THE KAREN BLIXEN MUSEUM NEAR COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – A WRITER’S HOME Guest Post by Caroline Hatton

At the Blixen Museum near Copenhagen, Denmark.

My friend Caroline Hatton, a children’s writer and frequent contributor to this blog, took the photos in this post in June 2025.

When the movie Out of Africa came out in 1985, I saw it in a big-screen theater. As an epic love story between a Danish woman who had a farm in Africa and a British big-game hunter, it won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and four more.

Forty years later, my husband and I planned to visit Denmark. By then I had learned that the book, Out of Africa, on which the movie is loosely based, is a memoir by Isak Dinesen, the pen name of Karen Blixen (1885-1962), an icon in the culture of Denmark. (Isak means “he who laughs” and Dinesen was Blixen’s maiden name.)

 

Blixen Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark (D), Norway (N), Sweden (S)*.

An online search for her name found the Karen Blixen Museumhttps://blixen.dk/en/ at Rungstedlund, her farm near Copenhagen. The museum is a park-like estate. In the photo at the top of this post, the farmhouse (on the left) is her former home. The former barn (on the right) is the Cultural Events Centre with meeting room, café, and gift shop. Imagine attending a writer’s conference there! The property contains a pond, bridge, orchard, former cow and horse pasture, and woods with trees centuries old. Part of the property is the Bird Sanctuary she created as a haven for migratory species.

Our self-guided visit began through ground-floor rooms full of info (in Danish and English) about Blixen’s life, photos, and objects such as her Corona typewriter and original editions of her most famous works. This large farm is where she was born in 1885 and grew up privileged, enjoying nature and animals. She loved stories, listening to them and telling her own. By age 8, she wrote her first fiction piece. By age 11, she wrote and performed plays. 

She wanted to achieve something remarkable, not just marry a rich man. Her family was supportive of her quest as a writer. Her first publication was a tale (submitted by her aunt) in a literary magazine the year Blixen turned 22. But she published only two more tales, so she endured years of despair because she didn’t know what to do with her life.

At age 28, she married a rich man after all and started managing a coffee farm owned by family members, in British East Africa, a colony which included today’s Kenya. While reading the museum posters, I liked comparing facts in her real life with fiction in the movie and finding matches (married the day after she arrived in Africa… diagnosed with syphilis…). I gazed at the black-and-white photo of Denys Finch Hatton, the love of her life. “He was the most intelligent man she had ever met, and he was a good listener when she read aloud to him from the stories she wrote.”

After 17 years, the farm, which had never made any money because the area was too cold to grow coffee, was shut down. This left Blixen to despair again, about what she was going to do with her life. She started writing a book, hoping to finish it after going home to Denmark. Finch Hatton did die in a plane crash not long before she left Africa. 

Green room.

She came home emotionally, physically, and financially devastated. Finch Hatton’s favorite chair (the second chair from the right in the above photo), in which he sat by the fireplace at her farm in Africa and listened to her stories, went in the Green Room on the ground floor, not far from her winter writing desk (on the left in the photo). This room stayed warm in cold weather.

She finished writing her book in English. U.S. publishers rejected it. London publishers rejected it. Finally an American author, who was a friend of Blixen’s aunt, gave the manuscript to her own publisher. He published Blixen’s first book, Seven Gothic Tales, in 1934 when she was 49. It was a hit in the U.S. and the U.K., but the Danish version she produced got mixed reviews in Denmark.

African collection.

Our visit led us past a room full of Blixen’s cherished African mementos. This was where she wrote in the summer. While in Africa, she had proposed a travelogue—unsuccessfully. Yet she kept working on it. Finally, in 1936 it was published as a memoir, Seventeen Years in Africa, in a newspaper Sunday supplement. Months later, a new chapter moved her London publisher to accept the book: Out of Africa got rave reviews in Denmark, England, and the U.S. in 1937, the year she turned 52.

Dining room.

We saw the dining room as it was when Blixen staged enchanting dinner parties—for no more than seven carefully selected guests. Her conversations with great minds from all fields of thought inspired her. She viewed gastronomy as an art form. “Babette’s Feast,” the tale she wrote about a French master chef who wowed her guests, was published in 1952 and made into a 1987 Danish movie which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Kitchen.

Kitchen.

In the kitchen, Blixen’s housekeeper prepared the famous dinners. In the adjacent room, Blixen arranged flowers from her cutting garden for every room in her house. Menus and bouquets provided extra outlets for her creativity.

Library.

Library.

Blixen loved to read broadly across many genres. In her library, we saw some of the books that inspired her.

Bedroom.

