July 15, 2010
Today we docked at Monte Carlo and hopped on a bus for a nice French Rivera drive. We drove to Nice and to another couple of towns in France. We didn’t realize that we would be going into France as well. The French Rivera is absolutely AMAZING!! If we would rich, we would so live there overlooking the water. Just beautiful!! They took us to a perfume factory for a quick stop to show us how French perfume is made. Brice bought me some, but of course he got me the one he liked. (I like it too, so it was all good.)
We then drove back the other direction where we stopped at a really nice French market right on the coast. Everything was fresh and I enjoyed wondering around see what all was for sale. We got some ice cream at one of the little shops. I got cookies and cream and it was delicious. It’s not the same as what we have in America, but really good just the same. Dad got melon and it tasted like a really delicious cantaloupe sorbet. After the ice cream, Brice and I were still hungry so we stopped in another shop and got a couple of sandwiches. I have no idea what we ate but it was good. After that our time was up and had to get back on the bus to drive back to the boat. It was a short day, but the scenery was gorgeous!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Pisa and Florence, Italy
July 14, 2010
Our European Excursion took us to Tuscany today. We started the day pretty early and drove to Pisa first. We got lucky and were the very first tour bus to arrive so the area around the tower wasn’t crowed at all.
The busses aren’t allowed where the church and tower are, so we had to take a short hike through the town of Pisa. On our walk Meme and I started chatting. She told me about a picture she has of Papaw in his army uniform posing as if he were holding up the tower, so she wanted to take the same type of picture and put them side by side in a frame. We also think we drove past the Army base he was stationed at during World War II.
This is the whole reason for the trip. Papaw was stationed in Italy during the War and came back telling stories of Italy, so it has been Meme’s dream to see the places he talked about. And since I’m totally obsessed with Italy, we promised each other we would go. And you know we couldn’t leave Mom and Dad behind and since Brice was added to the family, we couldn’t very well leave him at home. So, there you have it, the whole reason for the trip. Totally worth it!!
After our silly pictures of holding up and pushing over the Tower of Pisa, we hopped back on the bus and drove the hour and a half to Florence. Our first stop was the Academy to see the real David sculpture by Michelangelo. No video or photos are to be taken of the art. So Brice and I couldn’t help but snicker at all of the people sneaking photos of the David. I happened to catch one guy in the act. When he looked up at me, I must have a smirk on my face because he quickly dropped his camera and turned around pretending to walk off.
From the Academy we jumped back on the bus and drove to a little restaurant for lunch. We had some great lasagna of some sort, but it was hard to enjoy because it was so stifling in there. We were glad to get outside where there were some awesome misters. Why we didn’t sit out there in the first place, I will never know.
After lunch we began our quick walking tour of the highlights of Florence. Our first stop on the walk was Santa Croche (Church of the Holy Cross). This is the church where Michelangelo, Galileo, and some other important people are buried. We then journeyed to the main square and the Palace of the Medici. This is where the original David once stood. There are a bunch of really famous and great sculptures in the square. Next we walked by the Uffizi (big museum in Florence) to the Arno River, where we walked down to the Pontie Vecchieo (Gold Bridge). After snapping some quick pictures, we moved on the see the huge Duomo. We then made a quick circle around the baptistery to see the Gates of Paradise and then made our way back to the bus where we drove the hour and a half back to Livorno and the boat. It was a long drive but the country through there is just amazing. There were huge sunflower fields all in full bloom. Beautiful!!! We also found the villa Mom and Dad are going to by when they retire. It’s up on a hill that overlooks Florence and the Arno. I told them that was fine, it just had to be large enough for me to stay there too! Tuscany is so beautiful!
Our European Excursion took us to Tuscany today. We started the day pretty early and drove to Pisa first. We got lucky and were the very first tour bus to arrive so the area around the tower wasn’t crowed at all.
The busses aren’t allowed where the church and tower are, so we had to take a short hike through the town of Pisa. On our walk Meme and I started chatting. She told me about a picture she has of Papaw in his army uniform posing as if he were holding up the tower, so she wanted to take the same type of picture and put them side by side in a frame. We also think we drove past the Army base he was stationed at during World War II.
This is the whole reason for the trip. Papaw was stationed in Italy during the War and came back telling stories of Italy, so it has been Meme’s dream to see the places he talked about. And since I’m totally obsessed with Italy, we promised each other we would go. And you know we couldn’t leave Mom and Dad behind and since Brice was added to the family, we couldn’t very well leave him at home. So, there you have it, the whole reason for the trip. Totally worth it!!
After our silly pictures of holding up and pushing over the Tower of Pisa, we hopped back on the bus and drove the hour and a half to Florence. Our first stop was the Academy to see the real David sculpture by Michelangelo. No video or photos are to be taken of the art. So Brice and I couldn’t help but snicker at all of the people sneaking photos of the David. I happened to catch one guy in the act. When he looked up at me, I must have a smirk on my face because he quickly dropped his camera and turned around pretending to walk off.
From the Academy we jumped back on the bus and drove to a little restaurant for lunch. We had some great lasagna of some sort, but it was hard to enjoy because it was so stifling in there. We were glad to get outside where there were some awesome misters. Why we didn’t sit out there in the first place, I will never know.
After lunch we began our quick walking tour of the highlights of Florence. Our first stop on the walk was Santa Croche (Church of the Holy Cross). This is the church where Michelangelo, Galileo, and some other important people are buried. We then journeyed to the main square and the Palace of the Medici. This is where the original David once stood. There are a bunch of really famous and great sculptures in the square. Next we walked by the Uffizi (big museum in Florence) to the Arno River, where we walked down to the Pontie Vecchieo (Gold Bridge). After snapping some quick pictures, we moved on the see the huge Duomo. We then made a quick circle around the baptistery to see the Gates of Paradise and then made our way back to the bus where we drove the hour and a half back to Livorno and the boat. It was a long drive but the country through there is just amazing. There were huge sunflower fields all in full bloom. Beautiful!!! We also found the villa Mom and Dad are going to by when they retire. It’s up on a hill that overlooks Florence and the Arno. I told them that was fine, it just had to be large enough for me to stay there too! Tuscany is so beautiful!
Rome, Italy
July 13, 2010
Today we decided to depart from the typical tours and see Rome on our own. So we hopped our shuttle armed with 2 books on Rome and different 4 maps. We then gained 2 more maps when we got on the shuttle. On our 2 hour drive from Civitacchia into Rome Brice and I looked at every book and every map for about the fifth time in 24 hours to make sure we knew where all we were going to attempt to go. We finally settled on one map, grabbed a sharpie, and drew out our plan. We were ready!
The shuttle dropped us off in Vatican City at around 10:00 am and were told to meet back there at 3:55 pm. We had roughly 6 hours to go see as much as we could and get back. So we snapped a few pictures of St. Peter’s basilica and the square and off we went. First we walked over to Castle del Saint Angelo, snapped some pictures and crossed the Tiber River via the “Angel Bridge”. We then made our way to Piazza Novana, where we saw Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers. From there we went to the Pantheon. Walked inside, snapped a few more pictures, and then moved on the Trevi Fountain. Right as were snapping our pictures of the fountain, I happened to look down and see Mom and Meme about to throw their coins in the fountain. So Brice and I ran down the steps and I jumped right in front of Dad who was just about to taking their photo. We successfully freaked all three out! We all got a good laugh out of it. So we all took turned tossing our coins in and taking more photos. After a few minutes of quick conversation, Brice and I were off again. This time we headed toward the Spanish Steps. The entire hike to the steps was up hill. Luckily we came upon the Steps at the top, so we walked down and snapped some more pics of the fountain at the bottom of the steps and looking back up at the steps. We did all of this by 11:30 am!
We then made our way to the “Wedding Cake”, where a guy dressed up as an ancient Roman guard freaked out that I happened to take his photo. He came at me yelling “You can’t take my picture! You must delete!!” I told him I was sorry and would delete it. He kept saying “No, no! You delete!” I told him I was trying, but by that point he was right up on my shoulder making gestures like he was going to take my camera. So I told him to just back off, I was trying to delete it. Then he went into to this whole spiel about how disrespectful we were to him and what he does. He kept asking us why we were so disrespectful of him and that it was so hard for him, but everything is so easy for us. After about a 5 minute ordeal, we just walked off. By this point I was not too happy. I think I chewed him out in my head for some 30 minutes after.
