Sunday, May 27, 2007

Santorini and Pictures of Our Journey

As you can begin to see, we have found a place and opportunity to upload pictures. My profile picture features my ancient counterpart found in the Karamikos Cemetary's museum. I assume that Tipsy will also change her profile picture to the cow we found near the pig.

I shall try to present the pictures from earlier in the trip.This is us at Hadrien's arch, back on our first full day in Athens. Notice the people and cars in the picture for a sense of scale.This is us at the Theater of Dionysos, after Miss Caitlin's presentation. We are seated on one of the chairs reserved in the first few rows for officials. On site, there are chairs that are significantly more intact, however they are roped off. This is the only one that people are allowed to sit on. Miss Caitlin also got her picture taken while she was on this chair.

The picture of us at the top of the page was taken on top of "Socrates' Prison" and features a nice shot of the Acropolis in the background.This is a picture of us at the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This is the more striking view of the Temple, including most of the columns that are still standing. There are some that are standing in the corner off the picture to the left, but these are the majority of the ones that still stand.
This was taken later in the afternoon at the Roman Agora, featuring the Tower of the Winds in the background.Here we are overlooking the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. It was a very exciting site - miss Caitlin says that it may have been her favorite, though she is enjoying Santorini immensely.Here we are with the town of Delphi far below us. This was from when Miss Caitlin and several of her classmates hiked above the village in search of the Sanctuary of Pan.

Unfortunately, I do not have time to display all of our pictures. While it will be less exciting, I will present them when we return home. We leave on Wednesday, and I will be sorry to leave this place, though Tipsy and even Miss Caitlin are tiring of traveling and are looking forward to being home.

I feel I should mention what we did while staying in Ancient Corinth. We visited the sites there, including the Agora and the acropolis, which is dominated by a crumbling Venetian Castle. We also visited Nemea, Epadarus, Myceane, and Nafplion. Miss Caitlin enjoyed Nafplion extremely - she quite enjoy hauling us all through the Venetian castle there - it was considerably better preserved that the one on top of Acrocorinth.

Santorini has been intensely exciting. We have been hiking around the caldera, listening to one of the leading volcanologists talk about the geology of the island and the mechanics of the erruptions here. Not too many of Miss Caitlin's classmates are interested, and we weary of them more and more everyday. Perhaps it is for the best that we are to leave soon. However, it will still be a shame.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Almost Pictures

Cat found us a computer with a USB drive and a good connection - but she totally left the cable at the hotel!!!! This is Fira (not Akrotiri, where we're staying) so it's not that close. But Cat promised us that she'll come back tomorrow so we can put up some pictures. And we'll go into more detail and stuff. Right now, we don't have too much time because we have to meet up with the others to go to Ia, which has pretty sunsets.

Cat's back turned red and she complains about it a lot. It seems sorta impractical to me. She should grow some fur.

Cat also says her legs hurt a lot. I don't know what she's complaining about. It's been pretty easy for us - I mean we've been exploring the island, and we haven't been on the bus that much because Cat walks us around, so it's much less tedious. We went a third of the way around the cliff - caldera thing, and we walked up and down a mountain, and all over the real volcano part, and today we'll go around another third of the caldera - cliff thing, but really, I don't see what she's complaining about.

Cat and Snibbly are still on about rocks. I don't get it. I'm more excited about the museum we visited today. It was of all this stuff from a town called Akrotiri (like the town we're staying in - I guess they're not all that creative with names here). I guess you can't go to the real site because they're still working on it. Everything was preserved really well because of something that happened when the volcano exploded a long time ago. Cat and our guide guy (who's like a geologists or something) keep telling me that the volcano used to be bigger. It wasn't that impressive when we visited it yesterday. Anyway, at this museum, they had another ancient pig and cow. Well the cow was a bull (not exactly the same thing), and the pig was a boar (I think Snibbly's pretty boring, so it's almost the same thing), and they weren't a set like the ones in the museum in Athens, but they were still pretty cool.

The weather's been strange here. Today's the only day it's been sunny all day. Otherwise it's been cloudy, which isn't so bad, and yesterday it was rainy. That was pretty bad. They had to shorten our boat trip. We only saw these little islands in the middle - one was the volcano, and one was that looked kind of like the volcano one, only it had grass and goats on it.

