Kyle and Jemma's blog
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Boat day
Well, the cruise is just about over now, we only have a day at sea until we get back to Venice. On sea days though, there's lots of great things to do on board.
Kyle spent all week rehearsing for their talent contest! He got up with a bunch of his friends from the day programs and they danced to some Wiggles songs... he was really good, and won a medal!
Dad took Kyle golfing on the mini-put on the 9th deck. Besides the 30-mph winds, they had a great time. Kyle did really well, and they played 24 holes (most of them properly!).
What cruise is complete without a good game of shuffleboard?
I prefer more sedate activities... like dining. I was treated SO well by the wait staff this week it was incredible. One night, I was taken on an hour-long tour of the whole restaurant, kitchen, and I'm not sure where else, while Mom and Dad ate dinner in peace! I'm just instantly lovable that way I guess.
The waiters were great with Kyle too, we were very impressed.
Our table was on the second floor, overlooking the main floor. You sit in the same place every night, at the same time (early seating for us: 6:30pm).
Well... that brings us to the end of the cruise! Maybe next time we'll have company!
Friday, October 27, 2006
Geography quiz: where is Corfu, and what country is it part of?
It's ok, we got it wrong too... it's part of Greece, on the West side (an island). When we booked the cruise, I thought we stopped in 3 or 4 countries, but lo and behold 3 of our 4 stops were in Greece. We're not complaining though, they were all very different and interesting.
After a 40-minute bus ride from the port in Corfu Town (yes, that's where we landed... at least that's what the tour guide called it), we came to an idelic little bay with waters more clear than we've ever seen before. We decided to take a 30-minute boat tour to see the caves along the water. The sea was glass-smooth today, so we went ahead.
The caves were very cool... they drove the boat right into them, and you were surrounded by an eerie quiet and echo at the same time. The coolest part was that you could easily see out the mouth of the caves into the sea, and see the bottom over 20 feet down (crystal clear). There were cool fish and everything.
How many of these can daddy do? Ok... so this one was on a boat... so what? :)
Mom did very good on this trip - she thought she'd lose her cookies on such a small boat. I wish I had cookies...
Next, we drove up the STEEP mountainside to the top for a better view.
The bay we were in is at the bottom between the two little islands. The view was stunning to say the least. To get to the top, we went up roads that looked 1/2 the size of the bus... one section even had lights to control cars because it had to be one-way at a time.
Yadda, yadda...
I spent some quality time with Mom.
We went shopping at the tourist traps in the little villages at the top of the mountain. Dad hadn't seen one of these beasts in a very long time, and for some reason thinks they're cool. I'd be praying too if I were that scary looking.
Well, after a good day touring, I decided it was time for (another) nap. Tune in later this week to find out what we did on the sea-day on the way back to Venice!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
A bit of the boat, then the Isle of Crete
Daddy's a bit silly some times... he confused Crete for Cyprus, which explains why he thought our cruise covered a lot more territory than it really did. Three of our four stops were actually in Greece. If you see yesterday's map, you'll know what I mean. Geography was never his strong point.
After our day in Kusadasi, we decided it would probably be a good idea to actually socialize with The Boy once in a while, so we took him swimming. However, he didn't miss us one bit - he was having too much fun in the Kids Club on-board programs. All he wanted was to "go room!".
You'll hate this photo when you're older, bro.
There was a really cool fortress on a little island in the harbour of Kusadasi... too bad we didn't get a chance to go see it (this is from our balcony).
We were on the 8th deck... a bit high for diving.
This is the kind of stuff that Kyle got to do while we were touring - they were pirates! One night, the whole gang of pirates marched through the ship and took over while singing and shouting.
Ok, now on to Crete... after a restful night's sleep while the pirates sailed the ship to Crete, we went on tour again. I wasn't so thrilled with it, so I took the chance to examine the inside of my eyelids a bit more.
We went on another ruins tour... but unfortunately this one wasn't all too thrilling. If you were deaf (and bored), our tour guide would have given you a pretty good idea of the entire history of the site... the region... the Greek people in general... her grandfather (who died in his 90's after drinking rain water all his life)... and essentially the world as we know it. Nice enough woman, but just a wee bit much for us normal folk. If you look really closely, you can see Mom and I sitting down (she's in black with white pants) by the square. She managed to wander off, feed me, change me, have a nap, and get back to our group before we moved on to the next area.
We found Squirt's long lost twin brother, acting just as brash as Squeaky does - sitting peacefully on a railing above a 40-foot drop.
Back on the bus... we could have skipped this tour unfortunately. However, all in all it was still a good day.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
How rude!
Right in the middle of our vacation, Daddy decided to take a week-long business trip to the USA... ok, well maybe it wasn't in the middle of our vacation, but it WAS in the middle of posting pictures from our vacation. Hmmmph!
Anyways, he's back now, so we can continue where we left off: Turkey!
The cruise ship stopped in Kusadasi Turkey - on the West side of Turkey, essentially straight East of Athens. We took a tour there of an ancient city called Ephesus (see big red Star on the map... hard to miss).
The map actually gives a good idea of our route too: we started in Venice (on the East side of Italy, just off the map on the top/left), sailed to Athens, then Kusadasi (Ephesus), Heraklion Crete, Corfu, then back to Venice.
Before signing up for the tour, none of us had ever heard of Ephesus... but given the size and beauty of the place, I'm amazed we hadn't. It blew Athens away...
This is supposed to be Nike, but I don't think she's even wearing shoes.
This is what happens when you funnel most of a cruise ship through one set of ancient ruins at the same time.
