Lots of stuff can happen in 10 days

Sometimes I wish I wasn't such an idiot and updated this thing on a more frequent basis.  Other times I'm too busy drinking homemade wine with old Greek men in a hotel basement or exploring the ins and outs of the Colloseum to pay much attention to that.  Anyways, I'm sorry for the delay.  I'll try to make it up to you by telling you some moderately cool stuff.

Last we spoke, Santorini and I were just ending our torrid love affair.  We laughed, we cried, we got gyro grease on each other's pants.  Then I decided that things were moving too fast and I had to shuffle off to Paros, another idyllic spot in the Cyclades island group.  After a nice 4 hour ferry ride, I disembarked and was getting my bearings when a friendly looking gentleman approached.  He worked for a local hotel and was trying to drum up business from the tourists who just arrived.  I told him I already had a place but wasnt sure where it was.  So after he gave me directions he extended an invite to a welcome dinner at his hotel later that night that he would be hosting for all the guests.  I generally like dinner, so I accepted.  So around 8:30, I arrived at the address he had given expecting to see a raucous crowd eating finger foods and swigging cocktails.  Instead I saw a deserted dining area, a bar manned by an exhausted looking Indian guy and a random teenage kid Skyping with someone in the corner.  Then Andros (friendly guy who invited me to this rager) appeared, shoved a glass of wine in my hand and assured me that more people would be there shortly.  So as he retired to the kitchen to finish dinner preparations, I sipped my wine in front of a huge screen TV that was airing the infomercial for the Magic Bullet blender dubbed in Greek.  I love that infomercial so much that I forgot for a few minutes how I might potentially be in a sketchy situation.  But just as the white trash neighbor lady with the cigarette hanging out of her mouth makes her first appearance onscreen (a.k.a. the climax of the entire infomercial), the door swung open and in walked 3 gals who looked to be about the same age as me.  I had no idea who they were or what their deal was, but I immediately felt much better about the state of affairs.  Luckily, my intuition about them proved to be correct and as the night wore on, we were yuckin it up and making plans for the next day and rolling eyes at one another whenever Andros and his old man friends would make gross old man remarks.  All in good fun, I assure you.  Nothing crossing the line or making anyone feel uncomfortable in the slightest.  Just a fun, random gathering with good wine, good food and good company.  First night in Paros was a definite success.

Next day the Belgians (the 3 girls were Belgian, which I dont think I mentioned.  Waffles.  Beer.  You're all caught up now) and I rented a car and explored the entire perimeter of the island.  Not quite tourist season yet so most spots were kind of deserted but we still discovered some cool spots and had a successful day of adventure.  After another family dinner at the hotel prepared by Andros and enjoyed by another random assortment of Paros' finest, I headed back to my hotel and got ready to ship it back to the mainland the next morning.

Thought I had a full day of exploration in Athens but I mixed up the time on my flight to Rome and really only had about 2 hours of walking around time.  So basically I know nothing worthwhile to tell you about Athens other than that the people on the local bus were really pissed about the size of my backpack and how much space it took up.  So that's a good takeaway.  Ok here's a couple pictures of stuff:

These are my new Belgian buddies who explored Paros with me.  Although I could have made that up and this might just be three random strangers that I was walking behind.  Who's to say, really?

Got to Athens after the Acropolis closed and left the next morning before it opened.  So this picture just proves that I was kinda close to a really famous place.

So after bidding Greece the fondest of farewells, I hopped a flight to Roma.  I did little to no research for the Italy portion of my journey so I mostly found everything in a crazy and fortuitious series of accidents.  Its actually not that hard to find important things if you just take note of where the huge throngs of people are gathering.  That's another insider tip for you.  These are just little things that you pick up as you go.  No big deal.  Anyways, I spent 2 days in Rome walking around to lots of places whose historical significance was so immense that my pea brain had a hard time comprehending it right away.  Whenever that happens, it's always a good idea to eat something.  I sought comfort in carbs and sugar as my diet in Italy consisted almost exclusively of pizza, paninis and gelato.  It was glorious.  Rome looked like this:

The interior of the Colosseum.  The Ancient Romans were pretty good at building stuff.

The lady who took this picture for me was not friendly at all.  In other news, after I looked up the Colosseum on Wikipedia I learned that they allowed Nickelback to film a music video here in 2009.  I mention this only because I hate Nickelback and this gives me an opportunity to share that with you.

The Arch of Constantine.  It was erected in 315.  I was born in 1983.

Look at the buns on that one!  He must work out.

