Ever wonder why the search charm shortcut key is Win + Q? I think I know why Microsoft chose this as the shortcut key. Then I looked at the actual letter “Q.” Notice how it kinda looks like a magnifying glass The circle part is the lens, and the little tail is the handle. I know, it’s a long shot but it sorta makes since…

I first saw Windows 8 at my C# class last year (2011-2012 school year) and fell in love with it. Well… not really but… you know what I meant. Anyway, the teacher of the class decided to dedicate the second semester to programming for Metro (Metro is the same thing as Modern UI which is the new user interface on Windows 8). We were required to get Win8 CP (short of Windows 8 Consumer Preview) for our computers for class. So, of course, I installed CP. I had seen Windows 8 before and knew about how it worked so I was whizzing around the Modern UI in no time. I got Win8 Pro through DreamSpark before it even came out. All of this was to say that I have been using Win8 for a long time (in the computer realm, that is).

Sumner

Today was a sad day we had to get off the boat. We got up and packed the last few items. I went down to the front desk to tell then that we wanted to donate some clothes, they were really nice and said that they would come and pick them up later. After that we went up to the Lido Restaurant for our last breakfast :( We saw Gede, I unfortunately have neglected to tell you any about him but he as been such a neat guy. He always says hi to us every day and he always has a huge smile on his face. He lives in Indonesia (most of the crew/staff is from there except most of the bar people are from the Philippines). He also has a daughter back home that is about the same age as Hannah. I think that Hannah reminds him of his daughter back home. I just can’t explain it besides that I think that he has become almost family to us. He said himself that he feels like we (Hannah and I) are his sister and brother. He is just a great guy. We thanked him profusely for all that he had done and for being like a brother to us. We also saw Jeff’s assistant waiter, Weda and thanked him for being so nice to us and also having a smile on his face at all times. After that we went to our room and packed all the last minute stuff and got ready for our number to be called for disembarkation. It was so sad to leave behind all of our friends but we still have a grand adventure ahead of us. It is a different kind of adventure but at least we don’t have to think about “oh! Am I going to be late for the boat?” I am really exited about being able to see all of the sites that I have read about and see pictures of for myself. When we got off the boat and found our luggage we went outside of the terminal and looked for our taxi driver/guide. He was waiting for us at the other exit but we found him easily. Because we were actually in Civitavecchia we had a hour or so drive to Rome and then we were going to tour around Rome with him until three when we were to check into our apartment. I slept on the way to Rome but as the driver said nothing all the way, I didn’t miss anything. We went first to see the Colosseum. It was raining but the places that we went where mostly inside. I will not bore you on exactly where we went, instead I will tell you a bit about the Colosseum and my thoughts on it. First of all it is huge! In the best preserved parts of the Colosseum the entire thing is not there but even so it is as big as the Pepsi center at least. It’s just plain massive. It was the beginning of modern stadiums, there are walkways around a central seating area that used to hold shops and I bet t-shirts with the best gladiators (just kidding, they didn’t have t-shirts then). The thing about the gladiator stuff is not false though. It was the center of gladiatorial fights. It is awful to think about what occurred in the Colosseum but if all you think about is the marvel of the construction with which it was built it is spectacular. In ways its splendor has never again been matched because though some of our modern stadiums can hold more people they are not made of all stone. And just think, they built all of that with all the heavy stones without cranes or modern building equipment. there was another thing that was interesting about the building and that was that there were holes in between some of the stones and some in the stones. This is because in those places there was iron that had been used in the Colosseum were taken during the middle ages to create weapons. Though in ruins now, it would have been a grand achievement in architecture for its time.

