Cruise Pt 2, Paris and London!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008So I’m on my flight to Tokyo right now and a little bit nervous! So far everything has gone well. Zane is on another flight but his is a bit more of a hassle than mine. He was never planning on going with me but after my travel buddy ditched out on me, my parents arranged for Zane to come along. Anyways, his flight is on Air China, from London to Beijing, Beijing to Tokyo. We figured during his 3 hour layover, he would just hangout in his concourse until his next flight. Well it turns out that he has to collect his bag, go through customs, and then recheck his bag in that time frame, in a this incredibly foreign airport. So, I’m hoping and praying that all goes well and he arrives in Tokyo with no problems. Boy will that be a mess if his plane is missed. Anyways, my next entry will be how this turns out JAnyways, Paros was nice. It was the first day on the cruise that we didn’t do an excursion. It was kind of nice because we were really looking for a relaxing cruise and most of it had to be rushing from site to site. So we walked around the city and bought a couple of masks and snorkels and then went to the beach. We had a nice swim but when we got out Zane’s back started to get really unbearably itchy and I noticed he had a pretty bad rash all over his back, so we went off to find a pharmacy. Now of course, because this happened to Zane on a Wednesday, everything in Greece closes on Wednesday afternoons for some sort of religious break. So we took him out of the sun and went for a drink in this nice little shaded area by the beach. They had hammocks that Zane lied in, and me, Chloe and Matt sat around and hung out for a while. It was probably the nicest afternoon we had! Afterwards we went back to the cruise ship to get ready for dinner and got some calamine lotion and antihistamines from the shifts first aid room. The aid didn’t speak english very well, so the meds didn’t do much. He was just miserable. We went to a nice dinner off the tiny white greek streets. Again, I don’t think the food was spectacular but the location was wonderful. Afterwards we found out that one pharmacy must be open at all times, so we walked around until we finally found one and got some antihistamines. They don’t sell Benadryl in Greece, so they sold us Zyrtec, which did nothing. So we just went back to the boat.On Thursday we went to Mykonos. Our excursion for that day was the ancient city of Delos. It was really cool, aged between 3 and 5 thousand years old. We took a boat from Mykonos to the island and did a tour of the city. It was the ruins of a full city, right on the edge of the sea. There were 3 foot walls left of the homes and shops and thin little walkways connecting them all. They had a lot of the tools that they used and they showed us the plumbing system that was put in place around 500 BC or so. It was really cool seeing how they lived in one of the oldest cities in the world. After Delos we went back to Mykonos and just walked around the city for a while. It was another one of those cities all painted white, with the bright blue or red or green shutters. It was straight out of the pictures of Greece you see. We had our last pre-paid dinner in Mykonos. It was at a restaurant called BluBlu. It overlooked the sea and it may have been my favorite restaurant. It had an amazing view, plus all of the furniture was really cool. After dinner we just walked the city for the evening. Mykonos is the gay capital of Greece, so it has a pretty big night scene. I think the highlight was Club RamRod in the main square of the city. We didn’t go into any clubs, we just walked a bit and then went back to the boat. It was quite frustrating because the boat was docked too far from the city to walk. So we had to take taxi, or spend 5 dollars each on a bus ride organized by the boat. We were just frustrated because we already spent money on our dinners so that they would organize everything, and then they leave us to spend more money to get to the dinner. We were frustrated, but it all worked out.Friday was our last day on the cruise – we were docked on the island of Syros. This one was a little different, the buildings were all shades of light pinks and cream colors. We didn’t have anything planned for the day because the boat was headed back to Athens at 4 that afternoon. We pretty much just walked around the city then sat at a restaurant on the water and had a couple margaritas. It was a little bit boring but we welcomed it after the week of excitement. Zane’s back was still pretty itchy, but finally we found a competent pharmacist and got some stronger medications for him. That night we just sat on the top deck of the ship with Matt and Chloe and some other people and had some drinks and just watched the sunset. It was a great evening.On Saturday morning we got off the boat in Athens and had a few hours to kill in Athens before heading to the Airport. We went to Zeus’s temple and then just walked the streets. The size of Zeus’s Temple was amazing. The pillars were so huge around and so tall. There were originally 104 columns and now there are only 16 remaining. We really enjoyed it. We went for my final Greek Salad that afternoon and then we were off to Paris!Saturday