&Benitas Blog on RealTravel

Rome journal: Last Day In Europe: Rome

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 13:12:52 GMT

Now that I have updated our cruise bloggings, I will update you on our last two days in Rome.

Yesturday we got up early to get off the boat in Civitavvechia. We caught the 8:45 train to Rome and checked into our hotel. This time, our hotel was in the "suburbs" (what I'm calling it because it feels more city/residential then the main part of Rome) instead of main city. We decided that we would go see the Vatican and all the related stuff. We took a shuttle bus into the centre of Rome and then began the trek to Vatican City. It was far from the bus stop which was in Ancient Rome! It was ...

Messina journal: In Messina, Sicily

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 12:34:16 GMT

Today we got to Messina. It's on the island of Sicily, which I think is what I think would be equivalent to a province of Italy's. We didn't book a tour so we just too a tour of the streets ourselves. We took a hike up to a church and took pictures over looking Messina, and then decided to hunt down the shopping district. However, everything was closed here as well so we weren't able to look at anything but it was a good way to see the city anyways. After a couple hours, we decided to head back because there wasn't much to do but walk up and down the streets. We went and layed by the pool for ...

Valletta journal: I'd never heard of the country of Malta

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 12:18:32 GMT

Valletta was a very cool city. When I woke up, I was amazed at what I saw out my window. It reminded me of Florence, and was very elclectic and very beautiful. It was a very big change from what we had been seeing on the rest of the cruise. It also got us back into the feel of what we had been doing for the first weeks before the cruise. We hadn't booked a tour, so we just disembarked and went walking around Valletta. However, it was Sunday and everything was closed down. It was also midday and extremely hot and we forgot to bring water. This means we didn't do much. We walked around the core ...

Kusadasi journal: Ancient Ephesus & Kusadasi

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:50:09 GMT

Our next stop was Turkey. It was actually a very beautiful country, and very different then I expected. Alot of Europeans live there in the summer actually, or so the tour guide said. We took a tour to the Ancient city of Ephesus, which is one of the most well preserved cities in the entire world. Our tour guide was very awesome, it was the best tour of the entire trip. The drive of Ephesus was probably around 20 minutes and it was interesting because back in the time of Ephesus, it was a major port. Now it is 7 km away from the ocean. When we got there I was awe struck. I could believe my ...

Santorini journal: Pretty Santorini

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:32:50 GMT

Santorini!! I had been looking forward to this stop for the whole trip because of the white houses and the pretty scenery from the Travelling Pants. (ha!) We got there and you could see all of the little houses sitting periously on top of the cliff. It was very funny looking, and it's shocking they don't fall into the ocean. We had to take tenders to land, so we had to get on these little boats and go from the boat to the New Harbour. The only way to get up to Santorini is go to the New Harbour where the tour groups go, because it is the only place that vechicles can reach. The individuals go ...

Katakolon journal: Ancient Olympia

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:17:41 GMT

We arrived in the port of Katakolon and I was quite excited, as we were going to see the site of the ancient Olympics! I am a fanatic for Greek history and mythology so this was quite up my ally. Katakolon is a sleepy port that was discovered by the cruise ships a couple years ago and now souley lives off the cruise boats. They open shop when the boat comes in, and close shop when the boat leaves port. Oh did I mention? The water here is amazing, crystal blue green that makes you want to jump right in. But I’m more interested in the ruins then the beach. Our guide was quite excellent. She ...

Dubrovnik journal: Hey from the boat!

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:06:07 GMT

We are now on the cruise boat and I am loooving it. I love the food on here, and I will not be suprised if I gain a couple pounds. I mean how could you not? I don't have much time, we just had our dinner and are going to the entertainment, it's a comedian tonight. I hope he's funny. But I missed my Rome entry. We were there for the night before we got on the ship. We decided to do a bus tour to scope out the city so when we come back after the cruise we will know where we want to visit. It was extremely nice, but soo hot. I'm not used to it at all. But it is amazing that these ruins have been ...

