Hello to Greece

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This morning we said goodbye to Amy, Mar, and Patrice. They were heading to the airport after breakfast for their flight back home to L.A. Today was also Suzanne and Clay's last day of the tour. However, they would be spending a few more days in Rome and along with Chris and Wendy, would be travelling down to Pompeii with us. Back on the bus for a 2 hour drive down to Pompeii. It was a beautiful and sunny morning made even more spectacular once we starting driving along the coast near the city of Naples. Driving through Naples, we could easily see Mt. Vesuvius and knew that Pompeii wasn't too far. Pompeii, like Florence and Venice was like Disneyland for tourists. There must have been 30 other coaches parked in the parking lot when we arrived. I was quite excited to check out these ruins which I've learned so much about growing up. My excitement was made even more once I learned that admission today was free! Gotta love those freebies! Today was by far the warmest day we've had on the trip. It was defenitely shorts weather as the temperature probably hit around 90 degrees. We met up with our tour guide and all I was hoping for was that this guy was half interesting. If I have to endure another guided tour with a boring and disengaging guide, I think i'll go crazy. Once we entered the ruins, it was all downhill from there. Not only was this guide boring but he seemed to rush us through the tour. He gave us way too much information and eventually I just tuned him out and went into my own little world. Then as if it couldn't get any more disappointing, we learned that the brothels were closed for cleaning. This was the one part of Pompeii that I was really looking forward to. It would have been really cool to see these brothels with all their phallic imagery and depictions of sexual positions. The one highlight of the tour was being able to see the plaster castings of the the people buried in the ash flow. Apparently the ash flow that buried the city ocurred so quickly, that people were instantly buried and entombed forever. When excavators were searching through the ash, they would find voids where bodies had been. By pouring plaster into these voids and letting it solidify, the body shape of the victims would be created. On many of these plaster castings, you could even see their facial expressions. Many of these plaster castings were placed in glass casings for the public to view. It was all very morbid and interesting at the same time. Once the tour was over, we had about a half an hour to grab a bite to eat or souvenir shop. We all walked back to the coach and said our goodbyes to Clay, Suzanne, Chris, and Wendy. They were going to catch the local train back up to Rome while we crossed the Italian peninsula to catch our ferry to Greece.

Back on the bus, the LA6 had become the LA1. Now by myself, I had to make more of an effort to hang out with some of the others. This would be no problem as I had gotten to know most everyone on the tour. Southern Italy was much poorer and rural compared to the rest of Italy. This was evident on our drive across the peninsula. Towns were few and far between and our rest stops were definetly of a different standard. It was here that I saw the first squatter toilets of the trip. We finally arrived at the port in the early evening. It was here that we also said our goodbyes to Fridge and the Contiki bus. We wouldn't be needing the coach in Corfu and we would be taking a private coach over to Athens. This was Fridge's last tour and he would be driving this coach back up to London. We all boarded the overnight ferry and went in search for our rooms. This was my first night without a roomate so I was wondering if I would be getting a room all to myself or if I would be sharing with one of the single guys. Thankfully, it turned out that I would have my own cabin for the night. The cabin was very small and had 2 bunk bed style beds. Since we were on a Greek ship we had to follow the Greek rules when it comes to plumbing. We were informed that we were not allowed to flush any toilet paper down the toilet. It would have to be placed in the trash bin. I would hate to be the one having to empty these bins. Just the thought of this sounded very disgusting to me. Apparently the plumbing system in Greece is unable to handle toilet paper. My first time using the toilet, I completely forgot and dropped it in the toilet. I was worried that if I flushed, it would cause the toilet to back up and flood the bathroom. I took my chances anyways and flushed.
For dinner, a few of us met up in the cafeteria. I had a Greek Salad, lasagne, and fries with tzatziki sauce. This sauce made from yogurt and cucumber would become my newest favorite thing once this trip was over. I sat with Rob, Kevin, Sandra, little Sara, and Canadian Andrea. We ended up killing an hour or two by discussing politics in America. After dinner, there wasn't much else to do. I browsed the shops and walked the decks. The ship had a casino, internet terminals, a few duty free shops, and a huge lounge area. I killed a few hours in the lounge area hanging out with the Aussie Gossip crew doing what else? Catching up on my gossip. We sat there and smoked and had a few drinks while discussing which perfume they were going to buy in the duty free shops. Needing some fresh air, I decided to go for a little walk when I ran into Kevin. He told me that a small group was at the top deck hanging out and that I should join. Before going up there, I checked out the casino and played a few slots before losing 5 euros. I ran into Patrick in here and we both went in search of the group at the top deck. It was a cool chilly evening out on the top deck. Up here Matt, big Dave, Claire, Kevin, Jason, Andria, Mark, Dave, and Mandy were all out enjoying the night air and sipping some wine. Eventually, it became a bit too chilly for my tastes. I excused myself and called it a night. On my way back down, I noticed the Aussie Gossip Crew still hanging out in the lounge. I joined them for one last drink and started having a very deep conversation with Amanda. We started walking up to our rooms where we continued our conversation in my cabin. I wonder what it may have looked like if someone saw her coming into my cabin at this late hour. We ended up chatting for about 20 minutes before she retreated to her cabin and we both called it a night.

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