Upstairs, we walked through Blixen’s bedroom, as it was when she lived there and died in her bed in 1962. All the rooms look as they did then. 

Looking out the bedroom window.

Outside the bedroom window, beyond the lawn and across a public road, is the sea corridor that separates Denmark from Sweden. Today, the view is filled by a marina, which didn’t exist in Blixen’s lifetime.

Porch.

When we were done visiting the house, we strolled through the manicured grounds.

Grave.

In a far corner of the park, Blixen’s grave, marked unobtrusively by a flat stone under a magnificent beech tree in her Bird Sanctuary, was honored by a single red rose. She chose the site and pre-arranged her funeral consecration ceremony. She also founded the non-profit that still owns the estate. What an uncommon mind and drive she had!

* Credit for the globe image: Rob984 - Derived from Germany on the globe (Germany centered).svg, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Read CarolineArnold’s post about Copenhagen.

RAY BRADBURY, Remembering the Place Where He Once Lived and Wrote

Sign on the gate of the property in West Los Angeles where Ray Bradbury once lived.

“Living at risk is jumping off a cliff and building your wings on the way down.” Ray Bradbury

In this time of the corona virus, almost all travel is suspended. For myself, all upcoming trips have been cancelled. Among the pleasures of travel is the surprise of a new place, a different experience, a new way to view the world. Now, as I shelter in place, my only travel is a daily walk about my neighborhood to get some exercise. As I move about on foot, I am suddenly seeing my neighborhood with new eyes.

Landscaping in front of the property.

Until his death in 2012, Ray Bradbury, the author of The Martian Chronicles, Farenheit 451 and so much more, was my neighbor. I never saw him, but I often passed his modest yellow house, just a few short blocks from mine, as I drove home from the supermarket. I remember loving his books when I read them in high school and college. In 2012, when I read in the paper that he had died at the age of 91, I wondered what would happen to the house that had been his home for more than fifty years. Then one day, as I drove by, I saw bulldozers knocking it down. Over the next year, in its place, a striking modern architectural edifice rose up and filled the property. Ray Bradbury fans were appalled, but it was too late. (For a time line of the house’s history, click HERE.)

View of the house from the front gate

On a recent daily walk, I passed the property and saw it up close for the first time. Much of the new house is hidden behind dense shrubbery. At the entrance is an elaborate iron gate whose design is made of intersecting letters. As we passed, I noticed a small sign. It reads:

Ray Bradbury, American author and screen-writer, wrote many of his greatest works in the home that once stood on this site. To pay homage to his life and spirit, the design of this gate incorporates his words.

“Living at risk is jumping off a cliff and building your wings on the way down.”
"I never ask anyone else's opinion. They don't count."  
"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity."
“Stuff you eyes with wonder,” he said, “live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds.”
"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said." 

Then, as I looked closely, I could see the words embedded in the gate design. While individual words and letters are discernible, it is a bit hard to distinguish the whole quotes among the surrounding metal. Even so, the fact that they are there to connect us with Ray Bradbury and his work means he is still part of our neighborhood.

The front gate and sign.

After finding the sign, I wanted to read Ray Bradbury’s books again. When I went to the Los Angeles Public Library website I discovered that many of his books are available to borrow as digital copies. I checked out Dandelion Wine (1957), his semi-autobiographical book about his growing up years in Waukegan, Illinois (renamed Green Town in the book) and downloaded it to my computer. As I have been reading the stories–about making dandelion wine, the pleasure of fresh cut grass in the summer, his elderly neighbors and their “Green Machine”, and more–they bring back memories of childhood visits to my grandparents' house in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a similar midwestern town just up the road from Waukegan. While the time period of Bradbury’s stories about Green Town is nearly a century ago, the essential human qualities of the characters are universal.

A side gate to the property is also embedded with Ray Bradbury's words. Behind it is a glimpse into the densely planted garden surrounding the house.

I never would have discovered the sign on the gate if it hadn't been for the need to get out of the house in our self-isolation in response to the corona virus. My perspective has changed as I take my daily walks. I see things up close. I have more time to linger and take a second look. I hear the birds sing and the noisy flocks of parrots foraging in the eucalyptus trees overhead. I see my neighbors’ houses and the diverse ways that they have landscaped their front yards. And I have rediscovered Ray Bradbury, one of America’s greatest writers.

Real Estate photo of Ray Bradbury's house at 10265 Cheviot Drive in Los Angeles, before it was knocked down.

