Last Leg for Ben

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Okay, I know we promised no more London stuff, the day we headed out was so fun that it's necessary to comment on. We spent the morning organizing ourselves and were a bit delayed when I "temporarily" lost my wallet, but hey, I'm always "temporarily" losing stuff, right? The plan was to head into the city, leave our bags at a left luggage drop off and explore until we were supposed to meet up with some camp friends, however, as we reached the top of the Earl's Court Tube station, Frazer Shanks and Alex Ehgartner were waiting at the top. They were actually waiting for the person behind us, a Mr. Nick Raper himself. Anyhoo, it was perfectly timed and we were able to leave our bags at the boys' hotel. The same Body Exhibition that had been traveling around the USA was showing right where we were that day, so we were lucky enough to see it. It was truly memorizing and so well done. If you have a chance to see it, it's well worth the steep entrance fee. You see some really cool stuff. We met back up with the boys at the pub, then Carly and her sister and Matt joined us and unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to catch our flight to Athens.

We arrived in Athens at 2:30 am and were at the hotel by 4:00 am. The hotel is quite nice and randomly each room has it's own desktop computer in it with complimentary high speed internet. We even have free porn channels, which kind of weirds us out...even in Italy it was a bit more PG and it only came on after hours. We woke up late and since we don't have a guide book for Greece, we're pretty much winging it. We were advised that it wasn't a good idea to go to the Acropolis after 9:00 am because of the horrid heat so we took the bus up to Plaka, a really cute old touristy neighborhood with lots of markets, shops and restaurants where we braved the aggressive Greek merchants who were trying incessantly to get us to buy something or eat at their cafe. The architecture was spectacular, so old and the colors of the buildings were bright. The streets were lined with gorgeous flowers. We had a late lunch at a traditional Greek restaurant (Greek salad for both of us) and wandered around what we think were the botanical gardens as well as some cool buildings. The language is so different from any other language either one of us have ever heard before and even Ben's minimal exposure to the Greek language from his experiences with Delta Tau Delta are doing little to help the situation. We enjoyed the hours of siesta, or whatever the word for nap is in Greek, and went out for a late dinner, finishing after 11 pm. We went to a local restaurant where all the diners were authentic Greek and they took one look at us, took us into the kitchen area and pointed to everything that was cooking and then the word in the menu. We hadn't even opened our mouth...I guess we're that obvious.

We woke up early this morning as we were advised that it was best to go to the Acropolis earlier rather than later, since the heat is quite brutal. We had a typical Greek breakfast (Ben had coco pops and I had a turkey sandwich, haha) and headed off to do our sightseeing. The Parthenon is atop a large hill so it was a bit of a hike to get up there, but well worth it. The place was SWARMING with tourists, the majority Italian, so we attached ourselves to one another and hoped for the best. I of course tried to pretend I was an Italian tourist, talking to everyone and trying to remember as much of my Italian as possible. We both were in shock at how incredible the Acropolis is. You can only imagine what it used to look like before it started to deconstruct, considering how beautiful it is even now. And we both were curious at how they were able to build such intricate, enormous structures without machines. We walked around for ages, seeing the Agora, the Parthenon, and some other constructions that I cannot and will not even try to pronounce. We stopped for lunch in Plaka at a cute outdoor cafe and looked around a bit before heading back to watch the USA vs Ghana. Just a small note about the food...we were both actually surprised at the cuisine here. Considering the reputation of the so-called Mediteranean diet, we were expecting a much healthier selection of foods. Instead, french fries come with every entree (main for those Aussies and Kiwis reading this since I know that entrees are appetizers for you) and everything appears to be swimming in grease. No worries, the feta is fantastic and we're assuming that the grease is actually olive oil. After a long hot day in the sun, we came back to the room to watch the World Cup games (USA played, and lost) and unwind a bit and cool off after the brutally hot day outdoors on a giant rocklike structure on top of a hill. We went for a late dinner at a restaurant near the hotel. We were the only diners there that even, but we chalked that up to a bad location. The food was alright, of course there were french fries, but at least we could say it was so romantic we felt like we were the only ones there (we were, haha).

The next morning we woke up and decided that the best way to stay healthy in an unhealthy place is to exercise so we braved the experience of a gym in Athens. Wasn't too bad actually. We then packed ourselves up, checked out and figured it would be a pleasant experience to wander around the port of Athens for a few hours while we waited for our high speed ferry to Mykonos. An experience it was, but I don't think pleasant would be the first choice in words to describe what we saw. It took us ages to find a lunch spot and when we did, it was a fast food gyros place. We then found a bench, somewhere in the shade because it was again blistering hot, that we shared with a wino and a woman who was screaming in all sorts of languages profanities at who knows who. After a few hours of this, we decided it was worth a few euros to buy a bottle of water and a soda at a local cafe to escape the madness which is what we did until it was time to hop on board. The ferry was enormous, a giant high speed ferry with the words Vodafone. The lines were massive so we pushed our way on board and found our seats by the window, sitting at a table across from two adorable Greek children who we played with for a bit of the journey. The boat was very comfortable, very quick, and very efficient, making three stops before we arrived in Mykonos. We gladly arrived around 8 pm and after struggling a bit to get a taxi, we arrived in Platos Y'ialos, a lovely seaside community 4 kilometers away from the main city center. We checked into our gorgeous room at Petinos Beach Hotel, equipped with an adorable patio overlooking the garden, a fridge and a pretty bathroom. Mykonos is quite unique looking, since all of their buildings and houses are painted white with blue shutters. It makes for a beautiful contrast against the deep blues of the sea. Our hotel was right on the water so just stepping out the front door of the hotel put you on the rocky/sandy beach lines with restaurants along the water.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant overlooking the water and spent the day blissfully soaking up the sun by the gorgeous hotel pool (to make a long story short, in order to use the chairs and umbrellas on the sand, you had to either play a large sum of money or agree to have lunch at the restaurant in front of which the chairs had been placed and we were unwilling to do either so we more than happily took the much more comfortable pool chairs as our homebase for the day). Not much else to say about the day, except it was very hot, very windy, very relaxing and very wonderful. I made friends with as many Italian tourists as I could and even convinced a few of them that I was actually a Native with my incredible language skills and accent. Ha! But hey, it was a lot of fun using a language that I love to speak but don't get to use very often. We relaxed for a bit in the afternoon, watched more World Cup games, and dined at one of the seaside restaurants along the beach strip.

The next day was a lot like the previous day, spent poolside, reading, tanning, relaxing, etc. We took the bus into the town center that night, as we had heard wonderful things about the restaurants, shops, and overall buzzing energy of the area. We found ourselves a cute Italian restaurant in a large piazza and had a decent meal while doing some fabulous people watching. There were people of all sorts wandering around town and that was sheer entertainment in itself. After dinner, we spent an hour just wandering around the small walkways and shops. Everything stays open well past midnight in the town center, an indication of the true party island for which Mykonos is so reputable.

The next day we we checked out, went for a walk, and then caught a ride to the Old Port of Mykonos to catch our next ferry to Santorini. The views were spectacular and the people watching again was fantastic. The wind was blowing with a gusto we had not expected, causing some problems with some of the ships. Our ferry was delayed an hour and a half. We finally made it on board and the boat was much similar to the first ferry we had taken, but half the size. Luckily for us, they were showing the Australia vs Italy World Cup game on board so the ride seemed a lot shorter. We arrive in Santorini, hopped in a cab, and arrived at our hotel, Villa Clio. Side note: the night before we left London, I had received an email from the online travel agency through which we had booked our accommodation on the islands saying that due to a change of ownership, the original hotel we had booked (Thera Mare) in Santorini would no longer be able to honor or reservation so they were placing us in a new accommodation (Villa Clio) at no additional cost. Being in a rush, we failed to look more closely into this matter, trusting that the hotels would be of equal value. WRONG! We arrived and were disappointed to find none of the ammenities we had requested, toilets that didn't function properly, a bed with nothing but a folded sheet on it, and no hot water. We toughed it out, showered up, and went out for a lovely dinner at a local restaurant complete with live music. However, during dinner we both decided that this being our last couple of nights together before Ben went home after three months of travel, we deserved to go out with a bang and promised to try and reconcile the hotel misshap as early as possible the next morning.

Our experience at breakfast the next morning only solidified our decision to check out pronto! The woman who supposedly spoke English angrily growled at me when I asked for a glass of water that my choices for beverages were either orange or coffee and then placed a plate of stale bread and a plate of butter and jelly in front of us. We proceeded immediately to a travel agency where a woman was kind enough to let us use her phone to call Octopus Travel, after comparing our original hotel and the new hotel and concluding that something fishy was happening since Thera Mare was paradise compared to where we currently were staying. To make a long story MUCH shorter, apparently, a third party involved has recently starting sending customers who had booked Thera Mare to lower star accommodations, claiming for some reason or another Thera Mare was unable to honor the reservation. Instead, this third party is forwarding customers to cheaper hotels with which they are in "cahoots". We learned that our reservation was still in tact with Thera Mare and after discussions with people at Thera Mare and the compay itself, we realized we had been part of a scam and happily collected our things from Villa Clio and settled in at Thera Mare. Thera Mare is a beautiful hotel, with beautiful rooms, a lovely English speaking staff, a gorgeous pool with a pooltable and bar poolside, and a decent breakfast spread. They were incredibly helpful, immediately swearing to help us ammend the problem and getting us set up with an ATV, a little 4 wheel drive vehicle which everyone uses to get around the island. We went for a drive to Pyrgos, the highest point on the island from which you get 360 degree panaromic views. You can climb small staircases and walkways to get to a castle as well. The island is gorgeous, much different than Mykonos. The island itself was created by volcanic activity so there are huge cliffs that seem to just drop off and the water all around creates gorgeous background scenery any way you look. We exlplored the area for awhile, taking lots of pictures, then headed towards a beach where we stopped for a picnic lunch. We spent a few hours by the gorgeous pool, listening to island music in the background as we swam and tanned. We took a drive to a place called Red Beach which was basically a gorgeous red rock cliff that had a small beach underneath and gorgeous views. That night we took the ATV down to the beach and chose a restaurant along the water called Lava where you go into the kitchen to chose your food.

