2007 Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to my annual Christmas (now New Year's) letter.

In January, I moved into my new apartment. At first it was quite empty while I was waiting for my shipment from Canada, which took over 11 weeks. I also became a two bike household after I purchased a second bike for riding around the city. The dedicated bike path infrastructure here is excellent and you can easily manage without a car.

In February, I found a Canadian expat group which has a social activity approximately once a month, such as the Christmas dinner party where they served Nanaimo bars as dessert.

UNICEF also has many parties and functions. . In keeping with the international culture of the office, my centre organized an Egyptian themed costume party, and then in March; there was a Latin Salsa party and an Indian Diwali celebration.

In Europe, Easter is a major holiday and we had five days off. So in April I took this opportunity to visit one of my previous cities of residence, Prague. It was my first time back there and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had not changed as much as I thought it might, especially once you got away from the main tourist areas.

In May, the days got longer and the temperature got warmer in Copenhagen. I welcomed my first visitor when my mom, Virginia came for a visit. By the end of the week, she was like a local, even taking the train to the airport on her own.

At the end of June, I retuned home to Canada and had the pleasure of meeting my six month old nephew Henry for the first time. I stayed with my sister and brother in law in their new house in Vancouver, and then we all spent more time together with my parents in Winnipeg.

At the end of July, I enjoyed spending time with my cousin Paul and his family when they came to visit. For anyone interested in a trip to Copenhagen, I offer a convenient location close to major sights as well as a selection of complimentary fine wines.

In August, I enjoyed an excellent vacation through the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. All three countries were very diverse, interesting, well worth visiting yet still relatively untouched by mainstream tourism.

Both my parents came to visit me in September. First they went on a tour of Russia, and then I met them in Stockholm from which we drove north to visit our relatives from my Grandpa Johnson's side. Even though we had not met before, they welcomed us and took us around to see the homes where my great grand parents Olivia and Gustav had lived, and the church where they were married. It was a great experience for all. After returning from Sweden, we set off on a four day 250 km cycling trip around Denmark, staying in hostels, carrying all our gear with us, and navigating our way through the bike routes.

I started Danish classes after work in October. Although I can recognize quite a few written words, the pronunciation is very difficult and it is easy to avoid practicing because the Danes speak English so well.

In November, I had the opportunity to take a business trip with UNICEF to meet with my colleagues in the New York headquarters. I also took a few extra vacation days for shopping and sightseeing and saw the lighting of the Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree, Fantasia in The Color Purple on Broadway, and was even on TV myself for a few seconds while watching The Today Show.

A few weeks later I was back in North America again in December. Although short, it was great that I could spend a white Christmas at home in Winnipeg with my family.

Take Care and Godt Nytar.

Colleen

2008 Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Welcome to my New Year Letter.

In January, I returned back to Denmark to a busy month at work completing the year end closure. January is actually a good month to have to work long hours in Denmark because it is mostly dark anyways.

In February, I took a week’s vacation in Jordan to celebrate my birthday. It was quite a packed week, floating in the Dead Sea, snorkeling in the Red Sea, walking and jeeping in the desert, and of course the ancient city Petra. I spent two full days at Petra, the first, visiting the main areas, and the second hiking above Petra (which few tourists do), looking down at the sites below, which was not only the highlight of the trip, but also happened to be my actual birthday.

In March, I continued yoga and Danish lessons, neither of which I am particularly good at. I am getting better at reading Danish (I can watch American sitcoms with mute and understand the Danish subtitles), but I still find the pronunciation very difficult.

In April, I had special visitors. Michelle, Mark and Henry spent a week with me here. We did quite a few day trips from my apartment, and they also came to visit me at work. Henry’s vocabulary had expanded a lot since Christmas, and I enjoyed being able to interact with him.

May was probably the best month weather wise in Denmark, and was a good time to go on some more longer cycling trips. I went on a three day trip cycling and camping around a little Island called Bornholm.

