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Archive for April, 2011

Lucy’s story: It was March 25th, the morning of Alex’s arrival and the clock had not even struck 3:30pm. I woke up bleary eyed, wrapped my sari around me, arranged my hair, and strung purple beads around my neck. After taking tea with my driver we headed to the airport, a short trip from my guesthouse, the Pearl in Negambo. I waited patiently in the arrival lounge with butterflies in my stomach, stood with many curious eyes gazing at me; I remained poised in my traditional Kandian dress until he emerged from the steady trickle of new arrivals. Looking remarkably fresh he cautiously hugged me so not to offend anyone and we scuttled back to the Pearl.

Since March we have travelled extensively from South to east coast, briefly stopping in the hill country. Our trip so far has included some very strange and funny experiences mainly involving our guesthouses, including being peed on by a monkey (in dirty protest) who was perched in the rafters of our tree house in Aragum Bay and returning back to our penthouse suite (meant in sarcasm) in Hikkaduwa only to be greeted by a giant rat swimming in 6 inches of water, both experiences resulted in futile squabbles between me and Alex. The most peaceful experience was walking amongst the tea plantations in Haputale. I imagine heaven would look like this, and I certainty want an endless supply of tea up there in heaven!!!

Alex’s story: I arrived in the cool terminal building of Colombo International airport, wide awake and ready to go. It was 04:30 local time. After meeting Lucy, we went to get the taxi back to Negambo and as we stepped outside the wall of humidity stopped me in my tracks. After 4-5 weeks it still takes some getting used to. So Negambo was a nice introduction to Sinhalese life, the majority of the local population is catholic and is descendents from the Portuguese. After an eventful time up the mid north we headed for the more recogniseable south west coast, with miles and miles of tropical beaches hemmed in by a backdrop of thick palm jungle. We finally found ourselves bound for ‘upcountry’ via a national park for a safari. Travel in this part of the world needs immense mental strength and incredible patience, as even the easiest travel plans can go wrong. We now find ourselves in A-Bay (Aragua) an old hippie surfer hangout out on the east. It has a different feel from the rest of Sri Lanka so far, with a mainly Tamil Muslim population. I think more than anywhere we are likely to go, the recent troubles are closer to the surface here than the other towns, that said we have met a lot of nice people here.

Im Teehaus
Karfreitag (seltsamerweise kein Feiertag in Italien) war unser letzter voller Tag in Venedig.

Wir haben ihn nochmal richtig genossen, die Zeit vergeht so schnell. Erstmal sind wir nach unserem üblichen reichhaltigen Frühstück nach San Marco gelaufen und haben uns in die Millionen von Touristen geworfen. Ich habe gelesen, dass 80% der Besucher weniger als einen Tag in Venedig bleiben und dabei durchschnittlich 15€ ausgeben. Den Schnitt haben wir in jeder Hinsicht nach oben gezogen Es wurde ein Shoping-Tag, wir grasten alles ab, wo Jasmin etwas gesehen hatte, das noch gekuft werden wollte.

Eine Tasche in unserer Straße (ganz meine Tochter), ein Armband auf San Marco, ein Zeichenheft in Canareggio und Mama spendierte noch Stifte. Wir nahmen von San Marco die Linie 1 bis zur Bahnstation und kauften unsere Tickets nach Florenz. Von da ging es zurück durch den schönen Stadtteil San Polo, wo wir erstmal in einem gemütlichen Tee-Haus Tee und Kuchen zu uns nahmen. Witer gings zur Chiesa die Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari zum Campo San Polo und weiter zum Mercato Rialto. Diesmal waren wir noch rechtzeitig genug, um auch die Fischstände noch zu sehen.

Wir setzten mit einer Gondel über den Canale Grande und

Rio Marin
schlenderten über unseren Lieblingsplatz bei San Paolo zurück zum Hotle. Eis, Krapfen und Olivenbrot säumten unseren Weg…

Nach einer ausgiebigen Siesta gingen wir zu einer Abschlußrunde nach San Marco und über Zan Zaccharia zurück zu einer kleinen Trattoria. Dort gab es nochmal Fisch und dann fielen wir in unsere Betten. Das viele Laufen schlaucht uns.

Schattenspiele

Achtung Katzn

Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

San Polo

Unsere Tansfergondel

keine Fotomontage

Basilika

Sonnenuntergang über San Paolo

Romantica, April 14 – 2011

Dear Friends,

On board of the Costa Romantica the cruisedirector, Francesco Raccomandato, and chief Gianfranco Arrabito and his super annimation team are creating party time every night and day. It’s great and the motivation of everybody of the entertainment team is super!!!!!

More to come on ou Costa Sailorsblog.

Be happy and smile everyday.

From the Red Sea with love

Jacqueline and Adriaan aka Monkey and Bear

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

COSTA ROMANTICA – EVERY DAY AND NIGHT IT’S PARTY TIME!!

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© 2002 – 2011 TravelBlog Bloggers

Useful pages

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• Join Us
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