July 28, 2013

Sunday, July 28, 2013

                We woke up so early this morning again…the trick today was attempting to make it to the Vatican on the “free day” they have one Sunday per month. 

                After a quick breakfast at 6am, we headed down to the shuttle busses that would take us to the end of the port.  Then we walked as fast as possible to the train station where we bought our ticket and raced over to the train gate where the train was supposed to have already left – and made it on to that train by a fraction of a second!  I was so impressed with our timing!!  This meant we would get into Rome a good 45 minutes earlier than if we had to take the later train.

                We arrived in Rome around 8:30 and found the correct Metro and then the correct bus to make it to our camping hostel.  Because we couldn’t officially check in so early (It was only 9:30) we left our bags at the deck, changed into proper Vatican clothes, and headed back onto the bus and the Metro back to the Vatican. 

                The line for the Vatican was definitely not as horrible as I anticipated!  I was really impressed, to be honest.  We spent a good 2 hours inside of the museum in total.  I was really impressed with the frescos and the ceilings overall were amazing.  It was spectacular to finally see the Sistine Chappelle, but I must say I was slightly disappointed.  It was wonderful, for sure, but not as detailed as I anticipated – perhaps a funny thing to say because clearly it is quite detailed for a fresco, but I think I had just built it up too much in my mind.  It was still wonderful to see!!

                We walked in the extreme temperatures to St. Peter’s but after seeing the extreme length of the line- completely in the sun – we decided that we would “save it for next time”.  Instead we walked back across the river and found a cute little restaurant for lunch where we shared some awesome tortellini on a patio in the shade! 

                En route to the Trevi Fountain we saw the Pantheon, the columns, a lot of plazas and quite a few churches.  Outside of the Pantheon we went into an actual “paper” store where they sell hand-made paper and beautiful leather –bound books and fountain pens.  Shawn bought this beautiful leather book.  It is really classy. It is so easy to just run into everything “important” as you are walking along.  Quite impressive, actually. The Trevi fountain was amazing!  It is absolutely beautiful and totally tucked away on a random street.  It was packed with a million tourists, however, and I know both Shawn and I are getting sick of the crowds.

                Along the way I bought a coin from a street vendor.  It is pretty ironic.  It is a Canadian Penny that was cut out so only the ring around the outside and the maple leaves are intact.  They sell the exact same thing in the Victoria Inner harbor!  I have always thought they were cool, but they are pretty pricy at home!  Here it was a good deal, so I bought one and she made it into a necklace for me on the spot.  There is something poetic about a Canadian buying a Canadian penny in Rome.  I like it.

                We almost made it back to the metro stop without spending any more money...but then I saw a sale!  Fortunately, just like when I try on clothes in France, nothing really fits me here – I am shaped like a North American and not a European!  I did end up buying this cute little (cheap) t-shirt, however! J  And because the store was air conditioned Shawn was more than happy to have me trying things on – forever!

                We stopped at the grocery store that is located across from the hostel to pick up some things for dinner.  We had a lovely dinner of artichoke dip, grapes, bread, cheese, and meat….along with an entire bottle of wine.  Before we managed the dinner, however, we went for an amazing swim in the pool at the hostel.  It felt almost like an infinity pool because the one side backed onto the edge of the property and there was a nice hill and view over the side.  It was amazing to cool down a bit!!

                It will be sad to leave this great Hostel and Rome tomorrow morning, but it will be nice to be in Florence for a full 3 days starting tomorrow.

-Allison

 

 

July 27, 2013

Saturday, July 27, 2013

                It was an at-sea day today, so there is not much to report!  We woke up at a more decent time today than at the last sea-day, which meant we got a great spot upstairs on the sun deck!  It was so great that we sat there for hours, and hours….drinking water…eating ice cream…and reading.  It was excellent.

                It was rather odd at dinner…our table guests didn’t show up – and it was the last night!  We were rather relieved, despite missing the chance to say good-bye.  It has been rather painful attempting to maintain conversation with these two because they are pretty quiet.  It was great just having us two at the table, to be honest!

                Packing was a challenge….but we did rather well!  None of our 3 bags (1 checked and 2 carry-ons) are overweight, which is great.  Hopefully the train and all of the transfers goes well tomorrow!!

 

Busy day tomorrow in Rome!!!

 

-Allison

July 26, 2013

Friday, July 26, 2013

                Shawn and I were definitely wiped when we got up at 6am this morning in Crete.  But we headed out after breakfast to find the local bus to take into Chania.  It is a beautiful city and I definitely want to come back some day.  In its cute little way it reminds me of Le Grau du Roi in France with this cute little mix of quaint and touristy at the same time.

