We're leaving Naples as soon as we've packed (and Eric has woken up). Yesterday we went to Pompeii in the morning, and then got back on the train to Sorrento and took a bus along the Amalfi coast. It was beyond beautiful, it blew me away. I tried to take some pictures, but I was on a bus so we'll see. We were the first people on the bus though, so we were in the first seats, opposite the driver which were the best seats! Didn't spend much time actually in Amalfi cause it was really about seeing the coast. When we did get back on a bus though, it went all the way to Napoli (yay!) and because they stop in all the little towns on the way, it actually took a different route and it was almost better views on the parts we hadn't already seen. We sat on the same side of the bus, letting other people see the view, and then we ended up on the perfect side of the bus just before Sorrento on the new part of the drive.
Anyway, it was a long day and there was this organized show-everybody-the-dance-clubs thing at our hostel, but we were too tired so we just had some pizza at the best place ever and came back. Pretty much fell asleep in from of Scarface (I wanted Ocean's Twelve, but somebody already had it going) and then went to bed. There was no one around, and I don't even know when the rest of our roommates came back last night. I assume they had tons of fun!
Don't know what the deal is with internets in Roma, we will see...
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Naples day 2
Today we did se the National Archaelogical Museum in Naples. It has all of the stuff grom Naples and Ercolano (Herculaneum) and we wanted to see it before we go tomorrow so that we had already seen the stuff from the houses before we see the ruins.
I was going to say something funny that I saw, but I forgot...
We went for gelato at the oldest gelateria in Naples this afternoon at a place called Polo Nord and it was amazingly good.
This morning, we left early for the museum and turned the long way because in theory it would be easier once we found the main road. Then I remembered that last night (when I was exhausted), I had given my money belt to Eric while I showered and after we stayed up talking to some other people he handed it to me and I tucked it into my pillow case while I slept. But I forgot this morning and thought that he had locked it up so didn't put it on this morning. And then I remembered that it was in my pillow case after we had left so we had to come back. We ended up taking a more direct route to the museum the second try, which was good. But we walked to far on Via Toledo (the main road) so we turned around again and finally foudn the museum.
Once there, the plan was to buy these special cards that saves us money, but they didn't have the three day one we wanted, and after Eric ran around to a few other places and came back we realized that if we just paid regular for the museum, we could buy a one day tomorrow and be fine. Whatever.
Okay, going to go chill out with other people watching movies and stuff.
I was going to say something funny that I saw, but I forgot...
We went for gelato at the oldest gelateria in Naples this afternoon at a place called Polo Nord and it was amazingly good.
This morning, we left early for the museum and turned the long way because in theory it would be easier once we found the main road. Then I remembered that last night (when I was exhausted), I had given my money belt to Eric while I showered and after we stayed up talking to some other people he handed it to me and I tucked it into my pillow case while I slept. But I forgot this morning and thought that he had locked it up so didn't put it on this morning. And then I remembered that it was in my pillow case after we had left so we had to come back. We ended up taking a more direct route to the museum the second try, which was good. But we walked to far on Via Toledo (the main road) so we turned around again and finally foudn the museum.
Once there, the plan was to buy these special cards that saves us money, but they didn't have the three day one we wanted, and after Eric ran around to a few other places and came back we realized that if we just paid regular for the museum, we could buy a one day tomorrow and be fine. Whatever.
Okay, going to go chill out with other people watching movies and stuff.
Naples
I have returned to a place with funny keyboards. It's qwery, but the extra things are all over the place and not all discoverable by the shift key. Weird combinations of ctrl-alt are also necessary.
Just a quick update. From Napflio we took daytrips to Mycenae (Mykenas) which is where Agamemnon's tomb and stuff is and it was seriously neato (that's right, neat-o) and we also went to Epidaurus, a really big Greek theatre that is still able to be used.
The trip from Napflio, oh let me tell you, was a doozy. Eric's alarm went off at 4:30 so he could shower and then we packed and left by 5:30, although we had to convince the night guy that we did need to pay. We caught a 6:00 bus from Napflio to the Corinth Isthmus (?) to catch another bus at 7:30 to Patra -- that bus was half an hour late...
