Ciao Roma, you were fun... cold, but fun

Well, the reason why we have no photos is that my computer is the only way to get them uploaded and due to the craptastic plug/coverter thing I was given, my computer cannot be charged back up after we drained the battery day #1. So unfortunately the like 300 photos will have to wait.
Well, the Italian Adventure is over :( But today was very awesome. Like Phil said, the tour this morning came and got us and this tourguide was not bueno. He spent too much time blabbing about pointless, uninteresting info in the worst spots (like next to really stinky trash bins) and gave us 15 minutes in the Vatican giftshop but about 30 seconds in the Piazza Navona. The Piazza Navona with the really pretty Four Rivers fountain was the next stop and then to the Pantheon and the Spanish Steps. Most of the walk, I spent joking around with the Australian family rather than listening to our guide.
Then Phil and I, the brilliant people we are, decided to walk all the way to the Tiber River again. But it was well worth it. Castel d' Angelo was beautiful. Phil was more than thrilled that there was weapons there and he went running around at the armory. It definitely gave us some awesome photos of the view of the city. Then we walked all the wall back to the hotel then set out again to find gifts and ended up walking all the way to the Tiber AGAIN! Unfortunately, it seemed as though every store was selling the same exact cheap little things which I was not interested in.. so shopping was made less fun. The night ended with delicious dinner, pistachio tiramisu, and more walking. Finally ended with me begging Phil to help me take off my boots because I couldnt get my feet out of them after all the walking. Ciao Roma!

The last day....

Well my friends it seems to have finally come to an end. Kelly and I are getting picked up tomorrow at 6:20 am (local time) to go to the airport. But we made sure to make the last day as great as possible. We had our final scheduled tour in the morning though the first part was kinda boring since we went over the Vatican again. Afterward though we went though piazza navona. It was packed! Apparently there is a market that comes up only during the christmas holiday. They had all kinds of christmas items and a treat that looked like a giant doughnut that you can get topped with nutella. It looked delicious but we didn't get a chance to get one. In the middle of the square was a large fountain that looked pretty cool. Next up was the Pantheon. It was astonishing despite the fact that we didn't get to look at it very long since it had a church inside and services were starting up. It was interesting to see though that the dome was a perfect half sphere. It's amazing what you can apparently do with lots of free time and just about as many slaves.... The spanish steps were just steps to me but it seemed to be a pretty busy area. The worst part though was all the street peddlers that were out. Kelly and I got pretty annoyed after the, what seemed to be tenth one, wanted us to buy flowers. Once we got back to the hotel we tried to figure out what to do next. The only thing within walking distance was the Castel Sant' Angelo. This was originally a tomb for the Roman emperors but over time became a fortress for the popes. From the top though you get one of the best views of the city since there really aren't any skyscrapers here. It was fun though. I got to see all the weapons that were there (even if there weren't a lot).
The adventure to find dinner begins. After buying some gifts we went to look for a nice place to have our last meal in the country. After being bothered by waiters outside of many establishments we finally settled on one that was apparently just off via del corso. It was awesome. The food was phenomenal and it wasn't packed. It was a nice relaxed Italian dinner which is going to make dinner with my dads side of the family kinda bad cause I'm a little sick of Italian food at this point.
Well we're all packed (at least I am, Kelly has a few more things left) and have to get some sleep so we don't miss our flight. See you when I see you.

Roma

So, as Phil told you, we quite the busiest day in Rome. The Vatican was intense. The Museums were amazing, unfortunately we only could see like 4 rooms out of like the 20 that they have, but well worth it seeing how we got to go into the Sistine Chapel. The impressive things about the Museums is that they have paintings on the ceilings that are so well done that they could have fooled me that they were 3-D when they actually are not. The Sistine Chapel, where the conclave meets when electing the new pope and where the unreal ceiling is, was breathtaking. Unfortunately, many tourists don't have a lot of respect so viewing it all was kinda ruined by people not following the simple rules of no photos and silence. There was these one pair of girls that were trying to take a photo of them with the paintings in the background and one of the guards yelled at them and they didn't stop. Then the guard walked and stood in the line of the photo and still the girl didn't stop. Finally, one of the guards grabbed the photo about 10 secs before they snapped the picture. The grotto (where the popes are buried) was awesome too, Cool to see the tomb of St. Peter and other popes. But the best part of the day came later, seeing the Capitoline Museums, Trevi Fountain, and the Mouth of Truth. The Mouth of Truth, which you may remember from the movie "Roman Holiday". Its actually a sewer drain cover that they would bring people too, ask them a question, and have them stick their hand inside. The Mouth was said to distinguish the liars from the truth-tellers. I was pretty stoked to see it. The night was finally brought to a close with me falling down the stairs of our hotel and then eating ice cream to make up for it. Last day in Rome tomorrow :(

Rome Day 2

So today was fun but it also hurt. Kelly and I must have walked at least 7 km down to Circo Massimo and the mouth of truth. She thinks we got lost but I knew exactly where I was going. The highlight of the day was the tour of Vactican city. We actually got picked up this time by the tour company and made it to the start point on time. Our tour guide was very good and it funny. At the start of the walking portion an elderly gentleman was using an oxygen tank and was telling the tour guide that he couldn't walk that fast and that the guide needed to slow down. To which the tour guide promptly responded that we have to walk across all of Vatican city and that he needs to keep up with the rest of the group. It was probably something you had to be there for... Once though the security point we walked out to see some of the Pope's private garden and was in for a treat. A few moments later a company of Swiss guard (probably in training) marched by on the road. Kelly was surprised by the use of the poleaxe and said it was very intimidating. Then I got to explain the use in the medieval battlefield cause I'm a bit of a weaponry geek. But as we moved along we got to see the catacombs beneath St. Peter's and all the dead popes that are buried there. Then into the massive St. Peter's bascillica. No words can do it justice. It took three hundred years to finish it and it was easily seen why it took so long. There were statues and tombs and details everywhere. There was a mosaic that was made with pieces of marble. And there were tons of colors and tints to each color which it amazing. The sistine chapel was good and seeing the paintings was nice. The only problem is that you have to look up the entire time which made my neck hurt.
Afterwards we got lunch and made our way to the Trevi fountain, to Capitaline hill (including a museum containing a bunch of Michealangelo's work), and then down to the mouth of truth and Cicro Massimo. After walking all day we came back to the hotel to rest for a minute and then got lazy and had dinner at the cafe next to the hotel again. I actually had a cup of coffee though it was really strong but I made my though the majority of the cup. All we have left is a tour tomorrow morning and then free time until our flight at 9:30 am (Rome time) monday morning.

Firenze and Roma

So, Florence was definitely completely different from Venice. Florence, almost completely created to what it is now by the Medici family, is very artistic. Less condensed than Venice, it was very unique in that it had a lot of art in it. We went on a bus up to see Friesole, a town on the top of the hill that overlooks Florence. These hills also have enormous villas that used to be owned by such people like Milton, Mark Twain, and Leonardo da Vinci. We Then got to see some of the rest of the city. I mistook the tower dedicated to "Saint Nicholas" as dedicated to Santa... I still have yet to see how it was a huge mistake like Phil said. We also then got to see the Santa Croce church, where allegedly a piece of the cross that Jesus was crucified on was brought. We saw the front of the Duomo (House of the Lord) which is actually the 4th largest church in the world and let me tell you, it was freaking huge! We also saw the Uffizi which I was excited to see the Birth of Venus by Botticelli.
Today we arrived in Rome after much drama with the train and the driver and pay phones that we didn't understand. It was frustrating, especially because we had absolutely no idea where our hotel was at all. We barely made it to our tour this afternoon, for some reason the bus didn't pick us up. But we got to see the Colesseum, Forum, and several other places. Tonight's dinner was absolutely amazing Pasta Carbonara in this glass box of a restaurant, delicious and probably incredibly fattening, but totally worth every bacon-y, cream-y, pasta filled bite.

FINALLY!

Well the title of this pretty much sums it up. We finally made it to Rome after the train that we were supposed to catch being canceled because of snow in Venice (Kelly really wanted to see snow). We finally found out how to use the pay phones here in Italy (there were never any directions). Finally found the driver and got to the hotel (Roman drivers suck btw). Finally got on the tour bus after the company forgot to pick us up and then the taxi driver dropped us off at the wrong spot and spent an antagonizing 15 min running around with Kelly trying to find the bus. But all of this pales in comparison to the fact that WE HAVE FREE INTERNET AND TV CHANNELS IN ENGLISH!!!! (the only problem with the internet though is that the converter that we have doesn't work so well so it takes a while to charge the laptop).

Now that I got that out of my system I can continue with our travels. Obviously you haven't heard from us for a while and that's because of the internet in the previous hotels. They charged us for it and while in Florence we weren't at the hotel enough for it to be useful. So to recap Florence. Lot's of art and statues and cold. The wind was biting and it was just above freezing even during the day. I'm not really big into art so it was nice to see the paintings and statues from the ancient greats like Michealangelo and Leonardo but it wasn't my cup of tea. Though the buildings like Santa Croce and the Duomo (in Florence at least) were amazing. The Duomo is the 4th largest church in the world and it was a little depressing that we couldn't spend more time there to go inside and see it. The food though was pretty good. We had a chardonnay in this little restaurant we found called Rittino (i think) that was excellent. I really must find that when I get home. We had to wake up really early today to get to the museum to see the real David but I don't think it was really worth waking up that early to see it. Though an interesting side note we did see the Italian President while we were going to the Uiffizi. Once we found the tour bus for Rome we rode and walked along to see the Coliseum and the Forums. Kelly's camera ran out of batteries which made us both upset because we couldn't take anymore pictures for the day. Because the train was late I didn't get a chance to eat lunch :( so I was working on just breakfast but I made up for it with dinner. Thankfully the hotel that we are staying at has a cafe and we get a 15% discount. Tomorrow we have the Vatican tour in the morning which should be a lot of fun.

