Napa Valley, California -- 1 Year Anniversary: Day 1

Ben and I decided to spend our 1 year anniversary in Napa Valley, California.

We arrived late last night in San Francisco, and drove rental car (a Ford Mustang -- good choice on Ben's part) to our hotel in Napa. We pretty much just went straight to bed when we got to the hotel, since it was 3am GA time. It was pretty neat to drive through San Francisco and see a little bit of the city -- even if it was at night.

Today we started off having breakfast at the hotel. The hotel is overlooking the Napa River, and we decided to eat outdoors. It was so peaceful and beautiful. I love it.

We then took off for Yountville (about 15 min away) to go on the Napa Valley bike tour. Our tour guide was named Paul -- a 65 year old avid cyclist with a great sense of humor and a vast knowledge about Napa Valley and the wine making process. Other members of our group included another couple from Georgia in town for a wedding and an older lady from Las Vegas in town for a wedding as well.

We headed off towards our first destination -- Baldacci Vineyards -- with Paul explaining different aspect of the vineyards along the way. Baldacci Vineyards is a small scale, family-owned vineyard. There, Mike gave us a brief tour of the facility and the "caves" where the keep the barrels of wine. We got to taste several of their wines -- a chardonnay and two of their cabernet sauvignons. They were all pretty good.

Our next stop was Regusci Winery, my favorite winery of the day. The landscaping and architecture of the winery was gorgeous and I absolutely loved their wines. We tasted their chardonnay, zinfandel, merlot (fantastic), principle cabernet sauvignon (my favorite of the day), and angelo's cabernet sauvignon. Here we decided to buy a bottle of the Merlot to share with our parents when we get back to Georgia.

Our lunch stop was at Laird Winery where Robert was our taste guide. He was extremely knowledgable and so nice! He even gave us a complimentary pinot grigio to enjoy with out lunch. Here we tried a pinot grigio (2007 and 2008), chardonnay, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon. Ben enjoyed the pinot grigio and the chardonnay, so we ended up getting some of their wines as well.

Our last stop of the bike tour was Hopper's Creek Winery. This was probably the most casual tasting of the day. The taste guide, Dan, was drinking a bud light as we walked in and provided us with entertaining stories of the winery and events in Napa. We tried a zinfandel, a merlot rose (very unique-- brought a bottle home to share), cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, merlot, and sauvignon blanc. The winery had a very pleasant porch overlooking the vineyard where we enjoyed a few of the wines.

After the bike wine tour, Ben and I headed north to Calistoga to Castello de Amorosa. It's basically an Italian castle built in Napa Valley by and Italian man named Dario who wanted to recreate his heritage in the form of a midieval castle. The castle was quite impressive to tour, and we also got to do a barrel tasting as well as a formal tasting of their wines. Their wines were pretty good, but nothing that wowed us. Their Rose was fairly pleasant, so we got bottle of that. The views around the castle were breathtaking, making the trip very worthwhile.

We are now heading to Bouchon Bistro for dinner, which should be delicious.

Overall, a great first day in Napa Valley!

(Only negative-- Ben and I forgot sunscreen for the bike tour and are now both sporting sexy farmer tan burns)

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.

Honeymoon blog: Italy -- Positano

We arrived in Naples via a Train from Florence. We then had a driver who drove us the hour and a half road to Positano, a little town off of the Amalfi coast. Ben and I both agree that this was our favorite part of Italy -- extremely relaxing and beautiful. Cars are only allowed to go to a certain point in the city, which is where our driver dropped us off, and we walked the rest of the way down to the coast to our hotel, Covo dei Saraceni.


We had our own little balcony attached to the room, with a magnificent view of the ocean. After unpacking, we headed down to the hotel restaurant and had a wonderful meal overlooking the beach. Ben had really good ravioli (hand made pasta) stuffed with cheese and prawns for the main course. I had spaghetti bolognese and swordfish for the main course.

The next day, we headed out for an all day excursion on the Isle de Capri. We were in a group with about 12 other people. The boat dropped us off at Capri and told us when to be back for pickup. They also provided a map with the main attractions of Capri. Ben and I went to the smaller town, Anacapri, first and rode a chairlift to the highest point on the island where we had incredible views of all of Capri. We then had lunch at a small cafe outside and shared a pizza. Next, we explored the Villa San Michelle, the home of a famous doctor. The villa also had a gorgeous garden and incredible views of the ocean.


We then headed back to the harbour (stopping for some gelato along the way) to catch our boat. The boat tour then took us to the blue grotto where we got into a very small rowboat and entered the cave. Once you're in the cave, the water at the entrance appears to be the brightest blue you have ever seen because of the way the sunlight enters the cave and reflects off of the water. The boat tour also highlighted some of the other grottos around capri (the green grotto and the white grotto) and gave us an opportunity to swim in the Meditterranean (extremely cold). They also treated us to snacks, water, and prosecco (sparkling wine) along the trip. It was a really fun day! That night we headed out to a restaurant on the beach where we had some pasta and pizza, and spent some time exploring Positano.

