kenya and forward

we landed in kenya on the 6th of august at noon, left nairobi on the 7th at 7am from the Stanley. We travelled south to the Mara. Quite a ride in a Nissan Van. I was quite amazed with what the van can handle. AS we approached the Mara we stopped by a Masai village. We were greeted by the Masai tribe, visited their huts and bought some souveneirs.
Even before we entered the Mara we saw Giraffe, the famous Gnu ( wildebeest) and Zebra.
We passed through the Park on the way to the camp ( courtney camp). We dumped our luggage in the tents and had a great Lunch of Pasta with a flavourful marinara sauce.
We rested up for an hour and went for our first of many Game Drives.
We were wonderfully surprized with the drive, our guide and driver Oliver was very good at finding the animals, we cheetah up close, lions, zebra, hyena, warthogs, baboon, giraffe and tons of birds including ostrich and the secretary bird. The elephants were not as plentiful as we expected.
we returned to the camp and settled in after a warm tasty dinner. The tent was comfortable and cool. The bathrooms were supplied by water from a small tank outside. All in all it was a comfortable stay. The Mara drives were very rewarding we even got to see a Wildebeest crossing with a lot of patience. We read in a book that there are some who wait for weeks and dont get to see the crossing, we were very fortunate.

From the Mara we drove to Lake Nakura where we got to see abundant Rhino and elephants. The flamingos were a delight they looked like pink paint on the shores till you get close.
more on the drives next letter.

Chennai, India

Chennai is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, I went to medical scholl in Madurai a city about 500 kms from chennai so i have a lot of good friends there. We landed at Chennai in the middle of the night, and settled into a Hotel called the residency, Comfortable but needs some work on the Service end. We spent 3 dyas in Chennai visiting with friends having good food and finally left for the long awaited safari on the morning of the 10th by Air India.

Arrived in Nairobi at noon. We were met by the representative for the African Horizons company, a young personby the name of Albert and the Driver Oliver. very courteous and professional. They took us over to the Stanley Hotel. more than one hundred years old. Security is pretty good in Nairobi after the embassy bombings. They upgraded us to a suite, but as happened quite a few times when we had to have more than one room in the same hotel the kids got the better room. anyway the hotel is wonderful, great service. walked around in the daylight they warned us not to go out after dark.

We started the safari at 7 am the next day. more to come

rome by day

got out of the hotel and walked to the station to find a non existent tour operator that offered a tour with both the St Peters Basillica and the vatican museum in one tour, as we could not find it we ended up at Appian tours.
after a visit to the Trevi fountain and some photo ops we walked to the Pantheon. A great building built in both greek and roman style. There is this huge opening in the center of the dome that is the largest in the world. Even the floor is sloped and contains under ground channels for water collection. the structure is well preserved and is a church now.

we then went on to the Vatican City, entered the basilica and walked around. You are allowed to climb up onto the dome but there was a huge line up so we skipped it.
We had some local pizza for lunch from a trailer and walked to the entrance of the museum where we joined a tour guided by an englishman who was quite well versed with the art.
we admired the final judgement by michaelangelo. interesting bit of trivia, some of the bodies that were originally nude were partially covered up on the request of various popes.So depending on whether the pontiff was concerned about the presentation they sometimes brush on clothes, the present pope I gues prefers the original art forms and therefor we saw the painting in almost the pure original form.

after about 2 hours we left the museum and headed back to Rome. after a nice italian dinner we boarded the bus to take us on the 1 hr journey to the airport for a flight to frankfurt.
at the airport we learnt that a lot of the flights were being cancelled becaus of air traffic problems, after some anxious waiting we learnt that our flight was going to take off only about 1 1/2 hours late. we arrived in frankfurt hahn airport at about 2 am took the shuttle to the hotel we had booked, and collapsed onto the bed.

Friday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and took the bus to the frankfurt main airport for our flight to chennai ( india). Had a uneventful flight to Chennai where we arrived on friday night at about 11 30 pm.

i couldnt update the blog because of logistical problems wil finish the notes in the next couple of days. am back home now trying to recharge the batteries.

