Sorrento

Well, we made it to Italy. Yesterday we went to the Greek museum. That was interesting. Dad said the he could have been in there almost a whole day. 2 1\2 hours was a bit much for me. Pretty neat to see all the pottery, tools, and art that were excavated in Greece.

After the museum we went to the hotel to check out and then to the airport. When we arrived at the Greece airport we went to check in and found out that our flight had been cancelled 3 months earlier, but we had never been notified. Our flight was supposed to have left at 3pm, but the only thing they had was leaving at 7:30pm. Since we had arrived at 1:00pm, we had to wait for over 6 hours before we could even fly out. We did get a free food voucher and had a huge lunch in the food court. The food court at the hotel was nothing like the food court in Spokane. Everything was so much better. Our plane left late and so when we arrived in Rome for our connection to Naples, we had to run all through the airport to make it. While on our plane in Rome, we had to sit in the very back. We could not even talk to one another because it was so loud.

We arrived in Naples around 11pm and the only transportation was a taxi. We found someone who would drive us all the way to Sorrento, (about an hour drive) and away we were. The drivers in Italy are absolutely crazy. They are all but patient with other drivers and honk if they have to wait more than 2 seconds. Our cab driver went speeding right along at an extremely quick pace. Our hotel is at almost the very top of a huge hill in Sorrento with roads the switch back and forth. Mom was getting sick and I was practically dead to the world because I was so tired. The driver did not even quite know where we were going so we ended up getting a little lost. We finally arrived at the hotel after midnight.

Our view from the balcony is absolutely incredible. The people here are extremely helpful and nice. I guess that it is owned by one family. Breakfast this morning was amazing. It was complimentary and a feast compared to the last hotel. And last hotel we even had to pay 8€ ( about $12) for hardly anything.

Today we went to Pompeii and Herclelaneum. Pompeii was huge compared to what I was expecting. It was amazing to see an entire city from AD 79 almost completely preserved. Quite interesting to see what life was like back then. Everything was perfectly planned out.

I tried my first gelato today. It was absolutely delicous. I do not know if anyone would want to go back to ice cream after having that.

We came back to the hotel and had a fabulous dinner. Food thus far has been wonderful everywhere. I think that much more thought goes into what they make.

Tomorrow I think we go to the island of Capri. Tonight I am going to take a bath and then to bed. I am exhausted and could use another good nights sleep.

Athens

Today we leave from Athens. The weekend that we were here was Easter weekend. Most things are closed Sat. - Mon. so that was a bummer. Sunday we went and saw the changing of the gaurd. Not as big of a deal as people said it was going to be, but still quite interesting. I couldn't imagine standing perfectly still for one hour and the only movement I could make would be blinking. I did pose with one of the guys for a picture though... After that, we walked all around Athens. It is actually a really dirty city. There is graffiti everywhere even on some of the beautiful buildings. The architecture here is so different from the us. The streets are narrow and the buildings are really tall. Many of the older buildings are falling apart however. We had fun window shopping and looking at the $3000 price tags of summer dresses. The window displays are excuisite. Each and every store has a carefully planned display, which made it fun to just look around.

Yesterday we did make it to the Acropolis. It was absolutely amazing, however so crowded it was hard to move from one place to another. I guess since yesterday was Easter Monday, everything was free to get into, but that meant that everyone and their brother were there. We hiked all over enjoying the fabulous views and beautiful architecture. We met up with someone from Mom and Dad's Turkey tour and she joined us for the hiking. The food here is fabulous. Everything is fresh. I greatly enjoyed the chicken gyros and the frappes.

Today we are going to see the museum before our flight to Sorrento. Hopefully I can figure a way to put some pictures on here. Ciao for now!

I made it!!!

Well I made it to Greece! It's really odd that I am finally here. The traveling experience was quite interesting. The first flight from Spokane to Minneapolis went fine. I sat next to a really interesting guy from Quebec. I had a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis and then I was off for another connection in Paris. That flight was exhaustingly long. I have never been on planes much except for short trips, so that was an interesting experience all in itself. 10 hours later we finally made it. The Paris airport was huge and completely confusing. I got slightly lost after trying to find Mrs. Sitler's gate so I could meet her there. No one was very helpful and didn't really want to give me the time of day. We managed to meet up and make the flight here to Athes. Everything went fairly smoothly as far as flights go, and except for a delay for Roxanne and trying to find eachother in Paris. We met my parents at the airport. It was good to see them as it had been over 2 weeks since they left. I guess they had a great time in Turkey and would definitely go back. (Who knew that my dad would actually like it?) After we got to the airport here, we came to the hotel and then we went to dinner. We went to a fabulous place that has Pita bread with all sorts of fillings. Man was it delicious. After dinner we went to the Greek Orthodox church. Today is Easter Sunday and last night there was a huge celebration at the church. The place we were sitting was right in front of two pillars and so I couldn't really see much, but from what I could see, it was pretty cool I guess that Easter one of the biggest holidays here and everyone makes a big deal of it. At the end of the service, (I couldn't understand a word as it was in Greek) the priest lights a candle. Almost everyone there had a candle, and the priest lit a few people's and then everyone lit everyone elses. Then everyone carries their lit candles up to the acropolis and then back down to the church. We didn't have candles and so we just watched everyone else. We found out about the service and everything quite by accident before we left. I was glad that we were able to see some of the Greek culture firsthand though. So the service went until after midnight and by the time we got back to the hotel I could hardly stay awake. I didn't sleep at all on the plane because it was too loud and I couldn't get comfortable. So as of last night, I had been up for 35 hours straight. We woke up at 8 this morning and had breakfast. Today we are off to see the changing of the gaurd (which I guess is a big deal on Easter Sunday) and then we walk around and see what there is to do. This hotel has free internet, so I will actually be able to get on here to let you all know what we're up to. Well my 20 minutes is up, so I will have to get on later. I'll be posting some pics if I can.

Tomorrow!

Well tomorrow's the day. At the moment, it still doesn't seem like I will be leaving in less than 12 hours. I'm all packed and ready to go and I even managed to fit everything in my suitcase. Tonight Mrs. Sitler and I went over all the papers and made sure we had everything that we needed, confirmations, directions, etc. Hopefully I won't forget anything too important. I'm sure I'll be up late checking and rechecking to make sure I have the essentials. Ah well, hopefully I'll sleep on the plane.
Ciao!

Packing

At the moment, I am attempting to pack enough stuff for a 5 week trip in a carry-on sized bag. Since I am the type to pack a different outfit for every day of a trip, ( oh and you can't forget the spare clothes in case something gets dirty) this had proved to be slightly difficult. So far I have managed ok, however, I have a feeling that at the last minute I will think of several things that I "can't live without."