Piazzas, Pizzas and Pinot Grigio..

The Italian Job

A 7 day road trip through Florence, the Chianti region, Siena, Lucca and Lake Como.

As many of you well know by now, I need little incentive to pack a bag, grab my passport (and maybe the obligatory visa as I hold the green mamba of passports) and hop on a plane, especially when it is to venture to pastures yet undiscovered. When you combine that wanderlust with the chance to see family and discounted air fares, well the answer is always yes, or in this case ‘si’.

As I could barely recall when last I’d seen my sister Ju (although this could be a by-product of turning 30 this year), I decided to join her, my dad and step mom, Wendy, on a seven day road trip of Tuscany starting in Florence. Ju and my Dad had already driven through from Ju’s current home town, Romagnieu (in the South East of France), collected Wendy from her conference in Milan before meeting me in Florence. Ju’s little Orange Citroen C3, aptly nicknamed “the pumpkin” was our mode of transport for the tour d’italia.. and let’s just say I’m glad I can pack light. Taking only hand luggage put me straight into the good graces of my family as it allowed plenty of room for their big bags.. and even then, it only just fitted in. For those of you who may be impressed that a gal can survive on hand luggage alone for seven days.. let’s just say I did do some shopping. Although I am not too sure how leather handbags, wallets, a camera a mini laptop quite compensate for lack of clothes. And yes, I did wash (both my clothes and me!).

I’d barely landed in Firenze (Florence) before we grabbed an espresso and started seeing the sights and stopped in the markets to peruse the leather goods and negotiate a few purchases. Coming from Durban, I have learnt from the best when it comes to bargaining. Battering a few eyelashes never hurt either.. especially in Italy! We spent two nights in Florence, heading up into the hills, stopping at gorgeous cafes (yes, for more espresso and occasionally a glass of pinot grigio) and enjoying dinners at roof top terraces with amazing sunset views.

Before we left Florence for Siena, I heard tell of some arguments between driver (my sister Ju) and navigator (my Dad), so I was nominated as replacement navigator while my Dad was relegated to back seat driver. All in the name of enjoying the scenery of course, although he insisted on having a map of his own so he could assist with good places to stop for lunch. Only once, was there a blow out which resulted in Ju and my Dad getting out of the car and heading off in separate directions, leaving Wendy and I to chat and wait for their return. 20 minutes later it was if nothing had happened!

En route to Siena, we took a country road down through the Chianti region, stopping at many little towns along route and admiring the gorgeous, post card like scenery. Upon arriving in Siena, we managed to take the wrong off ramp and hence could not use the directions we’d been given. It took three attempts at taking the same little round about route (on and off the freeway) before we’d figured out where we were. Wendy quickly retracted her statement that she did not mind getting slightly lost as it was all new scenery to her. Third time lucky, we finally got it right! We stayed in a gorgeous little guesthouse on a horse stud just outside of Siena and had the perfect weather to have an impromptu picnic outside for dinner that evening. The abundance of Lavender bushes and Cyprus trees made me realise that it’s not just all for show in the movies!

The following morning, we walked through the streets of Siena and the famous square where the annual bareback horse race is held before heading off to San Gimignano for lunch. San Gimignano is a quaint medieval type town, compete with gorgeous towers which create a breath taking view from afar. Our final destination that evening was Lucca, an ancient medieval town that still has it’s ancient walls intact. They are thick, 5 metre wide walls which you can cycle and walk around on and as we stayed in an old apartment in the city, it really gave one a feel for what life must have been like back then. Bikes on the streets (ok.. so it would have been horses and carts), gatherings of little old Italian men to share the day’s gossip.. you get the picture. Leaving Lucca, we stopped off to see the majestic leaning tower in Pisa before heading up the coast and then inland to Lake Como. When I was working in Milan two years ago, I had always wanted to get to Lake Como and it was well worth the wait. Only thing that I wouldn’t advise is traveling in Italy over the public holidays, as some infuriating Italians came out en masse. The theory of queuing is a concept that has not reached the general Italian public.. to name but a few frustrations. A chocolate gelati soon helped ease the pain though! It was fabulous to be back in Italy (I clearly like the place as it was the 4^th visit) and it won’t be my last. Maybe next time it’s Positano….?? Anyone keen?

