Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Rowers Update
Le vol, Athènes et les environs de Grèce (et le ferry et un petit peu de Rome)
Je crois que le fait qu'il faut boire plein d'eau sur le vol. Dubaï a nous donné une indication qu'il fera très chaud en Grèce. J'avais un Big Mac à poulet à l'aéroport. On était trop fatigué après les vols. De pire si on n'avait pas beaucoup de sommeil. Quoi qu'il arrive, il faut qu'on continue.
Athènes, à mon avis, une ville avec plein de patrimoine mais les jeunes de nos jours à la 'détruit'. Il y a beaucoup de graffiti; certains sont, ironiquement, presque les pièces d'art mais la plupart ne sont pas agréable. La plupart des maisons est blanche et alors on peut voir, sans concentrer, les arbres verts, les maisons blanches et les rues grises.
Le jour avant hier, Dillan Gosha a été enlevé d'une boutique parce qu'il a dit qu'il n'achètera rien, et je le trouve amusant.
La Place Monastiraiki avait plein de touristes et était très intéressante. Il y a des gens qui a essayer de nous vendre des choses et quelques gens qui vient de Morocco. Malheureusement Fred a vu quelqu'un qui a volé quelque chose dans une poche d'un touriste. L'autre Jason et moi avons rencontré une couple australienne sur la place hier mais nous avons raté voyant une personne qui semble d'être sur l'influence de drogue.
Les soirs on était fatigué mais on retourne à l'hôtel les trois jours à environs dix heures et demi du soir. (Mais hier était environ 21h30)
Je l'écris sur le chemin à Patras et je voudrais aller en Italie maintenant après quelque jours en Grèce. Il faisait beau tous les jours jusqu'ici avec pas beaucoup de nuages alors on doit trouver l'ombre d'un arbre pour maintenir le homéostasie et de réduire le taux de transpiration.
Quelques choses à noter: le prix de sans plomb est environ 1,70€ mais le prix d'une bouteille d'eau minérale était 0,25€ pour 1,5 litres. Et le premier jour beaucoup a acheté la même bouteille à l'hôtel pour 1€… évidemment il faut qu'on paie attention aux prix en Europe. L'eau de la méditerranée est vraiment bleue, peut-être plus bleu qu'à Auckland. Le pollution d'air (ou la poussière) est vraiment pire qu'en Auckland. Le paysage est composé des montagnes couvertes avec des arbres largement rond, des pylônes, des usines abandonnées, des églises byzantines, les maisons blanches et, bien sûr, le graffiti sur le mur partout en Athènes. Ce n'est pas si prévalent à Corinth et je crois, Patras. (Edite: non le problème est pire qu'en Athènes) Aussi les voitures plus lentes sont conduites près de la bord de la rue, particulièrement sur les autoroutes. La plupart des magasins est fermée le dimanche et ça m'énervais hier. On voit que Grèce a investi plein d'argent à l'énergie renouvelable, avec de turbines de vent et des panneaux solaires partout. On a porté des lunettes de soleil toujours parce que la lumière ici est trop intense.
Après être arrivé à Patras, nous embarquons sur un bateau qui s'appelle Superfast XII. C'était luxurieux, avec quelque restaurants et il semble très propre. Nous avions des cabines qui a de la place pour quatre. La plupart de temps j'écrivais dans mon cahier et voyais les autres jouant aux cartes (y compris Batoque et 500). Le bateau s'est arrivé à environs 13h30 et nous embarquons dans un train pour la Rome. Ancona semble un petit peu plus moderne mais, pareil à Athènes, elle a aussi un problème de graffiti. (certains sont pire qu'Athènes incroyablement)
Rome. Oui c'est mieux qu'Athènes en ce qui concerne le graffiti mais il y a plus de gens. Notre hôtel est près de la station alors le promenade n'était pas trop longue. Et les prix à Rome sont plus élevé qu'Athènes et je ne sais pas pourquoi.
J'espère qu'on a des bons vacances, n'importe où on soit, n'importe qui. J'avais beaucoup à dire, mais soit que je ne pourrais pas écrire en français, ou je les ai oublié (et je n'ai pas beaucoup de temps).
Jason Xu (évidemment)
S'il y a des fautes, m'informez s'il vous plaît. :)
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
Makeshift way to blog
It's been extremely hot and sunny in the last couple of days. A few people have been sunburnt already because they neglected their sunblock. Sunnies are a must in these countries since it's so sunny. (Thanks Charlie for the tip!)
