The end!

So I talked to the Oracle at Delphi and she figures I'm doing a-okay. Either that or I am gonna get eaten by a hydra tomorrow! You never can really tell with these cryptic mediums, can ya?

I am on the Island of Santorini and it might actually be the most beautiful place I have ever set foot on. You can't really go wrong with a deep blue sky overy white washed houses on the cliff of a sea-filled caldera, can ya? Today I was the only one on the so-called Red Beach and it was amazing. I know I'm a geek and all, but it really felt like a Martian landscape with the sheer red volcanic cliffs and the red sand.

Greece is absolutely beautiful, but the Fates have decided that getting to see Troy is not in my near future, as the bleedin' ferry schedules are not gonna work for me. Alas, we are at the whim of the gods, aren't we?!

All that means is that I'll have to come back, which I am more than willing to do. Although from the sounds of it, I'll be coming back alone, as my 'Classical Tid-bits' have not been so well received by a few of my readers (who would not be on board with a relatively brief historical overview of every single thing we'd see!). ;)

This also means that I am coming home three days early (and likely a long time before your postcards will arrive), so start pulling that Guinness! If you're in the area, the Fire Party is on for Dec 23rd!

Love you all and see some of you soon!

Thanks for reading my drivel. I hope you enjoyed it a little!

Master Jendu Hothu

all Greek to me

My last day in Cairo went off without incident cuz I had finally mastered the "feck off" glare and I was able to enjoy the sun setting over the Sphinx in relative peace.

And now I have made it to Greece and I absolutely love it! Athens is a beautiful city, albeit bloody freezing (how will I ever survive Edmonton?) and bloody expensive (damn the Euro!).

Just 24 hours after watching the sun set behind the pyramids, I got to see it again behind the Acropolis (how bleedin' cool is life?!). The Acropolis was pretty cool but, thus far, the big difference I have found between here and Egypt is that you are not permitted inside most of the structures here in Greece and that really takes some of the magic away for me. Additionally, there is so much reconstruction going on that there is sometimes more rebar and girders than there is marble. Having said all that, however, the Parthenon and especially the Erechtheion friggin' rocked. The Erechtheion is the sanctuary of Athena and Poseidon and (as I'm sure everyone remembers from their intro Classics course, right Lee?!) is the place where Athena and Poseidon squared off to see who the city would be named after. Athena produced an olive tree, thus kicking Poseidon's ass (cuz all he could muster after splitting the ground with his trident was a bleedin' horse), and ensuring that the capital of Greece was not Poseidon's.

Okay, okay, I'm sure I've bored you all to tears. Next stop was the Ancient Agora which was the main centre of Athens, where those toga clad Athenians would meet to hang or do business, and you could almost hear Socrates expounding on about something!

Tomorrow, I head to Delphi to see if the Oracle has any news for me, then on on to Mycenae (of Agamemnon/Clytaemnestra fame-okay, I won't go into any more history, but some of you might remember that those were the names of my fishes, and she ended up killing him. Coincidence? I think not! And yes, Clytaemnestra was the fish I performed the autopsy on).

I am having a little trouble getting used to this solo traveller thing. Today, I tried to set up my camera for a shot of me in front of the Parthenon and as I was waiting for it to take, a huge gust of wind almost took my camera over the wall. That photo will either be of the sky with maybe a bit of the Parthenon in the corner, or of my horrified face as I realise my camera is going over the 20 foot wall. Anybody who wants a copy of that 'keeper', let me know.

I hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for Christmas!

Love,

Jen

A-dri-enne

So, I am sitting on the steps of Luxor's finest hotel, minding my own business when a bunch of sedans and minivans pull up and important looking people get out to rush about frantically. One of the people, a Chinese woman in glowing garments, with big hair and equally big glasses, looks vaguely familiar to me, but I can't place her so I put her from my mind. I sorta felt like I was far too calm to be in the midst of all these rushers, so I got up to move and upon doing so, I noticed Canadian flags on all of the vehicles. Curiosity piqued, I told one of the lads (who was standing still for a second) that I was Canadian and asked him what was going. He got very excited and said "The Governor General of Canada is in this store, I'm sure she'd love to meet you.". Internal dialogue: "Shit Jen, remember our Governor General's name! Quickly!". So we go in and I shake hands with an older white chick, thinking "I don't know who the heck you are", when she turns to the woman beside her (whom I had been completely ignoring until then, and who turns out to be the Chinese woman I had seen earlier) and says "Jennifer, may I present the Right Honourable..blah, blah, blah". We feebly shake hands (she's feeble cuz she knows I'm an idiot who can't remember her name and I'm feeble cuz I know she knows I'm and idiot and can't remember her name) and I get on outa there. And thus ends my illustrious meeting with Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General and Commander-In-Chief of Canada. Of course, Aman showed up about 10 minutes later and said "Did you see Adrienne Clarkson?".

