I don't like Turkey anymore ..

29 Apr 08
departing Marmaris, Turkey


The town was fine .. good .. great even. Cat and I went ashore together .. we were docked at the edge of a really pretty marina, with some lovely yachts in it. We wandered around it and into the little town .. then went for lunch at Pineapple. YUMMY!!! I had a Greek Salad and pizza .. was almost as good as Aegean Pizza back in Holbrook, NY ... but the dressing on the salad is just oil ... not like back home.

Anyway .. after lunch, we went for a walk around town .. and of course I was taking pics. When I finished taking a few, I had turned around and stepped into a little hole .. more like a little valley in the cement that I think is for water run off. Anyway, I mis-stepped and then when I tried to catch myself, fell over the curb that was right next to it. :( :( I have a bad scrape on my right shin, and my right hip is bothering me. I am upset as all hell .. cause you know how embarrasing it is to fall. You feel like an idiot .. cause you have been walking all your life and then you just fall, like you are back to being a toddler. Grrrr

So needless to say, I did not have a good rest of the day .. I tried to walk it off - but it was still sore, so Cat and I went back to the ship about an hour or so later. I took a nap, hoping that resting it would help. It is still sore! I am going to take some of my good drugs that I have with me for cases like this and just go to sleep. That will be of course after I call my Mommy .. I need a virtual hug ..

Here are my pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.b6q12tcb&x=0&y=5rpyof&localeid=en_US

Don't mind the pic of Cat's bum - she asked me if I was taking pics of her bum since I was walking behind her (only cause I was slower .. and hell, she has LONG ass legs) and when I told her no, I then took a pic of it anyway :)

Istanbul .. not Constantinople

We were in Istanbul on the 26th of April .. crappy weather though. Rainy, windy, cold .. and damp. I tried to layer as much as I could as we were going to be outside a lot. I was able to get on a full day tour, which was great .. since doing it myself would have been costly as well as a lot harder to do.

The Blue Mosque was probably the best place .. other than the Grand Bazaar - but that was just shopping. The city was packed! There were sooo many people in town .. our tour guide kept apologizing saying it was a culmination of the Greek Holiday weekend, a holiday for the Austrailians (Adzac Day I think they said) as well as it being a Saturday.

Anyway - here are the pics .. sorry they are out of order again, but when I upload to Kodak Gallery, they don't all load the first time .. and then I have to re-do the ones that didn't upload .. then they get out of order. Most of the time I wouldn't mind putting them in the correct arrangement .. but on ports like this where I have 180 pics .. I can't be assed!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.2fj4gr23&x=0&y=-bt50bx&localeid=en_US

Yes I am still afloat :)

28 Apr 08
Arriving in Kusadasi, Turkey

Just wanted to post *something* (didn't want anyone to think I was actually SLACKING! :P) and let you know the net has been crap the last 2 days .. I am still trying to get all my pics from Istanbul up on the net, then once that is done I will post them here ..

Stay tuned ......

Party Pics

25 Apr 008
Arriving in Istanbul, Turkey

Have some party pics that I hadn't had a chance to put up ..

First one was a Karaoke night in the crew bar:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.cgbximdn&x=0&y=-4klz5v&localeid=en_US


Second was a "Chav Party" - kind of like the UK version of "gangsta" dress-code, but from what I was told, it is very specific to brand names - like Burberry and Dior. However, all the clothes and jewlery are knock-offs. Supposedly there are actually people who really dress like this! LOL :)

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.aa99ob4b&x=0&y=i8lyel&localeid=en_US


Finally this one is from the Black & White Disco we had last night in the crew bar:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.b5wl03bf&x=0&y=jt6wut&localeid=en_US


As we are entering Istanbul, we are supposed to lose satellite - and as it is an overnight port, we won't have it back till tomorrow night. I am still currently 7 hrs ahead of the East Coast. I am on IPM tonight, so I am throwing an "IPM Party" in the Horizons bar upstairs for the rest of us who are on it. Tomorrow I am on an all day tour - I was originally told I couldn't go, but since we will be without satellite coverage, there is no need for me to be in the cyber! :) YAY! So stay tuned for lots of pics - we hit all the major highlights .. the Blue Mosque, Hague Sophia and the Grand Bazaar!

