CHOAS & TERRIOR IN NAPLES...kind of.

Interactive blog this week folks. Guess the size of the statue.


Napoli is the crazy city of Southern Italy. It is ruled by....well..Nothing at all. It has very little rules at all in fact. Things like "Run for your lives" frequently get shouted as you try to cross the road, or "Holly Crap" as four dogs, 11 scooters, a smart car and predestrians meet in an ally way constructed in 1500AD. The shop keepers and residents don't seem to mind though, life seems to exist in some normality for them. Tiny shops selling sometimes fresh vegetables, massive pizzas and salame surround us constantly. Somewhat political aswell, so Rick added his allegiance to the President.Woman and children carrying shopping up steep paths, or hanging washing 20 metres in the air across tiny narrow streets is all day to day living, and so sooo different to anywhere else we've visited. The most lasting impression though is the scooters. These things are everywhere! Children, teenages, fathers, mothers, businessmen and the elderly all ride them. The scooter is what the bike is to Holland. These things invariabley are a lot faster and a lot more dangerous on roads constructed by massive slippery slidy bumpy slaps of slate 500 years ago. The Napolise also carry whole families on them. We have seen upto 4 people on one poor little run about. 3 is not uncommon, and 2 is usual.

Our place of residents has been amazing. Recommended to us by a friend of Kathi's (thanks Toma), a little B&B one stop away from the central trian station. This place is incredible, and resembles more of an oasis in the hectic life of Napoli than just a place to stay. We have a MAGIC view of Mount Vesovious (spelling?), the sea, the islands of Capri and the other one I can't remember the name of. We also have our own sun set and subsequent fire work display every night. For some reason the Napolise love their Fireworks. Another crazy characteristic of this B&B is it has a lawn!! in the middle of town we have grass, lemon trees, 3 terraces to climb, if we so choose, and a huge sun bathing eating area. Very Cool. THe owner is a great guy named Francesco. We've had drinks with him and his Norwegan Partner, Midnight snacks at the neigbours place, and listened to his cousins-cousin sing in an opera performance in a church court yard near by. Basically we're part of the family now I think.
A first timers visit to Napoli is also never complete unless you've seen the incredible rubble of Pompeii. Rubble might be a bit ruff considering it is mostly around 2100 years old. Certainly an eye opener for fresh faced kiwi's, and definitely worth a visit. The original residents of this fine town were a tad unlucky. 17 years before the eruption of mount Vesovious, an Earthquake badly damaged the city.
Spot the Marty and Kathi above.


Residents with the help of Ruler Augustus, did a fab job of rebuilding and improving the city with a fine Roman idea named the aquaducts. Unfortunately these and the whole city was covered by the massive eruption just a short time later. Strangly, the city and its remains were completely forgotten about for many many years. Not until moddern times were the buildings uncovered and exhibited. So much of the town in still in tact, and it is much bigger than you expect. ROughly I guess it would cover a good couple of Km squared. Best of all is the staidum in which gladiators and the like had fun and games together.



More adventures and photos will follow, but thats it for now, Ciao =)

Survivour Peschici

The words "let the games begin" were words not infrequently crossing our minds as we departed the pleasent easy going lifestyle and home comforts of Kathi's house in Macerata.

Leaving Macerata was a step into the wilderness.. No plans, a vague knowledge of our final destination, no accomodation booked, and no friendly face at the other end to look after us and bring us home. Admittedly these issues were more out our own disorganisation as opposed to personal desires, but it led to an exciting journey.

The traditonal run to meet the train was of course used to maximise sleep time, followed by rushed bookings to a place named S.Severo. Our final destination was to be Vieste, a small beach resorty type town on the bump of the achilles of Italy. This part of the journey was relatively straight forward: jump on train, try not to get jammed in the door as you scramble aboard (unsuccessful this time...damit), and try to make friends with a nice Italian person which might be getting off at the same stop as us. Of course I let Martin do his talking (he seems to be particulary good at this part), and sure enough, we had a decent idea about where and when to get off. The next part of the journey provided a little more insight into the Italian way of things. This far south, things begin to heat up, and the italian infrastructure and organisation begins to loosen up..

We arrived just in time to figure out where to buy our next train ticket - although the man told us to run, so of course we did! The train resembled more of a tin can being kicked down tracks but it seemed to limp us to a place worthy of a postcard. Like usual, we didn't get the postcard, so those of you hanging out for one may want to invest in one themselves and pretend its from us (beck)=). Our thoughts were that we were to ride this train to its death at the end of the line, but apparently not. While tickets were being collected we were informed that two buses would also help us reach our destination. This was a surprise and we began to wonder if Vieste would be reached this day. A bus, another train, then a further bus later, we began to recognise that the people on this journey with us, also doubled as the subsequent bus,train, and ticket officers. While looking at our tickets, Martin was heard muttering, "does it say what our role on this journey is". We were pleased to find that we weren't asked to be the Nanny... or the doctor, this time.. We palyed the tourist and journied on.