Corfu journal: Corfu

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:03:42 GMT

Ok. So I am just writing all this stuff down from memory, as it is the 7th day of our cruise and I definetaly did not keep up with my blogging. Ok. So the port of Corfu Greece. What did we do... hmmm...Oh right!! We decided to book tours for all our ports just because this is more of a culture cruise than a beach cruise, so we though it would be better to have a guide then try and go around by ourselves. The tour took us to the Achillion palace, which was the summer residence of Empress Elizabeth of Austria. The streets were so small, our tour bus ran into a couple of problems when trying to ...

Florence journal: Warm at Last in Florence

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:40:01 GMT

I wish we were not only in Florence for one night! I really love it here. It's one of the prettiest cities I have ever seen. We left Milan at 10:00 and hopped on the train again. This train ride felt like it went by really quickly and we got into Florence around quarter to one. Although here of course it is Firenze. Or Firanze... something like that. Whatever it is, it reminds me of Harry Potter. As soon as we got off the train the humidity hit us like a brick. We are finally by the water! And it is so warm!! Its around 10 or something here (p.m) and its still as warm as day out. Our hotel is ...

Milan journal: Milan: The City of Silence

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 12:45:08 GMT

The train ride today was really nice. I really didn't want to get off. We had to wake up at 6:30, which was a bummer, and catch a cab from the hotel to the train station. There we waited for an hour until our train was ready so we could lug our heavy suitcases across the entire span of the terminal to get to our seats. My seat was facing the back of the room so it was quite odd looking at the scenery going the other way. The country side was beautiful. We passed through the mountains, which I think were the very end of the Alps. The towns were so pretty, at one point I saw a castle on the side ...

Paris journal: Bonjour! J'adore Paris!

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 08:45:45 GMT

Ahh Paris! The City of Love! I am feeling the love I have got to admit. This is by far my favorite city so far on our journey. We woke up very very early to make the drive from Cologne to Paris. It was actually quite a nice drive, I dozed on the way mostly. We got another country under our belt however, as we drove through Belgium. I made Dad stop at a gas station so I could say I had actually "been" per say to Belgium. I would like to visit, because what I saw of Belgium from the car, it was an idealistic country setting. Maybe a possible later vacation? ;)

We got to our hotel with very ...

Paris journal: Paris: 3rd & 4th Day

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 08:41:52 GMT

At the moment I am waay too tired to write anything here so I will give you an update. I am almost finished loading the pictures into the Versailles entry; the pictures from the video camera must be bigger than our digital was, so they take 10x more time to load. So it is very slow going, and that is what I am waiting for right this moment. I will *hopefully* write about today tomorrow night and upload the pictures from today which include the arc de triomphe, the opera garnier, and the eiffel by night. That will mean I will probably be behind on tomorrow's entry so hopefully I will be able to ...

Cologne journal: Cologne: Whew!

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:33:52 GMT

Ok. So I have skipped over our day in Berlin yesturday. I am definatley getting behind in these entries and I'm not sure how much time I have left I have on the rest of this internet to get this entry done. OK. So alot has happened in the past day and quite a few times I swore to stop writing in this thing because I did not have the heart anymore to tell what I had been doing. It has been awhile since we've travelled I told you, so our family hasn't been together together for a loong time. And I think this is why things have been irritable. Well for me at least, cause I am that person in my ...

Berlin journal: We enter Berlin...

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:33:19 GMT

I’m in Berlin right now, and it’s been a very loong day. I never got the chance to write bout my night and the last day in Amsterdam so I will just give a quick summary right now. We went through the Red Light District, although it was definitely alot different than I expected. It was quite explicit but very classy. I know, it sounds like an oxymoron. There was no flyers, no one hassling you. It’s very clean and just little windows on the street where the women stand and just sit there waiting. I didn’t really want to be there though, as it was kind of awkward with my family and just a little ...

Versailles journal: The 2nd Day: Versailles Style

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:32:42 GMT

Aaah Versailles! How I wish I had been French royalty! We woke up early today, 8 o clock. The bed was the first comfy bed I've had in a week, and I did not want to get up. But soon we were ready and on our way. We had to take the Metro to the Train station, and then take a special suburb train out to Versailles. I actually didn't know Versailles is a town now, but I guess it is. Or maybe it is a suburb of Paris? I'm not sure. So we found our way to the train station, but we ended up getting on the wrong train! Oh boy. So we had to go back, and that's when we realized that we needed to go onto ...

