7th stop - Constanta, Romania

Constanta is the 2nd largest city in Romania and is situated on the Black Sea. Romania used to be a communist country, and if you look, you can still see the influence.

The first view of Constanta from a cruise ship is not a good one - the port is very industrial and very yucky to look at. However, Constanta has only recently become a stop on the cruise circuit, and is still rarely visited, perhaps with more cruise visits, the city would do something to make that initial look a better one.


Our tour at Constanta took us first to the Museum of Folk Art, the former City Hall. In front of that museum stands a statue of the Roman poet Ovid (43-17 BC) created in 1887. The Museum had thousands of things created by the people of Romania, not necessarily the "artists." These items included clothing, wooden items, painted eggs, and absolutely amazing pictures that were like mosaics. To me, this was the best part of the day, seeing what the locals created.

We also stopped at an overview of the lovely beach and a local church.

We then headed to Histria, a Greek colony founded in the 7th century BC. It is the oldest urban settlement in Romania. I really hate to say this, but it was here that I finally agreed with Greg...

You see... throughout the trip, even though Greg was really a good sport about touring old ruins and old buildings, a couple times he did make comments about "old rocks" and "more old rocks." It was at Histria that I finally thought to myself "yeah, more old rocks." I think it was because nothing has been reconstructed, just the grass and weeds cleared away.

The site is HUGE; pictures absolutely do NOT do the place justice because you can't get it all in a single picture. But it isn't awe-inspiring, as many other places we visited. The picture here shows maybe 1/10th of it.

My other main point here - this was the only "real" ship tour we took - the kind where you ride with other folks on a bus and wait around for everyone. And it totally proved why we don't usually do that. The tour was SLOW. OMG it was slow. And then you were supposed to pay for the privilege of taking photos of the ruins. What?! I can understand paying extra to take pictures INSIDE a museum or palace, because of flash damage, but for OUTSIDE photos?? No. Big resounding NO. I would rather pay a higher admission price than get nickled and dimed like that. I think it's totally misleading and inappropriate.

One thing I thought was very cool was the display of items they found during excavations: amphorae, inscriptions, pottery, glassware, bas-reliefs, etc.

The bus ride itself was interesting because we rode through quite a bit of countryside. And in doing so, we were able to see the houses that country folk live in, and see them going about their daily lives. Here again we saw people with horse carts for transporting goods, as well as themselves!

After we got back from our booked excursion we walked around town on our own. It became obvious that not only is Constanta not prepared for cruiseships, it isn't prepared for tourists at all. There are some really lovely buildings and interesting statues and sculptures in town, but you really have to search them out. Roads were in terrible condition. Ok, some sidewalks were too. But of course we didn't have to worry all that much about the bad sidewalks, because we frequently couldn't walk on them anyway... Constanta was like many other European towns where people park on the sidewalks. Weird! Oh, and it is virtually impossible to find souvenirs. As in the kind that say "Constanta" or "Romania" on them. As usual, we (meaning Greg) were on the search for a shotglass - there were none to be found.

Anyway, the loveliest building in Constanta used to house the Casino, but it is now a restaurant. It is right on the shoreline, and is one building that is easy to find.

In our walk through town, we encountered an unusual park. My guess is it's the "Archaeological Park" altho we never saw signs to that effect. However, it was very cool. Throughout the park there were pieces of ancient buildings and other archaeological pieces, just a-hangin' out. The park itself was pretty much overrun with weeds and long grass, but still... it was way cool! I sure don't know any parks around here (or anywhere in the U.S.) where items that are thousands of years old are just sitting out on display.

seriously

another blog challenge from twopeas...

If you could change one thing in our world today, what would it be???

I would eliminate war and fighting. Finis. The end. To me, it's absolutely senseless, a waste of humans and humanity. If war/fighting didn't exist, conflict would need to be resolved through creative thinking and compromise.

Now, stop, before you gasp in shock. I fully support our troops, men and women. They are doing their jobs. They make huge sacrifices to keep us and the world safe.

But if war/fighting didn't exist at all, there wouldn't be troops to support. The millions of people across the world who fight either as a job or to stay alive could use their minds and bodies for the benefit of all humanity.

fun blog challenge

compliments of twopeas again...

If you became a scrapbooker-for-hire, who would you want to work for and scrap their life story? Why? This can be a distant relative, friend, celebrity, or historical figure...living or not.

wow- I see so many options here...

