May 11, 2010....Well vacation time is here, I picked up Kendy a little after 6:00pm and we hit the road for Chicago. After being on the road for about 2 hours we realized we were still on I80 and not on I88 - oh well, we'll get there. We checked in to the hotel about 10:00pm after driving around looking for Higgins Road, finally found it and it was actually easier to find than we made it.
May 12, 2010...Great continental breafast this morning....I'm being sarcastic...stale muffins and old doughnuts (hard as a rock), the microwave didn't even bring them back to life. Kendy is starting to get nervous about the flight and trying to come up with ways to take some valium with her to help her sleep during the flights, at least the long ones. She has a variety of ideas on how she can accompolish this, something about tiny balloons and tampons, scraping off the markings to make them look like baby asprin, maybe she can rinse out the little hotel shampoo bottle and liquify them, or mix them in her bag of trail mix.....oh believe me, she had several more ideas. I can't convince her that people often take something to help them relax or even sleep on flights, especially long flights. It's not uncommon. She took one last night to make sure they work. I could've drawn faces on her, she was out!!
Pam called at 11:15am our time to say they were delayed in LA due to storms in Chicago. Storms? What storms? It was cloudy but that was it. While we were talking the captain came on to say they were delaying another hour and not leaving until 11:15am their time, there's no way they'll make our flight. Kendy & I will wait at the airport in Barcelona for them to catch up. Everything will work out fine - this will be a trip to remember!
We're sitting at the airport in Chicago waiting for the flight desk to start checking us in when a lady comes in pushing a stroller with a little kid about 3. All he has on is underwear. She then proceeds to get cloths out of a bag (pj's) and dress him. Once in the terminal we needed to be in we stopped at Wolfgang Puck's for a turkey and avacado sandwich. Kendy had 3 beers and a swig out of her shampoo bottle....must be calming.
Boarded the plane, there are a few empty seats. We are sitting in the middle row with an empty seat by us, we'll use it to stretch out. Kendy decided she wanted to trade sides with me because there are guys on my side. She made friends before the plane even started to roll.
****Brooke****
Flight from LA was delayed 2 hours so we missed out flight to Barcalana. We were placed on a flight to Paris then Barcelona. Our luggage was lost.
May 13, 2010...We had a really good flight. It didn't really seem that long, we had dinner and breakfast so I guess it was. The food was pretty good for being on an airplane. I slept some but not very well, my butt got sore from sitting. I sat on a pillow for a while but it didn't help much. Kendy slept good with a little help from her shampoo bottle. She's made friends iwth 5 or 6 guys across the isle.
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Barcelona airport is very nice, too and very clean, they're always cleaning. It was a short flight, landed about 11:00am. It's now 1:45pm and we're still waiting for Pam & Brooke. It would be nice if we knew what flight they were put on or even what airline. Hopefully it's the one due to land at 2:00, Kendy can hardly keep her eyes open.
It's 3:30pm and Pam & Brooke are finally here!! They ended up flying Air France to Paris then to Barcelona and their luggage got lost somewhere along the way. That was a long 4 plus hours at the airport waiting for them but they're here!!
From the airport we took the Euro Bus into town then the metro (underground) as far as we could and then got on the tram when Pam saw the hotel a few blocks away so we got off and walked there. Checked into our hotel rooms and walked up the block to a convience store for water & snacks. Walking back we noticed a bus out front of the hotel that went from the hotel to the airport. We decided to take that tomorrow. For dinner we walked down around the block to a bar/restaurant - good food - well, except Kendy's choice of "The Undertaker". When she asked the waiter what it was he said it was "from the pig" or pork so it should be good....right??? None of us were quite certain what it was. It looked like a section of intestines cooked to a dark brown, very mushy and she said it taste like blood. Pam tried it but no one ended up eating it.
****Brooke****Day 1 no luggage
Arrived to Barcelona at 3pm. Had to get on the bus, metro then the tram to get to our hotel. Ate at a cute little restaurant. Kendy ordered the "UnderTaker" which we are not to sure what was in that sandwich " mystery meat" if they say is "from the pork" don't order it! LoL My Visa card would not work in Spain. Had to call bank to see what was going on.
