Signing off for 3 weeks...

So, early tomorrow morning, Shane and I leave for our big overland adventure. We just went to our predeparture meeting and found out some interesting news. The agent that we have been dealing with told us that we would end the trip in Zambia and that we would stay there for 3 days before leaving to go to Joburg.

When we got to our meeting tonight however, we found out that we are actually going to Zimbabwe...SURPRISE! Lesson: You just can't trust agents. So, we have booked 3 nights in Zambia and will not even be there. Evidently, there is just a small bridge that we can walk over that connects the 2 countries, so it shouldn't be too hard to get to Zambia. I guess we will find out in 3 weeks:) This is, of course, after we booked a ticket from Cape Town to Joburg earlier this week that we will actually never use and didn't need. It seems like we just keep making these little mistakes that cost a lot of money. (They are not always our fault though. We have had plenty of help.) I think we have resigned ourselves to the fact that we might not actually get to travel for a year and a half. The money is running slowly but surely (well not exactly slowly.) But, we will see.

So, for the next 3 weeks, we will be out of contact with the world. I will post again as soon as I get to a computer, but just so you know that I am not slacking. I will just be in the bush camping and enjoying the stars, the animals, the campfire and everything else that Africa has to offer.

More photos of Rome

These photos are taking up lots of space, so I am having to spread them out into 3 post. Go back and look at our first Rome post and you will see the beginning of the photos. Then, there is this one and the one below this. Enjoy!

Palentine Hill.


Me in the Colosseum.
Shane in the Colosseum

Shane and I on Palentine Hill.

A view of the Roman Forum from Palentine Hill.
The Trevi Fountain

The Pantheon

Do you recognize this face from the Poland photos?

A cute little dog in the train station with floppy ears.

For those of you who know Carol. She put on the outfit that she had to wear in Palenstine and showed us.

Some more photos from Rome, Italy

(Shane walking down the stairs in the Vatican Museum)

(Me in front of the Bronze Doors of St. Peter's Basillica.)
(Raphael's "School of Athens"...I have never been so impressed with a painting! It was outstanding. It was so awesome for me to see in real life all these things that I have studied for so long!)
(Shane standing in the square in front of St. Peter's.)

(Inside of St. Peter's Basillica. These photos do not come close to doing it justice.)
(Our first view of the Colosseum. Wow!)

New Photos!

Well, I am finally getting some photos posted! It's about time, I know. If you go back to the Vienna, Venice and Florence post, you will see some lovely photos.

We are still in Cape Town today. We leave on Sunday, the 22nd to start our overland adventure. We are busy this week trying to get everything together for it.

We spent the weekend with some of the friends we met here. I was SO excited because there was an electric blanket on my bed at their house:) It is pretty chilly here, especially at night, and the dorms we are staying in at the hostel can get pretty cold at night. Shane and I slept so good over the weekend that when we got back to the hostel Sunday night, neither one of us slept. We were exhausted all day yesterday.

The couple we stayed with last weekend, Andrew and Illana took us ALL over. First, on Fri. night, we experienced our first traditional S. African BBQ which is called a braai. Illana also made a traditional porridge called pop that was yummy. Kinda reminded Shane and I of grits. They had loads of friends over and we ate, chatted and played some games.

On Sat., we went touring all over the wine country, went to a little French town where there was a festival going on, and went for a little walk/hike up Paarl Rock, which according to Illana's sister, Charissa, is the largest piece of granite in the world. Those of us from GA had to tell her about Stone Mountain. At the end of the night on Sat., they took us to this restaurant called Moyo that serves only traditional African food. It was AMAZING! There were these lanterns hanging from all the trees, tables outside under the trees and even on platforms IN the trees, tents with couches to relax by little bonfires, and traditional African music. We all sat around and had coffee and a lady came around and painted our faces. It was a very cool place.

On Sunday, we drove out to Cape Point and had a picnic. We set on the huge rocks that jutted out over the ocean, and we watched the huge waves break against the rocks. It was pretty unbelievable.

Last night, some of the other friends we have met here had us over for dinner. One of the girls is training to be a chef and she made a delicious meal for us. Shane and I came home last night exhausted from all the activity and stuffed from all the good food over the weekend.

OH! and if anyone is interested. The people that we met that did the motorcycle journey from London to Cape Town have a website you can check out. www. hardwayhome.blogspot.com

My apologies..

It was brought to my attention today (thanks mom) that perhaps I don't always respond to everyone's comments. So, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, and it doesn't mean I love you any less:) I tend to get caught up in posting the blogs and forget to respond to comments. So, perhaps it looks like maybe I am favoring Jennifer, because I always respond to her. I will do better:)

So, once again our plans have changed. It turned out to be quite difficult to find a Land Rover to buy, and register, get insurance, and loads of other paperwork stuff. So, we have booked a 21 day overland adventure that starts on July 22nd. We will go from Cape Town, up to Namibia, over to Botswana and through to Zambia and Zimbabwa where we will stay at Victoria Falls. We are super excited about it! We will get to see loads of stuff, so it will be a good trip. We will be camping out in the bush with all the animals, so the photos should be pretty amazing. It also means that we will be away from a computer for 21 days, so there will be no post to read. I am scared of what my inbox will look like when we get back.

