Switzerland: DECEMBERFEST

This last weekend was probably my favorite weekend getaway of my entire study abroad experience. Granted, I say that after ever weekend, but each one just keeps getting better. Thursday night I packed up my warmest clothes and prepared myself for another 12 hour bus2alps bus ride- to SWITZERLAND! We left around 8pm from Rome, and stopped in Florence to pick up more people. After a couple of movies and two Dramamines later, I woke up in Interlaken, Switzerland around 8:30 am on Friday.
Interlaken is the extreme sports capital of Europe. Whether you want to jump out of a plane, run off a mountain, bungee into a canyon or just spend the day skiing on one of the world’s most beautiful Alps, Interlaken is the place to go. It’s impossible to describe my first impression of Switzerland. The Alps were covered in snow and so much more amazingly beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen before. The temperature was below freezing but I had 6 layers of clothes and enough adrenalin to keep my blood moving.
We didn’t waste any time. My friends and I headed straight to the Outdoor Interlaken center- that was conveniently next door to our hostel- to book something crazy. I signed up for paragliding for later that day with my roommate, the rest of my friends decided on canyon jumping, and we all signed up for night sledding. I had about an hour to kill before my activity, so my roommate and I walked around the town and took pictures for a while. We turned around when we got too cold, and were back just in time to meet a guy in a van and head up to the top of the mountain. We stopped to pick up two other girls, change into snow pants and snow shoes, and meet our paragliding “pilots.” Then we headed right up to the top of the Swiss Alps, got suited up in a harness, attached ourselves to the parachute and waited for the fog to clear. After about 20 minutes of foggy sky, we decided to try the other side of the mountain. This new location was right over the lake and had amazing views. So after getting suited up again, we all took off one by one. Literally, you run off the mountain until your parachute picks up and you can’t run anymore. It’s like skydiving without the free fall- but nevertheless amazing. When it was my turn to start running, my first take off doesn’t go so smoothly. Apparently the lines were knotted and I winded up sliding down the side of a mountain for a few feet. I thought I was going to end up in the river without a parachute! We tried again- I crossed my fingers and started running- next thing I know I’m 2500 feet in the air flying over the Swiss Alps. It was such a cool feeling, but freezing cold up there! The views were beautiful, I took some pictures with my camera and my pilot took ones of us flying with his camera stick. It took about 15-20 minutes to get down. As we were landing, my pilot wanted to do some flips and spins. So we spiraled all the way down to the landing zone. It felt like being in a whirlpool. Seriously, it was the coolest thing I’ve ever done.
After our adventure, we met back up with the rest of our group and headed to lunch with our friends. We were looking for something traditionally Swiss, but winded up getting fast food instead. Then we went back to our hostel, took a short nap and then got suited up for night sledding around 6. Literally, I had so many layers of clothing on, I felt like I was 300 pounds. It was alright though because it dropped to negative 8 degrees Celsius at night- and we were heading back up to the top of the mountain. My friends and I met our guide and took the drive as far as you can go on the mountain. Then we got into a “gondola” and went even further to the very top. It was completely dark up there; you could barely see your hand in front of your face. But you saw EVERY star in the sky. It was so amazing, I’ve never seen so many stars before and they were flooding the night sky. You could make out constellations and even see the Milky Way galaxy. I was seriously in shock and awe. I’m not exaggerating when I say there were more twinkly lights than the world’s population. The stars were also the only other light to guide us down the mountain. The was a trail for the sleds, but no barriers and no lights at all- so if you don’t see where the path turns, you pretty much fall off the mountain. They gave us little glow sticks too, which were wore on our back. So all you saw were little green lights that you needed to follow. It was really so much fun. It took us over an hour to sled all the way down. It was cold at first but you warmed up a lot as we were going. At the bottom, we got rewarded with a cheese fondue dinner- traditional Swiss style. It was so delicious. After dinner we were really exhausted. We decided to rest up for the next day and just go to bed shortly after we got home.
