It’s happened. Scarlet has disowned us. We had a choice between two morning tours today. They both started at the same time in the morning, so I couldn't just opt for the later one. Choice 1 was Sissy’s castle. We had learned a lot about Queen Elizabeth (Sissy) in Vienna with the family, so I thought that might be interesting. Choice 2 was a tour around the island of Corfu, Greece where we are docked. This is where we would see nature and take lots of cool pictures.
I might not be able to admit this out loud, but I am not completely against looking through palaces and museums. I know I've spent a lot of time complaining about them for the last 3 months, but they aren't half bad occasionally, so I chose the tour of Sissy's castle. Scarlet immediately announced her desire to see the land and not some other building.
Grandma and Grandpa also wanted to see the palace so Scarlet was on her own for the first half of the day. Thank goodness this trip is full of grandparents, though I know she took pretty good care of herself.
Sissy's palace turned out to be really feminine! It has been used for many things between her time there in the 19th century to now, but the charm is still prevalent. She was really into the Greek God Achilles. His statue was EVERYWHERE!
Sissy was the empress of a large portion of this part of Europe - okay I don't remember exactly how much, I guess I'll need to go on at least one more tour about her. But the bottom line is there was a lot of pressure on her to rule the people and act like royalty at all times. Many people admired her beauty. She spent 3 to 4 hours a day on just her hair. On top of that, she was in great shape. She had less than a 20 inch waist! But all of this pressure left her in a deep depression and although her marriage to Franz Joseph started out well and she had 4 children, soon she didn't feel happy about her life and felt more alone. In the hopes of lessening her depression, doctors recommended that she spend more time away from her home in Vienna. This is why she has many vacationing spots around Europe. This one being one of her favorites.
It's really a very tragic story. I think she had to have been more happy than the stories tell, but the stories say that she fell even deeper into depression after the murder suicide of her only son and his girlfriend. In the end, she was killed in Geneva while on the town for some shopping. But everyone loves her tragic story and how she refused to succumb to the aristocracy. There's a lot more to her story, but those are some highlights.
After touring her beautiful palace, we took a small walk down the old town of Corfu and eventually met up with the other group. Scarlet was ecstatic to see us. We chose to spend the rest of the afternoon in town rather than heading back to the boat. Grandma and Grandpa gave us maps and told us to lead the way. This would have worked fine if the maps were in the same language as the street signs. We might have taken the scenic route to all of our destinations, but these routes were in the shade!
We found a nice restaurant in a courtyard for lunch and the most exotic order of the group was Grandpa with the squid. We spent some of our free time walking around the town peaking into shops. The shopkeepers here are very aggressive and really really really want you to come inside their shop. Maybe if I could have browsed in peace, I would have been more likely to comply. But I suppose their aggressive style must work for them!
With what time we had left, we found a spot on the beach to stick our feet in the water. Luckily, the place we chose was also chosen by a small poodle Boo boo and her owner. Boo boo was a very friendly poodle and came right up to us, she even sat in our laps and enjoyed the sun and the water. Grandma and Grandpa found a nice cool chapel to hang out in while Scarlet and I had our fun.
We had just enough time to grab a cool drink before loading up the bus. The Athena was set to take off as soon as everyone was boarded. We are now on our way to Delphi, Greece where we will arrive early in the morning.
Tonight's entertainment was Karaoke! The last time I did Karaoke it was in a special karaoke place on campus last summer. In this place you are lead to a private room with you're party and have an hour or so to sing your hearts out to each other. I must say this group was much different than the lively camp counselors I was with that day, but Scarlet and I still had fun, and we heard many old songs we hadn't heard before.
Now Ivan is in the lobby quizzing me on what languages I can pick up on in songs, and I can't say that I'm doing very well. But I am doing much better than I would have last a year ago!
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