If you got a computer within the past few months, you probably have a computer
with Windows 8. If you got one at Christmas, it is almost sure to be one with
Win8 (unless the people who gave you the computer intentionally put Win7 on
it). Random comment alert, I think that a lot of people who got a new computer
for Christmas (especially the less young) were a little disappointed with the
loss of their start button. Just a though. Anyway, about survival. Here are a
few things that will help you get started with Windows 8.
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…
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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 8Consumer 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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
