On our 12-day journey home from Croatia to Norfolk, Va, These are some exciting things that have happened:
Monday 8/11/08
Today was a class day and a day of paper writing! I did work all day and took naps, I was still tired from all the exploring on land. I stayed up all night writing papers because at 2:30 we were supposed to be able to see a meteor shower and my biology professor told us that it was going on and he’d meet us all on the front of the ship to watch. We stayed out for about 45 minutes laying on the deck and watching the stars. It was absolutely beautiful and we saw quite a few falling meteors!!
8/12/08
Even though I only got a few hours of sleep, I was able to stay awake all day, get some sun between classes, and get a little bit more paper writing done! I was going to stay up all night again to watch the meteor shower tonight as well – our professor told us that it was going to be better tonight – but I fell asleep around 1. I woke up at 2:30 to go out and watch – the crew turned the lights out on the front of the ship -- but it was soo windy and cold, I only stayed out for a bit. I saw a few meteors, but it was better the night before.
8/13/08
Today was a study day, so naturally, we had out last life boat drill at 10am. At 11, I got a hot stone massage (it was a birthday present a la dad – but I decided to get it when I was stressed about finals and papers and really needed it..). It was really wonderful! I wrote papers all day, so I didn’t get to lay out. Around 4pm, we stopped in Gibraltar, Spain to refuel and whatnot, and we were there until about 11. I had a SAS family dinner with my family – minus Joyce (our ‘aunt’) and her daughter Bridget. There was also an auction in the union – I went, but didn’t buy anything. They were auctioning things off like unlimited Internet for the rest of the trip, seats at the captain’s table, a weekend of photography with Photo Mike who does Nikon workshops (which I really wanted, but don’t have $1000 to drop…).
8/16/08
Today was another class day of papers and work. There was a partial moon eclipse that was absolutely GORGEOUS! I didn’t get pictures because I forgot my camera, but I am hoping to snag some from someone!
8/18/08
Yesterday was the global studies final, which totally sucked, but two of the students did a comedy routine at night, so that was some good comic relief. Today was a study day, but I woke up at 7, so I did a little bible study while I watched the sunrise on the 7th deck, it was really pretty. I got breakfast at 8, laid out from 9-12, got some lunch, and studied throughout the day. It was wonderful!!
8/19/08
Today was the last day of finals – I had my Biology final at 8 and my circus final at 1. I woke up at 6 to get outside and study while the sun was rising as well as get a good healthy breakfast for brain food. I took my final and felt really good about it! I went back into the cave (my room) and studied for my circus final, with a lunch break. I took the final and felt really good about it, so I was happy!! I worked out and showered and took my good old time getting ready for the ball since it was only 4 when I was done working out and we didn’t need to be ready until 6. We had pictures with Captain Jeremy at 7 then took pictures out on the deck, but it was soo windy, it was hard to get a good one with my dress and my hair flying everywhere. We got in line for our 8pm dinner and got champaign on the way in. We sat down and ate bread and then we were served bruschetta, French onion sup (my favorite!!!), Caesar salad, and steak and twice baked potatoes as our main course. The dance was going on in the union from 10 – 1 and dessert was being served throughout the ship for a while. We ate our dessert in the fac/staff and Aimee and I were able to get a picture with our biology professor, Iain Cambell, who is from Scotland and the most awesome professor ever (even though he is from Pitt and doesn’t like Penn State). We went back to dance and then got some more dessert and I got a picture with my favorite waiter – Henry. We did more dancing and then when the dance was over at 1, I went to Paul’s room to watch a movie with him, Aimee, Marissa, Emily, and Jackie. I came back and got a shower around 2 and was SO thankful to turn the clock back an hour and get that extra hour of sleep!!!
8/20/08
Only 2 days left. I got up at 8 and got some breakfast. I came back to my room, put my bathing suit on, and hit the deck to get some sun. I fell asleep lying on my stomach for about an hour, so my back got nice and tan! Around 11, a huge gust of wind came along and brought a storm about, so I came inside and got some lunch. At lunch, I got really sad and started crying and then laughing hysterically to cover it up. After lunch, I packed up my stuff, and then went to a reflection meeting of the voyage, picked up my paper from my TA for global studies (I got a B/B- -- points were taken off because I cited Wikipedia), and then went to a meeting held by the psychologists about coping with leaving. Again, I started crying a lot and Marissa joined in with me this time. After, we hit up the pub night and had a drink with friends for the last time!
I have had the MOST amazing summer ever!! I am soo sad to leave it behind, but I have made so many friends and had a wonderful time with them! I cant wait to get home and see you all!!
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog! Stay tuned for the follow up blog to my voyage!
Love,
Kate
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Croatia!!
8/8/08
We are in Croatia!! I woke up early this morning to watch us pull into our last foreign port; it was very pretty!! We didn’t have a morning meeting this morning; we had the meeting last night because we had to use our tender boats for this port. There is not a whole lot of room to dock, so we didn’t get priority and had to be out in the middle of the water and take the tender boats in. We left on the 9:30 tender and got ashore right before 10. There was a large group of us – Heather, Emily, Marissa, Aimee, and Paul – and we walked around, got some money, and hopped the bus to the beach! It was really cool and very downhill, which sucked coming back up after the beach. Anyway, it was a pebble beach with beautiful clear water, which sounded cool in theory, but since we didn’t bring water shoes, it KILLED our feet getting in and out of the water. It was hot, so we managed to get in and out a few times. Around lunchtime, we headed up the hill to get some lunch, and we ended up getting pizza. After sitting there for a long time, we went up the hill a little more to make plans to go snorkeling. The only time they had open was 5:30, so we took it. We had some time since it was only 3, so we did a little souvenir shopping and got a pitcher of sangria to split between us all. It was tasty! We had to walk across that part of the land to get to the other beach at a hotel for the snorkeling. We waited for an hour and the boat finally got there at 6:30, but people who went snorkeling said they didn’t see a whole lot, so we decided to do a banana boat ride instead! It was SO much fun! All six of us fit on the banana and it was attached to a speedboat that pulled us along and occasionally flipped us off! It was sooo hard for Heather and I to get back on the banana because we are taller and have long legs. When we were done, we changed at the hotel and hopped on the bus to go to the Old Town to go to this supposedly cool bar called Buza. We got into the Old Town, which is surrounded completely by walls and had to walk up some hefty stairs to the top right of the inside of the wall to get to this bar. When we got there, it was literally a little hole on the outside of the wall overlooking the water, an island called Lokrum, and the sunset. It was absolutely gorgeous. I got a dessert wine and we just sat and sipped for a long time. When we were done there, we walked back down to the middle of the town and got some pizza for dinner. It was fantabulous! Probably the best pizza I’ve ever eaten! We also got some wine with dinner. We hopped back on the bus, went to the post and had to wait for the tender boat back to the ship, took a shower and went to bed! It was a long day in the sun! Can’t wait for another one tomorrow!!