Last Day in Venice

So, this afternoon I agree went a lot better that day #1. First off, I wasn't a zombie walking around trying to keep my eyes open and enjoy everything on 2 days of sleep. And also, we got to see so much. San Marco Square is so beautiful, despite the world's fattest pidgeons being there, especially with the lions with the books everywhere which is the symbol of Saint Mark. I also enjoyed the Basilica, which has beautiful mosaics everywhere, sadly no pictures because it is a church. We went to see the Bridge of Sighs inside the doge's palace in which the entrances down there are about 5'6" tall. Phil, knowing this ducked several times to get under them but didn't see one right in front of him and ran smack into it. It was hilarious for me, especially because I didnt have to duck at all and could walk clear under it. Murano, Burano, and Torchello were amazing. The shop keeper at Murano liked me very much, so don't listen to Phil, people do like me over here. Least I attempt to speak Italian, unlike him of whom refuses to try to speak any Italian. Not even a bon giorno or grazie! We got to walk down to Ponte Rialto tonight as well, very pretty at night. Shockingly, it does not smell like ocean. I refused on the way back to walk on the thin little dock things they have, but thats because knowing me, I'd go tumbling into the Grand Canal while Phil stood aside and laughed and took pictures. Tomorrow, we migrate to Florence via train to explore that new city. Hopefully this time Phil will entertain himself by other things instead of playing the "i'm not touching you" game like the plane ride from Rome to Venice.

Venice Day 2

Woke up and had a pretty decent breakfast provided by the hotel. They had this chocolate spread that was really good on just about everything. Then we set out for an early tour of St. Mark's Square which is right around the corner from the hotel. Let me tell ya the best way to beat jet lag is to be walking around in the freezing cold all day long. Cause when you can't fell your brain telling you to sleep it's easy to ignore it.
First thing we noticed was how high the water had become. More then half the square was under water, this was apparently because of the high tide during the winter so we walked around on platforms that the city had set up for people to walk on. Our tour guide showed us around the Basillica and then we went into the Doge's Palace. Interesting thing is the Doge is kinda like the president but the palace also had the prisons. Which I compare to the president living at Ft. Leavenworth. Then we grabbed some lunch from a little shop near the square. Our adventure then lead us to a boat which took us on a tour of Murano, Burano, and Torcello. This was a little bit of a let down. The only good thing was the Murano stop because of the gas blowing demo and items they had there. We had lunch at a nice restaurant right next to Pointe di Rialto on the Grand Canal. Since dinner was small I needed something else to eat which lead Kelly to want Gelato. It was good though I couldn't really tell the difference between it and the other gelato's that I have had over the years. This may annoy the Italians but I just can't tell though it may have been that my mint chocolate chip flavor may have been overly minty.

PHOTOS

http://picasaweb.google.com/kelly.parks24

So it begins

Well the airplane ride wasn't so bad except for the fact that I couldn't sleep and the guy sitting in front of me put his seat all the way back which meant that i couldn't really see the screen to watch movies unless it hunched into the smallest position i could so that i could barely see the screen. Once we arrived in Rome we had to go through another security checkpoint. why? i have no idea considering they let anyone through (even those that set off the metal detectors). The flight to Venice was short and I, of course, kept myself occupied by watching Kelly do crossword puzzles and telling her the answers to the ones she missed (not really cause she really likes the people magazine crossword and has threatened me more then once with bodily harm if I give away the answers even though she's only kidding). Also the airports were old school style for getting off cause we didn't have a nice terminal and walkway to go up. Nope, we went down a set of stairs and then onto a bus to take us to the terminals, which given the temperature outdoors wasn't a pleasant experience. After getting bad directions twice and walking past the hotel three times we finally arrived. It's a nice place despite the fact that the outside is under construction. Then Kelly freaked out in the elevator. At first I thought she was having an asthma attack but then she started going on about losing her camera which caused the hotel managment to think that someone was dying in the elevator (heck even I though she was having a stroke or something). Once in the room however i pointed out that the camera was in her jacket pocket. Crisis averted.
Then came the gondola tour, which people had to fail to mention, that featured a singer and the all important accordian player which made the ride a bit more romantic then we would have liked. After that we headed back to the hotel and proceded to pass out for the next 15 hours after telling ourselves we were only going to have a quick nap...oh well.

Venice!

So, We arrived in Venice after a very long and quite boring plane ride. On the plane, I fell asleep before Phil, so I was unable to take pictures of Phil sleeping and me doing the "Steven Colbert pose" The airport in Rome was VERY confusing, made worse by the pointless security checkpoint they had us go through. But we made it to the water taxi and got into the city. First off, those taxi drivers and gondoleri's make driving through those waterways look so easy but its really not. Phil and I got a chance to relax and explore a bit before our gondoleri promenade in which we had an accordian player and singer too. Super fun. Phil and I attempted with ALL our might to stay awake, but that lasted up until about 4pm when we surrendered to our jet lag and passed out and slept until 9pm in which we woke up and went to sleep again. This morning we explored the Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Basilica. Note, when traveling with an engineer they will constantly be pointing out every engineering aspect of every building and monument we pass. St. Mark's square was completely flooded with about 3 inches of water due to high tide, so there are little elevated walkways to walk through. St. Mark's Basilica is ridiculously gorgeous with mosaics everywhere and gold embellishments. Same for the Doge's Palace. Only have about 30 mins of internet time. Check out the photos!

Searched by security :(

1. If you look at our 2 passports, I look normal and Phil looks like a freaking terrorist! and 2. Between the 2 of us: a tiny redhead and a burly guy wearing a fraternity t-shirt, I think I look like the more benign one. And not only that, but they searched my bag too!!! Apparently I look as though I'm smuggling narcotics into Italy in my Florida Tech backpack along with my Craisins and Aeropostale sweatshirt. Whatever, guess its the innocent ones they have to look out for. In the airport now about to bug the crap outta Phil just because I can and now that he's mocked me for it, I have to. I dont believe I've freaked out that much.. at least not by my standards. But probably for the normal person, I was freaking out a lot

Airport

Well Kelly and I made it to the airport without any problems. Security though was another matter. TSA decided that Kelly was a slight threat and put her through some additional screening including the chemical detection system. This blows air onto you and then collects it and scans it for any dangerous chemicals. Kelly looked kinda terrified at first and then started laughing after it started. We exchanged some currency for Euros and they look strange though I like the shiny strip that's on it. All we have to do now is wait a while for our flight and we should arrive in Rome tomorrow. Gotta love international flights....I swear if Kelly annoys me the entire flight and prevents me from sleeping I don't know if she'll make it to Rome before I eject her out of the plane secret agent style (reference to the new Get Smart movie. which by the way if you haven't seen it you really should. It's pretty funny).

so it begins....

The day has finally arrived. Kelly and I will be flying over to Italy for our trip. She of course is stressing out and cleaning everything in sight whilst I am and watching sportscenter. A pretty good start to the day if you ask me. Though an introduction is probably in order. My name is Phil and I went to college with the three lovely ladies that you've already met. Though we may live in different places we still find time to hang out together and catch up every now and again. Like the christmas party at Beth's the other night. Fun times except when people kept stealing my gifts until i eventually got stuck with the Hannah Montana poster (this will be given away eventually). Our plane leaves Miami in about 6 hours so more updates are to come (hopefully there is internet on the plane so updates about why kelly is freaking out this time can be posted in a timely matter).

PHOTOS

http://picasaweb.google.com/kelly.parks24

The NEW travelers-Kelly

So long ago (aka.. the beginning of the summer), my parents offered me a trip to Europe for my graduation present. I decided to take my good friend Phil to be my travel buddy and share this with me.. on the conditions that he be excited and also that he not ditch me in Italy (Not that being left in that gorgeous country would be aweful! ). So we are the NEW TRAVELERS!!! Phil and I will try to keep all of you in the loop and entertained. I plan on attempting to max out my memory card on my camera every day. Knowing Phil and I, we'll most likely have a whole bunch of interesting occurences along our way.
The travel itinerary goes as follows: Flight from Miami to Venice on Monday 14th. Spend 2 days in Venice then travel via Eurorail to Florence. Spend 1 day in Florence and travel via Eurorail to Rome and stay until the 21st.
After weeks of planning, drama, and attempting to learn Italian, we have arrived now at less than one week before the trip. The tickets are in, my bag is still yet to be packed, and I have yet to collect the travel buddy from Melbourne. I can't wait!!!
From the musical, Nine:
Be a singer!
Be a lover!
Pick the flower now before the chance has past!
Be Italian..... Be Italian.......
Take a chance and try to steal a fiery kiss.!
Be Italian..... Be Italian

Better Late then Never - Gwen

Our last days have gone untold here until now. Uncle John was gracious enough to not only take a day or two off of work for us but also to take Aunt Clair, Beth, and I to Norfolk. We packed up our light bags, heavy coats, and wellies. Even "little" Hetty came along. Hetty is an mountain dog which is to say there is nothing small about her. She is about 3/4 of my height in length and weighs about 100 pounds. We had to make sure the packed belongings were stored properly so she could be comfortable in the back of the Jeep Commander. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, british driving Jeep! The drive took awhile with lots of roundabouts and winding roads. The highway system is a bit lacking in terms of convenience but they make up with essentially no speed limits! Merely a suggestion! We stopped at Elly Cathedral. This was probably my favorite church in England due to the BEAUTIFUL painted ceiling. The Cathedral was Catholic but after the conversion to the Church of England, much of the original catholic decor was destroyed or covered. Afterward, we drove a little longer before catching a pub lunch and then made our way to the cottage.

