Monday - My last day in Europe

So it has taken me a while to get this last post up, but I figured that this trip needed an ending for anyone who read this. So here is the last day :)

Monday morning I woke up and I got on the computer to finish going through my pictures and getting them ready for bringing back to the U.S. I also updated my blog with all my Crete info. We didn't have anything planned for the day, but packing and getting our stuff together. I wanted to go on a hike though at some point. Around 10:00 on of my Aunts friends and her son came over to talk to my grandparents about camp. My grandparents are involved with a camp in Northern Minnesota called Flaming Pine Youth Camp. My Aunts friends were visiting MN this next summer and wanted to know about the camp. After they left my grandparents said they were going to get ready and go on a hike to Felsberg. That's the town I went to on my third or fourth day. I was almost done posting pictures and told them they could go on ahead of me and I would catch up. They didn't walk mvery fast, and I did, so I didn't think it would be a problem. About 10 minutes later I was getting ready and out the door. I had my camera around my shoulder and my sunglasses on. It was gorgeous out! The flowers were blooming and the air smelled of fresh grass and trees. I took some photos quick and then got on my way to catch up with my grandparents. I figured if I was walking 1 1/2 times fast then they were that I would catch up to them right before Felsberg. So right as I got to the trail entrence I heard some thunder and I looked up at the sky. There was a bunch of clouds to the south and I was like... wow that was a quick change of weather. One minute it's sunny and I'm wearing sunglasses and the next minute it's getting cloudy and thundering a little in the distance. Never the less I kept going. I took the trail that we walked on my first day and walked along the Nekar river. Then instead of continuing on to the dam I took a trail to the left that went up the bluff and was on my way to Felsberg. For a long portion of the trail it was just a diagnal cut up the bluff and pretty straight. About 1/3 of the way up, it started to rain a little bit. Which was no big deal. I put my camera undr my shirt and kept walking. I was enjoying the peacful thinking time. All of a sudden the rain started to come down really heavy and I had to duck under some trees. I thought to myself, "what a wonderful story... I get stuck in a heavy downpour in the middle of the woods in Germany.... how wonderful!" So I doged from tree to tree and speed up the hill. I passed a bunch of people coming down and they all had umbrellas and rain coats on. And when seeing me in my shorts and a t-shirt they probably thought I was crazy. Well actually they probably saw I was American and that's all they needed. haha - just kidding :P

So I then got to a different part of the trail where I had to take some turns. I have a pretty good sense of direction so I made a few forked trail turns and ended up getting to the town with out getting lost. I walked through the small arch that was on the west side (I think) and there were a couple people waiting under there in the rain. I smiled and walked by and they all laughed. I'm not sure if they were laughing at me or laughing at something they were talking about. The one thing that was worrying me is that I hadn't seen my grandparents yet. I was going at a pretty fast pace up the hill and was really surprised I didn't see them at all! I knew the towns lay out so I looked around where they said they were going and they weren't there. So I walked to the little cafe we went to the other time we came and looked for them there, but they weren't there either. I went to an antique shop and looked for them there and bought something. Then I went back to the cafe and had a Chocolate crepe. I had been wanting one the whole time I was in Crete and now under these very strange turn of events I was getting one :) - haha. So I had my hot crepe and then walked outside and it was sunny again! So then I walked all the back down the hill and took some pictures. I got back to the house and walked up and knocked on the door and my grandma opened it. I was very surprised. How was it they were back before me?!? - Turns out my grandpa took a different trail that came out somewhere else before the village and since it was raining they took shelter under someones garage leento. The owner saw them and offered them a ride home, which they excepted. So the whole time I was hiking in the rain and looking for them in the town all soaked they were under a garage leanto about 2oo meters down the road. So that was my adventure of the day! IT was rather fun though and I enjoyed getting out and hiking on my own.

