We didnt mention one of our stops. The one after Israel, and before Malta. Maybe because we were unintentionally trying to put it out of our minds. It was to Limmasol, Cyprus. We had a pretty interesting mishap occur. I'll start with saying that Cyprus was nice but we werent that impressed. We determine how much we like a city by the amount of pictures we take....we only took like 20. The weather was pretty nasty and it seemed like the beach was the main attraction but we didnt get to enjoy that. Every city we've been to has a ton of Cathedrals. It seems that every where you look there is another pretty catholic church. So when we saw a church that looked a little different (christian), we showed a little bit of interest. The people inside(setting up for the service) got super excited and convinced us to come in. I kinda wanted to sit in on the church service from the beginning but once we got to talking and they told me that a big chunk of the congregation are Bulgarians and that the service is translated into Bulgarian and that worship was in Bulgarian I really wanted to check it out. So we came back when it was time for church. I was really impressed with how much of the Bulgarian I understood. That made me happy. Well here is the issue....we were cruising back and forth between time zones so there was a little confusion on my part as to when to change it. The previous night we got a notice that said to set our clocks back an hour. So I told Mike to change it. Not realizing that the bulletin was saying to change them the next night, not the night they gave us the notice. Well we get to the church...late. Mike catches that the clocks at the church are off and wants to head back early just in case. Well I agree that we need to be cautious but I really wanted to say bye so i kept dragging it out so that i got a chance to tell them we were leaving. The bulgarians and the other ladies were so so great to us. We were like stars at church, they were so happy to have guests. Just didnt wanna leave with out saying thank you for being so welcoming and things. But I'm stupid, and need to listen to my husband. By the time we got to the shuttle bus station it was 130...last shuttle left at 1!! Everyone was supposed to be on board at 130...so we get a taxi to take us to the port. Freaking out the whole way of course! They were putting the ramp up when they saw us running towards the ship....oh my goodness...I've never felt such relief. Last ones on board...and like 10 mins before the ship left. I told Mike to remind me of this whenever Im being stupid. I cant believe i almost got us left behind in Cyprus! Well that is the craziest thing thats happened to us so far...thought i should share...sorry so lengthy.
and popcorn: Mike :)
After our wonderful time in Malta our next stop was in Messina, Italy which is a city on the island of Sicily. Like all the coastal cities in Italy we have been to, there are large hills right before the water so you can get a very nice view if you go up the hill and that's what we did. We were able to see the mainland Italy from the hill, and the passage of water between Sicily and Italy was also very beautiful to cruise through. In the city we did a lot of walking and sightseeing for the five hours of time we had there.
Messina was our last stop before we arrived in Rome this past Thursday. We spent 3 days of what seemed like nonstop touring of the city. We had a blast but Alla got worn out from all the walking so now she needs new shoes again! After roaming Rome (waited a long time to say that:)) we were ready to leave as we saw all the sights and got guided tours of the Colosseum and the Vatican/St. Peters Basilica. It was pretty crazy to see and understand how great of a city Rome once was.
We had some crazy neighbors in our hotel. They arrived at about 1 am the first night we were there. Yes we knew when they came...and when they went. I don't think I've ever come across such inconsiderate people. It was as if they were in our room, that's how loud it was. They had a kid...the kid could not be normal. I've seen and heard my share of kids and never have I heard crying like this. It was more of a scream. And it lasted for an hour at a time!!! While we're trying to sleep. There were two families, on either side of us! So they kept slamming doors, going back and forth between the 2 rooms; shouting things as if it's day. They were from India is what we gathered. They were on Indian time is what we assume, they stayed up SUPER late. Really thin walls or really loud people, not really sure. Mike banged on the wall but that only helped for about as long as the banging lasted. Then that child started right back up again. Besides the fact that we had to be on their schedule (couldn't go to sleep until they were) we liked our hotel. Actually, there were Mosquitos too. Tiny ones that buzz in your ear. We didn't see any we just heard them when lights were out....smart little suckers! I woke up last day of touring with a puffy eye! I got bit on the eyelid, which caused major puffing! This happens to me way more than to the average person! I would say around 10 or so times, since I was mid teen years. Big juicy eyelids of mine. So "I wore my sunglasses at night"....haha. No, just all day.
We also realized while we were in Rome that the background on our blog is a picture of Rome! I'm really happy we figured it out because lidiya was giving us a hard time about not knowing. There ya go Lida! :)
We are now writing from Sofia where its cold and its not even the coldest months. I need to go shopping for warm clothes. We got dropped off at my cousin Sasha's house where the heat was off since last week wednesday. Sasha and Oksana are in Germany until tomorrow. It took us 24 hours to get the house to a comfortable temperature. The plan is to stay here for about 3 months, maybe longer. We hope to get an apartment but we dont know when that will be. We have a dinner date...our new friends that picked us up from the airport are having us over for dinner. Gonna go get ready.
Mike and Alla
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