The next day we spent just exploring the island and doing some shopping. I got some really cute beach dresses, some shoes, and a very pretty beach hat. Ben also got some nice Italian leather shoes. We also spent some time laying out by the hotel pool, and I also got a massage. Later that evening, we headed out to the restaurent, Le Tre Sorelles (the three sisters), which was probably our 2nd favorite meal in Italy. Again, the staff was very friendly. I had some amazing lasagna and Ben had really good pasta as well. We also got some sparkling wine with fruit in it after dinner that was very good.

Overall, positano was incredibly relaxing and was definitely the highlight of our trip to Italy.

Honeymoon Blog: Italy --Firenze

We arrived in Florence by train at about 1pm in the afternoon. Our driver then took us to our hotel -- Lugarno Suites. It was the most spacious accommodations we've had in Europe. There was even a little kitchenette with a dining table and a living room area. Furthermore, it was right on the river, providing a great view.

Since our time in Florence was limited, we then headed out to explore the city -- do some shopping and see the historic district including the Duomo -- Santa Maria del Fiore, Europe's 4th largest church. Before we started all this, we stopped at a little cafe for lunch -- focaccia sandwiches and some chianti wine (typical red wine of the tuscan region). The architecture of Florence is very typical of the renaissance style-- simple and symmetric. The church was anything but simple -- it was very beautifully and intricately decorated along with the campanile and the baptistery. The baptistery doors are covered wit 12 different scenes from the bible (below is a picture of Joseph being sold into slavery), and the ceiling of the dome is painted in scenes from the last judgment.



Ben was needing a nap at this point, so we headed back in the direction of the hotel and we went to bed while I went to the Palazzo Pitti (originally built for the banker, Luca Pitti who wanted to the rival the Medici family, who ironically, ended up buying the palace). Instead of exploring the inside of the palace, I spent my time in the Boboli Gardens attached the palace. It was a true tuscan villa -- so beautiful! The gardens ascended uphill and provided some magnificent views of Florence. There were statues, fountains, and cypress trees all throughout the garden and all the way at the top was a beautiful pink rose garden attached to a porcelain museum. Spending time in the gardens was one of my favorite things I've done in Italy -- it was so relaxing and beautiful, and made me feel like I was truly living in a Tuscan villa.


That night, Ben and I were originally planning to get to the piazza Michelangelo which overlooks the city and a drink some wine while watching the sun set over the city. Romantic right? Unfortunately, we needed to take the bus to get there, and we couldn't find a place to buy bus tickets. I suppose it's something we can put on the list for next time we come to Italy. When our sunset plan failed, we decided to head out to dinner to one of the restaurants recommended by my guide book, 4 Leoni. We had one of our favorite meals of Italy here, and I think this is also the friendliest staff we encountered. We shared an appetizer of shark lasagna (a little weird...but the pasta part was very good). We also shared the main meal of bistecca alla florentine (a classic florentine dish)...which was basically a 1kg steak prepared with beef from a specific brand of cow in Italy. It was delicious! We finished it off with a cheesecake covered with fruit and chocolate -- very tasty.

The next morning, I got up early to go to the Uffizi museum of art (known as Italy's greatest art gallery). Since I hadn't thought to get tickets in advance (I didn't know quite how popular the museum was), I ended up waiting and hour and a half to get in. I would say it was mostly worth it. One of the rooms I was most looking forward to seeing (the room containing all of the Medici family's favorite pieces) was closed for refurbishment. However, Botticelli's works were beautiful, and I'm really glad I got to see his work as well as some of Leonardo da Vinci's earlier pieces as well.

ITALY--honeymoon blog (Venice)

Sunday: Arrival in Venice

We arrived at the venician airport and traveled by taxi to the island. Once we got to the island, we traveled by water taxi to our hotel. We could not travel along the grand canal because there was a big regatta happening that day and thousands of boats were racing around the lagoon and through the grand canal. We ended up being dropped off in San Marco’s square and walking through the shopping district to get to our hotel – The Westin: Europa & Regina. It was beautiful. The lobby was ornate, marbled, and beautiful. The hotel is right on the grand canal and has a boat entrance for pick up/drop off. Our room was beautiful. I felt like we were sleeping in a room in a mansion. Our hotel used to be the home of the famous 18^th century Italian artist, Tipelo. We were exhausted from our flight and ended up taking a 3 hour nap before heading out to explore Venice. We headed to San Marco’s square, where we saw the outside of the Basilica di San Marco, the Campanile, and the Palazzo Ducale.