Also, good news! I uploaded some photos today! Yah! Look back at the post for Poland and Budapest, and for you viewing pleasure...PHOTOS!

A day in our lives in Cape Town

Hello hello. Just wanted to say "thanks" to everyone who keeps commenting on the site. We love reading the comments:) Also, we have just discovered Skype, and for those of you who don't know what it is...it's amazing! It is a program online that is free to sign up and you can make super cheap international calls if you have a headset on your computer. Also, if you sign up for it and two members are on at the same time, they can talk for free. That is a really basic explaination, but we love it. So, anyone who has Skype, our Skype name is nomadicsiblings (go figure!)

We have been thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We did a sightseeing tour yesterday and had dinner with some of the friends here. They have invited us to stay with them over the weekend, and they are going to show us all around. We are excited. Cape Town is wonderful. There are so many different things to see and do. In one area, you have the mountains, the beachs, tons of restaurants and cafes, shops and endless things to do. We also did a bit of shopping yesterday in preparation for our big adventure we are about to take. The friends that we had dinner with took a 3 month trip in 2000 that is basically the same route that Shane and I are looking at doing. So, over the weekend, they are going to show us all the photos and try to help us out. Also, the guy works with Land Rovers and knows a guy who sells old ones...so that should help us out too.

We also discovered a wonderful place near our hostel the other day called the Chocolate House. And that is just want it is. A house full of chocolate. We went a little crazy, and I got a little sick, but it was so worth it! Mom, we thought of you.

So, not much to report. Today is laundry day and searching for a post office day. We try to set ourselves tasks every day so we stay busy.

Slight Change in Plan

So, the last 3 days have been quite eventful for us. We met a couple from Portland on Fri. that are staying at our hostel. Their names are Brad and Jola. They are in the process of buying a motorbike to do a trip through Africa. Shane and I had planned to book a 21 day overland tour with one of the local tour companies here. We have been having trouble booking one of the tours, because they are super busy right now.

So, we started joking with Brad and Jola that we would buy a Land Rover and just go with them and kinda be their support vehicle. Shane has been trying to buy every Land Cruiser and Land Rover we see anyway, so it sounded like a good idea. Yesterday, we started actually looking at prices, and it is not much more to buy a car than it would be to take a tour. Then, Brad and Jola invited us to dinner with some people they had met at a bike shop last week. There were 4 people who had just finished a 9 month trip down the west coast of Africa from London on bikes. There is an Aussie couple, a Spanish guy, and an English guy. The couple met the other 2 guys during the trip and had traveled together for a few months. We had dinner with them, and they told us their stories and showed us all their photos. Now, we are seriously looking into buying a vehicle and extending our stay in Africa!

So, we have a lot of research to do, but it looks like we might be taking off across Africa on our own:) I am so excited I can barely contain it. We just think it would be a much cooler experience, and after talking to people who have already done it, and done it on bikes, it seems so much easier than we thought. I think we might consider doing the east coast instead of the west, because apparently it is easier to get visas at the borders. The Australian guy is taking off again as soon as his bike is fixed and is going up the east coast, over to the Middle East, down through Russia and China and back to OZ. He's bit insane, but we would LOVE to do that! The English guy had already done South America before coming to Africa. It is so amazing to meet people like this who just go for their dream and are full of stories about it! OH, and for those of you who have seen the movie, "Long Way Round" (if you haven't, watch it!), he is now in the process of riding a bike down the east coast of Africa and is making, "The Long Way Down." So, maybe we will meet up with a famous Scottish movie star on our journey!

Damascus, Syria: June 26th-July 3rd

So, one thing I forgot to mention about Egypt was that although we had heard horror stories about it being dangerous, it wasn't at all. The Egyptian people are lovely and very friendly. Most of them do want money from you, but it is to be expected in an African country I suppose. However, they are more than ready to help you and actually really like to do it. They love tourist, and as Hend put it, "we don't have a problem with Americans, just the American government."

Anyway, on the 26th, we got on a plane heading for Syria. Now, by that point, Shane and I both were suffering pretty bad from something we had eaten. Egyptian food is really good, but something didn't agree with us. We were taking turns running (yes running) to the bathroom. It didn't help that we were pretty much scared to bits to go to Syria. We kept asking ourselves why we had scheduled to stay there for 7 days!

We arrived in the Damascus airport and went to the taxi stand and immediately were wisked away to our hotel. When we arrived, the hotel was pretty nice, a bit odd, but nice. The outside kinda looked like a putt putt golf pirate theme. After we signed in, two bellhops grabbed our bags to take us to our room. I thought that was a bit excessive, but then thought that maybe we had to go up lots of stairs or something. Nope!! They turned around, walked about 6 steps, opened a door and we all walked in. There was this huge stained glass window thing, and I thought, "well, that is the weirdest elevator I have ever seen." Wrong again! It was our room. We turned around, and there was our bed. So, our room was right in the lobby basically. It was a nice room though, and that was a good thing, because over the next 7 days, we lived in that room.

