TravelStream™ news feed for member angandjen on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/angandjen en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Sun, 05 Jul 2009 07:56:45 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1246793797/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1246793797/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1246793797/tpod.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 07:56:45 -0400 A mother and daughter trip to London, Paris, Italy and Greece.

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Santorini, Cyclades, Greece

In the morning, after being woken up by the too loud birds in their inner courtyard, what a racket when the sun came up, I had breakfast and I asked when check out time was and they asked when my ferry was and I told them one so they said that twelve o'clock was fine. We hung around the room and packed up and than checked out. They called a cab for us and we went down to the port and had a snack and played yaghtzee while we waited.

The ferry took about three hours and we basically played games and/or listed to our ipods until we arrived. We took the shuttle to the hotel we were supposed to stay at and as soon as we got there we were not happy. The hotel was not what we were told it was going to be. It was a terrible musty, noisy room and I immediately went to find the manager so we could hopefully fix the situation. We were supposed to stay in the Margarita Hotel but it turned out that the hotels were a complex of hotels and they had put as at the scrungiest with a pool that you had to walk quite a ways to across a busy highway. I attempted to see what we could do about moving to the proper hotel but they were completely unhelpful. I finally had to call my travel agent that we had booked with in Athens who tried to be a little more helpful but I really didn't get anywhere with him really until I threatened to cancel the credit card and go find my own hotel. He finally found us a nicer hotel on a different part of the island that he apparently paid the difference for (yeah right) so after 2 1/2 hours of fighting with people we got in a cab and made our way to the Hotel Porto Perissa which was about 150 feet from the ocean with a beatiful pool etc. I'm so glad we made a fuss because it would have been one thing to stay at the other place for one night and just deal with it but we were going to be in Santorini for five days and I really wanted a nice place. I guess it was a really good idea to pay with the credit card. Another lady that came on the same shuttle as us had the same issue and her travel agent wouldn't do anything because she paid in cash. The management at the Margarita Hotel in Fira on Santorinin were so completely unhelpful to us and the other lady in the same boat as us. I also saw another couple that they were told would be taken down on the shuttle to catch their ferry that they just left high and dry and they ended up paying for a cab after they had already paid for the transfer to the port. I wouldn't recommend the Margarita Hotel or the Margarita Complex to anyone. The lady at the front desk just kept saying to everyone "Not my problem".

We got to the hotel late and I had a bunch of adrenalin still from fighting with everyone and we were a bit hungry so we ended up walking down the main drag and got a recommendation from a nice Australian guy to a restaurant that fed most of the backpackers. We totally went Canadian and I had a cheese and bacon burger with a vanilla milkshake and Jen had a chicken burger with a coke. It was oooey gooey good but we felt just a little guilty. After dinner we walked back to the hotel and just crashed.

Favourites:

Jen: Really good chicken burger
Ang: the change in hotels successfully completed


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Naxos, Cyclades, Greece

After breakfast we walked down into the town and went through the old market shopping for souvenirs etc. It was really neat going through all the back streets and meandering looking alleys but it was a bit of a climb. When we got to the top we were in the old Medeival part of the city and so we decided to go on a tour of the Venetian castle that was right there. The castle was very neat with loads of antiques from the Venetian Crusaders who built it as well as their decendants. The person giving the tour made it really interesting and we walked around with our mouths agape. I had no idea that the Venetians controlled the Cyclades for roughly 800 years and than the Turks took over. It wa a fascinating view of history and when I get home I want to do more reading about it. We got to see the trap doors in the bedrooms which were the escape routes to the port and/or for bringing up wine and other items to your room from the cellars. There was a moveable childs bed which apparently they used when they went to their summer homes on another part of the island and some really cool old clothes, lace and tapestries that the ladies had made and some really love Venetian glass and jewellery. We went outside the castle at one point to ooohh and ahh over the 800 year old gate and than we went down in the basement to see the well and the old food storage areas. It was lovely and cool in temp down there and they gave us tastings of Ouzo which came in varying strengths and eventhough Jen and I shared a little bit of the least powerful we found it quite overwhelming. We bought a little bottle to bring home so everyone could try it if they wanted and I can't wait to see who isn't chicken to try it LOL.