TAJ MAHAL: A Love Poem in Marble, Guest Post by Ann Whitford Paul

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

In late January my friend and fellow children's book author Ann Whitford Paul and her husband Ron took a trip to India visiting cities from the far south to New Delhi and Varanasi in the north. Ann Whitford Paul is a wonderful author and poet and has written eighteen books for children and has had her poems included in many anthologies. Her most recent book is 'Twas the Late Night of Christmas. You can find out more about Ann and her books at www.annwhitfordpaul.net. Here is Ann's report of their visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra.

Entrance Gate to the Taj Mahal

One cannot, should not, go to India without seeing the Taj Mahal.  However my husband had no interest in this great wonder of the world, saying, “I’ve seen enough pictures.”  He can be a curmudgeon.  I ignored him and went ahead and arranged a visit.
Even the approach through the red sandstone gateway is dramatic.  Look carefully through the center opening and you can see a hint of what is to come.

View from the gate

Then step through the arch....

Taj Mahal and Reflecting Pool

.....and you will see this! No matter how many pictures you’ve seen, I dare you not to gasp.  My husband couldn’t stop himself.  Notice the reflection of the building in the water.

The park-like setting invites one to walk around and see the building from different angles.

The Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tribute to his deceased wife, Mumtaz Mahal.  Over 20,000 workers worked for nearly 22 years to complete it in 1653.  Caroline Arnold and Madeleine Comera wrote a wonderful book, TAJ MAHAL, illustrated by Madeleine's husband Rahul Bhushan, about the history of the Taj, if you want more information.

Close-up of Taj Mahal

At a distance the building looks to be pure white. but on closer examination you will see beautiful relief and inlaid work.

Since we’d come all the way from California, we couldn’t miss being tourists and getting our picture taken on the bench where Princess Diana once had her photo taken.

So after we left, what did my husband say?
“No photo ever does justice to the Taj.  It has to be seen.” 
And just as no photograph does it justice, words can’t either, but I tried.

TAJ MAHAL

By Ann Paul

Words are weak.

None can capture

the glistening white,

the four fine domes,

the intricate carvings,

the perfect symmetry.

Push paper aside.

Paint a mind picture

of this sonnet

written centuries ago—

a love poem in marble.

China: Around the World in 50 Days with Sara Kras, Fall 2011 (Guest Post)

My friend Sara Kras and her husband went on an amazing journey this fall, circling the world with stops in the Middle East, India, China and the Pacific.  I think you will enjoy reading the reports of her adventures!  Sara is a children’s book author with books about animals and world cultures and geography.  Find out more at www.saralouisekras.com .
 
We are now in China and it has been a real eye opener. The country is bustling with construction. Huge modern buildings are being built in the major cities and massive highways are being erected to connect the country. Beijing, Xian, and Chengdu all have very new roads. Some put in only a year ago. I was really surprised how modern some of the larger cities were and also how many people live in them. Beijing had about 30 million, Xian had about 8 million, and Chengdu about 18 million. We also visited Lijiang, high in the mountains. It is a small city at 1 million. Joe mentioned that the entire state of Wyoming has only about 500,000 people in it so that gives you an idea as to how huge these “small” cities are.

The traffic in Beijing was horrendous. It seemed heavy at any time of the day. In order to control the traffic and cars per family, everyone in Beijing must enter a lottery in order to be allowed to buy a new car. Also, each driver can only drive 4 days a week. It is regulated by the last number on their license plate which determines the day they cannot drive. Another thing to note is we saw many accidents in China probably because many of the drivers are new drivers.

Tourists are everywhere in China and I don’t mean foreign tourists. Instead, there are huge amounts of Chinese tourists visiting the popular sites of their country. While at the Forbidden City, I tried to look at the Emperor’s chair. I had to join in with a mass of humanity straining to get a look. I have never been so squished in my life. Thank goodness I’m not claustrophobic. Our guide told us it was like that on the subway every day during rush hour.

We also visited a Hutong on a rickshaw, which was very touristy but interesting. A hutong is an old neighborhood of Beijing. These neighborhoods are what it used to be like before the government tore most of these old neighborhoods down to build all the shiny new buildings, which are everywhere.

Hutongs have public toilets but what is considered a public toilet in the states is not the same in China. Everywhere you go in China the toilet facilities are rated. Five star includes western toilets, doors, toilet paper, sink, and soap. Three star includes a single western toilet and door. The rest are Chinese toilets. One star is only Chinese toilets (squatting on top of a porcelain bowl) with doors. (Unfortunately, urine splashes on the ground, so you have to roll your pants up to stay semi-clean.) Zero star is squatting over a concrete slit with no door, just out in the open where you can have a discussion with your potty neighbor. Zero star is the kind of toilet found in the Hutong for the local residents. On the same topic as toilets, we stayed at the Fairmont Hotel which had an amazing toilet. Just push a button and get a rinse front or back, blow dry, and even powder!  I don’t mean to have a huge potty discussion, but the toilet facilities really made life awkward. You have to have really strong thighs to withstand the squatting. I can’t imagine going through this at the age of eighty. Fifty was hard enough! Anyway, enough potty talk.