We walked along the pier where we observed the other tourists, hagglers trying to sell knock off designer purses, and cafes, restorantes, and tratorrias every 10 ft. We ended up eating at a little café. Ben had a quarto fromaggio pizza and I had pasta ragu (pasta with meat sauce). We shared a bottle of white wine (chardonnay) and ended our meal with limoncello (Italian lemon-flavored after dinner drink). After dinner we went to the old prison and watched a quartet perform Vivaldi’s four seasons. We then went to the piazza de San Marco and had dessert (tiramasu and red wine) in one of the café’s in the square. Each of the café’s in the square had a live band that performs traditional/classical Italian music.

Monday, May 24 -- touring venice

Ben and I started off the morning with the hotel's complimentary breakfast out on the patio next to the grand canal enjoying a gorgeous view. We then set off to explore the city. Venice has so many little squares or (piazzas), bridges, and little streets, and we explored a good deal of them before ending up at the Rialto bridge around lunchtime. The Rialto bridge is the largest bridge spanning the canal, and the surrounding area is a bustling marketplace, selling everything from meat, fruit, and bread to jewelry and murano glass.

We stopped to have a drink at a cafe next to the canal before heading to explore the marketplace and the San Polo district. Later in the afternoon, we also explored Dorsoduro and Ca'Rezzonico -- a palace once owned by Browning. It's now a museum with beautiful decorative items and paintings. We then took a vaporetta (a sort of public waterbus) back to San Marco's square, we we tried to find a place to eat lunch. We ended up getting some mozarella and tomato paninis at a cafe near the square. We then did some shopping (buying some murano crystal and glass) and then took a brief nap at our hotel before heading out to San Marco's square to see the Basilica de San Marco, a beautiful chapel in San Marco's square. Later in the evening, we took a romantic gondola ride to dinner. Although our gondolear did not sing, it was still a great experience.

We ate at Sempione which definitely had some authentic venecian food (such as a fried sardines and eel). After dinner, we walked back to San Marco's square along the pier and tried to go into the famous "harry's bar" founded by an American. However, they wouldn't let Ben in because he was wearing shorts, so we ended up going to a tratorria near our hotel to get a late night snack and some drinks.

The next day, our travel guide picked us up from the hotel and we traveled by water taxi to the train station, and we were off to Firenzie (Florence)!

NYC: Times Square, 5th Ave., and all that jazz...

So, this blog is being transformed from a France blog to a general travel blog :)

I had my interview in Rochester, NY this past Friday and took Ben with me. Since we were (semi) close to NYC, we decided to tour the city that never sleeps!

I'll start with our brief stay in Rochester. Downtown Rochester is not very big and there isn't much to do. I have a feeling that most of the young life around Rochester is located near the campus. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Rochester and had a nice dinner at the hotel and watched the movie, "The Proposal." I wouldn't mind spending 4 years in Rochester despite the lack of "city atmosphere." There are a lot of outdoorsy activities available and it has a great performing arts scene.

Now onto the REAL weekend. We arrived at JFK at about 10am. We then tested our public transit skills by taking the airtrain, LIRR train, bus, and subway to our hotel in Times Square, the Renaissance. We were literally in Times Square! I could look out our window and see the NY Times news ticker. After taking a quick break at the hotel, we explored a little bit of Times Square (saw the Naked Cowboy) and decided to take a bus tour of the city. This allowed us to see all the big sites--madison square gardens, empire state building, Macy's, ground zero, little italy, chinatown, soho, lower eastide, UN building, hotels, brooklyn bridge, Radio City Music Hall, central park, and everything that is NY. We also took a ferry to Liberty and Ellis Island to see the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, they weren't allowing anyone to climb up in the statue that day :(

We also stoppped at Canal St. for lunch. Canal st is where little chinese ladies show you pictures of designer purses, sunglasses, and watches and you follow them into this little room where they keep all of their merchandise. I ended up with a $30 coach purse and $10 Chanel sunglasses :) After the tour, Ben and I bought some tickets for Chicago on Broadway, went back to the hotel to change, ate some dinner (NY pizza-delicious!) and headed to the play.

Chicago was incredible! It is the best play/musical I have ever seen. The plot was great--entertaining and engaging. The costumes/acting/dancing/singing were amazing! I LOVED it. I still can't get some of the songs out of my head. After the play, Ben and I headed to a bar off of Times Square called Havana Central. They had some really good sangria and a live band. The perfect end to the perfect day.

On Sunday, we slept in and then went to lunch at an Irish pub, O'Connelys, off of 5th avenue. It was very good! I got fish and chips and Ben got a Turkey Cuban panini. We then window shopped in a couple of the stores on 5th avenue--Prada, Gucci, Tiffany's, and the apple store.

We then went and had some ice cream in Central Park--very relaxing. They were actually fliming something about global warming while we were there...interesting. After relaxing in Central Park, we headed back to Madison Avenue to continue our shopping. I found some really great deals...and shoes and purses :) After our shopping, we headed to the airport to fly back to Atlanta. Our flight was delayed 90 minutes due to rain in Atlanta.

In summary, New York was wonderful! It was everything I expected and more.