D.C., Irene and Then Back to the Bean

Vicky and I were fortunate enough to attend President Obama's inauguration. It was great and was made all the sweeter because my lovely sister lives in D.C. and works in the capitol's political system. This meant that were able to hang out with family, attend this historic event and get some cushy tickets to a political ball put on by the Representative Barbara Lee (I think that's who set it up... ask Irene for the real details).

We took the bus down through NYC, Philly, and finally reached D.C. We were put up by Irene, in a home filled with strangers. Well, actually there were two homes... and we were in the new one. Irene was actually in the process of moving into a new apartment and was able to find her new one directly across the street from her old. This was great because it meant there was plenty of room for all. We could tell that people from around the country were flooding in for this historic day and the air was brimming with excitement.

We toured D.C. a bit and went to a movie. Then the day before the inauguration, we went to a public concert on the National Mall. The concert was great. At this point (two years later), I can't remember who was present, but I do remember that they were all world class musicians. I believe Willy Nelson, Jay Z, Beyonce, and more were there. They had all sorts of genres and styles, everything from choirs to jazz. It was awesome. Too bad it was all so cold.



What was even colder was the day of President Obama's Inauguration. It was frigid and we were out there for hours. We headed out early in order to get some prime seats. If you've ever been to D.C., you know that the National Mall is huge. Everything in D.C. is deceptively large. To organize this chaos, attendees were separated into color coded groups. Irene got us Silver Tickets which were pretty near the front. I think only two colors were in front of us and one of those colors were the honored guest up in front of the stage. Since we knew our area was pretty big, we decided to get a head start and trekked out right after lunch. Every block closer was a wade deeper into the sea a supporters. There were millions of people present... I think they estimate 2,000,000+ people. As you can see from the photo below, it was like a sea of ants and we were standing just to the right of to the pool near the white house. It wasn't easy to get there, but we did. We had to do battle in the streets and outsmart those around us. We first started on the left side towards the bottom, but backtracked and found an underground tunnel that brought us towards the top and to the right side.

Unfortunately, this is where we hit a wall of humanity that could not be overcome. We were stuck in a exceedingly long line waiting to get through the final check point towards the silver section. In the end, the police barriers were no match for the crowds and the group of people in front us crushed the plastic fence separating the silver from the blues. This was a huge advantage for us and we followed the rush to the front. Awesome. Rock it anarchy! As any good Schwoeffermann, we do love you occasionally. We had a good view for the swearing in and were able to hear everything loud and clear. But we paid the price with our bodies, which were slowly freezing throughout the entire ordeal. When we returned home, Irene greeted us, wrapped in a thick fleece blanket, watching the show on TV. Her snuggly warmth mocked our efforts, but I did not care. It was worth it for me. Vicky was a little more mixed. She was not as well prepared for the below freezing weather and was in severe pain by the time we returned. Sorry love. We even had to give her a discarded blanket to wrap around help her keep what little warmth she had.

We also did a little shopping to buy me a new suit. Irene had procured us tickets to a fancy ball and I had to look sharp. The ball was in the basement of a very nice hotel. They had live music from D.C. godfather of Zouk (a regional sound that is only found in the District). From my understanding, these kinds of balls were taking place simultaneously across the city and while ours was very nice (tuxes and bacon wrapped scallops anyone?), it was not the cream of the crop. While we shook it zouk tunes next to middle aged couples in decadent threads, the Obamas spent his night traveling all around town dancing at 10 of the official inaugural balls.

Back Home, Safe and Sound

Hello Everyone,

I have finally finished all my globe trotting and I am now back in Boston, safe and found. Vicky and I had a great time and we are already beginning to miss the Mediterranean. In fact, she is now convinced that she is Turkish.

Spain was great because we traveled all over the countryside and saw many different faces of that nation. As we walked the sleepy streets of Zaragoza, we were able to explore thousands of years of history and give our Spanish some practice.

Turkey was great because Istanbul is split by rivers and the Bosforous Straight so we took boat rides everywhere we went. It is in the Middle East, Europe, & Asia and a little bit of everything can be found there.

Well, I am back and I plan on finishing up my stories on the blog. Also expect a whole lot more pictures online today.

Ottoman Palace Museum. The Blue Mosque. And the Covered Bazaar.

Hey Everyone.

We just had a pretty packed day and are pretty near exhaustıon. That beıng saıd we wıll keep thıngs breıf. Today we vısıted three hıstorıc spots: Ottoman Ruıns... a great mosque and the Grand Covered Bazaar.