On Saturday, we took a day trip to Zurich. It was about a 2 hour drive from Interlaken and we actually went with the owner of Bus2apls as our guide. He was really nice and gave us some good directions around the city. Zurich was beautiful too, but you couldn’t see the Alps like you can from Interlaken. But there was still snow on the ground, and it was an adorable European city all decked out with Christmas decorations. We walked around the town a little, stepping in and out of stores and chocolate shops just to stay warm. We bought some yummy Swiss chocolate from one of the most famous shops there- and I got to buy my favorite Lindt chocolate! We met our guide for lunch at a beer garden type restaurant. I had some amazing Schnitzel (I think) and we all really enjoyed our meals. After lunch we walked around a little more, ran into Santa and his donkey, and took lots of pictures with the huge Christmas decorations around the city. Before meeting back up with the guide to head back to Interlaken, we checked out the biggest indoor Christmas market in all of Europe. Seriously, it was huge. They sold everything from food to wood carvings to jewelry. The huge tree in the middle was made entirely out of Swarovski crystals. I didn’t buy anything other than chocolate, obviously, but it was such a cool day.
When we got back to Interlaken, we had dinner at our hostel and watched a movie by the fireplace. Later that night, we went out to the metro club that was literally down below the hostel. It was fun, danced a lot but eventually got too tired and went to bed.
Sunday was our last day in Switzerland and I really didn’t want to leave. We woke up and headed into town after breakfast. There were more Christmas markets going on in the streets so we just spent the day shopping and checking out the views. We had lunch in another Swiss restaurant. For some reason I ended up with a plate of melted cheese as my meal. We left to catch the bus back to Rome at 3:30. BUT we didn’t actually wind up leaving until around 5pm. That was the worst part. There were no movies on the bus home either, so it was a really boring 12 hour ride. We got to Rome at 5am and were so disoriented. We got home as fast as we could but I didn’t wind up going to bed until after 6. I had a presentation in class on Monday, and I thought it would be a good idea to work on it half asleep. I passed out for a few hours, but woke up at 9am Monday morning to get a start on my day.
Switzerland was really amazing and despite the sleeplessness from the last day, it really was one of my favorite weekends in Europe.

AMSTERDAM ADVENTURES

One of my main goals for my study abroad experience was to travel - a lot - but mostly to travel to places where I have never been before. The last three months I have been to places that were entirely new to me until last weekend. Thursday night I made my way to the airport and jet-setted off to Amsterdam for the rest of the weekend. I’ve been to Amsterdam 2 or 3 times before, but it was one of the places I really wanted to visit because of its history and position during World War 2, and plus now I can really see what this liberal city and red light district are all about. I’ve never been into history, especially WW2 history, but traveling throughout Europe and learning how all these countries were affected during the war sparked an interest. I knew Amsterdam was home to the Anne Frank house among other memorials to the war, so I decided to make the trip up north. Thursday we had a late flight and got into Amsterdam around 11pm. Thankfully our hotel was close to the train station and we had no trouble getting there from the airport. We decided to battle the elements (it was below freezing there at night) and check out a coffee shop nearby for the last hour it was open. Friday, we took a free New Europe walking tour of Amsterdam (the same company that took us on the tour in Prague.) I was really excited for this tour because I wanted to learn about the city and its history. But to my disappointment, the guide didn’t go too much into the history of WW2. He touched on it and we walked to the Jewish Quarter, but mostly he spoke about Amsterdam’s liberal society- how prostitution is completely legal and marijuana is decriminalized. However, that was pretty fascinating too. Amsterdam’s slogan “If it’s good for business…” Heavy taxes are placed on almost everything- food was pretty expensive so I don’t even want to guess what the prices for prostitution are! After the walking tour, my friend Samantha and I went to the Rijksmuseum, stumbled across the “I AMSTERDAM” sign, took the Heineken experience tour through the brewery (which was AWESOME) and finally stopped at the Van Gogh Museum. It was long day and a lot of walking in the freezing cold, but in the end we felt accomplished that we got so much done. We stopped for dinner at a pancake place- had to try them- but were slightly disappointed. Then we out another Amsterdam coffee shop at a place called “Rasta Baby” – It had a pretty cool vibe but we didn’t stay for too long because we were exhausted.