In June, my parents returned for another visit. First they went on a tour of Ireland, and then came back to Copenhagen and all three of us went to Iceland for five days. It was very interesting, with a lot of unique geothermal activity and Viking history. We swam in the blue lagoon, rented a car to see geysers and waterfalls and did some hiking. We did quite a lot in a short time, and were lucky to be there during the longest days of the year, when it was pretty much daylight for 24 hours.

In July, I did quite a bit of flying. First I went to New York for work for a week, and then returned and less than a week later was backing home to Winnipeg for two weeks. I was able to see many people and spend some time with my family, and even get out to Delta.

In August, I joined a mountain biking club in Denmark. For those familiar with Denmark, that may sounds funny, as it is quite flat here, but there are some parks with nice trails and having the mountain bike makes it a little easier on the non paved trails, especially if it is wet (i.e. which is most of the time)

In September. I decided to extend my stay at UNICEF in Copenhagen for at least one more year, to work primarily on a special project to implement IPSAS (International Public Sector Accounting Standards). I think this will be quite interesting and hope to have some travel opportunities result from it.

In October, I had another week’s vacation, this time a cycling trip through Tuscany, Italy. Cycling is a really good way to see this region, as there are many small villages and towns worth going through in addition, to the major centres . However, unlike Winnipeg and Copenhagen it is quite hilly and there were some long uphill climbs, but that also meant some nice long sweeping downhill stints where you could sit back and glide and just enjoy the scenery. Another bonus is that after a good day’s cycling, one could enjoy the fine dining and wines the region has to offer, guilt free.

In November, I had to move apartments because my lease was finished. It was quite a lot of effort , but now I am settling in. I do not have the view of the old apartment, but the new one is even closer to work and very nice inside.

In December, I returned to Winnipeg for Christmas. Michelle Mark and Henry were there at the same time which was great, and all of us stayed at my parent’s house, and had the traditional fondue, thankfully with no incidents. We spent Christmas Eve with the extended Johnson family and all five Johnson cousins were together for the first time since 2005.

I hope you all had good holidays with your friends and family and wish year all the best in the New Year

Love Colleen

2009 Christmas Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas and Welcome to my 2009 Christmas letter.

As usual, January started off as a busy time at work, completing the year end closure, in my primary job as Accounting Manager at UNICEF Supply Division in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as starting my secondary job as IPSAS Project Manager (International Public Sector Accounting Standards).

February brought more time for fun with two Scandinavian ski trips. First, a weekend skiing in Sweden, then two weeks later I took the ferry to Oslo where I opted for a snowboarding lesson, which I actually really enjoyed, and more importantly didn’t get hurt.

In March, I went on a very adventurous holiday to India which I loved. Among many other things, I saw the Taj Mahal, camped on a sand bar island in the Ganges River, saw many interesting spiritual sites, slept on overnight trains, and ate some excellent vegetarian food. Anyone interested in hearing more about my travels in India can read my travel blog at http://colleen-colleenstravelblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/colleens-trip-to-india-march-2009-week.html

In April, my role as IPSAS Project Manager, become my primary role. The UN is adopting International Public Sector Accounting Standards and I am the leader of the group responsible for inventory and logistics changes, both for the Copenhagen and the field office inventory. It is a nice change and I am finding it very interesting.

In May, I had the opportunity to go to Amman, Jordan to participate in an inventory systems and management workshop with colleagues from the Middle East Region. I really enjoyed the experience of working and learning with the field office colleagues. Back in Denmark, I participated in a regular Sunday am cycling ride and other activities with a cycling/ outdoor adventure club I joined last fall. I have really enjoyed the activities and new people I have met in the group.

In June, my parents made their third visit to Copenhagen. As in their past trips, they spent some time in Copenhagen, did a Scandinavian trip with me, then another European vacation on their own. This time we did the summer version of the Oslo cruise, where the long summer daylight hours gave us an excellent opportunity to view the fjords and sights of Oslo. After leaving Copenhagen, they went on a tour and cruise and Greece and Turkey, where they encountered Oprah.