After the tour we walked back down to the port through the market again and had some lunch at a place called the Good Heart that the lady at the Castle had recommended. It was so delicious. We had Greek Salad, BBQ Chicken with rice, Tzatziki and some Fanta. The chicken was so amazing and it was so huge that eventhough we shared a plate we couldn't finish it.

After eating we were tired and lazy so we took a taxi back to the hotel, had a quick swim and a nap and than got ready to go horseback riding.

We walked down to a spot across from the church about ten minutes from the hotel and the lady from the horseback riding picked up Jen, myself and another guy from England called Paul. When we arrived we had to fill out waivers and she locked up our purses and than we got on our horses. Jen got on hers fine as she has lots of experience however I had a very tall horse and I'm not used to English so they had to get me a thing to stand on. We walked to the horses past farmers fields that had mostly been harvested - they looked mostly like potato fields as you would see a potato here and there and occassionaly on the road. My horse spooked when a tractor passed us and turned in a cirlce and tried to bolt. Luckily I didn't embarass myself and got him under control and truned around all by myself but I was more careful after that anytime something passed us. We chatted with the young girs from behind us one of which was from Germany and the other form Pennsylvania who had come to work at the horse stables and were just learning the ropes having only been there one and three days respectively. They were interesting girls and it was lovely talking to them. The recommended a good gelato place but unfortunately we didn't get there.

Eventually we arrived at the Med and Jen went in one group that cantered the horses and went out to an island in the water while I went with the other two girls walking along and through just the edge of the water and both groups met up a restaurant on the beach and Jen, Paul and I had a drink and a chat together as a breather before we went back. The bartender made me a Cosmopolitan Martini which was perfect and it was lovely just sitting there and chatting.

After our drink we got back on the horses, luckily there was a stool for me, and made our way back to the stables and sat and had wine and chatted for awhile with everyone. The lady who owned the stables gave us wine and we talked for quite awhile. Jen and I decided we wanted to go back to the restaurant that we had been to for the drink and the owner drove us and dropped us off there on here way home. I had seen signs at the restaurant that they were having a Bbq that night and indeed they were. For 14 Euros a person it was all you could eat. There were about 10 kinds of salad, rice, bread, chicken and pork souvlaki and bbq sausage which was to die for. Oh my god it was good. We ate and ate and drank some Rose wine and ate some more. The tables were all communal and we ended up sitting with some Austrian guys so we talked a little bit to them but their English wasn't great so we didn't perservere. The sunset was magnificent and I took some pictures including some black and white ones that I looke like they turned out nice. The music and food and drink were excellent and we were really really glad that we had come back. Once we were too full to move we got them to call us a taxi and went back to the hotel. We had enjoyed our day immensly and we needed a good nights sleep before leaving for Santorini the next afternoon.


Favourites:

Jen: cantering in the water with the horses
Ang: the Bbq and finally getting a really good cosmo
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1246791162/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1246791162/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1246791162/tpod.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 07:07:54 -0400 A mother and daughter trip to London, Paris, Italy and Greece.

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Naxos, Cyclades, Greece

In the morning we both got up for breakfast with no ill effects so I guess we really hadn't overdone it and than went back to our room to repack and generally get ready to go. We had showers and than lied around reading until check out time.