That night after everyone got home we all got in the car and went to a pizza place that my cousin Emily really liked. It was very cool. It had a large stone oven that had a woodburning fire around the edge. They would make the pizzas and back them on these wooden pizza boards and put them in the large stone oven. They were very good. Before we ate though we ordered and then went and walked around outside. We went up and down the long mall street again. On our way back I passed this guy who was selling all these figures made out of metel. He had used this soft metel wire and formed all these different things. It was really cool! I saw a drumset one, but then saw a guitar one and bought it for my little brother. We got back to the restaraunt and waited for our food. It took a long time, but it finally came! It was really good and I ate almost my entire pizza. After that we went home. I finished packing and that was a mircale. I was able to get it all in my backpack and suitcase though and even though it was super tight it all fit. I made sure I didn't have anything illigal and then set it all very neatly by the door and went to bed.

That was my last "full day" in Europe and my last adeventure continues with... The flight home!

Ooops

I'm not sure why the wednesday post is out of order... but it is... sorry bout that! :)

A day at the beach!

Wednesday:

It was a very beautiful day! The sky was clear and the sun was shining really bright and was really hot. We decided that we would just spend the day on the beach and hanging out. After breakfast my Uncle Dennie, Mr. Cook and I walked to a beach down the road that was a lot bigger than the one we were on. We almost went to that beach, but it was kind of a long walk and we figured it be better to be close to the hotel and be able to go back to it with out having to walk 15 minutes. So everyone walked down to our beach. Laura, Kyle and I had tried to make a sand castle Monday night, but we didn’t have any buckets or shovels so w used some plastic we found to dig. I wanted to make a much better castle so I went to the store and bought myself a very cool and stylish “Finding Nemo” bucket that included a rake and shovel. I felt very coo walking across the beach with a Nemo bucket... Ok just kidding I didn’t. :P haha - anyway Zack and I saw that the girls had started making a sand castle so we decided we could make a better one and made our own. The kept taunting us and telling us ours looked horrible, but I think deep down they were just jealous because our sand castle turned out pretty amazing. I have pictures on my website of it. After we made a sand castle we goofed around in the water and tried to get the adults to get wet... which didn’t happen. I layed in the sun for a while and then did some other things that involved water. Later in the afternoon I went on a run up the bay and ended up going off road running and went over this hill and found a hidden bay that had a really cool rockbar... like a sand bar except with rocks instead. It was very tricky getting down to it because it was steep and I had to do a little rock climbing, but I was careful and took my time. I got down there and enjoyed the cool little rockbar and walked across it while looking for rocks. I wish I had my camera while I was there, but it’s hard to run with a big Cannon over your shoulder. I then ran back and scraped up my legs quite a bit while I played dodge the pokey bushes. I then stopped and hiked up a rock that gave a really nice view of the bay and the ocean and sat there for a while. After eating the teenagers went up to one of the adults rooms and we watched over the hedge while playing Uno. Despite starting off really bad I ended up winning the game like 10 minutes before the movie ended. Talk about good timing! We all were tired so we went back to our rooms and went to bed. I’m really tired as well so I’m going to call it a night as well!

My adventure continues with.... Santorini!!