July was excellent summer weather in Denmark, and I had a very active month enjoying the outdoors. First I went on a fantastic bike trip to Sjælland’s Odde in the north of Denmark, which was extremely well organized by my partner Scott. In addition to the 90 km a day of cycling, we had two ferry rides, swimming in the Roskilde Fjord and dinner by the sea. Then two weeks later I went on a rock climbing weekend trip in Sweden. It was my first time doing this activity, but the trip was meant for beginners and I really enjoyed the climbing and hope to try it again in the future.

In August, I made a trip back home to Canada. My sister and her family were there at the same time, and I had a nice time seeing family and friends, playing duets on the piano with Henry, touring the new downtown Hydro building, visiting my Grandma in Pipestone and going to the family cottage at Delta.

September brought some extremely exciting news. I am expecting a baby next April! Both Scott and I looking forward to this and both mother and baby are healthy on all parameters.

During October, I continued with my regular activities and routines, although with some modifications: aquasizes instead of body pump, prenatal yoga instead of regular, and flat paved bike paths instead of mountain bike trails.

In November, I had the opportunity to do a lot of visiting with family. First, my parents joined me on my work trip to New York City, where they did a lot of sightseeing and we saw a couple of Broadway shows. Then I went to Vancouver to spend time with Michelle, Mark and Henry. Scott also joined me later and we had a nice weekend in Vancouver, and then drove south to Washington State to spend time with his family. It was a really positive trip for both of us.

December brought lots of snow to Denmark which will mean a white Christmas, and, as a Winnipegger, I look forward to that. I also became an aunt again – twice - when my sister welcomed twins (a boy and a girl) on December 22^nd.

I’d like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Colleen

2010 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and welcome to my 2010 Christmas letter.

In January, Scott and I started off the New Year at our home in Vedbaek, Denmark, enjoying the snow and fire works.

In February, I continued to keep as active as can reasonably be expected of a very large pregnant woman by participating in weekly aquacize and yoga classes as well as daily walks through the snow to and from the bus stop.

March was my last month of work at UNICEF. I finished up the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) project I was working on and even did a shift on the assembly line, packing midwife kits for Haiti.

On April 17^th, we welcomed the arrival of Olivia Hope Johnson Simmons. She was over 9.5 lbs and had lots of hair (and still does). She is a very cute and happy little girl.

In May, Grandma Johnson came over to Denmark to help out with Olivia, which was greatly appreciated by all. Spring had arrived in Denmark so we could take Olivia on lots of neighborhood walks in her pram.

In June, Grandpa Johnson also arrived and helped out a lot with lawn mowing and other yard work. The grandparents also had time to go on a vacation themselves to Egypt.

In July, we enjoyed the Danish summer. Scott joined a Danish fastpitch softball team and we both played ultimate frisbee. Our little family was even profiled in the local newspaper in a series about foreigners living in Denmark.

August brought more family visitors. Scott’s daughter came over to visit us in Denmark and we all went to Paris. This was Olivia’s first trip and she loved it and even wrote her own blog about the experience.

In September, Scott started paternity leave. We took this opportunity to get the most out of our final days in Denmark and packed in quite a lot of sightseeing between our preparations for the move.

October marked the end of our time in Denmark. Both Scott and I were sad to leave and miss many things; our friends and colleagues at UNICEF and Microsoft, our outdoor adventure club, the public transit system, our house and neighborhood, walking to the grocery store, and of course the cycling.

In November, we moved into our house in Lake Stevens, Washington (just north of Seattle.) We moved in just in time to celebrate American Thanksgiving with Scott’s daughters.

In December, we had visits from my sister and her family and my parents. Olivia continues to be a very active and happy little girl with very long hair. Olivia is good at lots of things, except maybe naps. 2010 was a very eventful year and our little family looks forward to 2011 and building our new life together.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Take Care

Colleen

Olivia's Trip to Paris

My trip to Paris

By Olivia Hope Johnson Simmons

Day One – The Journey

Hi, my name is Olivia and I would like to tell you about my very first trip… to Paris, France. It all started when I decided to give my Daddy a gift certificate for a mini break as a Father’s Day present. Mommy and Daddy did a lot of research on their computers and decided we should go to Paris.

