Denmark, Germany & Poland, all rolled into one.

Hi Guys,

Okay maybe not one, but we did all three in like three days, what a whirlwind. We did a city tour of Copenhagen on Sunday morning, left for Berlin on Sunday afternoon. Did a tour of Berlin on Monday morning and then left for Poland on Monday afternoon. Today is Tuesday (I think...) and we are in Poznan, Poland. We leave for Warsaw this morning, another city tour this afternoon.... It is all go, go, go. Even more than Greece, because these places are further from each other.

There are 6 Aussies on this tour, the rest are Canadian, British, American and 2 from Porto Rico. So far everyone seems very nice. My roommate, (yes I am sure you are dying to find out...) Well she is quite nice, but she never stops talking, and I mean never!!!! She is 88 years old, yep 88... She is very sprightly for her age, but she is driving me crazy!!! She has had a very hard life and she has told me every minute of it.... She lost her voice about 15 years ago, so she can only whisper, I think Kearie is correct and I am losing my hearing as anytime there is any background noise I cannot hear her.... So instead of not talking she tries to talk louder and she can’t, so she hisses at me.... Get someone to whisper to you for awhile, or hiss at you and you will see how irritating it is. I am trying to avoid her as much as possible now, but cannot avoid sitting on the bus with her, if she would just be quiet once in awhile it would be much more bearable... I know I am really mean and I am probably going to Hell, but I paid a lot of money for this tour and I don't see why she should be allowed to ruin it, especially as she takes 3 tours a year and this is my first trip in 30 years... Sorry, vent over, but I really needed that, or my head would implode!!!

As for Berlin, well it was quite interesting, all of the old nice buildings are in East Berlin, West Berlin was quite boring. We visited the wall, the bit they have left. Ironically they have had to put a fence around it, to protect it from the souvenir hunters. One of the nearby garage walls has even been damaged by people who thought it was part of the wall and they have taken bits off it. Some folk are really weird!!! The local guide we had was very amusing, he told us that Berlin has the healthiest air in Europe, so all Berliners exercise each morning by an open window. “Up down, up down...and then quickly with the other eyelid..” He had lots of interesting antidotes to share with us and mostly he had us laughing all through the tour, even Johanna shut up to listen to him most of the time.


The wall, protected by a fence, how ironic...


The remains of the cellars at Gestapo headquarters, the wall is behind them... Dreadful history...


A fake "Checkpoint Charlie", where the real "Checkpoint Charlie" used to be...


How cute is this little truck??

Poland is very flat, the countryside is lovely. There are brothels everywhere, they call them nightclubs to disguise them, there are even hookers standing on the country roadsides, out in the middle of nowhere.. So if any on your male friends say they are going to a night club in Poland, slap them about the ear..


Poland, pretty but flat, very flat!!

Today we are in Warsaw, and have done the city tour, it is a nice city. The Nazi’s raised about 85% of it in WWII. They placed bombs on all the corners of the buildings and blew them up, to retaliate for the Polish uprising. They killed about 250,000 Poles in retaliation too, so not a good time for the Polish. They Nazi’s also murdered half a million Jews here in Warsaw, it is not good history. The Jews had an uprising and the Polish resistance didn’t get involved, the Jews were annihilated and then the resistance had an uprising a year later, they also got annihilated. It makes you wonder what they might have achieved had they fought together and not a year apart. History is sobering... I managed to escape from Johanna today, I just kept getting off the bus and taking off, tonight she has gone to the optional dinner so a free night to myself, bliss!!...


I brought this postcard of the square we were at today. All of the buildings have been replaced, so they are replicas of the originals that the Nazi's blew up. The Poles have replaced many of the buildings and are still replacing them, exact replica's of the originals, it is pretty impressive...


The little cobbled streets and delightful shops are wonderful...


The memorial to the Polish uprising....

Cheers for now

Lones

Strange folk and the worst guide dog ever!!

