At the request of a few people who feel that I have left my blog open and wonder if I'm going to update anymore I am sorry to say that I am not.  I only wish that my daily life at home was exciting enough for people to want to read about.  And unfortunately now that I'm back home and not hanging at the retirement home abroad anymore, I have a life and no more time to write about my daily activities.  I never said anything about our last week in London, but it was great! My mom and hannah were able to come fly over and meet us there which was so much fun.  We took the chunnel to Paris for a night, where my mom was able to see me speak French to real French people for the first time since sending me to my little French school so many years ago.  Thanks for being interested in my life and giving me a reason to keep up with my travels. 

Barcelona, Spain

We left Barcelona and are in route for three days at sea before reaching our final destination of Southampton. Barcelona was a short day trip where we spent our time on a tour, which highlighted buildings designed by architect Gaudi. We visited one church, which was never finished, and is still under construction.  It should be finished in about 40 years.  I guess I will have to add that to my places to come back and see too. This once in a lifetime trip seems to be making itself a list for a twice in a lifetime trip for sometime in the future.   

Rome, Italy

When in Rome, for only a day, drive around town and take a picture of as many major landmarks as possible.  And that’s exactly what we did.  We saw the Trevi fountain, The Sistine Chapel, Vatican, The Coliseum, The Forum, oh and somewhere in there we managed to stop for lunch and eat.  Having only one day to see all of Rome is just not enough. I had pizza in the true taste of Italy style, at a local Italian Ristorante, and could not stop taking pictures of each street we passed by, trying to capture every inch of the busy city life that was going on down each quaint alley way between buildings. 

Now that I have reached Europe and am visiting places I’m sure most of you have been, I will keep my point of view and opinions to myself and keep you updated only to let you know that I am still alive and well. We had a really great day seeing Rome, but I wish we could have spent more time here. I guess I will add it to my list of places I hope to revisit. 

Athens, Greece

I spent the day today with the best tour guide of my trip so far.  I found out a friend of mine from college, Paige, is living in Athens and she volunteered to spend the day with me while I was there. I was free of fancy tour busses and old folk tours for the day, and was able to see the city from the perspective of a local. We hiked our way up to a viewing place that overlooked the whole city and Acropolis and was completely tourist free. We continued our walk through the busy streets, passing by the merchants who were selling local trinkets, t-shirts, and snacks along the way.  Paige took me to a few shops that were not as easily recognizable by the typical postcard and t-shirt display. I loved getting to see places that I usually would have missed had I been walking with a large tourist group. For lunch, we went to a local favorite of hers, and now mine too.  We sat outside the restaurant along the path of people walking by, bumping into our table as they passed. I stared, feeling clueless, as Paige spoke to our waiter, and ordered for the both of us, in Greek. We had the most amazing Greek salad and kebab with pita that I have ever had.  Ok, it’s the only Greek food I’ve ever had, but I’m sure it will be the best of future experiences as well. 

 

After lunch, I got to experience the real life of the locals, as we took the metro to a coffee shop up towards the part of town where she lives.  Millennium coffee shop is a quaint little place that has couches taking up most of its floor space, and walls covered with a design of black velvet paisley wallpaper.  The iced frappes we had, with a side of powdered sugar nutella filled donuts were the perfect taste to this eclectic little place. If you’ve never had nutella, you need to have some. The chocolate hazelnut peanutbutterish stuff is quite possibly the best thing I have ever tasted.  With about 30 minutes until I had to be back, we went on a desperate mission to find me a jar of nutella to take back on the ship. The local grocery store was closed on Sunday, so it was up to the few neighborhood sales men in the small one room “convenient” stores. After Paige tried describing to him in broken Greek what it was we needed (it’s hard enough describing the stuff in English), the language barrier finally fell and he showed us he had what we were looking for.  After all that, the jar stayed right there on the shelf where we found it, because the guy looked at me like I was crazy when I showed him I was going to pay in dollars. The first time dollars have been denied on my trip, I knew now that I was truly in a local area of town. My second option of a credit card didn’t work either and one guy even examined my card like he had never seen one before.  In the end, I did find a place that was up to date in the world of credit cards and accepted my visa.  Of course though not without a charge of at least 10 Euros.  With about five minutes until I was going to be left behind, Paige, the salesman and I quickly searched the store and we each threw a few things on the counter to help my total. I left with the much needed nutella jar, a pack of gum, and some true Greek olive oil and liquor…it’s a good thing I only have a week left on this ship, or I might find myself alone in my room with an empty bottle of Greek liquor.  Whether it was Greece itself, or the fact that I haven’t hung out with anyone above the age of 12 and under the age of 50 in the past two months, I had such a fun day exploring Athens with Paige.  

