Strike Good or Strike Bad??

Hello, We are in Athens today. We spent the day wandering around the National Gardens and Temple of Zeus. Judy is taking a siesta as I play on the puter. Tomorrow we head out to explore Olympia, Delphi and Meteora over the next 4 days. I think I am most excited about Meteora, it looks like a pretty incredible place.
The last few days we spent in Santorini and Mykonos. On Sanotrini we stayed in Thera which is a town that is mostly built on the side of a cliff overlooking a caldera of a volcano that blew it's top many years ago. The town is filled with white buildings with blue doors (I guarantee you have seen pictures) and many churches. The saying is "more donkeys than people and more churches than houses". We rented an ATV one day and explored the entire island including additional towns, ruins and beaches. It was a lot of fun although maybe next time we should take seperate ATVs as my driving does not meet Judy's approval (I thought it was just fine if not a little slow :). We wandered around Thera a lot and drank wine and ate cheese while watching the sunsets. Life is good there. The first 3 nights we spent in one hotel that overlooked the east side of the island (not very scenic). We tried to leave the next day but all the transportation workers in Greece were on strike. We were stuck. I can think of worse places to be stuck. For the next night we got a room overlooking the Cauldera and we had a magnificent view. We tried to leave again the next day and the ferry we needed to take was not there because it typically leaves the day before when everyone was still on strike. So for another night we were stuck. The hotel we were staying at closed that day so we had to get another plance which did nto have the great view. Oh well. Not such a bad place to be stuck but we were ready to go. It was really windy and we didn't have an opportunity to really enjoy the beaches. We did find a restaurant that had good food and the host was a hoot to listen to. He liked to hear himself talk a lot. He worked hard to entertain all the customers. At one point (I forget how it came up) he mentioned that he was a commando in Algeria at which point one of the Canadians sitting next to us looks inquisitively at him and says "where I am from that means you don't wear underwear under your pants". Judy and I were in stitches almost rolling on the floor. I don't think the host found it as funny. He was a good guy, we were happy to have met him and enjoyed food at his restaurant a couple of nights. We were able to get a ferry the next day. Sooo...the ferry. Total throw up machine. It was a high speed ferry, basically a catamaran. The seas were extremely rough and so was the ride. About half way thru the trip the puke fest began. Judy and I made it thru OK, although not for a lack of vomit smell wafting thru the cabin (you can't go outside and are supposed to stay in your seats) and vomiting sounds filling the air. Yes, puking sounds the same in every language. Little kids crying, old people gasping for air and travelers from all over the world joining together to celebrate the art of regurgutating. The ride was rough and long. The lady at the food counter was casually handing out barf bags while filing her nails, a look of annoyance on her face for having to stop filing so frequently to hand out the bags and completely unaffected by the rough seas. I walked to the bathroom at the back (we were seated in the front) and I swear about 50% of the people I passed were vomiting. No me gusta. The ferry took us to Mykonos. Known for marvelous beaches and the affluent clientel we were most happy the doller had gained some against the Euro. Nothing on this island was cheap. The average dinner costed about 40 euro (about $65) for an appetizer, two main dishes and two drinks. Weak. Mikonos was another town painted white with rooftops, doors and windows painted fun shades of blue, red, orange, pinks, all colors of the rainbows. Unfortunately it was still very windy and cold so we did not get an opportunity to enjoy the beaches :(. We stayed here and wandered the maze like streets for two days before heading back to Athens. We stayed in a hotel for 90 euro a night when it usually costs almost 400 euro a night to stay in. Here's to traveling during the low season. We took the big, much smoother ferry back to Athens when we left. 5 hrs of gently rolling bliss. All in all I would say the strike, for us, not a bad thing. Like I said, I could think of worse places to be stuck.
Stoopid computer does not have a USB port I can use. I will post pics again as soon as I get an opportunity. I'll post another blog before we fly to Bangkok on Friday.

Athens

We got to Athens at 5am and wandered around for about an hour and a half before deciding on a hostel to stay in. We were both pretty slap happy from the bus trip and took a 4 hour nap before showering and heading out. Today we toured Acropolis, Parthenon and some other archaelogical sites some more than 2500 years old, very cool. We've booked a flight and leave for Santorini in the AM. Both of us are looking forward to some more leasurely activity and no more travel for a couple of days. Very excited to start exploring the Greek islands. So far we've only had a chance to eat some Greek food but as of yet the rumors are true. IT'S GOOD. I look forward to many more days of indulgence in the Greek cuisine before we head to SE Asia on the 30th. Pack on the pounds now because we'll loose them then.
...on the side note, trash. So much trash. In Albania especially, trash everywhere. Now you have to consider they don't have trash service and have no 'green' education and so reall just don't know better but when we are used to being inundated with green, green, green (which is a good thing) it was a shock to see kids swim with food and drink and then just drop it in the water, people in cars throwing it out the window, neighbors throwing it into neighbors yards, everywhere you look trash. oi. Not a good thing at all. A very common site when traveling thru the country is plums of smoke rising up all over the place. They are from people burning their trash. I mean I can understand when there is nothing else you can do with it but it was definitely a shock to see.
OK, that's it. Miss and love you all. Will post again before we head to Bangkok.

