Sunday, October 19, 2008

Lack of Posts

We just wanted to apologize for the lack of posts over the past few days. We have been very busy in Rome and haven't had time to blog. We hope to get caught up in the next few days, so keep checking back!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Day 19 - Malta

We began the day by getting up and eating breakfast on the balcony as the ship pulled into the harbor.  The sun shone on the limestone, fortress walls of Valleta, Malta.  They reminded me of the forts in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico built in the 16th century by the Spainards.  Later on we found out that these walls in Malta were built during the same time period.  After breakfast we got onto the buses for another exciting day.  The first thing we noticed is that the driver's side of the bus is the right-hand side, like in Great Britian.  Malta was ruled by the British until the 60's and left behind some things to remember it by, including English as a second official language.  Our tour guide spoke English very well, something much appreciated compared to our guide from Tunisia who had a very heavy accent combined with the fact that the microphone on the bus wasn't working well.  The commonly spoken language there, however, is Maltese which phonetically is like Arabic, except they use "english" letters instead of the Arabic letters and write left to right like we're used to.

Entering the harbor of Malta

The island of Malta is one of the more interesting places we have been.  It is very clean.  While it isn't as picturesque as Santorini, it is a very beautiful place and felt very safe.  St. Paul and some other prisioners shipwrecked here while on their way to Rome for trial, which is recounted at the end of Chapter 27 in the book of Acts.  While here, many began to accept the Christian faith.  It was interesting to find out that 99% of the 380,000 inhabitants are Roman Catholic!  How interesting it would be to live there.  When someone asked the tour guide if most of the people practice their faith, she said that most do, but some only go to Mass on Sundays instead of daily.  There are 364 churches on the island, almost one church for each day of the year, so it wasn't hard to find them.

The tour guide led us into the heart of the capital city.  It was bussling with locals and tourists.  Of course, Pope Benedict XVI has declared 2008 to be the year of St. Paul.  Since St. Paul is very special to Malta, there were banners celebrating the year of St. Paul everywhere we looked in the city.  Our first stop was near the Church of St. Catherine.  After looking at the outside of this church, we went to a local park overlooking the harbor.  The view was spectacular.


Malta harbor from park (our cruise ship on the right)

Next we went to St. Paul's shipwreck church.  As soon as we walked in, I was stunned at how beautiful it was.  The most ornate church I have been in was no match for this church.  There were murals all over depicting various phases of Paul's life.   Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures, presumably to protect the paintings which are old.  Inside is a large statue of St. Paul that is carried around the city in procession on feast days.  Also inside is part of the marble column on which St. Paul was beheaded in Rome.  Next we went across the island to St. Paul's church and grotto.  Within the grotto underneath the church, St. Paul was held prisoner there until they left the island to continue their journey to Rome.  With the local parishoners, we attended Mass there in Maltese.  One of the benefits of us being Catholic is that although we couldn't understand anything that was being said, all of us knew exactly what was happening.  After Mass, we went to lunch where we ate swordfish and some appetizers that included goat cheese, beans, and salad. We could tell we were getting close to Italy because wine was served with lunch.

Religious symbols are shown freely

Next, we went to the older Arab city of Mdina and overlooked the island of Malta atop a fortress wall.  To get inside the city we had to walk through an archway in the wall where we could see just how thick the walls were, 20-30 feet!  Within the city is the cathedral for the island, Sts. Peter and Paul church. After some shopping, we headed back to the ship for dinner.  Katie had a throbbing headache so she stayed back in the room while I went to the dining room.  Because of our early start the next day, we went to bed early. The most interesting part of today's excursion was the way that everyone celebrated their Cathlic faith. Statues of saints and the Holy Family were everywhere! The people are not afraid of offending anyone and are not concerned with separating their faith with their lives. It was refreshing and wonderful to be in such a place!

Cathedral of Malta

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Day 18 - Gabes, Tunisia

Luckily for us, the shore excursion didn't start until 9:00am so we could sleep in a bit.  Our first impression of Tunisia was the dreary port and we were the only cruise ship in the port. Actually, from the appearance of the port, they were not used to receiving tourists. We got on the bus and off we went to the first stop on the excursion the "vibrant and colorful" Gabes Market. The drive through the town reminded us of Egypt. There was trash lining the streets and people just standing around. Everything was falling down and dirty. When we arrived at the market, I experienced for the first time on our trip a true feeling of discomfort. It did not seem like a safe place to get out and there was no market in sight. But, we all trooped off of the bus and through a dirty shop to the open market. 

From the description in the brochure it was picturesque and loaded with stalls of basket makers, jewelers, and many others exhibiting their products. Sadly, the market fell drastically short of this description. There were only a few stalls and from the sight of the men running the market, I did not want to be alone. Matt did get cornered and had to watch a presentation by a guy who wanted him to buy a "magic camel" for mixing drinks. The only interesting part of the market was the stall that sold spices. There were mounds of different spices out in the open and people would buy bags of whichever spice they chose. Once again, from the looks of the men running the stalls and the flies everywhere, I do not think my immune system is used to the secret ingredients in their spices.


The "vibrant" market looked more like a ghost town


The spices, on the other hand, were colorful!

Once the half hour in the market crawled by, we went back to the buses to journey to where part of the first Star Wars movie was filmed (well, the first in terms of release date, actually the 4th in the series), a town called Matmata. We saw the area where the Cantina Bar scene was filmed. We remember the music from that scene but we really don't remember the visual part of the movie, so we will have to rewatch it to truly appreciate where we visited. Also in Matmata we were able to see a traditional home. Most of the homes we saw in Matmata and on the way there were in the sides of hills or underground. While they do have some running water and electricity, the homes are nothing more than holes dug into rock. The land, being desert, was bleak and dry. We drove for hours through sandy, dry land. By far, Tunisia was the most poverty stricken place we have visited. We were reminded, once again, of all the wonderful blessings we have in America.


Cantina Bar

Typical Scenery

The day was supposed to end with a horse drawn carriage ride through an "oasis", but by the time we arrived at the carriage loading station, we were all tired of Tunisia. Hours of desert road tends to make one a little stir crazy. Plus, we were going to have to wait 30-60 minutes to ride on a primitive carriage. The people on the bus almost turned into what Matt was calling an angry mob. We all just wanted to go back to the boat and get out of Tunisia. So, we ended up skipping the carriage ride and headed back to the boat. 