8/9/08
This morning, we were in no rush to get out, so we went out on the 10 am tender to the port – Paul, Aimee and I. We took the bus into the old city, got some ice cream, walked around, and made reservations for kayaking. We decided to walk around the city walls on the top. It was incredibly hot, but so cool to see the city from the top of the walls. After, we stopped at a little wine bar and got a glass of wine. We got hungry after sitting for a bit, so we went to a little seafood place… yes, I said seafood. I got shrimp and it was so good! After, we got more ice cream because it was soo hot. We walked around a little more and then around 2:45 decided to walk to the beach for the kayaking. They told us it would only be a 15-minute walk from the Old Town, boy did they lie. It took about 45 minutes to get there and we had to walk up and down hills and then down these massively steep steps. It was another pebble beach, and it was much prettier than the one from before. As soon as we got there, we jumped right into the water because it was so hot. Our kayaking started at 4 and there were 2 other girls from SAS and then a couple from Dublin, Ireland. Aimee and I were in the double kayak and Paul was by himself. We were supposed to go to the other side of the island that faced the open water, but our guide said that the water was too rough, and it was a little rough, so we went to the side the was closest to the main land, and walked across the island. We walked to a little lagoon and swam for a little big, and then the guide left crackers, bread, and wine. It was a fun little excursion. We had an hour and a half on the island before heading back to the beach. This time, Paul and I were in the double and we kicked butt getting back. We laid out on the beach even though it was 8ish at that time, but it was so pretty with the sun setting over the Old Town. When we were leaving, BOTH of my flip-flops broke, so it was a LOOONG walk back o the bus stop. When we got on the bus, we ran into Caitlin, Carly, and Amber. We sang songs on the way to the ship and when we made it back to the port, Photo Mike and his family were there, so we sang Disney songs to his litte girls – Riley and Rachel who are 3 and 4. When I got back to the ship, I went to the 7th deck to see if I could get a burger or something since I didn’t eat dinner, but they were done serving real food, so I went to my room to go to bed and watched The 40 Year Old Virgin since it was playing on the loop.
8/10/08
This morning, I had to get up early to go to an orphanage and children’s hospital with SAS. We took a charter to the top of a hill and took pictures before going to the orphanage. There were about 40 of us SASers and only 16 kids. The kids were so cute and excited for us to be there. They did not speak any English, but they had their caretakers there who were helping us talk to them. They loved all the gifts we brought them – puzzles, coloring books, temporary tattoos, play do. We were there for 2 hours and when we were done, we headed over to the hospital, but the doctor wasn’t ready when we got there, so we sat for a little bit. When the doctor was ready, we had a tour of the children’s department and then had a Q & A with the doctor. She gave us postcards and with that, we headed back to the port. I decided to go off on my own and explore the city by myself. I went back into the Old Town to shop around for souvenirs. As I was walking, I saw a friend Angela sitting by herself at a restaurant, so I decided to sit with her and get lunch. We sat and talked for a good two hours. And then I headed back toward the port. I stopped at the grocery store to get some snacks before getting on the boat. Since this was our last night in port, we had a BBQ and then a group picture on the back of the ship after the BBQ. We went to the community meeting after dinner and then went outside to watch the sunset and to watch us leave our last port. So, now we are on our way back home and I have a rough week of classes and finals ahead of me! Wish me luck!!
We are in Croatia!! I woke up early this morning to watch us pull into our last foreign port; it was very pretty!! We didn’t have a morning meeting this morning; we had the meeting last night because we had to use our tender boats for this port. There is not a whole lot of room to dock, so we didn’t get priority and had to be out in the middle of the water and take the tender boats in. We left on the 9:30 tender and got ashore right before 10. There was a large group of us – Heather, Emily, Marissa, Aimee, and Paul – and we walked around, got some money, and hopped the bus to the beach! It was really cool and very downhill, which sucked coming back up after the beach. Anyway, it was a pebble beach with beautiful clear water, which sounded cool in theory, but since we didn’t bring water shoes, it KILLED our feet getting in and out of the water. It was hot, so we managed to get in and out a few times. Around lunchtime, we headed up the hill to get some lunch, and we ended up getting pizza. After sitting there for a long time, we went up the hill a little more to make plans to go snorkeling. The only time they had open was 5:30, so we took it. We had some time since it was only 3, so we did a little souvenir shopping and got a pitcher of sangria to split between us all. It was tasty! We had to walk across that part of the land to get to the other beach at a hotel for the snorkeling. We waited for an hour and the boat finally got there at 6:30, but people who went snorkeling said they didn’t see a whole lot, so we decided to do a banana boat ride instead! It was SO much fun! All six of us fit on the banana and it was attached to a speedboat that pulled us along and occasionally flipped us off! It was sooo hard for Heather and I to get back on the banana because we are taller and have long legs. When we were done, we changed at the hotel and hopped on the bus to go to the Old Town to go to this supposedly cool bar called Buza. We got into the Old Town, which is surrounded completely by walls and had to walk up some hefty stairs to the top right of the inside of the wall to get to this bar. When we got there, it was literally a little hole on the outside of the wall overlooking the water, an island called Lokrum, and the sunset. It was absolutely gorgeous. I got a dessert wine and we just sat and sipped for a long time. When we were done there, we walked back down to the middle of the town and got some pizza for dinner. It was fantabulous! Probably the best pizza I’ve ever eaten! We also got some wine with dinner. We hopped back on the bus, went to the post and had to wait for the tender boat back to the ship, took a shower and went to bed! It was a long day in the sun! Can’t wait for another one tomorrow!!
8/9/08
This morning, we were in no rush to get out, so we went out on the 10 am tender to the port – Paul, Aimee and I. We took the bus into the old city, got some ice cream, walked around, and made reservations for kayaking. We decided to walk around the city walls on the top. It was incredibly hot, but so cool to see the city from the top of the walls. After, we stopped at a little wine bar and got a glass of wine. We got hungry after sitting for a bit, so we went to a little seafood place… yes, I said seafood. I got shrimp and it was so good! After, we got more ice cream because it was soo hot. We walked around a little more and then around 2:45 decided to walk to the beach for the kayaking. They told us it would only be a 15-minute walk from the Old Town, boy did they lie. It took about 45 minutes to get there and we had to walk up and down hills and then down these massively steep steps. It was another pebble beach, and it was much prettier than the one from before. As soon as we got there, we jumped right into the water because it was so hot. Our kayaking started at 4 and there were 2 other girls from SAS and then a couple from Dublin, Ireland. Aimee and I were in the double kayak and Paul was by himself. We were supposed to go to the other side of the island that faced the open water, but our guide said that the water was too rough, and it was a little rough, so we went to the side the was closest to the main land, and walked across the island. We walked to a little lagoon and swam for a little big, and then the guide left crackers, bread, and wine. It was a fun little excursion. We had an hour and a half on the island before heading back to the beach. This time, Paul and I were in the double and we kicked butt getting back. We laid out on the beach even though it was 8ish at that time, but it was so pretty with the sun setting over the Old Town. When we were leaving, BOTH of my flip-flops broke, so it was a LOOONG walk back o the bus stop. When we got on the bus, we ran into Caitlin, Carly, and Amber. We sang songs on the way to the ship and when we made it back to the port, Photo Mike and his family were there, so we sang Disney songs to his litte girls – Riley and Rachel who are 3 and 4. When I got back to the ship, I went to the 7th deck to see if I could get a burger or something since I didn’t eat dinner, but they were done serving real food, so I went to my room to go to bed and watched The 40 Year Old Virgin since it was playing on the loop.