Change of plans

Sooooo....Croatia was cool. Dubrovnik was a neat old walled city. We stayed within the walls and did much wandering. My recommednation if anyone goes, it is worth it but you only need two days max in Dubvronik. We also went to one of the Elati islands (forget the name at the moment) and hung out at a secluded bach for a day. Weather has been perfect everywhere we have been so far (kncoking on wood). Quite honestly though...not that enamored with Croatia. I think during the middle of summer if you were to start in Zagreb or Split and work your way down the coast visiting islands like the Elati islands and Hvar and hanging out a beaches it would be more fun but Judy and I just weren't feeling it. So we left. We could not get the ferry to Bari in time as we had originally planned so we decided to roll the dice and head south by bus taking us thru Montenegro and Albania. Neither of us knew anything about these places other than the Balkin wars and communism of the recent past. We checked the state dept website to be sure and there were no travel warnings and there were not so we decided to jump. Seriously this was a last minute decision about an hour before we either took the ferry to Hvar or jumped on the bus and we choose bus. The ride thru Montenegro was actually really scenic (as opposed to the dry arid landscape of Croatia) we passed by a bay and a town called Koto (I think that was the name) and it was beau-tiful. Sadly you could still see pot marks on the buildings from the war. Our bus dropped us off in Badva. Where? Right. We met these two girls working for the Peace Corps in Albania who were traveling back to their town (one was from N.C., the other from DC) and they were very friendly. So friendly in fact they assisted us with the next two bust transfers which were last minute, last of the day, hop on and leave immediately no way Judy and I would have made it on our own. After a full day travel and 3 busses and a taxi ride later we made it to Tirana, Albania. During one of our stops in Montenegro when there were no more busses departing for the day we went over to some taxis and Katie 2 (who hadn't said more than 5 words the trip so far) was like, blah, blah, blah, blah (that's how it sounded to me) arguing with the men and next thing we knew we had a taxi! Man that girl can negotiate! The taxi took us across the border (not before the driver hid his taxi sign in his trunk, WTF did they get us into I am thinkin???) where we connected with a mini bus that took us to Triana. Honestly, without them we would probably be in Albania still. Katie and Katie, YOU GUYS ROCK! They pointed us to a place called the Stephen Center (Translated Center of Stephen) which is a restaurant and guest house for missionaries who where happy to provide us with an extra room. Talk about blessed! Middle of Albania and we wind up here. And the food rocked! We bought them dinner and they were on their way. Talk about twists of fate, who knew this is where of all places we would end up! The next day Judy and I wandered from tourist place to tourist place...they all give different answers on tranportation, grrrrr....and eventually caught a bust to Athens that was 13hrs and overnight. Judy and I were the ONLY Americans and the only ones who spoke English on a bus full of q-tips (old people). There was one kid on the bus who spoke broken English. He was from a village in Northern Albania somewhere and we asked how he learned to speak English....TV. Nice. During the border crossing in Greece they made everyone take their bags of the bush and were searching all the bags. They get to Judy and I and ask "tourist"? We reply yes and they move on. No search required. Also nice. A LONG and uncomfortable bus trip later. We are in Greece.

No Man's Land

So I've discovered this little place I like to call no man's land. We'll it wasn't lost so I didn't technically discover it but when traveling on land across borders (more on that later) you first go thru the border crossing of the country you are in and then thru the border crossing of the country you are entering. Thing is there is this space of about 500 meters that, from what I can tell, does not belong to anyone. I wonder what happens if you say...run while traveling thru here. Do both countries chase you? Shoot at you at the same time? Do they argue with each other over who will catch you and take you to their underground chamber to 'extract' confessions from you. Do they stand there together smoking cigarettes and wonder what kind of idiot you are and let you run into the abyss to they jaws of the cyotes that prowl the land that neither country claims as their own?? I am very curious about this.

Quick pics

Sun sets on the Alps

COLORS! We are here at th eperfect time of year for the changing of the leaves.

Gotta do the foot shot. Favorite of mine. Newschwanstein castle.

Newschwanstein Castle, Austria.

Salzurg Castle, top o the hill.

World's tallest ber tower, Seigl brewery Austria. This one is for you Kemper.

Salzburg streets.

Work brings freedom....and death. Dachau.

On the left is part of the crown of thorns (yep, the one Jesus wore), middle is a part of the cross he was on.

The skull of John the baptist! Creepy, cool and real?

Residenze, Munich. Royalty palace, grand hall.

City surfers in the English Park, river Isar, Munich

The golden alley where you go to avoid getting shot for not saluting Hitler.

Marienplatz, Munich. Gov. bldg with moving stufdf and bells and such.