We'll write again tomorrow - with pictures!!! Cat's not sure how much we can put up, but we'll at least do a few! Ta 'til then!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Island Place

We're at this Island called Santorini. It's really touristy, except not the place where we are staying. So we don't have too much of a chance to use the internet. Cat got time here at this black beach place, but she used most of her time to answer her e-mail (lame), so I can't say too much because of time. Cat's walking us around a lot and the view's cool. Cat and Snibbly keep getting excited about rocks and stuff. I mean, they're kinda neat, but I don't know what all the fuss is about. Something about a volcano, but that's silly - there's no big mountain shooting lava anywhere! I think it's like the "Roman" thing.

Corinth was cool. We spent a lot of time on the bus. We met a nice animal named Bunny there. oddly enough, he/she(Bunny predates gender apparently) looked like a bunny. We'll right more about those adventures later.

So well try to write again (better) soon. Until then - bya!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Greece - Without the Silliness

Greece is quite amazing, but Tipsy is not the best at explaining its majesty. I admit, it would be easier for our readers if Tipsy had been able to make use of pictures, but alas, that is not to be. Instead, I will try and explain things in such a manner that will allow our friends and readers to look up the monuments in question, if they so desire.

The arch was Hadrian's arch, build during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrien, in approximately 131 AD. It originally separated the Ancient Greek section of the city from the Roman additions. The side facing the Greek city reads "this is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus," while the side facing the Roman expansion reads "this is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus." The picture we took was on the side facing the Roman part of the city. Hadrian is better known, perhaps, for the wall he put up in Britain, to block out the Scots.

Since Tipsy made this mistake several times, I feel I need to make this clear in a separate paragraph. The Romans conquered the Greeks in 146 BC, and put up many great structures of their own. Their influence can be found all over Greece - though in general, the locals look down upon their Roman roots, and do not count as an improvement their time of occupation. They tolerate the Romans, who were respectful of Greek culture, much more than the Turks.

The Gardens were the National Gardens. We also saw the Presidential Palace, which is nearby and sports a set of guards similar to those at the Parliament Building.

Miss Caitlin presented, very well, on the topic of the Festival of Dionysus and the plays of Euripides. She made her presentation in the Theater of Dionysus, where the Festival would actually take place. It is an amazing site, and Miss Caitlin counts herself privileged to present there. I cannot believe that that cow would not pay attention to such an important moment.

The other theater was the Roman Odeon, which was restored in the 1950's and has been used for concerts and plays occasionally since then.

Then, indeed, we were most unfairly shoved into a coatroom, and not allowed onto the Acropolis. Miss Caitlin enjoyed exploring it, but she said the museum was mostly closed. This is because the Greeks are building a new museum to house the Acropolis collection. In this new museum, they will leave room for the Elgin Marbles, in an attempt to show the British that they have facilities to display and maintain the important pieces from the Parthenon.

The "big slippery hill thing" was the Areopagus, where a council of elders would meet to make judgments in cases of murder and heresy. According to legend, Orestes was tried on this hill.

The Greek Agora was the center to Athenian life, though as Tipsy said, we did not explore it satisfactorily. The temple was the Hephestion, which also displayed the story of Theseus in its freezes.

We did indeed see that which is not likely to have been Socrates's Prison, but Tipsy left out an important stop. We went to the pnyx of Athens - this is where the Assemblies of Athens would take place. This open field was the birthplace of democracy. The only major feature of this field was the speaker's platform, where any male citizen could address his peers. It was a remarkable place, though it seems unexciting to the uneducated. The cemetery was Karamikos, and it was interesting to see that the figure of a pig and cow were found among the gifts to the dead there. Only as small part of the cemetery is excavated - a large portion of modern downtown Athens is built over it.

The museum was the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Such pieces as the bronze of Zeus (or Poseidon, they are not really sure) are housed there. It was quite overwhelming, and Miss Caitlin made sure to see everything, paying the most attention to the most spectacular pieces.

The big temple was the Temple of Olympian Zeus, built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. It is located near the arch. It is very big, but Miss Caitlin and I feel that it is spectacular because of its size, but it lacks the grace of the Greek buildings. The Roman Agora was indeed an enjoyable location, especially seeing all sides of the Tower of the Winds, which is located there. The Tower was all at once a weather vane, a water clock, and a sun dial. Its sides are decorated with personifications each of the winds.

