Happy New Year

Hi everyone its 6 minutes to 5.oo pm here so that means 6 minutes to midnight in Australia so a hearty happy new year to everyone at home, its very hard to be away at this time of year so it means even more when we hear from you, T Bas and Steph where are you????

Hope you have all had a great New Year and we are thinking of you as we con tinue our cruise down the Nile.

It has been a very relaxing day on the boat exactly what we needed to recharge the batteries tonight we are going to the Karnak temple sound and light show then we have dinner and we will probably turn in early because we have a very early wake up tomorrow to go onto the hot air balloon!

last night we visited the temple at kom ombo and this morning another temple at edfu, after the hot air balloon tomorrow we have a 4 hour trek to the valley of the kings and more temples, i hope that you are enjoying the blog and the pictures, Ok better go and get ready for the sound and light show talk to you tomorrow all our love Ralf & Sam xxx

Talk about culture shock!!

Ok i am writing this blog from our cabin on the cruise boat the Nile Bride from Aswan, we are leaving for a 3 day cruise to Luxor in about half an hour.

The overnight train from Cairo was a real rattler Sam didnt get much sleep and i had to suffer her incescant whining all the next day when we visited the unfinished obelisk, the philie temple and the high dam built to flood an enormous valley and guarantee water for the entire region it is absolutely massive! we finished the day with a romantic felucca ride on the nile at sunset ( although with tired and grumpy Sam the romance was kinda missing )

This morning we visited the highlight of the trip so far Abu Simbel and the temple to Rameses the Great it was absolutely tremendous and left us lost for words, many temples and the Valley of the Kings to go and our hot air balloon fligh whew and we are only half way!!

Oh by the way those of you who know the story we have found a successor to the Country Club for accomodation right here in Aswan it is called the Sari Hotel!!

Ok the boat has wireless for 80 Egyption Pounds an hour!! ( around 15 bucks aussie ) so i will blog every day cos thats the kinda guy i am!!

We havent found anyone on our boat that speaks english so new years eve should be a blast!

We love you all and keep writing we are loving hearing from you, Ralf & Sam xxxx

Sandra in Egypt

Hi everyone,

I know you have all been looking forward to my impressions of our latest part of our adventure... well maybe.

What to say... Cario is a city of contrasts, rich or poor, ancient or new, clean or dirty. We have seen it all. THe noise is overpowering and the dirt gets into everything but ... that moment yesterday morning when I stood at the step pyramid and it seemed to materialise from the mist (smog) was incrediable (I just got goose bumps again thinking about it). It was magical, there is no other word for it. There was nothing there one moment and then it was there the next wow.

The museum today was very special too, Ralf has written of the amount of people and those who know me well will know how hard it is for me to be in enclosed spaces, well today I met some very interesting people and some people got a lovely view of the front of me squished up against the cabinet!!! The high ceilings in the museum were all that helped me hold it together.

Sitting waiting for our ride to the train station to arrive and trying to send emails but primus is not cooperating so to Lynn and Pam sorry, I have tried. Great to hear from everyone keep them coming, nit sure what reception will be like as we head to Aswan so happy new year to all if I dont get to message before then and happy painting Gerv... Seb and Steph look after Uncle Gerv!!!

Sandra

Up close and personal with tutankamen!

Hi everyone today we have a shortened day prior to our overnight train and boat adventure, not sure about the Internet access over the next 3-4 days so dont panic if you dont hear from us, today we visited the egyption museum which was magnificent and busy busy busy there must have been over 5000 people all trying to get into one place along with us, the crush was uncomfortable but worth it with the magnificent treasures that are inside, you could walk for days and not see all of it, the Tutankamen exhibit was everything i expected it to be with over 200 kilos of pure gold artifacts including the glorious mask and solid gold sarcophagus, with all the treasures i was drawn to a beautiful solid gold amulet with the king sitting knees drawn up tho his chin it stood around 2 inches tall by 1 inch wide on a beautifully crafted golden rope chain it was magnificent, i must find a photo and show you all when we return, it was my highlight of our visit!

We love you all will talk to you as soon as is possible Ralf & Sam xxx

Hello from Ancient Egypt

Well hello again everyone did you miss us? well what a day yesterday out of Rome to the airport and a 3 hour flight in economy to Egypt ( Business class definetly spoils you ).

We arrived at our hotel at around 8pm after a harrowing taxi ride ,if you think the Italians are crazy drivers at least their cars arent held together with wire and sticky tape ( no joke ) the gap between rich and poor here is vast with almost no middle class so driving around the streets is a real eye opener with refuse just dumped on the side of the road and rivers and people still going around on donkeys and carts.

I guess i was expecting something like this but the reality is quite confronting, still we went to Giza today on a morning that you couldnt see 50 metres in front of you with haze a mixture of pollution and fog when we got to the step pyramid you couldnt see it until you almost fell over it!!