The next morning we woke up, had breakfast, and headed down to another nearby beach where we rented chairs and an umbrella and relaxed for the day. We chose a spot right at the end of the beach, where a giant cliff hit the water. There was lots of activity in the area of Perissa in which we were staying and plenty of naked woman, many of which we wished had kept their bikini tops on. We even met friends of Ben's roommate Anthony as we were leaving...small world! That night, we went on a tour with some guests from the hotel to Ioa. We first stopped at a winery where we sampled some local wines and saw some incredible views. We stopped at a couple of other views before arriving at Ioa, a small town atop one of the cliffs with gorgeous shops and incredible views. We wandered around for awhile, then hopped back on the bus where we were driven down to a spot on the bottom of the cliff where there were 5 tavernas right on the water. The hotel owner had selected a restaurant for us and we sat on the water's edge and watched the most incredible sunset either of us had ever seen. We had a wonderful dinner, with fresh fish and local food and wine. It was the perfect last night to a great vacation.

We spent the next day again, just relaxing by the pool, after going for a last ride on our ATV. We had such a wonderful time in Santorini and highly recommend this hotel to anyone going. They even promised discounts! (I should be in PR right??) We soaked up our last bit of sun, said our goodbyes and hopped a plane from Santorini to Athens, then another to London. We arrived back at Carly's after 3 am (thanks Carly and her mom for picking us up) after a bit of delay but we were still beaming from our vacation so we didn't seem to mind. It almost felt like a vacation from our vacation.

Our last day in London couldn't have been more lovely. We woke up quite early and took the tube straight into London, aiming towards Camden Market. We spent an hour or more roaming around, gawking at the crazy merchandise and the even crazier shoppers, many fully clad with multiple facial piercings. After, we tubed into the city towards Hyde Park where we made our way to the first floor of the Metropolitan Hotel. You see, my incredibly generous and wonderful parents treated us to the most amazing lunch either of us have ever had at Nobu London. The food was incredible and the service was impeccable and the whole overall experience was out of this world. We felt very much a part of high society and pretty much floated out of there. We decided to continue our afternoon of luxury and took a long stroll down Regent Street and the surrounding area, wandering in and out of many posh shops like Dolce & Gabbana, pretending like we could actually afford something from any of the shops. We found our way back to Covent Garden and met up with Carly and her mother to see an early showing of Avenue Q, the musical. Despite being very embarassed sitting next to Carly's mother, we all LOVED the show (including mummy Owen) and left smiling and singing the tunes. We went for dinner at Belgo's, a Belgian restaurant where Ben finally had his fish and chips. The night ended with a lovely stroll around London, stopping on the Waterloo bridge to see marvelous night views of the city.

Unfortunately, the next morning it was time for Ben to go so we left early and drove straight to Heathrow airport. To make a long story MUCH shorter, Ben's flight to Reykjavik was so delayed that he was going to miss his connecting flight to BWI so after a small panic and some reorganization, he was booked onto a new flight on a new airline to a new airport. Only problem was his flight was changed until 7:40 pm, instead of 1 pm which means he was at the airport for 9 hours. He's home now and I've been informed he's gotten in safely. He was given a 12 pound meal voucher (almost 20 dollars) and was able to watch the England world cup game so I'm assuming it was a pleasurable experience.

So, Carly and her mom and I drove out to the Cotswolds and checked into our hotel in Burford. We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around to wonderfully perfect English communities, complete with quaint shops, lovely flowers and gorgeous houses. We found ourselves a little pub and settled in with our Pimms (a local beverage) to watch the England vs Portugal game which was wonderfully exciting but ended disappointedly. We had dinner at a lovely outdoor pub and then had a good night sleep.

This morning, we woke up early and had breakfast at another outdoor pub. We had a wonder around a few more adorable towns and then hopped on an old fashioned steam train for a ride around. I felt VERY English, hehe. The Cotswolds are gorgeous, very relaxing and very scenic and I highly recommend it.

I've been getting lazy with the blogging because I've not had much use on the computer but I'll be home before you know it with probably one more update before I get back. Enjoy the pictures and I'll be back in the States on the 8th!

MISS YOU
Erica and Ben

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Photos

The beach in Santorini
Can you believe how blue the water is??

Red Beach
This is the Santorini idea of a beach.

Mykonos Port
We were all smiles as we waited (and were delayed) at the Mykonos Port in route to Santorini

Erica and her pineapple
Capturing Erica with one of her favorite fruits outside of our hotel before a lovely dinner on the beach.

Ben and his sunset
Ben smiling as bright as the sun setting in Ioa...we both decided this was the most incredible sunset we had ever seen

Ben and Erica
Taking in the views of Athens

Cotswolds Crew
Carly and Erica enjoying the sunny day in Upper Sloughter

Last night in London
Ben's last night in London