Hi again

Well my second morning in Denmark and I decided to go downstairs early. I was standing outside having a smoke (yep haven’t quit yet...) When this old man comes out of the complex, he waves to an adjacent apartment building, I turn to see a flashlight flicking on and off from an apartment on the 2nd floor. “Well,” I thought, “His wife is really a worry wart, how can he get lost in this small complex?” About three minutes later another old guy comes out and does the same wave thing. I turn and this time the torch flashing is from the 1st floor, what? Next thing an old guy comes out of the same first floor apartment and waters the plants on his balcony, he waves to me too (by now I am the only one on the bridge). I waved back, if he wants me to think it is normal for him to wave and flash torches at everyone, who am I to rain on his parade, I still thought it was odd....

I saw a bridal car go by, with the bride in the front seat....

I then went down near the station to buy a coke. I was outside eating a Kitkat, nothing open for breakfast yet, it was very early. I noticed through the glass doors a dog, jumping up and down. I took a second look as he was wearing a harness for blind people. As the blind guy picked up the harness the dog settled down, but I had never seen a guide dog jump about like that. The blind guy walks out the doors, with the dog and a cane (luckily he has the cane, or his days would be numbered). He walks straight out of the doors and into a metal picket fence, his cane had gone right through the gap in the fence and the dog didn’t do anything, the guy ricochets off the fence, recovers himself, makes a shape left to go along the fence and bounces straight off a mailbox. The sound made everyone turn to look. The dog was completely useless.... The poor blind guy has to recover again, walk around the mail box, use his cane to get to the end, cross the little lane and head to the bus stop. As far as I could see the dog did not do one thing to warn him of anything... It was really odd and a little sad. Who trains the guide dogs in Denmark???

I had another day in the city, found a lovely garden at one of the palaces, watched the guards get ready to march to the other palace for the changing of the guard and that’s about it... I was going to go into the Trivoli gardens, but they wanted $20 for that little adventure and I thought, “You’re dreaming!!” $20 to visit a garden, most botanical gardens are free, so I didn’t go, on principal (and because I’m tight!!). I am now in a new hotel, the one the tour starts from tonight, so I am sharing a room, with someone I have not met yet. Takes me back to my backpacker days, I hope she is nice and not some weirdo!! I shall soon know, she will be arriving imminently.... Wish me luck, I have 2 weeks to spend with this nice person/weirdo!!!!


The gardens at the palace


The guards getting ready to march to the other palace..


The folk who own this house must agree with me about the boring buildings. They are trying to cover the entire thing with plants....

I have no news today as I spent most of it on the wrong train, and no it wasn’t my fault. They told me to take the train at 10am from platform 5, which I did, only to find out it was going in the opposite direction. I had to get off at the first stop and retrace my steps, luckily I didn’t have a plane to catch. I mean they told me to take that train... I double checked the next one before I got on, I asked the passengers as you obviously cannot trust the station staff!!! They put up the platforms for the trains and then change the platform 2 minutes before departure, when the train is already at the station... In Denmark train travel is not cheap, and they have this weird system where you buy the ticket and then you have to click it in the machine twice or three times, not just once like most places... It is very odd in Denmark!!


The statue of Hans Christian Anderson in the town square.

Well that’s all from me, I will be meeting the rest of my fellow passengers tonight and we take off tomorrow, so wish me luck

Cheers

Lones

Copenhagen, freezing one minute, boiling the next.

Hi Guys

Okay the weather doesn’t change that much, it is pretty well cold the whole time, and very windy... But if you go inside anywhere then it is hot, so I am hot one minute and cold the next. I will rug up better tomorrow for the outside, but will then perspire every time I go indoors... It is ridiculous!!!