My sister Rachael just graduated from university, so Daddy wanted to give her a present too, so he invited her and her fiancé Ben to join us. This was a very good idea because Rachael is very good at speaking French and Ben is very good at carrying heavy things, such as 18 pound babies, and best of all with a 4:1 adult to baby ratio, more people to play with me.

The morning we left was very busy while Mommy and Daddy were trying to pack. First a lady came who is helping us move our stuff to Seattle, then while she was there more people showed up unannounced to look at the house because the landlord is selling it. This all seemed quite stressful for Mommy and Daddy but didn’t affect me too much because I just played with Rachael while all this was going on.

We took the bus and train to the airport and I rode in my Danish pram there. When we got there, however, there seemed to be a problem with my infant ticket. Mommy and Daddy had to go to another line to get a special ticket for me.

My Daddy travels quite a lot with his job, so he has an SAS gold card. This meant we got to go through a special security with no line up, and then we got to go to the VIP lounge for snacks and refreshments. Everyone enjoyed this perk.

After enjoying the lounge we boarded the plane. Mommy was disappointed that they didn’t pre board families travelling with infants. On the plane, I was seated on Daddy’s lap between Mommy and Rachael. (Ben was upgraded to Business class because he is very tall). The flight attendant brought a mini seatbelt for me, which tied around Daddy’s seatbelt. The flight to Paris was fun and I didn’t cry at all.

To get to the hotel, we took the metro. The public transportation in Paris isn’t like Copenhagen. There aren’t special spaces for bikes and prams, so I had to be carried. I didn’t like the Paris trains so much… it was too hot, and the doors close too fast, we almost lost Daddy. When we got to our stop I was happy to get off the train and back into my pram.

Day Two – The Louvre and the Seine

We all got up quite early so we could get to the meeting point of our walking tour of the Louvre on time. After a breakfast of croissants and baguettes we got on the bus and headed for the Louvre, which is one of the biggest Art Museums in the world.

I started off the tour with Mommy in the ergo carrier, but after a while I got too hot so she had to carry me. Then I got too heavy and Daddy had to carry me. It’s good to have four grown-ups available to carry you around. We saw lots of beautiful statues and paintings, such as the Venus di Milo, the Mona Lisa and sculptures by Michelangelo. There were lots of statues and paintings of cupids which Mommy and Daddy thought looked like me. Everyone really enjoyed the tour. After we were done Mommy, Rachael and Ben went shopping in the bookstore, while I stayed and had coffee with Daddy.

Next we headed down towards the Seine. Our hotel had given us free tickets for the Bateaux Mouche boats. These boats are much larger versions of the smaller flat boat I went on in Copenhagen a few days before. We saw many sites, the Louvre again, Notre Dame Cathedral and of course, the Eifel tower.

After the boat ride we went back to the hotel, to get ready for dinner. Mommy put me in the ergo carrier for the walk to dinner and I fell asleep. I stayed asleep all through dinner and the walk home, and then when we got back they put me in the pram and I slept until 7 the next morning. That is the longest amount of time I have slept in a row in my whole life. Touring around Paris really wore me out.

Day Three - Notre Dame and Home

Again, we started the day with croissants and baguettes, then got on the Metro to Notre Dame which is a huge cathedral. It was very beautiful inside but also very hot. After that, we had lunch in a café, and Mommy bought me a souvenir pink onesie, that said Paris je t’aime.

After that we had to start making our way back to the hotel, then on to the airport. Again I found the metro ride too hot and was happy to get off and into the SAS Gold lounge. On the flight home they let us get on the plane first, and this time I sat on Mommy’s lap and slept the whole way home.

When we got to Copenhagen, we got to ride in a little car through the airport to get our luggage instead of walking. Mommy and Daddy really appreciated this. It was nice to be back in the Danish transit system where I could ride comfortably in my pram. When we got home Daddy realized that he had forgotten his suitcase at the bus stop. He took a taxi back and fortunately, it was still there. That night I slept straight through to 8:00am.

I really enjoyed my trip to Paris and look forward to more travelling in the future.