Once on the boat we had lunch, played some more ping pong, and relaxed. After dinner we attended our first cruise show, a comedian. He was alright, but not too impressive. We were quite disappointed with today's excursion, simply because the brochure mislead us in its description of the place. If we had known what the trip would have included, we would not have gone. As the cruise director said, "I have never seen so many coffee shops in a place where there is so little to stay awake for." What is amazing is how happy the natives are despite what little they have, a principle from which we all may learn. We look forward to a great day in Malta tomorrow!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Day 17 - At Sea


Today we left from Santorini and are heading half-way across the Mediterranean Sea towards the country of Tunisia in North Africa. During our last day-at-sea, we started off with Sunday Mass followed with breakfast. After breakfast, Steve Ray gave a talk about Rome and early church martyrs. Karl Keating gave a talk about how Catholic Answers was started and how the church endured the greatest persecution of Christians in Japan.

After lunch, Katie and I competed in a single elimination ping-pong tournament. After a grueling match, Katie lost in the first round, 10-12. I won the first match against an old lady, but was beat in the second round by the husband of the woman who beat Katie, 13-15. I was over-confident in my capabilities without my magic paddle, which I left in Florida. It was fun, regardless. After the tournament we went to the last Question and Answer forum that the three apologists hosted.


Matt reaching for an impossible shot

By dinner time, neither of us were hungry so we skipped the dinner with the group and went to the other dining room later on. We spent most of the night catching up on blogging, since we were three/four days behind.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Day 16 - Santorini, Greece

Today we visited one of the most picturesque places we have seen: Santorini, Greece.  From the boat, we immediately saw large cliffs leading to mountains with white houses atop appearing like snow.  On the island of Santorini, there is no large port where our cruise ship could dock so the only means of accessing the island was through smaller boats called tenders that dock with the cruise ship and ferry passengers to the island-- easier said than done.  Our group was the first to exit the ship onto the tender which can hold 60-70 people.  The smaller boat docked with the cruise ship by a mere rope did not calm its up and down motion. While we were waiting in line to be cleared to enter the tender, we could see the boat violently moving up and down in the distance. Everyone was saying, "We have to get in that boat??" Employees of the cruise line and the tender grabbed our arms to help us into the turbelent boat.  Once in the boat, it still was a struggle to wabble towards an empty seat.  It was entertaining to watch how each person dealt with the obstacle. When our Catholic Answers group was finally safely on the boat, away we went to the island of Santorini. The ride to Santorini was a wild one. It felt like we were on a roller coaster, but it was an exciting experience. We heard later that our group was the only one allowed out of the boat on-time. They actually had to move the cruise ship around because the waves were too choppy! The others had to wait over an hour to get to the island! 

Our buses and guides were waiting for us when we got off of the tender. This excursion turned out to be very low key. We drove around the small, beautiful island, stopping at a few Greek Orthodox churches and even a local winery. We ended the tour by walking along a row of shops to a beautiful view of the island. The wind blows constantly on the island of Santorini, so the weather was breezy and wonderful. When the tour was over, we were given some free time to walk around.  Matt and I were able to find the local Catholic church (the only one on the island). It is called St. John the Baptist Catholic Cathedral. Although we had been at several Orthodox churches that morning, it was very welcoming to be in a Roman Catholic church. It feels like home after being in foreign churches.






Cathedral in Santorini

We then visited some of the gift shops and decided to eat lunch in town. We ate at a local Greek restaurant. Matt got a tortellini dish and I got a small pizza. After lunch it was time to make our way down to the tender so we could get back on the boat. Before we left the ship that morning, we knew that there were several ways to get down the steep cliffs to the sea. The ways included: cable car, donkey ride, or walking. The lines for the cable car were an hour long and the donkeys were disgusting, so we decided to walk. Plus it was free and we each have two legs that work quite well. We began the long hike down the cliff. For some reason, we did not think the walking path all the way through. This path is the same path the donkeys walk down. Originally, we thought, "No problem, we'll just walk around the donkeys who are making their way up or down the path!" Riiiight. First of all, we had to walk through a large pack of donkeys awaiting their next riding victims. The ground was brown and wet and the smell was almost too much for me to take. Disgusting. After we passed the donkey loading station we had to dodge donkey droppings all the way down the ridiculously steep and long path. I think I will be satisfied with my life if I never see a donkey again.

The tender ride back to the boat was not as wild as the first one, but we still rocked and rolled with the boat. Back on the ms Prinsendam we had about an hour to clean up and get ready for the Catholic Answers talent show. A few of the women on the cruise had arranged for several people to show off their talents. Matt and I decided that we had no talents worth embarrassing ourselves over (Matt did not have his guitar. I, on the other hand, have no talents to show off, unless they want to see me crochet or scrapbook). It was a pretty fun night which ended with Matt and I up on the stage with several other couples square dancing.

Dinner was routine, but Matt and I were not very hungry because of our slightly late lunch. Tonight the boat was a rockin'. We could not walk in a straight line as we made our way back to the cabin. When we got back to our room, we could hear the waves crashing on the side of the boat. Between the meal freshly in my stomach and the rough water, I did not have a fun night. The most terrible feeling is to be sick on a cruise ship, especially when it is dark and there is no place to go but your stateroom. I felt so sick and there was nothing I could do to make the feeling go away because I could not get off of the boat! Luckily, Matt has not had to deal with this kind of situation. We ended the evening with watching the movie The Great Debaters and going to bed early. We have to be careful while hanging around our white haired friends. I think we are becoming like them!! :o I just hope Matt doesn't start wearing his tall socks with shorts in public!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Day 15 - Ephesus, Turkey

Today we visited the great ancient city of Ephesus, all of which is in ruins.  Our first stop is at a place that claims to be the tomb of St. Luke, which is said to be unlikely.  Up the hill on the outskirts of the old city is the house in which Mary lived.  After Jesus gave Mary to John while being crucified, Mary went with John to Ephesus while he served the area as bishop.  In a small place outside of Mary's house, our Catholic group had Mass.  Afterwards, we actually got to go inside of her house!


Most of the day was spent with a walking tour of ancient downtown Ephesus.  Most of the ancient city is still under ground and may be excavated in the future.  What had been excavated is amazing, revealing a main roadway with shops on either side underneath what would have been covered walking ways.  The most notable sites included the Temple of Hadrian (Roman emperor) constructed in 118 AD and the Library of Celsus built by a Roman in memory of his father Celsus.

Ancient Road of Ephesus

Public toilets

At the end of the long ancient road is the Great Theater.  After gathering into the theater, Steve Ray gave a wonderful talk about the sites of Ephesus and the theater in which we were sitting.  This theater is featured in Acts chapter 19 when thousands of the city of Ephesus gathered to discuss the effects Christianity was having on society.  One of the concerns was Paul's preaching and conversions causing a decrease in sales of goods dealing with Artemis who was the mother-god, or god of fertility.  They also feared that Christianity would want to destroy the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  When Paul and his companions tried to talk to them they kept chanting "Great is Artemis of Ephesians" and so they left.