Peschici was the last major town before Vieste. Our bus finally bus and very conviently stoped at a bus stop 7km shy of it... A sign on the door said something politcal in Italian. Closer inspection using our supernatural powers in reading foriegn languages enabled us to decipher that there was a local strike in progress until may 19 (today). The next bus would arrive at midnight to take us to Peschici and Vieste. After consulting our stomachs and the amount of food we had left (2 swiss blocks of chocolate melting fast), we decided that italians look like friendly people that would like some Kiwis to share a car with. Hitch-hiking took us about 5min to score a ride with a man that knows how to do a 180degree turn at high speed to pick up a couple of lads in need. Molto Grazie.

A recommendation of a place to stay followed, and we now live in a beautiful paradise 32 steps away from the beach. No desires now exist to visit Vieste.. We're well and truely at home =).

Giants in Jandals

Italy is not normaly known for the large size of their stature, but rather for the large size of their appettites. So enter two giants wearing jandals into a country which does not speak much English (except in major tourist cities), and it paints an unusual picture. Incredibly fashion conscious, italian leather shoes, with nice pants, shirt and a jacket when for us... we were debating whether we should go tops on or off! The weather is warm-hot, but supposedly it just gets hotter... I can't imagine travelling on a bus in the middle of summer!

Everything here is a contradiction. The incredible style of Italians who wouldn't be caught dead without their Gucci sunglasses, yet they cannot organise themselves out of a paper bag. As foriegners, we have to be very patient, and learn that a 7pm appointment is probably going to start about 8:45pm. And sorting people into 4 cars can take an hour. It is incredibly conservative, where males would not even flat with females, and you definately would not live with your girlfriend/boyfriend until you were married. But in clubs you can get away with wearing next to nothing (I cannot confirm this yet!).

Venice (or Venizia as the Italians call it), is amazing. Very touristy, but the most romantic city I have ever seen at night. If only Rick would stop trying to hold my hand. Yes, just the two of us strolling through beautiful canal-side restaurants with buskers in fine suits making music that you would pay a pretty penny for in a concert. Pizza and Pasta of course was on the menu 24/7, but we did try to squeeze a few salads in their. One point of interest is the many black men who lay out all their fake Gucci or Armani handbags, watches, belts, sunglasses on a sheet on the side of the street. I mean it is literally lined with them. And then, as soon as the police turn up... they disappear within an instant.

Next we went to Macerata, where Kathi lives. We discovered that the further away from the tourist cities you go, the less everyone knows English. So our tiny bit of italian was put to the test, but we found our way to the ancient hill-side walled city of Macerata (near Ancona on the eastern coast). For the first time in Italian history, our bus arrived early. I think there may have been a mention on CNN Network about that! We have been to the markets, to the beach, and a great Italian Reggae concert. Since then I seem to be getting sick again, so it has been a quiet couple of days. Unfortunately my Birthday has been more of a recovery day! Kathi has a singing concert tonight, and soon we will head on our way around some more of Italy. We have already been offered a fruit picking job in summer in the south east of Italy. Caio!

Sibylla...

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It has been so short a time, but also an eternity ago that we heard the disasterous news that Sibylla passed away while practicing medicine in Bolivia. Since then both Rick and I have been so dissapointed with ourselves that we had not done this trip earlier. Now it is our pilgramage to Sibylla's parents that was such a hard, but very important thing for us to do.

We were with Irina, and we were warmly welcomed into their house in St. Gallen for lunch. As we approached the house, I felt nervous and felt something twinging in my heart. We met Sibylla's mother, her father, her brother and her, two sisters, and two of her friends. It was absolutely astounding to see where Sibylla had grown up, and you could see that in such a loving and supportive family how she turned out as she did. We also had the chance to cuddle and hold Felicitas's baby (Anik)who Sibylla was named God mother of just months before her death. In my opion Anik holds a big part for the family to recover from this dreadful situation, some hope when there seems to be none, and laugher when there are only tears.

We laughed, we cried, we were informed about the details of her death and the mammoth struggle to get her back to Switzerland for the funeral. Many photos, and the one that stood out the most for me was of the phone booth where Sibylla suffered her heart attack while talking on the phone. They made us feel like family, and we were very comfortable there. It was so amazing to see bits and pieces of Sibylla in each of her siblings. Her oldest sister looked exactly like Sibylla, her other sister had Sibylla's boyant personality and sense of humour, while her brother had the kindness and love of music that Sibylla had.

