Aug 16 - Reggio di Calabria

Today we headed further South to the port of Reggio di Calabria, the main embarkation point for Sicily. The drive was pretty long (over 6 hours) but went through some pretty varied and interesting landscapes.

We also stopped at a "beach".

The last couple of days we've seen fires all over the place. Some of them seem to be where farmers have burnt the remains of the harvested crops (though some of them seem to have gone a bit wild and burnt bush land) but others seem to just be bush fires. Yesterday was over 40 degrees in parts so not too surprising.

We got to Reggio pretty late, and it's amazing how close Sicily is. It makes Rottnest look like a distant land. Only staying the night here though, so won't be able to get over there.

We walked around town for a bit, then ended up at the National Museum here. Inside was the reason I wanted to come down here. On the first floor there was a heap of great Greek artifacts found in the region, but in the basement was the main attraction. The Riace Bronzes (or Riace Warriors, depending which book you read) are a pair of Greek bronze statues more than 2400 years old. They look amazing, considering they were sculpted nearly 2000 years before the Renaissance. You couldn't take photos, but I snuck a couple on my phone.

Reggio itself is a lot nicer than the Lonely Planet book would have you believe. They seemed to say it was just a place to pass through to get to Sicily, but at around 6.30, everyone was out around town in the shopping area which had some ok shops. And there's also this dude.

And a Eucalyptus tree.

We had a drink near the coast, and the sun going through the clouds over Sicily (looked like it had been raining there some of the afternoon) looked amazing.

We bought some food at the supermarket, headed back to the hotel room, and watched TV (finally something in English).

Tomorrow we're heading towards the Amalfi Coast. Probably won't make it all the way as we've been doing a lot of driving the last couple of days, so will probably stop somewhere between here and there.

Signing off...

Readying for the Journey Forth

In just over 36 hours I will be on a plane heading for Dubai, and then onto Italy. The places I'll go and the things I'll see will be beyond compare, that is if I survive the first couple of days.

My plane leaves at 6 am on Sunday the 3 of August. After an 11.5 hour flight, I arrive in Dubai at 1.15 pm local time. I've only got that afternoon and the following full day in Dubai, the so called "apple in the Emirates eye" (or not, I may have made that up), so I can't waste any time. If I have a full afternoon and evening, and try get to bed by 10pm local time, I will have been awake for roughly 42 hours straight. Why 42? Other than it being a number of great significance to alll who live in this Universe (don't know about other Universes, they should get their own number) it's the amount of time between when I get up Saturday morning for work, and then, as mentioned, get to bed on Sunday (which will be 2 am Perth time, where my body clock will still be working and wanting to sleep).

Waking for work at 7.30am is always tough...especially for me who usually wakes between 11 and 1pm...I also tend to struggle to get to sleep the night before work, so I'm usually operating on between 2 and 4 hours of sleep. Work runs from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm. This will also be my last day since the entire store is closing while I'm away (just can't stand to go on without me). While this will be a long day at work, it's not the only thing on the schedule. Racing home and getting changed into my best 80's outfit (I'm thinking of sporting the double denim look) and finishing any packing, I'm getting picked up from my place to go to a friends for a joint going away/21st (not my 21st, I'm too much of an old fart for that). This is also the going away for a new friend whos heading over East, then back to Canada (it's his 21st too). Probably doesn't need mentioning that it's going to be a late night, and then I have the added bonus of heading to the airport ot about 4am, roughly when everyone else will be going to bed...woo!

Oh and also, I can never fall asleep on planes. Hopefully this time will be different, but I'm not counting on it (I'm flying Emirates, with 400 channels of entertainment, booyah!).

So the final tally:
- 4 hours sleep
- 42 hours awake
- 1 zombie
- Totally worth it

I will get to see some of the most amazing things in the world, and have the photos to prove it.

For the time being this blog will serve as a form of journal for me, noting down what happens and where I go, also some of the photos I take. Once I'm back from my holiday, whos knows what it'll turn into.

Signing off...