While in Beijing, we visited Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven, which was really a magical place. On the temple grounds, retired residents came daily to use the exercise equipment provided in the park, dance in groups, participate in a folk song sing-along, and play games. These games were games of physical skill such as twirling a long flag on a stick in figure 8s and balancing a ball on a paddle as you move it sideways, upwards and backwards. Groups of men played cards and women knitted in the park. It was truly a community social event. I got the hang of the flags, but I was terrible at the paddle balls.

We also visited the Summer Palace which had an outside corridor which went on for ¾ of a mile and painted on it were about 700 different pictures. It was truly amazing and beautiful.
But my all time favorite was the great wall. I hiked it for almost an hour. Even though there were many people on the wall with me, it was awe inspiring. You could just imagine the ancient Chinese soldiers marching up and down the “dragon’s back” and looking through the many parapets for invading Mongols.

After Beijing we flew to Xian to see the clay soldiers. My plan was to fly into Xian in the morning and have the day to see the clay soldiers and other areas of Xian and then fly onto Chengdu. We arrived at the Beijing airport at 7:00am and it was extremely foggy. Our guide told us that planes still fly when foggy at the Beijing airport, if only that had been true. Our flight was delayed by five hours! I couldn’t believe it. My hopes of seeing the clay soldiers at all were slipping away. What a waste of time and money to fly to Xian for nothing.

We finally arrived in Xian at 4:00pm after a 2 hour flight. Our guide was waiting for us and rushed us to the car. He said that the clay soldiers closed at 6:00pm but it would take us an hour and 15 minutes to get to them from the airport. He didn’t know if the ticket office would be closed. Our driver high tailed it to the soldiers and got us there in 45 minutes. We rushed to the ticket office and were able to get our tickets. After taking the tram we arrived at a building the size of a football stadium. Inside were rows and rows of clay soldiers all waiting for me and standing at attention. (Ha ha).
Even though we saw many whole soldiers, none of the clay soldiers found were whole except for the archer. They had all be smashed to bits and had to be meticulously pasted back together. It is really a massive project. At the other end of the stadium was the clay soldier hospital where the soldiers are pasted back together.

There is something to note about visiting the clay soldiers. The best time to visit is in the evening. Our guide was really surprised how empty the building was. He said everyone wants to go in the morning and there usually a line which continues outside the building. Tourists have only a few minutes at the front of the line to view the clay soldiers then they have to move on. We literally had the entire building to ourselves. We stood for the entire hour taking photos and walking around the entire building.

Immediately after seeing the clay soldiers, we had to grab something for dinner (KFC, which is very popular in China and just as greasy and disgusting there as it is in the states). We were then rushed back to the airport to catch our flight to Chengdu. We arrived at our hotel in Chengdu at around midnight. We stayed at BuddhaZen which is an old temple converted into a hotel.

The next day we had to get up at 6:30am to get ready to go to the Panda Research Center. Even though I was exhausted, the center was completely amazing. We saw baby pandas, one year old pandas, sub-adult pandas, and grown pandas. We also saw red pandas, which are related to the cat family and black swan floating in the manmade lake. I also paid too much money to sit with a baby panda. But it was totally worth it because he was so cute. His fur wasn’t soft like I thought it would be but rather rough. I also held his back paw which was warm. To placate the panda, he was fed honey on wooden sticks. He was very well behaved and let me stroke his ears, head, arms and feet.

Our guide then took us to experience hot pot, a local dish in Chengdu. We had the western hot pot which consists to two pots. The inner pot is hot spicy oil and the outer pot is a chicken broth. Meat, wontons, and vegetables are thrown in and cooked. It was very delicious.
The next day we departed for Lijiang, a beautiful town dominated by Snow Mountain. We stayed at the Banyan Tree and had a room with an amazing view of Snow Mountain. I spent hours staring at the mountain watching the world go by.

We visited Tiger Leaping Gorge where we were pulled by rickshaw drivers through a path blasted through the granite mountains side. We also visited Black Dragon Park , where snow mountain reflected in the lake; Old Lijiang (also known as the Venice of the Orient); and a Naxi village, local indigenous people. I got to learn a lot of about the Naxi from our guide as she was half Naxi. They are very similar to the American Indian as they worship nature and also have totem poles similar to the Eskimos.

