I was very fortunate to be invited by my friend, co-worker and fellow Cascadian Becky to join a desert horseback ride to see the Giza Pyramids. She has been taking lessons at Cairo Horse Riding School, which has beautiful facilities in Giza.
Goat traffic on the way to the riding school on a small, country road in Giza. This is not typical of Cairo traffic at all!
Although the last time I rode a horse was during a childhood summer camp, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to experience a different perspective of the pyramids. The owners of the school, Tamer and Jenny, were very friendly and patient with this beginner. Tamer stayed near me and led my horse, Sumayah, a white Arabian.
The first glimpse of the Pyramid Complex!I like this picture because of the contrast of the desert on the left and the green farmland of Giza on the right.
Especially because I’m not too keen on riding a camel due to ethical reasons, I definitely recommend the experience as an alternative way to see the villages and stables in Giza and the neighboring Great Pyramids.
Jenny, me and Becky on our Arabians with the Giza Pyramids in the background.
It was a very quiet and peaceful experience. Parts of the desert felt like we were in another world or the set of “Star Wars,” which was filmed in Tunisia, not too far from here, I guess!
View of desert riders and the city of Cairo in the distance.
We saw Egyptian riders at full gallop enjoying the wide, open space of the desert. Because it is December, it wasn’t too hot, but the sun is still pretty powerful. And there was a desert wind, as the sound on my short video reminded me.
The desert “café” is a great place for riders to stop and take a rest.Tamer leading the horses to a resting spot.
When we reached the viewpoint of the Giza Pyramids, we stopped at a tent, where a man came out to take our order for tea and cold beverages. I could get used to this view and service! And now I have seen the pyramids from the north, east and south (desert).
Me with my mint tea enjoying the view. As I get older, I’m less shy about doing new things!The three largest Pyramids of Giza and the three smaller ones on the left are the Pyramids of the Queens.
I definitely felt like a tourist when I decided to go and see the Giza Pyramids sound and light show, but I didn’t care. I am part tourist and part temporary teacher transplant. I read online that the show was a little cheesy and that is exactly what convinced me to go. With a free weekend night, I set off.
My entrance ticket outside the gate. The English show runs every night.
Although there are a multitude of tour companies offering to pick you up, deposit you onsite and take you back home, there is no need to book a “tour” to do this. Just arrange a taxi, driver or Uber to take you and wait out the hour-long show. Even as a foreign woman alone on a Friday night, it was fine.
I paid 135 Egyptian Pounds (about $8 USD) for a “front row” seat, but as most tourist things in Cairo, even on a weekend, it was not busy nor did I have to fight the crowds. As soon as I walked in, I saw the Sphinx in front of the outlines of the three largest pyramids. I think that was worth the ticket price alone. Although I had seen the pyramids from afar, this was my first up close and personal. And with the lack of crowds, you really do feel like you have a private audience with the pyramids.
The illuminated Sphinx, with the body of a lion and the head of a person, is quite smaller than the pyramids but still impressive.From smallest to largest: Pyramid of Menkaure, Pyramid of Khafre and Pyramid of Khufu.
Somebody corralled me and told me where the best seat was (the far right, front). I sat down and waited for the show to start. With a booming narration and moving lights, the show tells the story of how the pyramids were built and how they survived the ages. There are images projected onto stone walls as well as the Great Sphinx of Giza himself.
The Great Pyramid Complex illuminated by colored lights. If you have a tripod for your camera, bring it with you.The Great Sphinx. Can you spot his lion paws? The Sphinx is thought to represent the Pharaoh Khafre, whose pyramid is behind the Sphinx from this view.In this view, the Sphinx is superimposed with a mask, a nose and a false chin/beard.
One of the things I’m most proud of in my culture is the sharing of food. My mom instilled in me the love of cooking and eating and not being afraid to try new flavors. Robert likes to tell the story of the first time he came to my parents’ house for dinner and my mom continued to fill his plate with food every time it was empty. Food is how we show love.
One of the central activities of my visit in Kiev was shopping for, cooking and eating meals as a family. The kitchen in my aunt’s house was the central area where everybody stayed up late talking and joking and of course, gathered for meals, snacks, drinks and nibbles.
