On Blogging while traveling

This has not been a good cruise for blogging... it is port intensive… I need to get up early before we leave the ship, or stay up late after dinner and other activities to write the blog…  I am three days behind in my writing…  (not really, Mykonos is mostly written, but I try to post in order, which means I need to finish a couple of other posts before Mykonos sees the light of day…)  I was 4 days behind but finally got online for a few minutes and posted Istanbul…   

Of course, first I write it, then I get to try to post it…  Posting has been a significant issue on this cruise. The connections from the ship, always slow have been on this cruise beyond bad…  Ships are always on satellite internet, which is always slow… very slow, time out slow… but speed isn’t an issue when you can’t connect at all… On this cruise the internet doesn’t work before 8:00 am… and by the middle of the night is not working again… and again…  I purchased 500 minutes, got a bonus of an extra 50, and in 5 days have used less than 100....

I have spoken to the internet manager a couple of times… without success… (beyond not being competent, he is rude…)  I have spoken to the purser’s office this evening, requesting a contact from a manager tomorrow…   In some 130+ days on Hal I have never complained about a crew member… I did tonight.

Typically on a ship photos are hard.  I just spent 20 minutes trying to post 12 photos…  but the ship board system when working it too slow…. They too will have to wait until tomorrow.

It appears that if I want to blog I will need to carry the laptop ashore and post from internet café’s.  This of course means carrying the laptop, which means I need to carry a backpack when ashore.  

Good night for now, I am back to writing and sorting photos…. 

Istanbul

As you approach from the sea,  Istanbul’s “modern” skyline speaks to its ancient roots.  The modern is overshadowed by the great buildings… the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, the minarets and the Tapaki palace.  The harbor is congested with ferries and tugs and pleasure boats.  

We stepped off the ship, thought a sea of taxi cabs and a gauntlet of drivers each offering or rather imploring you to allow him (for all the drivers seen were male) to give you a ride to the old quarter.  (research suggests the tram takes 20 minutes or less, a cab, stuck in traffic typically takes more than an hour).  Instead we walked 200 yards (in this city evidently everything is 200 yards away, sometimes it’s a long 200 yards, sometimes a very short 200 yards, but is seems it is always 200 yards to where every you are going, even when its isn’t)

We had 10 in our group, T and I, her brothers and wives, her two sisters, and a couple we met at the Cruise Critics gathering… we had Turkish Lira, so locating an ATM wasn’t an issue (and wouldn’t have been if we didn’t have local money).  We found the tram stop, purchased tokens from the machine, passed through the turnstile and almost immediately boarded a very crowded tram…   It was a happy crowd, (not at all your typical British soccer hooligans) celebrating their victory at a local soccer game with cheers and songs… we were encouraged to join in … I may have...

The tram passed over the Galata bridge across the Golden Horn, down narrow congested streets.  It is clear we are not in Kansas anymore.   We got off between the Blue Mosque and the Hophia Sophia… it was less a few hundred feet (a very short 200 yards) to the front gate.  The ticket line was long, but we had tickets purchased on line in advance, and walked right in.  From the outside, from up close the building is heavy and squat, speaking to its Byzantine origins, but once inside it opens up and nothing about it is heavy.   It is a spectacular space, even with massive scaffolding inside.  Like so many things in the area, it is layers upon layers of building and history…  A Basilica (once the largest in the world) built on the ruins of a church, converted to mosque, now a museum.   We stay until they close, then gather out in front in the square near a fountain…  it was full of people… vendors roasting corn and chestnuts and making taffy suckers,  People walking, sitting, taking pictures…  

Half our group, headed back via the tram, 4 of us headed back walking… Eventually Erik and Mia decided to break away and head back directly while Tina and I took our time.   We had dinner in a Kabob place, 10 feet from the tram tracks, sitting outside watching the world walk by, then made our way back to the ship as well. 

Day 2

Now Monday, Dawn, but not yet sunrise over the Istanbul’s harbor.  Grey’s and dark blues giving way to colors as the sky lightens…  I am up early, sitting with a cup of coffee in the Lido, Tina still asleep downstairs.  The first of the days ferries head across for the Asian side.  Eventually I headed downstairs and wake sleeping beauty… we are due to gather at 8:00 to go into town.