We also attended the Impression Show at Snow Mountain. This show was produced by the same man who produced the opening show for the Olympics. The show was outside and had hundred of performers in native dress along with horseback riders. The music was amazing, along with the dancing and drumming.

We are now in Hong Kong at the Intercontinental Hotel. We have a room with a balcony and an incredible view of the harbor. Every night there is a laser show in the harbor and we have front row seats. We are headed to Bali tomorrow where I hope to have some true down time at the beach and Ubud area along with seeing the Komodo dragons.
(Look for Sara's reports on Egypt and Jordan, 11/28/11, and India, 12/5/11.)

India: Around the World in 50 Days with Sara Kras, Fall 2011 (Guest Post)

My friend Sara Kras and her husband went on an amazing journey this fall, circling the world with stops in the Middle East, India, China and the Pacific.  I think you will enjoy reading the reports of her adventures!  Sara is a children’s book author with books about animals and world cultures and geography.  Find out more at www.saralouisekras.com .
 
India is a kaleidoscope of color and sensation. We arrived at the Imperial Hotel in Delhi early in the morning. When entering the hotel, a wonderful smell permeated the air of pleasant flowers. This hotel was one of my favorites. It is like staying in a palace with many beautiful museum pieces such as huge silver mirrors and desks. The walls are adorned with art from the colonial period. The rooms are filled with marble and large wood pieces.

For my first lunch, I ordered an Indian chicken dish. On the side were some onions, cucumbers, and a single green bean, which I thought was strange. I ate the entire green bean and within minutes my entire mouth was on fire. I felt like I was hyperventilating and the room started to spin. After fifteen minutes of trying to shove anything into my mouth to stop the burning, it started to calm down. That was no ordinary green bean. It was a hot chili pepper! A common one used in India. Welcome to India!

We didn’t spend much time in Delhi as we were using it as a hub. However while doing a bit of sightseeing, I saw a man with two monkeys on a leash. He was walking them just like you would walk a dog. As we traveled, I found monkeys were everywhere in India. They scampered up temple walls. They ran through villages where children threw things at them to make them go away. They sat by the roadside. Sometimes baby monkeys rolled and played in the road. One man had trained a monkey at a regular stop for drivers. When our driver stopped, the man came next to our window and had his monkey put on a show. The monkey flipped, bowed and even tipped his make-believe hat. We gave the man 50 rupees.

From Delhi we flew to Jaipur, which is in the province of Rajasthan, the land of the Rajas. We visited the Amber Palace and the City Palace. Both were filled with opulent rooms and courtyards. At the City Palace an entrance way had been painted as a colorful peacock with a head above the doorway. In the Amber Palace, a covered outdoor area had been decorated with convex mirrors. You could use your imagination of how this room looked in the days of the Maharajas. Torches were lit and dancing girls filled the area. Colors whirled and fire sparkled in the room.

When we arrived at Amber Palace the entire front entrance, about one mile, was lined with elephants with tourists riding to the top. I had declined this as I had read the elephants there were treated poorly. Once we got into the palace there were hawkers and snake charmers. I sat on the ground next to snake charmer. He told me to put on a weird looking hat and blow in a dirty looking wooden flute. I told him no for both. The last thing I needed was lice in my hair or a bizarre bacteria from the flute.
I also went into a temple located at the palace. Inside you are supposed to ring a bell which sparks the energy of the god in the temple. I was the only white tourist in the temple, but still I gave the bell a good solid ring.

In Jaipur we stayed at the Samode Haveli which is a palace converted into a hotel. The original Raja family still owns the property and stay on the top floor. I felt like an Indian princess as our room had a soaring ceiling. The entire suite was made of marble. It had a narrow walkway behind our bed with windows looking on the back courtyard. There was a wider longer hallway which had an antique desk and wardrobe. The ceiling going between the rooms was pretty low and Joe kept banging his head. (Yes. A lot of swearing ensued.) I managed to bang my toe pretty bad on the step up between the rooms. Marble is a really hard material! But even so, the room was so unusual. I loved it.

While exploring Jaipur and other parts of India, I saw any type of mode of transportation you can imagine. There were men pushing carts. There were donkeys, horses, and even camels pulling carts. In Jaipur there were also elephants with brightly painted trunks next to the road. Men were riding bicycles, some having a passenger carriage on the back (rickshaw drivers) or a cart on the back with massive loads. There were motorcycles and mopeds. We saw a family of five on one motorcycle. (Of course, no one wears helmets here.) There are tuk tuks filled with passengers. The most we counted was 12 men all squished into one, some hanging off the back. There are cars, vans, commercial trucks, and buses.