I arrived and had to buy a train ticket to the city, I had no Danish Kroners and no idea what they were worth. I had to pay 35 Kroner to get to the city by train, I did it on my credit card and hoed for the best. I then used the same ticket to get to the station that my hotel is at, 9 stations from the city. I had no idea how to get to the hotel and no map as this suburb is too far out to be included on the city map. I thought of getting a taxi, as a last resort, but decided to have a look around first. Luckily I did as the hotel is in the same complex as the train station and I would have looked a right dill asking the driver to take me to where I was!!! I am on the 8th floor and the view is pretty good, I look out over the sea, presumably the North Sea (can’t Google it as they charge for internet usage and that gets on my goat). I got out 100 Kroner from the first ATM I saw and tried to get info on how much Kroner is worth in Aussie money, so I know what I am spending. It cost me 75 Kroner for a fish and chip meal, apparently 100 Kroner is about $20, so I didn’t get out much. The train ticket was about $7.50, which doesn’t sound half as bad as 35 Kroner.


A busker, I thought he was brilliant, I hadn't seen this one before, a man with no face. He must be a really short guy as he appeared normal size, if you count the missing face and all... Brilliant.

Today I did the hop on hop off thing, I got the ticket for 2 days as it has 4 bus routes and 4 boat routes. I did 2 bus and 1 boat today, will do some more tomorrow. I have spent the last few weeks fighting the humidity and now I am fighting the wind, you just can’t please me.... I am freezing outside and boiling inside, Denmark is crazy. As soon as you step out of the wind and indoors it is hot, outside it is cold...nuts!!
Today we passed a bar called the iceberg and apparently the temperature inside never gets above -5 degrees, all the glasses are made of ice, YES ICE!! I am not going there, you can if you like. I hate the cold!!! The little Mermaid that Copenhagen is famous for is off in China, on some art exhibition tour, so luckily I saw her last time I was here, I am sure she hasn’t changed all that much...


Our boat actually passed under this bridge, we all had to duck, like right down on the seats, it was amazing....


The second bridge we passed under, not as low as the first, but still pretty low!! It wouldn't be allowed in Australia, health & Safety would have a fit. It was fun though...

As I was walking down the street today I saw these two ladies with the weirdest hair, it looked like they had just stepped out of the 1800’s, it was freaky. They had it all piled up on top of their heads, they must have just been to a hair dresser, but it was odd. I got on the boat for the hop on hop off tour and there they were again, only they had multiplied, there was heaps of them, all looking alike. Seriously they were like an army... they all had American accents too, so it wasn’t some local show they were doing. It was weird, really weird... I have never seen anything like it.

The back of the first two ladies I spotted, before they multiplied!! I couldn't take a pic of their front, they would have noticed...


All the ladies were at the front of the boat, you can see some of them. Some of them covered their hair to protect it from the spray, I have no idea why.... I would love to know why they had gone to all the trouble and where they were going that evening....

When I got back to the hotel complex I went to the Tourist information to try to find out about a laundrette and a McDonalds (for free WiFi). Well the only laundrette is 20 miles away, on the other side of the city and the nearest McDonalds is at the next station.... I shall do some hand washing, bugger ‘em.. 20 miles, WTH...


Loved this little dude, he was outside a tourist shop. Really cute..

Denmark is not great on architecture, they have tired occasionally but mostly they have boring plain buildings that they paint different colours to try to hide the fact that they didn’t really try... They have a few new buildings that are all glass and square, just like everywhere else, but nothing that tickles my fancy. They are extremely proud of their new library that is made of black granite from Zimbabwe, and does amazing things to make the water shine early in the mornings... I was there early and it didn’t seem to be doing anything, but I will take their word for it. They call it the black diamond, or something, it wasn’t all that, as far as I could see, but like I say, they think it is pretty wonderful... I guess when you look at all the plain stuff it doesn’t take much to get them excited in Copenhagen!!!


One of the buildings where they tried, not great...


The library they are so proud of!!...??? Oh well, each to their own I guess...


Mostly they are just painted like these, to disguise the lack of architectural talent... But they do look nice.


They are big on spires though, most of the buildings are less decorative than the spires they support though....

I also learned today that the Danes pay 40-50% tax on their income. The poor schmucks... They have one of the best health care systems in the world, but they are really paying for it. I don’t think ours is too bad and we aren’t stuck with that much tax. I really, really wouldn’t want to live in Denmark...

