Cairo to Sharm el Sheikh

Just figured I would put my Itinerary for my Spring Break on here in case I don't have time to blog. I am so incredibly excited for this trip - I mean I'm getting to see the only wonder of the [ancient] world that is still existing! We went to a travel agent so we don't get screwed over by taxi drivers and such, so this is what they have planned for us.

Itinerary:

Day 1 Friday March 26

-Arrival to Cairo airport From Rome (ETA 16:15)
-Meet and assistance through arrival formalities, transfer to Pharoahs hotel in Cairo and overnight

Day 2 Saturday March 27

-Breakfast at hotel, Full day tour of the Egyptian museum of antiquities, housing the most magnificent treasures of the young king Tut Ankh Amon (with guide)
-Lunch during the day
-Visit to the three Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx (with guide)
-Back to hotel and overnight

Day 3 Sunday March 28

-Full day free at your leisure or the optional tours
-Overnight in Cairo

Day 4 Monday March 29

-Transfer to Cairo airport to board flight to Sharm El Sheikh (ETD: 12:00 noon ETA: 13:00)
-Arrival to Sharm airport and transfer to Continental Garden Reef Resort

Day 5 - 8 Tuesday March 30 - April 2

-At your disposal in Sharm to enjoy sunny weather and crystal clear water

*I'm planning on climbing Mt. Sinai and going snorkeling. And of course just relaxing on the beach!

Day 9 Saturday April 3

-Transfer to Sharm airport to board flight to Cairo (ETD: 13:30 ETA: 14:30)
-Assistance through departure formalities
-Arrival to Cairo airport to connect transfer flight to Rome

End of Trip

*Only to come back to Rome to meet up with my family to go to Easter Mass with the Pope at St. Peter's!


Using Pharaohs hotel in Cairo ( 3 stars ) on " bed and breakfast " basis & Continental Garden Reef resort in Sharm ( 5 stars ) on " all inclusive " basis.


Package rate include:

* Accommodation for 3 nights in Cairo in a 3 stars hotel on bed and breakfast basis.
* Accommodation for 5 nights in Sharm El Sheikh in a 5 stars hotel on "all inclusive " basis.
* 1 full day tour of Cairo with private A/C transportation, fees, English speaking Egyptologist and Lunch during the day.
* Transfers in Cairo and Sharm including assistance.
* Connection transfer upon departure including assistance. ( Sharm / Cairo / Rome )
* Entry visa to Egypt upon arrival.

Package rate does not include:

1. International and domestic flights.
2. Entering inside the mummies room and inside the Pyramids.
3. Meals at Cairo hotel rather than the daily breakfast.
4. Accommodation in Cairo after coming back from Sharm.
5. Horse, camel and calash riding.
6. Visits or excursions in Sharm.
7. Water and beach activities in Sharm.
8. Personal expenses such as telephone calls, laundry, tipping, drinks.... etc..

Can't wait to tell everyone how it goes!!

The Three V's

This weekend I spent my time in Verona, Vicenza, and Venezia. Two of which no one really knows about, even though they are pretty famous. Verona is a typical Italian town. The thing that separates it from the others is that it is supposedly the location of the famous story Romeo and Juliet. However, I did not find the balcony of Juliet.

Vicenza is not really known at all, but it has a lot of Palladian architecture like Teatro Olympico, Basilica Palladiana, and the more famous Villa Rotunda. The Teatro Olympico was pretty awesome. It is supposed to mimic an ancient Roman city. It's set up so that you think it goes on forever, and it really looks like it. While we were there we got a light show which was pretty neat.

Venezia, or better known as Venice, was so gorgeous! Probably the worst city to navigate though. Just about every road runs you into a dead end. This trip was one of our field trips with our class, so we had a guided tour on Saturday. Needless to say, we had to stop several times because people didn't see where we turned and they got lost. I almost did; however, I found my way back after several dead ends. While I was there, I also went to the island of Murano. Beautiful glass. I spent way too much money there, but I tried to justify it by realizing not much was for me. I wanted to go on a gondola ride, but they were 100 euro - no thanks.

I heard rumors that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, along with Johnny Depp, are in Venice to shoot a movie, but I didn't see any of them. More rumors - apparently Angelina and Brad were in Florence not too long ago, but I didn't know nor did I see them. I know to keep my eyes out though!

A couple big tests this week, then off to Egypt!!

Catch-Up Time

Sorry for everyone who has been keeping up with my blog. I have been extremely busy lately trying to get my resume and portfolio done, studio mid-term, Italian tests, and I've been sick - the downfall of being in Europe, so many viruses that I haven't been in contact with. So I guess I have a lot to blog about since the last time was in February. . .

Classes-wise, I have done some pretty neat stuff. In Italian Art, we went to the Uffitzi Gallery, Santo Spirito, San Marco Museum, Bargello Museum, Santa Maria Novella, and, my favorite, we went up the dome of the Duomo! I'm a little behind on posting pictures too, sorry about that. I'll get them up in the next day or two. Studio has been a little crazy because we just had mid-term reviews yesterday. Italian class has been crappy, we've had a lot of tests, and I'm just a lost cause at learning Italian. Sketching and Drawing has been okay. I'm not going to lie, I'm getting really sick of drawing the same arches over and over again. However, I do feel like I'm getting better at it. Finally, Reading Cities. We went to Urbino on our last trip and it was just okay. Not the greatest city in Italy, but still neat. It had a lot of really pretty views, being on top of a hill and all. It was really cold and snowy when we were there, which hindered our view.

