Tessa's Blog

Well, the last time I updated the blog, we were in Corfu on my parents anniversary (September 3).

The next day was also a pool day awaiting our bus to Athens. We were waiting when our friends drove by in their scooters. We had a lovely chat but the bus came so we had to bid farewell. The bus would leave at 7:45 p.m. and arrive at 5:00 a.m. We went with the green bus company which is Corfu's city bus. They are really lucky because their city buses are like our Grey Hounds. We were really excited until we found out we had the back seats which did not fold down and we were squished with another person. We were not happy. We got onto our hour long ferry ride preparing ourselves. We got on the bus and tried to sleep but no luck. My dad moved into an empty seat so that gave us more room. Then Connor moved into the seat beside my dad after the person sitting beside my dad got off. Now, I could lie straight across. We got to Athens at 5 in the morning with little sleep so we set out to our hotel. We arrived and went to the forth floor and curled up on the floor. 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. we slept on the floor. We got to move to our room and we slept until 1:30 p.m. At this time, we had not eaten for over 12 hours so we went to a place to eat. We bought quite a bit from the street vendors there. I bought a skirt from a store but we bought 10 new releases for 30 Euros including Die Hard 4, Hairspray, Fantastic 4 and more brand new movies. 30 euros is 45$ Canadian so we thought that was a good deal. We bought my mom Flower by Kenzo (a 150$ perfume) for 10 euros (15$). We also got some good food.

The next day we went to get our Visas for India! (BORING!). We went and saw the first Olympic Stadium which was cool and we also went to look at flight and ferry costs. We got some good information so we went to Zeus' Temple. It was massive but most of the columns were gone and one actually fell down! It was really cool to see, especially with the world famous Acropolis in the background! I really thought it was amazing to see!! We did not go up to the Acropolis that day but we knew we would have to go up some time soon!! We then went and saw Hadrian's Gate. It is right beside a main busy road, a great place for a very important, big monument! We then went to go on a tour train. The day before we were making fun of the people on the train and now, we were one of them!!! It was O.K., not the greatest tour but you know, not bad!! We had a fun day knowing tomorrow we would have to climb up to the Acropolis.

The next day we woke up and headed to book some flights and ferries. We got everything booked perfectly but the visas were going to take longer than we expected so more time on the Greek Islands! (YAY)!! We then, after getting our ferries for around Greece and flights to Egypt, Kenya and India, went to the Acropolis. It was too bad because the Parthenon was under renovation. We got a really great view of everything though. I forgot to mention the night before we got a great view from the "other hill". That was fun, too. We were all talking about how amazing Athens would have been if we got to see all these amazing things in their original glory!

The next day we had to head out to Santorini!! We got there and got a ride up to our hotel. Our room had a TV, kitchen, balcony and four beds! The hotel had a pool and big screen TV. We were 10 seconds from the beach and a famous beach, too. The first day, we got settled and swam at our pool! The next day, we went for a swim at the ocean which is volcanic sand but once you hit water, it is just rock. It was very fun. The next day, we worked on our school site and got smarter! The next day, we went on our excursion around Santorini. Santorini was made by a volcano which stands in the middle, circled by Santorini, Thirissia and other small islands. We first hiked up the volcano which was really cool! Next, we went for a swim in the hot springs. The hot springs are heated up by the volcano which is cool or should I say warm. We had to swim 50 meters to get to it which was easy for Connor and I! We then went to Thirissia which is one of the islands. We were planning on riding some donkeys there but we decided just to take a good swim. Well, my mom was sad that we did not ride the donkeys but it all turned out well because in the final town we got to ride them up. Let me tell you it was SCARY!! My mom was not wishing for the donkey rides anymore. The trainers were telling them to go faster as we clung on for our lives! We were going up hill and for the whole time my mom was on the edge so she could look down to her doom!! She was definitely scared!! We watched the sunset and then headed home. The next day, we rented a car so we went for a beach day!! We went to many beaches and a winery. My parents did a wine tasting and I took my soon to be world famous photo which you all need to take a look at!! The next day, we went to Thira and got my mom's shoes fixed! I loved Thira because it was just little alley ways that held many stores that had cool things to look at! We hit a beach but we did not swim! Instead, we went back and we returned the car. After that, we just kind of relaxed.

The next day, we headed out to Mykonos and when we arrived, we went to little Venice. I was very excited because I wanted to see Pelican Pete! There are 3 Pelican Petes. We did not see him the first day but that was okay. The next day, we went to Paradise Beach. It was cool because there were a lot of fish and a reef right in front of us. The next day, we went to little Venice and we found Pelican Pete!! That made my day. That day, we arrived back to Athens by ferry.

The next day, we went to the Olympic Park. It was neat to see. That night, we went onto a plane at 1:00 a.m. We flew into Cairo, Egypt!