So then moving on after the ordeal, we made our way toward the Colosseum. We picked up our tickets at the Palintine Hill because the line was WAY shorter than the one at the Colosseum. The same ticket can get you into the Colosseum, Palentine Hill, and the Forum. After wondering around through the ruins on the Palentine for around 10-15 minutes and seeing the Circus Maximus from above, we moved on the Colosseum. We bypassed the incredibly LONG line to buy tickets there and walked right in. We walked around what would have been the floor level then climbed a set of crazy steep steps to the second level, wondered around up there for a few minutes and then move on the Forum. Again our visit to the Forum was quick but really neat. You don’t realize how big the columns and buildings were until you are standing at the bottom looking straight up. As we stood there looking around, we could just imagine what Rome looked like at the height of the Republic. What a sight to behold, I’m sure.
After about 10 minutes of wondering around the Forum, our time was up and we had to start making our way back to the Vatican. But first we had to get out of the Forum and to do that we had to climb this set of NEVER ENDING stairs. By this point we were so tired and our feet and legs hurt so badly, but we couldn’t stay in the Forum forever. We began to climb. It took everything we had to get up those stairs. Just about the time you figured you were at the top or at least close, you looked up the rest of the way and wanted to just sit down because you still had a long way to go, but if you did, you knew it would be an hour before you could get up again. We finally made it to the top. After looking back down, we think we climbed somewhere around 2 ½ to 3 stories straight up. The Forum itself is well below street level and the stairs ended on top of one of the seven hills in Rome. At the top we had to sit and rest for a few minutes to catch our breath. We also discovered the Capitoline Museum (the one I’d been looking for all along). By this time we had to start making our way back and didn’t have to go in. I was sad, but I at least got to snap a photo of the famous sculpture of the Shewolf suckling Romulus and Remus, which is used as an image for Rome quite a bit.
So our trek continued as we made our way back to Vatican. It was incredibly hot and our feet and legs were killing us by this point, but all we could think about was getting to Vatican City and finding something cold to drink. It was the only thing that kept us going, well that and the fact we didn’t want to get left by the shuttle. We decided to cut our way to the River and follow it until we reached our destination. It was a great decision because there were huge trees lining the River and they provided some much needed relief from the sun. All day long we’d been taking advantage of Rome’s many ice cold fountains. Thank goodness for them, otherwise we would have never survived! It took us around an hour to make it back to the Vatican, but we finally made it. We picked a couple of souvenirs and then found something cold to drink. We couldn’t get enough liquid. After sitting in the shade and resting a bit, we made our way to the meeting point where we happened to run into Mom, Dad, and Meme again. We finally were able to get back on our bus and crashed! We both slept the whole way back to the boat. What a day!!
Today we decided to depart from the typical tours and see Rome on our own. So we hopped our shuttle armed with 2 books on Rome and different 4 maps. We then gained 2 more maps when we got on the shuttle. On our 2 hour drive from Civitacchia into Rome Brice and I looked at every book and every map for about the fifth time in 24 hours to make sure we knew where all we were going to attempt to go. We finally settled on one map, grabbed a sharpie, and drew out our plan. We were ready!
The shuttle dropped us off in Vatican City at around 10:00 am and were told to meet back there at 3:55 pm. We had roughly 6 hours to go see as much as we could and get back. So we snapped a few pictures of St. Peter’s basilica and the square and off we went. First we walked over to Castle del Saint Angelo, snapped some pictures and crossed the Tiber River via the “Angel Bridge”. We then made our way to Piazza Novana, where we saw Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers. From there we went to the Pantheon. Walked inside, snapped a few more pictures, and then moved on the Trevi Fountain. Right as were snapping our pictures of the fountain, I happened to look down and see Mom and Meme about to throw their coins in the fountain. So Brice and I ran down the steps and I jumped right in front of Dad who was just about to taking their photo. We successfully freaked all three out! We all got a good laugh out of it. So we all took turned tossing our coins in and taking more photos. After a few minutes of quick conversation, Brice and I were off again. This time we headed toward the Spanish Steps. The entire hike to the steps was up hill. Luckily we came upon the Steps at the top, so we walked down and snapped some more pics of the fountain at the bottom of the steps and looking back up at the steps. We did all of this by 11:30 am!
We then made our way to the “Wedding Cake”, where a guy dressed up as an ancient Roman guard freaked out that I happened to take his photo. He came at me yelling “You can’t take my picture! You must delete!!” I told him I was sorry and would delete it. He kept saying “No, no! You delete!” I told him I was trying, but by that point he was right up on my shoulder making gestures like he was going to take my camera. So I told him to just back off, I was trying to delete it. Then he went into to this whole spiel about how disrespectful we were to him and what he does. He kept asking us why we were so disrespectful of him and that it was so hard for him, but everything is so easy for us. After about a 5 minute ordeal, we just walked off. By this point I was not too happy. I think I chewed him out in my head for some 30 minutes after.
So then moving on after the ordeal, we made our way toward the Colosseum. We picked up our tickets at the Palintine Hill because the line was WAY shorter than the one at the Colosseum. The same ticket can get you into the Colosseum, Palentine Hill, and the Forum. After wondering around through the ruins on the Palentine for around 10-15 minutes and seeing the Circus Maximus from above, we moved on the Colosseum. We bypassed the incredibly LONG line to buy tickets there and walked right in. We walked around what would have been the floor level then climbed a set of crazy steep steps to the second level, wondered around up there for a few minutes and then move on the Forum. Again our visit to the Forum was quick but really neat. You don’t realize how big the columns and buildings were until you are standing at the bottom looking straight up. As we stood there looking around, we could just imagine what Rome looked like at the height of the Republic. What a sight to behold, I’m sure.
After about 10 minutes of wondering around the Forum, our time was up and we had to start making our way back to the Vatican. But first we had to get out of the Forum and to do that we had to climb this set of NEVER ENDING stairs. By this point we were so tired and our feet and legs hurt so badly, but we couldn’t stay in the Forum forever. We began to climb. It took everything we had to get up those stairs. Just about the time you figured you were at the top or at least close, you looked up the rest of the way and wanted to just sit down because you still had a long way to go, but if you did, you knew it would be an hour before you could get up again. We finally made it to the top. After looking back down, we think we climbed somewhere around 2 ½ to 3 stories straight up. The Forum itself is well below street level and the stairs ended on top of one of the seven hills in Rome. At the top we had to sit and rest for a few minutes to catch our breath. We also discovered the Capitoline Museum (the one I’d been looking for all along). By this time we had to start making our way back and didn’t have to go in. I was sad, but I at least got to snap a photo of the famous sculpture of the Shewolf suckling Romulus and Remus, which is used as an image for Rome quite a bit.
So our trek continued as we made our way back to Vatican. It was incredibly hot and our feet and legs were killing us by this point, but all we could think about was getting to Vatican City and finding something cold to drink. It was the only thing that kept us going, well that and the fact we didn’t want to get left by the shuttle. We decided to cut our way to the River and follow it until we reached our destination. It was a great decision because there were huge trees lining the River and they provided some much needed relief from the sun. All day long we’d been taking advantage of Rome’s many ice cold fountains. Thank goodness for them, otherwise we would have never survived! It took us around an hour to make it back to the Vatican, but we finally made it. We picked a couple of souvenirs and then found something cold to drink. We couldn’t get enough liquid. After sitting in the shade and resting a bit, we made our way to the meeting point where we happened to run into Mom, Dad, and Meme again. We finally were able to get back on our bus and crashed! We both slept the whole way back to the boat. What a day!!
Day at Sea
July 11, 2010
Our highlight of the day was cruising between Sicily and the toe of Italy. We got to see the “heel” of the boot all the way past the toe from the back of the boat in a hot tub. At first we didn’t realize what land we were looking at, but the more we looked and thought the geography started to make since when thinking about a map. Also when we were passing by Sicily, we started hearing this “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” off in the distance. I jokingly stated that I wondered if it was the Mafia was shooting at us. As the sound continued, we started looking around to figure out what the noise and sure enough there were the perfect towers of gun smoke that were the same number of rounds we heard. So we don’t know if Sicily was saluting us as we past, something like they do in College Station when trying to get rid of the birds, or if it really was the Mafia shooting us. Well the ship wasn’t hit and we didn’t sink, so it probably wasn’t the Mafia, but the channel was still beautiful.