On Saturday, we started the day off at the Anne Frank house/ museum. We waited on line in the snow for about half an hour, but it was worth it. It was a great experience to visit the house and re-learn the story about the family in hiding. It was one of the best parts of the trip for me, and provided the most information about WW2 in Amsterdam. It was of course very sad. It’s hard to believe that this actually happened and people actually had to live in fear for their lives. Its one thing to learn about the terrible things that happened during the war, but it’s another to actually go and visit the places that were affected the most. It really puts it into a different perspective. After the museum, we had lunch and did some shopping. We took a stroll through the red light district and it was quite an interesting sight to see. There is a woman for every fetish advertising themselves in windows. It was interesting how normal it seemed to everyone and how excited the young tourist boys were. We came across the hash, marijuana and hemp museum and thought it would be interesting to go inside, but it really wasn’t. It was just a bunch of pictures and paraphernalia- not worth the 5 Euros. After dinner at the Chipsy King (best fries ever!) We went back to the hotel to warm up. At night we headed to a Doors coffee shop. (As in the band, The Doors) It was fun, and they played good music. We stayed there for a few hours, and eventually called it a night. Sunday was a short day. We walked back through Dam Square and wandered around. We did some souvenir shopping but eventually just hung out in the mall until we had to head to the airport because it was too brutally cold to be outside. We took the train back to the airport and had lunch there before flying back to Roma. It was an amazing weekend and I’m glad I went- I got to see a lot of things that I never had before and learn about a culture where just about everything is tolerated, if it’s taxed. It also prepared me for some brutally cold weather. For some reason I decided to book a trip to Switzerland in December. If I don’t come back a popsicle, it will be a success!

Prague : SO ROMANTIC!

This weekend rivaled one of the best weekends of my life. It’s up there right next to Oktoberfest for many of the same reasons, actually. Aside from being the craziest party countries I’ve been too, I actually learned a lot about history, world war 2 and loved the beauty of the cities.
My friend Gabrielle and I left Rome Friday afternoon. Our flight was at 4:30 and we got to the Prague airport around 6. We exchanged money for the Czech Crowns (monopoly money, really- 100 Euro was almost 3,000 crowns!) There and took the shuttle to the center of the city and walked the rest of the way to our hostel. We stayed at the Old Prague Hostel, which was small but very clean and cozy. We had a private room for the two of us, so we dropped our things and went to dinner. Ironically, the first night we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner- only because we needed to stay around old town square and everything else around there was kind of expensive. Everything was so romantic at night, Gabby and I kept joking that we might as well have been on our honeymoon! After dinner, we walked to the famous astronomical clock and met a group for a city bar crawl- it was 400 Crowns- that equaled to be around 16 Euros- for an hour and a half open bar plus entrance to 4 other bars plus a free shot at ever bar. Probably the best deal for drinks I’ve gotten in Europe so far! The pub crawl was really fun actually, and we got a chance to meet some people and even play beer pong! Which I haven’t played in MONTHS! At the end of the night, we crawled our way back to the hostel around 3 am and passed out.