May 14, 2010...Everyone slept good last night and got up ready for our trip to the airport to head to Athens. When we got to the airport Pam and Brooke checked to see if their luggage made it, no such luck. Pam wanted to sneak back through the exit doors but Brooke wouldn't with the security guard standing near by. They had to go back through secuirty and that took long enough for Kendy to get a beer. Barcelona airport is so pretty, you get the feeling you're in a huge mall. While we were waiting for our flight to Athens we found out that Pam and Brooke landed in Chicago before our plane took off. They probably could've joined us on that flight. We all fell asleep and slept prety good on the flight to Athens, it left late but we made up time in the air and landed just a few minutes late. Got our bags and Kendy & I started looking for Salvatore from Swift Car Rental....no luck! While trying to figure out how to call the office Kendy and Brooke went back over and found him...whew! He went over the car stuff with us and showed us on the map which way to go to get to Stoupa. He also marked the map for us then we were off on our adventure, 4.5 hour road trip through Greece to Stoupa. The trip was awesome. Every once in a while a car or motorcycle would fly by us, mostly on the left. The highest speed we were to go was 120km, it's funny how the number on the sign or the speedometer makes you feel like you're going fast.
Kalamata is beautiful, right along the coast. It started getting dark as we were going through the village and then the narrow winding road began. Was it ever narrow and winding...and dark!! We made it to Stoupa and managed to get through the narrow streets with all the adjoining streets and found our way down a very skinny road...or maybe it was a pathway...with high stone walls on both sides. This was so skinny we pulled the side mirrors in and at one point Pam reached out like she was pushing the car away from the stone wall. We found the villa so Pam went in to check us in. The owners were surprised we drove down the narrow pathway so he came out to park the car for us and even offered to drive the car in and out for us so we didn't have to worry about it. That was awfully nice and we took him up on it. We only had him pull it out once though, after that we parked down on the main road along the coast. It was only maybe 100' away and much easier to get in and out. After settling in to our room, and Pam & Kendy calling dibs on the loft room, we went for a walk to the main road with the beach on one side and lots of little shops, restaurants, bars, bakeries on the other side. We walked the road making sure to get out of the way when we heard cars or scooters coming up behind us. We picked a nice restaurant to eat at, very friendly staff and good food. Then we roamed the dark streets of Stoupa finding interesting buildings and some very dark, dark roads. We finally went to bed at 2:30am ![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_nlUgC7V_-8Q/TNXFUAOKBiI/AAAAAAAAAGw/50w0h62CxRU/s320/day+2+-+Pam+Penny+Kendy+&+Brooke.jpg)
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****Brooke****
Day 2 no luggage
Raining in Barcelona. Took the city bus to the airport. Still no luggage. Boo! Our flight for Athens left at 11:50am and landed at 3:00pm. Our rent a car person was late so we were freaking out just a bit since we did not know what to do. He ended up coming 30 mins later. We had to ask people in Kalamata where Stoupa was and we made up a joke to ask "Stoupa" while we raised our hands and shrugged our shoulders. We stayed in Stoupa at Villa Kosta apartment. Walked around the village that night which has many wild cats. Met our one eyed cat "Stoupa" which we feed bread to. Met two white ocean ducks that live at the harbor. That night we walked through the town looking for the castle. Never found it that night.
May 15, 2010...Kendy & Pam's door to their balcony slammed hard about 6:00am waking us all up. It was very windy and a little rainy. Kendy and Brooke went for a morning walk, Pam and I decided to take advantage of the quite and sleep a bit more, that is until the door slammed more. I went upstairs to shut it. Did I mention that our room had a loft with a balcony, a little kitchen and veranda? Kendy and Brooke got back from their morning venture and laid back down. We all woke up around 11:30 to start our day. We walked down to the main street again to see it in the day light. This time we walked the other direction and found several markets while exploring the streets more. Then we had lunch at another nice, friendly restaurant. Very good food again and the prices for our meals are a lot cheaper than we expected. Our waiter at this place was very friendly and helpful. He told us of some nice places to visit old ruins, abandoned villages and also "The Gate to Hell" or "Death Oracle" in the southern most tip of Greece. He even brought out a map and pictures to show us some areas. The waiter we had today is a Greek/Canadian. He noticed right away we were North American and said it was unusal as they generally have European tourists. He said Americans usually stay in Athens.
I'm not supposed to talk about the bodily noices coming from a couple people but let's just say, Brooke and I are glad we are sharing a room.