1) I would work for and scrap my daddy's life story. Shame on me - I didn't find out NEARLY as much about him and his life as I should have. And now it's too late. And now I have so many unanswered questions.

2) Oprah - wow - what a life story she must have. To make herself into one of the wealthiest women on earth, to still be a nice person at heart even with all the fame.

3) Cleopatra - To find out what life was really like in ancient Egypt - yes, it would mostly be the life of the rich royalty, but there would still be glimpses into the lives of servants and workers. To find out the politics, intrigues and deceit of the royalty. To find out how much influence women had at that time.

4) either George Washington or Thomas Jefferson - I'm intrigued by the life of Americans before, during and after the Revolutionary War. How did life change? How was it the same? How did the rebels find each other and support each other during such troubled and difficult times? Was it difficult to pull a new nation together? Was it difficult to change from being a territory of a monarchy to being a democratic country on its own?

5) Mozart - such an amazing talent - Was he really as unstable as shown in movies? What was it like being invited into various royal / noble courts, but not really belonging - being an outsider, so to speak? - Imagine the stories he could tell!! How did he create such beautiful music, such amazing compositions - did it just pop into his head (or fingers) or did he have to work at it?

6) Howard Carter - the archaeologist who discovered King Tut's tomb. What was it like, year after year, digging in the desert, the heat, the sand? What inside him kept saying that there was still something in there, after pretty much everyone else had given up? How did it feel to finally find the tomb? And then to find it intact??!!

7) Socrates - philosopher during the golden age of ancient Greece. What was life like in ancient Greece? How did the city-state fighting co-exist with the peaceful orations, music, theatre and art which was so important? What were the significant philosophies of the day? What major creations were really Greek vs being stolen from other civilizations? Were there significant differences between the classes, between genders, etc.? How did a person make a living - were they paid in $$ for product/services, or were they given food and required items by the state?

I could probably keep going, but these are the first people who jump into my head who I would like to know more about!!

ScrapFest again

I finally have pics of some of the cute projects I did. Now keep in mind, my two faves are not complete yet, so they aren't in this bunch. But these are still cute!! And they aren't here in any specific order.

This is a cute project from Tim Holtz. Have I mentioned yet that I just love that man?! At CKU-Chicago I had already taken two classes from him, one was distressed inks and the other was alcohol inks. So at ScrapFest I went beyond my comfort zone, and took a class where we made funky jewelry / charms using paper, chipboard, distressing and inks and then you put it all together between two layers of thin glass, then put the whole thing into the metal frame. Very funky. btw - irl, this is only 2x2 inches. And there are smaller frames/glass pieces that can be used. I can see doing this with pictures of family members and/or friends - but I don't know what they or I would do with the end result!

This cute pink folder mini-album thing was the most adorable Make and Take there. The top picture is the front, and then the second picture is of the folder open. And yes, I actually waited in the very long line to make this. Too cute! fyi - the S is for smile!

This album was from an Archivers class. Doodling is quite the rage in the scrapping world right now, and for those of us who just can't doodle and make it look right, stamps make a great alternative. Not only did we stamp and emboss the cover, and then cover the binding with paper and ribbon, we then stamped on some of the page protectors inside. AWESOME idea - I never woulda thunk it. What a cute way to keep the doodling going throughout the album.



These four cards were from my other Archivers class. Very cute, very fun cards. This class is typically a two hour class from them - we had 45 minutes. So somebody, I'm assuming staffers, stamped and embossed the images for us. Rock on! So we got to play with inking, tearing, stamping, some cool mica glitter, buttons. Nothing earth-shattering, no new techniques, but fun. Plus the basic design is easily used for other cards.


These two cards were made in my 3M class. Cute cards, both of them use transparencies. The one on the left actually has a see-through pocket of sorts, with flowers in it. I personally won't make tons of cards like these, because they are a little time-consuming, but maybe for special occasions. ;D

The cute acrylic frames above are from a Heidi Swapp class. Some things I wouldn't have tried on my own: cutting acrylic flower in half, adding rub-ons and bling to acrylic, and distressing the acrylic itself. Cool. The frame on the right isn't really finished - it was designed with rub-on words on the tape in the bottom right corner, but I don't want to do that until I actually use it.


