Kalimera! I’m here in Greece now and thought I’d try to update you all.
Croatia was wonderful- easily one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I suspect that as the dust settles from their recent civil war, it’ll develop into a huge tourist site for people looking for beach vacations and adventure. While there, I went to Plitvice Lakes, which was amazing. I mean, getting there from Dubrovnik isn’t exactly easy, but it was worth the 10 or 11-hour bus rides and the absurdity of the bus system. My knee didn’t like the up-and-down hiking, but I sucked it up because it was so gorgeous.
I also spent a couple of days in the old city. One day, I went cliff jumping at a café that is apparently famous for overlooking an often-used cliff-jumping site. I mostly swam and only jumped twice from the smallest rock. There were people jumping from all kinds of heights- apparently on other days people jumped from the city walls. I say you couldn’t pay me enough, but then again, I’m a wimp, so it makes sense.
Greece has been my favorite so far. I may have to be dragged kicking and screaming onto the ship later today. I saw the Parthenon and the Agora and the Parthenon Museum and the new Harry Potter movie and some islands and so on. I saw Hydra, Poros and Aegina on a boat tour of the Saronic islands one day, the Parthenon and downtown Athens on another tour and explored the rest on my own. Our global studies professor is an art history and architectural history man and he was telling us about the new Parthenon Museum as an architecturally stunning building, which it was. Looking at the friezes and the sculptures, it was amazing. Not to mention the exposed excavation site that visitors can look into.
I got a cooking lesson here. My team made the best tzatziki- a dip made with dill, cucumber, and Greek yogurt (among other things) and thus, I think it’s fair to say that we won at cooking. I saw Harry Potter here twice, which was awesome. The movie was well done, and seeing it twice was perfect.
Well I’ve only got 30 days left on the ship, and I have 2 people who need to see all of Doctor Who, Season 6, so I should probably go. I’ve taken probably 200 good pictures per port- it’s been fun, and I’ll work on getting them onto facebook as soon as possible.
Hope you’re all enjoying your summers!
-Chelsea
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Viva Italia!
The last day in Spain was wonderful! Morgan and I woke up at what some people call "6 AM" but what I usually call "What, is the house burning down?" We went into Barcelona only to find out that...well... nothing's open at 6:30 AM. Nothing opens until 8. We walked around the empty city of Barcelona just exploring it with less fear of pickpocketers, which was nice. We finally got into a breakfast place to have the meal Sir David Geiss told the whole ship to have- Chocolate con Churros. It's basically hot chocolate and churros- but hot chocolate in Spain is, as Sir David Geiss put it, "none of that powder Swiss Miss bullshit, it's almost melted chocolate." Sir David Geiss, by the way, was knighted by the King of Spain himself for his work in promoting Spanish culture, understanding, language, and history. He was a guest of the ship from Boston to Spain. He gave guest lectures and seminars to help us all prepare. He's a very funny guy, and I just add the Sir in since he seemed so hesitant to tell us about it, and instead about six other professors mentioned it.
After the near heart attack of Chocolate con Churros (totally worth it by the way. I second the YOU MUST EAT THIS-ness of it) Morgan and I felt like we needed to walk until we felt our arteries open up again. We walked through La Bocqueria, a large open air market. Rows and rows of fish and meat, fruits and veggies, candy and smoothies, and lots of weird shellfish still in their shells. You know those shells you pick up at the beach? It doesn't matter which ones you're thinking of, I probably saw the things that live in them. It was actually incredible. Then we realized that it was about 10 AM on our last day in Spain and neither of us had picked up the souvenirs we had planned on getting. First we found Morgan a T-shirt, which was a process hindered by the fact that both of us were rather exhausted of people following us around souvenir stores saying "oh what about this? You from America? You want this one? We have this in other colors. That's a men's shirt, you should look at the women's shirts." even after we had clearly stated that we were fine and didn't need help. I got my bracelet (to those who don't know, I collect a bracelet from every country I visit. I've stopped wearing them all at once, but I still felt like it was the best thing to do.) We stopped into a grocery store to get a couple gifts but I'm not mentioning those here. Then, after one last traipse through the Barri Gotic (the quarter of Barcelona featuring gothic architecture) we headed back to the ship for on board time. Morgan and I made a mission of eating all the things in Spain. We seem to have succeeded.
