Valborg in Uppsala part 3

One of my favorite boats, because it is made to look like a banana!!

Crazy students on their boats in the river Fyris.

Valborg in Uppsala part 2

Here I am with mommy and more crazy Valborg-celebrating students!

Valborg in Uppsala

The Spy vs Spy guys were scary. They made me cry!

Whoa, check it out! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!!

Here is a dragon boat.

The Swedes have this crazy celebration on the last day of April, called Valborg (or Walpurgis). It is a big deal in Uppsala. The students build funny boats that look like floats for a parade. Then they ride them down the river through town, over the waterfall. Several of them fall apart along the way, dunking the silly students in the super cold spring melt water! Brrrrrr! They also have champagne and strawberries in the morning, and then party all day. At night they have big bonfires. We got to see the boats and some drinking, but not the bonfires... I couldn't stay up that late.

Springtime in Uppsala

Okay, now that I can walk, I don't crawl very often anymore. But sometimes it really is the fastest way to get somewhere! I am a speed crawler!

Springtime in the park!

Stockholm for Easter Saturday part 3

Ha ha ha!!! I promise it wasn't me that knocked down the Easter bunny! But I figured I should run away pretty quickly anyway, in case someone was mad about it.

Here I am with the Easter bunny!

Dad took this picture because in the background is the neighborhood he lived in while his parents were on sabbatical in Stockholm. He remember walking around in Gamla Stan with his mom and sister Jenny when he was 13.


We also walked around in Gamla Stan, which is the old town in Stockholm. It's very touristy, as evidenced by the funny tourist shop in the background here. Notice I am pointing again!!

Stockholm for Easter Saturday part 2

It's hard to tell, but those are reindeer! They had big fuzzy antlers.

Here I am riding on a Swedish horse statue.

Behind me you can see a hut that is a replica of what the Sami people live in, in Northern Sweden.

Stockholm for Easter Saturday part 1

They also had pony rides at Skansen! But I am too small for pony rides. I like to watch the ponies, anyway.

Skansen is a big outdoor museum that replicates life all around Sweden, with small versions of towns and farms. They also have a zoo! My favorite animals were the lemurs (especially because it reminds me of my namesake, King Julien... I like to move it move it!!). If you look closely at this photo you can see a baby lemur having some tasty leche from his mommy.

On Easter Saturday we went to Stockholm to spend the day being tourists. First we had lunch at a little cafe near Djurgården, outside of Skansen. As you can see, I am really really into pointing at things!

Gamla Uppsala on Earth Day

We spent Earth Day out at Gamla Uppsala ("old Uppsala"). The mounds in the background are burial sites. The site was an important religious and economic center during the Middle Ages, and actually for many hundreds of years before and after. Swedish kings would hang out here! The mounds are thought to be the graves of three kings from the House of Ynglings.


We were puzzled by this big pile of sticks, but then dad asked one of the guys bringing more sticks for the pile, and found out that it was for a big bonfire on Walpurgis night, to celebrate Valborg, which is the last day of April. The Swedes are really serious about celebrating spring!!


Here I am with the mounds in the background. It was a beautiful sunny day so I got to roll around in the grass. I learned how to point recently so I am doing it all the time!

Big walker

Julian turns one!

Dad made me a delicious carrot cake for my first birthday! It had flowers and candles on it. We invited over some friends over for my party. They were Byron and Amy Crump from Maryland in the US, with their kids Emma, Edgar, and John. Byron is here on sabbatical at Uppsala University also! We also had Alex Eiler and his daughter Alesia over. Trina was on Alex's thesis committee here back in 2007. Alex's advisor, Stefan Bertilsson, came with his sons Egon and Ola. We all ate cake and played with balloons. It was a great party!!

Here I am eating my cake.

Hanging out at home in Uppsala

Here I am playing in the fridge at Ellegatan 6 in Uppsala. I love to take the yogurts out and put them back in. I also hid an eggplant in with the pots and pans. Shhhhhh don't tell mom and dad - I am saving it for when I get really hungry!

