Honeymoon Blog: South Africa

South Africa has been wonderful!

We first spent a couple of days at Ifafi with my Uncle Marius, Aunt Ilze, and my favorite youngest cousin, Imke. She was, as always, a playful bundle of energy, but I love being able to spend time with her every time we come to South Africa. Ben and I really enjoyed the couple of days of relaxation we had at Ifafi. Uncle Marius also welcomed us to south africa with a bottle of champagne and Ilze and his wedding flutes.

Next, we headed to my favorite part of South Africa, the Kruger National Park. We spent 5 days there and were very lucky in our animal sightings. Here is a list off the top of my head: lion, leopard, hyena, elephant, rhino, buffalo, steenbokkies, duikers, kudus, nyalas, impala, bosbokkie, waterbok, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, a variety of birds, hippos, crocodiles, mongooses (on our porch in skukuza).
Ben and I also cooked our first meal together as a married couple in our little hut in Skukuza (braai and couscous), and we both think it was delicious :)


During this time, we also had our South African wedding in Magda and Roussou's garden in Skukuza. It exceeded all my expectations. It was a gorgeous setting with a touching ceremony from the preacher surrounded by my south african family. My mom did an amazing job organizing everything for me from America so I wouldn't have to worry about a thing and it turned out wonderfully. We had the same flowers from the American wedding decorating the garden and the food was delicious and the wine was flowing. It was a wonderful time and Ben and I both really enjoyed ourselves and visiting with the family. The only thing lacking were baby cheetahs drinking from the river, but I suppose you can't have everything ;)

After our time in Skukuza, Ben and I spent some time with my maternal grandparents, Ouma and Oupa Mathee in a resort just outside of Kruger called Sanbonani. We also went into Kruger with them. One afternoon, while Tiaan, Oupa, and I drove into the Kruger we came across 4 lions just lounging around in the road. We got some awesome pictures, and it was great to be so close to them! We also go to see some of the beautiful scenery of the area -- we visited bridal veil falls, mac mac falls,
god's window (which was unfortunately too misty to see anything), and Bourke's luck (rock formations carved out by the river). It was beautiful, and I was so glad to experience that part of South Africa.
We also stopped by Harry's pancakes where I had the most delicious chicken and mushroom pancake. Ben, unfortunately, was a little sick with stomach troubles for a couple of days while we were there, but he recovered after a few days. Tiaan and I enjoyed running in the resort and playing tennis...it was very scenic. We also adopted a cat (temporarily) and named him sokkies (or socks in english) because he was black with white paws. The resort was also right next to the river and hippos came out at night, and we actually could see them from our chalet!

We have spent the rest of our time in Heidelberg with my other grandparents, Ouma and Oupa Krige and my aunt Adele and her family next door. It's been very relaxing, and Ben and I have been doing some reading and of course watching the world cup. I've decided I'm rooting for Germany. Tomorrow, we will go hike the Suikerbosrand with my cousin Con and Tiaan. I'm sad we will be leaving on Wednesday because I feel like I'm leaving one of my homes, but hopefully, we will be back to visit again because I still want to show Ben the beautiful area around Cape Town.

Arrivaderci en Totsiens!

Honeymoon Blog: Italy -- Rome

We traveled by car from Positano to Naples where we took the train to Rome. We arrived in Rome at about 2 in the afternoon, and our driver took us to our hotel: The River Palace. The River Palace had the friendliest hotel staff we had encountered. They even provided us with a small map of Rome and the walking distances to major sites.
After settling in, we decided to go visit some of the ruins of the ancient bath houses in Rome: the Baths of Caracalla. We took the metro there since it was a little far from the hotel to walk. The metros in france were probably nicer although a bit smellier.

The ruins of baths were great to visit. They are so incredibly huge and you can still see some of the original murals and statues. It's hard to imagine how beautiful it must have been originally.
After visiting the baths, we went back to the hotel and started trying to make plans for dinner. We did not anticipate how busy Rome is for dinner on a Saturday night. Using both my guidebook, tripadvisor, and the hotel manager, we managed to get reservations at a restaurant after trying 4 or 5 that were already booked for the night. It was delicious. Afterwards, we stopped by a gelateria to get some gelato. I got my favorite flavor, bacio, which is basically chocolate and hazelnut mixed together.

Sunday, we basically toured all of Rome. We started off by visiting the Spanish steps, where there were a hoard of people. At any big attraction there also the local vendors trying to sell small parasoles, bubbles, toys, flowers...you name it.
We then stopped at a nearby ristorante to take a break and have a cold drink. It was very hot while we were there. We then headed to see the Trevi fountain, where again there were masses of people. The sculptures on the fountain were very impressive.


We then headed to the Pantheon and saw Hadrian's temple on the way. The Pantheon is one of ancient Rome's best preserved structures. There is a circular opening the top, the oculus, that is the only source of light for the temple.

We had a tour of ancient Rome booked for the afternoon, so we started walking to the area by Colosseum to find a place to eat lunch before our tour. We ended up eating at a pizzeria and enjoyed a nice light lunch. We had mozzarella balls, and I had some toasted bread with cheese and mushrooms. After lunch, we went to the tour meeting point and waited for it to begin.

The tour was 3 hours long and covered the Colosseum, the Palatine Hill, and the Forum. It was very detailed and very informative. It was also a nice refresher on ancient roman history covering the different emperors.


After resting for a while after our tour, we set out for dinner to one of the other restaurants our hotel manager had suggested. However after looking at the menu and not seeing anything too appetizing, we set out to find a different restaurant and found a great one nearby where we enjoyed roast lamb and a great lasagna. We then headed back to the hotel for after dinner drinks, where something very funny happened. Ben went to go use the bathroom. After he hadn't come back for a while, I went to go check on him where he told me panicked through the door that he could not get out of the bathroom. Trying not to laugh, I explained his predicament to the bartender, hoping he would be able to get Ben out. When he failed, he went to go get the hotel manager, you told Ben to just turn the lock harder, which allowed Ben to finally escape from the bathroom. When he walked out into the hotel lobby, the entire lobby full of people clapped for him, having witnessed the commotion around the bathroom. The best part? He almost trapped himself in our room's bathroom the very next morning :)

Our flight left Monday evening, so we had a couple of hours before we had to go the airport. We used this time to go to "the best gelato place in Rome" where Michelle Obama took her daughters when they were in Italy. It was very good...although I have to say it didn't taste that much different than the other gelaterias we had gone to. We also got the chance to see the Piazza Navona and the Fontana dei Qattro Fiumi, which another one of Bernini's great works. Each statue represents on the four great rivers of the world (The Nile, the Plate, the Ganges, and the Danube). One thing we missed was the Vatican, but we can always go back to visit :)

Overall, Rome was fantastic. It's definitely a must see if you go to Italy. I loved all the architecture and the history.