Hello hello,
This is probably the last "European Newsletter" as my Aunt Kathy calls it unless I write one before getting on the plane.
We are currently in Athens, Greece and good lord it is hot!! Jennifer is getting a taste of what the rest of Europe was like for Kristina and I before we got to Italy where it RAINED in EVERY city we were in. What are the odds?
Our last stop in Italy was the Amalfi Coast, we were in Sorrento. It was a very nice area, lots of tourists, very clean. We had to take a crappy ass train thing from Naples (crap hole city!) to Sorrento and the area is very impoverished so the people on the train (other then tourists) are mainly beggars. One guy got on with his saxophone and played Hey Macarena and Oh Susannah, don't you cry for me. But it was in Italian other then the phrases hey macarena and Oh Susannah. We also smelled the worst smelling people in all of Europe on that train. At one point Kristina was gagging and had her had down because it smelled so bad, it was an interesting and smelly ride.
Our only day in Sorrento, Kristina and I headed for the Island of Capri, Jennifer sight saw around Sorrento. Unfortunately, the weather SUCKED and it was cold on the beach on Capri ) : We were wrapped in our towels at one point because it was so cold but we couldn't leave because our tickets were only valid for an evening return. We sucked it up though and I eventually got in the water, which was actually much warmer then I had anticipated it to be. Capri seems pretty neat, though we did not get to see much of it, and it was not as pretty as all of the pictures since it was overcast most of the day. Every time we get to a beach or area with water--it gets cold!!!
Today we went to the Acropolis, not as cool nor big as any of us expected. We took pictures and then went to the Ancient Agora, another old thing. HAHA. Then we went back to the hotel because it was already insanely hot and it was only around 11 am!
Yesterday, we did some MAJOR shopping. Kristina and I went a little crazy.... We had bags and bags of stuff. It is SO cheap here! Kristina had a lot of souvenir shopping to be done so she loaded up. Jennifer bought a few things also, but she had some restraint unlike us two.
The day before that so, Wednesday, Kristina and I stayed in the hotel room the entire day because my ankle is continually more messed up and I wanted a day to rest it. We all got up and ate breakfast and then went back to bed. Jennifer woke up at 12 to go to a museum and Kristina and I stayed in bed and slept till 2!!! That night we couldn't sleep at all.
There isn't a whole lot to do in Athens. It is pretty dirty and smelly. But the subways are amazingly clean and pretty. Stuff is pretty cheap here in general, clothes, food, transportation etc... It is a little dissapointing, I guess we all had pre conceived notions of what Athens was, maybe a big, grand city like Rome? I don't know but we were all like, huh so this is it?
To get to Athens was a little time consuming. We left Sorrento around 6 am and took a crappy one hour train thingy to Naples, then from Naples took a regular train to Rome, (which on this train, we got kicked out of our seats because we didn't pay for reservations, then had to walk around the train with our luggage while it was moving to find a seat), then from Rome, took another train to the airport. From there, we flew from Rome to Athens. It was a short flight, on the crappiest plane ever. It rattled and shook and Kristina and I thought it would fall apart on us! Jennifer was about 10 rows behind us because she booked her flight at a later date. We were served the most disgusting sandwich ever, cold eggplant and sun dried tomatoes! I tasted it and spit it out, it tasted like worms. Or so I assume worms taste, needless to say it was nasty and Kristina found the situation quite funny. After our flight we had to take two metros to get to our hotel. It was quite the exhausting day. At least my luggage rolls now.
Our neighborhood that we are staying in is very crappy. It is apparently known for its prostitutes, cocaine drug trade and immigrant problems among other things. It is rated as the worst neighborhood in Athens, figures with our luck! It is actually quite strange, it is nearly all middle eastern men in this neighborhood and in many instances we have literally been the ONLY women walking around to and from the subway. Tons of these men just stand around on the streets and you can imagine, us being the only women in sight, they hoot and holler all the time. Some guy grabbed Jennifer's arm today and said hey lady!! She got away from him quickly though.
We are headed to Santorini Island tomorrow and we have to take an 8 hour boat ride to get there!!!! We have to leave the hotel at around 5 am...sucks! But then we will be in beautiful Santorini.
With all the crap going on at Gatwick Airport in London, we hope our flight leaves for one, or leaves on time and we are hoping we can still carry some stuff on. With the new note thing about the stupid bomb whatever dealy (very grammatically correct haha) we are afraid they will revert to no carry on baggage again. Oh joy, only 5 more days! Lets just hope we can get out of the country when we are supposed to....
Talk to you all when we get back (unless I am able to write again sooner) Miss you all tons! Wish us luck flying home!
Love, Kimberly
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