My first night, and almost every night following, we had cake. The Roshen brand of cakes in Kiev are so good. My mom bought one once in the states, which was imported from Ukraine, and it just wasn’t the same.
Left to right: “Smetanyk,” a sour cream cake, and “Kyivsky” cake named after the city of Kiev/Kyiv. This cake has two light layers of meringue with hazelnut, chocolate glaze, and a buttercream icing. Easily my favorite cake.
The next day, we went to a membership bulk store called Metro. My mom and I wanted to buy everything! The aisles of tea, chocolate, bread and cookies were amazing!
Obolon brand of beer. I liked the label of the traditional red embroidery. We chose a few beers to try. Slavic beers tend to be high alcohol and very low in price (50 cents).Bottles of kefir, a fermented milk drink. It has become popular in the states, but again, does not taste as good in the states as it does in Ukraine.Very happy to sample different types of black and rye bread, with and without caraway seeds.
When we came home, my aunt started preparing the dough to make vareniki, also called pierogis. These are filled dumplings of Eastern European descent. My mom usually made them with mashed potatoes inside. My aunt prepared them with sour cherries. I think I ate a dozen, or at least I wanted to!
Cherry vareniki with a little bit of honey.
The next day, we went to a Roshen factory store. Roshen is a confectioner that is owned by the current president of Ukraine; how interesting is that? It was also previously called the Karl Marx Kiev Confectionery Factory. At any rate, it was like we were all Charlie visiting the Chocolate Factory.
The refrigerated cakes section. The boxes are so pretty. It was tempting to want to try them all.My cousins and I next to the cakes and eclairs. Yum.Pink zefir in bulk at Roshen. Zefir is sort of like a marshmallow, but better. It’s made by whipping together fruit puree, egg whites and sugar.Robert loves orange jelly slices so I made sure he got a bag of these.“Cherry Queen” cake from the Roshen store. It was sort of like a Black Forest cake.
For breakfast, my aunt made pancakes called oladi. They are made with kefir in the batter and they get really puffy and doughy as they cook. We usually top them with sour cream and sugar.
Oladi pancakes browning in the pan; my aunt is not afraid of oil!
For dinner, my cousin went down in the cellar to take out a jar of tomato juice and pickles. My aunt and uncle have a farm where they grow a lot of produce and can it for the winter months. We had a simple dinner of potatoes, pickles and bread.
Herbed potatoes with pumpernickel bread and homemade pickles. The small jar has “adjika,” which is a spicy sauce.
The following day, we made the hour-long bus ride to the country where my aunt and uncle have a house. It is next door to the house where I grew up. My uncle was there keeping an eye on the property and he met us. Although it had decided to snow lightly, my uncle wanted to have an outdoor barbecue. The small village was so quiet and peaceful, especially with the fragrant smoke of the outdoor fire and light dusting of snow. And the air was so crisp and clean.
My uncle grilling some pork skewers.Proudly displaying the finished skewers.The finished dinner. My aunt fed us so well. I think this picture exemplifies a simple, country feast.This was one of my favorite things I ate: home-canned tomato juice, black bread and a sprinkle of seasoning salt in unrefined sunflower oil. The oil was so thick and had a flavor of its own. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest sunflower oil producers.
Dinner the next night consisted of borscht, the famous Eastern European soup made with beets and cabbage. In addition to the soup, we had vodka, black bread, roe and “salo” pork fat.
Sour cream for the borscht soup, salted fish, vodka, bread, “salo” pork fat, and roe.Red beet borscht soup with an eggplant dip and a layered crepe dish.
One of my cousins wakes up so early for work—like 4 a.m.—and returns home around 10 a.m. On her way home, she would pick up some cookies or pastries for us to try. My mom and I had been requesting these walnut shaped cookies called “oreshki.” The next day, she brought these rolled waffle straws and various pastries.
Oreshki cookies filled with boiled sweetened condensed milk (dulce de leche).Rolled wafers with caramel and cream, coffee cakes, poppy seed rolls and cheese muffins.
Our last meal, we (by “we” I mean my aunt; she didn’t let my mom or I help the entire time) made a giant salad and fried potato pancakes called “deruny.” They were so good. When I try to make the oladi or deruny pancakes at home, they never come out very good. I think it’s because I’m scared to use too much oil.