Our stomachs had issues for the entire week in Syria. We did nothing there except watch TV, do crosswords, go to the internet cafe next door (which is how I got all caught up on this thing), go to the restaurant upstairs or to another little one we found down the road, and sleep. On the 28th, for Shane's birthday, we did do something special...laundry in the bathtub:) We decided to celebrate his birthday when we got to S. Africa.

The staff at our hotel was delightful though. One of the bellhops quickly became our favorite and helped us do anything we needed. Another one kept saying hello to us in Korean for some unknown reason. But, perhaps the one who put the biggest smile on our faces was a waiter in the restaurant. He was super nice, but the best part was that he kept referring to us as "my lady" and "my sir." I guess you would have had to of been there.

I really wish I had more to say about Syria, but we literally stayed in the room for 7 days. One day we did attempt to go out exploring, but we really didn't find anything, and then, I am sure one of our stomachs started hurting and we had to go back to the room. It is sad that we went to one of the oldest cities in the world, and saw absolutely nothing. We aren't too bummed about it though, cause we managed to survive Syria and we had our own toilet:)

Today is July 4th, and we arrived in Cape Town, South Africa early this morning. We got picked up by a van from our hostel, and we are now at a lovely place called Cape Town Backpackers. We just finished cooking pasta and loved every min. of eating something normal. Shane's stomach has returned to normal, but mine hasn't. I am still having a lot of trouble, but hopefully it will go away now that we have normal food. Tomorrow we are going to try to book an overland adventure. We are looking at going on a 21 day adventure that goes from here up into Nambia, Botswana, and Zimbabwae. We are SO excited about that!

I am so excited to be caught up with this thing! Now, I can actually post things as they happen...what a concept!

Egypt: June 22nd-26th

We left Athens at 12:50am on the 22nd. We were scheduled to arrive in Cairo at 2:45am. Our travel agent had recommended a tour guide in Cairo. Her name was Hend, and I had contacted her weeks before and set up a tour package for our 4 days in Egypt. The agency was supposed to reserve our train tickets, hotel, and provide transportation to and from the airport. Also, each day in Egypt had been planned in great detail, so we could see as much as possible in 4 days.

I think one of the best parts of our trip happened before we even reached Cairo. When we boarded the airplane and found our seats, there was a little girl sitting in the third seat in our row. Shane was by the window, I was in the middle and the little girl was on the outside. She immediately started talking to me. She told me she was from California, but she was Egyptian. Her and her mom and 5 sisters were on their way to Cairo to see their family. She was an absolute ball of energy!!! This little 10 year old demanded that Shane and I look out the window during the entire take off period, because it was here favorite part. At one point, she decided we should try to sleep, so she laid her head on my shoulder and promised to wake me up when the food came. When the food did come, she decided that she needed to try some hot tea, so I put milk and lots of sugar in it for her and she drank the whole thing. She look at me and Shane and said, "this stuff is going to make me crazy!" We didn't tell her mom what we gave her. Then, she decided that she needed to sit in the middle cause she wanted to talk to both of us. That is when she conned Shane into playing a game with her. First she told him to stretch his finger our really well to prepare. The game consisted of both of them using their pointer fingers to press the buttons on the seat arms as fast as they could. That was pretty much the game. Whoever stopped first lost...Shane gave up after about a min. We ended up laughing at her and her sisters the entire flight.

When we arrived in Cairo, it was a bit of a disaster. We couldn't find the guy who was supposed to be meeting us. I had not written down the name of our hotel, because I was just expecting someone to be there. So, we didn't know what to do. (We would later find out that the airport had not listed our flight on the arrival board, so the guy who was meant to pick us up thought the plane had been canceled.) We walked around for about and hour and making sure that every person holding a sign wasn't the person supposed to be picking us up. The entire time we were walking around, this annoying taxi driver kept following us and asking us the name of our hotel...I almost strangled him!! Finally, we decided to find a taxi who could take us to an internet point, so I could get the name of the hotel off my e-mail. The next taxi driver who walked up to us was a friendly chap, but was drinking a beer, which should have been our first warning. By this point, we were exhausted and angry and not thinking very clearly, obviously.

Our next warning sign should have been when he put us on a shuttle bus to get to his "taxi." When we finally got to his "taxi," it was a beat up old van and he had to lift the seat and fiddle with something just to get it started. Once we got onto the road, I noticed that there actually were proper taxis on the road, and we obviously had not gotten into one. That ride was perhaps the scariest ride of my life! The van was barely going 15 MPH the entire trip, and it more than struggled to get up hills. He also drove the entire journey on the center line. He never got into a lane. Shane was up front and told me later that the tank had been on empty the entire way.