We got to Patra around 9:30 and the train station was right by the bus station, to validate our passes, and the ferry office that we wanted to be on was on the other side of the bus station. Now, the ferry wasn't until 6 pm, but we couldn't reserve without e-mailing a credit card number because of the passes, and we are determined not to e-mail anyone a credit card number.
Anyway, so we chilled out at this restaurant/cafe reading guide books the whole time and the food there was good so that was cool. I pretty much slept the entire time on the ferry (15.5 hours) but it was that kind of sleep that only last for a maximum of 1.5 hours at a time because the ferry is so shaky, usually less time between wake up points. Moral of the story is that the sleep sucked!
It was another 1.5 hour train ride and 4.5 hour bus ride from Bari to Napflio, but we made it here! We met a bunch of people staying at the same place as us so we caught the bus over together and it was a crazy bus situation with people shoving to get on. And we witnessed our first pick-pocket. We all knew he was there and could feel him reaching in pockets (not mine!) so we had our hands on our wallets etc. but even still he managed to still this one swedish girls's cd player, the bastard. But all important things were safe in the long run, and Eric and I still have everything.
I'm going to get ready for today, but the internet here is free, just hard to get to cause of the other people, hence why i'm on at 7 in the morning.
Just a quick update. From Napflio we took daytrips to Mycenae (Mykenas) which is where Agamemnon's tomb and stuff is and it was seriously neato (that's right, neat-o) and we also went to Epidaurus, a really big Greek theatre that is still able to be used.
The trip from Napflio, oh let me tell you, was a doozy. Eric's alarm went off at 4:30 so he could shower and then we packed and left by 5:30, although we had to convince the night guy that we did need to pay. We caught a 6:00 bus from Napflio to the Corinth Isthmus (?) to catch another bus at 7:30 to Patra -- that bus was half an hour late...
We got to Patra around 9:30 and the train station was right by the bus station, to validate our passes, and the ferry office that we wanted to be on was on the other side of the bus station. Now, the ferry wasn't until 6 pm, but we couldn't reserve without e-mailing a credit card number because of the passes, and we are determined not to e-mail anyone a credit card number.
Anyway, so we chilled out at this restaurant/cafe reading guide books the whole time and the food there was good so that was cool. I pretty much slept the entire time on the ferry (15.5 hours) but it was that kind of sleep that only last for a maximum of 1.5 hours at a time because the ferry is so shaky, usually less time between wake up points. Moral of the story is that the sleep sucked!
It was another 1.5 hour train ride and 4.5 hour bus ride from Bari to Napflio, but we made it here! We met a bunch of people staying at the same place as us so we caught the bus over together and it was a crazy bus situation with people shoving to get on. And we witnessed our first pick-pocket. We all knew he was there and could feel him reaching in pockets (not mine!) so we had our hands on our wallets etc. but even still he managed to still this one swedish girls's cd player, the bastard. But all important things were safe in the long run, and Eric and I still have everything.
I'm going to get ready for today, but the internet here is free, just hard to get to cause of the other people, hence why i'm on at 7 in the morning.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Napflio
So we just booked some more stuff and Italy is ready to go!
Eric figured out how to make it so that this stupid site was in English again. It's a matter of remember more than the basic alpha, beta from math class (I also remember sigma!). We've actually had more issues with that than I thought since, personally, it turns out we learn all lower case and most directional signs like to be all in capitals.
Some other Greek eccentricities for you: 1) very few washroom toilets keep the flusher in the same place. There have been buttons in the middle, buttons in the wall, a switch you have to turn back off or it keeps running, buttons on the floor, and one that I had to pull from the water thingy in the ceiling (gravity and all that)... 2) Shopkeepers don't stay inside their shops. It is often more hot in the shop, and it is boring, and you can't yell at people in the street from the inside. 3) Many shop-men fling these beads around their fingers. You would expect them to be rosaries, but there's not cross/jesus and the beads are too colourful. But it makes this really cool noise and you know they are there for sure. 3) Music ranges from traditional Greek, to modern Greek, to old school pop (like "the right stuff" and george michael etc.), to the random modern pop (i have heard JT, new Maroon 5, and Rihanna-Umbrella). It must be said, the stuff I recognize comes out of cars driving by and coffee shops playing music channels. 4) Greek day-time comedy shows aren't funny. There is a strange obsession with hairy men dressing as women which is weird, and the acting is beyond horrible really. Very stage-y which is not what TV is for.
