Crete...hmmm...

So we arrived in Crete on Sunday. After getting off the ferry we took a bus down south to Plaechora. We got to the bus station and were unsure what to do. All we knew was that our hostel was 7 km from the beach. Mike went inside to use the washroom and I got our bags off the bus. This very strange looking French man walked up to me and said "Canada"? And I just walked away because I just thought he was some crazy man. Turns out he owns the hostel with his wife and was there to pic us up. Aye.

We learnt very quickly that in Greece they measure distances in straight lines. So the 7 kms was really about 15kms of winding road. We got to the hostel and it was pretty scary. There were some crazy looking bugs and it was in a town with about 10 ppl for the population (Azigores).

After settling in the owner drove us down to the beach which was VERY nice. We have officialy swam in the Libyan Sea! When he picked us up he had two people from Frence coming to stay there as well. The lady had HUGE orange hair and the man was just interesting. They remind me of the nutty profressor and his wife from Gilligan's Island for some reason.

Anyway, we were suppossed to stay there for a week, but realised very quickly we would go crazy from boredom. Today we took a bus back up to Chania and then another bus to Heraklion (the capital of Crete). We are staying here for the night and then getting an early morning ferry to Ios which we here is more suited for young people.

We have tons of pictures to post, but don't have access to a computer with USB port right now. We will do so as soon as possible.

Heading to Crete today.

So today we had to check out of our room at noon. What do you do in 24'C weather? We thought about going to the museum but it was too expensive. We ended up just walking around and went and ate lunch at this nice cafe in a garden.

I've been noticing that the service at restuarants here isn't very good, but I think it is because the tip is already included in the price of the meal so they don't have to worry about giving you good service. Oh well - the food was good.

To the left is a picture of the market we mentioned previously. We went there last night again and still managed to find more streets we hadn't covered yet.

You know how downtown Vancouver has those bear statues that get auctioned off for charity? Well, in Athens they have cows and apparently in Munich they have lions. Below are a couple pictures of cows.

The next couple pictures are of Mike and I at our hostel just chilling on the balcony. It was called Guesthouse Argo. It was a little ghetto but it suited our needs just fine and cheaper than the dorm hostel across the street.

And last but not least, this is a picture of a man (possibly a bum or just crazy person) at the park today. If you look really closely you can see he is wearing a McDonald's bag on his head!

Anywho, that's it for now. We will msg again once in Crete.

Last night and today in Athens.

This morning Mike and I went to the Acropolis (in Athens) the picture above and below are of us at the very top of the mountain/hill. It was a great view, but even though it was only 10am it was SO hot.
Below is a picture that Mike took last night. We are unsure what eactly it is but we found it while wondering around.
We also found another market. In my opinion this was was better than the one in Rome because it was in the shade and had nicer things. It was sort of intimidating though because the store owners and restaurant owners would stand outside and try to get you to come in. They weren't rude, you just feel bad if you don't go in.

That's basically it for now - tomorrow we are headed to Crete on another overnight ferry. Hopefully this is a little better. Once we have taken more pictures we will be sure to upload them. Hope you all are doing well.

RROOOMMMMMEEEE - last night

Hello from Athens again. Before I talk about our latest adventures I have some pictures remaining from Rome. Below is a picture of me in our bungalow.

The next picture is of the Coloseum. I was really disappointed there. Basically it was 22 euros to go for a walk in the blistering sun and see something that is being restored and large portions of it aren't even original. There is scaffolding everywhere. I was also quite surprise by the size - it was a lot smaller than I would have thought.

The next picture is an ad for someone rnning for office in Rome. Who do you think he looks like?

We think he looks like Doctor Evil from Austin Powers.. lol

On our last night in Rome we hung out with a group of people we had just met that night. We all went out to Fontana Di Trevi. Below is a picture of the fountain at night and of the group.

So that's the end of Rome. Next are Athens pics.

Transport sucks

We've just spent the last 2 days travelling. Like seriously travelling. We got on a train from Rome to Brindisi, Italy at 11:30pm on Wednesday, May 23rd. We were lucky enough to have a 6 person cabin to ourselves on the train; however, it was so dirty and dusty and now I am really stuffed up.

Once in Brindisi we were hoping we could just hope on a ferry to Patras, Greece. Well, we got to Brindisi at 8:30am and found the ferry ticket agent. The next ferry was for 7pm! So here we are stuck in this TINY town with nothing to do. We just wondered around all day - slept in a park like bums - and did a little shopping in the boutiques.

The ferry ride was from 7pm to 11am the next day. And at like 2:30am they woke everyone up to get a few passengers off at their stop. I was thankfully able to fall back asleep but Mike wasn't able to.