                Nothing was open at 7:30 when we arrived in town.  So, we walked towards the city beach that I located on my map to see if it was actually a beach so we would not need to take another bus to find a different beach on the island.  It turned out to be perfect.  It was full of local (women mostly) who were doing their morning socializing and swim in the ocean.  It was really awesome.  We got changed in the little one-person stall up on the road above the breakwater and headed down the steps to the foot of sandy beach.  There were even little hooks on the concrete wall where all the locals (and us) hung our bags.  It was perfect.  We were the only tourists – which made me totally happy to have found a local daily activity. 

                After our little swim in the amazing ocean we headed to the port of Haramina (or something to that effect…my book is packed at the moment!) and waked along the breakwater there out to the lighthouse.  The harbour is picture perfect and although it was getting really hot, it was beautiful.  On the way out, back to the main touristy area of the harbor, we ended up buying a 10 Euro painting of the harbor that was completed by one of the local arts students.  Kind of a cool souvenir I figure.

                We sat at a little café and read e-mails while enjoying local hand-squeezed orange juice.  It was great because the little place we found was just off the main tourist path, and was much quieter than the main area.  There were locals walking their dogs and fishing.  It was beautiful!

                We walked along the harbor and ignored the tourists and the sales people along the way.  It would be really beautiful when there are no tourists in port!

                The ship was departing early today – at 2:30 – so we really had limited time in Chania.  It would be a really great place to visit again and see more of Crete.

                Back on the ship we had a relatively relaxed afternoon.  I did a work-out, which was much overdue and Shawn napped more.  After dinner was the Quest Gameshow, which was awesome!  We had some characters on our team, which made it all the more fun!  Shawn ended up donating his pants for one challenge and I ended up dontating a scarf…pretty great stuff!

                It is sad to think only one more day left on the cruise…

 

-Allison

July 25, 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013

                We arrived in Kusadasi, Turkey early this morning and as per normal Shawn and I raced off the ship in attempt to beat the crowds to the main site, Ephesus.  It was

a typical cruise port with hundreds of locals attempting to sell you the best taxi price and the cheapest carpets and jewelry – all offering the “best price”.  The one info point we stopped at said there was no local bus to get to Ephesus, which was ridiculous, because I know I had researched somewhere that there was a good public bus.  In any case, we browsed the local shops for a while before the local tourist info opened.

                We asked at the local tourist info for the bus and she gave us precise directions on how to find the stop and the bus.  It was more challenging than anticipated finding the bus, however, because it was hard to trust anyone when they said they were not a taxi after all of the local taxi harassment! I finally started asking women about where to go to get the bus – and all of them were very helpful and encouraging.  Outside of the main tourist area, everyone did seem quite nice and helpful.  We did find the bus – and it was only 2.5 Euros for each of us to go to Ephesus. 

                The bus was awesome – a nice 10 passenger van with good AC.  We sat beside a nice Irish guy whose family refused to go see more ruins!  The scenery en route to Ephesus from Kusadasi was beautiful.  The roads were impeccable and there were many beach resorts along the way.  It would be great to come back here and do some more touring around – the one day here was definitely not enough.

                All three of us walked up to Ephesus from the bus stop – a mere 10 minute walk to the site before we split up with the Irish guy.  Shawn and I read all of the sign posts in the archaeological site.  I thought it was interesting how it has been rebuilt on top of old ruins with each new generation/religion/ruler.  The Library of Celsius and the Grand Theatre were definitely the best.  Because we did the site in reverse of the tour groups, we managed to see both of these popular sites before the crowds got there, which was great.  The men’s toilets were also really interesting.  It is amazing to believe they had “running water” and an underground sewer system back in those days.  As well, in the toilets, there was a band/orchestra playing all day long – and the slaves used to sit on the seats before their masters in order to warm up the seats, which I thought was interesting. 

                We caught the bus back to Kusadasi without any problem and decided to try some Turkish food for lunch.  We had kebabs for one person and the meat and wraps arrived on a portable little barbeque.  It was really interesting.