A giant SPACEBA (thank you) to my aunt, uncle and cousins for all the cooking, shopping, chopping and preparing they did during our visit.
Salad and potato pancakes topped with sour cream, of course!
It’s been nine months since we left Japanand although we did some exploring around Cascadia, I haven’t had much opportunity for travel since Viktoria left for Cairo. Fortunately, a recent work trip took me to Pennsylvania and I stretched it into a weekend in Philadelphia.
I dropped my co-worker for an early flight, which gave me an opportunity to get a jumpstart on sightseeing. I dropped the rental car off at my Airbnb in the historic Italian Market neighborhood, put on my walking shoes and set out on the town. The unseasonably warm November weekend would be full of walking as the transit workers decided to go on strike, but we’ve had experience navigating a transit strike before, so I was good to go!
48 hours and 60,000 steps later, I checked off everything on my Philadelphia bucket list.
The South 9th Street Curb Market, better known as the Italian Market, has been home to produce stands, cafes and shops run by not just Italians, but immigrants from around the globe, since the late 19th century. Today’s market has an increasing Latin American influence.The beautiful Washington Park is home to the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier memorial. Completed in 1957, a bronze statue of George Washington overlooks the remains of either a Colonial or British soldier.An icon of America, most stories around the Liberty Bell are more myth than fact. The truth is that the bell actually cracked during its first test strike and had to be recast twice. It was finally replaced in 1876.Independence Hall as seen from Independence Square where a crowd gathered for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.The Assembly Room in Independence Hall. The “Rising Sun” chair at the front of the room is where George Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention that drafted the United States Constitution.A sign outside the front door of Independence Hall, the birthplace of the United States of America.A view of the Christ Church Burial Ground from a window in the U.S. Mint building. Benjamin Franklin is the cemetery’s most famous occupantThe gravesite of Benjamin Franklin and his wife Deborah in Philadelphia’s Christ Church Burial Ground. Visitors leave pennies in honor of Franklin’s motto of “a penny saved is a penny earned,” but the combination of weather and the penny tosses have caused damage to the gravestone including the large crack.Outside the United States Mint. Photos aren’t allowed inside the largest of the Mint’s four coin-producing facilities. If your coin has a “P” or no letter, it was produced in this building!A statue of a lion squashing a snake in Rittenhouse Square, one of the original five public park spaces planned by William Penn in the late 1600s.Philadelphia’s City Hall was the world’s tallest habitable building from 1894 until 1908. Until the completion of One Liberty Place in 1987, builders in downtown Philadelphia had a “gentleman’s agreement” that no building would be taller than the hat of the William Penn statue atop the City Hall spire.Located across the street from City Hall is the Board Game Art Park, home to an installation of oversized board game pieces called “Your Move.”Since 1892, Reading Terminal Market has been the home to butchers, produce vendors and more. Today you can find Amish specialties and three shops run by descendants of original market vendors.The battle of the cheesesteaks… in this corner, Pat’s King of Steaks!… and in this corner, Geno’s Steaks!The rowhouse has been the domicile of choice in Philadelphia since the 1700s. Even today, nearly 60 percent of Philadelphians live in a rowhouse.Looking down South Broad Street toward Philadelphia City Hall early on a sunny autumn morning.Dilworth Park outside of Philadelphia’s City Hall has been transformed into a community skating rink for the holiday season.The Thinker sits outside Philadelphia’s Rodin Museum. Casts of the statue exist around the world today. We saw the original two-foot tall version in Musee Rodin in Paris during our travels around Europe.Since 1897, George Washington has kept watch over Eakins Oval in front of the famed steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum.The Lion Fighter, cast for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, now stands outside the Philadelphia Art Museum.A statue of Rocky Balboa, cast for the movie Rocky III, stands in the shadow of the Philadelphia Art Museum. Several visitors ran up the steps, recreating the inspiring scene from the original Rocky movie.Boathouse Row lines the shores of Fairmount Dam on the Schuylkill River. The boathouses are home to 15 rowing clubs and is considered to be the home of rowing in the U.S.The neo-Gothic Eastern State Penitentiary operated from 1829 until 1971 and pioneered the modern approach of prisoner reform vs. punishment. The gargoyles are not permanent, but placed as decorations for the annual Halloween haunted house event, “Terror Behind the Walls.”A sign on St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church signifies that it was the site where Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment, although the Historical Commission oval above it actually pays homage to the nearly 200-year-old church.A ship is moored in the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Philadelphia’s Navy Yard.