The next day we woke up at 8, showered, got our free breakfast from the hostel and walked around to find toothpaste (both of us forgot to bring it!). We eventually found our way to this huge mall called the Palladium and spent most of the morning there just shopping and getting lost. It was also our way of staying inside because it was FREEZING. I had to buy earmuffs and gloves to keep me warm for the rest of the trip because I wasn’t expecting the 30 degree temperatures that it was. After some coffee and toothpaste, we walked back to old town square to meet the New Europe Walking tour group. It’s a group that takes you on free walking tours in cities throughout Europe, and if you enjoyed it, all they ask is that you tip the guide at the end. So worth it. Our tour left at 11am and our guide was really good and funny. We started out in old town square where he told us the history of the city. It was really fascinating how much it has changed over the years. From free to communism, Hitler to Stalin- everything was just so interesting and it’s strange to think that most of the Czechs lived though it and just regained their freedom about 30 years ago. The square itself is beautiful too. It really feels like you in the middle ages. The castles, churches and architecture look like Disney land. After a history lesson, we went to see the astronomical clock, which is apparently the second most overrated tourist attraction in the world. (Don’t ask me whats # 1) But it’s basically this really cool looking old clock and every hour it goes off and makes strange noises that no one really understands for about 30 seconds and then stops. We didn’t wait for it to go off on the tour, but we caught it later that day- it’s quite an odd experience, you don’t really know what’s going on and then all of a sudden it ends with a roosters sigh- pretty random. Anyway, the tour took us to many of most popular places- we passed by the only theatre still operating where Mozart has played. Then we walked passed Wenceslas Square and saw the national museum. It’s where two students lit themselves on fire to protest to the government during the communist times to show how miserable the people were- and when the fall of communism finally gave people their freedom, the Czech’s went to the square, thousands of people, and jingled their keys to show that they hold the key to their own future. It was really fascinating. From there we walked passed to the Jewish Quarter. This part of the tour was really eerie, actually. In WW2 obviously Prague was under Hitler’s rule. Hitler wanted to preserve the Jewish Ghetto of Prague specifically to turn it into a museum of an extinct race. It was so bone chilling to know that everything in the quarter was perfectly preserved for that reason. It’s shocking to think that what it could have really been had he not lost the war. Many years ago, the street level was much lower; the Jews were practically forced to live in swampland. So after they were liberated, they re-built the area and raised the street level- which is why most of the synagogues’ windows are practically on the street and you have to walk down steps to get into the main floor. The cemetery was interesting to learn about too. Since they could not move from that area, the Jews were running out of space in the cemetery to bury their dead. So they improvised- when they ran out of room, they would pile more dirt on top and burry another layer of people and so on. The cemetery was about 10 feet higher than street level, and it is said to go many, many feet below the ground. I can’t even imagine how many people are buried there. Today, however, the Jewish Quarter is a beautiful area, and holds the town’s high end shopping district. From there we walked to the River and our last stop was in front of some university building. We really enjoyed the walking tour, we saw so much in one day and learned more about the history of Prague and WW2 that I ever thought I would. After we left the tour, Gabby and I walked across the Charles Bridge to the John Lennon Wall. We left our marks on the wall and took some pictures. Afterwards, we walked back to our hostel for a quick nap before dinnertime. We went to this place called Lokal for dinner, it had really awesome Czech food and beer for really amazing prices. It was probably one of the best meals I’ve ever had. After dinner, we met up with some other AUR people at a place called the Beer Factory. It’s a pub where the kegs are at your table, and you pour your own cup from a tap in the center of the table. Each table competes to drink the most beer! Our table obviously came in first place- 23 liters of beer between 9 people. And at 19 Crowns a liter, you can’t beat that. We wanted to continue the part at Karlovy Lazne- the 5 story club that plays a different kind of music on each floor. It was really wild- we had an awesome time and danced the night away. I walk on to a floor called “black music” (I can’t make this up) and my favorite song, Alors on danse was playing- I obviously knew it was going to be a great night and found my way to a ledge to dance above the crowd. The rest of the night we were on the techno floor, because everyone knows that’s my favorite. We made it home around 4 am, tired and freezing and passed out for about 4 hours.