                After that we were headed off to the Grand Bazaar to do a little shopping and bargaining, because I love that – but we got caught in a leather store at the entrance to the Bazaar and didn’t make it any further!   I had kind of had it in my head that it would be nice to find a leather coat…and that I did!  It was just like the Indian Carpet experience.  We became the sales man best friends as he served us diet coke and Fanta.  We were his best friends and turned on the AC and demanded that Shawn look at me while I tried on the millionth jacket!  It was fun – thankfully – and we were in the store for a good 2 hours!  I had decided between a red one, a blue one, and a black one…but definitely could not make up my mind.  I kept telling the owner that I was only, maybe buying one jacket…and then Shawn piped up saying he too would like to try some jackets!  So off we went to the guy’s side of the store and he tried on half a dozen jackets.  Every time Shawn would decide he didn’t like a coat, the owner would try it on and strut around a bit.  It was kind of amusing.  Finally, we both found a jacket we liked and the owner sat us down on the red leather chairs and made a total of 8 of the jackets we tried on!  Because don’t you know that the girl yesterday, who was younger than me, bought 10 leather coats!!  Anyway – I was rather stern and told him we were buying only 2 jackets.  Only 2.  And we negotiated a bit for both of them (although I think I could have maybe done better…so I was a tad annoyed!) and were on our way. 

                Overall it was a pricy day because of the jackets, but considering we did Ephesus after all of the taxis telling us it was 120 Euros to get there, it ended up being a rather good deal!

                I definitely want to go back to Turkey – there is so much to see and the tiny bit I saw was amazing! 

Later,

 

-Allison

July 24, 2013

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

                We got up this morning bright and early at 6am in order to squeeze in breakkie before heading down to the dock to find a taxi to go to Athens.  Our table-mates and we all did not want to do an excursion, so we decided to share a cab to go to the Athens ruins.  However, when we got down to the shore, Mathew and Becky mentioned there was a bus we could take instead.  I actually knew this before, but I was scared to recommend it to the three of them. 

                It was not hard to find the bus at all – it was right outside of the port gates and only cost 1.2 Euros each to take the 40min bus ride to Athens from Piraeus.  It was a great ride because it let us see a lot of the sights along the way.  We arrived in downtown Athens and did not have any trouble finding the Acropolis – we just followed all of the people…

                It was really interesting to see the columns peaking over the modern-day buildings.  Such a contrast between the old and new.  It is hard to conceptualize that the old buildings that were mostly all built before Christ – by quite a lot – are still standing today and that the modern city has been built around all of the old remains.

                The Acropolis is located up on a hill.  We walked through the other ruins in the grounds including the Theatre of Dionissos and the Odeum of Herodes Atticus – both quite amazing amphitheatres. The former used to host plays of Euripides, Aristophanes, and Sophocles and could hold up to 17000 spectators.  There were not many people at the Acropolis when we arrived, which was awesome.  We walked up to the top of the structure and read all of the signs along the way about the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena and the Propylaea.  The area at the top was impressive, although it was slightly disappointing that the Parthenon was under a massive architectural preservation, so there were cranes and workers everywhere.  Along with these sites, the Acropolis provided an excellent view of both Athens and Piraeus.

                After taking a million photos at the Acropolis, we walked over to the Ancient Agora which was the administrative centre and marketplace of Athens from the 6^th century BC to the 6^th century AD.  There were a lot of ruins in this area, but my favourite was the Temple of Hephaestus because it is really well preserved with all of the columns and roof intact.  It is only a temple, so it makes me think just how huge the Parthenon would have been in its day.

 

                We ventured off of the tourist path after visiting the grounds around the Agora to climb a small hill to see the Monument of Filopapos. It is a memorial monument that was rebuilt in the mi- 50s located in a public garden.  Although not that old or significant compared to other sites, it did provide an excellent view of the Acropolis.

                We decided to have a bit of lunch in order to try some of the Greek food.  We had an amazing Greek salad and some Taziki.  We then wandered around the Plaka to poke into the stores and look at all of the touristy stuff!  I did end up buying a leather purse…that I didn’t need…but it was nice and pretty J.

                Lastly we visited the Temple of Olympian Zeus and Hadrian’s Arch.  I felt like the temple was even bigger than the Parthenon – but perhaps that was because so much of the Parthenon still stands, whereas the temple only has a few remaining pillars.  It was crazy-hot when we made it here, so there were not many people around!  It was great for pictures.  It looks like we almost had the place to ourselves!

                Catching the bus back to the ship was easy!  It was 38 degrees when we made it back to the ship, however, so the bus ride was a little warm.  I’m pretty impressed that we did the whole thing by bus!  Everyone told us we’d have to take a taxi or an excursion – so I was really impressed with the awesome bus ride!

                Oh my gosh!  And the show for this evening was amazing!!  We had an ice- dancing show.  It was to die for.  There was a complete team from mostly US and Canada with a few European skaters thrown in as well.  It was really impressive.  They did some crazy stuff, especially considering that we are moving on a ship.  It was awesome.

                The after-dinner show this evening was great!  It was the love and marriage show.  They had some great couples up there on stage telling us all about their private lives.  Great stuff.

