The Final Stretch

There really is no place like home. Thanks Gavin, it's good to be back.

So I have been slow as molasses recapping this trip....I do apologize. I have not even sent out the photo album. With all the commotion that occurred upon my return, it's been tough to get some time just to recap what we did while we were away. So luckily I am sitting in a hotel room in Redmond, typing out what I think is the final wrap up of this trip. So funny, I haven't even been back a month yet but it seems like a lifetime ago. Strange how time does that.

The last day of our trip was basically a travel triathalon. I use the term "last day" loosely as the travels covered 2 days and about 4 time zones (and that's just the time zones we stopped in, who knows how many we actually crossed over.)

We started off leaving Istanbul...once again, it was a cloudy sky, and we were oh so happy to be heading home. We had our final breakfast at the Oran, said farewell to our favorite hotel worker--He told us that the weather was bad because Turkey was upset that we were leaving. All over the world we are still loved and adored! haha.

We got to the airport and we were pretty early. Surprisingly they are a lot more lax about the whole carry on liquid thing in Istanbul. They just ask you if you have something larger than 3 ounces. I said no, but then realized I had a bottle of water...however I figured there would be another check point, but there was not! YES! taking it back to the old school with some contraband bottled water.

Rachel and I tried to shop, found out that they would charge us $11 US dollars for an imported copy of People magazine--we declined. But we did stay in the magazine store for quite awhile soaking up some good old fashioned American tabloid trash. We found out that Halle Berry was pregnant and saw some pics of Britney Spears from the VMAs. Awesome.

After boarding the plane we headed to London. We get to London and shop around for a bit. Unfortunately the flight was slightly delayed. It wasn't too bad, but we did manage to squeeze in some time for the Captain.

Finally we got to leave Heathrow, but not before I hear a butchered version of my name being said in a British accent calling me to the counter. What? Um why are you calling me?? Turns out they just wanted to confirm I was on this flight. RANDOM!! The flight to JFK featured a meal of either Indian food or Mincemeat Pie. Jesus...so that for me was like asking if i wanted to cut off either my right foot or my left foot....I didn't want either! However since I was starving I chose the Indian entree called "butter chicken" it didnt taste like butter and I didnt feel so hot after eating it. For once I didnt finish my food. However other than this meal, British Airways had some pretty tasty vittles. I was impressed. They've easily become my favorite international airline.

Also on the flight, Rachel's seatmate initially was this chick who was wearing a gallon of perfume. Honestly, you are in an enclosed space...have some respect for those around you!! Luckily there was a family that wanted to sit together and so the girl moved so the mom could be close to her kids. That was great in theory until the child starts throwing a full on tantrum. Instead of the dad and mom swapping seats to get the kid to stop wailing, they just kept trying to reason with him and coo to him. Dude, you are NOT helping. Switch seats. But once everyone was settled a good flight overall.

After what seemed like forever, we arrived in NYC. Almost HOME!! However, when we got through customs, I got stopped. The official asked me if I had reported my passport lost or stolen. Como? What? Seriously? So I said no, that I had my passport with me the whole time and it hasn't been lost. Then he sent me to this other room to clear my passport with another customs officer. Rachel was already through security and waiting for our luggage. I had to ask the woman why I had been pulled aside, and she told me that a passport number similar to mine had been reported stolen. So that's why they pulled my passport aside. Randomly, this is the second time on our vacation that I have had someone tell me something about my passport. Started off in NYC when the guy said we were on the watch list, and then now this. Oh well, fortunately everything went fine and they stamped my passport and I was back on US soil. Holla.

Our night was far from over. We had to try and catch the shuttle to our hotel near JFK. Unfortunately I was disoriented and gave them the incorrect terminal number so the people were unable to find us. Mother Christ. After 20 minutes Rachel and I give up and just head to the taxi queue. We get to our hotel, and although they were meager accomodations--it was what we were used to at this point. We ordered nachos and hot wings and watched American TV. It was pretty awesome. I fell asleep to Best Week Ever and then awoke about 4 hours later in order to board our flight.

The Holiday Inn was so shifty--we needed a cab, but for some reason they sent us in a Town Car...which happened to cost more than the taxi. Whatevs....we were just trying to get home at this point.

We get to JFK and they had this scale ready for weighing. WHAT? Wouldnt you know that Rachel and were on the floor at JFK unpacking crap from our suitcases. They were going to charge 50 bucks for any luggage over 50lbs. I needed to take out about 5 lbs of crap to make the grade. So i just put it in a plastic bag and chose to have 2 carry ons. Such a pain to have to unpack though. Then they confiscated my toothpaste that i forgot to put in my 50lb luggage in security. Damn it all, can we just get home already???

Drinking some coffee at the crack of dawn on our final flight of the trip.

After getting through the forcefield of security, we got some coffee from Peet's (begrudgingly....I am not a Peet's fan, however this one was good. BUT there were like 5 workers at the kiosk with only 2 of them actually doing any work.) Fortunately the flight was good and we got home pretty early. However, they did not have a movie for our entire 5 hour flight...AND I slept not at all. It was so long. I was trying to read this book that I procured from the Hermes, but even that wasnt helping make the time go by faster.

However we finally returned to San Francisco, and claimed our luggage while we looked on at a warm welcome from my favorite hottie mayor Gavin Newsom. Thank you Gavin, now let's make out.

As for us, this concludes our Greek and Turkish adventure. I really hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I suppose I can still continue to post here, however the blog title won't be so relevant since the trip is now completed. But I am a slave to the people, so if you want me to write more, just name your topics you'd like to read about and I can write about it.

However, if not. It's been real friends. May you have safe travels yourselves.

Logging out.

--Lu

Our last day abroad, Living the good life in Istanbul

Turkey is so Bazaar. These are the lanterns that haunted my dreams only to let reality kick in and tell me that I would never use them.

So our last day in Turkey started off not too promising...It was rainy and overcast and a little chilly. We sure weren't in Greece anymore.

It was a bummer because today we were going to go to the Asian side of Istanbul as well as take a cruise on the Bosphorus. Not to mention finish up the rest of our shopping and pack to head HOME!

We got onto our tour and we picked up the Spanish ladies from yesterday. Oh no, not again...luckily they were scheduled for a Spanish speaking tour.

We also saw our friend from Georgia and his cousin on our tour.

Speaking of tours...we saw the people from our Gate 1 tour as well today. Gross. We made sure to avoid eye contact. Luckily they were on a different tour company. Thank God we didnt choose to take the tour with them. I would have pulled out all of my hair one strand at a time.

Anyway, today's tour guide was much better than yesterday's. However he was a bit of a tour nazi. He was all about his ground rules, and he actually scared me a little. However, his english was excellent and he was all about telling us historical tidbits, and you know I love that stuff. He had a really deep knowledge of the history of many of the places as well as factoids about famous people and things they have done in Istanbul. Tell me more!

We drove along and stopped at the spice bazaar first. That was actually pretty cool. They had a bunch of bins of spices that you could buy. Usually this would be all up my alley, but since my funds and time were limited, so I just took some photos and looked around. There were some pretty cool things I would have liked to buy. However they were not spices. I really wanted to get these mosaic lanterns. But I know myself. I won't use it. It will sit in it's little turkish box until god knows when. So I just admired them and went along my merry way.

after the spice mkt we went across the water and drove along this kinda richy part of Istanbul. They had all these ridiculous super clubs on the water. It was just reeking with money. It was ridiculous...and awesome. For the record if I ever return to Istanbul, I need to go baller style. None of this shady business I have been doing. Granted the hotel staff was super nice, and it was a decent place, I need to be pampered and go to fancy restaurants next time.

We arrived at the dock and got on our private boat. It was filled with people from our tour and the spanish speaking tour. So all in all probably about 40 people. Not too bad. The bosphorus cruise was really cool. We got to sail on both the European and Asian sides of the bosphorus. There were some incredible houses along the water. However a lot of them were gaudy. Very French Baroque and over the top. I need some modern simplicity in my over the top houses.

After the cruise we went back for lunch and then drove over to the Dolmabace palace. First of all, they told us that we wouldnt be getting back to our hotel until 630, so at that point Rachel and I made the decision to cut out after the palace and take the tram back to the Grand Bazaar so we could get our shopping done before the place closed. We checked out our map of the metro and then figured out that we could walk a few blocks to get to the tram from the palace.

The Palace was nice, but it was really tacky. They had all these chandeliers....like seriously, chandeliers for days. I just kept thinking of that Scarlett Johannsen SNL skit. Anyway, the one cool thing is that they had the Largest Chandelier in the World in there. No joke. The thing was ginormous. I read about it and it weighs 4.5 tons. They also have this wild staircase where all the things holding up the bannisters are Bacarat Crystal. You better get out with that. Can I put one in my pocket?? Also, they had this racket of paying 6 lira if you wanted to take photos in there. So we paid the 6 lira and I took pics of every flippin chandelier in that joint. However, the castle was warm and like yesterday I was tired, so we were glad to leave the tour and be on our own. The thing about the tours was that they were good in the morning, but then we started to get restless. it's just hard to listen to facts all day long. There's a reason I am not in school right now. My ADD kicks right after lunch.