8/10/08
This morning, I had to get up early to go to an orphanage and children’s hospital with SAS. We took a charter to the top of a hill and took pictures before going to the orphanage. There were about 40 of us SASers and only 16 kids. The kids were so cute and excited for us to be there. They did not speak any English, but they had their caretakers there who were helping us talk to them. They loved all the gifts we brought them – puzzles, coloring books, temporary tattoos, play do. We were there for 2 hours and when we were done, we headed over to the hospital, but the doctor wasn’t ready when we got there, so we sat for a little bit. When the doctor was ready, we had a tour of the children’s department and then had a Q & A with the doctor. She gave us postcards and with that, we headed back to the port. I decided to go off on my own and explore the city by myself. I went back into the Old Town to shop around for souvenirs. As I was walking, I saw a friend Angela sitting by herself at a restaurant, so I decided to sit with her and get lunch. We sat and talked for a good two hours. And then I headed back toward the port. I stopped at the grocery store to get some snacks before getting on the boat. Since this was our last night in port, we had a BBQ and then a group picture on the back of the ship after the BBQ. We went to the community meeting after dinner and then went outside to watch the sunset and to watch us leave our last port. So, now we are on our way back home and I have a rough week of classes and finals ahead of me! Wish me luck!!
Monday, August 18, 2008
It's All Greek To Me... ;)
8/3/08
This morning when I woke up at 7, we were already docked in Piraeus. Exciting! After the normal morning meeting routine, Tanya and I were off to buy ferry tickets to take us to an island, we were sure which one; we finally decided on Aegina, which was an hour away. After we got our tickets, we headed to the subway to go to Athens! The subway system is not very hard to navigate and after about a 20-minute ride, we were in Athens (by 11). When we got off the subway, we got a phylo-dough biscuit filled with warm feta cheese, it was delicious, as well as a fredoccino (which is a frozen cappuccino). We went to the Acropolis (even though Tanya came to Greece to help with the 2004 Olympics and saw all the sights before) and got the student discount, which was really nice. We had to climb this huge hill to get to the Parthenon, which had a spectacular view; you could see everything! Tanya and I sat up on the wall and talked for a good 30 minutes while just looking at our surroundings! We went over and looked at Athena’s temple, which was soo cool as well. After spending a little time on the hill, we went to this huge rock and sat on there for a little bit, it was where peter preached to 1,000 people many many years ago! When we were done being lazy and sitting and people/city watching, we decided to move along and see a temple that was on a nearby hill. On the way, we stopped at a very old church and went inside, it was only one room with paintings inside that were fading away. I have no idea how it was, but it was pretty cool. After checking it out, we continued toward the temple, but me being the graceful person that I am, I stubbed my toe on a rock. I was just going to let it go, when Tanya pointed out that my toe was basically gushing blood. It was really disgusting, so we went to the little information desk and they provided me with band-aids, saline solution, and iodine. The guy behind the desk even came out and helped me fix my toe up it was really nice of him. We never made it to the temple, on account of my toe being super messed up and it being on a big hill. We were ready to leave the acropolis area and head toward the shops and get something to eat. We walked through the marketplace and Tanya and I got sandals in one of the shops for a really decent price! They are so cool! We continued walking, and one of the shop owners (a fifty some odd old guy) commented on my necklace – my Celtic cross, which kind of resembles the Greek Orthodox cross. He asked where I got it, at home or in Greece, and I told him at home. He then proceeded to tell me his love for America and how he used to live in California for a little bit, and how I look Greek, talked about our plans, and then he said that if I ever came back to Greece, that he’d take me to Santorini since I didn’t get a chance to go this time. Kinda awkward. We said goodbye and kept on keeping on. We FINALLY found gyros, so we got one! They were HUGE and sooo good. I got a chicken one, because I didn’t see lamb on the menu. We walked around a little more through the market place before getting on the subway and visiting the little town that Tanya stayed in when she was there 4 years before, but nothing was open because it was a Sunday and was not a tourist area, so we got back on the subway to Piraeus. When we got back, we got a Freddochino and headed back to the ship to relax. Little did I remember it was my friend Emily’s birthday and we had plans to go out for dinner and some drinks. I got ready quickly and we met on the gangway with some other girls who were coming, including Caitlin, a girl that lives in Windber and was in the Windber colorguard. I had a sandwich and a glass of wine. We were going to find a club to go dance, but no one was feeling well – the ship termed it ‘Pharoah’s Revenge’ (aka bad diarrhea from Egypt), so we stopped at a little local bar by the ship for Emily to get a birthday drink – it was her 21st. I got a red martini since I had never had one before, and it took me like 1 ½ hours to drink because it was pretty strong – it was a small glass, too. There were 2 older men there who were really confused about why we were in that bar instead of at a club with the younger kids. We went back to the ship; I got my computer and headed to the port to get Wi-Fi. I got to talk to the family and wish nana and pap happy anniversary for like 2 minutes but something was weird with the connection, so I couldn’t stay connected; it was still nice to see familiar faces! I went to bed then, because I had to get up early to get ready for the island tomorrow!!
8/4/08
Last night was TERRIBLE! I woke up many times during the night, but I accidentally woke up my roommate up at 5am because I was moaning and breathing heavily in my sleep because my stomach hurt so badly. I had to get up for good at 6:50 when Amber woke me up, I was supposed to meet Tanya at 7 for breakfast before getting out 8 am ferry. I slept most of the hour it took to get to Aegina. When we got there, we went straight to the tourist office to get a place to stay for the night. It was 20 euro each for the night for a double bed, fridge, TV, AC, and bathroom. It was a fairly good deal. Once we got settled, we went to the beach!! It was a good 20 minutes from our room, but it was a pretty walk. We laid out for a bit, got nice and hot, and then got in the FREEZING water. I was only able to stay in the water for a short amount of time because it was so cold, and then we laid out to dry off. We started to get a little hungry and my stomach was still hurting, so we stoppd at a little fruit stand/grocery store on our way back to the room and I got an apple, crackers, and water. We took a nap when we got back to the room, I slept for 2 hours and Tanya slept for 1 and explored around our room for an hour. We walked around once I woke up, and went to a pay phone for Tanya to call with the phone card that she bought. We walked around the outskirts of the island before getting some dinner. We found a cute place off the main street, where I got a crepe and eggs, which turned out not to be the greatest idea because I felt sick after I ate it. We went back to the room for me to lay down and I decided that it would be best for me to go back to the ship tonight because I still was feeling crappy (no pun intended). Tanya’s friends were to come on the 8pm ferry to the island, so she wouldn’t be alone, but they ended up missing the last ferry by 15 minutes, but I really needed to get back to the ship for the comfort of ‘home. I felt really bad, but I left Tanya there by herself; it was a safe island and I, myself would have been fine staying overnight by myself. I took the last ferry – the flying dolphin – back to the ship and it only took 45 minutes. I got some ginger ale, talked to Marissa for a little bit, and then went to bed.
8/5/08
I slept in this morning since I still wasn’t feeling well when I went to bed last night. I got some lunch and saw Jackie who was being a bum that day too, and told her that I was meeting Emily and Heather later when they got back from Athens. When they got back, we went to the port authority and got stamps and Internet. I came back to the ship to wait for Marissa to get back from a trip and watched A Walk to Remember. When Marissa came back, I was feeling much better – not 100% yet – and we went out looking for a theater to see Mamma Mia!, but came up short handed. We decided to go out for dessert and I got a chocolate soufflé. It was SOO good, but I couldn’t finish it because it was so rich. We came back to the ship and I got some Internet at the port building and tried to video chat with Stephanie again, but it didn’t work, so I talked to her and then my mom on AIM. It was my mom’s first AIM chat, pretty exciting haha. Bedtime!! Tomorrow is our last day in Greece!!
