Roma (or Pizza, not sure what we love best)

Well it took bloody long enough to get there but jeez it was worth it. We'd spent 2 days on planes and in airports (including 8 hours sleeping on the floor of Dubai airport) and on arriving at our booked accom. we found that our room had been flooded and we'd been relocated to a hotel around the corner - an auspicious start. Our new dorm was pretty nice however (overlooking the British embassy, right near the central Termini station) and we still got the free dinner on offer at our original accom. The night we arrived it was pizza and beer night, sweet.



Our first job was to book us a train ticket to Nice so we'd know how long (or short) we had in Rome. It turned out we had 2 full days - and fill them we did. The first day we did the Pantheon, Spanish stairs, Trevi fountain, Colloseum, Roman Forum, Palantine, and a whole lot of other really old stuff. Everywhere we looked there were ruins, fountains, cars parked at weird angles and photo opportunities. We found the pantheon really impressive, although that might just be because it was the first really big thing we saw :)



We decided to join the queue and have a look inside the Colloseum which was expectably impressing. To imagine how it would have looked fully built and in action was impressive. We returned that evening to get some night-time photos (these, along with a whole lot of other photos are on Richard's camera. the contents of which was unavailable at the time of print). Our Colloseum ticket also allowed us into Palatine which was basically a big park and gardens with assorted ruins, and the Roman Forum which was spectacular. One of the highlights of the day, however, was the pizza we had for lunch in an unassuming little corner store in downtown Rome - probably the most amazing slices of pizza we will ever eat!!



Our second day we spent checking out the Vatican city and it's contents. We walked into the plaza in front of the basilica and our jaws dropped. Sarah's comment summed it up - "i've never seen such a big church". We wandered around for a bit, taking photos and generally in a state of shock before joining the queue. We'd been advised to join a guided tour and skip the line and the length of the line was only slightly shorter than the circumfrence of the plaza but the guided tours were fairly expensive so we settled in and took our chances. As it turned out the line was moving fairly quickly and we only spent about 20-30min waiting before entering the basilica. Inside was just phenomenal. It was too dark for photos but they wouldn't have done it justice anyway. The number of people inside was slightly overbearing but the building (roof, statues, shear size, dome, etc) was breathtaking. We did a lap in humbled silence then headed for lunch.

Post-lunch we continued our whirlwind tour and headed for the Vatican museums (again, some pics not yet available). There was no line to get in and we set out for the Sistine Chapel. We didn't actually possess a map of the layout which we thought may have been a slight oversight but turned out not to matter as everything was clearly signposted. It did mean however that we weren't aware the route to the chapel is slighly convoluted. We passed through room after exquisitely decorated room of statues, sculptures, ruins and artifacts. The rooms themselves were most impressive - especially the Raphael rooms which were decorated floor to ceiling with amazingly detailed frescos. The map room was also superb.

Once we finally got to the chapel we were ejected into a large, cavernous space crammed also as much with people as it was with paintings. It seemed we'd seen every painting before and although photos weren't allowed we snuck one of the Creation of Adam (flash off).



We were pretty tired from two days of non-stop walking and upon finding a quite side room we decided to lift our (and the statues') spirits slightly.



That night we dined at a cosy family restaurant (yes, pizza again) before jumping on our overnight train to Nice. We discovered when we boarded we had a whole compartment to ourselves so settled in for the 12 hour trip. Whilst on the train we passed up the coast through some pretty speccz towns such as San Remo and Monte Carlo - although it was either dark or we were underground for most of them so not much to tell!! Apparently there was some sort of strike in France (surprise) and the train had to stop at the border for us to change to a bus service. The bus service actually turned out to be another train, which we only discovered by accident, and so we continued to Nice. En route we decided that Nice was likely to have serveral stations - none of who's names we knew. On this note we'll leave you with the promise of more to come. So tune in next time for the next exciting installment of Richard and Sarah's Travelog!!!

Zanzibar 2

Alright, finally a minute or two to catch up on some posts (currently in Interlaken by the way).