4.5 tons of crystal ecstasy. Aww yeah.

We headed to the Grand Bazaar and it was a hot mess in there. Everyone hawking their wares while also hitting on you...it was very unnerving. Plus it was a bit crowded. Fortunately not as crowded as the metro or anything but still. And then damn Turkish ATMs only give you 50s so it's a bit ghetto to be all, i only want to pay 10 lira instead of 20. Can you break a 50? However I made it work. I got some really cool mirrored compacts as well as some handmade turkish bowls and a trivet. Also, I got some evil eyes--they have these all over Greece and Turkey--they are these colbolt blue glass circles that have what looks like an eye painted on them. They are supposed to be deflectors of negative energy. If that is the case, it is possible that I might just wear one around my neck for the rest of my days.

I still needed to get a couple of other trinkets so we headed out towards the stores near the blue mosque. (BTW I think the official name of that place is Sultanahmet Mosque, but I can't be positive) I was able to get my magnet and coin purse quota taken care of. Since neither of us wanted to eat at the hotel we went to go get something to eat on one of the well lit streets by the mosque. We ended up at this one little random place. Sadly I can't recall the name at the moment. I know I have the card, but I am too lazy to go look for it. (BTW you should all know that I am just procrastinating on packing for my week in Seattle right now. Crimony. I feel like I have been packing and unpacking for the last month! I am tired!!)

Anyway, we had this dish that was made in a clay pot and then they bring it out and break the clay pot in front of you to get all the food out. It was pretty dope. AND the food was awesome. Just the right amount of spices and the chicken was all tender. Dude it was good. I have photos. OH! It's called the Cozy Pub, I read it on the waiter's shirt in the photo. Holla.

The top photo is mid-break of the clay vase and the bottom photo is the actual food. Tasty.

After that we came back to the hotel and packed our things for our triumphant return to the US. (to NYC at least).

We both had an incredible time on our travels, but we were so happy to be heading home.

I will continue with the end of our saga upon my return from Redmond. Have a lovely week.

Turkish Delights--Our first full day in Istanbul

Rachel and I obeying the rules in the Blue Mosque.

So it's been a minute since i have been able to post on this blog and finish our stories. I guess quitting your job has that affect on the rest of your social engagements. Anyway, now that I am free from work, at least for today, I decided to hurry up and finish these posts.

Our last days on the trip were sort of a whirlwind. We still took lots of photos, but after three weeks of photo ops, we were both a little lackluster on taking a bunch of shots.

Since we were also on tour for the two full days we were in Istanbul, we really didnt have to worry about too much in terms of thinking of logistics.

On our first full day of touring we went on a city tour that had all the major mosques (or moss-kays as the tour guide's thick turkish accent made it sound)

We started off at this random restaurant which we realized that we'd be seeing a lot more of in the next few days. Truthfully I have no idea what the place was even called, but it was a little bit lame since there were these random souvenir sellers inside the restaurant. They were basically street peddlers so that was a bit annoying.

We met our tour guide and he was just wearing some crazy t-shirt that said something about not making friends in his tribe or some randomness... The thing in Turkey is that the guides dont really have uniforms or anything and some of them just look a little suspect.

Our tour group isnt too big but how come there is a group of ladies who should have been with the Spanish Speaking tour group so they are only half understanding what the guy says. I am only half understanding what he says as well since his accent is pretty hefty. Ugh.

Our first stop is the Hagia Sofia and The Blue Mosque. You know there were like 5 gazillion people up in that mix. Damn it. There's like cruise ship tours, regular tours, all hitting at the same time. It's so stupid that we have to wait in line to get into the joint. It's a good thing Rachel and I already went to this place the day before but still.

We also figured out why it wasnt smelling all footy in the mosque. They had just replaced the carpeting for Ramadaan so they had a nice new carpet in the mosque. It was really pretty carpeting too. However it could have easily been in vegas since it was all patterned. Have you ever noticed that the carpets in the vegas are always these loco patterns? Like you can never figure out where you are because the carpet and the tables all look the same throughout the entire damn casino. You have to find your way on the fringes. But I digress...

After we went to the mosque and mini-museum we drove around and headed to a carpet demonstration and the Grand Bazaar. Unfortunately because the carpet demo took so long and they were WAY out of my price range....what? did you say that welcome mat sized one was 400 Euro? Oooh i gotta go. So we haul ass to the bazaar where they tell us we have about 20 minutes to check it out. For those of you not familiar, the Grand Bazaar is kinda like Istanbul's tourist flea market. The wares are all in mini-stalls/storefronts, but there are approximately 4000 of them. Honestly, 20 minutes will not do the job. We decide before we even get there that we will need to go back for our souvenir shopping.

We get to the bazaar and it is totally overwhelming. Every single stall is crammed full of stuff. So we also need to try our hand at bargaining. I have decided that I kinda suck at bargaining. Like i can comparison shop like nobody's business, but that bargaining part just wastes my time and energies. Why don't you just tell me how cheap you will sell me something?? Anyway, we look at about 3 stalls and decide that we need to bounce out. However, we do find a couple of things that we'd like to come back and purchase. We go back to get lunch with our tour.

As usual we have a suspect lunch and we also find out that there everyone at our table only speaks Spanish. That was totally not helping our cause to convince people that we were indeed NOT Mexican. Every single person at the Grand Bazaar asked us 2 questions. 1) Como estas senoritas? and 2) are you sisters? oy vey. We don't even look alike people. Crimony.

We saw a bunch of other mosques during the rest of the tour, but I was pretty over it. The guy was hard to understand and I was getting super tired. However there were these Australian guys with their mom on the tour that were pretty hilarious. We found out they were at our Whirling Dirvish show too. So there's kids everywhere trying to sell you shit--kinda like in Mexico and the kids selling chicklets....anyway, these kids sell crap like these light up spinning tops. so they try to sell things to everyone. The one guy on our tour, although it wasnt right, i was laughing.... So this kid tries to sell the Aussie a top and the guy says no thanks, and he had his little sticker to identify him as part of our tour on his hand. He pats the kid on the back while sticking the sticker on this kid. It was so childish, but I was dying. Sorry, I am still immature. It was hilarious, but reading back, definitely a had to be there moment. Maybe it was just hot so it was funnier? I don't know.

We also met another guy on our tour who was from Georgia but was visiting Turkey with his cousin (who seriously I thought that was his GF...a little too familiar to be family...but maybe that's just me). Anyway, he was cool too. They had been vacationing with the rest of their family in Baku. Yeah I had no idea where it was either...I guess it borders Turkey. The family is from Iran, so there are only certain countries that both of them can visit together and he was military so he had issues getting into Istanbul. Whoa. So many government restrictions.

Oh and also, the rest of the mosques...smelled footy. Doesn't help that there are a ton of people with no shoes. Thinking about it makes me need to get into wide open spaces. Damn sensitive nose.

Finally our tour ended and we had about an hour to relax before we went to the "dinner show" We didn't know what to expect from this thing.

The car picks us up, and I am relieved to find out the place we are going is not the same restaurant that is the tour meeting place. We drive across town to the Taksim district (apparently the business district in Istanbul--apparently lots of places to go out too...but it looked safe and modernized. I love this place.)

So we arrive at the restaurant, and there are like 5 people there to greet us. It seemed a little odd, but we just figured they were friendly. However we walk into the restaurant to find out that we are THE FIRST PEOPLE TO ARRIVE!!! !Dude....seriously, this place is pretty big, how are we the first people here. I felt so lame. So our waiter comes over, brings us our wine and some Turkish apps--it's dark as hell so I have no idea what we are being fed, I am trying to pull the candle on our table as close as possible to my plate to get some idea what we are eating. Since we were first in to the restaurant we had prime seating next to the stage. Fortunately people started to arrive at the restaurant and it got probably around 3/4 full by the time the musicians came out. The show was totally hokey. Think Turkish Luau but not cool like a Hawaiian luau....however it was still pretty fun. Since we were so close to the action we were participants on more than one occasion.

enjoying the turkish dance party

The funniest (ok maybe it was the second funniest) thing that happened that night was that our waiter who was totally sweet asked Rachel if she needed a friend in Turkey. And if so, he wanted to be her friend. He really meant well, but I couldnt help but think that he sounded like Borat. It was like, "I like you, I want to be your friend. Do you want to be my friend?" Totally meant well, but it was pretty funny.