Since Tipsy wrote, we have seen the temple to Apollo at Delphi, with all the other buildings that accompanied it. There was a stadium and a theater for the competitions held in Apollo's honor, as well as a gymnasium (located at a separate site) for the athlete's to train at in preparation for the games. Also located there were the treasuries of the various city states, which would house the city's gifts to Apollo, as well as display the glory of the city-state for the rest of the Greece to see. The tour guide, who is a friend of Miss Caitlin's Professors, was very good. She explained many things beyond what an average high school student should know, unlike the Acropolis tour guide we had. Miss Caitlin's camera lost power on site, so she does not have as many pictures as she would have liked.

Today, Miss Caitlin took us on a hike. We hiked up the mountainside behind the temple, getting a great view of the town below. Miss Caitlin also skinned her left knee on the trek down, but she is healing well. Tomorrow, we depart for ancient Corinth. On the way, we will stop at Hell. The group is looking forward to this.

We have not heard yet from Miss Adrien and Deirdre, though they should have left for China. Perhaps we will hear soon.

While in ancient Corinth, it is unlikely we will have internet access. We will write next from Santorini.

Monday, May 14, 2007

No Photos

Hey everyone - we made it to Delphi! We're all a lot more awake now - though Cat still thinks there's something wrong with her ears.

We've done so much since I last wrote. Cat kept trying to find a computer that would let us play with USB ports, but we never found one. Seems we have to update without it. It means no photos though.

Cat's now really good at navigating through Athens - except we left Athens. Cat left some clothes in Athens - whoops. Good thing we're going back to the same hotel.

We saw all the must-sees in Athens. Caitlin was the first to do her presentation - and let me tell you, it was a surprise to her. Wait, let me go back, or we'll miss an important part of the story.

Thursday, they got orientation lessons (north, south, east, west). They had some free time, so Cat and her friend Regina went to see this really big arch made by this Emperor dude. Cat took our picture with it - isn't it very impressive? They also wandered in these gardens. We got our picture taken on a random piece of marble there.

Later, they went out to dinner. Pigs and Cows were not invited. Discrimination. Anyway, there was lots of wine. Cat had a little, but Cat's not stupid, so she nursed her two glasses and stopped. Other people were stupid. A few were terminally stupid. They didn't get back until way late, unlike Cat, who was asleep by 11:45.

So a huge bunch of the group hauls themselves out of bed with hangovers on the day we're supposed to see all the awesome stuff on the Acropolis. Stupids. They complained a lot. Like, more than me, and that's hard to do.

Anyway, back to Cat and her presentation. She thought she was going later in the trip but Friday morning the Professor-types were like "And we have two presentations today, first Bob, then Caitlin!" So Cat was like, oh no, and dragged out her paper and started aggressively underlining. Then we got our tour guide, and she was like, you have to check backpacks on the Acropolis, which meant we couldn't go to the top. This distracted me so much, that next thing I knew, we were in this big theater thing at the bottom of the big hill thing that the Acropolis is on, and Cat was talking. I kept asking Snibbly what was going on, but he kept telling me to shut up. Anyway, it was about theater and this really dead guy, so I checked out the view instead. They had one of the crummier throne-seats open to be sat on, and Cat took our picture there. Pretend you can see it.

Then they walked up the hill, and saw another theater thing (Snibbly was muttering something about "Romans," but that's stupid, we're in Greece). It had scaffolding and stuff around it, which meant no climbing on it, and it was a really busy area, so no pictures.

Next, we got checked and had to stick around the cloak room while Cat went to see the Acropolis. LAME!!! We could see the Acropolis from EVERYWHERE, but we couldn't go up because we were in a backpack. Total discrimination.

We got picked up in time to see this big slippery hill thing where old dead guys would meet to make decisions like a jury or something. Anyway, it had a nice view of the city, so Cat took our picture. Pretend you can see it. Isn't it pretty? Athens is a pretty city.

Then we saw the marketplace thing - it was a bunch of piles of rocks. Cat wished she wasn't so hot and tired, cos she would have explored more, but as it was, she stuck to the shade. Then we went up to this really awesome temple that still had its roof. It was like for the god of fire or something - it didn't matter - the point was it was mostly still complete. We got our picture taken with that too. See?!?!

That was the end of the day - thankfully. Saturday, they saw what might have been this annoying philosopher's prison cell, but probably wasn't, but there was a great view of the Acropolis from the top of it. So Cat took our picture with the Acropolis in the background, which isn't the same thing as having your picture taken ON the Acropolis, but it still is a really cool picture. That's why I changed our main photo to it - RIGHT?!