night we arrived in Paris around 9. I must say that Charles De Gaulle airport was much much much better this time around. The last time I was there, there was a ton of construction and buses to take you everywhere, but the buses took forever, and my flights were all delayed. Just a horrible experience, but this time it was totally manageable. Anyways, when we got into the city we found that we had a nice hotel room, nothing special, but more spacious than the others had been. We requested a view of the Eiffel Tower and I believe with the setup of the building, we got the only room in the building with the view. It was beautiful. We walked to the tower that night and wanted to go up, but the line was like 3 hours long. We decided to come back on Sunday to do it. We took a bunch of pictures, but it was weird because a lot of them didn’t turn out like we thought they would. The flash was catching something in the air and all of the pictures have white dots all throughout. It almost looks like snow! We spoke to a lot of people and they all had the same problems. I think it was pollution in the air, or maybe dust or something from the gravel walkways. But we were bummed about that. We went up to Montmartre, my favorite place in the city from the last time I was there, but it was a huge disappointment. We wanted to go see the view from the Sacre Coeur but before we could see anything, we hear firecrackers going off. We turn the corner area infront of the Sacre Coeur and the first thing we see is crowds and crowds of teenagers partying up there. They were throwing firecrackers at eachother. We tried to walk past them to go see a view but they just kept throwing the firecrackers. I was terrified! They were just going off all around me it felt like. I guess there were only one or two, but it still upset me a bit. We moved away from the firecrackers and up another hill within the area and the stairwell up smelled so strongly of urine that I had to run of the stairs to get away from it. We decided to bare the crowds and went to find a nice view. The view was of course nice, but it was ruined by the teenagers. I was really disappointed. We went for some food after that and then back to the hotel.On Sunday morning we went for a look at the Eiffel Tower line and it was still over 2 hours long. We decided to come back at 8:30 that night and just wait in the line so that we could see the view from the top at night. We did the sites of Paris that day and then went back to the tower that night for our journey up. We were happy to find that the line was only like 45 minutes long. We bought our tickets and got up in time to see it in the late evening, then sunset and then finally at dark. It doesn’t get dark in Paris this time of year until around 11 or later. But it was so perfect up there. The last time I only went up to the 2nd deck, and I can’t believe how much better it was from the very top.On Monday we just wandered the city again and caught a train back to London that evening. We took the Eurostar through the chunnel. We stayed in the same hotel in London as we did the first time and just stayed in that night to get some sleep.Tuesday we went to lunch with Anita. It was really nice to see her again, we had a good time visiting. She went to Japan recently, so we picked her brain for some information on the country. She was very helpful and made us feel much better about going. After lunch, Zane suggested getting tickets for the Lion King! We went and checked out prices and they weren’t too bad so he bought us some. We got all dressed up and went to the show that night. It was just as good as I remembered it. The costumes are so amazing. Its hard to explain the costumes if you have never seen it, so just see it!Wednesday was the day we left for our flight. It was Wednesday when I started this entry, but it is now Thursday. Wednesday morning we got up and went to see the guards and Buckingham Palace. The last time we were in London, we saw the palace but the guards didn’t have their normal outfits. We were pretty bummed that we didn’t get to see them, so we had to go check again. We happened to walk into the Changing of the Guards. I thought it was at 10:00 every morning, but apparently it is at 11:00! This is funny because Adam and I did the same thing! The only difference this time is that Zane and I actually saw it! Adam and I just had chaos all around us and couldn’t find what we were looking for! Ha! But it was cool to see. After the guards we went to lunch at a pub and then to check out my university. From the outside it isn’t the greatest. I am not going to make any settled opinions though until I get to do a walkthrough of the university after Japan. Admissions didn’t have any information for me that I don’t already have, so I’ll settle my courses and everything later I guess. So then we hopped a plane and in 40 minutes I will be arriving in Tokyo!The flight hasn’t been bad. There was an open seat next to me for the whole trip, so I stretched out a bit. Wasn’t that comfortable, but its economy. Better than being squished in next to a fat smelly man! I think Zane is in Beijing right now. Gosh I hope it is going well!! How scary for a first time traveler! I hope it’s a good adventure and not a disaster. Anyways, off to land!