Do something with your life, drink...

This morning we woke up early, again, and had breakfast. The breakfast cafe was so packed we ended up eating poolside. After breakfast, we came back for a few more zzz’s. At noon, our ship pulled into Katakolon, pronounced differently by every tour guide we had. 

The town was small and cute with a good size beach, though our tour guide said it was a ghost town, only active when cruise ships arrive. Once we were off the boat, we were into a bus for a 30-40 minute drive to Olympia, home of the first Olympics. 

We rode through town and landed in the parking are for the tour of the ruins. During the tour, our guide told us the history behind each section and showed us pictures of what it may have looked like once upon a time. The small roped off section is where people used to sacrifice animals to the gods. Today, it is where the torch is lit for every Olympic Games.

Today, the area is in ruins thanks to Christians (who stole the bronze and ivory) and mother nature (who destroyed it with floods and an earthquake). This is the stadium where athletes competed. No stands, spectators sat in the grass. Our guide said athletes used to compete naked; it was considered honoring the gods to show them a perfect body. We were advised not to run around the stadium naked. No worries there!

Now the area is a bunch of stones laying on the ground with a few still standing erect. Throughout the areas, there were men with whistles making sure you didn’t stand on the stones, they were fond of blowing their whistles. 

When we started our tour, our guide said it was going to storm; at the time it was bright blue skies. While we were walking through the ruins, you could see a dark cloud rolling in and then hear thunder and see lightening.

To not get rained on, after seeing the ruins, dad and I walked back to the town to find a pharmacy to purchase some advil (they don’t sell it on the ship, nor do they sell socks, fyi). We found a pharmacy and purchased a box of 20 advil for one euro (after putting some thought into it, I’m not taking the advil. When have you ever been able to buy a box of advil for essentially $1.50, it was probably made in a back alley somewhere. I know, very close-minded of me). Then we bought some souvenirs and headed to a spot to eat. 

Dad ordered a gyro 

And I had a Greek Salad. Having eaten at Zoe’s Kitchen, I assumed I liked Greek salad. When I got the salad, there was no lettuce in it, just cheese, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives. So, I ordered something with pork in it, which was essentially pork on a stick with rice and french fries (I think it was Pork Souvlaki). It was good though. I had two cokes, dad had a beer, and we both got dessert. Bill ended up being 41euro, the cheapest we’ve eaten yet for the amount of food we got! After lunch, we boarded the buses and went back to Katakolon. We had a different tour guide that time who told us about the gypsies living in Greece and, after asking if we (the bus) had tried several Greek drinks, to which everyone responded no, told us we needed to do something with our life and drink. We got back on our ship. I laid out for awhile while dad stayed in the room. Then I napped. Apparently, being in the sun makes me sleepy. We had decided early on, not to go to the formal dinner tonight. I didn't really feel like it, dad didn't feel like, so we relaxed in the room. Won't make that mistake again. At 8 we went to eat in the cafeteria, not very good food there. I was not happy. Plus we found out later that Auto-Owners foot the alcohol tab for the night. Oh well.

We meandered around the boat a bit, tried to get a good sunset picture but it fell behind the clouds before I could get one. I'm getting ready to go see the show tonight: Hollywood Parade. It starts late so people can meet with the captain, hence the formal night I'm sure. Tomorrow we land early in Santorini where we travel to the top of a volcano by cable car or donkey, we'll probably go the cable car route. After Santorini, we leave for Mykonos to experience the night life. Safe to say tomorrow will probably be busy. I bought some more minutes for the internet but in the last 30 minutes have managed to only get one picture on Facebook. Eventually I'll have pictures on, probably when I get home. Oh well. Until tomorrow...

I always wind up on the wrong side of the boat...

Today was another wonderful relaxing day! We woke for breakfast early. Apparently dad is the early to rise type. Though after breakfast we did come back to the room to sleep for a little while longer. 

At about noon we docked in Bari, Italy. We spoke with the Auto-Owners group who said there was nothing to see in Bari, it was mostly a stop for people to board the cruise and leave it (apparently Venice isn’t the only place you can board this cruise). Dad and I opted out of going on shore. Instead, we grabbed lunch, changed clothes and went to the top deck to get some sun. There was a nice breeze that kept us cool though you could still feel the warmth. We laid out for a bit. At some point in the day I got banana gelato, yum!!! 

At another point we grabbed Miami Vice drinks. Came all the way to Italy to have a Miami Vice! They were quite delicious. Dad and I took them to our room so we could enjoy them on our balcony. I love that balcony.

