"Fourteen Weeks" is a series of updates that Ethan Gelber and Jane Higgins wrote
as a means of staying in touch with friends and family as they traveled around the world in 2002 and 2003.

A BIG HINT:
Hold the mouse over the small pictures to view the caption
and then click on any the picture to see a larger version.

First 14 Weeks (2002) — Part One: Introduction   |   Part Two: Australia   |   Part Three: Hong Kong   |   Part Four: Africa

Second 14 Weeks (2002) — Part One: Introduction, Ireland   |   Part Two: Europe and U.S.   |   Part Three: Europe   |   Part Four: North America

Third 14 Weeks (2002–2003) — Part One: Introduction, U.S.   |   Part Two: Mexico, Brazil   |   Part Three: U.S.   |   Part Four: U.S., Australia   |   Part Five: U.S.

Ten weeks ago . . . next page next page

Nine weeks ago, we were together again . . . in Vienna. Sobered by a misadventure with Hungarian police who wouldn't let her (visa-less, due to bad information) across the border, Jane had joined Ethan earlier than expected. Ethan, hauling his clients along the edges of the Alps' Totes and Sengsen Gebirge and then into the flats along the Danube, couldn't get Jane a bike for a few days (she did a lot of walking to slightly out-of-town sites — like Mauthausen, the infamous Austrian death camp, and the ornate monastery at Melk). Brother Noah, fluent in German after a decade living in Frankfurt and dancing with Ballet of Frankfurt, was a priceless aide-de-camp for Ethan during the tour.

A building part of the monastery complex at Melk A tourist carriage waiting in front of Vienna's Hapsburg Palace Ethan holding his third cone in front of Tichy (ice cream), Austria's best

Eight weeks ago, still together, we slurped up the sauces and to-die-for desserts of an expensive dinner in Geichel, Luxembourg. We had two days biking together — just the two of us — as Ethan prepared for his last week of guiding with Blue Marble (a tour through Belgium, Luxembourg and up Germany's Mosel Valley). We had narrowly escaped being trapped by devastating flood waters in Austria (which arrived a few days after we left), spent a few days in Paris (catching up with friends, like lovely Veronique), and labored to reamass our belongings (spread out across Holland, Belgium and France).

Ethan in a beer store in Brugge, Belgium Jane cycling through the vineyard covered Mosel Valley in Germany Another quaint Mosel Valley village in Germany Ethan with Luis, a Blue Marble client, in Bernkastel (on the Mosel), Germany

Seven weeks ago, we were in Trier, Germany. Ethan had tripped with his pedaling posse from beer-rich Belgium's Brugge to Gent, and through the Ardennes and Luxembourg to get there. Jane, who had skipped the early days of the tour to catch up with friend Fanny at a party in Normandy and then bathe in the warmth of Veronique’s hospitality in Paris, caught up with Ethan just in time for another dinner feast in Luxembourg and clatter out of the rolling hills at the start of German white wine country.

Six weeks ago . . . next page next page

Copyright 2003-2004 Ethan Gelber. All rights reserved.