I had more eccentricities but I can't remember them all right now so I will right more of them later.
The sunset was beautiful as sunsets are but I actually like the one better last night behind the Peloponesian mountains (don't actually know which mountains). It was nice being out at night though. Sadly, I had only kind of seen one sunset until that point cause I'm always asleep, lol. The night was cool with all the restaurants and people out. The shops are almost more lively because it's actually cool enough to think straight.
Yesterday was a long-ish day. We got a ride from the hotel at 10 and waited at the terminal for our 11:30 ferry that was at least a half hour late. The ferry was marked seating and the most comfortable so far. It was also the most expensive, costing as much as the three other ferries we've been on combined. But it was a catamaran and was worth it. The other ferry only saved 20 euro and would have taken 10 hours instead of 4.5. We arrived into Athens around 4:45-5 ish and made our way to the metro. Once off the metro, Eric asked all the gum-stand guys for directions to a city bus that would get us to 'Terminal A' (it's bus 51 by the way) and at Terminal A is the intercity bus station and we were on a 19:00 bus to Napflio and at our hotel by 21:30 :D
Okay, we should do something else... I'm attempting to upload some pictures quickly here so we'll see how that goes.
Eric figured out how to make it so that this stupid site was in English again. It's a matter of remember more than the basic alpha, beta from math class (I also remember sigma!). We've actually had more issues with that than I thought since, personally, it turns out we learn all lower case and most directional signs like to be all in capitals.
Some other Greek eccentricities for you: 1) very few washroom toilets keep the flusher in the same place. There have been buttons in the middle, buttons in the wall, a switch you have to turn back off or it keeps running, buttons on the floor, and one that I had to pull from the water thingy in the ceiling (gravity and all that)... 2) Shopkeepers don't stay inside their shops. It is often more hot in the shop, and it is boring, and you can't yell at people in the street from the inside. 3) Many shop-men fling these beads around their fingers. You would expect them to be rosaries, but there's not cross/jesus and the beads are too colourful. But it makes this really cool noise and you know they are there for sure. 3) Music ranges from traditional Greek, to modern Greek, to old school pop (like "the right stuff" and george michael etc.), to the random modern pop (i have heard JT, new Maroon 5, and Rihanna-Umbrella). It must be said, the stuff I recognize comes out of cars driving by and coffee shops playing music channels. 4) Greek day-time comedy shows aren't funny. There is a strange obsession with hairy men dressing as women which is weird, and the acting is beyond horrible really. Very stage-y which is not what TV is for.
I had more eccentricities but I can't remember them all right now so I will right more of them later.
The sunset was beautiful as sunsets are but I actually like the one better last night behind the Peloponesian mountains (don't actually know which mountains). It was nice being out at night though. Sadly, I had only kind of seen one sunset until that point cause I'm always asleep, lol. The night was cool with all the restaurants and people out. The shops are almost more lively because it's actually cool enough to think straight.
Yesterday was a long-ish day. We got a ride from the hotel at 10 and waited at the terminal for our 11:30 ferry that was at least a half hour late. The ferry was marked seating and the most comfortable so far. It was also the most expensive, costing as much as the three other ferries we've been on combined. But it was a catamaran and was worth it. The other ferry only saved 20 euro and would have taken 10 hours instead of 4.5. We arrived into Athens around 4:45-5 ish and made our way to the metro. Once off the metro, Eric asked all the gum-stand guys for directions to a city bus that would get us to 'Terminal A' (it's bus 51 by the way) and at Terminal A is the intercity bus station and we were on a 19:00 bus to Napflio and at our hotel by 21:30 :D
Okay, we should do something else... I'm attempting to upload some pictures quickly here so we'll see how that goes.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Santorini
Okay. Let's try this again. This computer still sucks, but whatever (it's an hour behind, but not really, it's confusing). So basically, I had gone off about how the ATV was fun. 12 hours or so on the road is a long time though. Not that we were driving the entire time, but definitely for most of it. I reapplied sunscreen 3 times and still managed to get burned by the end of the day. Most of that has cleared up, and it's definitely not as bad as my shoulder from the last time, but we're cool.
