Summary Chapter 17 opens in Tromso, Norway, with Nicholas’ call home to Cat. While Nicholas has been away, his children have been taking turns being sick. The brothers reflect on the current state of their lives, and Nicholas shares with Micah what he tells his older sons about having each […]
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Summary This chapter opens in Valletta, Malta. After a long flight, the European “flavor and atmosphere” of the island energizes the brothers, who were feeling sluggish. Highlights include the Tarxien Temple, “the oldest known freestanding statue of a deity” and the megalithic temples, “the oldest freestanding stone buildings ever discovered.” […]
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Summary Chapter 15 takes place in Ethiopia. The city of Addis Ababa is comparatively wealthy, and due to a recent meeting of African nations, unusually clean. The next morning they fly to Lalibela to see the famous cave churches. The people of Lalibela wear western clothing, revealing that the town […]
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Summary Chapter 14’s tour narrative takes place in India. The brothers gape at the poverty of Jaipur as the tour guide raves about its beauty. Another member of the tour points out that, compared to, say, Bombay or Calcutta, Jaipur really is a beautiful city. They take an elephant ride […]
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Summary Chapter 13 is a return to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where the brothers visited the Holocaust Museum and the Killing Fields. They demonstrate obvious apprehension regarding “events people want to forget despite knowing that they never should.” The museum and the Killing Fields are both very difficult to tour. Then […]
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Summary Chapter 12 takes place in Cambodia — the most disturbing spot on the tour, with Nicholas and Micah both feeling “out of place” in Phnom Penh. They visit Angkor Wat, whose “City Temple” is the “largest religious monument in existence.” The language difficulty is most apparent in Cambodia, and […]
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Summary After the Cook Islands, the trip continues to Ayers Rock, in the middle of the Australian outback. Ayers Rock is “the largest monolith . . . in the world.” Initially, at dawn, the brothers are unimpressed with the rock, but at the right moment under the right conditions, the […]
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Summary After visiting Easter Island, the tour continues to Rarotonga, on the Cook Islands, in the South Pacific. There the brothers have the day to themselves, with the tour scheduled to leave for Australia the following morning. The Cook Islands are known for their black pearls, and Nicholas and Micah […]
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Summary After Machu Picchu, the tour travels to Easter Island, “the remotest inhabited island in the world,” which is over 2,000 miles from Chile. The first thing Nicolas Sparks notices about the island is the lack of trees. This is partly due to the using of trees to transport the […]
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Summary Chapter 8 takes place in Cuzco and Machu Picchu, Peru. Cuzco is the “oldest permanent settlement in the Western Hemisphere.” The brothers are becoming friends with fellow tour mates Bob and Kate Devlin, who have been married for 41 years. Their lengthy marriage becomes the subject of the brothers’ […]
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