Luckily - for my this posts sake - I haven't gone on very many weekend trips, just taking it easy a little bit. This past weekend, though, I went to Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The Netherlands is a very cool country. I wasn't too impressed with Rotterdam, but Amsterdam had so much character! It was great to see all the architecture there. All of it was seriously straight from ArchDaily - for you non-architecture people, it's a website filled with the latest architecture. There was so much modern architecture, it was blowing me away! I also got to see the Van Gogh museum - didn't go inside since Starry Night isn't located there and it was 14 euro to get in - and the Anne Frank house. Oh, for everyone who is wondering, no I did not smoke pot even though it's legal. The Red Light District was pretty interesting - I'm not really sure how else to describe it. Monday, our last day, I started to get really sick, so I spent most of the day in bed unfortunately.

Yesterday, I had mid-term reviews for studio. They went pretty well. I have a lot to accomplish for the end of the semester though, but plenty of time to do it. This weekend I will be in Verona, Vicenza, and Venice for Reading Cities. Next week, I have an Italian Art mid-term exam and an Italian final, but then Friday I'm off to Egypt for spring break! I'm pretty pumped about Egypt. We are going to be spending three days in Cairo and five days in Sharm el Sheikh. We decided to go to a travel agent, so now we have a tour guide that will take us to the Giza pyramids and the Egyptian Museum. Also, in Sharm el Sheikh, we have a five star all-inclusive resort, so that will be luxurious. Mt. Sinai is not to far so we are planning on climbing that, along with snorkeling in the beautiful waters of the Red Sea.

Other upcoming events: my family will be here as soon as I get back from Egypt! I'll be going to Easter mass at St. Peters with them. Aachen and Cologne, Milan, and Munich are all weekend trips coming up in April. Then finally ending my semester with Paris, London, and Dublin in May. [As you can see very busy!]

I feel like I have so much more to catch up on, but still so many other things to do! Hopefully, after this weekend I'll have time to get on to blog and update some more!

A is for Adventure

Yesterday, I went to a place called Cinque Terre. It's consisted of 5 villages along the Mediterranean Coast. Beautiful. It was seriously so gorgeous. It's supposedly a 12km hike from the first town to the fifth town. However, due to mudslides, the pathway along the coast from the third to fourth and the fourth to the fifth were closed, but everything else was open. It really didn't affect us anyway though. A few friends had told us that the prettiest part was between the second and third towns and was capable in one day - we really didn't want to stay the night to save some money for other trips.

It actually only took us about 15 minutes to walk from the first one to the second one and, if we didn't stop at all, probably only 25 minutes to walk from the second to the third. In between the second and third we were able to get down to the coast. We packed lunches so we sat on the huge rocks and ate our lunches as we absorbed the beautifulness of the area. After arriving in Corniglia - the third town - we stole some lemons from the mass amounts of lemon trees. They were so delicious, if you like tartness and sourness of lemons that is. We wondered around for a bit and found a restaurant that we decided we were going to eat at later.

There was a road that went from Corniglia to the next town, so we were going to follow that, since the pathway was closed, but we found another pathway that we decided to take. It wasn't on the coast, but there were lots of toe paths off of it that we took to be adventurous. They really did take us to a lot of really pretty stuff that not many people would have been too daring to do. One of the paths we chose consisted of a rope to help you get down the very steep path. Once you got down that part, it was literally about a foot wide path that if you fell to the left, you were dead - plain and simple. No guard rail. Not even a person in sight. It was pretty crazy but awesome at the same time.

We found our way down to the coast by following that toe path. There were a few older guys down there with a couple dogs. Pretty nice, Italian, but they knew some English. We didn't really know where to go after we got down there because it took us back to the paths that were closed so we asked them for advice. They told us that we could go through this tunnel that was 1km long and it would take us like right by the train station to get back home. So, after hanging out by the coast for a little bit, we decided to go through this tunnel to get back to the restaurant for an early dinner. Let me tell you this is probably the craziest thing I've ever done in my life. I seriously thought that I was going to die. First of all, on the way down to the coast there were signs on rocks that said beach - in English - with an arrow that followed the path. So pretty much luring in dumb English speaking people. This tunnel was pitch black and all we had were our cell phones to light the way. Mind you, at the beginning there was a gate - that the guy closed as soon as we started to get deeper into the tunnel. I was freaking out and almost cried. I was just waiting for someone or something to pop out and grab us, but somehow we made it out alive.

The restaurant that we went back to was sooo delicious! I got spaghetti with clams and we all shared a couple bottles of white wine. The wine was literally made in the backyard of the restaurant, and it was so tasty! We sat outside because it was so nice and also because of the view - great view of Corniglia and the Mediterranean Sea. Unfortunately, it got cloudy and our plan to watch the sunset failed, but it was so beautiful all day that I can't complain about anything. One awesome trip that lead to one crazy adventure.