Madrid and Paris

Ok, now not really any stories or any real post, but just some pictures of my trip to Madrid followed by Paris (with Anna). First, a great view on the square where my hotel was located (the Me). Actually, the hotel was a little too 'cool' but still great. It was like a lounge club to chill. The best thing were the light buttons next to my bed, including the 'sexy' button, which turned the room pink! Next came the drinks on Mayor Square.

Next came Paris, where Anna joined me after my work. Hanging around the north and meeting up with friends somewhere around Pantheon. Of course we couldn't miss the tuilleries.


Finally, we ended up at the Mont Martre where we found the painter who actually had painted Anna 11 years(!) ago, and got him to paint us together this time.

All Pictures in One Post

Golan and goodbye

Thursday, I went for a drive to the Golan height. However, I hadn't thought of the fact that it was New Year. This means that all Israelis go and visit their family, apparantly all by car. When I finally arrived in Golan (after a 4 1/2 hour drive), the park I wanted to visit was closed and the sun was beginnning to set. Driving around in the mountains to find some nice views, I was suddenly stopped by a barricade and a hummer with some nice IDF soldiers asking me why I was driving to Lebanon. The answer: 'I'm a tourist'..... did not make a big impression. They kindly suggested me to turn around and go play tourist somewhere else. Driving back, I noticed this sign: DANGER MINES! Fortunately, there was a big fence between me and the mines. My route back lead me past the river Jordan. Next, I took some shots while driving.

The night ended together with Charlotte (a new American friend) on the Tel Aviv beach. When walking to the beach, we noticed that the restaurant we were heading for, was located opposite to Mike's Place, a bar that got hit by a suicide bomber in 2003 killing three and wounding over 50 people.

Conference

Although the conference isn't really about travelling, it is the reason for this travelling and deserves some attention. The other other reason to mention it is that it was the first time I chaired a workshop on CBRN. Therefore, two nice pictures: one of me presenting and one of me chairing.Wednesday, the conference ended (with a great dinner and an even better night out, thank you Deanna!!!!).

Negev

Although I went into the dessert on Friday, the Saturday trip was the 'real thing'. First I visited a 'desert' park where a number of pretty sight are connected by a road. You take the car to visit the very hot (40 C) park. However, everytime you leave the car to walk to one of the sights, the car heats up, heats up and heats up more....

After the park, I drove the road by daylight I had driven in darkness on Thursday. For some reason, it took me longer by daylight than by night. Ignorance can be a blessing :-)

Eilat

Waking up with this view.....mmm, life is good. Herods Palace is an excellent hotel on the Israeli shore of the Red Sea with a view of the huge Jordanian flag. After doing a refresh dive (my last dive was more than 6 months ago) at Lucky Divers I enjoyed lunch at the hotel (the drink is a strawberry-mango shake).

Next stop was the desert in my perfect driving Mazda 3 (automatic, but with a 'manual' tip touch for sport/fun driving ;-). Behind from where I took the picture of the car, a signed guided me to the 'trail' and advised me not to leave this trail. Comforted by trail builders interest in my well being, I continued. However, after a couple of hundred meters I took this picture of the trail. Indeed, it does not look like a trail, it looks like a pile of rocks. This is when I decided to go back and to try my luck from the car. However, after driving into a road leading to a 'place of interest', the following sign came up:"drive only on roads marked with paint"........

Sometimes challinging, it was a beautiful ride!

Tel Aviv and the road to Eilat

Tel Aviv from my hotel room: beautiful beaches, sun and a big city. After waking up and enjoying a nutritious fattening breakfast, I spend the whole morning on the phone and my computer to fix things that needed fixing.

Just before 1200 o'clock check out, I made some pictures of the city and my seaview. Indeed, the weather is very good: 30 degrees!

Next, I went for some shopping in the nearby mall. The Haifa experience had taught me the importance of a good tourist guide. So I ended up with the Lonely Planet guide. Since one of my lunch appointments excused herself (sick :-( ), my other lunch partner and I decided to have lunch in Herzliya instead. However, I did not realize that after the lunch,would have to drive to Eilat, through the traffic of Tel Aviv (Herliya is North of Tel Aviv, Eilat South) in rush hour. Fortunatly, the Israelis are very creative and innovative people. When there is a traffic jam on the road, you just go off road into the dessert:

Unfortunately, no pictures of my trip to Eilat. At 1830 it started to get dark, at 1900 it was. Dark in the Negev dessert means black. No light, just upcoming traffic taking over at the moment I approach. I have had quite interesting moments during this trip that have, unfortunately, been lost.

Haifa

Israel, a good place for business, an even better place to spend the time off after business. After a meeting up north (after all, I am in Israel for work), I decided to visit Haifa.

Not the best of my ideas: even with GPS you have to know an exact destination. The GPS does not have a 'show me the route to the best places to visit in Haifa. After meeting a nice city guide named Oksana, things changed. Not even
did she tell me where to go, she offered to show me around. Who said that Israelis are no nice people?
We visited the Baha'i Shrine (the HQ of a faith that preaches the unity of all world religions). The top right picture is the shrine, the leftone is a picture of the gardens.

Of course, there is the 'Iwas here' picture of me somewhere near Mount Carmel.

 

Next stop was Ceasarea, one of Israel's most beautiful archeological sites.

Blog start

Here it starts, my travel blog. What I intend to do is to post some pictures and maybe some stories on my travelling. Some of the travel is for fun, some business, but all are posted. The idea is to keep people I know updated on where I go and what I see and do.If we have not been introduced yet, but you enjoy the blog, please continue doing so.

Some pictures will be of people I meet, others of places.

Please enjoy reading and watching my blog as I enjoy making it.