Great Theater

After the theater, we went to the ruins of the Church of Mary which may be the first church ever dedicated to Mary.  There we stood in the place where bishops gathered from around the world forming the third Ecumenical Council in 431 AD, the Council of Ephesus.  The council was convened to resolve a dispute between two schools of thought regarding the nature of Jesus.  Some thought the divine nature dwells in the man Jesus as in a temple, allowing the belief that the bond between human and divine natures was not real.  As such, they would only refer to Mary as Christotokos, Christ-bearer, not Theotokos, God-bearer.  Others thought that he was one person with a divine nature that absorbed his human nature.  The bishops discussed this at length and declared the one person Jesus as having two natures and, to not separate the two natures bound by the one person Jesus, declared Mary as Theotokos, which means God-bearer or, in other words, Mother of God.

Next we went to the Basilica of St. John which was built in the 6th century over the tomb of St. John the Evangelist.  St. John was bishop of Asia Minor, which was passed to Polycarp who heard St. John's preaching.  The perimeter of the basilica is huge, but is now in ruins.  The tomb of St. John is still present and visiting it was very moving.  Next, we visited the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  It was close enough to the Basilica of St. John that we could see it from there.  All that is left of the once great temple is one column standing up.


Tomb of St. John



Upon getting back to the port, Katie and I walked around some of the local shops where we saw a sign for Genuine Fake Watches.  As one who is fond of watches, I had to check it out.  Once I saw what they offered, I ended up buying a Rolex.  Then I wondered whether it was genuinely fake or if it was just genuine.  If it was genuinely fake then the transaction with the vendor was fair, but if it was just genuine then the vendor was getting shafted and I'd feel bad for him.  The vendor didn't provide a certificate of inauthenticity to guarantee that it is truly a fake.  After looking up on the internet the tell-tale signs of fake Rolexes, I confirmed that it is, indeed, a Genuine Fake watch.  At least they are honest here in Turkey, unlike the streets of New York.

Of course, today was Katie's birthday.  To make the day more unique, we got dressed to go to the fine dining restaurant of the ship, which only costs a flat $20 per person.  We were sat at a table for two near the window looking at the lights of the Turkish port.  The meal started off with the chef's trio-teaser: halibut, roast beef, and something made with Parmesan cheese.  Neither of us liked the Parmesan cheese thing.  Next, I picked out the cheapest bottle of red wine on the menu.  Of course as the man at the table, I had to test the taste of the wine to ensure that it met my rigorous specifications.  I mean, really, what am I going to say?  "No, this wine will not work.  It tastes too cheap."  "Well as you may have noticed, sir, we do offer more expensive wines" "Ohh, nevermind, since you've already opened it, this will have to do."

As an appetizer, Katie ordered crab cakes whereas I had a Thai Chicken Soup made with coconut milk.  Both were delicious.  Then our entrees arrived: fillet mignon with peppercorn gravy.  Never had either of us eaten melt-in-your-mouth meat.  Each bite was delicious.  Then for dessert, they brought out a little chocolate mouse cake with Happy Birthday written on it.  We only ate a small portion since it wasn't our official dessert- French Vanilla Souffle.  Totally stuffed, we left the restaurant with half the birthday cake and half a bottle of wine.  What a day!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Day 14 - Rhodes, Greece

As hoped, we did feel better today than we have the past few days. We had not planned on going to the excursion today, but Matt changed his mind and we were able to snag tickets to go. So, we began today with Mass and then boarding buses to see the city of Rhodes, Greece. As we drove out to the city of Lindos, I realize quite quickly that it would be a long day. The guide our bus had for today was...not my favorite. He talked in a sing songy voice and repeated everything about 5 times. So, off we went to Lindos to see the "aaaaa croooooop oooooo liiiiiiiiis", or the acropolis of Lindos

Village of Lindos with the acropolis atop the hill


At the acropolis with the Bay of St. Paul in the background

Matt conquering the world

Lindos is a town of houses and shops that are whitewashed with limestone. The town was beautiful. We had wonderful views of the town as we walked up to the acropolis. Because we were in a touristy part of the town, the streets and paths were lined with vendors selling everything from paintings to table runners.  Once we got to the top of the hill where the acropolis was located, we were able to walk around and view the spectacular scenes of the island and its shores. The acropolis in Lindos was much smaller and less impressive than that of Athens, so we spent a few minutes looking around on top of the hill and then began to make our way down to the shops. We have not yet picked up the fine talent of haggling. It is a little scary and I'm sure the vendors know that we are timid and unsure of ourselves, exactly what one should not be when haggling. But, we  still managed to buy some items from the locals, even if we did over pay for them.


Residential areas in Rhodes



After Lindos, we were bused back to the main city of Rhodes. We were given some free time to walk through the shops and the streets. Matt and I had lunch at a local Greek restaurant. We had chicken and pork gyros, a common Greek dish. After lunch, we wandered the streets of Rhodes for awhile, admiring the old roads and the unique housing. We finally made it back to the ship and got ready for dinner. Tonight we had the pleasure of dining with Karl Keating, the founder of Catholic Answers. Karl is extremely intellectual and a bit intimidating to talk to. He has so much information in his brain, he makes us both feel inadequate. But, we enjoyed his company and the company of the other cruisers at our table, as usual.

We finished our evening with round 2 of laundry. I have decided that it is best to sit in the laundry room while I am doing laundry, not because I am afraid that someone will take my clothes. Rather, the other people who use the facilities do not know how to operate the washer/dryer combos and frequently open dryers in use, thus stopping the drying process. It is rather annoying to start your laundry, come back 45 minutes later when they should be finished only to find the clothes still wet. So, I just bring a book or crossword puzzle with me and make myself at home in our little laundry room. The experience, as well as many others on this trip, has made me ever so thankful of the luxuries we have at home and in America.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Day 13 - Antalya, Turkey

Today's excursion was to Antalya, Turkey. We chose not to go on this excursion in an effort to save money. It turned out to be a good idea. We were still feeling under the weather today. We finally had a day to sleep in! This cruise has proved to not be a time of catching up on sleep or even relaxing. We have been busy with excursions, presentations, and such each day. We have enjoyed these days, but it was wonderful to be able to sleep in past 6:30! After breakfast, we decided to enjoy the day and the beautiful Turkish mountains by sitting on the deck and reading. 

We discovered the sandwich grill on the deck and decided to eat lunch there. After lunch we went back to the cabin and slept for another 3 hours! The combination of sickness and lack of sleep must have finally caught up with us. Although we felt bad about missing out on some of the cruise excitement (Matt wanted to participate in a bocce ball contest), our bodies apparently needed the rest. Hopefully we will feel better tomorrow!

Today was a pretty low key day, not much to report. Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting...

