Switzerland

After arriving in Interlacken, Switzerland....Randi is already looking like "Heidi" with her braids!

Seriously....Randi can sleep anywhere-this time it's on the train.

Great views all over the place of the Alps--so amazing

Oh yes, and I had the Baribie helmet when we went canyoning. Randi's said "Heidi" How fitting...

The hostel we Gimmewald we stayed in up in the Alps! It was a 50 min hike to the next town for a grocery store...

A few pictures from Germany...

This is in the Rothenburg town square. Who would have thought a picture of someone jumping could be so funny..... Love the sign that means "No holding your kid's hand!"

Sitting on the wall in an old castle...in St. Goar...the largest castle ruins that exists..
Found a great local pub and got some authentic German food...

Getting ready to hop the boat on the Rhine!

Athens, the Best last place on earth

If you ever were wondering of a stop in Europe that could make you actually want to leave and head back to the states, I recommend finishing your trip in Athens, Greece. I am sure there are plenty of nice things about Athens. Perhaps Kesley will share some of what she saw, she really loved it. She was very fond of the massive amounts of people packed into the little spaces, she loved the street our hotel was on and the drug pushers on the corner, loved the taxi cab drivers that consistently refused to give us a ride anywhere, and loved even more our hotel room in which she literally slept in her shoes all night due to her fear of the carpet or maybe that we would be attacked and she wanted to be able to run....... Regardless, shoes were on all night.

It is hot, dirty, and full of people. My favorite things about it are as follows: The Subway which was easy and only 3 Euros, the Acropolis and surrounding Plaka Area, and they Olympic Village.....

But what I truly loved about it was walking off the boat into an outdoor steam room with wall to wall people sweating ,pushing, and touching on the sidewalks and the subway. I also loved when Kez asked a taxi to take us 3 blocks from the Metro to our hotel and he responded, while shaking his pointer finger, "Ah, No thank you." and I loved the guy who tried to get Kesley and I to use his services......of which I still am not sure what he was selling......he kept referring to me as "redlight" and kez as "yellow" I kept saying, "No thank you" to whatever it was he was saying and he asked, "I sorry....are you two lesbians?....I sorry, just curious." To which I responded, "No" and he replied, "Oh, you like mens? Me too." Kez's eyes may have popped out of her eyes upon the hotel entrance, but in this conversation I had to pick them up off the ground. She is still recovering.

I also loved to be in the airport for 13 hours before leaving on our flight. Kez woke me up at 5:30 am asking if I was ready to go to the airport......our flight was to leave at 12:30pm, the airport was a half hour away. She was fully dressed with her sneakers on. Confused, I dressed and we arrived at the airport at 7:30am, checked in at 10:30am, flew out at 9:10pm to get to.

So, to say the least, I was ready to leave. Athens was a great place to get me ready to come home. Thank you Athens, without you, I may still be in Europe.

RP

More good times

Naxos Island....Love it! A real laid back island, tons of beaches, mountains, good food, friendly people, nice shops. We've been here 3 days, and spent at least 14 hrs a day outside in the sun! Rented a 4 wheeler for the day yesterday and explored going 50-60 km/hr on one heck of an ATV. Had tons of power so we didn't need to worry about getting stuck going up hills and having to get off to help push it up. Instead, I drove and Randi took pictures from the back! (she may have gotten a bit frustrated with me for not slowing down so she could get a decent picture, but I just wanted to get to the next beach!)

We have had a few moments of brilliance in the last couple days, such as when Randi said, "Ohhh, I know why they all have white houses here, so it doesn't get so hot." Or when she said this weekend might be really busy since it's a holiday weekend.....I asked what holiday? 4th of July. haha, that's only in America! But I have no room to talk because I'm a bit paranoid about walking places at night, or people stealing my stuff so I'm maybe too cautious. Also seems that no matter what country we are in, whatever restaraunt we are at, I try to order pizza. Living large, trying new things....

Invested in a snorkeling mask and breathing tube for about 12 euros today. Trust me, the equipment is top-notch. Spent a few hours swimming around with the fish while Randi used her goggles. New nick names are "Scuba Steve" and "Goggly eyed Gina" Nice. Cant say we've made too many friends here, a bit tough when no one speaks english, but we do laugh a lot with random people.

