The "Big Boat"

I haven't blogged in a few days because the internet on the "big boat" is very expensive (15E for one hour). So, now that we are on Mykonos and it is windy, I thought I would give you an update on how things are going.
We left Athens on Friday to embark on our 7 day cruise around the islands, Turkey, Israel, and Egypt. We have now been on the boat for 2 days. At first I thought the boat was very weird. Our stateroom is TINY. Two twin beds, a tiny TV, and the smallest bathroom I have ever seen. There is only a shower curtain between the shower and the toilet. The whole bathroom gets wet when we shower, so we leave the door open after to help it dry out. Luckily, this happens very quickly. The boat, by cruise boat standards, is small. There are probably only about 1800 passengers in all. It is easy to get to know people, as you keep running into them. That is nice, at least. The food is good, and we bought the "all inclusive" deal for drinks, which are also good. All in all, it is still a pretty good boat, but not to the same opulence that I think some of the other cruise ships are like.
Yesturday, we visited Istanbul, Turkey. It was a whorl-wind tour of the city including the Blue Mosque, the Hagid Sophia, and the Palace. It was a busy day. At the end of the day we did some shopping in the Bazaar, which was fantastic!! I tried my hand at bargaining, and I think I got some OK deals, although I am certain my mother could have gotten a better price! ;) The Turks are really good salesmen.
Today we are in Mykonos, and as I said, it is too windy to be at the beach. It is a cute little town with windmills and white washed buildings. We are only here a short while, but I don't want to do all of my shopping here as we have a lot of time in Santorini to do that as well. We were hoping to go to Paradise Beach today. It is a famous party beach with music and bars and lots of people. Jurgen would have hated it! haha. Lucky for him, the weather did not permit.
Tommorrow, we have a "day off" where we are just at sea, and then it is off to Israel. I am a little nervous to go there with all of the problems they are having right now, but I really don't think there is a good time to go. We'll see, I guess. Then, off to Egypt for a day, and back to Athens. Talk about whirlwinds!! but I am sure it will all be amazing - Turkey definately was. I would go back there.
Will write more when we have cheap internet again.