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Day 12 - At Sea

Today was another day at sea, which means we had another day of presentations by the Catholic Answers apologists. We started the day off with Mass followed by a presentation by Karl Keating on Rome before Christ and The Life and Journeys of St. Paul by Steve Ray. Steve has been one of the most exciting speakers on this trip because he is vibrant and full of energy. He tries ardently to help us to understand the real and difficult lives of the apostles and Jesus. Because he is so on-fire, he inspires us all to be as well read and as excited about the faith as he is. So, we look forward to listening to Steve talk and to being on his bus when we have tours of ancient Biblical cities.

After the presentations, Matt and I headed up to the Lido deck for lunch. We decided to give the cruise pizza a shot. It was pretty good, but not even close to the pizza we had in New York (as mentioned in an earlier post). Starting yesterday, Matt and I have been feeling a little under the weather. Along with our coughs and sneezes, we have felt extremely tired. So, we took a nap after our lunch in preparation of the afternoon session of presentations.

The first presentation was on Ephesus by Jimmy Akin. Ephesus, which was the home of Mary when she was living with John, has been excavated to expose the ruins of the ancient town. Jimmy walked us through the cites we would see in a few days and gave us background information on the city. This was very helpful because Matt and I knew very little about this city, aside from the Christian aspect. Following Jimmy's talk was a question and answer session. The cruisers are asked to write down questions they have for Steve, Jimmy, and Karl. The three apologists do an excellent job thoroughly answering any questions that may arise. We always find these sessions interesting and inspiring. We just wish we were as knowledgeable as they are about the Catholic faith. Maybe one day!

Tonight was the second formal evening. So, we got all dressed up again for dinner. We like the fancy dinners, but we are much more comfortable in the casual dinner settings. Oh well, only one more formal night to go! 

Day 11 - Galilee and Nazareth

We were the first tour group off of the boat this morning. Because we were leaving so early and the hot breakfast wouldn't be available in the dining room until after we needed to leave, we took full advantage of room service bringing a hot breakfast to the room for free-- an omelette, scrambled eggs, toast, sausage, cereal, and fruit. Being the first group off the ship was nice because there weren't long lines on the gangway. We would also be able to beat the crowds to a lot of the sites. Unfortunately, our buses didn't come until an hour after they were scheduled.

Like yesterday, our tour group was split into two buses (in Cairo we had three). Amer was on our bus again for the morning and Steve and Janet were on the other one. Throughout the day they switch back and forth. Amer explained with an angry, frustrated, and sadened tone that they had been at the port for nearly three hours waiting for the authorities to grant the two buses access, meaning they had been waiting to get to the port longer than us. The authorities told him that since he wasn't Jewish that he would have to wait a long time. The Christians are a declining population in Israel and are being squeezed out by Jewish and Muslim people. Those that remain are encouraged by pilgrims coming to the Holy Land and walking the streets of the holy places. It helps the local Christians not to feel like orphans. With that aside, we all got excited for another day in the land that Jesus walked.

Our first stop was at the Mount of Beatitudes. Here is where the greatest recorded sermon of Jesus took place. See Matthew chaper 5 and following. I had always pictured Jesus teaching the thousands of people from the top of the mount, but in reality he would have been at the base of the mount as most ancient ampitheaters were designed. Any breeze blowing by would have carried his voice up the side of the hill acting as a natural microphone. Once we arrived, we saw that there were many other tour groups, about 15 other motor coach buses parked there. Our destination was a small church for Mass, so we walked past the other tour groups walking around the grounds and quickly filled up the empty church. Being with our Catholic group and not just some other tour group makes the experience much more fulfilling.

Once inside the Church of the Beatitudes, we saw that it is octagonally shaped, representing the eight beatitudes. A Italian nun walked out and prepared the altar for us. What struck me was how unified the Catholic faith is. We, a group consisting of Catholics from all over North America, traveled to a country half way around the world where an Italian nun who had, at one point, traveled some distance too was providing exactly the things we needed: candles for the altar, a chalice, wine, bread, the scriptures-- all without anyone having to tell her. Our worship through the Mass is truly unified around the world. Of course, the gospel reading was the Beatitudes. Hearing the words of Jesus while standing in the place where they were first proclaimed was a moving experience, to say the least. The grounds around the church was one of the most peaceful places we have been too. It easily would be a wonderful retreat center (if they even offer that service).



The next stop was the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter, visited by Popes Paul VI in 1964 and John Paul II in 2000. This church is located just on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Here is where Jesus asked Peter three times "Do you love me?" and three times told him "Feed my sheep." This was the culmination of Peter being declared the leader of the apostles. We saw a sculpture depicting this moment near the church. The shore of the Sea had a smell very similar to beaches back in Florida, probably due to all of the fishing that takes place there.




We got on the bus and traveled a short distance to the city of Capernaum where Jesus lived for three years in Peter's house which he used as his headquarters while in Galilee. Here he healed the paralytic, the centurion's son, and Peter's mother-in-law. Jesus also taught here in a synagauge about the Eucharist as recorded in John chapter 6. On top of the original black walls is a synagauge with white walls built in the 4th century, some of which is still standing today. Near the synagauge is Peter's house where a more recent church is suspended above. The church has a glass floor in the center to see Peter's house from the inside. Next we went to Cana of Galilee where the wedding feast took place. Fr. Dilland who has been with us the whole trip led us in renewing our wedding vows.





Our last stop for the day was Nazareth where we went to the Bascilica of the Annunciation. Inside of the bascilica is the cave in which Mary and her parents lived and where Gabriel announced the Good News to her. This was the spot where the Word was made flesh, where everything began. What made the visit extra special was knowing that this Bascilica is the home parish of our tour guide, Amer. It must give him great joy to show people across the world his own church. Of course he knew every detail about it and loved sharing it with us. The outside of the dome of the bascilica looks like a lighthouse, for those who are spiritually lost they may return to the church. The inside of the dome is designed like a lily that only grows in Nazareth. A few yards from the church was the Church of St. Joseph which contains the cave in which the Holy Family lived for nearly 30 years.



We ended the evening by eating at a restaurant located inside a building which used to be the YMCA of Nazareth. Ironically, we were served the exact same food as the night before, chicken and beef/lamb on skewers. Today felt more relaxed, mostly because we did not visit as many overly crowded places.

Monday, October 06, 2008

Day 10 - Bethlehem and Jerusalem

We woke up early again today. We are finding out quickly that this trip is not meant for us to catch up on sleep. After a quick breakfast at the buffet, we took a fast nap and then headed off to Mass. The excursion was set to begin at 11:00 a.m. and in order to make full use of every minute, there were two talks scheduled between Mass and disembarkment. We first listened to a talk about the resurrection by Jimmy Akin followed by an outstanding, charasmatic outline of what the land would have been like when Jesus was around (given by Steve Ray). Steve talked about the realities of Jesus and Mary's life, not just the warm and fuzzy images we have of the Holy Family and their lifestyles. 