The driver started taking us to various shady looking hotels and asking the people out front if there was internet. By the 2nd hotel, Shane was just mad, and demanded that he take us to the Hilton. He argued and pulled up to another shady hotel and they told us that they had internet that we could use. (really glad we didn't go to the Hilton, because it is a couple hundred a night) We went upstairs to the Isis Hotel and they turned on their computer for us. By this point the driver was demanding an extra 10 Egyptian pounds for his parking fee (he had parked on the shoulder of a road) and Shane finally just gave it to him to make him shut up. The driver left us there and we quickly figured out that he would get a commission if we stayed there. The guy who was running the hotel was nice, but obviously had some tricks up his sleeve. To make a long story short, we finally got in touch with Hend and she sent her driver to come get us and take us to our hotel. We were supposed to have a free day in Cairo our on our last day, but we asked her to change it to the first day so we could get some sleep. We finally arrived at the Mayroca Hotel at about 6am and took showers and fell into bed.

We slept until about 2:30, and then woke up to go find food. We had heard so many horror stories about Egypt and how it is dangerous. So, when we left the hotel (it wasn't in the best area) we were a little nervous. We didn't have a map, but we knew we had seen a Hardees near the Hilton hotel, so we started walking towards where we thought that was. We finally stumbled across a McDonalds (see, loving this place more and more) and we both ate a quarter pounder and then a McFlurry. There was a cinema in the same building, so we decided to take it easy and go to a movie. We went to see Ocean's 13. Something odd about movies in Egypt is that you get an intermission. Halfway through the movie, they stop it for 10 min. so you can go to the bathroom or get snacks.

The next day, the 23rd, Hend met us in the lobby of our hotel at 9am. She was absolutely lovely and so was her driver Islam. We ended up making really good friends with them both. Islam has invited us both to come back and stay for a month for free, and we have agreed to try to help Hend get into the US. She wants to travel really really badly, but because she wears the scarf on her head, she cannot get permission to go to the US. Anyway, the 23rd was our day in Cairo. We went to the Great Pyramid and the two others that were for Kings Cheops, Cherphrern and Mycerinus, we saw the Great Sphinx of Giza, the Valley Temple, the Papyrus Institute (that place was so cool! It is where they extract essense from various plants and then sell it to all the big name perfume companies to make perfume. We bought some of the pure essense there though and it smells amazing! They all have different purposes too.), the Egyptian Museum, and one of the old markets in Cairo. We saw and did so much that day. That night we were scheduled to take an overnight train at 10pm to Luxor. We ate a wonderful traditional Egyptian dinner with Hend and Islam, and then they took us to the station. Now, keep in mind, we had been touring around for about 12 hours in the hot hot sun and dust, and we had not showered.

Hend had reserved first class tickets for us and the train was surprisingly nice. I didn't get much sleep because of these noisy people in front of us, but the ride wasn't terrible. When we arrived in Luxor the next morning, June 24th, a man was waiting for us as soon as we got off the train. His name was Mohammad and he took us to our tour guide who was also named Mohammad. We didn't really like this guide as much as Hend. He was not very personable and at one point during the day, he started preaching to us about how Islam is the only religion and how it is the right one and how all other religions are wrong. We don't really know where it came from or how he even worked it into the tour, but before we knew it, we were getting preached to. It was pretty uncomfortable. However, the sites we saw in Luxor were the best of the whole trip. We went to the West Bank to visit the famous Valley of the Kings, the Temple of Hatshepsut that is named El-Deir El-Bahari temple, and to the Colossi of Memnon. Then we went to the the East bank to visit the Temple of Karnak, which is a city of temples built over 2000 years ago and dedicated to the Thebes triad of Amon, Mut and Khonsu, and then we visited the Temple of Luxor that King Amenhotep III built and dedicated it to Amon-Re, king of the gods, his consort Mut, and their son, Khonsu. Luxor was even hotter than Cairo, so by the end of the day, we were disgusting! We decided that before we boarded the train that evening, we HAD to have showers. So, we talked to Mohammad who arranged for us to get a day hotel room for a few hours until we had to catch the night train back to Cairo. It cost us $30, but it was well worth it.

At 9:15pm, we boarded the train back to Cairo. This train was horrible, however. We were in first class again, but the AC was broken, so, apparently, they had left all the windows open. EVERYTHING was covered in a thick, black layer of dust. Our seats, the rack for our luggage, the window sills, everything! So, we got filthy and so did our bags.