I think the FUNNIEST thing that happened that night was that when we got pulled up to go dance on the stage with a bunch of random people this one guy (photo below) took this as his moment to SHINE...like he was on dancing with the stars or some madness. Dude went off, he was doing like these drop kicks and all sort of belly dancing moves. He was getting his groove on. Rachel and I were dying. Rachel actually snapped him mid dance. Flippin hilarious.

shaking what your mama gave you.

After all the laughs we needed to leave. We tried to go for a walk so that we werent stuck watching more old people dance on stage, since our ride wouldnt be back for another 45 minutes. So when we attempted to leave on our own, they flipped out. We just said we were going to go outside and walk around, and the guy was all, "no. I am sorry, it is not safe" EXCUSE ME??? Whoa. Rachel and I were like this looks safer than where we are staying?! But they wouldnt budge, totally made us sit and have some turkish coffee, which tastes like crap btw, and then they called our driver. Even the driver was like, no you can't go out by yourself over there. not safe for woman. oh dear. I need to go home now. and i mean HOME HOME...take me back to my mean streets of the US. So that was day 2 in Istanbul. Good times

I am still here....

Hello Friends,

Now that I am all settled in from being gone (ok I am still a bit jetlagged, but now I am at least sleeping through the night.) I should probably attempt to finish these posts. Rachel and I have finally uploaded our photos, but with over a 1000 shots, the task of sorting them for a sharable album is a bit daunting. Don't fret...I will soon narrow it all down. In the midst of giving notice and having to fill out all my paperwork for my new job I will get right on that. :)

A couple of photos to share before I send the entire album

Some of you have asked for photos, so I will take time off the actual storytelling to include some photos. I've also added some to the posts from the last day or so.

Enjoy!

You Spin me Right Round Baby Right Round

...like a record baby, right round round round.

Still a bit jetlagged, so again, I post on the blog. at least I only woke up at 530 this morning. I didnt get up until later though.

After a quick nap we left for the whirling dirvish show at 7--because it is Ramadaan it started later, so it didnt start until 745. I need to read up on Ramadaan. I think theres a bunch of food restrictions that the peeps have to follow, but I know there's probably other stuff too. I will look up that stuff and get back to you. Anyhoo--when we got there the place was pretty full, but we were able to find chairs on the side right near the "band." The cool thing was that the performance was being held at Sirkeci Station which is where the Orient Express used to depart from back in the days of luxury train travel. The room is pretty plain, but there are some nice stained glass windows near the ceiling.

The show begins with this sufi band playing all these ancient looking instruments. There are 4 musicians and 2 dudes just hanging out in the second row. I was surprised that they even had a female musician. For some reason, I thought the dirvish order were all men...like most everything else in Turkey. Anyway, they start playing this new agey sounding music and the two dudes in the back start singing. It's all very churchy at this point, and then i realize...duh, the dirvishes are a religious order. Perhaps it would be like that one band...was it Enigma(?) that had all that churchy sounding music? Regardless...finally after like 30 minutes the dirvishes come out. The performance is really just a ceremony, and they tell you to remain silent, but you know i was bursting at the seams to talk about it while it was going on.

(as an aside, I am watching the news, and how is it that Jack Bauer got arrested for drunk driving?? Oh Keifer...don't drink and drive. Now they are talking about the Halo 3 Midnight openings....curious. Oh how I've missed my Mornings on 2 news...)

I digress...so the dirvishes emerge in these black robes but you can see their little white gowns peeking out underneath. They have this long ass ceremony...seriously can you just start the spinning. I am impatient. Finally the spinning part starts. Dude, it is weird. Fascinating but weird. And they dont just spin kind of hippie in the field like....they are full speed ahead spinning like tops. There were 5 of them all together....and they each had their own spinning technique. If I were a dirvish, I would definitely keep my eyes closed because the ones who kept their eyes open were just loco looking. They had like crazy eye when they would spin because they were spinning so fast. However they were spinning for quite awhile. It actually made ME a little bit dizzy. So I figured they would just spin and it would be done. But turned out there were actually four spinning sessions, I think each one represented the seasons. I have the pamphlet--i should really bring it out so I can get the facts right, but really...no one cares here, I know that. I am just writing this for my own narcissistic tendencies. And so I will remember what the heck we did on vacation before I attempt to do my scrapbook!

After the show was over, I totally thought there would be a meet and greet photo session....but that was not to be. They came, they spun, they left. And thats pretty much how it went.

Rachel and I got back on the Tram and then headed to our hotel for dinner at the bar. We were the other table there eating. There were some German dudes eating at the only other table that had diners. I ordered tomato soup and some fresh fruit, and it was just mediocre.

After that, we checked the Turkish "office" out. They had a brand new computer that ran Vista, but they had this monitor that was old as dust. It was a huge case with a small screen. Um if you spent the money on the new machine why didnt you get the new monitor??? Splurge a little guys. We tried to log in, but I was having issues since their "i" was some other letter and my email programs were not letting me log in properly. I don't know what was up with the I key this trip. The Hermes in Santorini had a tough time with the I as well. While we were in the office checking our mail, someone went into the adjacent room which was large and totally dark and got his pray on. I dont know if he had a prayer mat, but I did see him bowing towards mecca. Sweet!

Anywho....that's day one of Turkey in a nutshell.

Back soon to talk about days 2 and 3. They are filled with tours, friends and clay shards.

Jive Turkey

Our flight to Istanbul was at the crack of dawn...actually 8 AM but they got us there early, and I swear I think i have had more early early morning flights(either arriving or departing) on this trip then any other trip. Of the flights we took we saw the sun rise on 4 of them. we took 7 flights all together over the course of the trip but actually flew on about 9 planes. Loco I say.

Anyway, the bus picked us up and we got to the airport. One thing we noticed about Greek airports, is that the Greeks are not one for lines. If they are Greek and speak Greek, then they just go to the front....those lines are really just suggestions for them and not requirements.

We got to Istanbul, and it was way more modern than I had originally thought it would be. The airport was super nice, but as usual our Gate 1 person (Gate 1 is the tour co btw, which i would NEVER recommend even to my worst enemy--they were super lame) was dumb and didnt bother to check off people as they checked in with him so we ended up waiting at the airport about half an hour longer than necessary. Also when we loaded the bus up, we told him our hotel, but they didnt put my luggage in until the end, and how come at the first hotel stop (which was not ours) I saw them hauling away Big Red! So I fly out of the bus into the streets to pry it away from the bellman and place it back on the bus. can you people get a system in place for my trip? hellooooo. So we finally get to our hotel and as per usual it is was in a sort of sketchy location. The hotel and staff were super nice, but the hotel was in this weird part of town that was mainly textile stores, so there were all these people pulling hand trucks with these enormous bundles through the streets. They were all about manual labor in Turkey. It was pretty loco.

We checked in and figured that since we were only there for a couple of days we should book up some tours. People had been telling us that Istanbul was not safe for women to be traveling alone at night so at that point we knew we were not going to be roaming the streets.

We booked our tours, including a Whirling Dirvish show which I will write about later, and then figured we should go get our bearings and take the tram so we knew where things were.

Walking out of the hotel was a very surreal experience. I was totally scared because there are mainly men on the streets, and they were all leering at us. It didn't help that there was pure chaos with traffic so with every horn honking i was completely on edge. I was just clutching my purse like a freak and walking at a clip pace. Of course we took a wrong turn on our first foray out, but we didnt stray far, we found the metro pretty quickly, figured out how to get some tokens and then got on the tram.

The Turkish language pretty much looks like ours (for some reason, i thought it would look more arabic) but the sounds are totally different. They have silent g's and those two dots over some of the vowels, and the language when being spoken can sound really aggressive. So of course i didnt know what the hell was going on--are you fighting? are you talking to me? what is happening.

We got onto the tram after we let one pass because it was ass to elbow crowded and then took the train to the stop that the hotel guy told us the whirling dervish show was at--the show wasnt until the evening, but we wanted to make sure we knew where it was. Of course the guy told us the stop AFTER the w.d. stop and blasted all, it was a super crowded sketchy stop. I think the thing that made me the most uneasy was that there was no personal space and that you always had to know where you were at all times other wise you could get run down.

We found the dirvish spot which incidentally is held at the old train station for the Orient Express and talked to someone from the turkish tourism group, who told us he'd been waiting for us all day long. That seemed to be a theme. everyone we met there had been waiting to meet us for the day, their life, etc. Random. After we cased out the joint we got back on the tram and headed to the Blue Mosque.



We got to the mosque and you had to take off your shoes--they provide you with plastic bags as well as a scarf if your shoulders/legs are bare. That includes guys, so of course i took pics of guys that looked like they were wearing skirts. Those were all tourists of course because the actual worshippers in the mosque would know the dress code before they rolled in to the mosque.

the mosque was incredible. It was ginormous and the decor inside was super intricate. The main worship area was just for men, but in the back and upstairs in the balcony women could worship. Ugh. So sexist. Back of the bus women. Make sure you have my dinner cooked and my babies fed. Sigh.