Our highlight of the day was cruising between Sicily and the toe of Italy. We got to see the “heel” of the boot all the way past the toe from the back of the boat in a hot tub. At first we didn’t realize what land we were looking at, but the more we looked and thought the geography started to make since when thinking about a map. Also when we were passing by Sicily, we started hearing this “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” “poof, poof, poof, poof, boom!” off in the distance. I jokingly stated that I wondered if it was the Mafia was shooting at us. As the sound continued, we started looking around to figure out what the noise and sure enough there were the perfect towers of gun smoke that were the same number of rounds we heard. So we don’t know if Sicily was saluting us as we past, something like they do in College Station when trying to get rid of the birds, or if it really was the Mafia shooting us. Well the ship wasn’t hit and we didn’t sink, so it probably wasn’t the Mafia, but the channel was still beautiful.
Mykonos, Greece
July 10, 2010
We spent half a day on the island of Mykonos. It was beautiful, but it was a different kind of beauty. The island is very rocky and not green at all. I guess what made beautiful was the quaint little houses. They are all square-ish in nature and painted white. The law mandates that all the buildings must have this design and can’t be more than two stories per level. However they can paint the doors and window shutters any color they want. Most are a vivid blue that you see a lot of in Greece, but many are painted a really deep red.
We did “The best of Mykonos” bus tour which took us around the island to see the highlights. Our first stop was at a small pier to see the island of Delios. This is the island where Apollo, god of the sun, was born. Our next stop was a monastery that was run by to very old monks that had been there for fifty plus years. The inside of the chapel was crazy. It was completely decorated from ceiling to floor in the Baroque style. Everywhere you looked there was something to see. We then drove to the opposite side of the island to one of the beach resorts and got to stick our feet in the ocean for a few minutes. We also got our first exposure to European beaches where people like to sunbathe topless…
We then rode to the town and did a short walking tour to see the town and the famous windmills. In the town the building as pretty close together and the streets wind all around. It is extremely easy to get lost! Our guide told us this was a defense mechanism back when there were tons of pirates around. When the pirates would attack the people would run to the back of the city and hide there. The pirates would then be forced to split up to move through the city. Some streets are so narrow only one person can get through at a time. So then the people of Mykonos could pick off the pirates a few at a time and defend their city.
When our tour was finished, Brice and I walked up the hill to the windmill. The view was amazing! But we went back down pretty quick because it smelled like fish. We then attempted to make our way back through the town to the main square and the harbor. On our way we stopped at a hole in the wall place to try an official homemade Greece gyro. It was pretty good. It was lamb cut from a big round hunk of meat wrapped in fresh pieta break with red onion, tomato, french fries, and some sort of ranch/mayonnaise sauce. Pretty tasty!! Brice didn’t want any of it, but he “held” it for me for just a second and when I turned around it was almost gone. I got the last bite. It was a good thing I got a few bites in before he “held” it. We then strolled back to the boat.
We spent half a day on the island of Mykonos. It was beautiful, but it was a different kind of beauty. The island is very rocky and not green at all. I guess what made beautiful was the quaint little houses. They are all square-ish in nature and painted white. The law mandates that all the buildings must have this design and can’t be more than two stories per level. However they can paint the doors and window shutters any color they want. Most are a vivid blue that you see a lot of in Greece, but many are painted a really deep red.
We did “The best of Mykonos” bus tour which took us around the island to see the highlights. Our first stop was at a small pier to see the island of Delios. This is the island where Apollo, god of the sun, was born. Our next stop was a monastery that was run by to very old monks that had been there for fifty plus years. The inside of the chapel was crazy. It was completely decorated from ceiling to floor in the Baroque style. Everywhere you looked there was something to see. We then drove to the opposite side of the island to one of the beach resorts and got to stick our feet in the ocean for a few minutes. We also got our first exposure to European beaches where people like to sunbathe topless…
We then rode to the town and did a short walking tour to see the town and the famous windmills. In the town the building as pretty close together and the streets wind all around. It is extremely easy to get lost! Our guide told us this was a defense mechanism back when there were tons of pirates around. When the pirates would attack the people would run to the back of the city and hide there. The pirates would then be forced to split up to move through the city. Some streets are so narrow only one person can get through at a time. So then the people of Mykonos could pick off the pirates a few at a time and defend their city.
When our tour was finished, Brice and I walked up the hill to the windmill. The view was amazing! But we went back down pretty quick because it smelled like fish. We then attempted to make our way back through the town to the main square and the harbor. On our way we stopped at a hole in the wall place to try an official homemade Greece gyro. It was pretty good. It was lamb cut from a big round hunk of meat wrapped in fresh pieta break with red onion, tomato, french fries, and some sort of ranch/mayonnaise sauce. Pretty tasty!! Brice didn’t want any of it, but he “held” it for me for just a second and when I turned around it was almost gone. I got the last bite. It was a good thing I got a few bites in before he “held” it. We then strolled back to the boat.
Istanbul, Turkey
July 9, 2010
This morning from the dining room, we could see the Blue Mosque and Haiga Sophia, as well as quite a view over the city. From the time we stepped off the boat, we knew we were in for an adventure. It was raining, so the second we got off the bus, the little street vendor guys were in our faces trying to sell us umbrellas. Every single one was shouting “Umbrella! Umbrella! Umbrella!” as fast as they could to each person they came across without one. They would say umbrella so fast and in such a way that it sounded more or less like one word or phrase. If I would have bought an umbrella from each person that offered me one, I’d probably have somewhere around 75 or so. These people were EVERYWHERE!
Our first stop was the Blue Mosque. This was also my first experience with a Muslim Mosque which was interesting. Once we got to a certain area before we walked in the entrance we had to take off our shoes and put them in a bag. Each area was marked with different colors. For example, you took your shoes off in the red section and could walk in that area with your shoes on, but once you got the blue section you had to have your shoes off. There was also an attendant standing there making sure you were dress properly. Your shoulders as well as the bend of your knee had to be covered; if they were the little attendant lady gave you a wrap to cover yourself. As you walk into the Mosque, your eyes are drawn upward to the ceiling. It was huge and every square inch is covered with designs and the blue tiles! In the Islamic religion they do not use any images because of the fear of idolatry. As a result, artisans created these beautiful floral type designs.
Our next stop was the Haiga Sophia or St. Sophia. As big as the Blue Mosque, Haiga Sophia is bigger. It originally was built as a Christian church, but was converted into a mosque. It is currently just a museum. The majority of the ceiling was decorated with gold, which they are in the process of cleaning and renovating. When it was converted into a mosque much of the beautiful mosaics were covered up, as well as anything that had an image of any sort on it. They have begun to uncover anything that was covered up. For example, there are four 8 winged figures around the central dome. They have found that were originally faces in the center of these figures and have uncovered one. They rest are still covered by a gold star type shape.
We then walked over to the huge Cistern. It was a pretty cool experience, but pretty creepy at the same time. There are tons of columns and the majority of them are lit with red lights that shine from the bottom of the column towards the ceiling. Since it was raining, you could hear water dripping all around you. The city doesn’t use the water from it anymore, so it is more of a tourist attraction than anything. Artists are also now using it as a display for modern art. They also sometimes use it for concerts, because the acoustics are amazing.
After the cistern, we went to a local hotel for a traditional Turkish lunch. We got to eat in a glass garden house. It consisted of cold sautéed peppers and onions, rice of some sort stuffed in a green pepper, and some other stuff. The main course was “Sultan’s Delight” lamb in some sauce on top of puréed eggplant (which was the consistency of mashed potatoes and tasted a whole lot like them). That was pretty tasty. For dessert was some sort of cake type stuff rolled into balls and soaked in some sort of sweet liquor sauce. Neither of us were fans and nobody ate more than two. While we were eating, we got to hear our first call to prayer.
After lunch we walked to the Topkapi Palace which was the residence of the Sultan. While we were walking we got to hear a call to prayer. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before. It had a strange and exotic beauty about it. I recorded it on my camera so I could share it when we get home.
The entire Topkapi Palace palace complex is pretty huge, but we just saw a little section. We couldn’t believe all the gold used to decorate the buildings. We did get to see quite a collection of jewels and jewel incrusted things. Objects such as armor, weapons, and a baby crib totally covered in gold and stones. We also got to see the third largest diamond in the world. The diamond is 86 karats and surrounded by a whole bunch of other diamond. The story goes that it was found in a trash heap and was sold to a peddler for three spoons.
