Rome, Italy 2022

 



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Nine Arches Bridge and Udawalawe Elephants!

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It rained a lot the night before (it's typhoon season after all) so we weren't sure at first if we'd get to see this viewpoint.  Thankfully it was a beautiful day.  Down the road from Ella's main street, a quick tuk-tuk ride, a walk down the side of the valley and along the train tracks, is a hidden little viewpoint called Nine Arches Bridge, or Sky Bridge.  Besides the gorgeous views, it is famous for its architect.  At the start of the 20th century, British engineers struggled to connect the railways between two mountains, which included a 9 degree curve, and delayed plans for years.  Finally, a local Ceylonese builder consulted on the project and managed to build this bridge with his local workers from only rocks and cement (no steel or rebar as these materials were diverted with World War I) and completed this in a year.  Our guide told us of a legend beyond this, that the British did not trust this feat so the Ceylonese man offered to lay under the br...
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Yala National Park

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We were waiting outside our hotel, ready for pick up at 4:30a.  Our safari vehicle was much like yesterdays, a truck with a row of seats set on top of the flatbed, giving us a view over the cabin of the truck. There were two other couples to pick up, then we'd book it to the park entrance to queue before it opened at 6a.  We had a fair warning, our guide Sulu saying, 'I'm going to hurry', and Pedro and I were getting a front row roller coaster experience.  The difference in a safari truck slowly driving on dirt roads versus smooth straight-shot highway was crazy.  We barely had time to snatch our bags and white knuckle the bar in front of us, but it made us laugh all the same.  At each stop, we enjoyed the starry skies with little light pollution, and I was able to quickly braid back the rats nest that was my hair from the ride.   At 5:50a sharp, we were at the gates of Yala, third vehicle in line. Our guide Sulu took that time to go over the game plan...
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St. Pietro e Catacombe

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 So last night we sorted out our day around our two tours. We figured out we could take the metro pretty early, directly to the Vatican and to the meet up point for our morning and afternoon tour. We could also use it for any other places as well as getting back to the hotel.  For that reason, we got the 24 hour pass, which is absolutely worth it, since it's cheaper than a taxi, has frequent trains, and is on the direct route for the touristy spots.  
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