After we went to the mosque, we paid tribute to the Istanbul Starbucks and had a cold bev and then headed back to the hotel to rest before the dirvish show.

Our last Triumphant day in Athens--the recap edition

I am still in the running to become Greece's Next Top Tourist. At the Temple of Posseidon

Hello Friends--
Still awake with the jet lag, so I am posting more while I am up.

Our last day in Athens was simply fantastic. It was just a great day overall.

In the morning we just relaxed since we booked an afternoon tour of the Temple of Possideon and that didnt leave our hotel until 2. So the morning we spent lounging and catching up with our German MTV. It felt nice not to have to be on the go from the early morning hour.

We drove the coast to get to the temple. It was really really pretty, but a lot of the seaside towns look the same, and it seems that they are very seasonal, and since we came in at the end of the summer season, the places looked really desolate and dead. I dont even want to think about the kind of crowds the summer season would bring. Plus it would be all hot with all that BO. Ewww...honestly, I just kept wanting to bring out lysol or Fabreeze at every step of my trip. And believe me, I would have been a user as well as a provider. It was hot and sweaty and I am sure I was not up to my freshest, but damn, some people's bo was making my eyes water.

It took about an hour and a half to reach the temple, and when we got there it was crawling with people. Great. However while there, we had lots of people available to take our photos together so that was a nice bonus. Also we saw the girl from the airport who was honeymooning with her husband from Michigan. So we had her take our photo.

After about 10 minutes all of a sudden the temple was empty--most of the buses were going to be leaving so people went to get drinks and use the WC and stuff, so we were able to get a lot of photos without lots of people in the background. So that was cool. What wasnt cool, is that I asked some guy Georges to take our photo and he was great and taking the pics, but he had serious bo, and kept putting his arms around us. Poor Rachel--he put his arm on her and kept it there, and hi, when we got on the bus, her shoulder still smelled like the dude's B.O. It was very Seinfeldian. Luckily i had purell and lotion so she could try to disguise the funk but how gross is that???

Georges rubbing his Bo on Rachel

When we got back from the tour, they let us out at Syntagma Square, and i think we have this impeccable timing with guard changes. It happened while we were in London and also every time we went to the monument in Greece. We would walk up and then like 2 minutes later they would do the guard changing ceremony. However this one was special--they actually changed out the guards from one shift to the next so there were 4 guards rather than 2 and then they did a prolonged ceremony.

After we saw that, we walked a bit in the National Garden which was described in the brochure as a "lung paradise". Sadly we didnt spend too much time there since it was way too close to sunset, and as soon as we got in there we saw a guy peeing---not really the lung paradise I had imagined. there was a random animal menagerie in there that had like cats and dogs and peacocks and chickens, goats and donkeys living together in like 4 cages of Greek harmony.

We were going to call our friends from the tour, but the tour ran a bit late and we needed to finish up some last minute stuff in Athens. Since the tour was picking us up at 5 AM for our flight to Istanbul, we needed to make sure we got it together and finished our shopping.

As we were shopping we encountered some super annoying urban American youth. It was so embarassing--makes me see why people hate Americans sometimes. These guys were a-holes and were walking around with a very sick air of entitlement. I already hate that kind of stuff here, let alone in foreign countries. Can you get it together please American Youth?? Anyway...We got the rest of our souvies and then decided on a place to have dinner. I was so flipping sick of Greek food at that point, and we both wanted pasta, so we walked the streets looking for a place. We stumbled on this one place that looked cute and then we found out the guy who was the person responsible for filling the restaurant with peeps from the street was part filipino. (that info was volunteered by him when he found out where we were from) We ended up not going there at first because their pasta selection was limited, but ended up there anyway since every place had basically the same menu with only like 2 pasta dishes on the menu anyway.

When we first got in there, it was packed. There was one table left with one chair, and so they added another chair and we were in this make shift situation. It turned out to be awesome though. There was a table of old men next to us in this elevated part of the restaurant and they were so adorable. They were having a guys night out or something. So cute. So we listened to the live Greek music they had going on and then they brought the guitar over to the old dudes, and they started belting out the tunes. So hilarious. They were actually really good. There was a Japanese couple at the table next to us, so after the first set of old guy tunes, they clapped and were leaving. As they were leaving, the waiter yells out Domo Arrigato! and then one of the old dudes yells, SAYONARA! super loud. At that point, i just about fell out and lost it. However it gets BETTER....one of the guys gets up and starts doing Traditional Greek Dancing. However, because he was old, the dance was all like slow-mo style and geriatric. I loved it. The waiter also brought us free watermelon for dessert (that seemed to happen a lot...after dinner fruit or apperitifs just appear on the house) and then the old guys shared a glass of wine with us. It was really nice of them. Unfortuntely the wine tasted like Pine Sol. However those dudes were taking it out by the bottle so we drank it since we didnt want to be rude. So back to the dancing guy...Just as he was dancing, Chad's mom walked into the restaurant! So she told us they'd waited for our call. :( sad. We felt like jerks for not calling, but were so excited that they ended up at the same place as us. It really was fate, because there's like 5 gazillion restaurants in that little area, and the place was like all the others, nothing particularly special about it...so it was great that we saw them. As we were talking to Chad's mom, the main old guy asked what our friends name was, so we tell him, and he starts yelling. "Patricia! Come and dance with us!" Dying.

Although not the traditional idea of Greek Hotties, They were super cute!

So she is hanging out and Aunt Linda walks in! We appologize for not calling and the Greek Dancing guy, has Aunt Linda join in the dance festivities. AWESOME. At that point we saw Chad, and he came in too and hung out for a bit. Since we were at the end of our meal, we got our check, paid our bill and took pics with the old guys. We then went outside to talk to Chad and the fam, took pics with them and then took off. we stopped at the Athens Starbucks for nostalgia's sake and enjoyed our last few moments in the Plaka.

All in all, it was a fantastic time in Greece. We really had fun, and were glad that it ended on a high note. Greece in general was tough at times, but it came through in the end with some fantastic memories. Now we had to go back to the hotel and prep ourselves for what was sure to be an adventure in Turkey.

Jet Lag Sucks But at least I'm trying to be Productive!

Hello Peeps--
It's about 5 AM and I have been awake now for about an hour. Awesome. However I did manage to stay up until about 8 last night and then i just had to get some sleep. Hopefully this will be a short lived stay in jetlag land, but you can never be sure.

Since I am up, I may as well post some more things about the trip.

So after our short flight from Mykonos, we arrived back to the confines of Athens. We never thought that we'd be looking so forward to spending more time there. We tried to be sneaky and use our acropolis ticket again so we could take some less "glistening" photos of ourselves at the site, but alas, it didnt work out. Turns out we could use the ticket for other parts of the Acropolis, but not the main pantheon part. Boring. So basically, we had to climb half way up the damn thing in the heat only to be told that we already used the part for the parthenon so either pay 12 more euro or just end the quest. Obviously, we just ended the quest. Instead we headed down the hill and checked out the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch (or Adrian's Arch as the ticket states). It was pretty cool. Not too many people were there so we just took a bunch of dorky photos--posing on statue bases, etc.

After our tour of the Temple, we hung out by the plaka and had a Frappe (our other new favorite find in Greece was the frappe--it is nescafe...yes the powdered coffee...with ice cream. Tasty!) we decided to go back to the hotel, rest for a few and then head back out for some minor shopping and dinner.

Before we went back to the hotel, we wanted to go check out the Changing of the Guard again since we only got them at night our first time through. However when we got there, they were just at their posts, and so people were taking pics with them. After we got there i wanted to take a photo with them, but i was not trying to be up in the mix. However, the other guard that I think was the superior over the two actual tomb guards was all, no. For photo you need to stand next to the gun. Excuse me? did you just say stand NEXT TO THE GUN?! Um ok....so the photo of me is all fear stricken. I was just imagining loud noises and then the guard freaking out and drawing his weapon. But the photos are pretty funny. We thought that there would be no ceremony to change the positions of the guards, but when we asked the other guy that was there, he just gave us a look and said it would be 5 minutes. He was funny, it was like he was sharing some deep dark secret with us. We loved him immediately. Did I mention he was HOT too? Ok I probably didnt, but he was cute, and was uniformed. heh heh.

After we left Syntagma Square (where the guards are), we went back to the stanley.

We ended up not having a full dinner that day. Neither of us were very hungry, so we just shopped around and then went to this Ouzo bar called Brettos.

On our shopping trip we found this one trinket store and the owner was super nice--his name was Kostos, and he gave us a lesson on how to use the worry beads that we kept seeing around Greece as well as gave us a free calendar and postcard (so we can remember our time in the Plaka.) Oh Greek people, how you have come to embrace us! I love it!!