Hung around Fira town yesterday and checked out a few little museums. They were pretty good. We've decided that we like the smaller ones better because there is less pressure to see everything...
Yesterday, when I wrote about the walk that we went on today, I said that we would see if I still loved Eric by the end. Ya, it was hard. What was supposed to be a nice walk to Oia (eee-ya) turned into a 4 hour uphill climb (except when we were walking down, lol). It was hot, and I had on long sleeves so I wouldn't get burned, and it was hot. Beautiful, mind you, but after the first 2 hours the trail got thin and the edges were drop offs so I stopped paying attention. By the end, I even cried a little I was so frustrated with walking uphill. You see, when it was only going to take 2-3 hours, we would have been there before the sun got too high, but that didn't really work out. The real issue wasn't that it was hard really, cause if I'd been prepared for a serious hike, I would have been expecting it. But that, unexpected, was not fun, and this is not about not fun. It's okay though, I still love him and now I feel bad because he feels horrible cause I cried and stuff. It happens.
I am currently constantly saving drafts in case this thing screws up again, but the real issue is that it has decided to be in Greek, where every other time it remains in my default language of English. So, even if I save drafts, I can't figure out how to find them later :p
Eric is behind me looking up class stuff cause we've come to the realization that we are three hours from land when his sign up time is. There's a long wait between the ferry and the train though, so we'll find some internet during the wait and get him all set for the fall.
OOOO, story! At the restaurant on our first night here, this scandinavian couple came in. Now, I still can't decide if the tanning made her look older, but even so, she was in her later 30's (and looked older). And she got off the back of the scooter and was wearing this short black skirt and a wrap top, the kind that comes right under the breasteses, that someone would normally wear something underneath of unless on the beach... And she wasn't wearing a bra. And they were clearly fake due to a mixture of her size, their size, the no bra, and the age...
While we were eating, I couldn't help staring since she was across from me and her hard nipple was looking a little bumpy for a nipple. I realized she had a piercing. At her age, with fake boobs, and no bra... (she was also pierced in "normal" places, like, belly, nose, ears, you know...)
Well. Naturally running out of time. I will let you all know if the sunsets on Santorini are all they're cracked up to be :D
Cheers
Hung around Fira town yesterday and checked out a few little museums. They were pretty good. We've decided that we like the smaller ones better because there is less pressure to see everything...
Yesterday, when I wrote about the walk that we went on today, I said that we would see if I still loved Eric by the end. Ya, it was hard. What was supposed to be a nice walk to Oia (eee-ya) turned into a 4 hour uphill climb (except when we were walking down, lol). It was hot, and I had on long sleeves so I wouldn't get burned, and it was hot. Beautiful, mind you, but after the first 2 hours the trail got thin and the edges were drop offs so I stopped paying attention. By the end, I even cried a little I was so frustrated with walking uphill. You see, when it was only going to take 2-3 hours, we would have been there before the sun got too high, but that didn't really work out. The real issue wasn't that it was hard really, cause if I'd been prepared for a serious hike, I would have been expecting it. But that, unexpected, was not fun, and this is not about not fun. It's okay though, I still love him and now I feel bad because he feels horrible cause I cried and stuff. It happens.
I am currently constantly saving drafts in case this thing screws up again, but the real issue is that it has decided to be in Greek, where every other time it remains in my default language of English. So, even if I save drafts, I can't figure out how to find them later :p
Eric is behind me looking up class stuff cause we've come to the realization that we are three hours from land when his sign up time is. There's a long wait between the ferry and the train though, so we'll find some internet during the wait and get him all set for the fall.
OOOO, story! At the restaurant on our first night here, this scandinavian couple came in. Now, I still can't decide if the tanning made her look older, but even so, she was in her later 30's (and looked older). And she got off the back of the scooter and was wearing this short black skirt and a wrap top, the kind that comes right under the breasteses, that someone would normally wear something underneath of unless on the beach... And she wasn't wearing a bra. And they were clearly fake due to a mixture of her size, their size, the no bra, and the age...
