Thank God for muzzles

Peter is going to post another blog soon with the oh-so-exciting Star Wars pics, but since he is busy with class registration this week, I decided to go ahead and share a few pics from our other excursion in Tunisia......our sunset camel ride.
Peter had the great idea to take a picture of our shadow:


This was necessary since the guide didn't do a very good job.....we could be on any number of animals from what you can see in this pic.........


so, as proof, here is a pic from our perspective (meet Sarkozy the Camel):


The afternoon included an opportunity to ride some Arabian horses too......an option Peter was much more excited about than I was. As you can see in this picture, I was constantly trying to reason with my horse, explaining in my calmest of voices why it should follow along without getting too close to the other animals, which might cause a disturbance....the last thing I wanted.


Peter, on the other hand, loved this part and told the guides that he had grown riding horses. So, halfway through the ride, one of the shirtless Tunisian guides rode up next to Peter and asked "You ride well, right?" When I heard Peter respond, "oui, bien sur," (yes, of course), I looked up to see a huge cloud of dust as Peter and the cowboy guide took off through the desert at a run. All the other French vacationers were so impressed with the American who was allowed to run. I was so busy beaming with pride that I didn't snap a picture in time, so here are a few of Peter when he was riding with all of the other lowly tourists.



I mistakingly thought that riding a camel was more predictable, a little slower, and less dangerous, so when given the opportunity, I opted to switch my horse and get back on Sarkozy, the camel. Here is me jumping back onto Sarkozy......ah, I'll take this over a crazy horse any day.


The rest of the ride was perfectly pleasant......riding a camel is much more comfortable with one person than two:We enjoyed the rest of our ride back to the stables......or at least I thought so.


But apparently, Mr. Sarkozy wasn't so pleased because as I was dismounting, he turned and attempted to take a chunk out of my arm. This is me scolding him.....notice the muzzle......its presence leads me to believe that I wasn't the first victim.


All in all, it was a great afternoon, and even worth the nasty bruise on my bicep.

Nothing ordinary about this trip

We were inspired to take the trip to Tunisia after a visit in July from the Olmsted Scholar that's in Tunis (capital city). We were able to learn so much about the country from him during his short visit that we became intrigued enough to trek there ourselves. Our destination,Djerba, is totally a French "holiday" destination. The resorts and the island are geared towards French speaking tourists. We arrived at night and when we stepped off the plane at the Djerba airport it was like stepping into a sauna.

Right away one of the most fascinating things I noticed about the Tunisian people is that they speak Arabic primarily, but also fluent French. Obviously due to the fact that Tunisia was a former French colony, but it was still quite interesting.


An agent with the travel company met us at the airport and took us to our "taxi." Since our taxi turned out to be toyota 4x4, I knew this was going to be more than a boring ole trip to the dark continent. Here is Whit outside the "taxi" just before the 1 hour drive to the hotel.


One of the first objectives after arriving was booking a Sahara desert (and let's be honest) Stars Wars pilgrimage trip. Since the food was included as part of our resort package,l I thought I would be exercising every morning to stay in "ship shape", but I found out quickly that the Hotel Odyssée had other plans. Let's just say that if you want to lose 10 pounds within in 24 hour period...get yourself a room here and have a couple glasses of "bottled" water and let mother nature do the rest. Fortunately we both recovered enough for a 12 hour trek across Tunisia to the Sahara Desert.

Our trip started early and out first cultural lesson came at an intersection of highways where Libyan oil trucks enter Tunisia to sell gas. The closest we got to the border of Libya was about 45 miles and about 180 miles from Col. Qadhafi in Tripoli.


According to our guide, these make shift gas stations, below, sell Libyan gas at cheap prices.




Our next stop was a small coffee shop on the outskirts of a small town for a morning cafe' and the much needed smoke break for Sahl, our driver.



The 4x4 excursion took us all the way to Douz, Tunisia at the edge of the Sahara desert and close to the border of Algeria. Enroute we stopped to gander at some of the grazing camels.


The town of Douz is actually an oasis. We drove almost 50 miles through desolate terrain and then all of the sudden there are Date palm trees and a sprawling city.

Here is our group and guide. We are stopped among the date palm trees for a quick date lesson. Apparently, this is a big export for Tunisia and they grow and sell several different types. The other family with us was a French couple from Dijon and their two daughters. We had a great time getting to know them during the trip. Theey were fairly concerned about the on-going conflicts overseas in which France and the US are involved, but they were extremely interested to understand and learn "our" side of the debate. Getting to know them made the day even more fun and was a great way to practice out French. (they didn't speak a lick of english.)


Behind these camels you can see the town and the oasis.


We were offered and passed on an hour long camel ride through the desert just before lunch. The "Tunisian Revenge" was still too recent to go trekking off in the desert. So we decided to hang back with the guides at the cafe'/gift shop. These camels below seemed not to mind our company. The were plenty happy to basque in the 110 degree heat while we watched from the shade.



We stopped for lunch at a desert hotel in Douz. We were able to cool off in the pool before a wonderful spread of Tunisian delicacies...the Couscous with lamb being my favorite. Whit enjoyed the fresh melon and of course the desert selections.



Next post.....our after lunch drive to see the Star Wars sites. And later.....a funny tale about a mean-spirited camel named Sarkozy.