We arrived at the cute little English Cottage, titled Doll House after picking up groceries in the local bread and butcher shops. We took a ride out to the beach and had a nice "little" walk to the "beach". By little I mean we probably walked a mile or two just to get to the actual shoreline and by "beach" I mean its nothing like I've seen in the states! The beach itself goes for miles along the coast but the amazing thing is how WIDE they are. The tides travel close to a mile! The most you see on the beach are shells and such...not the white sandy beaches of Miami but it was pretty awesome. We ended up there right in time for sunset. Mind you, its late January in northern England so needless to say it was cold. Almost irony to have pictures running on the beach in wellies wrapped up in our warmest jackets, pants, and head gear. After letting Hetty ran into a boy dog that couldn't keep away from her, we went back to the house for tea and snacks before dinner at Uncle John and Aunt Claire's favorite pub. Unfortunately, the wood in the wood we bought for the wood burning furnace was wet. Despite several valiant attempts to light the fire, we were defeated. The house had heaters in each of the rooms but the one in the kitchen was broken. Thankfully we had warm bedrooms.

At dinner, Beth and I tried White Bait and then our separate meals along with lots of wine to follow. White Bait is literally small almost mino-like fish that are fried whole and served. Once you got over the fact you were eating an entire fish, it was pretty good. The next day, we got a honest Uncle John English breakfast. After, we headed to town for a look at the shops. Uncle John found a book on the "Strange" family history, Beth and I found coats, and Aunt Clair found PJs for Claudia and a card for the boys. We then traveled to see the LeStrange family church, mansion, and the hotel owned by the LeStrange family. After that, we went home to find out Beth and I forgot about finally dinner with David and Aunt Grim. Dinner was excellent and then we finally got to go home. We spent our last day in England doing laundry, packing, and just plain relaxing before our big day of travel.

We had a 9:30 am flight out of Gatwick. Uncle John woke us up with cups of tea and then he and Aunt Claire drove us to the airport. We had some complications with our bookings. Apparently, when the travel agent booked our tickets, she didn't finish it all the way through so we had to wait about 15 to 20 min at the desk and let the airline sort it out. Beth and I were throughly pleased to find that we had personal entertainment systems in the head rest infront of us. We were prepared for the worst. On the 9 hour flight I watched 4 movies. Beth slept through two of them. Personal recommendations: The Dutchess' story is SO hard to swallow, tears of rage....I probably won't choose to watch it again but it was a well produced film. The Mummy 3 was cheesy but a good relief from The Dutchess....as was Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Nights in Rodanthe was probably the saddest and most beautiful story. Gives true meaning to better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. Once we landed in Atlanta, we made our way to baggage claim, where there was a small hound pup sniffing the bags. HE WAS SO CUTE! I couldn't help but put your bags down and just say, "please come sniff my bags, cute puppy!!" We then made it through customs, dropped off our bags for the connecting flight and then went through security again before having to take the tram from terminal E to A. This time we actually had enough time to catch some "afternoon tea" before making it to our flight. Considering by the time we left Atlanta at 4 pm we had a 12 hour day, I forced a cup of coffee to help me stay awake. We were in the back of the plane and there were crying babies...again. Maybe next time, Beth and I will fly first class! :)

Cambridge and London (Part Two)

We got a hold of Uncle Ian and decided to meet him in Cambridge for lunch on Monday. Aunt Claire was not working so she went with us, driving us in to town. For those of you who don't know my eccentric family, Uncle Ian is a fellow at Cambridge Universtiy. He invented some math formula that turned out to have incredible results when applied to economics. Just think A Beautiful Mind. No joke. The guy, however, is TOO smart. For example, he never learned to drive because he just couldn't keep his mind on something so mundane. He also tends to not think about such mundane things as changing the sweater vest he just dripped lunch on. That said, he was looking really well when we met him (Dad). He actually was wearing both a undershirt AND a collared shirt (and even a sweater vest!) with his tweed jacket.

So we met up with him and had a brief tour of Trinity College. He showed us the library, designed by a man whose name escapes me. He was known for his woodwork, so the shelves have intricately carved end pieces. From there we took a tour of the lunch hall where we then ate WITH THE FELLOWS! This is like, Harry Potter style, one big raised table for fellows/professors and all the students at lower tables. Plus, we got better food. I watched as students would look up, see Gwen and I, and ask their neighbor who we were. From there, we walked over to the King's College Chapel (more like a Cathedral and partially donated by Henry VIII). He then took us to Our Lady St.Mary's Church and even climbed the 125 steps to the top with us. For a guy pushing 86, that's impressive. We then walked past this really interesting clock which used concentric rings of LED's to display the time on the way back to the car. Claudia and I had a ride that evening again.

On Tuesday, Gwen and I decided to do London again. Aunt Claire drove us to the station this time so we didn't have to get up at 6am to catch the train with Uncle John. We took the tube to Westminster Abbey first. Obviously, we got some great views of Parliament and Big Ben too, since it's right there. We then spent a good couple hours in the Abbey. It was really so amazingly beautiful. They didn't allow pictures, so you'll have to take my word for it. They also have some of the best preserved examples of medieval mosaic floors in the world. From there, we had the obligatory pub lunch before rushing over to Buckingham Palace and then back to the tube so we could catch the 4:10 train back to Audley End and meet Aunt Claire as she picked up the kids. Once again, I went and rode Pollyanna for Claudia who had piano.

I'll post about Norfolk at a later date. Clearly, we are now back in the United States. I'll see if I can't get Gwen to do a "wrap up post" too so we have some closure on here.

York

So, I realize I've been terrible and haven't posted since our first couple days here. I'm just going to cover our time in York in this post and then I'll cover the rest in more. Once again, I'm sorry for the delay.

York:
My cousin David arranged a couple days in York for us. His mum, Aunt Margaret, picked us up in the morning and took us to meet him at the train station. We took the train to York, making several changes at Cambridge, Ely, and Peterborough. When we arrived, we hiked the couple kilometers to the hotel. The hotel, which he had also arranged, was amazing. Not only did it have an amazing breakfast each morning (free of charge) but the appliances in the rooms were really great. I think I might even buy one of the ipod docks.
We decided to make the York Minster our first stop. This has really been a trip full of churches. After having seen the churches at Lavenham, Bury St. Ed's, and Thaxted, the Minster was a must see. Not only was the church itself amazing, but it's tower (a whopping 275 steps above the ground) offered an amazing view of York. We then took a trip down to the crypt where lie the remains of both the original 1100 Saxon church which was built there (hence why it is called a "minster") as well as the Roman ruins which date back to about 300. In fact, Constantine was in York when the current emperor died and he was named emperor in 306, although it took him until 310 to solidify his rule against his rivals.
We topped off the night with a ghost walk which left from the King's Arms pub. Apparently, this pub, which is right down next to the water, floods all the time! The walk took us all around York from Clifford's tower to the Shambles and back. Finishing off with a pint, we headed back to the hotel.
The second day we set out to see everything. We did the Yorvik viking center to start, touring the site of the ancient viking city beneath the streets of York itself! The street names were even the same! The Viking "Coppregatte" or "Cup Maker" steet is the modern day "Coppergate". From there, we headed over to the York dungeon, facing down the black death, Guy Fawkes and even Dick Turpin, the famous highway man who was hanged in York for stealing the horse "Black Bess". Afterwards, we hightailed it over to the Castle Museum where we experienced the streets of york as they would have been in victorian times, and in the 60's. We also wandered through exhibits in what used to be the jail! I tried to lock Gwen in but she escaped... :-P
We stopped in at Clifford tower for another view of York. I nearly tripped over my own feet playing hopscotch with the rocks on the top walkway. At that point, we were really tired and decided to go back to the hotel to regroup before dinner. Dinner was at this amazing Italian restaurant. The food was so good that I couldn't finish my chocolate cake dessert.
We woke up early the next day (Saturday) and hopped the train back to Audley End. However, there was no rest for the weary as that night was the Strange's Burn's Night celebration. Burn's Night is a gathering held to honor the Scottish poet Robert Burns. The tradition centers around hagis, a scottish delicacy which involves some sort of meat stuffed inside a lamb's stomach and cooked. The hagis is brought in, traditionally to bag pipe music, and then a poem (usually Burns' "Ode to The Hagis") is read. The ladies may also be addressed and then everyone takes a shot of whiskey, and the hagis is stabbed before being served. I had the honor of stabbing it. We Americans acquitted ourselves quite well. We began with the champagne, moved on to pink champagne, finished our whiskey and ended the night with both red and white wine. By the end of the night we were both exhausted and slightly tipsy.

This brings us up to our second Sunday. We pretty much lazed around, with the exception of Claudia and myself who went to the barn for a ride on Polly. I will leave the tales of this last week to another post as they include more fun and, oddly enough, more churches. Once again, I apologize for the delay in posts, we've just been so busy and enjoying ourselves so much! Our hosts have all been amazing!