We checked out and than trundled our way down to the port and caught the ferry to Naxos. The trip was abotu 1 1/2 so quite short and sweet almost like going over to Vancouver Island except for all the smoking. When we got everyone lined up to get off and there was quite a scrum and they had turned the escalators off so you had to carry your bags down all the stairs with loads of people pushing and bumping from behind you. It's one of the things about the ferry's in Greece that are not very nice but I guess you can get used to anything. When we first got there we were quite timid and waited in line like good little girls but near the end we were pushing and shoving past people just like the locals. The Hotel was a ways away from the Port we had been told and when we looked on a map it indeed looked like that so we asked a Taxi driver how much and it was only 8 Euros so we caught a taxi to our Hotel which turned out be quite nice with a beautiful pool area. We settled into our room quickly and than dashed out to get something to eat. The guy at the desk told us the best place to go but we couldn't find it so we stopped at another place which was completely empty (which is not usually a good thing) but the food was pretty good. Jen had a salad and bread and I mostly had yogurt with fresh fruit and some fanta pop. When the lady brought out the yougurt at first she went to this bar section and I could see she was going to put whipping cream on it so I called to her and asked if that was my yogurt. She said yes and I asked if it was okay to not have whipping cream and she said of course and did I want chocolate or strawberry drizzle which was just sweet sundae stuff so I said oh no nothing thanks which was good as it was just perfect with the sweet creamy yogurt and the peaches, apples, kiwis etc that were in it. We were so hungry we just gobbled it down. On our way back to the hotel Jen saw a sign advertising sunset Horseback riding tours so she wrote the number down and called it later and booked for us to go on the tour the next day.

After eating we went back to the hotel and went swimming and than lying around the pool. We had a nice chat with a Swedish family (something which turned out to be a theme as there were tons of Swedish people that we ran into - it must be fairly easy to get to the islands from Sweden), Jen went back to the room earlier than I and I was pretty warm so I went back in the pool for awhile and than dried out in the sun and read and than went back to the room.

Neither of us could decide what we wanted to do about dinner so I ended up having some nuts and a fruit granola bar for dinner and some chips. Jen didn't really have anything. We read and than went to bed.

Favourites:

Jen: the pool area
Ang: the pool area
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1246790206/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1246790206/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1246790206/tpod.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 06:52:25 -0400 A mother and daughter trip to London, Paris, Italy and Greece.

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Paros, Cyclades, Greece

I woke up pretty early and went for a walk as Jen was not going anywhere. I walked all the way down to the other side of the port which was about two km's and than stopped at a restaurant and had a drink (yes it was only 9 in the morning and I had a Sex on the Beach - so sue me) and some toast which was a weird combo but oh well. I sat looking at the ocean and quietly drinking and eating and just enjoying the sunshine. Some English ladies were sitting in a big chair behind a screen directly behind me and talking about or rather complaining about their husbands and I was quietly laughing to myself and thinking that the world is so not very different. Everywhere you go people are just having relationships and living their life and we are all so very similar. It was a great epiphany and I enjoyed eavesdropping. My what a naughty morning I had eh.

Anyway after I finished (luckily I refrained from having another drink as they were pretty strong) and I walked back to the hotel. Jen was still not moving around and so I lied down to read for a little while and all of a sudden I just fell asleep for like two hours. While I was sleeping Jen snuck out and went for a little walk and when she came back that's what woke me. What a decadent morning to be followed by the really hard life of having to lie beside the ocean under a plapa again for a number of hours with chips, Breezers and our books again. We kept looking at each other and just grinning because it was so amazing.

After the beach we had a late nap, watched some English TV and than got all dressed up and went down the beach to a restaurant we had passed the night we came in on the ferry. We first sat down right beside the beach part of it (it was a complete restaurant on one side of the road and about 10 or so tables on the other side of the road that were right beside the water) but it got too windy so they moved us across the street to the other restaurant and we were much warmer and happier. We ate and drank for about three hours watching the sunset and just laughing and talking. I had Lamb Kleftiko which is cut up lamb in an earthanware pot with potatoes and cheese and more cheese broiled on top and Jen had chicken souvlaki. We shared a Greek salad and Tzatziki as well as two 1/2 litres of white wine which was not as good as the other restaurants but it was fine and just as cheap. When we finally decided we had had enough and better leave while we could still walk we ask our waiter for the bill. He laughed and said "No, you must stay and have more wine ; )" We laughed thinking he was joking and he went away presumably to get the bill but he came back with more wine for free LOL. We thought this was hilarious and had a little bit more but than we asked a different waiter and actually got the bill and finally wobbled our way back to the hotel.