Sunday was just as long of a day. We woke up at 8, had breakfast at the hostel then went out for a Starbucks coffee- oh how I missed that. We walked to the other side of the river to the Prague Castle. As we were walking up, we started to hear the music for the changing of the guards and quickly ran up to take pictures. I’ve never seen anything like that before and it was like this big ceremony. After the change, we went into the castle and saw the cathedral. It was beautiful- and huge. It took hours to walk around the whole thing and cross the bridge to get back home. For the second part of the day we visited the Jewish Museum, which also gave us entrance into some Synagogues as well as the cemetery. It was really interesting, but of course sad. There was an exhibit of pictures drawn by Czech children in the concentration camps, and for some of the kids, it’s the only proof that they actually existed. The cemetery was creepy, too. The tombstones were so old and they were all on top of each other. It took us a couple of hours to see the whole museum, and eventually we headed back to our hostel to pick up our things and get on our way to the airport. Our flight left at 8pm, and when we got there around 6, we were exhausted. We did so much in 2 days on such little sleep. But it was so worth it. I could live in Prague. It’s amazing there, really, and every detail about the city has its own story. It’s on my list to go back some day. Looking ahead, this weekend – Amsterdam. Thanksgiving without a turkey, but filled with another walk back in time.

Last port of call: Turkey!

Our last stop on the cruise was to Kusadasi, Turkey. We had a warm welcome as we pulled into the dock around 7am. There were natives at the port dressed up and banging on drums to entertain everyone who was standing around and watching at the port. Of course this happened to be directly below our windows! Anyway, we had a late start. We went for breakfast and met our tour guide at 9:30am on the pier. Turkey was the only port of call that didn’t require the passengers on the ship to go though any sort of immigration procedure- so it was easy to get off board. (as you can probably imagine, Israel had the most extensive procedures.) We followed our guide to the bus and our first stop was to visit the house of the Virgin Mary. This is where she spent the last few years of her life after she fled from Jerusalem. On our way there, the tour guide explained to us where we were in Turkey in relation to the rest of the country. I.e. where the capital is, were Istanbul is, etc. Also, we could visually see the Greek Islands from the port; he mentioned that it was only a half mile swim to the nearest one. Easy! Anyway, the house of the Virgin Mary was in a beautiful, peaceful area and was a nice, big house for that time. It was located right next to a well on top of a mountain. The site has been confirmed by the Catholic Church so even though I’m not religious in any way, it was still cool to see another piece of history. After that site, we drove around and stopped for pictures on the mountain. The views we’re incredible of the city and port below us. Many years ago (ancient times), the port was farther inland, but now there is land where the water was and new cities have been built. From there we drove to Ephesus. This ancient city has the second best preserved Roman ruins behind Pompeii. Honestly, it felt like I was back home! We took a tour through the ruins, most of which was still being excavated, but it was really interesting to make comparisons with the Roman ruins here that I walk by every day. Just goes to show how big the empire really was- if they had conquered land all the way in Turkey. The library was the most magnificent building (go figure)- it was huge and very well preserved. Close by was the theatre, which held 25 thousand people. I climbed the steps and enjoyed the view from higher up. All in all, it was a nice walk through the ancient city. After about 2 hours walking through Ephesus, we made one last stop at the Temple of Artemis- which was more like going to see two pillars that once belonged to the Temple of Artemis because there was hardly anything left standing. After hearing the history of the once great temple, we were bombarded with local salesmen and even children trying to sell cheap souvenirs to make a quick buck. It was to the point where they were actually almost climbing back into our tour van, a very uncomfortable situation. (But how do you say no to a 4 year old girl trying to sell you bracelets that you don’t need?) After we finally drove away, we headed back to the port. It was only a half day tour, but well worth the quick stop to see the main sights. Our tour guide took us to a traditional carpet factory to see how their famous carpets are handmade, but we didn’t but anything. We left our tour guide there and after some shopping in the markets, we headed back to the ship. Our last port of call was a quick one, but worth the long boat ride. We had another two days at sea before returning to Venice, which meant another two days of trying to keep myself entertained and not go crazy sharing a cabin with my parents! I did spend a lot of quality time with my book though, and even went home with $75 winnings from playing in the casino! (although that’s only about 55 Euros) We arrived back in Venice on Thursday; I went right to class despite that I missed basically the entire week. I have a lot of catching up to do, but playing hooky was well worth it!

Next Stop, EGYPT!