Cats - - there are so many stray cats. They don't bother us unless someone feeds them which we're all guilty of doing. Pam named one of the local cats 'Blind-Eyed Bitch' and we call another one 'Stoupa'. We did find the ruins of Castle Beaufort in Stoupa today. Not much left to see other than ruins. You can see signs of it all over the hillside, from small sections of a stone wall to what's left of some buildings. We hear music tonight off in the distance so Pam and I went for a walk to find out where it was coming from and what it was. There was a band and Greek dancers at one of the restaurants on the hillside.
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****Brooke****
Day 3 no luggage
The upstairs door slammed because of the wind. Kendy and I stayed up at 630am and walked the town in search of coffee, which we never found . Met a nice guy at lunch who was our sever, he would say "yes" then sucked his sliva which became a on going joke. He showed us some places to visit while we were here. Our cat "Stupa" found us during lunch. Explored Stupa today and found the castle or should I say it's remians. Kendy was determined to go to the top. There are cats everywhere! So if ur not a cat lover don't go to Greece.
May 16, 2010...Pam's 50th birthday today! Kendy wakes up to find lots of red bites from the ants she decided to nap with 2 days ago. We tried telling her they were crawling all around when she laid down with her blanket but she thought it would be okay, she now knows otherwise. We went exploring today, took a drive south to the very tip of the Peloponnese - to "the Gate to Hell'. Beautiful drive, winding road right along the cliffs of the hillsides. Lots of ruins along the way. We stopped at a couple abandoned villages on the way down and drove through Agios Nicolas. That was one place we'd thought about staying when we were making our vacation plans. We decided to stop there on the way back for lunch. Continuing our drive we ran over a lime green lizard. He was about 12" long and we heard the crunch. After that we saw several large snakes crossing or along the road, one that Pam spotted was huge! The Death Oracle, or 'Gate to Hell' was very interesting and the view are beautiful around it.
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Back to Stoupa and Kendy is already about drunk. That Ouzo must really be potent. We went for another walk and visited a couple more shops. We shopped for the first time since our trip started, Pam bought herself a nice ring. We came back to our villa without Kendy. She said she was going to the bathroom and never came back so after awhile we decided to go back and she was waiting outside for us. On her trip to the restroom, which ended up being in a bar, she met a Greek man who bought her some Ouzo - how much, we'll never know but it must have been enough because she was waiting for us to let her in so she could go to the bathroom, which is where we thought she'd went already. She started telling us about this guy she met and how he couldn't speak English so he had the waitress translate for them. She said she was supposed to meet him at 9:00pm, we weren't going to send her out by herself so her and Pam went back down to see if he was still there. He wasn't but they were a little early. Shortly after getting back Pam realized she'd left her shawl so Kendy went to get it and met someone else who bought her a drink. Needless to say she was not walking too straight when she got back.
I made dinner for Pam's birthday. We had pasta, it was so good Kendy ate her's and some of Pam's and then her leftovers from the night before along with a bunch of noodles and anything else she could find. She was hungry. Pam did a reading for Kendy two nights ago and one of the things she told her was that she was going to have trouble with her teeth, mainly her back teeth. Tonight while Kendy was eating some peanuts she started picking at them with a little umbrella toothpick from her sundae and something broke off. She tried to pretend it was the toothpick but then realized it was part of a tooth. She wouldn't leave it alone, she kept messing with it and picking at it more. Pam and I had to scold her to make her stop. We all three told her to leave it alone or she would make it worse.
****Brooke****
Day 4 no luggage
Got going early. Took a 2 hour drive to the southern most point of Europe. That is where the gate to hell is. The water is so blue and crystal clear here, very beautiful. On the way there we drove through Many small villages which all had manis, the big towers had little holes in them so they could stick a gun out of and shot their neighbors when they fought over land. Penny ran over a big bright green lizard :( there are a lot of small animals here including large snakes. We went to Vathia, which is an abandon village. A little black cat followed us through the whole town until we left. We gave her a piece of rice cake. We ate lunch at the small fishing town of Nickolas which is next to Stupa. Our server Gregg was very friendly and answered many of our questions we had about Greece. I have become very fond of the blue parrot at the market. I talk to him at least twice a day. We sat on the beach for a bit then hung out at the room.. Kendy got drunk at the bar and was being silly all night. She chipped her tooth LoL. Bought some desserts at the pastry shop. Yummy :p
May 17, 2010...We all slept good again last night. Kendy woke up with no memory of her tooth - Yea!! On the way back from the Oracle of Death I started having a runny nose, it would not quit. I took Chlor-Trimeton several times but that didn't help. It is still bad today, I have to carry Kleenex every where we go.