These are the other MnTs I did. The top left item is a mini book, made by adhering two pieces of folded cardstock together - easy and cool. The top middle guy isn't exactly my style, but I LOVE the pens that I used for the butterfly. You start with an outline sticker, and just fill it in. I think it rocks - looks like stained glass! The top right item is a cute little matchbook - but I really don't know what to do with it. But I do really like the Deja Views paper - love the deep, fresh colors. The bottom two are cards from the Archivers MnT - cute,easy.

ScrapFest

This past weekend I went to ScrapFest. It's a three day event put on by Archivers in Minneapolis/St Paul area. Most of the event is at the Mall of America. I had not attended this event before, but thought it sounded fun, so I convinced a couple friends to go with me.

Cliff notes: Fun, hectic, tiring, learned some new stuff, didn't get much
done... Overall, I enjoyed it and would go again.

Overall class comparison - better projects and more probability of learning new techniques than from MWSA convention classes. Some classes I would rank with CKU level. The big prob - all classes are 45 minutes. So I had a 3 hour class condensed into 45 min, and I had a 2 hr class condensed into 45 min... Get the trend?? Not much completed, lots of homework. But I prefer that to a "true" 45 min class where you learn nothing, just paste this, paste that, and the projects are boring. I would highly recommend to Archivers that they offer classes of various lengths - maybe 45 min classes and 1 hr 45 min classes. I enjoyed all classes and projects besides one that will remain nameless, as it is very unusual for that particular vendor to have a not-so-good class.

Most of the vendor classes gave lots of extra stuff, so when I got home, Greg made some comments about me taking so much stuff - he didn't realize that I didn't start out with nearly that much!! Quickie class notes: Heidi Swapp and MM had the most extras in class kits. I learned cool things to do to acrylic embellies in HS class. K&Co and Li'l Davis had the best, most intense projects, with lots of stuff needed - and both had great teachers. I learned a couple new tricks in K&Co too - yahoo! Tim Holtz - I thought his class and project were fun - not sure I'll ever do it - you use paper with chipboard pictures, wings, crowns, words, etc., distress it all, and layer it between two pieces of thing glass and put into metal frames to make jewelry (or large charms) - kinda bizarre, but definitely fun and funny. I may just stick to his alcohol inks which I LOVE!!!! My other three classes were average - I did learn stuff in all of them tho.

MnTs - all were free. Some were neat, some pretty boring. I did some of each, but didn't even try to do all of them. Lines even on Friday were long, and Saturday it was horrible.

I had been to the Mall of America many years ago, but it still amazed me with the size of the place, and the very unusual stores that are there. I really didn't have time and take the time to really look around at all the stores - and since I don't like to shop, that was ok. I didn't even go into the huge IKEA store next door - I've never been in one of those, and so many scrappin' folks love their stuff!

Carrie and MK got into the Friday night After Dark Party (only 200 people! and $50 pp) - I was crushed that I hadn't gotten in. Well.... now I'm glad. It was the first year they tried that - and at first it was apparently fun, but it got boring and people got upset, etc. They only had nachos for food, there were two MnTs, there was one contest that not everyone had equal amount of time to work on. They did something weird with the prize giveaways, that made it look very suspicious, like it was fixed or something. LOTS of very upset attendees!!

My crop Friday was at Archivers in Eden Prairie and was sponsored by KI - crops all cost $40. Well, we had a great Chinese buffet meal with at least 6 main entrees, egg rolls, wings, rangoons, etc. Everyone received the same goodie bag from KI - 6 of their tins that are valued at $5 or $6 each. Plus they gave us all a MnT kit - a tin (again) with paper and embellies - VERY cute! Archivers also had goodie bags for everyone - people got to select their bag (kinda). I did great there - 12x12 Sarapapers worth $15, Heidi Grace flowers worth $25, plus a bunch of other stuff. Archivers and KI each had a grand prize too. WOW! Oh, plus they gave snack bags to everyone, and had cake later in the evening. This crop was a pretty mellow crowd.

The crop all 3 of us went to Saturday was at Archivers in Woodbury and was sponsored by MM. Our meal was Italian: meat lasagna, meatless red sauce pasta and meatless white sauce pasta (nummy) with bread and salad. Again, snack bags and cakes (plural) and cookies later. They were really good there, encouraging us to help ourselves to beverages from their frig, and even bringing sodas around to give refills. The MM and Archivers staff ALL were high energy, kept us pumped, very fun. Again, everyone received goodie bags from MM - good stuff - several different types of pkgs, and it was the luck of the draw as to what folks received. And Archivers also again had goodie bags for everyone - Carrie and MK were drawn early, so they got good stuff, my name was drawn late, and there wasn't much left - it seemed like some of the stuff was years old, or cutesie for kids, which obviously doesn't work for me. Oh, and we did get a MnT kit from MM too - a cute clipboard - and of course they gave extra stuff with it. MM is always so generous with their goodies! This Archivers gave THREE grand prizes and MM gave one too!!!!

