Map Update

Photo Update

I arrived safely into Chicago on Sunday evening. I pretty much spent yesterday recovering from jetlag and catching up on the Family Guys I missed. Today I've begun the process of getting my pictures into Ofoto and it's not going quite as quickly as planned. That's what happens when you have 530 pictures to go through, I guess.

So in the meantime, here's a few to tide you over:
Brian and Derek about to cliff jump on the Booze Cruise (read Dude's Cruise)

It doesn't look so bad here, but I promise, the dudes are just out of frame.Here's the three of us in front of the forum in Pompei. And since it's wouldn't be Pompei without the creepy plaster casts of people, here you are...Now for Brian and Derek in front of the Coluseum preparing for gladatorial combat (or hitting on women with their eyes closed):And the Fountain of Trevi where we threw money and made wishes to all find hot Italian girls:
I'm going to continue getting all my photos together, and I'll post a link once I'm done.

No Pictures this Time

So Brian once again beats me to telling the stories. I got into London just a little bit ago as I close out my portion of the trip. I went down by the Thames and went up the Millenium Eye (which is the one big thing I didn't do the last time I was in London for New Years 2000, because although it was supposed to be ready for the Millenium--hence the name--it wasn't done yet). But it was awesome seeing London from 130 meters up. Then I just wanted around for a while, lots of street performers--some skilled, some not so much.

Now I just have to figure out where to go get some good fish and chips (I refuse to eat the fries with mayo. Even if the Dutch girls put it on everything.) and where the party's at tonight. Then tomorrow I return to sweet home Chicago.

The hostel here won't let me plug my camera into the computer, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for pictures, but plan on being a bunch once I've weeded through my 500 or so pics.

Peace.

Photo Update

I feel like Brian told enough of a tale to keep you entertained. So I'm just here with some pictures.

Brian and I from our last day on the boat.

The Monastary on Amorgos:

The secluded beach on Donoussa requiring our trek along the goat paths on the side of the mountain (no nakedness here, sorry)

And finally, Derek and Brian hiking to the top of the mountain on Delos. Notice the excessive amount of walking done on this trip.

Amorgos

Hey everybody. We have so much to say and no time to say it. We are about to jump a ferry to Donousa, an island of about 110 people and as many donkeys. We are on a Morgos right now, which is beautiful. We rented a car and trekked to this amazing monastery stuck into a cliff. Things are going so great. I am really learning a lot about being Greek and life in the islands. Our captain, who was one of the mopst chill guys ever, has taught us much about relaxing and how to live the good life. HE has also taught us the Greek words to say to pick up Greek girls. We will keep updating this. We will be meeting Derek on Thursday in Mykonos, the biggest party island.

Brian

New Map

So I didn't have time to make it very pretty (computer time is not cheap here), but here's where we've been.


From Athens to Santorini. To Ios, then Iraklia, the Koufonisi, and now in Paros for the next two days.

More Koufonisi

We have just arrived on the island of Paros. We had kind of a rough day today, two days of seeing the sunrise will do that to you. But we did meet some great Greek girls to spend the time with. They taught us some dirty words in Greek, and they laugh at our attempt to pronounce it.

Everybody is very chill in the islands. No one rushes for anything, they don't rush you from your table when you're done eating. They won't even bring you the bill until you ask for it. Especially on many of the small islands, the locals are kind of upset about all the development going on. In Koufonisi, you have to walk about 30 minutes to the closest beach. By next year they're planning on getting taxis. They like having the small islands secluded and not touristy. In fact, we did not meet a single American tourist on the island. The most common scenario was people from Athens on vacation.

Two nights ago, we really got a chance to get to know the captain. We drank with him at the bar, and them moved to the beach for some more beer and hanging out. You could almost call it a bonding experience. He did tell us we were doing the trip the right way, really experiencing Greece. Staying out late and meeting the Greek people. In his words, you can read a book at home. If you want to experience, you have to do. And then we passed out because it was 8:30 in the morning.

Here's a picture from that morning. You'll see the captain looking off into the sunrise:

And here's one of us pulling into Pori beach on Koufonisi:


Near the beach, there's a great cove for diving. Completely secluded. You can even swim under the rocks and get to the outside. And of course, I hit my head on the rocks. It hurts.



Today in Paros, there's a nice quiet beach where the mud has exfoliating properties. So here's us as mudpeople:



Here's a picture of us walking on the beach with our new friend Alex in Ios:




The last two pictures were taken by our friend Ewen. He's a professional photographer, so I'll get more pictures from him before the sailing trip is over.

More Pictures

So I had some problems posting pictures from the particular computer I'm using on Koufonissi, so you can see some here.