Tuesday, November 18, 2008
New Location.
Alright, the unveiling of the new blog is finally happening. From now on you can find me, Christine, here. I'm not sure if Hillary is going to continue in the blogging world, I'll let her come and reveal her new location if she does. There's nothing too exciting at my blog yet, but hopefully there will be some good posts along the way.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Better Late Than Never??
So here I am, returning to the blogging world, holding true to my word. Mentally I've had a hard time returning because I felt like I couldn't move on with current blogging until I had finished with our trip. Many have tried to convince me that I just needed to move on without looking back, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that, so here I am to finish out the last two weeks of our whirlwind tour of Europe. I apologize now because it isn't as detailed as if I had done it in the moment, but even so, at least there will be pictures. And now I promise, I will continue to keep a blog of my exciting life in Provo... I know you're all on the edge of your seats now. I really can't back out now, huh??
Rome and Florence, Italy
I'm not sure what exactly to say about our time in Italy. At this point it's all kind of a blur, but we did a ton and had a great time all along the way. I'll just let the pictures help tell the story.
In Rome we spent our time traversing the city trying to hit all the best sites. First we made it to the Colosseum.
Here is Hillary outside the Parthenon with the guys who take pictures with all the tourists. We didn't actually know they charged for the pictures until they demanded ten euros from us after we had already taken the pictures. Yes, we did fall into the category of dumb tourists here.
In Rome we spent our time traversing the city trying to hit all the best sites. First we made it to the Colosseum.
Here is Hillary outside the Parthenon with the guys who take pictures with all the tourists. We didn't actually know they charged for the pictures until they demanded ten euros from us after we had already taken the pictures. Yes, we did fall into the category of dumb tourists here. 
Trevi Fountain
The Spanish Steps. We sat at this fountain for awhile resting our feet, and were so intrigued by all the people who drank the water from the the fountain while also putting their own feet into the water and watching the many pigeons bathe in the fountain water. We asked someone if the water was safe to drink and he informed us that in fact it was, so we figured they must have some cleaning system? Hopefully at least. We braved it enough to fill a water bottle with the water and try it ourselves, and it was in fact very good water. We're still not positive how the water is clean enough to drink, but at this point maybe it's better not knowing.
We made it into the Vatican City on the last day and the Sistine Chapel where I snuck a picture of the ceiling. 
In Florence we saw lots of art. These statues weren't the originals, those are kept in the museums, but we did make it into the main museums and saw some really impressive things.
We also climbed to the top of the Dumo Chapel and got some truly gorgeous views of Florence.
Florence was a really neat city, Hillary would probably say it was her favorite place. We walked around a lot and became very comfortable with it. The city isn't too big, so we were able to really get to know the place and had a lot of great interaction with the locals. It's just big enough to offer lots of great things to see, but just small enough to be manageable.
Overall we had an amazing trip. We saw so many great things and loved visiting all the different places. It flew by and now that we're into school it seems forever ago, but it gave us some great memories that we'll never forget.
The Spanish Steps. We sat at this fountain for awhile resting our feet, and were so intrigued by all the people who drank the water from the the fountain while also putting their own feet into the water and watching the many pigeons bathe in the fountain water. We asked someone if the water was safe to drink and he informed us that in fact it was, so we figured they must have some cleaning system? Hopefully at least. We braved it enough to fill a water bottle with the water and try it ourselves, and it was in fact very good water. We're still not positive how the water is clean enough to drink, but at this point maybe it's better not knowing.
We made it into the Vatican City on the last day and the Sistine Chapel where I snuck a picture of the ceiling. In Florence we saw lots of art. These statues weren't the originals, those are kept in the museums, but we did make it into the main museums and saw some really impressive things.
We also climbed to the top of the Dumo Chapel and got some truly gorgeous views of Florence.
Florence was a really neat city, Hillary would probably say it was her favorite place. We walked around a lot and became very comfortable with it. The city isn't too big, so we were able to really get to know the place and had a lot of great interaction with the locals. It's just big enough to offer lots of great things to see, but just small enough to be manageable.
Overall we had an amazing trip. We saw so many great things and loved visiting all the different places. It flew by and now that we're into school it seems forever ago, but it gave us some great memories that we'll never forget.Santorini and Athens, Greece
Santorini was amazing. It was exactly what we needed after being on our study abroad and after the week long bus tour of the UK. Everyday was spent relaxing on the beach reading books (and fitting in our summer tan to four days), then walking around town to get dinner and check out the cute little shops. The best part of it all was the great hotel we stayed in with the cute old couple running it.