The clan gathered on the dock at 8:00, promptly, no laggards…  we had much to see and too little time.

Now understanding the tram system having used it the previous day, we purchased tokens, and rode to the old quarter.  Most of our party needed Turkish lira, so they stopped at an ATM (there was a bank of 3 stand alone ATM’s at the tram stop… finding an ATM was not difficult.)  We walk up the street, feeling confident that we know where we are going… and apparently we do…  Istanbul is a city of free roaming cats and dogs… gentle dogs that seem unconcerned with cats, cats who are friendly enough to let you pet them… and only occasionally scratch or bite…

Our first stop was the Topaki Palace, the seat of government for the Ottoman Empire, as well as the residence of the Sultan and his family.    We arrived early, before it opened, then got in line for tickets

The Palace is a progression of courtyards, each more secure, the final being the seat of the government, with the petition hall, the treasury and such.  To one side is the Harem, in reality the residence of the Sultan, his family, ruled by his mother…  There were no scantily clad ladies seen…  but there were spectacular mosaics and wonderful spaces.  We started with the harem… then on to the treasury to see the crown jewels… after a few rooms were had seen enough gold and jewel encrusted boxes.

From the palace we walked down hill around the Hagia Sofia, to the cistern.  The cistern is variously called the “underground cistern” or the “Basilica Cistern” (in the depths of History).  The cistern is simply an underground water storage tank… but a big one, the roof supported by 336 columns, most if not all salvaged from older, ancient,  buildings.  Once again it is a spectacular space… this seems to be a theme here in Istanbul… spectacular spaces… the cistern is dark… there is several feet of water covering the  floor… you walk on raised wooden walkways, through the pillars.   Many years ago, Russia With Love, a James Bond film included the cistern in a scene…

From the cistern we walked across the square to the Blue Mosque.  The building huge, almost overwhelming, with 6 minarets seemingly guarding it.  Being a mosque, with Islamic rules not fully understood, makes it more foreboding…  We have to take our shoes off, We are not allowed inside during prayer.  Prayer takes place five times a day…   In fact, they were very welcoming.  There is a visitor’s entrance.   They have bags for your shoes.  They have wraps for women to cover their heads and for anyone, male or female to hide their legs if they are wearing shorts.  There are barriers establishing where we could go.  Everyone we met was welcoming (yes, I used welcoming twice, now three times... but it is the word that defines the place). Like the Hagia Sofia the space within is spectacular.  Our visit was short.  There was a prayer soon, and we left before they asked us.  This was probably our issue rather than theirs.

From the Blue Mosque we went in search of the Grand Bazaar… This took us across the Hippodrome, then uphill across the old quarter… dodging vehicles… Several of our party starting to suggest food and drink were in order… Just outside the Grand Bazaar we stopped in a Kabob café and has lunch and a few of us a beer.  Up until now we had kept the original group of 10 together, but now with some getting tired we split up…  Tina & I, followed by Erik and Mia headed into the Bazaar… it was much less chaotic and much cleaner than expected… almost mall like.   We made it through, with only a single purchase being made, emerged on the far side, and wandered the streets downward in search of the Spice Market.  With directions a few times along the way we found it, purchased some Turkish Delight, worked our way thought to the other side where we found the New Mosque, known for its pigeons… I suspect this is the pigeon mosque of the 19^th century, but so far can’t find a reference.  Tina got an ice cream, I purchased a plate of pigeon feed… I had to bargain for the feed… from 5 lira to 1 lira for the plate…  I fed the birds…  Tina ate her ice cream cone,  then we walked across the Galata bridge and back to the ship.

Our time in Istanbul was too short… We barely scratched to surface of the city… We hit the must see sights, but little more…

Athens

We landed in Athens about 9:30am… Immigration was easy… just outside in the terminal we found an ATM and got some Euros… then across the street and upstairs to the train and metro station.   We purchased a ticket from a live agent… (signs said the fare was 8 Euros, but we ended up with a group ticket for 2 for 14 Euros)  

We went downstairs to  the platform…  the signs are a bit confusing for non greek speakers, with two trains, one the metro, the other the suburban train both going towards Athens.   We figured it out, found seats near the luggage rack (yes, luggage racks on a subway) and headed into town.