Even tho everyone thinks I'm so lucky... no winnings for me. I think Carrie won in classes at least twice. I don't think MK won anything either. But I guess in a way I did win once - at the MM class, they were short on supplies and asked for volunteers to not get the entire class pack. There were lots of volunteers, so they drew names, and my name was drawn, so I should get a goodie bag from them in the mail. Yahoo!!! I still learned the MM class techniques. All I didn't get were two items; I got all the rest of the class goodies. And now I'll get more cool stuff! ;D

This picture is awesome!! Left to right, it's Mary Kay, Carrie and me. They had the "world's largest scrapbook page" at the MOA. It is lifesize. So anyone who wanted to do this - you pay $5 per person, get your picture taken "in" the page, and then you receive an 8x10 photo. I think a cute souvenir like this is well worth the $5.

And me.... well, shame on me.... I skipped out on work today. My head is still fuzzy... I'm taking Benadryl at night right now, due to an allergic reaction. But apparently I accidentally took two last night, or well, I'm not sure. I went to bed around 10pm. I kept hitting the snooze button this morning, finally shut the darn thing off, and just kept sleeping. I finally got up around 11:45. And like I said, my head is still fuzzy feeling - kinda creepy crawly, yuck! It feels really thick and dumb and dense.

Anyway, as I said, ScrapFest was overall a good time, and I would go again.

6th stop - Istanbul

I was very excited to go to Istanbul for a variety of reasons.

Geographically - Because of its location on the Bosporus Strait, all traffic going to/from the Black Sea by water has to go through Istanbul. It is also the only city which is situated on two continents. This ensured a flow of many ethnic groups through Istanbul, and allowed the city to prosper through trade. Something I found very hard to believe - they built the FIRST of the two bridges that span the Bosporus Straits in the 1970s, and the second one later. Prior to that time, the Asian side was mostly "summer homes" and people had to boat over.

Historically - The original settlement was Greek. Rome conquered and took it over. With the fall of Rome, Istanbul became the seat of the Byzantine empire. The Ottomans conquered the city, and eventually Turkey became a republic. Remnants of all these groups exist in Istanbul, both in tangible items such as buildings and monuments, and also in the cultures of the people who live there.

Religiously - Because this is where basically East meets West, there is amazing religious and cultural diversity. On the streets you can see "ninja turtles" (strict adherents to Eastern religion that requires head to toe black coverings) walking right next to someone wearing the absolute newest in western clothing. And at least on the surface, everyone coexists peacefully.

Unbelievably - Istanbul surpassed even my expectations. I would go back in a heart beat. I don't even feel like I scratched the surface of the history and culture that exists there.

Out of the few places we had time to visit, I enjoyed the Blue Mosque the most. Our wonderful guide Hale gave a wonderful detailed explanation of the Islam religion while we sat on the floor of the mosque, just absorbing our surroundings. The building is absolutely breath-taking. Almost every inch of the interior is covered with mosaics in exquisite intricate designs. It is called the Blue Mosque not because of the exterior color, but because the interior mosaics make it appear blue inside at first glance. One interesting sidenote -Muslims wash themselves outside any mosque before entering, and there are very specific "rules" about the parts of the body that are to be washed, and in what order, and even how.

FYI - Our earlier stops included the spot where the literal crossroads existed in historic times, and an ancient Egyptian obelisk that was transported to Istanbul centuries ago.

Hagia Sophia (pronounced iya sofea), also known as St. Sophia, was another major stop. Hagia Sophia was originally a Catholic Church, but was modified into a mosque due to the overwhelming number of Muslims in the city. It is universally accepted as one of the greatest buildings of the world. The exterior is a beautiful pinkish hue, with the added minarets common to mosques. The inside was modified to accommodate the Islam culture and religion, which included moving the altar and adding interior structures. The mosaics were all covered, but current restorations are uncovering at least some of those.

fyi - if you're as confused as I am right now ;-) .... followers of Islam are known as Muslims.

ok... so back to the tour...