I was playing so much that I got super tired and fell asleep while dad was changing my diaper... zzzzzzz...

Ein Gedi kibbutz (Dead Sea)

At the Dead Sea, we stayed for a couple of days on a kibbutz at the Ein Gedi oasis. The kibbutz was founded in the 50s as a totally isolated farming community, but now has a spa, resort, and botanical gardens. I loved playing in the pool!
I also had fun scooting chairs around in front of our cabin. I would pick the prettiest flowers and collect them on my chair to show mom and dad.
And I made friends with a kitty! I have a kitty named Hazel back in Madison, and I miss her...
The view from the Ein Gedi kibbutz, overlooking the Dead Sea and Jordan.

Dead Sea

Next we drove to the Dead Sea. Things sure are different from the green hills of Galilee! All around is desert, and the water is 33% salt! Nothing can live there, except tourists. It's hard to believe, but we're more than 1000 feet below sea level - the lowest land on earth.
Here's dad floating in the Dead Sea. It's so easy to float that he's reading a New Yorker magazine that Libby gave him. Check out that salt accumulation on the wooden piling! Behind dad is what appears to be an "East River floater".
Mom and Dad wallowed around in the Dead Sea mud, which is supposed to be good for your skin. I don't know about that, but it looks like fun!
Can I do a mud treatment?

Jerusalem part 2

Here I am practicing my walking outside the Jaffa Gate of Jerusalem's old town. Dad helped me a little, but I also walked on my own! We also drank fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice, which was very tasty (note empty cup).
Am I facing East? Is it wrong to pray for more pomegranate juice?
We went to a late-night booze shop to pick up hotel cocktail supplies. Grandma and Grandpa Sauer told us about it, and Grandpa used to go there when he was a kid living in Jerusalem! The shop owner was nice - he gave me a lollipop.
Riding in Mom's pouch, with the Jaffa Gate and David's Citadel in the background.

Jerusalem old city

Here we are following Jesus' way of the cross down the alleys of Jerusalem. Dad was so busy trying to get the palm dates into the picture, he only got half my head!
Here's me and Mom in front of the Wailing Wall. Dad went down to the wall to see the worshipers and all the little notes stuck in the wall.
We took a short tour of the Jewish Quarter, and here we're standing in front of the old synagogue. It was mostly destroyed, but naturally they build a bigger one next to it. A little boy sidled up to warn us: "Don't pay your guide more than 150 shekels!"
We went into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is on the site where most Christians think Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. There was a long line to see the tomb! Jordan is behind us. It looks like he is peeing, but he says he wasn't.

Nimrod Fortress

Today we went to the remains of the Nimrod Fortress on the slopes of Mt. Hermon in the NE corner of Israel. It's way up on top of a hill! It was built in the 13th century by the Ayyubis and the Baybars to protect the road to Damascus, presumably by someone with the unfortunate name of "Nimrod".
Here is Libby at the exit of the secret passage from the fortress. The stairs were steep and wet and dark, so I had to hang on tight to Dad!
The Rock Hyraxes have their own secret passages!
Here we are at the Gamla nature reserve. The town of Gamla was on the steep hill behind us. In 70 AD there was a last-ditch battle here between the Jewish rebels and the Romans, and it ended badly for the rebels. We hiked to the ruins and got really muddy!
We also saw Griffin Vultures, Dolmens megalithic structures, a waterfall, and other cool stuff.

Golan Heights in Israel

We drove all over the Golan Heights overlooking the Sea of Galilee. This is an old Syrian gun. Now the Israelis have this land, and they painted the gun pink with pretty flowers.
Here's me and Dad. A little rain won't spoil our fun!
We saw the Israeli army people having lots of fun near the borders with Syria and Lebanon. They were driving lots of tanks around in the mud! We also saw their model airplanes (Dad called them "Predator drones"). There were some places we couldn't hike because there are old mines that nobody has cleaned up.
Here's a picture of one of the valleys we were driving along. Everything is so green from all the rain!