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****Brooke****
Day 5 no luggage
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We got to the bus at 7:32pm and our bags were the last two on the bus. We bearly made it :z decided to eat at the first resturant we ate at the first night. Since our hotel owner helped us so much with our bags we bought them mini cakes and had our photos taken with them.
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****Brooke****
Woke up at 5:30AM to get going. Time for Athens. It started raining and I saw a rainbow in Katamala while at the donut shop. Felt car sick the whole way to Athens . Ugh! Athena is very dirty! And the drivers in the city are even more nuts and crazy. We could not find the rent a car place so we had to ask for directions that is when Penny said "fuck" :0 Salvator took us to our hotel which is really scary.. But we have a nice balcony. we went to Acropolis which was so neat! Athens is the city of dogs! There were even dogs in the Acropolis. We also saw Temple of Olympian Zues, Harian's Arch which divided old Greece from new Greece, satutes of gods and goddess, Temple of Athena Nike, Ancient Agora, Propylaia, Parthenon, Erechtheion, Theather of Herodes Atticus and Dionysos. There were side streets where we did a little shopping and ate at a cute restaurant. The only channel in English was CNN news so we had to watch the negative news. Mom, Penny and I decided to go get some McDonald's
May 19, 2010...Up at 5:30am - no one slept very good but that's not slowing us down. Up and out, on our way to the metro by 6:00am. We took the metro all the way to the airport. We hesitated a bit before getting on and had to hurry. Kendy barely got in and Brooke got her arm in, Kendy pushed her butt through the opening to try and keep it open for Brooke. The door closed to about 12" when Brooke said "Mom, I'm not going to make it" with such a worried look on her face then all of a sudden the doors came open. After she got on the train we realized there was a door release button that someone (we think it was a man) pushed to help us out. We'll laugh about this later but right now it was kind of scary. Check in at the airport went smoothly. Our flight to Rome will be on a newer Aegeon Airlines plane, nice and spacious with comfy seats. Nice flight to Rome, it wasn't real long but we all tried to rest. Pam was sitting on the isle and every time she dozed her left leg would lean in the isle a bit, she got hit by the cart 3 times! The last one sounded like a hard one. It was so loud it made me jump.
Pam, Kendy and I went exploring the hotel to look for the roof balcony that was advertised. Didn't find a balcony but we did find a cabinet with a few clean blankets, a few pillows and lots of towels. We brought the blankets to our room and later went back up to see if there was another and brought back a couple pillows.
May 20, 2010...Today we are going to head in town for the day and see as much as we can. We checked out a lot of shops today, saw a lot of sights, the restaurant we ate lunch at today was a lot better than the one yesterday. It looked like a wine cellar inside. Wine from floor to ceiling on three walls. Why is it the two Italian restaurants we've eaten at so far have jarred pasta sauce that we've seen at the market? The men and women are really gaulking at us today, we think it's our attire. Brooke and I have on shorts, my top and Pam's dress show a little cleavage but nothing we don't normally wear. It seems odd to us that a county that flaunts sex, shows so much 'butt' and where prosititution is legal would have a problem with a little cleavage. But boy are we getting some looks!
We stopped at the little market again today before getting on the 135 and heading back to the hotel. The guy was not happy that I gave him €50 and he had to break it. I'm not sure who was worse, him or the lady the day before when Pam had to give her €50. We'll try a different market tomorrow. Second day trying to buy water and again we get soda water - everyone but Pam that is. Today she got lucky and got a bottle of plain water. We walked a lot today and didn't head back to the hotel until about 5:00pm. When we got back our room had been cleaned and left unlocked. Thankfully nothing was messed with. I wonder what went through their minds when they came in and saw Pam's shirt, undies and a plastic bag hanging from the chandelier. Tomorrow we'll head to the seaside village of Lido di Ostia or maybe Lido di Ostia Antica.
Kendy is drunk again. She drank her box of wine, part of Pam's and went down to get me some ice where she ended up getting 3 free glasses of wine from the bartender. She must have drank them rather fast since it didn't seem like she was gone all that long. Now she went down to have a smoke with him. I thought about going down to get on the lobby computer but I already have my jammies on.