While we were eating, I couldn't help staring since she was across from me and her hard nipple was looking a little bumpy for a nipple. I realized she had a piercing. At her age, with fake boobs, and no bra... (she was also pierced in "normal" places, like, belly, nose, ears, you know...)
Well. Naturally running out of time. I will let you all know if the sunsets on Santorini are all they're cracked up to be :D
Cheers
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Grr
Just wrote a long post but the internet is stupid and crashed and even though I'd copied what I wrote, it didn't hold on to it. But I'm tired of the internet right now so I'll try again tomorrow or something...
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Naxos
Now we're on the next island of our adventure and we've already been to the sites in the main town. We're chilling in an internet cafe cause it's cool. Tomorrow, we're going to rent an atv for 12 euro to see the rest of the island. So, the trip to Delos, I totally reapplied sunscreen in the museum but it was either not soon enough or the hike up the mountain officially sweated it off cause my shoulders are burnt and the one still hurts cause it's kind of bad. The day after Delos we spent on the beach (more man photos!) but the hike through town and to the port with my bag on my burn was pretty painful. Oh well, we're having a great time.
The food here is soooo good. And I'm not even talking Greek food, cause sometimes we just get tired of bread and fruit and cheese so we order the cheapest thing on a menu which is always pasta. But the sauces are amazingly fantastic so it is always satisfying and worth it.
On beach day, I refused to get out of bed until 12 cause I could and it was hot. We just read and hung around. Eric slept more and we eventually showered and went down to the beach. We were on the bed thingys for a long time before someone mentioned something about paying and we saw the collector guy about 50 feet away and decided to find a different part of the beach. We're bad people, but oh well.
Ok, we're going out for dinner tonight, but I will write again soon.
p.s. Mom, stop checking this every day, I don't even see a computer that often, let alone have time to write on one. I love you!
The food here is soooo good. And I'm not even talking Greek food, cause sometimes we just get tired of bread and fruit and cheese so we order the cheapest thing on a menu which is always pasta. But the sauces are amazingly fantastic so it is always satisfying and worth it.
On beach day, I refused to get out of bed until 12 cause I could and it was hot. We just read and hung around. Eric slept more and we eventually showered and went down to the beach. We were on the bed thingys for a long time before someone mentioned something about paying and we saw the collector guy about 50 feet away and decided to find a different part of the beach. We're bad people, but oh well.
Ok, we're going out for dinner tonight, but I will write again soon.
p.s. Mom, stop checking this every day, I don't even see a computer that often, let alone have time to write on one. I love you!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Mykonos
We spent Tuesday up on the Acropolis. Well, not the whole day, but the ticket got us into a few things so we spent the day going to those... and then we went back to the hostel, met two new people, showered and took a nap, lol...
We made it to Mykonos on the ferry fine. It was a beautiful ferry ride so that was awesome and then the dude from Mykonos Camping picked us up from the port and we took another nap when we got there (p.s. no nap today so that I can actually sleep through the night...) and spent some time in the water which is amazing as expected and then did laundry. woohoo, you all know how excited I was about that... from now on, we do it everyday or so instead of every three-four days cause that was hard.
This morning we walked to Mykonos town which took an hour, so I was tired and thirsty. Then we made our way through town and down to the harbour to catch the Excursion to Delos. We spent three hours on the island looking at all the ruins and Eric wanted to walk up the steps (there are photos! coming later) to the Temple of Zeus and Athena which was exhausting, so I was tired and thirsty.
He made it up to me with an AMAZING lunch when we got back to Mykonos. I had the risotto with mussels and the sauce alone was fantastic, and Eric's lamb in filo pastry thing was equally as delicious. Took pictures of the waiters for the ladies cause they were dark and handsome Greek men.... but you'll have to wait of course cause I don't quite have enough photos to make a CD worth it.
Found this hole in the wall internet place and we're going to do some bookings... check back soon :D
We made it to Mykonos on the ferry fine. It was a beautiful ferry ride so that was awesome and then the dude from Mykonos Camping picked us up from the port and we took another nap when we got there (p.s. no nap today so that I can actually sleep through the night...) and spent some time in the water which is amazing as expected and then did laundry. woohoo, you all know how excited I was about that... from now on, we do it everyday or so instead of every three-four days cause that was hard.
