R&R Day 2 – Venice

Wenonah arrived this morning, so I checked out of the hotel by the airport and met her at baggage claim. We took a bus to Piazzale Roma, which is the bus hub in Venice. We dragged our bags the couple of blocks to our hotel. We were too early to check in, so we grabbed a backpack and the camera and walked hand and hand towards Venice University.

Our first exposure to the network of canals, which was just unreal to us at first, but we soon got used to it.

The bridges and dead ends made navigation around difficult, it probably would have been easier if we had a map also.

The colors of the stucco and potted flowers were amazing around every turn.

I loved all the marble bridges, hundred of years old and hand carved. Many had no mortar or supporting bracing.

The narrow canals were amazing, especially when two boats from different directions had to negotiate, in heated Italian, who was going to pull over and out of the way.

We finally circled back to the hotel and found it after only alittle extra walking. We moved our bags from their storage area to our room, and took a short nap before heading back out into the city, camera in hand. This time we were on a mission to cross the Rialto and get to St Mark’s square.

Played around with the fisheye lens on the way to the Rialto.

The canals that had buildings on both sides (no pier area) were crazy. We saw people pull up to their door, tie off, and take bags of groceries in just like you would drive your car at home.

This is the Rialto bridge, an absolutely impressive structure. There are shops and 3 wide walking paths across the bridge. This area was really packed with people and the cost of everything was at least 2-3 times anywhere else we found.

At St Mark’s square, the line for the Basilica was really long, so we paid to go up into the Campanile. From there we took shots of all around the city, noticing there were so many bell towers. In his shot, the onion shaped domes of St Mark’s Basilica are to the left, to the right is the Doge’s Palace.

This is the new office building to the lower left and the clock tower with the life-sized bronze statues that would ring the bell.

My wife really wanted a picture of the underside of one of the bells in the Campanile. I am whipped and do anything she asks.

The front side of Doge’s Palace.

This is the Campanile, and no, we did not climb stairs, there was a high speed elevator that took us to the top.

A canal so narrow only gondolas could use. We never did the gondolas, as we really had no interest. They are very expensive and a real tourist trap. We were more than happy to pay nothing and watch/listen as they went by.

Wen finally grabbed a picture of me, a rare occurrence as I usually have the camera.

The grand canal on the north side of the Rialto.

This canal was so narrow, I was impressed by the boat driver as he made his way along, often with only 6 inches on either side as the tied out boats were pulled to him by his bow wake.

Just a nice scene with the arches, colors, flowers. Every turn was a great shot in this city.

A crazy church we passed on our evening hike back to the hotel. It was just a series of vertical cylinders.

A video of the church bells tolling in the evening. It seemed to never end. I finally got too tired to hold up my heavy camera to record it.

Since there are no roads, police, fire, and ambulance services in Venice are completely waterborne. This is an ambulance passing our ferry boat, which tossed up a huge wake and I had to yank the camera back inside the vessel before the wave of muddy Venice water hit my camera.

R&R Day 1, Tessera

The first day of my R&R was unfortunately lacking my wife. My flights from Djibouti put me into Venice a full day ahead of Wenonah. Wen got me a hotel room in a town just outside of the airport in a very nice little inn. After flying through the night, I get into the hotel room and slept; after I got up and walked around the town. After only a couple of blocks, the small family gardens and town square were just too photogenic and I went back to the hotel for my camera.

A flower on the fence outside of the hotel.

The town square and the crazy sculpture in it.

A couple more flowers in gardens on the walk out to the canal to the airport.

May Trip to Nairobi National Park

In May, our boss joined us again in Kenya to replace me while I went on my R&R. The turnover day we went to Nairobi National Park in the morning, and were again treated with a very fruitful safari.

The rhinos of this park are very good at staying away from roads and though the entire park is nothing but a spider web of dirt roads, the rhinos would remain right in the center of the divided areas, never providing a good location to take pictures.

This national park doesn’t have any herds of wildebeests, but there are a few that wander around, staying near zebra or buffalo herds. There is always an oxpecker or egret around these animals.

A zebra pruning the grass.

One of the many type of ground based fowl in Kenya, BUC Chamberlain will have to help me with the name.

We came across three zebras, all of which had some type of animal attack wound. These three had been segregated from the rest of the herd, all knowing that their time was nearly up. It would be only a short time until a big cat would get these three.

We circled back towards the forested area, where we have always had luck seeing animals, and CDR Fetters spotted this lioness wandering the plain. The Kswahili word for a single head is ‘kitua’, which is the slang that the safari drivers use for lions as you normally only see their head poking up from the high grass. For months I have heard our drivers ask other safari drivers if they have seen kitua, and finally we saw one before the other drivers. We followed this lioness for about a km before she stopped in an area of high grass.

That is when her two cubs clambered out from underneath a bush and joined her.

We watched for nearly 45 minutes as this mother and her cubs had tender moments, roughhoused, suckled, and the two cubs fought (over anything). I was sitting on the sill of the window, shooting pictures across the roof.

Because I was shooting from this spot, I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on behind me. Another lioness came up quietly behind me, and it wasn’t even 15 feet away when my driver (also sitting on the window sill) saw her walking our way, and told me to quickly get inside. By the time I swung me and the Nikon inside the car and started getting the window up, she was right at the window sniffing upwards… far too close for comfort. If she had run to get me, she would have had me for a snack.

After she wandered off, we resumed taking pictures of the lioness and her cubs. The cubs were suckling on her as she stands watch.

They finally started to wander off in the direction of the forest. We left them alone and headed back towards where the rhinos were.

This time we were fortunate enough to see this rhino by the road, but as we got close, it charged off. You could audibly hear the solid thuds of its hooves as it ran off, at nearly 100m away. I would love to hear/feel an entire herd stampeding.

We ran across the lioness again on our way out. She went onto the road and walked behind our car, but her two cubs were too scared. They were so animated in trying to be brave enough to follow, swatting eachother and meowing to their mother. They would run out, then run back into the safety of the high grass. Mom got annoyed and roared, which I wish I had captured on video.

A wary little one, watching us carefully.

They finally struggled through some high grass and bushes, calling to the mother the entire time until they finally bounded onto the road and raced after her. Only to dive into the safety of the grass as this matatu approached.

May Project Updates

The Teremi and Chwele projects have proceeded ahead of schedule over the last month, with both buildings nearing completion. 

Chwele is slightly further than Teremi, with all roofing complete and mortar on all walls. 

The interior at Chwele.

The back ramp of the dormitory at Chwele.

The roof installed at Teremi.

 

Workers putting grout onto the back wall of the dorm.

Interior of the Teremi open bay dorm.

A worker welding one of the doors.  Most contractors will make these custom doors and window frames on site vice trying to buy standard sizes or have them made elsewhere.

Mkokoni is also progressing nicely, with the foundation complete and the contractor starting on the coral block walls.