When we arrived in Cairo the next morning, the 25th, a man, Mr. Hesham, met us and drove us back to the Mayroca Hotel, where we dropped off our bags. Then, a driver drove us to Alexandria, which is about a 3 hour drive from Cairo. Our guide, Mustaffa, met us there. In Alexandria, we saw the Catacomb of Kom el-Shoukafa. These tombs were tunneled into the bedrock in the age of the Antoine emperors (2nd century A.D.) for a single wealthy family still practicing the ancient religion. These tombs represent the last existing major construction for the sake of the old Egyptian religion. Then we went to the fort and Citadel of Qaitbay, which was built around 1480 by the Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay. It is believed to rest on the site and to be built from the stones of the Pharos lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Near by is a small navel museum, which was mostly devoted to Nelson's defeat of Napoleon's fleet right off the coast of Alexandria on August 1-2, 1798. The last place we visited was Montazah's Summer Palace and royal gardens. Originally itw as built in 1892, and it was the summer home of the Egyptian Royal family. Then, the driver took us back to Cairo.

The 26th was our last day in Egypt. Hend and Islam picked us up at the Hotel at noon and took us for our last meal in Egypt. We got to sit and talk with them for awhile, and Shane and I had a great time. They are incredible people! Hend sat and taught me the arabic alphabet, while Shane and Islam talked about girls. After we ate, they drove us to the airport to catch our plane to Syria. Unfortunately, at that point, Shane and I were having major stomach issues!

Greece: June 17th-21st

So, on the 17th, we were off to Athens. We had only booked on night in Athens, and then we planned to catch a ferry to one of the Greek Islands. We had debated on which island to go to, cause we could only go to one. We only had 3 days to spend on the islands. We got loads of advice and opinions from different travellers that we met, and finally decided on the island furthest from Athens called Santorini.

We arrived in Athens in the afternoon and made it to our hostel around 6pm. The hostel, San Remo Hostel, was an absolute hole, but we just had to spend one night there. We dropped off our stuff in the room and went out to see as much of the city as we could since this was the only day we had. The main thing that we wanted to see was the Acropolis, but when we arrived, it was closed. We were pretty disappointed, but then we noticed all the metal scafolding, and realized that most of the buildings were under reconstruction. That made me feel a bit better. I wouldn't have wanted to see the Pantheon surrounded in metal. We walked around and checked out a few other sites, and then called it a night. We were not too impressed with Athens. It was really dirty, full of stray dogs and just not what we had expected.

We woke up at 5:30 the next morning to get to the ferry port in time to catch our ferry. Our boat left at 7:30 and it was scheduled to arrive at 3:30. It was to be a very long day in the sun. We managed to snag a table on the deck. There were no seats really, just tables with benches, and it was first come first serve. We got there early enough to grab a table. The benefit of being on the deck was that we got the breeze, but it also meant that we were in the sun for 8 hours straight. We definately got some sun on that voyage. The trip was stunning. The water was a deep navy blue color until the boat churned it up, and then it turned a beautiful bright green. What a contrast! We stopped at 3 other islands on the way, and each one just seemed to get better and more beautiful. We also met a charming young fellow named Ahron who was from Chicago. He was on his way to Santorini also.

When we arrived, a representative from our hostel met us. His name was Peter and his was a delightful Englishman. While waiting for our bus to leave, we also met a lovely girl called Cole from Perth, Australia. She was staying at the same hostel we were. Cole ended up becoming a dear friend and hopefully she will be flying back to Perth for Christmas to meet up with Shane and I. She keeps insisting that we have Christmas with her folks.

The bus to Anna's hostel was a bright orange van really, and when they led Shane, Cole, me and another guy (later to be known as Texas Pete) to this van, there was only space for one person left. Peter started chucking our bags on top of the van, but we couldn't fathom how he expected us all to fit in there. The van was already stuffed. We smashed our way in anyway, and just as we squeezed in, an old greek guy (the driver) grabbed Shane, me and Pete by the hands and dragged us out of the van. He motioned for us to get into another van with some people, so we obeyed. We were a little worried that we might not end up in the same place as our bags, but we figured we were on an island, so how bad could it be. We took off and started climbing the mountain. The road was in the shape of a huge snake climbing up the mountain, and it was bumper to bumper with cars. The view was breathtaking looking back at the sea as we inched our way up the mountain.

We finally arrived at Anna's Hostel (which was only $8 a night, by the way), and our bags were waiting on us. Cole had been to Santorini a few weeks before, so she knew just where to take us. We were staying on the beach known as Perissa Beach, one of the black beaches. You see, the island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptings recorded, so some of the beaches are black from the volcano. We dropped our stuff off, put on our suits, and headed to the beach. Cole knew where the free lounge chairs were, so we followed her. The ocean floor was crazy. It was solid rock from the lava. It was actually pretty difficult to walk out into the water. We spent a couple hours at the beach relaxing, and then went back to clean up for dinner.

That night we had a wonderful Greek dinner. We stayed up way to late, but we didn't care, cause all we had to do the next day was lay on the beach. And that is exactly what we did. After we woke up on the 19th, we walked down to the local baker (who happened to be one of the nicest men in the whole world) and got breakfast, and then headed to the beach. We did nothing but sunbathe and swim all day. It was wonderful.