The next stop on our cruise was to Egypt. Our port of call was Alexandria, and we were docked there for 2 days which gave us enough time to take the 3 hour drive to Cairo. We met our tour guide at the dock and our first stop was The Library of Alexandria- which is the largest and most significant library of the ancient world. We took some pictures and saw a great view of the city. After the short stop, we continued on our way to Cairo. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and kept us entertained throughout the long car ride. We passed by a lot of desert sand but also noticed new cities being constructed – which are meant to ease the overpopulation problem in Cairo, 25 million people live in that city! We crossed the Nile River into Cairo, and our first stop was the Museum of Egyptian Antiques. I’ve never been a fan of history, but ancient Egyptian history has always been fascinating to me, so this museum was one of my highlights of the trip. Our guide did a great job of explaining the artifacts found in the museum, most of which have been excavated from ancient tombs. There was everything from thrones, jewelry, art and even perfume (some of the bottles were still unopened 10 thousand years later!). There was also a room of all artifacts found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb (the boy king) - which was the only tomb not tampered with by raiders. It was really amazing how many possessions the kings were buried with and how much they prepared themselves for the “after life.” The way they prepared their bodies with mummification and the mythology of how the gods weighed their hearts and approved them for passage into the afterlife is amazing to me. After the museum, we made a stop at a jewelry store where my mom placed an order for a Kartush – a name plate with you name in hieroglyphics- and then headed to check into a hotel. The hotel was included in the tour, and it was a beautiful 5 star resort with stunning views of the great pyramids of Giza. We concluded our tour with a dinner cruise down the Nile River. There was a belly dancing show- actually, WE were the show. The belly dancer and singer pulled us on to the stage and we were dancing along with other people on the boat. It was actually pretty fun! However, I was amazed at the loop hole of belly dancing- Egypt is a Muslim country, and all the women are always dressed in traditional clothes and always covered their hair completely, yet these belly dancers are allowed to entertain in practically their underwear. Nonetheless, the dinner cruise was a cool experience, and it was kind of nice to see Muslims, tourists and belly dancers getting along. Also, the Nile at night was beautiful- you could see the Cairo and Giza skylines which made for a romantic setting. We went back to the hotel after dinner to rest up for the next day- there was a lot ahead of us!

Day two in Egypt- we woke up at the crack of dawn to get in as much sightseeing as possible. Our same tour guide picked us up from the hotel and we drove straight to the Mohammed Ali Alabaster Mosque. On our way to the mosque, I noticed how dirty the streets of Cairo were. I heard that it was a dirty city, but I wasn’t expecting the amount of garbage that I saw in the streets and in the rivers. You’d think that people just throw trash out of their windows. We passed over the Nile river the night before for the dinner cruise, and there we tons of people sitting on the bridge and enjoying each other’s company- the next day, all of the garbage was left behind and the bridges were just disgusting. Even the water used for irrigation was piled with garbage- there were a few spots where we even saw the garbage burning, I guess that’s the only way to get rid of it. The mosque was a nice site to see, it was a copy of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey- which I saw a couple of years ago. Our tour guide even showed us how the Muslims pray, and I learned that every person’s prayer is different from one another. After the mosque, we drove to Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt to see the colossal statue of Ramses II. The statues were displayed in an open air museum, and were enormous. There were many statues of the gods as well as a sphinx, said to be the second largest next to the famous one in Giza. Everything was so perfectly preserved from being buried under the sand that it’s amazing to believe that they are 10 thousand years old. On top of that, many of the statues, including the famous Ramses II, are made out of granite from Mt. Sinai- meaning ancient Egyptians trekked huge stone blocks for miles to get the statues where they are today. It was really incredible. And the statues were carved so perfectly, it’s like the ancient Egyptians had their own Michelangelo! After Memphis, we drove to Sakkara, Memphis’ massive necropolis, where we visited Egypt’s first pyramids. They were considerably older looking and shaped differently that the ones you would imagine from Giza. Our