Wednesday April 7-- RHODES!

Our boat was docked all day today in Rhodes--from 7:00 am to 5:30 pm so we had plenty of time today. We were going to book a tour for today but we decided that since we had sooo much time, we would be able to seee everything on the tour ourselves. We left the boat at around 9 so we could sleep a little. It was really pretty when we got off. There were these castle like buildings all over the peer. We walked to the main part of the town which was of course all the tourist shops and restaurants. We walked around there for a while, bought some souveniers and gifts. Jodis family is actually greek and they are from Rhodes. Her great grandparents, on both sides, all lived in Rhodes so she was really excited. We went to the Jewish Quarter of Rhodes which had a really old temple that they turned into a museum. Her parents told her to go there because her families names are written inside so we went and found her families names right away. All the Jews in Rhodes were taken to death camps during the time of the Holocust and most were killed. So the museum had all the names of everyone that died and she was able to find a ton of family members names. Inside the museum were all these artifacts-- books, clothing, torahs, mikvahs etc... of all the people living there. Someone in her familyys wedding dress was on display in a case. It was really cool, she was really excited about that. Then we did some more shopping, there were tons and tons of stores. We used the paper of all the attractions that the boa gave us and went to them. We walked over to the Palace of the Grand Master which is all those castle like buildings that surround rhodes. When we were trying to figure out how to get in or what to see--- we met this really young cab driver, Dominick who was 24 years old. We got to talking, he told us everything that we should see in Rhodes and what its like to live there. So we asked him to give us a tour. We worked out a really good deal with him-- he took us all around rhodes, the ancient part that we we were in and the new part and he took us to all the sites and explained the history of everything for 25 euros. The cab companies do this tour everywhere so we decided to do it in Rhodes. It was so worth it. For 2 hours he was our chauffer. He tooks u everywehrre--- he drove us to the beaches, the acropolis of rhodes, the new city, the old city, the palace of the grand master, all these churches and he tooks us to the best views to take pictures. Anywhere we wanted along the way, he pulled over so we could get out and take pictures and he even took a bunch for us. He was soo great. We walked around the acropolis, the churches, everywhere whle he waited. he told us everything about the island and even taught us greek. It was really fun. Im glad we did it because we got to see eveyrthing for only 25 euros. He dropped us off at the palace of the grand master where we walked around for a while, then did some more shopping, stopped at a quick gyro place for lunch, got gelato, sat on the beach for a while. It was a nice fun day. i really liked Rhodes-- there was a lot to do there, the people were really nice and it was beautiful. I bought a dress and tons of souveniers. Tonight on the boat was formal night so I got to wear a new dress that I bought. It was SOOOO windy outside-- they werent letting people walk outside the boat. The boat was SOOO rockyy... everything was flying all over the place throughtout dinner-- waiters were falling, people were falling, people were getting sick. One of the australians at our table got so sick. She started to turn weird colors and she actually hyperventalted into a glass at the table. It was really scary, they had to leave. EVen when we went to sleep we were rocking everywhereeeee it was so scary. Jodi threww up for about an hour and people were getting sick everywhere--- we were flying!!!