Sumner

Today’s port of call was Messina, on Sicily in Italy. We did get to see a neat church and a large bell tower. The bell tower was really neat because it showed the date, time, and the phase of the moon. But the most interesting part of it was the bronze figures that moved. There were some that were set up on circular platforms that went round and round and there were some other figures as well. Unfortunately we were not there for a big display, all that we got to see was one of the figures move their arm. It was really cool. We then walked down a street and ended up at this circular square. I know you are probably thinking “what’s happened to Sumner, has he gone insane? There is no such thing as a square that is a circle!?” yes that is true but it was an intersection that was circular and there were buildings around it. All the facades were curved to the shape of the square. One of the buildings on this square was a shopping mall that had been deserted because of the economic crisis. It seemed recently deserted too, there was a store whose clock was still accurate and running, if that tells you anything about the recentness if the closure you’re doing well. There was a lot of graffiti everywhere but before the crisis I could see it as a nice shopping mall. Well that was about all, we went back to the boat and started to pack :( At dinner we had to say goodbye to Mrs. Anne and Mr. Peter. Let me back up just a bit, I told you before that we have a table that is ours for the whole cruise, well this table is right next to the window above the port (left) motor. It is oriented so that the chairs are perpendicular to the end of the boat. There is another table for two that is only about two feet from the end of our table on the inside (if they were on the other side, they would be in the ocean). At this table Mrs. Anne and Mr. Peter sat on the first or second night of the second part if the cruise and they liked us so much that they too asked to have that table for the whole cruise. We became friends with them and we were sad to say goodbye. They even tried some of the tricks that Jeff gave us which I will show you if you want when we get home. We also thanked Jeff because he was so nice to us all and knew what we wanted for drinks and such. Well, we have to have our bags outside the door by midnight so I should probably get busy.

Sumner

Today I will briefly describe our new room.

When you came in the door which has the same setup as the door in the other room and go in one step you are in a corridor that is about two feet wide (.6 metres). On your left is the bathroom with basically the same setup as in the other room except it has a bathtub as well. You then have to close the door by going up beyond it and then turning around and letting it close. You have to put you back against the cabinets that make up the other side of the corridor to perform this action. If you are trying to go out of the bathroom and someone else is trying to get in you have to open the door to the bathroom while they are out of the way, they have to stay out of the corridor while you come out (the door to the bathroom swings all the way so that it is almost flush with the wall). Then you have to go to either the left or right side once outside the corridor to let the other person go in on the other side because there is a bed directly in from of the corridor with maybe another two feet (.6 metres) in between. Then they can go into the corridor and close the door to the bathroom.