Anyway, that’s it from me today, cheers for now

Lones

Beautiful Barcelona, but too much Bull....

Hi again everyone.

Before I start with Barcelona I need to tell you something I forgot. Remember I said Egypt was unsafe, well it really is, we had to travel in a convoy with our buses, about 19 buses all told and each one had an armed guard inside and a police escort at front and back of the convoy. All just to protect us from the locals.... That place is a nightmare!! Do not travel in Egypt alone, always go on a tour, it is really bad for safety....... really bad!!

Okay, now to Barcelona. I spent all day yesterday, or most of it, on a hop on hop off tour, it was brilliant. I barely got off the thing. Barcelona is beautiful, maybe the nicest city I have visited, though Bordeaux was lovely too. I met a young American girl in a cafe and we started chatting, she asked if she could join me on the hop on hop off, so she did. We had a lovely morning seeing all the sites before she headed for her hotel. So big hello to Laurie from San Fransisco!! I then proceeded to do all 3 routes in the one day. I wanted to see what the place had to offer, but by the end of it I was buggered. The early morning (4am) and the sun (top open deck) really did me in. I was nodding off at the end, and no Ally it wasn't from culture fatigue!!

The place is lovely, the architecture is amazing, all old and modern mixed in together, but somehow it works. I really like it here, although I am having trouble with the language, my English words with Spanish accent does not appear to be working and very few of them speak English. Bugger!! I shall have to get out the phrase book...


One of the unusual buildings


Another one


One of the lovely old ones, I love old buildings..


Another old masterpiece. I saw some really lovely ones, but not quick enough with the camera, as the bus zoomed past!!


Some of the street artists/buskers. You take their picture, either with you or by themselves, and you pay them money, unless your cheap like me!!


Another busker... pretty awesome for little boys to be photographed with, he puts his wings around them, they loved it..


Just one of the fabulous squares they have here


Barcelona has lovely wide streets and also lovely narrow twisting ones, some too narrow for cars to use. It is a lovely place to walk around.

Today I went shopping, looking for the elusive bull charm. Well I must have searched almost every shop in the Rambla area with no luck. I finally found a little shop that had a flat bull, I really do like my charms to be 3 dimensional, so wasn't happy with it, but afraid I might not find another one, so I brought it. I did not want to go another 30 years before finding the silly thing. As I was walking back to the La Catalunya square, I saw another little shop and you guessed it, he had my little bull, all 3 dimensional and everything..... shit!! He also had a lovely 3 dimensional flamenco dancer... I um'd and ar'd, but brought the bull. He is perfect and I shall just use the other one for my scrapbooking, after all he is flat enough!! The flamenco dancer was beautiful, but I only buy one charm for each country and now my braclet is complete for the countries I have been, well excluding Bali, I never even thought to buy one there. I wonder why? Kearie is starting her own braclet, but she buys one for each town she visits, she is going to have one huge braclet when she is my age, if she keeps travelling. I started mine when I did a cruise around the island and New Zealand about 32 years ago and it is pretty full already....

I am having a quiet night, catching up on my emails and relaxing. I have no plans for tomorrow yet, but I would like to purchase a Spanish fan before I leave, I have seen some lovely ones here.

Cheers for now

Lones

Tour over, sad goodbye to Kearie and some new found friends...

Hey everyone,

I am back, for better or for worse, but here I am.... What an awesome trip, I loved it....

After my last post we visited Nauplia, Mycenae and the Corinth Canal. We visited a museum with the Golden mask of Agamemnon and heaps of other stuff, then we went to another site of ruins, I was kinda over ruins by this stage, Greece is full of them... Then we went to the Corinth Canal, that was pretty amazing. We then returned to Athens and spent a day, Kearie and I spent the evening in the Laundromat, a real necessity when you are travelling for any length of time. We said goodbye to 7 of our fellow travellers in Athens as they were not doing the cruise part of the tour, so best wishes to Marie, Irene, Christine and Jim (US), Claire & Daniel (Kiwi's) and Simon (England). We have really met some lovely people on this trip.