Following our Safari we spent about 2 days in the tour bus transitting from Arusha to Dar es Salaam. This was pretty uneventful except for one of our lunch stops by the side of the road which was invaded by a herd of goats who proceeded to drink the dishwashing water... anyway, upon reaching Dar we found we were staying in a fairly nice establishment on the beach (warmest water I've ever swam in). We also bumped into another couple of groups on Safari (this spot is a bit of a meeting spot for groups coming to or from Zanzibar). This made for quite a large evening (we'll never drink again, etc). This, in turn, made for quite a long boat ride out to Zanzibar the next morning.



We immediately liked Stonetown a lot more than Dar. The buildings were quaint and beautifully run-down rather than just being run-down, there were lots of narrow streets which wound their way around (and sometimes through) cafes and bars and there were boats with "Lovely Jubbly" written on them. Our hotel in Stonetown that night was even better with a rabbit-warren style interior and interesting rooms (our room opened into a hallway with our bedroom chained and padlocked on one side and the bathroom on the other).

After we got off the boat we had quite a busy first day, first looking around Stonetown and then heading off on a spice tour - which we weren't all that excited about to begin with. How wrong we were. Our local guide for this tour was bloody hilarious!! He'd been taught english by an englishman, and so while most of his words were spoken in the local Zanzibarbarian sing-song accent, every now and then he'd insert words in a (exaggerated) pommy accent. We first thought he was having a dig at James (the pom on our tour) but soon realised this was just how he spoke. It was so hard to listen without cracking up. But he was worth listening to. He first informed us that his name was "Ali-T in da bus" as opposed to "Ali-G in da house" - as we were being shown around in a minibus. He was also fairly well versed in Australian slang (tucker, sheila, dead horse, etc) to the confusion of the Americans.



Anyway, I digress, the spice tour was excellent - I hadn't even realised where most standard spices came from or what they looked like un-processed. We got to taste all of them (ginger, cardimon, pepper, cinnamon, lemongrass, cummin, plus a whole lot of others which I've forgotten about) and even saw one of the locals scamper up a palm tree to cut us some fresh coconuts. The following morning we headed out to a small island just outside the harbour which was used as a quarantine port in the colonial days. Here we did our first snorkelling (which was fantastic, except Sarah's mask leaked) and had a bit of a look around the island.



The main attraction on the island was the Giant Tortoise sanctuary. The main attraction of this was seeing one of the big males try (unsuccessfully) to mount one of the smaller females. This took sometime but provided for some good photo ops. We also got to hand feed them and hold some of the smaller ones which was good fun.

After returning from the island we went on a "swim with the dolphins" type tour. Which looked good on paper but actually involved a 90min drive to the other side of Zanzibar to what looked like someone's backyard, followed by a 90min goose(dolphin) chase in a small boat in fairly rough seas. To be fair we did see one dolphin flip out of the water and we saw plenty of fins but we only actually did any swimming once and the water was too stirred up to see anything (you could hear them tho). We were given dinner and had a beer to celebrate James' birthday then sat the 90min back to stonetown. The next morning we headed to the northern beaches.



I must say that the (mercifully) short trip from the 'highway' to our hotel was slightly interesting (read: travelled past some sort of unofficial refuse dump and murder ground). Our hotel was reasonably nice however and the beaches were stunning. We spent the majority of the next 5 days swimming, drinking, eating, relaxing, drinking, swimming, drinking and getting a stomach bug (not related to drinking, however. promise). The highlight would have to be the day-trip we took out to an island off the coast. The island was actually a private (!!) island and we couldn't step on the beach but we anchored off shore and did some pretty spectacular snorkelling (heaps of coral and beautiful fish of all sizes, starfish, seasnakes, anenomes and rays - and sarah maintains she saw a seahorse {unconfirmed}).