I think we were asleep almost instantly when we got back from all the anathesia we had had.

Favourits:

Jen: lying by the beach
Ang: My Sex on the Beach for breakfast
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Paros, Cyclades, Greece

I woke up at about 8:30 after sleeping soundly but it turns out my bed is very, very hard or I'm just getting old. I got up and sneaked quietly out of our room and went and had breakfast which was okay but just boiled eggs and bread with jam and coffee. After I ate I sat in the beautiful courtyard that our room overlooked and read until Jennifer got up at about 10:30 and came out on the balcony. I waved at her and made my way back to the room and than we went for a walk down to the beach. We found this beautiful place with tables among the trees about 10 feet from the water and sat down and had really really good coffee and Jennifer had a Creep. Yes I did spell that right the menu was so cute and they had so many mispelled English words and Crepes was one of them. Jen was torn between the salty creep and the sweet creep but ended up with a banana and chocolate creep and she said it was fabulous. We sat quietly looking at the water and enjoying the fact that we were on a Greek island finally. It was so lovely.

After we paid for breakfast we walked down the beach for a bit and found the laundramat (which we didn't end up using), the supermarket and the book store. We purchased a few souvenirs including two beach blankets so we could use them on the beach later and we bought a few books which were of course hugely expensive as they were not only in English but having to bring them to the islands can't be that cheap. Each book ranged from about 13 to 14 Euros so reading could be a very expensive habit.

After shopping we went back to the room, dropped everything off, put our bathing suits on and went the 50 feet back to the beach and rented a palapa (big umbrella) with two lounge chairs for 6 Euros a day and we proceeded to do nothing for the rest of the day except swim, lounge and drink Bacardi Breezers (they have such interesting flavours like Ruby Red Grapefruit, Lemon and Lime) and read. After our exhausting day at the beach we went to a great Greek restaurant right beside the beach where they were drying Octopus on a table right in the front of the restaurant and had a lovely dinner of Greek salad, Tzatziki and Chicken souvlaki (which was not on a skewer but was a quarter of a chicken) and some lovely wine which was 3 Euros for a half litre - Yeah!! After dinner I asked if there was a desert menu and the waiter looked at me weirdly and said no so I thought okay whatever but than he came back to the table and brought us this really great creamy yogurt with this cherry preserve on top. It was really good and we drank some more wine and ate most of the yogurt (which turned out to be gratis) and than wobbled our way back to our hotel.

After dinner we had an early night and went to sleep relatively early. Was it the Breezers or the Wine do you think LOL.

Favourties:

Jen: lazing on the beach
Ang: the really great coffee right beside the Mediterranean
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245565494/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245565494/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245565494/tpod.html Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:01:33 -0400 A mother and daughter trip to London, Paris, Italy and Greece.

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Patras, Peloponnese, Greece

We woke up bleary eyed when they announced our arrival in Patras. I had had a hard time going to sleep and had woken up a couple of times to peek out the porthole to make sure we hadn't gotten there so I was very tired by the time we actually got up. We both got all our bags together and dragged them all the way down the stairs where everyone waited to get off.

Once we got off the boat we kind of stood there for about ten minutes not knowing what to do. Jen is looking at me to know where to go and I'm just looking around not having a feaking clue. Jen was so used to having me know exactly where to go when we got somewhere thanks to all my research and it kind of threw her for a loop because I had no idea. We finally asked someone how to get to the bus station and they sent us in the wrong direction and so we walked back to where we started and asked a taxi driver how much it would cost to go to the bus station. He said 5 Euros so we got in and of course the bus station was right there so he kind of ripped us off but.... I was reading the sign on the bus station and it said suburban and someone else had told us that there were two bus stations and so I said to the taxi drive no the other bus station and Jen is saying Mom how do you know and than the taxi driver drove us to a travel bureau but I wouldn't get out so he called his office on his cell and I talked to them in English and explained and they told the taxi driver to take us back to the first place he took us to so hah there you go for trying to rip off tourists because I'm sure that was more than a 5 euro trip LOL. He was swearing in Greek when we got back to the bus station and he got our bags out and paid and another driver who spoke very good English tried to talk us into taking his taxi to Pyrgos but we declined with thanks and went into the bus station.