From the Palace we went to the store of a Turkish Rug making company. The owner told us all about how they are made then tried to sell them to us. When he was done presenting, he sent all of his salesmen out to talk to us. One guy came up to us and asked Brice and I if we were interested in buying a rug. We told him we didn’t know. So he told us to come with him and we could see some. He started showing us several and then we saw prices. For a 3’x5’ not top of the line rug, the prices ran between $1500-$2000. The salesman was trying his hardest to get us to buy. He finally came down to $500. We just couldn’t fathom buying a rug that small for that much, especially right now while we are in school. He must have been crazy!
Once we finally got out of the rug shop, we walked over to the Grand Bazaar. I at least wanted to see it. It was CRAZY!!!! Everywhere you looked there were shops and each shop was jam packed with stuff. Everyone was trying to get you to buy something, plus it was packed with shoppers. One could get lost in there and never be found again. After about 10-15 minutes we were done and headed back to the bus. We then drove back to the boat.
There are well over 100 mosques throughout the city, so I really wanted to hear a call to prayer over the whole city from the boat but we just had just missed it. Brice and I got to stand on the top deck and watch us sale away as we sailed between Europe and Asia. The skyline along the coast is just beautiful.
This morning from the dining room, we could see the Blue Mosque and Haiga Sophia, as well as quite a view over the city. From the time we stepped off the boat, we knew we were in for an adventure. It was raining, so the second we got off the bus, the little street vendor guys were in our faces trying to sell us umbrellas. Every single one was shouting “Umbrella! Umbrella! Umbrella!” as fast as they could to each person they came across without one. They would say umbrella so fast and in such a way that it sounded more or less like one word or phrase. If I would have bought an umbrella from each person that offered me one, I’d probably have somewhere around 75 or so. These people were EVERYWHERE!
Our first stop was the Blue Mosque. This was also my first experience with a Muslim Mosque which was interesting. Once we got to a certain area before we walked in the entrance we had to take off our shoes and put them in a bag. Each area was marked with different colors. For example, you took your shoes off in the red section and could walk in that area with your shoes on, but once you got the blue section you had to have your shoes off. There was also an attendant standing there making sure you were dress properly. Your shoulders as well as the bend of your knee had to be covered; if they were the little attendant lady gave you a wrap to cover yourself. As you walk into the Mosque, your eyes are drawn upward to the ceiling. It was huge and every square inch is covered with designs and the blue tiles! In the Islamic religion they do not use any images because of the fear of idolatry. As a result, artisans created these beautiful floral type designs.
Our next stop was the Haiga Sophia or St. Sophia. As big as the Blue Mosque, Haiga Sophia is bigger. It originally was built as a Christian church, but was converted into a mosque. It is currently just a museum. The majority of the ceiling was decorated with gold, which they are in the process of cleaning and renovating. When it was converted into a mosque much of the beautiful mosaics were covered up, as well as anything that had an image of any sort on it. They have begun to uncover anything that was covered up. For example, there are four 8 winged figures around the central dome. They have found that were originally faces in the center of these figures and have uncovered one. They rest are still covered by a gold star type shape.
We then walked over to the huge Cistern. It was a pretty cool experience, but pretty creepy at the same time. There are tons of columns and the majority of them are lit with red lights that shine from the bottom of the column towards the ceiling. Since it was raining, you could hear water dripping all around you. The city doesn’t use the water from it anymore, so it is more of a tourist attraction than anything. Artists are also now using it as a display for modern art. They also sometimes use it for concerts, because the acoustics are amazing.
After the cistern, we went to a local hotel for a traditional Turkish lunch. We got to eat in a glass garden house. It consisted of cold sautéed peppers and onions, rice of some sort stuffed in a green pepper, and some other stuff. The main course was “Sultan’s Delight” lamb in some sauce on top of puréed eggplant (which was the consistency of mashed potatoes and tasted a whole lot like them). That was pretty tasty. For dessert was some sort of cake type stuff rolled into balls and soaked in some sort of sweet liquor sauce. Neither of us were fans and nobody ate more than two. While we were eating, we got to hear our first call to prayer.
After lunch we walked to the Topkapi Palace which was the residence of the Sultan. While we were walking we got to hear a call to prayer. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before. It had a strange and exotic beauty about it. I recorded it on my camera so I could share it when we get home.
The entire Topkapi Palace palace complex is pretty huge, but we just saw a little section. We couldn’t believe all the gold used to decorate the buildings. We did get to see quite a collection of jewels and jewel incrusted things. Objects such as armor, weapons, and a baby crib totally covered in gold and stones. We also got to see the third largest diamond in the world. The diamond is 86 karats and surrounded by a whole bunch of other diamond. The story goes that it was found in a trash heap and was sold to a peddler for three spoons.
From the Palace we went to the store of a Turkish Rug making company. The owner told us all about how they are made then tried to sell them to us. When he was done presenting, he sent all of his salesmen out to talk to us. One guy came up to us and asked Brice and I if we were interested in buying a rug. We told him we didn’t know. So he told us to come with him and we could see some. He started showing us several and then we saw prices. For a 3’x5’ not top of the line rug, the prices ran between $1500-$2000. The salesman was trying his hardest to get us to buy. He finally came down to $500. We just couldn’t fathom buying a rug that small for that much, especially right now while we are in school. He must have been crazy!
Once we finally got out of the rug shop, we walked over to the Grand Bazaar. I at least wanted to see it. It was CRAZY!!!! Everywhere you looked there were shops and each shop was jam packed with stuff. Everyone was trying to get you to buy something, plus it was packed with shoppers. One could get lost in there and never be found again. After about 10-15 minutes we were done and headed back to the bus. We then drove back to the boat.
There are well over 100 mosques throughout the city, so I really wanted to hear a call to prayer over the whole city from the boat but we just had just missed it. Brice and I got to stand on the top deck and watch us sale away as we sailed between Europe and Asia. The skyline along the coast is just beautiful.
Past Days
Internet on the boat is crazy expensive and we had to make sure Brice had enough minutes to do stuff for his class. So, here is what's been going on the last several days.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Ephesus, Turkey
July 8, 2010
Today we got our first taste of Turkey. It is so very different from anything we’re use to. We ported in Kusadasi and then drove about 20-30 minutes to Ephesus. Our guide said that until Ephesus was found Kusadasi was just a little fishing village. Now it’s quite the bustling city with 5 star hotels, water parks, and a pretty large port.
Ephesus was quite interesting. We especially enjoyed our experiences in the city because we could wonder in and around through the ruins, where you couldn’t on the Acropolis. We got to walk where then ancients walked and touch the marble that they touched. We crawled all over the theaters and got to wonder in their houses. So very cool!!
We got to go into the recently uncovered Terrace Houses. I will never cease to be amazed at the mosaic floors and frescos on the walls. They are so detailed. They also showed us that when the Ephesians wanted to change the wall coverings, they would just paint/fresco over whatever was there, adding layer on top of layer. These layers aren’t very thin either; we’re talking a couple of inches thick. Our guide said they have found places with up to 7 different layers. We also got to see a marble desk and water well. But I guess some of the most amazing things we saw were the terracotta water and sewage pipes. They have found quite a lot of these and many of them you can still see in the walls and along the ground where they were originally put. The guide also said that Ephesus had quite an incredible sewage/water system. We could see why.
I never really knew much about Ephesus, beside what you read about in the Bible, that is until we found out we were going. It’s quite amazing to see so many things in person that you study in art. The ancients will never cease to amaze me. The ancient Ephesians knew the world was round and this was many years before Columbus. There was a large fountain on one of the main streets that had a huge statue of Emperor Hadrian in the middle of it. Today all that is left of Hadrian is his foot on a sphere. This was to symbolize that he, as the Emperor, was ruler of the world. They also had a huge library in Ephesus that held over 200,000 scrolls. This is the main large ruin that you typically see in pictures. The detail on this building is quite incredible.
Throughout history there have been 4 Ephesus’. The one we saw today was number 3. At the height of its population 250,000 people lived in the area. The reason the people left is because the city originally had a port, but it somewhat dried up and became a swamp. The area became a harbor for disease, because it was so well protected by the surrounding mountains. So the people had to leave. Currently Ephesus is one of the best preserved ancient cities, right behind Pompeii, the reason being because of the valley.
