Guess I should post this before I begin the Alaska Adventure saga…

Our next offing wasn’t for a couple days later in Rhodes, Greece.  I was beginning to get cabin fever and was too excited about being on solid ground…to remember my camera…  Rhodes was an awesome castle-city.  Greece may be one of my favorite places.  All the stops we made were so beautiful and had GREAT shopping (for clothing and jewelry…and sandals).  And probably the #1 place for beautiful men!!!  (Egypt is a close 2nd).  So of course being without my camera I come across the godliest of all Greek men…  Picture a Greek Alcide (Joe Manganiello), shoulder length hair, in all black, leather jacket riding a hybrid scooter/motorcycle.  LARGE scooter, small motorcycle.  He rode past me TWICE and I HAD NO CAMERA!!!!!!  I would have chased him down but I was soooo tired…instead I settled for cocktail.

Next stop Mykonos!

AGAIN with the great shopping!!  But today we had a mission to spend the day at the beach!  We had to walk through the little town/shops to get to the bus that would take us out the beach…stopping on the way to pick up a Gyro!!!  It was narrow, winding road that took us to the beach but it was so beautiful once we got there!  The sand was more like kitty-litter, but the water was so clear and blue and…COLD!

The next day we “cruised the Dardanelles” and landed in Istanbul.

 

And so the end draws near.  The work is done.  The shows are up.  All that’s left is to pack up the “precious-es” and head home.  But first, a couple days in Istanbul, not Constantinople.  Kristin and I stayed in Old Istanbul near the Blue Mosque.  It was actually a really great area.  Everything was nearby, the rate was good, and the room was fantastic and the Inn Keepers were GREAT!!!!  The first day was spent hanging with the ship production team a bit, and wandering through the Arasta Bazaar.  We were going to try to go into the Blue Mosque but the line was ridiculous…being Friday and a Super Prayer day(?) so we wandered the GRAND Bazaar.  We drank a lot of apple tea and haggled with vendors.  Well, Kristin haggled and I gave her “catcher signals” to bid lower, walk away, etc.  We had authentic Turkish food and delicious Mojitos, met up with Mekhell and some other ship people, listened to some Turkish music and watched a Turkish Sama dancer…spin for hours and hours!  They are traditionally male and wear circle skirts so when they spin the skirt makes a beautiful wave.  Eat your heart out Stevie Nicks!!!

Apparently, there is NOT prayer on Saturday mornings.  This was a good thing.  After saying good bye to half the wardrobe crew who would stay a bit longer on the ship, we ventured off to see stuff!  Somehow, Kristin and I looked like Australians to EVERYONE!  Ok, I’ll take it.  We went to the Tomb of the Sultan Mehmed(?) and the Hagia Sofia…sooooooooo amazing!  The marks left by the Christians, stained glass windows and giant urn/vases carved from 1 slab of marble and just awesome décor!  We saw a bunch of people coming out of a random door so we went to see what it was…the exit.  The entrance was around the corner.  Oh, and across the street…wait…what??!  Having NO IDEA what it was, we gave the guy $ and walked in…into the Basilica Cistern.  It was soo cool!  Temperature and just neat!  Drippy from condensation, awesomely lit, fish everywhere, random beautiful columns.  Worth the accidental find.

Sunday we got up early (not as early as the first call to prayer at 4:30a.  Even with earplugs I could hear it.), threw on or bathing suits and headed to the Turkish Baths!  (keep in mind that last part).  We chose a Bath House (Çemberlitaş Hamamı) that had been around since the 1500s.  It was architecturally incredible!  Males and Females bathe separately, so of course I only saw the women’s side.  It’s a large room lit by holes in the dome roof.  There is a large marble platform in the center that the bathers lay on.  There are small rooms around the edge with water faucets.  It was SOOOOO steamy in this room I thought I might pass out.  Where the steam came from, I’m not entirely sure.  And then there were the thoughts of…how many centuries has this place been here?  Is this marble I’m laying naked on original and how often does it get bleached?  What kind of cooties are here in this steamy, wet, old place??!  Then a little Turkish woman in bra and panties comes over to me, puts on a white mitt and starts scrubbing the crap out of…well OFF me.  It was train wrecky gross the amount of dead skin and muck she was scrubbing off my body.  Then she dumped a bowl of water over my head.  Next was the soap bubble massage.  Unusual and yet really nice!  The whole experience was a culturally odd situation.  Nevermind my face in her boobs while she washed my hair.  I’m not saying it was a horrible experience because it was NOT…it was just not “the norm” in my world.  And then I got a mud masque.  WOO!  50 Euros WELL spent!!!  Ok.  So remember when I said to pay attention to that sentence?  One would think that the idea of a BATH, Turkish or otherwise, would conjure the idea of WATER so if one were planning to wear say…a bathing suit into the BATH one might think a change of underbits would be needed.  I blame lack of caffeine.  I walked totally commando through the streets of Istanbul, in a skirt post bath!!!  WHO KNEW I would cross off 2 major bucket list items in about 6 months of each other (#1 being The Red Square Incident, of course!!)  DAMN!  My awesomeness amazes ME sometimes.  DOH!

We scheduled a Black Sea cruise for the afternoon.  It was very relaxing and beautiful.  An Istanbul football club had just won some big title so giant red and yellow flags were flying everywhere.  I hoped it was a Griffindor something but…no…real sports.  Most of the way we traveled between Asia and Europe.  It was interesting how even though the country was only divided by a bit of water, the 2 sides of the sea were incredibly different looking.  We got to a harbor in the Black Sea and stopped for about an hour.  THIS is when Kristin and I jumped in!!!  Because it was a harbor, the water wasn’t as clean as I would hope and it was COLD!!!!!  There were dark patches that could be just some moss or…maybe jellyfish hiding places.  I didn’t go very far.  This time, however, I *DID* have clean, dry underbits to put on!  Doesn’t take me 2x’s in one day to learn THAT lesson!  Once back in Istanbul, we tried one last time to see the Blue Mosque.  There was finally a short line.  I was less impressed by this than Hagia Sofia.  It was very plain.  There was plastic on the carpet.  The front section was for the men to pray and the back was for the women and children.  There were children running around all over and it was rather chaotic.  I was a little disappointed.  BUT, I can say I was there!  The rest of the evening was having our last supper and packing to go home.

And here ends this adventure.  Don’t think it was all fun and excitement.  I do try to have fun EVERYWHERE that I am but I also work(ed) my butt off (as did the whole production team)!!!  There really is no point in ranting about a ship inspection by a condescending jerkasshole of a desk monkey.  No one wants to hear about how I sliced my finger open on a clip hanger and bled all OVER but NOT on the costume!!!!  Or about how to MacGyver shoes back together 10 minutes before a show…in the middle of the sea.  THAT’S the work I do!  And it’s boring to most who are not IN IT.