This fort had 99 steps just to get to the bottom of it, then more if you wanted to go to the top. 7 of our party climbed it, but I wasn't one of them, like you would believe me if I said I did, what a waste of good energy. But they said it was really great and the view was spectacular, well good on 'em, when they put in an elevator, let me know!!


The golden mask of Agamemnon. Bit too flashy for me, but nice all the same.


A tomb that was uncovered, but alas all the treasures were already looted.. ancient little sods...


The Corinth Canal.

We then started our cruise, early on Friday morning we boarded the ship. It was Kearie's first cruise and she loved it. She got the ship news every evening and marked all the activities she wanted to do the next day, it was great to see her enjoying herself so much. She organised some of the Cosmos folk into a trivia team, she had folk entering name that tune competitions with her and all sorts of things, she didn't miss much. I think she had a really brilliant time, even joining in the karaoke... Needless to say I didn't do anything musical with her as I can't sing and couldn't recognise a tune if it bit me on the butt!! But she always found someone to have a go with her so me and my musically challenged voice were not missed. I did watch and take pics though, you know for prosperity!!!


Kearie & Mary, doing a Man against Woman name that tune, mind you Mary's husband helped.... And yes the girls won!!!!


Karaoke with Jackie...

Our first port of call was Istanbul (Turkey), we were late arriving as one motor had packed it in overnight, but we got there in the end. It was a really great place to visit and the shopping was good, we had lots of fun searching the local stalls and shops of the bizarre. We visited the Byzantine Hippodrome where the chariot races were once held, then the blue mosque, Hagia Sophia and the official residence of the Ottoman sultans. The jewels on display at the Ottoman palace were amazing, everything was jewel encrusted, even a suit of body armour... jewel encrusted chain mail, I ask you!!! No pictures were allowed though, so you can't see it, sorry!!


The blue mosque, the tiles inside are blue, not the outside, which is what I thought.... Doh!!


Some special kind of monks, I can't remember their name. They spin and spin until you can barely see them, we weren't allowed to wait that ling, so we just saw them starting, it was pretty amazing to watch though. They only do it sometimes, so we were lucky to see any of it really..

Our next stop was at Mykonos, Kearie and I didn't do any tours here, we just wandered around the place and took pictures, it was a really lovely Island, very Greek. We couldn't find anything we wanted to buy, which was pretty amazing, but we enjoyed the day.


A street in Mykonos, it was a lovely little town, what you expect of Greece. We liked Mykonos very much.


Me in front of the windmills, shitty picture, but it was windy okay??

Next day we had a day at sea, so lots of activities to do, with Kearie setting the pace and me just following along, it was quite event packed. She has lots of energy, I can tell you!! See pictures above...


The chef gave us a demonstration on carving fruit & vegetables, note the apple swan on top of the watermelon rose, he was good


See...

Israel was our next stop, we visited Jerusalem and then went to Bethlehem in Palestine.. Very biblical and really overpriced.... We started in Jerusalem and followed the points of the Crucifixion of Jesus, all through the city, passing lots and lots of shops and stalls and they wouldn't let us shop, well they lost me right there, I was pissed!! Lots of goodies and no time to browse, most of us were really annoyed, not just me. We then headed for Bethlehem and the church of the Nativity, supposedly built on the site of Jesus Crucifixion, had lunch and were taken to a shitty shop that didn't have very much variety. Lots of wooden crosses that Aussies can't buy as we cannot take them home... Shitty, shitty shopping and no one was very happy, not just me. Joe from Canada wanted to start a revolt, right there in Jerusalem... that would have been interesting..


A view of Jerusalem..


An altar at the Church of Nativity, supposedly built over the rock on which Jesus was crucified... The people bending are touching the rock itself. How fortunate for the tourists that the place he was put on the cross, the crucifiction site itself, the place they washed his body and the burial site are all within a stones throw of each other, close enough to all be in the same building.... am I the only one sceptical about that??