Bonn journal: A Day Trip to Bruhn & Bonn

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:01:06 GMT

Sorry guys, I am slowly catching up on my updating. Right now Im currently uploading the rest of the Berlin photos in my We enter Germany... entry, and right after I am going to upload the most that I can to my The 2nd Day entry from Amsterdam! Slowly but surely my friends.

Today we decided to take it easy so we took a day trip to Bruhn. In the morning we went to explore the cathedral, Cologne's finest point. It is ginormious! It is churches like these that really make you believe in something higher. It is amazing how people could build something so spectacularly high, and with no help ...

Amsterdam journal: The 2nd Day

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 10:00:36 GMT

I slept quite nicely last night, waking up at 11:00 Amsterdam time. As I am writing, it is 10:31 P.M here and 2:31 P.M in Calgary. I’m going to bed and everyone is moving about. How funny. So we got started off in our morning and went in search of lunch. We found a cute little place behind the New Church. They have an enormous apple pie! We are going to go there again tomorrow, although we discovered that we did not leave a tip. I hope they don’t hate us! Because I really want to try their bakery. And there is the cutest coffee shop on the Dam that we’re going to tomorrow. I don’t drink coffee ...

Amsterdam journal: Hallo from Amsterdam!

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 09:33:31 GMT

So I thought that I would never get to sleep on the plane! We got those little eye mask things which actually kind of helped, unfortunately I did not get a picture! Take The Lead was on, so I watched that movie. I like that movie, it’s a good one. But after that I pulled out my iPod and was able to fall asleep. (music helps!) The Netherlands is really quite interesting looking. It is far less populated then you would imagine. The plots from the air differ quite a bit from Canada and the U.S i noted; they are perfectly spaced out and even. But I still couldn’t quite put together what was ...

Amsterdam journal: A breezy Italian restaurant/cafe. Excellent pizza if lacking a bit in other areas.

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 09:32:57 GMT

Amsterdam journal: Very classy. An old canal house turned hotel, the service is very nice and the rooms spacious.

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 09:29:23 GMT

The Hotel Pulitzer is a very nice hotel. It is part of the Luxery Collection from Starwood, and boasts a cafe, bar, and restaurant. It is situated in an old canal house, making for a interesting look into the life of Old Amsterdam. The hall wind around up and down, and rooms are situated up and down and around various stairways. The halls on the main floor are lined with modern art, and the hotel surrounds 2 courtyards. The courtyards are very beautiful, reminding me of a Greek garden. The hotel is right on one of the main canals, so it is about a 5 minute walk to the Dam, and the street has a ...

Toronto journal: Aand, They're Off!!

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 09:00:45 GMT

Alright, so we are finally off on our vacation! Even up till this morning, I still didn't feel like we were going anywhere. Even sitting here it still feels like we aren't going anywhere. So this morning, we got all our suitcases packed. It was kind of a struggle for me to decide what to squish in and what not to... I finally won on bringing my stuffie and a few extra shirts that I wanted. Our flight left at noon but we got to the airport a little bit earlier than expected. No matter! I didn't realize how long it has been since I've been to the airport. Kathryn pointed out that it's been at ...

Calgary journal: Getting Started

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 19:11:00 GMT

Ok. So we live here and this is the first travel journel I've done, so I'm not too positive if I'm doing this entry quite right, but that's ok. Alright, so getting started. We began our preparations for Europe for a trip to Mountain Equipment Co-op. That store is freaken amazing! I had never been there before, and I was surprised at how well it was set up. They have a full scale climbing wall and displays that would make a hard core camper's mouth water. They even have "terrain" for you to test your boots on. Anyways, we went there for the basics: soft shell jackets (im not allowed to bring ...

Europe journal: The Last Major Family Vacation: Europe Style

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 17:14:56 GMT

The Saretsky family is off on another worldwind adventure! My name is Stephanie, and I shall be your host. Juust kidding. But I will be doing most/all of the writing. My family loves to travel, and we've been deliberating a trip to Europe for the past three years. The timing was never quite right. But, we finally decided that this summer would be perfect. I've been yearning to travel to Europe forever. We went to London about 5 or 6 years ago and ever since I've been wanting to go back. There is so much history and culture that I love being exposed to. Learning about a new country's history ...