The city of cats

We are now in Dubrovnik Croatia. It's a walled city, old castle\town\fortress. We are staying within the walls. Just got here today. Don't know much yet. Saw the ocean for a minute by the docks and the water is perfectly clear. Looking forward to some beach time. AND there are ferile cats everywhere. I like cats. I love animals but we passed up a few restaurants tonight looking for some grub because the alley (every street is kinda an alley here) smelled like a cat box. Weak. I don't have much to write on this place yet. More to come next time I post.
Some other observances about our trip...IN Europe, Jeans tucked into high black boots is cool here. So are scarves (which I can relate to, I love my scarf) and black leggings with flashdance warmup socks (forget the name). All the restaurants and bars in Germany delare their lyoalty to beer with a beer sign for the brewery outide every entrance. We even passed a church service with a beer truck full of kegs catering to the congregation. So far everyone has been very nice although they don't always smile back when you smile a them. The Dollar to Euro ratio SUCKS but now that we are in Croatia the ratio is $1 to $5 Kronin (sp?), sweeeet. Jet lag sucks, European public transportation rocks and I'm think I'm about done posting for today.
Again, sorry fore the short and sweet low down. As much as I would like to elaborate on the experience, I've got limited time and needed to do a quck dump of activities. That's right, I'm a tease. I'll get some pics up real quick. Due to limited time and abundance of pics, I will probably have to post a link at the end of th etrip with all the pics. Until then I can only give a couple samples. Love you all, hope all is well. Hopefully I will not be as rushed the next time I connect to the Matrix.

Neuschwanstein

We made a side trip thru here while driving the Alps and it was incredible! Tucked on the hillside is this huge castly, reminiscent of the Disney castle (or is it the other way around?). It didn't hurt that we are in the middle of fall and the leaves changing. Seriously, between beautiful days and vibrant reds, yellows, oranged and greens everywhere I don't think we could have picked a more perfect tim to be out here. Perfect. The castle was pretty cool, The outside was more interesting than the inside. We took a ike on the hillside behind it that was rewarding. Again, the leaves, the colors. Perfect.

Salzburg

Salzburg was PHAT! I could spend many days there. We wandered around old town (Aldstadt), shops, cafes, old buiding and statues and such (Mikey and Davie, you would LOVE all the statues...defiling mecca). The castle at the top of the cliffs right in town was incredible. My first castle, the cherry was popped properly. We stayed here for a couple of days and never got sick of wandering around. Highly recommended. So much to say, so little time.

Autobahn

I drove the autobahn, I drove the autobahn!!! Granted I was driving a Punto (that's right, I drove a punto :) I got it up to 200kmh (max was 220 on the spedometer) so I was impressed. Judy was not. I pointed out that the Lamborghini and Porches that passed us were doing twice that..she still was not impressed.

Dachau

I don't think I can articulate in a manner which would adequtely convey the feelings I had while visiting this place. Not so much a concentration camp as a work camp. People were sent here as 'political prisioners' and worked to death (basically). Medical experiments, indescriminate killing and worst of all right in the middle of town. Ant the residences did NOTHING! I cannot begin to comprehend how you could sit idly by and do nothing while the smell of death wafted by your house every day. After liberation they denied it! Maybe the were sympathetic and then conveniently igonrant when questions were asked? Maybe they were scared? I don't know, I still don't get it. Sad....very, very sad. Interesting but sad and humbling. Time is limited...next post.

We're Alive!

Hello!
Yes, we are alive and well and I finally have made time to sit and write. Unfortunately I am paying for this time so I won't be able to elaborate and articulate our experiences as much as I would like. Instead you get the quck and dirty run down.
We arrived in Munich and my bag did not....at least not for two days. It's all good, honestly I didn't really care. Isn't vacation grand! Munich was fun. We wandered around Aldstadt (old town), visited many cathedreals (Euroe has many), went to a park that is 3x the size of city park. Took a bike tour around town, witnessed where people would walk down an alley (now paved in gold) to avoid saluting a Nazi symbol (if you didn't you were executed), drank bavarian beverages, swayed back and forth to polka music, sang songs we did not know the lyrics to, wandered around Marianplatz, said danke lots and lots, stayed in a nice apartment with wonderful hosts, had phenominal weather and so on and so forth. Down and dirty right? To be honest I'm not that impressed with the beer...Kemper and I make better :). We are now experts in navigating the bohn (subway) and this keyboard has keys in the wrong places and is driving me NUTZ (norry for the bad spelling, I blame the keyboard). Let's see, we also overslept our first day as our alarm clock battery died in the middle of the night. We thought we wondered out around noon (jet lag sucks) and found out it was 3pm! We hurried to the Residenze which with the epitome of excess and witnessed much extravagance and wealth (This is the palace where bavarian kings lived). Ummm....that's mostly it, like I said quick..I have more posts to write.

Let the games begin!

And we're off! First stop Munich. We stay there until Friday and then Drive to Salzburgh for two days. I think I am more excited about Austria than Germany. ...not that Germany won't be incredible. We've already hit some bumps in the road as Judy got food poisoning yesterday and was laid out pretty much all day. Food Poisoning is no fun. I know. Luckily she had all her stuff laid out and needed only shove it all in a bag. Sounds like our ride is here. Time to roll. I will have something to talk about on my next post. :)