ROME: THE ROME TEMPLE,

 March 23-24, 2024      

Our return flights to the US went through Rome, where the shortest layover was something like ten hours, so we decided just to take a full day and enjoy some of the Eternal City.

Feker picked us up at our hotel and dropped us off at the front entrance to the airport, then parked the car and joined us. 

We had an interesting experience at the Tunisia International Airport. Bob checked a bag because he had liquids he had purchased in Sicily that he didn't want to forfeit, but checking the back was almost (or over) $100 USD. Stan's bag was too heavy and they were going to make him check it as well, but Feker opened Stan's suitcase and started taking things out to go into his backpack and Chris's suitcase, which had already been weighed and tagged and so weight wasn't an issue. Feker got Stan's suitcase down to the given maximum, or close enough. It's a dumb system and easy to get around.

We finally got through, boarded, and had a flight to Rome that lasted an hour and about 20 minutes. 

Bob collected his checked bag and we went outside to grab a taxi. Because we were going to our hotel, which was not in the city center of Rome (which has a standard €50 taxi fee, we had to find another taxi. One driver was watching for those like us who were going to the airport area, which was obviously much closer than the downtown area. We ended up paying €50, the same amount as a ride four times as long to the city center. It was such a rip off.

We dropped our bags in our room and went outside to call a ride to take us to the Rome LDS Temple Visitor Center. We waited and waited, and it appeared the taxi may have gone to the temple rather than to where we were. I tried calling but got a lengthy voice message in Italian. We finally cancelled for a €3 charge and tried again. This one took longer than expected but did actually show up. Our ride to the temple, which is pretty far away from the tourist part of Rome, took about 45 minutes and cost over $100 US. 

This 41,010-square-foot temple was announced in 2008 and dedicated in 2019 by LDS Church President Russell Nelson. The dedication event was the first time ever that the entire First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gathered in one location outside the United States, so it was a big deal.

The temple was closed for two weeks for cleaning when we were there, When it is open, only members of the LDS Church who hold a temple recommend are allowed to enter.

INDONESIA - BALI PART 1: ULUWATU TEMPLE

 July 10, 2023

We drove the last 20 minutes to Uluwatu Temple, which was (surprise!) quite crowded. 

On entering the temple, everyone is asked to put on a purple skirt/wrap or a gold sash. I remember in Thailand the women often had to cover up with similar wraps, but not the men. I'm not sure if this wrap was for modesty or was a gimmick. Either way, Bob wasn't thrilled about it. Welcome to a woman's world, Bob.

By the way, the sign behind us does not have any English, which tells you what percentage of the tourists speak English.  We did see signs in other parts of the complex in English, however--mostly warning signs, which may tell you more about the tourists who speak English.  

Pura Luhur means "Divine Temple." Uluwatu is regarded as one of the six holiest places of worship on Bali. The six places are spread about the island as a way of providing spiritual balance to Bali. This temple complex is dedicated to Sang Hyang Widhi, the Supreme God of Indonesian Hinduism.

NEW YORK CITY: THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE

May 2023

I am blown away that I have a son who enjoys opera. He didn't get that from his dad, that's for sure. When he suggested we could all go to the Metropolitan Opera House to see a performance of Verdi's Aida, I was on it right away, and Bob reluctantly agree to come with us.

The "Met" opened in 1966 and has a capacity of over 4,000 guests, making it the largest repertory opera house in the world. It is also one of the most technically advanced and has astounding acoustics.

It is located in the Lincoln Center, a complex of buildings on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I don't know how the LDS Church was able to get the property for the temple just a block away, but what an amazing location. The Juilliard School of Music is also just around the corner from the Met.

This is Geffen Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic. There are 35 large paintings that comprise a temporary artwork on the side of the building. Collectively, they are entitled "San Juan Heal" and celebrate both Lincoln Center and the Black and Puerto Rican neighborhood (named San Juan Hill) that was displaced when the performing arts complex was built.

PORTUGAL: SADO ESTUARY, LDS TEMPLE, AND A LONG TRIP HOME

 July 3, 2022

On our last day in Portugal we met up again with Bernard, our friendly bird guide, in the Sado Estuary, an area of wetlands known for its many species of birds. 

We drove around for a while looking for birds. We saw a flock of flamingoes, but they were old hat at this point.

There wasn't anything too exciting, so we stopped at a small education center that Bernard told us children visit on school trips. 

The pathway up to the building was lined with fun bird sculptures.

ECUADOR: TRAVELING TO THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS AND VISITING BALTRA AND SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS

 March 21, 2022

After our full day in Quito, we were ready to head to the Galapagos Islands. Our hotel in Quito was one or two blocks from the airport, and the hotel had a shuttle ready for the eight of us at 7:00 AM. There were some confusing things to do at the airport, like have our bags run through x-ray before security as well as fill out some forms in a different location of the airport. It was by no means a clear process.

The Galapagos Islands straddle the equator 563 miles west of continental Ecuador. Flights leave for the islands from Guayaquil, so we had to fly there first (45 minute flight). It was fun to see the Guayaquil LDS Temple both on landing and take-off.

The second leg of the flight, from Guayaquil to the Galapagos Islands, was about 1.5 hours. This map isn't to scale (the islands are MUCH smaller in relation to the continent), but it at least gives a good idea of the location and number of the islands. There are 13 major islands and more than 100 smaller islands in the chain.