All modes of transportation mentioned above are all on the same road! It is total chaos. They love to honk their horn here too. It’s constant. In addition to all this confusion, people are walking through traffic or across traffic. There aren’t crosswalks really.
Many of the cities are also really filthy. They have a sanitation and garbage problem that is very offensive. Pigs and cows wander the streets scrounging through garbage. In some places, raw sewage spills through the ditches near the roads. I saw one dead animal in the ditch left to rot. If you go to India and want to walk around, don’t wear your nice shoes!

There are large slums in every city where homes are made of plastic bags and cardboard. There are quite a few beggars too that pound on your car window and can be very persistent. It is very sad and you want to help everyone. I hate to say this but at some point you just have to tune it out.
Given all the above, India is still an extremely colorful country, especially the women. They dress in bright saris of yellow, orange, and red, sometimes with elaborate beading. I’ve seen women clinging to male motorcyclists in beautiful saris which sparkle as they fly down the road. In the countryside, bright orange saris decorate the fields where women work. Women with yellow saris walk next to the road with large brass pots balanced on their heads. It makes me realize how conservative and boring American women dress (including myself!) The temples can also be quite colorful painted in peach, pink, light blue, and red.

While in Jaipur, we also went to a private elephant camp call Dera Amer. It’s owned and run by a man related to the Maharaja family. I had an elephant experience where you get to bath and paint the elephant. My elephant’s name was Rangmala. I did not get into the water with my elephant which was good given that there where volleyball size elephant droppings floated in the water. However, I did get to give the elephant a good scrub and got splashed when she sprayed water on her back. Her skin was extremely thick with deep crevasses. Bristly hair grew on the top of her head. After scrubbing her, we waited for her to dry. Then I got to paint her trunk with green, yellow, and bright pink colors. Joe and I then rode Rangmala through the forest and back to the main area for dinner. It was truly a unique experience.

We also saw a bhoba perform in Jaipur. They dress in elaborate red outfits and have handlebar moustaches. They play a small instrument like a violin dancing and twirling as they play.
Joe and I visited the Taj Mahal which is extremely beautiful and breathtaking, as you can imagine. The crowd there is similar to Disneyland, packed. We sat and watched the sunset on this romantic tomb. It was completely magical.

While there, two Indian boys asked Joe if they could take their picture with him (probably because of his beard and tattoes). Joe’s first response was “I will if you pay me 10 rupees”. He was joking, of course. But this is something we ran into when taking pictures of locals.
We stayed the Gateway Hotel which is one of the Taj Hotels and had a spectacular view of the Taj Mahal. I got up early the next morning and watched as the Taj Mahal appeared like a specter in the white morning mist.

We then flew to Japalbur (a 2 hour flight) and then drove to our camp 4 hours away at Bandhavgarh National Park where we were almost guaranteed to see a tiger. We spent three nights there and went on five game drives (a total of 15 hours in a jeep on extremely rough road) and there wasn’t one tiger to be seen. Some jeeps did see tiger, but we just couldn’t seem to make one appear. It was extremely frustrating and sad. We were happy to leave. While there we heard that another couple had gone on 8 game drives and hadn’t seen a tiger either. I would say your chances are from 0 to 25% that you will see a tiger. The promotion of this park is misleading.

We are now back in Delhi and preparing for our trip to China. Overall, everyone must come to India. India is one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world. It is also one of the new super powers and is extremely busy right now. Their economy is booming and there is an electric buzz in the air.
(Look for Sara's report on China, coming up in January.)

Egypt and Jordan: Around the World in 50 Days with Sara Kras, Fall 2011 (Guest Post)

My friend Sara Kras and her husband went on an amazing journey this fall, circling the world with stops in the Middle East, India, China and the Pacific.  I think you will enjoy reading the reports of her adventures!  Sara is a children’s book author with books about animals and world cultures and geography.  Find out more at www.saralouisekras.com .

Around the world in 50 days seems impossible. But here we are, half way around in India! I’m so glad I’ve been taking notes because you forget all the wonderful small incidents that happen.

In England one of my favorite moments was next to the National Museum where I found a small church. I walked inside the chapel which had a domed, white ceiling with golden chandeliers hanging down. A small orchestra was practicing The Four Seasons by Vivaldi for the evening show. Several people were sitting in the chapel enjoying the free show and I was one of them. It was totally magical.
We stayed at the St James Hotel and Club which is close to just about everything. The hotel was a very cute, boutique hotel, but our room was quite small. It overlooked a typical old-fashion courtyard where a small outdoor restaurant had been set up.