Then they went to a really old cemetery. Cat liked it a lot. So did Snibbly and I. Well, Snibbly likes everything here. Anyway, they had a museum with a lot of pottery and stuff in it. I thought it was lame, Cat thought it was cool. But in the last room, there was a bunch of figurines. And among them was no other than an ancient version of pig and cow! It rocked my little cow socks. Even Snibbly was amused. And that's like nearly impossible. So Cat took pictures of them to prove that we saw them. Aren't they awesome?

That afternoon, Cat was going to do stuff, but she fell asleep instead. That evening, they walked up a really big hill to see the sunset, except they missed the sunset, Cat's asthma was bad, she was still real tired, and it was really crowded. It made Cat not happy. Plus, it was too dark to take good pictures. Lame.

Yesterday, Cat went to this massive museum. Only Snibbly went, since I think museums are boring. You'll have to ask him what they saw. She came back and took us both to see a big temple (Snibbly said something about Romans again - what an idiot) and then we saw the changing of the guard at the parliament building. We didn't take pictures with them like a bunch of the tourists. Cat said she felt bad for the guards and that she was "trying to strive for some class." Whatever that means. They had funny pompoms on their shoes, and pretty embroidery on their tunics. Then we went to this Roman (apparently everyone's stupid) forum. That was cool because we could climb over it. Cat took a few pictures of us there. Cat took a nap again and then had a really nice dinner. Then she packed (except for the stuff she forgot).

Today, they got up early and left in a bus. They stopped at another place, a big field outside of Athens where there was a battle or something, but we couldn't get in 'cos all the tourist traps are closed on Mondays in Greece. So we piled on the bus and came here. Cat did some laundry and she scoped out this computer place for me.

Phew! So that's Greece so far. I'm sure Snibbly would have something to say, if he wasn't napping. He'll just have to say it later. I said all the important things anyway. I'm glad you all liked our photos.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

SOMEPLACE DIFFERENT!!!

WE MADE IT!!!

Cat's really tired, but she's not sick like she thought she might be. She just doesn't like staying awake for over 24 hrs.

The plane was really noisy. There was a kid across the aisle that kept running into Cat during his escape attempts. Behind him was a loud drunk guy. Mostly, people couldn't sleep, Cat included.

Greece is really pretty! There are all these old things laying around, and they have good yogurt. Cat didn't get to take too many pictures (she was on the wrong side of the bus), plus her battery just died. Now we can check to see if her charger will work here with the converter.

We'll talk more later!

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Departure

Everything is prepared and the next time one of us writes, it will be from Greece. Whether or not loading pictures will work, we cannot promise you.

I am glad to report that Miss Caitlin's esteemed grandfather is doing well. He is breathing on his own and has even been up since the successful surgery yesterday. The doctors are hopeful that he will leave intensive care tonight or tomorrow.

I bid a fond farewell to these shores, and to our companions and friends here. I look forward to our reunion at the end of the month.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Preparations

Miss Caitlin has finished her finals and returned to her parents' house. Miss Caitlin's Father is ill, and both Miss Caitlin and her Mother hope to avoid catching his illness.

Preparations for our departure are now being made in earnest, as we depart for Greece on Tuesday. Miss Caitlin is doing laundry and figuring what to pack. She has set aside some books for reading while there, including the first few Harry Potter books. Caitlin claims it is necessary for her job as a camp counselor to read them (again) in preparation for the new book's release. In addition, she feels the need to come up with a costume design for the release date, with her eye on winning the costume contest. This does not excite me as much as you would suppose.

In any event, a few items remain to be purchased, but they will be seen to in the next few days. Miss Caitlin also has to secure a set of traveler's checks so that she can purchase gifts while on her trip.

Miss Adrien and the esteemed Deirdre remain at University for a week before departing for China. I have offered to put up pictures from their journey on our blog, but I am not sure that it will be possible for us to do that until after we return home.

Tipsy has spent all of the last few days complaining that Sauinkoku has been licensed and is no longer available. Miss Caitlin promised Tipsy that she would buy the second season if it comes out next year. Depending on how much it costs, she might even buy the first season when it is released in the fall. And yet, Tipsy still continues to complain. I hope this does not continue through our trip to Greece. It is too long of a plane ride to put up with that.