We got to Patras port fine and within 30 minutes we were on a bus to Athens. After looking online for hostels we saw that most of the ones we can afford appear to be booked or are too far away. I walked down the street we are on and a couple blocks away I found one for a reasonable price.

The plan now is to stay in Athens for a couple of days and then head to Crete on Friday. We will upload some more pictures once in Crete. PZ.

Btw, it is 31'C.

Howdy from Roma.

Today we woke up early to go to this HUGE market, Porta Portese.
[img]http://simotrone.bakerstreetsystems.co.uk/wp-content/Foto/Portese03.JPG[/img]

This is only like 1/8th of the people and size of the market. There were thousands of people and so many booths! Mostly booths of knock-off Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vitton stuff. We were there for about 4 hours just wandering around. It was funny because there is a group of men who sell knock off purses and sunglasses. When the police come they flock like pigeons. It is hilarious to see them scatter away in the middle of the market. It was very fun bargaining with them - you can get them down to a quarter of the original price! It's great having the power while shopping. haha.

After that we bought our train tickets to Brindisi, Italy which is where we will get out ferry to Greece from...

I have posted some random pictures below.

This is a picture of Mike eating some Guinness Fudge. By the look on his face I would say it's nasty!

This is a picture from the Vatican that I took yesterday. The picture does not even show half of the amazingness!

This is a picture of me throwing a penny over my shoulder into Fontana di Trevi for good luck.

Me eating a GIANT donut at the market...mmm... healthy breakfast!!

Here's Mike with a McDonald's Big McTasty - the second HUGE food item of the day. This is the first time Mike wasn't able to finish both of our meals!! Note: That is a Big Mac on the left which is like half the size.

Just relaxing at the "hostel". I think it looks more like a resort. I would say we got pretty lucky with this place considering we booked it online and the price (about $25CDN/night for our own bungalow)!

And last but not least, here is Mike chillaxing by the pool.

We will talk to you next once in Greece. PZ. BTW, today was 22.5 degrees celcius!

Finally in Rome

so we ended up taking a 14 hour train ride. it was about 2 hours late in leaving and 3 hours late in arriving in Rome. once in Rome we found out that the metro and bus was on strike so we had to wair for about 3 hurs until they were off strike. aye.

we met some nice people while waiting for our trains both times. in paris an older couple we met actually gave us 10 euros to buy ourselves dinner!!

our place here in Rome is really nice. we have a little hut to ourselves with our own bathroom and everything! its really nice. theres also a pool here.

Today we went to the Pantheon, Fontana Di trevi, the Spanish Steps, and Vatican City. Mike figured out that in full we walked more than 60 football fields!!

I even managed to slip down some steps covered by pee near the river. luckily for me I caught myself though.

For the past couple hours we have just been vegging out and enjoying the pool.

Time to figure out how to get to Greece from here. PZ.

Hello hello. We are now in Paris. I didn't think we were going to make it last night, but thankfully Mike can read signs and bus maps. Today we saw the Eiffel Tower, and a lot of other tourist attractions. Unfortunately we have been having technical difficulties with the camera. The thing eats batteries like it's at a buffet!!!

The soccer championships are going on right now in Paris and there are a TON of drunk soccer fans from Arcenol (sp?) and Barcelona. It makes for good laughs, though.

I am trying to figure out right now how we are going to get to Rome from here so I can't type too uch today. I will do my best to write more later this week.

See pictures below.

After about a 30 minute delay at YVR we finally boarded out plane to LGW. It was quite exciting for me because Ihave never been on a long flight like that. Best I have done is from Kelowna to Vancouver. To the right is a picture of the icey ocean below us.

Once in London, Gatwick we waited 6 hours for our flight to Dublin. It was weird because the airport has smoking booths throughout it.

We figured out which bus to take and headed to our hostel in Dublin. The first night was a rough sleep. Yesterday we went to the Guinness Storehouse for a tour. It turned out to be a lot more hype than substance.
This picture was taken from inside the Guinness Storehouse. ----------------------------->












Above is a picture of the Spire. It's about 110m.
So tonight we head off to Paris. I will write to you all later this week. There isn't much written here, but hey, at least there is something written. =)

4 more sleeps

Only four more sleeps until we finally go to Europe. I (Daniella) have always dreamed of this and it is finally happening!!

The jist:
Fly into London, get on another plane straight to Ireland. Stay in Ireland for a couple days - go to the Guinness Storehouse. Then over to Paris for a week.
Rome comes next for a few days. Including a day trip to Pompeii. A long ferry ride will take us to Athens. We'll make a day trip to Meteora from there. We will then catch another ferry to one of the islands. We're thinking of Crete. When we leave we will stay in London for about a week before we head home.

We will try to do our best to update this regularly and keep you up with our travels. Hope you all have a great summer and see you when we get back.

P.S. We will also do our best to make you all proud and actually get tans.