The Cruise

We went on a cruise for 11 days. The whole reason we went on this cruise was because Seth wanted to go to Egypt and see the Pyramids. We didn't know if it was going to be safe in Egypt, so we did it through a cruise and the cruise wouldn't go there if it wasn't safe. The bus from San Terenzo was at 5:17 in the morning, so we were up super early to get to the cruise on time. And of course, it was raining. We got off the train in the port city Citavecchia, (spelling?) saw the line for taxis, and decided to walk. It was around half a mile, through the pouring rain. Once we reached the actual port, there was a shuttle to the ship. So we put all of our dripping baggage onto the shuttle and road to the ship. We got out and just went through security and got on the ship. The ship was called the Norwegian Jade.

The second day we slept in. We realized that they were playing Avengers at 3, so of course, the boys went. We come all the way to Italy, go on a cruise, and yes, we went to the Avengers. We were ecstatic that we were able to eat as much food as we wanted, and the food was pretty good. We were also amazed that we could drink as much as we could. Most of the time in Europe, the drinks were kind of expensive, so we usually just got a little bit of water to drink for meals.

Greece

Us on the original track of the Olympics

On the third day, we went to Olympia, Greece. We saw a bunch of old ruins, and ran a race on the original olympic track. It was pretty cool. Lots of the rocks were made from this seashell-rock type mixture. We saw the Temple of Zeus, and it was in ruins. They had made 1 pillar recently (like within 50 or 100 years) and put it up where the original pillars would have been. The temple would have been huge. It was pretty neat. Then we saw the sculptors house, where he sculpted the statue of Zeus for the Temple of Zeus.

Running on the track.

Me in front of some old Greek ruin

Jenna in front of some Greek temple.

The Acropolis

The fourth day of the cruise was Athens and the Acropolis.

Dogs were sleeping everywhere in Greece.

This was pretty cool. We went to this place called the Agora. It was where all of the merchants and shops were in ancient times. Now it is just ruins, with another temple to Zeus in it. We hiked up Mars hill to see the Parthenon and what do we see? Scaffolding. The Parthenon was under construction. We were a little bummed but went up to the Parthenon anyways. There were a few angles that you couldn't see the construction, so we took pictures from there. Mars hill was where the Apostle Paul spoke to the Greeks. (Acts 17) It was cool to be in a place straight out of the Bible. There were also dogs lying around, everywhere in Greece. In Athens is when Seth's stomach first started to hurt.

Turkey

Some Ruins in Ephesus

The Public Toilets

All of the pieces that they need to put together.

Seth ended up throwing up and so he stayed behind while the rest of us went to Turkey. We got a tour guide for this stop, because mom didn't want to figure out the transportation to the different places. We went to the shrine of Mary. It was supposedly the place that Mary lived after Jesus was crucified on Calvary. Peter took her there and he tried to preach to the people. We saw the place where Mary lived. After that we went to Ephesus. It was more ruins, but this was a complete city. We saw where the people lived, and we saw the public toilets, where 44 people could all pee together. It was amazing that they had uncovered only a little part of the entire city, something like 20%. And the part we saw was huge. They had this one building where they had parts of some buildings, but they were just laying out. It was like building something out of Lego, (yes, that is the plural form, not Legos) but not having the instructions, or knowing what the end result would look like. It was cool.

After we went to Ephesus, the guide took us to this Turkish weaving place. We had a bona-fide Turkish lunch there, and it was alright. A bunch of vegetables and meat. Whohoo. The lamb was actually not too bad. They also had some egg roll type things, but instead of whatever they usually put in egg rolls, there was cheese inside. They were pretty good too. After we had lunch we saw where they weaved the rugs. The girls there doing it were super fast and it was fun to learn about how they did it. The silk worms are bred, and then when they make their cocoon, they use one single strand of silk. The people there drown the worms or something, so that they can't tunnel out. If they tunneled out, they would rip the silk, and then they would have a lot of short strands of silk instead of one long one. They then showed us how they actually made the rugs. They tie a ton of knots to make the rugs, and then they sell them on a knot basis. More knots is more expensive, and vice versa. The guy showed us some rugs that when you turn them around - not to the back, but just look at them a different way - the colors change. It was super cool.

By the time we got back to the boat, Seth wasn't feeling any better, and we took him to the ship's doctor. They couldn't find out what the problem was, but they gave him some Iv's and tried to make him comfortable until we got to Egypt.