8/6/08
I could not get my butt out of bed this morning! Amber and I woke up at 8, went to breakfast, and then went back to bed until around 10:30. Marissa and I decided to walk around and shop a little before meeting up with Heather and Emily for lunch at 1 (since my service visit to the SOS Children’s Village was cancelled). I tried to find some cool sandals for my mom, but the cute ones weren’t in her size ☹. We got lunch at a gyro place and then I got a freddoccino. Emily and I really wanted to find a grocery store to get some bottled water and snacks for the ship, so after walking around and asking multiple people, Emily and I found the store – Heather and Marissa went back to the ship. After shopping, we went back to the ship, I got one last dose of internet, sent my postcards, and then we watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! Perfect way to end Greece!!! ☺
Watch out Croatia, here we come!!!
This morning when I woke up at 7, we were already docked in Piraeus. Exciting! After the normal morning meeting routine, Tanya and I were off to buy ferry tickets to take us to an island, we were sure which one; we finally decided on Aegina, which was an hour away. After we got our tickets, we headed to the subway to go to Athens! The subway system is not very hard to navigate and after about a 20-minute ride, we were in Athens (by 11). When we got off the subway, we got a phylo-dough biscuit filled with warm feta cheese, it was delicious, as well as a fredoccino (which is a frozen cappuccino). We went to the Acropolis (even though Tanya came to Greece to help with the 2004 Olympics and saw all the sights before) and got the student discount, which was really nice. We had to climb this huge hill to get to the Parthenon, which had a spectacular view; you could see everything! Tanya and I sat up on the wall and talked for a good 30 minutes while just looking at our surroundings! We went over and looked at Athena’s temple, which was soo cool as well. After spending a little time on the hill, we went to this huge rock and sat on there for a little bit, it was where peter preached to 1,000 people many many years ago! When we were done being lazy and sitting and people/city watching, we decided to move along and see a temple that was on a nearby hill. On the way, we stopped at a very old church and went inside, it was only one room with paintings inside that were fading away. I have no idea how it was, but it was pretty cool. After checking it out, we continued toward the temple, but me being the graceful person that I am, I stubbed my toe on a rock. I was just going to let it go, when Tanya pointed out that my toe was basically gushing blood. It was really disgusting, so we went to the little information desk and they provided me with band-aids, saline solution, and iodine. The guy behind the desk even came out and helped me fix my toe up it was really nice of him. We never made it to the temple, on account of my toe being super messed up and it being on a big hill. We were ready to leave the acropolis area and head toward the shops and get something to eat. We walked through the marketplace and Tanya and I got sandals in one of the shops for a really decent price! They are so cool! We continued walking, and one of the shop owners (a fifty some odd old guy) commented on my necklace – my Celtic cross, which kind of resembles the Greek Orthodox cross. He asked where I got it, at home or in Greece, and I told him at home. He then proceeded to tell me his love for America and how he used to live in California for a little bit, and how I look Greek, talked about our plans, and then he said that if I ever came back to Greece, that he’d take me to Santorini since I didn’t get a chance to go this time. Kinda awkward. We said goodbye and kept on keeping on. We FINALLY found gyros, so we got one! They were HUGE and sooo good. I got a chicken one, because I didn’t see lamb on the menu. We walked around a little more through the market place before getting on the subway and visiting the little town that Tanya stayed in when she was there 4 years before, but nothing was open because it was a Sunday and was not a tourist area, so we got back on the subway to Piraeus. When we got back, we got a Freddochino and headed back to the ship to relax. Little did I remember it was my friend Emily’s birthday and we had plans to go out for dinner and some drinks. I got ready quickly and we met on the gangway with some other girls who were coming, including Caitlin, a girl that lives in Windber and was in the Windber colorguard. I had a sandwich and a glass of wine. We were going to find a club to go dance, but no one was feeling well – the ship termed it ‘Pharoah’s Revenge’ (aka bad diarrhea from Egypt), so we stopped at a little local bar by the ship for Emily to get a birthday drink – it was her 21st. I got a red martini since I had never had one before, and it took me like 1 ½ hours to drink because it was pretty strong – it was a small glass, too. There were 2 older men there who were really confused about why we were in that bar instead of at a club with the younger kids. We went back to the ship; I got my computer and headed to the port to get Wi-Fi. I got to talk to the family and wish nana and pap happy anniversary for like 2 minutes but something was weird with the connection, so I couldn’t stay connected; it was still nice to see familiar faces! I went to bed then, because I had to get up early to get ready for the island tomorrow!!
8/4/08
Last night was TERRIBLE! I woke up many times during the night, but I accidentally woke up my roommate up at 5am because I was moaning and breathing heavily in my sleep because my stomach hurt so badly. I had to get up for good at 6:50 when Amber woke me up, I was supposed to meet Tanya at 7 for breakfast before getting out 8 am ferry. I slept most of the hour it took to get to Aegina. When we got there, we went straight to the tourist office to get a place to stay for the night. It was 20 euro each for the night for a double bed, fridge, TV, AC, and bathroom. It was a fairly good deal. Once we got settled, we went to the beach!! It was a good 20 minutes from our room, but it was a pretty walk. We laid out for a bit, got nice and hot, and then got in the FREEZING water. I was only able to stay in the water for a short amount of time because it was so cold, and then we laid out to dry off. We started to get a little hungry and my stomach was still hurting, so we stoppd at a little fruit stand/grocery store on our way back to the room and I got an apple, crackers, and water. We took a nap when we got back to the room, I slept for 2 hours and Tanya slept for 1 and explored around our room for an hour. We walked around once I woke up, and went to a pay phone for Tanya to call with the phone card that she bought. We walked around the outskirts of the island before getting some dinner. We found a cute place off the main street, where I got a crepe and eggs, which turned out not to be the greatest idea because I felt sick after I ate it. We went back to the room for me to lay down and I decided that it would be best for me to go back to the ship tonight because I still was feeling crappy (no pun intended). Tanya’s friends were to come on the 8pm ferry to the island, so she wouldn’t be alone, but they ended up missing the last ferry by 15 minutes, but I really needed to get back to the ship for the comfort of ‘home. I felt really bad, but I left Tanya there by herself; it was a safe island and I, myself would have been fine staying overnight by myself. I took the last ferry – the flying dolphin – back to the ship and it only took 45 minutes. I got some ginger ale, talked to Marissa for a little bit, and then went to bed.
8/5/08
I slept in this morning since I still wasn’t feeling well when I went to bed last night. I got some lunch and saw Jackie who was being a bum that day too, and told her that I was meeting Emily and Heather later when they got back from Athens. When they got back, we went to the port authority and got stamps and Internet. I came back to the ship to wait for Marissa to get back from a trip and watched A Walk to Remember. When Marissa came back, I was feeling much better – not 100% yet – and we went out looking for a theater to see Mamma Mia!, but came up short handed. We decided to go out for dessert and I got a chocolate soufflé. It was SOO good, but I couldn’t finish it because it was so rich. We came back to the ship and I got some Internet at the port building and tried to video chat with Stephanie again, but it didn’t work, so I talked to her and then my mom on AIM. It was my mom’s first AIM chat, pretty exciting haha. Bedtime!! Tomorrow is our last day in Greece!!
8/6/08
I could not get my butt out of bed this morning! Amber and I woke up at 8, went to breakfast, and then went back to bed until around 10:30. Marissa and I decided to walk around and shop a little before meeting up with Heather and Emily for lunch at 1 (since my service visit to the SOS Children’s Village was cancelled). I tried to find some cool sandals for my mom, but the cute ones weren’t in her size ☹. We got lunch at a gyro place and then I got a freddoccino. Emily and I really wanted to find a grocery store to get some bottled water and snacks for the ship, so after walking around and asking multiple people, Emily and I found the store – Heather and Marissa went back to the ship. After shopping, we went back to the ship, I got one last dose of internet, sent my postcards, and then we watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! Perfect way to end Greece!!! ☺
Watch out Croatia, here we come!!!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Walk like an Egyptian!!!