After drinks, dad decided to stay in the room a bit so I grabbed Jenny’s Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang and went to the top deck to lay out and read, very relaxing. When I decided that I was getting too done, I came back to the cabin to find dad ready to grab coffee and dessert. A bit more relaxing later and it was dinner time. So, our itinerary said yesterday that the dress code was informal but everyone dressed casual, today, it said informal, so I dressed casual. It wasn’t really an issue. Tomorrow it says formal, I’ll wear my dress and hope everyone else does too. Dinner was okay, we had a cute waiter from Montenegro; he had gorgeous eyes and I could easily understand him. After dinner it was time for bingo. Bingo was 10 euro a card or three cards for 20 euro, I bought 3. The announcer asked what languages were represented and then announced the numbers in each language. For the majority of this cruise thus far, every announcement is made in Italian, English, French, Spanish, and German. During bingo I got pretty good at getting numbers right no matter what language he said them in. The jackpot for bingo was 3000 euro if bingo was reached within the first 40 numbers, easy right? So numbers were called and I eventually had bingo. As soon as I realized it, I yelled BINGO! The casino director and a waitress came to check my card. Fun fact: they don’t do lines here; bingo in the Mediterranean means getting a full card, not one line. My bad! Feeling immensely embarrassed, mainly because I was one of only two English speakers in the room and had just yelled out bingo, I retreated back to my chair and prayed for no Bingo after that. It turns out I wasn’t the only one though. Shortly after, a few more Americans joined the game and one of them called bingo. It’s safe to say, though, that I will not be playing bingo anymore here. After bingo, we went to see tonight’s show, Pirates (which they did not pronounce the way we do, made me think tonight was going to be a repeat of last night). I dragged my dad again. Tonight was much more entertaining. There were disappearing acts, a rope/curtain swinging (I don’t really know what to call it, he pulled himself up a big piece of fabric hanging from the ceiling, think Pink’s performance of Glitter In The Air), and a few more acts that reminded me of Cirque du Soleil. I don’t really know what it had to do with pirates, other than that was the way they were dressed. After the show, we wandered into the casino. My dad got 25 euros in chips and played some roulette. He didn’t fair so well. Then he cashed out the 12 euro he had left and gave them to me to play slots. I ended up hitting a payout of 173 quarters (don’t know what they are called in euros but it was .25 euro, like a quarter). It all together ended up being 50 euro. Now we’re in bed for the night. I know when to take my winnings and leave. Tomorrow we jump one more hour ahead, making it 7 hours from home. We also go to Katakolon, Greece. There we catch a ride to Olympia, home of the first Olympics. I didn’t take many pictures today, it was mostly a chill day. Tomorrow I’ll be sure to take a ton! Until then...

He was high on xanax...

Today was a pretty easy day. It started with an early breakfast of nutella on wheat bread and cantaloupe followed by a little bit of sleep. 

While waiting for the boat to take us to the ship, dad and I took some pics. 

And one more with Venice in the background. At noon we hopped a boat to our cruise ship. I have to say I like Venice and I like their boating but my sea legs got worse as time went on and I probably wouldn’t have been able to stand much more. After our boat docked for the cruise ship, we walked about 10 minutes. About 30 minutes of standing in line, going through security, and getting our picture taken, we landed on the ship and were led to our room. 

Ah, having a balcony makes all the difference. Even though it was about 1pm when we got on the ship, it wasn’t set to take sail until 5:30. 

We sat on our balcony for quite some time and then took a power nap.

The view of Venice from our balcony.

I wandered the ship for a little while, trying to learn where everything was. 

Then it was time to get ready for the Welcome Reception put on by Auto-Owners (open bar). The paperwork said dress was informal but described that as sundresses for women and jacket and tie for men. No one at the reception was wearing that. We felt somewhat over dressed. 

We left port and sailed through a canal in Venice, I was able to take some pictures of the city from above. 

Including a few self-portraits. After the reception was dinner. It was pretty good. Ended on a rum cake that was light and rummy. We ate with two couples from our group, conversation was good. 

After dinner, I made it back to the room in time to get a picture of the sunset from our balcony. 

Then it was time for our first show, Cuore Italiano. The Italian title should have given me the heads up. I talked my dad into going knowing it wasn’t his cup of tea but he came along anyway. The show was Italian singing and dancing. Quite obviously not his, nor mine in this case, cup of tea so he left in the middle and went to the casino. I stayed until the end and then went back to the room. Tomorrow we head to Bari, the main economic hub for Southern Italy. Tomorrow’s theme on board is pirates, should be interesting! Unfortunately, I don’t get cell reception on the ship, can’t even text. Hopefully I’ll figure out how to get online tomorrow. Until then...

