1997 - London Calling.

     Having blown big bucks on our last two family outings, our 1997 vacation budget was in austerity mode.  Unfortunately we had all gotten a bit spoiled as well and no one really wanted another boring trip to visit the great grandparents in Florida or Arizona. So we were really in a bit of a quandary until a lucky set of circumstances evolved solving our dilemma.

G as Olivia (and A as Viola/Cesario),  Twelfth Night

     As it happened, G's 5th grade IPI class happened to be studying Shakespeare and decided to put on "Twelfth Night."  This interest in The Bard spread homeward and I took to reading various Shakespeare plays to the girls as their bedtime stories.  Coincidently, my sister-in-law was posted to London and, courtesy of the US government, had moved her family into a lovely 4 story flat right outside of Kensington Gardens.  To add fuel to the fire (in my devious little brain) the reconstruction of the Globe Theatre had advanced to the point where they were allowing tours. O Fortuna!  A free place to stay in the heart of Shakespeare Country!  An Educational Adventure!  We booked our airline tickets faster than you could say, "MacBeth!"
     As this was the girls' first trip to Europe (not counting G's sojourn to Portugal at age 2) I wanted to make this vacation as "kid-friendly" as possible.  Thus we did many good ole fashioned touristy things.  We immediately visited the Natural History Museum, thus reassuring everyone that the UK had dinosaurs too (just like the US).  We took a boat trip down the Thames, saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace with the changing of the guards, Piccadilly Circus, etc.  We spent a lovely wet day at the Tower of London - this is an excellent place to bring children who enjoy good gory tales of princes locked in towers and queens losing their heads (literally) as well as a chance to see the Royal Jewels.  I don't know if it is still there but across the street from the Tower was a "Sights and Sounds of Medieval London" ride which advertised "smellavision" as part of the attraction.  A tad Disney-esque but perfect for teaching some British history in a gruesome yet amusing way.

London Bridge

Big Ben

The Tower of London

     Of course the highlight of our London stay was getting to see the new Globe Theatre.  For those of you who don't know your Shakespearean history, the original Globe Theatre is where Shakespeare's plays were produced in the 1600's.  The new Globe theatre was being built as an exact replica of the original and, when it was finished, would be the home of new Shakespeare productions (weirdly this was started by Sam Wanamaker, the American actor/director).  We were able to take a tour of the theatre and learn how the seating was almost in the round with the cheaper admission price entitling one to stand on the floor in front of the stage.  You can get a feel for what it looked like in the day by watching the "Romeo and Juliet" scenes in the movie Shakespeare in Love.
     Inspired by our tour of the Globe, but disappointed we couldn't actually attend a performance there, we opted to visit Stratford-upon-Avon,  birthplace of the Bard.  The girls were excited to explore the house in which WS was born as well as Anne Hathaway's cottage where the Shakespeare family resided.  We were also lucky enough to catch a performance of MacBeth by the RSC during our stay.

Shakespeare's birthplace

Anne Hathaway's cottage

 Ain't nothing like watching Shakespeare in his hometown!  We felt like Willie's homeboys checkin' out his 'hood!

     And as we happened to be in the neighborhood (the county of Warwickshire, that is) we HAD to stop at Warwick Castle.  If you have children and happen to be in the area you MUST go.  Warwick Castle has basically been around, in one form or another, since the year 914 AD.  It has a tumultuous history that, thanks originally to the Tussaud Group (which later became the Merlin Entertainments Group), truly is brought to life right before your eyes.  This is what started my family's infatuation with British (and later Scottish) history and castles in general.

Warwick Castle

The courtyard

The girls join the battle with the Earl of Warwick, known as "The Kingmaker"

If you are interested in learning more about this really fun and fascinating attraction, here is the link to the website: http://www.warwick-castle.com/

After reading about all the new stuff they have added I WANNA GO BACK!!!

Peacock of Warwick

     Our first London adventure whetted our appetites for more medieval history and castle exploration.  Thus began the next phase of our travels: the European years....


  

Belize Believer part 4 - Tikal, Guatemala

     From the 1960s to the 1990s Guatemala had been entrenched in a horrific civil war. Charges of mass murder, even genocide had been bandied about.  The UN had even named Guatemala the worst offender of Human Rights Abuse on the planet.  What better place to take your kids on holiday?
     Well, to be fair, the war WAS winding down by the time we snuck in through the backdoor (a formal peace treaty was signed 8 months after we were there, a direct response to our visit I'm sure, lol).  And we really only visited the vast Mayan ruins of Tikal.  But seeing all the guards armed with AK47s at the border was slightly unnerving.

     As the road from the Belize/Guatemala border to Tikal passes through the rural countryside, we were able to see how the indigenous people lived.  It was hard for the kids to believe that most people in the world do not have access to electricity and running water or plumbing.  For that moment, at least, I think the girls could really appreciate how lucky THEY were.

a Guatemalan village

     We finally arrived at our destination: Tikal, once the capitol of the Mayan Empire!   Tikal is so famous the even George Lucas filmed part of Star Wars Episode lV: A New Hope there.  Definitely the most fully excavated, and the most touristy (although that just means there were a few other people there), Tikal was a highlight of our trip.