                Well, sleep now because tomorrow is another 6am morning for our day in Kusadasi and Ephesus.

XOXO

-AJ

 

 

 

July 23, 2013

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

                We slept in until 11am this morning!  It was absolutely amazing!  It did help that we moved our clocks forward by an hour, however.  Obviously sleep was a good thing because neither of us is any good at sleeping in at all.  We still made it up to breakfast and managed to scrounge a couple of lawn chairs – although it was sure a challenge.  It was so hot out, which was awesome – but we sure made sure to apply lots of sunscreen!  And I think we both managed to finish a couple of books, which was great.

                After I got too restless we moved to the shade and then went and had a long-overdue workout!  It was great.  I love working out at sea-level…it always makes me feel so fit!

                We had a great “happy hour”; ordered room service, watched a movie, and got all ready for the Captain’s Welcome and dinner.  It was nice to have the time to get all ready.  There was a champagne reception before dinner and it was great to see everyone all dressed up.  Some of the couples really went all out! 

                Dinner was also great!  The food was all sea-food including lobster bisque and shrimp ravioli.  Dinner finished late so we decided not to go to the show because we need to wake up at 6am tomorrow!

Off to Athens tomorrow for our first day of cruise ruins! 

 

Later

-AJ

 

July 22, 2013

Monday, July 22, 2013

                We arrived late into Messina (Sicily) so we had a nice sleep-in this morning.  Shawn piled on the breakfast – easy to do with the buffets here!  The one unfortunate thing is that the crew prepour the water and juice, so it is hard to fill-up water bottles –we manage to do it, however!

                Shawn and I decided to stay in Messini instead of going to Taormina because there was a lot to do in the former without driving for 2 hours either way to get to Taormina.  We hiked up the hill to go visit Cristo Re Church which gave us a beautiful panorama of the harbor and of the town.  We visited a couple more churches up on the hill before heading down to the Capolinea where the Cathedral has this astronomical clock that played a song and made lion and rooster sounds at noon everyday. The gold statues moved while the music played.  It was very entertaining! 

                We walked up towards the centre of town and visited numerous shops along the way.  I managed to “escape” the shopping, but Shawn bought a nice pair of pants and a shirt.  It seems like I often hit the annual sales in France, we have managed to hit the sales here too! Lots of stores are between 50-70% off the entire store. 

                Before heading back to the ship we purchased two different types of canoli.  They were quite tasty!

                It was overall a relaxing and nice day in Messina!

                We had a great singer for the show this evening.  Gary Williams is a well-known “Classics” singing – mostly Frank Sinatra.  He was excellent.  I was really impressed with the show.  It was “white hot” night this evening, but it was really busy, so we decided not to hang out by the pool.  Instead we walked up to the sport deck and played a round of mini-golf!  It was great, although the dark added an extra challenge.

Tomorrow is sea day! Yeah!

 

-Allison

 

July 21, 2013

Sunday, July 21 2013

                We woke up this morning and bought some wine from the Hostel, Just in case we are allowed to bring it on the ship – worth a shot!  After heading back to Termini train station and storing our bags, we navigated our way to the Colosseum.  It was not very busy when we arrived around 8am, which was excellent.  We walked around the Forum, visited Capitol Hill, and Palatine Hill for a good three hours taking lots of pictures before heading over to the Colosseum for our underground tour.

                The Colosseum was amazing!  And because we bought our tickets ahead there were no lines or anything, which was great.  We started our tour by heading out onto the newer arena area that has been rebuilt over the basement, pen area.  Animals and humans were kept below ground and then could pop up whenever needed in the arena.  The arena was all sand in order to help absorb blood!  Scary thought.  After the arena level, we got to down to the more recently excavated basement level, which was really interesting.  The stone here was so well-preserved that it was still completely white and the floor still had the fishbone tile pattern.  There were a lot of winches (I think it was over a dozen) that were turned by countless slaves to open and close the trap doors and move the elevators with the humans and animals up to the stage.  The manpower that was used for the building and productions is just amazing.  We then were able to go up to the third level that is also reserved for tour groups only.  The view was spectacular!  We could see the entire Forum and had such amazing views of the Colosseum as well.  *the bricks that are missing from the one back wall of the Colosseum were actually taken down during Rome’s conversion to Catholicism when the bricks were used in the construction of churches*

                We raced from the Colosseum back to Termini, grabbed our bags and sped-walked down the platform towards our train.  Thankfully I booked the train on-line last Sunday so that all we needed to do was actually find a seat – which ended up being more challenging than it should have been with the big suitcase!  A good thing we only had 1 between both of us!  We made it with a few minutes to spare and bought a granitta (the frozen, slushy drinks that are everywhere) …and I promptly spilled mine everywhere inside the train.  It was lovely.