The next day was the Sea Olympics. These are a bunch of silly games and things that we do with our halls, and the winning team is the first one off in Boston. My team, the Baltic Sea, was pretty awesome. We won team spirit, and started a dance party at 10 AM that went on so long the staff let us keep speakers up on the sun deck at night. My roommate, Amy, won Dean Says for us, which was hilarious. Mostly because the dean didn't quite get how to be a caller for Simon Says, and Amy finally pulled out all the stops in the tie-breaker by impersonating the best duck ever. The synchronized swimming was likely one of the best things I'll ever see. Groups did performances to Barbie Girl, Single Ladies, It's Raining Men, and so on. Not to mention, my friend Meg was in the one done to Build Me Up, Buttercup, which was adorable. The Baltic Sea came in 4th place, sadly, but we were still awesome. I didn't sign up for any events for a simple reason. The only one still open when I got to the list was Pull Ups. Nobody is confused anymore, are they?
And then we got to Naples. My friend Tyra and I were going to explore Naples the first day. We got off the ship, and after walking about a block, realized that frankly, the end of Naples we were in was sketchy and we didn't really want to go much further. We went to a ticket counter and got a ticket for Sorrento. Unfortunately, we missed the boat by about 30 seconds in the time it took us to run to our rooms to grab bathing suits. Like literally, they were pulling the gangway up as we walked over, and wouldn't set it back down for 2 seconds. Thankfully, the ticket counter exchanged it easily- no cost whatsoever, even though the ferry had already left. We went for lunch, then easily caught our next boat over. Once there we found a beach, and went swimming. Oh we swam. A lot. A pair of Italian men, Antonio and Nino, came over and chatted us up, but given the fact that they were, oh, probably at least 35, we didn't display undue interest. Strangely, to get our attention, and the attention of everyone they were hitting on (they were just making their way down the beach) they kept shouting "wakka wakka!" which made me wonder why they thought Pac Man was a dude to imitate in attempts to hit on chicks. Still, we were swimming in the mediterranean sea, so we couldn't complain. After a good long swim, we caught our boat back to Naples.
I went out for dinner with Stephanie, the girl I met at the Zoo in the Bahamas. She's awesome. I have such a friend crush on her. (to those who don't know, friend crush is a thing where you just really want to be friends with someone really badly.) We had some of the best Arancini and Margherita Pizza in Naples. The guy working the restaurant was amused by us. First he laughed that we sat at a table set for 4 people, when there was one set for 2 behind us- please note that both had 4 chairs, therefore, both could be set for 4 people or 2 people. We moved to please him, and then he was entertained by us photographing our food, and befuddled by the concept of splitting the check. He had a friend come back to our table so that he could make sure we had a picture of him- it's on Stephanie's camera, but it was a silly moment nonetheless. After dinner, we just walked around Naples for a while. Naples is much more gorgeous after dark, and there was a theater festival that involved showing clips of movies on the side of a building. We just kept talking and it was lots of fun.
The next day I went to Capri for the day with Morgan. The beach was full of rocks, but we got some gorgeous pictures of it, had more delicious pizza and gelato, went swimming, shopping, and exploring some. I got my bracelet for Italy- it has a little Bell of St. Michele on it, which is both culturally relevant to Italy given the whole Catholicism thing, and regional to Capri. Capri was gorgeous, absolutely stunning, and those two days of swimming and relaxing were great.
Yesterday, I went to Pompeii. I woke up early, and went off on my own. I know, I know, be safe, and I was. I got directions to the train station from the ship, and even though I did stop to ask a few places, it was always with Police officers and security guards outside of banks and things. A seagull pooped on me on my way over, but I was determined to get to the station before finding a bathroom, figuring that the station was probably at least clean and with some amount of security, which was true. Still, great start to a day, right? A seagull pooping on your shoulder, while wearing a white T-shirt. I'll discuss the train ride in another entry, because it's something I want to be taken seriously. I chatted with a girl from Brazil at the train station, but on the train over, I had to stand and was next to a family going to Pompeii which made me feel better- I knew I wasn't going to miss my stop.
