Some more pics from Santorini and Athens

So I know it doesn't sound like we had fun on our trip...but we did! It was just not a vacation. I learned that there is a clear difference between traveling and vacationing. It was fun, but it was also tiring and a lot of work. We feel good to have seen so many historical landmarks of the ancient world and to have had the opportunity and so I will share some of the pics we took with you all. We have nearly 650 total...we really slowed down towards the end...the pics I will post are either in Santorini or Athens. Take care, Dave and Amy

Back home now

Alright, so we've got some catching up to do, but let's start with the fact that we are now home. The flight home was long and we traveled for almost 22 hours. The length was due to a postponed flight in Frankfurt and other various things, but we are just happy to be home now.

Let's go back to the day after my episode in the hospital. We went to a beach on Santorini called Perissa. It is the black rock beach. We rented these lounge chairs and an umbrella and began to sun ourselves, intermittently taking dips in the refreshing ocean. It was beautiful and we had on plenty of sunscreen. What we didn't know was that the sun was being reflected off the rocks below our chairs and radiating back up onto us. It was literally cooking us. After a few hours, we decided to call it a day and we drove back to the hotel where the effects of the 'cooking' began to set in. Amy's back, stomach, and legs were bright red. My legs and back were pretty well done for, but it was mostly my legs. Almost a week later now and my legs are still red! We paid for this burning for the next few days as we couldn't hardly move. Laying, sitting, or moving...it didn't matter...it all hurt! Later I'll talk about that more. That evening we were able to make it to a little village called Oia and take in the sunset. It is supposed to be the most beautiful sunset in the world...yea it was nice, but the nicest? Nah. Anyway, we had an adventure driving there as the roads are so antiquated, narrow, and dangerous. There are straight drop-offs to the ocean below with absolutely no shoulder on the roads, and the people there, in fact in all of Europe, are incredibly reckless drivers. They go so fast, they pass with abandon, and almost run others off of the road. We noticed this in all of Europe. Also, Europe must be the scooter and motorcycle capitol of the world. People everywhere had them and the people who ride them all seem to have a death wish. They skirt in and out of traffic, switch lanes without warning, and drive so crazy. A man in Athens told us that about 5,000 people a year die in Athens because of the way they ride scooters. I am so thankful to be back to the states. Being in Europe was like taking all of the worst drivers, removing all rules, and saying: go for it!

Anyway, the next day we took a high speed ferry to Athens. Luckily, I GOT SICK! This trip really hammered me. My feet hurt and had blisters from all of the walking the first two weeks. Then I ended up in the hospital. Then I got sunburned. Then I got sick on the ferry. I'm still sick and feel horrible, but anyway,we got to Athens after about 4 hours of being on the boat where we were met by our transfer and driven to our next hotel near the Acropolis. WE should have been excited to explore Athens, but with our sunburns and my sickness we just wanted to stay inside our air-conditioned room. It didn't help that it was 101 degrees the first day we were there and then in the high 90's the next two days. So our first day in Athens, we just hide in our hotel trying to recover.

The next day, we took a tour out to Ancient Corinth. We spent an hour-and-a-half driving in the bus to pick up people, then anther 1.5 hours getting to Corinth. WE definately should have done Athens before Santorini, because we were no longer in the tourist mode. We were in the "we just spent 5 days relaxing, being sick, and getting sunburned, so we don't care anymore just get us home" mode. Seriously, we just walked around Corinth, the place where Paul converted many Romans to Christianity and were just very much 'ho-hum'. So it was interesting, but we just wanted to get back to the air-conditioned bus. It was still very painful for us to move. After getting back to our hotel, we just hide some more. We started day-dreaming about our home, our friends and family, and our pooch. We were unbelievably home-sick and ready to be done. If you could have given me a ticket to return home without seeing Athens, I would have taken it.

Our final day in Athens we were feeling better and we had one last tour. We were a little more excited and ready this day. Our tour took us to all of the major places of Athens. The temple of Zeus, the original Olympic stadium, the parliment building where the guards are famous for never moving until they switch posts ceremonily, and the Acropolis. It was all very interesting to see and think about. We saw the Mars hill where Paul tried to preach Christianity to the Athenians and was rejected. On the hill of the Acropolis we saw the ancient temple devoted to Athena and the other devoted to Poseidon. It was a good day and we had a great tour guide who made it all very interesting. After the tour, Amy really had a bug to get some shopping in, so we walked through this huge shopping district...but it was just all souvenir stuff that was silly and overpriced. We really did look for things to bring home to people, but in all of the areas we were in, it was all so touristy that we would just be spending a small fortune on crap that people would probably look at and be like, "oohh, a glass bead, that's special, thanks" and then throw it in a drawer. So sorry. We kept looking for things that we thought would be cool, but didn't really find anything.