When it was finally time to leave for the excursion, we headed down the gangway to find that our buses had not yet arrived. Apparently they were stuck in security because the port was not given notice of their arrival soon enough. Steve Ray came to the rescue, worked his mysterious magic, and the buses arrived. The first stop on the agenda was Bethlehem. Bethlehem is located inside the West Bank, which is Palestinian territory. This means that we had to travel from Israel to Palestine, not an easy task with a bus full of Catholics and a Arab Israeli Catholic tour guide named Amer. Apparently the guards can cause problems and not allow buses and groups to pass through the border in a timely fashion, so we went around the back way to Bethlehem, the way with less traffic and easier border control.  While on the road in Bethlehem, a taxi met the buses on the side of the road to deliver our "fast food" lunch. It consisted of something green, ground up, and deep fried (we think it was a farafel), served with vegetables in a pita pocket. We also received a Coke and a tangerine (with a green peel). We were not too impressed with the farafel, but the tangerine was refreshing and the Coke was a Coke. 





We finally arrived at the first highlight of the day, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ. There was another large tour group outside the church who was listening to their guide before going in.  Again to the rescue, Steve and Amer led us in front of the other group and we hurried down to the cave where Mary gave birth to her Son, the Savior of the world. Upon entering in the cave, we immediately noticed a strong, familiar smell of incense which appropriately brought back memories of Christmas Mass. The place where He was born was marked with an altar. Under the altar was a 14 point star and a hole where we were able to reach down and touch the earth below. Only a few feet from the place of birth was the location of the manger in which Mary laid her newborn Son. We moved through the area quickly and it was hard to take in the place where we stood, the place where the whole world was changed forever, 2000 years ago. To emphasize the moment, we all sang a verse of "O Little Town of Bethlehem."



We shuffled out of the cave and we were then able to enjoy the Church of the Nativity which was built over the cave. After a few minutes of enjoyment, we made our way back out to the buses to continue on our journey. Before we left Bethlehem, Amer took us to a Christian gift shop where we could purchase items from the Holy Land. Seeing as this would be our only opportunity to shop while in the Holy Land, we all began purusing the store. Our guide brought us to this store because all of the other vendors and shops in the area are run by non-Christians, some of whom are persecutors of Israel and the Christians. So, we were doing our best to support the local Christian community.

Once our hands were heavier and our pockets lighter, we made our way back to the buses. The time had finally come for us to begin making our way to the holiest city on earth, the place where Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead: Jerusalem. Since Jerusalem is in Israel, we had to pass through the border again. This time, Israeli officers with semi-automatic rifles boarded the bus and walked through, making sure there was nothing or no one suspecious being brought into their land. When the officers left the bus, Steve made the comment that "They must be in a good mood today." I guess sometimes they give travelers more trouble.  As we drove into Jerusalem, we began to notice the diversity of the people on the streets. Many Orthodox Jews and Muslims filled the streets, each in their distinctive clothing. We were not able to tell if there were Christians in the mix because we have no outward sign of our religion, unlike the Jews (particularly Orthodox Jews) who wear yamicas and Muslim women who where scarves. 

Because Jerusalem is where Jesus was put to death, we were able to retrace His steps through the original way of the cross, the Via Dolorosa. The experience was moving, to say the least. It was hard at times to stay focused because we had to weave through small streets lined with vendors yelling at us to buy their items. Also, the priest leading the prayers at each station could not wait for everyone to catch up before he began, so many of the stations we reflected on silently. This, like Bethlehem, was hard to imagine that we were standing where Jesus stood and walking where He walked with the cross. The Via Dolorosa ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Here a few of us were able to make our way up to Calvary and touch the place where Jesus hung on the cross and died. As with Bethlehem, an altar stood over the exact spot. Under the altar there also was a star with a hole in the floor so we could touch the ground. Matt and I were able to touch the ground, but soon after we made our way through, the Armenian Orthodox Catholics began a long and loud service, blocking all others from getting to experience what we were able to. 



On the first floor of the church was the tomb in which Jesus was laid in after he died on the cross. The line to see the inside of the church was hours long, so our group just walked around the perimeter of the tomb, viewing the different "types" of Catholics who are represented at the church. Although we were not able to actually look inside the tomb, we know the important info about the tomb: it is empty! The entire experience in the holiest city in the world was absolutely moving. We are still realizing what we saw and where we stood.

While at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Matt and I had plans to meet up with a priest that we met in Louisville, Fr. Eamon Kelly, who is currently stationed at the Pontifical Institute of Notre Dame in Jerusalem. We had borrowed our guide's phone and called him before we started the Via Dolorosa, but Fr. Eamon was outside of the city and didn't know how long it would take for him to return. So, after the Via Dolorosa, Matt and I were scanning the courtyard, hoping Fr. Eamon would just walk up. Sadly, he did not. Matt and I were disappointed that we had missed him and reluctantly joined our group to drive to dinner. Upon arrival in the restaurant, we learned from Amer that Fr. Eamon would be joining us for dinner! It was so wonderful to see a familiar face all the way across the world. Fr. Eamon seemed pretty excited to see us, too! We were able to catch up with him and Matt and I even received a special marriage blessing from Fr. Eamon before we left. 

Our extremely full day came to a close as we drove back to our floating home and prepared for our next day in the Holy Land. Our only hope is that we can truly realize the significance of the places we have walked and the amazing gifts we have been given.

Day 9 - Alexandria/Cairo, Egypt

At 12:00am, I woke up and my body was wide awake as much as it can be waking up after four hours of sleep.  While I was up I figured that I'd update the blog with the previous days adventures.  Around 3:00, I began to see some lights out our window, indicating that we were near Alexandria.  After looking out and seeing nothing but water, seeing civilization is an exciting feeling.  Seeing a foreign civilization makes it that much more exciting and seeing one of the oldest civilations is simply incomprehensible.

Like we said, today was an early start.  We made it up to breakfast by 5:30am and ate with Steve and Janet Ray and another couple.  They shared some of their past experiences traveling in Egypt and the Holy Land letting us know what to expect.  We got off the boat, boarded the bus, and began the 3 hour ride to Cairo.

The drivers in Egypt are very similar to those in Greece. Even our tour guide told us that the white lines on the street are for decorational purposes and the red lights are like ornaments. So, needless to say, the bus driver had to weave in and out of traffic and honk his horn to let people know that he was getting ready to hit them if they didn't move their cars. Almost immediately after we started driving Katie and I noticed the large amounts of trash that lined the streets of Alexandria. The buildings, which seemed to be housing of some sort, was falling down and dirty. It was eye opening to be in a country that is not first-world as we are used to. Also, groups of military men/police officers were everywhere with large semi-automatic rifles, watching traffic go by. During the long drive to Cairo and Giza, our guide described to us the history of Egypt in preparation for the pyramids. We had already heard much of the same information the day before and many people asked him about local culture.  He even pointed out some pigeon roosts that farmers use to capture them since they are a delicacy. 