It's not really raining...

Today was the perfect day to be in Venice. The morning started with a 30 euro buffet, but it was free thanks to Auto-Owners. The buffet was filled with fruits, cheeses, meats, and most importantly, Nutella. Any buffet with Nutella on it is fine by me. I have found that every time I travel to another country, they have a breakfast item that does not quite fit; in London it was baked beans at breakfast, here it was french fries, though french fries may be more reasonable, at least they’re a potato. 

At 9am, we left for our guided tour of Venice. There was a light sprinkle but our tour escort said that it wasn’t really raining. Optimism. I guess you can see some sun behind those clouds.

We rode a boat over to San Marco Island.  

Once on the island, we met our tour guide, were given headsets to hear her (made me feel very secret service and I suspect dad did too), and began our walk. 

It wasn't very long before we crossed our first bridge, and by looking down the canal, saw the Bridge of Sighs, so named because it was the last look of sky for soon to be prisoners (they sighed while crossing). 

And an unobstructed view of the bridge. I don't get why the buildings were covered. They were doing a lot of work in the area, I hope it was that and not just advertisements.

From there we walked a few more feet to Piazza San Marco

St. Mark's Square is a pretty big tourist destination. Our guide warned us to keep our bags close and for the guys to not put their wallet in their back pocket. It was packed.

 and into Palazza Ducale (Doge’s Palace (Doge means Duke)). If there is one thing I learned about this visit, it is that Italians, particularly Venetians, are very modest. 

Just kidding. The ceiling of the palace was hand carved and hand painted with 24ct gold by such artists as Titian. It was the most extraordinary thing I have ever seen. As soon as I get back home, I am ordering hand-carved, hand-painted pieces for our ceiling (hope you’re game for that Jenny). We could only take pictures of the stairwell, but trust me, it was everywhere. And if the ceiling wasn’t enough, the entire palace walls were the same. 

From the Palace we crossed the Bridge of Sighs into the prison. Kentucky has nothing on this old, Italian prison. Though we did hear a story of an escape by Giacomo Casanova. Still, the place kind of gives you the creeps. I can understand the sighs. 

Safe to say, dad was not thrilled by the prison. Our tour guide was hilarious during this portion. She was so worried about losing someone, she followed people to the bathroom to make sure they hurried. I got fussed at by her for wandering around during the bathroom break, I think she thought I was leaving, I was just going to take more pictures. 

From the Palace we went into Basilica di San Marco, the cathedral. It was nice, also covered all in gold. 

It was a very quick walk through that I’m glad I didn’t have to stand in line for. From the cathedral we headed to a glass blowing factory. Fun fact, Murano Glass, famous blown glass, was first created in Venice and then the factories moved to the island of Murano. It was neat, way too expensive and not that spectacular. 

But I did enjoy taking pictures on the bridge in front and walking around the street outside. 

Once everyone had finished shopping, we walked to our gondola ride. 

It was nice and relaxing and the day had become beautiful. 

Though our gondolier was not very entertaining, he kept asking other people to look at the side of his boat like something was wrong. 

Once we were done there, we were on our own. My dad and I made our way through the city to the Rialto bridge at my request. I had wanted to go to the market but once we got there, my attention turned toward food. We had pizza, it was pretty good. We discovered after our meal that refills were not free. Each drink cost us 7 euro, we had three; our pizza was only 11 euro. 

Then, we set off to find a hat store at my dad’s request. He didn’t know where it was but knew it was in the general area of half the island. 

We wandered. 

A lot. I was surprised he was wanting to walk around that much, we spent at least an hour looking for the story. And when we finally found it, it was only a few blocks from the Rialto Bridge. While he was in the store, he couldn’t find a hat he wanted. As soon as we left though, across the street, he found a hat. I used the time wandering to buy souvenirs. 

After buying his hat, we were ready to head home but not before finding some tiramisu gelato. What can I say, when you love something, you love it. And I love tiramisu! We found our way back to the boat and headed back to our hotel room. 

About an hour later, it was time for dinner. We walked down Guidecca, the island we’re staying on, but couldn’t find anything that caught our fancy. After talking with the Auto-Owners representatives, we set off to the Zattere island to find a restaurant. Take a left, a right, and a right. Directions seemed easy enough. The restaurant was hidden. I had an amazing lasagne alla bolognese, though my dad’s meal wasn’t that great (he had salmon that the bones were left in, food’s not that great when you have to work to make sure you don’t choke). 