24 Apr 08
departing Thessaloniki, Greece

(pronounced Thess - salon - a - key)

Another beautiful day .. Thessaloniki is the 2nd largest city in Greece. Though not as urban as Athens was in my opinion. Had a more small city feel to it. Still lots of outdoor cafes, shops and beautiful architechture. My mission today was to find a church - since they celebrate Easter when I do, I thought it would be nice since I won't be able to go to any services this weekend. I might luck out on Saturday in Istanbul - but that would be "luck" and I knew I would have a better chance in Greece.

Went out with Cat and her mom .. just for a wander really. But they knew I wanted to find a chuch and we literally stumbled over the one we went into. (and I am sooo glad - wait till you see the pics - and it was right out on the street in the middle of the city!) Obviously, I can't read Greek so we didn't know what the name of it was .. I sort of was able to talk to one of the guys who was walking around (he even went inside, then came back and put the sign of the cross in oil on my forehead - when I told him my name was Anastasia) Anyway, so the monastery is called Kapnikarea .. here is what I found online about it: ( http://eventsuk.britishairways.com/sisp/?event_id=34220&fx=event )

Monastiraki, actually means "small monastery" and quietly houses a tiny Byzantine chapel (Kapnikarea) right in the middle of Ermou St, which provides a welcome respite from the haggling and crowds.

There was actually a bazaar on the other side of the street - in the back of the Monastery .. but we never made it to that street (we didn't know till I went online tonight) Anyway, it was still the highlight of my day!!

We also went over to Agui Sophia - but it wasn't open. The chuch is now catholic and replicates the original church in Istanbul, Turkey (and I hope to get to it on Sat when we are there)

Here are the pics from today:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.ccu4g2gb&x=0&y=-7t9skn&localeid=en_US

Wow - what a great day!

23 Apr 08
Athens Greece

WOW WOW WOW

I have always wanted to go to Athens .. and OMG, I can't wait to come back! Greece is amazing .. I absolutely love it .. the history is unbelieveable .. this stuff has been around since BC!

And the cool thing is - the city, which looks like any other major city (except for all of the greek writing!) is built with all of this awesome architechture right in the middle of it!

I went on tour - which was Panorama Athens. We first went to the Acropolis, where you can see up to the Parthenon. Very cool - almost surreal, like I wasn't really there. Only thing I wish I had time to climb up; but since the tour didn't include it (was a tour for the old and dead) they didn't allow the time. However, since I will come back to Greece one day .. I will climb to the top!

After that - we went by the remains of the Temple of Zeus, the old Olympic Stadium (first ever Olympics were held there!) passed Parliament, and the major University of the Arts ..

Sorry - but the pics are all out of order. Kodak Gallery was acting up last night and then I didn't have internet all day today. So I don't have time to re-arrange them (there are over 130!!) because I wanted to get them posted and the blog posted; since I have pics from today I need to get going on.

A++ on Athens .. and Greece in general - love it!! And a BIG check mark on my Must See list ..

Here are the pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.4hkzbo2z&x=0&y=-f2sqk6&localeid=en_US

P.S. - I was messing around with filters on my tele-photo lens .. so as you can see, some pics of the Acropolis and Parthenon have a rose colored tint to them. If you look at the ones of the theater, that is the true color. I decided I didn't really like the rose color, and took off the filter after that day.

Another check-mark on "the list"

22 April 08
leaving Nauplia, en route to Athens - Greece

What a great day and a beautiful city! Nauplia is an ancient old town that used to be the capital of Greece back in the day. The city has since re-built and modernized, and is just adorable. The sea side has shops, fabulous outdoor restaurants and bars and some great buildings as well. The outdoor restaurants reminded me of the Champs-Elysees in Paris; but more on a small town scale. I think that it might be a happenin' place to be for some nightlife!

Here are the pics I took today:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bf232dhz.4saogmyz&x=0&y=-ayutts&localeid=en_US

Athens is tomorrow .. going on a half day tour to the sights .. Acropolis, Parthenon, Olympic Stadium .. very excited!!

Oh and guess what?!? My fan died :( I had it up in Matt's cabin as his cabin is like an oven .. it had been working great and then last night .. dead. Out of nowhere. Matt said he just unplugged it and plugged it back in - wasn't there at the time, so not sure what *really* happened LOL Tried it in my cabin to no avail. So sad ... I carried that fan across 3 continents to get it on the ship! And I love it .. I am going to ask the Electro Techs to take a look at it and see if it is really dead or maybe an easy fix. If its dead .. I will have to see what I can do about finding a fan in port. Otherwise, I will have to wait till I get to Asda back in Southampton. :sigh: