Rhodes

Of all the Greek ports, Rhodes was my favorite...I think...

The day was gray, but that just added to the appeal of the old walled city, and did nothing to dampen the spirit of the vendors or the tourists.

Dave and the little guys explored the outer walls


while the big kids and I worked our way through the old city.

I found a lady weaving a carpet. I always wondered how they were made because you hear about the number on knots per inch, but I could never see the knots. Well now I know...and it is pretty cool! Plus you get to weave with a knife in one hand. That might discourage interruptions.

This was my favorite part of the city--built in the 1300's when the Knights of Rhodes held power in the city.

The Colossus of Rhodes stood guard over the port until an earthquake sent it tumbling in the 2nd century BC and the remains were melted down and sold by the conquering Arabs in the 7th century.

We didn't miss it too much. The real appeal of Rhodes was the 4 euro RayBans.

Further Observations on Egypt

Camels have really bad breath. Donkeys have soft noses. Egyptians transport their food in little trucks packed to the brim. Rules in Egypt are more like guidelines.Blackberries get really good reception at the Pyramids. Belly dancers during lunch can be rather distrubing.

More so than men in skirts.

In Cairo, people live in the cemetery.I have an easy life.

Cypress

On Saturday we spent the day in Limassol, Cypress, and to be honest, it was generally appealing but not fabulous. We did not go to Paphos, which is supposed to be fabulous--at least UNESCO thinks so. We were frankly a little tired after camels, belly dancers, and enthusiastic vendors. So we stuck with Limassol. Which was really OK. Plus I got to pose with Jacques Cousteau. As a kid I watched The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau every Sunday night right before Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and it was nice to see his wax self right there in the Limassol equivalent of Souix Village. Sponges, and shells, and tacky jewelry galore.

Benj had a moment of Pirate regression (do you remember his multi-year pirate phase when he had either the dough hook of my KitchenAid or a plastic dagger stuck down his pants at all times?) with Captain Menacing.

We found a great graffiti wall and took some Passey classics:

Thank Sarah Palin for this one.

Sarah and Benjamin channeling their inner emo.And we found a great church with a real, live, Eastern Orthodox wedding in progress. Great chanting. Julia was a little disturbed by the fact that the Bride and Groom were tied together. She may be too young to get the symbolism/foreshadowing of that one.
We bought some cool leather bracelets.
And we checked out the ocean. Dave gave a few stone skipping lessons and then it was...
back to the ship for dinner. Nice , huh?

Ancient Wonders

Can you name the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? Before the cruise, I thought I could, but it turns out I was missing a few. Matthew and Julia helped me fill in the holes:
The Great Pyramid at Giza
The Lighthouse at Alexandria
The Colussus at Rhodes
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
The Mausoleum at Halicarnussus
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
I can now and forever name them all. What changed, you ask? Well, our cruise was called Ancient Wonders, and it only took me 4 days on board to realize why--we were going to see the sights of the Ancient Wonders! Pretty amazing how that works, huh? We just wanted to see Egypt and Greece, but we got world history thrown in for free! The Hanging Gardens were too far inland for the cruise ship, but we hit all the rest. Only the Ancient Pymamid is still standing. The rest were destroyed, mostly by earthquakes, but it was still pretty cool to see where they were.

We docked in Alexandria, site of the Ancient Lighthouse, and I'll let Julia give you the rundown:

Here's Julia:
"We woke up and went to breakfast then we got off the boat and met our tour guide. She was nice. Her name was Faten. It was a long bus ride but Faten talked a lot about the history of Cairo. It was really boring but she said that it would help us. Then she talked to us about the stuff you could get like necklaces or bracelets or rings that would have your name on it in hieroglyphics. I got one-- it was a necklace. Its called a cartouche. It's really cool. When we got there we went to the pyramids they were really cool but you couldn't go in.
Sarah and I got to ride on and camel.