                The train ride was an hour toward the coast with beautiful scenery that I interrupted every now and then with naps!  Thankfully Shawn kept watch and we asked a local to let us know when we were at our stop.  As well there was another couple that was on the train with us that ended up being on the same cruise as us!  We all descended the train together and were going to share a cab to the port when I noticed a few women who were on our Colosseum tour with us!  They were headed back to the port to rejoin a different cruise and said the walk was not far – so we hauled our luggage and followed her!  It was great.

                We were one of the last people to check-in, I think – but it was great because there was no line at all!  It was interesting here because they took our passports for inspection at the upcoming ports, which was very disconcerting – but I guess they are used to doing that, so I should trust them!

                Our room is awesome!  I have never cruised with Royal Caribbean before –but the rooms are definitely bigger than both Princess and Norwegian!  We have a “boring” interior room, but there is a little sitting area with a couch and coffee table between the bed and bathroom!  I am super impressed.  Shawn is going to be so spoiled now, however!

                The ship is huge!  There are 3 dining rooms in addition to at least 4 speciality dining rooms.  There is a climbing wall, an ice-skating rink, mini-golf course and basketball courts.  There are 3 separate pool areas as well as the numerous sun-decks.  The main floor reminds me of HUB at the U of A where the rooms overlook a promenade deck where there are shops, bars and restaurants.  It is pretty cool to see, but I am happy my room isn’t there!  Again, I keep telling Shawn he shouldn’t get his expectations to get up too high!

                We are eating dinner at the late sitting, which makes it a little harder to attend all of the evening activities, but it is nice for relaxing and getting ready for dinner.  We are sitting with a nice couple from the UK, so that is really interesting. AND I tried escargot!!  It was excellent – much to my surprise!  I know M. Schigand will be very impressed with me! J

                The first show was an intro to the different acts.  There are 66 different countries represented among the guests on the Ship so everything is done in at least Italian and English but also often in Spanish and German as well.  There was a fantastic acrobatic couple from Australia that also did a number this evening for the last part of the show which was better than Cirque!

Need sleep tonight!

-AJ

 

July19-20, 2013

Friday-Saturday, July 19-20, 2013

                Shawn and I decided that the airport taxi from my work was way cheaper to get to the airport than parking the car for 2 weeks – and it was actually quite speedy and was a good price.  I think it was only 40$, which is impressive. 

When we got to the airport we tried to get our boarding passes (we actually went to the airport on Thursday night to check-In because the computer wouldn’t allow us to do that online!) and the lovely machine would not let us check in!  As we stood in line, an Air Canada rep called out to all Toronto passengers and told us our flight had been canceled.  Fortunately, Shawn brought his phone with him and we were able to call the 1-800 number that the (very unhelpful) lady gave us and got on a Calgary flight at 3pm.  We lucked out with that!  AND I remembered my guest passes for the first-class lounge, so during our 3-hour lay-over in Calgary we hung out in the first-class lounge and had wine, soup, and cookies!  It was a great way to start the trip!

We arrived in Rome around 5pm on July 20 and I ran into a girl that I used to lifeguard with at the U of A pool – small world.  Even better than that was that our one checked bag arrived along with us!  Thank goodness.  We took the Leonardo Express for 12 Euros each straight to downtown Rome Termini train station.  We found a luggage storage place in the train station and stashed our big suitcase there for a few hours while we walked around a bit of Rome – mostly just meandered around where the train station was located.  We found a couple of stores and I bought (yet another) dress and we found drinking fountains.  It was quite pleasant.

Before heading off to find our hostel, we found this great little pizza place just outside of Santa Maria Maggiore church.  The pizza was amazing and after convincing our non-Italian waiter that we wouldn’t pay for bottled water he actually brought us tap water.  And, he brought it in this cool blue glass carafe – that we ended up buying from the restaurant for 6 Euros!  He also recommended we take our gelato to go, thus reducing its cost by half – so he received an excellent tip!

Our hostel was easy to get to, even though it wasn’t right in the centre of Rome.  We went back and claimed our bags and found the metro B-line and managed to get out at the right spot and found the 236 bus that lead us to Roma Camping.  I was really impressed with how easy the place was to find, actually!  And it is a beautiful campsite.  The showers have granite countertops and pumped-in music!  I really liked this chain of hostels when I was in Venice and it didn’t disappoint tonight either!

Off for a great sleep tonight with lots planned for tomorrow!

 

-Allison