Sumner

Today started off with breakfast and after we had consumed our food we headed out of the ship and hopped on the shuttle to the terminal. There we met our guide and walked to their car. We then rode to the acropolis and parked at a parking lot that was kinda like a valet parking area. She gave the keys to the guy and then we headed off up the acropolis museum so that we could hopefully avoid some of the crowds by doing is before going to the acropolis. Inside we were able to see the many statues that were found in the acropolis area. On the acropolis is a temple to Athena. This temple has some statues with the form of a lady that are used to make the pillars for the temple facade. On one side of the facade he statues have their left leg forward and on the other side they have he right leg forward. Now on the boat there is a hallway that has a little concave opening with statues that are much like he ones on the temple on the acropolis. While at one of the port talks the speaker pointed out that there was one thing wrong with the statues on the boat, this was that the legs on the statues were not different, they were the same. Later that day we were walking past them and saw that they didn’t even have either leg forward at all. There were also many other statues in the museum including the statue of a boy that, for art historians, marked the begging of truly realistic statues. The third floor of this museum had the same dimensions as the Parthenon and faced in the same way. What I mean by this is that on the east side of the inside of the museum had the same dimensions as the actual Parthenon and faced in the exact same direction. Now that in and of itself was interesting but the most interesting part was that the facades were removed from the Parthenon and moved to the museum. There they are displayed on the third floor of the building and in the same place that they were originally on the Parthenon. The front and rear facades of the building that were on the triangle thing above all of the pillars were displayed to the greatest extent possible. In some places however, because the pieces were totally destroyed, there is nothing on display. Around the whole building was a relief of a scene where people were taking offerings up to the gods. It started in one corner and went in both directions meeting on the opposite side where the gods were receiving the gifts. We then watched a movie about the acropolis we went out on a deck that was in the third floor and had a great view of the acropolis and then proceeded onward to he acropolis. It was a fair trek up to the top of the hill but not too bad. Once there our guide went to get our tickets and then we entered the acropolis area. From the beginning it was very neat, almost overwhelming. At the entrance there was an arch and after going thought the arch on the right side was a wall maybe ten or so metres high (about 11 yards). This wall was like a retaining wall around the acropolis. On the ground that the wall is hiding in is a small temple. It is unique because it is the only temple on the acropolis that has columns on only the front and back, not on the sides as well. Back to the entrance in general; although it is in ruins now in its prime it must have been extremely spectacular. Even now it’s scale is immense. After going through the columns we got our first view of the Parthenon. I was expecting it to be in a very ruinous state but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t that bad considering that it is almost two thousand five hundred years old. They have done a good job restoring it and it is now to he point where you can get a good idea of what the Parthenon looked like. Of course all that you can see are the columns on the outside as well as some of the inside wall that held the statue of Athena. Four of the columns are not completely restored but all of the others are. In most places also the blocks of stone over the columns are in place as well. He friezes on the triangular part of the front of the building are gone. They were taken from Athens to Britain by the Earl of Elgin (he is not popular among the Greeks). Only a few parts remained in Athens and are displayed in the acropolis museum. On the left of the Parthenon about fifty to seventy five metres is the Old Temple of Athena. This temple is the one with the ladies that are columns. From the acropolis we were also able to have a great view of the city of Athens. It is a city that is very flat without many big, tall buildings. From this point also we could see the ocean, this is rare because of the pollution cloud normally hovers above the city of Athens and blocks the view of the sea. We then walked back to our car and got the key back from the buy who had parked the car. Now the key was broken to begin with, it was broken when she had tried to get a copy of the key at a shop, she had the copy though. When she tried to put the broken one it it wouldn’t turn. This is because the plastic part of the key was separated from the metal part so she couldn’t get any leverage. She honked for he guy and there was a long discussion, then hey tried the other key. It didn’t work because it had not been made exactly correctly or something because the car I think could tell that it wasn’t made by the car company and it had been copied. It then made it so that the car couldn’t start. We stood around for a while and then she told us that we would change our plans a little and let the men around the car fix it while we went to eat. We went to a nice restaurant and had some good food though it was really expensive. When we got back to the car and found that it wasn’t fixed she tried frantically to find another car. Eventually we left the car and went and got on a bus that she had gotten for us to ride around in. Now, this bus was one of those fifty person tour busses that we had to go on for a few of our excursions and it was kinda amusing because we had it all to ourselves. Four people in this enormous bus. We kept on joking that we might be in someones way. Of course by this time it was an hour before we wanted to be back at the boat so we didn’t get much more touring. We did take a peek at the original modern Olympics stadium, he one that was used when Greece held the first modern Olympic games. Then we went back to the boat and, since I had nothing to do after dinner I caught up on my blog.

