Day 5/6/7/8

Day 5: Day at Sea

I love days at sea! Wake up late, lay by the pool... just do WHATEVER WE WANT! It was so nice to sleep in and get a late start. The boat went forward an hour so it really threw us off the next morning. We woke up and got a nice chair on the deck for an afternoon of catching rays. I don't normally do this but since my spray tan is starting to fade, I need some real sun. We stayed out in the sun for about 4.5 hours, only taking a small break for lunch and then Todd and I headed inside for a spin class! Yes, even on the high seas I am not going to turn down a chance to spin! Let me just say, I missed my spin shoes. My minimulist running shoes might be great for running and walking but they are not made to stand up on a spin bike. My feet were killing me. Luckily we didn't do to much standing and the class really kicked my butt and Todd's!

Of course on the day at seas they do the formal nights. Which was nice for Mother's day. We went to one of their speciality resturants for dinner with nancy and Ken and it was wonderful! AFter a quick change of the clothes we headed to the casino for some black jack and had a greattime!


Day 6 Athens Greece:

HOT! HOT! HOT! Our day started with a nice breakfast in our room! I love this option! Grilled vegetables with goat cheese and hot oatmeal is a great way to start the day. We then got off the boat and meet our tour guide outisde the port. This is when it got a little crazy! Nancy used American Express to help her book our tours in three of the ports of call. We found the man holding the orange sign we were supposed to be looking for. He spoke very little English, but this didn’t concern us because he was just our driver and he was supposed to take us to meet our tour guide. Supposed to it the key word here! 20 minutes later he is dropping us off at city center and telling us to meet him at the parking lot of the acropolis in 5 hours! WHAT! Where is the acropolis and where is the tour guide?

“I don’t know!” he said, “I meet you in 5 hour!”

“No, 4 hours will be fine! But we are supposed to have a tour guide.” Nancy said.

The man looked very confused and continued to repeat, “I don’t know! I meet you in 4 hours!”

Great! We jumped out of the cab and pulled out Todd’s map on his iphone. Some how we made it to the Acropolis, Ancient Agora, and the archaeological site of the Olympieion.

A few things about Athens and the Acropolis:

1.     It was AMAZING! If you are a history lover like me, you will find this fascinating.

2.     You can’t really go into anything. You just basically walk and follow the masses all taking pictures of the same thing. I kind of felt like I was being herded.

3.     It’s hot! I mean HOT! I’m not sure if it was all the marble or the location but I was sweating! Wear a hot and plenty of sunscreen

4.     Be prepared for A LONG HIKE UP A HILL! I was not prepared for this! It was a long steady incline up to the top. Going down is no walk in the park either, because you have to be very careful not to slip and fall. We then walked down to Ancient Agora, and then had to walk back up to find the cab! Be prepared.

5.     Acropolis is one of the great wonders of the word- it includes four ancient buildings; the Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike & the Erechtheion, and the Proplaea.

6.     Acropolis was build during the 5^th century BC.

Athens was nothing like I thought it was going to be. It was hot and really just another city. I really enjoyed the Acropolis though.

Day 7 Kusadasi (Ephesus) Turkey:

I am in love with this city! I mean it! I want to come back and visit more cities in Turkey. It was beautiful. The port itself was nothing special but once outside it is great. We met our private tour guide and this time it was correct! We had a tour guide and a driver and his English was great! He was great and full of fun facts.

Ephesus was once the most important commercial center of the western Anatolia. The ruins of this city are extensive and include a theatre, library, gymnasium and many other things.

Interesting thing we saw: the toilets! Yes, public potties!

After Ephesus we went to the Basilica of ST. John and then back to the market.  The tour guides defiantly know what they are doing because we were dropped right into a carpet/rug shop, shown upstairs to the private showing and offered tea, coffee, beer, wine or water. It took us 45 minutes to get out and we honestly thought Nancy might have to drop buy a rug for us to get out! We were then guided to a purse store and a jewelry store before we somehow managed our way back onto the cruise ship!

I loved Ephesus! It was well preserved and truly one of my favorites sights on this trip. It was also a perfect day with a great breeze, which was nice because I was prepared for another hot day, even wore my hat! I am still amazed at how well preserved everything is. I hope it stays this way for years to come.

A few things about Ephesus,Kisadasi, Turkey:

1.     They don’t cremate they only bury- also they can’t euthanize cats or dogs. If a dog is born near you and you feed it, you are responsible to for taking care of that animal or it has the right to roam in that area. You can call animal control and they will spay or neuter it but not kill it. For this reason- you see tons of cats and dogs all around.

2.     They are good salespeople. You can’t walk without trying to be pulled into a store for “just a minute to look” or followed with offers that sound to good to be true, “Genuine fake purses.”. Really?

3.     It is 90% Muslim.

4.     It has a thriving economy.

5.     The local currency is the lira. (I had to pay to use the bathroom- they will take American dollars!)

6.     Ephesus is one of the best examples of Roman architecture.

7.     Unlike Acropolis you could walk into almost everything- the theatre, the public potties, the library. It was truly amazing at how well preserved it was.

8.     The public latrine (potties)- was free to the public and served the citizens as well as the visitors to the adjacent various bath. The seats of the latrine were arranged around three sides of the open courtyard; fresh water flowed in the channel in front of the seats for cleaning.

9.     The theatre held modern day concerts, which included a performance by Elton John. After a recent landslide though, the concerts were put to a stop.

1. This city had a great water system- they even had remaining pipes laying around and some still connected to things.

1. Only about 83% of Ephesus has been recovered thus far. They are still working on.

After getting back on the boat I got to enjoy my mother’s day gift from Nancy, a massage and facial at the spa! It was wonderful! Todd and I decided that we would try the dinning room tonight, so we sat with three nice ladies from L.A and a random girl form Orlando. It was interesting and fun! Then we spent about an hour playing blackjack and headed to bed. The rocking of the boat was starting to really get to me, and I didn’t want to get sick!

***Heard from my parents today and each time it makes my stomach hurt. I miss them like crazy and feel so bad that Wyatt is waking up around 5:45/6 and that McKinley is not napping well. Today she told me that Wyatt wasn’t good last night and he was up all night! I feel horrible that they are having to deal with a sick child and that my baby doesn’t feel good. I pray that he will start feeling better and that they are able to get some rest. I am beyond blessed to have parents that are willing to watch our children for us to come do this once in a lifetime trip!****

Day 8 Rhodes, Greece:

With no tour set up for today we all decided that sleeping in was needed. Todd and I actually slept a little to late because we were woken up by our breakfast being delivered! We decided to get off the boat after breakfast and find some cheap or free Internet. I really wanted to update my blog before forgetting everything and put some pictures up for the kids. We found a small Internet café very close to the boat and it was only 2.50 for 30 minutes! That is a steal of a deal considering on the boat it is .50 per minute and that’s with our package. After learning that Nancy and Ken would not be meeting us, we dropped the computer back and the boat and explored Old Town. It was basically a BUNCH of shops selling the same thing and some restaurants. There were some very cute shops mixed in but it was basically the same stuff.

We slipped into a small archaeological museum located in the Hospital of the Knights. The hospital dates back to 1489 and it was the largest Knights public building. The museum contained a collection of ancient pottery and sculptures.

I bought two shirts for the kids, two scarfs’ that were too pretty to pass up, a bracelet and we ate lunch together. It was a little cold to go to any of the beaches but we really did just enjoy walking around. Now to relax back on the ship and then play some blackjack!