Family Blog

Last Thursday we arrived late in San Francisco and had first to look for an hotel, because our reservation for it was lost (although we had a confirmation for it). We found another hotel near the airport, where we started the next day to Oakland by public transportation. It was a new experience for us to change two times the train and tram with different kind of payment (in Germany you have to pay normally only once for a ticket).

In Oakland we picked up our next RV which was much older than the first one. From there the first goal was San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Philip directed me not the fastest but shortest way and so we drove up and down thru streets where you normally would never go with a motorhome.
There was fog above the Golden Gate Bridge which is normal in summer. We followed the highway 1 along the coast till Bodega Bay where we stay overnight.

On Saturday we started with a cold and foggy weather but when we arrived in Lincoln it was sunny and hot. We said hello to Jeff, the host father of Philip four years ago. Philip showed us Lincoln and his high school. And we tried frozen yoghurt which tastes delicious.

Jeff cooked in his great kitchen a wonderful Mexican dinner for us, we had Californian white wine and nice talks in the evening. The next morning we had a good breakfast at a restaurant near the high school, before we said goodbye and started to Yosemite National Park.

Well behaved children are always welcome.
Those under the age of 18 must be supervised by their parents.
This was one of the rules of the first campground we arrived in California.

On Saturday we arrived in Whitefish Bay, but not without a stop at a shopping mall before. We had a warm welcome at the host parents of Manuel (4 years ago he was there as an exchange student). It was the first time, that we saw them - a really great and friendly family with a nice house. For this day we found no hotel room so we parked our motorhome before their house and slept there (except Manuel, he wanted to sleep in his old "home").

On Sunday sailed on the Michigan Lake. It was an ideal weather for that - sunny and windy (15 - 20 knots). We were two boats and had a good view on Milwaukee. After sailing there was a party for and with us with barbecue (the Americans like barbecue) and different kind of beers (there are some breweries in Wisconsin like the Pabst brewery).

On Monday we visited the Art Gallery of Milwaukee. The building itself was constructed like a ship by a Spanish architect. Normally the roof could be opened but there were some problems with the mechanics in the past. But we were lucky - they fixed it and it was the first day after a longer time that they opened it. It looks very majestic - like a starting swan.

In the evening we were invited at Yunkers who stayed two years in Germany. It was fun to saw some movies from Germany like the movie from the "Autobahn". It was a nice evening.

I was very happy that Grobles helped us the next to give back our motorhome in Chicago and to bring us into the heart of the city. We started at the Art Museum, went thru the Millenium Park, walked along the river and enjoyed the view from the John Hankock Tower. And we tried the special pizzas at Pizza Due which are bigger than the normal pizzas.

On Wednesday I played pool which I did at school the last time. And my son and me played gulf which we never did before. We had a good teacher and we had a lot of fun. Afterwards we had a last time barbecue (and kopps) before we left Wisconsin the next day. It were five wonderful days at a wonderful family.

Last Sunday I had the chance to go to a church. The church service is a little bit different from the one in Germany. In Germany you go to church, sit down, listen to the prayer and go home afterwards. Here it is like more a meeting with the service between. You come, talk to other people, listen to the prayer and meet your friend at the end of the service again.

At the informal service where we have been, there was also a band and some singers in front to support the people for the songs and the songs sound better and fresher than here. And also the average age of the people in the church were 10 - 20 years less. Church seems to be more alive than in Germany.

From New York we wanted to go to the Niagara Falls. But before we had to pick up our motorhome and to drive through New York to Wyckoff to pick up Philip. Driving through New York is terrible but with a motorhome it is much more terrible. After hours of stop & go we reached Philip and could start our trip to the North.

Next day (Thursday) we reached the Niagara Falls. There are two falls: the Canadian Niagara Falls and the American Niagara Falls. Both are very impressive. And there are also two cities with this name - one of the American and one of the Canadian Site.

After the Niagara Falls we went near Cleveland (Ohio). On the way to it we stopped at a shopping mall not only for shopping but also we need internet access to look for an campground. You can find here in most restaurants and malls free WiFi.

Next day we want to go a campground near the dunes at Michigan City. The first three campgrounds were all full but we found at least a litte campground at Chesterton. But before we visited the Dunesland National Park at Michigan City. At the beach you could see Chicago on the other site of the lake.