The haze cleared after that and we saw the great pyramid next which was fantastic they are massive and climbing onto it was a boyhood dream that is now fulfilled, we also saw the alabaster sphinx and the large sphinx as well as the solar boat that they found that was built to navigate the pharaoh into the afterlife, it is enormous and made of lebanese hardwood that was imported to egypt and the boat has never touched the water ( well not in this life anyway )

It has been a massive day, tomorrow we are off to the Cairo Museum and an overnight train to Aswan till then looking forward to hearing from you all love you lots Ralf & Sam xx

Xmas day in Roma!!

Hi everyone and a special welcome to Matt and Em its great to hear from you guys, and i contemplated tackling the Pope but hes a bit weedy as you can see a woman took him out fairly easily, we had a great day on our own today we saw the Panthenon, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps they were all truly beautiful, oh Sam was so upset she finally saw some nice shoe stores snd unfortunately due to xmas they were shut! What a bleeding shame!

Well we leave Roma tomorrow for Cairo and another adventure we are trying to cram all our souveniers and tidbits into our ever growing bags, unfortunately we were going to post some gear home but the Italian postal sevice never seems to be open!!

Alex you will be happy to know we found our first obnoxious American she was the wecoming ambassador for the American exchange students here in Rome and she was collecting some new students on the Metro and spent the next 10 minutes telling them how crap rome was and how everything is sooooo much better in the states, we both wished she would just shut up and go back there, ignorant so and so!!

Cant wait to speak to you from Egypt, We love and miss you all Ralf & Sam xxx

Merry Christmas everyone

hello to you all. Firstly Merry Christmas to you all and thankyou for your comments it makes us feel less homesick.

Well it is Christmas morning here in Rome and the bells have just told me that it is 6.00am and Ralfie is sleeping beside me. I had to turn on the computer to see if there was any news from home as a Christmas gift and of course you didnt let me down... thank you XXXXX.

Well Roma... first impression were not great as we could not find a sign anywhere to help us find our way out. Anyway after being hasseled by all the taxi drivers and several wrong turns we managed to find our wayb to the train. Same hassell at the train station trying to get to our hotel... at this point I was over Roma but things have improved since moving from the tiny room to a room where we can move. The hotel is being renovated and so we think they were happy to keep us happy.

The colesseum was amazing and the forum even more so. I liked our guide more than Ralf probably because I didn't really know any of the history. Yesterday though ahhh the Vatican... this I loved sitting in the cistine chapel reflecting and praying was amazing. I didn't realise that when the Cardinals are in conclave they are locked in the cistine chapel. Rightly so as I dont think you can feel closer to God than there.

Ok enough from me as Ralfie is awake now and as keen as I was to read your messages from home. Chow from Sandrina XXXXX

Merry Xmas Everyone!!!!!

We wish you a merry Xmas, We wish you a merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!!

Hi to all we have had another exhausting day with a trip to the Vatican which is HUGE!!, Wow what an amazing place i cant believe the treasures inside you really have to see it to believe it the photos really dont do the place justice!

They were busy setting up the place for midnight mass which was taking place at 9am due the Pope being unwell, we have a nice quiet day planned tomorrow with the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps on the adgenda.

Guys it was great to hear your voices today, we are really feeling a bit homesick at the moment due to xmas and wanting to share it with family and friends, still we are having an amazing time and both Sam and i are feeling a bit surreal with the places and experiences we are encountering.

Tough to pick photos today but hope you like them, i am already over 1,ooo shots mmmmmm looking forward to slide night!!???? fear not i will cull them down to a mere 800 or so!

Enjoy your Xmas we said a prayer for all our family and friends and we have you in our hearts

with all our love Ralf & Sam xxx

Magnificent Roma!!

Today began with a very quick breakfast after which we needed to catch the Metro ( Tube ) to the Collesseum and Wow Wow Wow it is superb the only downside was the guide talked incessently and stayed in one place as she did so, i felt that our time could have been better spent if we had just bought an admission ticket, Sam thinks that the tour was designed for Americans which there were many and although annoying still no loud one??? where are they all?

We toured the forum and pallisade areas as well before hopping on a hop on hop off bus for a tour of Rome it was hilarious to watch the traffic as chaos reigned supreme it took us almost 2 hours to do 1 loop the bonus was that we thought we only booked 1 day however when we arrived we recieved 2 days and 1 day of boat travel on the Tiber river!!

After a great cappucino and pastry at a cafe we had recovered sufficiently to go for a little walk and check out the souveniers that were available, a very tiring day but very satisfying we are now resting prior to going out to dinner, Oh after a little Ralfy persuasionon we have been upgraded to a larger room Yay!!

Ok Kids we are intending to ring you for Xmas at around 8am on Xmas morning at home please make sure you are ready for the call as Mum would really love to wish you a merry xmas, could you please confirm that this is Ok ??

Ok time to go Love and Miss you all Ralf & Sam

Hello Rome????

Ok we have arrived safely in Rome after a 120 minute delay to our train from Salzburg to Munich and a long taxi ride to our hotel which we split with a young chap from Austria that was desparately trying to get to Dubai to meet up with his parents for Xmas unfortunately the train delay almost assured him of missing his flight with a six day wait until the next!!