What perhaps is the most incredible thing about Ephesus is that Paul actually was there. We got to walk where he walked. We go to stand where he preached to the Ephesians. We also go to see the prison where they took him when they rejected his teachings. It really makes what you read in the Bible that much more real. Amazing!
We also got to experience our first Turkish Bazaars and they are CRAZY! The shops line the streets and every vendor is out in front and in your face begging you to buy. They will say anything to get you to buy from their shop. Things like “Come have a look! Thank you, please.” “No charge for looking today.” “Genuine Fake Watches, right this way!!” (We couldn’t quite figure this one out.) “Today might be my lucky day, please come look!” One guy kept saying to me “Cheaper than WalMart!” So I turned around and asked him if he’d ever been to WalMart. He said yes, but I highly doubt he ever really had. And on our way back to the boat, one guy shouted “You still have 45 minutes! Come look in my shop.” You want it, they had it. From what our guide said the markets in Kusadasi and Ephesus are just a fraction of what the ones in Istanbul are like.
Today we got our first taste of Turkey. It is so very different from anything we’re use to. We ported in Kusadasi and then drove about 20-30 minutes to Ephesus. Our guide said that until Ephesus was found Kusadasi was just a little fishing village. Now it’s quite the bustling city with 5 star hotels, water parks, and a pretty large port.
Ephesus was quite interesting. We especially enjoyed our experiences in the city because we could wonder in and around through the ruins, where you couldn’t on the Acropolis. We got to walk where then ancients walked and touch the marble that they touched. We crawled all over the theaters and got to wonder in their houses. So very cool!!
We got to go into the recently uncovered Terrace Houses. I will never cease to be amazed at the mosaic floors and frescos on the walls. They are so detailed. They also showed us that when the Ephesians wanted to change the wall coverings, they would just paint/fresco over whatever was there, adding layer on top of layer. These layers aren’t very thin either; we’re talking a couple of inches thick. Our guide said they have found places with up to 7 different layers. We also got to see a marble desk and water well. But I guess some of the most amazing things we saw were the terracotta water and sewage pipes. They have found quite a lot of these and many of them you can still see in the walls and along the ground where they were originally put. The guide also said that Ephesus had quite an incredible sewage/water system. We could see why.
I never really knew much about Ephesus, beside what you read about in the Bible, that is until we found out we were going. It’s quite amazing to see so many things in person that you study in art. The ancients will never cease to amaze me. The ancient Ephesians knew the world was round and this was many years before Columbus. There was a large fountain on one of the main streets that had a huge statue of Emperor Hadrian in the middle of it. Today all that is left of Hadrian is his foot on a sphere. This was to symbolize that he, as the Emperor, was ruler of the world. They also had a huge library in Ephesus that held over 200,000 scrolls. This is the main large ruin that you typically see in pictures. The detail on this building is quite incredible.
Throughout history there have been 4 Ephesus’. The one we saw today was number 3. At the height of its population 250,000 people lived in the area. The reason the people left is because the city originally had a port, but it somewhat dried up and became a swamp. The area became a harbor for disease, because it was so well protected by the surrounding mountains. So the people had to leave. Currently Ephesus is one of the best preserved ancient cities, right behind Pompeii, the reason being because of the valley.
What perhaps is the most incredible thing about Ephesus is that Paul actually was there. We got to walk where he walked. We go to stand where he preached to the Ephesians. We also go to see the prison where they took him when they rejected his teachings. It really makes what you read in the Bible that much more real. Amazing!
We also got to experience our first Turkish Bazaars and they are CRAZY! The shops line the streets and every vendor is out in front and in your face begging you to buy. They will say anything to get you to buy from their shop. Things like “Come have a look! Thank you, please.” “No charge for looking today.” “Genuine Fake Watches, right this way!!” (We couldn’t quite figure this one out.) “Today might be my lucky day, please come look!” One guy kept saying to me “Cheaper than WalMart!” So I turned around and asked him if he’d ever been to WalMart. He said yes, but I highly doubt he ever really had. And on our way back to the boat, one guy shouted “You still have 45 minutes! Come look in my shop.” You want it, they had it. From what our guide said the markets in Kusadasi and Ephesus are just a fraction of what the ones in Istanbul are like.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Athens, Greece
July 7, 2010
Our day began early as the boat docked at Athens. After a quick breakfast, we gathered on one of the lower decks, and then hopped on our tour bus for a drive through Athens. Our first stop was the Acropolis and it was packed!! Besides the fact that there were people everywhere, the visit to the old site was really neat. It was amazing just to stand in front of the Parthenon and look up at it. I can only imagine what it would have looked like before it was destroyed. The more I see, the more it makes me wish I could have seen these places in their prime! After walking around the entire Parthenon and admiring it from all sides, we got to see the Erechtheum that has the porch of the Caryatids. Now for you art people, you know what a really cool thing this is. For everyone else, it’s this porch with 6 columns. What makes it so significant is that the columns are in the form incredibly detailed statues of women and these women are pretty well preserved. I had to admire quickly because our time was up and we had to fight the incredible crowd to get back out. What you don’t realize as you are going up is that there is only one way in and that same way out! It was insane trying to leave. I do believe there were several hundred people trying to get out through this one entrance at once. At the same time there is a steady stream of people coming in. I really think someone needs to rethink this whole ordeal. It took us 15-20 minutes to fight through the crowd to get down and a bit worried as we were late and didn’t want to get left by our group. We finally made it down and we weren’t the last ones!!
It’s just amazing to think how old everything is. I did not realize that it was only in the 1600s that the Parthenon was destroyed to the point of its present condition.
Condensed Story of the Parthenon: The Turks had taken over Athens. In an attempt to gain control of Athens, the Venetians sat on top of a hill about a mile away and bombed the Parthenon which the Turks had stored their powered kegs in. So as a result, two major explosions happened to make the Parthenon the way it is. Then a guy from England came and bribed the government to let him come take the reliefs off of the building, so in his attempt to do this he destroyed the building even more. Now one of the British museums in England has the majority of the art and won’t give it back to Athens. There excuse is that Athens has now where to put it. History is funny like that.
They are currently attempting to renovate and restore some of the buildings on the Acropolis, which made it hard to see some things. The Temple of Athena Nike (building to the right of the entrance archway) was completely covered by scaffolding. The Parthenon also had a couple of very large cranes sitting in the middle of it. (I understand their wanting to restore the buildings, but I somewhat wish they would just leave them how they are because the marble is two different colors. You have the older darker portions and then you have the new bright white spots that sick out.) I also didn’t realize there are TONS of pieces littering the entire mountain top. Practically everywhere you look there are pieces of different buildings. We wondered if they are planning on doing something with them, such as organize them, or just leave them scattered everywhere. Who knows?!?
After visiting the Acropolis, we walked on down some back streets of Athens. At some points you never knew who or what might pop out from around the corner of buildings. We also got to see some lovely graffiti. We got to see what life is like in Athens on our way to this cute little café where we had a traditional Greek lunch. I have no clue what all we ate, but it was good! We especially like this meat lasagna type thing with something like ricotta cheese on top.
We then walked on to the Plaka which is a long street filled with tons of small shops. After some time spent shopping, we jumped back on the bus and drove along the coast to the Temple of Poseidon. It sits on top of a hill that overlooks the water. It was really beautiful! We then drove back along the coast to Athens. I loved looking at all the houses as we went. They are so very different from ours, very tall and colorful with balconies on every story.
We are finding that each city we visit has a feel all its own. Some feelings are good, some bad, and some we can’t explain, but city definitely has a different feel about it. Athens had an old, dirty, and jam packed feel. There was graffiti EVERYWHERE. I think about 75% of all the building and public structures in Athens have at least some form of graffiti on them. The houses are very different from what we’re use to. They are very tall apartment type buildings and they are all very close together. Also, every room/floor has a huge balcony attached. There isn’t much vegetation in the city. There are a few short trees in the city parks, much not many elsewhere.
To finish the day we ate dinner as the boat left the dock and began to sail away from the port at Athens.