Sumner

Today’s port of call was kusadasi (koo suh dah see), which is the port where cruise ships dock to get to Ephesus, Turkey (ehf-uh-sis need I tell you how to pronounce the second word?) Anyway we had to get up early to go off the ship, six o’clock or so. When we had eaten some breakfast we proceeded down to the pier and met our guide. We walked through this little “village” that was covered. It was more of a tourist trap than anything else. It was made to have a village type feeling but it was all tourist shops. Our guide said that the shops there were only opened for the high tourist season and then in the winter the were closed, during those times it is like a ghost town. After walking through there we went on to the car and made our way to Ephesus. We decided to try our best to avoid the crowds by going to a temple turned into church. It was originally a temple to the gods and then it was taken over by the Christians and turned into a church. It was so cool to see. In places they had recycled the stone. One such place was in a wall where they had taken a broken capital from a pilar and inserted it into the new wall. The area of this temple is a big religious are because from one point you can see a pagan temple, a church, a mosque, and if you go over a hill there is a synagogue. They haven’t found the synagogue but it is written about in the Bible. The nice thing about this temple was that we didn’t have to deal with anyone else in the ruins because all of the tour busses were elsewhere. After walking around the ruins for a little while we went to a mosque and looked around. And then we got back into the car and went to the main ruins of Ephesus. It was really crowded but it was really cool to see the very places where Paul the Apostle went and preached. We saw two theaters, a library, toilets as well as many other ruins. There I will only tell you about the theaters, the library and, the toilets. Both of the theaters were built into the side of a hill and were pretty big. One was only for plays and the other was mainly for gladiatorial fights. The bigger one was the one in which they had the fights and the smaller was for plays. Both had the half circle shape. We also saw the facade of the library. It has had to be restored but it still looks really grand. We got some pictures by it but unfortunately I think we got more of a picture of the other tourists than the building it was just so crowded :). We also watched some sort of a gladiatorial reenactment on the road that leaded to the sea from the theater. The ancient Ephesus that we were able to see used to be the port, but he river silted up so much that it is now six miles from the sea. It was actually not he first port of Ephesus because it used to be even further inland until they moved it to the place that we went to. After seeing the ruined city we went up a hill to a place where the Catholics believe the Virgin Mary lived for the last years of her life. It was more like a shrine to Mary than anything. We were respectful as we walked through but it really didn’t have any significance to us. There was also this water that was declared holy or something by some pope sometime. We had some and it was supposed to have healing properties. It didn’t do anything but quench my thirst. Then we went to a pottery selling place. They showed us the process that they use to make the pottery and then the guy who showed us opened a door to show us some of their works (aka buy some of these things). We bought some small things and then went back to the van. We also went to this carpet weaving place and were shown how the Turkish carpets are made. He showed us the cocoons and how they were woven into stings. He also showed us some of the weaving techniques that they use to weave the cloth. He then said, after explaining the whole process that he would show us some of the carpets that they make but mom politely said that we just came to see how it was made and not to buy carpets. Now we were expecting it to be any uphill battle to get him to leave us alone but we were pleasantly surprised that he kindly said thank you for coming and let us leave. That was really nice for mom. Anyway we made it back to the boat and I tried to catch up on my blog. I’ve had a lot more time to blog because I don’t have anyone to hand out with at night so that is I guess good considering we have so many sea days.