I love perusing local markets whenever we travel—farmer’s markets, craft fairs, bazaars, souks in Egypt, flea markets, night markets. It’s even better if they are happened upon spontaneously. Some of our best meals while traveling have been at outdoor markets in Rome, Bangkok, Tokyo, Taipei, Berlinand Brussels.
While staying with my aunt in Kiev, Ukraine, we went several times to the local bazaars to look for souvenirs, clothes, household items, vegetables, and even wedding veils. It was definitely one stop shopping.
I was reminded that in a lot of parts of the world, people don’t go to a grocery store or a department store to buy the things they need. Going to an outdoor market and haggling for the best price is a daily occurrence and one of the best ways to experience a culture as a tourist.
I liked the texture of these knit shawls. I can’t imagine how much work it would take to make one.Wool gilets and fuzzy slippers. My mom bought wool socks for the whole family and a warm vest for me. I am a crybaby when it comes to the cold. Thanks, Mom!My cousin with me while I tried on a mink hat. It was very warm but… poor mink!Rows of colorful embroidered linen shirts. Some are embroidered by machine and the ones done by hand are more expensive (and rightly so!).My sister is getting married so we checked out the multiple aisles of wedding dresses and accessories. The dresses were about $100.One of the many aisles of the market, thankfully with a roof for the winter weather.Souvenir t-shirts. The ones in yellow and blue say Ukraine and display the three-pronged crest.These meat pies were baked in a clay oven. The dough is thrown against the walls of the oven and sticks to the side as it bakes. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like it.Bags and bags and bags of onions. My aunt says that people stock up and keep them in their cellars. This guy’s wife is probably telling him over the phone how many onions she wants.I thought it was funny this vendor had a couch in his watermelon truck.Everything you can imagine, pickled, brined or fermented and for sale!These look like colorful, waxy candles, but they are actually like dried fruit roll-ups.Every variety of shallot and onion imaginable.These winter pears were so juicy. There were lots of signs that said, keep your hands off!Trays of cranberries just in time for the holiday season.Peppers, onions, beets and more for sale in bulk.
When I was in Ukraine, my cousins took me on a city tour. We covered a lot of ground and it was one of my favorite days of the trip. When Robert and I travel, we long for the local experience from a local’s perspective. I was lucky to have that on this trip, probably more so than any other travel I’ve done. My cousins knew where to go, how to get there, where to park the car, how much things cost, what to eat and drink, etc. Those things are important when you’re a tourist and can make or break your trip. I didn’t have to do an ounce of planning or prep. Thank you, family!
In a car ride earlier that week I had spotted a “Lady Liberty” type of statue in the city center. We started the tour there in the memorial complex of National Museum of History of Ukraine in the Second World War. The statue is called Mother Motherland and she towers over the area that includes the museum and the nearby famous church, Pechersk Lavra. Mother Motherland has Communist roots (“Mother Russia”), as do most things in Ukraine because Ukraine has only been independent from the USSR since 1991.
Mother Russia watches over the city.
The last time we were in Ukraine, in 2004, I remember seeing a lot more statues of Lenin and Stalin and the like. This time around, I learned that the Ukrainian parliament outlawed Soviet and Communist symbols in 2015. Because this particular statue is a part of a World War II memorial, it’s allowed. Her shield has the hammer and sickle of the Soviet Union. Especially with the current conflict with Russia, I don’t know how modern Ukrainians make sense of the horrific legacy of Communist dictators. The reminders are everywhere. The trips back to Ukraine always foster a sense of gratefulness and survivor guilt—my parents were able to leave when so many couldn’t.