The accidental highlight tho was the pod of dolphins we passed through on the way out. They came right up to the boat and we all jumped in in our snorkelling gear and swam with them. The water was brilliantly clear and they must have only been 3-4m away - it was awesome, flogged the hell out of the "dolphin tour" a couple of days before. Please note the above photo is real and has _not_ been doctored in any way :) it jumped out of the water right next to us! Soon after we continued some of the locals on the boat caught a sizeable fish which they bbq'd for us (on the boat!!). It was delicious and probably the freshest fish we're likely to eat (~20min from alive and kicking to mmmmmm tasty...).



We spent the remainder of the week slogging it out at the restaurants and bars on the beach being forced to observe sunsets like this one. I reckon we took this identical photo about half a dozen times each night, every night. It was idyllic.

We actually left our tour on the beaches as the boys were heading back a day early to do the kili climb and we were staying on a day later to fly directly out of Dar instead of taking the tour bus back to Arusha. Our return trip through Stonetown and Dar wasn't all that exciting although we did get to try a chocolate and banana pizza at the Stonetown night market.

Rome ahoy!

Blog update

Hi all, just a note to let you know we're still alive and haven't been kidnapped by some lederhosen wearing german. We've added a couple of pics to the Zanzibar, Rome and Zermatt albums but haven't had time to put a post up yet (i know, i know, but we're trying. well not really, we just spent 3 days skiing). There'll be more photos for those albums and of course a couple of posts to come.



Hope everyone is well (and truly jealous). Check out the albums here.

Safari

Hi All,

Sorry if sometimes our blogs get a little out of order! It just depends on computers and time, but you get the idea anyway!

Just a note to my Mum, I am feeling much better thankyou and go The Saints!!! Oh and to James we have some sunset photos that will match yours and raise them!!! Will put up a collection when we can!

Now to safari...

We were picked up on the first day from our hotel with the rest of our tour group - which consisted of two other people, an Englishman called James and a fellow Aussie called Steve! The first day did not consist of much safariing as we just went into Arusha to get money and supplies for the next few days then we headed to a snake park run by the Massai. This was quite good as we got to hold a snake and a baby croc and seen some ginormous snakes!!! We also went into a Massai museum. This was a little funny because they had these models set up and they had the funniest expressions on their faces! Bit boring though. After that we just headed back to Arusha to a campsite for the night. We played pool, had some drinks and did not much else.



The next morning we headed off for a longish drive to Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. We all feel asleep for the first part of the drive as there was not much to see really. We drove through a few little towns and on exiting one of these towns there were Baboons all over the road! I personally was very excited by this. The driver stopped so we could take some pictures before heading off to our lucnh stop. At lunch we were visited by some interestings birds. One in particular (we call it the ugly bird) was rather large and watching it fly into the lunch area was quite a sight. Lunch was on the Crater wall but the view was not fantastic. After lunch though we drove to a lookout point where we had a brilliant view of the crater.

That afternoon we drove to Serengeti. This was quite a speccy drive as we seen plenty of wildlfe including the end of migration of wildebeest with some zebra tagging on the end. We actually stopped the truck as they crossed the road all around us. The highlight of the day had to go to the spotting of two cheetahs with a kill! It was already half eaten so not sure what was so unlucky but did make you really feel in the wild. We also seen hippos, elephants (far away), zebras, giraffes, monkeys, gazelles, half hidden lion and a fully hidden leopard!!



We camped in Serengeti for the night and can say we did not get eaten though the snoring was proabaly scaring the animals away! James was rather drunk and very amusing. Next day would have to be the most amazing safari day ever!!! Within ten mins of leaving camp we came across a male and female lion. We sat and waited and cheered and were rewarded with a mating session!! Girls be thankful we are not lions it takes all of thirty seconds! Though it does happen every fifteen mins for about a week as we were informed.

From then on the day just got better and better. We drove around for awhile seeing much of the same as the day before until our driver got a call over the cb. We raced to the point he ewas told to go to only to line up with fifty other trucks!! It was worth it though in the tree a little off the road was a leopard!! This one you could even see with your naked eye! Though with the binos was pretty damn impressive. The best bit was it did not just sit there, it actually got out of the tree so you got a real good look at it. Once out of the tree though it disappeared and was time to move on.