And Matt and Ben on another one. And Anna went on one on by herself. It was awsome. They ride us out into the desert and take us back again, but still I rode on a camel and I got a cool head thingy. Then we went to the sphinx. It was really big with no nose. Then we went to a castle and a mosque where you had to take your shoes off.

We went to a papyrus place where they make papyrus and you could get t-shirts too, but they were really ugly. The we drove back to Alexandria. We ate dinner at the buffet. Then we went to bed."

Yep, that about sums it up. Pretty Amazing.
Two Ancient Wonders down, five more to go.

Julia's Birthday

Guest Blogger: Brennan Edwards (Sarah's Boyfriend)

Julia's birthday!!!!!!!!!!! It was quite fantastic if I do say so myself. I was not present at the amazing event BUT I am well assured that it was memorable! I mean, who all gets to have a birthday on a CRUISE BOAT?!...SHIP (Sarah was insistant...). Anyway there were lots of happy birthdays and singings and food eating. Julia was thrilled because she got to paint pots. I remember back in middle school in my art class painting pots, those were my favorite classes. Nostalgia haunts me sometimes... So there were a lot of festivities such as swimming, eating, and free cake! Seriously, who doesn't like free cake? ON A CRUISE SHIP!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man, it definitely sounds like a great time...blows my mind wide open like the throttle in a race car. Well I hope this is sufficient for all of those followers out there, considering I am neither A. an immediate part of the Passey family or B. on the ship. I hope all of you faithful followers keep it real and have a fantastic day!

Back to the Basics

Cruise update: Days 3 & 4

David has a way of distilling any matter to it's relevent and essential core and then phrasing his perceptions in unforgettable ways. This is what he said about our two days at sea:

"I feel like I have regressed to my infancy.
I wake up.
I eat.
I take a morning nap.
I eat.
I take an afternoon nap.
I eat.
I lie on my back and look at the sky.
I go to bed.
Fortunately, I'm not in diapers."

Tomorrow, Cairo.

Rome in a Day

How to do Rome in six hours...hmmmm. With 2800 years of history, 900+ churches, 946 square miles of art, architecture, majesty, and wonders where here does one start? With the African street vendors of course. You would not believe what you can buy on the street corner in front of the subway station. Vouis Vutton bags, Cucci belts, Golci and Bagnaba wallets, genuine fake Rolexs. Apparently knock-off designer sunglasses were the number one priority for the Passeys. Fortunately we got that handled in the first 15 minutes and were freed up for the lesser attractions like the Colisseum: the Forum: the Capital:the Vatican and St Peters:the Trevi Fountain:

and finally, and most importantly Gelatto:
Three scoops each--Blue Ice heaven in the Eternal City.

End of Day 2.

Spring Break Review--Day 1

Guest Blogger: Matthew Passey

"Right now I am typing about what I am doing. I don't want to be typing but I got bribed. My mom said I could have some DS time every day if I did--except Sunday of course. Here I go.

On the first day of travel we left the house SUPER early so we could get to the airport. Then we got on a plane and flew to Milan. Then we got in a shuttle to the train station. When we got off the train in Savona we took a taxi to the boat. It took FOREVER to get on the boat so Julia and I went to a playground and "refurbished" some playhouses. When we finally got on the boat we explored our rooms, went to the buffet, and then went to the pool. At the pool we met two French kids named Hugo and Marie who were very nice to us but their English was not very good. After that we went to dinner then to bed. End of Day 1."

Guest Blogger #2: Julia Passey

"When we got on the boat we went to our room. It is so cool. There are two beds hanging from the ceiling. Those beds are Matt's and mine. They are really scary but they are still really cool. Then after walking around the boat, which by the way did I mention is big, we went to the pool and met Hugo and Marie. Then we went to dinner. It was so good. I had potatoes, pork, salad and chocolate ice cream. I am not kidding, it was really good. Then we went to bed--ZzZzZzZz.

Transportation that we used:

A car,

a plane,

a bus,

a train,

a cab,

then the boat."