After shopping we stopped for a bev. The ouzo bar was really pretty inside because they have all these bottles of colored liquor stacked on these shelves that were pretty much floor to ceiling.

Of course we couldnt visit a bar without incident and so while we were there, we sat at these two stools closest to the door since the place was small and fairly crowded. Pretty much as soon as we sat down, this guy starts talking to us. At first I thought he was Jamaican, but he was just plain old American. And three sheets to the wind. First he asks our names, and I tell him my name and he thinks my name is Flute. Yes Flute, like the instrument. So I was all, um no. it's LU. so he goes. "Oh! Flu. Ok, Flu. nice to meet you." Um yeah ok dude. Flu it is. Then he proceeds to ask if Rachel and I are singers...because we have nice voices. WHOA. First of all, it's loud as hell in there, and secondly you are drunk so you probably don't have a good judge of vocal quality at that point. He was offering to buy our drinks if we could go round for round with him. He was a larger guy--kinda stocky build...we were not trying to get doped up by some random guy and then owe him for the free drinks. It's not free if you have to pay for it later. So we decline, and then he asks the bartender if he thinks we could keep up with him drink wise. Fortunately the bartender was cool and said, "No. Maybe drink number yes, but you drink strong drinks. No." Thank you, I love you. during this time, there were some tourists taking photos of the bar from the street, and then the Jamaican/American guy starts to flip out yelling, "What the F is this Paparazzi? who's trying to take my photo? I dont like that", etc etc. And so a worker from the Gyros place across the way yells out, "Hey Houston, Texas, You need to calm down" in this thick Greek accent. Awesome. Shortly after this exchange, Rachel and I changed seats, the guy brought his drunk friend to the bathroom, probably to throw up gallons of ouzo, and then they left.

Random--while we were in the ouzo place, we saw our friends, Aunt Linda, Mom and G-Ma! (ok these are our friend Chad's family, but since when we met him he was telling us who he was traveling with, they just remained in the names of the family members) So we had a lovely chat and planned to have dinner the next night since it was our last night in Greece and they weren't going to Turkey--they were just flying home to the states.

After we finished our cocktail, we headed back to the hotel and crashed out. Good times had by all.

I think I have the black lung

So with all the smoke that has been going about town in Greece I think I could easily have the black lung. Everyone smoked, and seriously i think people were smoking 2 at a time. It was pretty loco. I just got used to feeling polluted. People would actually smoke while eating. So dirty.

We had to take a flight to Athens from Mykonos and the airport was probably as big as the McDonalds parking lot across the street from my house. The line was forming and this one dirty girl on our tour decided that there were two lines (there weren't) and so she cut us in line. I hope that 5 minutes you saved really helped out when you were waiting in the one terminal for the same flight with all the rest of us, dirty whore. From that point on we hated her. She was married to this super annoying Filipino guy too, so that was another strike against her. Ok granted I know that both Rachel and I are half Filipino, but damn, sometimes our people can be so showy....kinda like the other Filipino on the tour. We started to refer to her as "auntie" because she was on the older side and super irritating.

While we were there we also encountered this girl from Michigan who I swore was foreign, until she started speaking to us in English and asking if we were with some random guy at the port. Of course we were like, um no. and so she says that he was creeping her out because he kept circling the area we were in. Of course we didnt notice it until she said something, but then yep, sure enough dude was circling like a shark. That girl was actually pretty nice. She wasnt on oue tour.... She was on honeymoon with her husband--she used to live in Orange County, but she was from like Flint, Michigan or something like that. I kept asking her if she was near Detroit...mainly because I am a geography a-hole and can't grasp the concepts of near and far geographically. Like New York and New Jersey are the same location, and Portland and Seattle are also right next door in my mind. Obviously not, but I digress.

Once we actually arrived in Athens, we had the best Gate 1 experience of the entire trip. Our person who met us was named Dimitris, and provided maps and pick up information. What? I dont know who brought you, but you are great.

However this elation was tarnished with the people on our tour who kept asking asinine questions, like "why is the Acropolis tall?" "what do you mean by different lines for the metro?" and "what do you mean when you say Tram?" yes, those all were asked...by the same person. She too was from Michigan. Do not know what cave she crawled out of, but she was a complete idiot. I was so put off by her and her annoying bf. He tried to cram a regular suitcase into the overhead compartment on the ferry a couple days back so I was already over them the first day I ever saw them. To my dismay the only other people at our hotel were the Filipino guy and his bitch wife that cut us in line. GREAT. Turns out our other American friends got a sweet upgrade to a nicer hotel after Aunt Linda bitched out Gate One for being overall idiots and inconsiderate of the needs of G-Ma. So we were stuck with those other two idiots. So while we are dropping everyone off, this Filipino dude goes off on this tangent to Dimitris about why he and his friends (THAT HE MADE ON THE TOUR) were separated and had different flights, and how would he get in touch with them, etc. etc. etc. It went on for seriously half an hour. "they are 7 hours ahead of us, so I don't know if we can book the tour, because we are doing whatever they are." Can you call the hotel and find them for us? do you think they are in the lobby? how are we supposed to find them in Athens. There are 5 of them and only 2 of us. What can we do? I need help. SO ANNOYING. You have known them for about 3 days, I think it will be ok if you see Athens WITH YOUR WIFE who you came with. LAME.

Election Day in Greece

So on September 17th, Greece held their goverment elections. I am still unclear as to what was actually being voted on...I think it may have been the presidential election as well as the election of the new governing board, but I there were no subtitles to be had so I can't be sure. All I know is that I wanted the cute little older man from the party with the green banners to win, but the man who plastered glamour shots of himself and looks like Paul Sorvino won the election with his party.

Anyhoot, because of the elections, lots of places are closed. They take their elections very seriously here. People were getting dressed up in their Sunday best and getting their vote on. Unfortunately for us though, it meant that we wouldnt get to go see the island of Delos and check out the ancient lions. So instead we....that's right people, we went to the beach. To the same one with the same loungers and we just chilled out.

That day we noticed an influx of the Chinese Masseusses working some kinks out on the beach. We first noticed this phenomenon in Santorini in Kamari where multiple Chinese people would be offering massage services on the beach. Now I am not one to assume that all Asians are Chinese, but they are all holding signs that say "Chinese Massage".... Anyway, I thought it was random, but didnt see anyone actually getting a massage in Santorini. Even our first beach day was relatively calm massage wise, but today was a flurry of massages. Mostly overweight british people were getting their feet and legs rubbed down. Yeah it's about as attractive as it sounds. But I can't hate, if it wasnt so random to be getting a massage on the beach in front of everyone, I may have actually partook in it. but seeing as they are using the same towel to wipe down the tiger balm off everyone and not having a clean sterile towel available for each fresh massage was a real turn off for me. No gracias. I am not trying to get rubbed down with dirty towels and tiger balm. I am actually gagging as I type this thinking about it. Today's beach animal du jour was a dog. He was pretty cute...unlike the straggly strays that have made their way into the greek landscape...this one was actually a pet. His owner was quite the opposite. He LOOKED as if he should have had a scraggly animal. He was the Greek Justin Bobby (It's a reference from The Hills ....google it)

After we left the beach, the day ended much like the one the day before. I think Rachel and I were both tired of island life and were excited to go back to the city. Who knew that Athens would be a welcome location from the idyllic island life. However, I am a city girl, and I need things to do. As much as the beach is cool, I just can't stay out there that long. I have delicate sensibilities. I was practically bathing in WaterBabies by the time I got out of mykonos. My skin felt and started to look like crap. All in all, I just felt generally greasy all the time.

I forgot to mention that we found the Greek equivelent to MTV--it was called MAD. They generally had really bad covers of current American Songs, or they would play one of the following or a combination of the three: Justin, Nelly Furtado, and Timberland. Any of them, and any combination of any of them would play about 2 out of 5 times. Also they played some hokey emo band called Sunshine Avenue. Super weak.

We also discovered early on that Mykonos was the island that catered most to the gays. Because of my love of the gay man, I was of course delighted. There were these two German boys who were next door to us that were very pretty and so very mo. Fabulous!! However, although we'd been told that Mykonos had a large gay tourist party crowd, I found that I have a hard time with my gaydar in Europe...because well the fashions are kinda mo, so you can just never tell. Regardless, it was a good time had by all. It would have been interesting to go clubbing, but I think by the time we got to Mykonos, we were already pretty exhausted and weren't trying to sound the big ting and party until the windmills stopped spinning. That was just fine with me. I needed to reserve my strength for power shopping in Athens.

