Contrariwise ramblings

...it'll be almost time to turn around and go back home.

And that's exactly what I'm doing. One day of meetings and 1 1/2 days of travel to get back home.

Andrea of Castalian Designs was the first to guess where I am this week. She said the Gila Monster was the most critical clue and helped her narrow it down to the US Southwest.

So what about those clues I left for you on Tuesday?

First clue. The Gila Monster is found in the SW US and is native to the Gila River basin, where Phoenix is.

As I said on Tuesday, the Gila Monster even starred in its own B- movie. The stars of this ..ahem.. avant garde film are a sheriff of a small Texas town and a leader of a hot-rod gang who try to find out why teens have been disappearing. A series of tragic motor accidents occur (!) and it becomes apparent that a giant gila monster is roaming the area and depleting the town of its hot-rodding teen-agers. And guess who ends up attending the BIG record-hop party! (I saw some outtakes on youtube and they were pretty hilarious. They used a real gila monster on some scale balsa wood models - but it was SO CUTE!)


2nd clue. The mountain my daughter and I climbed is called Camelback Mountain because it resembles one (see right).

Obviously early settlers had active imaginations. Or maybe they never saw a real camel.

And there's a large rock formation on Camelback Mountain that's called the Praying Monk. Shown on the right, it's said to resemble a monk bent on one knee, praying.

(Didn't the settlers also partake of certain "mushrooms" found in this area?)

It's a lot larger than you'd think from the photo. To give you some perspective, below left is a photo of a professional climber as he scales the cliff walls of the Praying Monk. Pretty impressive.

(I think I would need to indulge in a lot of mushrooms or similar substances before I would try to scale a really tall and really vertical sheer expanse of rock like that one.)

The last clue was a play on the word "phoenix". I stated that this new city was founded on the remains of an ancient civilization. So, like the ancient phoenix, it arose from the ashes.

(OK. It was late at night and I had had a drink. It sounded like a great clue at the time.)

Stay tuned for another "Where in the World is Contrariwise" next week. I'll be heading for a more "distant" location.

I'm on a "4 business trips in 5 weeks" roll, and I'm off traveling again. This time it's a fairly short trip: about one and 1/2 days of travel and just a single day of meetings! (hint hint)

When I last played "Where in the World is Contrariwise" , I was really surprised at how quickly someone guessed that I was in Vienna! And I even thought the photos I used were pretty obscure - I know I would never have guessed the location!

I think this week's location might be a bit easy to guess, so I'm going to try to make it as hard as I can and not use the most obvious clues or photos.

First clue. The animal on the right lives here. However, even if you're a native of the area, it's pretty doubtful that you might see one. They're very reclusive and only come out at night - and rarely at that. One really interesting fact about these animals is that they only eat about 5 or 6 times a year.

A really cool creature, this animal even starred in its own B horror movie.

2nd clue. There are lots of mountains around here. But If I showed you a picture of a local mountain, you might be able to name it from its profile - it's quite well known. (So I'm not going to post it!)

I've even climbed this particular mountain with my daughter earlier this year!

On the left is what we saw as we just started our climb. (The large rock in the center is also a landmark and has a very picturesque name.)

It took us over 3 hours to climb the trail and get back down. I'm not as fast as my daughter. Here she is waiting (somewhat) patiently for me.

3rd clue: This is a relatively new city, being founded in the latter part of the 19th century and was actually founded on ruins of much more ancient settlements.



OK. Time to guess where I am!

Put your guesses in the Comments. If no one guesses right, I'm going to add some more clues later today.

Tomorrow, I promise to you know where I am and to explain the clues in this post.






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And we have a WINNAH!

Jen guessed that I was in Austria. Wow! good effort! But a blogger named Just Janes came even closer by guessing that I was in Vienna. (Links to her blog and etsy shop are here.)

The photos in my last post were from the Summer Palace in Vienna, called Schönbrunn Palace, which is one of Vienna's top attractions.