Our hotel was about 4 blocks from the metro station, but matching maps and finding signs was a bit difficult (that Greek language thing again) we asked a couple of police men who directed up “the Souvlaki street”…  It turns out the first block or two of Mitrpoeos street is now a pedestrian mall lined with Souvlaki restaurants and that is how they recongnize it.  We found our hotel (the Plaka, very nice) checked in, sent a couple of emails to tell folks we had arrived, then headed over to the historic sites…  Walking out of the hotel door, the Acropolis and Parthenon is above to the right… right there…   You know you are in Athens.

We found the Ancient Agora first, bought tickets which work at most of the historic sites, then started working our way upward through the Agora to the Acropolis.

The sheer number of sites, and the layers of ruin upon ruin is a bit overwhelming.  The litter of marble column caps and blocks is amazing.  You climb to the top, amid a press of humanity from all over the world.   It’s a steep climb, frequently on stairs, frequently covered by crowds, sitting and resting, or gathered around their guide.  The groups are effective traffic barriers, blocking everything while they pause as a group along narrow walkways.  

Both of us had been here before, but not for many years.  Since, the crowds have apparently grown, and more of the top is roped off.  Restoration seems to be ongoing… signs spoke of projects completed in 2004, but  based on the equipment, the 2004 date referred to only one phase of a many phase ongoing project.   Who knew there was a narrow gauge railroad on top of the Acropolis (its a tramway used to move blocks for restoration about.  They have crane-ways suitable for a good size ship yard as well.  It appears that as projects end, the cranes remain… to be used for the next restoration effort.  I suspect there will not be a time in my lifetime that there won’t be cranes on top of the Acropolis or around and even within the Parthenon.

Having seen much, we worked our way back down, this time down the back side of the Acropolis, to the new Acropolis museum.  All the guidebooks said it is amazing… and it is… Built on piers with exposed ruins underneath (much of the floor is glass allowing you to see them) it is a modern building… with modern displays of rich collection of artifacts.  So many artifacts that at first it is overwhelming and seems chaotic, but as you work through the displays it starts to make wonderful sense.  One side of the 2^nd floor is about how the white marble statues were not white, but painted, with original stature next to modern reproduction painted as they believe it was… in one case they offered two replicas, one painted by a German museum, the other by local archeologists… suggesting that while similar, they still were studying the issue… there were staff archeologists wandering to answer questions…  all in all the museum exceeded our (high) expectations.  

The top floor is dedicated to the Parthenon and its decorations.  The outside gallery surrounds a inner building the same dimensions as the Parthenon, and the hold a mix of fragments of the original marbles, with casts of some held elsewhere, as well as models of what they think might have been in each location.  Throughout the ancient sites there are lots of comments about the Elgin Marbles held in the British Museum…  the Brits believing they were saved while the Greeks believe they were looted.  My take is the Brits saved them by looting them, but its time to return them… The Greeks are now able to house, display and protect them…

We ate lunch at the café in the museum…  on the terrace looking up at the acropolis and Parthenon.  Salads, with wine and beer…

Afterward we walked around the acropolis through the Anafiotika  neighborhood… small crooked streets, island style houses, settled by people from the island of Anafi… . Back to the Plaka, back to our hotel… then off exploring through the flea market, looping back to dinner at one of the Sovilaki places as recommended by Rick Steves, then back to the hotel to sit on the roof top garden and bar to watch the sunset and the acropolis as they turn the lights on…  pictures were taken… but as we watched, eyelids got heavy and after 28 hours without seeing a bed, the bed called…  We have seen much, but there is much still to see…  the unseen may have to wait…

The next morning…

I got up early (Tina didn’t) showered and went for a walk in search of the Central  Market…  I arrived as they were setting up for the day… the butchers cutting and chopping… the fish mongers laying out catches… across the street the vegetable venders were unloading and setting up their stalls for the day…

I returned to the room to find Tina still asleep and wanting to continue to sleep, so I checked email and posted the blog post about the flight and the lines, and packed…  I discovered I didn’t bring a camera cable, normally not an issue but one chip won’t read in the computer, but will read through the camera, and I don’t have a cable to connect the camera, so the early photos of the trip are likely trapped until we return… Tina eventually rose, we went to breakfast (spectacular, Greek salad for breakfast along with cappuccino and fruit and bacon and all things needed for breakfast including beans for our fellow English travelers)

We checked out, made our way to the metro station and took the train to Piraeus, then a cab to the ship…

Eventually we rendezvoused with the rest of the party…  yesterday one brother lost his wallet to a pickpocket on the metro, today the other lost his to a pickpocket on a bus…  One sister’s luggage is still in New York… the airline says it will forward it to Istanbul, but for now she lacking baggage…  Such is the uncertainty of travel.