Sumner

Today started out pretty early because we sailed into the caldera of the Santorini volcano this morning. We were allowed on the bow to see the arrival into the area. Because Santorini doesn’t have any port remotely big enough to take a cruise ship we had to anchor out in the middle of the caldera (cah-ul-dare-uh) and ride the tenders into the port. Mom didn’t like the ride in the tender but it wasn’t too long. We met our guide right as we got off the tender and went together to the cable car. It is much like the ski gondolas a home, just not so sophisticated. It was six of them grouped closely together on either end (top or bottom) one goes on the right side and the other on the left and they alternate places. If that confused you that’s ok because I’ve confused myself trying to describe it for you. Anyway once at the top we walked maybe fifty metres or so, if that and then waited as our guide went for her car. We went first to the village where all of the pictures of Santorini are taken. This village is very pretty and has the best views of anywhere on the island. All of the roofs are blue and the rest all of the buildings are white. These homes used to be the homes of the poor while the rich lived on the top of the hill. They are now the most expensive hotels on Santorini. The reason that these homes started out as homes for the poor is because they were caves to begin with and then expanded out on the side of the cliff. It was so serene. We walked all the way to the end and then went to small castle that is now a tourist lookout where you could see almost the entire caldera (the fog obscured some of it), the cruise ship, the old port as well as many other things. While you admire the view I will pause a moment to tell you some about the history and shape of Santorini. A long time ago, as in like three thousand years, Santorini was a large circular volcanic island. Then it blew up so that it went from being a large mountain to  three islands in a few seconds. It blew volcanic material up something like twenty six kilometers or something (16 miles). Regardless it was in the twenties of kilometers which is really high. Santorini is the biggest of the islands and is shaped like the letter C. There is another island in between the ends of the c and one in the center that has come up recently… Only in the last thousand years or so. This middle island is the new vent for the volcanic activity. Kinda like Mt. Saint Hellens has a new small pile of material in the center of the crater Santorini has a new one in he middle of the caldera. Aft driving around seeing all of the other main sites we stopped at a place called Akrotiri (ak-row-tear-ee). Akrotiri is considered the best preserved prehistoric city in the world. It dates back to two thousand BC and some parts are believed to be from three thousand BC. That’s four to five thousand years old!!! It was kinda funny because some of the people from our boat, Mrs. Irene and Mr. NAME, and another couple who they had met who were also from Denver (Mrs. Irene and Mr. NAME are from Denver) joined our tour for Akrotiri. Of course they tipped nicely and it wasn’t much trouble for Georgia (that was the name of our guide) so we let them come along. Throughout the whole tour we at times had people try to tag along with us because they wanted to hear what Georgia was saying. It must mean that she is a good guide. The city that was uncovered by the archeologists is pretty large. It was probably about one hundred metres by ninety metres (110 yards by 100yards). And all of it was very well preserved considering that it is at least four thousand years old. The walls were intact and still standing, of course they were not complete but you could tell that they were once walls. There was a sewage system and the homes had running water and toilets. Very advanced for the time. We were able to see tubs as well as pots in which they stored goods. All of which were extremely well preserved surprisingly. I can’t describe everything that we saw but I will tell you that it was very neat to see such well preserved homes from so long ago. The last thing that we did is go to the black sand beach. This beach has black sand made from the volcanic material. It was like nothing that I have ever seen. Even though it wasn’t very hot today, the sand was *very *hot. I can’t imagine what it would be like if it were something like a hundred degrees Fahrenheit (about 37 degrees centigrade). That was about all that we did today but I will tell you about one of the tricks that Jeff, our waiter at dinner gave us. Ok let me back up just a bit and fill you in. We have open seating at dinner, but we like our table a lot and I think that they like us so they let us reserve the table for the whole cruise. Anyway the waiter for the table that we have is Jeff and his assistant is Weda (mom thinks that there is an e at the end instead of an a; I disagree). We have become friends with them and every night Jeff has show us a trick or little puzzle. Today he had a puzzle involving two glasses and a blueberry. One glass was smaller than the other, this one was set upright. The other one was put upside down and the blueberry was put under it inside the cup. Now this wine glass that was upside down was oddly shaped. The opening was smaller than the rest of the glass. The goal of the puzzle was to get the blueberry from under the big glass to the little glass. You could only touch the big glass and it also had to stay upside down. It took me about two seconds to figure it out. All you do is ***** *** ***** ****** *** *** ************ ***** ** **** ** ** ** *** ****** ** *** ***** **** **** ** **** *** ******* ***** *** *** *** ********* ****. I blotted that out so that you can figure it out yourselves if you want. I’ll show you once we get home. That was basically the day so I will leave you to wonder what the answer to the puzzle is.
    ~Sumner

