Asia Minor

Pulling silk out of the silkworm cocoons.

Princess Ellie in her daisy crown.

Gladiators!

Tucker and Ellie right where Paul preached!

Just think how good he would look in marble!

At the library of Ephesus.

A public restroom in Ephesus. The men would sit and discuss the day while.... well, you know. Ellie wouldn't have been allowed in.






Zach "giving information to you" about the restoration.

At Mary's house.

Anybody need to go potty?







Mary's house.

Turkey!! I must admit, this was not on the top of my list of places I'd always wanted to go, but now I am totally in love with Turkey. We had a fabulous day. Our guide, a CHRISTIAN- YAY!! named Zachary, picked us up at the dock in the am with a nice big mini-bus (no car-sickness today!) our driver was named Mustafar or something similar. Zachary called us "dear guests" and called me "dear lady" all day. I loved it. He took us to Mary's House first of all. This is the place where supposedly John brought Mary to spend her last days. It was a lovely spot for her to be, lush green foliage, cedar trees, flowers, cool forest view. Google Virgin Mary's House in Ephesus, it's a neat story. Then we went to the ruins of Ephesus. Zach told us that only 30% of the ruins have been excavated. All the rest await someone to find them, it takes a lot of money the government doesn't have. I think it would be a cool American homeschool adventure!! We saw columns, streets, sidewalks, the monument of Hadrian (a very important person in Europe, we hear about him everywhere) the library and lots of other big things made of marble. We got to go "behind the scenes" and see the restorers working on piecing together tiny parts of a wall. Sully thinks I would love that work, it's like doing a huge puzzle without the picture. He's right! I'm fascinated. We saw the Grand Theater, another place where Paul preached. We stood right where he would have. So amazing. Drew Preston found a humongo snail on the stairs, his highlight. There was also a staged show right in the middle of the ruins, with costumed dancers, juggler, king, queen, guards, trumpet blowers and gladiators. They played the Olympic music as they all paraded in to do the show.
We also went to the tomb of John (the Evangelist, not the Baptist). It's in the ruins of yet another church. Very peaceful place. Oh, we saw the island of Patmos from the shore of Ephesus. Gave me the shivers. The whole day gave me the shivers.
Right before lunch we saw the last remaining column of Diana's Temple. It had a stork nest on top of it. There are lots of stork nests in Ephesus, they come from Egypt for the summer. If any of you haven't read your kids The Wheel on the School, do it! My kids were grinning from ear to ear when they saw the stork nests.
Lunch! Oh my. Zack took us to a real Turkish restaurant where for "starters" they brought us: homemade rolls with spiced olive oil for dipping, spinach with lemon, eggplant something, stuffed green peppers and this spinach and cheese mixture in between two very thin pieces of pastry. Then we got lamb and chicken kabobs and meatballs with rice and vegetables. For dessert was baklava (a little better this time) and fruit. We were so stuffed. I can't believe I ate lamb but it was so good. Ellie liked it, too.
By the way, if any of you have a 7 year old daughter who really needs a self-esteem pick up, just bring her on a cruise and make sure you go to Turkey. Ellie was treated like total royalty the whole day. Everyone called her princess. When she came out of the mini-bus, Zach called her "your majesty". The waiter at the restaurant couldn't help himself and kissed her. Zach bought her a daisy crown to wear and he kissed her on both cheeks when we departed. She had a great day! :)
The last thing we did was a total treat. We went to a rug making demonstration at a local shop. They showed us the silk cocoons and how they got the threads off. Then the master silk man showed us the twisting process to make it into yarn. Then we saw the weaver tying knots to make a carpet. She was so fast! And yet it can take 8-9 months to do a rug! Some have 250 knots per square inch! They showed us a ton of beautiful rugs. Of course it was a sales pitch but they were very low pressure and incredibly nice. We didn't' buy one, but now we're wishing we had gotten a smaller one to hang on the wall. They were all a work of art! The kids loved it. Ellie and I got to try our hand at weaving.
Day at sea today. Tomorrow is Egypt! Pray for our safety and health- thanks!
Praying for Beverly!
Praying for Ivy and Co.!

Baklava, Anyone?

Sully and Drew Preston rock climbing. Tucker and Ellie have done it, too. Ellie has made it to the top twice!

Tucker reading from Acts 17 on Mars Hill.

Greek guard at the King's Palace.

Getting their toes in the Mediterranean.

In Rhodes.

Ellie by the beautiful Rhodes port.