May 21, 2010...Kendy has a huge hangover this morning...Oh well, that's what happens. :)
9:30am and we are off to to venture outside of Rome and visit a small village - did I mention that Kendy had 3 shots of expresso this morning??? We've been sleeping good at night but we do get up a lot earlier here in Rome than we did in Stoupa. We go to bed a little earlier too since there's nothing to do around the hotel. I think Kendy commented this morning that we took a lot more pictures in Greece than we are in Rome, must be more interesting things to see in Greece. I know already Greece is my favorite. We rode the metro to Pinnado. We weren't sure we were going to get on without waiting for the next train and after going through the turnstyle Kendy decided she had to go to the bathroom. She had to go back through the turnstyle, go in what looked like an elevator and pay €0.50 to enter the toilet room. Then she had to go in a toilet that had poo in it! She came strolling around the corner without a care in the world as the train was about ready to leave. I yelled at her to hurry so she dug out her ticket only to find out it wouldn't work twice. She looked like she was going to give up until Pam gave her the extra one she had. We all made it on the train on time. We got off that train at the Lido station and got on one that was above ground. The small village we stopped in to hop the bus was pretty neat. There's an old castle and lots of ruins in the outter areas of the village. We had a hard time finding someone who speaks English to make sure we were heading in the right direction. I asked three teenage boys who were bouncing a soccer ball around. They weren't sure how well they spoke English but the directed us in the right to the right bus stop to go in the direction we were aiming for. We got to the village by the sea to find out it was a lot more modern. The beach area was kind of neat, reminds me of a boardwalk style like you'd find on the East coast or something you'd see in the 1920-1940 era. After getting some Gelato we decided to head back to the older village. I'm not sure how long we'll stay there as we all seem to be able to take a nap.
We ended up riding through the village and decided to head back to Rome. Kendy had to stop to poo & puke before we got on the train. She came out looking for toilet paper and settled for a cleaning rag off a cart...eewgh! She wasn't feeling up to Rome again so we told her how to get back to the hotel and left her and got on the metro.
*Kendy's adventure - she got to the terminal for the bus, found the bus and got on only to sit. As she was sitting she thought she was going to need the bathroom again. The bus finally pulled out and she was headed for the hotel. She was getting excited as she saw the stop getting closer and then the bus passed it by without stopping! She didn't push the button since the bus has always stopped at that stop. She had to ride to the turnaround point and sit by herself while the driver took his lunch break.
*Us - we got off the metro at the Colleiseum, hit a couple shops, ate lunch and got on the 80. There's the guy in the purple shirt again, he stares at everyone...even men. When we got off the 80 this time we walked through that part of town and stopped at a different market. We all got a bottle of regular water this time. We headed back to the hotel on the 135 with the intention of jumping on it later and going the other direction to find a restaurant for dinner. Once back at the hotel the room felt oddly warm, almost like a steam bath and when Pam went in the bathroom she noticed it was wet, all over. When asked Kendy said she took a hot shower. We all laid around for a while and listened to Kendy tell us her adventure after we left her at the train station. Brooke decided not to go for dinner so Pam & I decided we would. We went over the bridge to the bus stop and noticed a prostitute on the other side again. She was doing her little walk and keeping her eye on us. That's when Pam and I figured out that was why all the condoms were all over the steps of the bridge at the bus stop. We had seen what we thought was a prostititue the first day but since it was in the morning we weren't sure. This time it was very obvious, high heels, leggings with shorts over them (?), strutting her stuff back and forth watching for cars to pull over...and she was keeping her eye on us. As we waited for the bus...the one that never came...we decided she was in a spot so that people coming toward her could see her, take the exit, go over the highway and come back down to where she was at. We also found out they stop at the bus stop where we were waiting. Before too long a vehicle pulled up to the curb in front of us - Pam stepped off the curb to the car and said "Hello" the guy said something to her in Italian and she said "I don't speak English". He said something else in Italian and she said "I mean, I don't speak Italian". She then kind of laughed and said "I don't know what we're doing" as she shrugged her shoulders and stepped away laughing. That's when she realized he was trying to pick her up! We noticed the prostitute was paying a lot of attention to what was going on over on our side of the highway. We had a few more honks as they were going by and another slow down and decided we'd waited for the bus long enough, if it didn't come in 10 minutes we were leaving. Before long we saw a vehicle stop for the prostitute - she'd taken her shorts off after the car stopped on our side - she went up to his window then as she was going around the car to get in the other side she looked over at us. We should've waved at her. At that point we decided to head back to the hotel but before we could another car pulled up, we just about ran into each other scrambling for the stairs. We're still not sure why no bus came by. We seem to be going to bed earlier here, usually asleep or almost asleep by 10:00pm. That must be why we're up and getting ready to start our days around 7:00am