[ WARNING: the following paragraph contains a history lesson. ]
The palace started out as a hunting retreat for Emperor Maximilian II in the late 1500's. It was then built up in the 18th century to resemble Versailles…though it didn’t quite pan out that way. The original plans proved too expensive for the imperial budget, and the palace was significantly cut back in size—leaving Emperor Leopold I to make do with a modest 1,441 rooms as his summer residence (ouch!). In the days of Empress Maria Theresa (who had 16 children, by the way, before her husband died prematurely), the palace was elaborately remodeled and finally repainted in a pale mustard color—a shade that became all the rage in aristocratic circles and is still known as “Schönbrunn yellow.” (Website: Schonbrunn Castle)
[/ History lesson over. ]

If no one had gotten the answer to "Where in the World is Contrariwise", here are some of the other photos that I was going to post. The Vienna Opera House. Which, in person, is much bigger and much more ornate that I had ever imagined it. (Can you see the open arches on the first level? Well, the ceilings are decorated with ornate paintings.)


I didn't have time to go inside, though. You either have to have a ticket to the opera, or go on a tour.


And St Stephens, the Vienna Catherdral which they started building in the 1300's. I only saw this in passing. If I have time, I'm going to try to get inside.

I have business meetings for the next two full days. But I'll have some free time on Friday afternoon.

Hey, who knows, maybe I'll even find some bead shops.

Hmmmm.....I seem to recall something about Austria being know for crystals.


[Note to JustJaynes: no, you CAN NOT have my job.]

Stay tuned, there will be another episode of "Where in the World is Contrariwise" next week.


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OK, let me get off the topic of jewelry and change the subject.

Last month I went on a business trip to Rome. (Yeah, I know. Life is hard.)

It meant that I'd be away for a full week and my kids were really not happy about me leaving. They whined and kept asking me why they couldn't go with me. This was repeated, again and again, each time the trip was mentioned.

The night before I was to leave, I pulled my suitcase out of the basement and started packing. Emma, my youngest, decided that she had to help me pack. (Remember, help is a relative word when used by a mother.)

She suggested that she could easily fit in the suitcase and join me in Rome, but I declined her kind offer.

It was sad leaving, but I really had to go. But when I got to my hotel room in Rome, I opened my suitcase and I had a big laugh. Emma must have snuck her stuffed animal, Mooch, in there when I wasn't looking to keep me company.

I decided right then and there that Mooch would have to join me when I went sightseeing. And that's what he did. So here you have it: picture of Mooch taking in the sights of Rome.


Mooch, speechless at the sheer size and grandeur of the Vatican:
(At the Vatican, we also visited the art museums and the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos there. )


Mooch, gazing at the massive obelisk in St Peter's Square:

While there, we discussed how this was one of the intregral scenes of Dan Brown's novel, "Angels and Demons". And we both adamently agreed that it was a better book than "The DaVinci Code".


Mooch, in awe of the Colliseum:



Both sides of it!




Mooch, just after he tossed three coins in the fountain:
One legend says that if you toss 3 coins over your left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain, you'll get 3 wishes. I wonder what Mooch wished for? I know I was wishing for some gelato. Yum.



Mooch, basking in the glory that was once the Roman Forum:




Mooch, showing no fear at the Bocca Della Verita, also known as the Mouth of Truth. It's said that if you put your hand into its mouth and tell a lie, the mouth will shut.



Obviously, Mooch had a lot at stake:

All in all, Mooch had a great time in Rome but was happy to get home. Emma was glad to have him back and enjoyed hearing about his trip and seeing all his photos.

He was great company and may just become my permanent traveling companion!



BTW, Mooch was made by Uppity Woman's Designs. You can find her shop here.
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Yes, you may have noticed that I have not posted in AGES. You may have thought that something happened, and you would be right if you guessed that.

Once I stopped posting it was so hard to start again. Partly guilt, partly depression, partly inertia.

I did miss this blog though and I think I finally feel up to starting again.

First step: go back to where I left off and tell you what happened. So here we go.

I was flying to Barcelona to train a large group of people during a business meeting. But after the meeting, I had planned a few days of sightseeing and shopping with friends.

On the way there, I had only one layover. While I was waiting for my transatlantic flight I a got a phone call from my mother’s apartment. She lives in an assitied living facility and the staff had found her on the floor, somewhat disoriented. They had her up and she was sitting on her couch She seemed like she wasn’t in any acute danger but they wanted to send her to the hospital for an assessment.

How bad was it? I really couldn’t tell from what they told me.

I called my husband – luckily he answered – and told him the story. He rushed off to see my mother and get more details.

He didn’t think she was disoriented (not more than usual as she has some dementia). But she had told him that she had been vomiting during the night (flu???) and that there had been blood in it (effect of the warfarin / blood thinners she was on???). She really didn't think she seemed too bad but he was going to take her to the hospital and keep me updated.