Now, after sail away and dinner, and a walk about the promenade deck we are getting ready for bed…   We are tired and ready to sleep… tomorrow we are mostly at sea, but late, about 4:00 arrive at Istanbul and the next adventure.

Randy

Flying - It's all about the line

An alarm at 4:30, is never good, even when signaling the beginning of a vacation.    The animals mill, confused...

The airport was already busy... Security trumps customer service...  Show your boarding pass to get in line to check bags... Wait inching slowly forward,   We get to the counter... They check documents, scan our passports, weigh the bags and decide that there is an issue, and send us to "special services", to wait in line again...  When we again reach the counter, they again check documents, again scan our passports, again, this time check our bags and send us on our way... To security, where they check your boarding pass before you enter the line, check it again half way through, sorting us by flight boarding time, before the TSA man checks boarding pass and passport, making notes and randomly circling some items, before sending to the line where you lose shoes and belts, hat & jacket and disassemble your carefully packed luggage into plastic bins for scanning.  The line for the body scanner was mercifully short.

Now, apparently vetted as safe, we regather our dispersed possessions, dress, grab a coffee (a line may have been involved) and locate our gate where boarding has not yet started, but lines are forming...

Announcements are made... But with 8 gates in close proximity, with one gate calling pre-boarding, while the next is calling group 2, confusion seems the order of the day.  They call "traveler C Hees, please see the gate agent" so she (the agent) can once again check passports, (thankfully without a line this time) and begins a lecture about showing passports when checking in...  (We had) checks them again and clears us to fly, or at least to stand in line where they would check boarding passes and join the line which extended from the plane and through the jetway...

We find our seats and sufficient overhead bin space... We settle in while the crew make repeated announcements imploring passengers to find their seats, get out of the aisle, stow luggage in the overhead bin wheels first...

Eventually the close the cabin doors, ask us to turn electronic devices to the O-F-F position, and we push back, so the plane can join the line of other jets awaiting its turn to take off...

Delta has changed it's safety video... Much like Virgin America's cartoon delta's new video is filled with humor, tiny suitcases, a passenger stowing his antique typewriter so he can close his tray table and passengers peering over setbacks looking for the nearest exit "which might be behind you"only to find an embarrassed man leaving the loo...

Now, above 10,000', Electronic devices again welcome,   I blog while The Sierra Nevada, then Nevada passes below... Dry hills with occasional circles of irrigated alfalfa.    We seem to be taking a northernly route...  North of lAke Tahoe and I-80, and eventually north of Salt Lake (both the lake and the City) We are seated on the left side of the plane, so there are few land marks to gauge progress.  We  now we are more than an hour into a 5 1/2 hour flight to JFK, where we will board a different plane for the 10 hour flight to Athens...  It's going to be a long day.

We pass Jackpot Nevada, on the Idaho border....  There are more farms, more trees on the mountains... We reach the Rockies at about two hours out...  Hit rough air and the fasten seat belt light comes on...  We fly over Bear Lake Idaho and the town of Monticello... Butch Cassidy and the hole in the wall gang robbed the bank there... The Tetons are visible beyond...  White peaks through the white clouds.

As we closed in on the Black Hills the clouds closed in... Somewhere below is I-90, The valley of Roosevelt's nose, Wall Drug and the Badlands but from 39,000' it is just white to the horizon.   We turn northward.   We are now north of I -90....   the clouds thin a bit...  We are crossing the Missouri River and the landscape changes from open range to farms...   We have left the west...  We turn north again... We are now nearly over North Dakota...  We have been airborne for 3 hours

Now turning southward... I am seated over the wing, and the shadow raising and falling on the engine serves as an inclinometer...  The little map on the back of the seat shows a different kind of line... a yellow line showing where we have been, following a stair step pattern turning northward, then eastward.  Then north again, then east again...  suspect the pilots are searching for clear air... Our course is carrying us further and further north.   With a green line showing us headed for JFK, a line that shows we will eventually need to turn south.