Our day began early as the boat docked at Athens. After a quick breakfast, we gathered on one of the lower decks, and then hopped on our tour bus for a drive through Athens. Our first stop was the Acropolis and it was packed!! Besides the fact that there were people everywhere, the visit to the old site was really neat. It was amazing just to stand in front of the Parthenon and look up at it. I can only imagine what it would have looked like before it was destroyed. The more I see, the more it makes me wish I could have seen these places in their prime! After walking around the entire Parthenon and admiring it from all sides, we got to see the Erechtheum that has the porch of the Caryatids. Now for you art people, you know what a really cool thing this is. For everyone else, it’s this porch with 6 columns. What makes it so significant is that the columns are in the form incredibly detailed statues of women and these women are pretty well preserved. I had to admire quickly because our time was up and we had to fight the incredible crowd to get back out. What you don’t realize as you are going up is that there is only one way in and that same way out! It was insane trying to leave. I do believe there were several hundred people trying to get out through this one entrance at once. At the same time there is a steady stream of people coming in. I really think someone needs to rethink this whole ordeal. It took us 15-20 minutes to fight through the crowd to get down and a bit worried as we were late and didn’t want to get left by our group. We finally made it down and we weren’t the last ones!!
It’s just amazing to think how old everything is. I did not realize that it was only in the 1600s that the Parthenon was destroyed to the point of its present condition.
Condensed Story of the Parthenon: The Turks had taken over Athens. In an attempt to gain control of Athens, the Venetians sat on top of a hill about a mile away and bombed the Parthenon which the Turks had stored their powered kegs in. So as a result, two major explosions happened to make the Parthenon the way it is. Then a guy from England came and bribed the government to let him come take the reliefs off of the building, so in his attempt to do this he destroyed the building even more. Now one of the British museums in England has the majority of the art and won’t give it back to Athens. There excuse is that Athens has now where to put it. History is funny like that.
They are currently attempting to renovate and restore some of the buildings on the Acropolis, which made it hard to see some things. The Temple of Athena Nike (building to the right of the entrance archway) was completely covered by scaffolding. The Parthenon also had a couple of very large cranes sitting in the middle of it. (I understand their wanting to restore the buildings, but I somewhat wish they would just leave them how they are because the marble is two different colors. You have the older darker portions and then you have the new bright white spots that sick out.) I also didn’t realize there are TONS of pieces littering the entire mountain top. Practically everywhere you look there are pieces of different buildings. We wondered if they are planning on doing something with them, such as organize them, or just leave them scattered everywhere. Who knows?!?
After visiting the Acropolis, we walked on down some back streets of Athens. At some points you never knew who or what might pop out from around the corner of buildings. We also got to see some lovely graffiti. We got to see what life is like in Athens on our way to this cute little café where we had a traditional Greek lunch. I have no clue what all we ate, but it was good! We especially like this meat lasagna type thing with something like ricotta cheese on top.
We then walked on to the Plaka which is a long street filled with tons of small shops. After some time spent shopping, we jumped back on the bus and drove along the coast to the Temple of Poseidon. It sits on top of a hill that overlooks the water. It was really beautiful! We then drove back along the coast to Athens. I loved looking at all the houses as we went. They are so very different from ours, very tall and colorful with balconies on every story.
We are finding that each city we visit has a feel all its own. Some feelings are good, some bad, and some we can’t explain, but city definitely has a different feel about it. Athens had an old, dirty, and jam packed feel. There was graffiti EVERYWHERE. I think about 75% of all the building and public structures in Athens have at least some form of graffiti on them. The houses are very different from what we’re use to. They are very tall apartment type buildings and they are all very close together. Also, every room/floor has a huge balcony attached. There isn’t much vegetation in the city. There are a few short trees in the city parks, much not many elsewhere.
To finish the day we ate dinner as the boat left the dock and began to sail away from the port at Athens.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Cruise Life
We have been at sea for the last two full days, so we have been getting acclimated to the cruise life and I think I have successfully converted Brice! Let's see...what have we done for the past two days...eat, sleep, eat some more, nap, watch a movie, eat ice cream with sprinkles, another nap, go for a swim, lie around, read a book, eat supper, eat some more ice cream with sprinkles for dessert, watch a movie under the stars, and go to bed. Man, life is rough!! I do believe cruising is the ONLY way to travel!! You literally don't have to do anything. You are waited on hand and foot. There is ALWAYS something to eat, somewhere on the boat. There is always someone near by to bring you a cold drink as you lie by the pool. You can get ice cream with sprinkles and pizza whenever you want. And you never have to clean up after yourself! What a life!! If you've ever been on a cruise, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't been on one, you need to find out!!!!
We will be in Athens, Greece all day tomorrow. We've been told that there are tons of riots and strikes on the island. So much so, that the people from Greece are actually causing havoc for tourists. It has been said that they are not taking tourists to their destinations, but stranding them far away. Apparently it's serious enough that my Aunt's friend from Scotland is quite worried about us and invited us there instead. We book an excursion through the boat, so they will be responsible for us, plus the boat cannot leave without us. So, we're trying to keep a positive attitude about it. One way or another, it should be interesting!
We will be in Athens, Greece all day tomorrow. We've been told that there are tons of riots and strikes on the island. So much so, that the people from Greece are actually causing havoc for tourists. It has been said that they are not taking tourists to their destinations, but stranding them far away. Apparently it's serious enough that my Aunt's friend from Scotland is quite worried about us and invited us there instead. We book an excursion through the boat, so they will be responsible for us, plus the boat cannot leave without us. So, we're trying to keep a positive attitude about it. One way or another, it should be interesting!
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Ruby Princess
Today we packed our things and headed for the cruise ship. We left behind our really nice hotel on the mainland of Venice with the really awesome shower (that we want in our house someday) and really cool lights (that took us forever to figure out how to use). We then took a small packed shuttle to the boat. Got checked in and found our room. As soon as we got ourselves somewhat settled, we headed up for our first buffet of all you could eat of just about any type of food you could want. It was delicious! In an attempt work off some of those delicious calories, we went exploring around the ship and discovered just how HUGE the Ruby Princess is! There were several other boats docked near us and standing out on the upper decks we would look down on the other ships. We also went on this scavenger hunt for the chance to win $1000 in prizes. When we were almost through we discovered just exactly what the prizes were and I think our time would have been better spent taking a nap... oh well. But on a better note, we did get free 3 minute neck massages!! Whoo Hoo!!
After we finished the scavenger hunt, the Wimbledon Championship match was coming on the big screen in the middle of the ship, so Brice and dad had to watch and tell us all about where they sat, what they saw, and where everything was. You know how it goes… “I can’t believe we were there and just right over there is where we sat, and we saw…” They are still glowing from their adventure and I’m so glad they got to go. So they had to watch the match. Well while they were watching, mom and I were exploring the ice cream bar. FREE all you can eat ice cream AND they have RAINBOW SPRINKLES!!! And not the cheap kind, the really good ones. Oh Happy Day!! Life is good! :)
When the match was over and Nadal had given his speech, we decided to go back to Venice and do some more exploring. We took a nice water taxi ride back to St. Mark’s square. By this time many of the daily tourists were beginning to leave and it wasn’t crowed at all.
There is a really neat staircase somewhere in Venice that Art History students always learn about. So we attempted this evening to find it. Some vender was selling a postcard with the picture of the staircase on it, so mom bought it and started asking locals where it was. Everyone asked kept saying “Oh yeah, just over the bridge and right behind the building.” The problem was which bridge and which building?!? After about an hour of going over bridges, looking behind buildings, and crisscrossing back and forth over the same area, we decided to call it a day and go back to the boat for round two of the buffet. We did find some really beautiful canals in Venice.
We went back to the water taxi pick up area and got on the boat just in time as a thunderstorm was approaching. We were hoping to get back to the Ruby Princess before the rain hit and we almost made it. Right as we were approaching the ship, the rain let loose and the wind started blowing. We felt like we were back in West Texas! We felt sorry for the deckhand trying to secure the boat to the dock. He couldn’t do it. The waves were rocking the boat and moving the dock so that the poor guy couldn’t hold the boat next to the dock long enough to put the plank down for us to walk across. After some 15-20 attempts (and around 30 min) of the deckhand using the rope and the boat driver doing some fancy driving to get us to the dock long enough to get off. By this time the rain was coming down in sheets and the second we stepped off the little boat we got soaked!! We all huddled under this small tent until we each came to the conclusion that we were going to get wet and I mean really wet. It was probably some 100 yards from our small dock to the place where we could get on the ship, but for whatever reason we decided to dash about 20 yards to the covered pier. We thought I would be a nice shield from the rain, but we thought wrong. Although under some portions we were covered, about every 10 yards the where drainage from the building’s roof had failed completely, there were waterfalls coming from the ceiling. Mom and I were escorting Meme trying to not get completely drenched, but there was nothing we could do. There was water everywhere and lots of it! When we got to the end of the pier and one of the entrances to the boat, they closed it for some reason. So we had to run to the father one probably some 30 yards from the end of the pier. So much for any attempt to not get soaked, by the time we got back on the boat, we were absolutely and totally drenched!! And there were some passengers that were NOT happy about it, because no one came out to help us. There was a big bin of dirty towels the crew was using to help dry and protect the equipment. No one offered them to us, but we took them anyway. We didn’t care what they were; we just wanted anything to help us dry off. We really thought they should have given us a free excursion or something for leaving us stranded. Maybe tomorrow they will do something nice for us.