Our last major stop was Topkapi Palace, built in the mid-1400s in typical Ottoman style. There are four courts, replete with pavilions, fountains, kiosks, gardens, etc. We had lunch at the Palace at an outdoor dining establishment that was kind of "fast food" - basically a cafeteria line where you chose the items you want. It was fabulous dining overlooking the Bosporus Straits! Anyway, we wandered mostly around the courts, but did go through the Treasury rooms, which contain jewelry and other jewel-encrusted items - the Treasury is the biggest national treasure in the world! It was quite amazing and overwhelming. We also did go into the Circumcision Room - built specifically for that purpose, and only used once. The mosaics inside and out were absolutely beyond belief - just amazing exquisite detail.

Another sidenote here - on our cruise, Annie, Greg and I all got sick from Norovirus - what most folks think of as the stomach flu is really Norovirus. And yes, it can proliferate any where there is a "captive" audience, such as schools, nursing homes, and cruiseships. Cruiselines take just about every precaution they can, but if even one person gets on the ship sick and doesn't keep their hands sanitized, Norovirus will spread very quickly... So anyway, Annie was in pretty rough shape in Istanbul, and I wasn't much better. Our guide, Hale, suggested the local cure to alleviate the major symptom. So Annie and I both choked down a heaping tablespoon of ground coffee that had a drizzle of lemon juice in it. ACK!!! OMG - you cannot believe how horrid that is! It just sticks in your mouth and throat, and it's hard to swallow and almost hard to even breathe. And well... it really didn't help. :-( But hey - we tried!!!

And even though Donnie didn't get Norovirus, his back started causing him problems early in the trip (actually he had problems before we even left), and it was really bad the day we were in Istabul.

So that being said, after these stops, we took Donnie and Annie back to the ship, and Hale and Greg and I continued. We went to a part of town where the locals hang on weekends and evenings. It was on shore near one of the two bridges. There were little vendor shops and a promenade. And there were BAKED POTATOES. ??? Blow Greg and I away! If you think about what Milwaukee (or Wisconsin) would have for street food: brats, burgers, french fries, deep fried cheese (or anything else possibly deep fried!), elephant ears, etc. - all the typical fair food.... here we were in Istanbul and almost everyone was eating a huge loaded baked potato. Weird. LOL

blog challenge again

Gotta love the blog challenges... This newest one:
Challenge for Wednesday: It's the middle of the week.
What do you start to look forward to, during the latter part of your week?
Anything?
Blog about it... is it something consistent week to week, or does it change as life changes??
Share about some things you are looking forward to.

Easy enough for me. I look forward to the end of the work week, when I get a two day reprieve from boring accounting/finance work. I may have a weekend totally planned out and scheduled with fun cool activities. I may have relaxation time - time for me. I may motorcycle, scrap, read, go to various events, be with friends, be with my honey, work out, eat out.... It's all good!!

new ribbon storage

The excitement in my life... new ribbon storage!

I've been looking off and on for a while for a solution to my ribbon concerns. I really loved how I used to have them hanging on my studio wall, but with the boys (my kitties) loving to chew on stuff, I couldn't have hanging, swinging ribbon tempting them. So the ribbon needed to be in containers.

Lots of scrappers put ribbon into jars. Well, I knew quart size was NOT going to work. I tried two quart size plastic jars. Still not big enough. Not only did I have to smoosh my ribbon in, I had to pull it all out every time I wanted to find that perfect color/style. There are some very cool penny candy jars with bigger mouths, but I wasn't about to spend $6-$8 per jar, especially when I need 10!

My mom-in-law brought me an even bigger jar from the Dollar Store. Hmmm.... definitely big enough, but I still had to pull everything out. But she mentioned clear plastic shoeboxes. Hmmm...

So I went to check it out. And OMG - I love 'em. They're big enough, and I can just pop the top off and look inside without pulling it all out then pushing it all back in. yahoo!!!!

The pics aren't all that great - glare from lighting. But I'm way too busy to keep trying for that perfect picture, so that's just too bad!

sigh...

My hard drive died a couple weeks ago. Ya know... I never realized how much I use my computer until then. I finally have a running computer again, thanks to my wonderful hubby who put a new hard drive into my PC and then dealt with all the weird issues from that.

Greg and I had made some backups in April and June, so I didn't lose too much, but my entire email address book is gone, all my emails, and some recent things I worked on. Plus all my software needs to be reloaded. And my 2000+ fonts are gone (yes, I'm addicted to fonts!).