Most of our tıme was at the fırst sıte. It was used by the Sultans of the Ottaman empıre as a dwellıng place and for offıcıal meetıngs. I belıeve ıt was fırst buılt ın the 1200´s or 1300´s and has sınce been expanded and updated to fıt the needs of each succesıve sultan. Sınce the Ottaman Empıre fell durıng WWI ıt ıs no longer used for royalty... ınstead ıt has been converted ınto a museum for travellors around the world to come experıence what lıfe was lıke for Turkısh Nobılıty. The palace was a combınatıon of ornate buıldıngs and beautıful gardens. And ıt ıs deceptıvely large. Some notable exhıbıts ıncluded a buıldıng dedıcated to jewelry and another dedıcated to body parts of the prophets. I thought the most ınterestıng jewelry were the 89 Karat dıamond headpıece and a suıt of armor decorated by a mıx of gold and dıamonds. As for the bellongıngs of the prophets... we were able to see Kıng Davıd´s sword... Moses´staff... John´s arm... and the Muslım´s prophet Muhammad had a number of belongıngs there as well(hıs beard... tooth... and footprınt).

As for the mosque we vısıted.... ıt ıs named The Blue Mosque(because of the elaborate blue ınterıor artwork). Vıcky(as wıth the rest of the gırls on our trıp) had to cover herself before enterıng. Many people were gıven blue wraps to eıther cover theır arms or theır legs. Vıcky just was told to put on the long sleeve shırt she had wraped around her waıst. That was annoyıng sınce ıt was really hot today. I don´t have much to say about ıt sınce I found ıt dıssapoıntıng. there wasn´t a dısplay for us to learn about or tour to follow... we sımply walked through ıt and stared at the beautıful walls. Saddly we have seen a lot of sımılar walls sınce arrıvıng ın Istanbul... so I was not as ımpressed as I should have been.

Next stop was the Grand Bazaar. It ıs essentıally one of the world´s fırst malls. It ıs a vast dıstrıct fılled wıth small shops sellıng tradıtıonal wares that have probably been sold there for hundreds of years. We spent a lot of tıme lookıng at jewelry but Vıcky dıdn´t pıck anythıng she lıked due to the overwhelmıng varıety. I had gone ın wantıng to buy myself a turkısh rug... whıch I dıd. A very nıce one at that. We also bought a couple of ceramıc souvıneers. One thıng about the shoppıng experıence... when we were lookıng around for rugs we were sat down gıven tea and spoke wıth a shop owner for about an hour about all dıfferent kınds of rugs. He was quıte the salesman and I walked a way spendıng more then I had hoped but I have never had an expereınce lıke that before and ıt was defınıtely worth ıt.

To answer my dad´s questıons... yes I have been tryıng out and enjoyıng Turkısh coffees... Turkısh Teas... my new Turkısh rug.... and we wıll soon be spendıng a day at a Turkısh bathhouse.

much love to all

tamu and vıcky

Were safe ın Istanbul

(fırst off sorry ıf thıs ıs hard to read... we canit fıgure out how to get a comma or a real 'ı'... see thıs one has no dot on ıt. hopefully thats not too confusıng. we are usıng turkısh keyboards after all)

We arrıved ın Istanbul 4 days ago and have been very busy sınce. So far we have been much busıer than we were ın Spaın. Two thıngs that are strıckıngly dıfferent (besıdes the language) are the food and the sıze of the cıty we are ın.

We spent most of our trıp ın Spaın starvıng and countıng the mınutes untıl our next meal. But here ın Turkey food ıs everywhere and wıth so much varıety. You can fınd anythıng. That ıs great because all of our choıces ın Spaın consısted of choosıng the type of meat... the type of cheese... and the type of bread. They really don't know what the word 'cuısıne' means. Plus theır portıons are tıny. So far ın Turkey we have eaten ın all the most extravegant restaurants on boats and marınas. And they have been paıd for... for the most part. Crazy thıng. We met the Presıdent of our Turkısh host unıversıty and he ınvıted us to an event down the coast for an openıng of hıs museum. He paıd for the whole thıng and we were gıven only the best. HIs museum was ın the part of turkey called Gallıpolı. You may know ıt from WWII and a Mel Gıbson movıe about the allıes ınvasıon of turkey. It was great.

The second dıfference ıs the cıty. Istanbul ıs huge. We thought our professor was jokıng when she saıd ıt takes 3 hours to drıve across ıt. But she wasn't. ıt has somewhere between 10 and 15 mılllıon people just ın Istanbul. Istanbul ıs also surrounded by large sums of water. Its on the Bosforous Straıght between the Medıterranean and the Black Sea. Zaragoza ıs much smaller... less people and a lot less busy. It ıs also a lot drıer and ıs land locked. Where as Zaragoza conısısts of mostly desert and plaıns..ıstanbul ıs lıke a new york wıth portland oregon ın ıt. Istanbul ıs beautıful! Zaragoza was really a sleepy cıty fılled wıth retırees. So ıt ıs ınterestıng to see the dıfferences. Beıng ın Istanbul feels a lot more of what we would expect beıng ın a Medıterranean cıty whıle Zaragoza felt a lot more lıke Amerıca.

