Catch up time!

Rome July 29-Aug 1st:

So we arrived at our campsite (Camping Roma) in the middle of the afternoon on July 29th. It was really, really hot, so we decided to spent the afternoon by the pool at our campground! We headed into town for a late dinner at a cute Italian restaurant where Laurie and I both enjoyed fresh made pizzas!!

We headed into the Vatican early on July 30th and caught a hop-on hop-off bus tour of the city. It took us around a lot of major sites and was very informative. We hopped off at the Coliseum and I took a tour of it and we both took a tour of Palatine Hill. The bus tour took up most of our afternoon and after it we got gelato and headed to Trevi Fountain. We chilled out there and then went to a nice Italian Restaurant for dinner where we enjoyed gnocchi, veal, chips and salad. As we were waiting for our bill an American couple sat down next to us and wow, were they special. The lady had the arragance to tell the waiter he needed to learn more English...Laurie and I were in shock...in Italy at an Italian restaurant, maybe she should learn more Italian. Kind of funny!!
After dinner we checked out the Spanish steps and roamed more around Rome.

July 31st I woke up early and headed to the Vatican to attend a mass at St Peter's Basilica. After the mass I met Laurie and we walked around more of the Vatican and ran into Mike's cousin Leia. She was in Rome to preform in a ballet that we were hopping to attend that night, but unfortunately it was being performed outside of Rome and no busses or trains would take us there.
We walked around Rome more, but then it was so incredibly hot that we decided to head back to the campground to lay by the pool again. That night I watched the movie The Bucket List at the outdoor theater in our campground.

Aug 1st and 2nd...off to Greece:

After checking out of our campground we headed to the train station to begin our long voyage to Athens. We took a train to Ancona, Italy and then hopped on a Minoan Ferry to take us to Patros, Greece...the ferry ride was 22 hours and since we had deck seats, we had no designated seat and slept on the floor inside, as did most of the guests. We arrived in Patros at about 3pm and then took two trains to get us to Athens that night, where we stayed at Easy Hostel.

Athens:
On the 3rd we wandered around Athens for the day checking out the Acropolis and many other sites. We had been planning to go to Santorini, but unfortunately could not get a ferry there, so we went to the Greek Island Paros instead. (4 hr ferry)

Paros:
We arrived in Paros after 1am Aug 4th and checked into our campground (Camping Naoussa). Luckily our campground had a shuttle from the port to the site. We slept in a little and then headed to the beach closest to our campground for the afternoon. For the evening we went into the town Naoussa, which was really nice! We checked out all the cute little shops and the harbour.

Aug 5th we took a shuttle into Parikia, which was the port town that our ferry arrived at, and wandered around the town. Checking out more shops and enjoying an iced coffee at a restaurant by the beach. We spent the afternoon at that beach and then got a shuttle back to our campground. That evening we watched the sun set at the beach by our campground and enjoyed some food from the local restaurant.

Aug 6th we headed over to Naoussa again. We were hoping to rent bicycles to try and explore more of the island, but unfortunately we couldn't get any. So, instead we took a ferry to a beach we hadn't been to yet. It was really beautiful and secluded! Had a lot of people on the beach, but no surrounding town or anything.
That night we dolled ourselves up to enjoy a fancy dinner....our last of Europe together.
We went to a restaurant on the harbour in Naoussa where we enjoyed some Greek Salad, Wine and then I had the Octopus for my main course and Laurie had the Chicken Souvlaki. Our waiter gave us a few free shots too!!
After dinner we went and got a delicious deep fried dessert...it was freshly fried donuts with warm chocolate sauce and ice cream. Very Yummy!!
And then we got matching henna tattoos.

On Aug 7th we hung out in the Port Town again until our ferry arrived at 2pm. We got back to Athens around 7pm and then spent the night in the Airport. Laurie flew out to London early on Aug 8 and is flying back home on the 9th and I flew to Germany to take the trains into Krakow, Poland.

I decided I still wanted to check out a couple more places before heading home: Krakow, Budapest and Dubrovnik.
My whole day yesterday was spent travelling...but I met a nice Polish couple on my last train and they were telling me all the places in Krakow I have to visit.

I'm in Krakow now, heading to Budapest on an over night train tomorrow (10th), then Dubrovnik on the 13, London on the 15 and home on the 17th. So all you people who have missed me dearly can celebrate, I will be home soon!!