On this most fantastic day all the animals were out and close to the road, We got to see elephants practically next to the truck rolling in mud, giraffes eating from trees 3m away. It was awesome! We even seen a hippo going for a walk (though I could be lying and that could have happened the night before!!). We headed back to camp for lunch then were off to the crater.



This would have to be my favourite moment. On the way to the crater our driver spotted two male lions so he stopped. We then sat for a while looking, taking photos, then one got up and starting walking towards us!!!!!!! So exciting. We were the only truck there at this satge as well so it was just for us! It came right up to the road and walked around the truck to the otherside of the road and then politely sat beside the road and posed for photos! I must say it was a little scary being this close to a lion in the wild but the driver said we were safe and that it was jsut after some shade and water. By this satge a few more trucks had stopped but we stiil had prime position. Then the other lion decide to come over. He came ven closer still!! I will swear too that he stopped at my side of the truck and looked straight at me!!! Scary!!



That night we camped on the crater rim and we could hear lots of animals munching around the tent overnight!! The next day we spent the morning down in the crater which was really spectacular. One of the most exciting moments was getting down there in the first place!! The road in was really steep and bumpy and you could see straight down off one side of the road. Once we got down into the crater the view was amazing - it was just after sunrise and there were animals grazing everywhere!! Mainly wildebeest, buffalo, zebras and gazelles. We also saw hyenas stalking a family of zebras, warthogs eating grass off the road right next to the 4wd and huge flocks of flamingos in the lakes. We also saw more lions mating (I don't think they ever stop). One of the highlights of the crater happened later in the morning when our driver spotted what he thought was a rhino. We the naked eye it could have been a buffalo but through the binos you could see it was a black rhino! This was really impressive as not many people get to see a rhino (apparently). Unfortunately it was a bit far away to get a good photo and not long after got there it sat down in the grass. Soon after this we drove into a pride of lions and even briefly got to see a cub!!! It ran down the road in front of us but there was a couple of other 4wd's blocking some of our view.



After we'd drank our fill of safariing we climbed back out of the crater (which was even more scary than coming in!) to our campsite for lunch - surrounded by a herd of zebras. We then headed back to Arusha for the night covered in dirt and tired and ready for a shower and a cold drink! The next morning we left camp early and hit the road - we had 2 days driving to get to Dar es Salaam, from where we were going to catch the ferry across to Zanzibar.

Hope everyone is well!! Miss you all lots (especially when I was sick)!!

Love, Sarah.

P.S. remember you can click on the photos to see others we've uploaded.

zanzibar

hey guys, just a bit of a quick message to say thanks for all the comments, emails, etc. we do eventually read them all but can't write back to everyone (not many decent computers with quick internet connex over here).

right now we're in zanzibar on the north coast beaches relaxing after our 3 day safari through the serengeti and ngorongoro crater. the safari was awesome and we saw heaps of animals, most of them pretty close up. we had a couple of big male lions walk around our 4wd which was pretty speccy. we tried to upload some of our pics and do a bit of a post but a computer virus wiped all the pics on sarah's camera. hopefully everything up until stonetown is backed up on my mp3 player tho.. so you might have to wait until europe for the next batch of pics.

we've got another couple of nights here before we head back to stonetown, then catch the ferry back to dar to fly to rome. stonetown and where we are atm are phenomenally better than any of the towns we passed through in mainland tanzania. stonetown itself is really charming, with fantastic run down old buildings and rabbit warren streets. you'll get a better idea of the place when we can put up some pics but zanzibar is definitely worth a visit. yesterday we took a small wooden fishing boat out to a nearby island to do a couple of hours snorkelling. about 400m offshore we passed through a pod of dolphins (one of which we took an amazing photo off in the air!) and so we jumped in a got to swim with them which was great fun. the water is so clear you could see them easily and they only would've been 3-4m away. i'll fill you in more at a later date but basically we've spent every evening with a couple of drinks, watching the sun set over the crystal clear water and fishing boats - amazing :)

anyway, the sun is getting low in the sky so it's that time of day again. i hope it's raining and cold in melbourne :P