We arrived in Cairo, Egypt three days later. Even though we landed at 5:00pm, it took us two hours to get to our hotel. The traffic in Cairo is atrocious. Four lanes on the freeway become five and sometimes six. Everyone is honking their horn and hardly anyone is moving. Granted this was rush hour traffic. But our entire stay in Cairo was spent fighting the traffic. It was difficult to get to all the sites because of this issue.

We stayed at Mena House and were immediately upgraded to a one-bedroom suite because of my 50th birthday. I was given the option to have a room in the new garden wing or the palace wing. Even though the rooms are dated in the palace wing, the view of the pyramids is simply amazing. You feel as though you could literally reach out and touch them! I spent many hours on our two balconies staring at these ancient wonders.

While in Cairo we visited the great pyramids and rode a camel. I only recommend this if you, the tourist, understand that the camel drivers will try to get more money from you. We did not realize that our tour guide had already paid for the camels and my husband gave them too much money. Our guide called the tourist police and they tracked down the camel drivers and got the money back from them. It was a hassle at the time, but actually quite comical later. Joe had to go into a little wooden hut and was surrounded by all of these Arab men, some police, our guide, and one of them we called the “Fat Man”. He was in charge of all the camel drivers and was negotiating the deal.
I also climbed up inside the Great pyramid. I do not recommend this. The slated walkway goes up about 90 degrees with wooden slates as steps. The first set of stairs went up about three stories. You also have to bend over as you walk as the ceiling is too low. Needless to say, I made it up the first set up stairs but refused to go any further. The next set of stairs went another three stories at least. My legs were totally shaking once we emerged.

We also saw the Egyptian Museum, Tahrir Square (where the protest took place), the subway system, Ali Mosque on the hill (the most amazing view of Cairo), a local market before the tourist market and an ancient neighborhood mosque in the local market. The local market was divided into product sections: one section had all kitchenware, another fabrics, and another spices etc. Donkey carts loaded down with goods squeezed through narrow alleyways. Men pushing carts filled with lumber stopped traffic. I was able to buy some very soft Egyptian cotton scarves which the local women wear. It was really a scene and a little bit frightening as we were the only tourist there.

We then flew to Luxor and stayed at the Steigenberger Hotel. The rooms were similar to a Holiday Inn, but the views were amazing. We faced the Nile River and were able to watch the hot air balloons take off in the morning at 6:00am. While in Luxor, which means many palaces, we visited the amazing Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple. These are temples that are featured in a James Bond movie. The tall pillars are filled from top to bottom with hieroglyphs. A long walkway between the two temples is being restored. This original walkway was lined with sculptures of a lion body and ram head which is one of the representations of Amon-Ra, the main god.
We also saw Hatshepsut Temple, which seemed like a lot of walking with not much reward and Habu Temple, which had hieroglyphs still painted with original colors. It was very beautiful.
We also visited an alabaster factory (a usual tourist trap). I, of course, bought a couple of pieces. I then went to use the bathroom. While in there the handle broke and the door would not unlock. One of the boys in the shop had to climb a one story wall and jumped into the bathroom with me and began to use a crow bar to tear the door apart. Our guide rammed the door with his shoulder and the door busted through on the other side. It was very funny. When we left, the owner of the shop ran out to our car and gave me a very ugly necklace and asked me to forget about it. The necklace is now called the “forget about it necklace.” I wore it for the rest of the day.
The next day we saw the Valley of the Kings, which is pretty amazing, but it has a dearth of information. I would have loved to see display panels interpreting the hieroglyphs.

In Luxor we boarded the beautiful Dahabiya Lara. We were the only passengers on board, so were given the master suite which had a sliding door and private balcony to sit and watch as we floated down the Nile River. There was a crew of about ten men. The manager on board was a British woman. She took care of everything. Taking a cruise on the Dahabiya was like stepping back in time. It’s a “gentleman’s houseboat”.
One thing I must mention about Egypt or any Arab country, take ear plugs. The Muslim clerics call all Muslims to prayer starting at 5:00am in the morning, then three other times during the day. This is done via loud speaker (usually blown out and distorted) attached to a minaret. All the minaret callers start at different times so it is not a coordinated song, but rather a disjointed cacophony. When the donkeys start joining in with loud braying, it really becomes a mess.
We traveled through the Esna lock which was very interesting. But then we spent the night in Esna, which was not interesting but loud and extremely annoying. We were there on Thursday night, a very popular wedding night. All the brides wanted their photos taken down by the docks where the dahabiyas dock. So trucks with loud, blown-out speakers drove by. Some parked and yelled and screamed until about 11:00pm. Esna should be avoided on Thursdays, Tuesdays, and Sundays as these are the popular wedding days. I believe there were eight weddings going on the night we were there.
The next day we glided slowly down the Nile in the cool of the morning. Papyrus lined the river bank and beyond it was a lovely bucolic scene. Men in long dresses waved as our boat sailed by.
Once we reached Edfu, we got a horse and carriage to the temple. Most of the horses were in a deplorable state. Their hip bones and ribs poked out. The horse and carriage drivers are in line to take the next tourist. I refused to get on the carriage selected for us as the horse looked completely starved. I selected a later carriage with a healthy horse. This caused quite an argument between the booking agent and our guide, but eventually they gave us the carriage I selected. I gave the driver a very nice tip and motioned for him to feed his horse. When we emerged from the temple, he was feeding his horse fresh green grass.
The next day we proceeded to Kom Ombo. Because of the revolution, we practically had the temples to ourselves. It was really amazing as, I believe, before the revolution the temples could be as packed as Disneyland.
The next night we docked outside of Aswan near a herd of sheep. In the morning, the shepherd took the sheep somewhere to graze and in the evening, he brought them back. One evening, he was carrying a newly-born black lamb.

