Cruisin in style

The cruise ship was the Aquamarine by Louis Cruises. It was fantastic for students on a budget, but I will assure you we got what we paid for, which means since it was not much that the boat was out dated in new things such as carpet and such. And the entertainment could be out done by a high school drama team easily. But none the less it was amazing for us. Often we were the entertainment, or at least I was. The food also was very good, which was a slight surprise to me.

First stop: Mykonos, Greece We arrived there and just walked around the main area. We saw two pink pelicans, and were even able to pet them. Then we saw the church that the city is known for and the little Venice strip and windmills. It was a really cute city. We also ate baklava there, it was delicious as always.

That same night we ate dinner on board and watched the entertainment group, which was cute and funny at times, especially because one of the male dancers zipper broke mid way and he was freaking out, but trying to hide his frustration. Then after that they played music and you could dance on stage which we did. Then when the male singer came out, as a dare (a little game we played for the trip) we ran up to him asking for an autograph on our arms, which he embarrassedly did.

Second stop: Kusadasi, Türkey This is the only port that I went on a tour. We went to the ancient Ephesus. It was amazing to see again. Afterwards I bought two pashminas of very high quality for €15 instead of €45, even the Turkish people at a few shops asked where I got them because they were so nice. I also bought a coffee (tea) cup and mini bowl.

That same day we all layed out in the wonderful sun, some people became cherry colored.

Third stop, same day: Patmos, Greece We took a taxi tour to see the cave where John wrote Revelations, and went to a monastry at the top of the Island, which had beautiful views. We tried pugies (sp?) which are desserts that only Patmos makes. I also went on a battery search, but sadly was only able to find mega alkaline instead of lithium.

That night the dinner was Greek night, so we all wore blue and white. And before dinner during the music the stage was open, and as a dare I went up and had to dance for one minute straight in front of the entire room. I did a few cha cha moves and mainly just had the room clap. When my minute was over and I left people cheered and called for an encore, but I did not do that. Then after dinner we went to Karaoke, where Kathleen and I did Summer nights from Grease, which was really funny. Then I was signed up without knowing to do Jackson 5 ABC, which I did not know the words to, and still did it to be funny, but the dare was to do it as badly as possible, to get a 29%, I did not do that poorly surprisingly I made a 35% trying as hard as possible to be awful. It was so funny though, everyone was busting out of their seats laughing.

Fourth stop: Rhodes, Greece We just went to the beach in Rhodes. It was full of rocks, but smooth ones, so they were actually very nice to lay on and were warm too. We also swam out to a three tiered platform, which is the farthest I have ever swam without being able to touch the bottom, it was actually slightly terrifying. It took me forever to jump off the 7 ft ledge into the water, because my two biggest fears are heights and drowning. I finally did and it was fun, so I decided to jump off the 12 ft ledge, but that too took a little more thinking once I was up there. Finally I did it, then it was to the 20 ft ledge, I was brave after about 30 minutes of standing in the cold air deciding if I could do it. I wish I had Kathleen and Hannahs bravery because the jumped off the 20 ft ledge the first time, Kathleen was the first to do it. She even did a flip off the 12 ft one. Then we swam back to the shore, it was so cold that I could not even tell if I was moving anymore by the time we made it back. But it was definitely worth it.

It was the dress up night that night. We had our picture taken with the captain, then went outside to take photos. Then we all hit the Disco for some dancing. Sadly there were young kids dancing too, ahhh. Anyways I convinced the singer guy that signed our arms to dance with me, oh man he did not have rhythm. I also did some latin dancing with this guy from Arizona.

Next day, stop five: Herklion, Crete, Greece We had to wake up early, so we woke up and watched the sun rise, sadly through cranes. Then we left to just shop, I bought this lush dessert, I have no idea what it is called and ate it for breakfast. Then I bought two table runners and then headed back to the ship to sleep because I was exhausted.

Later after my nap we were all out on deck in the sun and watched an ice carving show and fruits and veg carving, that was neat. Then we went to get ready for Santorini.

Sixth stop, later that day: Santorini, Greece We rode the tender boats to the Island because it is too small for docking the ship. Then we rode donkeys, yes donkeys, in a dress, to the top of the mountainous island. Then we took a taxi to the famous church in Oia. It was really awesome. Kathleen and I shared a lush dessert of cream and almonds. Then Hannah and Siusan took the cable car down, but Kathleen and I did not want to pay more money so we opted to walk down the donkey path, now only imagine what donkeys leave behind when they are walking, ahhhh gross, and there was danger of slipping on the marble rocks. But we made it safely with only a few stumbles and it was a breath taking view the whole way down, breath taking for more than just the smell... :D

Back to Athens. The Hostel we stayed at had a funny looking man in charge with a wig, ahhh crazy looking. He was very nice though. Hannah, Kathleen, Siusan, and I took naps while Maureen, Courtney, Leslie, Bethany, and Julie went to the Acropolis. Then Kathleen and I went exploring around Athens... did not do much. Just searched for four leaf clovers and failed, and used the free internet in Publics for around an hour and also started to watch Daredevil and also ate baklava, of course. Then the next morning Kathleen and I went to the highest point in Athens and took photos of the entire city, it is so much larger than I imagined, and beautiful too. Then went to the original Olympic stadium, Temple of Zeus where we saw a turtle, and the ancient Agora. Then we sped back to the hostel to meet up with everyone else to head to the airport.

That night Bethany, Julie and I left for Paris.