Colleen's trip to India Week 2

That morning, on the rooftop restaurant, I caught my first glimpse of the Taj Mahal. We would be visiting the Taj later that afternoon, but first a tour of the Red Fort where the Mughol king who built the Taj lived. It is also a very impressive building in itself. (more like palace than fort) Our local guide was very knowledgeable and it was good to learn about the full family history before going to the Taj itself. The king who built the Taj, built it as a tribute and burial place for his wife Mumtaz. After she died his son put him in prison so he could become king. However, the prison is actually a large quite palatial private room within the fort with excellent views of the Taj.


Next up on the itinerary, the feature piece (even making the cover of Lonely Planet) the Taj Mahal. To get into the area there is quite strict security, not just the usual metal detectors and bag search but there are actually more items that you are not allowed to take inside than are banned on airplanes. For example, you are not allowed to take in: food, liquids (except for the complementary bottle of water that comes with admission), cellphones, ipods, and literature. I am not clear of what risk or threat a book poses, but the ban on literature is enforced as I saw many people having to leave their books and magazines at the gate before entering.


Finally, once I made it through security I got a close up view of the Taj, and it did not disappoint, definitely meriting its status of one of the wonders of the world. With all of the security, I was surprised that you could actually go right inside the building. and walk around. While I was there I took quite a few pictures of the Taj. I was also in some pictures taken by other people. This happened in other places in India as well, but mostly at the Taj, where Indian tourists asked if they could take a picture of me with themselves or with their families. We were there quite a long time including the sunset and it was very interesting to see it change in colour as the sun was setting.


After a very full day in Agra, the next morning we took a "semi deluxe" bus to Jaipur- the Pink City, which was a nice change from the train, especially getting on and off. When we got to Jaipur, I was kind of expecting the whole city to be pink, which it isn't. Jaipur is actually quite a large modern city, but there is a large older section in the middle where most of the buildings actually are pink. The first evening we went to a famous movie theatre to see a Bollywood film. The theatre is very posh and ornate and you are not allowed to take photos inside. The movie was called Delhi 6 and was really good. It was in Hindi without English subtitles, but still quite easy to follow, especially since one of the characters sometimes spoke in English. I would like to see it again with subtitles. It was very interesting because many of the scenes were from places I had just been to, both in Delhi and Agra. Not that I am basing this on a very large sample size (three) , but it seems like most of the movies set in India include some kind of road trip to the Taj Mahal. Although it was an actual drama, with serious themes and subject matter, there was still the occasionally random song and dance numbers placed throughout the film.

An observation I made in the theatre is that there appears to be a different concept of personal space here compared to what I am used to. For example, during the movie, not only did people's cell phone start ringing on multiples occasions, they proceeded to answer the calls and chat during the movie, and no one really seemed to mind. In north america , that type of thing would most likely cause a big scene.

The next day we went to the pink part of the pink city. Then, we went to Amber Fort, which again, as in Agra, fort is more like palace. It is just outside of the city and we took a very local bus to get there. The people are very considerate about letting ladies (both foreign and local) and old people have seats, and will squeeze together as much as possible to maximize how many people can sit down. Jaipur is also a very large city and there are very few traffic lights, making crossing the street as a pedestrian very challenging. I found that the best technique for crossing the street seems to be to move together as a group (ie it is the same principle as the recommendation for avoiding being eaten by a cougar or grizzly bear when hiking in the Canadian wilderness - keep close together in a group, which the animal will view as one large massive creature and be afraid of , instead of as individual humans.


The next day we took some jeeps to a small village. We found the drivers, roads and jeeps to be a bit sketchy and actually missed the trains. We stayed in a "heritage" hotel which was actually a renovated yet another fort/ small palace. The rooms were huge with double height ceilings. In the evenings we got sari's to wear to dinner (see picture above). A lady had to assist us with dressing because it is quite complex to put on a six metre piece of material.

It was also very interesting to be in a village vs the larger cities. They don't get too many western tourists so we were even more like celebrities, especially among the children. It seems like many people live in the same building where they do some sort of craft such as pottery, weaving, jewelry etc. I particularly like seeing the pottery being made. The guy made a vase out of a lump of clay in about five minutes on just a stone wheel which he spun himself like a top.