7/29/08
So, today, we were supposed to be docking in Istanbul, Turkey, but because of the recent shootings at the US embassy and the bombings that killed 18 people and injured about 150, ISE & SAS decided, much to my dismay, that it would not be in our best interest to go. Because of this, last night we pulled a huge U-turn to head towards…
… ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT!!! As bummed as I was not being able to see Bahar in Turkey, Egypt sounds pretty cool!! So today we had a day at sea to study and/or relax!! The field office was able to put together some last minute trips for us to do. MY friends Emily, Heather, Marissa, and I decided to do the Camel ride and Jeep Safari in Cairo. Since there is not a whole lot to do in Alexandria, we decided we were going to sign off the trip in Cairo and stay the night in a hotel that Heather’s mom booked for us, and then come back the last day and spend that in Alexandria.
7/30/08
When I woke up for breakfast at 7:15, we were already docked in Alexandria. We decided to fill up on breakfast because we were kind of nervous to eat Egyptian food. We were able to get off at 8:45 to get on the bus for our 3-hour drive to Cairo. (We had to take our passports and were DELIGHTED to have it stamped in Egypt!! The last place it got stamped was Russia) 22 million people live in Cairo, which is ¼, the population of everyone in Egypt. We went first to the pyramids – it was SO crazy to see them in real life! They are HUGE! It was pretty annoying that there were guys on camels everywhere trying to get us to take pictures and then pay them, but I was able to avoid them! We took lots of pictures, we were only there for ½ hour but that was enough, there isn’t a whole lot to see besides the pyramids and its MONDO hot there. Next, we drove down the hill to see the Sphinx, which was really cool as well. After the Sphinx, we went to a country club for lunch that was a buffet of Middle Eastern food and it was actually REALLY good. After eating, we headed to a tomb. It was SO hot in there and very cramped, but really really cool to see all the carvings on the walls! The next part of the trip was definitely one of the coolest parts. They took is in Jeeps and drove us all over the sand dunes, pretty fast. It was kind of scary at first, but they knew what they were doing. They drove us to our caravan of camels that were waiting for us in the middle of the dunes. There were over 100 of us, that’s a lot of camels. We rode the camels for ½ hour and that was soo cool. The tour was over then, and the bus was headed back to Alexandria, so we talked to our tour guide about the best way of getting to our hotel and she said that she could have the bus drop us off on their way back to Alexandria. We got dropped off pretty much directly in front of our hotel, which was REALLY sweet. It was called La Meridien at the Pyramids. Our room overlooked the Pyramids. It was definitely the best hotel room with a view!!
After we settled in, we went to the lobby for dinner. They had 3 restaurants in the hotel and we went to the Tex-Mex grill, I had a vegetarian burrito and it was fabulous! When we finished, Heather and I went to the café bar in the lobby and got some coffee. There we met some guys from the US and Australia who were filming an extreme sports show in Cairo. They were really nice. Then, we saw an Egyptian wedding taking place in the hotel lobby. It was crazy! We stuck around to watch. There was an Egyptian man beside us that was part of the wedding and the wedding party had gone upstairs, so we asked him if that was the ceremony or the reception, and he told us the ceremony and invited us up to see the reception, we went, but it was instantly awkward, so we left and went back to the room. Emily and I decided to go back downstairs to hang out with the guys from the TV show, so we went back to the restaurant and got a drink and sat to talk with them fir a while. It was kind of cool to talk to them about their show and how they felt about Egypt and their perspectives. We talked to them for about an hour and decided it was time to go to bed because we were tired. (we fit 4 people in a 2 person room.. mostly because we are poor.. but there were 2 beds that were between a full and a twin, so we snuggled).
7/31/08
We tried to wake up early this morning to watch the sun rise over the pyramids, but we were too tired. We finally woke up at 8:30, went to breakfast, got ready, and left around 10. We got a cab to the Nile River, where we took a little boat across. We needed to find the train station, so Emily asked a guy that was on the boat and he said he would show us the way because he was on his way past it. It was about a 30-45 minute walk there and the guy helped us to get the train tickets for the 3:00 train back to Alexandria. After we had our tickets, we headed to the Kahn El Khalily Bazaar in a taxi. They had soo much stuff there; spices, knick-knacks, scarves, shoes, anything and everything you can think of. We stayed there for about an hour and then headed back to the train station to be there by 2:30 to make sure we were on time for the train. We got to the station and found Aimee and Paul and other SASers. We had 1st class tickets, thank God, because the coach class was ridiculously packed and no Ac. It was about a 2 ½ hour ride back. We had to take a taxi back to the ship and got dinner on the ship. We kind of just stayed in for the night and got some stuff done and watch movies since we were touring Alexandria in the morning.
8/1/08
We missed breakfast this morning by 15 minutes, so when we finally got our butts off the ship at 11, we headed out to find the little bazaar and food in Alexandria. We finally found the bazaar after a little walking around, but it was dirty and gross and disgusting. We decided to walk back to where we started and then go look for food. Aimee and Paul were looking for this one Egyptian dish and when they found it, I got some falafel sandwiches, they were soo good. We were getting really hot, so we – Aimee, Paul, Marissa, Emily and Heather – decided to start back towards the ship. We thought we were heading in the right direction, but we were taking a very long round about way, so we didn’t make it back until 12:45. When we got back to port, I still had 200 Egyptian Pounds left, which was about $40, so we hit the little shops that were beside our ship. I was able to get 4 cashmere scarves for 100 pounds, or $5 each! I thought that was a pretty good deal! We got on the ship and went swimming to cool off because it was a scorcher. I took a little nap before dinner and then we watched 27 Dresses and 13 Going On 30 in Aimee and Marissa’s room. It was fun!
Overall, Egypt was definitely a cool place to go, but I don’t know if I will ever go back. It is dirty, smelly, and the guys look at American women like we are a piece of meat. I definitely had a good time with what we did, though!
So, today, we were supposed to be docking in Istanbul, Turkey, but because of the recent shootings at the US embassy and the bombings that killed 18 people and injured about 150, ISE & SAS decided, much to my dismay, that it would not be in our best interest to go. Because of this, last night we pulled a huge U-turn to head towards…
… ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT!!! As bummed as I was not being able to see Bahar in Turkey, Egypt sounds pretty cool!! So today we had a day at sea to study and/or relax!! The field office was able to put together some last minute trips for us to do. MY friends Emily, Heather, Marissa, and I decided to do the Camel ride and Jeep Safari in Cairo. Since there is not a whole lot to do in Alexandria, we decided we were going to sign off the trip in Cairo and stay the night in a hotel that Heather’s mom booked for us, and then come back the last day and spend that in Alexandria.