The trip home :(

Sunday: I woke up around 4:00am for some reason and was hoping that it was time to get up, but it wasn’t so I fell back to sleep again and woke up around 6:40am to the beginning of the sunset. I debated with my sleepy self whether or not to go down to the beach or not and decided not to because I felt really tired and had really bad heartburn from the pig we ate last night. My grandpa was up and gave me some antacid. I went back to sleep and woke up around 7:00am feeling a lot better. Though my stomached still felt a little funky. I took a shower and finished packing while everyone else was down eating breakfast. I brought my stuff down and then quickly went in and had some... yes yogurt. I had to have one last bowl! Well actually two... haha Then we brought our stuff down to the main hotel place. We all walked up right as the bus came, but then it didn’t stop and just kept on going. We then figured out that it had to turn around first before it picked us up. It came back around and we loaded our luggage and got on. We all had a seat this time and had a very comfortable ride to the airport. We walked off the bus and right into the airport where we immediately got in line to check our luggage in. We slowly moved through the line and talked a little bit. We checked our luggage with no problem and then made our way to security. I “unloaded” myself into the little plastic tray and made it through the scanner with out setting anything off this time. We sat down by our gate and waited. I took out my book and read a little bit. I also talked with the other kids for a bit before we boarded. The dreaded announcement came over the speaker and we all boarded our plane back to civilization (otherwise known as Germany). We walked out onto the tarmac and then took a bus 300 meters down the runway to the airplane. We boarded and my grandparents and I were in the very last row of the airplane and I got a window seat. It was very cool. The leg room was also nice. I took pictures as we took off, which I’m sure broke some rules. And then read and listened to music the rest of the trip. I think I might have dozed off once for about 10 minutes. We were served lunch, which consisted of a chicken tomato sauce on noodles and a piece of packaged chocolate cake for dessert. It’s not restaurant food, but it wasn’t too bad. The sky was clear so I got a really nice view of the ocean and land the whole time. We flew over Austria and I got to see some beautiful mountains. I took pictures of a lot. My window was kind of iced up though, so they won’t be the best. I pretty much glanced out the window every 2 minutes to see what new land feature was making its appearance. It was a really nice flight and probably my favorite yet. The landing was very smooth and everyone clapped as we pulled in which was a cool experience. We got our stuff and went to the bus and were driven across the runway to the airport. We went to the baggage claim and did that whole deal and then made our way through the giant maze of the Frankfurt airport. There was a lot of going up and down escalators and taking trams, but we finally ended up at the train station where we met up with everyone minus the Jackson family. I guess a piece of their luggage didn’t come through right away so they missed the first train. We road to Monheim and I typed most of this up. We got off and walked to the next train station where we said our good byes and parted. I was kind of sad. I had a lot of fun with the group of people I was with. I wonder if I will ever see them again. I’m definitely adding them on Facebook and in the future am going to make an effort to meet up with them sometime; whether that’s when I got back to Germany or if they come to the states. My grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle and cousins then boarded our next train and took off. We got to the train station and Dennie went and got the van. I spent some time typing some more of the trip up until Dennie got back with the van. We loaded up and hen went home. We unpacked everything and I brought my stuff up to my room. I opened up my suitcase and was blown back by the repuslive smell coming from it. I definitely have some laundry to do! After I got my clothes sorted and unpacked my stuff a little more I got dressed for a run. I ran to one of the trails that goes along the Neckar and ran to the dam that we went to on our first day. I then ran back on the trail that goes along the river and up this really long hill! It was almost a mile uphill. It was tough, but I kept myself going knowing that if I was running with someone I would tell them not to stop. So I took my own encouraging words and won against the hill! I got back to the house and took a shower and then spent some more time typing. The ice cream man came down the street and we went and got some ice cream. I got speghetti ice cream with vanilla and chocolate ice cream. It was really good. We then sat down and watched some of our trip to Crete on video. I then went up to my room and spent some time reading a book I picked up. Then I got online and checked my email around 9:00 and had a whopping 72 e-mails.... I sorted through them all so I didn't have to do it on my las day. Then I went to bed and fell asleep almost instantly!

It was a very good day and even though I'm not in Crete any more I'm very happy to be back AND I'm even more excited to go back home!

My adventure continues with... One last day :)

Another trip to the Southside!