Egypt

The Library of Alexandria

The outside of the Library of Alexandria

We went to Egypt for 2 days. When we first got there, they rushed Seth to the hospital. The rest of us didn't really know what to do, so dad ended up going with Seth to the hospital, and the rest of us toured Alexandria. We probably got ripped off 20 times while we were there. The taxi driver showed us some cool stuff, including the Library of Alexandria, the Palace, and the Catacombs. The library was an actual library. I thought it would be like a ruin, but it was a pretty cool library actually. The Palace was pretty cool, it was just a cool looking building. The Catacombs were where they buried people. They were pretty neat, as you can see. Alexandria in all was a dirty gross city. We were scared for our lives while driving. We now know what you mean when you talk about the traffic in the Philippines, Grandma and Grandpa.

The Palace

Inside of the Catacombs

Inside of the Catacombs

There were 3 lanes, and no stop signs. There were very few stop lights, and they have a timer going, and one way can go for 60 seconds, and then the other can go. It was a little different. But when there weren't stop lights, it was chaotic. You just drive, and don't care if you cut somebody off, if you switch lanes incorrectly, or if you honk your horn too much. You basically try to get where you are going as fast as you can, however you can, without getting in a wreck. There didn't seem to be a lot of traffic laws, or if there were, nobody was following them. It was crazy.

It was super dusty, and this was our first view of the Pyramids.

We found out that night that Seth had had Appendicitis. He had had surgery and was sleeping. Mom went over to the hospital to visit him and dad. He was doing fine and then they both came back and slept on the boat. Seth couldn't get back on the boat because of his surgery, so he had to fly to Rome. In the morning, dad went to stay with Seth while the rest of us went to Cairo. I won't go into Seth's adventure much, because I think my parents and Seth are both writing posts about it.

Pyramids

Jenna kissing the Sphinx

Anyway, mom, Joe, Jenna and I went to Cairo and saw the Pyramids. It was a super dusty day, and we could hardly see the Pyramids until we got pretty close. They were actually pretty cool. They were huge. The merchants there at the Pyramids were super annoying. They put these turban type things on our heads then demanded money. Our tour guide argued with them for a while, then just gave them some money and we left. We also saw the Sphinx, it was pretty cool too. After the Pyramids we went to the Cairo museum, where they have all of the jewelry and gold and stuff from the Pyramids on display. The coolest stuff there was King Tut's stuff. We saw his mask thing, and all of his jewelry. They had a whole room for all of that stuff. It was amazing.

Sphinx and Pyramid

We started driving back. The tour guide said we would be back at around 4. We left, and the traffic was horrible. Horns were honking, in bumper to bumper traffic. Really people? 4 passed, and we asked again, she said 4:30. We had to be back on the ship by 5:30, so we started getting a little worried. 4:30 passed, and she said we were almost there. We finally got back to the ship at 4:45, which was still a little too close for comfort.

At this time, mom started freaking out, because she didn't know how Seth was. We hadn't heard from him in 24 hours now, and we didn't know if he was ok, or if dad had even made it to Seth. So we spent the evening sorting that out. (again, see the other blog posts)

Other Cruise Stuff

We met this awesome Mormon couple from Toronto. Dan and Megan (sorry, I don't remember your/their last name) were on their honeymoon. They were super nice and Dan helped give Seth a blessing, which I'm sure helped. They were about the only people we met on the Cruise. There were rather a lot of old people on this cruise, because all the young people were in school.

We spent the last 2 days of the cruise going back to Citavecchia. By the end the food wasn't tasting too good, and we were getting a little bored. There wasn't a ton of stuff to do, because most of it was drinking, gambling, or art auctions. The captain heard about what happened to Seth and invited us to a personal tour of the bridge. He took us there and the second in command was from the US and so we talked to him about the boat and stuff for around an hour. It was pretty fun.

We got to Citavecchia and we had Seth's backpack to carry, as well as the rest of our stuff. Dad was still with Seth in Cairo, and his pack was 41 pounds. We packed our bags, and mine ended up being 47 pounds. Then I had to carry Seth's pack on my front, which was around 15 or 20 pounds. It was pretty tough, but we made it to Rome and our apartment. Seth and dad flew in a while later, and we all were back together. Quite an adventure huh?

Fun note: This is the 111 post. I posted it on 11/11.