The first stop was to The Egyptian Museum of Antiquities. Because we were tight on time, we could only hit the highlights of the museum.  There were many tour groups inside which made it very crowded. Each group spoke a different language and ours was the only English speaking tour group we came across.  It is hard to even wrap our minds around how old the items in the museum are.  We saw statues that were over 4300 years old!  Of course, neither of us have seen anything older than 300 years old being in America. One of the main highlights of the museum was the findings from King Tutankhamon's tomb.  Many of the items found inside of the untouched tomb were on display at this museum, including the solid gold, perfectly preserved, funeral mask.  It was amazing to see how many treasures there were for King Tut and the extreme measures taken to create his tomb, particularly because he died at the age of 19.  It is hard to imagine what would have been inside of the tombs of kings who died at a much older age that King Tut.

After the museum, we ate at a restaurant called The Place which is a docked boat in the Nile.  The buffet had all kinds of foods from pita, hummus, baked sliced bread with veggies on them, pasta, scallopped potatoes, rice, pork, chicken or pigeon (we're not sure), pot roast, and some desserts.  Before leaving we made sure to hit the restrooms.  There was an attendant who directs people to the open restrooms.  Apparently its customary to tip them, but as Dwight says on The Office, we don't tip people for doing things that we could do ourselves. (Note: We were not aware of this common custom and have since adjusted. We carry small change with us because we now know that this may be the only money the attendants make.)



Next stop was the Pyramids.  As we drove, we looked out the window and could see them in the not too far distance.  It was neat to imagine living in a country where looking out one's window offers views of the oldest monuments in the world.  As we got closer and were able to see people next to them, it was easy to see how large they really are.  A human in the fetal position could fit within the volume of one of the stones which make up the pyramids.  What was more amazing was to see the largest pyramid, the largest tomb for a single man on the planet.  The pyramids are solid less the one or two burial chambers/passageways.





While at the pyramids, we were warned of the vendors by our tour guide.  Vendors are very persistant to get tourists to buy their items.  As soon as we got off the bus, we understood what the guide was talking about.  One of the tactics used was to place an item on top of my arm holding my water bottle saying it was a free gift.  We were warned about this one-- once they give it to you they want to charge you for it.  Everytime it happened, we told them no and when they persisted I just put it on the ground and started to walk away.  Remember that Katie has been mistaken as other ethnic groups before, well today I had my turn.  While next to the largest pyramid, a local on a camel came up to me and said "Hello!  You look Egyptian!" as he stroked his beard. Of course, I don't have the slightest resemblence to Egyptian.  Apparently this is another tactic of the vendors to sell rides on camels or their goods.



After the pyramids, we went to see the great Sphynx which is in front of the largest pyramid, whose purpose was to guard the tomb.  Went to a papyrus store that had a demonstration of making papyrus.  As the oldest paper, it was made by cutting the reeds into long and skinny strips, crisscrossing them, pressing them, and letting them dry.  After the shop, we left for the 3 hour ride back to the ship.



For dinner, Katie and I had Schwarma pita, sliced beef, rice, green beans, and ice cream.  We went to Mass afterwards with our group.  Then for the first time in over a week, we did laundry on the ship.  Nothing like clean clothes again!

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Day 8 - Cruise Ship 2

Our body clocks aren't totally synced with the local time.  This morning, I woke up at 5:00am and went to the bathrooom.  The toilet in our room isn't quiet by any means.  The first step of the instructions for the toilet are to close the lid then press the flush button so I can't see it during the flush but the rushing water sounds like Niagra Falls.  There may be a vaccum involved also.  Maybe the captian of the ship will explain it to me if I every run into him.  Anyway, the flush of the toilet woke Katie up.  Remembering that the VP debate was on, I turned the TV in our room to CNN to watch the tail-end of it.  Quite honestly, I was too tired to really comprehend what was being said so I don't know if it was worth losing a couple hours of sleep.

At 6:30, we went to breakfast where I had a yogurt/fruit parfait, cereal, and orange juice and Katie had a bagel and coffee.  Afterwards, we went out to the top deck to watch the sunrise at 7:07.  It was cloudy, so we couldn't see the sun as the sky got brighter.  Before we could see the sun rise over the clouds it started to rain so we went back to our room.  I took a brief nap and then we went to Mass at 8:00.  One of the wonderful aspects of the cruise/pilgrimage is that Mass is held on the ship everyday.  In some cases, we'll have Mass at significant locations in the Holy Land.  What a wonderful experience!

Today is a "Day at Sea" which means that the ship will spend all day today getting us to Alexandria, Egypt.  As seen on the map, the Day 8 track is 24 hours worth of sailing.  On the map, it doesn't look that far, but I suppose when traveling 20mph, these somewhat shorter distances take up a lot of time.  That is one great thing about the cruise, we get to do activities while we are moving about the Mediterranean Sea.  Today was no exception. After Mass, Catholic Answers provided three lectures for us.  The first by Steve Ray was titled Holy Sites and Pilgrimages.  He and his wife Janet have been to the Holy Land between 55-60 times leading pilgrimages so his knowledge of the places we would be visiting in the next couple days was extensive.  Next Karl Keating gave a presentation on Ancient Egypt discussing some aspects of Egyptian history including hyrogliphs, the significance of the recently discovered Rosetta Stone, and geography of the area.  Most of the information was new to me so it was wonderful to listen to.  During his presentation, though, Katie and I admittedly were struggling to stay awake since we got up so early this morning.  Jimmy Akin gave a presentation on Ancient Israel which discussed the location of the 12 tribes of Israel and a timeline of the Old Testament.  After the presentations we went back to our room for a nap.

About an hour later, we had to get up and meet with Israeli officials to obtain our passports.  Apparently, the reason Holland America retained our passports was to have Egyptian and Israeli officials on the cruise ship stamp them prior to us entering their countries.  All of this was done for us, but we had to pick up the passports so we can enter the other countries.  After that, we ate lunch.  This time, Katie got a Chicken and Pasta soup, salad, beef kabob, snow peas, and baby corn.  I got slices of Lamb, tilapia, snow peas, strawberries and cinnamon ice cream.  After lunch we attended two more presentations from Catholic Answers.  Karl discussed the pyramids, how they might have been built, their purposes as tombs for Egyptian kings, and what the inside structures appear like, information all helpful for our trip to Cairo tomorrow.  Jimmy then gave a presentation on visiting Jerusalem and Bethlehem as a primer for our visit to those sites in a couple days.  Afterwards, the three Apologists hosted a Question and Answer panel where they answered previously submitted questions.