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May 22, 2010...about ready to head in town for the double decker bus tour. Four days in Rome is definitely too much, two would've been plenty. We hopped on a double decker to ride and tour Rome. We are seeing more sights and some pretty areas. We got off at the Vatican City, took a few pictures then decided to get lunch. A little old man approached Pam to promote a restaurant. She talked to him so he started leading us, he even held Pam's hand along the way. We got to the restaurant and she felt like we needed to stay so we sat down. First real mistake, they were over priced on things, didn't replace Kendy's Diet Coke when the table tipped over because it wasn't placed right and when the bill came it was €80.20!! They charged us €9.20 for tax (there is no tax) and €10 for a tip! We had some words with them and told them we were going to tell people. They really didn't like it that I kept the receipt. The owner chased us down the street and stopped Kendy. We're pretty sure it was because she was worried we'd find police or someone to report them.
We found a nice little shop to purchase some things then hopped back on the bus. We decided to ride the route again to see if we missed anything. When we got back to the hotel tonight we talked Kendy into going to the bus stop with us so we could prove it was a prostitute stop. She even wore her pj bottoms! We barely got to the stairs to go up over the highway and a car pulled in then two scooters, one was a pizza delivery boy!! We were laughing so hard and Pam forgot to go to the bathroom before we headed out. All of a sudden she ran into the bushes pulling her dress up and peed. Oh my gosh! I thought I was going to lose it! We headed back to the hotel laughing all the way. We're trying to stay up later to see if we might be able to sleep in a bit in the morning.
May 23, 2010...No such luck on staying up late to sleep in. We were all up and getting ready by 7:30am again. Today we rode the 135 to the metro station and hopped on going north to look for a small village. We got off at a village to hop on the bus, still going north. It took a long time for the bus we were looking for to get there, we came to realize buses are on limited schedules on Sundays as well as shops and stores being closed. The first bus we decided to get on took us out a little ways then was circling back so we hopped off to try a different bus. It took us to a little village but there was nothing out there so we stayed on to head back. I think we're all getting tired of trying to find things to do here, 5 days in Rome was 3 too many. On the way back to the Metro station we decided to get off at a stop close to a McDonalds...bathrooms and food! We rode the bus back to Rebibbia and got on the metro and rode to the other end, Laurentina. We got off the metro to see what was there then got back on again. I'm not real sure what we're doing next. I do know we've been in the Rome area too long. There's not enough to do to keep us busy and we're starting to get on each other's nerves a bit. Everyone is getting a little testy. It's amazing, all the little vendors at the bus stop and train stations are Indian, we've noticed the beggars on the metro and the women praying on the walks are as well.
Kendy and Brooke got off the bus at the hotel, Pam and I decided to ride to the turn-around to see if any markets or restaurants were open since it appears our options are pretty limited for our last night in Rome. No luck here, sitting at the turn-around while the driver takes his break. There's an older man and a couple highschool boys waiting as well. The boys must've thought they were going to get lucky. They were at the front of the bus all the way here and we were at the back. While sitting and waiting they moved to the back oto sit close to us. We got off the bus for a while and so did they. When we got back on we sat in different seats so they sat behind us. Foolish little boys :) We all ended up riding into Rome on the 135 about 7:00-7:30 to look for some place open to eat, we found a restaurant on our way back out. I wasn't real hungry and thought about not getting anything but wasn't sure when we'd eat again so I got a calzone, not a good choice. It was huge, dry and only had cheese inside, no sauce. Pam got the same thing and picked hers apart, Brooke and Kendy got pasta. I brought half of it back to the hotel for the cats. We did get Gelato one more time while in Italy, I wish that was all I'd gotten, yuck, I feel bloated from what I eat of the calzone. We rode back out to the hotel and everyone rearranged their bags and packed...everyone but Kendy. Pam pointed out to her that she left some things out, Kendy said it was to decide on in the morning. We decided to set the alarm for 6:00 am in hopes to be out of the hotel by 7:00am, everyone was getting comfy and ready to sleep by 10:00ish.