Family Beaches and Day 2 in Mykonos

On our second day in Mykonos we decided to go to the beach. Mainly because there wasn't much else to do. Now I don't really tan, and my delicate skin doesnt really like the sun, so although i have been in warm climates for about 3 weeks, I still look as pale as I did before I left. However, we wanted to check out the beach since they told us it was sand, and not rock. We headed down the hill...where I proceeded to FALL. Yep. It wasn't cute, but I made it look pretty graceful. The beach we went to was called Ornos--it was the one that was pegged for families mainly with a couple of beach bars and tavernas, but not blaring club music and super crowded like some of the more famous ones. Those were called Paradise and Super Paradise. LOL. (we were at this mini market buying more Mythos when this one girl was trying to buy bus tickets, and she's all, Can I have 2 tickets to Paradise? Of course I busted out laughing and then started to sing two tickets to paradise in my head)

The beach turned out to only be about 10 or 15 minutes away from town by bus, and it was really nice. It wasnt very crowded (it wasnt super hot in Mykonos--the winds actually started to kick up, so it was probably only about 80 with a breeze) and we were able to find this one beach bar called Ammos that had these super cushy lounge chairs, so for 5 euro you could chill out for as long as you'd like. We ended up getting coffees and hanging out with our umbrella and chaise lounges for a couple of hours. The water was really pretty and clear. There were some Geese swimming around and people were taking photos of them like they were Jesus Christ, however I forgot to photograph the geese. Oops.

After a few hours we jumped on the bus and headed back to the hotel. We picked up some food and walked up the treacherous hill. I also vowed not to wear the flip flops I fell in for the rest of my stay.

An abrupt departure from Santorini

So our first meeting with our Gate One tour did not start off well. Rachel and I packed our stuff the night before and knew we had to meet our group at about 10:40 in the lobby. So we had our breakfast and then went to our office to check our mail. Once Rachel finished checking hers, I logged in for a second, then Rachel came running in saying, "the bus is here, we gotta go, they are waiting for us!!" What? can someone give us some warning?? anyone? So we hightail it to our room, lug our suitcases down our flight of stairs and haul ass to the lobby. We had to rush our goodbyes to our breakfast friend Kostos. He looked bewildered, but then he kind of always looked like that. I think it was because we only spoke English, and his English was very limited to a few key words and phrases. Mainly: "good sleep?" "hello" and my personal favorite, we discovered that he liked to call an end to the breakfast service by playing that Yanni Cash song. So on one of our last days, he comes over to us and he's all, "this is very good. good song" and so we were like, "yeah, we know. What is it called?" he then started saying something that sounded like "blah blah blah, turkish franco, do you know?" Sadly, neither of us had any clue what he was talking about and so that put our quest to find out the real name of Yanni Cash to a bitter end.

Another favorite Greek friend from the Hermes was Nikos--he could only really say, "Hi", "hi guys", and "beer?"

Our last two friends from the Hermes was the lady that worked in the morning, (I think her name was like Irakli or something like that) and then our friend Vassilias, who we liked to call V. His grasp of English was really good, so we had a long chat with him about politics of all things. He was very up on the US presidential race...moreso than either me or rachel.

Anyway, that concluded a stay at the Hermes which started off sketchy, but ended up to be quite pleasant.

On to the tour...so we get to the lobby and this woman is waiting there, her name was Sandi, and she was a booch. She was all irritated and saying the bus is waiting, please hurry. well hoochie, maybe you should have tried to let us know that you were picking us up. Thanks for nothing ho bag. Then on the bus ride to the ferry, we find out that that she's not going to be on the boat with us. Because "she is afraid of boats" then she shows us where the ship the Sea Diamond sank earlier this year. Lady, seriously? Not the way to win any awards for making sure your tour clients are kept at ease. they drop us off at the port to basically fend for ourselves, and then it turns out that Rachel and I arent even sitting together. The ferry terminal was a hot hot mess. It was just heinous. There were people everywhere and there was no order--pure chaos. So finally when we need to get on to the boat, I didnt feel so bad about Big Red (my gigantic suitcase) because there were a ton of people that had like 2 rolling luggage AND a carry-on bag. These were peeps from our tour--we added a week, but the tour is only 11 days. Even I don't pack that heavy for an eleven day trip. Luckily there was no one in the seat next to Rachel so I talked the guy into letting me sit there. I befriended the guy in the seat next to me (his name is Chad--he's part of the lovely family we keep meeting up with in Athens...our only friends we made from our godforsaken tour group) Anyway, the ferry ride which was supposed to be only 2.5 hours turned out to be 3.5 hours of rocky sea voyage. The boat we were on was called the Flying Cat, and seriously that thing was hauling ass in the water. Rachel and I were both on Greek dramamine (it's called epostep or something like that) so we didnt get sick, but it could have easily turned for the worst. When we finally got to Mykonos, we got into a mini van and were taken to our next hotel. The hotel was.....um....well i guess it was kinda nice. However the hotel was converted from an old mansion, and so it was random because you had to use the key to lock the door from the inside. But it was all ghetto because as with most of the hotels we've encountered in Europe, you need to leave the key in this slot in order for the power to work, so this hotel had a contraption that you have a plastic part to insert into the power switch, and then the key was on a key ring, so if you went out at night you had to detatch the key from the plastic card to unlock the door. SUPER GHETTO. Anyway, the room itself was fine, at least it had a full tub and a shower head. However not a full shower door. Well beggars can't be choosers I suppose. Since most of the day was shot being on the ferry we rested in the room for a bit and then walked down the hill to go into "town" the town was about 3 blocks from the hotel down this hill that had lots of speeding traffic, but not a lot of sidewalk to walk on, so it was sort of renegade walking to get down the hill. We got to the bottom of the hill and walked the town of Chora in like 10 minutes. Everything once again looked the same. I think that Mykonos and me just weren't meant to be good friends. We stopped at a gyros place and had an alright gyro and then took the trek back up to the hotel. Party girls being super hardcore on a friday night alright. We ended up buying beer from the mini market and just sitting around with it in the courtyard. yep. ghetto. But at least we had eachother. It was fine, I didn't really want to walk that hill in the dark, pay 14 euro a drink at a random bar getting suffocated by eurotrash (music and peeps) so a Mythos in the courtyard was just fine by me.

Back in the Mother Country

Hello Friends.
I am back home now. It feels like I have been awake for a million hours. We just flew in from New York this morning, and although it's only about 1pm I have been awake since about 2 AM our time, not to mention being on a flight for about 15 hours on Saturday. So I am a little dazed to say the least. However, in a feeble attempt to get my body clock back on Pacific time, I am trying to stay awake as long as I possibly can. Truthfully, it probably won't be much longer until I need to take a little nap (that will probably last until tomorrow morning).

I have so much to tell you all about our trip. Since we were in Santorini, our internet access was sporadic at best so I wasn't able to post properly. I got online once in Turkey, but the keyboard was a big old mess and the internet at the hotel kept shutting down, so I thought it best to just wait until I got home to do all my posting.

Let's see....where did I last leave off. Pls hold--need to go read the last blog entry. OK so I didnt really get to post about our departure from Santorini....so I will start from there.

I will break these up into separate posts so you can read them at your leisure.

Our Last day in Greece

Hello Peeps--
I have a very limited time on my internet card and to avoid any snafus like the Italian fiasco, I am going to keep this short and quick.

Our time in Greece is quickly coming to a close. I will be able to do a comprehensive post about Mykonos and the rest of our Greek adventures when I return home in a few days. Tomorrow we are getting picked up at 5AM to go to the airport to head to Turkey. Insane I tell you. Why is our flight so godforsaken early?!!?!

Anyway, It's been fun. I'll try and write again from Istanbul, but if not, wait for my complete report when I return home.

Until next time...

Back in Athens Y'all

Hey Peeps...
Sorry for the disappearing act. Our hotel in Mykonos didnt have internet access and we didn't do much of anything there anyway. We're back in Athens for a couple of nights and then off to Istanbul.

I have a bunch to write but not too much time right now, so I will just keep this one brief. Today we found out that we are on a tour with idiots. Straight up idiots. I nearly clocked some girl...ok maybe it's hot and I can be irritable after so much travel but she was dumb. From Michigan. Nice. Also met some other chick from Michigan. Wth--i guess it's a popular destination for the mid-west peeps.

However the highlight thus far, Rachel and I have made frıends wıth some peeps on the trıp. we kept seeıng them everywhere. It was awesome. Totally nıce.

Anyway, i will write more tonight when we come back from dinner. I just wanted you to know that we are still alive and well.

I did however fall down in the streets of mykonos. Yep...slid gracefully down a hill on the way to the bus stop. of course i was in a skirt. However I didnt pull a britney and i only broke a toenail, so i am no worse for the wear. It was pretty damn funny though. I just started yelling, "i'm Ok, I'm OK!!" and then looked down and my toenail was bleeding. sweet. But i just dusted myself off and went to the beach after that. No harm no foul.

Alright, that's it for now. More detailed reports later.

Until next time...

Santorini, it's been real, but we gotta go.

