DETOUR - SCOTLAND TO PLAY GOLF AT ST. ANDREW'S-

Part of the fun of this trip is not to have everything scheduled. We had a window of 5-6 days before heading to Istanbul and we decided two to nothing to head off for some golf in Scotland. While Scotty and I were in the casino Scott organized a golf trip to Scotland with some great advice from Chuck Yash, a member of the R&A and friend from RSF. We found a treasure of a place to stay owned and run by Sir Peter Erskine and Lady Catherine called the Cambo House and were able to get onto the Old Course(through the lottery) in addition to two other days of magical golf. Every day called for rain all day and we had great weather in spite of the forecast. We have loved St. Andrew's, a beautiful college town where William and Catherine met and fell in love at school. The gardens at the Cambo House we explored today. Every tulip was in bloom. There are 1,200 acres here and we barely scratched the surface other than to check out the Kingsbarns Golf Course which is part of the property. By way of explanation, Scott is shown here having a Port Pipe for dessert(delicious Port in a glass pipe which is a principal which is the reverse of aerating wine before drinking), at our breakfast of free-range chicken eggs each morning ( table for 20 for just the two of us) and on the Old Course before we teed off and on the famous bridge on the 18th hole. Off to Edinburgh tomorrow, Paris, and then Istanbul on Tuesday. We will be sad to leave here. A great memory...

CARRY LE ROUET, PROVENCE, FRANCE

We arrived here the Saturday before Easter to Anne Navarra's villa overlooking the Mediterranean about 15 miles west of Marseille. Scotty arrived from San Diego on Sunday for the week and Julie and Jim arrived on Friday for the weekend. We toured all around Provence,  tasting wines, having picnics throughout the countryside and seeing the hilltop towns of Provence including Gordes, Avignon, Les Baux, Arles and Chateauneuf du Pape.  We visited the Abbey of Senanque where every Provence poster of Lavender is photographed.We also headed along the coast towards Monte Carlo, our ultimate destination. We stopped at Cannes for lunch, the hilltop city of Eze and a night at the Casino for Scotty! We enjoyed our week there while the Mistal winds blew and we wished for a bit warmer weather so we could enjoy the pool.

LAKE COMO-  ITALY was magical. Although we were quite early in the season we could see how captivating it was. We stopped at Villa d'Este to check it out and we very disappointed. Old, dated and very overpriced. Bellagio was charming but in the rain it lost some of its magic. We came up an amazing villa in the next town beyond Villa d'Este. Beautiful room right on Lake Como with in incredible restaurant that we ate at two nights in a row! (George Clooney frequents and we were hoping for a sighting). The food was fabulous and the best yet!

DURBAN- We visited one of four schools that Terry Rosenberg has started and which are run by a Mother Teresa-type woman who is beyond amazing named Meriam. Terry has funded 4 schools of these orphan children of aids parents and Meriam has made it happen day to day on the ground. She estimates that half of the children would be dead except for Terry's work. Five women were killed in the block of the school where we visited the day before we arrived for telling their tales of rape and incest that happen every day and night to these children. The school provides food which is essentially vegetables two times a week to these children who would otherwise starve and gives them an education...a chance to have a future...through elementary school.
Terry is making a differencc in Durham and South Africa.

We left for Europe on April 1st and flew to London to meet up with some friends we met on the Milford Track in New Zealand. We saw London on a beautiful sunny day. This guy was taking himself
much too seriously however!

CAPE TOWN - We spent a week here at an oceanfront apt. thanks to Terry and Carol Rosenberg. This is their second home, in a beautiful area called Clifton. Cape Town is surprisingly like La Jolla, only bigger, a bit windier and the nights are as warm as the days. Table Mountain provides the backdrop for the city and it was usually closed due to wind. We really relaxed here enjoying the many beaches and walking to nearby restaurants. We spent two days with a great guide (he was a former tennis pro) who took us to the wine countr -Stellenbosch-where the university is and historic Franshock where most of the wineries are. We toured Ernie Ells beautiful winery and saw a lot of his memorabilia. This is the first time on our trip where prices are really reasonable. We could have a dinner with a bottle of wine (and another to take home) and the bill was under $75. Amazing!The ratio in South Africa is 16-1 blacks to white with about 17 million people and there is a lot of bad history left over from Apartheid days. That kept us wary of our surroundings at all times and we really didn't go out after dark. We have heard amazing storied of crime from Terry and Carol who we are presently staying with in Durban but they are really making a difference with the schools they have started to help orphan children from parents who have died of aids. Heartbreaking to see and hear their stories.