tour guide took us to the Step Pyramid of King Djoser that was designed by Imhotep, and explained to us the history behind its design. We were also able to view the tomb and walk around the archeological site. After that we stopped for a quick lunch (barbeque, also included and absolutely delicious!) before heading to the main attraction, the Pyramids of Giza. The drive there was exciting. We were sharing the road with people on horses and donkeys with a wheelbarrow of goods being tugged along. You really felt like you were in a third world country, and it was funny to see. But I was glad to be in my air-conditioned van! We finally arrived at the pyramids of Giza, and they were just massive and beautiful structures. Again, the Egyptians had to carry stone for miles to construct these ancient tombs. You felt so small standing next to them and knowing all the history, myths and treasures that these structures held behind their walls. And of course, they were standing strong like they were built yesterday. We drove to see a panoramic view of all three pyramids on top of a hill and from there took a camel ride. Can you see me trekking through the desert on a camel? Yeah, I can’t either. It was a scary experience; camels are not smooth riding animals! But it was hilarious when it was time for my parents to get on! But it’s something I had to do for the story. A desert vacation wouldn’t be complete without a ride on a camel. After our adventures, we made one last stop at the Sphinx, where you could also see the pyramids in the background. The Sphinx, however, was a lot smaller than I thought it would be- but mysterious none the less.
That concluded our tour of ancient Egypt. On our way back to the port in Alexandria, our tour guide brought us back to the jewelry store so my mom could pick up her Kartush, and also to the Papyrus store in the same building. They gave us a brief demonstration of ancient paper making there and my dad picked up a few pictures made on paper from reeds from the Nile. We also stopped at a store that sold Egyptian cotton (not buying anything though, since the material is so expensive) and to a perfume factory. I didn’t know that Egypt was so famous for their perfumes. The recipes found in the ancient tombs for the unopened perfume bottles that we saw are still the ones used today. They make the pure essence for all the brand name perfumes, and then sell it to company’s who dilute it with alcohol, put it in a fancy bottle and sell it for twice the price. I, of course, bought the pure essence Tutankhamen, or Calvin Klein’s Eternity. After that last pit stop, we took the 3 hour drive back to the port and were back on board ship by dinnertime. I’m so lucky to have seen these ancient ruins that some people never get a chance to see in their lifetimes; Egypt was truly an incredible experience.

Shalom, Israel!

I’m convinced; cruising is the best way to travel. There is so much included for the money- food, entertainment, pools, games and events- and you get to enjoy the ports of call when you reach the shore. We departed from Venice Sunday evening, and sailed for 2 more full days before we reached Haifa, Israel. Like I said, there was plenty to do and plenty to eat, but when you’re stuck on board a ship for almost 3 full days in the middle of the ocean, you kind of get cabin fever. And for me, I was sharing a suite with my parents- I haven’t lived in their house in 4 years let alone shared a room with them- I was ready to swim to shore by the end of day two! Parents are parents; they’re going to drive you crazy no matter how close with them you are after a while. And when we got to shore, I wasn’t used to having people tell me where to go and what to do when I travel. Ever since I got to Rome I’ve always enjoyed wandering and discovering on my own and it got really annoying always having to be in their sight. But regardless, I just have to suck it up for the remainder of the cruise and just enjoy where I am. We arrived in Haifa on Wednesday the 3rd. From there we took a train to Tel Aviv and took a bus tour around the city. It was a beautiful, clean and modern city; not like the desserts of the Middle East you would expect. Tel Aviv has beautiful beaches and resorts as well as high rise buildings that you would find in any city. All the big technology companies were there- Microsoft, Google, IBM, etc… After our bus tour (similar to the open air busses you would take around NYC) my parents and I met some family for lunch. It’s been a few years since we’ve seen our family from Israel so it was good to see them again. We had a nice lunch and then our cousin drove us back to Haifa, we took the scenic route and by the time we reached the port it was night time. However, the city at night was beautiful and we drove down a road where there were coffee shops and restaurants and stopped on a hill where we got a great view of the city. We were back on board ship for dinner and over night we sailed to Ashdod, our second port in Israel.