Saturday: Today we had planned to go on the Catamaran. It was a boat that went around a portion of the island and went into different coves and stuff. Because of the weather however we decided to drive to the south side of the island and see if it was sunny and walk around the town by this beach. We ate breakfast like usual (I feel I say that everyday, but its part of it I guess) and then loaded up in our different vehicles and headed out. The trip was pretty smooth at first. We stopped at our first gas station (soon to be two more) to get gas and batteries, but then decided not to get gas right away because we would have to wait. So then we kept going and then got low on gas and stopped again for real this time. After we left that gas station I kind of fell asleep a little. I was awakened when I heard an “Oh my goodness that car is going to hit that rock!”... “Wow that barely missed the Cooks car...” And then Michelle Jackson radioed in with a “Holly crap that rock just hit our windshield and there is glass in my lap!” This all happened within like 20 seconds. What started as a smooth ride to the south side of Crete for a walk on the beach quickly turned into a big deal. At first everyone was like wow the whole windshield shattered into their laps, but I was like that couldn’t have happened because they would have like swerved off the road because it would have hit their face and the rock would have hit someone and windshields are really really hard! It turned out I was right and the windshield just had a giant smash in it with cracks going every direction. Thank God that the rock grazed the hood before hitting the windshield or it might have gone right through and hit Mrs. Jackson. Mr. Jackson and Kyle were alright, but Mrs. Jackson had some glass all over her lap. The windshield hadn’t broken, but the glass from the other side fell off. The gas station had an air machine for blowing up tires and Mr. Jackson blew all the glass out of the car. We all had gotten out of our cars and kind of surrounded the Jackson’s car and were trying to decide what to do. My uncle called the insurance company and then the car company and arranged for another car, but someone had to drive the one with the cracked windshield back to the nearest car rental place to trade. They told us that it wasn’t bad enough for it to be too dangerous to drive. So even though the group really didn’t want Mr. Jackson to drive it he said it would be fine and he would just take care of it while we went on. So he left and we all continued on to the beach which was not even 5 minutes away. Talk about everything happening just right... or just wrong. We got to the beach and it wasn’t much different from the weather we had on the north side of the island. We walked into the town and looked around for about 10 minutes and then went somewhere to eat. My uncle and two cousins went to a place to have crepes, but then when we ordered they said they didn’t have any so I just got a milkshake and then went up to the restaurant that everyone else was at and got a pizza. The service there was really nice. I walked in and the guy pulled out a chair for me and then pulled out another chair and said “This for your stuff” and pointed at my backpack and camera. I thought that was funny. The pizza was good, but I was only able to eat half of it. After we ate we walked around the little town and went in and out of the different stores looking at all the various little trinkets and souvenirs. There were two shops that were really cool and both sold pottery. I passed one at the last minute and saw a guy inside making a pot so I walked in. There was a lot of really cool stuff! It’s too bad I didn’t have enough money to get anything. I guess I’ll just have to come back! We all met back at the beach at 4:00 and talked while the Laura, Kerri and Ana walked back. Once we were all there we loaded up and got going again. It was back to the North! About ½ way back we stopped in a little town where we looked around again. We stopped mainly for the bakery and got some Baklava and some 50 cent ice cream. After that stop we drove the rest of the way home and spent some time packing. After packing a little bit I finished a game of 500 that I was playing with my cousin Emily, my uncle Dennie and Zack. Zack and I ended up winning surprisingly! We made plans to eat at a restaurant down on the beach instead of at the hotel. The adults went down to the restaurant/bar a couple of nights to watch soccer and got to know the guy who runs it really well. He was super awesome! When he asked me what I wanted to drink he kind of waved his hand and was like “And you sir, what would you like to drink?” and I said, “I would like a Fanta.” And then he said with a smile, “sounds good to me!”... just the way he approached us and talked with us was very welcoming! We were served bread as a started and then we had Greek salad. Greek salad comes differently, but we had tomatoes, cucumbers, a little bit of lettuce, onions and olives. I was kind of disappointed with the olives... I’m sure they are amazing to the people in Greece, but to me they were very bitter and salty. They were like a step up from green olives. I like the canned ones better J We were then served huge plates of pork. I’m not sure what cut we got... I think it was some of everything. We also had some amazing potatoes that were cooked with olive oil and seasoned. It was a very delicious meal. For dessert we had a coconut cake that was very moist and was soaked in some sort of sauce. And then a very interesting custard like cube. Nobody knew what it was. The best I can describe it is that it was a stiff, lemon flavored custard, that almost had a bread texture... it was very good what ever it was!

