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Annual Letters:
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004
At a Glance:
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004
JanuaryNew Years day is celebrated for the first time in Darlington at the Capsticks home with the Bates family and friends. In mid-month we fly to Sharm El Sheik and after a week take a ferry to Egypt where we see wonderful Aswan, Abu Simbel, and other temples we missed in 1985. |
FebruaryAn all day bus takes us to Jerusalem where we get installed in an apartment and love it, after the first day's cold is past.We celebrate Gerry's 60th birthday with a trip to the Golan Heights and northern Israel. |
MarchSuicide bombings and other dangers don't seem too important to us as we go about seeing the old city in detail. After many false leads Gerry finds his second cousin, last seen in 1973 and there is an exciting re-union. |
AprilWe give up on going to Jordan & Syria because Jan thinks it too dangerous and get a last minute flight to Antalya, Turkey. On arrival we know nothing of the place but fall in love with the sea and mountains and see Aspendos, Perge, Termessos and many more. |
MayThere is so much of Turkey that we can't see it all. In the end we follow the coast right up to the Bosphorous and Edirne, seeing Ephesus, Pergamon, walking the Gallipoli battle fields, etc. and etc. Our last week is spent getting a three day taste of Sophia, Bulgaria and Bucharest, Romania. We like them both, but communist hangovers are very evident. |
JuneThe first week of the month takes us to the churches and mountains of eastern Romania and we want to see more and more. But we go on to Ukraine where Jan gets so much practice at Russian that her head spins, Gerry walks the streets of the village where his mother was born, and we are positively enchanted by Kiev and Lviv .. |
JulyVisa up, we cross into Poland and feel ourselves back into the first world. Krakow and its churches & castles from the middle ages really makes it live up to its reputations, as does Prague. Four days in the Tatras are a beautiful change. We get back to England, as scheduled, to go to the wedding of our nephew — the first of many similiar events in July, August, and September.. |
AugustWeddings, family, bicycling, and web work. That about sums it up. An outing to High Force and Cauldron's Snout for a walk and a picnic, to Redcar for the beach and to Beamish for its open air museum. Jan got in touch with two classmates from Primary School days. |
SeptemberWeddings are temporily over, but the rest is the same.We gradually increase our bicycling from 5 miles at a go to over 25 miles at a time. We finish the month and our stay in Britain by going to London for three days to attend Mick and Dinah's wedding cum retirement party; we get to go tothe London Eye, see the Wallace collection, and catch up on two old friends as they pass through London. |
OctoberWe hopped a plane from Heathrow and in 12 hours were in our great digs on New York's east side. In the first week we were very busy helping with Moshe and Cristhiane's wedding. Then we settled down to lectures, concerts, friends, family. |
NovemberStill in NYC, we walked all over the place, made several excursions to friends in New Jersey and Westchester, went to two great operas, and did research on Gerry's family tree at the National Archives. |
DecemberAt long last we found — not one, but two -- places to stay in DC. A great bus ride took us down, we got settled in, and it snowed the next day, giving us a chance to hike in the snow for the first time in years. Then it was lectures, museums, friends, and family and quiet days with the laptops. |