That night, we decided to rent 4 wheelers, so we could explore some of the island. We met up with Ahron, and he, Shane, Cole, Texas Pete, and I took off on our ATV's. Shane and I just rented one, (to save money...although they were only $15 for 24 hours) so I rode on the back of Shane. We stopped for some gyros (which is what we lived on in Greece!) There was a really good spot on the island that was famous for its sunsets, so we decided we needed to go there. We took off, racing against time, to get there in time to see the sun set. We made it just in time and it was splendid. I can't wait to post the photos of that night! The scenery just getting to the lookout point was amazing! It was exactly what we had always pictured Greece to look like. After the sunset, we road back to Perissa beach and hung out on the beach. Someone built a bonfire, and it was a brillant night.

On the 20th, we woke up and visited our friendly local baker, naturally. He just put a smile on my face every morning, and always gave us free stuff. Then we decided to take full advantage of our mobility and explore more of the island. By this point, we had accumulated quite a group. Shane, Cole, Ahron, Texas, 2 Aussies called Luke and John, a Kiwi called David, another Aussie called Emma, and me. I could tell Shane really wanted to go crazy on his 4 wheeler, so I opted to ride with Cole so he could have some fun with the boys. Our first stop was the Red Beach. Don't ask how, but the whole place was red. There was also a white beach. So, on one island, they have a black, white and red beach. What a place!

After leaving the Red Beach, we went to a secret beach that Ahron had discovered by accident. It was at that beach where all the boys decided to do some cliff diving. I have some great photos of that too. By this point, we decided to call it a day and go for dinner. We ran into the 3 Canadians that we had eaten dinner with our first night in Florence also. They ended up hanging out with us after dinner. That night was spent another night chilling on the beach and meeting other new people. Shane met a group of girls from South Dakota who were taking the same ferry as we were the next morning.

Sadly, the next morning, the 21st, Shane and I had to leave. We visited the baker for the last time, hugged everyone and said our sad goodbyes, and got back into the bright orange van. We had to catch a ferry back to Athens, and then catch the train to the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:50 that night. One of the girls from S. Dakota was also going to the airport, so we agreed to all go together. They had a Greek friend traveling with them and kinda taking care of them, and she decided to come to the airport with us. She thought it would be a good idea to take the metro instead of the train, because it was cheaper. So we did. Bad idea! The girl was not from Athens, but from another city, and didn't know the metro system. So about 10 min. from the airport, we all got fines for buying incorrect tickets. The fines are about $60, and we were supposed to call some number and explain that we were tourist and didn't know. But, Shane and I just decided to forget about it. Not sure what they will do to us, but they didn't seem too concerned when we told them we wouldn't be home for a year and a half. Oh well!

Rome: June 11th-17th

(A view of the colosseum.)
Sadly, we said goodbye to Molly and Mark and left the beautiful Camp Girasole. We had found a campsite outside of Rome to stay at, but we knew nothing could compare to where we had just stayed. We were quite nervous to go to Rome. We had heard horror story after horror story about the Gypsies and all the pickpockets. There are so many professional thieves in Rome, that we were certain we were going to get robbed as soon as we stepped off the train. The train station is a popular place for the Gypsy kids to rob you. So, we arrived in Rome pretty nervous and got off the train clutching our bags to our chest and watching everyone who came near us.

(An obelisk that was donated by Egypt to a ruler of Rome...can't remember which one.)

Mark and Molly had told us about this thing to buy in the station called a Roma Pass. They had found out about it through Rick Steve's guidebook (which for anyone EVER planning to travel to Europe...buy his book!!! He is a genius!) You pay 20 euros and the pass is good for 3 days. It includes all transportation (bus, tram, metro, trains) and the first 3 historical sites we visited would be free. Every additional site after that would be discounted. So, we wandered around the station until we finally found the place to buy the pass.
Then, we jumped on the metro and started following our directions to the campsite. After we arrived at our metro stop, the directions told us to then exit the station and take the aboveground line F. Now, for most of you, that seems pretty straightforward, right? We thought so, until we saw that there were about 4 exits, and the 3 maps we had obtained by this point were all different! Yes, 3 maps of the same city, were all different. We wandered around for almost an hour in the blazing hot sun. By this point, I was hot, sweaty, hungary, tired and really needed a bathroom. I turned to Shane and said, "I just dare someone to try to rob us right now!" I was not happy. We finally asked an attendant in the subway station where this aboveground line F was, and she pointed to an exit and said turn right. We went up the stairs, turned right, and there was an entirely different train station. Of course there were no signs indicating that this was, indeed, line F, but I asked another attendant and she said it was. So, we got on the train. We, of course, chose the one car with a crazy man on it and had to spend the next 25 min. listening to him rant and rave in Italian. It was fun.

("Lacoon and His Sons" in the Vatican Museum. I had to wear the scarf over my shoulders to go in the museum...I wasn't having a fashion crisis.)