We did have one adventure while in Santorini. The second day of our trip we made it out to the beach early and set up shop on some beach chairs to soak in the sun. After about three hours of reading I noticed Hillary get up from her nap to go in the water and I chose to follow. Once she reached the water she was kind of stumbling around and laughing that she had stood up too fast and was dizzy, so I suggested that she sit down until she was no longer dizzy. Next time I turned around to look at her I caught her trying to stand up, but then feinting to the ground. I wasn't sure if she was still being silly or what, but after she didn't move when the water came up to hit her face, I rushed over to pull her out and try to see what was wrong. In the mean time, a group of Greek vacationers (read: partiers) who had seen what had happened asked if I needed help, then proceeded to yell at me for trying to make Hillary go in the water (which I hadn't), and then yelling at me to find out what Hillary had been drinking. When I responded that we don't drink alcohol, they were sure that she had been sneaking something and continued to yell at me. As I was getting more frazzled, Hillary slumped over as she feinted yet again, sending me into a slight panic. After some guys helped to carry Hillary to the shade, we continued to sit and wait for thirty to forty minutes for the ambulance which had been called, all the while Hillary getting worse, then finally getting slightly better.
Once the ambulance finally did arrive, Hillary was feeling better and wanted to go back to the hotel, but after asking the ambulance drivers' to just drop us off at our hotel, they informed us that they didn't speak English and told us to get in. The fact that Santorini is a small island leads directly to it having only one hospital and no major roads, so we sat in the back of the ambulance for the thirty minute drive back, all on small, windy roads. Hillary was lying on a gurney that wasn't really secured down and continued to slide from side to side around each turn, which just made her sicker after she was feeling better.
Arriving at the hospital was a whole new experience. The building was pretty old and broken down, and inside no one really knew what to do with us. After receiving some information about what had happened (which included the doctors insisting that I reenact Hillary's stumbling and feinting) they sent us to sit on a bench outside in the shade for an hour and told us to let them know when we were leaving. We were pretty shocked that was the prescription from the doctor, and more shocked that they didn't ask for any personal information from Hillary, who had received a ride in one of their ambulances, which would've cost her thousands here in America. Well, we followed the doctor's orders then went back to our hotel.
Despite our half freightening half amusing adventure to the Santorini hospital, we overall loved our time there and it ranks high on our favorites list. It was definitely a plus that they had delicious crepes, both savory and sweet, and great Greek sandals.
After Santorini we spent a quick 24 hours in Athens on our way to Italy. Since we didn't have a ton of time, there isn't a whole lot to report from Athens. I did insist that we make it up to the Acropolis, so we made the hike up in the extreme heat.
We did have one adventure while in Santorini. The second day of our trip we made it out to the beach early and set up shop on some beach chairs to soak in the sun. After about three hours of reading I noticed Hillary get up from her nap to go in the water and I chose to follow. Once she reached the water she was kind of stumbling around and laughing that she had stood up too fast and was dizzy, so I suggested that she sit down until she was no longer dizzy. Next time I turned around to look at her I caught her trying to stand up, but then feinting to the ground. I wasn't sure if she was still being silly or what, but after she didn't move when the water came up to hit her face, I rushed over to pull her out and try to see what was wrong. In the mean time, a group of Greek vacationers (read: partiers) who had seen what had happened asked if I needed help, then proceeded to yell at me for trying to make Hillary go in the water (which I hadn't), and then yelling at me to find out what Hillary had been drinking. When I responded that we don't drink alcohol, they were sure that she had been sneaking something and continued to yell at me. As I was getting more frazzled, Hillary slumped over as she feinted yet again, sending me into a slight panic. After some guys helped to carry Hillary to the shade, we continued to sit and wait for thirty to forty minutes for the ambulance which had been called, all the while Hillary getting worse, then finally getting slightly better.
Once the ambulance finally did arrive, Hillary was feeling better and wanted to go back to the hotel, but after asking the ambulance drivers' to just drop us off at our hotel, they informed us that they didn't speak English and told us to get in. The fact that Santorini is a small island leads directly to it having only one hospital and no major roads, so we sat in the back of the ambulance for the thirty minute drive back, all on small, windy roads. Hillary was lying on a gurney that wasn't really secured down and continued to slide from side to side around each turn, which just made her sicker after she was feeling better.
Arriving at the hospital was a whole new experience. The building was pretty old and broken down, and inside no one really knew what to do with us. After receiving some information about what had happened (which included the doctors insisting that I reenact Hillary's stumbling and feinting) they sent us to sit on a bench outside in the shade for an hour and told us to let them know when we were leaving. We were pretty shocked that was the prescription from the doctor, and more shocked that they didn't ask for any personal information from Hillary, who had received a ride in one of their ambulances, which would've cost her thousands here in America. Well, we followed the doctor's orders then went back to our hotel.
Despite our half freightening half amusing adventure to the Santorini hospital, we overall loved our time there and it ranks high on our favorites list. It was definitely a plus that they had delicious crepes, both savory and sweet, and great Greek sandals.
After Santorini we spent a quick 24 hours in Athens on our way to Italy. Since we didn't have a ton of time, there isn't a whole lot to report from Athens. I did insist that we make it up to the Acropolis, so we made the hike up in the extreme heat.
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