May 24, 2010....I started waking up sometime after 4:00am and ended up getting up at 5:00 to see what time it was and go to the bathroom. Pam was awake so she got up and hopped in the shower. Kendy woke up shortly after then Pam woke Brooke up. We were on the bus leaving the hotel at 6:30am, got our tickets even though we didn't need to. We got to the train station and bought our tickets - didn't need those either, no one took them this time. We had a good start so we had plenty of time at the airport. Everyone grabbed something to eat & drink after going through security since we knew this flight was going to be one that charged for food and drink - Kendy got a couple beers. This flight to Barcelona is full! Brooke & I are in 20E & 20F, Pam & Kendy are in 23E & 23F and we can hear them talking and laughing. I'm sure there are some beautiful areas in Italy but right now I really have no desire to go back to Rome. Next visit I'd like to go to Cinque Terra or some other small villages. People in Rome are not very friendly for most part, not like they were in Greece.
We landed in Barcelona and decided to take the train in town instead of the bus, the train is cheaper than the bus. An old man by the ticket machines offered to help and took Kendy's money to get all 4 tickets, as he gave her the ticket and started handing her the change we caught him pocketing some. She called him on it but he just shrugged her off and led us to the ticket gate. We rode the train to the end which was too far, we should've gotten off at B.P. Garcia to get the metro to Maria Christina.
We caught the 518 bus to head out to Cabrera, a little old village northwest of Barcelona, up on the hillside. Shortly after getting on the bus we started hearing a distinct ringtone and were wondering why no one was answering their phone. This went on several times and we thought maybe it was the older gentleman in the seats in front of Pam, maybe he couldn't hear it. After a few more times I happened to notice what looked like a phone between the seats where Pam was sitting, sure enough, that was the phone that was ringing. She took it up to the driver but he didn't understand what she was trying to do or say so she came back with it. I asked the lady across from me if she could answer the phone but she was unsure what I was asking her to do. The next time it rang I answered it, in my very minimal....very minimal, Spanish language I was able to let the person on the other end know that we'd found his phone and where we were headed so that he could pick it up. He was able to understand and speak a little English but he tried saying more to me in Spanish so I just shut the phone off. We finally made it to the hotel.When Pam was checking in I took the phone to the desk clerk and he said that the man had just called asking if we'd checked in yet and left his phone number to be called when his phone was there.
Very beautiful sites from our balcony and from the streets. Pam, Kendy & I found a family restaurant to eat dinner at, very good food. We all three had salad and roasted chicken. We also had desert, mine was lemon sherbert in a frozen, hollowed out lemon. We decided that might be a good idea for Brooke & Eddie's wedding reception, oranges and lemons with ice cream in them. Pam took a chicken dinner back for Brooke.
We should all sleep good tonight, there's a nice breeze. I called dibs on the beds in the bedroom for Brooke & I, Pam & Kendy get the pull out. Pam told us the spirit of an old lady named Isabella Mercotta lives in the hotel and that she doesn't go up past the 3rd floor. Those familiar noices are coming from the other room again, it's Pam.
May 25, 2010...My 52nd birthday and I woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise in Spain. I decided to be nice and shut the curtains in Pam & Kendy's room so it didn't wake them up right away. Our room wasn't going to get the direct light as soon as theirs did. We hopped on the 518 into Barcelona at 9:05am, traffic is heavy at this time in the morning with lots of people getting on to ride into Barcelona to go to work. We heard the familiar cell phone ring of the phone we found yesterday, we all turned to see if the guy was holding a pinkish colored phone.
We got off the bus at Maria Christina and got on the metro, we weren't heading in the right direction so we got off at the next stop and got on the one going the other way. Turns out we were going the right direction the first time, we had to buy another ticket. These turnstyles are opposite the ones in Rome and Kendy couldn't get through. Pam started turning another one to show her which ended up locking it. I told her to go to the both and tell them instead of buying another ticket, they let her through. When the train pulled up and we started to get on Pam didn't know to turn the handle to open the door so she went to another door, we got in :)
We ate breakfast at a nice little restaurant and then went to get on a double decker bus. This one had 2 routes and you could ride both with one ticket. We also got €3 off each ticket with our boarding passes from the flight from Rome. Kendy & Brooke's side of the bus got mooned by a couple guys standing in a doorway, Brooke smiled and Kendy cheered.
