In Athens

In Athens
Current mood: weird
Category: Travel and Places

Alrighty! We're in Athens now. We have just got off the cruise ship and made our way by taxi (Mercedes with leather seats...) to our hotel. There is a starbucks about 100m down the road which I am v. excited about - I love their frappes. Any of you want to open a franchise at home? :) We can see the Acropolis from the roof terrace garden of our hotel. Quite hazy at the moment because there was a massive grass fire here yesterday and everything smells like smoke. We did nothing the day that the cruise ship was in Rhodes. We were kinda too tired and too interested in sunbaking! On Thursday (yesterday), Mum, Emma and I went on an excursion at 7am on Crete to the Palace of Knossos. For ancient history buffs such as ourselves, this was a major deal! The Minoan civilisatio on Crete is the oldest known civilisation in Europe. The ruins of the palace date from about 3700 BC!! It's also the site of the myth about the Labrynth and the Minotaur. The site was discovered by an archaeologist, Sir Arthur Evans in the early 1900s. Funny thing is that they felt the need to reconstruct some of the things that they found. They would never do that now. Our guide would say "This artefact is half original, half reconstructed", which we found quite hilarious. Our guide used the word "please" almost like punctuation in her sentences. "Aegeas fell into the sea please, and this is why please, we call it the Aegean Sea please". Maybe not that intense, but pretty intsense. If any of you have ever seen that Nickolodeon show on cable called the Amanda Show, it's like that. Afterwards, we got back on the ship for another 3 or 4 course meal (everything is multiple course - lunch and dinner!!! Entree, Soup, Main, Dessert & Coffee) for lunch and then a rest before we arrived at Santorini. When we got off the tender boat at Santorini, we made our way over to the donkeys because we were planning on going up to the top to Thira on the donkeys. When we got to them, the men were all drunk and their eyes were the most bloodshot things I have EVER seen! Plus, they were all holding more drinks in their hands! They totally stank (the men.. not so much the donkeys!!), and it gave us the creeps so we decided to take the cable car. Santorini is a very beautiful island. We shopped around and looked at the view for a few hours before we got back on the boat. In the line for the cable car this really rude old man poked me in the back and said "ADVANCE!". He weaseled his way past me and poked the next person in the back - "ADVANCE". So rude!!! I wanted to poke him. I didn't.

The ship was really rough last night. I felt SOOOOO sick. I still feel pretty sick this morning, actually! We got off the ship about 7.45 this morning after we had our last yummy breakfast. Our hotel in Athens is really close to all of the old archaeological sites, as well as the museums and shopping centres!!! I think we'll be doing some exploring today. Hope you're all well. See you next week. P.S - we just realised today that we have 30 hours of actual flying time to get home, not including the stops we have to make at different airports. How crazy. We are going to feel so gross after we get off the plane at home. :) Have a good day!