The Pantheon.   Rotundas and porticos and oculi, oh my!

This car was approximately 3 feet in length.  Rollin on dubs.

Jermaine Jackson is huge in Italy.  And by that I mean you can buy one of his really obscure/terrible albums at a sketchy little sidewalk stand for 5 Euros. 

 

St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City.  The wait to get inside was approximately 4 hours.  The ants in my pants made this an impossibility. 

That's just a priest reading the Bible at a fountain right outside the entrance to St. Peter's.  Pretty standard really. 



Trevi Fountain a.k.a. the most crowded spot in Rome



Fighting crime in Rome is really exhausting.

After getting my fill of Rome, I hopped on a train and made my way to the beautiful hamlet of Florence.  You know when people describe cities as "romantic" and you immediately wish they would shut up and stop being such a d-bag?  Well after cruising around Florence for 2 days, I think I might have to give those jerkwad romantic labelers a bit of a break because I kinda get what they're saying.  I'm not ready to join their ranks, but I will say that Florence has a very dreamlike aura to it that was very easy to get swept up in.  The quaint cobblestone streets, the soft glowing steetlights, the candle lit cafes, the relaxed pace of life that quietly nudges you and suggests a nice lazy stroll to the plaza/park/market/riverwalk.  Oh hell, for lack of a better term the place is romantic.  Here's a few pictures of all of that and some other stuff too:

Pizza is always a good idea

If I said that David is the antithesis of Ron Jeremy in every way, shape and form, would that make sense to you?     

Doumo Arigato, Mr. Roboto

This picture is dedicated to Mr. Joe McGuigan and his impeccable eye for art.  His favorite statue in Florence is now my favorite statue in Florence.  I never knew how amazing a fat naked guy perched on a turtle could be until I saw this beauty.

Florence is pretty

View of the Ponte Vecchio spanning the Arno River from the Piazzale Michelangelo.  Say that 3 times fast and then reward yourself with a gelato.

Night falls on the Piazza della Repubblica.  How romantical!

Dave Walton, this is for you and your steadfast devotion to fatty Italian meats. 

Chas Huckestein, this is for you and your steadfast devotion to sickeningly sweet treats and beverages.

I've always said that life would be much easier if all stores would just put the paper clips and children's socks right next to the men's underwear.  

After leaving Florence, I took a train to Bologna and then spent the night at the Bologna airport.  It was cold and I only got a couple hours of sleep but I didn't really care because I was on my way to Croatia, the hidden gem of the Adriatic Sea and the spot where I would be reunited with the Merry Band of Idiots a.k.a. my family. The level of excitement and anticipation I had would be comparable to the way I used to get on Christmas Eve between the ages of 4 and 7.  So my first two days in Croatia were more or less exercises in killing time, which is basically my professional occupation at this point so no big deal.  Then Thursday rolled around and the long awaited reunion finally played out in room 311 of the Bellevue Hotel in beautiful Dubrovnik, Croatia.  So after we all exchanged hugs and kisses and I made fun of my dad for his outfit, it was basically like no time had passed at all.  Since then we've been taking in the sights and sounds of Dubrovnik.  That's looked something like this:

View from the hotel room balcony.  So gross.  Excuse me while I go puke.



This is my mom.  She wears that band in her hair for awhile before she heads out in public as a way to depoof-ify her hair or something.  She's hilarious like that pretty much all the time.



American Gothic, version 2.0

Dubrovnik a.k.a. the Jewel of the Adriatic

View of the Old City of Dubrovnik from the giant wall that encircles the entire area. It's hard to tell now because of the amazing rebuilding process, but a good deal of the Old City was destroyed in 1991 when the Serbs attacked and bombed Dubrovnik and the surrounding area.  Quite a remarkable recovery effort.

Aerial view of the Old City.  It's mostly incredibly awesome.

Croatians are always airing their dirty laundry



Reunited and it feels so good!



I bet you didn't know this but my dad packed the perfect amount of clothes for this trip.  Or so he keeps telling me.  Right after he says, "Now I'm on vacation so I don't want to talk politics, but have you seen the latest on Ron Paul?"

Mom demonstrating some classic adventuring moves

Randy, we might be able to Photoshop you in this later so you can pretend you were present for what will most likely be the highlight of the trip.

So basically life continues to be pretty awesome all the time.  We travel to Split tomorrow to meet up with brother Andy and then the bike tour begins on Monday.  Hopefully that one spin class I did 4 months ago has prepared me for what's ahead... 

Happy Easter to all and to all a good night!