We came back, jumped in the shower to get warm, and then headed off for round two of the buffet. Oh, and another ice cream cone. Chocolate with chocolate sprinkles this time!
After we finished the scavenger hunt, the Wimbledon Championship match was coming on the big screen in the middle of the ship, so Brice and dad had to watch and tell us all about where they sat, what they saw, and where everything was. You know how it goes… “I can’t believe we were there and just right over there is where we sat, and we saw…” They are still glowing from their adventure and I’m so glad they got to go. So they had to watch the match. Well while they were watching, mom and I were exploring the ice cream bar. FREE all you can eat ice cream AND they have RAINBOW SPRINKLES!!! And not the cheap kind, the really good ones. Oh Happy Day!! Life is good! :)
When the match was over and Nadal had given his speech, we decided to go back to Venice and do some more exploring. We took a nice water taxi ride back to St. Mark’s square. By this time many of the daily tourists were beginning to leave and it wasn’t crowed at all.
There is a really neat staircase somewhere in Venice that Art History students always learn about. So we attempted this evening to find it. Some vender was selling a postcard with the picture of the staircase on it, so mom bought it and started asking locals where it was. Everyone asked kept saying “Oh yeah, just over the bridge and right behind the building.” The problem was which bridge and which building?!? After about an hour of going over bridges, looking behind buildings, and crisscrossing back and forth over the same area, we decided to call it a day and go back to the boat for round two of the buffet. We did find some really beautiful canals in Venice.
We went back to the water taxi pick up area and got on the boat just in time as a thunderstorm was approaching. We were hoping to get back to the Ruby Princess before the rain hit and we almost made it. Right as we were approaching the ship, the rain let loose and the wind started blowing. We felt like we were back in West Texas! We felt sorry for the deckhand trying to secure the boat to the dock. He couldn’t do it. The waves were rocking the boat and moving the dock so that the poor guy couldn’t hold the boat next to the dock long enough to put the plank down for us to walk across. After some 15-20 attempts (and around 30 min) of the deckhand using the rope and the boat driver doing some fancy driving to get us to the dock long enough to get off. By this time the rain was coming down in sheets and the second we stepped off the little boat we got soaked!! We all huddled under this small tent until we each came to the conclusion that we were going to get wet and I mean really wet. It was probably some 100 yards from our small dock to the place where we could get on the ship, but for whatever reason we decided to dash about 20 yards to the covered pier. We thought I would be a nice shield from the rain, but we thought wrong. Although under some portions we were covered, about every 10 yards the where drainage from the building’s roof had failed completely, there were waterfalls coming from the ceiling. Mom and I were escorting Meme trying to not get completely drenched, but there was nothing we could do. There was water everywhere and lots of it! When we got to the end of the pier and one of the entrances to the boat, they closed it for some reason. So we had to run to the father one probably some 30 yards from the end of the pier. So much for any attempt to not get soaked, by the time we got back on the boat, we were absolutely and totally drenched!! And there were some passengers that were NOT happy about it, because no one came out to help us. There was a big bin of dirty towels the crew was using to help dry and protect the equipment. No one offered them to us, but we took them anyway. We didn’t care what they were; we just wanted anything to help us dry off. We really thought they should have given us a free excursion or something for leaving us stranded. Maybe tomorrow they will do something nice for us.
We came back, jumped in the shower to get warm, and then headed off for round two of the buffet. Oh, and another ice cream cone. Chocolate with chocolate sprinkles this time!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Getting Lost in Venice
Today we spent the entire day wondering around Venice. I had read the best way to see Venice is to spend some time exploring and just getting lost among the tiny alleyways and canals. Well that is exactly what we did, but it was more on accident than on purpose. Whoever suggested getting lost was right. I was so nice wondering around and not having to fight the crowds, BUT it became quite the headache when we were attempting to find where we were and where we needed to go. We did finally find our way to St. Mark's Square, but we a little disappointed because about 40-50% of the area is covered in scaffolding that has been plastered with huge ads. The structures covered are areas of St. Mark's Square, half of St. Mark's Basilica, large portions of the Doge's Palace, the entire base of the watch tower, and all around the Bridge of Sighs except for the bridge it's self. I know they have to do what they can to save the city, but really, who comes half way around the world to see a huge ad for Sketchers?!?! Really?!? On some portions they actually used photos of the areas of the buildings covered in scaffolding and wrapped that scaffolding in those huge photos. So even though you couldn't see the actual building, you could see a photo of the building. Where they did this was much nicer than the huge ads.
We did have some nice gelatto today and a mint slushy type thing. I was good, just different. Apparently it's pretty popular here, that and Lemon. I still think I prefer blue raspberry from a 7-11.
Early this afternoon as we were walking along, Meme got a couple of nose bleeds. She is on some medicine where that can be a side effect, so we got a little worried. We were right next to a small outside cafe right next to the Grand Canal, so we decided to get something to drink and eat while resting in the shade and enjoying the view. We ended of getting some really good Italian style pizza, making what could have been a bad situation into a delicious one. As we were sitting, we checked the Rick Steve's book on what to do next and low and behold this very place was mentioned as a great place to grab lunch. Thanks Rick!
All in all it was a nice day just wondering around and taking it all in. Venice is such a neat place, just a whole new world in it's self!
We did have some nice gelatto today and a mint slushy type thing. I was good, just different. Apparently it's pretty popular here, that and Lemon. I still think I prefer blue raspberry from a 7-11.
Early this afternoon as we were walking along, Meme got a couple of nose bleeds. She is on some medicine where that can be a side effect, so we got a little worried. We were right next to a small outside cafe right next to the Grand Canal, so we decided to get something to drink and eat while resting in the shade and enjoying the view. We ended of getting some really good Italian style pizza, making what could have been a bad situation into a delicious one. As we were sitting, we checked the Rick Steve's book on what to do next and low and behold this very place was mentioned as a great place to grab lunch. Thanks Rick!
All in all it was a nice day just wondering around and taking it all in. Venice is such a neat place, just a whole new world in it's self!
Friday, July 2, 2010
On to Venice
Today we said goodbye to London and hopped an Airbus to Venice. But before we left, I just had to try a Ginger Beer. This is something the kids in Harry Potter drink all the time. I saw one and was curious. It was like nothing I've ever tasted....It was kinda like a cross between root beer and ginger ale, with a sharp kick in the mouth of strong ginger. I can now say I've tried it but once you've had Dr. Pepper, nothing else compares.
Our Airbus ride to Venice was really nice. The plane was not full at all, so we got to stretch out a bit unlike the plane trip over from Houston. Since it was a smaller plane, we didn't fly as high and got to see the English Channel, France, and parts of the Swiss and Italian Alps. Oh, they were beautiful!! When we landed we saw the Venice Island in the distance and fully intended to visit this evening, but I made the mistake of lying down on the bed and fell asleep from about 2 until 7. So, we decided to call it a day and just get some food.
So, this evening as we were looking for some where to eat, we came across this really neat looking place and decided to give it a try. There wasn't really anyone there, which should have been our fist clue, but it looked too nice to not be any good and it had a big sign outside that said Pizzeria. As we walk in the host greets us and tells us they don't open until 8:00 pm, this should have been our next clue. But he said to give them about 5 minutes and they would go ahead and seat us. So we waited. As the waiter took us to our seats he asked us if we wanted to eat outside or inside. If it was outside, he would have to see what he could do because every table outside was reserved (yet another clue). We just sat inside because we were starving. The waiter brings us menus and every thing is in Italian. We recognize the words spaghetti and carne (meat), but that was about it. Luckily the waiter was able to somewhat explain what the items were. We just made some guesses and ordered. The pasta was really good, just really different from what we're use to. But while we were waiting, it began to get interesting. Where we sat we could see everyone who came in the door and they were all dresses up. Then we began to notice everyone had some sort of card. A little later the DJ came in and began to set up next to us. We were really starting to feel out of place as everyone just kinda of looked at us funny as they walked by. So we finished our meal pretty quickly and as we walked outside, a Ferreri convertable was sitting in the drive by the front door! Our best guess is that this place was some sort of exclusive club that we had wondered into. It was really neat, but we were WAY under dressed and SO out of place!