What to do? I still had a chance to turn around and go home and gone home. But what if it was a false alarm and she was really OK.

At this point, my husband and I aggreed that I would continue my trip. He kept calling me with updates from the hospital up until the time I got on my 9 hour flight.

You can imagine how worried I was during the trip. I couldn't get any info until I got to Barcelona. The moment I landed I called my husband.

The update: my mother’s red blood cell count was very low and they suspected internal bleeding. She’d received 3 units of blood and she was going to have an endoscopy to see what was going on inside. And they thought she’d been in the hospital for 4-5 days.

Feeling terrible about it, I decided that I would go to business meeting but fly back as soon as my presentations were over.

I kept getting updates. They found bleeding in her stomach, which they cauterized. They also did a biopsy. After the transfusions she was feeling better. She would be discharged sooner than expected. Yay!

I spent 3 days in Barcelona, then flew back home just in time to rush from the airport to get to the hospital and take her home.

Not a good trip at all.

Since then, a lot has happened.

The biopsy came back positive and she was diagnosed with a gastric adenocarcinoma. She had to go into a nursing home for a short time after the hospitalization for rehabilitation. (She didn’t like that, let me tell you. She can be feisty!) After the bleeding stomach was cauterized, she’s felt much better. (She probably was bleeding for a long time and it was never caught.) We’ve been to an oncologist and have had all types of tests.

At 89 years of age, she’s decided that she does not want to have surgery or chemotherapy or radiation. I really don’t know how much time she has left, but she seems to be doing quite well. And she is still with us.

After I posted about my upcoming trip to Barcelona, I got a message from Daisy Chain Jewelry. Coincedentally, she'd just posted a list of Barcelona bead shops in her blog. She's from the UK and has been to Barcelona a number of times. (UK to Barcelona is just a hop, skip and a jump, compared to traveling from the Midwest.)

So with the info in her blog, a little googling, and Google Maps (gotta love them!), I mapped out some potential shopping sites during my visit!

The shops cluster in an area of town called the Gothic Quarter (Barr Gotic). Based on the map, I'd say this is less than 1 1/2 miles from my hotel.



Even with the bead shops being an incentive, I'm sure it's a place that I'll be visiting anyway. I understand that the Barri Gotic area is the area of the old town of Barcelona and it has lots of narrow cobbled streets with tall old buildings.

From what I've read about it, it seems like it's pretty typical with other "old towns" in major European cities - small squares surrounded with labyrinthine streets. From my experience, these kinds of areas are usually great places to wander around. (Most of the Barri Gotic is closed to regular traffic although open to service vehicles and taxis. )

I'm looking forward to getting lost in the many small streets and squares - hopefully filled with picturesque buildings, old shops, and newer boutiques.


(Museums, cathedrals and shopping - oh my!)

I'm looking forward to seeing a Barcelona as beautiful as pictures that I've seen. Here's one I found on flickr: A view of Barcelona from the terrace of the Park Güell, by the architect Antoni Gaudí, taken at dusk.

I've got my camera and laptop! Hopefully I'll have access to the internet and will be able to post some of my experiences while I'm there!


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When I was little, my father used to tell me stories about the many places he traveled to when he fought in World War II.

Orginally part of the Polish army, he was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Siberia, was released and fought in a tank for the British forces in Africa against Rommel. He also fought in Italy and in France and who knows where else.

He saw the pyramids, the deserts, religious sites in the middle east (now Israel), famous places in Europe.

He traveled so much that, after the war, he no longer wanted to go much of anywhere. When I was little, we never went anywhere on vacation. So I never got to see much of the US or any foreign countries.

That changed once I got married and joined the workforce. It used to be that people had to join the army to see the world. Now all you have to do is join corporate America. I've been to Europe too many times to count, Australia, Japan, and I've forgotten all the cities I've visited in the United States.

Saturday I leave for Barcelona. It's only the 2nd time I've been to Spain. I'll be there for a week. (As always, if I have spare time, I'll look for bead shops and try to find some unique stuff. Oh and some sightseeing too!)

Just for fun, I plotted all the places I've been to on business trips in google maps. Here's what I came up with, just for Europe. (Some of the cities I've been to multiple times.)

If you want to see the rest of the places I've been to, or more details, here's a link to my google map.

Oh, and I do plan to be posting next week from Spain!