England Stage one - Recovery/The Countryside

We took a day to recover. We woke up and braved the AGA to try and make our own breakfast. Emboldened by our success with fried eggs and toast, we made an attempt to use the washing machine to try and get some laundry done. The day was certainly needed. The next day was spent putzing around at the barn for a bit. We met Pollyanna the new pony. She's a beautiful Conamara cross palomino. She's a little tubby and a little obsinante, but Claudia rides her beautifully. After returning home, we read until Uncle John crashed the party and joined us for dinner.

Monday we decided to go into London with Uncle John and check out the British museum. We spent a good 5 hours wandering about the museum, particularly in the Egyptian and Greek wings, admiring pieces of the Sphinx and the Parthenon that we missed. They even had a piece of the temple of Artemis at Ephesus! After a brief stop in "Africa" we finally braved the tube to check out the Tower of London. We were a little late for the tours there, but we spent 2 to 2.5 hours wandering in the medieval castle, crown jewels house and the white tower. Arriving home, we were exhausted and I was finally coming down with that nasty cold that Gwen has had.

Tuesday, Aunt Margaret asked if she could take us about the British countryside. We admired the cathedral at Lavenham. After wandering the streets and checking out an antique shop, we continued on to Bury St.Edmund's to see their Cathedral, Guild hall and other attractions. Arriving home, we had more wine and chats before finally heading for bed.

Today, we spend the day checking out Finchingfield and Thaxted with Aunt Clare. We even did a proper pub lunch, bangers and mash! We also went shopping for the ingredients of tonight's excellent curry which was amazing!

Tomorrow we're off to York with David for a couple days. So we'll keep you posted later!

Cruise Day 11-12

The last couple days of the cruise were relatively uneventful. We had a lazy sea day, packing, working out, and even trying our hand at trivia. That evening there was an "adult scavenger hunt". I leave it at that ;-). I did however prove myself to be my father's daughter by winning myself free drinks. Our favorite buddy Hencel had a metal puzzle (a heart on a horse shoe with cross piece) and he told me if I could solve it he would owe me free drinks all night. I honestly didn't think I could do it. Dad is the genius at these things, but suddenly, there was the answer... and my free drinks! We arrived back in Barcelona at the ungodly hour of 5am and had to be off the boat by about 9:30am. So we arrived at the airport with about 8 hours to spare before our flight. This proved to be no problem between napping, eating, and reading.

We had already sought out dinner at the airport and were REALLY surprised when they offered us sandwiches on the airplane. Arriving at Gatwick very late, we were met by the Strange ladies who hauled us back to Unwin's farmhouse (now twice it's original size) in their new American Jeep. The house has expanded amazingly! It's hard to explain, but the kitchen has doubled in size, and the door is now on the other size. There is a second living room (slightly larger than the other one which is now the boys' game room). The upstairs bath room has been expanded and Claudia's room demolished, but three new bedrooms added. I shall try and get pictures so we can play the game "guess what used to be here".

We chatted a bit, but really couldn't keep our eyes open much longer.

Cruise and afterward Gwen

My head is healing just fine. We loved visiting Malta. I gave in to the carriage ride around the city just because I know how much Beth wanted to do it. :) We had one more day at sea and enjoyed time to pack and get our things in order. We spent the evening hanging out with Hencel and Stacey from College Station (my Texas buddy). We played probably the craziest scavenger hunt (rivals college days). I won't go into details....its kinda one of those things that "what happens on the cruise boat stays on the cruise boat." ;)

We spent the entire Friday in the Barcelona airport. It was pretty interesting. We took a nap in the lobby area for an hour, then ate lunch at this horribly expensive buffet and sat there for 4 more hours reading our respective "trip" books. We left once Beth finished her book and then waited the last 45 min or so in the lobby before being able to check in for our flight. We then finally got to check in our bags and quickly went through security. We grabbed a quick dinner and coffees at the airport before getting on the plane. We actually were served FOOD for FREE on British Airways. :) We arrived and picked up our bags at the claim and walked right out to the Welcoming arms of Beth's Aunt Claire and cousin Claudia. We walked out to the car park to find that they were driving a Jeep Commander!! :) Makes me feel right at home.

We got to the house and were fed tea. (I'm going to have so much TEA the next two weeks!!) Beth and I each have our OWN rooms to sleep in and stretch out in. The family is AMAZING: so nice, so fun, so caring. We spent the first day sleeping in, doing laundry, and just plain relaxing. We took the dog, Hetty, out for a walk in the country. We drank lots of wine that night with Aunt Claire and had a long girl talk. We had an English breakfast and then headed out to the stables to meet Polly Anna the pony. We might actually go for a "hack" while we are here. :) Uncle Jonny came home from his business trip at dinner.

Today we woke up with the kids and Uncle Jonny and went into London together with Jonny. He paid for all day travel tickets for us. Its really quite interesting to see how much the Obama inaguration is published in the English newspapers. They realllllly like him! We spent 5 hours at the British Museum gawking at the things that the British Museum collected from the places we've seen in the last two weeks. We also had a great time taking goofy pictures with the artifacts. We then jumped on the tube again and made our way down to the Tower of London. We spent a full two hours there before doing our best to make our way back to the train station. We are now fed...and going to an early bed for a LONG sleep before lunch with 1st cousin twice removed, Aunt Margaret, aka Grim. :) Should be fun!

Beth's Cruise Day 10

Jan 14

We arrived in Malta late. We didn’t even get to disembark until 11:30AM. Our first order of business was to find an internet café where we uploaded quite a few photos and took care of some email and skype business. From there we sought lunch at a lovely little Maltese café. On the way, we stopped to buy new books, having finished the ones we brought. We each, ironically, chose a book that sort of fit both ourselves and our trip. Gwen chose a book that centers around Gaudi and the Sagrada Familia. Mine centers around Alexander the Great and his lost tomb.

From there we wandered down the main street, stopping to admire the Cathedral of St. John. We paid to enter the Armoury of the Grand Masters. Apparently the island was run and protected by these warrior monks the Knights of St.John. They held off the Muslim armies of Suleiman through a siege in 1565. Ten of their number killed 3000 muslims in one assault. The grand masters ruled the order and the one who was the head during the siege (John Valette) had the fortress built and named the city Valetta for himself. Their armament even contained rocket launchers and air guns.

We walked to the gardens of Barakka and then hired a horse carriage to take us around the city and back to the boat. Back onboard we met an awesome couple in the hot tubs. From there we ran to dinner in Alizar and then hurried to catch Lenny Windsor’s comedy in Spinnaker, which sucked. Afterwards, we checked out the Chocoholic Buffet, complete with chocolate dragons etc., before bed.

Cruise Days 7 - 9 Gwen

So I felt Beth had the details of the Egypt trip pretty well covered but per the request of "others" I will post on my views of the last couple of days.

Egypt was eye opening. It was incredibly surreal standing in front of the Great Pyramid and not just standing in front but also touching it. I think those photos are worth more than the panoramas but Beth might beg to differ. Also walking through the beautiful mosque and seeing the city was an experience where photos don't do the view the justice it deserves. Cairo was a very very very long day. It was great that we were taken to a lot of different places. I struggled with my hypoglycemia a bit but Beth was a real trooper and stuck with me through the wining and the stubborness that comes with my episodes. We both bought cartoochs. It was very interesting to know the interpretation of the letters according to Hieroglyphics. The things you learn about yourself just by the name you were given. :-P Alexandria was also very interesting city. The dividing line between the three levels of income were staggering. The streets on the west side of the city were very dirty, very crowded, but once we went through the central part of the city, we were exposed to the resort hotels and palaces of rulers. The water is gorgeous. The blue is barely captured in the pictures.

Once we got back from Alexandria, Beth and I were exhausted. We were very excited about the spa treatment. I was the very last of the group to be taken back. It was a luxurious series of treatments. I felt like a whole new person afterwards. We continued the celebration of being treated like queens to dress up for dinner and enjoy some entertainment.

We had a lazy sea day, per usual. We caught up on the lost sleep from the two pervious long days. I got up early (8:30) and went to breakfast by myself before going back to sleep. After lunch and our workout, I enjoyed a quick snack before we went to the hot tub. I'm pretty sure I could get bored doing this every day but for now I'm soaking up the luxury. We showered and relaxed for a while before getting ready to go to dinner. I was talented enough (with the help of the rough seas) to hit my head on the corner of the chair. I covered my forehead and slowly rolled to the floor. Beth walked over and checked on me, only to notice the blood on my hands. We quickly cleaned up and then went to dinner. More later...the battery is dying. Love you all...we will update on the 17th!

Beth's Cruise Day 9

The 9th day was a sea day. As is now typical of us on a sea day, we slept until about noon. From there we sought out breakfast, and then had some time to do journaling and picture uploads. From there we hit the gym (all that food the night before at Papa's Italian restaurant was getting to us). The boat was REALLY rocking which made running interesting. It was kind of like doing randomized hills. Sometimes I was running uphill, and then downhill... but you never knew when it would get worse or better or change. Afterwards, we spent some time in the hot tub to complete our workout. After showering and reading for a bit it was dinner time. We went to the regular dining room but had the rest of our Chianti (best red I've ever had I think...).

For the evening's entertainment there was comedy in the lounge. So we checked that out and then got all decked out in white for the "White Hot Party". It was white.... It wasn't so hot. It was sort of a bust. But the cruise director was dancing on stilts and I met some nice girls from Iowa so it turned out alright.

We're actually in Malta at the moment at an internet cafe getting the best service we've had in ages. We'll probably do some exploring and post on it later. TTFN! Ta Ta For Now!