From Ashdod, we met a tour guide at the port who took us to Jerusalem. We first stopped on a hill where you can see the entire old and new city of Jerusalem below us. After some pictures, we walked through the streets of the old city. It was filled with shops and bazaars and it was really what I expected Israel to look like. Sort of the old mixed with the new. It wasn’t so modern like Tel Aviv. People were traditionally dressed, the Jews mixed with the Arabs in the colorful street markets. We walked through the Jewish Quarter and the Arabic quarter and found our way to the church that now stands over the spot of Jesus’ crucifixion. Our tour guide walked us through the stations of the cross, showed us the rock that held the cross and Jesus’ tomb (all in the church, except for the stations that occurred on Via Della Rosa)- we walked down through there too. We visited the wailing wall, and I left a wish in the cracks, as tradition. After lunch in the old city, we drove though some parts of the new city where our guide pointed out some government buildings, etc, on our way to the Dead Sea. To get there, we drove though the desert- Barron land that extends for miles with nothing on it but the bushwins (spelling?) living in their tents. That’s when I could really notice that we were in the Middle East. There was just nothing around but sand. It seemed so strange that huge cities like Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are able to thrive in the desert. Anyway, we made it to the Dead Sea and were able to experience floating around without even trying. As soon as you sit down (the water was shallow) you are immediately lifted due to all the salt in the water and float. It was like having a raft under you, except there wasn’t. It was very cool to experience that, and apparently the muddy shores are good for your skin. After floating around for a while, we cleaned up and headed back to the ship; another long drive through the desert. My mom, who was in Israel 30 years ago, pointed out some towns we could see in the distance. Those towns actually belong to Jordan now, but when she was here they were part of Israel. For the many wars that are fought in Israel over land, the country needs to hold on to what it has. We made it back to the ship in time for dinner and then departed for our next port of call, Egypt.

Where I'll be if you can't find me: Venice and it's adventures

So last Friday, my parents and I booked an Easy Jet flight from Rome to Venice to meet the cruise ship at the port. The flight was scheduled to leave at 7am and be in Venice in an hour or so. We figured even though it was a bad airline, it was a short flight and we would be able to get to Venice for cheap. So, we booked a taxi to take us to the airport at 5am for around 60 Euros (around 100 dollars). As soon as we get to our check in at the airport, we find out our flight was delayed- 9 hours. We were tired and angry that we had to get to the airport for no reason, really, and didn’t have much confidence in Easy Jet that the flight 9 hours later would even be taking off. We went to another terminal and attempted to book a flight on Alitalia, but there were only full fare seats available- for 500 Euros a person! So there we are- 6am three people with 5 suitcases trying to make it to Venice for a 2 week vacation. Eventually, we take the train from the airport back to Termini Station in Rome- another 40 Euro- with the hope of getting on a train to Venice. 160 dollars spent going back and forth to the airport on top of the airfare for no reason. Anyway, we get to Termini and the next 3 trains to Venice are full, but we book an express train that leaves a few hours later. There was nothing else to do but wait. Four hours later and 400 Euros down the hole- we were on our way to Venice. After a long morning, we finally make it to Venice in the afternoon. To me though, it was worth the aggravation as a made for an interesting story and Venice is just beautiful. I have a feeling that that’s where I’ll be if you ever can’t find me. Words can’t describe how much I loved that city. It was the perfect mix of water, where I grew up, and city, where I live now. And not to mention how romantic it was. It was amazing and beautiful and I enjoyed every second, but I’ve never felt so lonely in Italy. It was like being alone on Valentine’s Day. Everything around you is beautiful- but you have no one to spend it with. I’ll go back one day- absolutely. After some shopping and dinner with my parents and their friends, we spend the night in a hotel and checked out early the next morning. We spent Saturday walking around and checking out the Jewish Ghetto- the first one in the world. Eventually, we took a water taxi to the port and boarded the Vision of the Seas cruise ship for a 12 day vacation through the Holy Lands.