At the end, we had about an hour to prepare for dinner which was a formal night.  If we had taken pictures, you would have seen that Katie looked beautiful while I looked like a schmuk since I didn't bring a jacket with me.  At dinner, Jimmy Akin sat at our table along with five other people, two of whom are from Guam.  We talked about our stay in Athens, how everyone is dealing with the jet lag, the space program, and many other things.  A couple days ago when we saw Jimmy, Karl, and Steve in the lobby of the hotel in Athens, I was star-struck and was drooling all over myself.  Tonight, Katie complemented me on behaving normally in front of Jimmy.  For dinner, Katie had a cesear salad, filet mignon, vegetables, risotto, and souffle while I had lamb, vegetables, potatoes, and Flambe for dessert.

After dinner we went back to the room to find a newsletter outlining Alexandria, Egypt (our first port) and the activities of the day.  Our Catholic group will be taking three buses for a three hour ride from Alexandria to Cairo to see the Great Pyramids, the Great Sphynx, and the Egyptian museum.  It was mentioned that there may be an opportunity to actually go into one of the Pyramids, which will require crawling and walking through tight spaces.  If given the opportunity, Katie and I will definately be doing that!  They also instructed us to change our watches to one hour back.  I don't understand this since Cairo is in the same time zone as Athens.  We will be arriving an hour early into the port, so if the point was to prevent confusion about the previously advertised arrival/departure times, we should be setting our watches forward an hour.

It wasn't long until I crashed.  Usually I'm the one to stay up late while she goes to be early.  While her sleeping schedule is more in line with the normal times, I seem to be a couple hours off, wanting to go to be early (8:30-9:00) and wake up early (4:00-5:00).  I guess that Katie's right when she keeps saying that I fit right in with our white-haired friends wanting to go to bed early all the time.  We do have an early start tomorrow, though, needing to meet on the gangway of the ship at 6:00am ready to leave on the buses at 6:30 for our day in Egypt.

Friday, October 03, 2008

Day 7- Cruise Ship

We thought we were over the jetlag, but unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case. We awoke at 4 am, ready for breakfast and to begin our day. When we realized that going back to sleep was not going to happen, Matt and I decided to call home to our parents. After being in a foreign country with very few Americans and no familiar faces for a few days, hearing their voices was comforting.

When the time for breakfast finally arrived, we made our way down to the first floor for a repeat of yesterday's buffet. More cruisers had arrived the night before and our thoughts of being the youngest people on the boat were confirmed. After breakfast we returned to our room to pack up for the cruise. Since their is no weight or liquid limits for the cruise, this round of packing went much smoother. Our 4 am wake up was wearing down on us, so we took a quick nap before we had to check out.

After check-out, we had about an hour and a half before our bus left to take us to the port. We waited in the lobby of the airport with all of our luggage piled up. While walking around in Athens yesterday, we somewhat chuckled at the tour groups walking around the Acropolis. They all had to stand in a group, follow the tour guides, wait for people to rejoin the group, and just flat out looked like tourists, something we've tried not to look like.  In ancient Athens, we were able to walk around at our own pace and felt a great deal of adventurerous freedom.  As we sat in the lobby waiting for the bus, Matt had images of our group becoming that tour group that we scoffed at earlier. Increasing our apparent hypocricy, our Catholic Answers group is a smaller tour group within the larger tour group of everyone on the cruise ship, so we are a specialized tour group!  If we had to be in a tour group, which is the most efficient way of visiting all of the foreign places, we'd rather be a part of the Catholic Answers tour group which consists of 90 or so people, mainly from North America although one couple is from Guam. While there are various activities on the ship, we have our own itenerary which includes our own Catholic Answers receptions and lectures discussing the places we will be visiting from a truly Catholic perspective.

Matt has noted in previous posts about the craziness of traffic in Athens. The roads are narrow with sharp turns and the Greeks drive without much respect for the white lines or the speed limit. With this image of Greek drivers in my mind, I was somewhat fearful of our ride to the port aboard a large bus. From the window of the bus, I watched how we drove inches away from cars and motorcycles, amazed at how unperturbed the other drivers were. Upon arrival at the port, we had to go through passport and security checks. While signing in at the Holland America desk, we were informed that they would be taking our passports away from us and returning them at an unspecified day or location. I felt helpless and vulnerable. I knew that we were going to be aboard a boat with Americans in a hotel-like environment, but these fine attributes to the cruise do not take away from the fact that we are in a foreign country and we will be traveling to countries where Christians and Americans are not joyfully welcomed. But, we did not have a choice in the matter, so we handed over the most important items we had. 

We then took our first steps aboard the place we would call home for the next 14 days. Our room is much more spacious than our Athens hotel room, the only drawback being the lack of outlets. We have one American outlet and a Greek outlet. Since our luggage had not yet been delivered to the room, we decided to explore the ship and find food. We quickly found the buffet style lunch restaurant. Upon walking in, the first image flashing through our minds was gluttony. Before us stood an all-you-can-eat buffet with a waiting staff ready to get us anything we wanted. Of course, there are no price tags on the food or drink since we've already paid for it. I almost felt as if it was too much pampering. We're supposed to be on a pilgrimage, which typically involves some sort of self-denial: something hard to do when all the food one would want is at one's fingertips. Regardless, our hunger led us to select salads, beef with gravy, mint flavored orzo, some fruit, and chocolate pudding. The buffet is nice in that some food from each of the food groups may be picked, including the sweets food group. We didn't particularly enjoy the mint-flavored orzo and the pudding tasted like nursing home pudding. We're discovering that the food is sort of hit and miss.




After lunch, we came back to our room where our luggage had arrived. So we began to unpack, placing our clothes into drawers and hanging our shirts and pants on hangers, making it much easier to pick out clothes to wear in the morning.  Soon thereafter, we had a mandatory life-jacket drill where an alarm sounded and we had to put on our life jackets in the room and walk to the deck to stand underneath the emergency lifeboats.  After everyone was acounted for, we were able to go back to our room and get ready for dinner.