Beth's Cruise Day 8

Jan 12
Wow was I tired. Like, pry me out of bed with a crowbar (or the promise of more Egypt) tired. We discovered, to our delight, we were on the same bus as our Alabama buddies, two older couples from Alabama who have sort of adopted us. We started with the catacombs of Kom El-Shugafa ( the Hill of Broken Plates) where we could not take pictures :-( . The catacombs date back to the second century A.D. and are an excellent example of how Egyptian culture had become a blend of the traditional Pharonic and Greek cultures. For example, the façade of the main tomb for the governor of Alexandria and his family included a mummification scene with Anubis, protection from both Isis and Medusa, and a scene of the governor offering a necklace to the bull god Serapis. Serapis is a combination of the greek god Zeus (king of the gods, known to take shape as a bull) and the Egyptian bull god Apis. Together they are “Serapis”. The tomb didn’t just contain the governor. There were hundreds of “Locali” or small rectangular holes for other mummies. There was also a large hall with a hole named Caracaulla’s hole for the Roman Emperor Caraculla who massacred hundreds of people in that hole for an uprising. Another point of interest is who they credit the discovery of these catacombs to. Give up? It’s a donkey. The poor thing fell down the hole of Caraculla in 1892, discovering the catacombs.
From there we went straight to the National Archaeological Museum. Originally the house of a wealthy lumber merchant and then the U.S. consulate, it was returned to the Egyptian government for the museum. It has a large collection ranging from Greco-Roman art to Coptic Christian artifacts and of course, a few mummies. However, I felt like our tour guide droned on and on about the Greco-Roman section and rushed us through the rest. From there, we had a photo stop at the royal gardens and palace of Farouk (now a hotel) and his private house (now the president’s residence).
We then continued on to the Fortress built on the site of the ancient Lighthouses of Alexandria which collapsed due to mining beneath them for treasure. It was built by some Sultan (honestly could not pronounce or remember his name). Finally, we ended with another photo stop at a mosque in the center of town. It’s supposedly one of the most beautiful and once again I can’t pronounce/remember the name. Arriving back on the boat, we had dinner and a nap before our spa treatment. Having been pampered beyond belief, we decided to get dressed up and do dinner at the Italian place on board. It was probably the best meal we have had yet. We then topped off the night with drinks and dancing with Hencel.

Beth's Cruise Day 7

Jan 11
OH MY GOD!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I SAW THE PYRAMIDS!!
So... where do I start? The bus left at 8:45AM, winding through the streets of Alexandria, as our guide (Heba – an awesome lady!) explained how the modern city was built on top of the ancient (pointing out the ancient Amphitheater) as well as local cultural practices/beliefs. We whizzed through the countryside (recently reclaimed) approaching Cairo (which is actually made up of Cairo, Gizeh and Aswan) from the west bank which is Gizeh. We drove right up to a spot between the great pyramid (built by Pharoh Kyops 4650 years ago) and the slightly smaller pyramid of his son King Kaffrin. Kaffrin, however, was smart. He built his pyramid on higher ground and in the “foreground” such that his always APPEARS bigger. But it isn’t. The great pyramid is 137m tall. It used to be 146m when it was topped with a metal (electrum) point. The point was broken up and stolen.
We wandered about fighting off souvenirs, gifts, camel rides, marriage proposals and sleazy policemen who wanted tips for doing their job. All over, people tried to take our cameras to snap pictures of us for tips. We refused to be conned. I actually TOUCHED both pyramids! We also saw some of the smaller pyramids of the royal ladies and the funeral temple of both kings. A funeral temple is where the body was taken after mummification for the actual ceremony before being entombed in the pyramid. The third and smallest pyramid, built by Kaffrin’s son Mankereset, is small because, instead of covering it with high quality limestone like his fathers, he wished to cover his with the more difficult to obtain rock granite. He feared that if he made the pyramid any bigger it would not be completed in his lifetime.
We were then taken to the high point on the Gizeh plateau for panaoramic shots. From there we drove to the Sphinx. Also built in honor of King Kaffrin, it was actually a sort of “left over” stone. It was later used by Mohammed Ali to justify his claim to the throne. He claimed he had fallen asleep in the shadow of the sphinx and been told that he must clear the sand away from it and he will become Pharoh. When he awoke, he worked for 3 days and 3 nights removing the sand and was crowned 4 years later. We then wandered through yet another temple before I engaged in my first bit of bargaining to get Sarah a little critter friend. I’m sure she’ll love it :-P.
From there we drove to the Nile where we were having lunch on a boat. The food was rather western but the entertainment was definitely not, including a belly dancer and whirling dervish. Returning to the bus we drove out to the Citadel of Cairo to see the mosque built by Mohammed Ali (the father of modern Egypt) in 1805. It was beautiful. Here our host also explained some of the tenets of Islam to our group and I thought she did a great job addressing some common misconceptions without being too blatant about it. From there, we drove down to the Papyrus Institute where we learned how to make papyrus and received cartooches we had ordered with our names on them. Exhausted, we slept for the 3 hour bus ride back and pretty much crashed once we reached the boat.

Blog Manager's Note

I have discovered that there is a 500 picture limit to an album on Picasa. I have now rearranged our pictures in to 5 albums. The first (Traveling Trouble) is for pictures taken while traveling (i.e. on the boat, on a plane etc.). The second (Barcelona) is for pictures taken in Barcelona. The third is Rome, the fourth Athens and the fifth Ephesus. This will make organization a little easier. I will update the links so that there is a link to each specific album. It may take a while for these changes to be in full effect though as it takes FOREVER for us to upload anything on the boat and it will all have to wait until we get to Malta and find a faster internet connection.

Beth's Cruise Day 3 - 6

Jan 6
Location: Rome
Our excursion met at 8:15 am in the Stardust theater so we woke up early to get in a full breakfast before disembarking. Assigned to tour bus 11, we were greeted by our Civitavechian tour guide Fillipo (a rather cute, albeit effeminate, young man). He pointed out Michelangelo’s fortress, the home of the virgin mary statue which cried blood and the borders of Tuscany as we made the one hour drive to Rome. Arriving in Rome, we went straight to the Coliseum. Here we learned that it had been built using blocks of a rather common stone with metal pegs between them (earthquake proofing) and then covered in marble which was later stripped to build St.Peter’s Basilica (as was the bronze in the Pantheon). Built by jewish slaves brought back by Tiberius after the sack of Jerusalem (for which there stands an arch memorial down a lane), it was torn down and then later partially destroyed by the popes. Right next door stands the Arch of Constantine which commemorates his legendary victory against a claimant of the throne where he saw in a vision the cross and heard a voice tell him he would be victorious under that symbol.
Avoiding shout-out #4 from a large Italian man dressed as a gladiator, we walked down the Via Dei Fori Imperiali to see the remains of the Roman forum. The senate house is perhaps the only building still standing and this is only because it was converted into a church. Another column, originally built to honor some T__ius emperor for his victory in Romania had been blessed by the pope and the bronze statue on top replaced with one of St.Peter. We also saw the remains of a temple to the Goddess Minerva, who was both the goddess of wisdom and housework, dedicated to women. Ironic no?
At the end of the “via” stands the Palazza Venezia and the Palac Vittorio which was built to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861 and is named for the 1st Italian King. From there, we hopped the bus to lunch which zoomed past such points of interest as the Circus of Nero, the ruins of the palace of the Caesars, the baths of Carcella, the wall of Aurelius, the fortress of St. Angelo, the Sistine BRIDGE and other historically significant sites. I was desperate to soak up as much knowledge as possible.
Lunch was amazing. It began with lasagna, progressed to salad (strange), continued with pork loin and green beans and finished with Tiramisu and the best coffee I have ever had. I did not need sugar and (for me) that is saying a lot. We then drove down to the Vatican – the smallest state in the world (less than 40 Hectares), though it actually owns 40% of Rome. Here we saw St. Peter’s Basilica. Built by pope Alexander VIIit took 100 years and 12 architects such as Burnini, Michelangelo, Raphael, etc. to build it (please forgive misspellings there, we have no more internet time to use to check on these things). Inside of course was Michelangelo’s “Pieta” or “Mourning of the Virgin Mother”, the bronze statue of St. Peter (these are the only two remaining pieces of the original Constantinian church), and the bronze canopy over the pope’s altar. The canopy, only 9 stories high (as opposed to the 130m of the dome above) was sculpted by Burnini. The dome is in fact the tallest structure ever built before the use of reinforced concrete!
Back outside, we admired the colonnades (covered in the name Alexander VII in case you forget), statues of peter and paul, the Egyptian obelisk, the papal balcony and the nativity scene which was in residence in the square as it was the Epiphany (January 6th). This is also why the Sistine chapel was closed. Stopping for dinner at the Garden café we arrived back at our room to discover a towel elephant! We immediately dubbed him Humphrey and placed him in a position of honor. We then went to see Duo Platchkov the dynamic juggling and acrobatic team which thrilled us with their stunts despite the heavy rocking of the boat. A quick stop at Spinnaker (the club) revealed it to be empty and Gwen went to call Andrew while I sought out an inside viewing area (there is none!) before bed.

Jan 7
Let’s just say... At Sea Day now means “Lazy day”. I really have nothing of consequence to report for this day.