7/30/08
When I woke up for breakfast at 7:15, we were already docked in Alexandria. We decided to fill up on breakfast because we were kind of nervous to eat Egyptian food. We were able to get off at 8:45 to get on the bus for our 3-hour drive to Cairo. (We had to take our passports and were DELIGHTED to have it stamped in Egypt!! The last place it got stamped was Russia) 22 million people live in Cairo, which is ¼, the population of everyone in Egypt. We went first to the pyramids – it was SO crazy to see them in real life! They are HUGE! It was pretty annoying that there were guys on camels everywhere trying to get us to take pictures and then pay them, but I was able to avoid them! We took lots of pictures, we were only there for ½ hour but that was enough, there isn’t a whole lot to see besides the pyramids and its MONDO hot there. Next, we drove down the hill to see the Sphinx, which was really cool as well. After the Sphinx, we went to a country club for lunch that was a buffet of Middle Eastern food and it was actually REALLY good. After eating, we headed to a tomb. It was SO hot in there and very cramped, but really really cool to see all the carvings on the walls! The next part of the trip was definitely one of the coolest parts. They took is in Jeeps and drove us all over the sand dunes, pretty fast. It was kind of scary at first, but they knew what they were doing. They drove us to our caravan of camels that were waiting for us in the middle of the dunes. There were over 100 of us, that’s a lot of camels. We rode the camels for ½ hour and that was soo cool. The tour was over then, and the bus was headed back to Alexandria, so we talked to our tour guide about the best way of getting to our hotel and she said that she could have the bus drop us off on their way back to Alexandria. We got dropped off pretty much directly in front of our hotel, which was REALLY sweet. It was called La Meridien at the Pyramids. Our room overlooked the Pyramids. It was definitely the best hotel room with a view!!
After we settled in, we went to the lobby for dinner. They had 3 restaurants in the hotel and we went to the Tex-Mex grill, I had a vegetarian burrito and it was fabulous! When we finished, Heather and I went to the café bar in the lobby and got some coffee. There we met some guys from the US and Australia who were filming an extreme sports show in Cairo. They were really nice. Then, we saw an Egyptian wedding taking place in the hotel lobby. It was crazy! We stuck around to watch. There was an Egyptian man beside us that was part of the wedding and the wedding party had gone upstairs, so we asked him if that was the ceremony or the reception, and he told us the ceremony and invited us up to see the reception, we went, but it was instantly awkward, so we left and went back to the room. Emily and I decided to go back downstairs to hang out with the guys from the TV show, so we went back to the restaurant and got a drink and sat to talk with them fir a while. It was kind of cool to talk to them about their show and how they felt about Egypt and their perspectives. We talked to them for about an hour and decided it was time to go to bed because we were tired. (we fit 4 people in a 2 person room.. mostly because we are poor.. but there were 2 beds that were between a full and a twin, so we snuggled).
7/31/08
We tried to wake up early this morning to watch the sun rise over the pyramids, but we were too tired. We finally woke up at 8:30, went to breakfast, got ready, and left around 10. We got a cab to the Nile River, where we took a little boat across. We needed to find the train station, so Emily asked a guy that was on the boat and he said he would show us the way because he was on his way past it. It was about a 30-45 minute walk there and the guy helped us to get the train tickets for the 3:00 train back to Alexandria. After we had our tickets, we headed to the Kahn El Khalily Bazaar in a taxi. They had soo much stuff there; spices, knick-knacks, scarves, shoes, anything and everything you can think of. We stayed there for about an hour and then headed back to the train station to be there by 2:30 to make sure we were on time for the train. We got to the station and found Aimee and Paul and other SASers. We had 1st class tickets, thank God, because the coach class was ridiculously packed and no Ac. It was about a 2 ½ hour ride back. We had to take a taxi back to the ship and got dinner on the ship. We kind of just stayed in for the night and got some stuff done and watch movies since we were touring Alexandria in the morning.
8/1/08
We missed breakfast this morning by 15 minutes, so when we finally got our butts off the ship at 11, we headed out to find the little bazaar and food in Alexandria. We finally found the bazaar after a little walking around, but it was dirty and gross and disgusting. We decided to walk back to where we started and then go look for food. Aimee and Paul were looking for this one Egyptian dish and when they found it, I got some falafel sandwiches, they were soo good. We were getting really hot, so we – Aimee, Paul, Marissa, Emily and Heather – decided to start back towards the ship. We thought we were heading in the right direction, but we were taking a very long round about way, so we didn’t make it back until 12:45. When we got back to port, I still had 200 Egyptian Pounds left, which was about $40, so we hit the little shops that were beside our ship. I was able to get 4 cashmere scarves for 100 pounds, or $5 each! I thought that was a pretty good deal! We got on the ship and went swimming to cool off because it was a scorcher. I took a little nap before dinner and then we watched 27 Dresses and 13 Going On 30 in Aimee and Marissa’s room. It was fun!
Overall, Egypt was definitely a cool place to go, but I don’t know if I will ever go back. It is dirty, smelly, and the guys look at American women like we are a piece of meat. I definitely had a good time with what we did, though!
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...
Day 1
Marissa and I woke up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise as we pulled into Naples, Italy. Holy dream come true. It was pretty much the best thing I have ever experienced in my whole life. We got up just in time to see the sun peek out from behind Mount Vesuvius! It was absolutely stunning. After about a half an hour of being whipped by the wind, we went in to shower, get ready, and eat breakfast! We ate out on the 6th deck so that we could watch as we finished pulling into port. It looked just like all the pictures! We had our boring pre-port and then got off the boat to take our guided 5 city tour of Italy! We headed straight onto a ferry to take us to Capri. It was breathtaking over there. We went on a tram that took us up a steep hill to the top of Capri. We took some pictures and then headed to this garden in Capri that overlooked some gorgeous water and cliffs. We took many many pictures there. We spent a while there and then headed to this cute little place on the top of the hill for lunch. On the way to lunch, we passed a place that sold Lemoncelo (sp?) and our tour guides told us to go in and try it. Let me just tell you that this stuff is like lemon and sugar and 32% alcohol. They gave us a little tiny bit of it and it was more than enough to knock you off your feet. I wanted to bring some home for you all to try since it is pretty popular over here, but we are not allowed to bring alcohol on the ship. Anyway, back to lunch. We started off with bread, then some ravoli, then some nasty fish risotto (I did try it.. I just did not like it.. it had many weird fish in it and it smelled bad). After that, we had some salad with some shrimp as well as some calamari. I did try the calamari, but it was too rubbery for me. It wasn’t tooo bad, but I just did not really enjoy it. We had desert and then headed out to explore the hill for about 40 minutes before we had to take the tram back down. We hit up some shops and then got some Italian gelato! YUUUM. I got Nutella and something that was vanilla with chocolate shavings and brownie pieces. It was goooood!! We headed down the hill when we were done and we were able to spend another 40 minutes at the bottom of the hill. Marissa, Alyssa, and Melissa (tongue full I know!) went to the little waterfront where they had all the boats tied up and stood in the Mediterranean Sea! It was really cool! Of course, we took more pictures!
We then hopped another ferry to Sorrento. It is a beautiful place. As soon as we got off the ferry, we hopped onto a bus to take us up the hill to get to our 4 star hotel. (4 stars here is definitely a little less then 4 stars in the states, but its still nice). I have a random roommate and she is very nice. Our room over-looks the courtyard in the back and has a view of the outdoor pool – which is gorgeous – as well as the water, and a bit of the city of Sorrento. After we got settled, Marissa, Melissa, and Alyssa, and I tried to walk to one of the bigger plazas in the upper city, but couldn’t really find it. Along the way, we had fun crossing the roads – they followed me like little baby ducks running across a road and I had no idea where I was going, but it was HYSTERICAL. Then we stumbled across a little orchard in the middle of the city. It grew Oranges and Lemons. They also sold the Lemoncello. Since I already tried it, I tried the orange version. It wasn’t bad.. strong, but not as pungent as the lemon one. So we walked a little more and then had to head back to get ready for dinner. We went to the 5 star hotel next door for dinner. Boy, it was awesome. It was dinner with the most spectacular view of the sun setting over the water and mount Vesuvius in the back. Wow. We had pasta – SOO good – a ‘hamburger’ that was more like a big sausage patty (it was either that or flying squid – I did try a piece of the squid, but did not like it), a salad, and cake for desert. We also got a bottle of wine to share for dinner. It was a good red wine, I wish I would have looked to see exactly what it was, but we were so overwhelmed with the whole atmosphere – the live music, fun waiters, good food. The guy that was playing guitar sang stuff like “That’s Amore”, and “Fly Me To The Moon”, “New York, New York” (They LOVE that in Europe..), and “Time To Say Goodbye” but all in Italian. Wow. After dinner, the girls and I took the bus into the main square where we walked around and got more gelato. I got coffee and it was probably the best tasting coffee ‘ice cream’ I have ever eaten in my life! We finished up, walked around a little, window shopped, listened to music that was playing in the restaurants, and then headed back on the bus. WONDERFUL DAY!!!