The line to get into Pompeii was absurd, and there was a huge crowd going through the entry, but once you get through the entrance tunnel, you have free reign to the ruins, except the parts that are still being actively dug out. I loved it. Oh my god, I can't even explain it. Being there made this whole trip seem real. It was amazing. I practically tripped over the House of the Dancing Faun, wandered through an area devoted to preserving the paintings, and went through a bathhouse. After about 2 hours, I wanted to be sure I got home on time. I left at 1 PM (keep in mind that we weren't leaving until 8, and 6 was on-ship time. I just wanted to be super sure.) took a train into the city, and then made my way back to the ship. Naples had woken up while I was gone, and I realized what to say about Naples- it's a very jarring city. You see old castles next to tall skyscrapers, hobos sleeping under what look like very regal arches, mounds of trash next to the sea, and the like. It was very hard to form a positive opinion given the negative things- leering men in doorways and mountains of trash stinking up the place, but it was not a bad place overall.
I rested for the rest of the day- after the hiking I'd done all morning, my feet were done with walking for a while. We had a fourth of July cookout that was fun, and we left Naples right as they were shooting their fireworks off, which was nice. You see, it turns out Naples celebrates the fourth a lot because of how many people have family in the US. Isn't that cool? Naples looks gorgeous as you're leaving at sunset with the lights and fireworks and the people I was with were commenting that they wished it had been nicer of a city to let it live up to the view.
And we woke up just outside of Rome. After doing some Hotel research, I'm going to head into the city and figure out where I'm staying there before meeting Morgan at the Trevi Fountain at 6. That will never stop being weird- just "oh yeah, we'll meet at the Trevi fountain, see ya!"
Anyway that's what's happened so far.
After the near heart attack of Chocolate con Churros (totally worth it by the way. I second the YOU MUST EAT THIS-ness of it) Morgan and I felt like we needed to walk until we felt our arteries open up again. We walked through La Bocqueria, a large open air market. Rows and rows of fish and meat, fruits and veggies, candy and smoothies, and lots of weird shellfish still in their shells. You know those shells you pick up at the beach? It doesn't matter which ones you're thinking of, I probably saw the things that live in them. It was actually incredible. Then we realized that it was about 10 AM on our last day in Spain and neither of us had picked up the souvenirs we had planned on getting. First we found Morgan a T-shirt, which was a process hindered by the fact that both of us were rather exhausted of people following us around souvenir stores saying "oh what about this? You from America? You want this one? We have this in other colors. That's a men's shirt, you should look at the women's shirts." even after we had clearly stated that we were fine and didn't need help. I got my bracelet (to those who don't know, I collect a bracelet from every country I visit. I've stopped wearing them all at once, but I still felt like it was the best thing to do.) We stopped into a grocery store to get a couple gifts but I'm not mentioning those here. Then, after one last traipse through the Barri Gotic (the quarter of Barcelona featuring gothic architecture) we headed back to the ship for on board time. Morgan and I made a mission of eating all the things in Spain. We seem to have succeeded.
The next day was the Sea Olympics. These are a bunch of silly games and things that we do with our halls, and the winning team is the first one off in Boston. My team, the Baltic Sea, was pretty awesome. We won team spirit, and started a dance party at 10 AM that went on so long the staff let us keep speakers up on the sun deck at night. My roommate, Amy, won Dean Says for us, which was hilarious. Mostly because the dean didn't quite get how to be a caller for Simon Says, and Amy finally pulled out all the stops in the tie-breaker by impersonating the best duck ever. The synchronized swimming was likely one of the best things I'll ever see. Groups did performances to Barbie Girl, Single Ladies, It's Raining Men, and so on. Not to mention, my friend Meg was in the one done to Build Me Up, Buttercup, which was adorable. The Baltic Sea came in 4th place, sadly, but we were still awesome. I didn't sign up for any events for a simple reason. The only one still open when I got to the list was Pull Ups. Nobody is confused anymore, are they?
