First off, sorry for the delay in blog. I have not been feeling well at all. Between the nausea, swollen abdomen, exhaustion and leg cramps, I haven't felt up to the blog. So here is a debrief what we did...
Sunday
Sunday was our last day to visit the historical sites of Athens. So we hit up four of them. I was feeling really exhausted/nauseous in the morning and I could really only walk for about 10 minutes before I had to sit and take a break. This was the start of me being the worst travel partner ever - but Brian hasn't complained or kicked me out yet...so I guess it's not that bad to lug around a sick pregnant lady.
First we went to the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We chose sunday at 11 because they have bigger ceremony and there is a little parade. We got there early and wanted to get food. I needed to talk to Ruth about how I was feeling to make sure it was normal, so we went to McDonalds to get some wifi. I munched on a bit of food, but nothing sounded or tasted good. Talked to Ruth and she thought that the symptoms I was feeling were probably from Nemo making itself at home. It was right about the time where I have another HCG surge and that would cause my ovaries to swell again like they did after the trigger shot...so basically they are good signs and I needed to suck it up. I felt a lot better that it was normal and nothing was wrong. By the time we got there, I was already exhausted I saw the guys march in with their weird walk and pom poms on their shoes and then I had to sit. I couldn't seem to keep cool - without a doubt this is Brians kid because Brian is always a furance (I swear, you can feel the heat off of him from 2 feet away) and Nemo is burning me up!
Then we walked through the National Gardens, got lost, found a map, found where we were and headed in the right direction. We hit up the Panathenaic Stadium which is where the first organized Olympic Games took place. This place was HUGE. It was neat to see. I walked around a bit, then I was done. I needed shade and a seat.
Our last stop was the Temple of Zeus with Hadrains Arch. I sat through most of it but Brian said the columns were huge and pretty cool. Then we headed home early because I was feeling so crappy and laid in the air conditioning for a while.
Dinner was provided by Ruth and Simon - homeade pizza! Yum. It was delicious per the usual and we were not disappointed by all the rave reviews of Simon's pizza in the guest book here. :) We hung out and relaxed and learned some pretty interesting things...
Europeans don't eat cold pizza for breakfast. <-- WHAT???
Europeans also don't like cold chinese lo mein pasta! <-- WHAT???
They also don't use ranch - we use ranch for EVERYTHING.
And they think it's funny that we have drive thrus for everything, including the bank.
Brian and I concluded that they have weird taste buds. Who doesn't love a slice of cold pizza??
And it was time for bedtime.
Monday
Woke up nauseous. Really nauseous to the point that I actually threw up. Ugh.
Then we had to be up early to meet the taxi that was taking us to the port for our 3 island tour today.
We made it to the port, walked a ton to find our boat and got on. We still had about 30 minutes before we left, so we headed to the top hopping for a breeze so that I didn't sweat to death. Bad idea. Nauseous got worse. Way worse. I asked Brian to go down and see if any of the restaurant areas had air conditioning - yay! The one on the bottom did! Ah, glorious air conditioning. But the rocking of the boat was bad for me. Nauseous. Super nauseous. I laid down on the bench and fell asleep. Woke up and realized I couldn't sit up or I would get sick. So I laid down the whole time and hid from the windows. Brian had to entertain himself - sorry dude. We did hear from one of the tour guides and they offered a walking tour on one island and a bus tour/swimming tour on another island. There was no way I was keeping up with the walking tour, so we opted out of that one. We did sign up for the bus tour because there wasn't much walking and there was air conditioning in the bus!
First island was Hydra and it was cool. There were rock walls with cannons and some cool stores there. I got some neat earrings and Brian finally found a shirt he liked. The people were really nice and didn't judge me walking around with a wash cloth to keep the sweat off my face.
Back on the boat and they served lunch. Started to smell good, had to stand up and get food while the boat was moving. Bad idea. I filled my plate, sat down and about threw up. So I kicked Brian to the chair so that I could lay down. The people sitting next to us were very understanding because Brian told them I was pregnant and they were immediately sympathetic. Thank goodness I didn't creep them out, but at least Brian had some one to talk to. We asked the waiter for just a plain sliced tomato because thats the only thing that sounded good and I ate that and salt for lunch. I also munched on lemons. Lots of lemons. Lemons and Tomatos with salt - lunch of champions.
Next island was Poros and it was small and not as cool as Hydra. We didn't have much time here, and I wasn't feeling well - so our time spent here was pretty lame.
Back on the boat. More lying down. More lemons.
By this time the lemons are making my top teeth stick to my gums, it feels incredibly weird, but its worth it if they are helping with the nausea!
Final island was Aegina and this was the bus tour. Air conditioning was decent, but not great. We did learn a lot about the history of the island. Got to go to the top and see a temple that was probably the most intact one that we had seen. The island is known for postachios and so we tried some local ones and saw lots of the trees. We also went into a church that had some delicate wood work and it was cool to see. Most of the time, I walked to the entrance and then Brian walked around and took pictures for me to see closer. I was just too tired and wore out.
Back on the boat. More lying down, tomatoes and lemons.
We finally make it back to port and get a taxi to bring us home. Only had to turn around once - not too shabby! By the time we got home, we were both exhausted and ready for bed.
Tuesday
Today is our last day in Greece before we head home tomorrow. The plan was to go into Athens and get some souveniers that we had seen and wanted, but waited to get anything until the last day so that we could see a lot of what was offered instead of seeing one thing and automatically buying it.
Change of plans - woke up really nauseous and had really bad leg cramps. I'm not going anywhere today.
Did some research and they said to have some gatorate/powerade and increase my salt intake. So when Brian woke up, he headed to the store. Have I mentioned how awesome he has been???
I laid in bed most of the day, alteranted to the couch, back to the bed and so forth. I think I just needed a day off.
I've been able to keep down more tomatoes/salt, lemons, pistachios and some chicken broth. I did have some of Brian's dinner - but then finished it off with more chicken broth. I feel okay, just tired and uncomfortable. I just have to keep thinking that it will be worth it!
Brian did go into Athens while I slept and got the souveniers that we wanted, so that was good. While he was gone, I did get really nauseous and have a double leg cramp at the same time!!! That was awful. I told Brian that if it wasn't me, I probably would have laughed at how I looked hobbling to the bathroom before I got sick. I don't think I've cussed that many times in a row in quite some time. Brian came home shortly after and showed me the stuff and we started to pack.
We are pretty much packed, its time for a shower and bedtime since we have to leave for the plane at 6am tomorrow. Everyone please hope that our flights go as scheduled and we get home tomorrow evening!!!!!!!!!! No delays please!!!!!!!
Simon is taking us to the airport so we said goodbye to Ruth tonight. We cannot put into words how grateful we are to her and her family! Not only was the hospitality excellent, but I couldn't imagine going through this process without her. She is just plain epic.
So...lots of traveling tomorrow, and beta pregnancy test on Thursday!!!!!!