The next day was our last and it was the travel day I started off with at the top so that pretty much wraps it up. Some final thoughts: 1. Italians have no idea what a line is...it's just form a large group and push your way to the front. 2. Europeans are the worst drivers in the world. 3. I don't want to eat any pizza, pasta, or gyros for awhile...although I'm still up for some gelato. 4. Never pre-book any tours, they offer them all when you arrive somewhere and for a cheaper price than pre-booking. 5. Europe is covered in sidewalks and roads that are cobble stone, stone, or marble...so bring very squishy shoes to protect your feet if you every go. 6. The dollar sucks in comparison to the Euro. 7. The French are actually realling nice people. 8. Kids in Europe have no questions as to the anatomy of the human body. There are naked statues and paintings all over the place. 9. WE had a great time and would change a few things, but overall loved it. We are blessed to have had the opportunity and can't believe it's over as we have been talking about it for so long. I guess it's on to kids now.

Thanks everyone for your comments and for supporting us while we were gone. I will continue to update and use this site so keep checking back in. WE will post more pictures soon. Our computer is on the fritz and so I'm using my neighbors right now. Take care, Davie

Sicker than a dog in Santorini

I believe we left you last in the city of Rome. We weren't sure we were going to make it to Greece after a long wait for our flight in the airport. We were boarded onto a bus to be taxied out to the plane and then brought back into the airport to wait for another half hour. People around us were getting pretty colorful and there was no order, which seems like an accurate way to descibe Italy. The descent on our flight into Greece had us saying our prayers. Our pilot took a very sharp angle down and we weren't sure we were going to enjoy the sunsets on Santorini, but luckily we came to a safe landing. After an evening of sleeping, or in Davids case not sleeping in the Athens Airport we boarded a plane to Santorini. We arrived at our hotel to find that they had painted the steps leading to the reception area!! It was 7:00 am and no one was there yet. We were so tired we sacked out on the stairs in front of the hotel. Not one of our finer moments!!! We had breakfast at the hotel and ventured out into the town of Fira for a couple hours until our room was ready and took a delicious nap. We spent most of the next day on the beach, and David was able to make it around the island dodging scooters and tour buses in our rental car. The next day we went on a boat ride out to the volcanic island. We met some great people from North Carolina and ended up hanging out with them the whole day. This morning David woke up feeling wretched with stuff comming out both ends. After several hours of not being able to keep anything down we headed to the hospital to try and get him an IV. The clinic on the island of Santorini is a scary sight!! Luckily our hotel manager dropped us off and was able to urge the people in emergency to help us out. After nearly passing out from dehydration David got an IV and some pain medication and with several hours of resting we were sent on our way. Apparently there is a reason our gyros were $1.80. David's plan to save us money on food ended up costing us $67 Euros, which was supprisingly affordable. We have lots of fun stories from our time in the clinic to share. Thankfully he is feeling lots better, and with any luck we will be able to spend our last day on the island without too much more excitement. I am not sure I can handle anymore. We are looking forward to getting home and being in our house with our cute dog. The island is full of stray dogs, which make us miss Toby even more. I pet one the other day and realized they don't see a good bath very often. Now I just admire them from a distance!! Just a couple more days and our adventure is over!!!

The apple

Oh, the apple in the toilet picture below is one more incident from Florence. Amy handed me the apple, which we had been looking forward to, and I accidently dropped it into the toilet. Florence was cursed.

Rome

So after the Florence episode we got into Rome. We took the metro to our stop and as we got out of the metro station...BAM!...there's the coloseum! It was impressive. We went through the initial, "we're lost" thing again, but found our hotel pretty easily. We checked in with this cute little Italian lady and quickly crashed.
the next day we had to be early risers because we had a tour of the Vatican. We were still in line for 3 hours though! We met a couple from Australia and another couple from Canada. We ended up hanging out with them all day and they were great people. The canadians really did say "eh" after a lot of things and the Australians had some funny terms too...like they call a line a que. Anyway, after the Vatican, where Amy almost got into multiple fights for trying to stop people from taking pictures of the Sistine Chapels...tell you more about that later...we went to St. Peter's church. It is the biggest church in the world. We went up on top of the dome, then down into the basilica, then into the tombs underneath. It is unreal and impossible to describe. It is so huge and every inch is covered with something beatiful and priceless. That was our entire day. We wearily headed back and crashed after saying goodbye to our new friends.
The second day we spent doing a tour of the ancient ruins. We went to the capitol hill and saw the roman senate building. We went into a dank prison where Peter and Paul had been imprisoned. We walked throught the ruins of the ancient Roman temples and ended up at the Coloseum. We walked through the coloseum and were impressed. We finished the day walking on the Palantine hill where Romulus and Remulus, the two brothers raised by a she-wolf and who started Rome, were supposedly raised. That again, was an entire day of waiting in lines and walking around. It is good that we are walking so much though because our diet is pretty much pizza and gelato. My feet are freakin killin me right now though!
Today is our last day in Rome. We are going to try to see the Treviti fountain, The Spanish Steps, and The Pantheon. Then we have to take a train to the airport where we leave this evening for Athens. This is our 'not-so-fun' night where we are in the Athens Airport until 6 am, but then, we get into Santorini tomorrow. We will try to find computer access there asap to update the blog, but it may be a few days. Take care until then, David and Amy