Day 2:
We woke up and left Sorrento around 8am. We went to Pompeii and had a wonderful tour guide named Roberto! He took us all round to see the devastation that Mount Vesuvius had on Pompeii when it first exploded in 79 AD. It was beautiful and sad at the same time, as well as being SUPER hot. After our tour, we headed to a little restaurant and had some AWESOME pizza with buffalo mozzarella. We had a WHOLE plate of it to ourselves. Next, we started our 3 hour drive from Pompeii to Roma!! I slept pretty much the whole time. It was a nice nap! When we finally got to the GORGEOUS hotel, we had about 2 hours to explore before leaving for dinner, so first we got some gelato! It was so good. I got Hazelnut and some kind of chocolate with rum. We still had a lot of time, so we headed over to the shopping district. It took a little bit of time, and a stop at a store to get some water (which ended up being sparkling EW! So Alyssa got regular water and we switched, she likes the sparking!), but we finally made it there. It was cool; there are over 3,000 shops on the street, including Fendi and Ferrari label stuff!! We window shopped for a bit and had to get back to the hotel to get the bus for dinner. We went to this cute little restaurant off the well-beaten path. SAS pretty much took over, but everyone was sitting outside, so it was cool. It was so pretty; there was a band playing fun Italian music! They also put on a show with the band; there were people on the upstairs of the restaurant being silly and ‘fighting’ with the band. After a dinner of manicotti, noodles, and some weird mashed potato thing with ham and cheese in it, and finally ice cream, we headed off for a rushed tour of the Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, and a cute square where I got a watercolor sepia painting of the coliseum. We headed back to the hotel, got some more gelato – this time I got pistachio and rice with honey. They were both good, but the rice and honey, although it sounds crazy, was actually very good!! Then, I broke down and bought an hour of internet which was 10 euro ($15) so that I could do a video chat with Steph and mom!!! It was sooooooo nice to see their faces and hear their voices! Tomorrow is a long day! Cant wait!! ☺
Day 3:
We had another 7 am wake up call for breakfast. Today is our day in Roma! Our first stop was the Vatican and we got to pass all the lines of people because we were doing the group tour. We started off with the Vatican museum and got to see a lot of cool art work and history, even the Sistine Chapel (we weren’t allowed to take pictures though). After the museum, we went into St. Peter’s Cathedral; it was so beautiful. There was a corpse of a dead pope in there – he looked fresh although he has been dead for a long time. It was… creepy. We had a little free time in the square, then hopped on the busses and got some lunch on the way to the Colesium. We had salad, bruschetta – which was amazing – and pasta, followed by some delicious fruit salad for dessert. Before we got back on the bus, we snuck over to get some gelato!! It was so cool to go and be able to see and walk around the coliseum.
Day 4:
This morning, we had to get up early again, this time to check out of out hotel to begin our journey to Naples. We stopped at Casserta and got to walk through the palace there. We had a tour aid that you have an earpiece hooked up to a walkie-talkie sort of device that the guide talked into so that you can hear him if he gets a head and so there aren’t multiple tours yelling at their groups. It was super uncomfortable and still hard to hear, so I didn’t get a whole lot out of what he was saying. It was very beautiful though! After the tour, we went back to old Napoli to get some lunch with the tour group. We had mozzarella and tomatoes, pizza margarita, and wine – which for once was included in the meal. It was okay, but the pizza in Rome was much better! The service took forever there as well, we were the last table to get served.. at least 35-40 minutes AFTER the first table to get served.. it was hard because I was soooo hungry. After lunch, we were given free time in one of the main squares by our ship. We were on a mission to find an ATM (since we could use the Euro in Greece) and stamps. We couldn’t find them, so Alyssa and I gave up to go sit by the water for a bit. We stayed down there and people watched with out feet in the water. We only had an hour, so we started back up the hill and got some refreshing gelato, for the last time, on the way back up. I don’t know if you were keeping track, but I had gelato 8 times and 14 different flavors (because I repeated 2 flavors). Gelato wasn’t as good as it was in Rome. Just as we were about to leave, Stefania told us where to find stamps, so we went up there to get some, and we told the guy that we needed to send the postcards to the US. He gave us .60-euro stamps, which was not enough, we later found out. Stefania told us we needed a 1-euro stamp, so she let us give her to postcards and money to cover the rest of the stamps and sent them out for us. How sweet! We got back to the pier at 5:30, had to go through security at the pier, and then had to go through the ship security. It took a little more than an hour and a half to get on the ship because they were letting independent travelers go in front of our large group, and needless to say, we were all getting pretty mad.; especially because they were having a BBQ on the 7th deck. We missed the actual BBQ, but they did keep some food warm for us, although it was not as good as it is when its fresh from the grill.
I LOVED Italy and cannot wait to go back and explore all the things I didn’t get to see in the places I was, and also to go explore the rest of the country!! ☺
Marissa and I woke up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise as we pulled into Naples, Italy. Holy dream come true. It was pretty much the best thing I have ever experienced in my whole life. We got up just in time to see the sun peek out from behind Mount Vesuvius! It was absolutely stunning. After about a half an hour of being whipped by the wind, we went in to shower, get ready, and eat breakfast! We ate out on the 6th deck so that we could watch as we finished pulling into port. It looked just like all the pictures! We had our boring pre-port and then got off the boat to take our guided 5 city tour of Italy! We headed straight onto a ferry to take us to Capri. It was breathtaking over there. We went on a tram that took us up a steep hill to the top of Capri. We took some pictures and then headed to this garden in Capri that overlooked some gorgeous water and cliffs. We took many many pictures there. We spent a while there and then headed to this cute little place on the top of the hill for lunch. On the way to lunch, we passed a place that sold Lemoncelo (sp?) and our tour guides told us to go in and try it. Let me just tell you that this stuff is like lemon and sugar and 32% alcohol. They gave us a little tiny bit of it and it was more than enough to knock you off your feet. I wanted to bring some home for you all to try since it is pretty popular over here, but we are not allowed to bring alcohol on the ship. Anyway, back to lunch. We started off with bread, then some ravoli, then some nasty fish risotto (I did try it.. I just did not like it.. it had many weird fish in it and it smelled bad). After that, we had some salad with some shrimp as well as some calamari. I did try the calamari, but it was too rubbery for me. It wasn’t tooo bad, but I just did not really enjoy it. We had desert and then headed out to explore the hill for about 40 minutes before we had to take the tram back down. We hit up some shops and then got some Italian gelato! YUUUM. I got Nutella and something that was vanilla with chocolate shavings and brownie pieces. It was goooood!! We headed down the hill when we were done and we were able to spend another 40 minutes at the bottom of the hill. Marissa, Alyssa, and Melissa (tongue full I know!) went to the little waterfront where they had all the boats tied up and stood in the Mediterranean Sea! It was really cool! Of course, we took more pictures!