We bought tickets to Pyrgos which cost less than 9 Euros and took a two hour bus trip. Pyrgos looked so much nicer than Patras which is definitely a Port town. We bought a sandwich in Pyrgos and some coffee and they were both so good. We ate them on the bus to Olympia while we enjoyed the view. We love these Greek busses with air conditioning and lovely food at all the stations. We arrived in Olympia at about 10:15 and it was so so so hot. We wandered around Olympia dragging our luggage and looking for the Olympic museum. It was so cool (well not really in temp as there was no air conditioning) and we took a bunch of pictures. I gave the guy at the front a 2010 pin and a Canada pin and he just loved them. He looked so surprised. We actually had to use the translator to tell him what the 2010 pin was from and it was fun. He let us leave our luggage there as there is no where to put luggage in Olympia - no lockers or the anything.

We wandered up the hill to go see the Archeological site for ancient Olympic site. It was so unbelievable and amazing to see the ancient ruins and the actual site where the games were held with the only seats in the whole place being for the judges. I guess everyone else sat on the ground our stood. It was so hot that we were really exhausted by the time we had gotten through everything that we didn't walk but took the carriage pulled by a horse to the top of the hill. It was fun except for the Greek taxi drivers making disgusting kiss kiss noises when we went by. I was extra glad after that that we hadn't walked back.

We collected our lugggage and made our way back to the bus stop and thank goodness we were early because the bus came and left early and we would have had to wait an hour if we hadn't gotten there then. We made our way back to Pyrgos and just missed by nanoseconds the next bus to Athens so we bought tickets for 2 1/2 hours later and sat in the bus station playing Yaghtzee, munching on chips and having drinks. The time passed much faster than you might have thought and we were soon on our way. When we got on the bus I noticed there were no bathrooms and I thought hmmm that should be interesting but it was no problem actually because about 2 hours into our trip we stopped at a roadside gas station and the entire bus got off to stretch legs, use the WC and buy snacks. After about 20 minutes we all got back on and off we went. We arrived in Athens at about 6:45 and wandered around a little trying to find the best way to get to the Metro. This guy kept asking us where we were going but he seemed a little creepy so we just kept walking away from him. We eventually found the right bus which took us to the Metro and we took the Metro to the Plaka. It was absolutely packed and there was someone playing a piano on this roof with cameras and huge lights everywhere. It turned out that the next day they were opening the Parthenon museum and that is why it was so crazy.

We made our way to Argonaut travel and made our arrangements for the next day to leave for the Cyclades. We got a pretty good price but after we paid and made our way to the hotel he booked for us in Athens were we ever aprehensive about the rest of the trip. The hotel was a complete hellhole. Neither of us felt safe and the air conditioning didn't work in the first room and it smelled in the second room. It was so noisy and awful. OMG We hated it. I put a chair and a bag blocking the window and luggage in front of the door and we desperately tried to sleep. There were people banging things in the hallway in the middle of the night and early in the morning and Jen and I joked that it was the torture hotel that only let you have 15 minutes of sleep at a time. The best sleep we got was in the morning and check out wasn't until 11:00 so we just stayed put because even though we would have liked to go out early and see the Parthenon the fact that we didn't trust the hotel enough to leave our luggage there and that millions of people would be there for the opening of the museum kind of turned us off. We had taken a picture the night before so I guess we'll have to live with that. Very disappointing but much safer I think.