Crazy...in 2 days we will be back on paradise island (Iowa)
Signing off...

Naxos and Sand Volleyball

We arrived in Naxos maybe yesterday or the day before. They all blur together now! I think my brain is partially melting due to the extreme heat. Regardless, we are here. It is very beautiful as well. White sandy beaches, mountains, cliffs, it has all of it. Not to mention about 4 kids per person, they meant it when they said "family friendly". I am not sure if the weird looks are because we are the only ginourmous white girls on this island, or that we have no kids and are not pregnant. No one sleeps, not even the kids. In fact, we just ate dinner, it is 10:30pm, and that is the normal dinner time. There are kids running all over in the streets and will be till well past midnight when those of us that are old go to bed! There were plenty of parents in the taverns with strollers well past 1am last night.

We have also ATV'd this island. We got a 300 horsepower ATV, much better than the 30 horsepower one we must have had in Santorini in which Kez and I could not make it up the hill. Kez got this sucker going 60 kmh. It was great. We ended up swimming in little remote beaches along our tour and then stopped for lunch at a small village where Kez asked some fellas if we could play volleyball with them.

It was all fun and games for a bit, and then they started to smoke the ball at us, talking in Greek, laughing, and drilling it at us. I don't claim to be good at volleyball by any means, but I am tall, big (as many people have let me know here), kinda strong, and returned the favor at least once........ then we left.

Today we walked about 1 hour and 30 minutes to another beach. I kept telling Kez was just over the hill......she was pissed and sweating as cabs and buses and ATVs flew by us. She even stuck her thumb out to hitch for awhile. We did finally make it........to a beach looking exactly like the one we walked away from.....oops.

Kez also approached a group playing sand volleyball here. They asked if we were good....."your big...you good?" Smiling we both laughed and stepped on opposite teams. Kez was on a team with the grumpiest old Greek man ever, he was known as the group "president" whatever that means. He yelled at everyone, when he missed, he yelled, when he had a good shot, he yelled, while smoking and talking on his cell phone. They literally yelled the entire time at each other. In Greek, but still yelling. One guy even crossed under the net, grabbed the ball while screaming, and took it to the other side. If Kez was better at volleyball we would still be playing....... =) I just stood up at the net, being the tallest woman most had seen and was told to, "Stay up there, big, block, K?" Yes.....I got it. Thanks.

On to Athens tomorrow, we will visit our first museum of the trip and head out to Iowa the following day.

RP

Sun attack

I now know why businesses close and everyone goes inside to nap from 2-5 every day here! It's too flipping hot! Wow, the sun never goes away. In the afternoons, the villages with white houses and buildings look like ghost towns. Everyone inside trying to stay cool. When we get up early at like 6 am to run, walk outside and it's sweltering! Jump in the water to cool off and 5 minutes later sweating just the same. My eyes no longer drift towards shops but instead for the smallest bit of shade. Thankfully we haven't gotten sunburnt yet---but that's because I wear a liquid sweater of sunscreen or sit under umbrellas when possible.

When the sun goes down is when the town comes alive! Even though they close everything down in the afternoon, every store/shop is open till at least 10:30 pm, but most restaraunts and bars are open till 5 or 6 am. Needless to say, we haven't seen closing time yet.

Last night we experienced "one of the best sunsets in the world" in Ios, where everyone sits on the white rooftops every night waiting to see the sun sink below the water. Before the sun set, we found an awesome pool with bar and restaraunt on the very edge of the clif looking down over the ocean! Randi set it was my job to get us in there somehow, so I worked some magic and we were in! The sunset was pretty cool, even though it was filled with honeymooners because this place is supposedly very romantic also. Just makes us laugh all the time!

Signing off to go eat a gyro!

Sweet Sweet Constantine....

So, Kez and I board the boat yesterday. We are heading on an adventure to check out some volcano, hot springs, and another town, Oia. We are sitting on the boat, it is about 115 degrees, the sun is melting us to the seats, there is not a speck of shade, and then comes Constantine. Wearing some Jay-lo Aviators, tennis shoes, and curly hair that needs a good wash. Disshoveled, lays down in front of us as if to take a nap. Sits straight up and says...."where are you guys from?"

