Page 10 of AmandaL Travel Blog Posts


Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Cairo January 24th 2010

Day 59: Sunday, January 24, 2010. Cairo, Egypt to (eventually) Aswan, Egypt (via overnight train) Arabic sayings I'm trying to learn: * Hello: As Salaam alakum (sounds like "ah sa lam a lake em") * Thanks: Shokran ("Sho Kran") * Welcome: Afwan ("Af wan") * Bye: Ma'as salaama ("Masa lama") * Another way to say hello is one that I only know phonetically, can't find it online. Say, with kind of a caribbean voice, "Peace yah mahn". It's a cool/slang way of saying hello. * And this last one makes me smile- it's what our tour guide would say to us many times a day, "Yalla yalla Habebi!" It means, "Let's go sweetheart". hehe. I'm trying (key word there) to write this entry on Wednesday, 1/27/10 and it's about 9:30am. Not only is exhaustion keeping me ... read more
Pyramids and sky.
Sphinx!
Contiki Egypt

Africa » Egypt » Lower Egypt » Cairo January 23rd 2010

Day 58: Saturday, January 23, 2010. Athens, Greece to Cairo, Egypt. I check out of the hotel around 9:30am and head over to the metro. It's about a block away and isn't that bad, if it wasn't for Monstro strapped to my back. I get there, buy a ticket for the metro that goes to the airport, go one station, switch metros and then about 5 stops later, get onto a tram that takes us directly to the airport. Not as exhausting as it sounds, and it's only 6 euros vs. a taxi being about 35-40 Euro. I get Monstro checked and have about an hour before my flight so I decide to tempt fate and see if the airport has wi-fi. They do! And, they have the first 45 minutes free- yea! I then updated ... read more
Street vendor in Cairo selling sweet potatoes.
Streets of Cairo
Dinner at Gad's

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens January 21st 2010

Day 56 & 57, Thursday 1/21 - Friday 1/22, 2010. Day 56: Thursday, January 21, 2010. Athens, Greece. I sleep in late today and love it. My only plan today is to hit up some stores because I need warm weather clothes and some sandals. The concierge confirms that my best bet on getting all of this at a cheaper price is the mall. Which, ironically enough, is named "The Mall". It's about 30 minutes away by Metro and I can't say anything exciting happened. I found one t-shirt that was cheap enough and that was it. I looked into the times that they were showing "Sherlock Holmes" but the first showing was hours away and I wasn't going to spend hours at a mall. I wandered around the hotel neighborhood some more and picked up ... read more

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens January 20th 2010

Day 55: Wednesday, January 20, 2010. Athens, Greece. Today was spent wandering a few different locations. First was the Temple of Olympian Zeus with Arch of Hadrian being nearby. I was pretty much the only tourist there so I had to do the "aim the camera at yourself" type pictures, so hence the off center :) I just can't get over how tall these columns are- my pictures can't seem to capture that. After that, I walk over to Panathinaiko Stadium which is the first Olympic Stadium (first game held there in 1896). I then wandered back up thru the National Gardens (didn't stop at the turtle pond because I don't think I can take it) and then climbed another flight of stairs that would make Rocky Ba... read more
Panathinaiko Stadium
Isidoros and flag
Arch of Hadrian

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens January 19th 2010

Day 54: Tuesday, January 19, 2010. Athens, Greece. Today I decide to tackle the Acropolis. It's only about a 10 minute walk from the hotel to the entrance and along the way I learn a trick that is helping me to survive Athens, I listen to music. That way I can ignore the many people who come up to me and try to sell me postcards or whatever else they think I need to buy. Yes, I'm probably not doing this travel thing "the right way" but it helps me to keep my sanity. I don't like mingling with people I don't know even when I'm in the States and know what's going on. That feeling doesn't change when you put me in a foreign country and add the language barrier, sorry. I get to the ... read more
Herodes Theater
Theater of Dionysos
Entrance to Acropolis, the Propylaea