We checked out at 11:00 and took the Metro to Piraeous the port for Athens. We found a nice air conditioned coffee bar where they looked at me strangely when I asked for hot water with my expresso and they didn't understand so I just had the expresso and Jen had wonderful fresh orange juice, a sandwich and an apple tart. We sat there for a couple of hours getting more coffee and tea and playing crib and than we moved over to the port across the street and waited in their lounge for awhile. Finally our boat was there so we walked over to it and were we ever glad that we went early as it was just packed. Jen finally found us a place to sit and a guy saved it while she came back to get me and the luggage. We enjoyed sitting on the top deck with an enclosure except for all the smokers. Jen was really getting annoyed especially when someone got ash on her pants. I thought it would bug me more but it really really annoyed her the most. We managed to survive and we had a cheeseburger, chicken burger and fries for dinner. We arrived 4 hours later in Paros and we arrived at the lovely Dilion Hotel and it was so lovely and welcoming. We have a balcony overlooking a beautiful garden and it smells so good. It was so much better than we thought and we were so glad especially after last night.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245563414/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245563414/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245563414/tpod.html Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:24:49 -0400 A mother and daughter trip to London, Paris, Italy and Greece.

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Padua, Veneto, Italy

We woke up late on our last day in Padova. I bopped downstairs quick and did a little banking online and talked the young guy at the front desk for awhile. He is from Denmark but has been in Italy for 12 years. It seems once you have an EU passport you can move wherever you like and work wherever you like. Freedom of movement is guaranteed.

I went upstairs and Jen finally got up and met me for breakfast where we had our last wonderful meal and chatted with a family from North Carolina that I had met the first morning. As we chatted it came up that the wife of one of the dr's she works with is the grad student of the guy in the family. My god what a small world.

After breakfast we went for a walk to the Botanical gardens and than unfortunately it was time to go. With kisses on both cheeks (and a bottle of wine) we grabbed our luggage and took the tram to the train station. In no time we were on our way back to Venice. It was not such a hot day so it was much more enjoyable. We checked our luggage at the train station and grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant about 5 feet from the Rialto bridge. It was a great view and Jen really enjoyed her Pasta with quattro fromaggio sauce (her favourite).

After we ate we jumped on the Vaporetto and took a grand tour of the Grand Canal. Everything is really interesting but looking quite shabby. The sea is really taking it's toll. We got off at the Academia bridge and walked to San Marco square. It was lovely and cool sitting on the Italian marble steps watching everyone (and the pigeons) walk through the square. Someone in a huge bunch of kids got pooped on by a pigeon and what a to do it was.

After San Marco we walked out to the Vaporetto and took it back to the train station. The guy at the ticket booth was not nice and Jen and I were both a bit grouchy by the time the boat came. I looked at here when I got on the boat and said okay we gotta change our attitude so we can enjoy the rest of the day and when I looked back the lady behind us kind of smilled at me. She was with two other ladies and they were all talking French and I kind of looked back again and decided because the one lady was smiling at me to ask them in French if they lived in France. They did indeed. They were from Lyon and Jen and I had a fabulous time using almost entirely our french (thanks Jackie : ) to talk to them about Lyon and Venice and what we did for a living etc. It was great and made the rest of the boat ride so enjoyable. They were bridge playing ladies from Lyon and I would never have met them if I hadn't decided to change my attitude. I have to constantly remind myself to do that and I don't know why because I always have such good results when I listen to my own advice when it comes to that.

At the train station we got our bags and than proceeded to drag them up a huge bridge to Piazza Roma and than down the huge bridge. It was hot heavy work but we did it all by ourselves ; ) When we got to Piazza Roma we managed to find the shuttle bus to the dock for Anek Lines and thankfully got aboard. The dock was only about ten minutes drive and before you knew it we were aboard the Sophocles in our cabin with four bunks just for the two of us. It wasn't plushy but it sure worked fine. We went on deck and check out the swimming pool (closed) got a drink and clicked our bottles together as we watched Venice go by on either side of the boat.

We had dinner in the cafeteria - Fries and fish with rice. It had a lot of olive oil but it was pretty tasty nonetheless. After dinner we went to bed fairly early and soon were sleeping like logs while the ocean went by outside.