Our Airbus ride to Venice was really nice. The plane was not full at all, so we got to stretch out a bit unlike the plane trip over from Houston. Since it was a smaller plane, we didn't fly as high and got to see the English Channel, France, and parts of the Swiss and Italian Alps. Oh, they were beautiful!! When we landed we saw the Venice Island in the distance and fully intended to visit this evening, but I made the mistake of lying down on the bed and fell asleep from about 2 until 7. So, we decided to call it a day and just get some food.
So, this evening as we were looking for some where to eat, we came across this really neat looking place and decided to give it a try. There wasn't really anyone there, which should have been our fist clue, but it looked too nice to not be any good and it had a big sign outside that said Pizzeria. As we walk in the host greets us and tells us they don't open until 8:00 pm, this should have been our next clue. But he said to give them about 5 minutes and they would go ahead and seat us. So we waited. As the waiter took us to our seats he asked us if we wanted to eat outside or inside. If it was outside, he would have to see what he could do because every table outside was reserved (yet another clue). We just sat inside because we were starving. The waiter brings us menus and every thing is in Italian. We recognize the words spaghetti and carne (meat), but that was about it. Luckily the waiter was able to somewhat explain what the items were. We just made some guesses and ordered. The pasta was really good, just really different from what we're use to. But while we were waiting, it began to get interesting. Where we sat we could see everyone who came in the door and they were all dresses up. Then we began to notice everyone had some sort of card. A little later the DJ came in and began to set up next to us. We were really starting to feel out of place as everyone just kinda of looked at us funny as they walked by. So we finished our meal pretty quickly and as we walked outside, a Ferreri convertable was sitting in the drive by the front door! Our best guess is that this place was some sort of exclusive club that we had wondered into. It was really neat, but we were WAY under dressed and SO out of place!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
See London...Check!
I think we can officially say we've seen London.
London Day 2:
After an early morning start of around noonish...we headed off for some sight seeing. We became your typical tourist on a fabulous open top double decker bus snapping as many pictures as possible. So much for blending in! It was so much easier letting the bus driver take us around those crazy streets than trying to navigate on our own.
We went by Buckingham Palace just as the guests from a fancy Garden Party were leaving. All the women were wearing hats and the men in suits, some even in top hats. It was fun to see them all parading out of the front entrance, although it would have been so much more fun to be apart of the festivities. I've been saying all along that we were going to have tea with the Queen, little did I know she would actually be having a tea party when we were there. I'm sure she would have invited us in if she knew we were there...oh well. Next time!!!
We also got to take a river cruise down the Thames, where we went under the famous bridge in Harry Potter that they blew up. We got to see Shakespear's Globe Theater (the replica), the actual London Bridge, a real Egyptian Obolisk, and a bunch of other really famous and important things that I don't remember. We found out that the actual city of London is only one square mile in the middle of Westminster and the Queen has to ask for permission from the Mayor of London to do any business within the city limits. Who knew?!? We walked around the Tower of London and over the Tower Bridge and then down a few more street until we gave up and hopped another bus back to where we started. By then we were starving and just happened to find the Hard Rock Cafe, which by the way is the original. It all started when some American guys complained that they couldn't find a decent burger anywhere in London, so they started a cafe and made their own. Then Eric Clapton, who loved the place, came in one day and someone was sitting on his favorite stool. He gave the Cafe a guitar to hang over his stool, so anytime he came in to eat and someone was sitting in his spot, they would have to move. (So the story goes according to our tour guide.) We got there just in time. We didn't have to wait, but right after we got seated the "que" to get in began to get really long.
After we ate, I really wanted to see Big Ben after dark and take some pictures, so we began the long trek back across, what felt like half of London, to get there. It was a long walk, but it was pretty neat to see London at dusk. It was beautiful!! But the very interesting thing I noticed was how quite the city is. Yes, of course there is the noise of a typical city, but you really don't hear much "people" noise. Everyone speaks pretty softly in public areas and everyone just keeps to themselves. It's also extremely clean for such a large city. Everyone here is very determined in their walking and driving. If you are not watching, you will get run over. All very interesting...
So on our excursion after dark, we walked through the Piccadilly Circus area (and made it through just fine without running into anybad things that mom had heard so many stories about), Trafalger Square (where they were celebrating Canada day), past the last licenced brothel left in London, and loads more of very important (yet beautiful) buildings of which I have absolutely no clue what they were....
The walk was long, but I think it was totally worth it!!! The view over the river of Parliament and Big Ben was just amazing!!! Almost magical! You half expected Peter Pan to come flying through the sky and land on the hands of the clock face. So we snapped a few last pictures (plus the batteries were dead) and then headed back to the Tube for the ride back to the hotel. Now that we're leaving, I think I finally have the Tube and the streets all figured out after all of our wrong turns... I'll be ready for my next visit, though!!
On to Venice in the morning.
London Day 2:
After an early morning start of around noonish...we headed off for some sight seeing. We became your typical tourist on a fabulous open top double decker bus snapping as many pictures as possible. So much for blending in! It was so much easier letting the bus driver take us around those crazy streets than trying to navigate on our own.
We went by Buckingham Palace just as the guests from a fancy Garden Party were leaving. All the women were wearing hats and the men in suits, some even in top hats. It was fun to see them all parading out of the front entrance, although it would have been so much more fun to be apart of the festivities. I've been saying all along that we were going to have tea with the Queen, little did I know she would actually be having a tea party when we were there. I'm sure she would have invited us in if she knew we were there...oh well. Next time!!!
We also got to take a river cruise down the Thames, where we went under the famous bridge in Harry Potter that they blew up. We got to see Shakespear's Globe Theater (the replica), the actual London Bridge, a real Egyptian Obolisk, and a bunch of other really famous and important things that I don't remember. We found out that the actual city of London is only one square mile in the middle of Westminster and the Queen has to ask for permission from the Mayor of London to do any business within the city limits. Who knew?!? We walked around the Tower of London and over the Tower Bridge and then down a few more street until we gave up and hopped another bus back to where we started. By then we were starving and just happened to find the Hard Rock Cafe, which by the way is the original. It all started when some American guys complained that they couldn't find a decent burger anywhere in London, so they started a cafe and made their own. Then Eric Clapton, who loved the place, came in one day and someone was sitting on his favorite stool. He gave the Cafe a guitar to hang over his stool, so anytime he came in to eat and someone was sitting in his spot, they would have to move. (So the story goes according to our tour guide.) We got there just in time. We didn't have to wait, but right after we got seated the "que" to get in began to get really long.
After we ate, I really wanted to see Big Ben after dark and take some pictures, so we began the long trek back across, what felt like half of London, to get there. It was a long walk, but it was pretty neat to see London at dusk. It was beautiful!! But the very interesting thing I noticed was how quite the city is. Yes, of course there is the noise of a typical city, but you really don't hear much "people" noise. Everyone speaks pretty softly in public areas and everyone just keeps to themselves. It's also extremely clean for such a large city. Everyone here is very determined in their walking and driving. If you are not watching, you will get run over. All very interesting...
So on our excursion after dark, we walked through the Piccadilly Circus area (and made it through just fine without running into anybad things that mom had heard so many stories about), Trafalger Square (where they were celebrating Canada day), past the last licenced brothel left in London, and loads more of very important (yet beautiful) buildings of which I have absolutely no clue what they were....
The walk was long, but I think it was totally worth it!!! The view over the river of Parliament and Big Ben was just amazing!!! Almost magical! You half expected Peter Pan to come flying through the sky and land on the hands of the clock face. So we snapped a few last pictures (plus the batteries were dead) and then headed back to the Tube for the ride back to the hotel. Now that we're leaving, I think I finally have the Tube and the streets all figured out after all of our wrong turns... I'll be ready for my next visit, though!!
On to Venice in the morning.
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