We came back to the hotel after the interesting dinner to have a night cap of a cappuccino for my dad and a hot chocolate for me (the most amazing and rich one I’ve had). 

Now we’re in for the night. Tomorrow, we get breakfast again and then board our cruise ship at noon. I think I may sleep in a bit. Until tomorrow...

Here, They Just Call Them Blinds.

While we were waiting to get in our room, my dad and I had lunch at the bar here. I had a ham and cheese sandwich, proscuitto and fromaggio, and my dad had a shaved salmon sandwich (it wasn’t cooked, guess that is how they roll), we also split a fancy bottle of water. All of our food came to 34 Euros! That means those two sandwiches cost $48 at the current exchange rate. Good thing they gave us that stipend. 

Well, we finally got our room. The picture doesn’t really do it justice. You know it’s a good hotel room when you have a towel warmer! As soon as we got in the room, my dad crashed, and out of boredom (because my mom said not to go anywhere by myself, see mom, I listen sometimes), I crashed too. 

We woke about 5 to give us enough time to shower and go to the welcoming dinner. 

Yum! 

And even more yum...black cherry tiramisu!!! The whole reason I came to Venice! Don’t judge but I ate two pieces, hey, I’m on vacation. 

During the dinner, there was a four man band playing, they were quite entertaining. None of the food served was warm, thought that was interesting. 

I had a glass of white wine, which was pretty good, more of that bottled water they have everywhere (by the way, that water is 6 Euros ($8.40), luckily, Auto-Owners keeps providing it for free), and a Coca-Cola Light (even took one to go)! 

Been meeting some interesting people today. One lady at our dinner table thought I looked like a teenager, couldn’t believe a teenager was turning down pizza, combine this experience with my recent almost carding at a rated R movie, I’m feeling quite young. 

After dinner, I talked my dad in to walking around a bit. We didn’t get far but it was more than I thought he would go today.  Found out tomorrow, after our tour, we get a gondola ride for free, yay! Now we’re in bed for the night. Found Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in German, definitely don’t know the answers to that one. Well, goodnight all! And Happy Furlough Day to everyone at home! Until tomorrow...

There's Traffic in the Sky

Thursday got off to a great start. Woke up early, got ready for the trip, and then my sister and I went to Panera to grab breakfast before I left (you can’t beat a blueberry bagel with honey walnut cream cheese). After breakfast, Jenny and I went to pick up my parents and make the trek to the airport. Checking in was interesting to say the least. The automated machine didn’t work for me, or I didn’t know how to work it (which is the more likely story), and it charged me for our luggage and printed a Philly ticket instead of a Venice one. After working through it with the guy behind the counter, we got it worked out. Though, when I asked if our luggage would arrive in Venice the same time we did, he just smiled and laughed, made me very uneasy. 

Dad just chilling at the airport. During the course of the vacation, the bulk of our traveling was sitting in an airport. But we finally made it into our first flight. Louisville to Philly.

As far as the short flight goes, I’ve had better and I have never been on a short flight. We left Louisville for Philadelphia in a plane that I’m sure was only made for 2 people, though about 30 were on board. We left Louisville as it was storming so we had plenty of turbulence. But we finally made it to our layover, slightly earlier than expected. Our layover was for 4 hours and to kill time, we ate at a pub inside the airport, not my best decision I’ve ever made, I have to say I have been regretting that decision since I made it. 

Our flight to Venice was a lot better, though we were seated on the wing.

So all I got was lots of pictures of clouds.

Though we did get a peek of Venice from the air. It is now Friday morning. We landed in Venice, stood in a forever long line to go through customs/immigration, and then made our way to baggage claim, where I patiently waited to see if our luggage made the trip. After waiting, waiting, and waiting, our luggage finally flew down the belt. Success! Leaving the airport, we did a 4 minute walk to the water taxi. A 45 minute boat ride later and we have finally landed at our hotel for the next three days. 

Unfortunately, it’s 11:15 Venice time and check-in is not until 2 so our room is not ready yet. 

At noon though, we are headed to the roof to have lunch and take many pictures of the views, something other than clouds. I don’t know how internet works here yet. You may get two posts in one night! Hopefully soon I’ll get to shower and start being a tourist. Saturday we have a walking tour of Venice at 9, rest assured there will be a lot of pictures to accompany it.


Here is a picture from the roof from that afternoon.