And then we got to Naples. My friend Tyra and I were going to explore Naples the first day. We got off the ship, and after walking about a block, realized that frankly, the end of Naples we were in was sketchy and we didn't really want to go much further. We went to a ticket counter and got a ticket for Sorrento. Unfortunately, we missed the boat by about 30 seconds in the time it took us to run to our rooms to grab bathing suits. Like literally, they were pulling the gangway up as we walked over, and wouldn't set it back down for 2 seconds. Thankfully, the ticket counter exchanged it easily- no cost whatsoever, even though the ferry had already left. We went for lunch, then easily caught our next boat over. Once there we found a beach, and went swimming. Oh we swam. A lot. A pair of Italian men, Antonio and Nino, came over and chatted us up, but given the fact that they were, oh, probably at least 35, we didn't display undue interest. Strangely, to get our attention, and the attention of everyone they were hitting on (they were just making their way down the beach) they kept shouting "wakka wakka!" which made me wonder why they thought Pac Man was a dude to imitate in attempts to hit on chicks. Still, we were swimming in the mediterranean sea, so we couldn't complain. After a good long swim, we caught our boat back to Naples.
I went out for dinner with Stephanie, the girl I met at the Zoo in the Bahamas. She's awesome. I have such a friend crush on her. (to those who don't know, friend crush is a thing where you just really want to be friends with someone really badly.) We had some of the best Arancini and Margherita Pizza in Naples. The guy working the restaurant was amused by us. First he laughed that we sat at a table set for 4 people, when there was one set for 2 behind us- please note that both had 4 chairs, therefore, both could be set for 4 people or 2 people. We moved to please him, and then he was entertained by us photographing our food, and befuddled by the concept of splitting the check. He had a friend come back to our table so that he could make sure we had a picture of him- it's on Stephanie's camera, but it was a silly moment nonetheless. After dinner, we just walked around Naples for a while. Naples is much more gorgeous after dark, and there was a theater festival that involved showing clips of movies on the side of a building. We just kept talking and it was lots of fun.
The next day I went to Capri for the day with Morgan. The beach was full of rocks, but we got some gorgeous pictures of it, had more delicious pizza and gelato, went swimming, shopping, and exploring some. I got my bracelet for Italy- it has a little Bell of St. Michele on it, which is both culturally relevant to Italy given the whole Catholicism thing, and regional to Capri. Capri was gorgeous, absolutely stunning, and those two days of swimming and relaxing were great.
Yesterday, I went to Pompeii. I woke up early, and went off on my own. I know, I know, be safe, and I was. I got directions to the train station from the ship, and even though I did stop to ask a few places, it was always with Police officers and security guards outside of banks and things. A seagull pooped on me on my way over, but I was determined to get to the station before finding a bathroom, figuring that the station was probably at least clean and with some amount of security, which was true. Still, great start to a day, right? A seagull pooping on your shoulder, while wearing a white T-shirt. I'll discuss the train ride in another entry, because it's something I want to be taken seriously. I chatted with a girl from Brazil at the train station, but on the train over, I had to stand and was next to a family going to Pompeii which made me feel better- I knew I wasn't going to miss my stop.
The line to get into Pompeii was absurd, and there was a huge crowd going through the entry, but once you get through the entrance tunnel, you have free reign to the ruins, except the parts that are still being actively dug out. I loved it. Oh my god, I can't even explain it. Being there made this whole trip seem real. It was amazing. I practically tripped over the House of the Dancing Faun, wandered through an area devoted to preserving the paintings, and went through a bathhouse. After about 2 hours, I wanted to be sure I got home on time. I left at 1 PM (keep in mind that we weren't leaving until 8, and 6 was on-ship time. I just wanted to be super sure.) took a train into the city, and then made my way back to the ship. Naples had woken up while I was gone, and I realized what to say about Naples- it's a very jarring city. You see old castles next to tall skyscrapers, hobos sleeping under what look like very regal arches, mounds of trash next to the sea, and the like. It was very hard to form a positive opinion given the negative things- leering men in doorways and mountains of trash stinking up the place, but it was not a bad place overall.
I rested for the rest of the day- after the hiking I'd done all morning, my feet were done with walking for a while. We had a fourth of July cookout that was fun, and we left Naples right as they were shooting their fireworks off, which was nice. You see, it turns out Naples celebrates the fourth a lot because of how many people have family in the US. Isn't that cool? Naples looks gorgeous as you're leaving at sunset with the lights and fireworks and the people I was with were commenting that they wished it had been nicer of a city to let it live up to the view.
And we woke up just outside of Rome. After doing some Hotel research, I'm going to head into the city and figure out where I'm staying there before meeting Morgan at the Trevi Fountain at 6. That will never stop being weird- just "oh yeah, we'll meet at the Trevi fountain, see ya!"
Anyway that's what's happened so far.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)