Florence

So our time in Paris and Venice was awesome. We loved every minute and we were looking forward to Florence, but it was a disaster from the start. We feel bad about this because our neighbor's son told us that Florence was going to be our favorite...but ooooohhhhh noooo...it wasa not-a!
We got into the train station just fine, but after that it was all down hill. We got onto a public bus that we were told to take in the directions from the hotel. But Florence has such horrible street labeling that it is easy to get lost. So needless to say, we missed our stop and ended up going way out into the country where the bus just stopped. We were the only people left on the bus. I asked the driver in Italian if she spoke English, she rudely shouted "No!", waved me off, and turned away making it obvious that she wasn't going to entertain any more questions. So we ended up just sitting there for awhile and finally she started the bus again and we were headed back to the city. We were able to ask someone who got on the bus where to get off and we finally found our hotel. Did it get better then? Nope! The girl at the hotel was arguing with someone on the phone for about 20 minutes while we just stood there waiting for her to acknowledge us. Then we found out our room was on the top floor of a very tall building..you guessed it...no elevator, just stairs to lug our bags up. The room was dissapointing and the bathroom smelled. It was also very strange...the toilet and the sink were in the room with a a drain in the floor and a shower knozzle sticking out of the wall. The shower was just that and it got everything wet when you showered.
We tried to get over it by taking a nap and then going for a walk to the ponte Eveckio...I don't know how to spell it...it is some famous bridge. I'll put a picture taken of Amy and I on it. That pretty much wrapped up the first day...getting lost, taking a nap, and going for a stroll...oh I forgot, the streets were more narrow than any other place we had been and the scooters, buses, and cars all seemed to be out to hit us. It is unreal how badly people drive over here. I haven't seen a speed limit sign for 10 days. Oh yea, it is also the stinkiest city. As we were on our stroll we were frequently accosted with the nasty aroma of sewage. So needless to say, the first day was not nice.
The second day we were signed up to do a tour of the Accademia museum and other Florence museums, but Amy really wanted to switch to a tour of the Tuscany countryside by going to Sienna and San Gimannono. We are so glad we did this trip. It was incredible. Driving through Tuscanny is beautiful. So many vineyards and olive trees leading up to these beautful villas. When we finally arrived in Sienna we were in awe of the architectural history and diversity. We walked on roads that pilgrims have walked on for centuries. The same rocks that people strode upon during the middle ages, we saw amazing works of art by Renaissance artists, and much more. They have this horse race twice a year in the plaza that we will tell you about when we get back. We took a thousand pictures we will share when we return. Anyway, after our wonderful time in Sienna, we then traveled to San Gimannono. this is a middle ages town completely presereved. It has castle walls, towers, and all. It is of course completely touristized with little shops and what not, but it is also a very cool experience. So our second day in Florence was great, because we got out of town!
Our third and final day in florence we decided to beat the crowds and get to the Accedemia museum early. It was supposed to open at 8:15 but it didn't open until almost 10:30 due to an employee meeting...then after standing in line for almost three hours we found out the museum workers were going on strike. Apparently they strike all the time in this region of the world. So we didn't get to see David which really bummed me out and we had spent our entire morning standing in a line. Discouraged we headed back to a famous square area with a replica of David, but is wasn't the same thing. We did have an overpriced lunch and then headed back to our hotel since we only had a few more hours until we left. We decided to go to the train station early to see if we could get out of town. It had just been such a horrible experience. It was so overcrowded, stinky, hot, and uncomfortable that we just wanted to leave. Our gamble at the train station didn't pay off. We had to wait for our train. After a couple more hours of sweating and waiting, we finally got onto our train. Thinking we had cleared the mess that is Florence, we sank into our seats and started to relax. Then the conductor came along and asked for our tickets. He studied them more than any of the other conductors and then informed us that we had failed to write in the date of our travel and that we were being fined 50 Euros...that translates into almost 75 dollars. After the day we had I turned into an ugly American traveler. I dropped a few curse words and wasn't very nice. I fumed all the way to Rome, but I'm glad to say that our two days in Rome have been fantastic and i will be happy to inform you of them in our next blog. We do leave rome tomorrow, but we will try to squeek out a blog before we leave. Take care and sorry for the novel. Dave

\here's a picture from our room in Venice. \one of Amy feeding the pigeons in San Marco square. David in our sleeping car on Eurail before the transformation into beds. One of the Eiffel Tower at dusk. Finally one of Venice from atop the basilica tower overlooking the palace and some gondolas. Enjoy.