Rachel Runs Wild

Ok, I will admit that Zach got the shorter end of the stick this summer. I had absolutely nothing to complain about. First stop was a two week visit to the East Coast to see my family (beach trip to the outerbanks of NC) and a short visit to NYC. Then I took off for some island hopping (just two islands) in Greece with James and Anna and some solo time in Turkey and then more Turkey adventures with Zach.




The cutie in the middle (besides my sister in law, Mel) is the star of our family - Lauren. In my opinion Lauren is cute and brilliant, already identifying some letters at the small age of (almost) two. The rest of the family is ok.



Me in Athens at the Acropolis. I think this building is the Parthenon.



Did you know that all of these white marble statues we are used to admiring in their simple elegance, were actually painted? Check out the definition on this woman's eyes. . . .




This is the Greece I had been dreaming of . . . this beach was so beautiful, we spent two days here. This is on the island of Rhodes.





After spending a day on the beach who wouldn't want to drink a massive beer out of a glass boot? The presentation was so surprising we decided to take a group snapshot (Anna, James, me). Here we are greasy and tired after a long day lounging in the sun.





Lots of time on boats . . . . here is James enjoying the scenery.




Ruins, and more ruins. It seems the neck was a very week spot on marble statues, because there were a whole lot of headless ones. I don't think my head is a great fit for this one, though.




I am not sitting on snow. I am now in Turkey on a four day solo jaunt in Pamukkale. This town was a Roman bath retreat because of the mineral springs that bubbled out of the hillside, coating the ground in a white coat of gleaming limestone.




Here you can see how the water collects in pools and flows down the hillside.




These are Roman ruins at the top of the limestone covered hill. I like this picture because for every huge monument, is an even bigger pile of rubble.




Prancing through a prickly field in between ruins . . . about to answer a call from Zach on my cell phone.





This is Ephesus, Turkey. It is known to be one of the most complete Roman sites.




Turkish delight (lokum, in Turkish). I guess Turkish delight is known for it's gummy (corn starch) properties. These multicolored candies are like juju-bees, but not too sugary. They also have rose water flavored treats.

Zach's London Summer

I, Zach, spent most of my summer indoors, but if you're going to spend your summer in an archive, you can do worse than the UK National Archives (formerly known as the Public Records Office). Everything is very accessible and organized. I also spent some time at archives in Durham, Oxford, and at the British Library.



The front of the National Archives, inhabited by geese and ducks and the like:



On sunny days in the neighborhood I stayed in, Hammersmith, locals would sun themselves in this very old cemetery. Bikinis and the dead, together at last.

istanbul video

It has been two months since a blog entry, so maybe one needs a vacation even from blogging? We'll be playing some catch up in forthcoming weeks. For now, here's a time-lapse video of a corner intersection of two pedestrian streets filled with cafes in Istanbul. It seemed like a lot of streets in Istanbul we're filled with cafes. This is late afternoon on a Tuesday, so foot traffic is fairly light. We stayed just near here.