The next day we arrived in Egypt, I was so amazed at the poverty in Egypt, the place is filthy, really filthy and the houses are awful. Kearie was told how beautiful Alexandria was, but we must have only seen the slums as it was woeful... Cairo was no better, it was disappointing to only see the seedy side of the cities and not get to see the both poor and affluent suburbs. The pyramids were incredible, and the sphinx was amazing. Well worth seeing, we both enjoyed them, but the little locals were a nightmare, constantly hassling you. We were told not to have a ride on a camel as apparently the handlers tell you it is 10 Euro but once you are on they either take you out to the desert or refuse to let you off, until you give them another 50 Euro, they are very corrupt and would slip your throat for a pittance. I was thinking of returning to Alexandria myself to see Great Uncle Williams memorial, but not after seeing just how bad Egypt is, not alone, not on your life!! I would only ever enter Egypt on a tour and it would have to be a big one, with lots of people to keep an eye on each other, it is a really unlawful place to be.


In front of the pyramid


The Sphinx in front of the pyramid, really wesome to be there!!

From Alexander we sailed to Crete, we only had about 3 hours on Crete and Kearie and I only saw a bit of it, as we needed to find an internet cafe to book her some accommodation in London and me a flight to my next destination. I have a week to fill in before I join my next tour. I love the tours, not having to trudge around with my luggage, having everything done for you, it is awesome, like a holiday, within a holiday... I think I got spoiled!! Anyway we did like what we saw of Crete, it was really pretty, and it has a little lake in the town of St Nicholas that was really pretty, we sat in a cafe overlooking it while we made our bookings.


The view of the lake on Crete, from the internet cafe balcony. Really lovely place

We then sailed back to Athens and had one last night in the hotel, we had a farewell drink in the bar and some of us went out for tea together, it was sad to say goodbye to new friends that you will probably never see again. It was a really good group and everyone got along really well, most of us got quite friendly. Kearie and I parted at the airport, but we will see each other again in about 2 months or so, before I head home. Kearie is now in London and I am in Barcelona, Spain.... I am going to get that bull charm I didn't get 30 years ago, I am very determined, even if it takes 30 years to accomplish what I set out to do, "never say die", that's my motto!!

All of the English people we travelled with, plus Daniel, a young Canadian teacher, who has been living in London for the past year have traded details with Kearie. They have all offered to help her if she has any problems or just needs to chat. I want to thank them very much, now she has a support network around her and I feel much better about being thousands of miles away. She always had Sheonagh, my lovely Scots friend, but now she has even more and I am very grateful to them all. so a big thank you from me to all of them.


The entire Cosmos crew, sadly without Alexia, our guide, she took the picture for us.. A wonderful group of people...

Gosh, what a long post... I hope I haven't bored you to death. I will stop now, talk to you again soon

Cheers

Lones

Greece, funny toilets and computer Viruses

Hi All

Well I have found another hotel with free WIFI, only trouble is that last night, before I could blog to you, I downloaded a Virus.... Bloody hell, you have never seen such a panic, I almost went into melt down. I have no idea how I would do this trip without my Laptop, all the pre bookings and everything. It took Kearie and I about 3 to 4 hours to get rid of it, and fingers crossed we think we have succeeded, unless the sneaky little bugger is hiding somewhere within the computer, waiting to pounce again. I am not doing any banking etc for awhile, just in case... I love my computer, I am so lost without it, I was devastated, so am very grateful we seem to have gotten rid of it.

Okay onto Greece, well the place is brilliant, we have seen ruins that are incredible, views that are amazing and toilets that just make you shake your head... Some of the toilets here are Turkish toilets, you know the hole in the ground, but they are not the most incredible ones. We were on the bus when Alexia told us that many of the toilets in Greece cannot take paper, it blocks them up, yep toilet paper, they provide bins beside the toilet for the paper. Well Kearie and I just looked at each other, we couldn't believe what we had just heard, I think Alexia was expecting that, because she repeated herself. It is the weirdest thing, luckily some of the hotel toilets take paper, but not all... Kearie and I are trying to use the ones that do, it is not easy using the toilet in Greece, you really have to be picky, or have a strong stomach. Just thought I would share that, so you don't get too envious of me travelling around like a lady of leisure... see, I am suffering too...