Hi! Monday, my last post, is when we spent a day at sea, on our way to Athens. We spent the day listening to Drew Preston say, "Can we go rock climbing?" or "Who wants to play putt-putt?". Who needs Europe? Just put him on a boat the size of a city block and he's good. Oh, he orders a hamburger for dinner EVERY nite. Life is good.

Yesterday we went to Athens. Another incredible day. Our tour guide didn't show up (by the way Mom, sorry again that they called you at 2:00 am. I don't call us not being there an emergency.) We waited for an hour and then got a taxi. Our taxi driver was a young, nice looking Greek man named Panos. He was the greatest. He told the boys about how his father is a spear fisherman and showed them pictures of the fish. He told Craig that in Greece people have only one or two children's and that "your wife is a hero". I really liked this guy. He took us to the Acropolis and we went up to see the Parthenon. It's amazing how it's right there in the open with relatively no security. It's HUGE. I've said that a lot on this trip, huh? The best part to me was when we came back down and went to Mars Hill, the place where Paul preached his sermon found in Acts 17. Tucker read it to us right there on the hill. It gave me chills.

Also in Athens we went (very quickly, Panos is very efficient) to the ruins of the temple of Zeus, the Olympic Stadium and to see the changing of the guard in front of the King's Palace. We loved this! They change every hour and it's very precise and slow and majestic. There were only about 20 other people there to watch so we got up close and personal. Loved it.

This morning we arrived in Rhodes, a beautiful little town with castles, churches and a Knight's Street. Got some great door pictures and had a good time shopping. We walked everywhere. The kids got to check "stick your toes in the Mediterranean Sea" off their scavenger hunt.

Sully wanted me to mention that we got a "War Eagle" in response to his hat when we were at the Colosseum. Also, the people who sit next to us at dinner on the ship are from Birmingham. :)

Tucker and Sully went to the teen arcade game nite last nite (11-14 yrs- there are only a handful on the ship) and made Tucker made a friend from Australia.

Also, we tried Baklava today, a traditional Greek pastry made of pyllo, honey and walnuts. None of us liked it. I was disappointed, it always looks so good on the magazine pages. But I had blueberry soup at dinner. YUM!!!

Praying for Beverly!

Praying for Ivy and Co.!

Tomorrow we go to Ephesus, Turkey. Tonite I felt like a true pioneer woman. I did laundry in the bathtub. Laundry has been a royal pain on this trip. Everywhere we go (except our wonderful B&B in Normandy, who did our laundry for us) it costs about $2 an item to get it washed and dried. The ship did offer a bag of laundry for $25 on the fifth day of cruising (today). I begged a second bag because we are truly out of clothes. I stuffed the bags as full as I could but still had a pile left over. So I did it in the tub with shampoo! Our t-shirts are now flapping merrily on our balcony in the sea breeze. Ellie had a great time helping me scrub.

Ahoy there Mateys!

Me and my honey in Italy.

The munchkins having yet some more gelato.

Gorgeous, huh? God sure created some amazing places on this earth.

A Pompeiian "fast food" shop. Each bowl was filled with hot water and the food placed over to keep warm and then served to passers by.

All the bathroom water was emptied into the streets which were on a hill. They were continually flooded with water to keep the streets clean. Thus the stepping stones to cross the street. The chariots were tall enough to go over the stones. You can see the wheel grooves.

Well, we're cruising!
Quick update: Sat. am, in Rome, we went to the Christian Catacombs and the church of St. Clemente :) The underground cemeteries were fascinating. They were dug when Christianity began to grow in Rome and Christians 1. didn't want to be cremated, anticipating resurrection and 2. they couldn't afford land, being poor, so they purchased small amounts of land and went under to dig their graves. Not only Christians are buried there and the widespread story that Christians hid in these catacombs during persecution is exaggerated but not untrue. They didn't hide in the big ones because they would have been caught but they did find refuge in the small ones.
We made it to the ship in plenty of time. It's not a boat, it's a floating city!!! It's gigantic!!!!
Craig got us a room with two bedrooms and two baths so we are plenty comfy. Ellie gets called princess every turn we take and Drew Preston has started addressing her as Peasant Ellie lest she get too puffed up and be unbearable when we get home. We were climbing some stairs the other day and she was trying to get by the boys saying, "Queen coming through, Queen coming through." Oh boy.
The ship doesn't seem to rock too much, seas are calm. No one seasick yet.
Yesterday, Sunday, we awoke to Naples, or Napoli, as the Ialians say. There was a castle right outside our window. We left the boat to go with yet another guide (it actually works out cheaper, or the same, to have a private guide vs. paying per person for a group tour). We went to the ruins of Pompeii!!! It was so cool. We have studied and been fascinated with the story of Pompeii for so long and to actually walk down its streets was like a dream.
Our driver then took us to some quaint little villages along the coast. Looked just like all those pictures and paintings you've ever seen. The roads were quite curvy and so the kids didn't do too well (no one threw up, thank goodness) but the scenery was delightful. We didn't get to stop at the farm where they make mozerella b/c it was Sunday but we went to a resturant and had cheese and olives. REALLY fresh mozerella. I don't know if I'll ever be able to enjoy Kraft's again.
Back on the ship we walked around awhile and then went to dinner. Dinner at sea is a treat. The waiter shakes your napkin out for you and scrapes the crumbs off the table in between dinner and dessert. Our waiter is ours for the trip. His name is Mariano, from the Phillipines. He does magic tricks for Ellie and gave her an origami rose he had folded. I think we all need to start calling her Peasant Ellie!!!!
The rock climbing wall is a big hit. Drew Preston got put on intermediate level first thing and scurried right to the top. Little monkey.
Athens tomorrow! I think we won't be able to go up the Acropolis because of some ministry of archeology strike but hopefully we'll at least get to see it.