Sun, Sand, Star Wars, Stomach Ailments, and Sarkozy

Well, having almost completely recovered from our stomach issues, we are now ready to share some pics and funny stories from our most recent adventure.....a week in Djerba, Tunisia. Djerba is in the south of the country on the Mediterranean (possibly a little too close to Libya for comfort), but the beach is beautiful. The same clear water and soft sand that we enjoyed in the south of France, but with much warmer temperatures. This combined with the favorable exchange rate, made it easy to understand why so many French people travel here for their summer vacation. Here are some pics of the resort where we stayed. ( The first picture above is of the sunrise.....we were awake early enough to see it the day of our 4x4 expedition to the Sahara to see Luke Skywalker's homeland, but I'm not allowed to talk about that because Peter is beside himself with excitement about sharing those pics on a later entry.)

Our resort had this great dock so you sort of felt like you were at summer camp in the desert.


The beach chairs were great.....and the umbrellas necessary in the mid-day desert sun:


The pool was huge and beautiful, but the water was so hot, it didn't serve its purpose very well.


One of our favorite parts was in the evening before dinner......it was cool and the tunisian architecture of our hotel created the perfect atmosphere for an "aperitif" (pre-dinner cocktail).



Ironically, the food was delicious and beautifully presented......unfortunately, it made us extremely sick. As you can see in this pic, I did not let a little sickness get me down......the desserts looked too yummy to pass up.


We also enjoyed the outdoor dinner party on the beach that the resort does once a week. The couscous they served was delicious, but the entertainment was the best part. First, we saw a series of dancers like this one:


Then, a snake charmer let us pet a few of his tamer pets:



Then came the grand finale.....a couple of cobras who made us question our decision to sit near the stage:



All in all a great trip and well worth the intestinal problems that came with it. Stay tuned for upcoming posts that detail more of our trip including me being bitten by a camel named Sarkozy, Peter galloping off into the sunset on an Arabian horse, some questionable gas stations, a tour of homes of the indigenous Berber people of Tunisia and Algeria, and of course, our much anticipated visit to Tatooine.

Biking through Germany and France

Since Strasbourg is across the Rhein River from Germany we have had the opportunity to do several bike rides up and down the shores and explore both countries. Thanks to the EU, traveling between the two countries is extremely easy and nothing changes except the language (similar to driving from Georgia to Alabama).

Our first bike ride was to the north of Strasbourg for a delightful lunch in a charming little suburb of Strasbourg, then across the Rhein into Germany, and then south back home.


We chose a fruity Rosé wine to go with lunch. With what we were expecting to be a leisurely bike ride home ahead of us, ordering a carafe seamed appropriate at the time.



However, after lunch our "quick jaunt up to the nearest bridge" turned into quite the excursion. Finally, we got to the dam and boat locks and crossed over into Germany, but not before checking out some of the highlights there.

Here you can see the Rhein River, behind Whit, as it flows north:

The barge in the background was pulling into the locks. I was pressed against the fence to avoid the German drivers, who apparently just exited the Autobon and did not seem to care about slowing down.

As Whit was admiring the wild flowers, I was searching for the bike path home while simultaneously dodging on-coming Germans in their BMWs.

After crossing over into Germany, our French was no good anymore, but luckily we found the bike trail that follows the river south, although it wasn't paved, it was a beautiful ride along the river...for 15 miles.


What started out as a nice little Saturday ride through the country became quite the exploration. After returning home and recuperating we headed to our favorite Thai restaurant for a little reward. (In addition to the spicy, delicious menu, we love this restaurant because the owners have a Bernese Mountain dog named Chanel No. 5 who is always there to greet us.)


ROUND TWO:
Our most recent long haul bike ride was to the Black Forest, which is located in Germany, about 25 miles east of Strasbourg. We prepped for this one a bit more, including packing a superbly delicious lunch prepared by Whitney.

Unfortunately, France doesn't sell German bikes maps and the german bikes maps are in German....

but another great thing about Europe is that biking is universal and all you have to do is follow the "little green bicycle"....


En route to Offenburg, our destination, we passed through some charming Germany villages.
Just like in France, summertime means each town is full of beautiful flowers.....even the roundabouts are floral displays:



Whit found this fountain that commemorated the founding of the village Hellerstat...in 1308.


Whit made us a great lunch, that we ate at the foot of the Black Forest. She takes a fresh baguette and adds Nutella and bananas. It's pretty much a staple for any picnic that we have.

Simply terrific...


On the way home we decided to stop for a coffee (or café) in a small German village. The only open place we could find, was a small bar. We were the only customers, probably because the regular crowd doesn't show up until after 5 or 6 pm.

We ordered two coffees and after finishing them I graciously thanked the bartender (in french and english for good measure) and said that the coffee was delicious. He didn't seem to understand, so I gave a thumbs up sign and nodded with a smile. In response, he nodded his head and disappeared into the kitchen. He returned with two more cups of snake oil that he claimed was coffee...Oddly enough, apparently in German, "delicious" means two more cups of strong coffee with whip cream, please! Whit took one for the team and drank the second round to avoid seeming rude.


I on the other hand, opted for the local Pilsner instead to avoid a caffeine overdose.