Yesterday morning we went to the area of Meteora, it is an amazing range of huge rocks, just sticking out of the ground, like a mountain range. Hundreds of years ago the monks & brothers built Monasteries on the top of these amazing rocks. There were about 20 in all, how they built them, I have no idea. The Germans bombed a lot of them as they knew the monasteries always supported the people and any resistance in previous wars, so they were taking no chances, there are only about 6 left and we visited two. One was a monastery and the other a nunnery. They were amazing.


The rock formations are huge.


The monks had to haul everything up the rock face by basket, all the building material and visitors etc, the monasteries were really inaccessible, until they built bridges and roads for the tourists. Apparently they wanted solitude when they built them, well that would have worked out fine... It was awesome.


The views were amazing

'
The view from our hotel room balcony.. eat your heart out!! THough we did have goats down below in the morning, though they didn't wake me, it was lovely to hear the goat bell in the early morning, and watch them all come together....

We then left the area and travelled to Delphi, once again we saw amazing ruins, and the scenery at our hotel was to die for. Delphi is a ruin of a temple dedicated to Apollo, over the years and decline of the temple, the people of the area, built a village on top of it, right on the ruins. When it was discovered they couldn't ask the people to move, so they waited until an earthquake hit the area and told them it was unsafe, they helped them move to a new village and excavated the site. Having the village on top of the ruins for hundreds of years has actually preserved the site better than if it had been left uncovered and victim to the elements. It was pretty awesome.


A view from the car park of the Gymnasium area. Awesome!!


Delphi again, from about half way up, really great. I fell on the way down and hurt my ankle, I hope it gets better soon, it is still quite sore. But at least I only broke my umbrella and no bones!!

We travelled last night to Olympia and today we saw the ruins of the first Olympic arena. Alexia is a great guide, she is really nice and always has a joke to share. She is half Greek and half Argentine, and only moved to Greece 10 years ago. She makes us laugh with her descriptions of how lazy the Greeks are, they only like to sit and have coffee for hours, and do not like to work. She is right though the shops close at 2:30 each day and only reopen at 5:30, but on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday they don't reopen at all, the Greeks have worked hard enough on those days. Nothing is open Sunday at all. The shops open at 9 to 9:30 most days. When Alexia tells us about an area, most stuff doesn't run on time or has taken forever to be built of whatever, they are a lovely people, but not very energetic. They yell at one another all the time, I thought they were having a go, but apparently that is only them having a conversation and mostly they are friends... Good grief, it sounds like you are in a war zone any time you are around more than one of them.


Part of olympia, it was pretty amazing..


The spot where the Olympic torch is lit each time before any Olympic games, be it Summer, Winter or Special. It is a whole ritual with Greek actresses dressed like Godesses and everything. They had pictures...

Alexia taught us how to say a few words in Greek, I cannot write them, as I cannot write Greek, but Alexia told us an easy way to remember Thank you, is to remember someone you know called Harry, as thank you is pronounced F-harry's-toes, only with at Greek accent. So I was Fharrystoesing all over the place, it always makes the Greeks smile, that you have bothered and they always say "your Welcome" back at you. Well the other day we had a long bus trip and I hadn't used the phrase for half a day, so I was buying something and I said Fharryssocks!! As soon as I said it I thought, "Oh no, wrong foot reference". The little Greek looked confused, I grabbed my purchases and took off, what an idiot, sometimes I even amaze myself!! She is teaching us a few words here and there and mostly I am okay at it. I noticed that when I try to speak another language, if I don't know the word, I just say the English one with a French or whatever accent, yeah like that helps. But in France I used to put La in front of the English word and sometimes it actually was the right word, almost, so it does kind of work. Not so much in Greek though and La is pretty useless here...

Cheers for now

Lones