We are back in Cairo and are blowing all our money on shopping. Aman has bought a lot of jewellery!! I have had no proposals in about two days and am feeling a little low about myself!! There have unfortunately, been far too many occasions where feels have been copped! Very, very disturbing for such an innocent as me, I tell you!!! Aman has taken to performing body guard duties and walks one pace behind and one pace to the side of me looking very menacing with her dark glasses.

Luxor was amazing and overwhelming cuz there is so much to see. The Valley of the Kings, The Valley of the Queens, The Tombs of the Nobels, Luxor Temple, The Temples of Karnak, etc, etc... it is easy for a girl to get what they call "Pharaonic Phatique". This did happen to Aman on one occasion when (in some rather nice ruins of a Temple to Hathor-the Goddess of Love) she said, through clenched jaw, "Seen one temple, seen 'em all, Jen.".

The tombs were very cool, claustrophobic affairs with FULL COLOUR hieroglyphs, everywhere. We had seen some colour before, but nothing prepares you for beautifully painted scenes of gods, pharaohs, animals, food, you name it, all over the ceilings and walls. It was amazing. We did have one kind of Indiana Jones opportunity and failed miserably when we were far too scared to continue further than 10 feet into a very dark, creepy tunnel. Good thing I didn't go into Archaeology!!!

So now we're on our last day together before Aman heads back to Ghana and I head to Greece. Luckily, there is much more shopping to be done (in the biggest market I have ever seen)!

Hope you're all well.

Jen

The Empty Monty

I would like to say that I have taken all of your suggestions in to consideration regarding the avoidance of these lads and, although I have made a few breakthroughs, the marriage proposals keep pouring in. The most recent of which was from Aymen the Silversmith and included a caveat that I could live where ever I want while he stays in Egypt. Aman believes I can do better and must under no circumstances make any eye contact at all. So from now on, she can lead me around while I look at my feet.

One of my breakthroughs involved a certain individual named Monty and believe me when I say... All roads lead to Monty. We were in Aswan (an otherwise tranquil town right on the Nile and home to The Temple of Isis, the most magical temple I have even seen) minding our own business and trying to find a price on one of these cruises. We had been forewarned about Monty by the Kiwis so were leery of him to begin with and wanted to book somewhere that didn't involve him. Unfortunately that is impossible in Aswan as the man is absolutely everywhere. Every travel agent we went in to would call him and once he knew we were trying to circumvent him, he started to tail us. The psycho bleedin' followed us! He would stop at nothing to make a sale on one of his tours to anywhere in Egypt, so we just bleedin' booked with him to get him off our backs. Aman did get a chance to tell him off and she felt better, but his response was 'I am sorry but I am very stressed. Do you need a hotel in Luxor? I can get you a good price.' If I were to say that I needed to go to the bathroom, he would try to get a percentage on the toilet paper or even the water I used in the flush. Now I say I made a breakthrough cuz at least he didn't try to come on to me and I was so successful at showing him my disdain that he only talked to Aman.

Luckily the cruise took our minds off The Monty. This was what ya call livin' outside your means, people!!! I don't think I have ever eaten so well in my life (I am still too full a day later) and our cabin had two bathrooms (that is ONE each!!). So what if the beers were the same price as a room in the hotel we are staying at now, they had chocolate mousse for dessert!!! The crew were very nice for the most part (although a few of them knew we were interlopers and should be treated accordingly) and one of the waiters even brought me a list of English words he had written in his matchbook to check his pronunciation. There were, unfortunately a few occasions where Aman and I had some trouble adapting to how the other half live. One in particular involved a certain Oriental Night in which the cruisers dressed up as Egyptians (who, to my knowledge, are not oriental) for a dinner and a dance. Now neither Aman or I had gotten the memo about the costumes and the look on our faces when we entered the dining room was one of shock and dismay and then complete empathetic embarrassment as they all started to dance together. It was one of those instances where I really wish I had a video camera cuz I am sure the memory of it will haunt me forever but if I could actually see it again I might be able to get over it. It was a surreal experience and definitely worth the $55US a night.

We are back in budget land again in Luxor, home of the Valley of the Kings, the Temples of Luxor, and a whole embarrassment of riches. Life is good!!!

I hope you're all well.

Love,

Jen