After we ate the teenagers walked down to the beach and played around with a soccer ball. Then Ana and Laura and a kid that Ana met at the hotel walked down to the pier. Olivia, Emily and Zack went back to the hotel. Karrie and Kyle stayed on the beach and listened to some music and I walked over to the pier because I felt uncomfortable with the three others being over there when it was dark out with some other strangers sitting in their boats smoking. I wasn’t going to judge, but I wanted to make sure they didn’t fall off or something. We then walked back to the beach and then walked up to the hotel where we had Baklava. Baklava is a very flaky sweet pastry. It soaked in a very sweet sauce and when you eat it drips from your mouth. It is so good, but very rich! I can only eat a little bit at a time. After we ate that we all headed to bed. I spent some time writing a little bit and then went to bed at midnight.

My adventure continues with.... The trip back home :(

Another day on the beach B-)

Friday: Friday we all woke up to a very clear sky and a bright shining sun... it was definitely a beach day and we declared siege to the beach once more. Before we did so we all ate breakfast. I have been crazy about the yogurt and chocolate here and have had it every morning... but I took it a little far when I had 6 bowls of it... and yes I was very full. I was very full all day in fact! After I finished breakfast for the first time I laid down on then lounge chair by the pool and fell asleep in the sun for what seemed like for ever (and was only 15 minutes). It was one of those sleeps where you drift in and out of consciousness catching different pieces of conversations and wake up very out of it and confused... if you have ever experienced that :P I woke up and it was right before 10:00 (when breakfast ends) so I went in and had some more yogurt and proceeded fill myself for the rest of the day. We spent most of the day lying in the sun. I played a game of scrabble and through the Frisbee around. Zack and I invented a game that was like hand ball except the goal was a whole in the sand. You had to pass the ball and only got 3 steps and if you through it in the hole you got 1 point and if you kicked it in you got 2 points. At first it was Zack, Kyle, my uncle Dennie and I, but then it was “the old guys” against us “youngens”. We ended up tying that one because they got tired out J It was a lot of fun. I was very careful about the sunscreen that I put on so I didn’t end up sunburned on any other part of my body. It was a very relaxing day and I got some good pictures. After the sun started to go down we all packed up and went to a beach in a smaller bay next to the one we were on. It had a lot of really nice skipping rocks so we had a "Rock Skipping Competition". We all got rocks and then started off for the most skipps. Dennie one that one with 8, but later I skipped 10. Zack won highest arc... he serisously skipped it and the rock would go 6 feet in the air. We pretty much skipped rocks and walked around for awhile. I got some good pictures of the sunset... or rather the clouds from the sunset. We went back to the hotel and got some food and then I went up to the Jackson's where some of the other kids were hanging out and played backgammon with Kyle while the girls watched 13 going on 30.... which is really.... well I don't want to offend anyone who likes it so I won't say any more. haha :P

After that we all went to bed. It was a great day and I'm enjoying the great sunny weather :)

My adventure continues with... Another trip to the Southside!