Jan 8
Location: Piraeus/Athens
We didn’t arrive in Piraeus until 11am so we had a leisurely breakfast and then disembarked. We had planned to either take the metro or a taxi to the Acropolis and try and catch a hop-on/hop-off tour bus for the day. However, without a map or signs to the metro, we were forced to consider taxis who all refused to just take us to the Acropolis unless we paid them 165 euros to drive us around for about 4 hours to ALL of the sights. After turning down two cab drivers and even getting out of a cab when he admitted he wouldn’t just take us to the Acropolis, we finally surrendered to the tune of 120 euros. We weren’t entirely sure this was a good deal, but I think in the end we got lucky, as everything shut down at 3 due to strike. Our driver, however, still took us around for a couple more hours to peak through bars and from overlooks at a few more sites.
We started with the Acropolis, looking down in the temple of Dionysos before making the climb up past the Gates and the temple of Nike (under reconstruction) to the plateau. Here we stood in awe before both the Parthenon and the Erectheion. Before meeting up with our driver in time to get to the president’s palace and see the changing of the guard who wear HILARIOUS outfits and walk even more hysterically. I got video. One question: If they need to chase someone, do they have to use the silly walk? Having admired the stadiums built for the 2004 olympics on the way into town, we then stopped at the ancient stadium to flex our muscles a little. From there we headed to Zeus’s temple (an impressive sight and at one point one of the largest temples with the most columns ever used in a single structure). It was enclosed in a large park which also included Hadrian’s Gate, the ruins of Apollo’s temple and a roman bath. Continuing on, we stopped at Parliament for THEIR changing of the guard.
We then TRIED to stop at the National Archaeological Museum but it was now 2:30 and things were closing at an alarming rate. The ground floor of the theater of Dionysos was also closed. Our driver still took us round to both the Greek and Roman Agoras as well as the Clock Tower of the Winds before driving us back to Piraeus and to a very nice restaurant which was really rather out of our price range. Obviously he knows the people who own it or something. We settled on salads and a shared dish of shrimp and received two LARGE glasses of Oujo (sp?) on the house. Unfortunately, both Gwen and I hate licorice...so we couldn’t bear to choke down the white liquid. Noticing this, our driver asked if we didn’t drink. We laughed at this and explained our aversion to the taste to which he said “Is Greek drink! Everybody like Oujo!”. He spoke to the waiter who kindly brought over 2 LARGE glasses of wine instead. Over lunch, we tried to explain to the driver that we did NOT live with our parents and that they were NOT supporting us or paying for this trip. He was flabbergasted at the concept of two women working and living away from home, supporting themselves. He told us we should find Greek boyfriends who would support us.... RIIIIIGHT.
After a mildly awkward moment where the cab driver (old enough to maybe be my GRANDfather) asked me to go for a drink with him, we returned to the boat and went immediately to the hot tubs. After showering and changing and then grabbing a quick bite we decided to bust out the vodka we had snuck on board. Our veins flowing with liquid courage we brought the remainder to the club for 70’s night... That’s right. 70’s Night. Need I say more? Let’s just say we were absolutely ridiculous (did you know there’s a line dance to “Stayin’ Alive”?) and are now famous (or rather infamous) on board. People recognize us in elevators and the cruise director’s staff (the “fun police”) love us. Pictures may or may not be posted... we have not decided how global we would like to make our terrible dancing.... :-P

Jan 9
Location: Izmir/Ephesus
We had been intelligent enough the night before to order room service breakfast for 7am (it’s free so we are being SO spoiled!). We groggily went through the motions of getting dressed and arrived at our meeting point slightly bleary eyed. Besides being tired (5 hours of sleep will do that), I was perfectly fine. This is typical of me as I never get hung over (boy will I be in trouble when that stops! :-P). Gwen, however, was feeling stuffed up, headachey and nauseous; I think a combination of her persistent cold and a hangover.
As we found our bus, we discovered on the seats water bottles and goodie bags courtesy of Tursa Turizm (I think the national tourism bureau). The bags each contained a map, a postcard, a “blue eye” good luck charm, a tablet pendent (with explanation), a survey and a moist towelette. I was struck by just how desperate all of our hosts seemed to impress upon us the cleanliness and modernization of Turkey as well as its safety and interest for tourists. The bus trip included such spectacles as the BRAND NEW highway, Ikea, government planted forests and finally the fortress of Ephesus. Ephesus was actually built 3 times. Each time it moved as the river deposited more silt, moving the harbor. The original town was built somewhere around 1000BC, rebuilt around 600BC and then moved again around 700AD to be nearer to the fort for protection against invaders. We were going to see the second city (600 BC).
Arriving at the upper gate we walked through the “administrative” section of the city. Here was a small theater for council meetings, the senate house, government buildings and a roman bath. Walking down a lined roadway we passed the Temple of Artemis built to replace the original which was one of the seven world wonders. We then passed down a roadway to the medical district which included doctors, pharmacists (you can still see their signs!) and a tomb (perhaps an indication of the efficacy of these doctors?). There was also a temple to a roman emperor (I want to say Domician (sp?) but I’d have to check the map to be sure). Continuing on through the Gate of Hercules, past what would have been statues of great men of the city, we came upon the commercial district. This included houses and shop fronts (complete with mosaics in front of them to identify each shop), the fountain of Trajan, the temple of Hadrian and another large bath (we even saw the public toilets!). At the end of that walkway stood the breathtaking Library, the 3rd largest of the ancient world.
Here we had an oopsies and almost lost our guide, but recovered just down the road at the great theater where public gatherings were held. This is where Paul was barred from entering to preach as the people shouted “Artemis is our god!” somewhere in the book of Romans and then taken to a tower for safe keeping (St. Paul’s Tower). From there you could look down the column lined road to what used to be the harbor. We stopped at the gift shops and bought some BEAUTIFUL 100% Cashmere shawls.
On the way back, the bus stopped at a Persian rug making facility. Here we learned how silk is extracted from cocoons and how to weave rugs of wool, cotton and silk using a double knot method. We were given traditional apple tea and pastries and a brief presentation of the various types of rugs and then given the chance to purchase one. After all, for only $2,400 for a 3’x5’ rug, who could pass it up?
Arriving back on the boat we ate (Gwen was in desperate need of protein) and then napped. Waking up and deciding we deserved an incredible meal, we went to the French bistro on board. Oh my. I have not had mussels, onion soup like that since being in France. We stuffed ourselves on lamb and even scraped our plates clean of the remains of crepes suzette and crème brulee before heading up to Spinnaker for a comedy show and drinks with some of the cruise staff.

Day 6 Cruise Gwen

We were smart enough to order room service breakfast to wake us up the next morning. We got our stuff together and made our way to the meeting place. Apparently “Magnificent Ephuses” and the “Virgin Mary” excursions were well advertised. Beth and I were on bus 27! Ephuses didn’t leave much to the imagination. It was a different and the same as Athens because they were Roman ruins. This is where my camera battery died. Poor camera made it all the way through Athens, the party night, and most of today without taking a charge. Such an awesome camera! Thank you SO much Mom and Dad!
It seemed so brief a visit to Turkey. I’m sure it has much more to offer. Beth has a strong conviction that the Turkish government with really trying to pull in more tourists. The land was beautiful. I felt like Turkey was a very very young America with an exponential urban growth rate. They still hand weave carpets, and have a hard time finding girls who want to sit in front of a loom all day to work on the same carpet for 2 and a half year. I know I couldn’t handle it knowing how much more is out there in the world.
We got back on the boat immediately because our tour did not include lunch. By 2:30 I was the closest I’ve been to having an episode. Beth stuck with me and made sure we made a bee line to the buffet. Afterward, Beth took a nap and I almost finished my book. We got up for dinner at the French le Bistro. We indulged in a half bottle of Clos du Bois Chardonnay wine with dinner. I had muscles, rack of lamb with plenty of mint jelly, and crepe suzette but we missed the flambé show. Beth had onion soup, rack of lamb, and vanilla crème brulee. I would have to say...it was some of the best food we had on the boat so far. Typically this should have cost somewhere around $150...we paid $45, including gratuity. AMAZING. Afterward, we saw Second City and then bumped into Hencel Hill and Hazel Hill and sat talked and drank till 2 am.

Day 5 Cruise Gwen

We got up for breakfast and then made our way down to the gangway. We were surrounded by taxi drivers that wanted to take us around Athens. We were quoted two different prices till we finally settled on the driver that said he would give us the lowest. We saw a lot: Parthenon, Theater of Dionysus, Roman Agora, Greek Agora, the new Olympic Stadiums (for 2004) and old Olympic Stadium, the Changing of the Guard at the President’s Palace, and at Parliament building. The driver was friendly, chain smoker, and he would gladly take pictures of us in front of places. He made some sexual remark to Beth while we were buying postcards, asking if she liked the picture of the statue with the large ... well you know where I’m going with this. We found out that everything closed at 3 pm due to a strike...so the driver still took us to places but we took pictures from the outside.
The streets were very narrow and we passed by people and buildings with barely inches to spare. Our driver got in two arguments with other truck drivers that were trying to block the streets. We met nose to nose with a delivery truck. We had just come up a hill where the taxi struggled up on a very narrow road and then the delivery truck appeared driving in the opposite direction. Our driver and the truck driver got out and yelled several things in Greek that Beth and I didn’t understand but were concerned. Then the delivery truck backed up enough to let us pull into this small parking lot and then we backed up and continued up the narrow streets. We were taken down to the pier, Beth and I knowing that if our restaurant faced the water, it was going to cost us. We were definitely not wrong in our assumption. The owner or server that “helped” us was very interested in Beth. That’s all I’m going to say about it. We were given Ouzo to drink on the house and I really wanted to toss it out to the stray cats outside the window. “It’s a Greek drink! Everyone loves Ouzo!” said our driver. Except, it tastes like licorice which happens to be the WORST flavor ever according to Beth and I. Once the driver realized we were not enjoying the very tall alcoholic drink that was provided...he bought us two very large full glasses of wine. We sat there in awkward company as the driver attempted to talk to us about “Where are your parents?” “Your boyfriend isn’t paying everything for you?” “You live on your own?!” Apparently its scandalous for a female to live outside of her parents home before she is married and providing for herself. Afterward, we paid the driver but not without a little hiccup, where he wanted to take Beth for a drink before the boat left. I insisted she was mine and we walked arm in arm back to the boat.
Once on the boat we got in the hot tub, drank our alcohol, showered, went to a magic show, and then up to the club for 70s night. Pretty much we represented for the ladies. We might have been a bit tipsy. That also might be putting it lightly. We had a great time dancing around, making a fool out of ourselves with the Cruise Director and his staff (Hencel, Hazel, Kenitus, and Jason). They were all decked out for the 70s. There are plenty of pictures and video. Once about 2 am rolled around, we stumbled back to our room and crashed.