At Cairo, we were greeted by someone to take us to our hotel. It was very late at night so we decided to get some sleep for the up coming day. The next morning, we planned a tour for all of Egypt. We were very excited! That afternoon we headed out to the Citadel. The driving is crazy in Cairo! We arrived at the citadel and got a nice little tour and from the view we were able to see the pyramids from a distance. We finished up there and headed back to our hotel. The next morning, we got up very early and headed out to the Sycara Pyramids. They were cool because we got to go inside one and the other was a step pyramid. We then headed to a carpet school. The carpet school was very amazing to see. The school teaches kids how to make carpets by hand. Connor and I got to try. We then went to a papyrus shop. Papyrus is the stem from a plant that is rolled out to make paper. We got a little souvenir there. We then went to one of the Seven Wonders of the World; The Giza Pyramids! We decided to take a camel through the desert to see them. It was a lot of fun and my brothers only ran away once and my dad only fell off once. They were both okay though. We then went to a perfumery and then headed back. We had to catch a train to Aswan that night so we headed to the train station. The next morning we arrived in Aswan. We got to our hotelo and got everything figured out. That day we went to the High Dam and to a Temple. It was pretty nice but not may favourite thing. The next morning at 3:00 a.m. we headed out to Abu Simbol. It is a famous temple a couple hours away from Aswan. The thing that amazed me the most is how big it was! It is actually 2 temples. I really enjoyed that. That night we headed to Luxor. We arrived at Luxor at about 8:00 p.m. so not a long train ride. We went to the hotel and got our plan together. First thing is the temples, second tombs. The next morning we went swimming and went for a feluca ride. A feluca is a type of sailboat. I really enjoyed it. We went to Banana Island where we got some complementary bananas and we also got to see all the banana trees. We then headed back to do our temple tour. We first did the Karnak Temple. It was massive. One of the biggest temples in the world, definitely the biggest in Egypt. We then went to Luxor Temple. It was neat to see because it was all lit up. We then went and ate with the rest of our tour group. The next morning, we went to the Valley of the Kings. We got to go into some of the tombs which was super cool. The most amazing thing was the color. I really enjoyed that. We then went to a Temple. It was massive! I thought that it was neat. We then went to another ground of tombs where we saw 2 of the tombs. The most amazing things was the color! It was GREAT!

Now here I am on a bus to Dahab! My birthday is coming up soon too! We arrived in Dahab in the morning, tired from the never ending uncomfortable bus ride, only to get off (relieved) with hectic drivers telling us to come with them, no them, no them. We saw Barry Lewis on a sign so we quickly went to him. He told us to hop onto the back of the truck so we did as we were told and were taken right away to the Bish Bishi. Long story short, nice staff, great food, pretty good rooms and a lot of cats. The next day we went snorkelling at the Blue Hole, which was an amazing experience! It was for my birthday. Well, it was the best birthday present ever because the fish were amazing, the coral was amazing and because my mom came in to!! We were thrilled with the whole thing and we all agreed we would go back.

The next day we headed to Israel. Border crossings… AHHH!! We were trapped with a group of Romanians who absolutely H-A-T-E-D us. They were pushing, elbowing and, of course, talking about us in Italian. They let everyone who was behind us go under a rope so we had to just stand there. We FINALLY arrived into Israel and were planning to do another border crossing to Jordan but we were pooped. We crashed at a little apartment that was used as a hotel room. It was very nice. We went out for dinner which was great! We had a fabulous time!! That night we slept hard thinking about what the next border crossing was going to be like. The next morning we packed up and headed to Jordan. The border crossing was simple. We arrived into Jordan and got a ride to Petra. We arrived at our hotel, The Cleo-Petra (so funny), and got settled in. That night we went to the ancient city of Petra by a tour called, Petra by Night, which is walking down to the ancient city of Petra by complete candle light, which, was kind of spooky! We watched Bedouins dance and play music while drinking some tea. The next day we headed to Petra (by day). We did a whole tour of the place using our map they gave us. We went to the treasury which was a setting in Indiana Jones. We also climbed the 900 steps to the monastery which tired us out. I really enjoyed Petra even though it was hot! The next day we got the taxi driver who brought us to Petra to bring us to Amman, Jordan. He took the King Huissein road which is a scenic route. We stopped to swim in the Dead Sea and to explore the lowest reserve on earth. We arrived in Amman for a quick stay and then headed to Jerusalem.

We got on a bus and then did the border crossing. We decided to take a taxi/bus to Jerusalem which ended up being a bad idea because they made us suffer with flies and heat until the bus was full unless we wanted to pay more. That made us mad! We arrived in Jerusalem finding our hostel easily and then finding out that they did not have our 4 bed room so we had to sleep with 10 other people in a dorm! We met some nice people below us who we enjoyed chatting to. They were from Minnesota. That night we saw the Western Wall, the #1 religious symbol to the Jewish Religion. We realized that not only Ramadan was going on but also the biggest holiday for the Jewish Religion. It was hectic all right!! The next day we went to the Dome of the Rock. One of the Muslims symbols of their religion. We also went through the Stations of the Cross and then tried to get on a bus tour around town, but it was full 3 times. We were hot and tired so we went out for dinner with Minnesota getting a great view of Jerusalem.

The next day we headed out back to Eilat to get out of the country and back into Egypt. We took a 5 hour bus to Eilat and got through the border crossing having to pay 40$ U.S. each because we did not have our Visas in advance even though the Egyptian Visa office in Amman said we can get them right at the border. We finally got through and bargained for our mini-bus price to Dahab. We got that settled and paid the man. We atrrived in Dahab having to pay again because the man said we had not paid and we were not going to argue all night. The next day we took a mini bus to Cairo which we once again had to pay extra for. We finally got on the plane to Kenya and tried to sleep.

The next we arrived in Nairobi hoping to see a sign saying Barry Lewis because we had asked Game Trackers to pick us up. They were there! Thank goodness! We stayed at the Park side hotel which was very nice.

Tessa's Blog Updated to October 3, 2007

Update Notice

Today (Oct 26), we have added photo albums for Jerusalem, Masai Mara, Amboseli, Tsavo West and East, and the Kenya Coast. We have also added Journal Entries for these places. So take a look!