When in Rome...

July 6

As this is a post-Rome post it’s gonna be hard to sum up the magnitude that was the city. When we entered Rome late last night, our TG (tour guide) told us the myth of the founding of Rome and it was so great to see the city lights as we heard the crazy origin tale of Romulus and Remus. Day one in Roma, we’re up early and take off for the Coliseum. There is so much history here! One thing I thought was interesting was that the games that took place in the Colusseum were not as I had imagined. I picture in my mind the warriors with a death wish being ripped apart by lions, but it’s not like that at all. Our guide explained to us that it was an early form of hunting, and usually the warrior won the battle. So there you go Arkansas boys…hunting at it’s earliest form.

Also on this tour we got to visit the Roman forum, the center of early roman life. We saw the ruins where the original senate was held and were amazed that the original seats were still intact. We also saw Julius Caesar’s grave, and the actual steps where Brutus took Caesar out. We also visited the Trevi Fountain, where we both threw one coin over our shoulders (to return to Rome safely again one day). We then set off in search of the Spanish Steps, which we learned aren’t even Spanish at all. So after a day full of history, Jenny and I needed a mental break…so we headed to the Roman H&M for some shopping! Dresses for 5 euro? Yes please! We deserve it right?

Later that night our TG took us on a Twilight Tour of Rome. Wow. We saw the city at it’s finest. Even the landmarks we had seen earlier in the day, like the Trevi Fountain, just seemed to come alive at night. We went to a more local part of town to have gelato (one of MANY to come) since our TG is from Rome he knows all the good spots :) Everywhere we went today has made me feel like I’m in a scene from Angels & Demons…Tomorrow we’re off to the Vatican and St. Peter’s! I’m smiling just thinking about it! Ciao!

L&J—aka Roman bellas

Pompeii

July 5th
Soooo Lauren and I have a new sympathy for Titanic passengers… Nay Titanic steerage passengers! Although the Ferry was a fun experience… let’s just say they don’t really give you more than a space to lay sideways to sleep. But we’ve really started to make some friends with our overall immature group and have settled into the European lifestyle… No, we have not stopped shaving. We arrived in Italy early in the morning and bussed into Pompeii for a tour with Sasha… Our Italian Pompeii tour guide. See photos. He was a blast. Pompeii was incredible. You can’t even imagine how perfectly preserved this town is. There’s still chariot wheel dents in the streets from frequent traffic. After the tour we stopped for a Pompeiian granita. The region grows the biggest, most delicious lemons you’ve ever seen and they break them down with ice and sugar in a lemon slushie style. Absolutely fantastic. After Pompeii, we bussed it to Rome and arrived around 11. Our hotel is sooo great! Lauren and I got to be in a room alone! And it’s the biggest room we’ve ever had!! We we’re pumped to say the least. We have arrived at our first BIDET as well here in Rome. Upon entering the bathroom we did a double take and approached with caution... To use or not to use? That is the question… We’ll just leave that answer up to the imagination. We’re exploring Rome tomorrow!

Ciao -
J&L

Greek Beachin!

July 4^th

Ahhh the Greek beach life… Lauren and I have discussed that back in the day, when anticipating this trip, we never really thought we’d be literally laying out on the beach! Today we had to check out of our hotel, Popi Star, (yes, you’re welcome to emphasize which ever word… we have been… When we first arrived we were like “ohhh this is the Poopy Star, but then it was better on the inside so we went with the “Pop Star”). Things are deceiving here. Deteriorating buildings can be gorgeous on the inside. We bussed over to the other side of the island and whoa whoa whoa did we just run into only the most turquoise water one has ever seen. Literally. See photos because you have to see it to believe it. We visited the monastery on the hill over looking the ocean and even got to snap a photo of a greek monk. Lauren and I later rented a paddle boat to explore the coastline and the surrounding caves. We didn’t quite realize the workout we were in for but it was a blast and we even saw dolphins in the distance…

Just another day in Grecian paradise… We board the ferry tonight for Italy! When in Rome we plan to do as the Romans do… Stay tuned !

J&L

Copy & paste the picture link

You have to copy the link and paste it into another page for now b/c for some reason the link isn't working...

Corfu – Beach bum paradise & designer knockoffs!

July 2^nd& 3^rd

So we’ve pretty much landed on a little slice of perfection! Corfu is so so so cute with little colored houses and the clearest, bluest sea water you’ve ever seen! One thing we’ve learned is the laid back European dress code for beaches… Which basically is optional waist up for the lady-folk and skimpy from the waist down for the men. Interesting to say the least. Us southern girls were more than appalled and put shades on to hide the staring. Corfu Town has great shopping! We’ve been snatching up crazy designer stuff like nobody’s business! Gucci, Prada, Fendi, Coach, Burberry, Louis V, Chanel, & more!

July 3^rd – Boating on the Ionian Sea

This was probably one of the greatest days so far! As a group we rented little 8 person boats and went boating on the Ionian sea! We laid out, swam, tied all of our boats up together, and then ate at an outdoor café on one of the islands! We never would have thought we’d be boating in Greece! It was kind of surreal with the little colorful villages and surrounding mountains…

Tomorrow is our last day here. :( On to Italy! We’ll take a night ferry tomorrow evening, so you might not hear from us in a couple of days depending on internet situations.

… And this World Cup competition ain’t nothing like the rivalry between our current roommates. But we’ve fixed the situation :) (ask for details!)

Love, Jenny & Lauren

Goodbye Greece!

