Nairobi!

ast month I was in Nairobi, Kenya!

For ten days, for a work-related conference -- my first time on a work trip and my first trip to the Southern Hemisphere!

I've got a few photos to share, but apologise in advance for the terribly amateurish quality of photography engendered by the age and physical limitations of my camera (that is to say, it sucks, and more than once I was tempted to pitch it against the wall. However, I have just gotten my first ever smartphone! Photos around here will improve exponentially, I hope).

Kenya -- cradle of civilization...

Holy Family Minor Basilica:

A prayer in English and Kiswahili

Holy water from a spout

The local beer, brewed since 1922

Goat meat and ugali

Each night the hotel staff drew our curtains, turned down the blankets, arranged our slippers and bath towels, and left a delicious treat by the bed (a macaron, or a chocolate truffle, or strawberries dipped in chocolate...)

I found a Turkish restaurant -- Bobos Bistro -- that makes some awesome pide!

Waiting for a manicure-pedicure at the hotel spa, on our only early evening back from the office...

Oldest family-run restaurant in Nairobi, which is, oddly, Italian!

Another version of Tusker

Laki Laki -- which sounded like ayran (the Turkish drink that's a blend of natural yogurt, water, and salt), but which I was afraid to try for fear it would taste like the grocery store kefir I tried one time, which tasted like what I imagine an accidental swallow of Dead Sea water might taste like...

The Kenyatta International Convention Centre

Looking down from the fourteenth floor...

Downtown crossroads with City Hall (I think) and the bell tower of the Holy Family Minor Basilica in the background -- and a Turkish Airlines ad in the centre!

Old-time Coca-Cola paraphernalia... (photos of me courtesy of a colleague!)

This was on the flight out -- view of Geneva from above

The peak on the right hand side is the Matterhorn!

Ooh, Greek islands...

Corinth

The Sahara!

Still wondering what these circles are

We flew over Abu Simbel, Wadi Haifa... All these names I only know from, ahem, Agatha Christie novels...

Greenscapes reappeared on the edge of Sudan and Kenya

Touchdown!

Four views from the rooftop helipad and the fourteenth floor (guess which floor our office was on?) of the convention centre (my colleague's photos)

Dancers at the opening day ceremonies -- looking down from the fourteenth floor, as we were hard at work...

I got to visit the Sarova Stanley hotel for about five minutes -- the one Hemingway-related spot I was able to visit. Apparently the original acacia tree, on which everyone used to pin notes to each other back in the '20s and '30s, died a long time ago, and the current tree is the third one in the cafe. Nowadays they have a corkboard for messages...

Sarova in the 1910s

I liked this bench, which says "I refuse to just sit here / I will make a change",
and which has a job opportunity ad pasted on it...

What exciting places have you recently travelled to?