I will blog my full blog entry that I wrote on the bus to Patra at some point, when Mr Buckingham has wifi (hopefully in Rome). Prepare to be amazed
As for now, ta ta stay safe everyone
Xu
Sunday, 14 July 2013
Blog updates
From New Zealand
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Blog - Henry Law
Henry L
Athens
>
> At our arrival we pretty much rolled off the plane and into Athens, there was no border control at all. The "Customs Control" consisted of a man standing by the exit of the arrivals. We have noticed that it is warm here in case you wern't aware. However the biggest difference between New Zealand and Athens, so far, apart from all the awesome ancient monuments is the people's choice of motorbikes. These are parked by the hundred on the pavement and quite possibly outnumber the cars and, of course, we have learned that there is no need for a helmet driving one of these completely safe and child friendly vehicles, that it is in fact better to have them hanging from your arm! In fact up to four at a time is no problem and the rules around speed are more like guidelines! I can not wait to apply these skills back home.Tristan.
>
> The city is pretty much exactly like we expected - there are cafes down every alleyway, and the streets are quite narrow. The buildings are cool stuff, and we are hot stuff. The city is a lot lot younger than Auckland. One of our favourite stores has been the store selling graphic tees, as you will see from the pictures, they are quite good - we realised where Finn found his tee. We have adopted the policy of, if a shop owner forces you to try their stuff, move on. We have also had our fair share of scamming already. Tristan's and Andy's identical sandwiches differed in price by a full euro. The food is all pretty Greek to us, theres muffins more variety than ol' motherland. The supermarkets are quite small - there's only two levels. Its quite hard to feed here because of 'the-language-barrier.' It can be a bit of the luck of the draw when trying to be a champion in this new city.Fred.
>
> We are starting to smell quite badly. One night in Greece and the stench is a little noticeable despite the persistent use of deodorant. Part of this may be the result of our trip up a certain mountain last night. As you can imagine Tim found this hard but it was a really good work out for him, me and some others pushing him up and down . Some of the streets are also too narrow for the chair and Tim often has to hop along for short sections while we carry the chair. It is awkward but it is quite manageable, and always keeps it classy. Tristan.
>
> Fred and Tristan.
> xoxoxoxoxox
Athens
>
> Mr Buckingham just charges on everywhere and it has shown in how much we have seen in the few days we have had, the only downside being my clothes now reek and i have had hardly any time to do much. Nevertheless last night i was surprised by my brother who turned up at our hotel. I haven't seen him in almost 7 months so to be perfectly honest it was the highlight so far and he took me out for dinner only to arrive back out our hotel at 11 30 last night. Tonight is our last night in Athens and so we grabbed a few souvenirs and i am proud to say i now own a pair of gypsy like pants. Most importantly though we went up the acropolis today and that was better than i had imagined, those temples were huge and just to think what it must have been like when it was first built is amazing because it's huge and would have been awe-inspiring. Sadly i must go and get ready for tomorrow as we need to up and out rather early so i'll try to keep this up to date as often as i can but i can only try! Miss you auckland, hope home is great mum and dad and i hope emily and the boys aren't too bored without me and don't miss me too much!
>
> From Jean-Luc Chaffey
Luke
Well it’s been a pretty relentless few days here so far, mostly because the wht definition of ‘walking distance’ gets stretched to include just about everything, but it’s certainly easy to see that we’re getting a lot more done than your average tourists. Of course, being Greece, all the sights are spectacular, but it’s definitely weird seeing the disparity between the sights and the city of Athens itself, which is covered in graffiti and very run-down in places. Also, unexpectedly, the views you get of the city from places like the Acropolis aren’t all that great, with off-white apartment buildings sprawling in all directions with little variation.
But enough of the negative. The monuments and sites we’ve visited have all been brilliant, and the accompanying museums and displays are made all the more appealing by the refuge they provide from the 30C+ temperatures. Seeing places like the Parthenon and Delphi really gives an appreciation for architecture in general, and is made that much more impressive when considering the methods and technology available to their creators. Food has been excellent. I have learned what kind of benefit drenching stuff in balsamic vinegar can provide.
George Dodd
Sood.
Friday, 12 July 2013
for the blog
and I am pleased you made the effort. For those of us left in New
Zealand it is nice to learn about what you and the group experience. Its
possible some of us parents have visited the places you are going to and
it will be great to hear how they appear now (or maybe it wont!).
I hope each one of you manage to find some quiet time in each of the
marvellous places you will visit and are able to soak up some of the
atmosphere, and reflect on their majesty. These places were built by
people, often young slaves, with simple tools and without the use of
machines, no cranes, no diggers, just simple ropes and pulleys, chisels
and hammers. They have stood for thousands of years and will probably
stand for thousands of years more.
Enjoy, be impressed, and have a wonderful time.
Incidentally, its predicted to reach a high of 13 degrees here and was
down to 4 last night.
All the best
Rory
(I wont say whose father I am because I know how embarrassing that might be)
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Dubai
— Lewis Kay
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Western Heritage Tour
Monday, 8 July 2013
Welcome!
Welcome to the blog for Tour II, 2013. Feel free to read the blog anytime, and to add comment. Note that all comment will come through me for moderation, so they may not appear for a few days. To make a new post, just send an email to:
kepheus1.whtwo2013@blogger.com
and it should appear almost immediately. Well, go for it!
Regards,
Warren B
