Hell on Earth

Straight from my journal:
So one question that must come up when I write is where the heck am I? This time I am in the lounge, to my right are mountains, and though a bar is to my left, I know beyond there is the Aegean Sea. I'm sitting with Kathleen, and we along with Danielle just woke up. The mountains are so huge, nothing like the Alps of course, but impressive. I'm a little bit in awe right now, I'm wondering if a man like Odysseus ever saw or walked among the mountains. To think that I am in a place with like 3000 years of history, if not more, and with great heroes of old, it just boggles the mind. I wonder who else has looked at these mountains, and been amazed. Danielle would probably hit me for that comment about Odysseus, she hit me after I mentioned I wanted to see the Aventine because Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus lived there in HBO Rome. She has no sense of fun, or imagination.

So before I talk more about the ferry, let me talk about Bari. Bari was the city that we flew into, and we spent the night there. It wasn't a bad place. The town of Bari though is hell on earth. It's a port city, so I thought there would things to do. Well yeah. Um it took us awhile to figure out where to put our bags, we ended up being able to put them in the port building. Once we were rid of our bags, we were able to move around more freely. We walked down this street, and all I smell was someone baking something. Then I noticed that there was pasta in opened boxes, and I realized that in all the houses, the women were making pasta from scratch. All the doors were opened, and they were talking between kitchens. Clothes were drying on clotheslines running between the houses to in this little narrow street. It was a beautiful sight to see, just so different from anything I've seen outside of pictures and movies. I wish all of Bari was like that. We stayed by the water, and it was nice, it was hot though so we weren't really into going that far. We were sitting on a bench people watching, when I noticed that all the men were dressed so well, in suits when it was so freaking HOT! They walked very slowly, with no purpose, and no hurry.

Our day was ruined though by Kathleen's stalker. Kathleen of course has marriage proposals every 5 feet when we are in Europe. Basically every where we go Spain, Greece and Italy, guys just proclaimed their undying love for Kathleen. Usually she just ignores them, and I give them a glare, but this guy was annoying. He would jump on his little bike, drive down the street, park, and then lean up against a lamp post, as though doing nothing. We evidently had to leave the water, and we ended back up at the port building. We sat on the patio for ohhhh 6 hours, eating what food we had, and just talking. Our ferry was leaving at 8pm, though we could board at 6pm. Danielle and Kathleen got a little burned on the patio, but I sat in jeans and a long sleeve shirt, or in the shade refusing to burn on the first day of our vacation. The title of this entry goes to Bari though, maybe if I had explored more, I would like to more, but I found it way too hot, crowded, and there was nothing to do. There was a castle or fort, but it cost 10 euros to get into it, so we didn't go in.

Anyway, I could have sat outside all day, and just stared. Of course I didn't, I never thought I would be warm again, and I sought the comfort of inside the ferry. The ferry ride was something else... hehe. Our tickets were for the deck, and we had wondered what exactly does that mean? Well it means you sleep in the bar, or in the wind tunnel. Where I thought I would sleep did have a roof, but it was so windy, and SO COLD! I first fell asleep on one of the seats, with my Mickey blanket, and Carmen as my pillow. Um, I woke up about an hour later shivering, put on two shirts, a fleece, my Pooh pants over my jeans, and three pairs of socks. I was still cold. Around 2am, I woke up, and I noticed I was alone. I shrugged, turned over and tried to fall back asleep. Kathleen nudged me a few minutes later, and she said that she and Danielle went inside, and were sleeping in the stairwell. I joined them still wearing most of my clothes. I fell asleep right away, still freezing, but by 7am I was somewhat unfrozen. I did manage to sleep for about 5 or 6 hours, so I was fine sleeping wise.

Now it's about 10am, and the ferry should be landing in about two hours, and then we will make our way to Athens. I cannot wait to get there, I have no idea what to expect, but I imagine I will have a very good time.