Part way through the route, around stop 9 or 10, Kendy asked about the Ice Bar and was told it was by stop 6. We decided to finish the route then get on the Orange route to get close to the area and walk. Before getting on that bus we got off for lunch at McDonald's. When we got off the orange route by the harbor Pam & Kendy thought it would be quicker to hop on the community bicycles. Only thing is we couldn't figure out how to get them loose, we ended up finding out that people pay a monthly fee to have access. We ended up walking the direction, which was quite a ways, and finally found the bar only to find out it cost €15 to go inside. That included one drink but since Brooke & I weren't worried about a drink we choose to wait outside. Pam & Kendy did think it was cool and they each brought their 'ice' glass out to show us, Kendy ate part of hers.
I'm am amazed at how clean the beaches are and that there are people always walking around picking up any trash that might be loose. Pam started getting nervous about time and worried we'd miss the last 518 back to Cabrera. For some reason she had it in her head that the last bus going to the hotel was at 8:00pm, we got back on the double decker bus at 5:30pm only to find out going that way there was still a long route left, 15 more stops plus traffic was heavier by this time. When it got to be about 6:30pm Pam said she was stressing. She had already told everyone we didn't have time to get off at any stops. We got to the next to the last stop about 7:30 and got on the metro shortly after to head to the Maria Christina station. If we would have gotten off the bus a few stops earlier we would've been there already. Pam almost ran up the stairs and to the bus stop, we all walked. As we stood and waited for the bus she became convinced we'd missed the last bus and that we were going to have to take a taxi. She was starting to make Kendy nervous, Brooke and I quietly waited until the bus came. Once on the bus the mood got lighter and the laughter and joking was back.
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May 27, 2010...I got up about 5:00am to go to the bathroom, as I was walking through the door into their room I saw Pam roll over. I thought she might ask what time it was but instead she jumoed to a sitting position and let out a haunting scream, "woo-ahhh-ahhha-ahhh". Kendy jumped up saying "What?!! What's wrong?" Then we cracked up laughing. Pam thought I was Isabella. She said she'd had a dream that she was there and rolled over and saw me walking through the room. We got up at 5:30 and started getting ready to leave. The night before we decided to get a taxi to the airport to save time and the hassle of hauling our luggage from bus to metro to train. It was worth it. We were at the airport in about 1/2 hr, checked in and went to our gate. The gate got moved and this flight was 45 minutes late taking off. We landed in Madrid about 10:30 am, our connecting flight was scheduled to leave at noon so we headed for the terminal. Pam & Brooke got something to eat at the snack bar then we headed for our gate. On the way we saw that boarding started at 10:55am. When we got to the plane we knew why...big plane with lots of people. It's a nice, newer plane, even has head rests on each seat. Our take off was delayed 25 minutes but we didn't take off unitl about 12:45. It was pretty cool though, the plane has a camera on the tail which shows the plane. A bug landed on the screen as we were sitting there waiting for take-off. It looked like a big monster bug attacking the plane. Then we watched the plane back up and taxi and then take off and fly for about 10 minutes or so. That was really cool. The meal wasn't too great on this flight but okay. Everyone got the beef burger but me, I got pasta. This flight has been the bumpiest one of all of them. It seems strange that it would be bumpy since we are flying at almost 31,000 feet. We landed in Chicago and after going through customs Pam & Brooke had to go one way toward their next flight as Kendy and I headed out to call the hotel to come pick us up. We got to the hotel, got in the truck and then headed for home. Getting out of Chicago was a little tricky since it was dark when we found the hotel, a little different in day light but we found our way to the highway and headed for I80. Driving home wasn't too bad but the closer we were getting to the Quad Cities the more tired we were getting. I dropped Kendy off at her car which was parked at the Ramada/Days Inn where she works then headed the rest of the way home. That was the longest drive and I was headed straight into the sun. I stopped around the Walcot area to get a pop then kept going west. Iowa City! Yeah, I'm almost home!
It's funny, as tired as I was at this point when I got home I couldn't stop rammbling about the trip. It was an awesome trip! I won't say a "trip of a lifetime" because I intend to go again!! =)
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