Last Saturday we arrived in New York, where we got picked up by our son, Philip. It was very warm in NY but when we entered the train we were freezing - it was so cold in the train. In the meantime we got used to the difference between the hot outside and the cooled down inside.

The next days we visited Times Square, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, the United Nations and a lot of other sightseeings. New York itself is a very busy city, where you can find all kinds of nations. But without Philip I think we would have been lost in the jungle of Metro lines and bus stops.

We were also invited to Philip's family, where he worked for one year as an Au-Pair. It was a very nice meeting with a good meal and interesting talks.

Yesterday Cordula came back from S-Africa where she was for two weeks together with the school choir of the Robert-Bosch-Gymnasium. She had an exiting time during the trip through the country but also on the flight back. Now we are happy to have her back.

Last weekend we came back from Tehran. The articles in this blog are not in-time with the displayed blog-date because in the beginning we had no internet access. The real dates were (Gregorian calendar):

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15. + 16. May	Arriving at Teheran
17. + 18. May	Tehran - Masuleh
19. + 20. May	Masuleh - Kandovan
Sat 21. May	Kandovan - Merivan
Sun 22. May	Merivan - Kermanshah
Mon 23. May	Kermanshah - Hamadan
Thu 24. May	Hamadan - Isfahan
25. + 26. May	Isfahan
Fri 27. May	Isfahan - Persepolis - Shiraz
Sat 28. May	Shiraz
Sun 29. May	Shiraz - Yazd
Mon 30. May	Yazd
Tue 31. May	Yazd - Abyaneh
Wed 1. June	Abyaneh - Tehran
Thu 2. June	Tehran - Stuttgart

Length of the whole trip: about 5300 km

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The most often heard question of our trip was "What do you think about Tehran?" followed by "Do you think we are terrorists?". The answer to the second question is easy: no!

The answer to the first question is not so easy. The first contact with Iran was the passport check at the airport in Tehran. And here I had a strange feeling because the officer there looked not very happy. But inside the country the people and even the policemen were friendly to us.

Iran had a great history. But I'm not sure if the Iranian itself are aware of their past. That was my impression after some visits of the museums. Also the architecture in the past seemed to be much "modern" than today. At that time the architects know how to keep a house cool without all the electrican equipments we now had. These knowledge seems to be lost :-(

There are areas in the Iran where you find no plastic bag or other garbage beside the road. Unfortunately this is the exceptional case. Iran is such a lovely country and it makes me sad to see the pollution of the environment.

"We should judge the country after the people and not by the government!" This was also a sentence we heard more often. It seems that the government and the Revolutionary Guards are very unpopular for the normal people. You can find many forbidden books or songs in the bazaars or shops. And some laws as the prohibition of the water pipe are not respected.

There is a different between "Iranian" time and our time: not only another timezone (2.5 hours later) or year (1390 AH), no, also another meanig: e.g. 9 o' clock means "perhaps 9:30". But the Iranian people have something we had lost in Germany - time!

I had no idea about the Iran when I started our trip. But I enjoyed it really and was happy to made it. There were so many friendly people we met. Some emails from Iran reached me in the meantime - some emails may be blocked by the spam filter of my provider (try it again - sometimes they reach me).

Continued from: Abyaneh - Tehran

At 3:25 AM our flight went from Tehran to Istanbul. We all went at about midnight from Tehran to the airport outside of Tehran. The airport was very busy at this time and we said goodbye to our leader (he fly back some days later, to his sister and niece and to our driver. Then we had to pass controls to reach our plane.

In Istanbul we had some time to go up and down in the airport. We recognized that the dress code in an islamistic country has also its advantages - most men looks awful in shorts. Even the women in Iran are in general more fashionable than the tourists we saw on the Istanbul airport.

Back in Stuttgart we had to pass a last time the passport control. We all looked a little forbidden and tired because we had no sleep this night. But we passed all controls and were happy to be at home again. On the scale in the bathroom I realized that Iran is a very beautiful country with nice people and a great history but not a place to lose weight.

Continued from: Yazd - Abyaneh

In the mornings we visited Abyaneh. Unfortunately many houses are broken but some were rebuilt. On the ride to Kashan we saw many antiaircraft guns - I guess the atom center must be somewhere near. In Kashan we went to the Fin Garden, an old Persian garden with nice water features. The rest about this garden I forget - it is the last day and we are all pretty exhausted and no longer receptive.