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens January 18th 2010

Day 53: Monday, January 18, 2010. Athens, Greece. The shuttle that will take me to the Cruise ship picks me up at 7:30am. The boat leaves around 8:30am and we're at the first island by 10am. On our way there, my ears pick up on some American accents on the guys standing next to me so I feel braver and strike up a conversation. They work for the state in the IT department and one is from DC and the other from Pittsburgh (though he lives in Germany now.) We chat for a few minutes and I head inside to read. We get to the first island, Hydra. 90% of the group are Japanese tourists and our tour guides, who I'm guessing are Japanese, cater to them. They'll speak for a few minutes in Japanese, and ... read more
Hydra
Cat on a roof
Pack mules, literally.

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens January 17th 2010

Day 52: Sunday, January 17, 2010. Athens, Greece. Found this cool site while looking for some info to link to, check out the panoramas! I want that camera! Now, back to the blog... Since I fell asleep early I also woke up early. So, I'm out the door by 8:30 am and in search of the Monastiraki Flea Market which is supposed to be even more amazing on Sundays. As I walk along the Acropolis I see another stray dog coming towards me. He seems to be on a mission and we pass each other without incident. About 10 seconds later, I hear a church bell ring right behind me so I turn to look to see what's going on and, since it's Sunday, it's just the normal routine. However, the dog had also turned around ... read more
Narrow street in Monastiraki area.
Kapnikarea church
Miracle turtle

Europe » Greece » Attica » Athens January 16th 2010

Day 51: Saturday, January 16, 2010. Budapest, Hungary to Prague, Czech Republic (3rd time's the charm!) to Athens, Greece. My flight leaves Budapest around 8:30am so I have a airport shuttle pick me up at 6am. As I hand over my bag to the driver, there is suddenly something rubbing against my legs and whining. I've encountered the first stray I've seen in Budapest and it was a mutt who didn't seem hurt, just was happy to find a human. I start to pet him and the driver says "It's just a stray" and indicates that I need to get into the van. So, I hop in the van and watch the dog scurry off. I have no idea what that incident was but it ripped out my heart (and ends up it was the first ... read more
Outside of Theater of Dionysos
Theater of Dionysos
Lycabettus Hill

Europe » Hungary » Central Hungary » Budapest » Buda January 14th 2010

Days 49 - 50: Thursday, January 14th - Friday, January 15th. Budapest, Hungary. Day 49: Thursday, January 14, 2010. Budapest, Hungary. I decide to hang in the Castle area today (tired of that walk to and from the metro) and I head over to the Palace to take a tour (this link is to a virtual tour site that gives some tidbits of info on the palace). The Palace is now a couple of Museum's and, once again, I'm not a painting and sculpture kind of girl. I like to see architecture and furniture, I'm odd that way. So, I enjoyed the first floor that had a few stairwells here and there that showed the preserved cellars and what not. Then I quickly went thru the 2nd and 3rd floor as they were pretty much art ... read more
Latest P.O.N.
Kinga and I- we're pretty!
Kinga takes on Monstro.

Europe » Hungary » Central Hungary » Budapest » Buda January 12th 2010

Days 47 - 48: Tuesday, January 12th thru Wednesday, January 13th. Budapest, Hungary. Day 47: Tuesday, January 12, 2010. Budapest, Hungary. "It's an adventure, it's an adventure, it's an adventure..." Yes, my internal chanting started early today. So, I get to the bus stop around 11:15 am because I'm meeting up with the Ausseis at Noon at the Szechenyi Bath House. I sit there for 20 minutes before going into a nearby hotel and asking them if the busses are running today. "No, there's a transit strike, only the metro is running." Hmm, ok. As far as I know, there's no metro stop nearby so I start walking towards the path that TG led us up yesterday. I text Mike and let him know that I might be a little late getting to the bath house. ... read more
Reenactment going on near Maria Magdalene Tower
St. Stephen's Church
Inside St. Stephen's Church.




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