Ethiopia pictures

We have almost been back for month and I have just realised I still haven't put up any pictures from Ethiopia. So here goes.

We had a little stopover in Istanbul:

But finally made it to Ethiopia to look at 2,000-year-old stelae in Axum:

And then it was on to trekking in the Simien Mountains:

And looking at 16th/17th-century castles in Gonder:

Visiting monasteries around Lake Tana:

And the amazing rock-hewn churches of Lalibela:

And then, of course, Addis Abeba, the capital:

This is obviously just a selection. For more pictures, see: http://picasaweb.google.com/FedorvanRijn/EthiopiaDec10Jan11?authkey=Gv1sRgCLTuvefUyPSPogE#

Christmas time

Deck the halls with boughs of holly,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

 'Tis the season to be jolly,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Don we now our gay apparel,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Troll the ancient Yuletide carol,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

See the blazing Yule before us,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Strike the harp and join the chorus,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Follow me in merry measure,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

While I tell of Yuletide treasure,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Fast away the old year passes,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Hail the new, ye lads and lasses,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Sing we joyous, all together,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Heedless of the wind and weather,

Fa la la la la, la la la la.

This is one of my favourite Christmas carols and I wanted to share it with you, in case you - as I did - don't know the full lyrics. I tended to get stuck after the fourth Fa la la la, la la la la and didn't know how it continued. Anyway, it makes me happy to sing it and to write it down.

Christmas is coming and  I won't be here. We are leaving for Ethiopia tomorrow and are going to spend nearly three weeks there backpacking and getting to know the country. This will be my first time in Subsaharan Africa and I am quite excited and curious. As a result, we are not celebrating Christmas with good company, a 10-course dinner and oodles of alcohol as usual, which is a rather strange realisation. In fact, as most Ethiopians are Coptic Christians, they celebrate Christmas on 7th January and we are coming back on the 5th. Which means we won't have any kind of Christmas this year. Nor a New Year's Eve party, because Ethiopian New Year is actually (ironically enough) on 11th September.

It is a good thing we get to leave Berlin for a while though, because it has been freezing here and I am about to give up on life. Ethiopia won't be hot, but an enjoyable 20-22 degrees C in the daytime, which will be enough to get my mind off snow & ice, slippery roads, freezing toes, backaches and a continuous desire to sleep.

To give you an idea of what Berlin has been looking like these past couple of weeks, here are some pictures I took of Schlosspark Charlottenburg when Femke and Ruud were visiting us a couple of weeks ago:

I hope you are all well and I wish you all the best for 2011. May it be the year all your dreams come true - and if they already have - may you dream some more!

Merry X-mas and a happy New Year!!