March 15 3:30 pm
I was boarding Singapore Airlines enroute to Singapore. From there, I'll change planes and fly to Athens. Yes. Athens, Greece. Lands of the Gods and Goddesses. I'm hoping to find a Greek God (as a wife of one of the lawyers describe the guy she's trying to look for).
March 16-19
I finally arrived Athens. The weather's cold. Darn hotel has no aircon. It's still winter. True enough, it's still winter. The cold wind enters the room as though it's aircon.
First thing that greeted when I stepped out the airport was a bright yellow car. Not just any yellow car. A mercedes benz!!!! Yes. A yellow mercedes. I think its an E class. But the color was not that caught my attention. There were about 4 or 5 of them waiting in line by the curb. All painted in yellow. What caught my attention was the sign on the cars' roof. It said T-A-X-I!!! Yuffy. TAXI!!!! They use E class benzes as TAXI!!!!
We took a tour around the city. We saw their market na parang tianggeng baratan. The following day, we were off to see the Acropolis. The hotel is pretty near it. In fact, you can see the Acropolis from the hotel's deck.
Honestly, other than the ruins of Acropolis and the temples, there is nothing to see in Athens. Going to Greece means going to different parts of Greece not just Athens. Although, the sunset at Poseidon's temple is stunning. (Check the pics later). Not only that, the coastline on the way to the temple was great. Picturesque and romantinc for those who are fond of the ooohhhs and aaahhhs and aaawwws. Wasn't able to get pics of the coastline. Daddy dearest was beside me during the trip and forcibly forbade me to take pictures of the view. He said to buy postcards instead. Like the feeling is the same when you take the picture yourself and buying postcards.
At the end of the trip, I'm sad to inform the peeps that I wasn't able to see a Greek god. However, I saw a guy who looked like Derek Shephard driving a car. My sister, on the other hand, is crushing on this guy in the organic store at corner. A partner of my dad texted another partner saying that he ate in restaurant at the corner where the server looked liked the young Tom Cruise na may putok. That night, practically everyone ate there to check him out. To our dismay, he doesn't look like Tom Cruise. He's not bad looking. However, he doesn't pass my standards.
Shopping is hard. The currency is euro. Everytime you think of buying something, you'll have to convert it. Damn it's expensive. So, I end up buying my shot glass only. My sister got this greek dress. It's sooo nice. I have to get thinner. Oh! I was able to buy a shirt. Cute one at that. Other than that, everything else is expensive.
March 19-21
I'm now in the land where Ruffa Gutierrez lives. Yuffy. The land formerly known as Constantinople now Istanbul, Turkey. According to a wife of a partner who came here ahead of us, Ylmaz Bektas is not known there. At least not to the common tao, I think.
I know why Ruffa feels at home. The people has no respect for traffic law. They cross whereever and whenever. Sounds like home to me.
This is the coldest place we've been to. Really cold. Everyone's wearing leather jackets. Yup. Leather jackets. They sell cheap yellow jackets here. There is this leather made from baby lamb. It's so light as though it was a shirt. Nice but expensive. My parents end up buying for themselves. They refuse to buy for me because they said I have to lose weight first. I have to agree. Oh, shawls (pashimina and the type Nhorrie wears to school) are cheap here. It cost about 15 liras (half the value or a euro). In pesos, about 600 I think. You do the math. The 15 lira ones are those that Nhorrie wears to school. My mom, sis and I have one each. I told them to buy more but they refuse.
What to see in Turkey? Nothing really. If you have money, shop at the grand bazaar. They have tons of bling blings there. I didn't buy coz there's no point. Sites, Hagia Sophia (Aya Sofya), Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque, the old walls. If you go to Turkey, stay in the Sultanahmet area. That's the old Istanbul and where all the sites are. Other than those, I mentioned plus other palaces we weren't able to see due to time constraints, there's nothing to see in Turkey.
Btw, don't ride Turkish Airlines. The FAs are RUDE!!!
March 21-26
Eygpt: Land of Immortals. From now on, I shall be called Nefertari. Not Nefertiti...NEFERTARI..the most beautiful of the most beautifuls.
Eygpt is the best. Aside from the fact that the place is dirty. Pretty much like home. It's like home, although dirtier, noiser, people with puts and they speak arabic. Unlike Saudi, they're alot more liberated. People have HIGH REGARD for TRAFFIC LAWS. Crossing the street whenever and whereever, all cars have dents. In fairness, the Philippines have the best drivers. They can maneuver any vehicle without getting any scratch. In Eygpt, they're rude drivers. They cut lanes, blow horns to get their way and they always scratch their car. The driver we had for the tours are quite good. They know better. They drive properly. Traffic is terrible too.