When we arrived at Tiber Camping, we were happy to have showers and chill out for awhile. Our dorm room was a bit lacking, but overall, the campsite was pretty good. The dorm was a huge building that had been sectioned off into rooms with 4 beds in each (2 bunkbeds). Most of the rooms were empty, so Shane and I chose an empty room and felt pretty good about the fact that it didn't look like we would have to be sharing with anyone. However, the next morning when we woke up, there was a guy in the bunk across from us. There were still about 5 empty rooms, and it turned out that his friend was in a room across from us. We still haven't really figured out why that guy spent 2 nights in our room with us. You see, most people we have met on this trip, automatically assume that we are a couple until we correct them (very quickly I might add!), so that made it even stranger that he chose our room.

Our first morning in Rome, June 12th, we got up early and caught the shuttle and train into the city. Mark and Molly had given us a "Top 10 in Rome" book to help us find all the important sites. We decided that we should start at the Vatican, because the line was so long. We didn't want to stand in that line at midday when the sun was blaring. So, we took our place in line and although the line was horribly long, it only took us about an hour to get in. The Vatican is really breathtaking. There is so much to see there that I can't even begin to write about it all. The end of the tour is when you go through the Sistine Chapel. We were both a little disappointed because the entire time we were in there, the guards were yelling at people for taking photos and yelling (ironically) at people to be quiet. It really took away from the experience.

(The beginning of the line we waited in to get into the Vatican City.)

(The Vatican gardens and the dome of St. Peter's Basillica.)
(The square in front of St. Peter's.)
(A Vatican guard...nice uniform, eh?)
After leaving the Vatican, we went behind to St. Peter's Basillica. This is the largest Cathedral in the world (we had seen the 2nd largest in St. Petersburg), and it was magnificent. You can't even imagine how big it is, or how gorgeous it is.

(My sneaky shot of the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. It's not very good shot cause I was trying to hide from the guards.)

We took a break for lunch and then set off to go see the Colosseum. We were not able to use our Roma Passes at the Vatican, because it is a seperate state. So we chose the most expensive things to do first so we could get in free. The Colosseum is one of the most expensive attractions, so using the Roma Pass made it free, and also meant that we didn't have to stand in line. There isn't much inside the Colosseum to see except ruins, but it was an awesome experience to go inside. You can just feel how old it is and all that happened there. I think it was one of our favorite things that we saw.

Directly across from the Colosseum is the Roman Forum and Palentine Hill. On our way our of the Colosseum, we needed drinks, so I picked up a Gatorade. It was the most expensive sports drink I have ever had. I think it equaled out to be about $8, but it was delicious! We walked up to Palentine Hill and then walked through the Forum. When I post the pictures, they will do way more justice than I could ever do with words.

We decided to call it a day after that and went back to the campgrounds. It was that night when we were sitting around playing cards, that we saw the Canadian couple I had met in Florence again. Kristy and Brandon were staying at the same campsite, so we ended up hanging out with them the next few days. They taught us some new card games, so we were grateful (rummy was getting a bit old.)

On the 13th, we got up early and went into the city to see a few things before we were supposed to meet up with a friend. Shane and I grew up going to church with a couple and their daughter has been living in Italy for about 30 years. So, we had gotten in touch with her and got to spend the day with her. We met her train around 1pm and spent the day with her and 2 other sisters in Rome. One sister made homemade lasagna. We had a great day with them.

On the 14th, we decided it was time for another pool day, and spent the day doing nothing. Well, we did laundry, but that doesn't count. By this point, our tans were looking pretty good:)

On the 15th, we went back in to Rome to see everything we had not seen yet. That day we saw the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain (where we threw coins in backwards, so that we can return to Rome one day), and couple other small fountains and sites. It was on this day that a crazy thing happened. Shane and I were on the train heading back to the campsite, when I saw a group of backpackers. Since the only place they could really be going on this train was Tiber, I asked them if they were heading to the campsite. They said that they were and we all started chatting. We got around to the, "where are you from question" and one guys said he was from Juneau, AK. I was excited to meet someone else from AK, and told him I had a really good friend that I had gone to high school with that lived in Juneau. I asked the guy if he knew anyone involved in theatre there, and he said that he was involved in theatre. So, I asked if he knew Ryan Connaro, and he said he did. We started talking about Ryan and his sister, Sarah, who is also living there now. It was so random.

The next day, the 16th, we decided to make it another pool day. We had planned on taking a day trip to Pompeii, but it turned out to be too expensive. So, another day of relaxing for us. We needed it though, because the following morning, the 17th, we had to wake up at 5am to get to the airport. We were flying to Athens, Greece on the 17th.

Wonderful Florence: June 5th-11th

When we looked at places to stay in Florence, we found two. Both were campsites, and one was in the city and the other was just outside the city. The one in the city was a bit more expensive, but they had rooms available for for the 5th and 6th. The cheaper one did not, so we booked 2 nights at the place in the city and booked the rest at the other one. Anything to save a little money!

(Looking out over Florence from our first campsite that we stayed at.)