Day 4 cruise Gwen

We were woken up at 8:30 with breakfast. We ate our breakfast in bed and then promptly went back to sleep. We slept for another 4 hours. We then decided it was probably time to surface. We got dressed for our workout and went to the gym for an hour. At the gym, the two gentlemen from CO were there. They told us about their day in Rome (took a train saw things we didn’t get to, on their own schedule). I told them we were interesting in at least traveling to Athens together, for cheaper transportation costs. They told us about a group meeting for dinner at 8:30 in the Grand Pacific and then Spinnaker for the night. We agreed to attend to discuss our plans for the next day. We then had lunch and it was there Beth made our scheme for drinking our stowed away alcohol. We grabbed two sodas for a total of $5 a piece and then came back to the room to make the drinks and change for the hot tub. We lounged in the hot tub with the jets going and drinking our ever so cheap drinks for about 30 min before returning to the room for showers and journal time.

Day 3 Cruise Gwen

Day 3 Cruise – 6:30 am still came early. Beth got up for her shower, I stayed in bed for as long as possible. We dressed and then headed up for breakfast with our belongings for the day. We then went to the Stardust Theater (the meeting place) and was informed that “meeting time” and “departure time” do not mean the same thing. After arriving 15 min early for our meeting time of 8:15 we finally departed about 8:45. Not too bad. We traveled by bus from Icheiavecia (the port city we arrived in) and took about a two hour drive to Rome. One of our tour guides, Felipo, a young Roman, gave us a small introduction to the area as we drove past. Beth and I decided that he was the perfect husband for her sister and took pictures to entice her to study abroad in Italy so she could meet her future husband. Felipo passed out the maps, and special radios we would be using on the tour. The radios were so our tour guide could talk at a normal tone and we could all hear from about 15 ft away. We didn’t look like tourists AT ALL. We also had a boat staff representative to help herd the tour group, Matt Lehrer, a performer from Second City comedy troupe (who we saw perform the night before!! ) We met our actual tour guide for Rome in Rome; her name was Gracia or “Grace” in English. Our first stop was the Coliseum. We had about 30 to 45 min here, learning about the history of Rome and the Coliseum itself. We were given 15 min free time...not nearly enough time to spend INSIDE the Coliseum but Beth and I took a jog around. We learned why there were holes in the structure: they needed the metal that was used to reinforce the concrete to make weapons. There were much more interesting facts, which I’m sure Beth will share with you, but there were a few that actually caught my attention.
After the Coliseum, we walked up the street towards the big castle that was dedicated to the first King (of 4) of Italy. We walked pass the Roman Forum and several other old monuments that many old had the foundations left. You could definitely say this city was a city of civil engineers and architects and I was in heaven. I think once we get a chance to post pictures you will probably notice I’m glowing. After this we walked back towards the bus in a different route, through some of the adjacent apartments near these archeological sites and last view of the Coliseum. The bus took us to lunch on the new side of the city. Lunch was a continued surprise. When seated at our table, it was set with two bottles of water and three bottles of wine with a basket of bread for each side. We were first served lasagna, which we all thought was lunch but much to our surprise it was the appetizer. Lasagna was followed by a very salty salad and a plate of thinly sliced pork in a very tasty sauce with green beans. For desert, we were presented with a bowl of tiramisu. I took two bites and shared mine with Beth. We filled up on water before leaving for the bus, which took us to the Vatican.
The interesting thing about this day was that we arrived in Rome on the day of the Epiphany. Those lucky people who went to the Vatican in the morning were actually graced with the presence of the pope and some also attended portions of the service. Our group however had the shortest lines ever into St. Peter’s Basilica. Because of the Epiphany, the Sistine Chapel was closed. L We did see some very beautiful mosaics and paintings. It was not crowded at all. There were nativity scenes both in the square and inside the Basilica. We had about 45 min to ourselves so unfortunately, no time to run to the Parthenon. This tour was definitely a taste of Rome and now I have to come back and give the city if not the country justice by spending more time here. Beth and I roamed around a bit before heading to the meeting place. I couldn’t leave Italy without having the traditional desert and because it was the end of the tour, I indulged. I had my own Pistachio Gelato. We walked back to the bus, fell asleep on the drive home before Felipo thought it would be funny to wake us up with a very loud rooster call over the intercom. I’m pretty sure I wanted to throw him off the bus after that. Beth and I boarded the bus, went to our rooms to relax a bit before a small dinner, which turned into indulging in the fresh crepe’s from the desert buffet. We went to the acrobatic and juggling show...where Beth almost peed in her pants because the male performer was trying to climb an unsupported ladder blind folded. Afterward, we went back to the room and found a towel animal on my bed with our mints! We were SO excited for our fantastic turn down service and took several pictures. We named him Humphrey, and placed him in a place of honor (on a top shelf in the room) and decided to order room service before going to Spinnaker to check out the scene. I became homesick and went down the room. Beth was thoughtful enough to give me some space before returning. We then spent the next 4 hours talking till about 2:30 am. We decided then....that it was probably wise to sleep in.

Beth's Cruise Day 1 - 2

I have left my journal downstairs while I journeyed to the 7th deck lobby to find a better internet connection but I will try and do my best to remember all the important events and maybe update later.

Jan 4
We woke early to get a in a nice breakfast before embarking on the cruise. There was a slight mix up with taxis as Gwen saw what she thought was our taxi and went to hail it while the taxi driver that the hotel had actually called for us was at the front desk. By the time I had found where I wanted to go and communicated it to the receptionist to tell the driver, Gwen was having her stuff loaded in to the second taxi! An argument ensued between the two driver's about whose fare it was and then I believe the original driver over charged us by quite a bit! This was all forgotten as we boarded to cheers, music and free champagne. We found our "stateroom" (actually quite cozy!) and grabbed lunch on board. After reading and relaxing for a couple hours we sought out dinner and then made our way to the "Welcome Aboard" show which was quite interesting. We finished off the night with a round of drinks at the "young" bar where we bumped into an amazing crewman (Hencel Hill) who gave us tips on ports, drinks etc. and even bought us a round!

Jan 5
Waking early to get breakfast and make the 10am "Secrets to a Flatter Stomach" seminar, we had time to check out the library as well on our way to the gym. Though their fiction section leaves something to be desired (mainly Cussler novels), their guide books gave us some ideas for how we plan to spend our time in Greece. We watched the lecture and then had a work out. On the way out we passed the spa whose prices we had already deemed extravagant. A massage runs about $165. However, we noticed an advert for "Ladies Night" for $109 you get an hour long back, shoulders, neck and arms massage, a facial, a "luxuriant aromatherapy" bath, sauna and steam room time and complimentary champagne. We signed up immediately. That will happen in the evening after our second day in Egypt. Hencel warned us that we might not be able to handle very long in Alexandria on our own that second day.

We caught lunch and then showers before checking out a second health seminar on detoxification before heading upstairs for the dance lessons. We were taught the basic merenge and a couple steps and are looking forward to salsa tomorrow! It was Dress Up (or not) night, so we got dressed up and went to dinner in the formal dining room where we ate with two very nice couples. Deciding we were tired and had to get up early, we stopped at the room for a refresher and then checked out the comedy troupe and the dancing before calling it a night.

** I realize today is the 6th, but it's not over yet and we had an INCREDIBLE day in Rome which could not possibly be squeezed into this post. We will post on it later!