The sites of the Ancient Civiliazation is breath taking. From their tombs to their temples. Rows of high statutes and columns adorn their temples. Faces of the pharaohs and the gods surround each monument. I even met a very vain pharaoh. Ramses II. Yup, he's vain alright. His face and name is practically in every temple or architecture or piece of history. Kulang na lang ilagay niya pangalan niya sa tomb ng iba. I got to see King Tut's sarcophagous (my mom called it esophagous). The grandeur is unimaginable. It's like entering a different world. I soo love it. It's worth missing the finals.
The Luxor temple is very interesting. When you enter, high up on the left wall you'll see and entrance to a mosque. Yes. Entrance to a mosque. (See pic for better understanding). When the muslims settled in Luxor, they created a mosque not knowing that underneath the sands stood a temple for the god Ra. In the later years, the sand was excavated to reveal the temple. From the side walk, you'll the high columns of the tower. As get closer, you'll realize that you're looking farther down. The sand covered the temple hidding it from the world. Now, it has been discovered and open to the public.
Valley of Kings and Queens are interesting. You get to go into the tomb and see the painting. Most of the tombs are empty. You enter simply to see the heirgliphics at its preserved state. As of the moment, there are reported 63 tombs. The 62nd was King Tuts. The 63rd was discovered early last year. Queen Nefertari's tomb is close to the public. It has the most beautiful heirogliphics. But too much moisture from human breath threatens the paintings. So, they closed. According to the guide, you may see the inside of Nefertari's tomb for a price. About, 300,000 euros or dollars I think. What I remember was it was tooo damn expensive.
The trip to Eygpt was not just the best. It was the worst as well. We got stock in Abu Simbel. Here you'll find Ramses II and Nefertari's temples. It was moved from Aswan because of the dam. The temple is the one with two pharaohs sitting on the throne. The other is the one with about six men standing. I'll name the pics soon to know what I'm talking about. Anyway, we were suppose to take a flight from Abu Simbel to Aswan. From Aswan, we fly to Luxor. But, due to bad weather (zero visibility thanks to the sands), we stayed grounded. However, Eygpt Air, the official airline of Eygpt which we were using, sent a bus to pick us and other the tourist and drove to Aswan. When we got to Aswan, we found out that their President and Condolessa Rice were in town and were about to leave. Airport was friggin close. The other tourist were dropped to a hotel then we headed back to the airport. Thank God it's open and we were able to fly to Luxor. We spent the day in Luxor. Thanks to the guys from Amex, we were able to enjoy our trip in Luxor. Although we weren't able to see the lights and sounds show. We had to take the last flight out of Luxor that day in order to make the 230 am flight from Cairo to Istanbul. To make our trip more tiring, we ended up at the wrong airport. The guys from Amex thought we were taking Air France. We had to get our luggages again, take a 10 min trip to get to the other airport. So much for "adventure".
March 26 up to present...
We finally landed at the Orly airport in Paris. After going through immigration, we were wondering how in the world are we getting to the hotel. To our surprise, we saw my uncle and my aunt waiting for us there. A sigh of relief for me. I hate the idea of going around a place without anyone to trust.
They dropped us off at the hotel. Quick wash up. The sands from Eygpt were still on our clothes. Then, off to tour bits and pieces of Paris. See the pics. We saw the Eiffel. Eat ice cream despite the cold weather. The following day, we took the hop on hop off bus but ended up sleeping through out parts of the tour. We went to Versailles. Nice palace. I have yet to see the amazing garden. Closed under reconstruction. I saw the Arc de Triomphe, walk along Champs Elysee and saw the missing oblesik from Luxor temple at the middle of Place de le Concorde. Place de le Concorde was where Marie Antoinette and Louis I forgot was guillotined. I have yet to climb the Eiffel. We probably do it one of this weekends. Oh, I saw the Moulin Rouge too.
I went fishing last April 1st. Nice place we went too. It's in the French countryside. Very very nice, like those you see in the movies. I caught my own fish too. The place was beautiful. I'll upload the pics soon.
Oh yeah, I went to Notre Dame cathedral. I am disappointed to say that I have yet to see Quasimodo. I'll check the bell tower next time. Ang dami kasing tao. I wasnt' able to enter.
I'll update soon. Right now, I'm watching Grey's Anatomy, sleeping and desperately trying to master French.
Au revoir for now.
A bien tot.
Libellés : vacacion...tres tres bonne