An hour out of JFK finds us over Canada, well north of Lake Erie... 50 minutes out while over Lake Ontario, the shadow on the engine disappears as we bank, turning sharply southward.   The cabin crew starts picking up trash...

As we drop below 10,000 I turn the IPad off...

We land a few minutes late, deplane and head for gate for the next flight...  They are starting the early boarding as we arrive... There is no time for foor or other diversions...  They start with wWheelchairs, people mobility issues or small children, then first class, business class, gold nap medallion members,  sky club member... It's a long list...  Only tThen do they allow the rest of us to board.  1st class and club members board in a lline with a blue carpet...  Steerage gets no carpet...  We are boarding group 3... It's airline speak for "no room in the overhead bin"...   Here at JFK the line is a concept which was not embraced...   instead the prefer to mob the gate, any attempt at order abandoned.  We board, find space for our bags and wait while everyone else looks for their seats.

This is a 9 hour flight... The previous was 5 1/2...  With the time change the trip  will take just over a day... Time to power down again...   Once off we reach 10,000' quickly...  I pad back on...

Now an hour plus into the flight...  International flights still include now mostly forgotten services including meals, complimentary beer  and wine...   a beer makes up for the hectic connection...   Outside the world is literally fading away...  From New York we neared northward,  across the Canadian maratimes...  The was a quick glimpse of shoreline a bit ago.  The sun is receding behind, the world outside tuning blue grey,  details lost as light fails.. . Ahead a full moon shines...

Randy

PS... I am posting this from our hotel in Athens... Compliments to the cabin crew on our Delta flight to Greece... Blogger offered me instructions in Greek with as so often said is Greek to me, but I have blundered through it.   Yesterday we wandered about Athens... today we will join our ship... there will be more blog posts...

Back to the blog, and to travel

After a period distraction and change, I am back… and blogging

I have retired… It was more work and longer days than expected…  It was a distaction... but it is over and life begins

I retired a week ago… I ended up back at work or in close proximity 4 days in the next week… It appears work has a gravity not described by Newton or his apples… the gravitational forces are weakening so there is hope…

On the upside the house (our house) is clean, cleaner than before when we had a cleaning service… It turns out I am a pretty good cleaning lady… Of course I had to bring the work hats home, overwhelming the hat shelf high in the closet…  The other things now home cover the dining room table… I am working my way through the piles…

Beyond retiring and all that it entails, T and I are off on a trip… Athens, Istanbul, some miscellaneous Greek islands, Ephesus, Athens a second time, more islands, Ephesus again, more islands then Athens again…  I am packing… (three days ahead of departure… I feel like I am way ahead of the curve)… It is also a challenge… 16 days… one small suitcase (up to 50lbs) and a backpack, international baggage rules, planning for no laundry… several (4) formal nights, so a suit is in order… We are planning on taking the subway from the airport to our hotel in Athens, then from downtown to Piraeus to join the ship… so light and compact is the order of the day.  Mid day today I packed the suitcase… checking off the each item as I packed it on my list (Tina, aka the wife would be sooooo proud)  I didn’t pack the suit… wrinkles being an issue, but without the suit its about 37 lbs… all is good.

We have guide books… we have done web research… both of us have been to Greece before, and Tina has been to Istanbul, twice.  We are joining Sig and Toby, T’s older, older brother and wife and a couple of friends, and Tanya and Karen, the older sisters, and Erik and Mia, younger older brother and wife… Erik and Mia are already on a pre-trip exploring Israel.  Sig and Toby are in Virginia visiting their daughter and family.  We leave Thursday very early… Karen and Tanya follow us a day later… We will all rendezvous aboard the MV Rydam in Piraeus on Saturday.

Tina bought up some Turkish Lira from a co-worker… this is the magic of the Google… you have coworkers from everywhere… an email found three with lira… we now have lira… This was an issue, as we arrive in Istanbul on Sunday afternoon… and depart late the next day… the Hagia Sofia is not open on Monday so we need to rush to see it on Sunday… arriving by cruise ship limits currency exchange opportunities… so having lira is good.

So, with 36 hours to go, this is finally becoming a travel blog again…

Randy