Praying for Beverly!

Praying for Ivy!

The Vatican

The Dome at St. Peter's. All mosaic. It's gogeous.

An ancient Roman aquaduct. ( I am making an amendment. We found out later this is not an aquaduct but a private passage for the Pope to go from one place to another.)

Craig got another hat!!!!

Craig and Tucker stood in two different hemispheres while in Ecuador and now two different countries while in Europe.

In front of St. Peter's

Ellie and Cynthia.

First of all, I'm so excited for you, Aric and Emily! Oh boy! :)
We went on our Vatican tour today. Our guide is named Cynthia and she was so much fun. I wasn't really looking forward to 4 whole hours at the Vatican, I'm more of the "hit the highlights" kind of girl, especially with 4 kids who either have to eat or go to the restroom every 20 min. but this was a great tour. She kept us all totally entertained. She immediately took to Ellie and dubbed her a princess and said since we were with royalty we got to get in the Vatican ahead of everyone else. It was a good thing we were with her because the line was BLOCKS long and it looked like a line of umbrellas because it was raining. Cynthia said it was raining HARD but they must not know what hard rain is 'cause to us it was just a heavy drizzle. We got these nifty audio cases to hang around our necks with an earplug and Cynthia had a microphone on hers so we could hear her all the time. Very cool. We walked right into the Vatican where Cynthia introduced Ellie to everyone she knew working there and said now everyone of importance knew Ellie. (Ellie was eating this up. By the end of the tour she was hanging on to C's audio cord and following her everywhere.) The Vatican City is actually its own country. Tucker, smart alec, I mean smart boy, of course knew this already but managed not to say I told you so. The Vatican has its own radio station, its own mayor, its own license plates, etc. The 2000 workers there live in Italy but work in a "different" country so, no taxes. :) As we quickly walked around other groups of people C told the kids about "flanking", attacking from the side, and used that term a lot as we moved from place to place. She would also say, "move, we are under attack" when another big group would come near us. Or she would say, "Japanese attack, or German attack" depending on the group. Tickled the kids, and us!
She told us lots of fun stories about the Sistine Chapel before we went it. It took Michaelangelo 6 years to paint the ceiling and another 5 to do the wall behing the alter (done at different times). He didn't like to paint, that was girls work, but the Pope said paint so he did. At first he painted all the figures with no clothes on but the Pope said no, no, no, so he added pants and scarves. While he was doing the wall one of the Vatican guys kept telling him "I don't like your work, or, I don't like that picture" so the big M painted his face on the judge of hell in the painting. Of course the guy didn't like that so he complained to the Pope and the Pope said, "If M had painted you in pergatory I could have gotten you out but I can't get you out of hell." HA The Sistine Chapel was stunning. I could have stayed there all day. I always thought it was in the dome of St. Peter's and that it would be round but it's in a long, rectangular room. We saw the window where the smoke is sent out as a signal when the Cardinals are choosing a new Pope: black means not yet and white means we've got a name and will tell you soon. C said the men are given two weeks to pick a name and after that will be given bread and water until a name is chosen. They never take more than two weeks. We saw the place where the Pope lives. If the shutters are open, it means he is home. Closed, he is out of town (just like the flying flag in London). He was home but we didn't get to see him.
St. Peter's Bascilia was fascinating, too. Beautiful and very Catholic. There was a mummified Pope and you could see his nasty little shriveled up hands. Ellie said, "I don't lub that. I'm going to close my eyes." The boys said, "COOL!"
Tomorrow we go see the Christian Catacombs with Cynthia and after that ride 2 hours to the coast to get on the cruise ship. Craig said to warn you all that I won't be able to blog as much because internet costs $.50 a minute on the boat. I'll try to write but probably won't get to do as many pictures because they take so long to download. :( sorry. I will try!!1

Praying for Beverly!