Island of Rhodes

Island of Rhodes
Current mood: relaxed

Hello all!!! A lot has happened since we were in Venice. We went to Rome (dirty, really... not like I was expecting). Went to the Vatican which was amazing. For some reason I thought the Sistine Chapel was round. It is not. haha. But there are so many things to see there that you probably need about a week just for the Vatican Museums. They pay a guard to stand there and go "SHHHH!!!" because you're not supposed to talk in there. v. funny. Anyway, we also went to St Peter's Basilica. The longest church in Europe, I think. I must try to post some photos because the lettering around the top of the ceiling which looks miniscule... is actually 6 ft tall. Really amazing. Afterwards we went to the Colosseum and the Forum. WOW!!!! Very hard to describe but the Colosseum actually used to be full of marble. When it went out of use, they turned it into a marble quarry. I can't believe that!!! Anyway, we went out for a few dinners which were nice. We did some laundry on our last day in Rome which cost 50 Euro, but it was great to have clean clothes. We our flight was an hour late, so we got into Athens at 2.00am. Taxi drivers in Athens are INSANE. LITERALLY INSANE. We were in a taxi travelling 170 km an hour on the motorway at 2 in the morning. Scary stuff, especially when the speed limit signs said 80km. So we are now on our Cruise ship. You were right, Lukas.... we LOVE cruising! haha. So far we have been to Mykonos, Kusadasi (where we went to Ephesus) Patmos, and are currently at Rhodes. We had a swim in the Aegean Sea yesterday afternoon which is cold, but as there is a heat wave here at the moment, it was quite a welcome feeling. The water is so clear, you can see to the bottom. Even in the marina you can see the undersides of the boats through the water and the rocks and fish on the bottom. So beautiful. At Kusadasi, which is Turkey... we were walking past a carpet shop when the man out the front yelled to Dad and Jordan "How many camels? 500?" meaning how many camels for Emma and I?? EWWW!!! He was old and creepy and cackling like a loon. Dad yelled back "600" and the man yelled "Deal"! and stuck his thumbs in the air. haha. Not a fan of Bizarre Bazaar shopping.... they follow you around. I wanted to tell them to go away... but anyway Jordy talked them down heaps on some cool jewellery. Obviously, they mustn't be worth much... but I got this huge shell pendant. The guy wanted 49 Euros, and Jord got them down to 20. Fun fun. They underestimate our bartering sneaky sneakiness. A few more days left on the cruise and we will be having 3 nights in Athens then home. We can see the Acropolis from the roof of our Athens hotel. Fun fun. See you all soon!!! :)

Venezia, Italia!

Okay, so we are in Venice now. Interesting place... a bit smelly but very beautiful. We came here for dinner last night and it was great because there was hardly anyone around. Today we have been here since about 9.30am and we have done a tour, seen St Mark's Square and St Mark's Basilica (where the bones of Mark (as in evangelist... gospel book of Mark) are buried. Very surreal... I mean I believe every word of the Bible absolutely, but to be standing in the same room as the bones of this man was very weird. It really validates the belief. Don't know if that makes sense... but I am trying to write quickly... it's 4.50 Euro for 30 mins here!! We have also been to a Marano glass factory and show room. Amazing stuff. We have also been for a gondola ride this morning, which was excellent. It is very hot here - 35degrees - so we feel right at home. Wishing I brought more shorts with me.... I'm going to see if I can finally get some more pictures up. Have a great day everybody. We're thinking about you (some of the time!) hehe. Just kidding. xoxo As an end note - Emma keeps getting hit on by all the Italian boys. Total crack up. They stare at her wherever she goes. She just got cornered by two waiters in a restaurant who told her how beautiful she was and wanted to know her name... Jordan has taken to calling her Floozie....haha. Not her fault, I suppose!

In Switzerland, land of the Leiderhausen!!

Hello there all my faithful blog readers.... thanks to Lukas & Liss for responding to all blogs and making us feel like we have not lost touch with the real world. Thank you Jess for making me laugh with your muchos bling bling comment.... Anyway.. since we left off we have been in France - so much fun. Palace of Versailles - GOLD EEEEVERYWHERE!!! Wish I could post some pics but this surfpoint machine is mucho annoying and has taken Pietro's moneyz off of me several times. (pietro is our funky italian driver who gave me free internet time i think because emma batted her eyelids or something....). We also have pictures in front of Eiffel (e-fell not Eye-fell)... anywayz we have eaten esgargot and frogs legs- WOOT!!! We also had Frenchmen serenading us... one followed emma into the bathrooms.. hmmmm. He also (kinda creepy) kept smiling at me while playing his weird instrument thing.... emma sayz accordion. We have also been inside the Notre Dame and seen Quasimodo's tower and the gargoyles.If spelling in here is weird, it's because all keys in wrong places. Today we have been into Lucerne... by far the most beautiful place I have ever been. We went to the top of Mt Titlis to 10000 feet and went INSIDE a GLACIER++++!!! Jordan's first time at snow... I had snow put into my undies.. not a comfortable feeling by any means.... especially when temperature was 1-2 degrees. Had pizza at the highest restaurant in the WORLD. Mucho excitemundo. tonight is swiss folklore dinner and YOGELING!!! The G is NOT A MISTAKE. Luigi, our tour (toorj in italian speak) director pronounces it this way. So YOGELING it is - WOOT! Off to Venice, Italy tomorrow which will be very exciting. Hopefully get some internet time soon. See ya!

