ammogirl

Ooookey dokey.  So.  First up, let me tell you that overall the cruise was great!  Fabulous!  We all had a great time.  Definitely the bad reviews we read were from people who are going to complain about absolutely anything, because we really never had a problem.

I posted the pictures up on my flickr, so please go peruse as your leisure.  We flew from Frankfurt to Milan, and then took a transfer from Milan to the port, Savona.  From there we were assigned an embarkation group, and eventually our turn came, and we got on the boat and found our room, and then we left.  The end.  Just kidding!  No, I mean, that did all happen, but obviously more eventful than that.  The first thing we did when we got to the room was laugh at how small it was, with its bunkbeds for the girls and teeny-tiny bathroom.  We had a queen, John and I, but at first it just looked so…little.  Of course, what we didn’t know was that (barring a short period of time, which will be discussed later) we would be spending the bare minimum amount of time in the room so…size didn’t matter!  Ha ha!  That was such an awful joke!

Even though it was overcast and windy we immediately changed into swim gear and coverups and went exploring.  The Europa is a mid-size cruise ship, but it was still plenty big.  Twelve decks, two pools, three restaurants, blahdy blahdy blah.  It took an hour or so wandering around with the map but eventually we got our bearings and by the time we left the port we were up at the top pool watching the dock get smaller and smaller.  We went to the fancy dinner that night, but decided it was too stuffy and…sitdowny for our tastes.  Plus you had to dress nicely, and we just didn’t really want to do that.  After that first night we only went two other times, once when I got a wild hair and again our final night, just because we had missed all other meal opportunities and were hungry.

The next morning we were in Naples, and we disembarked for our first excursion to Pompeii.  The really crazy thing I discovered was that these places?  These historical, ancient places filled with…ancient history?  They are all right up in the city’s bidness.  I always imagined Pompeii and the Pyramids to be out in the mysterious middle of nowhere, but literally, they are RIGHT THERE.  But Pompeii was cool, we saw the plaster cast bodies, and old houses and stores and the redlight district with its intact brothel, complete with a PICTURE MENU (awesome!  Who KNEW they were doing the reverse cowgirl BACK THEN?).  The ancient city is massive.  We didn’t get nearly enough time there, which, by the way, seems to be the theme for shore excursions: they get you in, show you around, then get you out.  Then we headed back for the boat, and shortly after we were back at sea, where we stayed for two and a half days while travelling to Egypt.

There were two stops in Egypt, Alexandria and Port Said, but we had purchased the overnight shore excursion.  We left from Alexandria, stayed overnight in Cairo, and met the boat in Port Said the next day.  So.  The bus trip from the port to Cairo was 3 1/2 hours.  And the entire way there, all you saw was broken down buildings and trash.  And sand.  Sometimes a flash of green, but mostly sandy broken dirtiness.  Once we got into Cairo, it was instant traffic, omg, two-lane roads with twenty cars side-by-side all trying to get to the same place.  There are no road rules.  If you want to be in a place another car is already occupying, you honk multiple times: beepbeepbeepbeepbeeeeeepbeepbeep and just go.  No stopping, no looking to see if the first car sees or hears you, just…go.  And we were in a bus, and it was no different.  We almost crushed, like, twenty cars.  I almost had a heart attack several times.  Eventually, we made it to a Mosque.  It was beautiful, but we had to take off our shoes and walk and the ground was really hot because it was Egypt and like, 149 degrees.  Fortunately, we were told beforehand to ensure our shoulders and knees were covered up, so we didn’t have to wear the green cape provided to those needing extra modesty.  It was here that we started thinking, “Hmm.  This…might be a hot one.” And yes, I do realize that we are talking Egypt in JULY, but you just cannot prepare for the heat that is a two-day whirlwind tour in Egypt in July.  And I lived at the edge of the Mojave Desert for three years and spent a summer in Kuwait.

Anyway, we went to the Mosque, and then we went to lunch, which took place on the Nile, in a riverboat.  And I really need to take advantage of all this writing and break it up into two posts so I’ll finish this all up tomorrow or Thursday, depending on when I get my homework done.

Make sure you go see the pictures!  I haven’t captioned them but they’re fun.

Tschuss!!

But it’s 11:28 pm and it’s been a long-ass day.  I’ll post pictures and do the rundown tomorrow.

Tschuss!!