***Pictures are much harder to upload...so they may be a little behind the posts. Just bear with us!***

Lauren and Jenny's Eurotrip: Click this for our photo website

http://jennylaurenseuropeanadventures.shutterfly.com/

A visit to the oracle

July 1. 2010

Yiassou! Greetings from Greece!

Today was our exploration of Delphi. We boarded our gigantic tour bus and drove through the Grecian countryside for a couple of hours. Quick fact: there’s 10 million peeps living in Greece, 5 mil of which live in Athens. The countryside is absolutely pristine with soaring mountains and quaint little farms. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed baklava, a famous Greek dessert , and a Greek-style apple pie, which turned out not to be your average granny’s pie, but fairly good. We climbed some crazy mountain roads and passed through a tiny ski town on the side of Mount Panassus and it was adorable! But there was only about a foot between our bus and the actual shops: the road was that small, and let’s just say the Greeks don’t drive slow… But we finally arrived at Delphi and so far this has been my favorite spot (Jenny). Our guide was absolutely fascinating and she led us up the mountain and explained the site and the history. There’s actually 4 oracle sites throughout the world, but Delphi is the most famous and visited because of its ideal geographical location of a mountain by the sea. The travelers camped in the valley and awaited the 7th day of each month for their visit with the oracle. Basically there was methane leaking from the network of underground tunnels and a young girl from the town of Delphi would be the “epiphania” that would go in and breathe the methane which they believed to the be the gods and the methane poisoning would cause hallucinations and the priest would interpret her groans and answer your question. However at one point one little girl inhaled to much methane and died (she got too much god) and so they switched to 50 year old woman that were then dressed to resembled young girls … (Even in B.C. days ladies were workin on disguising that age!)

So Delphi is the seat of human nature. The temple was the home of 2 gods, Apollo and Dionysus. Apollo was held the seat for 9 months out of the year and was the god of sun. Which represented reason, logic, basic needs, etc and then the 3 months of winter when Apollo left, Dionysus came. He was the god of wine, theater, passion, and pleasure, essentially everything unreasonable and caught in the moment. These were the gifts of the gods: Reason and Emotion. The philosophers saw these two gods as the very essence of human nature: reason vs. emotion. They said that life is not about choosing which one to live by or glorify, but to learn the balance between them and when to live with reason and when to let emotion guide you. That’s the nutshell version, but it was very inspiring. I bought the guide book. I know. Lame. I was also the only one that asked questions.
So we re-loaded the bus, stopped at a beautiful little restaurant on the Ionian Sea and ate a late lunch on the vine covered patio and then waded in the incredibly clear water. Marc Willey would be impressed. We drove the coastline (with it’s crazy hairpin turns that Costos, our greek bus driver, manipulated like a Nascar driver!) to arrive in Patras, where we’re now awaiting our night ferry to the island of Corfu.

Gonna Greek beach it tomorrow. Be jealous. Love y’all!
-J & L -

Greece, gods, & gyros...oh my!

June 30, 2010

7 A.M. Jenny & Lauren get the wake-up call and precede to get dressed and eat the continental breakfast which turned out to be fairly nice with eggs, some sort of grilled meat (we guessed ham), some slices of greek cheese, mushrooms, and baked tomatoes. Fueled for the day, we board only the biggest, tallest 2-story touring bus you’ve ever seen and Tyson, our tour guide, points out various sites of Athens. Our first stop was THE ORIGINAL Olympic stadium made entirely from the 2^nd most expensive marble in the whole world. We reverently removed our clothes like the very first Olympians did and began competing. Ok just kidding. After that stop we went up to the Acropolis and the Parthenon which was amazing. Wow. Temple of Zeus. He invited us in and offered us gifts from his fellow gods, but we just snapped a few pics. We also saw the location that St. Paul first preached to the Greeks and where Pope John Paul II visited after 5 centuries of papal absence after the Greek schism. Lauren and I thought it was pretty cool to stand and look at the exact same place that St. Paul once stood! Lauren’s additional comments of the Acropolis: “is was SO hot and there were about 2.4 million people there touring J.”

After the tour we went to Monastiraki which is the popular downtown square area that has restaurants, shops, etc. And then we met and fell in love with the gyro stand. We’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Our tour guide gave us some suggestions for the afternoon, so in unison Lauren and I agreed to shop. So we explored the Athens flea market. We were a little disappointed…everything was pretty commercial and the prices were not great. And most vendors wouldn’t budge. So no bargaining…bummer. But there were plenty of designer knockoffs, so we both ended up with a few small goodies. We stopped at a small shop for gelato which was really good. After we met back up with the group, we walked to the tram which took us back to our hotel. After a 20 minute power nap, we walked down to Glyfada which used to be the location of the US army base so it had a lot of English and Americanized influence. Restauranteurs beg you to come in and offer free wine and lots of extras if you patronize. We split a Greek pie and fried feta cheese which was nothing like fried things in the US. They served hot bread and olives (lucky for Jenny, Lauren doesn’t like olives! Heck yes). There was no breading, just looked like cheese that had been melted and browned in the oven and you eat it on bread. It was delicious! So the dinner lasted for over 2 hours. Europeans are so different about meals, they aren’t in any hurry and they bring out watermelon and honeydew like 2 hours after you’ve already finished eating. So after dinner we went back to the hotel and skyped J Tomorrow we drive to Delphi for a tour and board the night ferry for Corfu! Can’t wait for Corfu and the beach…

-Lauren & Jenny- aka Greek goddesses

Note: Our pictures are taking FOREVER to upload...we are attempting to use shutterfly. Will update ASAP!