Our trip to Santorini comes to an end tomorrow. We're heading off to Mykonos now. Hopefully we'll still be able to score some free internet access. If not, I might be a bit more sporadic with my posts. I know you guys live for this. Just kidding! Anyway, I like to document our days because I would be forgetting small details.

Alright gotta keep this one short so we can pack and have our last bevs with our Hotel Hermes family. Besides all we did today was sleep and go to Fira for souvenirs...oh and gyros...oh and ice cream....oh! and i finally found my greek custard dessert. I will eat that soon.

See you in a few days (or tomorrow if i am lucky)

Until next time.

Encounters with Wildlife and a day of touring

Hello Peeps--
Coming to you once again from our office at the Hotel Hermes. As we've been here we've discovered that we are probably staying in one of the nicer parts of the island. Although given the opportunity we wouldnt be staying in Santorini for a week next time.

Today we went on a boat cruise of the different sites surrounding the island. We hiked the volcano....which was cool....I only thought i was going to die like 4 times. 3 of exhaustion one of pure heat stroke. However there was a slight breeze so we were able to climb the entire thing. The guide was saying that about 5 weeks ago there was a heatwave and the temps were like 43 degrees Celsius. Um no thanks. I would have been chillin on the boat with my Mythos (my Greek beer of choice...it has a unicorn on the label. SWEET.) Then we went to the volcanic hot springs. Rachel took the plunge, but my non-swimming self stayed on the boat. It was super far to the springs and it was ridiculously deep...no thanks on both counts. Just tell me how it was. Our third stop was this other island called Thirassia(?). I am not quite sure what we were doing stopping there...oh wait, I guess there are like 170 stairs to go to the village, which has ONE restaurant and NO stores...eww....We stayed at the shore and had some tasty vittles. Seriously, divey place and bumpin food. We had shrimp and bbq pork kabob, and then a greek salad (the standard) and then finished it off with a gyros from this other place. We were horsing it up/ Of course then we had to check out yet another rock beach and dip our toes in the water. Finally on our way back to the boat, we had some ice cream...Ok so that island was really just an eat stop for us.

Our last stop on the tour was Oia to check out the sunset again. This time we got to watch it from the village. But believe me, we earned it. We had to climb like 300 stairs in the blazing heat. Where once again, i feared my own mortality. However not just because of the heat. You can pay like 5 Euros to ride a donkey up the stairs, but Rachel and I chose to huff it...How come those damn donkeys come flying down the hill when they are done with taking their passengers??? horrible. I got knocked into the damn stone wall by one. Of course i screamed...but then I was just glad it didnt take me down and I would have had to climb back up again.

Once in Oia I was totally overheated and so we stopped at a wine bar to chill. 4 euro sprite later(!) we ended up leaving and cruising the scene. We watched the sunset from ths place called the sun spirit bar or something like that. Had TEN EURO coffees. (damn greek opportunists) and then fought our way like salmon swimming upstream to the bus stop. During our trek with the masses, a pack of wild stray dogs were all critical mass on us. Nearly knocking people over. Of course some of the euro tourists laughed...ok that is not funny, I don't like rabid wild dogs nipping at my heels.

Anyway, we've finally made it back and we have one full day left in Santorini and then we're off to mykonos. We're gonna souvey shop and chill with our Hermes Hotel family. (we've befriended all of them...) Except how come the Hermes has a Greek Mayor?!? This dude is all up and friendly with everyone, and then treats his staff like crap. I am on to your game buddy. I can spot mayors a mile away.

Btw, both rachel and i have said we feel like Cameron Diaz in the movie, In Her Shoes...because our hotel is super geriatric. A community of active seniors. What in the heck did we get ourselves into. At least there is good breakfast.

Oh and lastly today i took some paparazzi shots of some bad dressed guy. I will send them out once i can figure out how.

Until tomorrow...hope everyone is enjoying the blog and thanks for commenting...It makes me want to keep updating since i know peeps are checking up on us. Don't forget to sign your name when you leave a comment so i know who's saying what.

Yammas! (that's greek for cheers)

I have seen the sunset, and it is beautiful

Yesterday we were in Oia--it was quite a treat. Our hotel had a view of the caldera and water and we were up on a hill top. The room was set up kinda weird, but I took pics to share--if i can ever find a way to post photos. You may just have to wait until our triumphant return to the states.

Today we've just been taking it easy back at our usual hotel. Our office has been more crowded and harder to access than usual so you'll have to excuse the sporadic posts.

Our trek to Oia was rejuvenating and it was exactly what we thought of when we were planning our trip to Greece. There were lots of people who spoke english, and some random MN people in the room next to us talking about they have sunsets in MN. Seriously? what the hell? why did you come here then? Random Americans.

Tomorrow we have an island tour and then we'll go to the hot springs. Holla.

Anyway, That's all i've got for now. I've been reading trashy books like it's going out of style. I am on my second british trash publication. I'll do a recap of my readings later.

Alright, back to lounging.

Until next time...

Red Beaches, Ouzo and our Cast of Characters

Hello Peeps--
Sorry for the absence, someone was utilzing our office yesterday and we were unable to log on to send an update.

Yesterday we had a day packed with activity. And since we've been at the hotel for awhile now we have names for some of the people we see all the time. There is a lady we call Red who spends every waking moment in the sun by the pool. There's mr. snoring man who posts up by the pool and snores a lot. and then there's the tranny girl, who we saw when we were out a the beach area and i swore she was a man. Later we came to find out she was staying at our hotel. Oops. Hence the tranny girl nick name. There's also pretty girl who thinks she is the bomb and there's a girl we call LOC because she looks like Laura from far away. LOC is friends with Right Said Fred--we're not sure if it's her dad or her mom's new bf.... Anyway, we also stayed in and drank at the hotel bar and now we know all the staff. They kept giving us Ouzo, which by the way tastes like crap. Actually it tastes like black licorice so it might as well be crap. We also met up with our friend Captain Morgan last evening.

During the day we took the bus to the red beach. After a 10-15 minute hike from the bus stop we finally got there. It was pretty nice, except there was this really strange seaweed that felt like mulch that covered most of the places where the chairs and umbrellas were set. We tried to take photos but it didnt work out very well. You can't see the consistency of the mulch/seaweed.

We also ate lunch at this random fish cafe where the were cleaning the fishes they caught right next to the water. They caught a couple of sharks and a skate. Fascinating really...We wanted to take pics with the fish, but we got shy.

We've also found our theme song for the trip. I don't yet know the name but it is a Greek song that sounds like Walk the Line so we call it Yanni Cash...

BTW did anyone see the VMAs?? we saw the photos on line and Britney looks like a hot ghetto mess. Someone make her unfamous please.

Today we'll be heading to Oia to our other hotel for the evening. I'll be back in a day or so to send an update. Take care of yourselves.

Alright we'll see you soon.

Until Next time.

We've found the Postcard Views

We've just returned from a bus ride from Fira--a little hot and crowded, but totally fine. So that's where it started to look like the Greece from the postcards. Funny thing is that you don't see all the touristy shops and restaurants from the postcards. However it was really pretty--we posted up at this cafe and had beer and a light snack and just looked at the water. It was lovely.

The town is pretty confusing because there are not street names or signs. So you just have to use businesses as landmarks to find out where you are going.

We've decided that it is better to stay away from the tourist part and are embracing the pool at our current hotel.

Plus we've booked a hotel in Oia for tomorrow night to see another part of the island. So we'll see how that all transpires.

We're going to the pool now. Catch you peeps later.

Logging out. Until next time...

The Upward Spiral

Hello Friends,
It's a new day, and we've a new outlook on Santorini. Ok well maybe not Kamari, I am taking photos to document the conditions we are surrounded by. Our room is nice, however the surrounding area is ghetto....how do you say that in Greek I wonder....

Anyway, today we are heading to Fira to see what all this white wash house/blue roof business is really about. And then tomorrow night we were able to book one night at this hotel that overlooks the Caldera. HOLLA. We'll have that one night to savor the postcard views at least, and that's all we can ask for at this time.

Cathy left a comment on going to the black sand beaches....Um....We ARE at the black sand beach. And it's not like sand, it's flippin rocks. AND it looks like a giant ashtray. Don't worry, I will photograph it so you'll be able to see. If i could crack open this locked cabinet, I could plug in my camera, but that might get us kicked out.

Alright we gotta go catch a bus and hitch our wagon to the stars now.

I'll report back with my findings when we return this evening.

Happy Weekend (i think it's just starting not for my stateside friends).

Until next time....Logging out.

Kamari is not my friend

Dude--Seriously, I've played this idyllic grecian scene over and over in my head and somehow we ended up here. We haven't even taken any photos yet. Our hotel is on a desolate side of the island and we have already exhausted our local eating options. Tomorrow Rachel and I are going to take a bus to the other side of the island and scout out a place to sleep for one of the nights of our stay. We are not going down without a fight.