Temple l

Temple lll

Temple 1 from Temple ll

Temple ll

the North Acropolis

Temples l, ll, lll, & lV as seen from Temple V

Of course we climbed every temple, even Temple lV - the highest pre-columbian structure in Mesoamerica!

     After touring Tikal the family was kind of "ruined out" so the rest of our trip was restricted to more sedate activities. We visited the Belize zoo and Guanacaste National Park.  We wound up our Belizean adventure with a stay at the Jaguar Reef Lodge (which was actually still in the process of being built it turned out) on the coast outside of Dangriga.  The barrier reef off the coast of Belize is famous for it's amazing scuba and snorkeling. However, in deference to my husband's somewhat limited swimming abilities (he often mistakes snorkeling for drowning), we decides to restrict our activities to boating out to an uninhabited island to go seabird watching, and having a wander around the Cockscombe Jaguar preserve.  No we didn't see any jaguars but we did end our vacation with a lovely swim under a jungle waterfall.

a tapir - Belize's National Animal

Belize's National Bird - the Keel-billed Toucan

Jaguar Reef Lodge (in it's infancy)

Man-O-War Caye - sea bird sanctuary

brown footed boobie (heh heh!)

Magnificent Frigate bird

the Magnificent Frigate is renown for it's huge red pouch which it inflates to attract the fairer sex

brown boobie in flight

Howler monkey

Bare-throated Tiger Heron

some very cute Homo sapiens sapiens

 Bathing beneath a jungle waterfall...











And so happy, tired, and more or less fully intact, we journeyed home ready to rest up, and more importantly, save up for our next adventure.

Belize Believer part 3 - Caracol

     The Banana Bank Ranch was in a good central location for exploring the Cayo district of Belize.  Our first stop was the ongoing archeological excavation at Caracol - "snail" in Spanish.  Although first documented in 1937, the recent large scale excavation was begun in 1985.  Enough of the site has now been uncovered for archaeologists to realize that Caracol was one of the most important regional political centers of the lowlands during the Mayan Classic Period.  The city spanned over 200 square kilometers and held twice as many people as the largest city in Belize does today.
     In 1996, however, most of Caracol was still jungle.  In fact it was quite a hike through the rainforest on a barely marked trail to get to the site, which was only announced by a piece of wood nailed to a stake with the word "Caracol" and an arrow written on it.

the rainforest in the mist: can a T-rex be far away?

  

     The rainforest was bathed in mist early in the morning, and as we traipsed through it, it would not have been at all surprising to see a herd of brontosauri thundering through a la Jurassic Park.   The most amazing thing about visiting this site in 1996 was that we were pretty much the only ones there.  As you can see by the pictures there are hardly any other people (except the actual archaeologists) around. As this was Central America, the rules were pretty relaxed so we got to poke around and climb all the structures which I am fairly certain is Verboten now.  As we explored the ruins we really felt like we were channeling Indiana Jones uncovering riches from the hidden temples.  I am just going to post some pics of the site - if you are interested in the history and/or what the excavation looks like today you can check out the Wiki link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracol.

a cenote - good place to throw your ceremonial offerings

most of the structures were still covered by vegetation

the big pyramid

there really was no one else there

  After our visit to Caracol, we stopped by a local cave to do a little exploring (we try and hit up any available caves wherever we go - I don't know why, lol).  

Then we hit up the "Blue Hole" for a quick refreshing dip before returning to the Ranch for a horseback ride through the jungle.

  The horseback ride.  Ahhhh.  Another memorable moment for Mommy.  I should have realized this might have been more than I bargained for when the nice lady assigning the horses inquired if the kids had ever been on a horse before.  "Oh yes!" they chorused.  I attempted to explain that they had indeed ridden ponies at the zoo and had been on a very tame horseback WALK on the beach in Cozumel (S being seated between my legs on my horse), but nice lady apparently chose not to hear that part. She hoisted the happy children up on their own full sized horses and, with the usual Central American attention to safety, did not provide any kind of riding helmets or actual riding instructions. And off we went.

    

The ride through the jungle was grueling enough (although quite cool!) with several of the adults almost falling off their mounts they made their way down steep ravines and river banks.  But the piece de resistance occurred once we finally broke free of the forest and I was silently thanking any and all gods that both my babies were still in their saddles and  intact.  As we started to cross an empty field, nice (and by nice I clearly mean EVIL) horse lady suddenly turns around to S and says, "say, would you like to go FAST?"  And before I can get any words out, the woman whacks S's horse on the rump and the horse begins to GALLOP ACROSS THE FIELD.  My heart is in my throat as I watch my 6 year old helmetless NON-EQUESTRIAN bouncing up and down in the saddle, little legs flapping in their stirrups, with a huge smile plastered across her face.  I have no idea how she hung on - I believe devine intervention was involved.  After what seemed like hours (but was probably only about 3 minutes) the horse finally stopped at the edge of the field and the rest of us trotted on over to catch up with her.  "Can we do that AGAIN!" of course were the first words out of the kid's mouth.  I believe the death stare I gave the nice horse lady encouraged her to mumble something about the horsies being tired and started the group meandering back to the ranch at a nice SLOW pace.

     After a nice medicinal cocktail (or 2) we settled down to bed as the next day would bring a new adventure - Guatemala!