This morning we walked to Mykonos town which took an hour, so I was tired and thirsty. Then we made our way through town and down to the harbour to catch the Excursion to Delos. We spent three hours on the island looking at all the ruins and Eric wanted to walk up the steps (there are photos! coming later) to the Temple of Zeus and Athena which was exhausting, so I was tired and thirsty.
He made it up to me with an AMAZING lunch when we got back to Mykonos. I had the risotto with mussels and the sauce alone was fantastic, and Eric's lamb in filo pastry thing was equally as delicious. Took pictures of the waiters for the ladies cause they were dark and handsome Greek men.... but you'll have to wait of course cause I don't quite have enough photos to make a CD worth it.
Found this hole in the wall internet place and we're going to do some bookings... check back soon :D
Monday, June 11, 2007
Greece
So, we naturally get lost everytime we try to find our hostel. And by lost, I mean that half the signs are in English which throws us off when it's not.
We got into the hostel at 12:30 this morning and some of the guys in our room left at 5:30 so when we woke up the second time at 9:50, it didn't seem too weird. I had literally crawled into bed with all of my clothes on and only took off enough to fall asleep cause I had no idea who would be there when I woke up... I must say, 30+ hours with little sleep accumulates a lot of grime and sleepiness, ugh, lol
Today, once we got going we walked until we found this site which turned out to be Hadrian's Arch. From there we scoped out the map and decided to take the Metro to the National Archaeology Museum which was good. Allan was right, the Metro is a mini museum with different artifacts that they found while digging, and it was only .8 euros each way.
We were seriously in the musem from 1pm, when it opened, until 5:30 or something and seriously, we stopped reading the signs cause after the first few galleries (when we left for lunch and came back) we realized just how long reading everything would take so we only stopped for ones that looked particularly interesting...
The funiest part of the museum - that's right... funny - was when we walked past this couple, maybe our age or a little younger, and this guy was explaining to the girl what foreskin is because, of course, most of the statues were created before circumcision was popular and although most of them were defaced and missing their penis' (penises? peni?) there was enough to confuse the young thing - "like, why do they look different?" - not really, but it's still funny...
So... Eric is currently booking our ferries for the islands and just walked into the room 'cause he had forgotten how to spell my last name.... seriously? whatever, he's just tired, silly boy :p
Talked to a nice lady at the Museum today from NewYork, and met one of our roommates tonight when we got home and she's from, guess where... Vancouver, Canada... small world...
Well, this small world girl is going to go chill and go to bed cause jet lag sucks man...
We got into the hostel at 12:30 this morning and some of the guys in our room left at 5:30 so when we woke up the second time at 9:50, it didn't seem too weird. I had literally crawled into bed with all of my clothes on and only took off enough to fall asleep cause I had no idea who would be there when I woke up... I must say, 30+ hours with little sleep accumulates a lot of grime and sleepiness, ugh, lol
Today, once we got going we walked until we found this site which turned out to be Hadrian's Arch. From there we scoped out the map and decided to take the Metro to the National Archaeology Museum which was good. Allan was right, the Metro is a mini museum with different artifacts that they found while digging, and it was only .8 euros each way.
We were seriously in the musem from 1pm, when it opened, until 5:30 or something and seriously, we stopped reading the signs cause after the first few galleries (when we left for lunch and came back) we realized just how long reading everything would take so we only stopped for ones that looked particularly interesting...
The funiest part of the museum - that's right... funny - was when we walked past this couple, maybe our age or a little younger, and this guy was explaining to the girl what foreskin is because, of course, most of the statues were created before circumcision was popular and although most of them were defaced and missing their penis' (penises? peni?) there was enough to confuse the young thing - "like, why do they look different?" - not really, but it's still funny...
So... Eric is currently booking our ferries for the islands and just walked into the room 'cause he had forgotten how to spell my last name.... seriously? whatever, he's just tired, silly boy :p
Talked to a nice lady at the Museum today from NewYork, and met one of our roommates tonight when we got home and she's from, guess where... Vancouver, Canada... small world...
Well, this small world girl is going to go chill and go to bed cause jet lag sucks man...
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