Waiting at newark

Italy again

Left Florence on the train to Rome, early morning, nice ride, we went first class.
In Rome left the luggage at the station and took on the hop on hop off bus and did a round getting off at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier also known as the Wedding cake memorial. Got a beautiful view of the city and the forum.

We walked down the memorial to the Forum, an impressive area of ruins. The sun was a little hot. So we finished the forum and took the bus back to the station and took the afternoon train to Naples. We jumped onto the Circumvusenia from there to Sorrento. The Train was a lot like a new york city subway ( Graffitti). At Sorrento we took the shuttle to the Hotel IL NIDO. The best hotel in Italy that we saw. On the hill side, overlooking the bay, with a spectacular view of Mt Vesuvius, the volcano.

We had a great dinner and finally a good nights sleep in a spacious room. The ac worked fine. Next morning we left for Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius. Pompeii is worth a visit. A sight of culture, smart people who lived their lives better organized than us. We found Luigi ( of Fodors.com fame) a guide who was very funny and articulate. Lots of water and a lot of walking. We then took the bus to Mt Vesuvius, and undertook a 45 minute hike to the crater rim. It is gorgeous ( the View and the walk) the crater floor looks like a soccer field with grass.

We also met a guy who owns a convenience store on the hill, he has been working there for over 40 years, and it in a lot of the pictures in books about the volcano.

Came back tired to Sorrento and relaxed. Next morning off to Capri. It was raining in the morning so the seas were a little choppy so the boats around the island were cancelled. We walked around the island, the gardens saw the views of the cliffs, walked down the steps to the opening of the Blue Grotto ( the Blue Cave) but couldn’t get in because of the waves.

Took the chairlift up Anacapri. That was exhilarating the view from the top is unbelievable. We then took the boat to Naples, not a very nice town ( reminds me of Camden) and on to Rome.

We saw Rome by night, took the metro to the Collosseum, Trevi Fountain and Spanish steps. There were quite a number of people on the streets that late. Musicians on the steps and vendors for the tourists.

Next Rome by day

still in italy

ok from venice we went to florence, took a while to find the hotel. Not as bad as Venice.
took a quick trip to pisa, saw the leaning tower, very impressive. the tower is in a little square with a church and a museum. good pizza.

took the hop on hop off tour in florence they took us up in the mountains it was majestic to see Tuscany ( reminds me of the Seinfeld episode) great gelato. got to see florence with all the lights on. hotel was comfortable at night. again a night clerk that did not know english and when we tried to check out at 6am he showed me a sign tht said office hours 7 30 am to 7 30 pm. When i told him that he would need to bill me he quickly checked us out.

travelled first class to rome, the train was a eurostar and really nice.
In rome dropped the luggage at the left luggage room, long lines for this i guess everyone had the same idea.

took the hop on hop off tour, walked up the steps to the unkown soldier memorial and walked around the forum, got pretty hot by the afternoon, back to the station and left for sorrento by intercity express train first class, not as nice as the eurostar.

well next update is sorrento.

vive la italy

couldnt get to do much writing from frankfurt or london, however italy is a blast.
so Frankfurt was nice, a mall city, pleasant people. Took a bus tour, slept a lot on the bus.
nice transport system, great euro store ( a la Dollar store).
Very hot and humid, people dont like using the AC here and where they do use it its still warm.

London Day 2 little nervous, nice hotel room, finally some AC. walking distance from the terminal. took the trains to the city, wonderful weather no rain...
did the London eye, it was a ride worth the detour from our europe plan. Took a ride on the Thames. The views were spectacular. Harrods had its annual sale, got a lot of tea for half price.
Had dinner at the chowki indian rest. food was great different from our usual indian rest.

flew to Venice ryan air again. Venice is steaming. no ac in hotels. lugging around the suitcases didnt help any. took 4 showers to cool off. no alarm clock in the room the nite clerk doesnt talk english so not only didnt he wake us up, he had some trouble checking us out at 5 am to catch the 6 30 train to florence, but made it anyway.

florence and the rest later.
will try and load pics.

chiao