So long story short - I'm way behind again on computer type stuff that I was actually slowly catching up on. And I'm not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. ;-(

new scrappin' stuff!!

Cool stuff these days...

I took a class at an Archivers this past week. I made a most adorable card file using a lunch pail and Tim Holtz alcohol inks, along with ribbon, Heidi Swapp ghost flowers, regular stamps, souffle pens, etc. SWEET!!!

I also finally managed to find one of the cool new totes that Michael's stores carry (some of them anyway). They have a few colors, and I opted for the bluish/teal and brown combo. It has lots of various sized pockets on the outside, as well as a long zippered pocket, and then the inside is divided up too, but the center section is the full length to hold idea books and mags. CUTE!!!

5th stop - Kusadasi

Most folks have never heard of Kusadasi. It's on the southeast edge of Turkey. It is now becoming a resort town, but it is most famous for the amazing ruins nearby: Ephesus. Ephesus is a "magical" word to us armchair archaeologists, but not really known by the general public, at least in the U.S. Only part of Ephesus has been uncovered, and it's huge and amazing.

After a slight mishap with our guide - we couldn't find him and he couldn't find us - we had a great day. Not only at Ephesus, but also at other interesting stops.


Our first stop was at a shrine which stands at the location where supposedly the Virgin Mary lived her last years. The possibility of that location really being the home of the mother of Jesus is quite intriguing to me. The small church built on the site looked interesting, but there was a prayer service going while we were there, so we merely peeked in.

Then we headed to Ephesus. We did book a private excursion, thank goodness. Our guide was a professor. He really tried to make sure he provided us with accurate information, not some of the myths told by most of the other guides. He has a friend who is an archaeologist at Ephesus, therefore his info is as accurate as it gets - as known / theorized at this time.

The Library of Celsus is the most well-known sight of Ephesus. The front wall has been pieced back together. The worksmanship is absolutely phenomenal - and it's mind-boggling that the detail is still visible, considering the building was completed in 135 AD. This pic shows Greg and I on the right, Donnie and Annie on the left, and our guide in the front middle.

Even tho Ephesus is huge, there were so many people that it was always crowded. But it was interesting and fantastic nonetheless. I cannot imagine being part of a huge tour group, in a crowded place like that, trying to see things and hear the guide, etc. We had great, personalized attention. Our guide (can't remember his name at the moment, it's getting rather late!) even had drawings of how various buildings and areas were believed to have looked like - VERY COOL!!!


The amazing detail is seen everywhere, in the intricate designs carved into the stone. It is also seen in a mosaic floor, which somehow has survived quite intact, if somewhat faded.


One of the "fun" highlights of Ephesus is the communal bathroom. This particular toilet area was for men only, but I decided to take advantage anyway! LOL It's interesting seeing the expressions on people's faces when they realize that everyone went to the bathroom in public. It's even more fascinating when they hear that the bathroom was actually a bit of a social place, where gossip and business occurred. The toilet area did have "running" water - the sewer system was quite amazing. Actually, the water and heat system in the baths were phenomenal.

Another magnificent building in Ephesus is the theater, the largest in Asia Minor, which holds over 24,000 people. And this is not the only theater; there is another smaller one. The smaller one was more for senate discussions and perhaps small plays, while the larger one was used for the gladiators.

Interestingly to me - all the streets of Ephesus were illuminated at night with oil lamps. This shows how rich the city was!

There are a ton of other buildings and monuments of interest in Ephesus - several gymnasiums, multiple baths, many shops, homes, temples, etc.

We stopped at the location of the Temple of Artemis, also known as Diana, which was one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. The temple is long gone, and all that one sees is a marshy area with one solitary column raised to mark the spot. There was actually at least 5 different temples at the site, each one built on top of the previous after it was destroyed. The last temple was the huge, beautiful and famous temple. Of course, there are no drawings of it, only written descriptions, which may or may not be correct. But this site has an interesting artist's rendering: http://www.unmuseum.org/ephesus.htm

We visited the Mosque of Isa Bey, built in 1375. It was quite beautiful, austere, and calming. It can be a little startling for Christians to see rugs all over the floor - this is for kneeling on during prayer. One thing I noticed here was that people often "stole" from earlier buildings to build new ones. It looked quite unusual to have Greek columns in the interior courtyard area of a Muslim mosque.

We also spent some time in the Kusadasi area learning about a couple of the industries still in existence there.

