some photo tricks, like the jack-o-lanterns?

The Tamarack pine trees change color in the fall, our first year we thought they were all dying.  Who ever heard of pine trees that changed colors with needles that fall out?  It sure makes the mountain sides look beautiful.

The mountain in the back is part of the Schweitzer ski resort in Sandpoint just north of us.

We’ve mentioned that there’s lots of lakes in our area but these are the best lake houses I’ve ever seen!  There’s a whole village them on the water near the Naval base at Farragut State Park.

Caroline’s preschool took a field trip to a pumpkin patch.  The kids loved picking out their own Indian corn, gourds, and the perfect pumpkin.

Mimi came for Austin’s birthday and it’s tradition for her and the kids to go to Dairy Queen.  Since we drive by the DQ everyday it helps the kids know only grandparents get to take them there, unless of course it’s Family Night!

The birthday boy enjoyed the candle so much we had to relight it several times!

What a sweetie!  As long as I get a kiss I’m more than happy to make a special cake.

Here it is, the choo choo train cake!  Austin loved it!

The mighty sunflowers!  It was fun to watch them grow with my little gardening partner.

This is what I do, grow things.  It’s the best job ever!

And finally we have Fall Soccer that was shorts and then parkas a few weeks later.  I never thought I’d be a soccer coach but Caroline’s team needed one so I went ahead and did it.  We had a wonderful team of 4 year olds and a great season 8-2.  Did I just say that?  Yikes, I’m turning into a competitive parent- who would have thought?  Ha ha!

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