On the way to Tehran we did a stop at a salt lake to thank our driver for the last 5000 km and gave him a little present. Then we continue our trip to Tehran. It is a somewhat melancholy mood in the bus because we soon will leave the Iran. But before we leave the sister of our leader has invited us to a wonderful dinner in Tehran whereas she had yesterday began to cook four us. The diner was wonderful but nevertheless we had to go to the airport to get our plane.

Next section: Tehran - Stuttgart

Continued from: Yazd

In Meybod we visited a pottery in which I would have got out my wife probably not as fast. We were also allowed to visit the workshop - it was very very hot where the men had to work (one as sitting in the baking oven and brought out the ceramics).

Chak Chak is a small green spot in the dessert, middle in the mountain. After a myth one of the guardian of the fire had found refuge here when she fled from the Arabs. There is a Zoroastrian mountain shrine at this place where water drips from the rock (chak, chak, ...). Our guide thanked us for the journey (Hey, we had to thank him!!!) - it was the next to the last day of our Iran trip.

After Nā'in, as we were driving through the dessert, we saw a rare phenomenon: rain! Normally it never rains there (said our leader - but we already knew that from Tehran). But this time we had even a rainbow!

On the way to Abyaneh we saw an injured turtle on the roadside. We stopped, disinfected the wound and covered it with a band-aid. If you will see a turtle with a band-aid around Abyaneh - tell it a greeting from us.

We reached Abyaneh (a wonderful mountain village) and our hotel in the dark.

Next section: Abyaneh - Tehran

Continued from: Shiraz - Yazd

First goal today was the Tower of Silence, a burial place of the Zoroastrians. Until 50 years ago the dead bodies were laid down and eaten by the vultures. Many Iranians are (inofficially) Zoroastrians. Also Freddie Mercury (from Queen) was Zoroastrian.

After a little nap, we visited the old historic center of Yazd (a World Heritage Site). Unfortunately many houses were decayed. Not only the historic center but also old wonderful mansions are not repaired and get worser and worser. It seems that the relationship to the history is missing - what a pity.

As we visited the Jameh mosque of Yazd there was a sandstorm and we waited until it was over. Next we visited the fire temple Atash Behram of the Zoroastrians.

Diner we had in an old "Hamam" (bath in former times).

Next section: Yazd - Abyaneh

Continued from: Shiraz

From our driver we heard that there were disturbances in Teheran and Shiraz. A famous goalkeeper and trainer of the Iranian soccer team, who was popular with the population and critical to the government, died. We notices more police on the streat as ususal - these were the only impact for us.

In Abarkuh we did a stop for lunch and visited then the oldest living cypress, also called Sarv-e Abarqu. After that we went to the desert - flat as a pancake and hot.

The hotel in Yazd was in a side rad where you never would assume a hotel. It was a traditional hotel with a nice atrium with access to the hotel rooms.

In the evening we visited a traditional material arts training which took place in an old cistern. Next we visited one of the windcatchers where Yaszd is famous for.

After dinner we went back to hotel, drank some tea and smoked the water pipe. We had also some sherry we drank with our neighbours. They asked us if we needed some more to drink but we were a little bit tired from the last days.

Next section: Yazd

Continued from: Isfahan - Persepolis - Shiraz

Before breakfast I wanted to go into the internet but it had not been opened yet in our hotel (Shiraz Parsian Hotel). Also in other ways this hotel was special: we had a heated toilet. The flushing was connected to the hot water.

We visited Arg of Karim Khan, the bazaar and also the underground (historical water supply). All public museums we entered had a standard price of 5000 Rial (about 0,30€). It seems that from site of public the history is not worth that much.

After a short break and lunch at the roadside we went to the botanical garden which was attended by many young couples.

In the late afternoon we visited the mausoleums of the two most important poets of Iran, Hafez and Saadi (comparable to Goethe and Schiller in Germany). According our leader they embody the soul of Iran and I noticed that the visit of their graves had meant a lot to him. But not also to him but also to all classes of population.

In the evening we were invited in a garden a little bit outside and had the opportunity to try the famous wine of Shiraz.

Next section: Shiraz - Yazd