Favourites:

Jen - Sitting on the steps in San Marco square
Ang - Talking to the ladies from Lyon in French

Least Favourites:

Jen - The closed swimming pool
Ang - Too much olive oil
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Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece

We woke up this morning and with a quick look outside assured ourselves that we were still at sea. There was nothing to see but water and it was awesome.

We grabbed a coffee, a tea and an apple tart in the lounge and than did a walk on deck. Jennifer was feeling quite antsy and when I mentioned it to here she said that we had been doing so much every day that it was weird to not be doing anything and just sitting around. She managed to relax after we talked about it and the rest of the day was spent mostly in a somolent state interspersing eating, reading and sun tanning on the deck.

For lunch we had french fries as we were not really hungry and for dinner we had a wonderful fresh Greek salad and chicken with rice and gravy. YUM. I also had some Greek wine which I didn't finish but we took with us when we left the cafeteria. We went outside and sun tanned and than Jen stayed in our cabin while I sat on deck reading and drinking my wine as we docked at two different places with the last one being Corfu. It was truly magical watching the light fade and Corfu fade behind us while I drank wine and enjoyed the warm night. I actually had a few tears because I just couldn't believe I was doing this. It's silly I know but it was unbelievable and I could have sat there for hours.

I had a hard time going to sleep and didn't sleep well probably because I was so jazzed after sitting on deck but also because I was a little worried about us waking up on time as we had to disembark at 6:00 in Patras. Jen's phone was dead and wouldn't charge on board and we didn't remember about the alarm on the translator until just now. Drat - oh well.

Favourites:

Jen - suntanning on deck
Ang - sitting on deck at night with my wine

Least Favourites:

Jen - the cold cabin - the air conditioning really works
Ang - being bit by something
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245216652/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245216652/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245216652/tpod.html Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:00:23 -0400 A mother and daughter trip to London, Paris, Italy and Greece.

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Padua, Veneto, Italy

Today I woke up early at 5:30 and went downstairs and updated the blog. The guy at the front counter made me a lovely coffee and than I went upstairs and lied down on the bed for a couple of seconds and I fell asleep again for about one and one half hours. I was really tired I guess.

After I woke up Jen got dressed and we went for another lovely breakfast. We saw the mother and daughter from North Carolina that we'd met the morning before and chatted with them for a bit and than Jen and I got ready and went out to do some errands. We went to the bank and than to the Post Office. It was crazy busy at the post office and they had these tickets you could choose from to get in line. We weren't sure which one to use because it was all in Italian but we just shrugged our shoulders and picked one which turned out to be the longest line LOL. Oh well. While Jen waited in the post office I went next door to try and see if they had some sunscreen and some hair conditioner. They did and the sales lady was so helpful and nice I ended up buying - sunscreen, aftersun, hair conditioner, toe nail acetone, toe nail polish and I got a free gift of wrinkle cream LOL. It was fun and they sure treated all their customers like VIP's. After I paid I went back next door and our number was called about 10 minutes later. We had to rush to the desk because they don't wait long before they call the next number. We got a box and some stamps and than went back to the hotel.