Anyhow we had a relaxing nights rest and breakfast before catching our flight to Rome once there chaos seems to reign supreme with taxi drivers and bus operators jostling for your business we ended up catching a train to the main terminus and walking to our hotel which was a bit scary as we had no clue as to where it was but after about 15 minutes of wandering ( with all our luggage ) we finally found the Royal Santina Hotel which is yep under refurbishment!

The room is tiny but thankfully brand new and yippee free internet in the room so i dont have to go to Macca's to blog you, we are resting up today ready for a fresh start at the Colleseum tomorrow it is 15 degrees and raining today but tomorrow is partly cloudy and 16 degrees.

Havent taken any photos yet but i managed to snap one last night out the window of our cab of the Brandenburg Gates in Munich more tomorrow i am sure till then Ciao from Ralf & Sam xx

Salzburg the beautiful

Wow what to say about Salzburg... it has been everything I had hoped it would be and more. From the snow, to the carriage ride this afternoon it could not have been better.

One of the best things are the the people we have met... they include a couple from Mackay in Qld on the sound of music tour, it was nice to take photos for each other. Bill actually took that lovely photo of us at the gazebo - that is my favourite photo so far. We have spoken to and been helped by many people as we made our way around the city. A lovely 72 year old locsal lady with impressive English helped us at the bus stop yesterday and told us how she came to speak such wonderful English due to the American army taken over her family home when she was 7, and she learnt the language and continued with it. On the salt mines tour we met a family from Quatar and the 2 little girls and I sang all the songs that I sing at school on the way back to Salzburg! They were delightful. Yesterday we met a family from Barcelona and followed each other around for a lot of the day. Ralf (getting in practice for the Pope) asked if they would like to meet up for dinner... so we did. We again had italian (I am sure we will have Austrian in Roma) and a lovely night was have, they have emailed us a photo from last night and when we can work out how to do it will post it. So there you have it... the people are what are making an impact on me, what a bonus of travel.

Ok the carriage ride today was the icing on the cake, we went for a whole hour and saw things we hadn't seen before.

Anyway keep the posts coming it means so much to us... we love hearing from you all.

Steph keep your chin up and be proud you are amazing.

Seb fabulous results you are a star. Molly we haven't heard from you. Vicky, Lynn and Jessica you would love the Christams markets here they are full of amazing creations. We bought a couple but are very aware of having to carry everything. Great to hear from you Em and Shelly.

Ok all from me.

Rufus I miss you and can you please message me???

Love and hugs, Sam XXXXX

Aufveidersein Salzburg

Hi Evveryone well we are finally leaving Salzburg after enjoying our last day by doing our laundry packing the ever increasing bags and travelling back to the old city for a wonderful tour by horse and carriage we even dared to try an internet cafe to send some e mails prior to returning to our hotel, Sorry Mum to wake you but it serves you right for going to bed early and T how about a little sympathy i have enough problems without -18 making it even worse!!

We are leaving for Munich at 7.30pm and staying overnight before flying to Rome tomorrow, love the by play on the posts with everyone reading each others and commenting it all adds to the enjoyment for us.

Stephanie and Sebastion we are missing you terribly but we want to congratulate you both on your wonderful results we couldnt be any prouder of you both as you continue to grow into adulthood!

Hope you enjoy the pictures keep writing to us we love you all Ralf&Sam xx

Ok enough with the cold!!

Awoke this morning to the wonderful news of -12 today great, anyway we toured the old fortress it was amazing then we rode to the top of the uber.. ober.. oh its a bloody big mountain!! The good news -18 up there my ears will never be the same again T you thought i was hard of hearing before!

we then toured Salzburg zoo and another magnificent castle estate before enjoying a meal with a lovely family from Barcelona at a nice Italian resturant, Sam reckons we will have to have snitchel in Rome to make up for it!

Great to hear from you all you made me laugh with your comments but a little worried as we head into the US part of our trip???

We are missing you all and will try to ring tomorrow at around 5-6pm your time to say hi hope you enjoy the pictures tomorrow we travel to Munich to prepare for our next leg to Rome so chou for now ( is that how it is spelt?? ) Love and miss you all Ralf & Sam xxx

The hills are alive with the sound of...falling snow!!

Hello everyone well what a wonderful day we have had today the sound of music tour was absolutely great and the salt mine tour was also excellent, there were 5 other Australians on the tour and it was great to talk in our native tounge for at least a little while, we had stacks and stacks of snow today as you will see in the pictures, it is around 7.30pm here and Sam is asleep in bed exhausted after dancing and singing her way through Salzburg, the temperature was around -10 today and i am very glad i bought a good jacket!

Tomorrow we go exploring Salzburg and visiting some famous sites, i know that sam wants to post a blog on todays events but im afraid you are all going to have to wait until our little leisel wakes up tomorrow to share her thoughts

Hello to you Andreas we miss you already!!

Emma so lovely to hear from you, sorry i had you mixed up with another Emma that i play vollyball with.

Hey T where are you , Hello???

Steph and Bas hope all is well at home and Steph we have our fingers crossed for a great OP!

We love and miss you both.

Till Next Time Love and Hugs Ralf & Sam