Scott and Jane are walking their two labs around the Botanical Gardens for 3 hours...actually the dogs were walking us! We also took a behind the scenes tour of the Sanctuary in the Yarra Valley (wine country outside of Melbourne) where they are breeding the Tasmanian Devils to protect them from extinction from a mouth cancer and then they will repopulate them back into Tasmania...





40 DEGREES LATITUDE-TASMANIA! Margo talked me into going and what a great idea! Beautiful unspoiled beaches, much more temperate climate than we expected, we played 2 amazing links courses (Barnbougle is ranked in top 100 new courses and Lost Farm) and then headed over to the east coast to meet up with Handkes and Cathcarts from Cleveland at Freycinet Lodge. It seemed easier to meet in Tasmania than the US! Haha! We spent 4 days in Tasmania and had a ball! Fresh oysters every night with Tasmanian wines. We saw wallabies and wombats at night and as roadkill by day!


SOUTH AFRICA- We took a long 15 hour flight to South Africa for our 4 night safari.
The time changed helped us to arrive at the safari as we woke up the first night at 1am and were ready to go at 5am on our first morning's game drive. Pfinda, a private game reserve run by

a company called " &Beyond" and had come highly recommended and lived up to every accolade. The name Pfinda means "the return" in Zulu and the area had been ruined in the 50's and 60's from DDT driving away all the animals. It is a very unique story. With the help of Getty money the land was returned to its original use and the animals returned and repopulated and then they built 6 incredible lodges (ours was called Vlei Lodge which can handle 12 people max) and then returned the entire property to the local Zulu community. They have funded schools(one of which we visited), water systems, and also hire 2/3 of their staff from the Zulu population. We visited the school and the village. We brought the children lollipops and were a big hit.

Week THree- Here we are in Sydney, Australia with Rob and Virginia Zink. They have been kind enough to host us here this week and we are enjoying their incredibly beautiful home in Balmoral in Mosman, just across the bridge from Syndney in the most beautiful, and also the most expensive area of homes in all of Australia. We looked at real estate yesterday in the rain and the prices are double what they are in La Jolla! Hard to believe! The agents' open houses are 1/2 an hour only! 1:15-1:45pm for instance.
It has poured here this week and they are having the worst flooding that this country has ever seen. An area the size of France has been evacuated and the flooding is the worst since they have ever measured the weather.

This is a beach community not unlike La Jolla and today the clouds parted, the sun came out and we went to the beach for the day after a good 2 1/2 hour walk! Virginia is from Australian and has been our incredible tourguide through all the amazing parts of this town-very walkable, very livable but not affordable.
Grocery shopping is like nothing I have ever seen. Each shop- pattiserie, butcher, vegetables- has the most beautifully displayed products I have ever seen! I am not sure you can tell from these pictures but there is a cheese room in this grocery store just to select your cheese from all over the world, a fresh pasta section, prime meats, fresh vegetables,every kind of olive oil, vinegar, fresh pastries, etc. No Von's, no Ralphs, just fresh everything everyday. Very much like Europe. We selected meat and leek pies, lovely salads and, of course, our favorite wines- Suck Fizzle and 10 Minutes by Tractor- a great Sauvignon Blanc and a great Pinot Noir! We love it here but cannot afford the real estate, so no danger of moving here! Wednesday we head to Melbourne and then to the island of Tasmania  (where the devil
lives!) to play two awesome golf courses and visit friends from Cleveland who will happen to be there when we are...