Praying for Ivy & Co.!

Me in Audrey's spot.

Craig will be back!

Tucker will be back!

Drew Preston will be WAY back!

More Rome Pics

A very tiny Itlaian car. These are all over France, too. They don't use much gasoline.

Sully's first Italian spaghetti.

The door with the keyhole.

The view through the keyhole.

Looking through the keyhole.

me & Sul

from the top of the Colosseum

The floor used to extend all the way across. Underneath is where they kept the animals and where the gladiators prepared themselves. Even before that the whole Colosseum was flooded and they staged naval battles on the water. Amazing.

Roma

Called "The Mouth of Truth" Ellie not sure if she should put her hand in. I'm good, he's bad.

He's bad.

He's good.


He's bad.

Today was our Rome tour. It was so warm today we wore short sleeves! It was SO nice to be warm! Rosella, our guide for the day, was an older Italian woman. After she told us how old she was and I did the math in my head, I asked her if she remembered anything about World War II. She said she was 5 when the war ended and she remembers walking with her mother at the market, seeing American soldiers who exclaimed over the bambina. Then they gave her chocolate, her very first taste ever. Isn't that a sweet story? We had a great time listening to Lorenzo and Rosella talk to each other in Italian. And when Rosella talked to us everything ended with an "a". Love it.
Our first stop was to the church that was made famous by the movie, Roman Holiday. There is a huge medalllion shaped relief shaped like a face. If you put your hand in it and it bites you you are a liar. It didn't bite us.
We went to the Roman Forum and saw where Julius Ceasar's ashes are buried. (it didn't even have a marker, we never would have known without Rosella). Then we walked into the Roman Colesseum. Wow. It was so incredible. I could have spent all day there just looking. We went to the top and imagined watching the gladiators. The Colesseum held 50,000 people and could be emptied in 25 minutes because there were 89 exits.
Next we went near to the Belgium Embassy to a garden door where you can look through a keyhole and see a perfect scene of a long garden walk with the dome of St. Peter's right at the end. Very wonderful.
Then we went to the Pantheon which used to be a pagen temple but it now a church with a huge dome. It's the mother of all domes, first one ever. There is an open hole at the top to let light in but since that lets rain in there are also small holes in the floor to act as a drain into the Tiber River. We ate at this square, too, at another open air resoranti and Sullivan finally got some real Italian spaghetti and meatballs. Ellie ordered grilled cheese and got just that: a big slab of grilled cheese. She used her famous line, "I don't lub it." She hasn't lubbed several things on this trip. At this resturant she asked if they had chicken fingers. Poor American girlie. Our waitress looked just like Aunt Monique! We also went to Giolittis, supposedly the best ice cream in Rome. Mama mia was it good. We had caramel, lemoncello, vanilla, chocolate and kiwi. The servers had old fashioned-looking white jackets on with gold loops on their shoulders.
We made our way then to Trevi Fountain where we all threw pennies in over our shoulder. Legend has it that if you do this (back to the fountain, penny in right hand, throw over left shoulder) you will one day return to Rome.
Our last stop was the Spanish steps, another Roman Holiday spot. I got my picture taken in, or near, the same place Audrey Hepburn sat eating her gelato.
There are so many HUGE ruins here. Everything is old and grand. We learned that most of the marble from the Roman Forum and Colesseum was taken and used in the Vatican or in the churches. Rosella thought that was sad because it destroyed the temples and monuments but I think it's all right because pagen things were turned into a worship place for the Lord.
Another thing Rosella did: she sneezed several times and Craig and I said, "Bless you!" and she said, "Bless you, too!" :)
Tomorrow for the first time it's supposed to rain on our day. We are going to the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Bascila so I don't thing it will matter. Arrivederci!
Praying for Beverly!
Praying for Ivy and Co.!

More Pics

Watching the Dick Van Dyke show on the train. The view from our window at the hotel in Aix.

Me in the window-doing Much Ado About Nothing.

There was "luv"music playing in the breakfast room and it drove the boys crazy (Lyndy, you know about that!!! :)

Ellie and her knight in the castle.