View of Kiev across the Dnieper River from the top of Mother Motherland.Sculptures in the Alley of Hero Cities depict the 1941 German invasion and terrors of the Nazi occupation.A cat resting in the alley of statues.An artistic map of Ukraine with red poppy flowers. Ukraine chose the flower as a remembrance symbol for World War II victims.A military tank painted in the colors of Ukraine’s flag, blue and yellow. The blue represents the sky and the yellow, fertile fields of wheat.
Next, we walked to the nearby Pechersk Lavra Orthodox Christian church. It’s also known as Kiev Monastery of the Caves because of the underground caves containing the catacombs of male monks buried there. We did not go inside because it was a sunny day and I’m not a fan of dark, enclosed spaces. Too much to see on the outside!
Leaving the WWII memorial complex, you can spot the domes and bell tower of the Pechersk Lavra church.Entrance to the Cathedral complex and park of Kiev Pechersk Lavra.The Monastery of the Caves church and the Great Lavra Belltower behind it.One of the entrances to the Pechersk Lavra. The colors in this picture remind me of Rome.
We kept walking through some cool downtown districts. The buildings very much reminded me of Prague with their pastel exteriors. We came upon the Memorial in Commemoration of Famine Victims in Ukraine, also known as Memorial to Holodomor victims. There is an exterior statue called the Candle of Memory. Underground, there is a Hall of Memory museum that contains artifacts and a book of names of people who were lost in the famine. My cousins found some of the names on their family’s side.
This statue, named the Bitter Memory of Childhood, is dedicated to the most vulnerable victims of starvation—children. The little girl is holding five stalks of wheat because that is all that was allowed. Picking up wheat left on the collective farm fields after harvest was considered a crime and was punishable by imprisonment or death.
One of the horrific legacies of the Communist era was the man-made famine imposed by Stalin in 1932-33. Holodomor means extermination or genocide by hunger. In order to stomp out the Ukrainian independence movement, Stalin sent his soldiers to take every ounce of food away from Ukrainian people. By the end, more than 4.5 million people died (the actual number is probably higher). Most of those were children; two-thirds of children did not arrive to school in September 1933. And not because of some agricultural or natural disaster, because of the actions of one dictator. I was teaching “Animal Farm” to my students and I tried to explain it to them, but no one can really explain it or make sense of it, can they?
Inside the Hall of Memory museum, there is an art project called One Grain One Man. It uses grains of wheat, Ukraine’s greatest source of wealth, to visually depict how many people died during the famine.
Next on the, “In a complicated relationship” front is the Friendship of Nations Arch dedicated to the unification of Russia and Ukraine within the Soviet Union. In light of the current war in East Ukraine and those de-Communist symbol efforts, the rainbow arch is going to come down. Behind it lies a beautiful panoramic view of Kiev along the Dnieper River.
Side view of the friendship arch.Views of Kiev and the Dnieper River.This city landscape includes the golden St. Nicholas “on the water” Church to the right.My cousins and I with this “Masha and the Bear” bear. It’s funny because one of my cousins is named Masha.
Last, we made our way to the city center’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti or “Independence Square.” Ukraine’s independence movement and political rallies started here in 1990 and it was the site of the October Revolution in 2004 and 2014’s Euromaidan, or “Ukrainian Spring.” The last conflict started when Ukraine made moves to join the European Union. But, of course, Russia opposed it and started the conflict that is still occurring in East Ukraine.
These signs showcasing 25 years of independence were all over town.Views from Maidan Nezalezhnosti, “Independence Square.”
At this Independence Square, more than 100 protestors died in February 2014 as a result of sniper and open shootings on unarmed protestors. There is a memorial to their deaths including pictures of all the deceased.
A cross stands to commemorate the deaths of the Euromaidan protests in 2014.Memorial for killed Euromaidan participants at Heroes of Heavenly Hundred Alley.Bracelets of yellow and blue and flowers left at the memorial.The sign on Independence Monument states “Patriots Liberation Headquarters.”
Despite its tumultuous past, I felt very safe the whole time I was in Kiev. Both my mom and I were very surprised to find a modern Kiev unlike the one that we remembered from 10+ years ago. The city is beautiful and very affordable for travelers. There is no conflict in Western Ukraine where Kiev and Lyviv are located. There is no visa required for U.S. travelers. If you ever find yourself in Europe, add a couple of days in Kiev.