Santorini

Thursday: I got up early and went out onto a ledge at the tip of the cove and got to watch a full sunrise. It was really colorful. I wonder why the sun doesn’t shine when it first comes up out of the ocean... it’s just a red circle with colorful clouds. It was a good little while just sitting there. I walked back to the hotel and packed quickly for the day trip to Santorini. We then ate breakfast (which for me consisted of two bowls of yogurt and chocolate sauce... Mmmm so good!) and then those of us who were going hit the road. It was my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my two cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Cooks sister Megan, their two daughters Olivia, Delanie, Laura Jackson, Kerrie Smith and I that went. We drove to the port and got a good parking spot and went in to buy our tickets. After that we walked to the boat. It was like a ferry cruise liner hydrofoil. It wasn’t very big and it was really fast. It had two pontoons on either side. It was really loud as we boarded. We found our seats rather quickly and then waited to take off. The boat then backed out and pulled forward. I was surprised at how fast it moved. I didn’t get a window seat, but I was able to see out the back of the boat at the water the engines was spraying. It was really cool and would probably have been amazing to water ski behind... actually probably not :P My aunt Debby, Grandma, Grandpa and I all played a game of scrabble and then I tried to get a nap. With in two hours we were there. It was a really fun trip and my first boat ride across the ocean... or the Mediterranean. We got off the boat and then took a bus up this really steep and windy road to the main town and largest port where all the huge ships land. I was amazed at the bus drivers. They make so many sharp turns and impossible scrapes I’m surprised they don’t have accidents all the time. People in cars need to learn how to drive like bus drivers in Crete! Oooo actually that may not be a good idea! We got to the top of the island which is actually a giant volcano crater and the only one of its kind. The whole main island is actually the base out of a really old volcano. And the middle island is the top that sunk in after it exploded. It was really interesting to think of it that way. The ocean has filled in most of it. We walked through the town a little bit and went to get tickets to ride the lift? Down to the port where we could then ride donkeys/mules up a trail. It was a cool ride down and a great view of the town and cliffs. We then waited for a while as people looked around and then we made our way to the donkey place. We all bought tickets and then walked up to where the donkeys were parked. Some of us got put with another person. Emily and Ana road together, Todd and Delanie did and Megan and Laura did. The rest of us were single person. It was a long ride up, but super fun! We didn’t have to have anyone lead us either. We just got on and the donkey did the rest. I started out in 5^th place and ended up in first because my donkey was a speed demon. He must know my style

B-)

Once we got to the top again we went to a restaurant on the cliff and ate. I had a Gyro for the third day in a row and had it served to me in yet another way. The first time is was a pita wrap, the second time it didn’t come with pita and was just onions meat, French fries and sauce. The third time I got the pita on the bottom with the meat and sauce on top with French fries. All three were really good, but the first one was my favorite.

After lunch we walked through the town and went in all the different stores. After that we went back to our meeting place which overlooked the bay/port. Todd, his wife Molly and I walked down the stairs to a church and I took some good pictures. We also so a very young couple (teenagers) sitting in the corner of a dome on the church sitting in a very inappropriate position. I then ran up the stairs and then looked around in the stores some more. I went to the main road thinking I would make a loop and come around where we came up, but I couldn’t find it so I walked back to the other spot where everyone was. Turns out that I was like 20 feet away from the road I needed to take to finish the loop. I just needed to go a little further. I have a pretty good sense of direction so I knew I was in the right spot. I just needed to do a little more looking. We walked back to the bus station and rode it back down the windy hill. We passed like 6 buses all of which with like a foot in-between. It was incredible. We got down to the bottom of the hill to the port and had about 45 minutes to wait. We all sat in the shade of an old bus station and waited. I ran up this old road to take some pictures of a barn and stuff and came back. I bought some water and then talked with everyone. There were some puppies that we saw in an alley across the street so I went over and asked the guy who owned them if I could take pictures. I got a couple cute ones. The girls then went over and looked at them. They were some sort of golden retriever mix. After 15 more minutes of waiting our boat came. We got our tickets out and boarded and then rode it back to Crete. It was a very fun trip! After our boat docked we got all our stuff and headed back to the vans. We only had two vehicles because not everyone came so it was a quick departure. We were pushing it as far as time went so we were barely going to make it back to the hotel in time for dinner, but thanks to my uncle Dennie’s professional driving skills we made it back with 30 minutes to spare. We had a good dinner and then hung out for the rest of the night. We were all pretty tired so we showered and got rid of any donkey smell that had come back with us and then went to bed. I slept pretty well!

My adventure continues with.... Another day on the beach B-)