Cape Town with the Girls

 After travelling with Bron and Kristy and Uganda, I decided to meet up with them in Cape Town to see some of the sights I haven't seen.  In between diamond shopping, we headed up Table Mountain, went to Cape Point, the penguins at Boulders Bay, wine tasting, eating out and had a great time.

Gorillas in the Mist

Uganda is an amazing country and my trip there has to be one of my favourite adventures to date. From staying on Bashara Island, a volcanic island; Ngamba Chimp Sanctuary; to the community visits, my highlight was definitely gorilla tracking in Bwindi Impenetrable forest. It took 2 days to get to Bwindi in a massive overland truck (called Stacy), along pot holed, treacherous roads. As we entered the forest, we soon realized that there was a reason the forest was named ‘Impenetrable’. Steep hills, dense jungle and a lack of paths made me wonder how on earth we would find the elusive mountain gorillas in the mist. As the Mountain Gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda are protected, visiting rights are restricted to one hour per gorilla family per day. Groups are limited to 8 people, who are accompanied by 2 guides and a group of armed military soldiers. Their AK47s that accompany the soldiers are more to protect against raiding guerillas from the D.R.C. as opposed to charging gorillas. The guides track each family daily so they have a rough idea where they are for the following days trek, but that still doesn’t make it any easier to get to them. The magnitude of the logistics, as well as the cost of funding the protection of some of the last remaining mountain gorillas made me realize the permit for a 1 hour gorilla trek is $500 per person. And it was worth every cent.
We headed off early the next morning, up pathways into the jungle. After about 25 minutes, the path disappeared and we were soon pulling aside vines and grasping onto tree trunks to pull ourselves along the steep hillside. Shortly thereafter, our guide pointed out two juvenile gorillas in a tree to my right. After taking some photos, most of my group moved on leaving Kristy, Bronwyn (two amazing Aussie girls) and myself. As I was about to set off again, the two juveniles, jumped down from the tree and made their way towards me. Standing still, they made their way right up to us, looked up and then carried on ambling. They had literally been so close, that if I had lifted my hand, I would have touched them. As we made our way through the vines to catch up with the group, I tried to recall all the briefing points: keep quiet, stay 7 m away and don’t touch them. Well, the 7 m rule went out the window as we rounded the corner. The family of 6 gorillas were interspersed amongst us and had decided it was time for second breakfast. The silverback and blackback (a younger, less dominant male) were hanging out of trees, and crashing to the ground with a resounding thud as the tree branches buckled under their weight. Once on the ground, they wandered around until they found the tastiest looking bush before they sat down to munch. As I lowered my camera to watch these amazing animals, I saw them watching us and it gave them term ‘people watching’ a new meaning. As I was watching the silverback, I felt Kristy tug on my sleeve. I turned around and saw a mom and her one week old little baby approach us from behind. She seemed very relaxed around us and sat down about 2 metres away to start eating. As she sat down, she swung her little one to the ground to romp amongst the leaves.
We had an hour with the family and it all went too soon. Luckily, I had headed a friend’s advice and stopping taking photos after a while, and just enjoyed my time in their presence. Being 2-3 metres away from such majestic creatures in the wild was amazing. We were incredibly lucky as I had heard that another group who headed out to see a different gorilla family that day, had to trek two and a half hours each way and ended up being charged by the silverback. Rule 1: never run from a charging gorilla. Rule 2: Don’t make eye contact with aforementioned charging gorilla. Once we arrived back at camp, celebratory banana gins were drunk to end off an amazing day and a fabulous trip. Uganda is definitely an undiscovered gem, so if you ever get the chance to go, grab it with both hands.

Kruger

After a rather hectic month of March, Gareth and I decided to get away from the city over Easter and headed north to Kruger for a long weekend of sun downers, game drives and animal spotting.. the life!

The Amazing Race

Van, Tam, Jo and I were the Pinkosasanas (Inkosasanas with a P) for the Amazing Race around Joburg, raising funds for SOS Childrens village. 195 teams in a 5 hour dash to solve 10 clues: from finding ribbons on trees, destinations on TV adverts, following skydivers from the rooftop of Sandton city, being paintball targets for our housemates, kicking rugby balls, bowling a team out in cricket, downing shooters.. and it all made for an amazing day!

FICC RMB Shebeen Evening