We watched a guy making pottery, and then he induced Annie into giving it a try - she did pretty good! Then we saw the ladies who paint the pottery - amazing, intricate designs. One lady was working on a plate that they expected to take 2 months to paint!!! And of course we had to look at their finished products, and buy a souvenir. It's funny how a person is so much more inclined to buy something when they've seen the process of it being made, and especially if they are part of, or feel like part of the process.

Included in our tour price, which was actually rather inexpensive, was a picnic. Ok... I thought picnic in our terms. You know - a blanket or a picnic table, sandwiches and salads. The usual. Yeah, right! OMG, you wouldn't believe our picnic. We had a nice table with regular plates, silverware, etc. There were umbrellas to shade us. Most amazing was the food. We were served a bunch of cold salads, family style. We thought that was our picnic, and we thought it was pretty good. Then we received a hot appetizer kind of thing. Then we got platters with three different meats. We were admiring the outdoor pizza oven, so they brought us some pizza. We even had dessert. We were STUFFED - and we didn't even come close to eating everything. And it was all so very nummy!!

After lunch we learned about the 2nd industry: rug (carpet) making. Before we had gone, I had read horror stories of people being cornered and made to watch a long display of carpets. Well... we kind of got caught with that too. But I actually thought it was quite interesting. First we saw how the carpets are made - by hand on various sized looms. Then we went into a different room and the door was shut. That should have been our first clue to BAIL. But we thought our guide wouldn't keep us there long, as we kept saying that we hadn't made it to the museum yet. Well... they brought out rug after rug after rug, and showed us the differences between wool and silk and mixtures of both, and showed us the various designs, and how some look different shades depending on how they're viewed. As long as we were just sitting there, I accepted the coffee that was offered. OMG - I knew Turkish coffee was strong, but wow! - it was MUD!! hahaha... anyway, I personally think I enjoyed the carpet display more than I would have liked the museum anyway!!

a blog challenge

in the middle of my trip photos.... ;D

A recent blog challenge on twopeas: list 5 things that put you in a good mood.

I think I can name WAY more than 5!!
hubby
chocolate
dark beer
flowers
certain music
pretty sunset
riding motorcycle
driving my 'vette with the top down
chatting with a friend
scrapping, esp. with friends
cruises
not working ;D
my kitties

enuf for now!!

4th stop - EGYPT

Wow - how awesome is this?! Going to Egypt on a cruise! ;D

When I was originally looking at western Med cruises, I had four ports in mind that I wanted to hit, and figured if we found a cruise that went to three of the four it would be great. I didn't even consider Egypt to be a possibility. But then I saw the itinerary for the Rotterdam - it went to all FOUR of my desired ports, PLUS EGYPT!! It was destined to be....

Anyway, we docked in Alexandria, which is a 3 hour drive away from Cairo, where the Pyramids and the Sphinx are located on the Giza Plateau. But the ship was there long enough to go see the Pyramids, so cool. Donnie, Annie, Greg and I booked a private minivan excursion through the cruiseline - we wanted to be assured of our safety and that if something happened to the vehicle, that the cruiseline would be responsible for waiting and/or getting us back onboard. And we made it a private excursion so that we could spend as much or as little time doing stuff as we wanted - we didn't have to wait for 50 of our not-best friends to meander, shop, get on and off the bus, etc. We thought this would work great - we could leave right away in the morning and get going before all the buses. WRONG. HAL made us wait, feasibly for our safety; all vehicles were supposed to drive in a caravan. In a matter of minutes, the caravan split apart, so we could have left earlier. That is probably the only major gripe I have with HAL - they did not tell us we had to wait for the buses, etc., so we paid a lot extra and ended up not getting the early start we thought we would. One interesting side note - every bus and minivan had an armed guard. I'm not sure if this is a HAL thing, or an Egypt thing, but it was kind of disconcerting.

Anyway... on to the fun stuff.

We of course headed straight to the pyramids. AWE-INSPIRING!!! The rest of the group was rather surprised as we driving through Cairo, turned a corner, and there were the pyramids. When you think about pictures you've seen of the pyramids, or what you learned in school, you think about the pyramids being in the desert in the middle of nowhere. Not anymore! Cairo has experienced huge growth and urban sprawl, and now surrounds the Giza Plateau.

Oh, and if you're wondering about what Greg has in front of him in that first picture, that's a long story that will be addressed later! guess you'll just have to come back for updates in the future!