Gwen's Cruise Day 1 - 2

Day 1 cruise

So I would have to say that this day was pretty uneventful. We planned it all out, no real deviations from the plan, except for the 45 min cat nap that turned into an hour and 5 min cat nap and rushing to get out the door. Then there was a mix up with the taxi drivers. We called a taxi to come pick us up at noon, there was a taxi waiting outside...while Beth was trying to fiddle with her iTouch, I went outside and talked with the taxi driver. Unfortunately, the taxi driver we called was actually waiting in the hotel lobby for us. There was a small argument between the two taxi drivers on who had the fair and the one I talked to graciously gave my bag back from the trunk while the other grabbed Beth’s bag and started walking towards his car. He was a GRUMPY old man! He drove us to the port just fine but he charged us MORE than what it cost to drive from the airport (and that was a much longer distance) AND didn’t give me change! Definitely a bit of a downer to begin the cruise. We made it through the check in, they took our passports, and gave us new IDs. We were greeted at the entrance with complementary champagne to celebrate the beginning. We crawled around to find a place to sit, found some food, and then explored our room. At 5 pm, we had a emergency procedures drill where Beth and I tried to have fun on our FREESTYLE cruise but the group leader dude was a bit of a party pooper. We got in trouble for taking pictures (“Act like you were drowning!”) and then the older couple next to us didn’t get caught!! We also made an “air chest bump” while subjected to wearing the life vests. We were treated like queens at dinner and then went to the show for introducing all the entertainment for the cruise. Afterwards, we made a stop at the room before heading out to the Spinnaker Bar to check out the 20 – 30 social. We had our cruise cup and drink in hand, watching the sparse group of people dancing on the floor. One of Hencel Hill, the “fun police” came by and chatted us up for like an hour and a half! He had been on several cruises and worked in several places. He gave us the low down on cruises, on the best alcohol for your money, and just gave us general conversation. He even bought us a round of drinks!!! :-) Around 12:30 we left the bar and crashed! Not without talking with Andrew first. :-)

Day 2 Cruise – We woke up at about 8:30, had breakfast, came back to grab mp3 players and towels before heading up to the gym. We sat in on a “Flatter Stomach” lecture and then worked out. I am actually feeling better today! :-) Afterward, we grabbed lunch and then headed back to the room to shower and shave and journal.

Gwen's Barcelona

Hola from Barcelona! HOKAY s0...Beth has covered the details of the sites, I will cover the details of the Troublemakers.

We made it through the airport security with no trouble in Orlando....despite the lines outside in the congregating area. After arriving at our departure gate for Atlanta, we thought we had 45 min when in actuality we only had 15 min. So after unloading the laptop, the mp3 players, and cameras, we had to quickly REload them to board the plane.

Once in Atlanta, we discussed obtaining food before boarding the international flight but soon realized the brevity of our layover and hauled butt to our departing gate, with a faint thought to exchanging money before boarding. (That didn't happen) We soon realized we were the LAST to board the 5:45 pm flight. Once on board, we checked our clocks, my watch already set to Barcelona time showed our plane taking off at the stroke of MIDNIGHT. Our fears were realized when we found the seat backs blanked and were subjected to airline food. (Plastic Chicken and Rubber Pasta). Beth also enjoyed the brownies (notice the plural, she took one for the team and helped me avoid a sugar coma). It was hard, but I'm pretty sure Beth might take a little bit of pleasure in the extra sweets due to my inability to process sugar. Afterward, we attempted to catch some shut eye on the 8 hour flight...however the baby in the row ahead of us had other plans. Beth would like to call this irresponsible of the parents to do this to such a young child BUT then she realized she would be judging her parents previous attempts to bring a child across the pond. So a very light and brief nap later, I woke Beth for the breakfast and most importantly the 1st cup of coffee for the day.

At the airport, we had our first friendly encounter with the local taxi car director dude asking Beth if it was "fria". Thus started the count of shout outs: 0.5. This only counts as a half due to Beth's interpretation of their "friendly" culture. Once at the hotel, after our friendly taxi driver gave us a discount on the fare. It was the first moment when Beth realized we would not be tipping. "Its just not the done thing here apparently." Its driving Beth nuts! :) We left the hotel with intentions of going to the Sagrada Familia, Beth doubted my sense of direction. "How do you know we're going north?" she asked. Umm, for those of you who KNOW me, I'm a Ranger, I have FANtastic sense of direction. Thus the doubt stopped there. (I Win #1) Also, from then on, Beth was in charge of the map; I just followed the control freak, my second love (Andrew, you are my first), Beth.

We acted like retards in the middle of town, making poses (as seen in Picasa photos, because there is too many to mention after this) probably not just to be goofs but also stay awake. After visiting the Sagrada Familia, we stopped for lunch where we butchered the Spanish language to order our food. (we can order, its just not pretty) This was also where we had coffee #2, the strongest cup so far. It was such a TINY little cup and OH so strong. I had to brave the coffee without sugar....Beth however dumped an entire packet (larger than the cup) into her cup. After this, on our way back to the hotel, we had the "HOLA!" encounter with some Spanish guy on a bike. Count :1.5. We returned back to the hotel for showers, new layers of clothes due to the colder than anticipated weather. We headed to the aquarium for possible entertainment...we probably annoyed the photographer at the aquarium by not even taking the Welcome" photo seriously. Sorry no picture of the picture....I assure you, it was hilarious. Afterward, we realized how EARLY it was and that we still needed to entertain ourselves. We went to the Supermarschet for essentials, champagne and chocolate to celebrate our successful day. Once wrestling with the internet became exhausting, we decided at 8 pm to watch something entirely Spanish, West Wing. (I knew I'd make you proud, Mom).

Day Two started a little early with a health emergency, by a little early I mean 4:30 am Barcelona time. My throat was in excruciating pain and I wanted to catch my parents before they went to sleep. However, the internet did not want to cooperate so the only thing we were able to accomplish initially was contact with Beth's family via Skype. They called my parents, and once we finally connected enough to purchase Skype credit, WE called my parents. I had an over the phone medical evaluation and recommendation. We then slept in. First order of the day was the throat spray and then two internet cafes later we had printed the essential cruise documents. One full breakfast at NOON later, we actually started our day. More coffee at breakfast. After wandering around and finding churches, we were on our way to the Arc de Triumph. We were at a main intersection, and I with the natural direction said we needed to head up the street. Beth however didn't believe me and so we crossed the street and headed in the wrong direction. (I Win #2). We wandered through a park, considered going to the Museum de Geologica but decided that was for Beth's Mom, not us and continued around the park. I took my traditional flower pictures, Beth collapsed on a bench (le tired), and we finally made it to the arch. We also mastered the art of including things in the background of a photo of the two of us. (the picture in Beth's post). Afterward, we decided to walk back to the hotel....but we made a detour, to the Picasso museum. Beth was impressed with his early works (some done when he was merely 15 years old) however, the later years seemed to be on the level of a 6 year old. We then were practically escorted out of the museum by two security officers. (We were just looking for the way out, PROMISE) We then made the decision to grab take away and a LARGE bottle of water, because we were both dehydrated. After stretching, eating dinner in our beds, and finding the internet working just fine, we had catnaps and ventured out for last minute essentials of the cruise, i.e. more booze.

Beth's Barcelona

So, I might have been optimistic when I said we would update every other day, but here goes:

Jan 1-2 (They're kinda the same day in my head since we didn't really sleep in between)
We successfully made it on to both our first and second flights despite a VERY tight connection in Atlanta. I am fairly certain that we were the last to board our second flight. Unfortunately, we did not get the spiffy individual entertainment systems. Arriving in Barcelona at 8:30am and having slept for a maximum of 3 hours, we were fairly daunted by the task of staying awake ALL day. However, getting out bags was a breeze (literally both were within the first 5 to come out) and finding a taxi and the hotel proved simple.

Unable to check in to the hotel until 2pm we decided to go see the sights. Our hotel is situated on Las Ramblas which is basically the Champs Elysees of Barcelona complete with street vendors and LOTS of mimes. Goofing off in the Placa de Catalunya for a bit, we made our way to one of the top sights on our list, the Temple de la Familia Sagrada. This temple, began in 1882, has been under construction for 127 years and is STILL not complete! It was designed and overseen by Antoni Gaudi (a famous architect/designer) until his death in 1926. We wandered through the Apse and admired the facades before taking the elevator up one of the 8 completed towers (12 are planned) to admire the Cathedral and City from above. Coming back down the narrow spiral staircase was a little scary!

Stopping at the hotel for a quick shower we plunged on to the Aquarium where we admired sharks and penguins in Europe's largest Aquarium. We have decided to tag Kelly Parks in every single picture since we believe she would approve of our choice of diversions. On the way to the Aquarium we marveled at the Monument de Colom, dedicated to Christopher Columbus, a statue of whom stands 60m above the square and points majestically to... Libya. Someone screwed up their geography! Finally, we were able to return to the hotel and collapse at the reasonable hour of 9pm.
Jan 3
We slept in, rousing ourselves at 10am and taking care of a few essentials before finding breakfast (which was really closer to lunch). We then made our way to the Catedral Barcelona or Santa Creu, getting lost only once (for some reason, I am the navigator - don't ask me how that happened). The Catedral dates back to the 4th century when it was a Roman basilica. Destroyed by Muslim invaders in 985, in the 11th century it was rebuilt as a Romanesque Church and then again in the 17th century. Entering through the cloister with its 13 white geese, I paused to pay my respects and get my picture taken at the Chapel to the Guild of Electricians (no joke!). Continuing to the Sanctuary we admired the smaller chapels and the large bishop's throne and altar before descending to the crypt of Santa Eulalia who was martyred at age 13 (hence the 13 geese). Once again taking the elevator to the roof we took more pictures looking out over Barcelona before finishing our tour with the museum which included the monstrance, a guilded and jewel-encrusted case for the eucharist donated by the last Catalan king, King Marti.

From there we hiked to the Eglesia Santa Maria del Mar, but could only admire the exterior as it was closed for Siesta (an annoying habit!). We continued on to the Parc de la Ciutadella, admiring the parliament buildings and their gardens. Passing by the Museu de Zoologia and Museu do Geologia, we triumphed at the Arc de Triomf before turning around to make the trek 'home'. We stopped at the Museu de Picasso to take a tour of the life and works of the famous artist before finally arriving back at the hotel. Surprisingly enough, I think I prefer his earlier "less mature" works. I suppose that means I'm not a very mature artist...

Gwen is not feeling well, but I'm hoping we might get out a little tonight to see some of the night life of the city before we board our cruise tomorrow!