We then hopped another ferry to Sorrento. It is a beautiful place. As soon as we got off the ferry, we hopped onto a bus to take us up the hill to get to our 4 star hotel. (4 stars here is definitely a little less then 4 stars in the states, but its still nice). I have a random roommate and she is very nice. Our room over-looks the courtyard in the back and has a view of the outdoor pool – which is gorgeous – as well as the water, and a bit of the city of Sorrento. After we got settled, Marissa, Melissa, and Alyssa, and I tried to walk to one of the bigger plazas in the upper city, but couldn’t really find it. Along the way, we had fun crossing the roads – they followed me like little baby ducks running across a road and I had no idea where I was going, but it was HYSTERICAL. Then we stumbled across a little orchard in the middle of the city. It grew Oranges and Lemons. They also sold the Lemoncello. Since I already tried it, I tried the orange version. It wasn’t bad.. strong, but not as pungent as the lemon one. So we walked a little more and then had to head back to get ready for dinner. We went to the 5 star hotel next door for dinner. Boy, it was awesome. It was dinner with the most spectacular view of the sun setting over the water and mount Vesuvius in the back. Wow. We had pasta – SOO good – a ‘hamburger’ that was more like a big sausage patty (it was either that or flying squid – I did try a piece of the squid, but did not like it), a salad, and cake for desert. We also got a bottle of wine to share for dinner. It was a good red wine, I wish I would have looked to see exactly what it was, but we were so overwhelmed with the whole atmosphere – the live music, fun waiters, good food. The guy that was playing guitar sang stuff like “That’s Amore”, and “Fly Me To The Moon”, “New York, New York” (They LOVE that in Europe..), and “Time To Say Goodbye” but all in Italian. Wow. After dinner, the girls and I took the bus into the main square where we walked around and got more gelato. I got coffee and it was probably the best tasting coffee ‘ice cream’ I have ever eaten in my life! We finished up, walked around a little, window shopped, listened to music that was playing in the restaurants, and then headed back on the bus. WONDERFUL DAY!!!
Day 2:
We woke up and left Sorrento around 8am. We went to Pompeii and had a wonderful tour guide named Roberto! He took us all round to see the devastation that Mount Vesuvius had on Pompeii when it first exploded in 79 AD. It was beautiful and sad at the same time, as well as being SUPER hot. After our tour, we headed to a little restaurant and had some AWESOME pizza with buffalo mozzarella. We had a WHOLE plate of it to ourselves. Next, we started our 3 hour drive from Pompeii to Roma!! I slept pretty much the whole time. It was a nice nap! When we finally got to the GORGEOUS hotel, we had about 2 hours to explore before leaving for dinner, so first we got some gelato! It was so good. I got Hazelnut and some kind of chocolate with rum. We still had a lot of time, so we headed over to the shopping district. It took a little bit of time, and a stop at a store to get some water (which ended up being sparkling EW! So Alyssa got regular water and we switched, she likes the sparking!), but we finally made it there. It was cool; there are over 3,000 shops on the street, including Fendi and Ferrari label stuff!! We window shopped for a bit and had to get back to the hotel to get the bus for dinner. We went to this cute little restaurant off the well-beaten path. SAS pretty much took over, but everyone was sitting outside, so it was cool. It was so pretty; there was a band playing fun Italian music! They also put on a show with the band; there were people on the upstairs of the restaurant being silly and ‘fighting’ with the band. After a dinner of manicotti, noodles, and some weird mashed potato thing with ham and cheese in it, and finally ice cream, we headed off for a rushed tour of the Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, and a cute square where I got a watercolor sepia painting of the coliseum. We headed back to the hotel, got some more gelato – this time I got pistachio and rice with honey. They were both good, but the rice and honey, although it sounds crazy, was actually very good!! Then, I broke down and bought an hour of internet which was 10 euro ($15) so that I could do a video chat with Steph and mom!!! It was sooooooo nice to see their faces and hear their voices! Tomorrow is a long day! Cant wait!! ☺
Day 3:
We had another 7 am wake up call for breakfast. Today is our day in Roma! Our first stop was the Vatican and we got to pass all the lines of people because we were doing the group tour. We started off with the Vatican museum and got to see a lot of cool art work and history, even the Sistine Chapel (we weren’t allowed to take pictures though). After the museum, we went into St. Peter’s Cathedral; it was so beautiful. There was a corpse of a dead pope in there – he looked fresh although he has been dead for a long time. It was… creepy. We had a little free time in the square, then hopped on the busses and got some lunch on the way to the Colesium. We had salad, bruschetta – which was amazing – and pasta, followed by some delicious fruit salad for dessert. Before we got back on the bus, we snuck over to get some gelato!! It was so cool to go and be able to see and walk around the coliseum.
Day 4:
This morning, we had to get up early again, this time to check out of out hotel to begin our journey to Naples. We stopped at Casserta and got to walk through the palace there. We had a tour aid that you have an earpiece hooked up to a walkie-talkie sort of device that the guide talked into so that you can hear him if he gets a head and so there aren’t multiple tours yelling at their groups. It was super uncomfortable and still hard to hear, so I didn’t get a whole lot out of what he was saying. It was very beautiful though! After the tour, we went back to old Napoli to get some lunch with the tour group. We had mozzarella and tomatoes, pizza margarita, and wine – which for once was included in the meal. It was okay, but the pizza in Rome was much better! The service took forever there as well, we were the last table to get served.. at least 35-40 minutes AFTER the first table to get served.. it was hard because I was soooo hungry. After lunch, we were given free time in one of the main squares by our ship. We were on a mission to find an ATM (since we could use the Euro in Greece) and stamps. We couldn’t find them, so Alyssa and I gave up to go sit by the water for a bit. We stayed down there and people watched with out feet in the water. We only had an hour, so we started back up the hill and got some refreshing gelato, for the last time, on the way back up. I don’t know if you were keeping track, but I had gelato 8 times and 14 different flavors (because I repeated 2 flavors). Gelato wasn’t as good as it was in Rome. Just as we were about to leave, Stefania told us where to find stamps, so we went up there to get some, and we told the guy that we needed to send the postcards to the US. He gave us .60-euro stamps, which was not enough, we later found out. Stefania told us we needed a 1-euro stamp, so she let us give her to postcards and money to cover the rest of the stamps and sent them out for us. How sweet! We got back to the pier at 5:30, had to go through security at the pier, and then had to go through the ship security. It took a little more than an hour and a half to get on the ship because they were letting independent travelers go in front of our large group, and needless to say, we were all getting pretty mad.; especially because they were having a BBQ on the 7th deck. We missed the actual BBQ, but they did keep some food warm for us, although it was not as good as it is when its fresh from the grill.
I LOVED Italy and cannot wait to go back and explore all the things I didn’t get to see in the places I was, and also to go explore the rest of the country!! ☺
Sunday, August 3, 2008
I'm still alive!
Hey guys! Just wanted to let you know that I am still having a blast! I have had limited time to catch up on typing up my blogs, but have no fear they are coming! Be on the lookout sometime soon!!
In the meantime - email me at kmvalentini@semesteratsea.net! I wanna hear from ALL of you! :)
In the meantime - email me at kmvalentini@semesteratsea.net! I wanna hear from ALL of you! :)
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