We lazed about a little bit and than decided be better go do our laundry. This turned out to be a fun and lively enterprise. We got directions from the front desk and walked the ten minutes to the laundry. It was so hot and we were melting by the time we got there. When I was putting one load into a machine and putting the laundry soap on it this young Italian guy came in and started saying something in Italina and pointing and gesticulating but I didn't understand what he was saying. After the machine was ready to go we discovered that none of the machines that gave out tokens to start the machines was working. More Fuori Servizio in Italy I guess. I went next door to ask if anybody knew what to do but they only spoke Italian. One of the customers spoke a little English so they came over and tried to help but it turned out that we would have to wait until the owner came at 4PM which was an hour and a half away. We waited in the muggy heat listening to our IPods and reading. Jen went for a walk to get a pastry and while she was gone the young Italian guy that was waiting as well came up to me and in halting English asked if it was okay if he was back in ten minutes. I was just shrugging and saying Okay, sure not really understanding why he was telling me. It turned out he was telling me because he wanted to leave his bag of laundry with me. After he left I'm thinking oh great what's in the bag and I'm all paranoid but than I decided if it was a bomb or something than he just would have left it before we got there. Anyway Jen came back and than he came back a little bit later and it was fine. Gosh I'm so weird sometimes. Anyway we waited until about 4:20 and the owner finally came. He was cute and sort of looked like Tweedledee in Alice in Wonderland. The instand he stepped into the Laundry door the young Italian guy started yelling at him. The other guy was talking back and than he went in the back and the Italian guy followed him back there yelling at him some more. Jen and I were looking at each other and trying not to laugh. The owner finally got mad at him yelling and started yelling back at him. Than the young guy put his laundry in a machine and patted the owner on the back of the head and left talking to the owner like he was a great friend. It was a huge dichotomy and very entertaining. Anyway we talked to the owner a little and with gestures etc. it turned out we would give hime the money for the tokens and come back at 7:00 and our laundry would be done. Okay we thought the other guy left I guess it's okay. We had a bit of disagreement with him when we were loading the machines though as he wanted to put our whites, darks and red all together but we manged to get the No point across' loaded the machines and left.

We walked back to the hotel listening to the church bells and saying how we were going to miss them. We only stopped for gelato which Jen promptly got on her bag, her dress, her shoes etc. Poor thing she was quite upset as it was her new bag and new dress. I washed them out when we got back to the apartment in the sink in the bathroom and hung it to dry. Hopefully it will be dry before we leave tomorrow. It was lovely though walking past the church eating gelato and listening to the bells clang clang for a little while though.

About 6:30 we walked back to the laundramat and lo and behold the owner was drying all the clothes in one dryer together. Oh well. Anyway the laundry was good and smelled great so I guess he knew what he was doing. We walked back to the hotel and lied down for an hour to cool down than we got dressed for dinner and took the tram to the area recommended by the front desk. We ended up at this cafeteria place that you could walk around and they made you fresh pasta or risotto or pizza and there was desserts and bread and beer, wine and prosecco. It was a cool place actually. Jen had some shells with and oil and pesto sauce and I had risotto and this coiled sausage which was really good. Afterwards we went home and read for quite awhile and than went to sleep. We didn't do any site seeing but we did experience a lot of Italian life. Tomorrow we leave for Greece.

P.S. If I did more than one entry in a day I only sent out the last entry so I heard from someone that they didn't know there were other entries so take a look and see if you've read all the entries or only the ones I sent out the update info about okay.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245128346/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245128346/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angandjen/1/1245128346/tpod.html Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:10:10 -0400 A mother and daughter trip to London, Paris, Italy and Greece.

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Padua, Veneto, Italy

Today we had a wonderful breakfast at Hotel Belludi. It was really really good and so many choices. Than we got some Padova cards - tourist cards to visit some museums but mostly for the ability to get off and on the tram for nothing and than we took the tram to the train station and took the train to Venice (Venezia).

It was already so hot when we got there and only got more hot and humid. We took a Vaparetto from the station and tried to find where we could get a ticket for Wednesday for the ferry to Greece but we didn't have any luck. We got off the ferry at St. Mark's square but didn't go the right way and ended up getting lost in all the back streets. It was great. We actually ended up shopping for most of the day. It was much cooler in the back streets and some of the shops were air conditioned. I bought a new dress and some souvenirs and we also visited a longerie shop. I thought we would have more problems finding our way back but it was actually fine. Venice was so busy with people - until we went into the back streets and than it was fine. We didn't really see anything you are supposed to see but we may not go back especially if the heat continues. Even Jen was too hot. We took picutes of Gondolas and things on the water. We stopped for a sandwich to go and wandered and than stopped for Gelato and than took the ferry back to the train station and went back to Padova. I think we may have a quiet day tomorrow as we are both very tired. We will probably see a bit more of Venice on the day we go to Greece as we have to catch the boat from there.

We had a quiet Pizza for dinner around the corner and got silly on wine. I'm sure we didn't give our country a good name with all the giggling at our table but I guess we'll survive. It was an early night.


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