The third picture of the pyramids shows part of a line. That line is people waiting to go into the pyramid. We absolutely lucked out - when we got there, there was NO line. Going inside wasn't as uber cool as I thought it would be. The tunnel is small, so small I was ducking pretty far down. And the tunnel first went down, then back up a bit. The tunnel ended at the burial room, which is pretty much empty. Granted, the concept is neat - being in the very room that a great pharoah was buried in, but not as awe-inspiring as just seeing the pyramids themselves.

Seeing the Sphinx was purty darn cool too. It's interesting - the pyramids are made out of many blocks of stone, quarried and shipped from miles away, but the Sphinx was carved out of the bedrock. There are still varying theories as to whom the Sphinx is supposed to represent, who had it carved, etc. Some archaeologists are disproving the commonly held ideas. There are also questions about the Sphinx's nose. It can't be proved if it was removed by Egyptians who didn't want the person whom that Sphinx represented to live in the afterworld (I'll explain that shortly), or if was the target practice by Napoleon's army that destroyed the nose.


So, anyway, a little about Egyptians and their noses. It was believed during the time of the Pharoahs that after death, the spirit of a person came out of their nose during the night, which is the time of the afterlife, and then went back into their nose during the day, which is the time for the living. This is why pharoahs had many many statues created in their own likeness. They believed that if somehow their own nose was broken, the nose of a statue would suffice. And even if someone tried to destroy the noses on the statues, there was always the hope that at least one statue's nose would survive intact, allowing the spirit of the pharoah to continue to go in and out of the nose, thus enabling the pharoah to live on in the afterlife.

Another side note - the vendors were pushy at many ports, but were pretty horrible by the Sphinx. They didn't stay in one area, but would come walking after you. A lot of folks were really disgusted with it - you pay to go into the pyramid/sphinx area, but then the vendors follow you around?! Not good. However, something I did at every port, which helped a LOT here, was learn how to say "thank you" and "no thank you" in the local language. Even if my pronounciation was not exact, folks knew what I was saying, and appreciated my efforts. I never had issues with vendors when I said no thank you in their own language.

After visiting the Giza Plateau, we did a quick tour of the Cairo museum. And I mean QUICK!! We were in and out in about 25 minutes. We saw a few highlights, went through the King Tut room, and zipped on out. I personally would have enjoyed more time there, especially with our guide who was very informative. But our little group had decided to fit one more activity into our day...

We had lunch on a riverboat on the Nile River!! At first, the idea didn't excite me all that much. But then it struck me. I'd already boated on the Danube River, so why not the Nile too?! And just thinking about the Nile - how much it meant to the ancient Egyptians - made it a very special thing. Shortly before going on this trip, Greg and I had seen an IMAX movie about the Nile, and so it was very cool being on such a famous, important river.

The boat itself was obviously touristy. In fact - only for tourists. Over the top. It was decorated totally gaudy, and the poor wait staff had to wear goofy outfits. But the food was fab - most things were marked "beef" or "chicken" but besides that, we didn't really know what the items were. None of the salads or desserts were marked. But no matter. For the most part it was nummy.

It was a two-decker ship, with different groups on each deck. The entertainment shifted half way through the cruise, so each group was able to see/hear both forms of entertainment. The belly dancer was the big hit of course!

That was all we had time for in Egypt. Someday I hope to go back to visit the other amazing sites - Valley of the Kings, Karnak, Thebes, etc. And maybe I'll get back to the Cairo museum.

A few interesting things we noted during the long drives...

There are bee houses all over. Apparently it is common to "raise" bees for their honey. And these aren't just little "huts" - some of them are very elaborate.

Construction of houses seemed to be slow - we saw many gates for houses/communities, but nothing else. There were many fenced off areas where there were armed guards posted in towers all around.

And the traffic. OMG. What a nightmare in Cairo. Drivers don't obey any traffic laws there - I guess I don't even know if there are any. We were driving down a 3 lane road, and there were at least 4, and sometimes 5, lanes of traffic driving on it. Then suddenly a motorcycle would white line down the center between the cars, veer right across in front of a vehicle, then zip down the white line again, wherever there was space to fit. I swear, I looked out the window and saw a motorcycle with two inches of our minivan. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

Out in the country, we saw a mule-drawn cart going through the toll booth on a HIGHWAY!! And we saw many trucks just crammed with people, mostly kids.