The mood in general is highly disappointed. And further there are so many random stray dogs and cats here, it is freaking me out. What is this Greece??? Where is the Greece of my dreams?!

Alright, I will be checking in again when my mood improves. However I did start and finish a book today, so that's good at least. :)

Anyway, log out and keep it real.

Until next time.

Desolate Times

Hello Friends--
We have a new hotel...that is in the middle of nowhere. Our room isnt ready yet, so we are camped out in their sitting area. I don't know what the hell is going on. It looks pretty but OMG there is seemingly nothing around. I don't even think we have or German MTV. Must get out to go to civilization.

Hopefully our room is ready soon, but for now, we are just posted up in this room waiting. All there is is a small tv with only Greek channels. Oy vey.

This morning we had to get up super early since our flight was at 6AM....our cabbie was playing light rock English speaking radio, so when he turned on the radio we heard Spandau Ballet...Rachel and I almost lost it. Good times.

I think we'll be doing lots of tours here. We can't be kept in this desolate space. This is NOT jamaica! Oh civilization, where are you.

Alright with that, I am signing off. I will come back when there is more to report. One positive, that island looks really pretty, but we need to get our bearings. Apparently there is a bus to remove us from this place. Perhaps I will take one for the team and drive. I'll let you know.

Logging Off.

Until next time...

Agora-phobia

Hello--
It's our last night in Athens this leg before we head off to Santorini. Rachel is feeling much better and we were able to get in a lot of good sightseeing.

Ok first off, there is a lady sitting next to me here in the lobby and she has no concept of personal space. A problem that I've been finding a lot here in Greece.

Today we did a bunch of stuff, we went to the ancient Agora (where Socrates corrupted the youth back in the day). However when we asked the info desk at the hotel how to get there he asked us "which Agora"...damn, are there a bunch? Hello, we want to go to the totally famous one. Duh. Anyway, his tips were useless, we just ended up using the guide book and it was pretty easy to find. However, I did get in trouble for sitting on the ruins...I thought it was a bench! After we trolled around the ruins, we went to the Agora museum and looked at some ancient stuff. Then we headed out to the National Archeological Museum. It was really cool, but truthfully a lot of the ancient things all start looking the same. However I can appreciate that they are mad old. But it all looks the same.

After the museum, we stopped at a sidewalk cafe and had a quick lunch, then headed back to our hotel for our afternoon siesta. We figured we should probably do that since it gets super hot mid-day and some stores close.

We just got back from dinner a little while ago. We went back to the plaka, but this time ate at this place that was near another place with live music and greek dancers. Good times.

Then we got back on the metro and headed to one of the metro stations that had 1) the tomb of the unknown soldier, and 2) an excavation site. I am sounding all Ross the paleantologist about this stuff...it's funny, I am not really all that into history, however may as well check it out while we are here.

Tomorrow we have a flight at the crack of dawn to bring us to our week long stint in Santorini. I am looking forward to relaxing under an umbrella and playing in the water.

Another grecian observation...there are some BAD haircuts and fashions here. So bad. Also, I've grown very accustomed to MTV Europe which shows a bunch of shows with german translations. It's terrible, but it's better than watching the only other English station we have which is Sky News. Seriously, the news is so depressing in London. Btw, RIP Pavarotti....:( That was another portion of our news that we've been watching.

Anyway, we're having a good time, and not sure if there will be easy access in Santorini, but i will try to write soon.

oh and lastly! I once again have phone service, luckily I brought the AT&T international service phone number with me. I was in this random phone booth here, and the light is a motion sensor so it kept going out because i dont move around enough. Very random. Anyway, the lady was able to fix my phone, so i am back in the game! Holla!

Alright with that, always remember to log out.

Until next time...

Greece is so hot. Seriously...hot.

Hello Peeps--
I am once again writing from the hotel lobby...which still smells like smoke. I've decided that this part of Athens is pretty wack--just lots of smoke and b.o. It's like people don't know how to use deodorant. The staff is all clean and clean smelling, but the guests, not so much. It's so bad that I've even started to wonder if it is me...which it could very well be considering it is hot as hades here.

Last night we had dinner near the hotel at this random restaurant...we ate in this garden terrace and everything that we tried to order was not available. What the hell? We settled on Greek Salad and Grilled Chicken...it was pretty decent. Too bad everyone around us was non-stop smoking...even while they were eating. Nasty.

Today we took it pretty easy, I think Rachel got a touch of the flu, so hopefully this vacates her body quickly. We still made it to the top of the Acropolis though--it was pretty sweet. There's a bunch of stray cats and dogs just roaming the streets. It's a bit unsetttling. However the all seem to be pretty well fed, so I guess I shouldnt feel bad.

We also ate dinner in the Plaka area. It was really cute, and very much like you think Greece would look like. It was super touristy, but it was ok...I think that's what we needed. We need well lit streets and food that I can see. We are too pretty to be in the dark alleys.

Tomorrow we are planning on heading to the Agora and the Archeological Museum. It's our last day on this stint in Athens...We'll be back here in about a week and a half though. I can't believe that our first destination is already half over. These trips take so long to plan and then they go by so quickly.

Today I had to buy a phone card because my POS Razr still isnt working. Blasted Cingular. I am so mad. Dont think I wont be making a call when I get back to the US. I dont plan on paying for this 3 weeks of service considering i have an international plan. Dirty bitches.

Anyway, I don't have too much else to say except that I think there's a ton of Americans here and that's kinda boring. And I agree with most peeps that say that Athens is kinda crappy. I am hoping for more exciting times to come in the next few days.

Oh another thing...the people staying here, I think Rachel and I are the youngest by at least 20 years. However the old folks are partying like rock stars. So funny.

Anyway, take care of each other. Always remember to log out.

Until next time...

Athens is Loco

Hello Friends.

I am sitting in our hotel lobby in Athens on our first evening in Greece. We've had a couple of days of brutal travel, so it is nice to finally get to rest for a couple of days in one place.

My first observations of athens...1) the Metro from the airport...super nice. 2) our hotel...meager accomodations. 3) the area we are staying in...kinda shifty. 4) it smells like a weird combination of smoke and b.o. everywhere we go.

Our time in NYC was awesome. We got to spend some quality time with Cath, and see a bunch of random sights. After our ridiculous plane ride--I couldnt get comforatble to sleep because there was a bebe's kid who kept kicking my chair, and then the lady in front of me somehow got like 4 airplane pillows that she kept shoving to the back of her seat and into my personal space. So irritating. However we finally got to NYC and strolled around. We went to check into our hotel, had a terrible breakfast at this really random place the concierge recommended...i think it was for the foreign tourists, so it was just kinda whatever food. So Rachel and I took to the streets and went to Times Square, ran into some street festival (brazilian day) and then we waited until the lottery for tickets to wicked. Howeer, in our time we posted up at a Starbucks (they have free bathrooms), chilled out in Central Park, and then went to the shops at Columbus Circle--they had a ton of Lenticular Art. It's all about lenticular in 07 apparently. Also I took a pic with another naked statue. haha. Then we were off to try and score Wicked tickets. Unfortunately about 200 other people also had the same plan and so we were denied. We got back to our hotel and took a mini siesta.

Cath swooped us up for dinner and we traveled to Williamsburg in Brooklyn--we walked around and looked at the "dirty hipsters" and then had a beer and some wings at this pub. After our snack, we went to Little Italy and had some amazing food. Finally we found Billy's Bakery, and I scarfed down a cupcake...or two. :) Very tasty. I liked it much better than Magnolia--the frosting was sweet without being able to taste the sugar granules.

The next morning we got up and walked the flea market on our street, then Cath picked us up and took us to some real deal NY pizza in Queens. The place was hilarious. Total old school joint complete with angry patrons.

Once we got to JFK the guy at the British Airways counter informed us that we were on the TSA watch list. Seriously??!? Ok i actually don't know if he was joking, but I don't like those kinds of jokes. Did I mention that I LOVE british airways? I had not flown them before, but it was lovely. The people were pleasant, there was ample leg room, and the food was decent. Good times.

I am still trying to figure out if i can post pics from this computer...I am thinking no because as it is, I am typing on a greek keyboard. What the hell....fortunately I am actually a better typist than i thought i was so i can figure out what it is I am spelling. Holla!

It's pretty warm here, but truthfully we've only seen our hotel thus far. We are both so exhausted from the travel that we are taking it easy today. We got in to our hotel about 4PM and right now i think it's only 7 or 8. The thing that is ticking me off at the moment is that my phone is not registering, so I can't call out. So if you don't hear from me in a few days via phone, you will know what happened.

Alright I better get back upstairs and see if we can find some dinner to eat. I took a walk around the neighborhood here to get some water, and it was not somewhere I would kick it on an ordinary day. However, we're in Greece, so it's definitely not an ordinary day.

I'll try and write again soon.

Until then...Always Log Out.