Our last destination , we went to was called Pushkar, which is also a very holy place. It was nice because we had quite a bit of free time there and you good actually walk around quite easily and safely, and there were a lot of nice inexpensive things you could buy.

Pushkar is home to a very famous camel fair and one of our excursions was to embark on a camel safari. The actual camel riding was fine, especially if you have experience riding horses - you're just a bit higher off of the ground, but getting on and off was a bit scary. Unlike a horse where you can climb onto yourself, with camels, they kneel down to let you on, then they stand up, first he hind legs which pitches you forward, and then the front legs. The walk, first through Pushkar, then the rural countryside and finally the dessert was very nice and peaceful. Even at 5:00pm, it was very hot until we experienced a brief refreshing light rain while the sun was still shining (even though we were told in "never" rains there in March). We arrived at the overnight campsite and had a very nice meal.


In the evening, as we were sitting around the campfire when suddenly there was a strong gust of wind, and it started to rain again. So we scrambled into the large tent we would be staying in. We soon become comfortable again and felt quite safe and secure playing cards, despite the rain and wind outside, and even eventually fell asleep. Then, in the middle of the night I was awoken when one wall of the tent collapsed. As we were outside trying to fix the tent, the winds and rains seemed to pick up again and the whole tent fell down and likely would have blown away if we were not holding onto it. Still we persevered to try to fix the tent, intent on still staying the night.

It appears as though camping in the desert in Rajastan has the same rules as outdoor sports in Winnipeg - you keep playing through rain, wind, snow, cold temperatures, sleet and even small hail or else you forfeit the game. The only time you can call off a game for weather is lightning.
So, in the middle of the torrential rain and sandstorm, as we attempted to salvage our tent, a flash of lighting lit up the desert sky, followed quite closely by a loud crack of thunder, meaning we had to call an end to our Rajastan desert camping experience, and were safely evacuated by jeep.

As our trip was drawing to an end we had one last train ride (in the day this time) back to Delhi. We are in Delhi again for the last day of the trip. On this day we went to the Gandhi assasination site/ which is part museum part multimedia interactive experience. I particularly enjoyed reading the various Gandhi quotes. On the way there, in the rickshaw we remarked how despite all the chaotic traffic, we hadn't seen any accidents. Until, on the way home, about two blocks from the hotel our rickshaw was hit from behind by a motorcycle, however was only a minor incident with no damage to either party.


Planes trains and autorickshaws. One of the most memorable aspects of this trip was the various forms of transportation, I took throughout the journey. The sailboats down the Ganges, the cycle rickshaws in Varanasi, the camals in Pushkar, and of course the trains, but despite the occasionally "bump" along the way, they always seemed to work out in the end getting us safely yet memorably from point A to B.

Colleen's trip to India March 2009 Week 1

My trip began very early in the morning on March 7, 2009, when I left my Copenhagen apartment in the middle of the night to catch a 6:00am flight to Delhi, via Amsterdam. I arrived in Delhi the same day, also in the middle of the night. I had booked an airport transfer and so was looking for someone with a sign with mine or the tour company’s name, but the driver actually identified me first (there weren’t too many western looking tourists arriving at that time). After checking into the hotel, I had until 6:00pm the next day free until I started the tour. I decided to attempt to venture outside and walk around the neighbourhood surrounding the hotel, but found that was not as easy as it may sound. There aren’t really sidewalks and the streets are multi use for cars, motor cycles, auto rick shaws (which are also called tuk tuks), bicycle rickshaws, and pedestrians. There are no lanes and no traffic lights, making crossing the street a challenge. I decided, since it was just my first day, I’d just stick to the side of the street I was on and make a series right turns. The traffic aside, it actually did seem quite safe. There were lots of people wanting to sell you stuff, have you eat in their restaurant, etc but not aggressively and generally accepted a polite decline.