We visited the grave of Sibylla, which was very colourful and had a candle burning constantly. When we arrived, all of us stood for 15 minutes without saying a word, just simply crying and remembering our amazing friend Sibylla. The graveyard was beautiful, with a lake in the middle, and very open plan, a beautiful resting place for a beautiful person.

During our time there we expalined that we were carrying a message from so many New Zealanders whose lives were lucky enough to be touched with Sibylla's soul. We said our goodbyes for all of you, and left with such emotional fatigue.

We miss you Sibylla and you will be loved forever...

All the good things come from the Alps

Martin finished the last adventures of Rick and Martin at dinner in Basil. Just to let you know, dinner was fan-fricken-tastic. These Swiss are mean cooks, and every thing from here on in, is all about cheese, chocolate, and Sibylla.

Our tour guide, Irina, had a rigorous schedule set for us. It involved touring the width of the country (approx 20 min by train) visiting four different Swiss cities, eating a mountain of cheese, and a truck load of chocolate, while not letting us pay for a single cent along the way! Here is also a photo of us and Josie sitting in a Swiss cafe having one of their REAL hot chocolates... hmmmmm so nice.


Marty: Here is a very unusual specimen. It is a native Heissweis bird from Switzerland. It moved with such fluid motion, and made incredibly musical tones from it's beak. I was told that this was a male, but as we have never seen one before we have no proof. Anyway, if anyone comes to Switzerland, keep your eyes peeled for this rare bird - usually you follow the flock of japanese tourists!

Rick: Basil put on a beautiful day for us. 25+ degrees, the river rheine in spectacular form, and people everywhere. This is a beautiful city, with so many picture post card typical Swiss buildings and tiny allyways and court yards around every courner. Lunch on the banks of the river rheine on such a fantastic day was definetly a highlight.

Bern (the capital) and the smaller Solothoun were next. Again the buildings were amazing, and its interesting to see the subtle differences in structure and design between each of the cities. Solothoun boasted some impressive churchs, which for me personlly seemed more scary than welcoming. It must have been a strange time, when people built and then worshiped in these places. The churchs have a tincy-wincey bit more 'bling bling' than the ones back at home.

Staying with Irina's parents was a great expereince. They have a beautiful house just out of Solothoun, looking out across a beautiful vista of farm land, forrest and hills. We were welcomed with open arms and a large helping of cheese. We had a traditional Swiss dish named raclette (spelling??). Basically, get really yummy ingredients of your choosing and sit around a grill and melt heaps of delicious swiss cheese all over it..... What could be better than that!? For dessert, of course, chocolate cream, with coffee and more chocolate. Oh yeah.

We also visited some of Irina's good friends. One particular friends family have rebuilt an amazing old oil mill, complete with water powered cogs and gears!! All the dads out there would of loved this one. (I#l try include a photo for you dad).

Next was the more purposefull part of our trip. The goodbyes from us and many many New Zealanders to Sibylla took a bit out of us. I'll leave this part to the more elloquent Marty.

Bye Bye Holland, Hello Switzerland!

We did leave the Netherlands with some sadness in our hearts, first and foremost we would miss the great people we met. I cannot believe how many friendly people have welcomed us into their home and been so hospitable. We have been stuggling to pay for anything when we go out for coffee, or a bus ticket or anything... the only time we do is when we get out by ourselves. It feels wrong to accept all the wonderful generosity, but it is greatly appeciated! Our NZ dollar is a poor traveller.

In our last days Rick and I went to the koekenhof (an amazing blooming of the tulips 2 months a year), the beach, dinner and cafe's and Amsterdam again. Amsterdam was an 'interesting' experience this time round, where we ventured somewhat deeper into the famed cities talking points. On our list was the Rijk's Museum, where we have seen first hand many works of a fine artist Rembrandt. Next was a better look at the Red-light district and *censored*. Then off to a coffee shop to waste our euro's. Funny times though... I will not go into great detail!

Now though we are sitting on a balcony in the middle of Basel, at Irina's house about 4-5 stories high. It is absolutely amazing here, and I absolutely love Switzerland. Irina has welcomed us with open arms, and I can't tell you how good it is to see her. I have been running in the mornings and this place is ... wow! You all must come here. She has a great plan for us for the next few days and we will see Sibyllas family and friends on Sunday. The river Rhein is large and very cold. We have also just been invited by Irina's flatmate Inga to a few days in a mountainous cabin with no electricity in a few weeks time. That is a definate must-experience!
Well dinner is served and will write more later! Bye for now!