The dinners on the ship are either casual dress or formal dress.  Tonight's was casual dress which is somewhat like business casual.  Dinner is in a separate dining room from lunch where eight of us are at a table and are served by a waiter.  He handed us the menu which had appetizers, soups/salads, and entrees.  Again, the nice thing about the menu is that there are no prices next to the food, so we can pick whichever we like.  Right in the middle of dinner,the ship started to leave the Greek port of Pireaus.  The engines of the ship caused everything in the dining room to shake like it was an earthquake, since the dining room is located in the aft of the ship directly over the engines.  The wait staff just did their job as normal.  Once we got up to our cruising speed (about 20mph) the shaking stopped.  The rocking motions of the ship, however, just begun.  Neither Matt nor I have been on a ship like this, so feeling the boat sway back and forth from turning and just being on water was new and interesting.  Matt got a bowl of fruit, tomato basil soup, and some pork with apple chutney and broccoli.  I got salad and braised chicken with mashed potatoes and spinach.  All of the food at dinner was really good.  We then got a dessert menu and ordered the raspberry chocolate cake which was awesome.  Having dinner on a moving ship reminded Matt and I of the lunch we had with her family on the Ohio River cruise just a couple days before our wedding.

Immediately after dinner, there was a Catholic Answers reception which was an orientation of sorts- getting to meet the speakers and talk about some of the logistics of the upcoming excursions.  This was held in a room on the top deck so we could really feel the swaying of the ship.  Whenever we stand up from our chairs, it sometimes feels like we're just standing up after being spun around.  I suppose we'll get used to it after spending two weeks on the ship.  Afterwards, we went to rent a movie for the night, but didn't really find anything that was worth the $3 rental fee.  After such a busy day, we ended up going to bed around 11:00pm.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Day 6 - Athens

Today we woke up around 12:00am.  We probably shouldn't have gone to sleep so early at 6:30pm, but without a sleeping plan we just listened to our bodies.  It would have been better to keep ourselves awake until late and then go to sleep.  Still hunkered down in the hotel room trying to acclimate to the time change, time crawled to about 3:00am and we were both hungry for the American breakfast buffet that is included with our hotel stay. Katie tryed to sleep while I stayed up to blog and watch some more videos, hoping that being awake longer would make me more tired at bedtime.

Katie got a good two hours of sleep and I stayed up until breakfast time.  We went downstairs for breakfast and were greeted by a nice spread.  Scrambled eggs, eggs sunny-side up, bacon, fried potatoes, mushrooms, cereal, various breads, fruit, cold cuts, and cheeses.  I piled on one plate and went back for another knowing the long day we had ahead of ourselves.  They also had a machine that squeezed oranges on the spot: put whole oranges in the top and fresh orange juice comes out the bottom.  The waiter came to our table and asked if we wanted coffee or tea.  Katie requested coffee and I asked him for orange juice.  After saying that, he had a funny face and said "Okay, I can do that."  Then Katie pointed behind me where there were glasses and a pitcher of orange juice to fill them.  Moment number two of being a dumb tourist and not knowing what is going on.

We went back to the room and I took a short nap before our day's adventures.   I discovered that the bundle packing method didn't work so well.  We left the room by 10:00am to see the Acropolis.  Our first stop was the Parthenon.  All we had was a small map given to us by the hotel when we checked in.  After figuring out which way was north, we started walking in its general direction.  After some time walking, we actually spotted it; it sits atop a large hill about a football field high so it's hard to miss.  We wondered around side streets trying to find the way to the top.  We met some people who were also trying to find it.  Together as a group, we discovered that the way we were going was a dead end, and eventually found the right roads to walk.  Seeing a huge number of people was the tell tale sign we were in the right place.  The Acropolis is home to many archaeological sites including the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Erechtheion, and the Propylea.  We saw from above the Theater of Dionysusn and Herodeion.


Overview of Athens
Parthenon

A short stroll from the Acropolis led us to the Areopagus, otherwise known as Mars Hill.  Here St. Paul spoke to the Athenians about them worshiping an Unknown God.  The whole hill is made of marble which has steps carved into the hill for climbing to the top.  The millions of people walking on the steps has polished them up nicely making them very smooth and slippery.  Afterwards, we went to the Ancient Agora which used to be the market place of ancient Athens.  In one area, there were many sculptures of gods and goddesses, but none of them had heads.  Katie's explaination was that over the years, people defaced them- literally.  As we walked around more, we kept encountering wild dogs which roamed the city streets and parks.  Throughout the day, we saw about 15, some roaming around and others laying down presumably sleeping.  After lunch we strolled down a street that had some shops.  Katie spotted a neat looking hobo-bag (purse), stick sold separately.  It being pink and purple made it irrestible.  Then we went to the Temple of Olympiad Zeus and Hadrian's Arch.  All that is left of the Temple are 14 standing colums and one column which is on the ground in pieces.  It was mindblowing to think how massive the temple once was.

Stray Dogs
The only head in an otherwise headless gallery
Temple of Zeus

On our way back to the Hotel, we found a very enjoyable park that had lots of trees and blocked out all the noise of surrounding traffic.  In the middle of the park was a small zoo for kids with ducks, geese, donkeys, and some African animal similar to impalas.  Then we saw a sign for a coffee shop, which we had to follow.  On our way, we encountered a company of soldiers practicing their marching.  They had rifles which they later put the bayonets on in their drill.  Once finding the coffee shop, Katie got a Greek Coffee and I got a Nescafe Frappe with ice cream.  After being wired with caffine, we went on a scavenger hunt for shampoo.  The stuff in the hotel isn't bad, but we like good shampoo and we need some for our stay at the monastery in Rome.  We think that the only places that sell hygine product here are the small pharmacy shops.  The nice thing about Athens is that the pharmacies have large, green LED signs indicating their location.  The problem was that every one we saw was closed.  An employee of another shop kindly gave us directions to one that was open.  Mission accomplished.  Afterwards, we went back to the computer store which also sells music so that I could buy some authentic Greek tunes.

When in the lobby of our hotel, we recognized the celebrities of our Catholic Answers trip: Jimmy Akin and Karl Keaton, both of whom are Catholic apologists (people who explain and defend Catholicism).  Ever since we checked-in, I wondered if they were in the hotel also, if they would be visiting the Acropolis and maybe we could go as a group.  Katie and I introduced ourselves as the youngest people that may be on this trip.  Apparently they had just gotten in that morning, so I knew how they were feeling at that moment.  Actually, Karl had gone to the Acropolis during the day today which made us seem like wimps with our day-long, jetlag recovery retreat in our hotel room.  Then Steve Ray walked into the lobby with his wife Janet who are also apologists and will be giving the tours when we are in Israel.  The meeting of the minds were to tend to some business before the start of the cruise tomorrow so we went back to our room for the night.

Katie was hungry for dinner, but I wasn't so she reluctantly called room service.  Reluctantly because just this morning at breakfast upon seeing waiters bringing back empty dishes, Katie asked why in the world people would order room service in the morning instead of visiting the restaurant.  My reason was that some people just like to be pampered.  The thought of room service for dinner was comical in the context of this morning's conversation, but was very practacle for wanting to stay in the room to eat.  We finished out the day making sure everything is good for the start of the cruise tomorrow and watching an episode of House.