Still in Earls Court

Okay, so finally getting back to the blogging thing. Have found an internet cafe that has USB's so check my pictures file for a few snaps. They take ages to upload so I will do some more when Jordy is not so hungry and wanting to go... :)
Pretty much since I last wrote, we have see Phantom of the Opera (in which we all fell asleep for short periods... we were very tired!), as well as gone through the Tower Bridge, and been to the Shrek 3 premiere in Leicester Square compltely by accident. As it happened, we got to see the heads of Cameron Diaz, Mike Myers, Justin Timberlake, Antonio Banderas and Rupert Everett. Pretty cool. Yesterday we went to Windsor Castle, Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge. Windsor Castle was amazing.... just like out of a fairytale. It's the largest and oldest occupied working castle in the world. I have a heap to say about that but not enough time so hopefully I'll get a chance to tell you later. Salisbury Cathedral is HUGE and has the "tallest spire in the land". Stonehenge was good, but somehow not as mystical and amazing as everyone makes out. It is fascinating how they managed to get the stone slabs there and put them all together, though. Today we went to the Walkabout Pub on the Thames and watched the origin with about half of the australian population of London... it was completely packed. Yay Maroons!!! Afterwards, we shopped a heap, going to Harrods among other places. Lots of fun. It's weird though, we all felt a sense of disgust at the sheer materialism and greed that Harrods seems to radiate. (probably because we couldn't afford anything in there)... But there defiitely was a stark contrast between the beggers out the front and the 2000 pound (almost $6000 Aussie dollar) Dior dress that I came across. Fun to go, but I feel like all that money could be much better spent elsewhere. We went into the Cartier store inside Harrods and looked at the engagement rings... they didn't even look real!! They were so big that they looked like something you'd get out of a gum machine. Anyway, tomorrow we are off to Oxford University, Stratford (where Shakespeare was born) and the Cotswolds. Write again soon. I'll explain the photos and where they're from next time if I can. xoxo

In Earls Court, London

My sister tells me I made some mistakes in my last blog.... I haven't re-read it yet but I hope it makes sense. Just remember that I was VERY TIRED!!!

So yesterday we arrived into Heathrow at 5.00am, went through customs and met our driver who brought us to our apartment in Earls Court. It's nice - very small though. We had a shower and went on the tube to Picadilly Circus, where we sorted out our theatre tickets and a good pub to watch the Origin in (still working on that one!). We also went on the London Eye in the afternoon which was FABULOUS! We walked around a lot.. down Regent Street, Oxford Street, Marylebone Road etc... the whole Monopoly Board (well, not quite).

Just before we went on the London eye, we went to Madame Tussauds. That is an awesome place - heaps bigger than I was expecting. Jordy got photos with Steven Spielberg, Spiderman & the X-men/Star Trek man (I forget his name). We also got photos with Captain Jack Sparrow! yee! Unfortunately, the internet cafe where we are doesn't have USB ports in the computers so we can't send any photos just yet, but I will keep trying.

Today we are going to the theatre so see Phantom of the Opera (depends on availability. We wanted to see Chicago, but can't.) as well as Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

Will write again soon.

Europe, baby!

Hi everyone. So we're in Hong Kong.. it's 11.30pm Australian time but only 9.30pm here. I'm really feeling it!! I need some sleep!!! The internet we're using at the moment is FREE!!!!! haha... we had to agree to receive marketing materials from Kenfair... I have no idea who they are, but we have no HK dollars and don't wish to pay the fees on our credit card for a few dollars' worth of internet.

It is so weird that we're in another country - I can't believe it. There is a funky place in the food court here called (Somethings' ...) Chicken & Biscuits. What the?? Who thought of putting chicken and biscuits together? The exchange rate is really hilarious here. AU$1 buys HK$5.40.... which means things that would cost hardly anything here are up in the high hundreds of HK dollars. Unfortunately that kind of exchange rate won't last when we get to London. Jordy exchanged AU$360 for GBP135. So depressing!!

If any of you are going overseas in the future we would really recommend Cathay Pacific...super nice people and food! We have to go... but Jordy says hi!

Sweet sleep everyone!