When we got to the train station in Florence on the 5th, we were not quite clear on our directions (go figure!), but we ended up at a bus stop anyway. A girl who was waiting there too asked if we were going to Camping Michelangelo, and we said that we were. She was too, so we joined forces and starting chatting with this friendly Canadian named Karen. She was traveling alone, so as it is our habit by now, we invited her to join us in our room. We had book a 3 person room, but there were only 2 of us, so she agreed.


(This is bridge that took us into the city center of Florence. All the little house looking things are actually shops.)

The campsite was much nicer than the one we stayed at in Venice. Our tent houses were twice as big, and much nicer. The only complaint against this place really was that we had to walk uphill about a mile to get to the bathroom, and in the middle of the night, that wasn't fun. Other than that it was great. We ended up meeting loads of nice people there. That night we ate dinner at the restaurant across the street from the campsite. We were joined by 3 more Canadians and an Aussie guy. Then we returned to camp and hung out in the communal area, where we met loads of other folks. I can't remember everyone's name to be honest, so I won't even try.



The next morning, Shane, Karen and I woke up and decided to walk down to Florence and explore a bit. We both fell in love with the city at first sight. It was magnificent, and exactly what we had pictured. There were tons of markets, museums, art, people, icecream stands and of course, there was so much Illy coffee! We spent most of the afternoon walking around, but then it started raining, so we headed back.



That night, we hung out in the communal area again, and met lots of other nice folks. My favorite had to be a Brazilian guy called Douglas. Picture this, a Brazilian named Douglas first of all, and then one with an Irish accent. He was quite a mixture. When I asked him if he knew how to dance (I admitted that I had this naive idea that all South Americans could dance), his response was classic. He said, "NO! I can't dance. I am a pitiful excuse for a Brazilian...my name is Douglas and I can't dance!" I also met a nice couple from Victoria, Canada named Kristy and Brandon. (You might wonder why I tell you all these names, but they will be relevant later, so you need to know them.)

On June 7th, it was moving day. We had to move campsites. We were a little bummed about it, cause we had made so many friends at the first campsite, but we knew we needed to save the money. We went back to the train station to catch the train to the new place. Once we were on the train, we started thinking we had really made a horrible decision, because this campsite was further outside the city than we thought.

When we arrived in the little town where our new campsite was, we called them to send a shuttle to get us. Then, as we were walking out, I noticed a guy and girl trying to figure out how to use the payphone. They were obviously backpackers and were speaking English, so I took a chance and asked them if they were going to the same place we were. They said they were and were relieved that we had already called for a shuttle. Their names were Mark and Molly, and they were also brother and sister. Molly was 21 and Mark was 19, but they might as well have been Shane and I. Mark was obsessed with working out, eating and protein shakes. Molly wanted to see all the art, museums and architect in every city. She had been living and studying in Greece for a month, and their parents had sent Mark over to travel with her for 3 weeks after she finished her program. We all became fast friends.
(Our new friends, Mark and Molly.)





(Shane, Molly and Mark before our last dinner together.)

When we arrived at Camp Girasole, we thought they had taken us to the wrong place. It was a 4 star resort really. We had our own private cabin, with a bathroom right next door to Mark and Molly. There were 4 swimming pools, a water slide, 4 restaurants, a spa, jacuzzi, excellent gym, gelato stand, market, wine cellar, internet cafe, store and even a doctor for crying out loud!! And all this for $14 a night. We forgot all about the first campsite. We immediately decided to extend our stay there.


(One of the pools at Camp Girasole.)

(A rainbow we spotted one night during dinner.)(Shane enjoying breakfast one morning at Camp Girasole.)

(Another one of the pools at Camp Girasole.)

Over the next few days, we met two other American girls, and we all went back into Florence to explore some more. We lounged by the pool quite a bit, worked out, ate, talked, played cards and just had a blast. Every morning, we would eat breakfast and drink wonderful Illy coffee, and then Shane, Mark and I would work out. Then we would either go into Florence, or lay by the pool. At night we would eat dinner at one of the restaurants and then, go visit our friendly gelato guy. That guy was the nicest icecream guy I've ever met.

(A random sign leading to Texas in the middle of Italy.)

(Raphael's David...this was my first look at him. It's not a very good photo cause I was sneaking to get it. Photos were not allowed.)

(Jen and Kimberly, the 2 American girls we met at Camp Girasole. )

One day, we waited in line to see Raphael's "David", which was probably one of the most memorable moments for me. We saw tons of art and architecture that I never dreamed I would see. We also spent a large portion of one day walking through the markets in Florence. The vendors at the markets there are the funniest and friendliest people ever! We loved just walking through and talking to them, or listening to them talk. They all had a line, but we didn't mind because they weren't obtrusive about it the way some vendors are.

(Shane and Mark on the train on the way into Florence.)

(And then Shane and Mark on the way back to our campsite. I think they were tired.)



(Mark had a strange thing for pigeons.)

By this point in our trip, we were in love with Italy. What was not to love...great food, amazing coffee, delicious ice cream, super friendly people and of course...a wonderfully fun language! They really say things like, "Mama Mia" and "Ciao Bella."