Map from here

Two airports are used for tourism in the Galapagos. We landed at the one on the island of Baltra, a tiny desert island separated from the much larger island of Santa Cruz by a narrow channel. (The other airport is on the island of San Cristobal.)

We disembarked old-style down a flight of stairs wheeled up to the plane.

The airport itself is quite small.

After two long years of pandemic waiting, we were very excited to finally be on the Galapagos Islands!

ECUADOR: QUITO-IN-A-DAY

 March 21, 2022

Quito is the capital and largest city in Ecuador. Situated in a valley in the Andean foothills at 9,350 feet, it is the second-highest capital city in the world (La Paz, Bolivia, sits at 11,942 feet) and the capital city closest to the equator. It is the only capital city next to an active volcano, Pichinca, which stands at 15,728 feet. Its last major eruption was in 1660, but it did puff a fair amount of ash onto Quito in 1999. Quito has, however, had a significant number of large-magnitude earthquakes in the last 100 or so years, including two that were stronger than 8.0 in magnitude: 8.8 in 1906, 8.2 in 1979, and nine stronger than 7.0 since 1942. Yikes.

Founded by the Spanish in 1534 on the ruins of an Inca city, Quito proper covers 143 square miles and has a population of 2.8 million, and we had about ten hours to see it all.

In the morning we met up with Terry and Geneil and enjoyed an upgraded breakfast on the "club floor" with them, (Remember, Terry had been upgraded because it was his birthday.)

Beautiful flowers--of course--and passion fruit.

Afterwards we gathered in the lobby with the other two couples who were joining our group, Brian and Renee Bascom and Ward and Norma Robinson, who had arrived in Quito in the last day or so.

A guide and driver picked up the eight of us and we were on the road by 9:00 AM. Our first stop was the Itanim Middle of the World Museum.

Here we all are!

CANADA: TORONTO TEMPLE, SKYLINE, AND KENSINGTON

September 29-20, 2018

One of the things I like to do as we travel is visit LDS Temples. Currently there are 168 around the world, with 24 under construction and 39 announced that haven't begun construction yet. That is a lot of temples, and I'm not likely to see them all, but it is fun to see one when I can.

The Toronto Ontario Temple was completed and dedicated in 1990.

Like every LDS Temple I have ever visited, the grounds are exquisite.

MEXICO: AROUND TOWN IN VILLAHERMOSA AND LA VENTA PARK MUSEUM

March 17, 2018

We started our last day in Villahermosa by seeing a few of the local sites of the city with our friends. One of the places they took us was the Mexico Villahermosa LDS Temple, built in 1999-2000.  The LDS Church tries to draw from local architecture in designing temples, and that is certainly apparent here.

There were lots of church members milling about, including families (or maybe a youth group) having picnics.

It was fun to be there with our friends, who were somewhat of local celebrities among church members. Everyone wanted them to take their picture or be in a picture with them. 

SRI LANKA: FROM KANDY TO ELLA--HOTELS, A POST OFFICE, A FARMERS MARKET, AND A HINDU TEMPLE

All of the hotels we stayed in were Sri Lankan hotels--not American chains. Lanka Trackers (our guide Sanjay's company) selected them for us, and we had a very positive experience in all of them. None of them were typical urban tourist hotels. They were each set back from the road and had an "ecotourism" feel.

For example, we stayed in the four-star Hotel Tree of Life about 9 miles from Kandy. The price included dinner and breakfast, and we had a completely detached "cottage" for our room (on the left below). Our cottage was a few minutes walk from the main building where we checked in and ate our meals, and it was a lovely walk:

Our large room backed up to the forest that surrounds the grounds. The pictures below are the views through the back door and then from the balcony:

The check-in/restaurant building doesn't look that glamorous . . . 

. . . but I loved the decor:

WISCONSIN: CADDIE WOODLAWN HISTORICAL PARK

As of 2015, I had never been to Wisconsin. Bob had been there several times for a continuing education seminar that he really liked, but those were the years when we had children at home, and I never got to go along. We decided that our trip to Minnesota in October 2015 was a great time to slip across the stateline so I could check Wisconsin off my list. After a bit of research, I determined that a visit to the Caddie Woodlawn Historical Park would be perfect.

On our way, we stopped for a few photos of the St. Paul Minnesota Temple. (Or was that on the drive to somewhere else? Hmmm.)

This temple was dedicated on January 9, 2000. I'll bet it was freezing that day. When we were there, however, it couldn't have been more beautiful.

We got back on the road and headed east on the 94 Freeway towards Menomonie, where we turned south on Highway 25. I added the green line to the map below to show what I think is the approximate location of the Minnesota-Wisconsin stateline and to prove that I did more than just put my big toe in Wisconsin:

Caddie Woodlawn is a historical fiction children's book written by Carol Ryrie Brink that I read and loved when I was nine or ten years old. Published in 1936, it received the Newbery Medal for Children's Literature that year. (The sign on the property erroneously lists the medal as being awarded in 1935.) Caddie Woodlawn was not actually a real person, but she was based on the author's grandmother, Caddie Woodhouse Watkins, who grew up in Wisconsin and whose home is now the anchor of this historical park.