And for the next 8 hours, he did not shut up. I am telling you I gave every good bye in the book besides the giving the bird and telling him to F-off. He followed us through the volcano with outlandish stories of mountain lions eye to eye with him in a tent, a grizzly sighting, smoking hash, getting hammered, streaking, skinny dipping, getting people kicked out of hostels.....you name it, we heard it.

Kez was much more gracious than I. She gets the good person blessings for the day. Go Kez.

Other than an obnoxious and constant voice and the sweltering heat, the volcano was awesome, the hot springs were luke warm and kinda gross, and Oia was really cool. We watched the sunset joined by about 1500 other people on a point. I took several pictures of newlyweds in dreamy embraces and kisses while Kez and I akwardly asked for a photo too......we fit right in.

We came back, showered, and went to eat. We passed a bar and the bar tender came out of the bar and offered us free shots along with happy hour cocktails all night if we came in. Kez said, "no, we need food."......smart. He replied, "we have that too." Remind me not to take Kez with me when I am trying to get out of something!

Well, onto Naxos.
Hope everyone has a Happy 4th of July. Here they like to call it Independent Day. Happy that too I guess.

RP

Santorini of the Greek Islands

We arrived in Santorini yesterday maybe.....not sure because it was after sleeping in the Athens airport. Or kind of sleeping. The airport is so nice. In fact, our biggest room yet. And I am anxious to go back their. Couches all over. They even have a McCafe.....the starbucks of McDonalds. With soft couches and great ambiance. And Kez and I toured our first, and so far only museum there. Kez isn't into museums as much as shopping. So Athens Airport was great. It had both.

Anyway, I am fairly certain that Santorini sits about 800 m from the sun. It is so hot here that my skin melts off. Perhaps that is why no one where tops here and men wear speedos. Actually, Kez has melted off a portion of her shoe on the black sands here. Don't worry, she bought new ones.

We rented an ATV 4-wheeler. We have taken it all over this island. With the two of us on it, we are lucky to get up the hills without one of us getting off......at one point on the highway we were going 6KM per hour.....yeah. Chug-a-lug. Kez did have to get off at one point and walk up the hill. I told her it was good for her. Too much gelato.

Anyway, this place is amazingly beautiful as well. I can't believe what I have seen so far.

And if Kez will stop being scared of the men that stand outside their store or restaurant doors saying, "Hello there. Can I ask you something?" and actually go inside we may eat on this trip too. HA.

Good times on the 4 wheeler...

We arrived yesterday on the island of Santorini....at 6:30 am. Needless to say, spent most of the day laying/sleeping on the beach in the scorching sun (getting up only to jump in the water to cool off) after being up 42 hrs straight.



Gotta admit this place is not quite what i expected....extremely beautiful...but a bit sketchy/shadey/scary at times. When we arrived i thought we were in the ghetto or something, but Randi shows no empathy and just laughs. Such as walking home at midnight last night from the bus stop....I was definitely on the verge of speed walking/running......because I was scared of who might be around the corner! Randi said she likes it...but then again she also likes some of the craziest food we've been trying.



Well the days of carrying chocolate from Germany and Switzerland vanished quickly when the chocolate bar in my bag melted so much it turned to liquid form. But dont worry, we have found a new love for gelato to replace our chocolate.



Today was a bit more adventurous because we rented a 4-wheeler. Went all over the island (with some awesome but not so stylish helmets on!) Pretty sure we found 5 different beaches, 3 of which were not even on our only map that was Greek so didnt help much anyway. We were passed by almost everyone driving 4 wheelers and mopeds if we encountered any hills, none of them wearing helmets, but as always, safety first.



The sun is hotter here than I've ever felt it before. The fact that the sand is black just heats things up even more. At one point today, Randi fell asleep in her beach chair and I was pretty sure she died of sun exposure. However, she has recovered and is looking "halfrican" because her skin is so dark. Me on the other hand...Randi just keeps reminding me to protect this fair skin and reapply the sunscreen about every half hour.



Tomorrow we turn in our beloved 4 wheeler and switch gears to ride on a giant sail boat to do a tour of small surrounding islands. Checking out the volcano, hot springs, islands, etc, and more sun... But for now, needing sleep!