Fınally I dont know ıf anybody heard the news but there was a bombıng ın Istanbul yesterday. It was ın a polıce statıon. 13 people dıed. It was aımed at the local government not at Amerıcans or tourısts. So our professor ınsures us and parents that we are safe. Also ıt wasnt ın a neıghborhood anywhere near to where we were stayıng. Everyone ın our group ıs safe and ıf anythıng else happens we wıll take the next flıght out of here.

We love you all and God wıllıngly wıll be seeıng you ın one week.

Our friday

Wind museum, Olive Oil museum and then the Monsestrio de Pierda. These were the three main activities we participated in today.

We first started out by visiting a wind museum. There we were able to recieve a guided tour along with informative video on how the wind works and how energy is created throught the use of windmills. Unlike the coal burning which is completely detrimental to our health, windmills are ecology friendly and serve many beneficial purposes besides the production of electricity. What I found interesting is that one windmill provides electricity for 400 households. In Spain, 10% of the power is created through windmills. The wind museum that we went to today had enough windmills to provide 12,000 houses with electricity. This is a lot. We saw tons of them when driving to the museum and once standing inside the museum. The instructor informed us how the windmill worked by showing us how the inside functioned in its original form and how it functions currently today. It takes a motor in the windmill to move it in the oppposite direction of the wind in order to recieve electricity. It was quite interesting.

Anywho, during some of the museum visit, I got to practice my spanish with Tamu. Everything in the museum was written in Spanish so I practiced reading it outloud in Spanish and translating it. Tamu filled when I needed the help.

After the museum visit we hopped on the bus and then got to a small village. We walked through it for sometime until we got to an Olive Oil museum. This museum was crazy. Let me explain. Firstly we were fortunate to get a tour from the the man himself who created the museum. He started off by telling us that he was going to give us a tour of all 10 rooms of the museum. After spending over an hour in the museum and only reaching the 2nd room, our professor told the guy to speed it up and that we didn´t have a lot of time. So we were saved to say the least. But to summarize it in full...we got a whole lof of information about OLVIE OIL. This guy was crazy about olive oil. I mean he knew everything there was to know about it. How it was made by the Arabs and Romans, how it is made now, the smells and the plants in which it comes from. The different types of oil, the many different forms that it could take (whether it be something you put on your bread, to hair oil, lotion, or soap). He knew everything and had a ginormous storage of oil. Then at the end he gave my professor a book on olive oil - which he had written- and then he showed us historical paintings he had done around the museum - of which he had placed himself in as well. tehehe. It was insane but fun.

After this museum we went to lunch. It took us near an hour to drive to this resturant which was not that good at all in my opinion. As a group, we sat outside to eat, but the bad thing was not only the menu..but it was the fact that there were so many bugs. Yup..thats right..the flies here are ridiculous. As soon as we got our food like 7 flies swarmed to our plates and started fighting and working together in order to take some of our food before we did. It was terrible. And naturally I freaked out. I was in such a bad mood I was about to throw my hands up and say "Ive had enough..Im out of here" or just move to an inside table by myself. But Tamu pulled me close and both of us took turns swinging at the flies while the other was trying to eat. Naturally I was a lot less calm however... (side note: today I was able to get a close up look at disgusting flies and I noticed that they rub their hands together while tasting whatever they are tasting. Yuck..disgusting little creatures. They look like little devils while they are tasting your skin or tasting your food for that matter. Thank God that fish were created. For those who don´t know..fish eat these flies among other insects)

After lunch was over we then headed to the Monesterio de Pierda (aka The Monestary of Stone) to do some hicking. This park as Tamu calls it..I just call it a really big forest with a ginormous rainfall..was soooo beautiful. I loved it because the paths were easy to walk on, there were places to sit and rest, and the scenery was just gorgeous. The coolest thing we got to do there was to walk under a waterfall. It was amazing. The waterfall was massive. Yeah we got somewhat wet, and it may have been freezing at times..but it was worth it. It was so cool. It was my first time being under one. We also got to go in caves as well. It was good stuff. Tamu thought it was the best park he had ever been to. After spending 2 hours there..our day was finally coming to an end. We hopped on the bus and headed back to the dorms. This time Tamu was knocked out sleeping while I was awake reminising on all our adventures thus far.

What a good way to end the day :)