Monday, January 3, 2011

Dear the rest of the world,

Christmas is OVER! I know, I know, it's hard to believe...but you have to let go. Please take down your lights, trees, decorations, and music, stamp Christmas' passport, and send it home til next year. 

Lots of love, Ashley

I am now in Israel. Getting here has kinda been, um, interesting. My last day in Cairo, I woke up and found I had food poisoning. I have my suspicions of who the culprit was. I was told to only stick to food at established restaurants, which I did, but there was an awful lot of raw/fresh food on that Nile Cruise I took for New Year's Eve that probably did me in. So, needless to say, instead of visiting the Citadel and the Muhammad Ali Mosque on my last day, I did nothing but lay in bed, take Egyptian drugs, drink some herbal Bedouin tea that Mohammad at the hotel recommended, and listen to the never-ending symphony of car horns 10 stories below. .

This morning we awoke in Cyprus. What should have been a day filled with walking on the beach and exploring ancient ruins was quickly ruined by cold and rain. According to our taxi driver, "it is summer every day here. Except for today. Today, it rain." Lucky us. It worked out for the better anyway because I was still sick and my body needed the rest. We did get a chance to explore our Lordos Beach Hotel in Larnaca a little, though, and it looked like paradise. The hotel backs up to the Mediterranean Sea on a quiet part of town, and you could hear the waves crashing from our window. All around the hotel were cabanas, lounge chairs, fresh water pools, spas, etc. Seems like the perfect place to visit in the summer (or September - October, according to the ever-informative taxi driver), if you want a taste of Mediterranean Europe, without the hustle and bustle from the major cities. 

Cyprus, we'll meet again. Tomorrow, we'll get acquainted with Tel Aviv.

4 comments:

  1. Yes, it is annoying when people leave their decorations up past Christmas but I find it much more annoying when people put them up way too early! People put Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving, COME ON! I enjoy you gripping about people in your blog. Its very entertaining.

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  2. I have no doubt Aunt Linda will disagree with you on how long she keeps the tree up...with the exception of her "Indianapolis Colts" decorated tree which she'll keep in her Lady Cave until either the Colts win the Super Bowl or lose in the playoffs. We'll see! :-)

    Bummer about the food poisoning. Maybe it was something with sad little eyes and tiny little legs floating in broth that did you in! Rule #1 about dining in the Mid-east...eat the little creepy crawlies while they're still moving so you know they are fresh!

    Hope you are better so you can enjoy Israel.

    Have fun and be safe!

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  3. Well, Aunt Linda's tree is slightly different because it's not just a Christmas tree, it's a SPIRIT tree. She's allowed to leave it up until the Super Bowl is over, and then it too must come down.

    And Claire...yea, totally agree. Seeing all the decorations up here makes me wonder what they're time frame for Christmas really is. Do they put them up late and just leave them up for longer? Or do they start early like in the US? We were on Cyprus Airways yesterday and the seats' headrests had covers that said Seasons Greetings, and there was an instrumental version of Deck the Halls coming from the speakers. Yea. Christmas is all around.

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  4. That is pretty ridiculous. I don't know about you but Christmas songs tend to get on my nerves after Christmas. And Deck the Halls is a pretty lame song anyway.

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