Later that evening I met my tour leader and group. Our leader was from India who had spent a lot of time studying yoga, and the others were a very international mix. As I knew when I signed up this, it was not a luxury coach tour. We would be travelling primarily on public transport to enhance the authenticity of our experience. The group was small (tour max is 12) and very international (from north America, UK, Norway and Japan). We had a debriefing about responsible travel, such as: dress appropriately both out of respect at holy sites and also to avoid unwanted attention/ harassment, and “Say no to plastic bags”. We were also advised that tipping expected and makes up a substantial part of the service industry wages. in fact, we were told that the origin of the concept and the word tip started by the English in India and TIPS stands for To Insure Prompt Service. We were also advised that in the cities where there are very holy sites, there is no alcohol or meat served, including the first five days of the trip where we would on or near the Ganges River. (I actually was a vegetarian throughout the whole two weeks).

The first official day of the tour, we are going to spend in Delhi, which is a very big, very busy and very crowded city. We started by taking a local bus to Old Delhi. The bus was very crowded but I got a seat in the “Ladies only section”. These seats are not designated to segregate men and women, it is to make it more comfortable and easier for women to travel and work. In Old Delhi, we went to three types of religious places of worship, which were right beside each other: Hindu Temple, Mosque and Sikh temple. At the mosque there was a tower you could climb to see views of Delhi, however women could not climb up unaccompanied by a man. At the Sikh temple every day they offer lunch for whoever shows up. You sit in rows on the floor and have as much Dal and rice as you want. The idea is that everyone is equal, so regardless of who you are you still sit in in the same row on the floor. Dal is made of lentils and is a staple in the Indian vegetarian diet. Following a vegetarian diet, I had many variations of this dish throughout the two weeks. At the Hindu temple there was a lot going on. As I understand the purpose is to have external stimuli to occupy the senses so that the mind can focus on meditation and prayer: (bells to hear, pictures to see, incense to smell, rice to taste and beads to touch.). Later we went to the old Delhi wholesale market. In particular, it is a good place to buy books. I bought a book about yoga and one about religion. As an alternative to the local bus, we took the metro back to the hotel. It is very modern, with airport level security including baggage screening and metal detectors (separate lines for men and women).

As an accountant, I am quite interested in comparing what things cost in different places and India is very cheap, (not just compared to Copenhagen but also compared to North America and pretty much any where else I've been. Some sample prices in dollar and cents equivalent include:

- metro ride 16 cents (I can’t find a cents symbol on my computer because I don’t think anything in Denmark costs under a dollar),
- 20 minutes rick shaw ride - $2 split between 3 people
- paneer butter masala with butter nan $2 (paneer is a type of cheese and this is the vegetarian version of butter chicken the popular staple at Indian buffets in Canada (the general price of meals out in a nice quality restaurant is $2-3, although there are much cheaper alternatives, but which come at more risk of getting sick,
- the books I bought in the Delhi wholesale market (under $1 each),
- one litre water (20 – 80 cents, depending how touristy the area)
- one litre Kingfisher beer (strangely for a country where many places don’t serve alcohol at all, when it is available, the national beer is only served in quantities of one litre bottles.
- necklace of semi precious gems ($3) – at this price you can afford to buy jewellery just because you like the name of the gem (which is pretty much the sole reason I bought a necklace made of “smoky topaz”.

- Silk scarf - $4
- Average quality cotton trousers $4 – I would recommend anyone coming to India to bring as little as possible, then buy stuff which is appropriate both for the climate and the cultural exposure norms,(although I believe the sari’s are actually more revealing that the western clothes I would normally wear);
- High quality cotton top which they sew specifically for you and courier to your hotel later that same day at no extra charge - $8

After spending, the day in Delhi we embarked on our first, but not last experience on an overnight train. Even though we had reserved seats, getting on was still very chaotic, having to get through the queues waiting to get into the non reserved coach seats. The so called "first class air conditioned sleeper cars "are not separate little rooms and compartments but rows of triple bunk beds. In our car, there was also an extended family of about forty people. One of the mothers was around my age and very friendly and was interested in talking to me. She didn’t really speak English but her son did and translated. The children, especially, were very interested in talking to foreigners. For some reason they really liked my name. When one of them asked me my name, and I replied “Colleen” the group of children responded with a round of applause and exclamations of “cool name!”, “cool name!”. The kids also get pretty excited if you say a few words in Hindu, one “Namaste” and you are their best friend. And, the little girls were quite interested in touching my hair (but were polite and asked first).