While in Aswan we flew to Abu Simbel. This temple was quite small, but very interesting. Ramses II basically was sending a message to anyone entering Egyptian territory “Don’t mess with me or I will mess you up!” The temple was filled with battle scenes and huge statues of himself.
A side note: if you want to shop in Egypt, you have to bargain. When given a price cut it down to ¼ of the price and go up from there. Joe asked how much a mask was and was told 350 Egyptian pounds. I got it down to 120 Egyptian pounds with something else thrown in. However I stared the bargaining at 50 Egyptian pounds.
While in Aswan we visited the Philae Temple, the new Sofitel Cataract Hotel, and a large Coptic Church. Our guide had trouble at the Coptic Church as the day before there was a Coptic protest in Cairo and about 25 people were killed and over 200 injured.
Later that night, we had a special dinner on the banks of the river. The staff played drums and sang for us. Even though the dahabiya is not as modern as a cruise boat, it is the only way to see the Nile. Our room was air-conditioned, but the water and electricity was run by a generator. The generator was turned off every night at around 11:00pm and turned on in the morning at around 7:00am. Because of the plumbing, you cannot put toilet paper in the toilet, but rather in a trash can. Our room was cleaned every day and amazing towel “sculptures” were created on our bed. These comprised of cobras, a camel with a rider, and even the Nile River with our dahabiya floating down. Our house man was very talented. Also, the service and food were amazing.

The next morning we flew to Cairo and caught our flight to Amman, Jordan. While waiting to board, several severely injured men were loaded onto the plane. I asked what had happened to them and was told they had been fighting in Libya against Gaddafi. One injured man in front of me showed me videos on his cell phone of a person being beaten by Gaddafi’s soldiers. He was very animated about what happened, but unfortunately, I could hardly understand anything he said.
Once we arrived, we were picked up at the airport and driven to Petra and stayed at the Movenpick. This hotel is very modern and literally steps away from the entrance. We went to Petra at 7:00 am and arranged for a horse and carriage to carry Joe’s camera equipment. Many tourists took pictures of us as we rode through the narrow canyons to Petra. The Treasury was just like the Indian Jones movie. I hiked with our guide all around the area while Joe stayed behind to take photos. I thought it was pretty funny when a boy riding a donkey said taxi̧ basically asking if I wanted a ride.
After Petra we had to go back to the airport for our flight to Delhi. We left on the Desert Highway. Half the way to Madaba, the traffic completely stopped as there was a protest on the highway. Our driver had to cross a gravel area and headed back towards King’s Highway, a much longer route. We stopped at a Bedouin rest stop called “Sunshine” which had pit toilets (totally gross). We drank tea and looked at the amazing view of Wadi Mujib.
We were able to see the famous tiles and the ancient Coptic Church in Madaba, but it was getting close to our flight time. While trying to leave Madaba, the King’s Highway was also blocked off by a rope and a tractor. There was a protest immediately in front of our car. Some of the men with guns. I have to admit I was really scared. We were lucky as within about 15 minutes the rope was dropped and we were able to get the heck out of there.

Overall, the two countries we visited have very few tourists (for obvious reasons). The Middle East seems to be a big fat mess right now. But I do consider ourselves to be lucky as we had many of these amazing treasures all to ourselves and we are still here to tell the tale.

We have since visited Jaipur, India where we have ridden elephants, rubbed shoulders with snake charmers, and tromped through glittering palaces. We just returned from the Taj Mahal this evening. But India is a completely different tale to tell.
(Look for Sara's report on India next week.)