Most of the ruins were under 6-12 feet of dirt. A lot of it was rebuilt from the rubble (caused by earthquakes), but it was hard to tell blantantly like some other sites we saw on the trip. It was very impressive.
They even put on a little play for me. It was kinda neat.
Ancient spam... advertising prostitutes none the less...
Watch out, Dad is being creative again... the people on the right were really weirded out when dad pointed the camera right at them and took pictures.
Pieces of the puzzle that aren't put together yet... you'd never see this in the open back in North America.
I had a long day with a lot of walking... as much as dad hates cuddling, he put up with it for me.
Next, we stopped in a Turkish carpet shop for a demonstration (and sales pitch). It was pretty cool...
Dad likes hanging around with me on trips... strangers pay a lot of attention to us, especially in Italy and Turkey for some reason. I got scooped up first by a nice old couple on our tour, then by the rug shop owner. I don't think Mom and Dad held me at all during the 1.5 hours we were there.
The sales guy was very good... Mom even talked Dad into buying a rug. Dad got carried away and bought two - so he could have one for home, and one for the office.
(Note: carpets in picture are closer than they appear)
Mom almost had to go back to the ship alone - Dad and I just about got scooped up by the girls working for the Duty Free shop. Mom turned around for 12 seconds, and we were mobbed by no less than 6 of the cashiers... they played with me for at least 15 minutes, making all kinds of weird Turkish goo-goo ga-ga sounds. Dad's not used to so much attention!
Mom finally got us back though.
Next stop: Crete!
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
101st post... let's celebrate with a cruise!
Well, this is our 101st post on this blog... it's hard to believe that Kyle and Dad have kept things going this long (Dad usually loses interest much sooner than that I think). I guess we're loved.
Well, after our fun-filled day in Venice, it was off to the Cruise ship to get settled in.
I started off with a well-earned nap. I have my priorities straight, unlike SOME people.
Kyle started with the boring safety stuff... and the captain made us all get our life jackets on and go for a safety drill before they left port.
We had a balcony room this time... Mom and Dad couldn't cope with being cooped up with two kids with no windows and no room. It was pretty comfy; we had a pull-out couch and a queen bed.
First stop: Piraus (essentially Athens) Grece! Kyle was so enthralled with the day programs that they had on the ship that he didn't want to come with us on the tour. It's ok though, Dad hasn't ever really had the opportunity to have "me" time, so we made up for it this week.
This speaks for itself...
The tour stopped first at the new Olympic stadium they built for the last games... nobody on the bus was sure why we stopped there...
Next stop was the Acropolis... a cool set of ancient Greek ruins on a mountain in the middle of Athens. Dad always thought the Acropolis was the columned structure itself, but then again he never really paid attention in history class either.
Pay close attention to the photos of me throughout this trip... I spent a LOT of time with Dad, and he loved it. I think it was his personal mission to try to convert me to a "cuddler"... ha, good luck. :)
The Parthenon... aka to Dad as the Acropolis. :) (and not the Pantheon, which the rest of the family saw in Rome).
The obligatory arms-length-self-portrait from dad. Hmmm...
And then the obligatory stitch-together-several-photos-to-make-a-wider-angle-one shot from dad... double hmmm.......
Athens is big. Real big. I don't know enough words yet to desribe what it looked like from the Acropolis.
More of the same... although it was a cool place to see, there really wasn't that much to it.
We're cute. Mom gets her good looks from me I think.
Well, that was Athens... next comes Kusadashi Turkey (and I'll check the spelling of that for tomorrow's lesson).
Jemma.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Vacation time... Venice!
Jemma here... I figured it's about time that I chimed in instead of letting my big brother have all the fun. Little does he know, but I'm the one calling the shots now. :)
We went on a vacation last week. There are so many pictures to post that I think I'll have to just do them one day at a time. Today's special is Venice... the place we flew to in order to start our Mediteranian cruise!
First though, a few photos from home and some really big news: I'm eating solid food now. Yay, a bit of variety!
Kyle and I get along great now - he plays with me and everything. Here he is entertaining me while Mom and Dad pack for our trip.
Mom is a fun play toy too.
Ok... here's where we started our vacation in Venice!
Kyle spent the whole day telling everyone we met that he was going on "Little boat, big boat!!!". Well, here's the little boat; a water taxi that took us from the airport to our hotel in the city of Venice. It was a cool ride!
When we got there, we went right to sleep at the hotel. However, we got up early the next morning to go see the city. Come on, you can't go to Venice and NOT see the city!
The water was at high tide when we arrived, so San Marco Square was starting to flood. They seem to take this in stride as the church floor starts to get flooded... they just erect walkways over it all.
Kyle was a bit wrong in what he told people yesterday... it should have been "Little boat, tiny boat, BIG boat!". We went on a Gondola ride!!! It was really cool. Well, Kyle said it was cool anyways... I slept through a lot of it. Hmmmm.... vacation......
Daddy kept having to go to the front of the boat (wait for the explanation...), but it was a good opportunity to get pictures.
He had to go to the front so that the nose of the boat stayed low... it was the only way that we could get under the bridges due to the high tide! We scraped a few times. I guess Daddy isn't fat enough.
Here's Kyle at the Rialto bridge.
I love my daddy!
...and my mommy!
...and my brother!
Kyle seems to get instant fans whereever he goes. Here he is waving to some of them in a restaurant we passed. I got coos too when I passed. Smokin...
Now it's time for the BIG boat! Tune in tomorrow (or so) for details...