After the train ride we embarked on our boat ride “Slowly down the Ganges”. The whole Ganges River is considered to be very holy in India, so there is no alcohol or meat allowed and we were expected to wear long sleeves. (which was ok for me, because it also prevents sunburn). We were on small sailboats which were very peaceful and relaxing. The River looked cleaner than I expected and we actually saw dolphins swimming and jumping about in the river. And, the boats were a good vantage point to view villagers going up their daily lives. In the evening, we camped in tents on a sand bar island which was also very peaceful. We arrived at the island early enough to play a game of cricket with the boat crew. I have discovered that I have actually have a natural aptitude for cricket. When it was my turn to pitch, I struck out three batters in a row. ( Note I am using the baseball equivalent terms here because I do not know the correct Cricket terminology.)

We were on the Ganges during the Holi (pronounced like Holly) festival. I am actually not exactly sure of what is being celebrated but the main activity is to spray colourful paint on one another. We were told that they usually try to keep the tour groups out of the big cities during Holi as it can get quite intense with people firing off high pressure water guns filled with paint. We were allowed to participate in a light version with the boat crew using organic vegetable based paint, which washed out very easily.

The boat trip finished when we arrived in Varanasi which is one of the most holy cities in India. We started off with a walk through the Ghats (which are stairs) along the Ganges. This is where the funerals (Called aarti’s – not sure about the spelling) are held before they put the ashes in the Ganges. In the evening we saw the Ghats from the water side in a boat. It was very beautiful and quite spectacular as there was dancers and music accompanying the funerals and many flowers with candles floating in the water.

The traffic situation in Varanasi is also very chaotic. Like Delhi there is the usual, cars, motorcycles, small trucks, rickshaws, and bikes, except the streets are narrower and there are more animals, including donkey carts, as well as many cows. The cows are not part of the transportation system but are in the streets because they are allowed to roam about at will. In general I am finding Varanasi and the places I’ve been so far in India to be very authentic and not commercial touristy at all. During the day we went to a place called Sarnath which is known for where Buddha made his enlightenment speech. The auto rick shaw ride back was an interesting experience. First we stopped for petrol, then stopped again so the driver could buy same kind of tobacco like product wrapped in a leaf, then he stopped a third time where he acquired a coke bottle (which I thought was for him to drink), except that he poured the contents of the bottle into the rickshaw engine. In the evening we visited an Ashram. These are places where people go in India to study yoga and meditation. (the purpose of learning yoga is so that your body can sit still in positions for long times in order to meditate) It was also a very nice experience seeing the place and sitting on the floor in the meditation room. You have to site cross legged because it is rude to point you feet towards a picture of a deity.

After our stay in Varanasi, it is now time to board another overnight train to Agra. Getting on the train in Agra is actually more chaotic and frantic than the one in Delhi. We had reserved places on car B1. So we got on the car B1, locked up our luggage under the seats and got settled in. However the designation of "B1" is not the permanent name of that train car, it was merely written on the side in chalk, and subsequent to us getting on, the B1 was erased and changed to B2. As a result, people subsequently getting on claimed that we were in their seats and we had to uproot and move to another car. By that time it was quite late and we attempted to get some sleep amid the chatting , cell phones and people getting on and off in the middle of the night. I had just gotten to sleep when around midnight the train police came around to read us the train rules and then have us sign off to confirm that they had read the rules to us in English. Some of the rules included: don't talk to strangers, don't tell anyone your name, don't tell anyone where you live, and don't accept food from people you don't know. I breached most of these on the first train ride. (I thought it was ok to have a cookie offered to me from the woman who was giving her own children cookies from the same box. )

We arrived in Agra in the morning about 1 1/2 hours late (which I believe is standard for trains in India). After getting into the hotel in Agra, we went up to the rooftop restaurant for coffee where I got my first glimpse of...

...to be continued...