Sumner

Today was an early day because we had to get up early because we were to meet in the Vista Lounge at seven fifteen for our shore excursion. This is because we did a shore excursion that the ship offers where we go to Olympia and to a museum. We were on Holland America Line tour six. (as if you really needed to know that) and when we got to the bus we saw one of the leaders for Club HAL, Kate. She was going on the tour also. They have to pay to go but it is greatly discounted. The catch is that you kinda have to help to keep track of everyone in the tour. We had an excellent guide for the tour, her name is Olga. She really knew her stuff and gave a great commentary all of the ride from the port town to Olympia. She had written a book about Olympia and was in the process of getting it published. We were kinda worried because a lot of people had said That Olympia is just a pile of rocks on the ground, it might have been if you didn’t have a guide to take you around and explain what you were seeing but with the guide it was very interesting. He place must have been magnificent in its prime. A true sports complex. We saw a training arena where the athletes were instructed by their coaches. Of course only the foundation and a few columns are left but it was neat to stand on the very spot where athletes were once trained. We then went to a place where the wrestling competition was held. One interesting thing about this building was the flor. It was made of tiles with little channels going longways down the tile in it there was sand which was the indication of how many matches you had lost. He more sand you had on you, the worse you were doing. We then headed on through a hall which had on both sides, columns lining the way. Of course only the ruins of the columns are left but as with all of the buildings of Olympia, they must have been spectacular when they were new. We then passed a memorial that Philip the Great built in the middle of Olympia. When it was built it showed not only political power but also displayed religious power. This is because Olympia was a religious center as well as physical and the Olympics were spiritual as well as physical displays of power. Near this was a fountain this fountain held many different statues that had been removed to a museum for protection. We then went through an arch into the race track. As I was walking through the arch I realized that there is truly not anything new under the sun. It was just like our modern tunnels that the athletes come out of before a game. I am sure that it was much the same then as well. Once out of the archway we were in the running track. There were sixteen or eighteen blocks on the ground probably a yard and a half in width (1.3 or so metres probably). These were the starting blocks for the runners. The way that they made it fair and made sure that no one gets a head start they had a pulley system in which a wooden board was held above the ground so that the runner couldn’t get out. The ropes that held the board were held by someone else behind them and when the signal was given the ropes were dropped and the runners went off. As the boards hit the stone they made a large racket, much like the modern pistol shot. Hannah and I lined up and then had a race, not all of the way but some of the way down the track. I won. We then got back on the bus and went to the museum. We stopped at a shop for a few minutes and had a sandwich and then proceeded to he exhibits of the theater. We went first to a room that had the pre-Olympian artifacts. Statues, clay figures etc. We then kept on going and getting more advanced in time and ended at a place with a large statue of the god Nike. Nike was the god of victory. Here also were two helmets, one of the Persian army and the other of the Greek. This was because in the first Punic war during the Battle of Marathon, The Greeks routed the Persians as they were trying to get organized after they landed. We then went to the second best exhibit; the removed statues from the fountain. I won’t bother describing them all to you because one you’ve looked at them for about ten seconds at the most you are done. More interesting however was the last and best exhibit; the facades from the temple of Zeus, the head of the family of the gods. Before we saw this exhibit we looked at a model of the building that they statue of Zeus was held in. The statue of Zeus must have been almost overwhelming because it looked like if he stood up he would bust the roof. We were able to see the two facades of the building. One side had a battle of men versus centaurs, half man half horse. This was symbolic of the battle between men and barbarians. The centaurs because they were thought to be half beast are represented by the centaurs. The other facade is of the birth of Athena. The myth is that Zeus had a headache and so his son took a two sided axe and opened up his fathers head and out of it came Athena, in full armor and fully grown. She is the god of war, wisdom, and love (I think). After that we went back to the bus. The ride back consisted of black, yes I slept all the way. Tonight was formal night and during dinner Jeff showed us a trick with corks. They are so hard to explain in writing that I won’t even bother, you can ask me when I get home to show them to you.

Sumner

Today we stopped at a Grecian island called Corfu. It is in the middle of the Aegean sea, as most Greek islands are. The first thing that we did is get off the ship. Profound statement, eh. You know I think that I’ve been around Canadians to much… Anywaay we had to tender from the boat to the dock. I was perfectly fine all the way but mom didn’t fare so well, she was very glad when the ride was over. Anyway we got out and our taxi guide was right there at the dock. His name is Spiero (I think). The first thing that we did is drive thought the town of Corfu and then drive up through a mountain village and to a great lookout point. Over this point you could see a large part of the island including Corfu town and the first mountain town that we went through. As well we could see our ship and a few islands off the coast. We then made our way thought the mountains seeing all sorts of nice villages. In one there was a church that was about three metres across at the front (a little more than 3 yards) and maybe ten metres deep (we kept on going and on the way Oma took a lot of pictures of the olive trees. You could tell which ones were and weren’t taken care of. The ones that were small and pruned were the ones at we taken care of. They pruned them because they produce bigger olives that way. The ones that were large and looked almost like a wad of vines were not taken care of and had small olives. It was kinda funny because the ones that weren’t pruned back and that hung over the street would drop heir olives and when the cars went over them it would make the roads very slippery. At home we have snow and ice to make roads slippery but there in Corfu they have olive oil to make their roads slippery. We hen arrived at another lookout from which you could see a beach. There weren’t any people on the beach. It was a great day for sightseeing because there was some cloud cover and it was just right as far as temperature. We drove through a few other villages one of which we got out of the car and walked around in. The streets in this town literally just footpaths. We wandered around for a little while and even had a conversation with an old woman. It was all Greek to us, all English to her. We did have one word in common, salad. Anyway we went in our way and as we drove a few time Oma got out and made some pictures of the olive trees. She made at least forty probably. Anyway we came eventually back down the mountains after going through some other villages and made our way way to the