Mykonos, Greece

If ever there was a place that looked exactly as it is described it would have to be Mykonos, Greece.  The white buildings on the hills of the Greek Island, surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea are incredible. Between the white buildings are a maze of small paths that lead you past local shops, cafes, and restaurants that have small tables with picturesque white table clothes set up over them. Each home or business along the way is marked by blue, green, or turquoise doors, which match with the perfect blue sky that is peeking through between the white walls of the endless buildings.  The nutella crepe that I picked up along the way from one of the local cafes was the perfect thing to have, as I got lost amongst the beautiful white walls and colorful doors. 

Before finding my new favorite vacation spot in Mykonos, we took a trip to a small deserted island called Delos.  It is an ancient city of which other than that, I don’t know much more about, since I spent most of my time here running around, exploring with the kids rather than listening to our tour guide.  Secluded on this island are ancient ruins, which take up enough area worth of a good two-hour hike through fields of wild flowers and overgrown grass.  We found an old theatre, where we made up our own performances, and a water hole full of frogs that could have been heard from a mile away with their loud “ribbit” noises. We ended up at the one and only small café on the island where we met the only resident to this island.  He lives upstairs, and sells a selection of hot chocolate, fresh squeezed orange juice, pringles and mentos downstairs.  We contributed a good portion to his yearly sales I’m sure, and then headed back on the ferry. 

This was one of the places I was most excited to visit, and now that I’ve been here, I hope that someday I will get to come back to Mykonos and continue wandering the beautiful streets and eat at some of the local restaurants.     

Istanbul, Turkey

I am quickly running out of adjectives to help me describe these places without sounding repetitive. So, to put it simply, Turkey has been my absolute favorite country.  The mystery that it was to me before I came here, gave me no prior expectations and the ability to thoroughly enjoy everything I saw. Istanbul is unlike any city I have ever seen.  Did know that it is the only city in the world that is part of two continents? There is a large bridge connecting the part that is Europe to Asia. It is a beautiful port city full of life and busy streets to explore. We started off the morning by sitting in slow moving traffic, eventually getting out and walking the rest of the way to our first sight to see which was the blue mosque.  It is the second largest mosque in Istanbul and is beautiful. We walked past the green grass, tall trees, and beautiful spring flowers that surround everything in the city. We removed our shoes and stepped inside to see the large domed ceilings, which were covered with floral blue tile designs.  Hanging from the hundred foot tall ceilings are long cable cords that are used to hold up the low hanging light fixtures only a few feet above your head.  Now, these light fixtures hold bulbs in each one but once were individually lit oil candles. The blue mosque, as well as many others in the city are used for the five daily calls to prayer a day. At any place in the city you can hear the foreign song that calls the Muslims to prayer.  To see people simultaneously stop what they are doing, whether it be walking, driving, working or eating, and go to pray is something that does not go unnoticed, even in this busy city. 

Our day continued as we waked the endless streets that are lined with colorful tulips. Passing by shopping bazaars full of oriental rugs and silks, street vendors who have an appealing selection of roasted chestnuts, corn, and circular shaped sesame breads.  Oh and of course the overwhelming assortments of Turkish Delight, which if you ask me, sound like a magical treat, thanks to the advertising done by Narnia. I will say that, as somewhat of an expert on sweets, it is not magical, but will have to do as a replacement for Easter peeps this year.  I could have wandered these streets for days finding new places to see, I hope someday, I will get the chance to come back.

Kusadasi, Turkey

The green hillsides of Turkey were a breath of fresh air after visiting the continuous desert cities that we have seen for the past few weeks.  The beautiful coastline, hit by turquoise blue waves from the Mediterranean Sea, was a scenic welcome to the country of Turkey, which I could not have guessed to be any more of a unique place.  Even before seeing anything, we were told some interesting facts about Turkey, by our tour guide.  One that of course caught my attention was that one of their main crops is olives.  Stacy and Ali, I think we were meant to live in Turkey, the Thanksgiving olive fingers would be endless here.  And did you know that black and green olives grow on the same tree? In addition to the enthralling facts that I learned, I also saw some amazing ancient ruins.  We visited the Virgin Mary Shrine, Saint John’s Basilica and the most impressive in my opinion, the remains of the city of Ephesus.  The remains of the city of Ephesus are broken and scattered, but to be able to see the small part of what was left was incredible.  The city has been excavated to leave the remains of some of the original streets, marble statues, and buildings that are all engraved with detailed Greek text.  The large theatre that is found in the city is where Paul preached the book of Ephesians to the people here.  Paul found himself preaching to a population of Greeks who believed only in Gods and Goddesses and wanted nothing to do with the idea of a new religion.  His repetitive and unwanted appearances eventually found himself being taken to the local prison and kept there for about a week before being released and sent off.  I have been reading a lot of the stories of the Bible lately, that take place in this region of the world, and to actually be in this city and be able to picture where it was taking place is something I know I will most likely never be able to do again.  To stand in the theatre and know it is where Paul once preached is an experience I will always remember.  I really enjoyed Turkey, and am excited for the one more day we have tomorrow to see one of the bigger cities of Turkey.